Love Never Runs On Time
Summary: "When I'm with you, my heart beats faster..."
A/N: Just a simple and short AU fic set during (italics) and after the episode A Day at the Office, from Rachel's perspective. :)
Rachel knew that it was just going to be one of those days as she meandered down the corridor at work, having just been handed Sophie Burke's address book. Sophie was found dead earlier that morning, and Rachel, being a mother, took it upon herself to find the young woman's own mother. As she was about to step into the detective's office, Rachel turned around and saw Suzi Abromovich coming up behind her. "Oh hello Ms Abromovich," Rachel tried her very best to sound friendly, "What can I do for you?"
"Not much, I'd imagine," came the woman's reply, complete with a smile, "I'm after Mick."
"Yeah, I bet you are," Rachel mumbled, subtly rolling her eyes when she sat down at her desk. As Suzi talked to Mick, looking ever so fake, Rachel coughed and cleared her throat a few times before finding an excuse, any excuse, to go and talk to Helen. It was certainly no secret to anyone that Rachel didn't trust Suzi, and seeing her cracking onto Mick made her skin crawl. It wasn't jealousy, Rachel constantly told herself. How could it be? She couldn't care less about what Mick got up to with women. Rachel just thought Mick could do so much better than Suzi Abromovich, but more than that, she was so certain that Suzi was playing him.
When Rachel got back to the office, she was relieved to see that Suzi was gone. She walked around her desk and sat down on the chair, under Mick's close and watchful eyes. "Have you got a problem with me seeing Suzi Abromovich?" he questioned.
"Yeah," Rachel wheeled her chair forward, sitting closer to her desk, "I've got a problem."
"You don't even know her."
"Oh I know her," she retorted in her own defence, "I know she's on the game and I know she's not worth it."
Sitting in the car, waiting for Jack, Rachel sighed heavily at her thoughts. The past 24 hours had been a bit of a whirlwind for her. While Rachel had finally come to terms with her relationship with Jack, she hadn't even considered that she could very well be in love with him. At least not out loud anyway...
"Why don't you go and get your nose checked or something?" Rachel had asked Mick, hoping to get rid of him so she could work in silence.
He grinned from ear to ear, "You mean go and see Suzi?" he teased, knowing that mentioning Suzi would push her buttons.
"Oh..." she began, knowing that she really couldn't be bothered arguing with him about someone like Suzi, "You're mad. I'm not going to fight you anymore, you do what you like, alright? You do what you like," Rachel repeated the last few words, in hope that what she was saying would be convincing enough.
Mick leaned forward, slightly across her desk, "You know, I don't know if I like you seeing Jack," the big, annoying grin was still plastered on his face.
Rachel's mouth opened in surprise, "Oh, you don't like me seeing Jack?"
"No, well, I don't know if I like that," he answered, shrugging his shoulders.
"Why?"
Mick grinned again; it was that same, annoying little grin, "Because I think you're going a bit soft on me, Rach," he told her with confidence.
"Oh I'm not going soft on you," she started to flick her pen at his face, "Jack Christey's not going to make me go soft on you."
He laughed, softly, leaning forward even further, "I think you're in love."
"What?!" Rachel exclaimed, thinking that Mick was now being utterly ridiculous.
"I think you're in love."
Rachel opened her eyes as she heard Jack's voice, "You okay, Rach?" he asked, frowning at her from the passenger seat. "Bit tired today, eh?" he'd noticed that her eyes had been closed for a couple of minutes, "I can drive if you like," he offered.
"No, no, it's okay," she answered him quickly, starting the car, "I'm alright, thanks Jack."
As she drove out of the police carpark, Jack did his seat belt up and twisted his upper body a little to the right, facing Rachel. "What were you thinking about just now?" his curiosity got the better of him, "You seemed pretty deep in thought there."
She glanced at him, her thoughts almost immediately going back to what Mick said about her being in love. Feeling Jack's eyes burning through her, Rachel quickly mustered up a reply, the first thing that came to mind, "Oh… I was just thinking about a lot of little things really. It's hard to pinpoint one thought."
"Fair enough," Jack answered, he was now looking out the window. "I thought it may have had something to do with what I said to you last night."
Knowing exactly what he was talking about, Rachel felt her heart skip a few beats. She knew Jack wanted to address the elephant in the room, but she just didn't know what to say to him. Rachel was the first person to admit that she was terrible at relationships and anything to do with commitment. Jack on the other hand, didn't seem too fazed by admitting his feelings.
"I meant every word, you know," Jack spoke again when Rachel remained quiet.
"I know."
Upon arriving back at the station more than an hour later, rather than being able to help Jack with the paperwork straight away, Rachel was instead summoned into Helen's office. She closed the door, holding her head down low in a kind of sheepish shame, even though she did not know the reason Helen wanted to see her.
"Have a seat, Rachel," Helen said with a soft voice, watching the detective walk over to the chair in front of her desk and sit down. "I... I thought it was about time we talked about you and Jack," Helen stated plainly, watching the expression on Rachel's face turn to surprise. "When I found out about the two of you yesterday, I thought I'd be telling you and or Jack that... that you shouldn't be together..." she stuttered, uneasily.
Rachel looked at Helen with raised her eyebrows, "But?" she anticipated.
"But... I'm not going to."
"Why?" Rachel was puzzled, frowning, "What happened to 'cops and cops don't mix'?" she asked, wondering why Helen had suddenly changed her mind.
Helen let out a quiet sigh as she answered, "I don't… I guess the past couple of days have made me see that the two of you can keep work and romance separate. But it's not only that… I can't, no one can, tell you not to be together just because you're both cops. That's not right."
For some reason, Rachel felt herself tense, and without thinking, she blurted out, "Last night, Jack told me that I'm the right woman for him, and that he's in love with me…" she stopped herself from saying anything else. Helen probably didn't need to hear it.
Helen smiled at her softly. "And he meant it, I assume?" when Rachel nodded her head, Helen continued, "Do you think you might feel like that about him?" she hoped that Rachel didn't think the question was too nosy or intrusive.
"I'm not sure," Rachel said in reply, but as she shrugged, all she could hear in her head was Mick's voice.
"I think you're in love."
Completely confused, Rachel went home that evening and threw herself onto the couch, burying her face in one of the cushions. She knew she felt something for Jack; something pretty damn strong too. But, was it really love? She felt like a teenager again, wondering what it was like to be in love with someone.
Rachel then sat upright and took her phone out of her pocket. Calling Jack seemed like a good idea, even though she had no idea what she was going to say to him. But before she had the chance to dial his number, she heard two quick knocks at the front door.
Standing on the doorstep was the man she was about to call. He smiled at her, and she let him in without saying a word. When they finished walking up the stairs, Rachel broke the silence, "Would you like a drink? I think there's still some of that wine left over from last night."
"If you're having some, I'll have some," he smiled again, watching Rachel nod and she proceeded to pour them both a glass of wine. "Rach," Jack began, looking down as she passed him his glass, "About what I said…"
Rachel briefly held her breath, thinking he was about to take it back.
"I don't want to put you under pressure... to feel like you have to say anything like that back to me or... whatever," he continued, letting Rachel sit down on the couch first, "I just…" his voice stammered a little, "I just wanted you to know how I feel about you. Even if it was the wrong time to say it."
"It wasn't the wrong time, Jack," Rachel shook her head. "I am so shit at relationships… I just… I want to know how I feel about you rather than think I know how I feel, if that makes sense," she then wondered if she should tell him about her conversation with Helen earlier. Instead though, she put her hand on his, and with a confident smile, said, "I know this for sure though… when I'm with you, my heart beats faster…"
As Jack squeezed her hand, Rachel realised that this was the closest she could get to admitting that she was in love with him, because love, as it goes, never runs on time.