Unlike the rest of the DA's office, Rafael was still sitting behind his desk as the sky grew dark and the streets fell empty. He knew he should really close up shop and head home before it got any later — or rather before he ended up pulling yet another all nighter. But with the piles of paperwork that were stacking higher and higher on his desk as the days passed by, he didn't think that would be an entirely wise idea for him to fulfil.

Now of course, it would absolutely be a wise idea for him to call it a night, as he knew well that he should really start prioritising his own health and wellbeing over the blatant stresses of his job. The amount of times he'd found himself running solely on coffee was more than he could count on both hands, and if he ever wanted to live to see the second half of his life then he should really start taking better care of himself.

And don't get him wrong, he would. One day, in the near distant future, he'd finally learn to put himself first and stop living off of coffee and take-out, however tonight... as he sat there fiddling mindlessly with his pen, he just couldn't shake the feeling that his office was where he was meant to be. He knew it sounded corny, like something pulled straight out of a cheesy hallmark Christmas movie, but it was true.

Each time he had tried to stand up and make the move to go home, there was a voice, from deep inside his heart — not his mind — that not so politely yelled out at him to stop, and each time it did he couldn't bring himself to do anything other than listen to it. He wasn't sure why he felt that way, or even how that lingering thought had entered his mind in the first place. All he truly knew was that until that feeling ceased entirely , throughout every fibre of his being, then he could not, under any circumstances, leave the warm sanctity of his office.

Rafael didn't care if that meant he was there all night. He didn't care if he eventually found himself rolling exhaustively into the next morning — again — so long as his subconscious kept telling him to stay, then he would stay. He would much rather grow to regret not going home, than have to live with the regret of missing out on...whatever the reason may be for his desperate need to remain in his office, so until he truly felt like it was time, he wouldn't be leaving his desk for anything.

"Did anyone ever tell you that you work too much?"

The split second that utterly delectable sound drifted blessedly through the air towards him, Rafael knew all too well of the reasoning behind his sudden desire to stay at work.

It made sense. There wasn't a single thing on the planet that had such a tight, intense, soul-bounding grasp on him as Melanie did, so it was no surprise to find out that she was the sole cause for the bellowing voice inside him — as though it somehow knew this whole time that this is where she'd end up. He glanced up from his desk immediately, his stomach already fluttering over simply hearing Melanie's voice that when he finally saw her after a long week of catching mere glimpses of her here and there, it all but grew wings and threatened to fly away.

Melanie hadn't moved an inch since she appeared. She was still hovering almost hesitantly in his doorway, her arm pressed up against the frame and a small brown bag hanging loose by her side. She smiled sweetly the second Rafael's tired eyes locked onto her own equally drained gaze, and the simple way in which it melted his heart made every minute of his night spent within the four walls of his office completely and utterly worth it — as had he listened to his mind over his heart and left when he should have... he'd have missed out on seeing her entirely.

And that was definitely something he'd spend the rest of the week wallowing in regret over.

"I, uh, I brought dinner..." Melanie raised the bag, showcasing the familiar logo of the local Chinese restaurant nearby. She then shrugged, adding quickly as she lowered it again, "If you're hungry."

"Starving," Rafael lied, as with the pure hope that unintentionally soaked her tone, he didn't have the heart to tell her he'd already eaten. And sure, it had been a rather small burrito from the cart outside that he'd gotten about four hours ago but still, he wasn't overly hungry. Nevertheless, he stood up, tossing the pen he was holding yet hadn't used in ages back onto his desktop before slowly rounding it towards her. "How'd you know I'd still be here?"

"Lucky guess," Melanie said, delving further into the office Rafael might as well live in as he gestured briefly to the couch. She made her way towards it, shuffling along the gap between the coffee table and slumping down onto the familiar comfort of the soft leather seat.

As she set the bag on the table and began to empty it, Melanie could easily feel the cushion beside her sink as Rafael happily joined her after grabbing a bottle of scotch and some glasses — once again sitting much closer to her than what was appropriately necessary for the situation. She didn't say anything about it, though, and neither did he.

In all honesty, no matter how frequently they both picked up on that little detail, or locked eyes during the moments in which it would happen, neither of them ever muttered a single word about it, as they didn't want it to stop. They didn't want it to change, but most importantly they didn't ever want to miss out on experiencing the fierce, heartwarmingly intense chill that would ripple up their spine and spread out across every inch of their skin in a wave of goosebumps, any time they so much as brushed fingers.

And whilst they happened, the two of them remained in a comfortable silence as Rafael poured them each a glass of scotch whilst Melanie continued to empty the bag, which was starting to appear as though it were bigger on the inside with just how much seemed to reside within it.

Carton after carton she pulled out from between the paper sides, each one filled to the brim with the delicious cause of the warm aroma surrounding them. There was sweet and spicy chicken, steaming noodles mixed with crunchy vegetables, the crispiest spring rolls you could possibly imagine, not to mention the most mouth-watering fried rice either of them would ever taste.

Most of the time when Melanie ordered from that particular restaurant — which was way more often than she liked to admit and she would notbe confessing aloud that she was on a first name basis with the owner, the chefs and the delivery driver — she could never decide on which items to choose from. The entire menu was all too mouth-wateringly good to pick just one thing and it usually resulted in her ordering way too much for one person, hence her last minute decision to drop by and make sure Rafael had eaten something other than pain relief and coffee.

"I think I ordered too much," Melanie murmured, scratching briefly at the back of her head as she grazed her eyes along the seven cartons of food that covered the coffee table. "It seemed like less when I asked for it."

Rafael chucked, "It always does."

Not that he was the least bit surprised, however, as last time she'd brought him dinner she'd arrived with two large pizzas, what felt like an entire loaf of garlic bread, twenty mozzarella sticks and a full box of chocolate brownies.

With an excited smile, Melanie then held out the last, and only box not overflowing with food, towards him, "Here. You can pick out your fortune cookie first."

Knowing that it was useless to say no, as Melanie loved fortune cookies and likely wouldn't rest until he'd opened one, Rafael silently agreed and peered over the edge of the box in front of him. There were only two cookies sitting inside it, one a little bigger than normal and the other slighter smaller. He went for the latter, plucking the small crispy shell from the bottom of the box and gently crushing it between his fingers until the small slip of paper revealed itself.

Melanie dropped the box down to rest on her leg, watching intently as Rafael brushed a few lingering crumbs onto a napkin before unfolding the fortune and slowly drawing his eyes across it. The farther along the words he got, the more his face seemed to fall into a deep shade of disappointment. He never usually cared about what they said as, to him, it was just a silly piece of paper, but the longer he stared at it...Re-reading each word over and over in hopes that they would start shuffling into something else, the closer to home the fortune kept hitting.

"What does it say?" Melanie asked, picking at the skin of her lips a touch as it was taking Rafael a while to read a single sentence and she almost feared what was written on it. "Rafael?"

With a gentle sigh, Rafael hesitantly turned the slip around to showcase it fully, watching with a small ball of anxiety building and swirling in his stomach as Melanie's eyes finally fell from his and to the paper. She took her time. Her brow slightly pinched as she read each and every word carefully, which did not do anything to ease Rafael's worries as he knew she always liked to believe her fortunes. And the ones of those who she'd forced to open them, but here's hoping that this time she simply chose to brush this one off as nothing more than a silly metaphor.

"Don't hold onto your hope if it requires a tight grip."

As Melanie unfortunately read the words aloud, an unintentional empty chuckle leaving her lips as she did, Rafael was quick to let go of it. And Melanie was glad for it. The second her own voice reached her ears she knew she shouldn't have read it aloud so as to not speak it into existence, but before she'd fully realised what she'd done, it was too late. She could already feel her chest tighten a little as the silence grew thick between them, her eyes falling down to paper as it floated aimlessly through the air and back to the bottom of the box.

"It's just a silly fortune," Melanie mumbled, despite both her own beliefs and how hard the phrase seemed to hit her. "It doesn't mean anything."

Doesn't it? She couldn't stop herself from thinking. It was a damn near perfect metaphor for the hope she knew Rafael carried so heavy in his chest when it came to the two of them, and she almost regretted opening that box. Or rather, she almost regretted ever coming here in the first place as things weren't playing out how she'd hoped they would. She originally came here in search of that familiar, favourite comfort that she always found in Rafael. The usual respite he often offered her from particularly tough cases, not to end up spiralling over what may or may not ever happen in their weird little relationship.

"What does yours say?" Rafael asked quietly, yet he deeply feared what might lay beyond the crispy shell of Melanie's cookie.

Reluctantly, and with a slightly shaky sigh, Melanie reached her fingers into the box and crushed the cookie so hard beneath them that the crunch echoed within the box's walls and up into the air. She could feel the softness from the slip of paper between her fingertips, practically calling out to be read and cast into the world for good, but she wasn't sure whether or not she was ready for another one — especially not one that might relate to the current affairs of her own life. She was so used to getting nice ones like ' You'll find greatness where you least expect it' or maybe even the silly ones the restaurant would sometimes add like ' You are about to become $8.95 poorer ($6.95 if you had the buffet)' but never ones so deep and meaningful as Rafael's.

Nevertheless, she knew she couldn't move on until she read it and so, with her chest tightening with each shallow breath she sucked in, she opened the paper and read it aloud, "You may soon find that an exciting career change lies ahead of you."

Oh... That wasn't as bad as she thought it would be. Farfetched, as it was, but still...It was a hell of a lot nicer than the other.

"I should have picked that one," Rafael commented, his tone as humorous as he could bring himself to make it as Melanie dropped the fortune into the box and dusted off her fingertips.

"Oh yeah," She raised her eyebrow, glancing towards him as she set the box back into the empty bag. "You thinking about switching careers on us, counsellor?"

"As if you'd ever let me go if I did," Rafael replied, and Melanie couldn't help but tilt her head in agreement. She said nothing though. Her stomach was too tied up in that phrase and its underlying meaning, so instead she simply lifted a pair of chopsticks from beside the bag and handed them to him, his tone then turning playful, "Let me guess, you got yourself a fork?"

"You guys need to stop bullying me and my inability to use chopsticks," Melanie said bluntly, yet her lips did curl a little as she lifted, and showcased, the plastic fork she had indeed taken for herself. "It's not my fault I can't figure it out."

"That truly baffles me," Rafael exhaled, unfolding the lid of what he guessed was the spicy chicken given the way his nose started to tingle. "You can sit and flawlessly flip a knife between your fingers for hours without fail, and yet you still can't use chopsticks?"

"Can't stab someone with chopsticks, Rafael."

" You could."

"True," Melanie answered immediately, making Rafael chuckle quietly as she stuck her fork deep into the container noodles, twirling them mindlessly around the prongs. "But then again, they'd probably only end up with a nasty bruise so I think for now I'll stick with my knives and forks."

"Fair," Rafael agreed, his eyes then quickly narrowing as he kept them peeled, almost worriedly, on Melanie.

Despite her usual banter poking out its head, something about her seemed...off, almost, as she sat before him, still twirling her fork as though trying to get every single noodle in the carton onto it at once. She never usually took this long to start eating when given the chance too. Hell, last time she'd brought him food she had eaten a slice of pizza in the stairwell on the way up to his office, so it was a little strange to see her like this now — staring absently into the distance as a thick glaze seemed to cast over her eyes.

Rafael couldn't help but wonder if she was thinking about the words that lay at the bottom of the fortune cookie box. He'd seen the way her eye had twitched as she read it aloud, as though she were outwardly cringing at just how much it seemed to relate to the two of them and their current situation. Honestly, he still couldn't believe that. Out of all the variations of fortunes out there, he just had to go and get one that hit closer to home than a professional baseball player.

After all, it had only been the other week, before he'd gone and spoken to Mike and gotten that little boost of encouragement, that Rafael had thought about letting go of the hope he carried so deep in his heart for her. He knew Melanie was...difficult, as much as it pained him to say. He knew she was tough and, as the fortune cookie so bluntly put it, a grasp he'd have to hold tightly onto, but he really thought they were getting somewhere. He really thought that he'd been slowly chipping away at her own hard outer shell, but after reading that phrase...after seeing the guilt flash over Melanie's face as she, herself, read it too, he couldn't help but wonder if that little cookie didn't go and make a rather excellent point.

"Melanie," Rafael said softly, setting his carton of chicken aside as he never once drew his gaze away from Melanie, who was still playing with her food. She hummed in acknowledgment, lifting her attention to meet his as he shuffled in his seat a little, resting his arm along the back of the couch, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Melanie replied, her voice a mere crack of whisper. She then smiled, trying her hardest to assure him that she was — even though she really wasn't, which was clearly evident by the way her lips barely rose more than a few millimetres. "I'm okay."

Rafael narrowed his eyes doubtfully, "Has anyone ever told you that you're a terrible liar?"

Melanie scoffed in offence, "I think you'll find that I am an excellent liar, thank you very much... I perjure myself all the time."

"Please don't tell me that."

Rolling her eyes as he all but scolded her, Melanie dropped them back down to her food and let go of her fork, "I don't know why I bought all this... I'm not even hungry."

"You will be," Rafael said, taking the container from within her pale hands and setting it aside for later. He then shuffled closer to her, brushing the soft curls of her hair over her shoulder before placing his hand gently atop it. "Talk to me, mijo . What's going on with you?"

"It's this case," Melanie confessed quietly, and Rafael couldn't help but feel a spark of relief wash over him entirely.

At least it wasn't the fortune cookie .

"You mean the Lily Evans case?" He questioned, and Melanie nodded, her eyes already beginning to shimmer with the first brew of her tears. He shifted his hold on her, grazing his hand comfortably down the length of her arm before it landed atop hers, to which she immediately laced her fingers with his. "I heard you found her body. I'm sorry, mi cariño."

And he didn't mean that the whole team had found her body, he meant Melanie. She'd been the only one to notice Lily's foot sticking out from within the blanket she'd been wrapped in, and it had been her very own, now partially shaking, hands that had been the ones to finally uncover the poor girl's lifeless face.

"It's just been a really long week," Melanie exhaled, her breath trembling as she did. "None of us have slept much since the beginning."

"You do seem tired," Rafael said, cupping one side of her face and ghosting his thumb along the underside of her eye. "Maybe you should be at home getting some rest, instead of here with me."

"I wouldn't be able to sleep," Melanie murmured, feeling the warmth of Rafael's hand as it dropped to cup the side of her neck instead, his thumb circling softly, comfortingly , over her pulse. "Mikey, he's..." A shaky sigh left her lips as she glanced up at the ceiling, taking a moment to force her tears to retreat back into her tear ducts before returning her attention towards Rafael. "He won't talk to me about it, but I can tell he's taking this case personally. He came over for dinner the other day and hasn't left since... At night I hear him pacing and when he's awake, I'm awake... Not that I get much sleep anyway, but when I can feel his guilt in the pit of my stomach, it makes it harder for me to get my usual few hours."

"His guilt?" Rafael questioned, "You can really feel what the other one feels?"

He honestly thought their whole 'twin telepathy' thing was nothing more than a lifelong, well orchestrated joke. Maybe even simply a ploy to creep out the others, but as he looked at Melanie now... As he truly saw the added guilt that sat deep within her delicate features, he could tell there was a lot more than her own emotions weighing heavy on her shoulders.

"To some extent," Melanie replied, her fingers fiddling with a loose thread on her jeans. "I always thought it was more like sympathy pains... You know, from actually being together whenever something happened, but then this one time. Back when I was still on patrol, I got stabbed right through the hand by a guy dressed like Santa Claus..."

"Wait, wait... You got stabbed ?" Rafael interrupted, the pit of his stomach sinking further than he thought possible.

With a quiet hum, that was almost pitied given his outward worry that made her chest tighten terribly, Melanie nodded, slipping her hand from within his and holding it out flat in front of him. She then took hold of the one he had on her neck and lowered it, gently drawing his forefinger along the faint scar that still resided on her palm. She didn't care that he'd easily have been able to see the scar given its slight discolouration against her pale skin, in that moment she simply wanted to feel him. 

"It hurt like a bitch," Melanie chuckled, her skin tingling as Rafael continued to graze his fingertip along the length of her palm on his own volition. "I was bleeding all over the guy's Santa beard as I cuffed him and then, no more than five minutes later, I got a text from Mikey. Now he's in Chicago at the time, at some conference or whatever, and yet he still asked me what happened. Says he was pouring himself a coffee when all of a sudden he got a burning sensation in his hand and dropped the jug... That's when I knew it was real."

"And with this case?" Rafael asked, drawing his hands back to his lap even though they itched to reach out and simply hold her. "Why is it that you both feel guilty?"

"Mikey, he..." Melanie took a breath, holding it momentarily as she gathered herself before exhaling softly through her nose. "He didn't think it was anything more than a run-away teen in the beginning. And don't get me wrong, it wasn't like he was purposely trying to drop the case or anything, as I could see why he would think that. Lily was acting out. We found pot in her room... Condoms. She was even texting this older guy. I mean, it was a textbook case of a teenage runaway. But even then..."

"You still had your doubts," Rafael finished for her, trying his best to hide the pity he couldn't help but feel as Melanie nodded, her eyes closing for a brief second.

"I just wish I had listened to them..." She whispered, her voice cracking. "Maybe then..."

"Don't go there," Rafael cut her off swiftly, scooting closer to her and fully closing the gap between them as he took her face in his hand. "I'm sure you did the best you could."

"Yeah, that's what Sonny said," Melanie mumbled, and for one of the rare moments in his life Rafael found himself agreeing with Carisi.

Not that he even really cared about that,  as in that small moment in which silence fell over them, Melanie leaned deeply into the comforting warmth of his hand. She even tilted her head a little, allowing her cheek to rub lightly over his palm and with each soft brush of her skin on his, his heart would clench terribly in his chest, easily overtaking each and every emotion he could have quite possibly been feeling in that moment.

Neither of them knew quite how long they stayed that way. Their words had fallen to a standstill and their eyes simply did the talking for them. All but confessing each and every word they both wished they could say out loud, yet could never find the courage to do so, as they gazed so affectionately at one another that Bigfoot could walk through the door and Melanie wouldn't have batted an eye — which was saying something as she loved that Cryptid and had even spent time looking for him out in Oregon. 

It didn't help, either, that every so often Rafael would pair his deep, blush-causing gaze with an equally soothing brush of his thumb over every small part of Melanie's face that he could reach, allowing her those little moments of pure comfort that she so frequently craved. In all honesty, it very quickly grew overwhelmingly intense for Melanie. Her mind was already racing with about a thousand different thoughts on a million different topics, so she really didn't want to pile anymore on top wondering whether or not Rafael was going to kiss her.

And of course, she wanted him to... So, so badly did she finally want to kiss him. To feel the soft, tenderness of his lips on hers, but she knew she couldn't. She still wasn't ready to take that next step. Nor did she think she ever would be, honestly, as she still had that deep, lingering fear of both commitment and getting him so wound up in her reckless life that he'd likely never be able to unravel himself.

It didn't matter that she could see in his eyes that he didn't care about any of that. That all he truly wanted was her. And her alone, given the way his eyes kept flicking to her lips and he slowly, but surely, leaned in towards her. She simply couldn't give in to her desire when she knew that both her mind, and her gut, weren't fully in it.

Therefore, she pulled away from him. Not abruptly, or like she was fleeing from his touch, but softly. Warmly. As though showing him that he'd made her comfortable enough that she'd regained her appetite, which honestly she had as she couldn't miss the first hint of her stomach gurgling inside of her. She reached out towards the table as Rafael shuffled back, creating a little distance from the heat that built between them as she lifted her glass, taking a small — yet disgusting — sip of scotch to help steady her nerves. 

As the harsh burn trickled down her throat, and reminded her not to drink more than one glass should she succumb to another scotch-based hangover, Melanie set her glass aside and reached for one of the containers of food. She peered inside, her eyes lighting up at the sight of the crispy spring rolls that resided inside and caused her mouth to water furiously.

Lifting the largest one from the box she bit into it with a delectable crunch , the vast variety of flavours exploding on her tongue, "God, I always forget how good these are... Can you pass me the sauce?"

Rafael hummed in agreement and reached over to his end of the table, taking care to lift the tub of sweet and sour sauce, as it was still hot, which he then passed happily over to Melanie. She mumbled a brief thanks around her second bite as she took it from him, popping off the lid and all but smothering the last part of the roll in that delicious orange sauce before utterly devouring it.

"Oh," Melanie then piped up, covering her mouth that still had a little food in it as she turned her attention back towards Rafael. "I forgot to say..." She swallowed, dropping her hand and running her tongue along her teeth to get the last of the sauce that coated them. "We exhumed a body today... I have pictures, I'll show you later... But it reminded me of this one time when I fell into an open grave... Have I ever told you that story?" 

"I can't say that you have," Rafael replied, unable to help the soft laugh that followed suit as if there were ever a person who'd fall into an open grave, it would be Melanie. "But hold on a sec, did you say you took pictures whilst exhuming a body?"

"Just of them lifting it out of the ground. They're mainly for Rollins... she's still on bed rest and would be pissed if we didn't," Melanie elaborated, digging into her pocket to find her phone as she set her spring rolls aside. She pulled it out, licking her fingertips briefly before scrolling to find the photos amongst the mass of ones she took of Carisi when he fell asleep at his desk. "See..."

As she turned the phone screen towards him Rafael couldn't help but glance curiously down at it, his head tilting in agreement. "That's a coffin, alright."

"It's actually a casket," Melanie corrected, locking her phone and pocketing it again. "Coffins are wide at one end and slim at the other, whereas a casket is always rectangular."

"Why am I not surprised that you know this?"

All Melanie did was shrug, a smugly proud smile tugging at her lips as Rafael simply chuckled to himself. He should have known she'd correct him on that. Her mind always was full of the most random, and sometimes incredibly morbid, facts and details about the weird and wacky world in which they lived. He'd come to learn that the very first day he met her, when she had rambled on and on, for a good ten minutes, about the variety of marks and bruises that different types of choking devices could leave on a person — mediaeval torture ones included.

In all honesty, Rafael hadn't even questioned it at the time given her job as a sex crimes detective, but the more she went on to describe bondage, role play and other kinds of sex games in great detail, the more he began to wonder exactly what Melanie got up to on her days off. He didn't want to admit it, but he'd actually pictured quite a few different scenarios he might have found her in...some of which made him blush even now just thinking of them again.

Turns out, though, she wasn't living some sort of double life as a dominatrix like he might have expected her to be. Not at all. No, in reality she just spent the majority of her free time watching a lot of documentaries and listening to a lot of podcasts on all kinds of different topics. He'd never forget the time she broke a nearly unsolvable case simply because she knew where the last photo their victim had been in was taken. And all it took for her to do so was a small flower in the background — the New England Violet to be exact, which just so happened to only grow in one small, riverside ice meadow in the whole entire state.

"I have to ask," Rafael began, taking a small sip of scotch before lowering his glass to rest on his leg. "Where on earth do you find the room for all those facts you have in your head?"

Melanie let out a slightly delusional laugh, "Oh, if only I knew... It's like a dumpster fire in there most days and you're lucky I'm even able to sort through it when I need to."

At that, Rafael chose to say nothing more on the particular topic in question, as he knew bringing up the idea of Melanie taking her ADHD medication to perhaps put out that dumpster fire wouldn't go down particularly well. Instead, he simply offered her a partial smile as she all but deemed that part of their conversation over — yet she'd seemingly forgotten to elaborate on the time she fell into an open grave and he made a mental note to ask her about that another day as he was rather curious as to how she managed it.

From that point forward, the rest of the short time they had to spend together consisted of both Melanie and Rafael happily contributing to some lighthearted and fun conversation as they ate as much of the food as humanly possible — some of which Melanie purposely saved for her middle of the night snack she'd have later.

They had started off talking about different things here and there. You know, just basic stuff like life in general and if they had any vacations planned and whatnot. Until at one point, don't ask him how, Rafael had somehow got Melanie started on the topic of ancient sharks and the haunting possibility of there being some undiscovered, maybe even thought to be extinct, species still living in deep underwater caves and caverns.

To be brutally honest, Rafael had never once given a second thought to, or even cared much, for sharks. Or any kind of sea life for that matter, not until he met Melanie. Her deep love, and vast range of knowledge, for all things oceanic was utterly heartwarming and if he could, he'd happily listen to her talk about the ptychodus and whatever the hell a edestus was, for the remainder of his time on Earth.

"Some people theorise that the Megalodon actually evolved to live in our time by shrinking," Melanie carried on, taking a sip of the water Rafael had offered her as he could tell she hadn't been enjoying the scotch. Perhaps he should invest in a bottle of tequila for her should they share any more nights like tonight. "You know, that it's now just considered to be one of the larger great whites that are lurking in the ocean, but I don't know if I believe that. I mean, yes I believe great whites might have actually come from the Meg, but I really do think all those big ones truly did die out. As unfortunate as that is for all of us shark nerds."

"I can't say I agree with your use of the word unfortunate here," Rafael said, his tone a little humorous as he began to close the Chinese food boxes and pass them over to Melanie, who then put them back into the bag. "The thought of a..." — his brow then pinched and he glanced over at her — "How big were they?"

"They're said to have reached around..." Melanie held her hand out flat and wobbled it from side to side, "sixty-seven feet. Give or take a few."

"Jesus," Rafael mumbled, his eyes widening in horror. "Yeah, I definitely don't agree with your use of unfortunate as even the thought of a sixty-seven foot shark makes me never want to look at the ocean again let alone swim in it."

"You know the likelihood of being attacked by a shark is a lot less than people think," Melanie told him, setting the last of the boxes into the bag before turning herself to better face him properly. "You actually have more chance of being killed by a cow than you do a shark."

"Well then I'll stay away from farms too," Rafael added, catching the slight smile that rose on Melanie's face as he mimicked her motions, where the very next thing he noticed was the small crumb sitting directly on the ridge of her lip. "You have a little something on your lip... Do you mind?"

Without even pausing to see if she could get it herself, which she most definitely could, Rafael reached out his hand and waited with bated breath for Melanie to either shake her head or brush the crumb away by herself. He honestly expected it to be the latter, as she didn't seem like the type of person to accept help like that from someone. But to his surprise she shook her head, allowing him to carry on his motion of extending his hand towards her face and lightly brushing the crumb away with his thumb.

It fell to the floor as he did, leaving her with nothing but perfection dancing across her face yet Rafael still made no urgent move to retract his hand away from her. Instead he let it linger, his fingertips brushing over the softness of her cheek as he began to feel the shuddering heat of Melanie's faint breath as it slipped through her slightly parted lips, rippling over his skin like a gentle wave atop sand. He shuffled closer to her, her desire driven eyes having all but begged him to do so as he allowed his hand to fully splay across her cheek, his thumb dragging itself slowly down the supple warmth of her lips. 

"Rafael..."

Once again, the way his name rolled seamlessly off Melanie's tongue in that sultry, raspy tone of hers made Rafael's stomach flip so heavily inside him he could all but feel it in his throat. He'd seriously never get tired of hearing her say it like that. With such intense want... Such shameless desperation for him having seeped through her words that it only maximised his own burning desire to have her. He leaned forward, feeling as her hands finally rose from the partial softness of her jeans to the firmness of his fast moving chest, of which his heart was hammering so furiously beneath that he was near certain she could feel it. 

And she could.

It was practically mimicking her own with the way it was ready to burst free and dance across the floor given the sudden lack of distance between them. Even with the many alarms blaring in her mind, Melanie couldn't seem to stop herself from pulling him closer. Her fingers travelled along the slight hardness of his pecs and wrapped themselves tightly around his suspenders, drawing him even tighter against the quivering heat of her own body as it cried out in a desperate need to finally feel the weight of his on top of it.

That might have happened, too, if it wasn't for the arm of the couch stopping Melanie from being able to lie back and fully invite him into her. Given that, Rafael chose the next best thing he could think of and he shortened the distance between their faces, bringing his forehead to rest against Melanie's and feeling the way she immediately tilted into him. Their noses brushed as she did, their breath mixing in the small pocket of air left between them and just as Rafael was about to close the gap fully and get to taste what he so frequently craved, Melanie whispered his name again.

Only this time, in a tone that completely contradicted that deep, piercing desire that clouded every sparkle in her eyes as she gazed at him, four more words followed suit.

And each one crushed his heart in the process.

"I can't do this." Melanie pushed him gently away the second those dreaded words passed over lips and she stood up, closing her eyes as she did so as to not see the utter heartbreak that cascaded over his own. She folded her arms across her aching chest, her stomach now churning to the brink of extreme nausea. "I can't... I'm sorry, but I have to go."

As she dropped one hand and lifted the bag from the table, Melanie was quick to round it and head for the door in her desperate need to escape before she suffocated. Or worse, threw her dinner up all over his carpet...her heart included. Only, before she could reach out and grasp the handle to freedom, Rafael's fingers wrapped around her wrist and halted her place, her name slipping sadly from his lips and finally drawing her eyes back up to meet the pain that swam in his own.

" Mi amor..."

"Don't," Melanie choked out, her heart crumbling in her chest as she easily pulled her wrist from the weak grasp of his hand. "Just... Don't say anything."

Rafael's eyes softened, "Melanie..."

"Please, Rafael. I... I'm asking you not to make this harder than it already is," Melanie whispered, her words as thick as the lump that rose in her throat over the confusion that warped Rafael's hurt filled face. "For both our sakes, it's better that this doesn't happen."

Rafael's gaze narrowed, "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying..." Melanie said softly, reaching out to gently cup the side of his face despite how much it pained her to do so. But she couldn't help it. She was about to potentially break his heart into a million little pieces, so the least she could do was give him one final touch of comfort before she did so, "That maybe it's time for you to listen to your fortune cookie...And let me go."

And with that soul-crushing statement hitting him like a truck, Melanie was gone from in front of him before he could do so much as outwardly react let alone respond. Not that he even knew what to respond to something like that as he didn't even know what to think, let alone what to say.

All he could do at that moment was sink back down onto the couch, his hand landing absently on the warmth of the spot Melanie had just occupied. He didn't know what was going on with her...Where that sudden dismissal towards his affections had come from as it seemed to him like she was just as madly in love with him as he was with her.

Or at least, that's what he'd thought as right now...He wasn't sure that had ever been the case at hand.

The only thing he was sure about right now was that he was rather confused... Deeply, deeply confused and honestly, as he sat there with nothing to do but ponder his life's next move, Rafael couldn't help but think that perhaps he should have listened to his head earlier instead of his heart...

As maybe then... he wouldn't be left alone feeling like it was in pieces.

-
sorry this chapter took so long... I don't really have an excuse, it's just who I am as I person but hopefully y'all enjoyed the angst :)

I originally planned to have the last like 5 minutes of 17x08 in this chapter but I didn't think it would really fit so I'm going to add it to the next chapter instead as I feel like its too important for me to leave out

anyway, let know what you think of this chapter and hopefully the next one won't take as long :)

p.s. if anyone wants to see me ramble on tumblr my url is winchesterszvonecek