Inspired by a conversation with my dad and the fact that I felt a little bit harshly towards Valentine's Day this year. This is a post-ep to 3x15 "Thursday the 17th." Enjoy!
Carlton just stood there for a second, watching Victoria through the restaurant windows as she walked to her car. He just stood there… waiting. Waiting for her to look back, to glance at him since she had to know full well he was watching her, even just to blink – but she didn't. She just kept looking forward, moving forward – never backwards – and he knew that it was symbolic of what she meant to do from here on – of what she was all but forcing him to do now,
Victoria made it to her car and got in, but Carlton didn't move yet; he just kept watching. She started the car – or at least tried to – but her vehicle didn't start. He kept watching through the window, his expression creasing in concern as her car repeatedly refused to start. Eventually Victoria climbed back out, her face a mask of frustration, and went to the front of the car, throwing open the hood and choking on the smoke that billowed up to meet her. She fanned away the smoke and went about her examination, obviously getting more upset by the minute. Throwing her hands up in the air, she finally slammed the hood closed again and sat heavily down on the hood, rubbing her temples. Carlton watched in growing worry as her hands eventually moved to cover her face and her shoulders began to shake.
It was then that Carlton's instincts kicked in. His wife was crying. It was his job to fix it.
Carlton took lengthened strides, going outside and walking up to Victoria, his steps growing increasingly hesitant when she didn't take notice of his approach.
Once he was a couple of feet away from her, he cleared his throat, asking awkwardly, "Victoria?"
Victoria jumped as her eyes flew up to his and she quickly began brushing the tears out of her face. Carlton wished that she would allow him to do that for her, but he didn't dare try it.
"The engine's been messed up for awhile," Victoria explained weakly, looking primarily down at her hands with red-rimmed eyes. "I guess it decided that tonight was as good a night as any to give up the ghost."
"Let's take a look at it," Carlton said, already starting to shrug off his suit jacket.
Victoria shook her head, saying, stubborn even in her obvious pain, "I already looked at it; the engine is definitely shot."
"Do you want to call a tow truck then?" Carlton asked, trying to ignore the stiffness in the air between them and the agony in his heart. "Maybe your insurance company?"
She sniffed and nodded, standing up. "I'll call my insurance company."
"Then I'll handle a tow truck," Carlton volunteered, just barely smiling at the fact that they could still manage – at least on some small level – to work together.
Victoria sniffed again, offering a weak, nervous smile that mirrored his own as she said, "Thanks."
Thirty minutes later, Carlton had taken to leaning up against the hood of the car, watching the brunette as she paced and talked angrily on the phone a few feet outside of his hearing range. Apparently her insurance company wasn't being as kind to her as the towing company had been to him.
A couple of minutes later, he saw her pull her cell phone from her ear and growl something into it before she snapped the device closed. Carlton flinched involuntarily, remembering the many times that he had been on the wrong side of her anger.
"Something wrong?" he asked, leaving the car behind as the tow truck pulled up and took the vehicle over while he met Victoria in the middle of the parking lot.
She was rubbing her temples again as she told him, "My insurance is refusing to pay for a rental car since my mechanic warned me that this could happen."
"I could take you home if you need me to," Carlton offered without thinking.
Victoria's eyes flashed with wariness for a second before they became engulfed by utter exhaustion. Suddenly it occurred to him that this evening had been as much as an emotional rollercoaster for her as it had for him.
Carlton saw her momentarily running her options - or rather lack thereof - through her head before she sighed and nodded wordlessly. He pointed out his truck and led her towards it, moving on an old habit – one that he had long abandoned even before their marriage had crumbled – and opening the passenger-side door for her. This truck was even taller than the one he had owned while they were still living together, so when he took her arm to help her climb in, she had no choice but to accept his assistance, no matter how rigidly or unwillingly she did so.
Carlton shut her door and rounded the hood of his truck, jumping into the driver's seat and starting the vehicle. Unlike Victoria's, his transportation purred like a kitten, and he habitually flung his arm out across the top of the middle seat that separated him and her as he drove out of the parking lot. This situation almost loosed his tongue – and his memories of the loving couple that they had been once upon a time – but he kept himself in check. Victoria had made her desires very clear, and he had to give her that. He loved her enough to give her what he wanted, even if it did kill him in the process.
A couple minutes passed in nearly stifling silence before Victoria sighed, starting softly, "Carlton, please… promise me that you won't let this divorce harden you."
Carlton snorted before he could even catch himself, keeping his eyes riveted on the road.
"Carlton, you had to know that this was coming," Victoria pleaded with him. "Even before I… left… you."
"Victoria, I specifically asked you not to make me have this conversation," he said abruptly.
"But, Carlton, think about it! Don't you remember the way that we were when we first got married? Do you remember how – how when we were in a vehicle going somewhere, I would sit right beside you while you drove and you would put your arm around me or hold my hand so that we could be closer? Then we started literally moving apart. Look at us now, Carlton!" she demanded, actually gesturing to the space between them.
The detective swallowed painfully, looking carefully over at her as he pointed out slowly, even sadly, "Victoria… I never moved."
The blood slowly drained from her face as the truth of his statement dawned on her while she took in his posture – at the way he even still threw his arm around the vehicle's middle seat. She turned to face forward, and both of them stared straight out the windshield as they finished their drive to her house in silence. When Carlton parked his truck in her driveway, Victoria opened her own door and jumped out. He didn't even dare move lest he do something truly reckless.
"Thanks for the ride, Carlton," Victoria said gently.
Something in her tone told him that she meant the bigger picture – the one that went far beyond a chivalrous offer to play chauffeur – that she meant their marriage. Yet he only nodded mutely, barely even glancing at her.
"Good bye, Carlton," she murmured.
He nodded again, Victoria shut the door, and Carlton put the truck in drive, forcing himself to move out of her driveway and out of her life.
Hopefully you guys liked this! Reviews make my day full of rainbows and unicorns if you feel so inclined to drop me one! Thanks!:)