And Again

Chapter five

By the time March of 2036 rolled around, Nicky was getting more and more anxious about proposing to Allie. He'd decided when and how he wanted to do it and now he just had to wait.

One evening, Nicky got home from work and saw Allie's keys in the bowl by the front door. He was a little confused since usually he got home first. "Al?" He called out. No answer. "Allie?"

"Bedroom!" Allie called out and Nicky could hear in her voice that she was crying.

As soon as Nicky walked into the bedroom, Allie got up from where she was sitting on the edge of the bed, and went to hug Nicky. "Hey" Nicky said softly as he wrapped his arms around Allie. "What happened?"

Allie just shook her head and cried into Nicky's chest.

"Rough case?" He asked. Allie nodded. Allie worked for DCFS, a decision heavily influenced by her own childhood. Nicky knew that while Allie loved her job, there were some cases that were harder for her. Specifically ones that brought back memories from her childhood. "You wanna talk about it?"

Allie took a deep breath and pulled away from Nicky. "I responded to a call today. A 14 year old girl showed up at the police station, covered in bruises. They brought her to the hospital and called us. I sat with this child for hours while nurses took pictures of every bruise and did a rape kit. Then I got to go talk to her mother and I had to tell this poor woman that her husband has been molesting her daughter for at least a year. Once the girl had gotten some rest, I went back in to talk to her. Turns out her stepfather caught her trying to call CPS, flipped out, and beat the shit out of her. Nicky, that was me. I was the little girl who was being abused by her stepfather. Except that my mother knew and just didn't care enough to do anything to help me. I just...cases like this bring back a lot of really shitty memories that I'd rather keep buried"

"I know" Nicky said. He put his arms around Allie and kissed the top of her head. "But you helped that girl today. That man will never touch her again and you did that. She's safe because of you"

——

May 27th 2036- Allie's 24th birthday.

Nicky woke up with Allie's head on his chest. She was still asleep. He kissed the top of her head before getting out of bed, being careful not to wake her. He went into the kitchen and made Allie's favorite breakfast. "Here, Clover" he said and gave Clover a small piece of bacon. He put waffles, bacon, eggs, fruit, coffee, and orange juice on a tray and brought it into the bedroom.

"What did you do?" Allie asked when she saw Nicky walk in.

"Happy birthday" Nicky said and kissed her.

"Thank you" Allie smiled "I woke up and you weren't here, I thought you went to the gym"

"Nope. Just making you breakfast"

"This is great. Thank you"

That night Nicky took Allie out for dinner and then they walked around Central Park.

"Do you remember my birthday, our first year at Yale?" Allie asked.

"Oh, my God, that was a disaster" Nicky chuckled. "I wouldn't have been surprised if you broke up with me right then and there"

"It wasn't that bad"

"Al, I set your hair on fire"