AN: All recognizable characters and places are the sole property of their respective authors.
A little lighter than previous chapters, these two needed some smiles.
RPOV
I slowly came awake in the darkened room, completely disoriented. It took me a while to realize that I was still at Mrs. Morelli's house and that I must've fallen asleep on her couch.
Good job dumbass. First break down like a baby on her and then pass out on her couch!
I sat up, rolling my neck against the crick that had settled in from my awkward semi-upright position. I could hear soft, slightly off key singing coming from the baby monitor on the side table next to me. I looked at the tiny screen and saw her bent over the side of the crib, stroking her little boy's head.
"…You make me happy when skies are gray,
You'll never know dear, how much I love you,
Please don't take my sunshine away…"
"Night-night Angel. I love you." She whispered, disappearing from view. I heard a door creak then her soft footsteps on the stairs. I got up and went to find my jacket just as she got to the bottom of the stairs.
"Lieutenant, you're awake! I was going to wake you up soon." She said a smile.
"What time is it?" I asked rubbing my hands over my face. My phone was in my coat, but I knew it was late. It looked completely dark out.
"8:30." She said quietly.
"Holy sh…I'm so sorry…I slept on your couch for four and a half hours?" I was so embarrassed! How very helpful of me.
"It's fine Lieutenant, stop apologizing." She said with a little glare. "You obviously needed it. Now, are you hungry? My mom brought over a ton of food when she dropped Alex off." She asked as she turned and went into the kitchen. I followed her into the warm, bright room and she pulled a chair out for me, gesturing for me to sit.
"Mrs. Morelli…"
"Stephanie." She interrupted.
"Stephanie, I really should get going. I think I've been enough of a burden for one day."
"Please, just have a seat? You have to be starving, and the least I could do for you is make sure you have some of my mom's pot roast. It's always delicious. C'mon, sit down?" She gave me an eye-fluttering, pleading look, barely holding back the sneaky smile that slowly spread across her face when I gave in and sat down.
"See? That's not so hard is it? Just give me a minute to heat this up." She turned and busied herself with getting dinner together as I watched. Even though she was just re-heating food, moving from fridge to microwave, her movements were kind of hypnotic. She placed a heaping plate in front of me a few minutes later and sat down.
"You're not eating?"
"I had a few bites while you were sleeping. I was trying to keep up with Alex, he's always so busy. You needed to sleep, I didn't want him to wake you up." She picked up a roll and nibbled on it. I spied a clean plate in the dish drainer and grabbed it, I slid half of the food on my plate onto it and placed in front of her.
"There, you were lecturing me on taking care of myself. You need to eat too."
"Once you taste that, you're going to be sorry you shared!" She took a bite of the beef on her plate and did a little happy dance in her seat. I felt a real smile creep across my face. Her eyes popped open and she blushed a bit, realizing I was watching her.
"It's so good! Try it." She watched intently as I picked up my fork and dug in. It was really good. I didn't get to eat much home-cooked food at all. My staples at home didn't require much more than opening the box and reheating it.
"This is delicious. Your mom's an excellent cook." I told her, she was still staring at my face appraisingly.
"You look better." She blurted.
I thought about that for a second. "I feel better. I'm not that pathetic all the time. I think talking to you about it all helped too." I was actually surprised how much better I did feel. She nodded looking a little self-satisfied.
"Eat up, while it's still hot. I want to talk to you about something when you're finished."
I obeyed her order and we finished our food in silence. She jumped up and started making coffee, so I took our plates to the sink and rinsed them off.
"Oh! Lieutenant, you don't have to do that."
"It's Carlos and yes I do. Do you want these in the dishwasher or just wash them like this?"
"Like that is fine. Really though, I can do it." She protested.
"Already done." I said as I placed the last plate in the drainer. She rolled her eyes and handed me a steaming coffee. I sat and took my first sip and had to force myself not to do a happy dance like hers. I really loved coffee, it was the only thing keeping me from being a total zombie some days.
She plunked a plate with a huge chunk of cake on it in front of me. I looked at her inquisitively.
"Whenever my mom thinks I'm too thin, she does this." She said gesturing to the plate. I agreed with her mom, but I wasn't about to say so. "It's pineapple upside down cake, do you like whipped cream?"
"Yes please." She scooped a dollop out of the bowl and plopped it down on top of the cake. "Where's yours?" She looked at me askance for a second and got up and took a smaller piece for herself.
"Happy?" She said a bit snarkily.
"Yep." I could feel my lips pull up into another genuine smile. She was quite a little spitfire.
"What did you want to talk to me about?" I asked after I scraped every last bit of my new favorite cake off my plate.
"Well it's about what you were saying earlier, about helping me and Alex…I guess if you really think that doing some things around here will help you, then I'm sure I can find something that needs fixing or whatever." She paused and cleared her throat. "But I have one condition. Please just hear me out?" I felt my whole body tense up again, pretty sure of what she was going to list as her caveat. "I'm sorry if you think this is pushy and none of my business, but if you actually call my therapist and make an appointment then you can come over here afterwards and talk about it if you want. It seemed to help you earlier. We could have dinner just like this, or you could find something to do around this old house…whatever you need. For as obligated to me as you feel, I feel the same, like I owe to you some measure of friendship. I think we can help each other through this Carlos." She reached her small hand out and laid it on top of mine. "Just think about it, please?"
It was a little disconcerting, the level of comfort that I got out of just being touched by another person. Until right now, I hadn't realized how much I had distanced myself from my friends, my family. I had gone out a few times with some buddies, but, more often than not, I spent my free time at home, alone.
"I'll think about it." I said after some deliberation. I couldn't pretend anymore that what I'd been living with was normal, but I don't know if I was ready to talk to a total stranger about it. Well, besides her, I guess.
"Really?" She said all amazed.
"Yeah. Do you work…outside the home, I mean."
"I work at a doctor's office downtown, three days a week."
"What time do you have to be there in the morning?"
"Around 8. Why?"
"You don't have a car right now, right? I could drop you off if you want." She was already shaking her head.
"No, it's okay. My dad already said he'd pick me up and drop me off till my car is fixed. He drives a cab part-time, so it's fine."
"I go pretty much past here on my way to work every day anyway. It's no problem."
"Thank-you, that's really very kind, but my dad's already rearranged his schedule and everything. Besides, he's already got breakfast-time activities planned with his favorite little man." She said pointing upstairs. "They're apparently going to do 'man' things after they drop me off at work. Whatever that means, Alex is only eighteen months!" She said with another eye roll and a smile.
"Okay then, I should get going. You have my number if you need me for anything?"
"Yep." She said nodding. "Oh! Here's my doctors card." She plucked a card from under a magnet on the fridge. I took it and slid it into my jean's pocket without looking at it. "I put my number on the back in case you need to talk, okay?" That she could find it within herself to offer me support, spoke volumes about this woman's strength. Although, right at this moment I could see her sleepless night weighing her down.
"Thank-you for today." I said quietly.
"Anytime you want to come here and chat, it's no problem…" She hesitated for a beat. "Would you like to come back here on Saturday? That's spaghetti night for us, I make a mean meatball!"
"Are you still blackmailing me into mental health care?" I hoped not, I loved homemade meatballs.
"Not blackmailing! No...I just thought that with some motivation…I didn't want to…" She looked absolutely horrified.
"Relax, I was kidding." Sort of. "I knew what you meant."
There's that pissy face.
"You know, if we're going to be friends…" She said shaking her head. "You had me going there for a second." She really did have a pretty smile.
"What time should I be here?" For the first time in a long time, I actually wanted to be somewhere instead of just feeling obligated to go.
"Five-thirty? Little boys need to eat early."
"Sounds good." I stood in her hallway, shrugging into my jacket. She stepped in closer to me, her face becoming sober again.
"Thank you for telling me everything today. It was awful, but I think I needed to hear that. I'm sorry that it caused you such anguish." She paused for a second looking uncertain then shocked the shit out of me by hugging me tightly. I wrapped my arms around her slight frame and reveled in the warm sensation spreading through me.
"Thank-you."
"Thank-you." We both said softly. She held me there for a second and then backed slowly away, a little more color in her face.
"Goodnight Carlos."
"Goodnight." I said as I pulled her front door open. I shut it quietly behind me.
I didn't look at the card in my pocket until I was sitting in my own driveway. It was a simple cream colored rectangle, in block lettering it read:
Constance Rosolli
Psychologist, PhD.
609-555-2112
For something so small and unassuming it was incredibly intimidating.
AN: He's getting there.
Let me know what you think?
EA xoxo
