Work Text:
Charlie
Charlie opened his eyes, blinking slowly and stretched his legs a little, trying not to wake Sarah, who was still asleep on his chest.
He couldn’t help the smile forming on his lips as she snuggled close, still lost in her dreams.
There, in the first morning light, with the woman he loved wrapped around his chest, he let himself get lost in all the thoughts he had to hold back at work, during the day.
Sarah had suggested keeping their relationship on the downlow, so that it would not mess with their careers. There wasn’t any rule against relationships at work, and he knew that Joe for one would be extremely happy for them, but she had a point and he had agreed. Both of them had worked really hard on their career and jeopardizing it was out of the question. Unfortunately, keeping his distance was proving harder than he thought.
Just last week, their case had put a strain on his control.
Sarah loved to tease him, he knew that. He loved that, and while he was more than happy she was safe and sound in the precinct while he and Rex were out in the barrens, his body’s reaction to that “gator” had probably snowballed the series of moments that had put his commitment to the secret to the test.
The hurt in her eyes after her inquiry with Adele Jones had haunted his heart for the whole case, and he had realized his “you okay?” had been rougher and brusquer than he had meant, but he heard Adele shout at her, and had hated every second. He had barged in the coffee place like a tank, his eyes scanning frantically his surroundings. There were too many people, he couldn’t get close to her, and keeping his distance had stripped away something in him.
The only thing he had wanted in that moment was to hold her to his chest, he couldn’t and that had stung a lot, made him nervous, guarded.
The woman he loved was hurting and he couldn’t do anything at all to help her.
Sarah must have felt the same way, because she had barely looked at him, and gone straight to Rex.
Cuddling him for comfort.
Charlie smiled, throwing a glance at his door, where he could hear Rex move upstairs. The German Shepherd had become the main filter between them. Every time a touch, a kiss, an interaction was missed between the two of them, they would focus it on Rex - who was overjoyed at the sheer amount of cuddles he was getting.
Sarah stirred again, turning away from him and on her other side, and he took advantage of her new position to gently crawl out of bed and head for the shower, it was early still but while part of him wanted to stay in bed with her and enjoy the freedom of being in love the privacy of his house granted him, he also wanted to make her breakfast, show her his appreciation by spoiling her a little bit.
Under the warm water, his thoughts strayed back to the case.
Feelings are a funny thing, he had discovered and you could feel many of them all at once.
When he had gotten back to the precinct, his clothes dirty and his hands sore from the adventure on the cliff, Jesse proceeded to tell him all about how Sarah had been held at knifepoint, and had disarmed and arrested the killer of Serena. His first reaction had been pride, then he had been extremely worried about her safety and then lastly, when she had assured him (in the darkness of his bedroom) that she could handle herself and there was no need to be scared, he had been turned on…again.
Truth to be told, he was always going to be worried about her safety, he loved her too much, but he also knew he could do something about it - namely helping her train, he could make sure she’d be strong enough to kick anyone’s ass and could also help her sharpen her aim even more.
Yes. He should maybe suggest they start training together, that’d be good.
Charlie turned the shower off, and silently padded to the kitchen, greeting Rex he fed him his morning portion and started to work on his and Sarah’s breakfast.
Yeah - this should be good…
He thought smiling.
Sarah
Sarah looked at the screen of her phone, she blinked and then smiled, releasing a relaxed sigh. Everything had turned out for the best in the end, but alone in her office she couldn’t help but think she had definitely risked a lot.
Charlie had told her the evening before that he
‘loved that she tried’
to fix things between him and his brother Jack, but in hindsight, she realized she had been pushing and meddling from the beginning.
The tension between them was clear from the start, there was something hanging in the air between them, both of them silently recriminating the other for something, Sarah had felt it like a bucket of ice water onto her excitement to finally meet Charlie’s brother.
Had that been the reason she’d pushed him a little bit to reconnect? She had not liked how he had just shrugged the whole thing off, it had been a weird dichotomy; seeing him clearly bothered by something and yet acting like he didn’t care.
Sarah knew Charlie was very stoic, but she also knew him to be caring and loving and that nonchalant-ness towards his brother just wasn’t him.
She had gotten a better glimpse at what was truly bothering Charlie the night of the match, the way he focused on Jack’s motions, his body twitching in ghost movements, hoping his brother would mimic them and gain the advantage on his adversary.
When Joe had mentioned Jack being a Journeyman and suddenly there had been talks of hundreds of losses and lost drive to be a champion, she knew what the issue was, at least for Charlie.
He wanted his brother to shine, to be a Champion, he knew Jack was talented and wanted him to be recognized for it. Charlie had the impression Jack was just going with the tides, and he didn’t like that. Determined and dedicated as Charlie Hudson was, Sarah knew that he was probably very disappointed by the idea that his little brother had lost the drive.
She had watched Jack get the tactical knockout, and had followed Charlie ringside to offer medical advice, only to quickly realize once at the hospital that Jack Hudson was an even harder read than his brother. On the outside, he seemed to be playing the same cards as Charlie was - I'm bothered by all this, but will vehemently deny it until the end of time - but also, she could feel a weird edge to his words, an edge that she felt was directed at Charlie, it was hard to explain but the way he had denied his brother's hospitality had made her alarms go off.
Sarah was standing there, between the two Hudson brothers, a little overwhelmed by the mountain of unsaid things between them.
When Jack had left the hospital, once again Charlie dismissed her question and his own worry with a shrug: “He’s a professional, he’ll be fine”.
And yet, that night all she had been sensing was distance, Charlie's mind clouded by thoughts, far away from her, and she couldn’t reach him.
If she held him a little bit closer that night, trying to erase the space his silent issues with his brother had created between them…well… that was nobody’s business but hers.
Had she expected a murder to be thrown unceremoniously into the mix? No, she hadn’t. And since she was being honest, at least with herself, she had been silently cursing her idea to keep their relationship a secret since they entered the gym and were met by her forensic team.
His shaky breath and his “I thought it might be Jack” broke her heart, just as his unsure “yeah” at the morgue before she and Karma told him that there was a second set of bruises. Why had she suggested they keep it between them? What was she thinking?
Jack was suddenly a suspect, she and Charlie had a heart to heart in the hall and she was aching for him and to fix everything. His defeated tone at having lost an important person in his life, his best friend, his little brother…she couldn’t even contemplate the worry, the sadness without feeling it herself. She was always concerned for her sister and they talked and texted regularly. The person she cared about the most had been hurting and she just wanted to fix it. She wanted to touch him, make sure he was okay. Make sure he knew they were going to be okay…him and Jack, that everything would eventually turn to normal, become even better than their normal. Karma had immediately picked up on that, it had been really good to have someone to talk with, but it hadn’t changed the situation, hadn’t changed how badly she wanted to hold him. Distractions, colleagues and regulations be damned.
But she couldn’t and therefore she had done the only thing she was able to do - put herself between Charlie and Jack, trying to be a bridge of communication between the irresistible force of Charlie and the unmovable object of Jack, a try destined to fail.
The dinner she had organized hoping to help them clear the air blew in her face when a fight broke out between them, and Jack had left with words that she knew hurt Charlie deeply.
“You don’t have to play the role of big brother anymore, I found out years ago that I’m all on my own. You’re off the hook, Pal.”
The silence left in Charlie’s house in their wake had been haunting. Suddenly, the distance that she had been sensing had grown ten folds and she felt like it was her fault. For the first time in their relationship the ghost of Charlie breaking up with her had surfaced in her mind.
He had barely kissed her goodnight, a coldness she couldn’t help but fear a little, in his touch.
While rationally she knew the whole situation wasn’t dependent on their relationship, and that Charlie was smart enough to discriminate between the two things, in the stillness of that night she couldn’t help but feeling guilty, couldn’t help feeling she had risked a beautiful thing. Probably the best thing in her life.
She knew Charlie hadn't slept that night. Because she hadn't either.
When the silence and the coldness dragged into the morning after, she had made the executive decision that an apology was needed. If it came between her and Charlie, and Charlie and Jack… she was going to be selfish and pick her own relationship with him instead. Sorry Jack.
Closing the case, and finding the real killer had improved Charlie’s mood. They hadn’t seen each other much during that day, but when they met in the evening at his place the distance between them felt diminished by a lot.
Still, she apologized. She hugged him and had spent the rest of the evening and the night glued to his side. Charlie hadn’t seem to mind but still, she could see his mind straying to places out of her reach.
A knock on her door made her turn, Karma was on the door of her office with a paper folder in her hands: “Sorry, is this a bad time?” she asked “I just wanted to give you the paperwork for the Rickie Morgan case?”
Sarah shook her head and gestured for her to come in: “No, no…please come in, I was just reading a text from Charlie, he and Jack have spent the morning together, cleared the air and hopefully gotten a fresh start”
Karma's smile was brilliant: “This is the perfect ending!” she exclaimed, putting the folder on Sarah’s desk, in her incoming box.
“Yes, it is…would like a coffee?”
“I’d love one, sure!” Karma replied, sitting down on one of the chairs in front of the desk, while Sarah phoned in the Mugshot to ask for two cups of coffee.
When she was done, she looked at Karma: “I wanted to thank you, for your support. It’s been greatly appreciated” she smiled.
“Happy to help” Karma smiled “I’m very glad things got sorted out”
Another buzz from her phone distracted her, Sarah looked at Karma then picked the phone.
“I can’t believe this” she muttered “they’re gonna train for the whole day and invited me to watch their boxing match at the gym in two hours” she giggled rolling her eyes to the ceiling.
Karma smiled and winked at her.