I promised I'd put this up after one review, and I got two. Therefore, this is slightly overdue!

Antonio woke the next morning, Nicole still sleeping beside him. He was still worried about her, still upset with her reluctance to talk to him.

I knew coming here last night was a bad idea, he said to himself as he stumbled towards her kitchen for the life-giving brown substance people called coffee. And he had. He'd puzzled over the choice for close to an hour before his heart got the better of him. He'd known Nicole was going to be a little worse for wear, especially since she'd gotten emotionally attached and after she'd tried so hard to help. Upon checking the time, he called Jess, telling her they were going to be in late. The last thing Nicole needed was a fresh new day without sufficient sleep. He only hoped her dreams were good.

Speaking of, he thought, feeling her hands settle on his shoulders. He turned to face her. She looked awake, happy almost.

"Morning," he said softly, not wanting to disturb the blissful silence that was blanketing the room.

"Morning," she replied, allowing her hand to trail along his clothed back – he'd gotten dressed when he'd gotten up, knowing their timing was a little late – as she moved to get her own cup of coffee. It was then she caught sight of the clock on the oven and spun to face him.

"Jess knows," he said defensively. "I'm sure she's explaining things to Pollock right now." The silence turned apprehensive as he waited for the inevitable explosion.

"Why?" The word was all but growled. Still, Antonio held his ground.

"You needed sleep."

"I can take care of myself." Antonio turned his gaze away from her.

"Can you?" The words were asked to his almost empty cup and almost soft enough to be hidden by her angry shuffling. Her sudden stillness alerted him to her knowledge of his question.

"Pardon me?"

"This case ran you to exhaustion, Nicole, we all know it."

"And you think it's up to you to fix it? To just leave it alone, ignoring everything?"

"You don't run this relationship on your own."

"You were the one that told me it was a give and take!"

"You don't do either," he shot back. "You won't take the comfort, you won't talk to me when I know you're upset and you damn well won't give me the time of day." With that he left, leaving Nicole stunned in her kitchen.

Again, I apologize for the shortness of this. I chose frequent short chapters instead of spaced out long ones. I hope you don't mind that much...