Sunday With The Varela's

Snow Night

As the clock ticked ever closer to eleven, Nick peered out of the curtains and confirmed that the storm was definitely still raging outside. A sleeping Rafael had been carried up to bed not long after eight, leaving the adults to do what most other snow-stuck November Fallsians were doing; listening to the radio while scrolling absentmindedly on their phones.

Unfortunately, they had just lost reception on the Latin station. It was the only station that they actually liked listening to.

"Swing station is down too," Nick announced, the unhappy fellow assigned to leaving the warmth of the couch and changing the frequency. He hummed under his breath, puttering around for a few seconds. There was almost a wince on his face as he came to the only station strong enough to break through the interference of the storm.

Nick cleared his throat, putting on his best DJ voice. "And now it's time for you all to sit back, relax and enjoy your easy listening Sunday night with November Falls' favourite station for all your music needs; NWRP November Falls."

Evelyn muffled a groan into the nearest cushion, but silently conceded that it could be worse. Mick and Mike could be on.

Nick seemed to read her - as all good partners could - because he came to sit back beside her, a grin on his handsome face. Luckily, Nick had tuned the station in time for a weather report.

Evelyn could sum it up as a metric shit tonne of snow dropping overnight. Fortunately, it wouldn't hamper the snowploughs which were more than used to moving a lot of snow in a very little amount of time.

"Wonderful," Nick sighed, shaking his head sadly. "We won't even have the excuse of being snowed in to get a day off work."

"You know the drill, Nick," Evelyn replied, smiling just a little at his misery. "Snow or no snow, the Boss will expect us to come in to work. Besides," she offered a little shrug. "At least this way I won't have to shoot Joe if he gets any more idiotic ideas in his head about our doer."

"I'll shoot him for you, Querida," Nick offered easily. "You make sure your brother catches the case, and voila, we're both off the hook."

"You think Danny wouldn't arrest you?" Evelyn couldn't help but laugh. "You're adorable when you're clueless."

"Hey!"

Evelyn just laughed again. "Danny would arrest me if he had to," she informed him easily. "I'm his favourite sibling. What makes you think you'll get off any easier, especially when you're dating me?"

"Don't shoot holes in my plans, Evelyn," Nick replied with great dignity. "In my little slice of denial, Danny backs us up and the Eagles just won the World Series."

Alex groaned in commiseration. "That'll never happen, hermanito. But God, I wish it could."

"Our time is coming," Nick insisted, almost desperately.

"And so is bedtime," Maria clapped her hands, glaring at her children. "Go on."

Evelyn stood next to the window of Nick's childhood bedroom, honestly bemused by the events of the day. Maria and Luis had welcomed her back into the family, she had had a wonderful night with the Varela's. Now, she was standing in Nick's childhood bedroom, snowed in, and wearing an old November Falls PD tee of Nick's and the leggings from her gym bag, and for the first time in ages, she was actually looking forward to spending the night.

"What a day," Nick smiled from the doorway, shooting her a sparkling grin as he climbed into bed.

"Quite a day," Evelyn couldn't help but agree as she joined him. "Who knew blackouts and blizzards could be so fun?"