The Philocalist 〰 ♡ 〰 Volume One

The Shake Up

"um, here, you never told me what your favorite flower is so I just kinda got one of everything" Elle sniffles, sitting before Zoe's grave. 

It's approaching midnight though Elle is still here, just taking turns crying and sitting in silence, wishing for Zoe to reappear and hold her, tell her it's okay. 

Elle is so caught up in her own world that she doesn't notice the sounds of some sort of chase going on, until Nolan spots her and approaches her.

"Elle?" Nolan asks, seeing the figure on the ground.

Elle turns and looks at him. "hey" Elle sniffles.

"it's almost midnight" Nolan remarks, sitting down next to her.

"yeah" Elle whispers. 

"is Maya taking care of the kids?" Nolan inquires.

"yeah, yeah" Elle murmurs. 

"how is Max doing?" Nolan asks.

"he's mad that his mama went away again" Elle replies. "says it's my fault"

"it's not, Elle" Nolan assures her. "there was nothing you could've done"

"I know" Elle mumbles, wiping her eyes. "doesn't make it any easier"

"we're here for you, me and Jackson and Lucy and maybe even the TOs" Nolan assures her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. 

"thank you" Elle says, starting to cry.

"here, did you walk?" Nolan asks.

"yeah" Elle whispers.

"why don't we drive you home, yeah?" Nolan says as he picks Elle up. 

"okay" Elle cries. 

Nolan makes eye contact with Bishop who looks away guiltily. 

[Thirty Minutes Later]

"you got her?" Nolan asks Maya, waiting in the living room of Elle's apartment.

"yeah, yeah, thank you for bringing her home" Maya answers. 

"of course" Nolan nods before him and Bishop leave the apartment. "what's wrong?"

"what do you mean?" Bishop asks.

"come on, I saw how you looked at Elle on the drive here and even now it's almost like you feel... guilty" Nolan says.

"on the day me and Elle were partnered together, I accused her of sleeping her way to the top by dating Zoe and even after Zoe died, I thought Elle was faking her grief, but that's not fake. Elle loved Zoe, she wasn't sleeping her way to the top, she was genuinely in love" Bishop admits. 

Nolan scoffs, shaking his head.

"what? I couldn't have known-" Bishop starts.

"it was pretty damn obvious, why would you-... never mind, let's get back to it" Nolan decides, starting to walk back to the shop.

"Nolan" Bishop calls after him but Nolan doesn't respond.

[Five Hours Later]

"I hate that she has to be here" Lucy comments to Tim when they spot Elle waiting for roll call to start.

"yeah, me too" Tim sighs. "I'm gonna swoop her up today, take low level calls, stuff like that"

"that's smart" Lucy nods. "you remember that video we watched with Elle cuddling with Max?"

"yeah" Tim answers. "what about it?"

"she had this basket of stuffed animals in the corner of the screen" Lucy says, before giving Tim a look.