Suck it up Lover - Nick Fowler AU

Part 14

October

The time off was over more quickly than many had wished.
Every single one of the team had tried to use the ten days as well as possible for themselves, to really relax for once.

So it was Nick who had decided to spend the time with his parents in the house and help them here and there with small crafts.

Josh, together with Colin, went on several dates to discover the city and its "tourist attractions".

Sport was on Megan's daily schedule, which had paid off in spades because now you could spot the beginnings of a six pack, and besides sport she painted some canvases that now her friend Anna has hanging in her esoteric store and offers for sale.

And Lexie and Daniel had their honeymoon time, so to say, due to the fact that they were not yet a couple for too long, they reinvented themselves during these days and explored each other on all levels.

Now they were all reunited and sat together in the office and shared their experiences.
But even though you might think the ice had been broken between Megan and Nick, it almost seemed like the two of them had taken ten steps backward instead of forward.
When they weren't bitching at each other, they were busy ignoring the other.
The behavior of the two only led to their colleagues shaking their heads, but they also knew that there was nothing they could do about it.

The following weeks did not really change the overall situation.
They had solved a small case, where an organized group had hacked into various small banks in the Washington area and thus enriched themselves.
However, this one did not necessarily call for group dynamics.

On Halloween, it was customary for all the agents who were not currently on a current case to dress up and then their kids or relatives would come over with the kids and have a little Halloween party.
There was a huge buffet which left nothing to be desired and with the profit of voluntary donations, the FBI supported the Children's Hospital of Washington, so that they can offer the children there a nice Christmas.

When Megan entered the office dressed up, Nick had to smile.
She had taken inspiration from his niece, Lillie, and showed up as a modern-day Snow White - yellow carrot pants, plus a royal blue top with heart-shaped neckline and big collar and a red cardigan.
Because her hair was already chin-length, she just curled it a bit at the ends and to do justice to the Snow White style, she had colored her lips a deep blood red.

He himself had forgotten about this day and just quickly put together a Robin costume with the things he had at home and with a kohl pencil that a nighttime visit to him had left behind.

Megan had spent the entire previous evening in the kitchen with Regina, baking spooky chocolate cupcakes with green buttercream and eyes for today's buffet.

"Creativity doesn't seem to be in your nature," Megan said as she placed the cupcakes on the decorated table where Nick was currently leaning on it.

"I have something you don't have, it's called empathy."

A loud laugh escaped Megan, it wasn't fake, she really had to laugh from the bottom of her heart so that her stomach almost hurt from it.

"What's there to laugh about?"

Megan carefully wiped the tears from her eyes so as not to ruin her makeup. "Nothing, just think it's funny that you think you're the empathetic one of the two of us."

'Such a tease,' Nick thought to himself as she turned on her buckled pumps in a flourish and disappeared back out of the room.

Nick didn't know what had happened between them in the ten days, after all, they had still gotten along well on his birthday.
Megan was a mystery to him, and by now he resigned himself to never being able to solve that mystery.