October 2016
"Come on, hurry up we're gonna be late," she insisted tugging on his arm as they meandered down one of the crowded streets in downtown Seattle.
They had both been working hard the last few weeks with stressful cases in Vegas and San Diego. To help them both unwind, she had surprised him with a trip to Seattle. She chatted about it for days before they left.
"I'm gonna show you everything," she insisted "the city, the harbor, the coffee shop, the cute little antique place Barbara Russell and I went to when we lived there, the park where D.B and I taught Charlie how to play basketball, everything."
She was ecstatic about the trip and he loved watching her gesture excitedly about all the places she loved in her former home.
And now they were here, two days into their trip, navigating their way around the city, or rather she was doing all the navigating. He only knew two things about Seattle; coffee and the Seahawks. What he was unprepared for was the bracing cold that greeted them the moment they got off the plane. He couldn't help but shiver as they walked down the street despite the jacket he was wearing. She simply smiled, linked her arm around his and snuggled up to him to keep him warm. She embraced the cold, unlike him, donning her brown leather jacket and plaid scarf, constantly rewrapping it as it slipped off from around her neck as she hurried down the street in excitement.
They stopped for coffee at a small off the beaten path little café to help warm them up before continuing on their way. The wind had blown leaves around the street, dispersing them at their feet. She took extra care to step on the crunchy ones with enthusiasm, giggling when he joined her.
They reached the end of the neighborhood and ended up in front of one of the harbors where numerous boats were docked and some were already sailing out on the choppy water.
"Let's go watch," she insisted, leading him towards the wooden dock where there were benches for people to sit and watch the boats go by.
They selected a bench closest to the wooden rail that separated the crowd from the icy water below. She didn't sit down right away. Instead she leaned against the wooden railing as far as she could, straining to see what boats would be appearing from around the corner. He stayed behind her, watching her reaction to the vessels moving closer and closer to their destination. She had a look of pure joy and complete concentration on her face that melted his heart.
After several minutes of straining to see the boats, the wind whipping her hair around, stinging at her eyes, making them water, she sought shelter with Nick on the bench. Even sitting down she was still restless. She fidgeted as boat after boat went by. One could barely pass them when she was already squirming in her seat, pointing excitedly ahead and saying "Look at that one!"
He adored her enthusiasm and excitement. She was like a kid at Christmas time with simple things like boats and the beach. The coma had not robbed her of her innocence and he was forever grateful for that.
It started to get dark, the cloudy sky already making it seem darker even if it was only five o'clock. Despite the clouds, he wasn't keen on moving just yet, until he felt the first raindrop. Then he had to gently coax her into moving and going back to their hotel room before it started to pour. She agreed, but halfheartedly, letting him hold her hand as the walked back to their hotel, stealing glances back towards the dock as they went.
That Night
A soft persistent tapping woke her up. She could barely see her surroundings except for the faint flow of the street lights outside. The beams pushed through the thin sheer curtain she had forgotten to close and she could see tiny specks of water on the windows glass. She crawled out of the warm bed without hesitation as if the rain beckoned her somehow. She sank down into the small arm chair that was pushed up against the wall, stretched her arms across the back of the chair and faced the window, resting her chin on her hands.
Rain drops continued to pelt the window and entire street below, but she could only see a few feet in front of her so she chose instead to watch the drops slide down the glass panes, one by one, some faster than the others. Her eyes followed several drops at a time until she felt dizzy and had to settle for focusing on just one drop. The never ending supply of droplets on the window plus the delicate tapping of them as they landed on the pane started to lull her to sleep before she could even start counting them.
He woke up and found the space next to him on the bed empty and cold. Panicking slightly, he reached out for her only to see the outline of her hunched in the arm chair staring outside the window.
"Babe what are you doing?" he whispered to her.
"Watching the rain," she said without hesitation.
"Did it wake you up?" he asked worriedly, hating when her sleep was disturbed.
"Yeah," she replied lazily continuing to stare out the window.
He watched her curl up in the chair, focused on the window and the rain pelting it.
"Come back to bed," he said, motioning for her and pulling back the covers so she could crawl back under them.
She turned her back to him, lying on her side, facing the window so she could still see the rain on the glass.
"I love the rain," she murmured to him, not wanting to break the quietness that surrounded them.
"Yeah it's nice," he admitted, wrapping his arms around her tighter and hugging her to him, loving the warmth from her body and all the blankets she insisted on sleeping with.
They both dozed before either of them could say anything else.
When he woke up again, the rain was still tapping persistently on the window but it was starting to get lighter outside. A quick glance at the clock on the nightstand told him it was after seven in the morning. He glanced down at her and smiled. She had moved in her sleep and now rested on top of him, her head on his chest. He loved being awake before her, he could watch her sleep and any excuse to snuggle with her was a blessing. But all too soon for his liking, she started to move restlessly, snuggling, and pulling on the blankets. He ran his fingers through her hair hoping to soothe her back to sleep but it wasn't enough. She rubbed her eyes and squinted against the light coming through the curtains.
"It's still raining," she sighed happily.
"Yeah," he assured her, curious now about her fascination with the gloomy weather. "So what's with you and the rain? Does it help you sleep?"
"Sometimes," she said shrugging "it's just nice to watch it."
She paused wondering if she should continue with her story or not. She didn't want him to think she was weird.
"When I used to live here," she continued any ways, laying aside her fears, her voice still raspy from sleep "I would lay in bed on a day off and listen to the rain, I could read and sleep and just exist in this tiny little bubble of space in my condo, sometimes, I wished I could share that with someone and now-"
She paused in telling her story to nuzzle affectionately.
"You can share that with me," he said, wanting to be a part of everything that she loved. "We can have a lazy day here, order room service, watch movies, whatever you want."
She smiled big at his words, cuddling into his embrace, delighted at his suggestions and thrilled that he understood her love of the rain and the sleepy, lazy mood it put her in.
As she turned in his arms, settling down more comfortably, he wondered why she didn't just ask for a lazy day in bed to begin with. But she told him in her own unique way, showing him little moments of her life prior to Vegas, rather than reveal every little detail at once. Getting to learn about her through these bursts of information more than two years into their relationship made him realize how lucky he was to be with her and how much he loved the rain.