Slight trigger warning - there's an encounter with the police in this chapter. I was always going to have this scene but later in the story; in light of recent events I think it's important that my writing reflects many people's realities.

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They hadn't been apart at all since they got together, a month and some change ago. Apart from being separated by their working day and more recently Lima's visit they had seen each other every day without fail.

The realisation made her teary and panicked. How was she supposed to do life, for any length of time without his smile, frequent hugs or gentle teasing? She had gotten so used to having him by her side. Without him she felt bereft, as if an important organ or a limb was missing.

She had never felt like this about a romantic partner, or rather she had never let herself feel like this about another person since her twin died. The closest she got was Lima.

Her relationship with Lima was in the realms of sisterhood and a solid soul bond. The one person she never had to explain herself to. They got each other without words. It was beyond rhyme or reason.

And with Gabe it was something similar. She could be herself, but the very best version of herself. The self that was patient, mature and who could love and accept love in return.

She was a mess without him but also she wasn't raised a bitch. As it happened, she needed to paint a smile on and fake being a functional human until she could actually make it through the day without being mired in increasingly intrusive and compulsive thoughts.

Gabe had gotten in touch when he had landed, hearing his deep voice and casual Texan drawl did little to assuage her fears. If anything it just reminded her that he was two continents away. He called when he could, it was infrequent and unpredictable. She had a new sense of sympathy for his wife. She couldn't believe that she had endured several deployments and battled cancer too.

"How are you holding up?" Ella asked for the third time that day.

"I'm fine," Natalia answered for the umpteenth time.

Ella had taken to stopping by her teaching classrooms to check up on her in between lessons. It was sweet; if a little overbearing. She and Porsha were the only people that knew of Gabe's true whereabouts, the other staff members at school had been informed that he had left for a family emergency and the assistant football coach had taken over his duties until his return.

Natalia trudged through the motions. It had been a full week since Gabe's departure, she thought that he'd be closer to returning but no such luck. Ty was still missing, there were some leads that they were following up but there was nothing new to report. Lima was a similar mess, and the two girls commiserated together daily, their macabre British humour becoming too morbid to be funny, even for them.

"Are you coming to Yoga tonight?"

"Ew, no not with you. I'm tired of your crush on the yoga instructor."

"After enduring you and your white boy's nauseating displays? You owe me."

Natalia rolled her eyes at Porsha. "Okay but food after, and you're buying." She needed to relax and blow off some steam.

"Deal."

Her phone rang, just as she was getting into a position that she couldn't care to commit to outside of sex, so Natalia took her phone and quietly tried to sneak out of the yoga class.

"Hi!" she said excitedly at the screen when she was outside of the class in a spot where she could talk without disturbing them. "A FaceTime? To what do I owe this unexpected pleasure?"

"A good WiFi connection. Why are you out of breath?" he asked puzzled, taking in her appearance. She was shiny with perspiration and messy hair.

"I was in yoga class."

"Yoga, huh?" She could see him try to hide a dirty smirk and fail. She smiled back remembering the night before his departure, her thoughts bringing heat to her cheeks.

"How are things, any leads on Ty?"

"We're following up on some things, but nothing solid yet," he said vaguely. She didn't even want details for once. All she wanted was for him to come home safe.

"Okay, well stay safe out there."

"I will do."

"Hey, is it okay that I've been driving your car? I had to return my rental for servicing."

"Of course. That's not even a question," he replied but there were voices in the background splitting his attention. "Baby, I gotta go. Be good. I love you."

Serotonin rushed in her veins at his words, it was new. The way he said it at the end of phone calls and the casualness. As if it was a given. A simple fact. Beyond time and place.

"I love you too." He had time to give her one of his brilliant smiles before he cut the call. How was he making her weak-kneed from Africa? She needed answers.

The class finished, and Porsha found her in the changing room of the gym staring at her phone with a goofy expression on her face.

"Wow, you really lost in that sauce."

"I'm not..." Natalia attempted to protest but she quieted when Porsha gave her a severely dirty and disbelieving look.

"Hand me the aux cord, you have a sickness only City Girls and our good sis Megan thee Stallion can cure," Porsha said once they were in Gabe's truck headed to get some food after a long day, was it counterproductive to eat out after exercise? Yes but that wasn't going to stop them.

"Gabe would die if he heard this being played in his truck."

"I'm sure," Porsha smirked as she started to dance in her seat to the beat and rap along to the lyrics pointing her fingers in Natalia's face. Natalia laughed, black women everywhere were really living the same lives.

As she drove, Natalia caught sight of the dazzle
of emergency lights in the rear view mirror. She peered into the parking assist camera and the side view mirrors and clear as day, there was a police car flashing its lights.

"Porsha — "

"Slow down and pull up to the side," her voice vibrated with a quiet panic. She turned the music off. Silence sat like a still wind in the car between them.

"Do we have to?" She was panicked. Utterly panicked.

Porsha gave her an indecipherable look. "Don't make any sudden movements and warn them before you do anything."

Natalia had never had any encounters with the police back home let alone in the US and it seemed she was about to get a baptism by fire. Of course she had seen the videos and the pictures of what Black people encountered on both sides of the pond  — that was the source of her anxiety and she wasn't ready.

Her heart hammered in her chest with so much violence her breath came out in spurts.

She had to calm down.

She rolled down her window in anticipation. Putting her hands flat on the steering wheel in full view of the law enforcement officer.

A well built, white man in uniform approached her driver's side window and when Natalia caught sight of his holster it took everything in her not to bolt from the car and run for safety.

"Good evening officer," she spoke first, pushing the buildup of bile down with a nervous swallow.

"Evening, ma'am," he tipped his hat. "Can I have your licence and registration please?"

"Of course, I'll just get them both for you," she spoke loudly and clearly. And she thanked every star in every universe that she had gotten a Texan licence last month or this could have gone unpredictably sideways.

He stared at her as he waited for the requested documents. "You're not from around here?"

"No, sir I'm from London...England," She clarified.

"This car is registered to a Gabriel Mercier."

"Yes, sir that's my boyfriend."

He looked around the car. Porsha that had been silent up until then took a sharp intake of breath.
Natalia could feel the blood rush in her ears. The minutes ticked on as they waited for his next words.

"Is there any way to verify that?"

"No sir, he's away right now."

"Hmm..." his gaze landed on the short chain with a military pendant hanging from the rear view mirror. That famous Marine globe and anchor. "Your boyfriend deployed?"

"Yes sir," Natalia answered quickly. It was kind of true. She hoped it helped. Didn't they all love the military?

He stayed silent casting a look into the inside of the car again. Going from the pendant, to Porsha, to her and finally the documentation in his hands. "Ok," he acquiesced, returning the documents.

"Be sure to thank him for his service. Y'all take care now."

"Yes, sir. Thank you."

He left.

Natalia waited until his footsteps receded before she allowed herself to relax.

Tension springing from her shoulders down to her toes. She used the side mirror to watch him until he had driven away.

Then and only then did she slump back in her seat.

Nothing had happened but at the same time a lot happened. She couldn't explain it. Her mind blurred the lines between what could have been and what wasn't. She had never felt fear and hopelessness like that before.

She looked at Porsha who wore an identical look of rage, relief and resignation. She felt exhausted to her very core.

"I feel sick."

"Me too."

They sat in silence before Natalia found the courage to close her window and start the car again. She didn't even know where she was driving to, they ended up at Porsha's ordering in food instead of braving the outside and working out how to function in a society that didn't cater for them.

When she got to Gabe's, after arming the alarm system she got changed into one of his hoodies. It still smelled like him. Sunshine, a hint of cologne and something entirely Gabe-like she couldn't put her finger on. It calmed her down and helped her to organise her thoughts.

What had happened today was awful and something Black people in America dealt with everyday. Maybe it was random and maybe there was no way to stop or prepare for it, you just had to roll with it when it happened to you but it scared the daylights out of her.

Could she really live in a country where this loomed over her everyday? She hadn't thought of her life beyond this academic year. Where did she want to stay? Back to the UK, Dubai, or staying in Texas with Gabe? Today's events put the possibility of the latter in a little bit of jeopardy.

It was exhausting. Before today, the possibility of being stopped by the police had only ever been a cautionary tale to her but now it was going to be at the forefront of her mind every time she got behind the wheel. She couldn't shake it off.

The policeman's little fascination with her accent and the military paraphernalia in the car had stopped her from being another statistic. Natalia was paralysed by the fear of what could have happened had he demanded she prove Gabe knew she was driving his car. Fuck, what if he had thought she had stolen it? Not only had she put her own life at risk but Porsha's too.

It wasn't until she was tucked into bed about to nod off that Natalia realised, the policeman hadn't even given them a reason for the traffic stop and she couldn't stop the tears that leaked out of her eyes.

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Next chapter is supposed to be Gabe's POV. Let me know in the comments if y'all want to see what he's been up to in the Motherland!