I'm sorry this took so long to get out! I have lots of ideas, not a lot of time. As always, I own nothing…
This could probably be considered as a pre-prequel to chapter 1.
The Night before the Night Before
Sylvie Brett backed slowly away from the doorway of Molly's. Closing the door silently behind her, she headed towards the street. Thinking back on the scene she walked in on, she knew she had no right to be upset. Even though Joe had broken up with her, she had planning to break up with him. And really, that had been a couple of months ago. She really had no right to be upset because he had clearly moved on to Chili.
She was walking to her car when another vehicle pulled up alongside her, "Hey Brett, you going into Molly's?" Antonio Dawson looked at her, grinning from the front seat of his car. Sylvie smiled slightly at him, "No, I'm on my way home." He raised an eyebrow, "You're not walking, are you?" She shook her head, "No, my car is right here." She unlocked the doors and moved to the driver's side, "Have a good night, Detective." He reply of, "Thanks, you too," was slightly distracted.
His eyes followed her vehicle as she drove off. She had looked a little down. Antonio gave a brief shake of his head, and moved to park his car. He got as far as the front door of Molly's before he turned around and headed back to his car, cursing. He didn't know why he felt responsible for her. He barely knew her. She was just his sister's roommate. When he arrived at Gabby and Brett's apartment, he hesitated briefly before knocking on the door.
After a couple of minutes, he heard the chain being removed. Sylvie stood in the doorway, looking slightly confused, "Detective?" she asked. Antonio leaned up against the frame of the door, his lips quirked up slightly, "You know, you can call me Antonio." Sylvie scowled, "Fine. Antonio. What can I help you with?" Antonio laughed and brushed up against her as he moved past Sylvie into the apartment.
Sylvie resisted the urge to stomp her foot in frustration, "Please, won't you come in." Antonio laughed again as he moved towards the kitchen, "Please, don't sound so welcoming. I just came by to make sure you were alright. And for some beer. Want one?" Sylvie rolled her eyes, but grabbed the beer from his hand.
"I'm fine," she started to say, but Antonio cut her off. "I don't think so. People who are 'fine' don't walked out of bars looking like someone just shot their cat." Sylvie sighed and fell into the couch. "Look, its nothing. I appreciate you coming all this way to check on me, but it really wasn't necessary." Antonio didn't say anything, just looked at her.
Eventually, her frustration got the best of her. She stood up and put her been on the side table. "I'm sure you can see yourself out. " Walking into her room, Sylvie resisted the urge to slam the door behind her.
Antonio stared at the door, trying to decide what to do. She was clearly upset, and probably shouldn't be alone. He briefly contemplated calling Gabby, but decided against it. Making a decision, Antonio walked over to Sylvie's closed door and tested the handle. It was unlocked, so he opened the door and stepped into the room.
The door swung shut behind him as he walked to the bed where Brett was laying, one arm across her eyes. "Brett?" Hearing his voice, Sylvie removed her arm from her face, and just stared. Sighing, she sat up on the bed. Antonio moved to sit on the bed next to her. "You wanna talk about it?" Drawing her knees up to her chest, she started talking.
She told him about Joe and Chili, and because he just listened, she couldn't seem to stop. She just keep talking about everything that seemed to be going wrong. Sometime while she was talking, he moved to wrap his arm around her and pull her closer to him, her face buried in his neck as she finished.
There was a slight moment of silence before Sylvie stood up, pulling at the bottom of her shirt. "I'm really sorry about that, I appreciate you listening." Antonio stood up as well, not speaking. Sylvie's eyes darted around as she fidgeted nervously.
Before she could say anything, Antonio's lips were on hers. Before she could actually respond to his kiss, he pulled away. She licked her lips slightly, but Antonio interrupted her before she could say anything, "Yeah, uh. Sorry 'bout that. I'm glad you're feeling better. Uh, have a good night," and then darted out the door with Sylvie staring bemusedly after him.
