I read OzQueen's "Breathe" a long time ago way before I saw "One Night" so when I actually saw the episode, I needed to read it again. While I was looking for it, the final scene between Valentino and Justin started and I decided I had to write something about it myself, even if it was just a really quick drabble. So I rewatched the scene. And then I rewatched it again. And again. And again. Then my dad got kind of freaked out so I had to stick with what I had. I guess no one really needed to know that, but...oh forget it.

Disclaimer: If I owned Cold Case...no. I don't even want to go there. Let's just stick with a simple I-don't-own-Cold Case.

The lady cop—he's pretty sure her name is Miller—keeps her hand on his arm as she walks him toward where she says Justin is. And not Justin's dead body, but a living, breathing, more-than-slightly-traumatized Justin. There's a part of his mind that wonders why she feels the need to do this, to touch him, but Valentino's mostly thinking of Justin, of his face when he talked about fields and horses and his mom and did Valentino want to come, too?

Ask me again.

Will he ask? Because if Justin asks him again, Valentino knows what he'll say.

Then Valentino can see Justin wrapped in the blue blanket, lights from the ambulance flashing across his face as they stare at each other. There's a pause that lasts for only a second because Valentino needs to know that Justin is there and not buried in a hole, dying or dead. His eyes have lied to him before, but the feeling of flesh beneath his hands never has.

He tears away from the lady cop, the one who said so gently, "He had you."

But Justin still has him and Valentino's pretty sure that the barely-there smile he receives means that Justin knows it. He could be wrong, but he hopes he's right.

The truth is, I met Justin two weeks ago. Barely knew the kid.

That's what he said and he said it so easily, but it doesn't feel like the truth, not when he steps forward and reaches out to touch Justin on the shoulder, but finds himself wrapping his arms around the other boy instead, like someone else is going to try stealing him away.

Horses in the field. That's where I'm going. Want to come?

Ask me again.

Valentino's a little bit worried that he's going to start crying like Justin is, but he manages to keep himself as he presses their foreheads together, as he pulls Justin a little bit closer and takes in a shaky breath. He knows now: Justin really is alive.

He knows the cops are watching. He feels their eyes. For a moment he wonders if Justin feels them, too. But it doesn't matter to either one of them, not right now. It doesn't matter what the cops—or anyone else—sees or hears or thinks. Maybe it will later, once Valentino can put his thoughts together properly, but he doesn't care about the future.

Or does he?

Ask me again.

Valentino doesn't say it. He's smart enough to know that now is quite possibly the most shitty timing to say anything of the sort, to even think about fields and horses and other happy things. Very shitty timing.

So he won't.

But that's okay because Valentino knows that it will happen someday.

Someday (even if he doesn't know when that day is right now), Valentino will say, "Ask me again," over a pack of cigarettes.

Justin will take a long drag of his and exhale the smoke to the sky (the sky he probably thought he'd never see again) before turning his eyes to Valentino. And then Justin will ask, "Want to come?"

And Valentino won't even pretend to think about it this time. This time he'll just say, "Yes."