Life Line
Disclaimer: I don't own, I'm just playing for a little while.
Spoilers: All Access
It scared him, when he heard her address over the radio. That feeling didn't even compare to the one he felt seeing her face down on the floor of her bedroom. Nothing would ever scare him again, as much as that had. He knew he loved her, but didn't quite realize how much until he saw her lying there.
He had never felt as relief as poignantly as he had when she opened her eyes and looked up at him. However it wasn't quite a strong as the relief he had felt when they told him the rape kit was negative. He felt relief and something far beyond that, into the realm of hope; something he hadn't felt in a while.
When they declared her shooting a justified kill, he felt he could relax. However that feeling was short lived. He went to the hospital to pick her up and take her home. He knew she would prefer him to take her there, just like she had preferred him to be the one to look around her apartment. She didn't allow men into her apartment, no exceptions, well except for him. He had always been welcome there, and on more occasions then he could count, or would care to remember. She had always been his lifeline, and it was time to return the favor. He escorted her to the door, but she didn't let him follow her in. She said it was something she had to do alone. He understood, but as long as she was there, he couldn't relax, and knew she wouldn't either.
He went home to his own empty apartment, and collapsed onto his couch. He wouldn't sleep because as long as she stayed in that apartment, he would see her lying face down on the floor. Before he knew it, he had fallen asleep only to dream terrible dreams where she was dead, that Frankie had killed her, that he had raped her, that she was no longer with him anymore. He was startled awake by the sound of knocking on his door.
He opened the door to see her standing there, a bag in her hand. The light from the hall spilled over her shoulder dully, making her hair seem brighter and her eyes even more shadowed. He stepped aside and let her in. No words were necessary. He took her bag and set down in his bedroom. When he came back, she was still standing where she'd stopped inside apartment. He puled her over to the couch and sat next to her. When her tears started to fall, he wrapped an arm around her and let her cry on his shoulder. And when she finally drifted off into sleep, he relaxed. She was warm and alive, next to him on the couch. Seeing her there made him realize, he didn't want her to be any where else but there. He would tell how he felt later, it was too soon for that now. Until then he would be her lifeline, and keep her sane like she had done for him so many times before.