X (Marks The Spot)

Because I'm trying to procrastinate and decided to return to this OTP for a while (at least to finish off this little series because I am incapable of leaving things unfinished) XD

'We aren't even dating, but you agreed to come with me on my cross-country adventure, and now you're grinning, reading trivia about a landmark off of a pamphlet, and you're so gosh-darn excited, I don't even know what to think any more.'

She had woken up this morning and known she had to get away.

Packing a handbag full of random essentials – a hastily made sandwich, an umbrella, keys – it was barely fifteen minutes before she had been staring at a familiar door, trying to summon up the courage and the humility to knock and demand whether he can help her.

She hardly needs to ask.

"Did you know that that hill –" an index finger jabs into her line of vision, gesturing to a somewhat misty horizon – "Is the site of the oldest castle in the region?"

"That's very interesting, Nick," Katherine sighs.

He unfolds ever more of the map, shaking it until she groans again and takes the flapping corner, so they're two adults crammed into a busy train aisle seat, trying not to smile as they both consider how strange this feels.

The conductor passes them, silently stamps their tickets and moves on to a boisterous young family, two boys fighting in the twin seats in front of them. "Is this prompted by anything?" Nick finally asks, now that the train is moving and they're passing the borders of their town, the familiar streets melding into green soup, blue sky dotted with clouds. It feels like she can finally breathe.

"I just – needed to get away for a bit," she explains falteringly, unable to put it into real words, words that her co-worker deserves for her dragging him from his house at eight am on a Sunday morning, when normally he would be catching a refuge from the work routine. To be fair, once she was in his hallway and he was rummaging in a cabinet for a rolled-up map which he swore was there just last week, the train had been his idea. Nick was the one she knew would have the ideas.

He nods, his eyes flickering briefly to her before blinking and focusing back on his map. "I can get that."

"I love the city, but it feels so cramped sometimes," she finds herself continuing, resting her head back against a poorly positioned seat.

Nick mimes stretching out his legs, hits his knee on the seat in front of them. "Cramped. Riiight."

"I offered we use my car!"

"That's not a cross-country road trip, is it?"

"How is taking a train a road trip?"

"Again, you agreed." Nick chuckles as their bickering grinds to a halt, his boss huffing and pretending she's annoyed as the train begins to slow, reaching the first stop. "Fancy this one?"

Katherine considers. "No. Not far enough."

"Okaay." Nick laughs, folds up the map, concentrates on making out the stops as they scroll past in red-lined lettering on the monitor. "How about… Leighworth Valley, then? Enough space for you?"

"If it has a mysterious forest and a meadow full of snowdrops for me to frolic in, I'm in."

"You're starting to sound like Eve, wanting to live out her dreams of fairytales that Rebecca read her last week." Nick smiles as he recalls. "She was up all last night absorbing them."

The train stops, people flood on, the doors close. They move on. Only when they're up to full speed again does Katherine find the will to bring words to mind again. "How is Rebecca?" she asks. Awkwardly. Trying to remind herself she's an adult and even though she and Nick have just been through hell and back together, even though she feels closer to her co-worker than she does to anyone else, the smiling face and blond swish of hair still chide her for thinking Nick could ever feel that for her too.

Nick doesn't pick up on it. "She's fine," he says. "Stays a few nights a week, makes school lunches for Will in the morning like it's her job. Often Lily and Abe too."

She smiles at her lap, not meaning it. "Gives you a break."

"Gives me some time to myself, yeah."

They descend into silence again. Katherine fights the urge to rest her head on his shoulder, squeezed so close to hers in their cramped quarters. Another stop comes and goes. She realises she's feeling better by the minute.

She's enjoying the feeling of freedom so much that when Nick pokes her, she jolts back into awareness, staring at him.

"I hate to tell you this and ruin your so-carefully laid five-minute plans, Katherine, but we just missed our stop."

She flares. "Why didn't you say so sooner?"

"I was miles away," he says honestly.

Katherine sighs. "Same."

He regards her with an unreadable expression. "Now what?"

"Maybe this was stupid."

"How so?"

"Maybe we should just get off here, wait for the next train home." She slumps in her seat, barely reacts when yet another toddler races along the aisle, dealing her shin yet another unwanted blow. Memories suddenly rushing back, pulling her uncomfortably from that peaceful state of mind that comes so infrequently nowadays, what with her career and all that. "I probably have some marketing campaigns to read through before tomorrow."

Nick looks at the glowing display overhead for a long moment, before sending her that half, sideways grin that she can never help but return. "You wanted an impromptu road trip, Katherine. So close your eyes."

She stirs. "Hmm?"

"Close your eyes and hold out your hand," he repeats insistently. For once, eventually she obeys and listens to the rustling as Nick unfolds his map, lays it out across both of their laps. "You wanted a road trip," he repeats. "Choose our destination and we'll go there. Today. And have sandwiches and a picnic probably. And not think about Mary, marketing or anything to do with Calimov, just for today. X marks the spot. Go."

Katherine takes a deep breath, mentally reminds herself to give Nick a pay rise sometime soon, and points.