The tears poured out of Eddie as Jamie held her in his arms. She felt safe with him, and everything she had been holding in during the last few days had come rushing out. She closed her eyes as her head rested on his shoulder.
"I don't know if I can go through this again Jamie." She paused, "...maybe I'm not cut out for this type of work."
"You are," Jamie said, "if going through this didn't get to you then I'd agree with you."
Eddie sat up and took a drink. She was starting to relax knowing Jamie wasn't going anywhere. She wiped her face. "Since I'm already crying how about we watch a tear-jerker?"
"Tear jerker?" Jamie answered skeptically. "Not like Steel Magnolias I hope."
Eddie shook her head. "Rudy" she said and grinned.
"In that case, absolutely" Jamie perked up while she turned on the movie. He pointed at himself and said deadpan "...captain of the Harvard football team." Eddie just rolled her eyes.
After the movie Jamie turned and looked at Eddie.
"You look exhausted" he said.
It was all Eddie could do just to stay upright.
"Jamie, you can crash in the bedroom, I'm gonna stay on the couch. I don't think I could even walk there right now" She said.
"What? ...No, I'm not taking your bedroom!" Jamie protested. "Besides you need as much sleep as you can get, not tossing and turning on a sofa."
"...No I, .. I sleep out here all the time, and you're too tall for the couch anyways, I got a big king in there." She pointed to the bedroom.
Jamie sighed as he realized there was no persuading her and headed toward the bedroom.
"Hey," Eddie said "Thank you for being here. I know you probably had better things to do than console me all night."
Jamie smiled. "No problem"
"Of course with your bad boy leather jacket you may have been trying to get into a girls bed later tonight anyways...so way I figure it you owe me one"
Jamie rolled his eyes " ...Really? Even half awake you're still busting my balls. Yeah that equation doesn't quite work if it's a bed with no girl" he said as he shut the door.
Jamie lay awake for a while thinking about what Eddie was going through. It was a big thing to take another's life, regardless of the situation. He was confident she'd be ok and come back confident, but knew right now she was in it. And there was nothing to due but take it one day at a time. He was just starting to doze off when he heard movement in the apartment. Suddenly the door opened and Eddie shuffled in.
"Eddie. What are you doing? Are you ok?" Jamie asked alarmed.
Eddie just mumbled back "..sooo tired….that couch is so uncomfortable"
"But...you said you sleep there all the time?!" Jamie stammered.
Eddie waived her hand at him dismissively and brushed off his protest. "I was just being polite and…" She trailed off as she crashed down on the bed.
Jamie had sat up when she walked in and stayed frozen like that, not sure what to do. As near as he could tell, she was sound asleep before her head hit the pillow. And based on her deep breathing, she was not going anywhere. I should probably move to the couch, he thought. Jamie continued trying to reason with himself that he shouldn't stay in the bed until he fell asleep listening to sound of Eddie sleeping.
Eddie awoke with a start. The bits of sleep she'd been getting after the ordeal had been taken over with replays and what-if's of the day. But even now that she was getting real sleep the troubled dreams continued.
As her mind came back to the present she was startled to realize she and Jamie were intertwined on the bed. She apparently had migrated over to his side during the night and now was pressed up against him; her hand was resting on his chest and she could feel his breathing. Oh my god…, Eddie started thinking back to connect the dots why she and Jamie were in bed together. She reached down to double check they both were clothed, and satisfied that that was the case started to relax a little.
Eddie didn't want to move away from him but realized this was starting to cross boundaries they couldn't go back from. She lingered for a moment and then started to scooch back to the other side of the bad when Jamie turned over, wrapped his arm around her, and pulled her in tight.
"Jamie" Eddie whispered. But as she got no response it became apparent he was fast asleep. Eddie thought of whether to wake him, pull away, go to the couch, or...stay. She knew sleeping with Jamie could backfire in a whole host of ways, even if it was just sleeping. The sensation of being embraced by Jamie was too much to overcome, and along with the combination of being exhausted and emotionally vulnerable kept her from moving. Eddie reasoned with herself that she had done due diligence in not escalating the situation, and fell back to sleep in his arms.
"Sleeping beauty," Jamie had just poured himself a smoothie. "You're up…, finally" he said under his breath.
"How long was I out?" Eddie rubbed her eyes.
"I probably could've pulled a double while you were asleep" Jamie said.
"I don't think I've ever been so tired as last night; my body just shut down" Eddie pulled over a stool and sat down. "I'd offer to make breakfast but looks like I'm too late."
"Want some?" Jamie grabbed an empty glass.
"What is that? A green smoothie or something?" Eddie scrunched up her face "How'd you make that I don't even have vegetables here?" She said incredulously.
Jamie took a big swallow. "I'm resourceful" he grinned.
"Gross. That's not breakfast" Eddie shook her head. She paused for a moment and then looked straight at him, "So just to be clear, we slept together but we haven't slept together."
"Slept? I didn't even get any sleep cause you snored all night" Jamie shot back.
"Right...," Eddie said sarcastically "well this is fair warning just in case you were going to brag about your conquest or something."
"Yeah.. not quite, I'm not the type to usually chase after a damsel in distress" He took another sip of his smoothie.
"Damsel!? Damsel! Hey, do damsels carry guns and shoot to kill?" She pointed her hand at him.
Jamie choked on his drink. "Well good to see you sense of humor is coming back."
"I'm not joking" Eddie kept a straight face a moment, then slipped back into reality.
"Jamie, the weight from this whole thing is still on me, I can't shake it."
"It takes time, you're not gonna get over it in a day" he told her.
"I know, I do feel a lot better than yesterday though" Eddie looked up "...get through the day, right?"
"Right" Jamie said, and held her gaze. "So, I have to go to this volunteer church event shortly. Do you want to come? Might be a nice distraction, keep you occupied."
"You're a beat cop and you volunteer on your days off? Way to make the rest of us look bad Reagan" Eddie teased.
Jamie just shrugged his shoulders.
"Thanks, but I'm gonna binge on more sports movies today" she continued, "I'll be there with you in spirit though."
"Of course" He got up and headed toward the door.
" Hey Jamie," she paused, "Thank you"
He looked back at her.
"Anytime"
"And don't forget to dispose of that green toxic waste before you leave!"
