"Hi, Nick. It's Faith."
"Hey, Faith," Nick straightened in his chair and quickly switched the phone to his other ear. He was glad to hear from her and hadn't been able to get her out of his mind, mostly because of the situation that had entered his life as she had. "What's up?"
"I was wondering if you were busy today. I thought maybe we could meet and you could get those pictures to me," Faith suggested as she grabbed her keys and headed to her car, having called Nick from her cell phone. She was late to work (normally she was there at 5 a.m. and it was already 8) but since Nick had come along her mind had been on nothing more than catching the murderer of her family, even though they were close to finding a serial killer who had been on a killing spree for the past 8 years. Though she knew it was her job to devote all of her time and energy to catching that man, her mind was on nothing more than the man that had spent a night of his life walking down her street, taking people's lives in gruesome ways.
"Well, I have some things I have to do until 3 this afternoon. Are you free to meet after that?"
"Yeah," Faith nodded, even though he couldn't see her. She had a terrible habit of doing that. She was at the point of not even noticing it anymore. "Where do you want to meet?"
Nick wondered if having her go to his house would be unprofessional. Deciding against it, he chose a small cafe down the street from his house, "You ever been to Elliot's?"
~ * ~ Nick - 2:45 ~ * ~
"Hey, where you headin' off to so fast? You meetin' up with a chick or something?" AJ rasped, his eyebrows rising as he watched Nick gather up his water bottle and duffel bag quickly.
"I guess you could say that," Nick decided not to go into any form of detail, knowing there would be too many questions asked. He'd decided to keep what he was doing away from the guys for a while.
"Who is she?"
"I gotta change," Nick ignored his question and hauled his duffel bag into the studio's bathroom to change into a clean pair of jeans and out of the sweaty T-shirt he'd worn during dance practice.
With curiosity AJ watched his friend close the restroom door behind him. Nick always bragged about who he was going out with. Why wouldn't he now?
~ * ~ Elliot's ~ * ~
"Your table is ready, Mr. Carter," a young hostess greeted Nick at the front door of the small Italian cafe.
Nick glanced at his watch and smiled easily as Faith made her way into the private room that Nick always got when he went to Elliot's. He noted Faith's punctuality and pointed it back to how dedicated she was to her job. "Hey, Faith."
"Hi, Nick. I just wanted to thank you for coming today," Faith spoke politely as she sat down across from him, before letting her eyes wander around the room. "How'd you get this room?" she asked, setting her purse and leather bag down on the floor next to her.
Nick lied, "Paid extra money. I thought there shouldn't be anyone around when I give you the pictures, y'know?" He gulped at the thought of the photographs that were in the duffel bag at his feet.
Faith thought about his huge house and the nice SUV that had been parked in the driveway when she'd dropped him off the night before. Her mind began to wander again -- what does this young man do?! Maybe he's a part of the Mafia. She chuckled to herself at the thought of the blonde kid in front of her doing Mafia work. "Nick, what do you do for a living, if you don't mind me asking?"
Her curiosity had gotten the best of her and she was sick of making up childish scenarios in her head.
Nick sighed, knowing this would be coming sooner or later. But now the question was: to lie, or not to lie. "I'm in the music industry," he finally leaked out, not wanting to go into detail ... not yet at least. He didn't know why, but he liked this woman not knowing that he was famous.
"I see," Faith answered, knowing it would be too nosy to ask what it was exactly that he did in the music industry. "Well, anyway ... why don't you show me those pictures now? Or should we wait until ... after we eat?" She hoped the comment hadn't sounded rude, but it was very likely that they would lose their appetite after looking at the pictures of his viciously murdered aunt.
"Maybe that would be a good idea."
~ * ~
"Thank you for showing those pictures to me, Nick," Faith said quietly as her and Nick stood at her doorstep. He'd insisted on walking her to her door, and she'd noted his manners, but not for the first time that night. He was an exceptionally well-behaved young man, and she couldn't keep herself from feeling sorry for him. "I know that had to have been hard for you ... to see those again."
Nick cast his gaze to the ground below him quickly. When he looked up again, the woman in front of him had never looked so beautiful. She had the deepest form of concern written throughout her blue eyes. And he knew why ... she was going through the same emotions he was, having brought the past of his aunt up again ... only her pain had to be even deeper, having lost her husband and children. He wondered how she'd gotten through that. "I want to help you, Faith ... I want to catch the man who took your family from you, just as much as I want to catch him because he killed my aunt. I'll do anything in my measly power to do that."
Faith had never felt so vulnerable in her entire life. She'd never felt so comforted, yet stripped of all of her power at the same time. Maybe it was because she was lonely, maybe it was because this young, handsome man was showing her an intense kindness that she hadn't experienced since the death of her husband, or maybe it was just because she needed a friend and she was frightened that she was finding these things in a 21-year-old guy that wasn't who she'd once been married to. "Would you like to come in, Nick?"
"I'd love to."
Nick walked past Faith slowly, and watched as she closed the door behind them.
