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Sarah crept cautiously through her apartment, which was plunged into complete darkness. Her fingers searched for the handle of her dresser in the living room. The matches had to be around here somewhere, and some candles. Another loud clap of thunder made her jump. Otherwise she wasn't particularly jumpy, but she just didn't like thunderstorms. Especially not when they came up in the middle of the night and also resulted in a power failure. She involuntarily wrapped her cozy cashmere cardigan, which she had pulled over her pajamas, tighter around her body. There, finally her fingers closed around the matches she was looking for. In the meantime she had also been able to find some tea lights in the dark. With trembling fingers she lit a match and immediately lit four of the small candles, which she then carefully placed on the table. Much better. There was something comforting about the faint, flickering light.
Her gaze wandered to the window. For a brief moment, lightning illuminated the outlines of the surrounding buildings, closely followed by another clap of thunder. Sarah closed her eyes and tried to get her frantic breathing under control.
No, she didn't like thunderstorms at all. Especially not when she was alone.
Her mind wandered back to an evening a few weeks ago.
Sarah watched with concern as the almost black clouds thickened more and more. Something was brewing. It would not be long before a violent storm would descend upon them. Just now, when she's with Charlie on a stakeout.
A whine sounded from beside her and Rex laid his muzzle on her knees. Of course, the dog noticed her discomfort immediately and reacted to it. Mechanically, Sarah stroked his head while trying not to show her distress. But too late, Charlie had also become aware and turned his gaze away from the screen in front of him and towards her. His blue eyes slid searchingly over his face and she tried a relaxed smile, which obviously failed due to his worried expression and raised eyebrows.
"Hey, are you okay?", he asked.
Sarah nodded, but since the first clap of thunder sounded at that moment, her violent start gave her the lie.
Rex raised his head and growled, obviously he wasn't a fan of thunderstorms either. Then he whined and pressed closer to Sarah. She took a deep breath, "I just don't like thunderstorms," she murmured, not looking at Charlie. She knew it was ridiculous to be afraid of a weather phenomenon. Surely Charlie would tease her about it. But nothing of the sort happened. Instead, Charlie scooted closer to Sarah as best as the narrowness of the surveillance van allowed. Her breathing quickened as he gently wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her to him.
"It's okay. You're safe here," he murmured into her hair. With a deep sigh, Sarah let out the breath she had been holding unconsciously. Charlie's fingers kept drawing little circles on her arm and she suddenly felt protected like never before as she snuggled up trustingly in his arms.
Sarah wished for nothing more than to be able to survive this thunderstorm again protected in Charlie's strong, comforting arms. But a lot had changed in the last few weeks. She felt tears well up in her eyes just thinking about it.
They had been in such a good path, but they had ruined everything. Their trust in each other seemed unshakable. They spent almost every free minute together and somehow Sarah had thought it was only a matter of time before they would talk about their feelings for each other.
But nothing of the sort happened. Instead, she met Michael and he was sweet, caring, and not afraid to tell her he wanted her. She liked him, she really did, so she gave in to his wooing. But deep down inside, she knew from the start that he wasn't the right one for her, because her heart had long belonged to someone else. Still, she enjoyed his attention, his compliments.
In the meantime, Charlie met other women and she had to watch him kiss Eva in front of the camera whilst on duty. Her heart still clenched painfully when she thought about it. Sarah knew there had been at least one other woman when Charlie traveled to the awards ceremony. He'd never spoken out about it, but she'd heard the rumors and the way he avoided her and didn't want to talk about his short-term vacation confirmed her suspicions. Ironically, it was Charlie's journey to that same awards ceremony that finally showed her where her heart belonged. She'd missed him terribly and had been in constant contact with him, by phone and text. After all, she broke up with Michael shortly thereafter. He was a good man and didn't deserve to be just a stopgap in her life.
If she had thought at the time that she and Charlie would get closer to each other again, she was soon taught otherwise. They saw each other every day at work and occasionally spent an evening at the bar with Jesse and Joe, but otherwise she felt that Charlie kept his distance.
A first tear broke free and ran down her cheek.
They could have had everything, but they both ruined it all.
Two cracking thunderbolts in rapid succession made her jump again, and she almost missed the knock on her door. But it sounded again. Who would want to be standing outside her door in the middle of the night in this kind of weather? She definitely wasn't expecting visitors. Sarah carefully groped her way to the door.
When she opened the door, she couldn't believe her eyes. Charlie and Rex were outside. While the dog pushed past her and trotted into her apartment, eager to escape the storm, Charlie stood motionless and examined her with soft, unfathomable eyes.
"Charlie? What... what are you doing here in the middle of the night?"
A tiny smile tugged at Charlie's lips as he hesitantly stepped closer. "You don't like thunderstorms", he said softly and hugged Sarah tightly.