"I gotta get some air, before I rip your head off," Nick snarled the warning to disgraced former undersheriff Jeffrey McKeen as he sat interrogating him with Russell about his team of spies in the lab.
The man was not revealing any information despite the team's leverage on him with the loss of his son and his partnership with Jack Gilmore. But the fact remained that McKeen still knew how to tear open old wounds with Nick by simply discussing Warrick and his death. Nick had to step out of the room, slamming the door in frustration and pacing the hallway thinking of various ways to get the man to talk.
Julie was hovering near the interrogation rooms, waiting for news about what this McKeen guy knew about their case when she heard the door slam. She peered around the corner and spotted Nick pacing in obvious distress. She approached him, noting the exasperated way he sighed and how he curled his fists in anger.
"Hey," she said quietly "he's not talking?"
"He won't shut up that's the problem," Nick told her bitterly.
"What did this guy do?" Julie wondered aloud of their history, knowing it had something to do with a former CSI.
Nick looked at her, unsure how to even begin to tell her the horrors they endured at his hands, so he gently touched her arm and guided her around the corner to a more private section of the hallway, leaning against the wall, he spoke in flat monotone "He killed Warrick."
"No," she breathed horrified, staring back at the interrogation room in shock "why didn't you tell me?"
"It's hard to talk about still," Nick said running his hand through his hair, "I didn't want to burden you with that."
"I'm a good listener," she reminded him, glancing nervously around the space for any onlookers before gently reaching for his hand to hold "I'll stay and watch if you want to go back to the lab, get away from the creep."
"Nah, I'll be okay," Nick insisted, loving how she offered to do that for him, squeezing her hand, not wanting to let go.
They fell silent in the hallway, unsure what to say next but knowing they both were not quite ready to let each other go just yet.
"Promise me you won't let him get to you?" she asked now, stepping closer to him and having to stand on her toes to reach up and hold his face gently since he was so much taller than her.
They had only been seeing each other for a few months but she knew how to calm him down after a stressful case, she knew when he was getting agitated by work and she reminded him to walk away, to take breaks, to call her when he needed to, all things she struggled to do herself but graciously helped him with. She had the biggest heart behind all that pent-up energy and hostility she brought to her work. He grew to adore everything about her in the short time they had worked together since Russell brought her on their team.
"I promise," he assured her, taking her hand and kissing her fingers, the only affections they could safely show at work without anyone seeing.
Julie still felt uneasy about leaving him, but she still had work to do on the Gilmore case, so she reluctantly let go of his hand, noting that he tugged on her hand wanting her to stay, savoring that last moment of contact before they really had to be apart. She smiled as she walked away, glancing back at him until she turned the corner.
