Pancakes
A little RNR story for post-ep "Turn, turn, turn" The plot bunny has been hopping around in my head for a while and I finally gave in to its demands.
Her heart ached for him as she watched his struggle with the aftermath of the case he had just closed. Ray had already left the locker room, giving her a sad smile as they passed in the hallway. "I think Nick could use a friend about now" he had said "I tried but maybe you can get through to him, convince him it's not his fault." Riley hadn't answered and now just stood in the doorway unsure of what to say or do to help him.
Nick felt her watching and turned his head, tears still falling. He wiped his face with his hands and gave her a watery smile.
"Hey" he whispered "how long have you been standing there?"
Riley walked over to the bench and sat down next to him, resting her hand on his thigh, needing the contact just as much as he did.
"Not long" she sighed softly, "I'm so sorry Nick, I wish there was something I could do to make this go away but you have to know there was nothing you could have done to stop this from happening. You know that, right?" she asked, concern for him evident in her tone.
Riley squeezed his thigh a little harder as Nick struggled to find the words to describe how he felt.
"Sometimes it's hard for me to distance myself from a case and this one…"he blew out a breath "this one just got to me you know? I wish I could've done something, anything to connect all the dots and then maybe an innocent young girl would still be alive instead of layin' cold on a slab in our morgue" his voice shook with emotion, she could feel the tension in his body and tried to distract him.
"Do you want to go somewhere and talk?" Riley asked. She shrugged before adding, "If you're hungry I still owe you pancakes. We could go to my place, talk in private or you could just crash, whatever…"
"Yeah that'd be good". Nick answered rubbing his face again and standing to get his stuff out of his locker. Riley stood also and walked to the door; she turned back to Nick and smiled.
"I'll meet you at my place ok?" and she turned to leave.
"Hey Riley?" Nick called out "remember when we talked about us, about taking it slow?"
He smiled as she nodded, confusion on her face"I don't think I can go slow anymore. I'm fallin' pretty damn fast for you and there's not a thing I can do to stop it."
You know what Nick?" she replied, a huge grin lighting up her face "it's about time you caught up! I fell hard a while ago, I just wasn't sure if you were feeling the same way." laughing she added, " See you at my place and bring an appetite. I'm making pancakes."