The Way We Almost Were ✓

35| the second piece

thank you to jayscitylights for being there since as long as I can recall❤

| Chapter 35 |

| the second piece |

The silence was becoming a gradual friend of theirs -- both Nick and Bree learning to greet it like an old companion during the heartbeats it visited them.

Above them, Bree could hear a chair scraping across the floor. Probably her mother pouring herself into yet another case; Bree wondered if it was a pro bono. Her mum did lots of those -- she was a hero like that.

Bree remembered always wanting to become a hero too -- in her own way, of course. A hero to someone the way her mother was to her and Maya. The notion of being her own hero and saving herself was nice, maybe... But there was a novelty to having someone else look at you like you could save their world in a single breath. Like your existence mattered to another soul other than your own.

"Can I tell you something?" Nick's words eased into the quiet of the empty diner, like a bubble being blown, tiny at first and then being inflated into something complete.

Bree didn't respond, not really knowing what the words were to a rhetoric like that -- instead, she just shifted her unfocused gaze to the side of his face and waited for his eyes to meet hers. They did, and then he spoke.

"There's another reason I can't be completely mad at you about Chase," he told her, taking her by complete surprise given the nature of the conversation they'd just had. "Even though there's this part of me that wants to knock some sense into you about where to draw the line when it comes to doing the right thing... there's an even larger part of me that feels grateful to you."

Bree was still at a loss for words -- not rendered speechless by shock, but the complete unexpectedness and confusion of the topic they were on right then.

"If..." she frowned, slowly lifting her head from where it was resting on the table, against her folded arms, "...if this is you trying to...trying to make me feel better...or--or something," Bree shook her head, looking down. "I don't need that... I don't."

"It's not an attempt to make you feel better," Nick said in a low tone, though there was something like the faint traces of a smile in his voice. "I just... I want to give you something." There was a pause. "Something that matters. Something that's honest and real. Just..." He trailed off, sighing tiredly, "...I need to keep so much hidden, and you never pry about them. You're always so patient and accepting -- even when you don't have all the facts... and I... I just want to give you something that -- I'm not sure how to exactly put it into words, but maybe once I tell tell you, you'll understand."