AN-This came about due to another song on BonesBird's Spotify that I found. I spoke to her and asked her to talk me out of writing this as its a little sad and doesn't end up Prody. Her idea of talking me out of it was to talk me in to it and we both ended up writing a thing from the same song but from different views and different perspectives with different outcomes. We will be posting them at the same time so go check hers out as it is amazing as usual. Her's is called ' I Choose to Let Her Go'. I used Let Her Go by Passenger as the version I had on when I wrote this.
As Pride watched Brody talk to the man who had stopped her as they left the crime scene he and to admit he was intrigued. They seemed to know each other well, especially when the stranger called her 'MB'. As she walked away from him he called out the ingredients to a drink, now he was more than intrigued. As Brody approached where LaSalle and Pride were standing she knew what was coming but she wasn't sure who would ask.
"Who's that guy?" LaSalle nodded his head back in the direction of where Brody had just came from.
"James, my ex." Was enough information to give LaSalle when all he wanted was gossip.
"Ex boyfriend?" LaSalle pressed on.
"Ex fiancé." was Brody response which now had both men's attention.
Both men knew she had an ex fiancé but neither had expected him to show up in New Orleans. Pride was not impressed having an ex fiancé turn up. LaSalle being LaSalle would not let this little piece of gossip drop. At the first opportunity he questioned Brody about James. He wanted the low down on everything. Brody did not want to share any information with LaSalle, not about this.
"So, that's a big commitment. Spending the rest of your life with someone. What happened?" LaSalle pushed.
"He was married." Brody said seeing the look on LaSalle's face.
"Bigamist,dang hadn't expect that one." LaSalle responded shocked.
"To his job, LaSalle." Brody burst out laughing.
"And you're not!?" Knowing how much of a workaholic Brody was.
He had a point, she was, but back then she hadn't been as bad. It was probably due to the fact things ended the way they had between them that she threw herself in to work. There was nothing she could do now, it was in the past and so was James. They had a case and James and the memories of what could have been was not going to help her focus.
As she worked her phone kept buzzing with text messages. She would read them but never reply. Both LaSalle and Pride noticed the amount that were coming through. Where LaSalle thought this was funny Pride on the other hand didn't. He had thought he and Brody were becoming close, they were spending at least a couple of nights a week together be it having a meal of watching a movie. He enjoyed the time they spend together a lot and found on the nights she wasn't with him he missed her being around. He had planned to spend more time with her given the chance but with James showing up and the case it wasn't looking promising. As well as James, Brody had attracted the attention of a doctor they had worked a case with. Brody being the type of person she was had agreed to meet the doctor and they had a meal together so she could tell him thank but no thanks.
He tried to ignore the fact that even though he wouldn't admit it aloud he was getting jealous of the text messages. James had showed up and it looked like he was now going to have her attention. He knew a brief history of their time together and how and why they split. He knew it hadn't been easy on her at the time but she did seem to be over him, till now. Pride also knew this was not the time to let his personal life interfere with his job so he left it. He would have time to do something when the case was done.
They all got on with the case and did what was needed. Pride asked LaSalle and Brody to go over police records and see if they could find any information in them. Going back to LaSalle's old police office they sat and went through files and reports, or what was left them. At least three times while they were working Brody's phone beeped with messages from James.
"That ex of yours is a persistent lad." LaSalle pointed out on the third text.
"He won't give up about meeting for a drink." Brody told LaSalle as she cleared the message and put the phone down again.
"What's the problem? The more you play hard to get the more he will try. If like you say you're done then meet him, have a drink and walk away. Done" making it sound as simple as that coming from a Casanova like LaSalle.
Brody sat and thought over what LaSalle had said as they finished going over the reports and filing them back away. He was right, she could do this. She could meet him, have a drink shake his hand and walk away. How difficult could it be to do that?
As she sat waiting for James at the restaurant she was considering leaving when he turned up and sat down opposite her. They sat talking about why he was there and then he reached across the table and slowly took her hand in his. Ohhh God this could not be happening, not now. She looked down at their joined hands and smiled at little. She forgot how good his hands felt against hers. No, she needed to stand her ground. Pulling her hand away she looked at him and told him this could not happen. She tried to explain why but her excuse sounded feeble, even to her own ears.
"Is this because of the doctor called Wilkins" James asked, pleased he had caught her off guard.
"Ace reporter!?" Brody laughed at what he dug up about her since he got there.
"Of course." Just as a waitress brought over a drinks tray.
"You didn't!" Seeing the two drinks being put on the table.
"This is what we did when we had fun." Picking up his drink and waiting for her to pick her's up.
After downing their drinks James ordered more and sure enough Brody found the thoughts and feeling she had for James hit her like an avalanche again. When he took her hand again she didn't push him away and as he ordered a cab and they ended up at his hotel room in bed she knew it was wrong but it was James, and James was, well, James.
Waking next morning to her phone beeping Brody knew it was a mistake as she knew there was someone else she was falling for but it was safe and it was comforting and it was her past. As she sat up in bed and talked with James she knew she had to go, and she knew that if Pride didn't stop her or give her a reason to stop she would end up right back in bed that night with James.
Arriving at the office she charged into the lab only to be stopped in her tracks by Sebastian's comment about a wind tunnel and LaSalle's about the fact she hadn't changed her shirt. She looked at Pride and she saw a look cross his face that she couldn't quite decipher as he schooled his face and pushed Sebastine for answers. She would try to talk to him at some point but she wasn't sure if they would get the chance.
He could tell where she had spent the night and he knew who with. He was not impressed in the slightest but he couldn't stop her. They hadn't really made a commitment to each other as such, it was more a casual thing but he thought he meant more to her than that. He knew she meant the world to him and he could understand James wanting her back. Focus, that's what he needed now. Not distracting by the woman he was falling in love with spending the night with another man.
Back at the office LaSalle and Brody sat in the kitchen working while Pride stayed in the main office. He had saw Brody text a few times in the last hour while he sat with her working. He had a fair idea who she was texting but there was nothing he could do, they were working and it came first. He didnt want to push her and share what was going through his head, it wasn't fair on her. So he stayed out the way for now and let her get on with her work but also texting James. When he heard them come out the kitchen he stood up from his desk and meet them as they came back in he pointed out the delivery she had just received of flowers. He needed to play this cool, especially with LaSalle in the room.
"Just arrived, the good doctor has good taste" trying to play down the arrival of the flowers and who had actually sent them.
"That's if the good doctor sent them." LaSalle chipped in not being able to help himself.
LaSalle had no idea about he and Brody so he presumed LaSalle was referring to James. Brody went over and picked the card up that came with the flowers. Looking at the card then the flowers she put the card back down and sat to get on with her work. He kept watching to see if she would open the card but she didn't. It looked like he needed to do something else to prove it was he who wanted her not some ex who would be gone in a few days. The case dragged on so he didn't get the chance to talk to her and he was running out of time. He had to talk to her before she went home and walked away from him but he couldn't do it. Even when the case was wrapped up he couldn't face her and tell her how he felt. It was three little words but it was also his heart on the line. Being burnt once was enough for him, Linda leaving had devastated him. All he and to do was walk up to her and ask her to stay, stay with him. Three little words that he couldn't do. As he watched her again she looked at the card and put it back before looking at him as if giving him the chance to stop with him.
When he didn't move and went back to his paperwork she knew that was it, he had made his choice. She knew when she left the office that night she would not be alone for long. Sure enough Pride disappeared upstairs and left her to finish her work with LaSalle. She picked her phone up and arranged to meet James at her place. As one of the people involved in the case had said 'The heart wants what the heart wants' was very true. She was sure her heart had wanted Pride at one point but after spending the night with James and Pride not showing any interest she knew she could turn to James and that was exactly what she did when the time came. James came over and after chat with James she found herself pinned to her bed by James as they made love again.
What she didn't know was Pride had watched her leave. He watched her get in her car and drive away. He looked on knowing he was pushing her into the arms of another man. He knew he may never get back her back but it couldn't stop her, he couldn't put himself on the line for love. He loved her and he had let her go.