It had been a few days since that day in the park. She hadn't seen Jamie and had only spoken to him a couple of times by text. Thankfully they were both busy at work so that gave her an excuse. It's not that she wanted to avoid him, she was just mortified at her break down that day. She knew he wouldn't judge her for it- he would never do something like that, but she knew it made him more suspicious.

Pushing the park incident from her mind, she walked down the long hallway toward her office with her arms full of folders. She flashed a polite smile as she walked past a co-worker, then stepped into the office. Walking closer to the small desk in the corner, she came to a quick stop, the files crashing to the floor when she saw a small bakery box sitting beside the keyboard.

She self-consciously took a step back, terrified to get any closer to it. This was basically how it started before, she would find little gifts and treats on her desktop when she arrived at work.

Feeling her heart pounding in her chest, she reached out with a shaky hand to pick up the card from on top. Her hands were shaking so hard, she dropped it a couple of times before finally picking it up and opening the envelope. She swallowed hard, her throat going dry, as she slowly pulled out the note.

Her eyes quickly glanced over the words, not really reading them, just looking for the familiar words that were used in the past.

When her eyes landed on a name at the bottom, she blew out a breath, recognized the handwriting. Realizing she wasn't in any danger, she read back over the card; 'To replace the ones you dropped- Jamie'.

With a smile, she flipped the lid open and saw a half dozen mini cupcakes inside; rainbow-colored cake with white frosting and colorful sprinkles. Two of the cupcakes had a small flag sticking out with the words 'welcome' and 'home' written on it.

She wrinkled her nose for a moment, then picked off a sprinkle and popped it into her mouth, before squatting down to pick up the scattered files. She shook her head at herself for assuming the worst earlier. She couldn't help but wonder if there would ever be a time she wouldn't expect the worst.

Hearing a set of footsteps walk into the room, followed by a small tap at the door, she jerked her head up and saw Danny standing at the door. He shot her a look as he asked what she was doing.

"Redecorating. I thought these files would look better on the floor," Noelle sarcastically said, placing the files on her lap as she tried to put them back in order.

Glancing up to look at him for a moment, she asked, "What are you doing here?"

"I was in the neighborhood." He walked further into the room and glanced around, taking in his surrounds. "Figured I would drop in on my favorite ME."

Shooting him a look, she studied him closely, then playfully narrowed her eyes. "What do you want?"

"Nothing!" he exclaimed. "Can't I just come by for an innocent visit?"

"You and innocent are two words that never go together." She held the files against her chest, then held out a hand and asked him to help her up.

"Huh, I thought you were already standing up," he joked as he pulled her up from the floor.

"Haha," she said sarcastically. "Always with the short jokes."

Laying the files on the desk, she turned to look at him with her arms folded across her chest. "Okay, seriously, Danny, what do you want?"

"Are those cupcakes?" he asked, ignoring her question as he pointed toward the box.

When he reached to open it, she slapped his hand. "Those are mine."

"Let me guess...from the kid?" Danny questioned, assuming they came from his brother Jamie. After she nodded her head to confirm that, a knowing smile appeared on his face.

He didn't become one of the top detectives without being able to read people and he had been able to read his younger brother like a children's book lately. Things were slowly changing between them, but he also knew his brother would fight it for as long as he could, he wanted to be loyal to Sydney and he didn't want to risk losing Noelle by giving in to the changes.

"Okay, you are really creeping me out here, Danny Boy." She sat down on the stool by the desk. "You drop by out of the blue and now you're just standing there with a weird look on your face. It's disturbing."

"Okay, okay, maybe I do need a favor," he said, getting to the original reason he was there. He wasn't going to say anything about his thoughts on her and Jamie- that was something they needed to figure out on their own.

"Didn't I do you a favor recently?" she questioned.

"Yes, you did me a solid and it was greatly appreciated." He nodded. "Did your buddy at the station tell you what happened?"

"No, I haven't talked to him lately."

"Banse is being extradited to Florida for murder."

"That's good news." Noelle smiled. "I bet Spence is happy to finally tie him to the MacDonald case and it's good for the family to finally get answers and closure."

"Mm-hm." Danny shot her a look. "Are you sure this buddy is not more than just a buddy?"

"He's just a buddy, Danny," she said back. "It's a relationship basically built on guilt and pity. I doubt it'll even last." She assumed he felt bad for turning her away the first time she came to him for help, only to realize she was right in the end.

"Guilt for what?" he asked with a confused look.

"It's doesn't matter," she mumbled, realizing she shouldn't have said anything. She cleared her throat and quickly changed the subject. "So what's the favor?"

"This case I'm working on, I'm trying to get your co-worker, Marshall, to put in a rush on this rape test, but he's giving me the runaround," Danny explained.

"We're all backed up, Danny, we're short-staffed and run ragged." She motioned toward the files on her desk. "These are just half that I have to get through today. Mostly autopsies, but a few other tests too."

"I understand that, Little Bit, but come on, this is a young girl- a college student, who was beaten, raped and left on the streets. Not counting the sexual assault committed with other girls," he began to say. "He escalated and he has to be stopped. Come on, Little Bit, just help me out."

She blew out a breath and stood up. "Okay. I'll see what I can."

As he began to thank her, she cut him off, "Don't thank me yet. I'll talk to Marshall about it, tell him how important it is and see if he'll move it up, but I don't have a lot of weight around here, so I'm not sure if he'll actually listen or not."

"You're an attractive girl and he's a man, just flash him..." he began to say until she shot him a look. "...those pearly whites." He flashed her a smile, causing her to chuckle and shake her head at him.

"Like I said, I'll do what I can."

"Thanks, Little Bit." He walked backward toward the door.

"Yeah, yeah, but you owe me!" she called out as he turned around.

"Don't worry, I'll pay you back!" He threw up a hand to wave bye to her before walking out the door.

Now alone in the office, she turned toward the desk and grabbed her purse to pull out her cell phone. Before she spoke to her co-worker, there was someone else she needed to talk to first.

"Detective Hayes," she heard after one ring.

"Hey, Spence," she said. "I heard the latest on Banse. I bet you're pretty excited."

"I am and it's all thanks to you." He smiled. "You were right, that Detective Reagan knows what he's doing. I owe you."

"Actually that's why I'm calling." A soft sigh escaped her lips.

"What do you mean?" he asked confused.

"You don't have to keep owing me, Spencer," Noelle began to say. "You don't have to pity me or feel guilty. I'm not mad or-or blame you for anything. You don't have to keep checking on me or pretend to care, okay? Let's just move on-"

"Whoa, whoa, wait," he cut her off. "Look, I'll admit, I feel like the world's biggest ass for not listening to you from the start...you tried to tell me what was going on and I blew you off. So yeah, I feel guilty as hell about that, but that's not why I stayed in your life.

"I care about you, Elle. I've never pretended anything with you and I've never pitied you. You went through hell and came out a fighter, I admire that about you."

"I didn't feel like a fighter," she softly said, her mind wandering back to those days. "I thought he was going to kill me and what's worse is I thought no one was even looking for me."

"I was, Elle," Spencer said, his voice barely above a whisper. He paused for a moment, remembering the fear and frustration while he tried to locate where she was being kept. "I never gave up and you didn't either. You kept fighting. What made you keep going?"

She didn't say anything as Jamie crossed her mind. In those moments when she thought she couldn't keep going, she had thought of him.

She thought about their past and the things they were able to overcome together. She thought about never seeing him again and of how devastated he would be when the story came out. He had just lost his brother, she didn't want him to lose anyone else.

Then she thought of her parents. They had been through enough; between her mother's health problems and Baylor's drug problems, she knew they wouldn't be able to deal with losing her.

Knowing he was waiting for an answer, she cleared her throat. "I just thought about the ones I care about. I didn't want to put them through that pain. I wasn't going to let him hurt them by killing me. I told myself that no one is burying me or standing around my tombstone anytime soon."

"That's my girl." He smiled. "You hang on to that fire, Elle, and you're going to be okay."

"Thanks, Spence."

"You're welcome, and hey, I don't care what you say, I still owe you," he said. "If I ever make it up your way, I'm buying you a beer and probably dinner too. I know how you can eat."

She laughed at his comment. "You're on, but we both know you'll never leave Florida. You love the beaches too much."

"Never say never, Elle," he said. "Plus there are beaches up there, you know."

"That there is." She laughed. "Bye, Spence."

"Take care, Elle," he said before ending the call.

She smiled as she slipped her phone back into her bag, then stood up. Now with that talk out of the way, she needed to go use some of her charms with her co-worker. She just hoped she could locate the charm before she made it to his office.

•••

That afternoon Jamie was sitting outside at a table with his training officer, Anthony Renzulli, as the two ate lunch. He took a bite of his sandwich, then laid it down and glanced over at his cell phone as it sat beside his meal on the table.

Noelle should have gotten his cupcake delivery by now and he was hoping for a text from her. He wasn't able to talk to her much since that day in the park and he was craving some kind of communication from her, but at the moment his phone remained silent.

Needing to get her out of his head, he glanced over at his training officer. "Shouldn't we be doing something?"

"We are." Renzulli took a bite from his sandwich.

"Besides contributing to your high cholesterol," Jamie joked, then suggested, "Why don't we recanvass those electronic stores? You know, maybe that stickup guy hits again."

He needed to do something, he couldn't spend another minute staring at his phone waiting for it to ring. He felt like a teenager all over again waiting to talk to his crush, but that was wrong. The only girl he should be desperate to talk to was his fiancée.

"Let me tell you something," Renzulli began to say, pulling him out of his thoughts. "Lots of cops burn themselves out chasing down every half-assed lead like it's The French Connection, but never learning the secret to being a good cop."

"Is that extra mayo?" he joked as he motioned toward his training officer's sandwich.

"Hey, I make the jokes around here, rookie," Renzulli said back, causing Jamie to chuckle at his comment. "I'm talking about the art of doing nothing."

Jamie couldn't help joking again, "It's amazing you don't have your own command by now."

"I'm serious," Renzulli said. "NYPD will spend millions of dollars of hours and manpower setting up stings and takedowns, but if they just taught more cops the art of observing..."

"What, nannies, skateboarders?" Jamie asked sarcastically as he glanced around, not seeing anything troubling around them. It was just a regular day, surrounded by every day, regular people.

"Well, for instance, that yupster over there in the mandals, eleven o'clock, what do you think he's doing?" Renzulli pointed over toward a man with a paper in his face with his wife sitting beside him distracted by her cell phone.

"He's reading the newspaper," Jamie answered, not seeing what his training officer was referring to.

"No. That's what he wants his wife to think he's doing. What he's really doing is checking out those blondes doing tai chi."

Jamie looked over in the blondes' direction, then looked back at the man, seeing what Renzulli meant now. Letting out a chuckle, he said, "That's great, we can arrest him for having impure thoughts."

"Okay, wiseass." Renzulli motioned toward someone behind him. "You see that?"

"What?" He turned to look behind him.

"The guy in the suit...look at him. See him touching his hip like he's looking for something?"

"What, checking to see if his wallet's still there?" Jamie turned back to look at his training officer.

"You wear your wallet on your hip? Huh?" Renzulli shot him a look. "That guy's got a gun, Reagan."

"He does?" Jamie sat up at attention, wondering how he missed that. Actually, he knew how it missed it, he was too busy checking his phone and being distracted.

"Well, let's go toss him." He shot up from the table.

"No."

"Why not? What, a gun collar?" he questioned, surprised by how calm his training officer was. Why was he not jumping up and racing over there?

"Are you crazy? Why not?"

"'Cause he's a cop, Reagan," Renzulli explained. "Mike Respoli. Works out of the 2-5. He plays on my softball team- center field." When Jamie sat back down, feeling a bit embarrassed, he chuckled. "Okay, so I knew...but you didn't."

Jamie smiled, then let out a short laugh. "Alright."

Catching on to the game, he glanced around for a moment, surprised to see Noelle walking through. She was too far away to see him yet and he had time to catch up to her, giving him a chance to get back at his training officer.

"Okay, let me try." He pointed over toward his friend. "See that girl..."

"The petite brunette that would never notice you?" Renzulli joked. "Yeah, I see her."

"Wha-no! I could get her- but I don't..." Realizing how that sounded, he quickly got back to the subject. "Anyway that's not- the point is, just looking at her, I bet she recently moved back to the city."

"Yeah, I can see that." Renzulli observed her for a moment, then added, "She's also scared of something."

"Wait, what? Why-why would you say that?" Jamie asked surprised at his words. He knew something was bothering Noelle, but how could Renzulli see it better than he could.

"Look at her eyes...the way they're constantly jumping around, and the way she keeps looking over her shoulders." He saw Noelle slip her hand into her purse, but not pull it out. "Plus I'll be willing to bet that she has pepper spray in her bag just in case."

"Huh," Jamie mumbled as he thought about what he said, which made him want to know even more what happened to her. "Hold on." He stood up from the table, his eyes on his friend.

"Have fun getting shot down, rookie." Renzulli laughed before he took a bite of his sandwich. He leaned back in his chair, ready to be entertained.

"Nol, hey!" Jamie jogged over to her.

"Hey! How's it going?" Noelle stopped and waited for him to catch up. "Thanks for the cupcakes."

"Oh, you got 'em?" He came to a stop in front of her.

"Yeah." She flashed him a smile. "But rainbows, really, Jams? Did you suddenly forget my hatred of rainbows?"

"Nope." He smirked. "If I could, I would have sent the Lollipop Guild too," he joked, knowing how much she hated them in the Wizard of Oz.

Actually, she hated the whole movie. She wouldn't admit it to anyone, but he knew it was because it scared her when they were kids. Now she hated anything that reminded her of the movie- she would even cringe if she heard the song 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow'.

"You are such a jerk sometimes." She laughed as she playfully punched his shoulder.

Jamie laughed out loud and rubbed the area she punched. "So what are you doing out? Lunch?"

"Yeah." She held up the small bag in her hand that held the hamburger and onion rings she just bought.

"You wanna join us?" He gestured over toward the table, where his training officer was staring at the couple in surprise. "That's my training officer, Anthony Renzulli."

"Ah, so that's why he's been staring at us."

"Yeah." Jamie laughed. "I didn't tell him I knew you, so he thinks you're going to turn me down."

"Oh!" Noelle exclaimed with a laugh. "So, should I make it really good and slap you or something?"

"Sure." He shrugged. "If you wanna be arrested for assaulting an officer."

"Always hiding behind the badge, Jams," she joked.

He laughed at her comment, then nodded toward the table as he told her to follow him. The two walked over to Renzulli, who had finished his lunch and was leaned back against the chair watching them.

"I take it you two know each other," Renzulli stated. "You pulled a fast one on me, rookie."

Jamie laughed. "Yeah, sorry, Sarge, this is my oldest friend Noelle."

"The ME, right?" Renzulli held out his hand for her to shake. "It's nice putting a face to the name."

At his comment, she turned her head to look at Jamie with raised eyebrows.

He shrugged. "I might have mentioned you once or twice."

"Mm-hm." She smiled, then turned back to look at Renzulli. "It's nice to meet you."

"You too." The older cop stood up from the table. "For the record, I still think she's out of your league."

"Thanks, Sarge," he said sarcastically as Noelle laughed at the comment.

Renzulli nodded his head. "See you at the car, kid."

"Okay." Jamie nodded until he looked back at the table and realized he left all the trash behind, expecting him to clean up. "Great." He began to gather up everything.

"So how are you liking him?" Noelle questioned, referring to his training officer, as she picked up an empty bag of chips and handed it to him.

"He's okay." Jamie shrugged. "He said he was Joe's training officer too."

"Really? That's pretty cool." She flashed him a small smile.

"Yeah." He walked over toward a trash can to throw everything away, then walked back over to her. "He doesn't seem to like Danny too much though. He keeps telling me to do the opposite of what Danny would do."

"That's actually not bad advice." She laughed. "I mean, I love your brother, but Danny has his own set of rules when it comes to policing. You just have to be your own kind of cop, Jamie. You don't have to be like your brothers, your dad, or even your grandpa...just be you, be Jamie."

She flashed him a smile. "Plus, if it helps, I think Jamie is pretty awesome."

He chuckled at her comment. "Thanks, Nol. I'll keep that in mind."

Minutes later, the two began to walk side by side toward the police car parked by the street.

"Speaking of your brother...he came by my work earlier."

"What for?" Jamie asked confused.

"He wanted me to talk to one of my co-workers to put a rush on a rape kit from his case," Noelle explained. "Which resulted in pissing my co-worker off and him passing the test off on me."

"I'm sorry, Nol, he shouldn't have done that."

"It's okay." She shrugged.

"I'll talk to him."

"You don't have to," she argued. "Plus, it's not like Danny would listen anyway; like I said, he has his own rules."

"But, still, he shouldn't do that and get you in trouble with your job," he pointed out.

"I didn't really get in trouble. My co-worker just doesn't know how to play well with others." She laughed.

"Word around the office, he's like that with everyone. He's close to retirement age, so if he can push his work off on someone else, he takes advantage of it." She shrugged. "It's seriously no big deal though, I already started the test before I left for lunch and now I'm just waiting for results."

He nodded his head, impressed by her. "Did you ever think this would be us? Me a cop and you a ME?"

"Honestly? Kinda," she answered. "I knew being a cop was in your blood."

"Guess it just took me a little longer to see that."

"Well, you were always a little slow, Jams," she joked, causing him to laugh.

He opened his mouth to say something, but before he could his radio went off. If she remembered the codes right, it sounded like a domestic call.

He heard Renzulli call out to him from the car, then turned toward her to tell her he will talk to her later. He leaned forward to kiss her cheek like he has done many times before, but this time she turned her head at the wrong moment and his lips pressed against hers taking them both by surprise.

He forced himself to pull away, then began to quickly apologize. "Uh, I'm-I'm sorry, Nol-"

"It's okay." She tried to shrug it off. She knew it was an accident and that it meant nothing to him. She blew out a breath, trying to control the fluttering in her stomach. "It was my fault. I shouldn't have turned my head when I did."

"No, it's fine...it's- I mean, I..." his voice trailed off as his eyes landed on her lips after she nervously licked them. That shouldn't have happened, she's his best friend and he's engaged, but he couldn't get that quick peck out of his mind.

"Jamie?" she softly said while he silently stared at her.

"Hmm?" His eyes jumped up to meet hers.

A smile appeared on her face. "You got a call. You need to go."

"Right, yeah, right...I'll-I'll talk to you later," he stuttered out as he began to walk backward. He jumped and quickly turned around when Renzulli beeped the horn at him telling him to hurry up.

He sneaked a quick peek at her, then slide into the passenger seat and felt Renzulli's eyes on him. He prayed he wouldn't comment on it, but he wasn't so lucky.

"Slippery slope, rookie," Renzulli warned him.

"I didn't mean to kiss her," Jamie explained. "She turned and I didn't notice and I...it just happened, but it was an accident."

"Hopefully you're right." Renzulli drove down the road. He knew it was none of his business; people cheated every day, but he had a good feeling about Jamie and knew he wasn't that type of person. But he also felt like he wasn't being completely honest with himself.

Now was not the time to discuss that though, right now they had a job to do. Meaning everything else needed to be pushed aside, they needed clear minds to get through their tour. It was the way he did every call and it had not let him down so far.

•••

Next day, she walked into her office and saw another bakery box sitting on her desk. She paused for a moment, that familiar sense of dread washed over her before she took a cautious step forward.

She slowly reached out a hand and flipped open the lid. This time there was one big chocolate cupcake inside with chocolate icing, and on top written in white icing were the words- 'I'm sorry'.

There was no note this time, but she assumed it was from Jamie again, apologizing for the accidental kiss.

As if on cue, her cell phone beeped, letting her know she had a new text message. She read the simple apology from Jamie, then wrote him back to tell him he was forgiven. She turned back toward the cupcake, pinching off a piece and popped it into her mouth before getting to work.

Her work day was busy, filled with a few autopsies and a lot of paperwork, she didn't even get lunch this time. Instead, she ate half of the cupcakes in-between cases.

She didn't hear from Jamie anymore, she assumed that meant he was busy, which was fine because she was busy as well. She forced herself to stay busy so she wouldn't think about what happened the day before. It was quick, but she could swear she could still feel his lips against hers. She knew she shouldn't be thinking of that though.

She did talk to Danny briefly, who wanted her help with a DNA test. He knew she would be quick about it and he needed the results as soon as possible. From the sound of it, his rape case wasn't going well. She had heard on the news that they had a suspect, but he has diplomatic immunity, which was making it impossible to be questioned.

Or it was until Danny did what Danny does best and found a loophole and was finally able to question him. He kept the room hot, forcing the suspect to sweat everywhere, then sent that to her to test.

When the workday was over, she gathered her things then headed home. She changed into a pair of lounge pants and t-shirt, then went into the kitchen. She opened the freezer door and picked up a tv dinner, wrinkling her nose at the look of it, then tossed it back inside. Walking over to the cabinet above the microwave, she grabbed a bag of popcorn instead for dinner.

A few minutes later, she walked into the living room with a bowl full of popcorn. She sat down on the couch, flipping through the television until she came across a rerun of a comedy she liked then she set the remote down.

Shoving a handful of popcorn into her mouth, she heard a knock at the door, causing her to jump up from the couch and the bowl to fall to the floor with popcorn scattering at her feet. With her heart beating in her chest, she glanced around the living room, silently cursing herself when she realized she had left the baseball bat in the bedroom.

Her eyes jumped around the room, looking for something else to use for a weapon until she heard Jamie call out her name and ask if she was home.

Blowing out a breath, willing her heart to slow down, she called out she would be right there.

Squatting down, she tried to scoop up as much popcorn as she could and tossed it back into the bowl. Some were still on the floor, but she figured she would get the rest later since Jamie was still waiting at the door.

She jogged over toward the door and swung it open while calling out a friendly greeting to him.

"Hey." He held up a covered bowl. "I brought you leftovers from dad's. Grandpa made pot roast."

"I love your grandpa's pot roast." Noelle gasped as she took the bowl from his hand. "Thanks, but what brought this on?"

"I was over there hanging out with Grandpa and he had extra, so I thought I would bring you some 'cause I figured you haven't had any actual food...only just junk."

"You are not wrong." She laughed as she ushered him inside.

He saw her shut the door and quickly turn all the locks. Deciding not to comment on it at the moment, he held up a 6 pack of beer. "I also brought these to celebrate."

"Celebrate what?" she asked confused.

"I got my first gun collar today."

"That's great, Jams!" She rushed forward to throw an arm around his neck and hug him. She went to kiss his cheek until he turned his head, causing her to quickly pull back to keep them from accidentally kissing again like the day before.

She let out an uncomfortable chuckle and settled for patting him on the back instead, then turned to walk over to the couch.

"I really am proud of you." She glanced at him from over her shoulder before sitting down on the couch.

"Thanks." He plopped down beside her and opened a bottle of beer. He handed her one, then opened another one for himself. "Although, it's not like it's my first arrest. I got that with you, remember?"

She breathed out a chuckle and pulled the beer bottle from her lips as she gave him a nod. "Yeah, I remember that. We were, what, six? And you were chasing me around the yard because I was the 'bad guy'."

"You had robbed a store." He tipped his bottle toward her.

"Right, I did." She laughed. "I was running around with monopoly money in my hands. Then you tackled me and handcuffed me."

"That's right, I did. And if you're ever bad, I'll handcuff you again," he joked, then felt his mouth drop open when he realized how that sounded. "No, wait, I-I mean-"

"It's okay, I knew what you meant." She took a sip of the beer, then figured she would take the conversation to something safe. "So where's your fiancée tonight?"

"She had to work late."

"Oh," she mouthed. "So you're making the rounds tonight instead of sitting at home...first your grandpa and now me?"

"Yeah. That's okay, right?"

"Of course." She turned her head to look at him. "You're always welcomed here."

"I just didn't know if things would be awkward or weird after yesterday..." his voice trailing off.

She let out a small chuckle. "That...it's okay. I knew it meant nothing. You don't have to keep apologizing. The cupcake and the text were enough."

"Okay, great...wait, what cupcake?" he asked confused.

"You sent me a cupcake, right? It said 'I'm sorry' on top." She sat up, her heart beginning to race again. If he didn't send it, who did? It couldn't be him...this couldn't be happening again.

"No," Jamie said, concerned about the look on her face. She looked terrified, a look he had seen on her a lot recently, but he still wasn't used to it. It was completely different from the girl he knew growing up.

"I sent you the rainbow ones yesterday, but I didn't send any today. I'm sorry, Nol."

He was even more surprised when she jumped to her feet and began to pace back and forth. Her voice was shaky and stuttering, "If-If you didn't...then who-who-"

"It's probably a co-worker." He stood up and stepped in front of her, causing her to come to a stop, then he took her shaky hands in his. "You said one of your co-workers were pissed at your yesterday, right? When you asked him to run a test? So maybe afterward he felt bad and sent you a cupcake."

"Yeah, may-maybe," she mumbled, hoping like hell that he was right because the alternative was too frightening to think about.

He watched her closely as he rubbed his thumb across the back of her hand, but seeing that his actions or words were not calming her he pulled on her hand, bringing her toward him as he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her close to him.

"It's going to be okay," he softly said in her ear while he ran a hand up and down her back trying to comfort her.

She stayed in his arms for a few minutes, feeling her heart slow down as she thought about what he said. He was right- he had to be right, it was her co-worker. That was the only thing that made sense because it couldn't have been him. It could not be Jimmie, he was still in the mental hospital. Please God, don't let it be Jimmie.

Feeling a little calmer, she pulled back and flashed him, what she hoped was a genuine smile, before thanking him. He laid his hands on her arms and ran them up and down to rub them. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, sorry, just been a stressful few days, I guess," she lied. "You know, just dealing with dead bodies and learning their stories...sometimes it's draining and then you start getting paranoid about things."

"That's all?" he asked.

"Mm-hm. That's all." She nodded.

Needing a distraction, she grabbed the bowl then kneeled down to pick up the remaining pieces of popcorn and dropped them into the bowl. She stood back up and told him she would be back, she was going to take the bowl into the kitchen and grab utensils so they could eat.

He nodded his head and sat back down on the couch as she walked out of the room. While she was gone, he glanced around the room for a moment- she had the small room decorated in a way that you felt completely comfortable and at home. She had always been good at that, even her bedroom as a kid was the same way.

Most of the decorations and figurines were new, probably things she picked up while she lived in Florida, but the others he recognized right away. He looked over at the side table beside him and saw the snow globe he gave her years ago. He smiled, happy to see she still had it.

He picked it up for a moment and shook it up, then sat it back down as her purse on the coffee table in front of him caught his attention. Remembering what his training officer said earlier that day, he leaned forward to peek inside. He knew he shouldn't be nosy, but he had to know if she was carrying any pepper spray.

He moved a few things aside, then paused when he saw the can inside. What had her so scared that she had to walk around with pepper spray in her purse?

Hearing her come back into the room, he quickly leaned back against the couch and flashed her a smile as she handed him a fork before sitting down beside him. As the two sat side by side, eating and making small talk, he couldn't stop wondering about some of her actions lately; between her reaction earlier to the cupcake, the pepper spray, the extra locks, and a baseball bat- it was clear to see that something bad happened to her. Something worse than he could even imagine and that thought made his heart stop.

He didn't want to push her- he had told her he wouldn't, but someone had hurt his Nol and he needed to hear the whole story. It was the only way he could protect her. He told her before that everything was okay and that she was safe, and he intended to keep that promise no matter what.

•••

A/N; As you can see I skipped episode two and used things from episode three. I'll be doing that as the season goes on. I'll skip some, change the timeline and so on. If that's not your thing, I apologize, but it's the way I do my stories.

Now the major thing from this chapter- that quick kiss, am I right? Lol. It might be an accident, but it still counts. And, also, a name has been revealed!

Thank you to everyone reading!

Happy reading!
xx