Disclaimer: Not my characters, not for profit. edited: for minor mistake.
"Robbie," she took another sip of her beer, and paused as if she wasn't sure if she should continue. When Robbie looked up from his drink and she had his full attention with a nod of his head she plowed on, "Robbie… you… you could've died." Her eyes widened slightly as the thought hit her again.
Robbie looked at her and shrugged, "Not really, I'd have jumped out of the way even if I hadn't taken her with me."
Jackie looked at him and shook her head, "No, you still could've died! What were you thinkin'? Oh, that's right Robbie Ross doesn't think. He acts like he's superman which he's not! Seriously, don't ever do something like that again! I could have had a heart attack."
Robbie sipped his drink and looked back up to see the sincerity on Jackie's face, "Really? You were that worried about me? Who knew it took just a track jump to show that you care." He grinned lightly at her.
Jackie punched his arm with force. "Ow, watch it! That actually hurt." Robbie scowled.
Jackie growled at him, "Well, it was bloody meant to. You mightn't have gotten hurt today but you need to know that I'm not kiddin'. And of course you knew that I care about you before now. I don't see what the big deal is. If Burke had jumped I'd have been piss scared too!" she lifted her glass to her mouth before taking a large mouthful.
Robbie sighed, "Yeah. I guess so. Look, Jackie. Really, I am sorry and you're right," she raised a brow that told him that knew she was, "I didn't think, but you've done some rash decisions in your time too. And if we'd watched her die and it could've been prevented…that would have hurt too right?"
Jackie didn't respond but he could see that she couldn't disagree with him on the point, "I just… next time I'll try to keep in mind that my safety is of more concern to others than just myself. Alright?"
Jackie stared at him for a moment in silence then shrugged seeming to concede, "I guess that's the closest thing to not jumping headfirst I can get out of you."
Robbie smiled and shifted closer to her on the bench seat; he slung one arm around her shoulder and pulled her into what was meant to be a short sideways hug. To his surprise when he tried to pull away after a few moments, he found that her left arm had snuck around his side and was holding him fast. He looked up to see her face but as he did she moved and he soon had a head full of hair brushing against his neck and cheek as she rested her head on his shoulder.
Jackie brought her other arm around to make it a full embrace. In the slightly awkward space that the table left them with, sitting on the bench seat in the booth, it was a little hard for Robbie to extract his left arm to complete the hug but he eventually managed to and he automatically pressed a small kiss to the top of Jackie's head.
He felt her stiffen in his arms, and he swore in his head at his actions another case of not thinking them through beforehand.
"Robbie."
Here it comes he chided himself, just when he was relaxing in the comfortable feeling of her arms wrapped around his body. "Yeah?" He didn't want to add anything more that could ruin the moment forever.
"I do care about you, you know," came the reply.
He chuckled out a small laugh, "Yes, I think we just covered that."
"No. No, I mean…" he felt her grip tighten slightly and for a moment he wondered if she was going to try and strangle him his breathing was becoming a little shallow. "I meant Robbie that I can't do this without you. I don't know what I'd do if I lost you." And her grip tightened again and Robbie knew that he'd have to ask her to let go when he drew his next breathe, but as soon as she had tightened her grip she let go completely and warily pulled back to look at his reaction her eyes wide.
Robbie resumed with regular breaths, and looked back at her, slightly wary of saying the wrong thing.
"O-okay…" he paused a moment, "I'd be the same way you know," he arched a brow as if he was challenging her to prove something.
She sighed, "Do you need me to spell this out for you Robbie?"
"Well, we've been friends for how long now? It's only natural that losing one of us would confuse us for awhile, I certainly couldn't imagine my life without you anymore Jack."
"Really?" she questioned.
"Really."
Jackie picked up her drink and took a swig of it trying to clear away the moment.
"Jackie?"
She looked sidelong at him, "Yeah?"
"Shouldn't you have left by now? I'm sure Chris'll be getting worried about you. I don't know why you even suggested this in the first place."
"Chris knows, I called him, we'll be having a chat tomorrow. And anyway, I needed to… reassure myself that you're okay." She rested a hand over his on the table.
Robbie looked at their hands and then back up at Jackie, "I'm okay, honest. You should go home, get some rest. It's been a hard case, for all of us."
Jackie smiled, "Yeah, I guess I should." But she leant back in for another hug.
"What's with all this Jackie? You better be careful or someone might think it means something more!" he joked into her hair. He felt her grip tighten almost imperceptibly and she didn't let go for what Robbie later recalled was at least a minute.
But when she did she smiled brightly at him, and pulled her overcoat on and waved at him as she exited the pub and headed home.
And for some reason Robbie thought to himself, an hour later home in his apartment nursing another drink. Somehow, that last moment when she had smiled happily at him from the doorway for a moment too long, was the moment that he had felt he had led himself into the biggest pile of shit and trouble all night, and he wasn't sure he knew how to make it up to her.