Empire State of Murder

Chapter One

Hey! I've had this fic in the works for a little while now and I've finally plucked up the courage to post the first chapter! The storyline isn't perfect and there may end up being a few plot holes, but it's been a while since I've written a longer fic so I'm just gonna give it my best shot.

This'll be the only chapter for a bit because I want to finish off the one shot challenge I'm doing, but please please please let me know what you think! Xx

Being without Thomas was hard. Extremely hard.

The initial grief was devastating. Nikki could still remember the blank look Jack gave her when she told him, a look of complete refusal. Neither of them wanted it to be true. It felt like a bullet through the chest having such a dear friend ripped away from them so suddenly. Thomas was gone, and he wasn't coming back.

Clarissa's absence had taken an effect too. They both missed her a tremendous deal, the way she would be able to lighten the mood with a couple of words. But Jack and Nikki understood why she left, and so now it was just the two of them. However, the shared anguish, it had brought them closer than ever.

Every tear that was spilt, every breakdown that occurred from sleepless nights, they'd been there for one another. No matter how late at night, or how little the cause of the upset was, Jack and Nikki vowed to be each other's rock. They'd promised not to repeat the aftermath of Mexico, with the missed phone calls and the awkward conversations. They were stronger when they were together.

Days turned to weeks, weeks turned to months. Things were getting better. Jack was visiting a therapist, talking about his troubles and understanding how to deal with things. Nikki's nightmares were becoming less frequent, Thomas popping into her dreams as a pleasant figure instead of reliving the horrific scenes in the mortuary. They were becoming their old selves again.

Cases kept them busy, each as harrowing as the one before it. It was incredibly hard for Jack and Nikki not to get affected by each death that occured, but they decided that solving the case and trying to forget about it when it was over was best for the both of them.

The most recent case had been wrapped up that day, and Nikki sat in her kitchen, a glass of white wine in her hand. Jack was standing across the counter from her, expertly chopping onions.

It was now a sort of tradition that after each case was solved, they would have dinner together. And so, Jack was cooking meatballs and pasta; he'd told her that his pasta sauce was five-star restaurant standard. To be fair to him, he was a much better cook than her, and so Nikki left it up to him to do most of it, only helping when necessary.

She watched him, now preparing the pasta sauce, whistling away to himself. Nikki couldn't stop her eyes from travelling up and down his body as he moved from one counter to another. He just looked so...good, as he did everyday. She'd always known how attractive Jack was; anyone with a sane mind noticed it. But recently, Nikki's feelings were more than that.

The closer they got, the more attracted to him she was. During the last couple of months, Nikki had tried to deny it, not knowing if Jack felt the same way. He may have done years ago, but she'd been stupidly blind from seeing what was right in front of her. Jack's attraction towards her had probably faded away, because she took too bloody long to realise that there might be something between them. 

So Nikki just caught herself staring at him every time he was near her, and let her stomach drop when he brushed her arm. But, she would rather put herself through the pain of secretly pining for him instead of potentially ruining their friendship by mistaken feelings.

Jack interrupted her thoughts, appearing beside her, holding a spoonful of his homemade sauce.

"Try this," he said. Nikki obeyed, leaning into him so he could put the spoon in her mouth. A grin grew upon Jack's face when Nikki's eyes widened.