The Coffee Date

Chapter 16 - Meet Relaxation

She didn't mean for her bag to hit the couch as loudly as it did. A part of her couldn't help it. She never thought that it would be an easy open, closed case - murders never were - but she at least suspected that they would be given a break by the department. Being on their own was tedious. Painful, even. Look how long it took for them to even be allowed to start the case. Here they were, case file in front of them, suspect list ready to grow, and they were in a constant back and forth between lies, and no authority figures wanting to help them. Nobody with more power than they did.

"It feels hopeless."

Nathan turned to her and raised an eyebrow, only when the swelling silence got to be too much did she turn and realize she had said it aloud. Her eyebrows furrowed together in frustration as she leaned her head back against his couch cushions. Perfect. She was making the situation a whole lot better.

Nathan removed himself from stroking the top of Lily's head to set down the photos in his pocket against the coffee table in front of her, allowing a long-drawn sigh to escape his lips.

Finally, hearing a noise from him, Hazel looked up. He seemed paler than normal, his hair messier and his suit seeming more on the casual-side of professional. Still well-kept, was there ever a moment he wasn't? But Hazel had been with him daily for almost weeks now. She was able to tell the little differences in his day-to-day routine that passersby would simply smile and swoon at. That's what she had done. She couldn't blame them.

It was clear, more than ever before, that this case was starting to take it's toll on him. Her hogging his bedroom, coffee and living space probably didn't help. He had known all along that the case was going to rag on Hazel, but she never would have suspected he was going to change so much just to get answers. Answers to questions they both had.

"I'm starting to lose track of what's what." He murmured softly, easing himself into the spot beside her and propping his ankle against his left knee, allowing it to flop down to his right. A hand worked its way through his hair and sat there, at the top of his head, too fatigued to move from it's messy nest.

Lily let out a drawn meow and leapt onto the only empty space at the end of the couch, gleefully crawling onto Nathan's lap and nuzzling her head against his already messy tie. His hand flopped out of his hair to stroke her.

"Maybe," Hazel breathed. Nathan's eyes dragged across the couch before pushing themselves up to stare at her. She didn't lock eyes back. She was too busy squinting at the ceiling, as if she was reading a line written there for her. "Maybe we should find a way to contact his doctor."

"Vic's?"

"Yeah," She murmured, more to herself in realization than to Nathan in response. "I mean, we can ask if he's been placed on medication. If he has then maybe he was telling the truth back there. If he isn't, then we have more reason to believe it's him."

Nathan was still. "What if he was given medication, but chose not to take it?"

Hazel sighed and rubbed her forehead. She was too overworked to think clearly, apparently. "I guess we figure that out as it happens?" She could feel more breath escaping her sentence than words. "It's worth a shot, I guess."

With a groan of discontent, she threw herself to her feet, rubbing her temples as she worked her way to the phone. She knew he was trying to help, she knew all they both wanted to do was to learn what happened that day. They both just wanted to make the best moves in the shortest amount of time possible. That's all she wanted. That's all he wanted.

"Hazel," His voice was soft and calm. Maybe that's what happens when you pet a cat after a stressful day. Hazel wouldn't know what that felt like before they met. Before Nathan she hardly ever left the house, she didn't know what stress really was. The questioning, the loneliness, the crying, that she knew well. The stress, never.