Top of Your Ambitions

Acacia rubbed her eyes tiredly, tiptoeing her way down the spiral staircase. She cautiously glanced up the staircase to Breck’s closed guest bedroom door before both her feet landed on the last step. The digital clock on the cable box below the TV read 3:23 A.M., definitely too late to be waking anyone up on her way to the kitchen.

She rarely wakes up in the middle of the night for a midnight snack, at least in a while. It used to be common for her to do that, but ever since the stress of her job was starting to kick in two months into her time at the precinct, she has been cherishing every single minute of sleep she can get.

When she stepped foot into the kitchen, she noticed that the lights are on but really dimmed. Raising an eyebrow, she slowly walked into the kitchen to see Zack place an empty bowl on the kitchen counter top. He looked up just as she entered and gave her a small nod of acknowledgement.

“Can’t sleep?” She asked quietly as she sat down on a stool in front of him.

He nodded again, turning from her to go to the fridge. Just as he stuck his head inside of it, Ace let herself think about their situation. She has been living here for two days during this atrocious snowstorm and she has managed to successfully avoid Zack, although not intentionally. Ever since their interaction at the Lockheart party, things have been weird for Ace every time her mind brings her thoughts to him.

She did not know where they stand at this point; she only knows that Zack is furious with her and that Wallace is totally fine with staying here. It does help that Wallace is here though, because every time Ace decides to talk about the Daniel Potter case, she has easy access to the model. However, they have to be discrete about it since she does not want Zack to know about any of it. Maybe this case is the reason why Wallace wants to stay here, despite witnessing the kiss between her boyfriend and Acacia.

Zack returned to the counter with a carton of milk, opening the cap as his hazel eyes glanced over at the blonde on the stool. His eyes remained on her until he started pouring the milk into his bowl.

“Cereal?” Zack offered as he closed the cap of the milk cartoon.

When Acacia made a sound of affirmative, the quiet bass player opened the cabinet and pulled out a similar bowl from it. After he placed it on the counter in front of her, he started pouring milk into it. Ace stared at his concentrated face as he did that. She noticed that he is trying to avoid eye contact with her, knowing that her eyes are on him. It is his specialty: to avoid confrontation with her.

“What do you guys have?” Ace asked when he was done.

Zack opened another cabinet, flipping through the cereal boxes as he read them off.

“Cocoa puffs, cocoa pebbles, special K, cheerios, lucky charms…”

Damn, they have a lot of cereals, Ace thought to herself. She watched Zack pull out the cocoa puffs cereal box and instantly realized that he didn’t need to wait for her reply. He already knows her choice.

They started dating when she was twenty and lived together in her tiny apartment for three years, of course he knew what she ate for her breakfast cereal. She is just shocked that he even dared show her that he remembered considering the fact that he has been adamant to push her away.

When Acacia snapped out of her own thoughts, the cereal is already prepared for her: cocoa puffs in milk with a spoon inside. The sight of her way-too-early breakfast made her feel nostalgic of when she used to live with him. Because she had to wake up early morning, Zack would wake up with her and prepare her breakfast while she got ready for work. He always knew what she wanted to eat and changed things up when he knew it was necessary.

With the exception of Rian, no one knew her better than Zack. He understood her pattern; knowing exactly when she got tired of the same thing, knowing exactly when to change things up and keep things interesting. But now, he isn’t even around to know her better than everyone else.

Without another word, Zack placed his cereal bowl next to hers and took a seat on the stool beside her. He gave her a quick look before digging into his midnight snack. The blonde sighed quietly and followed his action. While the two ate, the silence got a bit awkward for the pair of them. There is this unspoken tension that is the result of their lack of closure regarding the events that happened last time.

The pair barely got their closure for the end of their relationship. Closure has never been something they were good at. Zack likes to avoid problems and keep his feelings quiet while Ace is not one to tie loose ends in her personal life. She always feels like she has no time to waste on her personal thoughts; better to use the brains to solve crimes instead of her personal problems.

Acacia realizes that both of their lack of approach to solving problems is the demise of their relationship. It just seems like Zack avoids the problem by hiding behind the relationship he have with Wallace.

“God, I’m definitely not going back to sleep. I have to be up at six anyways.” Ace got up after she finished her cereal.

Zack, also done, followed her actions. He walked past her and snatched her bowl from her hands as it happened. She watched as he placed both bowls in the sink, resisting the urge to crack a smile. He has always been a gentleman, and an absolute one at that. Even if he is completely awkward around her, he is still willing to make these subtle actions. She admired that about him. Despite his inability to confront problems, especially with her, he never quit being a gentleman.

“Do you want me to make you coffee for that early morning?” Zack asked after washing the bowls.

Ace made a sound of affirmative, leaning against the kitchen counter. He turned to face her with a ghost of a smile. It has been a while since he was generous enough to give her one of those.

“You still like your coffee with whipped cream and raspberry syrup?”

He fucking remembered, the blonde thought dazzlingly to herself. She nodded at him, prompting for him to turn from her and head for another series of cabinets to fish out the ingredients. Although they’ve been broken up for over a year, her preferences are still fresh in his mind. Being the quiet one, he is more laidback and observant, and he used to be quite good at observing her qualities.

During this brief moment, Ace is starting to think that there might actually be a chance for them to get back together. Despite all the elements proving that their relationship is dead and gone, she can actually feel this glimmer of hope.

The glimmer of hope that tells her to keep fighting.



“Kovacs, I got the evidence back from the lab; I cannot believe that the M.E. agreed to letting me retrieve this.”

Ace looked up at her partner and beamed at him as he handed her a bagged bottle of prescription pills. She squinted at the evidence inside the strongly sealed bag and made out a few of the words on the label. The print on the label is fading out from its longevity.

“Raina Lockheart overdosed on those pills intentionally.”

“Do we know why she killed herself?” Ace asked.

Iverson looked hesitant as he pulled a chair beside her and sat down on it.

“In order for us to know, we’re going to have to investigate and use this precinct’s resources; the captain has to be informed of our um… endeavors.”

After Acacia’s discovery, she went straight to informing her partner of this issue. He listened to her list off her evidence patiently and agreed with her, in a similar state of shock as she was when she first found out. Also frustrated that they’ve caught the wrong killer, Iverson got right onto the investigation.

They have managed to keep the investigation under wraps from everyone else, but it seems like they might have to tell the captain.

“Alright, we tell the captain but don’t you want to see how far we can get before we need to?” Detective Kovacs suggested hopefully.

She did not want to let the captain know just yet. With the knowledge, the captain will have to tell Loki Lockheart about their investigation and she wants to be absolutely sure before he knows about everything.

“Christine Harper.” The blonde typed said name into the database.

“Who’s that?”

“The name on the prescription.”

Iverson rolled his chair closer to his partner’s computer screen and waited patiently for the profile to pop up on the database. When the profile appeared, Ace studied the picture of the auburn haired woman carefully. She looks to be in her 50’s; 53 after calculating from the year of her birth.

“Christine Harper from Brooklyn, New York; mother of two: David, 26 years old and Layla, 24 years of age…” Ace trailed off.

“Oh, look here, she’s been taking pills for her depression but somehow they’ve gotten into Raina’s hands.” Iverson pointed out.

Ace bit her lips, deep in contemplation. She highlighted David’s name with her mouse and pursed her lips at it for a brief moment. After she snapped out of her thoughts, she clicked on his name and is brought to his profile.

“I’ve heard his name from somewhere… David Harper…” Ace thought to herself as the two detectives scanned through his profile.

“He was accused of murdering Jensen Adkins when he was 16…”

“It says here that he confessed to the murder but they found out someone else did it…”

“Then who actually killed…”

Ace clicked on Jensen Adkins’s case.

“What the actual fuck?”

“14 year old Layla Harper… click on her name, Kovacs.”

When Layla Harper profile popped up on the screen, Ace stared at the image of the woman in shock. This 24 year old woman is not only familiar to her, she actually knows the woman—give or take some physical differences. They are both living under the same roof right now.

She looked away from the screen and at her partner, who is shooting her the same awestruck expression.

“Wallace Poulsen is Layla Harper?” They breathed out to each other.

Shaking her head profusely, she got up from her seat and placed both hands over her face. She is in absolute shock right now.

“Acacia?” Iverson’s hand landed on her shoulder.

“I honestly cannot believe that my ex-boyfriend is dating a murderer.”

“Ace…”

“I literally should’ve done a background check on her like the crazy ex Zack thinks me to be… I can’t believe this is happening right now.”

“Listen to me, Kovacs…”

“No, I am going to go to Zack right now and tell him…”

“Hey, if you just sit your ass down and listen to me, you’ll understand why David Harper sounds familiar.”

Ace stopped her pacing and finally agreed to return to her seat. She stared at the computer screen but is too much in shock to pay mind to whatever is on it. Instead, she stared at her partner in question.

“David Harper was listed as an accomplice to Daniel Potter in Admiral Cedrick Jones’s murder case.”

“What?”

“And look here… Layla Harper was Layla Harper Potter from 2005-2006.”

The blonde detective sighed loudly in frustration and in disbelief. Although she has no idea how Christine Harper is connected to Raina Lockheart’s suicide, she now understood why Wallace was desperate for her to solve Potter’s case.

“Wallace was married to Daniel Potter…”

Notes

You guys think Zack and Ace will have a chance? Do you believe they are over for good?

And dang, anyone expected to dig out all the skeletons in Wallace's closet? Or should I say Layla Harper?

Thanks to Magz507 for commenting on the previous chapter!