Rookie - The Finale | Ethan Ramsey

Chapter 35~ What Winter Keeps

What Winter Keeps

"Some things are already perfect..."
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The next few days passed quietly, the kind of quiet that settled gently between long shifts and cold December mornings.

Blue woke before the alarm.

For a moment she simply laid there, still half tangled in the warmth of the blankets, listening to the soft rhythm of Ethan's breathing beside her. Outside, the city was only beginning to stir. The sky beyond the bedroom windows held that pale winter blue that came just before sunrise, the world hushed in the way only early mornings in December seemed to manage.

She shifted carefully, easing herself from the bed without waking him.

The floor was cold beneath her feet, and she tugged Ethan's sweater from the chair where he had tossed it the night before. The sleeves fell past her hands when she pulled it on, the fabric still faintly warm with his scent. It made her smile.

Jenner lifted his head from the corner of the room the moment she stepped into the hallway.

"Good morning, Jenner," Blue murmured softly.

His tail thumped lazily against the floor as he stretched and padded after her toward the kitchen.

The apartment was quiet, bathed in the dim bluish light of early morning. Blue flicked on the small lamp above the counter rather than the overhead lights, letting the warm glow fill the space slowly. Outside, a few distant car engines hummed along the street below.

She reached for the kettle first.

The small ritual of making tea had become a habit lately — something warm, something simple before the rush of the hospital. But as she stood there waiting for the water to heat, a faint flutter of hunger tugged unexpectedly at her stomach.

Blue frowned slightly.

She had never been one to eat much for breakfast, especially this early in the morning as her appetite would not usually be worked up yet.

Still, she reached for the bread, sliding two slices into the toaster before she could really think about it.

Jenner sat beside her feet the entire time, watching with the solemn patience only dogs seemed capable of.

"Don't get any ideas," she told him quietly, though she reached down to scratch behind his ears anyway.

By the time the kettle began to whistle softly, the toast had popped up.

Blue buttered one slice, then the other, the smell suddenly far more appealing than she expected. She took a bite almost absentmindedly — and then another.

Behind her, footsteps moved quietly down the hallway.
Blue did not hear them until a familiar pair of arms slipped around her waist.She startled slightly before relaxing immediately into the warmth of Ethan behind her.

"Morning," he murmured, voice still rough with sleep.

Blue leaned back against him, smiling faintly as his chin rested lightly against her shoulder.

"You're up early," he added after a moment.

"Couldn't sleep," she said, though her voice was soft and content rather than tired. She lifted the last piece of toast in explanation. "Apparently, I was hungry."

Ethan huffed a quiet laugh against her hair.

"That's not new."

"Excuse you."