Alright, like I said, prepare for drama. This is one of my shorter chapters and it'll carry on into the next chappy...I love keeping y'all hangin ob the edge! XD
And regarding the last chapter, the woman that continuously hit on Nick was not Sofia. I had a few people ask about it, and she just happened to bare a few resemblances to Sofia. But no, it wasn't her...just thought I'd clear that up.
BTW, I own Paige, Kiersten, Riley, everyone mentioned on dayshift (cause I made up the names), and that's it...everyone else belongs to other people...(that'd be Jerry and Anthony)...but if they wanna lend me George Eads for my birthday...I'd be totally okay with that XD!
Chapter 20
(Two weeks later)
"419, female, out on 3622 Desert Way in Henderson...sexual assault...looks like Pin-up's back." The officer on the other end of the scanner informed the break room. Each CSI from Dayshift dragged their gazes up to the Dayshift Supervisor, Brianna Millers, in question as of what to do. Brianna sighed and leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table while placing a fist under her chin.
He was quiet for a long while, leaving everyone unsure how to respond to the newest death thanks to the Pin-up Rapist. "Brianna...what do we do?" Julia Frees questioned, making her close her eyes and sigh.
"Call in CSI Nightshift."
--He's baaaaaack...bum bum bum!—
Something loud and annoying was ringing in Nick's ear...it was too shrill to be his alarm clock, too constant to be someone's voice, and too annoying for Nick's liking. He moaned and rolled over, extending his arm in search of the annoying noise. He groped around the nightstand, coming up empty.
"Mmmm..." Riley moaned in protest. "Make it stop." She mumbled and snuggled in further to the bed. Nick sighed and opened his eyes to aid him in finding the pesky otic assailant. He sighed and reached around on the floor, and opened his phone.
"Stokes." He mumbled tiredly.
"Nicky? It's Catherine." She sighed tiredly. "Grissom's callin everyone in...Pin-up is back..." She admitted reluctantly and Nick bolted upright in bed, startling Riley enough to make her yelp and Nick reached behind him and covered her mouth. She let out a 'humph' against his hand and rolled her eyes.
"Where?" Nick asked.
"Henderson."
Nick turned to look at Riley and made a motion for her to get him a pen and paper. She sighed softly and rolled over to the other nightstand and pulled the Legal Notepad off the top, and found a pen in the drawer. Nick jotted down the address and hung up with Catherine. He looked at Riley reluctantly and she sighed.
"Work." She said for him and nodded. "Go."
He sighed. "I don't have much of a choice."
"That's why I'm being such a good sport about it..." She murmured and rolled over onto her stomach and Nick sighed. He knew she was more disappointed than she was letting on, and that bothered him. He rolled over so that he was lying on top of her and he kissed her shoulder.
"I'll see you after work Hon..."
"No you won't, I'll be at work." She mumbled, not opening her eyes and Nick sighed.
"Alright...well...I'll see you when I see you." He replied, not yet climbing off of her. A few moments later she opened one eye and turned her head to look at him. She rolled underneath him so that they were now face to face. She brought a hand up to his cheek and caressed it softly with her thumb.
"What?" She whispered and Nick smiled softly.
"I love you." He answered and waited for her reaction...that never came. She simply laid there and stared at him, her mouth hanging slightly open, an unreadable expression on her face. After a few minutes she closed her mouth and looked away, while swallowing thickly. She sucked her lips into her mouth and inhaled deeply, as if he had just told her the equation to solving infinity and the fate of the world rested on her response.
Nick felt his heart fall further and further with each passing minute of silence. He finally pulled away from her and began getting dressed silently, trying not to let the disappointment show on his face. She sat up in his bed and kept the sheet up around her chest to shield her bare body from the room. She watched silently as Nick got dressed and left his room without so much as a goodbye. She looked away from the door he had exited and sighed softly when she heard the front door close.
"...Well that couldn't have gone any worse." She said to no one and fell back against the bed and massaged her temples. Those three little words used commonly every day had sent her brain on overload. She felt a shiver run through her body for no apparent reason and pulled her hands away from her head and opened her eyes to stare at the ceiling absently. She felt a shiver run up her spine once again for, yet again, another ambiguous reason...she felt as though everyone had just seen her break her boyfriend's heart and was now laughing at them both...
She groaned and grabbed her cell phone from the bedside table and hit speed dial 2. Kiersten answered immediately. "Hello?" She drawled and Riley sighed.
"I fucked up."
"Riley?"
"I fucked up big time."
"What happened?"
"Three God Damn words happened that's what!" She exclaimed and threw the pillow against the wall in anger.
"Okay...that doesn't help much Chica..."
"Remember when Deven and I were dating-"
"Nope. I completely forgot five years of our entire lives..."
Riley rolled her eyes. "Do you remember how I reacted when he told me he loved me?"
"Uh yes, I believe you ignored him..." Kiersten recalled, chuckling slightly at the memory. Riley sighed again. "What does Deven have to do with you fucking up...?"
Silence.
"Riley?"
"Yeah."
"What happened? I thought you were with Nick...why aren't the two of you asleep?"
"He got called into work."
"So how does him getting called into work mean you fucked up? What'd you kill somebody?"
Riley rolled her eyes. "No..."
"I thought things were cool with you two...y'all are sickeningly happy...did y'all loose the heat?"
Riley laughed dryly. "No...Hell no...loosing passion and lust is the least of our worries."
"So what's up...if y'all are still in that 'fuckin constantly' 'gotta-have-you-now' phase what's wrong?"
Riley sighed and brought her hand to her forehead tiredly...it was really too early in the morning for this. "He said the 'L' word."
"Oh God...please tell me you mean lesbians."
"I wish I did..."
"...What'd you say?"
Silence.
"What'd you say Riley?"
"I just told you."
It took Kiersten a minute but she finally got what her best friend was saying. "You ignored him too!"
"It's not like I changed the topic or anything like I did with Deven." Riley defended.
"Well its just as bad...tell me what happened. Walk me through it."
Riley sighed and sat up in the bed, drawing her knees to her chest, pressing the cool blue sheets against her skin. "Well...I was asleep in his arms, then his phone starts ringing and its someone from work. So...we were laying there after he hung up and...and he smiled and I asked him 'what' and...and he...said it."
Kiersten sighed and Riley heard her close a door, probably for privacy. "What next?"
"Nothing...we just stared at each other for like five minutes before he crawled outta bed, got dressed, and left without a word..."
"Damn...you fucked up."
"Ah! Don't say that." Riley whined and buried her face in her knees.
"Well you did!"
"I know, but you don't have to say it."
Kiersten sighed. "So are you gonna say it back?"
"I don't know." Riley answered while picking at the thread that had come loose on his sheets.
"Well do you love him?"
"I don't know...how do you know if you're in love with someone?"
"Well how'd you know you were in love with Deven?"
"I don't know..." She sighed and stretched out her legs. "I just...I feel bad because I got upset with him that he won't introduce me to any of his friends, and then I asked him to open up to me...I just didn't think that'd mean him telling me he loves me."
"Damn...they weren't kidding when they said be careful what you ask for..."
"This blows..."
"I know Hon...I know."
Riley sighed. "Listen, Kit, not that I don't appreciate this, but I think I wanna get a second opinion."
"Alright Chica, just know that you can call me whenever. I love ya girl."
"Ahh! Why does everyone keep saying that to me today?" Riley yelled, only half joking. "Seriously, everyone I know says I'm the hardest person to love or even be-friend for that matter...Hell, I was a bitch to you when I first met you. I pushed you away cause I'm a loner like that, but you kept clawing your way back in..."
"Yeah...now I'm stuck." She joked and Riley laughed.
"Eh...but I'd say it was worth it..."
"Definitely." And silence envoloped the two best friends.
"...Man, what a hormonal pair we make." Riley joked to escape the sentimental moment that so often made her uncomfortable. Kiersten laughed and Riley sighed. "I'll talk to ya later...thanks Kiersten."
"Any time Ry."
Riley hung up and dialed a familiar and waited for the loving voice on the other end. "Oh my God! You're not dead! Someone call the Fort Worth Headlines, it's the story of the year! Bryn Riley Ann Turner has finally called home!" The familiar female voice drawled.
Riley rolled her eyes. "Ha ha...very funny Paige."
Her sister laughed. "Well can ya blame me? Mama was about ready to send a search team after ya."
Riley smiled and laughed a little while closing her eyes and relaxing against the bed. "How's everybody?"
"Were good...Tom's good...we're investing in a bigger car..." She hinted and waited on baited breath for her sister's response.
Riley sat straight up in bed. "No...do not tell me you're pregnant again!"
Paige laughed. "Make way for baby number 6!" Paige exclaimed excitedly.
"Damn y'all are a fertile little couple!"
"Tom and I are thinking of getting tracking devices installed in the kids..."
Riley laughed. "Oh no, you're stealing pages from my parenting book..."
"And what a scary book that must be." Paige joked, knowing Riley wasn't exactly the maternal type.
"Boy or girl?"
"I don't know, we just found out this morning." She smiled and sighed. "So what's up infantia sanctimonialis?" (meaning 'baby sister' in Latin)
"Not much...just...I have a question."
"Okay..."
"Um...how did you know you were in love with Tom?"
"Okay, could you pick a more random question, but okay...um...I...I just knew. We'd been friends for almost three years, and then the whole thing with Mike, and...he was there...through it all as my best friend...and I just knew..." Her thick Texan accent was laced with dreamy emotion.
Riley sighed and moaned. "So there wasn't a specific feeling?"
"Nope...but when it happens...you'll know."
Riley was silent and Paige sighed.
"Would this have anything to do with that Cowboy you've been seeing?"
"Yeah..."
"Are you in love with him?"
"That's the thing Paigey, I don't know...I haven't the slightest idea...he told me he loved me about an hour ago-" Damn, was that really only an hour ago? "And I just...froze."
"Froze?"
"Froze...I didn't say anything...I just stared at him for the longest time, then I looked away, and he left for work..."
"Well...I'd say you are royally screwed."
"Paige..."
"What?" She sighed. "I'm just being realistic."
"Do you think we can recover from this?"
"I don't know...as a marriage consular I'd say it depends on how strong a couple the two of ya are. If y'all aren't that mature in your relationship or if there are several burdens weighing y'all down it's hard to tell...but as your sister, I'd say you could. You're strong Bryn, I'm pretty sure you can handle this...him, I know nothing about. Why is that again?"
"Forget it Paige, I'm not subjecting him to y'all quite yet." Riley replied, her smile peeking out in her drawl. She loveed her family to death...but they were completely insane.
"Yeah, now would not be the time..."
"So, lets say this is you and Tom, how much time would you say is there before the ticking time bomb that is the 'L' word explodes?"
She sighed. "First off, it's biased and unprofessional to use myself and my husband as an example to you and your mystery Cowboy, second, if you're gonna move past this at all ya gotta quit calling it the 'L' word. Say 'love' Bryn. It isn't that hard."
"That's easy for you to say...ba dum bum." She joked at the stupid play on words and she could practically hear her sister roll her eyes.
"Practice with me, c'mon B. Just say it...I love you Bryn."
She sighed and rolled her eyes. "I love you Paige." She droned with absolutely no seriousness to her tone.
"See?"
"But that's easy, you're my sister. That's a different kind of love. And I know I love you. You're my Paigey-Kins."
"I think you need to relax a little bit when it comes to the word 'love' in terms of boyfriends and girlfriends...did you ever consider maybe you actually do love this guy-"
"Nick. His name is Nick."
"Okay, Did you ever consider the fact that maybe you actually love Nick, but you're just too scared to admit it cause you got burned last time?"
Silence.
"I'll take that as a 'no'...think about it Bryn. Chew it over, spit it out, examine it, then chew it some more." There was a bang and a crash in the background and Paige swore. "I'll have to talk to you later B. Travis just knocked over the vase from Daddy. Travis Bae Oakley, get your kiester over here this instant!" She called before the phone disconnected.
Riley sighed and leaned back against the pillows and took her sister's advice.
Is she right...am I actually in love with Nick but I'm just too scared to realize it...? Wouldn't I be having an epiphany right now if that were true? Man...this sucks...
She rolled over and hugged the pillow to her chest as she closed her eyes and tried to sleep on that thought...
--Yeah, I know, short yet dramatic chapter...what oh what will happen next!--
Told y'all I was depressed...geez, and I was trying so hard to hide it. Now how am I gonna get my little puppets outta this mess...?
Reviews make me happy! So maybe you should review and get me outta this dark place...
-Still Depressed Futuremisscsi60