Glances

It was always a look. From the very beginning, just a moment of eye contact could connect them. Everything they had was born from a single glance.

Her eyes were what he'd missed most. Her voice and her charm, her soft skin and her silky hair, all things he had loved. But her eyes were always so expressive and always spoke volumes in the silence they'd always kept between them. So it was her eyes he was most excited to see.

Nick had known for quite some time that they were to be reunited soon. She'd gone on assignment to Counterterrorism, which was a perfect place for her, really. But she'd be coming back to Homicide. To the squad he had now joined. Honestly, it was a surprise they hadn't run into each other yet. She'd been with her team for almost three years now, but he'd been mercifully placed with a different unit. But with all the recent shakeups from on high, Homicide Squad had been reorganized and condensed. And here he was. Working with all her mates, some of whom he'd come up the ranks with years before, feigning disinterest whenever anyone mentioned Jennifer Mapplethorpe. As though the name didn't make his stomach tie in knots.

And there she was. He was holding a case of beer on his shoulder in the kitchen at Matt Ryan's place when she turned around. Nick felt his whole face light up. He couldn't help it. Regardless of the preparation he'd had, regardless of the pain and torment and utter heartbreak of the last time he'd seen her, Nick couldn't help but be elated to see her standing in front of him.

Her eyes went wide. Always so very expressive. She hadn't been expecting him. Apparently no one had given her any warning that they had a new squad member. Or perhaps they had but neglected to tell her it was Nick Buchanan. Probably didn't think it was important. After all, no one in the state police knew that they knew each other. They'd worked very hard to keep it that way.

"Hi." Her lips quirked into the smallest of smiles. Just polite friendliness? Perhaps.

He couldn't quite find words yet. His mouth had gone dry all of a sudden.

"Jen, have you met Nick?" Emma asked, breaking the awkward silence.

She looked from Emma and back up to Nick's face to find him smirk knowingly. "No," she replied, shaking her head.

His expression immediately fell. Ah. That's how she wanted to play it. Probably best that way.

Thinking quickly, Jen held out her hand. "Hi, I'm Jennifer Mapplethorpe," she introduced.

He shook her hand firmly. "Hi, Nick Buchanan."

Jen then quickly followed Emma with the drinks, barely glancing at him again. But that was enough. That split second of recognition in her eyes. Nick watched her walk away with sheer awe. She was back. It had been a long time. Too long. Or, perhaps, just long enough. Because any sooner, and they couldn't have looked at each other with a smile. No, those friendly glances would have instead been accusatory and grief-stricken. Time heals all wounds, so they say, and enough time had passed for Nick to be able to finally look at her and smile.

The rest of the evening, Jen was lost in thought, unable to focus on having any fun with her friends. Her heart was still racing from the unexpected encounter with Nick. Nick Buchanan. Barely a day went by that she hadn't thought about him. How could it? But seeing him again…everything came flooding back. The good and the bad. She couldn't bear to think of that now. Or ever. Jen wanted to focus on the good. He'd been such a good presence in her life, for a time. From the very first moment, that's what he was…good.

Three years earlier, Jennifer Mapplethorpe, freshly minted detective, had been recruited by Australia Secret Intelligence Service. Her test scores, coupled with her blonde hair and trim figure, had caught the attention of SIS. She had been brought to a secret location in the city and given a box of files to memorize all alone in a small hotel room.

The directive was simple enough. Trish and Wesley Claybourne and their import/export business would be used as surveillance for international drug and weapons trafficking. Jen would be Trish, but it was nearly a week before she met her Wesley. DSC Nick Buchanan was finishing up a homicide case and was delayed joining the team. Jen was struck, at the time, that of all the police in the whole country, her partner on this would one from her hometown with precisely the job she'd dreamed of all her life. She'd need to ask him about his work and, hopefully, when they got back, he could put in a good word for her to get a spot on Homicide.

Meeting Nick had been one of those surreal experiences that people write about in books or act out in movies. He was handsome, in a generic sort of way, and had an almost boring aura about him, as though he did nothing more in life than show up in warehouses in a suit and tie to nod politely at people around him.

But then, when they shook hands, something shifted inside Jen's very soul.

"Hi, I'm Nick Buchanan."

She just stared at him, smiling kindly, probably looking like right idiot. "Hi, Jennifer Mapplethorpe," she replied, after what felt like an age.

There was just something about his eyes, full of kindness and sincerity and the fire of determination, that Jennifer just couldn't seem to look away from. He made her feel all at once calm and focused and centered and yet slightly off balance, almost giddy.

Back at Matty's house, Jen looked at Nick across the table. Their eyes met for one brief instant. In that one glance, it all came back.