Beautiful Side Of Somewhere
NV Veronica needs some comfort and support after the explosion.
Disclaimer: Let's see, I own my Muse, my imagination, my dreams, the fangirl in me and not a whole lot else. Fox I worship the ground you metaphorically walk on.
A/N:- We all know that Veronica belongs to Lincoln but Nick's a sweet guy so here's a one-shot to prove it.
Veronica Donavan stood by the window looking through the cobwebs onto the green paradise beyond and felt absolutely numb. How did her normal every day sit-in-an-office life suddenly change into one where she actually spent every moment fearing for her life? The answer to that was actually quite simple and presented itself in the form of Lincoln Burrows. It seemed that her whole life from the age of fifteen revolved around that man and he was the reason she was now in the middle of nowhere hiding in a cottage with a man she hardly knew.
"Veronica you need to get some rest."
She turned to face the man on the couch. "How can I Nick! Someone just blew up my apartment with my entire life and half of our case files in there and an innocent man just died because of what we're involved in – and in less than two weeks another innocent man is going to die. It seems that all the leads we chase lead us to dead-ends or someone gets killed ….. What if we're doing all this and risking our lives for nothing? Even if we find out the truth behind all of this what if the evidence won't stand up in court?"
"I have faith we're going to save him Veronica." Nick said quietly.
"How do you know you're right? I mean who are you? A young, modestly well-paid lawyer for Project Justice who was looking for some excitement in his life so decided to play the hero? I don't even know you …. For all I know you could be working for them!"
Nick didn't say anything but looked back down and finished bandaging his arm silently. He wondered what his father would say if he knew that he had nearly died trying to help this young lady get her ex-boyfriend off of death-row.
Veronica ran her eyes over her partner and sighed deeply. Ever since Michael had been taken into custody she had been constantly on edge, watching as first her relationship, then her work and now her life unravelled before her. It seemed like she couldn't trust anyone and then suddenly out of the blue this gorgeous, dedicated man decided to join her on her crusade and it totally threw her off course.
"I'm sorry." She said quietly, sitting down next to him on the settee. "I just ….. I'm so confused."
Nick sighed and looked at her. She was a beautiful woman and he would be lying if he didn't admit that part of what had drawn him to this case was her passion to fight for what she believed in - no matter what the cost. "This isn't going to work if you don't trust me completely from now on. Looking at who we're up against we're not going to last ten minutes if we can't trust each other."
Veronica took a deep breath and held his gaze unwaveringly. "I trust you."
Nick gave a small smile. "Good." He reached out and touched her chin, lightly turning her head to the side to examine her cheek. "You've got some nasty cuts."
"I'll be fine." She said moving away quickly, not meeting his eye. She didn't trust herself with him right now. He was a handsome man and she wouldn't be telling the truth if, despite everything, she didn't think he looked incredibly sexy in his wife-beater and right now she could do with some comfort and to forget everything just for one night. She was a sucker for the knight-in-shining-armour type. In high school Lincoln had always been overly protective and defensive around her and Sebastian had essentially saved her from self destructing after the whole Lincoln-thing.
Nick dropped his hand and unscrewing a bottle of water he popped some painkillers into his mouth and washed them down with some water. "How do you survive putting walls up around yourself all the time?" he asked.
"I don't." Veronica replied. "I just can't do …. This." She said moving her hand back and forth from him to her.
Nick looked at her deeply. "I'm not asking you to. I know that you're fighting so hard for this because you still love Lincoln and I respect that. But you need to relax around me. I swear that nothing's going to happen."
Veronica buried her face in her hands. "I know." They sat in silence for a moment before she looked back up. "Where do we go from now?"
"We need to dig deeper. Find out which powerful people had the motive and resources to commit such a crime and then put all the effort into covering it up again." Nick said thoughtfully. "When we venture back into the city we need to do it quickly and smartly, no hanging around."
"Right well, I'll go read over the notes we still have and-"
Nick pulled her back into her seat. "Veronica if you keep going like this you're going to burn out and then you're going to be of no use to anyone, least of all Lincoln. You need to rest, at least for the rest of today."
Veronica turned to him, a haunting look in her eyes. "How can I when all I can think about is how someone is going to burst through that door any minute now with a gun."
Nick thought for a moment before reaching out and putting his arm around her. She slowly lowered her head and rested it on his chest before shifting a bit so she was practically lying in his arms. "Relax and sleep." He said softly, stroking her arm lightly.
He wasn't Lincoln but he could offer her some feeling of safety - at least for now.
A/N:- Comments always appreciated.