Escaping the World || Joanne

[Karl Lindemann]

It wasn't often that Karl tried to shut out the world, wasn't often that he tried to hide and escape from it. Today, however, was one of the rare days when escape was something he really wanted. Not just wanted, needed.

It had been a tough couple of days. Hell, not just days - it had been a tough week. Murders, each more grisly than the next, had contributed to many tiring double-shifts. But hey, what else was new? And it wasn't just physically exhausting - it was emotionally draining too. For once he wanted a simple case, something that didn't involve children or crimes of passion. Was that too much to ask?!

So now he sat in the break room, nursing a coffee that he wasn't even drinking. He hardly wanted to stay here at work any longer, but the notion of returning home to an empty apartment and spending another night alone seemed even less appealing. So for now, he stayed put.

[Joanne Biondi]

For the first time in her career, Joanne felt exhausted, felt destroyed physically and mentally. She didn't love children that much, but she felt really bad when these poor little souls were involved in crimes and such horrible acts.

Now, she looked like hell. Her long blonde hair was kind of messy, her blue eyes were always tired and she had dark circles under her eyes, circles that not even some powder could hide. Sighing to herself and with a cup of coffee already in her hands, she entered the break room. Soon, she would be able to go home and she couldn't wait for it. Though that meant that she would be all alone, haunted by the memories of the crime scenes, it was better than having to deal with them right there. She sighed again and ran a hand through her blonde hair as she entered.

Spotting Karl at a table, looking just as thoughtful and confused like her, she walked over there. "Hey," she said quietly looking down, as she sat by him, not even asking if he minded her doing that or not.

[Karl Lindemann]

He knew there were some monsters in this world, but it never ceased to enrage him when children were involved. Sure, they could be total brats for a good portion of their childhood, but they were still innocent and little. And with a certain purity that was hard to find in adults, if not impossible.

Hearing a voice greeting him, he pulled himself out of his musings. His partner-in-crime. Funny, either she'd become less bratty and annoying, or he was beginning to tolerate her more; she'd certainly slowly become easier to work with, if only by the tiniest bit.

"Hey," he greeted her simply, running a hand through his hair. He was a mess - he knew this all too well. All mirrors were avoided at any cost lately, to save himself from the reminder that he probably looked like an exhausted hobo on this double-shift. Joanne looked just as exhausted, though somehow, she managed to pull it off. Oddball of nature... "How are you holding up?" he asked quietly, as if his voice was too tired to talk any louder. He knew all of this had affected her, just like it had him, even if she probably shared his general dislike for children.

[Joanne Biondi]

Joanne had never liked Karl, mostly because he was very good at what he was doing. He was intelligent, a good detective and a great leader, and he was also young. Before his arrival, she had been the young amazing detective, the revelation of the lab. But when he came to Las Vegas, she began to lose it slowly, or at least was made to share it. And she didn't like to share, that was for sure.

However, the two of them had worked together lately. She sometimes wondered why their boss insisted on the two of them being partners-in-crime, but that didn't matter. They were not doing a bad job together anyway.

She ran a hand through her long hair and looked at him as he spoke. She could see that he was tired, but he looked great anyway, unlike herself, probably. At his question, she sighed softly and shrugged. "I'm tired," she admitted out loud for the first time. She was that kind of person who tried to make others think that she was made of steel and nothing could get to her. "But I'm fine," she added quietly, then took a sip of her coffee.

[Karl Lindemann]

Karl ran a hand through his messy hair, giving a wry smirk. Why had he expected her to show her feelings, when she was so good at keeping her true emotions under wraps. There were few things that Karl actually liked about her, but at times he rather admired this trait of hers. In a job that didn't allow for emotional influence to get involved, this quality rather complimented her.

"Join the club. The 'Tired Club' I call it. We have pyjamas and cookies with milk and everything," he joked tiredly, massaging his closed eyes with his fingertips gently. "It's now officially affiliated with LVPD."

[Joanne Biondi]

A slight, tired chuckle escaped Joanne's throat as she spoke. She normally loved her job so much and didn't even care about exhaution. She pushed it in the back of her mind and kept it there, away from her self, the one she showed to the others. But this one was getting to difficult.

"And when I think that I have cookies and milk at home..." she smiled, once again passing a hand through her hair. "You should come when you're done here. I don't plan on staying much longer." What was up with her, why had she invited at her house, and not only for a visit, but maybe to spend the night there? She didn't know... Maybe that for once, the case had got to her and she needed someone. Even though that someone was Karl Lindemann.

[Karl Lindemann]

"You do? And you only think to mention this now? How could you?" he demanded, feigning hurt. He blinked once in surprise at her offer. She was really inviting him over? Surely this had to be a trick. But maybe she was just in need of human company, regardless of who. Maybe, just like him, she didn't want to be alone and needed someone there, if only for a breathing furniture fixture on the couch to remind her that she wasn't all alone. Which suited him fine - he didn't want to be alone today either.

"You're on. Though I have to ask - are you a chocolate-chip or a peanut-brownie kind of girl? We might have to venture out to the store if your cookie tastes don't meet my cookie connoisseur standards," he teased, pushing his chair away from the table and getting up slowly, to avoid his muscles from protesting.

[Joanne Biondi]

Karl and her being all smiley and talking like that was definetly weird and unexpected, but they had had moments like this before. Even though they were normally fighting all the time, they had also had a few better days, not to mention that night. That night which would never be repeated.

She shrugged slightly, not getting up from her chair. "Trust me, my cookies are the best," she told him with a slight smile. "You won't need to venture out at all."

[Karl Lindemann]

This -this odd and rare moment- was nice. Sure, the pair bickered like an old married couple (Goodness forbid! Karl's brain screamed at this) half the time, but every once in a blue moon, they'd have a sweet moment, one where they'd forget that they both hated each other's guts, and could just be civil.

Oh you've had many a sweet moment with her. Remember that night? Especially that night...

Shut up, brain. Just shut up.

"Oh, I'm fairly certain your cookies are most brilliant," he said with a smirk, raising an eyebrow. He couldn't help it - she'd walked right into this one. "I guess I'll just have to trust you then, won't I?"

[Joanne Biondi]

Joanne had realized a long time ago that the nice moments between Karl and her turned out to be really sweet. They had had some during their undercover case in Miami, and they had also had that night, which was not exactly sweet, more like steamy...

But! She had to stop thinking about it and quickly.

She smiled and raised an eyebrow as well, as much as she could seeing how tired she was. "That is right," she said, looking straight at him. "I know how hard this will be for you, to trust me, but it's the only way."

[Karl Lindemann]

Karl gave a theatrical sigh. "Geez, if I must. However, if I end up regretting this 'trusting you' thing, you shall never ever ever hear the end of this," he told her with a grin. "Now then, shall we go?" he asked, getting up..

[Joanne Biondi]

Joanne chuckled and passed a hand through her hair. She took the last sip of coffee, then got up from her chair. She didn't know how this experience would be, but she wanted to give it a try after the horrible cases she had gone through. "Sure," she nodded. "Just let me get my jacket."
She didn't know why, but she could only remember the last time when he had been at her house, the last night.

[Karl Lindemann]

"Oh I have such brilliant plans for tonight," Karl told her gleefully, making his way over to the door and leaning on its frame. "Raiding your fridge, raiding your pantry, watching some absolutely trashy movie. And don't even try and deny it - I'm almost 100% percent certain that you have at least one rom-com hidden somewhere at the back of your DVD shelf," he said with a chuckle, making his way towards the door. "And I plan on finding it. And teasing you mercilessly about it for the end of time, or until you get so sick of it that you transfer out. Whichever comes first," he stated, but his tone held a joking to it.

"And I really do feel sorry for your fridge - it won't know what's hit it."

[Joanne Biondi]

Joanne chuckled as she made her way out of the break room. Of course, Karl's words were still following her. With a big smile on her face, she turned around to face him, rolling her eyes a little bit.
"No, I don't have trashy movies," she said cockily. "The problem is that I don't have much food either... I've been living at the lab for the past few days," she smiled, then turned around to go to her office and grab her jacket.

[Karl Lindemann]

"You what?!" Karl gasped, clutching at his shirt and doubling over, as if in pain. "How could you do this? How could you deprive me of food like this? More to the point, how can you deprive your kitchen of food, of glorious glorious food...?" Shaking his head, he stood back up. "Right, this calls for a trip to the supermarket. And obviously to the video store. So, if rom-com's aren't your guilty pleasure, what is?"

[Joanne Biondi]

Joanne laughed and shook his head at his words and gestures. He somehow had a way to make her feel better when he was like that, and not fighting with her over nothing. When he mentioned the movies again, she sighed playfully and smiled. "Okay, okay!" she said. "So I may have a rom-com somewhere there. But I prefer horrors and thrillers."

[Karl Lindemann]

With a laugh and a playful whoop of joy, Karl punched the air. "Oh yeah! Who's psychic?" he teased, adding a playful wink. "I'm sorry though, I've been told that I'm not allowed to use my psychic powers to help co-workers pick numbers for the lottery," he added, putting on an expression of grave seriousness. "Sorry."

"So, thrillers and horrors, huh? Will you shoot me if I tell you that I'm not much surprised?" he said with a chuckle.

[Joanne Biondi]

A big smile showed up on Joanne's face and she laughed lightly at his words. It was a total surprise that someone was able to make her feel better when she was so tired and upset. And an even bigger surprise that that someone was no one else than Karl Lindemann.

At his next words, she smiled innocently and raised an eyebrow. "You're not?" she asked, taking her jacket. "I don't even know if it's a good thing or a bad one."

[Karl Lindemann]

Karl couldn't help but grin at her reaction. She had both a pretty smile and laugh. He was also rather glad that he could cheer her up. Something that surprised him, seeing as he normally didn't really care.

He gave her a sheepish grin, shrugging. "Yeah, well. Take it as a good thing cos it shows you're a tough chick...? I dunno. I'm too tired to think about all this. Favourite horror of all time?"

[Joanne Biondi]

Joanne smiled. She was still surprised by this thing, that she was chuckling and smiling while she was around Karl, that she had asked him to come over to her place and everything. But maybe it was time to call it a truce. Knowing Lindemann though, she was not that sure that this would happen.

"Oh God, they're so many..." she said, trying to think as clear as possible. "I could say The Nightmare on Elm Street, I'd go with the classic. But Excision was definetly a weird captivating thingy."

[Karl Lindemann]

"Never seen that one. But 'Nightmare on Elm Street is brilliant. I refused to go to bed at night for three weeks, I think it was after seeing it," Karl admitted, laughing. "Have you seen 'Cabin in the Woods'? Now there's a weirdly brilliant movie..."

[Joanne Biondi]

Joanne chuckled, grabbing her purse and starting towards the exit. For the first time, she was eager to leave that place and go home, because at times, it was just too much.
"I have!" she almost squealed, looking back at Karl. "I love, I absolutely love Jesse Williams. And I loved the movie!"

[Karl Lindemann]

Karl laughed, shaking his head. It was an interesting change - seeing her so childishly happy about something. He never got to see her like this and it was a surprising but nice change. "Let's go then. We'll rent it out for the night, and I can laugh at your fangirl-squeeing all night," he teased, following her.

[Joanne Biondi]

Joanne chuckled as she walked with him. She shook her head and rolled her eyes, but in a playful way this time. It was a nice change; normally, she would do this only because she was annoyed at how he worked or how he acted, but now, it was just childish, and it felt great. She hadn't been like that in a while, because she had worked so much and she had been so busy.
"Haha, no! I won't do that," she smiled, walking ahead of him. "But I may need someone to cuddle up to."
Seriously, Biondi? Had she really said that to Lindemann? She almost slapped herself mentally, but there was not much else she could do.

[Karl Lindemann]

Karl almost spluttered at her words. Seriously? After everything?

Would you be complaining? Really, Lindemann?

No... Not really...

He gave a theatrical sigh and rolled his eyes skyward. "Oh alright, if I have to... Though I must say - I didn't pick you as one to be scared at horrors," he teased, raising an eyebrow.

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