A/N Chapters like this make you want to slap the man, don't they? I mean, c'mon, just admit it already Gar...but he's not going to. I enjoy torturing him in various ways. The Garret in my head is afraid of me, he's afraid of dying, having to pine over unrequited love, drinking too much, being mugged, being murdered and being beaten with whips and chains (ok, so he doesn't mind that one THAT much). He comes out in full chainmail and has various antidotes on hand so that he's prepared for whatever I try to do him. You guys need to stop reviewing so much...I'm going to run out of things to post!
He looked out the window of his office into the hall. She was standing there, talking to the boy, laughing amicably. They seemed to be getting along better, at least a bit. She didn't have that pained look when talking the detective anymore-she was more relaxed, more natural, either he was working his way back into her life or she accepted that he was gone.
He hoped it was that latter. The boy didn't deserve her, she deserved someone who would love her unconditionally without ever hurting her. The boy wasn't that man, the boy would never be good enough for her, no matter how good he got, he'd still be the poor farm boy detective that broke her heart.
He felt his eyes narrow at that thought. She was there, talking, bantering even, with Woody, acting as if it was all OK. And she was either thinking that he'd crawl back to her, or she had gotten over him. Or it could be all an act and ten minutes from now she'd be in her office wiping the tears away.
And he would rip the boy limb from limb for that, for hurting her. The boy didn't deserve her, he was completely wrong for her. She needed a man who would love her and not want to change her, and who would never even think of leaving her. Too many people had already left her; she didn't need anyone else to.
He blinked twice as he realized what he had just thought. He had thought the boy undeserving. As if he was jealous of Woody. He shook the thought from his head. It was Jordan, he didn't want Jordan, he wanted what was best for Jordan. He couldn't afford to get wrapped up in that kind of a relationship.
He wasn't going to even think about wanting her in a different sort of way. It was just his being her best friend; he was looking out for her. Woody had already broken her heart; she didn't need him to do the same thing again. He was just looking out for her, nothing else, he didn't want her, he didn't have an ulterior motive when it came to her.
He chased the thought out of his head. It came from too many months without another warm body in his bed and the fact that she had done so much for him already. It was almost like Stockholm syndrome, she was holding him hostage to make sure he didn't do anything foolish.
It wasn't anything serious. It was just that, nothing else, no real lust behind it. Only the lust of having an empty bed for far too long. He wasn't falling for her, she was his best friend, he loved her in a very different way. He didn't love her in that way, he loved her in a purely platonic way, she was the one that he leaned on, not the one that he wanted to drag to bed with him.
He watched as she headed back to her office. She looked considerably worse than she was five minutes ago now that the detective was gone, but she wasn't crying, she just looked-lost. He considered going in there and talking to her, but decided to wait, at least long enough for her to start to make sense of things herself.
He watched her though as she sat behind her desk, staring off into space. He couldn't stand it anymore and got up and walked across the hall. "Hey." He said as he collapsed on her couch.
"Hey." She said, and he could hear her voice, thick with tears she was fighting back.
"You alright?" She shrugged.
"Yeah." She didn't even try to hide the fact that she was lying about it, and he patted the spot on the couch next to him. She got up and sat next to him, resting her head on his shoulder curling up against him. He felt one wet tear fall into his shirt and pulled her close.
"He doesn't deserve you; he doesn't deserve you crying over him." She looked up at him.
"I can't get over him no matter how hard I try." He looked down at her.
"You'll get through it." She smiled faintly. "Hey, least I can do is repay a favor. I'm here for you, you'll get over him, it just takes time." She felt so comfortable against him, as if that's where she belonged and he frowned again at that feeling.
He needed to go out and find someone, anyone, and get laid, he needed to get rid of these thoughts running through his mind. He couldn't afford to screw up his relationship with Jordan. Their relationship was the only thing that he had left, if he lost that, he would loose it all. If he lost her, he would be gone. She was the last thing propping him up, if she left him, he didn't even think he'd have it in him to off himself, he would just deflate. He needed her, and he wasn't going to screw things over between them.