"Hi, Mum."

"Oh, Jenny, I'm so glad you called! How are you, love? Everything alright?"

Jennifer smiled. It was so nice to hear her mother's voice. "Everything's fine. I'm in Canberra. Got here on Sunday and got settled and everything. The last three days have been full of informational sessions. The whole training is going to take about six months, they said. So I'll be in the barracks here till I get through the program," she explained.

"Do you know what you'll be doing after that?" Marlene asked. Everything about her Jennifer joining SIS seemed like a bad idea to her, but she'd also thought that going to police training instead of college and marrying Nick at age nineteen were bad ideas as well, but Jen had been extremely happy with both of those decisions. Marlene herself didn't have the best track record with life choices, so she wasn't in any position to judge.

"I have absolutely no idea. They did tell us straight away that we have no control over where they send us, but we can request certain divisions. It's like the state police like that. From what I've learned so far, Drugs and Counterterrorism sound the most interesting. But we'll see." Jen was actually extremely excited and deadest on Counterterrorism, since it combined everything she thought she was good at, everything she'd learned from her stint in Fraud but with the excitement she had been missing. But she'd worked in Drug Squad as a uniformed constable, so she knew that would be a good fallback for her. She'd liked working there, and with SIS, there would be international smuggling involved, which would be even more fun.

"So," Marlene began again, her voice taking on tone that Jen recognized as one she would need to be wary of. "How's Nick doing?"

Jen was absolutely right, she did need to be wary. "We…haven't spoken."

"You haven't? Did something happen?"

Yes, Jen thought to herself. "No, of course not. I miss him like crazy. But I've been so busy, and you know how swamped he can be with Homicide. We just haven't caught each other yet."

"But you've called him?"

"Of course," Jen lied. She hadn't called him yet. It was true that she had barely had time to think over the last few days, but she was still so shaken by his voice message to her on the day she left. She wasn't sure what to say. But then again, Nick hadn't called her either.

Nick himself had taken to a rather pathetic existence. He got up and went to work where he buried himself in his cases and did not go home until Senior Sergeant Wolfe forced him to. At home, he ate alone in silence and took a shower and went to bed. It had only been five days since Jennifer left, and already his life had completely fallen apart without her.

Eventually, he knew, he would have to come to terms with this new reality. He would have to find a way to carry on. After all, he had sent her off with a kiss and a message wishing her all the happiness and fulfilment in the world. He owed it to them both to find the same for himself. This whole thing had started because he had his dream job and had everything he could ever want, and she didn't. She deserved to have everything, too. The reality was, they couldn't each have everything if they stayed together.

He tried to remind himself what it was like before they'd gotten married, when she was in her last year of school and he was living in the flat alone. This was just like that. Except this time he didn't have the weekend to look forward to. Christ, the weekend would just be him alone in the flat. Maybe he could put in some overtime. Or see what Dunny was up to, see if they could go out together to get his mind off things. Something. Anything.

Part of him wanted to go home and spend some time with his mother. She could commiserate and make him feel better. He knew that Jennifer moving away for work wasn't anything like when his father had died and left his mother a widow, but perhaps she would have some advice about how he could go about coping with not having Jen in his life anymore.

That very day, five days after Jen had gotten on the plane, it was Simon Joyner, of all people, who finally said something to Nick. "You look like hell, mate. Everything alright?"

"You gonna take the piss if I tell you I miss my wife?" Nick asked warningly.

"I wouldn't do that, would I?" Simon asked with mock offense.

Nick chuckled in spite of himself. "You certainly liked to make fun when we were together and happy."

"Well yeah, when you were happy. It's easy to tease you guys with your perfect marriage when I'm trolling the bars for available women."

"No more perfect marriage now," Nick said sadly. He felt in his heart that his marriage might actually be over, that they wouldn't be able to survive this like he'd promised her they could. But he wasn't ready yet to admit that out loud to anyone yet. It had only been five days, after all. Couldn't throw in the towel just yet.

"Cheer up, Nick. Let's go get a drink tonight. Just the guys. I won't even flirt with a single woman."

"I'll believe that when I see it," he teased.

Simon laugh, "That's the spirit!"

The two were a few beers in when Simon broached the subject of Jennifer again. "So what's the deal, she comes home for holidays? You take time off to go visit her?"

"I dunno," Nick replied truthfully. "SIS doesn't really give anything away. She's in Canberra for training and then after that, however long that is, they send her off somewhere else. We thought we'd figure it out when we knew more."

"Does she know any more now that she's there? What's she said when you spoke to her?"

Nick downed the rest of the beer in his hand. "I haven't spoken to her since she got on that plane." It must have been the alcohol making him so loose-lipped. Nick hadn't told anyone that yet. "I left her a message, but she hasn't called me back."

"So call her again." Simon gave Nick the most incredulous look, as though this were the most obvious solution in the world.

But Nick knew better. He knew what he'd said to her in that voice message. He knew that he'd as good as wished her well and said goodbye. There was no way he could beg her to talk to him now. He truly did want the best for Jennifer, and if this was how she had to get it, he wouldn't stand in her way. The worst thing to do, to Nick's mind, was crowd her or guilt her into coming home. That wasn't fair, and that would only do more damage to them than giving her this space and this opportunity. Nick would just have to suck it up and get over it. They had made their choice, and he would not go back on that.

Late that night, Nick stumbled back home. He really wasn't very drunk, but he was just past being able to drive, so he'd gotten a cab. And he was bone tired. It had been good, talking with Simon. He may have had the emotional intelligence of a treefrog, but he'd been a good mate, taking Nick out and letting him get it all off his chest. He couldn't have done this with Duncan, who knew him far too well; Dunny would have pushed just too far when he noticed that Nick was holding back still, and Nick just wasn't ready for that yet. Maybe he could sleep this off and feel better in time for the weekend. He could go out with Dunny then.

As he walked into the apartment, the phone rang. No one would dare call this late. Well, almost no one. Nick took a deep breath and answered it on the third ring. "Hello?"

"Hi."

And Nick smiled.