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Sarah Christ shortens her lifespan by the minute with her every breath. She takes in liquid pneumonia, a higher chance of pulmonary diseases, cancer, all that risk packed into a small stick about three inches long–a cigarette. Sarah smokes at least twenty of them a day, like a daily prayer, never broken, never skipped, and Cameron can't stop her from doing it. She watches Sarah throw the expired cig on the ground, stamping a boot over the butt to extinguish it.
"It's a risk worth doing if it makes me feel alive." The detective laughs, as if she could read Cameron's mind.
"You'll die sooner than others, you know."
Sarah scoffs. "I've known that for years. You've known that for longer. That's your job–you need to protect me from such dangers," she grins, taking another fresh dart out of her pack, and holding it above Cameron's head.
"Your light, again, angel." Sarah asks, smiling sweetly at Cameron. "Or are you in a bad mood today? Come on. Lighten up."
The shorter woman sighs. Why she allows Christ to do this, and how it became routine, she doesn't know. Cameron's halo materializes atop her head, a singular golden, glowing ring. In the dark alley they are in outside a bar, it's the only thing that lights up their surroundings – the garbage chute beside them, rats scampering away from the light, the broken glass on the pavement from the fight that broke out earlier, the steady rain and Cameron's blood draining into the grate to the sewers.
Sarah takes the new cigarette into her mouth and leans into Cameron's halo, lighting her cigar off the rim of it. It sizzles, burns, and then there's the familiar smell of smoke overhead Cameron.
"Here's to you saving me from death yet again, Cameron," Sarah grins, taking a long drag, and exhaling the smog directly into Cameron's face. "You're awfully good at it. Think I'll need to give you a reward later."
Cameron says nothing, and watches Sarah shorten her lifespan more. The holy light of Cameron's halo reflects on Sarah's skin, illuminating the smoke bleeding into the night sky. It kills Cameron on the inside to see Sarah smoke, but she doesn't do anything, because it's Sarah's free will, after all.
Cameron is Sarah's light, and Sarah grins at the sight.
(Sarah will have Cameron until the very last drag, or until her lighter fluid runs dry. She'll hang on to heaven for as long as it will have her.)