I Fought The Law...

"Anything," I said, willing to promise Chris anything as long as it meant that we remained together.

"I want you to give up your life of crime," Chris said, a no-nonsense look on her face.

"Already done," I averred. "Once I realized I was in love with you, I decided I wanted you more than I wanted a life of crime." I smiled at Chris and said, "Besides, I've already committed the greatest theft ever. I'll never be able to top it, so I decided to go out on top."

Chris looked puzzled as she said, "I don't understand. Stealing that urn wasn't that great of a crime."

"I know, silly." I leaned in, and just before our lips met again, I continued, "I wasn't talking about the urn. I stole your heart, and it will never go back on some dusty shelf in some dusty old museum."

Epilogue

It's been a crazy year since I first met Chris. I've been enjoying my retirement from a life of crime and my new life with Chris. My security consultancy was growing as I've added several new clients. Chris's career hit a bump due to backing away from making an arrest on the Getty Villa Museum robbery, but she's ridden it out. She endured the IA investigation and managed to avoid having it found out that she was the daughter of a wanted master criminal and was having a relationship with the prime suspect of the robbery. She was cleared of any wrongdoing and returned to duty.

The Getty Villa Museum robbery case was still open, but Chris was not actively pursuing the investigation. All of the artifacts that had been stolen have since been returned to the museum, some of them donated anonymously, and the rest recovered from private collectors who had been arrested for receiving stolen property. As far as the museum was concerned, the case was closed. Chris's Captain wanted her to drop the investigation and concentrate on other open cases.

Chris broke the lease on her apartment and moved in with me. Her commute to work was more of a hassle, but I made it worthwhile for her. We celebrated my thirty-sixth birthday last month by taking a cruise up the inside passage to Alaska and back. We both needed the time to relax and be together since our jobs had kept us busy and apart. We really enjoyed the cruise, especially the visit to the Hubbard Glacier. We took advantage of the various ports of call and did a lot of shopping. By the time we returned to Long Beach, we barely had room in the car for our purchases.

I've let my hair grow out and gotten used to it falling on my shoulders. I've never been so happy in my life, and I want it to last forever. I've been hinting to Chris to reconcile with her father, and I think it will happen one day. My phone buzzed, rousing me from my reverie, and when I answered, Stephanie said, "Boss, Chris is on line two."

I smiled and picked up line two. "Hello, my love ...."

Afterword:

The title of this story is taken from the song "I Fought the Law" originally done by the Crickets in 1958. The Bobby Fuller Four covered the song in 1966 making it so famous that it ended up #175 on the Rolling Stone "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time."

A link to the YouTube video can be found on my bio page.