{Open} On Patrol

[Anthony Lovasz]

It was a rather peaceful day in the small town of Pinewood...of course it was entirely possible that once the day actually started things would pick up some. As of yet, it was still morning, only about 8:00, and the grass was still decorated with the droplets of dew from the fog that had only just rolled away. There was hardly a soul out and about in the park just yet, and all was still. The birds had yet to arise and start their singing, the crickets had ceased their chirping. Most people were just starting to get out of bed...all was as it should have been...a good thing, right?

Well, for most you would assume that yes, it was a good thing, but for one man, it was, in fact, not a good thing. It was the fourth hour of his twelve hour shift on patrol as a mounted policeman, and he was very nearly bored to death. Didn't anyone break the law anymore? It sounded bad...and yes, it probably was bad...but Officer Charles Parker...more fondly referred to as Charlie by those who knew him...was what we like to call an "adrenaline junkie." For the past year he had been on paid leave of absence from the police force, and hadn't done much of anything thrilling. Now that he was back as an active officer though...he realized just how much he had missed it.

The horse he sat astride was the giant Belgian Thoroughbred cross known as Brigadier's Image, or Brig by anyone who had come across this massive horse more than once. At nearly 18 hands tall, Brig was not a horse you would want to challenge. He wasn't a very smart horse at all, but whatever the man on his back told him to do, he did without question. Don't get me wrong, he loved people...adored them actually, but Charlie had trained him and taken care of him since he could remember, and if he asked Brig to do anything at all, Brig would do it. Even if it meant lunging head long into a mob and running over a few people in the process.

Charlie stopped Brigadier's slow lumbering walk and sighed, looking out over the park. It was a pretty place really, and it held many memories for him. In fact, he had proposed to his fiance not to far from where he and Brig now stood...but right now, he really wished something would disturb the peaceful morning. It didn't even have to be anything illegal, he would be happy if someone just came his way on an early morning stroll. Anything really would make him perfectly content. When you've been patrolling the same five square miles for four hours it gets a bit old when nothing ever changes. He'd seen everything so many times by now that he could probably tell you every last detail of the place. He needed something to interrupt him, to intrigue him, to catch his eye. It didn't matter what, he just needed something other than the nothing that was going on right now.

Brigadier sighed heavily, obviously as bored with this as Charlie was. They'd gone through two months of rigorous off road training to get Brig ready for the police force, and now they were both just bored with the tranquility. All of the training had been to get the horse ready for the unexpected...and now that they expected the unexpected to happen...the normal day to day activities were just plain old boring. Call Charlie crazy, but he wanted something to happen that he could engage in, and as a policeman...that mean he wanted something illegal to happen. He wanted someone to fight the law, because he knew...in the end, the law would win, and he was currently the law.

[xxfeather]

It was a nice day, and Bre decided to go out for a bike ride. As her only mode of transportation, she usually never went out on it randomly. She placed a helmet atop on her heard, and attatched a basket on the front. Maybe she'd go grocery shopping, or something. Or perhaps go to the soda shop. She sighed as she peddled forward. She had been extremly bored, and her kitten, Cash wasn't up to his normal fooling around kind of mood. She peddled down a path in the park. She was going a bit to fast, but the wind felt good on her face. She suddenly saw a large figure a distance away, and she thought she'd go check it out. As she got closer, it appeared to be a large draft horse, with a man sitting atop. Bre tried to slow down, but her brakes wern't working.
Uh oh she thought. She passed the large belgian. To her, he looked like a giant statue in the middle of the park. She kept her focus on the horse, but not on where she was going. She looked forwards, and crashed right into a tree.
Oooomph. she groaned.

The next time Bre looked up, she was lying on the ground, her face burried in the grass. Miraculously, her bike wasn't harmed at all. But something didn't feel right. She gazed down at her hand, and it was scraped. Her arm had been cut aswell, but not badly. She looked at her blue jeans, and there was a grass stain on them.
Ugggh, stupid grass stain! she muttered.
She sat up, and leaned against the tree. She sat, and held her knees close to her face.
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[Anthony Lovasz]

Since nothing seemed to be happening in the park yet, Charlie let his mind wander off from his duty and to everything that had been going on in his life the past few months. He had proposed to Hayley out here in the park, and she had said yes...of course...and now they were planning on getting married come winter. Wedding planning had been incredibly stressful for Charlie, since details were not his thing and he had to focus on details to do this. But then the saintly Alex had come and offered to be the wedding planner, relieving 90% of Charlie's stress load. Charlie wasn't sure what he would do without Alex, she was almost always doing something for him, Anthony was a lucky guy.

Then about a month after he proposed to Hayley, things happened...and next thing he knew Hayley was telling him that she was pregnant with his kid. That really hit Charlie hard. Sure he'd been called daddy by Hayley's five year old son Chuck for a while, but this was different...really really different. This was his baby, his flesh and blood, his DNA. He wasn't sure if he was ready for that. It scared him senseless to think that he was going to have an infant baby to take care of, because he wasn't sure he knew how, or if he would be any good at it. Everyone assured him that he would be a great dad, but Charlie wasn't so sure...and what if he wasn't?

Then Charlie's little brother Chase showed up at Pinewood, and told him that their dad was dead, and Chase was now going to be living down near Charlie. Needless to say, Charlie was shocked. He had lost contact with his parents after joining the police force because they were rather mad at him for joining up against their will. But still, they were his parents, and you would think they would bother to tell him that his dad was dead. Shortly after that, a young guy by the name of Dustin showed up at the stable with his two daughters, and it became known that Charlie and Chase's dad had been romantically associated with another woman, and Dustin was the result...Chase had been infuriated, and still was, because he had idolized their dad, and now he was finding out that he was, in fact, flawed.

Then there was Sebastian's wedding, which Charlie was a groomsman in. That wasn't very stressful for him, but for a while he had to forget everything that was stressful and be the voice of reason for Sebastian. He knew all about Sebastian's...issues...and knew that he would need all the support he could get. Come the wedding day, Seb looked like he was about ready to take off running he was so nervous, and Charlie had to keep his wits about him and keep Sebastian walking forwards towards that alter where he would stand and wait for Chey to come to him so that they could be married.

After that Hayley started acting really weird, like she was on drugs again, but he knew she wasn't. Then she came out and proclaimed that Tyler Haze was Chuck's dad...a shock to everyone including Tyler. The poor kid had just gone through the loss of Alessandra and he had been refusing to even look at his daughter who Ale had left behind in his care. Then when Hayley dumped that new on him...that he had gotten a girl pregnant when he was only 15, it was more than he could take. Charlie had been trying to get through to Tyler, same as everyone else, but nothing really seemed to be working.

Then Charlie had ended up admitting Hayley to the asylum at the hospital because she was literally going crazy. She had been infuriated with him in her moments of sanity, and he felt terrible for doing it. Then he went to visit her and he and Liz came to the conclusion that it was a bracelet Hayley was wearing that was causing her insanity, though they had no idea how or why. Then Tyler showed up at the asylum and cut the bracelet off of Hayley and revealed the drugs inside. Charlie had shoved him back against a wall, and his fist made contact with Tyler's jaw before the kid came out and told him who had done this to Hayley.

Then Hayley had her baby, and started drinking again. She started having huge parties, and one of them ended nearly in disaster. She was kidnapped, along with Chuck, by the same men who had sent her the drugged bracelet, and was very nearly raped and killed by them. Fortunately, Tyler knew where to find them, and he had been burrowed down into such intense anger that both men had ended up dead...it wasn't murder though, it was completely justified as self defense, and the saving of a woman and her son. As if that weren't enough, Hayley and Charlie were still arguing, and now Hayley was a possible suspect in a murder case that happened recently. Poor Charlie had way too much going on in his life all at once. It was a wonder he was still sane...and alive.

He was jerked out of his thoughts suddenly by a snort from Brigadier. A bike was coming quickly towards them, a bit too quickly. The girl flew past them, and she seemed to not be paying attention to where she was going...which happened to be straight into a tree. Charlie raised an eyebrow at the girl as she catapulted off the bike and onto the ground then pulled herself up so she was sitting back against the tree. Charlie could see the blood on her hand and arm, and even though it didn't look like it would kill her, they were still pretty good cuts she'd earned herself.

He sighed and turned Brig towards her, dismounting a few feet away. He muttered stand to the horse, and walked the remaining distance between himself and the girl. You alright? He asked her, looking down at her. Stupid question, yes...she was bleeding, she couldn't be totally alright. Still, it never hurt to ask, some people didn't want help...especially from the police. This girl looked to be about 16 or 17, so Charlie was guessing that she wouldn't have anything against the police, but still...there was nothing wrong with asking, because you never can tell who hates you and who doesn't...unless they come right out and say it.

[xxfeather]

Bre looked up, and saw the large horse standing a few feet away. The man who was riding it was a police officer. She wondered why he was riding a horse.
Oh, um.. yeah, I'm fine. Just resting, that's all. she said smiling.
Her arm had stung a little, but other than that she was fine. Nothing else was wrong. She slowly got up, and brushed some dirt off of herself.
Thanks for your concern. she said.
Bre couldn't keep her eyes off the belgian horse. It was big, very big.
Um, is that your horse over there, sir? she asked.
Obviously. she thought.
She had remembered the large thoroughbreds her mother used to work with. Some of them could reach sixteen hands, but this belgian.. it looked like it was atlast eighteen hands high. How difficult it must be to mount the horse.

[Anthony Lovasz]

It certainly didn't look like she was just resting...but Charlie wasn't going to argue. As long as she wasn't breaking the law, it really wasn't any of his business while he was on duty. He was a policeman when he was on duty, and his personal life had to be put on hold, meaning that he had to conduct himself like a policeman would around anyone and everyone. It was hard to do, especially if he was working the field and he ran into Hayley. If no one else was around he was more than welcome to do whatever he wanted, but if there was so much as one witness, he couldn't even kiss her without getting into trouble.

It was different when he was working the desk or complaints. Then Hayley could come in whenever she wanted. Of course, she wasn't supposed to go behind the desk since that was technically against protocol, but Charlie could get away with it. As according to his commanding officer, Charlie was a "indispensable asset" to the police force, and as such, he could get away with doing things that most people couldn't get away with. Now, you might assume that the other guys might get perhaps a bit jealous that Charlie got to do all of this stuff, but everybody liked Charlie, it was impossible not to, and they didn't hold it against him.

Of course, if anyone ever came in while Hayley was back there, she would go back around to the front so as to not inhibit Charlie's ability to do his job and in any way demean the police force as a whole. So it all worked out perfectly, and no one had anything against it. Besides, they couldn't blame him for wanting to be with his fiance, soon to be wife, and mother of his daughter. It was a natural thing for him, and they all understood that. Charlie was the youngest guy on the force currently, and all of the other guys were married already and understood what it was like to be in love like Charlie and Hayley were.

He glanced back towards Brig, when the girl asked if that was his horse. He couldn't help the tiny bit of pride when he looked at Brigadier. He looked incredible clad in the navy blue blanket with gold trim and that black leather saddle...not to mention the badge in the center of the breast strap. He looked every inch as professional as Charlie did in his policeman's uniform. He turned back towards the girl and nodded, He is... He said with a slight smile. are you sure you're alright? No, he wasn't an obsessive worrier, but he could be concerned if he wanted to be, and he was. He knew what pain was...he'd been shot a few years ago while making an arrest, and hadn't been able to take any pain meds for a day or so because he was deathly allergic to morphine...and that was all they had. Of course, her cuts didn't look anything like they would be as painful as getting shot...but still, he had every right to be concerned.

[xxfeather]

Bre nodded.
Yeah, I'll be fine. I've had worse. she said.
She tightened her strap on her helmet and shook her head.
Well, I guess I should be going. You didn't see anything. she told him.
She hopped on her bike, and began to peddle away.
Okay, now he's gonna think I have a mental problem. she thought. Bre had been going a bit slower, but still fast. Now, she was going through the park, whizzing by until she found a set of swings. She glanced at them, but kept on going.