step by step
An NCIS fic collection
by mew-tsubaki
- ^-^3
imagine: miscellany 21—timely apologies (this post on the sideblog: 712272997607702528/ parknight-imagines-miscellany-21-timely)
tags: established!Parknight, s20e14
- ^-^3
He feels little better after Jimmy patches him up. He feels somewhat lighter after Jeremy insists he reads that old, unopened letter from years ago.
But Parker still feels awful when he sees his old partner out and then drags his feet on returning to the bullpen, knowing Knight, McGee, and Torres have stayed behind to work on the forms for this case.
He lingers on their periphery, not sure if he has the right to interrupt, wondering if they'll even acknowledge his presence after the way he's behaved the last couple days during the Wills' case. A time or two, McGee glances in Parker's general direction. Torres makes a show of pointedly ignoring him while the Latino man saunters around their shared space and passes papers between himself and the other two. But Knight—Knight doesn't even lift her head from her keyboard.
Yeah. He's messed up beyond measure.
Parker glances between the bullpen and the exit, debating heading home without saying a word to his team. But he takes one step when Torres clears his throat.
The next thing they all know, Torres drops a stack of files down on his desk and heads Parker's way. "Parker. We ordered pizza a bit ago, so it'll be here soon. Why don't you come with me to the break room to grab plates and stuff?" He asks this, but it's not a question, and he steers Parker in the direction of the break room and ushers him from the bullpen.
In the break room, Torres makes a show of locating paper plates and napkins—even utensils, for McGee, who hates greasy fingerprints on forms and keyboards alike—and then he tosses everything in the middle of the small table and faces Parker with his arms crossed in front of his chest. Parker waits for the inevitable.
But Torres doesn't yell at him. He's pointed out throughout this case, about Parker being awful towards them. So Parker's stunned when Torres sighs and says, "I get it."
Parker blinks.
"I do. I get your stress and your reasons. I've seen you looking sorry, and I consider you and me square, Parker. McGee's the same, too, y'know. We've seen crap, done crap. We're cool, Parker."
His shoulders slacken. And yet… "But?"
"But…" Torres glares at the team leader. "It's not the same with Knight. She's always on your side, no matter what, Parker. She sees the good in you even when McGee and I haven't."
He hesitates. He doesn't need Torres telling him this, because he knows it well and knows why.
"…Parker. Take it from me. When you have someone special in your life who's placed their unswerving faith in you and you treat them like shit? Apologize ten times over. Because one day, that person might not be around for you to apologize or tell her how much you love her."
…it hits a little different, this scolding-turned-advice, with how tired Torres looks as he delivers it, and suddenly Parker feels the weight of his actions and words more, hearing an experienced observer's opinion. So he nods his thanks, but he saves his sorry for the one who deserves to hear it first from his mouth, who waits patiently in the other room for him and hopefully will tear her eyes from her work—
—(and hopefully still has that faith in him, just enough to give him another chance).
- ^-^3
SO. "Old Wounds" is prolly my least fav episode in a long while…the writing was jacked, yo. But having Nick drop a little Ellick warning makes my heart squeeze. Also, I realize I bring up this whole "Knight has faith in Parker" thing a lot, but it's rather canon? Bc she's always the one first to trust him/believe in him, so don't think I'm done with that, *lol*. I was just…not here for how my gent was written in this ep. *le sigh*
-mew! :c