Frozen

Chapter 20)

Brianna

I closed my eyes when I felt his lips brush my forehead. He gave me a small smile and started to walk away.

"Barney," I said suddenly, halting his steps. He turned with one eyebrow quirked, his face the same blank, distant mask it had been for too long. "I love you," I said, testing. His lips quirked up on the corner and he came back over to me. He leaned down to give me a soft kiss on the lips and then walked back to his office, not saying a word.

"I'll be done in less than half an hour then I'll drive you home," he called over his shoulder.

"Do you want me to hang out with you while you finish up?" I asked.

"No, Bri, I need to work," he said without even looking back before slamming the door behind him.

I glared at the door where he had been seconds ago.

"Right, sure, not like you've ever worked with me there before," I mumbled, turning around in my seat to face the bar.

I flagged Misha down and ordered a beer, attempting to rub the headache away from my temples.

I heard someone sitting down next to me and looked over to see Hawk.

"Can I ask you a question," I said immediately. One of his eyebrows quirked and he waved his hand invitingly, signaling for Misha to bring him a beer as well. "Has Barney talked to you lately about...about me?"

Hawk's lips twitched and he took a small sip of his beer.

"He talks about you a lot," he said, his voice amused.

"No, I mean, um, different from usual, or I guess different from how he used to talk about me," I said, taking a huge pull from the bottle.

Hawk's smile slowly fell away and he narrowed his eyes.

"What's going on Brianna?" he asked.

I chewed on my bottom lip and shrugged.

"I don't know," I said, my voice small and a little shaky with tears that I hadn't even realized were there but was still trying to hold back, "he's been really, uh really distant lately. He used to touch me all the time. Not like...sexually but just if we were in the same room or whatever he would want me close to him. And-and he would tell me all the time that he...that he loved me, and now..." my voice cracked on the word love and it brought me back to reality. I closed my eyes for a few seconds and opened them with a face as blank as Barney's.

"And now?" Hawk gently prodded, his eyes extremely wary, going over my expression several times.

"Now nothing. It's like he doesn't want me anywhere near him," I said in a cold voice, taking another swig of beer.

"Well, he has days like this sometimes where he's just kind of closed off, but you have to-"

"A week and four days," I said, staring at a spot on the bar.

"What?"

"He's been like this for a week and four days. Perfectly nice, going through all the motions, but there's no...no drive, there's no heat. There's nothing that made Barney and me more than just Barney and me, and it's killing me," I ended, my voice going a little raspy.

"Give him a little time Brianna," Hawk said.

"How much?" I asked, looking over at him for the first time.

He flinched a little when he met my eyes and I could only imagine what emotions he saw there.

"I don't know," he said in a quiet voice.