Chapter Text
I grabbed the small bag and ran, ignoring the pharmacist yelling after me. Turning the corner, I saw not only our truck, but a police car, parked blocking the entrance to the alley where the truck sat.
Of course, they heard the pharmacist calling "thief!" and threw their doors open, chasing me. Just my luck- if they caught me not only would they have complaints about my expired registration, now they'd have claimed thievery, and would really chase me down.
I cursed under my breath and threw the grocery bag containing Lincoln's medication through my open passenger window, and prayed that the two cops hadn't seen me put them down.
The back of the alley was blocked by a chain link fence, about twenty feet tall. I could definitely work with that, especially now that my hands were empty. I climbed, grabbing the highest section I could, clambering up the side like a spider, fingers and toes gripping the metal.
"Stop!" one of the officer's called.
I ignored them, reaching the top of the fence. I maneuvered to jump down, when someone grabbed my bare foot.
Now, the fence hadn't seemed tall to me, but I was surprised to look down and realize the female officer had followed me up.The female officer frowned when she saw my face, probably thought I was an adult before seeing me. "You're just a kid?" she said under her breath.
Her partner had followed her up to the fence, and sighed, "Ma'am, I'm going to ask you to climb down, keep your hands where I can see them."
I had only a couple of seconds to decide. I could probably still get away, but they had seen my truck (that probably broke several car repair laws), and I didn't need to add another charge of 'evading arrest' to my rap sheet.
"I'm coming down." I announced, shaking my foot out of her grip. I pushed off of the fence, letting go and landing gently on the concrete.
The male officer winced at the noise my bare feet made on the ground, but I shrugged it off. "Hands above your head. Chen, cuff her" he said sternly.
I obeyed, raising both hands in the air, allowing his partner, Officer Chen to handcuff me behind my back, then pat me down.
"Where's the bag? " she asked, turning to her partner, "Did you grab it, Bradford?"
I was a pretty bad liar, but I tried. "What bag?"
Her partner, Bradford scoffed. Don't ask me how, but the name seemed to fit him too well. "The pharmacy bag, kid."
I scowled, "Don't call me kid."
Officer Chen pulled me over to sit on the sidewalk, guiding me with gentle hands on my shoulders. "How old are you?"
"Almost 19." I crossed my fingers behind my back, hoping they'd believe it. For years crowds had believed I was college age as I preformed.
"Yeah, right." Bradford said sarcastically. "You have id?"
Sighing, I used my cuffed hand to pull a thin wallet out of my pocket, tossing it next to me. "In there." I knew I should’ve gotten a fake id, but before the last couple of years, I’d been a good kid! I didn’t know how anyone would go about getting fake documents.
Officer Bradford grabbed the wallet, quickly finding my driver’s permit and pulling it out. “Alexandra Johnson?” He asked, comparing the awful picture to my face.
“Yep.” I said glumly.
“Yeah she’s almost nineteen, in two years “ he laughed.
“Wait, she’s sixteen?” Chen asked.
"Hey- seventeen!"
The female officer turned to me, "Sweetheart, I don't think schools are out for the summer yet. Why aren't you at school?"
"Isn't it a weekend?" I responded, raising an eyebrow.
"While you're answering questions, where's that pharmacy bag?" Bradford interrupted.
I gave up on avoiding it. "Passenger seat of the truck. I think it's unlocked."
Officer Bradford nodded and put a pair of gloves on before swinging the door of the truck open and pulling the bag out. "Anything sharp in here, or that could get me?"
"No, I mean sometimes paper could give you paper cuts, but..."
He shot me a look, and I shut up.
Bradford grabbed the one bottle in the bag, throwing the plastic back into the front seat. He turned the bottle, reading the label out loud, "Divalproex? That's a new one."
"It's a seizure med." I explained, "For-" I stopped that sentence, reminding myself not to mention my brother, "For- umm, seizures."
"Mhmm." he sarcastically replied, obviously not believing me.
I rolled my eyes, and opened my mouth to speak, when a muffled sneeze came from the covered bed of my truck.
I swore again under my breath.
"So," Officer Chen began, turning to the truck. "Does your truck tend to sneeze a lot?"
"Only during allergy season." I managed to say.
"Alexandra, is there anything in your truck bed we should know about?" she asked softly.
"There shouldn't be anything in there." I lied, "Just a sleeping bag, some duffels."
"So we'll quickly double check that." Bradford walked towards the truck.
He and Chen stood on either side of the back, hands on their weapons belts, mouthing "3, 2, 1" before unbuckling the truck's cover, letting it roll up into itself.
My three siblings sheepishly sat up, untangling themselves from sleeping bags, duffles and various boxes.
"Sorry, Andy." Ella cried, "Libby was in my face, and I'd already held the sneeze in for so long!"
"Hey, it's okay." I soothed, from my spot on the damp concrete, where I had been caught and handcuffed for robbery. Nothing was okay. "Everything is okay, Elle."
Officer Bradford took a breath, moving his hand from where it was resting on his gun. "I need you out of the truck bed, please. Let's all take a seat on the sidewalk."
Lincoln clambered over the side of the truck, holding a hand out to help Rylan down, then boosting Ella out of the back.
Chen eyed a moving blanket against the cab. "Under the blanket, I need you out too."
Lincoln stifled a laugh. "Libby!" he called, "Home, girlie."
Officer Bradford flinched back, hand flying to his belt when our dog, Libby jumped out of the truck, obediently going 'home', which was her spot right against Rylan. She wagged her tail, pushing herself into my sister.
"Anything else in there?" Bradford sighed, "A circus tent maybe?"
Ella's eyes got wide, "How did he know?"
"Ella" Lincoln hissed, "Not now."
My siblings crowded around me, Ella clambered into my lap completely ignoring the handcuffs, Rylan sandwiched between me and her dog, Liberty, and Lincoln crouched behind me.
Officer Chen and Bradford exchanged looks, then Chen sat down a little away from our small huddle.
"So, I'm Lucy." she introduced, "And this is my partner, Officer Tim. What are your names?"
"I'm Linc, and this is Rylan." Lincoln said, "and our little sister-"
"-I'm Eliana Belle Johnson." she interrupted proudly.
There went all of our talks about 'stranger danger', 'the police can be bad' and 'Ellie, for the love of all that is holy, don't tell every single person you meet your full name'.
"That's Ella." Lincoln finished, rolling his eyes at the little girl.
"Yep." Ella eyed the two officers, "And why is my sister locked up? Meanies."
"Hey-" I said gently, "Let's not call names, Littley."
"That's a good question, Ella." Lucy Chen nodded, "Can we ask you a question first?"
"I guess." I said suspiciously.
"Where are your parents?" Tim Bradford asked.
I exchanged looks with Lincoln, agreeing to use the story we'd been telling concerned cashiers and security guards- our parents were just on vacation, we'd locked ourselves out of the house that morning, but they were coming back today and had the extra key.
"In heaven." Ella said matter of factly, before Lincoln or I could even begin the lie. "Where are your parents?"
Lucy smiled, "My parents are visiting a state park right now, in Wyoming I think. Do you have guardians? Someone to take care of you?"
Lincoln frowned, "Andy and I can take care of us just fine, thanks. "
"Don't talk back to police officers, idiot." I hissed.
"Probably not very well after your big sister goes to jail." Bradford mumbled.
Ella turned back toward me, "I told you. Meanies."
"Hey, no one's going to jail right now." Lucy said, "And I understand you might be doing okay taking care of yourselves, but you do need a legal guardian."
"Do we though?" I muttered.
"But what we're going to do right now, is go for a ride in our car, so we can talk inside, instead of on this sidewalk. It looks like it might storm soon." Bradford interrupted, looking up at the sky.
"And go where?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Back to the station- but not a holding cell, okay? We'll find an empty room to hang out in." Lucy was quick to explain.