Chapter Text
“Hey,” Ellie said quietly as she stood in front of her partner’s desk, “Want to go get dinner? I’d like to talk.”
He looked up at her, half afraid, half hopeful, “Yeah?” He asked softly, “Really talk?”
“Really talk,” Ellie confirmed. Nick breathed a sigh of relief. He’d been waiting for, hoping for, this.
“Okay…want me to come over? Bring dinner?” He had a feeling she’d feel more comfortable in her own space.
Ellie looked at him, eyes bright, but determined, “I don’t mind coming to your place, Nick,” she told him.
“No worries,” he said firmly, “See you in about an hour?”
“Sure,” Ellie said, distracted, not even asking what he was going go bring for dinner. Despite everything, Nick smiled to himself. He knew she must be distracted to not be thinking about dinner.
Nick knocked on Ellie’s door just after six, take out carrier bag in hand. He’d settled on Chinese, and when she let him in, he spread the containers on her kitchen island while she grabbed plates and utensils.
They ate at her island, sitting on bar stools. Ellie played with her food, occasionally taking a sip of the beer she’d grabbed for each of them from her refrigerator.
When Nick finished, and indicated he didn’t want any more, she cleared his plate into the dishwasher, then covered hers and stuck it in the refrigerator for later.
“You’re really not hungry?” Nick finally spoke, unable to take it anymore.
“No,” Ellie said quietly, “Come sit?” She asked, gesturing to the couch. They sat, cross legged, facing each other, leaning against opposite arms of the sofa.
“So what’s up?” Nick asked, starting to wonder if this conversation was going to end up working in his favor at all.
“I’m sorry, Nick,” Ellie said, forcing her voice to be slow and clear.
“For…?” Nick asked, thinking he knew, but also thinking that he needed to hear her say the words before they could both move on.
“For not trusting you. For asking you if you killed her. I knew you didn’t, Nick. Deep in my heart, I knew. But me being me - I had to be analytical, to use my head first. I didn’t even consider how much that would hurt you before I asked and Nick, I’m so, so sorry.”
“Okay,” Nick said, “But one thing, Ellie, before we talk any more about this. Do you trust me? Now? Do you really, truly think I could do that to someone - no matter what state I was in?”
Ellie took his hands, linked their fingers together, held tightly, “No,” she said softly, “The Nick I know - the Nick I love, and trust, with my life, would never do that. No matter what state he was in.”
“You trust me with your life,” Nick whispered, “But what about your heart?”
“Yeah,” Ellie was even quieter than he had been, and he had to lean closer towards her to hear her properly, “Yeah, I do.” His sigh reverberated through her where their hands were still linked, and he leaned his forehead against hers, his eyes softer than Ellie had ever seen them.
“So are we doing this, El? For real?”
“Yeah,” Ellie confirmed, “Yes, we are. For real.” She closed the five inches of space between them, and he met her in answer. Ellie felt the kiss all the way down to her toes, and she could have kissed him all night, but he gently let her go, keeping his arms around her and his forehead against hers as he did so.
“You know I want to, El,” Nick reassured her when she sent him a look of confusion at his stopping proceedings, “But this is you. It’s us. I want things to be different with you, because you’re it, for me.” He didn’t think she’d be too scared to hear that tonight. She’d said love first, after all.
She pursed her lips, but nodded in understanding, “Okay,” she said, leaning forward, kissing him one last time, “Okay. So what do you want to do now?”
“Movie?” He asked, “And do you maybe want to eat now?”
“You know me too well,” Ellie smiled, getting up, realizing that she was finally hungry, “You choose the movie.”
Nick flicked through netflix, settling on “Bodyguard” rather than a movie, loving the fact he knew Ellie well enough to know she was hungry, know what she'd want to watch, and that it lined up pretty closely with his own preferences. He still wanted to date her though - it would be too easy to skip all the steps because they knew each other so well, and he wanted them to do things right.