Hope for the Hopeless

Chapter 12

Humphrey and Hale managed to completely avoid each other for the next two weeks. Humphrey had taken night shifts so that he wouldn't have to look at Hale. He liked working at night, it didn't bother him much. Just Humphrey and the ghosts lurking about in the basement of the hospital at 3AM.

Hale didn't mind much either. He liked having the loft to himself in the morning. He staved off any loneliness by having dinner with Hope every night. Sometimes she spent the night at his place. She wondered where Humphrey was, but couldn't question his shift change that much. "Somebody's gotta do it," Hale told her with a shrug.

One Friday morning Humphrey came home early. He walked by Hale's room expecting it to be as empty as it had been the last few weeks. Only when he looked into the open room this time he saw Hope and Hale in bed. Her clothes were scattered all over the floor. Every single piece of clothing she could have had on. He slowly pulled the door closed and quietly slipped into his own room.

Hope awoke to the sound of her alarm. She sat up, rubbed her eyes, and looked at the back of the door. "That's weird," she mumbled. She grabbed for one of Hale's shirts, pulling it on as she crept into the hall to use the bathroom.

The first thing she noticed when she entered the living room was that Humphrey's backpack was on the couch. After having a quick shower, she went back to Hale's room. This time she noticed that Humphrey's door was closed. She put her ear to the door, listening for any sign of life. She heard him cough.

When she went back into Hale's room, he was already awake and checking his email. He looked up at her. "Why'd you close the door last night?"

She grabbed her makeup bag and sat on the floor in front of his floor length mirror. "It was closed when I woke up. I thought you closed it."

He gave her a weird look. "No. I always leave it open."

She thought about it for a moment. "Must have been Humphrey."

Hale's eyes widened. "How could it have been Humphrey?"

She shrugged. "He's home, sleeping."

Hale walked over to her. "How do you know that he's here and that he's sleeping?"

"When I went to have my shower I saw his backpack on the couch. Then, when I came back down the hallway I heard him cough." She left out the part about putting her ear to his door.

Hale looked back at his phone. He had woken up to a text from Humphrey. All it had said was "Nice, Hale. Real nice." It didn't mean anything half an hour before, but it suddenly made a lot more sense.

Hale raced home from work that night. He only had an hour to get ready for dinner. He was taking Hope some place nice, so he knew he had to scrub up well. He entered the loft whistling because Hale was the kind of guy who did that sort of thing. His happiness was short-lived when he noticed that his door had a sign taped to it. He approached it cautiously. The sign had the words "EVICTION NOTICE" written on it in very large, bold font. He ripped it off the door and stormed into the living room. "Are you fucking kidding me?" he bellowed into the ether.

Humphrey was just finishing up an autopsy when his phone rang. He looked at the screen. It was Hale. He smiled to himself. Hale was right on time.

"Hello?"

"Humphrey! You mother fucker! What is this?"

"Can you hold on a second, Hale? I've got you on speaker and with the way you're yelling, you're very likely to wake the dead." He rested the phone on the counter as he washed his hands. He could hear Hale screaming at him. He picked the phone back up. "Hello again."

"You can't evict me."

"I do believe I can."

"We had an agreement."

"Not a written one."

Hale paused. They didn't have a written agreement. Anywhere. Not even a text. Shit. "What am I supposed to do now?"

"You'll figure it out." The line went dead. Humphrey had hung up.

Hale placed his hand on the small of Hope's back, leading her into the restaurant. They were led to a private table at the back; close enough to embrace the laughter and conversation around them, but quiet enough that Hale could say the things that he needed to say.

They made small talk as they worked their way through appetizers and then the main course. He pushed the dessert menu her way. She said she possibly couldn't. He told her they could split one. She relented. As they waited for their dessert to come, Hale decided now was the time. He couldn't go back home. He had no home to go to. This was the only option he had. He took Hope's hand in his.

"Hope, the last two months have been the best of my life. I hate the days that I don't get to wake up next to you. When we're together it's the absolute best, right?" Hope nodded her head slowly. Hale pushed a box across the table. Hope breathed a sigh of relief when she realised it was too big to be a ring box. She started to unwrap it. "I would like to move in with you, Hope." She looked up at him. He smiled back. She returned to the box. "I mean, we spend basically every night together anyway right? Really, what's the difference?"

She stopped what she was doing. "Hale, I -"

He cut her off. "Just open it first, please."

She continued unwrapping her gift, revealing a red Cartier box. She looked up at Hale. He nodded his head, urging her to continue. She popped the box open with a satisfying click. It held a gold bracelet. A very expensive gold bracelet. A far too expensive for a two month anniversary gold bracelet. "Hale, this is too much."

He chuckled. "I beg to differ. It's really not enough." He took the box from her. She couldn't see what he was doing. He took her hand, laying her wrist in front of him. Wrapping both halves around her wrist, he started working to attach the bracelet back together. "I know that asking to move in with you is a huge step, but this is how I feel about you, Hope. I'm in this. I want you to look down at your wrist every day and know that I am in this." When he finished, she held her hand up to the light. It was quite beautiful. She did love him, at least she thought she did. He watched her as she pushed the bracelet around on her wrist.

She swallowed loudly. "Okay."