Chapter Text
Charlie had walked with Carolyn to her car in the Barnabys’ driveway, helping her get in and then hopping in himself on the passenger’s side. They both voiced their excitement for spending the evening together at the pub, shooting smiles at one another as Charlie watched his colleague start up her car. The sky was still bright, but the sun was in the state of beginning to set and sunlight was reflecting off of the house’s windows. Despite this, DS Nelson caught sight of two familiar faces peering at him and his new companion through the living room window— and watched as they quickly ducked under. God. Those two. He shook his head.
“What is it?” Carolyn asked as she pulled out of the driveway.
Charlie puffed out a partial laugh when he caught two heads popping up slowly as the car began to drive away. “Just getting a send off from Kate and Sarah.”
“Ah,” she giggled softly. “My roommate did the same thing when I left our flat.”
“People aren’t very good at being discreet when it comes to this, are they?”
“I suppose it can’t be helped when they’re distracted by the thought of a friend finding a new someone.”
Nelson laughed. “I guess so.”
But it’s pretty annoying though.
The two shared some more amusing thoughts between each other as they travelled closer to the pub in the heart of Causton. It was a pleasantly fun atmosphere in the car and it carried on into the evening, as Charlie let time fly while sitting across from PC Florrie at a small table for two, having a pleasant dinner together. Eventually, though, the pub became packed with people later into the night— plenty of rowdy young and old men as well as the crowd of people loudly cheering at a football match on a telly hanging in the top corner of the bar area. Charlie was starting to visibly become exhausted from the presence of all these patrons.
Luckily, his demeanor was not disregarded by Carolyn, who asked him if he wanted to head back to her place to have more peace and quiet. And with his thirst for a drink being quenched an hour or two ago, DS Nelson accepted. He walked back to his colleague’s car and got in with her, the drive back to her flat being a bit on the quiet side. A subtle check of the time showed that it was already past 9:30, but Charlie didn’t care very much. He was still enjoying the evening in the company of Constable Florrie.
It’s not like Kate would mind if I get back a little late...Nelson suggested to himself. Maybe she’ll be pleased to not have me complaining over having a clean flat.
According to Carolyn, her flat wasn’t too big, but it was still sufficient for two individuals to live in. It was apparent that PC Florrie’s flatmate wasn’t in tonight, however, since darkness greeted Charlie and Carolyn the moment they stepped into the doorway. After some lights had been turned on, Charlie took off his jacket and quietly hung it at one of the hooks by the door as he caught a glimpse of the constable disappearing into the kitchen that was immediately to the left. He followed her path and peeked his head in to catch Carolyn setting down a stepping stool under a cabinet shelf that was a decently large distance from the floor.
“Need some help?” He offered.
She looked at Nelson with a sheepish smile, “Yes, that would be lovely. I’m just trying to grab a couple glasses from up there.”
Charlie nodded and walked over to the shelf, retrieving two glasses and handing them to Carolyn. He patiently watched her pour some water from a pitcher into both, then thanked the PC when she handed one of the filled glasses to him. Somehow, the brief silence that came up between them didn’t feel awkward at all, just…calm. Nelson quietly sipped his water as did Carolyn.
“Wanna come and sit on the couch? I have some movies we could pick from and watch.” She offered.
“Sure.”
The two of them migrated to Carolyn’s living room area, with PC Florrie setting her water glass onto a coaster that was sitting on the coffee table between the television screen and the large sofa. Carolyn turned on her television and began to search for a movie to watch. As Charlie placed his drink down, he noticed the elegantly marbled pattern of the other coasters and their softly mixed colours of black, grey, white, and purple. His eyes softened as he made a discreet smile at the decor.
“You have some nice looking drink coasters.”
Carolyn stopped her rifling through a box of DVDs. “Oh thanks,” she smiled. “My mom got something to make those for me.”
“Custom,” he admired quietly, as the sound of rifling continued. “Nice.”
“So, uh— do you have a preference towards a specific genre...or…”
“Anything other than horror,” Charlie requested. “Can’t stand the creepiness.”
His colleague giggled. “Ironic considering you’re a detective who works in Midsomer.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he rolled his eyes with a smile.
“How does Skyfall sound to you?”
“I’m down for that.”
“Alright then,” Carolyn said with a warm smile, removing the disk from its box. She inserted it into the player, silence ensuing as she retreated back to the couch to join Charlie.
~~~~~
The film progressed further into its plot, both Charlie and Carolyn completely drawn into it with their eyes pinned to the screen in front of them. It was only when a ding chimed from Nelson’s phone, that he finally realized how late it was. They were two-thirds into the movie, but it was already past 11 o’clock, the reason behind the text sent to Charlie’s phone.
Where are you? Let me know if you’re coming back tonight.
DS Nelson quietly sighed and texted back.
Still out with Carolyn, I might be back really late.
Ooooo! Have fun ;)
Oh my god stop ogling over that.
Fine, fine.
Nelson muttered under his breath, sternly placing his phone onto the coffee table. In the time that he had been texting the pathologist, Charlie didn’t even realize that Carolyn had paused the movie. He only noticed it when there was a strangely-long silence that wasn’t part of the film at all. The sergeant sheepishly looked at his colleague.
“Sorry about that. My landlord wanted to know if I’d be going back tonight.”
“No problem. I just paused the movie since it looks like an action scene is coming up.”
His lips curved into a little grateful smile. “Thanks. You didn’t have to though.”
“You seem to be interested enough for me to do it though.”
Charlie smiled. It was true, though he didn’t think it was that obvious how immersed he could get when it came to action films. He really wasn’t aware of it, but the man resembled a child who had discovered something exciting whenever he was sat in front of a screen, so you couldn’t mistake it when it came to favourite movie genres. The DS had expected PC Florrie to unpause the movie, but when she didn’t, Charlie realized there was something that was about to be brought up. He felt his stomach twist and turn slightly at what he was imagining, but not in a good way like fictional stories depicted.
“Can I…ask you something?”
Oh god, is she gonna try to—
—no, no…wait. I want to hear what she has to say.
“Uh, sure.”
“Are you…” she picked up one of the coasters from the coffee table, firmly holding it up in Charlie’s view to see in all its glory.
Oh my god.
Oh my god.
Clearly shocked by the question, Carolyn followed up in an attempt to lessen the impact. “I don’t mean to pry…you just didn’t give off a sign of being interested in me, so I was cur—”
“Yes,” was all Nelson said, swallowing nervously after. He gave a hard stare at the elegantly coloured coaster and then looked at PC Florrie.
“So am I.”
With the last word in that response being said, the panicky look in the sergeant’s eyes faded away, quickly replaced with a joyfully warm glint and a little smile began to form on Charlie’s face. The shock began to set in, and he had the slight urge to try and pinch himself, after so many years of his life struggling to relate to someone and being labelled, as ignorant university classmates had put it, abnormal. This certainly wasn’t what the DS had expected, and maybe even too good to be true. What were the chances of meeting someone— working with someone— who was also...like him?
How did she know?
“I had worn this to work by accident…” Carolyn displayed a black ring on her hand, removing it and holding it up gently, “…and I didn’t know until I had gotten home. But I noticed that you were looking at it when we were handling some evidence the other day.”
He blinked. Oh. Right. That’s how. Charlie remembered the ring, first thinking that Carolyn was being reckless in uniform protocol when it came to wearing jewelry, and then the colour of the ring just reminded him of things he had seen on social media regarding asexuality.
“Is that why you invited me tonight? So you could ask?”
“Partially. I just wanted to ask you in private about this…but my flatmate wanted me to—”
“—get out more? That’s what Kate said to me.”
“Precisely,” Carolyn laughed. “She wanted to play Cupid since I’m still heteroromantic.”
“That is something I can kinda relate to, unfortunately.”
“I can see that,” she giggled, acknowledging how Kate and Sarah were apparently spying on Charlie. “Do they know?”
“Who? The Barnabys? And Kate?” Nelson took a sigh while directing his gaze to the carpeted floor. “I wish. But I also don’t want more people to invalidate me. Faced too much of that in my uni days.”
“Oh, I doubt they would.”
“DCI Barnaby seems too good of a man to do something like that to you.”
She rested a hand on Charlie’s shoulder, prompting him to look at her. With the reassuring expression she bore, the sergeant smiled at the affirmation. Nothing more was exchanged between the two, Carolyn grabbing the tv remote to resume the movie, and they continued to watch the rest of the film...and chose to watch another movie afterwards— Mission: Impossible. By the time they finished that second film, it was well into the early hours of the morning. Considering it was so late, coupled with the fact that Carolyn’s flat was across town from where Nelson resided with Kate, he decided on staying the night on her sofa. The sergeant was already drowsy, as was his companion, so the last thing he wanted to do was to force her to drive him back to Kate’s at an unreasonable hour of the night.
Just before he drifted off, something came up. A thought that worried Charlie, but at the same time, a problem that he would just procrastinate the solution for in the morning. He knew that this would look so suggestive to Kate, how many questions and the extent of teasing it might elicit, and it bothered the sergeant as he fell into his slumber.
Prepare yourself, Nelson.