Case Reopened

Rethinking The Past

Throwing it way back to high school days with The Trio!

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"Hey," Donovan said.

Though Carter would never in a million years admit it out loud, she loved his voice. She loved the deep and smooth rhythm of it. Loved how it didn't matter what she was going through if she heard him talk to her he could make her struggle lessen even a fraction.

Carter shook her head. A month of dating and she loved his voice. She cringed at how sappy she sounded in her own head.

"Hey," she said. "Where are you?"

"I'm out with Brock having dinner. What's up?"

Carter looked at Donovan's apartment door and then down to the plastic bag of takeout she held. She lifted her head and glanced down the hallway to Link's apartment.

"Nothing," she said. "I won't bother you during your dinner. Have fun with Brock."

"Carter-"

"I'm hanging up now, you don't have to apologize for having a brother."

Before she knew Donovan would say that he would cut his dinner short or something else that would make her feel guilty towards Brock, she hung up. Pocketing her phone, she walked to Link's apartment and knocked. He opened the door, his eyes widening with surprise.

"You busy?" she asked.

Link smiled but it faltered as he sent a look down the hall towards Donovan's apartment. His shoulders sagged and Carter knew his thoughts before he even spoke them.

"Did you go to Donovan's, find out that he's not there, then come here?"

"Yup."

Link dropped his gaze from her and Carter punched him in the shoulder lightly.

"I went there to invite him to come over here so we could all have dinner together." She lifted the bag. "We now have to eat all of this and I ordered for four people knowing how much Donovan eats."

Link perked up and stepped back so that she could enter. She didn't fault him for his assumption, besides Donovan, she knew that friends were new territory for him. As it was for her.

Taking spots on the opposite side of the couch, Carter set the bag of food down between them.

"What did you get?" Link asked.

"Since I don't know what takeout either of you likes yet-"

"What?" Link asked. "You don't have every bit of data about us and our preferences memorized?"

Carter threw a pillow at his head and Link laughed as he tried to duck but it hit him in the ear.

"I'm not that bad," she said.

"Carter, you're the worst. I went years without anyone putting together who I was and you figured it out within a week. I assumed you've spent the last month cataloging everything else about us."

"Not everything," she said, kind of hating that he knew this about her.

She liked to know things, it made her feel comfortable. Knowledge meant understanding and the capability of handling whatever situations that might arise. Knowledge meant making sense of people and the world. Captain taught her that. The more she knew the more she could foresee problems.

Link grinned. "But mostly everything."

Carter didn't say anything and Link laughed again. Though she didn't mind it all that much because when he laughed it was never at her but with her. That felt rare in her life.