common sense • rini/jolivia one shots

watch over you

Ricky sighs dramatically as he clutches the picture of the pretty girl in his hand, wiping his eyes slightly.  he looks up at the house in front of him and makes sure the house number matches the back of the photo that his best friend had given to him overseas.

he took a deep breath as his fist rose to the door, rapping quickly on the door. he closed his eyes before the door swung open, revealing a pretty looking girl with a small smile.

"hi! can i help you?"

Ricky swallowed quickly before speaking quietly, "um, i'm looking for Nina Salazar-Roberts?"

the girl furrows her brows a little, "i'm Nina...i'm sorry, who are you?"

Ricky glances down at the photo in his hands and back at the girl, recognizing the resemblance, understanding that the picture was clearly a few years old. he makes eye contact with the girl, "uh, my names is Ricky Bowen. i was in the same platoon with Jake...your boyfriend."

Nina's eyes light up at the sound of her boyfriends name and Ricky's heart breaks slightly, "oh! i didn't realize you guys were back from overseas! i'll have to call Mrs Miller and tell her to get Jake over here! i'm sorry i don't know who you are, Jake has never mentioned you."

Ricky choked back a sob, "uh Nina, do you know why i'm here?"

she lets out an awkward chuckle, "um, should i?"

Ricky drops his head, "Nina..."

she's quiet for a moment before her voice drops, "where is Jake?"

"i'm sorry..."

she furrows her brows, "what happened? where is he?"

Ricky looks up, teary eyed as he stares at the girl in front of him, "there was an IED explosion...i was on my way back to the truck when it happened."

Nina tried to remain calm as tears flooded her vision. Ricky watched her as he spoke calmly and slowly, "he only had a few minutes. he pulled this picture out of his jacket pocket," Ricky holds up the picture of Nina and Jake and shows it to her, "he made me promise to come find you as soon as i got home. he wanted you to hear it from me."

Nina broke down, falling forward into Ricky's arms. his quickly reached out to grab the girl, his hands flying around her torso. his eyes widened in realization.

he whispers quietly to the girl, "Nina...are you?"

she sobs in his arms, sniffling, "yes. i'm four months. it must've happened when he came home for Christmas."

Ricky pulled her tighter against himself, his nose nuzzling her hair in comfort as she sobbed in the doorway.

"what am i supposed to do? what do i tell his mom? we got into an argument right before he left to go back and i don't think i told him i loved him!"

she's frantic as Ricky rocks her in his arms, "he wanted you to know that he loved you. that was the last thing he told me to say. he said, and i quote, 'tell Nina that i love her and i'm sorry.' he doesn't want you to be upset with yourself Nina, he loved you. i promised him i'd take care of you and i plan on staying true to that. i'll be here for you, if you want me to."

Nina pulls herself out of his arms and wipes her face, "um, can i just have some time to take this in? i just need to figure out some stuff. can you give me your number and i'll call you or something?"

Ricky nods and pulls out a piece of paper that he'd previously written his number on and hands it to her. she gives him a small forced smile before closing the door and leaving him on the doorstep.