Disclaimer: I do not own City Homicide or its characters.

5.

Jen sat behind her computer, scrolling through the emails on her screen. Mostly departmental circulars and memos, nothing particularly exciting or interesting.

Her eyes darted upwards, and she caught Duncan's attention. "Dunny. How long has Nick been in there with Wolfey, do you reckon?"

Duncan looked over his desk towards Stanley Wolfe's office. "Dunno. A good fifteen minutes, I'd say. They'll be going over what happened yesterday. Internal Affairs will want to interview him, too."

"Yeah, and us" Jen sighed, her shoulders hunched. She felt bad about leaving Nick the way that she had last night. She knew that he had wanted company, had probably needed her to stay; but she couldn't. She was scared of what might happen if she stayed.

It was obvious that there was still something between them, and she didn't trust herself to spend too much time alone with him. It could never work. If they were to become involved with each other, one of them would end up having to leave the squad, and she didn't want that to happen. Homicide was her life, now. She couldn't imagine what her life would be like if she weren't in Homicide.

No, she would have to try to maintain some distance from Nick. Even as she thought it to herself, she knew that it was almost impossible to keep away from him. She seemed to gravitate towards him without even realising it. They had spent so long together, living so closely, learning about one another's likes and dislikes, their habits, both annoying and pleasing; they knew so much about each other, she felt as though she were home, when she was with him, such was the level of comfort between them. She felt as though he knew her better than anyone in the world, that he was her best friend.

Part of her wished that he had never come to Homicide. This situation was simply impossible.

Wolfey's office door opened, and Jen was quickly jolted from her thoughts. She looked up, watching intently as Nick made his way over to his desk, where he sat positioned on a corner, between both Jen and Duncan.

He avoided looking at her. She felt a momentary twinge of regret, hoping that he was not upset with her for her sudden departure the previous night.

"So, mate" Duncan said quietly. "How did it go?"

"You know how these things work, Duncan. Internals will be here sometime today to interview me about the shooting. And I have to see the psych and be cleared before I can get my gun back, and go back onto active duty. Until then, I'm a desk jockey." Nick glanced quickly over at Jen, catching her eye, then looked hurriedly away. Damn, he is upset with me.

She lay in the dark, eyes tightly shut, willing sleep to come.

He moved his leg, making the bed move slightly with him. He stopped.

No, it was moving again.

Now it had stopped.

Now he reached down to scratch his calf. She felt herself move along with the motion of his franticly scratching fingers. She resisted the urge to sigh loudly, feeling agitated now.

The scratching stopped.

Thank goodness, she thought. Go to sleep.

He coughed.

You've got to be kidding me!

He reached across and turned on the bedside light.

"Oh, for gods sake, what are you doing?" She was annoyed.

"I need to get a drink of water". He got up out of the bed.

"You can be sooo annoying sometimes" Jen sighed. She rolled over huffily, facing away from his side of the bed, and waited impatiently for him to return.

Finally, he got back into bed and turned off the light.

At last, it was quiet. He was still. She heard his breathing slow and even out. She smiled to herself and closed her eyes.

A slight snore.

No, no, no! She thought. Another slight snore. Not loud, but loud enough that she knew that it would keep her awake.

She sat up and pulled at his ear.

"Ouch! What was that for?" Nick sat bolt upright.

"You were snoring."

"I don't snore" he whined.

"Honestly" Jen huffed "there are some nights that you just drive me crazy. And I can't believe that you're snoring."

"I don't snore. Maybe I'm a bit snuffly, getting a cold or something."

Jen felt herself pouting like a spoilt child. She loved her sleep and nothing irritated her more than when sleep was denied her.

Nick got up out of bed.

"Where are you going?" she asked, suddenly sorry that she may have hurt his feelings.

"I'll go out to the lounge and read for a bit, so you can get to sleep first. I'll come back later, when you've dropped off."

Part of her wanted to hug him for being so thoughtful, her irritation mostly forgotten. God, he can be so sweet!

A few minutes later, and sleep still eluded her. She felt guilty now, feeling responsible for sending him away. She sighed in irritation and got up out of bed, pulling her robe around her.

She found him in the lounge room, sprawled across the sofa with a book. She sat on the floor in front of him.

"I'm sorry. I'm not used to sharing my bed with someone else."

He looked at her over the top of his book. "Well, neither am I. It's hard to get used to. Sorry if I annoyed you. But I don't snore."

"No, it's okay. I'm a bit precious when it comes to sleep."

"Really?...I hadn't noticed..."

She chuckled and hit him playfully in the chest.

He smiled widely. "So. I suppose that we're abject failures when it comes to living in matrimonial harmony."

"Oh, I wouldn't say that" Jen began. "I think we're doing okay. Come back to bed. I promise I won't complain. I'll stick tissues in my ears or something..."

He laughed, as he got up and followed her back into the bedroom.

She walked into the break room to make a coffee, needing some caffeine to help see her through the rest of the day.

Nick sat at the table, cradling his mug of tea. He looked up when she walked in, and quickly dropped his eyes back down.

She sighed quietly. She had bridges to build. She sat opposite him. "Are you okay?"

His eyes met hers, and for the first time that day, he held her gaze. "Yeah. Just waiting to be called in by Internals."

She looked around to make sure that they were alone. "Nick, about last night..."her voice trailed off. What was it that she wanted to say? Where exactly was she going with this? She had no idea.

"You don't have to explain" he said, his voice barely above a whisper.

Allie stuck her head in the doorway. "Hey Nick. The men in black are looking for you."

Nick got up. "Here we go."

Jen reached for his hand, touching it briefly. "You'll be fine, Nick."

"I'm not so sure about that" he muttered quietly as he left the room, and Jen, who knew this man so well, knew that he wasn't referring to his interview with Internal Affairs.