Just a quick little thing inspired by the trailer :)
She didn't know where he'd been, she didn't ask these days. She just didn't want to know, it was easier that way; if she didn't know then she couldn't worry. But she fixed him up, she attended to his wound and listened to him. She let him talk, she didn't ask questions. If he wanted to tell her something then it was off his own back.
It wasn't that she didn't care, more that they had grown apart over the years. They weren't how they used to be, where they could talk until their throats were dry. Where they could communicate with each other from across the room.
They would never be the same, not since Mexico and not since her relationship with Matt. And that was okay because she still had him, he wasn't going anywhere; at least she hoped. That was enough, to know that he wasn't going anywhere.
"I don't know if I can do this anymore," Jack breathed as Nikki turned away from him. Her movements stopped momentarily as she heard his voice. She waited for him to follow up, for him to say something else but nothing came so she continued putting the first aid box away.
Then she was facing him again, he was staring ahead of him. She could almost see the cogs turning in his mind, trying to figure out what he wanted to say but not having the courage to say it.
"Jack," she started but she was quickly interrupted by him.
"I need to make some serious changes to my life."
Her eyes widened, she wasn't quite expecting that. Then her mind was racing, what exactly had he meant by that? Did he mean this place? The Lyell? Did he want to move away from all of this, to start afresh? It would make sense, Clarissa had left and Thomas, well, she couldn't even think about Thomas; it hurt too much. She hoped that what they had, the little bit left of it, was enough to keep him here, perhaps not. Perhaps it was time for them both to move on, go their separate ways. Start somewhere new, without the memories, without the trauma.
She hoped she was wrong, that he was thinking of something else entirely but she couldn't read his face like she used to. She couldn't tell what he was thinking.
She sighed, trying her hardest to smile, "Maybe it's time. For both of us."
Jack's brows furrowed, "Nikki, I-" he edged his hand forward, his fingers brushing hers. Their eyes connected. There it was. For the first time in years they felt normal, felt themselves. As though nothing had happened, that they were just Nikki and Jack again. Nikki and Jack who would flirt despite the odd circumstances they often found themselves in. Nikki and Jack who would always be there for each other no matter what, always providing a shoulder to cry. They were them.
But before she had chance to speak, to say something that would confirm that she had been totally off the mark before, that she, for once in her life, had gotten it wrong, there was a door slamming and Nikki was pulling her hand away from Jack. She could feel the flush creeping up her cheek as Jack looked in the direction of the outburst. It was Adam, calling Jack to tell him that they had a shout. Nikki couldn't make it out, the pounding in her ears too overwhelming.
She couldn't think straight, she couldn't work out what had just happened. All she knew was that she was going to be spending the next couple of hours raking her mind for some kind of an explanation while she waited for Jack to come back.