Some days he wondered why he even bothered to wake up and face the day; this was shaping up into one of those days. He was being punished, he knew it…should have gone to church all those Sundays that his mother had begged his 'heathen self' to, but damn if he'd only have known this was to be his end… God, please make it stop, because he was sure his ears would start bleeding if it continued.
"Oh, you're awake! There was a man in here earlier…he left you some gifts on the table here."
Nick sighed in relief, she wasn't singing anymore. He looked at the table and saw some flowers, a bottle of wine, and Hershey's chocolate. He frowned slightly as he wondered who might have left it for him.
"There's a note." Nurse Joyce beamed at him.
"Can you get it for me please?"
"Sure can do, sweetheart."
A small card was carefully pulled from between the stems of the flowers and then handed to Nick as he reached forward for it. The card was one of those cheap little to-from notes that were about the size of a post-it note. Hmm, maybe Greg?
"Flowers to brighten your day. Wine to numb your pain. Chocolate to heal your…soul." Nick slowly read out loud after having won the fight with the sticky envelope for its contents.
Something in him hummed to life after reading the heartfelt message. Someone had obviously taken a lot of time to find out his favorite flowers, wine, and chocolate. To find out all the little things that a lover should know. That same someone had then spent time writing a note that made him want to smile and cry at the same time. Whoever it was had touched him deeply and he wanted, needed to know who had done it.
"Okay so maybe not Greg…" He turned to the nurse with desperation in his eyes. "You saw who left this?"
"Yes, sad fellow…rushed in, left the gifts, and took off just as quickly. I didn't even get the chance to ask for a name. Should have though; maybe he has a straight brother who would write to me like that."
Nick glanced at the swooning nurse for a second before trying to decide if any of his coworkers could have done this for him. The note was handwritten and kind of hard to read… Where had he seen this writing before?
"No use dwelling." Nurse Joyce sighed forlornly as she messed with his IV, "All the good ones are married or gay. Oh well, might as well go home and get some rest. My shift ended a little bit ago, but I wanted to know what you thought of the gifts."
He watched her go with a small smile. She was right; maybe sleep wasn't a bad idea after all. He yawned tiredly and leaned back. He was asleep before his head even hit the pillow, such is the miracle of intravenous drugs given by sneaky nurses.
He sat straight up in the night with wide eyes and an open mouth. He had dreamed about the time he was handed back evidence with a snarky hand written note from Hodges.
Wait, that couldn't be right… Hodges? How could the man who could drive Nick up the wall possibly be the same man who had written the letter that had touched his heart?
"I don't know why or if he even did it but I'm going to find out."
tbc