A brief idea that came to me last night. I might continue this... maybe
AU.
He should've waited for that wall to come down but he'd wanted her too much. He never expected them to crash and burn so soon… and he certainly had never expected it to end like this.
-Aimee
He should've known that starting a relationship before that wall had come down properly just wasn't going to work out… but she'd been so certain and he was powerless to resist her. The past month had been amazing and horrific all at the same time. They'd had a string of really bad cases and he knew she hadn't wanted to leave until they'd closed them but he still dragged her home with him every night. Two weeks into the relationship he'd noticed her beginning to withdraw but everything else around them was so crazy at that moment that he never got the chance to ask her about it. She started spending more and more time at her apartment, in fact she hadn't even been near the loft for the last week.
But the silly thing was, he thought that maybe she just needed that space. The month they'd been together had been a whirlwind of work and sex and he knew she would need the space away from eventually so he tried not to pout too much when she walked away from him every night to her own bed. The logical part of his brain knew that they were heading towards the edge of this cliff they'd been balanced on but his heart didn't want to listen. He loved her… and he'd been trying to convince himself that she loved him as well.
He hadn't expected the end of that cliff to come so soon… and he certainly didn't expect it to come in that way.
Even in his worst nightmares he hadn't expected to walk in to the 12th that morning and find what he did. He'd spent the night before awake all night trying to work out how best to fix their relationship… but it had all been wasted because no matter what he came up with it never seemed like enough…
Now he knew it wasn't.
He had never expected things to be plain sailing between them, not after everything else they'd been through together… but he never expected to walk in that morning, two coffee cups in his hands to see her getting down and dirty with her ex-boyfriend in the middle of the gym.
He tightened his grip on the two cups before they could fall to the floor and scald him with the hot liquid. His eyes closed and he took a shuddering breath before placing the cups on the floor and fishing his phone from inside his jacket.
He typed out two words and blinked back the tears in his eyes as he heard her phone sound from the other side of the room. He watched as she scrambled up from underneath Tom and retrieved the phone.
'Look up'
Her eyes met his across the otherwise empty room and he saw the guilt flash across her face. His fingers were flying across the touchscreen before he truly realised what was going on.
'I don't hate you, I just can't be around you right now. I love you Kate, always have, always will.'
He saw her eyes drop to read his latest message and he felt his heart break a little bit more as the tears he knew were pooling in her eyes slowly escaped down her reddened cheeks. He raised his hand and saluted her with two fingers… the one last thing they would share – just two nights before him and the boys had come up with the joking salute to pass messages between each other – he knew she would understand what he meant by it. An apology, an I love you and A goodbye all rolled into one simple movement.
He dropped her gaze and turned around.
Walking away, his gate steady while he willed the wetness from his eyes… and he didn't know when he'd return to the 12th, if he would at all.
