Late Night Addiction

[nmartin]

For all that she had accomplished throughout the short span of her lifetime, one thing could always get the better of Natalie Martin; coffee. Oh, did she have an addiction to coffee. Not one day in the entirety of her college career had gone by where she hadn't had at least a sip of the stuff. Black coffee, flavored coffee, mochas, lattes, macchiatos, cappuccinos, frappes, or the occasional cafe americano if she was feeling particularly masochistic with her sleeping schedule. This nasty little habit of hers cost her a pretty penny throughout the day. At an average cost of just a little over $3.70 per cup, it was a good thing she hadn't had to take out any student loans, and that she had her job.

After a long day of hard classwork and having been up since six o'clock that morning, Natalie purposefully missed the exit southbound toward her apartment building and instead continued slightly east to pay a visit to her favorite coffee shop. One that she visited on nearly a nightly basis, but still hadn't really ever said anything outside of her order. This night was no different. Clutching her coat together with one hand and holding her coffee in the other, the brunette made her way back to her parked car outside of the cafe. The area was busy enough for her to have to park on the other side of the street, so she hurriedly crossed, and letting go of her coat, reached for her keys in one of her pockets. Only to find, of course, that she had actually put them in her purse this time.

Grumbling something to herself, she sat the coffee on top of the roof of her car and lowered her arm so that the purse's handle fell down into her hands. Opening it up, she fumbled around until she could hear the clinging of her keys, and pressed the remote 'unlock' button. However, as she did that, she could hear snow crunching behind her, and before she even had a chance to really react, something cold was on the back of her exposed neck, due to her hair being pulled back in it's usual ponytail.

"Hold still, lady.." A gruff sounding voice growled lowly from behind her, forcing the cold metal of what she could assume was a gun uncomfortably into her neck. Natalie's heart rate did pick up, but she wasn't necessarily scared at this point. A robbery? In the East End? She couldn't imagine.

Saying nothing, Natalie kept herself very calm for her situation, and did as the man said. She stayed still. With the gun still held against her neck, the man glared intently at the back of her head before reaching down in order to grab her purse, no doubt wanting to just make a break for it after he did so.

However, something the criminal apparently didn't notice was that Natalie was in fact trying to signal for some kind of help. Though she may not have panicked, she was still a relatively weak young girl. This was the worst part of town.. had to be someone on duty around here that'd help her, if he got away? Continuously pressing the 'unlock' button on her car's remote mechanism, she only hoped someone would notice the out of the ordinary flashing headlights.

[eli]

Eli was cold, and the nearly-constant tingling of his thigh was not helping. The tingling was caused by his nightstick, which was almost finger-numbing to the touch. It rested against his side peacefully. He checked it by the light of a store window and noticed that his belt was a little crooked. How he made it out of inspection without being chewed out before his shift began he would never know. He adjusted it and almost immediately began to feel better.

Whistling a little tune to himself, a quiet volume, just enough for him and those within two feet of him to hear. As he walked, the wind picked up a little, causing him to reach to stop his hat from blowing away, but a sudden blast knocked it off his head. He turned around to see it flutter across the practically-empty street. Such a lack of cars at this time of night was not unfamiliar, especially in this part of Gotham. He ran after it when the black street shined dimly a few times. He caught his hat just as he looked up, seeing two figures by a car, the headlights of the vehicle turning on and off. He squinted. Was it trouble?

He moved over to the side street to get a better look. He was right, the woman's face revealed all of it, as did the thug behind her. Eli half-tiptoed, half-ran over to them, staying quiet as he approached. When he was within the effective range, yet far enough away so that the thug could not attack him without letting go of the woman and taking a few steps toward Eli before Eli would already have his gun raised. He shouted to startle the man. "Hey! You there!"

The thug jerked in surprise, just as Eli had hoped, then bolted in the other direction. Eli called in the man's description on the radio and the direction he was heading. He had to make sure the woman was okay. He approached her. "Ma'am, are you okay? Did he hurt you? Do you need an ambulance?"

[nmartin]

By the time Natalie was about ready to just hand over any cash and valuables to the thug so that she could be on her way, she heard the voice of some other guy from the other side of the street. The gun seemed to not be pressed against her neck anymore, and looking almost too calm, she turned around and put her hand to the spot the gun was, as if trying to warm that patch of skin back up and nothing more.

Hm. A cop! Good luck on her part, right? She thought so for the moment, but then remembered all of the things that she kept in that purse of hers that really weren't safe in the hands of the police, as far as she was concerned. Notes on her experiments and things of that nature that could be used against her. Grinning pleasantly and rolling her eyes upward with a slight exhale, she did the best she could to act like she was at least minimally upset, like any normal person would be.

"I'm fine.. thank you." She said through a fake chuckle that could be read off as more or less disbelief that she was in fact okay. "I'm alright, he didn't hurt me or get anything, thanks though." She said, pushing the majority of her bangs over to the right side of her face, and readjusting the purse so that it was tucked safely back near her elbow.

She hoped that'd be it so she could be on her merry way back home. There were a lot of tasks waiting for her there, pages upon pages of notes needed to be written, not to mention she needed to do more work on a research paper for her neurology course. Natalie was a busy women, she didn't have time for the police.

[eli]

Eli rubbed the back of his neck as the woman thanked him and confirmed that she had not been harmed in any way. He was glad for that, but was not satisfied with the young woman staying in this particular location alone at the current hour. It simply wasn't safe for her to be here alone, and he said as much, "This can be a rough part of the city at this hour. Do you need any assistance getting home safely?"

Eli was simply wanting to be helpful, knowing that if he let this woman go and she be attacked again when he could have had the chance to do something about it, he did not think that he would be able to forgive himself. He figured that such a feeling would disappear over time, as the other cops in his district were much more jaded than he.

[nmartin]

Even though she was more than aware that the cop was just trying to help her, Natalie couldn't help but narrow her eyes at him. She said she was fine, didn't she? Had he been anyone else, her tone would've become sharper and she would've sounded a bit more.. less happy than she did the minute afterward.

".. No, I'm fine. Really. Thank you for your help." She said, halfway through her sentence turning around and opening her car door. In a way she felt like she was sort of.. just leaving a crime scene without further questioning, and that what she was doing was illegal. Even if it wasn't, she felt that it was. No matter how snippy she got with the cop, she was still nervous.