Good Cop

A/N: A one-shot. BlossomxAce. Ace's POV. Very short; just felt like writing something a little different. Reviews are always appreciated. :)

There's this pretty little thing sitting across from me and I says to myself: "Don't she look familiar?"

It only takes two more seconds to match up those big, bright pink eyes with her name. Blossom. I just saw her sister an hour or so ago-- she's the one who made my arrest. That tomboy Buttercup. But I hadn't seen much of this redheaded Puff since I guess they said she left to college. Got her degree though, and now she's back. She fights crime from behind a desk now. Leaves the dirty work for her sisters, I suppose. Smart girl. Always had been smart.

"Aren't you a little old for these games?" she says behind the shuffling of her paperwork. She don't spare one second looking at me.

I laugh a little to myself. "So are you the good cop or the bad cop?" I ask. It's true what they say about interrogation rooms. You're always stuck in a room with two coppers: one good and one bad. They're both usually pretty bad underneath anyways. No such thing as a "good" cop, if you ask me.

She finally looks at me, and cracks a smile. The cop behind her is still toying with the coffee machine.

"Ah, the bad one, eh?" I grin big. I lean back in my chair, and take off my shades and set them on the table. She smiles more when she sees my eyes. I can't help but notice this.

In any other setting, I'd start to play the game. But considerin' I was in the police station, a member of my gang was in the hospital, and I think this chick might have been dating with Mr. Coffee Cop behind her, I decided to let this one go. She was cute though. Real cute. And I could see by the looks of her slightly balding guy friend behind her, she liked her men older. Made sense, considering this early twenty-something-year-old talked like she was twice her age.

"You don't think you're too old to be playing these games?" she repeats with that smile.

I laugh some more and shake my head. "Just can't seem to get out of the business, I guess." I lean in towards the table, and towards her. "What about you? Same story, eh?"

She stares at me, without a smile. Her boyfriend finally has his cup of coffee and sits down beside her. He looks at me. "So what exactly happened this afternoon, Mr. Espinoza?"

"The name's Ace," I correct.

"I'm sorry," he fakes like the good cops always do. "Can you tell us what happened today, Ace?"

I lean back in my chair again. My head starts to throb with a huge headache. I hate it when they ask that question. If only Big Billy had listened to me when I said to stay away from any baggy jeaned fool who claims he's representin'.

"Like I said to the other guys before I got here: Big Billy met some guy who said he wanted to play some dice. Big Billy said okay, 'cause he loves to gamble, no matter what the game. Even if he ain't got no money. He tends to forget you needs dough, in order to gamble. Which I guess the other guy didn't appreciate so much."

"The other gentleman claims that Billy cheated during the game, and when confronted, he grew angry and pulled a knife on him. Do you know anything about this, Mr. Espinoza?" Blossom's back to flipping through her papers and looks serious.

"The name's Ace," I repeat. "You know this, Miss Utonium. Mr. Espinoza is my old man. Not me."

She says nothing and things are quiet while she's sorting more papers.

I sigh, knowin' that I won't get to go nowhere if I don't answer her question. Even though her question was directed at Mr. Espinoza, and not me. "Well, I guess when me and the gang play with 'im, we tend to let Big Billy win. We let him cheat, you know? Just 'cause he's a little slow, if you know what I mean. Anyways, I wouldn't be surprised if he did cheat. Probably didn't even know that he did, but I can see how it could happen. All I know is that I heard some hollerin' and I comes out and I see my boy bleeding from his arm, and some punk with a gun."

"What exactly did you hear?" he asks me.

"I dunno!" I say. "Something about 'You throwed eight' and 'No, I throwed seven!' and 'No, it was eight!' I guess that was that guy accusing him of cheating."

"And then--"

"We have enough," the redhead interrupts her guy friend.

He looks at her, looking surprised. I look surprised, too. Usually when the cops get their hands on me, they keep me in that room for hours before taking me to my cell. The coffee cop continues staring at her. "We have enough," she repeats with a serious face. "I'll finish up here," she says.

The guy stands up, straightens his tie and leaves with his cup of coffee.

I sit there and wait as her eyes follow the other cop right out the door. She waits for a while, still staring at the door, before she looks at me again. "I won't waste your time," she says. "After this, you're free to go. Big Billy is still in the hospital, but he will be fine. The bullet apparently just grazed him. The one we really want is the other guy. His gang is the bigger source of this town's problems. Not yours. "

"Is that so?" I say. I'm surprised about the letting me go part. Not surprised that this dick was a member of some gang that's more threatening. I always tried to say we was innocent. No one ever believes us though.

"Yes," she answers. She pauses. I can tell she wants to say something, but she ain't sure if she should. Or maybe she don't know exactly how.

"What?" I ask.

She raises and eyebrow and leans forward. "I'm curious, Ace."

"Curious?"

"Why are you still playing these games? Really? No jokes. No sarcasm. Just tell me. Your gang isn't what it used to be. It never was much, really, but I hear it's just you, Billy and Snake nowadays. Why do you even call yourself a gang still? If you just quit, you'd at least get these rival gangs off your backs. Maybe even live a little longer, hm?"

I smile at her and she looks confused. "I'll answer this for ya, if you answer something for me."

She smiles a little and crosses her arms and leans back in her chair just like I'm doing. "Okay."

"I don't got nothing else."

She stares at me.

"That's it," I say. "I ain't got nothing else," I shrug. "It's what I know, and it's what I do. Can you see what I'm saying?"

Her eyes look like they're some place far away and I know that she sees exactly what I'm saying. "Yes, I do," she admits. She takes her papers and slides them into her folder and looks at me again. "So, what was your question?"

"Why you dating that creep cop that was in here?"

She blinks at me for a while and then shakes the surprised look from her face. All of a sudden, she tries to play it calm and cool. "What makes you think that I'm dating him?"

"Before they brought me in here, I saw you two down the hallway talking." I sit up in my chair and lean towards her again. I pick up my sunglasses and slip them back on again. I push them to the tip of my nose and peek up over the top of them. I give her my best look, forgetting that I warned myself earlier to not play the game. "Also, I could sense a little… tension… between the two of yous. You guys about to break up or something?"

"Just broke up, actually," she says, sitting up straight in her seat.

"Sorry to hear it," I say.

She stands from her seat and walks to the door and opens it. She holds it there and looks at me. "Have a good night, Mr.--- Ace."

I get up and walk over to her. I stop before walking out the door. I take off my shades and run my hand through my hair. I bow my head a little, just 'cause I guessed that's the kind of lame-o shit she's used to getting from guys. "It was a pleasure seeing you again, Miss Blossom."

"Stay off the streets," she says as I walk out the door.

"Now, if I did that, how would you know where to find me?" I wink.

She smiles and hesitates. "I guess that's true."

I notice that she's blushing that same pink that's the color of her big, bright eyes. I can't help but grin. I know I'll be seeing her around the town, soon.

The end.