WARNINGS: Snuggling, peanut butter cravings, pre—nope it will be a surprise.
NOTES: Snippet for Sudoku who wanted to know what happened to Crystal with a C. Takes place in the Lost That Loving Feeling Universe.
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Nick dropped onto the couch next to Juliette with a long sigh.
"Hard day?" she asked, licking peanut butter off a spoon.
"Boring day," he whined. "Court on and off all day. It was awful." He'd been on the job long enough court wasn't exciting anymore. It was an inconvenience, a task, sometimes a source of accomplishment and relief, but more often the cause of frustration and ennui.
Juliette tisked with faux sadness for his plight.
"Soooo borrrrrring," he drawled, resisting the urge to steal a finger-full of peanut butter. He'd learned not to get between her and her snacks. And not to say a word about her scraping the bottom of the giant-sized jar at five-thirty in the afternoon.
"Poor baby." She patted his thigh comfortingly, getting oily fingerprints on his suit pants. "You got a letter today." She stretched out a toe to nudge the square, cream-colored envelope. "It looks fancy."
Heaving himself forward, Nick grabbed the envelope and slumped back into position. The paper was thick and textured, something used for an invitation. He turned it over, noting the feminine handwriting.
"What is it?" Juliette asked.
"High school graduation announcement," he reported, sliding the card out of the envelope. "It's from Crystal Redmond." There was a picture inside of the young woman posing in front of a bank of flowers at the arboretum and a photocopy of an acceptance letter. "Sweet, she got into the University."
"Who is Crystal Redmond?" Juliette asked. She took the picture for a closer look. "She's pretty. A little young for you though."
"You know I like older women," he said, pressing a kiss to her cheek. Juliette was all of three months older than him. He scanned the letter, happily noting a list of grants and scholarships. "I've talked about her. Hank and I helped her with her admissions letter. She's going to major in Criminal Justice with a minor in Juvenile Law. Wants to work with at-risk kids."
Crystal was a success story. Not only had she taken his advice to dump her chump boyfriend before he got her into real trouble, being grounded for three months had given her plenty of time to pay attention to her grades. She'd realized that she was actually really good at studying when she put the work in. Senior year she'd been on the Honor Roll and she was graduating in the top ten percent of her class.
"Aww, that's sweet. What's the date?"
"Middle of May." He tucked it all back into the envelope, contemplating what exactly to get an eighteen year old girl these days. Maybe Hank would have an idea. He had nieces close to that age.
"I'll be almost six months by then." Juliette rubbed a hand over her stomach. "I'm going to be gigantic."
"You'll never be gigantic," Nick said. "You'll only be more beautiful." He slid sideways until his shoulder rested against hers, placing his hand on top of hers on her stomach. She smelled like peppermint hand-lotion and peanut butter.
"Excellent answer." She smacked a kiss on the side of his mouth. "For that, I won't make you go shopping with me and Rosalee tomorrow."
"If you're shopping for baby stuff, I want to go," Nick reminded her.
She shook her head. "Maternity wear. I'm getting desperate for pants that I can fasten and bend over in."
"Have fun," he said brightly.
She gave him a wry look. "That's what I thought."
"You know me so well." He rubbed his thumb over her knuckles, noting a new scar on one finger. "You want to go out for dinner?"
"Sounds good." She dropped the spoon in the jar. "We need to stop at the grocery store on the way back anyway."
"Do we have a list?"
"Nah, but we're out of peanut butter." She pushed off the couch, headed for the kitchen, scraping a finger around the rim of the jar. "How did you meet Crystal anyway? Some sort of school outreach program?"
Nick recalled that night, God was it two years ago already. "Not…exactly."
The End