Paper in a File {Brollins}

- Chapter 7 -

After Leighla finally left in a huff, Colby made his way upstairs slowly, his legs beginning to protest the idea of him still being awake after such a drawn-out day.

He found Rebecca sitting patiently on the top step once he got up the first flight of stairs and turned towards the other. "Oh, I uh, thought you would've gone into the room."

"Invasion of privacy." Rebecca shrugged, "Plus, you never told me which door it was."

Colby nodded, walking up and opening the center door. "Sorry about that."

He gestured her over with his head, letting her walk in slowly first. Rebecca stood holding Chase by the wall while Colby walked over to his closet and started bringing over clothes on hangers.

Colby scrounged around for a duffel bag and started cramming some clothes in there, causing Rebecca to watch him with furrowed eyes. "You're just putting them in there like that?"

"Well, we're in a bit of a time crunch." Colby pointed out, and Rebecca looked down with a nod.

She placed Chase in the middle of the bed carefully, and Rebecca let herself quietly laugh. "It doesn't take that long to fold some clothes. Do you mind if I..."

"Be my guest." Colby watched her gingerly, feeling her fingers gently skim his hand as she grabbed the shirt crumpled in his grasp.

She slowly folded the shirts one by one, and Colby followed suit, sensing she didn't want to give in to the idea or seem to feel like she was under a time constraint. He figured it must've given her a feeling of normalcy, something that took the edge away.

They folded in comfortable silence, and it was only then that he noticed the shift in her demeanour. She let her shoulders go slack a touch, and her posture wasn't as stiff, although she was still quiet.

It was only when he spoke up that she seemed to remember the situation she was in. "We should get going soon."

Suddenly she was blinking rapidly, and her once partially relieved body was tense with fear. "Yeah."

Her Irish accent was thick with worry and it almost made her response impossible to understand. She finished straightening out some pants she then put in the bag for him.

"I heard..." Rebecca stopped, unsure whether she should divulge the information she'd gathered. She looked over at him to see Colby looking back, eyes darting between hers as if he was trying to read her.

That's what made her stop herself. She didn't like the idea of being calculated. It made her feel more uneasy than she already was. "Never mind."

Rebecca looked down quickly and zipped up the bag, before moving to pick Chase back up. She propped him up by her shoulder and eventually followed Colby out of the room when he deemed everything was in order.

The car ride was silent for the most part. Neither minded, however, after some time, Rebecca spoke. "So where are we going?"

"The precinct got a rental house." Colby explained, "That's where we'll be living for the case. We don't want to compromise our actual living spaces, so if anyone asks, this is where you live now."

Rebecca nodded, and Colby fiddled with the radio dial. "Also, we need to get you a ring."

"What?" Colby couldn't tell if her response was mixed with a confused laugh, but the look on her face definitely depicted one of uncertainty.

He pulled into the driveway of what they'd be calling their home. "Well, it's just easier to say we're engaged rather than, you know... be pressed about things."

"Okay." She nodded, and he wondered if it was because she was actually fine with it or just because she was tired.

Once they got inside, Colby brought everything they packed in. "You can choose whatever room you'd like."

She nodded and quietly got herself sorted out, and Colby noted that she didn't take the master bedroom. He opted to take the other spare room, setting his stuff aside. There was a shared bathroom that had a door to each spare room, and he guessed the master bedroom had one of its own.

He noticed her things already next to one of the sinks in a neat manner. It made him contemplate whether she shivered looking around the messiness of his place. He hadn't paid attention to it before, but now it was making him wonder if her place was one of those freakishly in-order ones.

You could tell a lot about a person based on the way they live, and considering his job was full of picking up the smallest of clues, he was shocked he wasn't paying more attention. Colby settled on blaming his exhaustion and the long week he'd had.

He knew he should've been used to the workload by now, seeing as he'd been running himself into the ground with his job for the past few years. Breaks and vacation time were foreign to him, and in a way, this was the closest to one he's gotten.

After finishing activating the house alarm, Colby began to get ready for bed. He was in the middle of brushing his teeth when Rebecca shuffled into the washroom to follow suit.

The only sound that could be heard was the water dripping from the faucet. Rebecca was observant by nature, so she had to force herself to not stare and study Colby in the mirror.

Instead, she just minded her business, not wanting to start this whole process out on the wrong foot. Colby rinsed his brush off and dried his hands before he started to walk into his room again. "Goodnight, Rebecca."

She looked up at him through the mirror, almost not expecting to converse for the rest of the day. Yet Rebecca forced a polite smile with a small nod. "Goodnight, Colby."