Stumbling up the steps of the city's police station, my lack of sleep suddenly caught up with me, despite the three coffees I'd already had this morning. It was about 10:30am and I already felt like collapsing from exhaustion. These stupid nightmares were getting ridiculous. The only thing keeping me from investing in some sleeping pills is the fear of being stuck in the terrifying memories that plague me each night.

I needed to find Detective Hudson; he'd told me to meet him at the station to discuss the 'little adventure' they were sending me off on. Apparently my parent's murderer, William Chase, had people on the outside. People who would be willing to do his dirty work for him... Like killing me. So, I was being put into Witness Protection Program... Great.

My extreme tiredness had resulted in a surplus of clumsiness on my side, and apparently it was here in full today because just as I faltered through the great, glass double-doors of the station I found a rather large body was in my path. One of the police officers had been in a rush to get out the door and in doing so had run smack bang into me. And holy God if he wasn't solid. His concrete body sent me flying back upon impact. Luckily he also had fast reflexes, reaching and catching me before we both fell to the ground.

It took a second to catch my breath, the impact causing a winded effect.

"Are you okay?" The officer asked, he had a crease of worry written upon his face, I could see it as I looked up, suddenly releasing I was lying in his arms. Intimately in his arms.

I quickly sat up and he let me go. "I'm fine... Thank you."

"Good. Then you should be fine to learn to watch where you're going." He stood and brushed himself and his deep blue uniform off. I was shocked at the sudden change in attitude and didn't move, my mouth hung open before I promptly shut it.

Pulling myself up alongside him, I put my hand on my hip and put as much Sabine Greyson bravado into my posture as I could. "Yeah, and maybe you could learn some manners."

"If only we had the time, but the grownups have things to do. What are you doing at the police station anyway?" Oh my god... did he seriously just insult my age? He looked like four, five years older than me.

"Okay, big-guy, for one: I'm seventeen, not seven. And two: You have no idea how many," cue air quotation marks, "'grownup' things I'm here to deal with." I throw in a kind of 'huh, take that look' to accompany my words. To my displeasure, he wasn't fazed.

"Good for you, but I have better things to do than stand here and argue with a teenager."

"Obviously..." My sarcastic tone displayed my distaste for his attitude and he walked in the opposite direction without another word.

God, people were so rude these days! As if I didn't have enough going on in my life.

"Jerk..." I continued on my way into the police station, being very careful not to bump into any more storming assholes.

-

"I know you don't want to leave, Greyson, but we've got to keep you safe." Detective Hudson was going through his speech again, like I hadn't already heard it a million times.

I knew all the reasons for why I had to leave, I even agreed with what they were doing for me; I just didn't like the situation.

"I know, Hudson, its okay. I'm okay." Detective Hudson and I had grown reasonably close over the trail period and he had kind of become my adopted uncle. Seeing as I didn't have any blood family left.

"Good... Good."He muttered, almost to himself. He was sitting at his desk, shuffling though papers. I saw his kind brown eyes scanning over the text; the colour matched his short hair, although it had streaks of grey through it, showing his age.

"Okay, Greyson... Let's go over the basics." He looked toward me where I was sitting on the other side of the table in an extremely uncomfortable chair. I nodded my acknowledgement of his words and waited for him to continue.

"You will be sent to a small town where it is less likely anyone will notice or recognise you," he waited to see if I had any of the snarky commentary that was usually flying but I was still processing it. I was being shipped off to the middle of nowhere. Great.

Seeing that I wasn't going to respond he continued: "In order to keep you under constant protection, one of the best officers we have will be your personal guard 24/7 until we are sure you are safe."

"Marvelous... so I'm being trailed by a psychopath and followed around by a stranger. Life couldn't get better."

"This is for your own safety, Sabine," Oh, you could tell he was serious when he called me by my first name, "I know the circumstances aren't ideal but I have no other choice."

"Fine... anything else I need to know about this middle of nowhere adventure I'm going on?"

"Just a few rules... That's all..." He said it so evasively that I knew I wasn't going to like these 'rules' and my defences immediately shot up.

"Rules? Here we go... Just tell me, Hudson," I groaned. Best to get it over with.

"Okay... First of all: There will be no phone calls or communication with anyone. You will also-" He didn't get to finish what he was going to say because I immediately shot out of my seat. Almost sending it toppling over.

"There is no way in hell I am being cut off, it's already torture knowing Bliss and I would be separated for so long, but with no communication? Not happening!"

"Greyson. Phone calls can be traced. We aren't risking that. Officer Martin will make sure you have no chance of talking to anyone. This is non-negotiable."

I was about to start screaming again about how unfair that was but I realised it would just draw more attention to the problem. I'm sure I can slip away from this guard and find a payphone.

So instead of screaming and shouting like I would normally have done, I conceded to pouting in my chair. Then I replayed Detective Hudson's words over in my head...

"Who's Officer Martin? Is he my 'guard'?" I was very curious about the guy I was going to have trailing me for the next however many weeks.

"Yes. Constable Riley Martin is one of the best we have on this force. I put my full trust into him. He'll keep you safe."

I chewed on this information slowly. Hudson seemed to know this guy well and I trusted Hudson. But I needed more information before I could fully get a hold on him.

I was pulled from my thoughts when Detective Hudson rose from his seat and walked behind me, "Speak of the devil."

I turned in time to see Hudson embracing a man just as tall, almost taller than him. They were doing that man-hug-back-slap thing guys always do. It took me a while to figure out that this must be Constable Martin. My personal guard.

I couldn't see him because Hudson was blocking my view, but when they broke apart, my mouth dropped to the ground for the second time that day.

"Sabine Greyson, this is the officer that will be protecting you, Constable Martin; Riley, this is Sabine."

I was too shocked -horrified, even- to speak. But when I did open my mouth, it wasn't the nicest sentence I'd ever strung together: "Him? You can't seriously send me off with this jerk! Aren't you putting me through enough torture?"

A look of confusion crossed Detective Hudson's features before he responded to my outburst, much more politely, might I add, "you two have met before?'

This time it was Riley who replied, "Yes, we had a run-in earlier. The case subject here is very clumsy."

"Yeah, and the officer here is very-" I considered my wording before deciding to go for it, "-assholeish."

Constable Martin's face remained stoic and he acted as if I hadn't said a thing; Detective Hudson's immediate response, however, was to chastise me for my language and attitude toward a Police officer, but I wasn't really paying attention. For the first time out of the two that I'd met him, I actually paid attention to Riley Martin's looks.

He had deep black-brown hair that had naturally formed into a slight spike; his bright green eyes were exhilarating and could make any woman melt. His shoulders were broad and very... striking, matching his bulging arms; I could only imagine what his chest looked like beneath the uniform and he was tall, much taller than me, per se. For a second I forgot my absolute distaste for the man and lost myself to his extreme good-looks... They were totally wasted on such an asshole.

He seemed to notice my staring and shifted in his position -in the background, Hudson was still raving on about something- but Riley transferred his gaze to equal mine and I portrayed the challenge, daring him to call me out for staring.

He didn't, of course, and Detective Hudson stopped talking, seemingly realising no one was paying attention to a word he said. Riley was the first to break the eye-contact and I smiled at my small victory.

"Well whatever past you two have, it will be put aside for this assignment. You are the best Officer I have on this team, Martin; despite being one of the youngest, and I trust you to keep Miss Greyson safe." Hudson looked toward Officer Martin, pretty much ignoring the fact that I was even in the room.

He had said that Riley was one of the youngest in the team; in other words, not as old as he had made himself out to be.

"You do not need to worry, Detective Hudson. She will be safe, I will protective her with my life. Even if it means dealing with her attitude."

"Right here, folks. Right here."I hated it when people spoke about me as if I wasn't right in this room.

Both men's gazes turned toward me then; Hudson's eyes rolling, Riley's more... Curious, I guess.

"Are we done here? I'm starting to get a headache," I exclaimed, leaning back into my chair in a sort of care-free act.

Hudson nodded solely just as another officer arrived and tapped him on the shoulder. Hudson leaned in to give the new officer a chance to whisper whatever information he had into Hudson's ear.

Although he was good at hiding his expression, I saw the bare slip. I didn't know what the information was but it scared him, and that was no easy thing. Riley tensed beside him and the information was then whispered between the three men. I saw them glance back at me at the same time where I sat with a smug look on my face.

"Am I going to be invited in on the little Chinese whispers party?"

Again, I gained rolled eyes and bemused looks. The three parted, Riley moving to stand beside me and Hudson behind his desk.

"Are you ready to go, Sabine?" Riley asked, he said it so casually, as if asking if I wanted coffee... which I really did by this point.

"Already? But I have to get my things and say goodbye to Bliss..." I was losing my resolve as the thought of truly leaving struck me.

"We will have time to stop by your house but-" he didn't get a chance to finish before being interrupted by Hudson.

"Greyson, there is no time for you to say goodbye. It is necessary you leave as soon as possible."

I sat still, staring blankly at Hudson, lost in my own shock; they couldn't make me leave until I said goodbye.

"What? I'm not going anywhere until I see Bliss."

"I'm sorry, hon, but this is out of your control. Constable Martin will take you to get your things and then you will be leaving."

Now, I was outraged. "So you're taking away my communication and now my chance to say goodbye? I don't give a damn if you want me to or not, but I will not be going anywhere until I say goodbye to my best friend. You're already shipping me off, taking me away from the only family I have left. Now you're going to take away my goodbye too?!" In my rant, I had stood abruptly and in doing so, ran into Officer Martin, who was still standing behind me. His hands held my shoulders, probably to keep me from falling on top of him... again.

I jerked roughly out of his grasp, fuming. "Don't touch me."

"Sabine, you need to calm down." Hudson was seriously getting on my nerves by this point. How could he remain so calm?

"I will not calm down until you let me say goodbye; I will be staying here until you let me say goodbye. I'm not budging on this. No way."

Hudson's mouth opened to respond but was interrupted by Constable Martin: "Sabine, You are going to have to learn to trust me. This is for you safety. We need to leave as soon as possible."

More than words were exchanged as I looked toward my new protector. I was surprised to come to a realisation I don't think anyone expected... I trusted him. I did. But, me being me, there was no way I was letting anyone see that spout of weakness.

"Trust you?" I asked, adding the tone of distaste that best accompanied the words. "And why would I do that?"

"Because I have your best interests in mind."

"Oh, of course you do. But I stand by what I said. Take me home and I will get my bags. I'm not leaving this city without seeing my best friend."

He sighed and seemed to be relaying his options over in his head. With a not-so-subtle look toward Detective Hudson, he nodded toward me and began walking toward the station door; I started following after him when Hudson grabbed my arm.

"I need you to trust him, Sabine. I need you to be safe." There was more emotion in those two sentences than I expected from the man investigating my parent's murder; who I'd only met a few weeks ago.

I didn't say anything in return; but I did reach forward and pull him into a hug. He was clearly surprised at first and stayed ridged but eventually leaned into it. It was a hug of a family member, as if he'd known me for years.

At last, we broke apart and shared a sad smile. Then I turned around and followed Riley out the door.