The Rain
By: incoherenThought

Disclaimer: I don't own Cold Case or it's characters. This is here for free entertainment purposes only.
Note: Some small editing has been done to this story. Nothing major, though. Just thought I'd note it. (03-31-10).

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Lilly stood motionless studying the shadows on the ground before her. All around the night air was chilly and the wind was beginning to pick up. She thought she could smell rain. Absently, she remembered the newsman talking about an eighty-percent chance of precipitation.

"Lil?" She said nothing when she heard his voice. She didn't even move. She knew who it was. She didn't want to talk with him. "Is everything okay? I thought you'd be home by now."

She relented and turned to face the voice. Scotty was now standing closely in front of her. "I was headed that way," she said simply.

Scotty glanced to the building behind him. Philly PD, with it's interior lit up and late night-ers coming and going, was only fifteen feet away. "You've not gotten very far."

Lilly gave him a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "I stopped," she said with a shrug and looked back down at the ground in front of her. A car drove by and two shadows danced together.

"You stopped?" he sounded confused, if not concerned.

"I stopped," she reconfirmed.

"Lil, are you okay?" his voice was like a gentle caress that she allowed to wrap around her emotions. She wanted to cry. To scream. To break down.

"Sure," was all she said.

"Sure?" he sounded disinclined to believe her. "You left the office an hour ago. Have you been out here this whole time? Lilly?" She laughed. It came out colder than she'd intended.

"What?" he asked.

"You never call me that. No one does."

"Call you what?" he sounded confused.

"Lilly," she said softly and looked up at him. Understanding crossed his expression. "Everyone just says Lil. As though it's really much shorter."

"I'm sorry," he sounded sincere. "I didn't know it bothered you."

She looked away from him and off into the shadows. His eyes were too hard to look into. "It doesn't," she admitted, "but it was nice hearing you say my real name. I don't think you've ever said it before."

"Lilly," he spoke carefully, "have you been standing out here this whole time?"

"I didn't know it had been so long," she said weakly, feeling the tears she'd never let fall. Then there was silence. A silence that stretched as the shadows passed. She imagined he was wondering if she'd completely lost it. She was wondering too.

Suddenly he was standing in front of her, blocking the shadows, and lifting her chin. He was forcing her to look into his eyes but she didn't want to see his eyes.

"What's going on?" his voice was firm. He wanted the truth, no more nonsense, but she didn't know the truth.

The rain began to fall. A gentle drizzle, a soft thrum. It felt wonderful and Lilly lifted her face to it. "I love the rain," she whispered, remembering a time when she had once told someone the opposite.

Her upper arm was grabbed roughly and she was suddenly being drug away. Her head snapped back down and she tried to pull out of his grasp. "What are you doing?" she demanded.

"You're scaring the crap outta me, Lilly." Scotty stopped abruptly and swung back around to face her, and all she could think was how funny it was that he'd so quickly adapted to calling her Lilly. "If you won't talk to me then I'm taking you back into that building to find someone you'll have to talk to."

She felt the tears fall before she could stop them. She hoped he wouldn't notice. She hoped the rain would hide it. It didn't.

"Why are you crying?" his words were soft, his voice sympathetic. She inadvertently cringed when he reached out a hand to wipe away a tear. He lowered his hand. "Please, tell me what's going on."

A sudden surge of anger washed over her. Lilly pulled her arm away and quickly pushed past Scotty. She heard him call her name. She heard him rush after her. At that moment she knew, she must really be losing it, because all she did was move faster. He caught up to her, grabbed her arm once more, and spun her around to face him.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" he demanded and gone was the concern from earlier. Now there was only rage. She didn't have to be a detective to feel it. It was emanating off of him. Somehow, as though his rage were a flood, it washed away the flame that had ignited within herself.

"I was so stupid," she found herself blurting out before she could stop it.

"Stupid?" he asked confused. "What do you mean?"

She bit her bottom lip. "Nothing," she shook her head, desperate for him to drop it. Desperate for him to just let her go home and curl up in bed and forget. Forget he existed. Forget she existed.

"No, Lilly. Stupid for what?" He wasn't going to drop it and, somewhere deep within herself, she decided she just didn't care anymore. She didn't have the strength to care anymore.

"For falling in love with you," she admitted softly. A tear fell from her cheek or, maybe, it was the rain. She looked away, searching for the shadows that felt so much like safety. Then his hands were on her face and he was forcing her to look at him once again.

His lips were curved up into a gentle smile. Then his lips were on hers and the rain began to fall harder. She didn't resist him. She felt like she was on fire. Her whole body was on instant arousal. He deepened the kiss and she couldn't help the soft moan that escaped her lips. His hands ran down her sides. They settled on her hips. He pulled her closer to him. She wanted more. She wanted all of him. But this wasn't real. It couldn't be. She pulled away. He wouldn't let her go.

"Scotty..." her words trailed. She didn't really know what to say. He was smiling down at her and a thought seemed to be behind that smile. "What?"

"Do you know what I thought the first time I met you?" he asked and she couldn't resist the smile that spread across her own face at the memory.

"Crap, I'm being partnered with a girl," she suggested and he laughed. It was the most beautiful sound.

"No, not quite." The rain was falling heavy. They were both getting soaked but neither seemed to notice. Or care. "I thought," he continued, "that I was never going to be able to live without you again. I thought, whoever this woman is, she's going to be someone special. She's going to matter to me. She's going to become someone I can't live without. And I was right."

He leaned in, placed a gentle kiss on her forehead, then moved his lips to her ear. "I love you, Lilly," he whispered, then pulled back. His expression told her the truth in his words. "Now lets get outta this rain, all right?"

She only nodded. He grabbed her hand and lead her back towards his car. On the way there Lilly decided that she really did love the rain.

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