The Eleventh

Six

"You scared the hell out of me!"

"I said, what are you doing here? Is there something going on between you and James?" Detective Jackson said.

"What, no! I'm-- I was just looking through some of his stuff because he might have something on my family's case that I was not aware of," she replied while tightening the grip of her badge on her back.

"You know that the Captain reiterated that you should not go anywhere near this case, right?"

"Please. Please. I got this okay. If we were in the same position, you would also do the same thing."

He shook his head and took a deep breath.

"We promise to tell you everything but please just let us do our job. We'll all be dead once the Captain knew about this. Okay?"

Nadine could only nod before walking away from Bret.

"Wait! Why do you have his keys?"

"Uhhm. I distracted him a while ago. You know how I could easily do that to your friend, right?"

"Right. Right. You're the only one who could do that to him. He really can't focus when you're around even from the first time he saw you when you got out of the precinct elevator -- oopps I think I spilled a lot..."

"That's okay. I'm used to it! Bye. See you at the precinct. Thanks again."

-----

When Nadine arrived at the precinct, she immediately gestured James to go to the evidence room in which he immediately followed.

"Nadine, someone might saw us here. We shouldn't be doing it here. You said that we should stay professional while doing our job. But if you insist..."

He was about to kiss her when she covered his mouth and rolled her eyes.

"That's not the reason why we're here, okay!" she said while trying to lower her voice. "Bret followed me to your place. He caught me and I told him I was searching through your stuff for some possible update on the case." Nadine said while James seemed a little disappointed.

"He believed that?"

"Well yeah. Just look a bit mad and surprised once he told you about what happened. Just giving you a heads up. Remove those dirty thoughts in your mind, Detective Reid." She leaned on near his ears and whispered, "We should be proffessional after all," she continued.

"Oh god! Why do these rules exist?" he said while Nadine walked away with a seductive smile on her face.

-----

After their shift, James saw Nadine left the precinct with her motorcycle. He thought she would probably be at his place once he got home. He stopped by his favorite noodle store for their dinner. He figured she might be hungry.

When he opened the door of his apartment, his eyes roamed around all over the place but Nadine was not around. He put down the takeout on the table and looked through the bedroom and the bathroom, but she's not there.

He opened the glass door and stood on his balcony. He was there witnessing the sunlight slowly disappearing. James suddenly thought about how hard it might have been for Nadine to carry all those weight on her shoulders while growing up. He's lucky enough to have both of his parents alive. He felt for a moment that something was lacking. He's living by himself for a long time now but he's suddenly looking for someone by his side.

"Waiting for me?" a familiar voice made him smile even if he hasn't seen her yet.

"What? I'm waiting for the stars to come out," he said when he turned around and saw her. "Who says I'm waiting for you? Huh?"

"I'm leaving then..." Nadine joked when James grabbed her arm and pulled her in for a hug.

"I'm kidding. Of course, I'm waiting for you. I even bought food for us. I'm going to heat them up first. Go change your clothes. Grab anything from my closet."

She just smiled at him before pulling away to go to his room. After five minutes, she came out wearing a white long sleeves that James only wears when there's an occasion. Unknowlingly, he was left speechless with his mouth slightly opened.

"She is so fucking hot. Unbelievable," he thought to himself.

"James... James... James! Is it okay if I borrow this?" she said and then he finally came to his senses.

"Uhm... of course. It actually looks good on you."

They were sitting across each other talking about random things about themselves that they haven't got a chance to talk about before. Slowly, the walls that each of them had built were fading.

-----

It's been a long long while! Also had a hard time catching up with this story. Had to read them all over again.