The High Life (2/? Shannon/Stella)
Title: The High Life
Author: wicked-nachos-09
Fandom/Pairing: Rush - Shannon/Stella
Summary: Stella's brother Frank is slowly becoming corrupt from the influences of gangs and tastes of the high life. Unknowingly and unwillingly, he involves her in the dispute with a local gang who holds a lot of power in the area. On top of recovering from being thrown into the consequences of her brother screwing over a violent gang of drug addicts and traffickers, Stella has to deal with a long-lasting not-so-secret relationship at work, a clingly ex-fling and a stalker. How will Shannon and Stella survive these rough times? Together or apart? As friends or lovers?
Disclaimer: I wish I owned Rush so this could really happen more than once a week for more than one hour every time.
A/N:Chapter 1 is mainly copied from the season 2 finale, but changed to fit in Shannon instead of Michael. It shows the aftermath of the ballistics report and Stella's life at work.
After hours spent in bushland, the TR team finally raided the bus holding 18 hostages. The men holding shotguns to their heads, had been demanding a dozen young teenage girls back to their property, were members and one of them the leader of a cult. Unfortunately, one of the hostages had been killed, not by a shotgun wound but a 9mm bullet from a Police issue Glock.
The forensics team had taken the weapons and clothes of the Tactical Response team members. This was slightly full on for newcomer, Eliot. They were sent back to base in tarp-like adult onesies.
They left quietly and tensely, travelling in silence from the country areas of Warrandyte all the way back to the city. Once again in silence, they showered and dressed in silence and sauntered down to the pub for a drink.
Two weeks later, the level of tension had increased to the point where Lawson was snapping at everyone for no reason. He lost is particularly at Stella after TR1 had arrested a women responsible for contaminating the water supply for the northern suburbs of Melbourne. The woman had started letting off toxic gas as a bodily response to the organic phosphate she had used.
With ten minutes left until they reached the base, Lawson received a phone call from Kerry with the results of the ballistics report. Parking the cars and reluctantly getting out of the four-wheel-drive, Lawson headed towards the offices out the back, ignoring Michael's comment about Major Crime being present. He asked Stella to follow him.
"Why? Is this about the ballistics report?"
As Lawson turned to look back at Stella, he saw the rest of the team standing at the boot of the TR vehicles. "Yeah unfortunately, it came back as a match to your pistol. I'm sorry."
"How long have you known?" she demanded, crossing her arms as she got angry.
"Just ten minutes, okay. I found out in the car-," he started quietly, not wanting to get into anything out in the garage.
"Why didn't you say something then? Well, you should have said something!"
Lawson tried the excuse 'because it wasn't the right time' but that didn't fly with Stella. "I'm sorry."
Kerry come down the passage way with Detective Napthorn. Stella was still looking at Lawson.
"Stella, this is bad news I know-"
She wasn't listening to her superior. "You're a bastard Lawson, you sat there knowing. You knew...you knew I-"
"Hey Stella, this is just a formality, but the detective will have to interrogate you," explained Kerry.
The young officer scoffed and pushed past toward the showers, pushing past Kerry and Lawson, completely ignoring the Detective from Major Crimes. When Lawson walked in a few minutes later, she was staring off into nothing, the night of the shooting playing through her mind as she tried to figure out how she killed an innocent person.
"Stel," he wanted to say something, but he wasn't quite sure what.
"It's okay Lawson."
"We need to talk," he said. Lawson was looking at his officer while she was looking at the door, plainly ignoring him so he continued. "Look, this could have been any one of us, you know that. And if anyone is to blame it's me. I made some serious errors in judgement which meant we went in at a serious point of weakness. I failed you. I failed all of us. I failed that guy on the bus. So for that I'm sorry."
Lawson completed his speech with several loud sighs. Stella simply watched him as he finished, and then lifted her right leg to unclip her weapon holster from her leg and belt.
"I killed someone, Lawson," she started, almost unable to comprehend what she had done. She had a blank look on her face and was struggling not to cry. "How do you get over that?"
Stella waited a beat to see if Lawson would answer. When she saw that he wasn't going to say anything, she answered it herself. "Well, you don't, do you?"
It was as if she saw this as an end to their conversation and stood up to take off her TR uniform vest, turning her back on Lawson as her took her actions as encouragement to leave. Dropping it to the bench, Stella Dagostino buried her face in her hands.
Out in the locker room, Shannon and Josh were sitting on the large bench in the middle of the room, Michael pacing slightly as if he felt responsible for what happened. Shannon pinched the bridge of her nose as Michael sat down across from them on a small filing cabinet.
"What do you think will happen to her?" he asked.
Shannon's eyes flickered from Michael to Josh, hoping that he would be honest, while not wanting to hear his answer at all.
"Hopefully, the investigation is just a formality."
"Nah, I didn't mean that," said Michael, turning to look out to the garage where Napthorn was standing with Kerry and Lawson discussing the news.
Josh was unable to answer his remark, because he didn't know how too. Both boys shared a common look, worried about their teammate. Shannon remained quiet, unsure of opening her mouth in case she said something she would regret.
Then Stella walked into the locker rooms, receiving encouraging looks from them. She held Shannon's eyes for a moment and took in her gentle smile, before lowering her view to her locker doorhandle.
Michael offered to go with her. She kept her mouth shut and shook her head no, offering an 'nah, I'm okay thanks'.
"Let us know if you need anything," said Josh. Sure they had never really gotten along, until after Grace died, but as a member of the elite squad he would always back his friends if they needed it.
"See ya," said Stella.
She walked out with confidence while full of nervousness, and was followed by all eyes watching as she got into the car with the Detective. Shannon watched on, then sneaked a look at Michael. It seemed as if he was really itching to go and jump into the car and go with her, but he knew he would get his arse kicked if he did. And not just by Lawson and Kerry, but by Stella as well.
The dark sedan drove out of the garage, the members of TR remaining deathly still until it had disappeared fully from view.
"She might not come back from this, you know that 'ey?" Kerry asked Lawson.
A few seconds later they heard Dom up the hall yelling about the water back on. If Leon wasn't playing a video game on the system, Dom could've heard a pin drop.
"Come on, restock the cars, get changed and go home. I know this sucks, but just finish out your shift and then you can do whatever," instructed the team leader, walking away with Kerry to discuss what would happen to Stella.
The Year 11 girls that had taken the five grand from Michael when he had been swimming in the pool had turned up to return it. Shannon told him to have more faith in people, and hurriedly filed her paperwork and left to change and go home. That was until she somehow ended up outside the Homicide Investigations building and decided to go and see Stella.
Kerry was already up there waiting for her to come out.
"I'll wait for her. I'll take her home," said Shannon, dropping her jacket and bag next to a chair and plopping herself down as Kerry approached with a cup of water.
"Okay. Hey, look after her alright?"
Shannon nodded, intending to keep her word.
Stella's interrogation with Detective Napthorn was unfortunately open and brutally honest about what had occurred that night on the bus out in Warrandyte. It felt like it was passing in blocks of time rather than a smoothly flowing bout of time.
The young Tactical Response officer had been required to explain in explicit detail everything she remembered from the night of the shooting.
"I remember the slide coming back on my pistol. I didn't hear anything, just the muzzle flash..."
Napthorn watched as she the details slide through her mind, saying them as she remembered each piece of information.
"The second round was a chest shot. It hit the offender. He went down after that..."
Now Stella was beginning to understand what had happened while struggling to continue talking.
"There were two bullets in him and you're saying one of them came from Sergeant Joshua's weapon?"
Napthorn nodded and quietly said yes. Stella's jaw clenched.
"So it was my first shot, missed the offender and killed him."
Stella was overcome with strong feelings of guilt, anger and grief and had no idea on how to handle it. They had quickly finished reviewing the statement Stella had given and Napthorn had she said was free to go and followed the small passage to offices out into the main hallway, opening the door and expecting Kerry but getting Shannon instead. They shared a small smile but it didn't last long until it fell from Stella's face.
"Come on, I'll take you home."
It was a twenty minute drive in near silence, the two women holding hands over the console in a sign of comfort. As they pulled up to Stella's apartment complex, Shannon put her car in park and switched the engine off when a beeping came from the open passenger side door.
"I'm going to see you up," offered the older of the two.
"No, don't worry."
The calmness in her voice scared Shannon slightly. A tear slipped down Stella's cheek and she let out a small laugh as she wiped it away.
"Thanks, Shan." One last smile was given before she got out and closed the door forcefully.
Shannon watched her teammate walk towards her building, and was not at all shocked or surprised at her turning back around, and walking speedily to the car. Stella's head came through the window and looked at Shannon.
"Shan," she started, but again she was at a loss for words.
Knowing that Stella was fighting a losing battle with herself, she smiled again and put the windows up, locking the car, adjusting her bag on her shoulder following the younger girl up. Stella opened the security door and held it open, reaching for her friends hand once again.
She found holding hands with Shannon to be oddly more comforting that with anyone else she had ever been with, friend or otherwise. Dayle, the building maintenance worker, was sweeping the floor down the hallway on the ground floor as they climbed the stairs in silence.
Shannon had never been in Stella's apartment before, looking all around as her bag and jacket were taken from her, placed on the bench next to the door and above the mass of shoes littering the floor.
They stood looking at each other for a moment until Stella offered a drink.
"No thanks, Stel. Did you want to talk about anything?"
A violent shake of the head was all Shannon needed to push her across the distance and pull her friend into a hug. It was returned with tears. It look several minutes before the brunette calmed down long enough for Shannon to pull away and wipe her tears. A wet smile was sent to her, but the hazel-y-brown eyes showed anything but amusement.
She was offered a t-shirt and a pair of boy shorts and shown the bathroom. The crack in the doorway between the floor and the door, Shannon could see the light becoming darkness and then a faint light. She was hoping not to trip on anything.
The fairy lights had been turned on above the bed head, showering the wall with tiny little white lights as it lit up the cracks and crevices of the painted-white brick wall. Stella was watching her as she came out, one hand behind her head, the other on her stomach, treading lightly to the opposite side of the bed where the blanket was already pulled back for her.
The lights shone down on them, the younger one rolling over as Shannon climbed in behind her. The bed sheets were cool, but she had a feeling they weren't going to get much sleep. The thought process coming from Stella was too loud to sleep.
"How are you feeling?" she asked quietly. There was no need to yell or speak loudly, there was no sound in the open loft. She had never heard Stella be so quiet, as she always one ready to voice her opinions whether they were wanted or not.
"I don't know," came back in a whisper. "How am I supposed to feel? I killed someone."
Nervously (Shannon had never been a touchy-feely kind of girl, but the moment required some physical comforts), Shannon let her hand reach out and pull the younger girl to her willingly, leaving her arm where it was around the thin waist. It was a few moments before there was any sound or movement; Stella slipped her hand into Shannon's and shifted back into her, sighing as loudly as Lawson had done earlier in the day.
Closer to one in the morning, Stella had finally fallen into a pretty restless sleep and had been tossing and turning for the better part of an hour. Shannon's arm was still held firmly in place by Stella's until she threw it off in her sleep. The tossing and turning had gotten worse and the older woman who was usually in control of situations was at a loss of what to do. She settled on waking her up, but found the task more difficult than she had anticipated.
Breathing deeply, Stella had suddenly bolted upright with her eyes wide open in shock. Shannon was watching carefully with tired eyes, waiting for anything.
"Bad dream."
It took nearly another hour to get Stella back to sleep. Shannon was awake the whole night, watching over her, keeping her word to Kerry.
It had been nearly three weeks since the ballistics report had come out, and Stella was having great difficulty re-adjusting to life at the base. Until the homicide investigation was completed, she was to be put on desk duty. How Dom was doing it, she had no idea. She wasn't getting enough sleep either, so looking at computer screens for eight hours a day was giving her constant headaches. Thankfully they all had the weekend off, and were looking forward to trying to relax.
Shannon had been over every night since her interview, refusing to leave her side, wanting to help her get through this. She soon learned that Shannon had been trying to stop her seeing the front page of the newspaper. Michael had begun making many attempts at talking to her since the report came back, but Stella quickly learnt how to avoid him and be off based before the TR vehicles arrived back at base. It was simple; don't be there.
Shortly after the report had come out, the news had been released to the media due to the publicity the death. The front page of the Herald Sun Newspaper was covered with a large photograph of the man that had been killed. 'DEATH SQUAD' was in bold italics above that and an insert of Stella's service record photo was in the corner.
She now understood why people had been looking at her as she walked down the street with her shopping.
She cornered Shannon as she was coming out of the shower at the end of a nasty shift, newspaper in hand, wanting a straight answer.
"Why didn't you just tell me?" she asked, sounding so defeated that Shannon's heart broke with every word.
"You...you already felt too guilty for something that was an accident. None of us wanted you to place more guilt on yourself," Shannon tried to explain seriously, but it was hard when she was only wearing a towel.
"Of course I feel guilty, Shannon. I killed someone. That guy didn't go home to his wife, and his sister. He was buried, and it was MY fault," yelled Stella. "I deserve to feel guilty."
"It was an accident. It wasn't your fault," said Shannon, eyes following the angry woman as she retched the door open, only to stop in her tracks when she saw Josh, Michael, Dom and Kerry standing there staring.
Kerry pointed to her office and followed the TR officer up the hallway. The eyes of the rest of the team, including Shannon who stuck her head out of the door, followed as well.
"Stella, you're under an extreme amount of stress right now, I get it. Okay?" said Kerry.
"No, you don't understand. You don't know how it feels to walk through the supermarket at have all of the people, these random people stare at you while you choose what's for dinner," Stella was beyond angry. "Now I know why they all stare."
The newspaper was thrown haphazardly onto the desk. Kerry leaned against the desk in front of Stella.
"It wasn't your fault. It was an accident, Stella. Now, you listen to me," said Kerry, effectively stopping Stella from interrupting what she was about to say. "It was an accident. You are not to blame. We didn't tell you because we wanted to protect you from that. Do you understand?"
"I want out," said Stella, keeping her eyes on the floor. If she tried to say this while she looked Kerry in the eye, she wouldn't have been able too.
"What?"
"I want out of TR. Transfer me out, please. I can't do this anymore. It's not just people in the street who stare, it's my own colleagues, my friends, people who were there that night."
"We can sort that out, you don't have to leave," pleaded the Inspector.
"Either transfer me to general duties, or I resign on the spot," said Stella, finally lifting her eyes to meet Kerry's.
Several long minutes were spent in a tension filled silence, as they stared at each other - Kerry mulling over each option in her mind, Stella wanting her to hurry up.
"Fine. I'll arrange for a transfer. But think about this, you're taking the chicken shit option out of this. Instead of standing by us, your teammate who would back you up, you want to run away in hopes that this will all disappear. If you think that will happen, you're wrong. You're dead wrong!" said Kerry.
It was a bad choice of words for someone who had killed an innocent man. When the Senior Constable looked at her superior as she stood, she looked entirely broken and defeated.
"Thank you," her voice cracking as she moved to the door.
"For what?"
"For being the first person in this building to be honest with me in the last three weeks," she answered, leaving the office for the last time.
The field trained team members, were flittering about in the office area when she arrived to pull her stuff out of her locker and hang her uniform up. It had never looked so bare to her before. She pulled the name tag off the door and closed it, walking out of the garage, looking back quickly and turning on the spot, slowly walking out of the Tactical Response Unit base.