Open Case File [COMPLETED]

A Secret Discovered

Someone asked for this and so I delivered. Have fun!

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Yawning, Carter rubbed her eyes and glanced at her phone screen. The time was just a little before midnight. Strewn across her bed were pages of notes and textbooks laying open. On her computer was an essay for her psych class.

The apartment around her was silent, the absence of her father creating the strange void. Carter snatched her phone and found the one person she wanted to help break the silence. The rings echoed in her ear as she waited, biting her thumbnail.

"Carter?"

Donovan's voice was thick with sleep and she couldn't help picturing him in his bed, shirtless.

"Did I wake you?" she asked, trying to shove away the image.

There was a rustle of sheets and in her mind's eye she saw him rolling onto his back and stretching an arm above his head.

"Are you alright?" Donovan asked, ignoring the fact that she had woken him up.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just..." She curled her toes, twisting her lips to the side. "I just...ummm...had a question about..." She grimaced. "Psych class."

Donovan gave a deep, throaty chuckle. It was the sexiest sound Carter had ever heard.

"Carter, you understand if you want to call me just to hear my voice, you can. You don't need a reason."

Cheeks flaming, Carter buried her face in her hand. It had been the truth for her call but still, she felt stupid.

"I'm really not good at this girlfriend thing," she muttered.

That same sexy laugh rolled over the line.

"I don't care, as long as you're my girlfriend you can be terrible at it." The title pulled a smile from Carter. "So, do you want me to monologue for you so can fall asleep to my voice?"

Carter laughed. "I don't believe you're capable of monologuing."

"For you, I could figure something out."

A warmth that seemed to only appear when he talked that way spread throughout Carter. She sank back onto her pillows, cradling the phone to her ear.

"How about you just tell me about your day?" she said.

"That seems pointless since you were there for most of it or the only good parts of it, but sure, I'll tell you about my day."

The sleep in his voice drifted away as he talked. Most of what he said barely made an impression on Carter's tired brain but it didn't matter. What mattered was he was talking to her because despite having been woken up to do it, he cared for her. It was such a strange sensation that even after a year of officially dating, she couldn't wrap her mind around the truth of it.

"Are you asleep?" Donovan asked.

"No, I'm still here." Carter was curled up on her bed, facing the other side of the mattress, imagining Donovan laying beside her. Donovan yawned and she could hear as he shifted.

"Okay," he said, a sleepy note in his voice. "Now you talk."

"You sound like you're about to fall asleep again."

"Then I'll get the best night's sleep ever."

Smiling, Carter talked. She couldn't remember what she said, the words were meaningless but the affection behind them wasn't. When half an hour had passed, she heard the gentle tones of Donovan's heavy breathing.