Suck it up Lover - Nick Fowler AU

Part 1

"I'm home," Megan called out as she walked through the front door.

With a loud clank, she dropped her keys on her dresser in the front hall, a delicious smell made its way into her snub nose, and she heard Regina singing along loudly to a Britney Spears song.

Regina was her best friend, whom she knew from high school.

Together they lived in an 861-square-foot apartment in an apartment complex near the Howard University.

It was the perfect location for both of them, as it took them barely ten minutes to get to work by cab.

Regina made a living with her creative streak as an illustrator, and Megan had been a special agent with the FBI for just over a year.

Exhausted, Megan flopped down on the mustard yellow sofa that contrasted with the fir green wall in the corner of the living room and rested her head on the back of her neck.

The music turned down and even though she had her eyes closed, she could feel the eyes of Gina, as she called her best friend, on her.

"Hey Megs, I made dinner, I hope you're hungry for stuffed pumpkin with sweet potatoes?"

"Mm sounds good" She herself realized that her answer wasn't exactly brimming with euphoria, she was just tired and had been working a 50 hour week.

It didn't matter if you put a deluxe 5-course meal in front of her or an unstuffed white bread - the reaction would be the same.

What had felt like only five seconds to Megan had actually been ten minutes when she was snapped out of her trance-like state. Regina had dropped down next to her on the sofa.
When Megan opened her eyes and sat up, she caught sight of the feast her friend had cooked.

As she inhaled deeply once and took in the delicious smell, her stomach knew no stopping either and grumbled audibly.

"Have you eaten anything at all today, Megs?" Regina knew Megan too well, she knew that she threw herself head over heels into work and as a result sometimes forgot to eat something other than energy bars.

"Yeah, Lexi brought me a burger for lunch when she was in town."

Lexi, or Alexandra as she was also known, was her work colleague with whom she was on a team.
You could almost say Alexandra was her best friend at work - after all, Megan could talk to her unlike Regina.
With Lexi, she could talk about work, which kept her busy and gave her sleepless nights.

Regina often noticed that Megan had something on the tip of her tongue, but by now she had gotten out of the habit of asking.
She knew Megan couldn't talk to her about work.

"You do know what time it is now and how much time has passed since noon, right?"

Megan pushed back the sleeve of her black sweater to glance at her silver wristwatch.
It was already well past nine in the evening - once again she had worked overtime, and once again she hadn't noticed.

Sitting at her desk, working through file after file, researching and coming up with possible theories, she forgot about space and time around her.

Her work had become an addiction for her.

"Thanks Mom," the tone in her voice was filled with sarcasm and she rolled her eyes over before taking the plate and gleefully popping the first bite into her mouth.
"Oh Wow. Delicious as always GinGin. What's new with you? How was your day?"

"Oh, please don't ask. All hell broke loose at work. My boss has a new assignment for me - a children's book, you know how much I 'love' that. So I'm busy painting bunnies and bears for the next few weeks. Also, there was an unwanted visitor for you today - you can guess who. It was Mister Sociopath."