12. “No no–it’s alright, come here.” w Nick!! Love u

carisi-dreams:

ilu! I did mean this to be so angsty. damn.

You heard Nick let himself into your apartment, which in and of itself wasn’t strange. You had given him a key months ago and ever since the trial he’d been spending at least a few nights at your place. You tried to tell him that you didn’t mind trekking to his, but he waved you off by saying that yours was closer to work for him anyway. Really you knew that he was fearful that the inconvenience of going all the way to his apartment on a weekday would frustrate you. You’d been trying for weeks now to tell him that he wasn’t an inconvenience, that this relationship wasn’t, that you weren’t looking for an escape hatch, but the words had been failing you. The slamming of the front door brought you back to the present and you finished tugging on your sweatshirt and exited the bedroom. Making your way to the kitchen you heard Nick slam a cabinet door shut and cursing before exhaling hard.

Coming around the corner you saw him braced on the sink, head down and back tense. He was talking to himself lowly, something you couldn’t make out, but you could tell he was trying to calm himself down. You heard him inhale and exhale noisily and his hands clenched as he pushed back in frustration once again. Making a small noise to alert him of your presence you paused at the entry of the kitchen. Nick whirled around and then threw his hands up in apology when he saw you.

“I’m sorry. I—it was—I’m sorry. Been a long day. I should have gone home instead,” he apologized immediately and you brought up a hand in caution for him to slow down where he was tripping over himself.

“Hey. It’s okay. You okay? What’s wrong?” you asked as you stepped closer and then stopped when he shook his head at your travel.

“Don’t—I. I’m not—I’m going to go. We just—there was this case. But I shouldn’t,” Nick stumbled over his words in frustration and stopped to gather his thoughts as he exhaled hard. “I shouldn’t have come here. You don’t need this. I don’t want you to see me…like this. It’s embarrassing,” Nick finished in a small voice as he put his hands on his hips and looked to the side. You continued stepping closer to him, even as he took a step back and adjusted his tie nervously. You ended up backing him into the edge of the sink before you stopped a foot away and reached out for him cautiously. He looked at your hand warily, but made no real move to grab it.

“Sweetheart, I’m—. I appreciate this, really. But I’m going to go. I’ll call you tomorrow,” he tried as he went to edge around you. You stopped him with a gentle hand on his arm, touching more than holding.

“No no–it’s alright, come here. Nick, stay. Stay with me? Come on, come sit down and tell me what happened,” you petitioned softly, letting some emotion bleed into your voice. He was quiet for a long moment and you could just make out where he was biting his bottom lip.

“You mean that?” he asked eventually and you nodded.

“Yeah, I do. I’d like you to stay. You came here because you needed something. Let me give it to you?” you asked softly with a tilt of your head as you took a few steps to stand squarely in front of him again. He twisted his mouth in uncertainty before nodding and sweeping you into a tight hug.

“This alright?” his voice was muffled against the side of your head and you nodded.

“Perfect.”

You stood there for a long time in the kitchen wrapped up in each other before he found the words.