Jess slammed her hands down on her desk in frustration. It was such a surprise that even Nicole jumped.
"What the hell?" Nicole snapped, her thin hold on her temper getting the better of her. However, any other words she was thinking of immediately scattered when she saw the fiercely determined look on her partner's face.
"You and I are going to talk." Nicole had never heard Jess this angry before and, with a confused look, followed her partner and friend into the elevator. As the car started rising, Jess did something Nicole had never seen her do: she pulled the emergency lever. The car stopped immediately and Jess spun on Nicole.
"What the hell is going on with you and Antonio?" Nicole's walls sprung up immediately at Jess' question.
"That does not involve you," Nicole said scathingly. However, Jess had suffered enough of the tension. It was late afternoon, after all, and Antonio had been in and out of the bullpen and over to where they sat a number of times with all sorts of different case tidbits. He'd only ever directed his words at Jess and when Jess had to ask Nicole's opinion, the other woman would force her to restate everything Antonio had told her. She hated playing middleman and was determined to stop it, here and now.
"It involves me when you decide to broadcast it throughout the office! Jesus, Nicole, do you not notice the tension flying through the air? And I'm not stupid either. The two of you have not said one word to each other. The whole thing with me having to repeat everything he says and the fact that he's only talking to me tells me this is too deep for someone not to get involved. Now. What. The. Hell. Is. Going. On?" Nicole crossed her arms over her chest, looking at Jess like she was an alien. Jess deflated slightly, the anger still singing under her skin but buried far enough for it not to affect her voice or gestures.
"Nic, you don't have to talk to him, okay? We're both aware that's not how you work, but you have to be able to trust someone, sometime. We trust you and we share with you, but all I know about you I've learned from various bits that I've picked up through our cases," Jess said carefully, not actually looking at her partner.
"It's my life." Jess knew that talking about this would lead to Nicole being defensive and curling further into herself. Jess pushed the button to make the elevator move again without saying another word. Just as the doors dinged open and Jess knew Nicole was breathing in relief she spoke.
"Are you taking care of it?"