Tonight, I Need You To Stay

Chapter 1

"Hey," Travis tilted his head as he watched Vic walk out of the bathroom, greeting her with a soft voice. "What's wrong?" She had the picture of sadness and anger written all over her face.

"I think we're over." She shrugged as she headed straight for the bar, ordering two whiskeys, one of each of them. "And I need a big drink."

Travis chuckled a little to himself and then headed over to the bar too. "What happened? Was it more of he can't handle your big smart brain? Or something else?"

After Vic had finally got back from Beckett's place, Travis had noticed the way she walked into the locker room - she held herself up like she was exhausted, which told him she had a really hard day. They ended up talking for the rest of the night, some of it being a tactic to avoid Theo and the inevitable explosion he was going to give her after she left shift without his permission, but honestly, the majority of it was just a catch-up between best friends. Travis had been really lacking recently in checking in with Vic because of the end of the mayoral race, but that night, he vowed he would forever be present for her. He'd be there when no one else would be, because that's what they were both there for.

"He keeps using my psych training against me, which is just normal at this point," Vic started her explanation, scoffing at the pure stupidity of her now ex-boyfriend. "But today, god, he thinks he has an ego as big as the Space Needle!"

"That- okay..." Travis laughed again, taking a sip of the drink that Vic had just handed to him. Oh, Vic and her weird analogies. It was weird how he understood every single one, though.

"You know I was just congratulating Andy, right? She has been fighting for this job for YEARS! But ohhhh, since my boyfriend just got demoted, oh I must be so so so sad for him." She changed her voice into a slightly childish one, doing some over-the-top hand movements, proving to Travis that she was so done with him. "He had the nerve to tell me I wasn't supporting him - and that I never did."

"Okay, now that's a bunch of crap-" Travis interjected.

"Exactly!" She hit her hand on the side of a table that they had made their way over to. "One could argue he's not been supporting me! You know, when I told him I was starting my psych course he was happy... and then he became Captain. He was more worried about his team lacking a member when I told him I needed a shift off to study or sleep over the fact that I was exhausted and working most shifts on less than four hours of sleep. Oh, and of course, he never noticed that because he barely came over and he never left his office on shift."

"I hate men." Travis pulled a disgusted face as he held up his drink.

"I'll drink to that." Vic laughed and clinked her glass on Travis's, and then they both took a sip.

Travis broke the silence the two had created with them both happily people-watching after he had a thought. "Hey, how come you only just now broke up? I mean, you were unhappy for weeks. You sounded like you were at your breaking point the night you spent actively avoiding him after your day away from the station."

Letting out a long sigh, Vic knew exactly what she was going to say. "I'm really scared to be alone, Trav. Since Lucas, I threw myself into relationship after relationship to just not feel anything. That's what I do, right? I go from guy to guy so quickly so I don't feel anything."

"Yeah," Travis nodded, being so happy she finally admitted it. At some point, her coping mechanism of not feeling anything was going to break her whether she liked it or not.

"I stayed with him because I thought it would make me feel less lonely, but honestly, the way he was treating me these last few weeks, it made me feel more lonely if anything." She continued explaining as she was drinking her whiskey. "God, Travis, I don't wanna be alone."