New York was nice, and I was happy to be back, but after my phone call with Calum all I could think about was talking with him.

"Nessa just go back." Dawson said after I had spent ten minutes of his life ranting to him.

"I know."

"Then go. You need to get closure on this."

I knew I could stay here forever, and The Black Wolves would be returning soon, so I did what Dawson said, and took the first flight back to Atlanta.

From the airport I took a cab to my house in Dahlonega, arriving at around ten at night.

I was tired, and went to get some sleep because I had to be at work the next morning.

When my alarm went off I got out of bed and took a shower, straightening my hair and dressing in shorts and a nice, long sleeved,  rose light pink shirt.

My car was still broken so I had to ride my bike to the police station.

I leaned it against the back brick wall outside in the back parking lot before walking inside.

When I got to my desk I turned on my computer and then groaned when I saw my full inbox and voicemail.

I started with the voicemail and began to write down the messages on sticky notes. My desk was covered in pink squares and I was starting to get a headache.

Finally once I was done I slipped into the break room for some coffee, and then went back to my desk in order to work on the emails.

The exhaustion from wallowing in my misery for the past few days was catching up with me and I took my hand off the computer mouse and then folded my arms on the desk and laid my head down.

Closing my eyes I took a breath and then relaxed.

What felt like seconds later my head shot up at the sound of my phone ringing.

I fumbled around and picked it up.

"This is Nessa." I said, trying not to yawn.

"Hey, it's time for you to head over to the corner store." I heard Calum's voice and looked at the time on my computer.

"Oh. Thanks." I said.

"No problem." His voice came out calm and polite.

I set the phone on the stand before turning off my computer and standing up. I grabbed my purse and then left the station, riding my bike the few blocks over to the corner store.

"You're back!" Kate grinned as I walked through the door.

"I am." I smiled.

"And you look awful, what happened to you did you get hit by a bus?" She frowned as I got closer.

"No i'm just exhausted." I sighed. "I fell asleep at my desk at the station and Calum called my phone to wake me up."

"So how are you and Calum?" She asked.

"He called me when I was in New York and we said we'd meet for coffee when I got back."

"Do you think you're going to get back together?"

"I think we are both going to get closure on this." I said and she nodded sadly.

I was pretty quiet the rest of the time until the door opened and I looked to see the four men walking into the store.

Calum made eye contact with me that I held for a second or two before I turned away.

Everyone could feel the tension and awkwardness in the room, including myself.

I started out by checking out Luke and Michael at the register and then Ashton stepped up.

"While you were gone I got those parts for your car. So I can come over today to work on it if that's okay with you." He said.

"Yeah, that'd be awesome." I smiled at him.

"Cool. I'll be over around 4:30."

"Okay."

As Ashton moved out of the way, Calum stepped up.

"Hey." He said softly to me and I gave him a small smile as I began to ring him up.

"Would you be interested in getting that coffee today?" He asked me.

"Could we do later this week? I need to get my car fixed up first."

"Sure, we can do that." He looked disappointed but gave me a smile anyways.

I handed him back his change and he dropped all of it in the tip jar before hesitantly leaving.

"He seems to have finally calmed down." Kate commented as he left.

"Yeah." I responded.

I left the shop after that and I went home where I set an alarm for 4:10 and then went to take a nap.

When the alarm went off I fixed myself up again before I heard the knock on my door signaling Ashton had arrived.

I went and opened the door, seeing him there in a tee shirt and grease stained jeans.

"Hey." He smiled.

"Hey." I returned to expression.

"I'll get started on fixing the car up."

"Okay. The doors unlocked so come in if you need anything." I said and he nodded.

I watched him walk over to my now pathetic looking car and closed the door.

I opened the curtains in the living room so I could see outside, and then turned on the television.

Occasionally I would glance outside to see Ashton working on my car, and was incredibly thankful for his willingness to help me.

I knew I could have met with Calum today, but I was too exhausted to deal with that at the moment.

There was so much on my plate with work and my car that I needed to get all of that taken care of first.

On my kitchen table were two gift bags, one for Eli and one for Cade. In my time in New York I went to the Disney store in Times Square and picked out some toys for them.

After a bit I brought out some water to Ashton who thanked me.

"How's it going?" I asked him.

"Good. I've got the new rim on and now i've just got to do a few things underneath and then put on a new tire." He explained as he tightened some kind of bolt with a wrench.

"Where did you learn how to fix cars?"

"My Uncle and I used to work on cars together. all the time when I was a kid. He liked to restore old classic cars and so I just carried on the tradition."

"That's cool." I smiled. "Um, I was going to order a pizza, would you want to stay and have dinner? You know, as a thank you." I offered.

"Sure, that'd be nice." He smiled.

"Great? Pepperoni okay?"

"Works for me."

I went inside to order the pizza and thirty minutes later it arrived.

Ashton came inside and cleaned up a bit in the hall bathroom before we sat down at my kitchen table.

"So how was New York?" He asked me after we had each gone through a slice.

"Good. I got to see my Dad and my friend." I replied.

"I heard Eli has been sneaking Calum's phone and calling you." He chuckled.

"Yeah he has." I laughed. "He's so sweet. And I guess he took the fact that Calum and I broke
up okay."

"He doesn't know." Ashton then said. "Calum hasn't told him yet."

"He hasn't?" My eyes went wide.

"No. He doesn't know how to do it, and he's still hoping you two work this out."

I suddenly had lost my appetite.

"Do you think you're going to?" Ashton then asked me.

"I don't know. It's complicated."

Ashton and I finished dinner and he then left, deciding to come back tomorrow and finish up my car.

The next morning I made my way to work on my bike again, a present bag on each handle.

When I arrived I made my way to my desk and was surprised to find a vase of flowers on my desk. It was an assortment of pink roses and tulips.

I set down the present bags and grabbed the card off the clip.

Glad you're back in town. -Cal

I half smiled at this and then grabbed the presents and walked back to Calum's office.

I knocked on the open door, seeing him sitting at his desk typing at his computer, and he turned around when he heard me.

"Hey." He said.

"Hey. Um, thanks for the flowers."

"No problem." He gave me a little smile.

"I uh- got presents for Eli and Cade while I was in New York." I stepped up and handed him the two bags, his fingers touching mine. "I got some pyjamas for Cade and a stuffed animal of that Bear from The Jungle Book for Eli."

"They're going to love them." He grinned as he looked in the bags. "But you didn't have to do this."

"No I wanted to." I said and then decided to bring up what Ashton had said yesterday. "So you haven't told Eli yet, huh."

The look of guilt took over him.

"It's not that easy." He slowly spoke.

I nodded.

"Well, thanks again for the flowers." I said before leaving his office.

I sat down at my desk and went to get started on my work, trying to get everything taken care of for the officers in the department.

Calum's PoV:

Nessa never mentioned our meeting for coffee plans for the rest of the time she was at work.

When she left the station I noticed she had taped the card from the flowers to the little wall between the top of her desk and the counter, and left the flowers next to her computer.

This made me a bit happy, but I still wanted us to talk.

At lunch when we walked over to the corner store she also seemed all too happy to talk to Ashton who she typically avoided after their drunken make out session that occurred before we had started dating.

"I'll be over at 4:30 again." He told Nessa who just nodded and smiled.

I glanced at Kate who looked like this was normal.

When I approached Nessa she became quiet again.

I watched her make change and as she handed it back to me she spoke.

"Do you need me to babysit this week?"

Everyone whipped around to look at Nessa which she noticed and a blush flared up on her cheeks.

"Uh," I began and then cleaned my throat, "Would Thursday be okay?"

She nodded.

I slowly made my way from the corner store and when we got back to the station I set my sandwich down on my desk before plopping down in my chair.

Luke knew I was still so messed up about my breakup with Nessa, and had obviously stopped trying to give me advice.

He seemed to be letting me figure this out on my own.

After lunch I drove us through the boys daycare and then took us home. Luke walked to his house while the kids and I headed to ours.

"Hey, Nessa brought you guys presents." I said and they both ran over to me.

I gave them each their gift and they ran back to the living room to open it.

"Daddy, its Baloo!" Eli exclaimed with a massive smile on his face as he held up the stuffed bear.

"I know. Do you like it?" I smiled at him.

"Yes!"

"Then you'll have to tell Nessa thank you the next time you see her."

"When do I get to see Nessa?"

"Thursday."

"Yes!" He grinned.

After they had opened their presents I went to take a nap, and then woke up in time to change before Kate arrived to watch the boys.

I met Luke by my car and the two of us made our way to the station where we clocked in and then set out on our patrol.

After a while of driving around in mostly silence, I finally had to ask Luke the question that had been bothering me all day.

"So what's the deal with Ashton and Nessa?"

He sighed.

"I've been waiting for you to ask that. Nothing is happening, he's just helping her fix her car."

"I know but she used to avoid him and now she's all...I don't know...happy around him."

"He's being nice and fixing her car. She's had a rough go this past week and that's your fault, so give her a break."

"Way to sugar coat it." I rolled my eyes.

"Did you and Nessa set a time to meet for coffee?" He then asked.

"Not yet. I'm trying not to push her."

"That's good." He nodded.

We drove through a fast food place to get dinner and were then cruising down Main Street when the radio went off.

"We have a domestic disturbance call at 57 Elm Grove Lane. Neighbours report sounds of screaming coming from the house."

57 Elm Grove Lane.

Nessa.

That was Nessa's house.

Luke looked at me with wide eyes as he realised it too and as I slammed on the gas he picked up the radio to announce we were on our way.

I turned on the sirens and lights to move the traffic out of the way as I drove to her house in record time.

We arrived in three minutes and I jumped out of the car and ran up to her door.

Her neighbours were outside and Luke went up to them while I stood on her porch, hearing nothing but silence.

I jiggled the door knob to find it was locked.

All of the sudden I heard an ear splitting scream come from inside the house and panic took over me.

I was then joined by Luke.

"Dahlonega Police Department!" Luke then banged on the door.

We heard nothing.

I then scrambled around her front porch to find a spare key to her home, finding one above the light.

I grabbed it and pushed it into the lock before pushing her door open, and the moment I did she let out another scream.

I drew my gun before I began to make my way to her bedroom, Luke backing me.

As I approached her room I whipped around the corner, my gun aimed at nothing.

Nessa was laying in her bed, she was moving in the sheets and I could see and hear her crying. Luke went to check the bathroom and closet but no one was there.

I put my gun away and moved to Nessa as she cried out.

"Nessa. Nessa." I kneeled on her bed and began to press on her shoulders, trying to wake her up.

"NO STOP PLEASE!" She screamed at the top of her lungs and I shook her harder. "PLEASE DON'T KILL ME PLEASE!"

"Nessa!"

Her eyes flew open and she gasped loudly as she shot up.

As she did this she began to sob and I moved to sit down on her bed, moving close to her.

"Nessa." I said and she looked up at me before going to put her arms around my neck.

"They're going to kill me." She sobbed into my chest and I looked up at Luke who looked just as confused as me.

Other officers were now there in her bedroom? watching me try and calm her down.

"Hey, its was just a nightmare. You're okay." I hugged her close and rubbed my hand up and down her back. "You're okay."

I could feel her begin to relax and after a few minutes I pulled back to look at her face.

Tears streamed over her cheeks and I wiped them away without even thinking about it. She didn't fight me, and let me wipe away her tears a few times before something in her changed and she scooted away from me.

"Are you okay?" I then asked her, trying to ignore the hurt I felt when she moved away from me.

"What are you doing here?" She asked as she nodded and wiped under her eyes.

"The neighbours called the police because they heard screaming. You were having a nightmare but they thought someone was hurting you." I explained.

She then noticed the other officers standing in the room.

"I'm so sorry." She said.

"Do you need like an ambulance or water or something?" I asked her.

"No, no i'll be fine." She gave me a partial smile.

"Are you sure?" I asked her.

"Yeah." She said and I nodded slowly.

She then looked uncomfortable because of all of the attention on her, and so I stood up from her bed.

The other officers began to leave and Luke patted Nessa's knee before leaving us alone.

"I uh, I'm glad you're okay." I said and she nodded before getting out of the bed.

"I'm sorry for causing all of this." She folded her arms across her stomach.

"Do you have nightmares often?"

"Just recently." She replied awkwardly.

I didn't know what to say, and she didn't either, so as we began to walk to the door I felt helpless.

When we reached her front door I opened it and then stepped onto the porch before turning around to look at her.

"Eli and Cade loved their gifts by the way." I mentioned and I saw her smile.

"I'm glad."

An awkward moment of silence passed.

"If you need anything you know you can call me." I said and she nodded.

"Thanks."

"I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah."

"Okay then. Goodnight."

"Goodnight. I'll try not to have another nightmare."

As she cracked a smile I felt a small sense of relief went through me.

She then closed her door and I heard it lock.

I left her doorstep and went down to my squad car where Luke was waiting.

"She okay?" He asked as I got in.

"I hope so." I sighed.

The next morning when I arrived at work Nessa was behind her desk working away. Her desk was covered in pink and blue sticky notes and I noticed as she completed a task she would throw a sticky note away.

I waited until before she had to leave before walking out to her desk.

"Hey." I said and she spun in her chair to give me a slight smile. "How are you doing?"

"I'm alright."

"So I was wondering if you'd be available on Saturday for us to talk?"

She sighed.

"I'm not sure what there is for us to talk about anymore, Calum. I wanted to, I did, but I don't see the point now."

"The point is for us to get closure." I said a bit defensively.

"I have my closure Calum...you just need yours."

I was stunned by her words and watched with a shocked expression as she grabbed her bag and left her desk, walking out the door.

"Damn, that was harsh." Luke said behind me.

I clenched my fist and then relaxed, trying to calm myself before I went back into the office.

How could she already have closure? I mean we didn't date for that long, but still, we had something that was special.

I knew we did.

"Hey, it's time for lunch." Luke said after a while.

"Here." I handed him a ten dollar bill. "I'll take a number seven."

He nodded in understanding and then left.

While he was gone I worked on the paper work for us responding to the call about the visit to Nessa's house last night.

I finished up my statement by the time Luke came back, and I ate my lunch before taking us both home.

I stopped by to pick up Eli and Cade before we got to our neighbouring houses.

The boys wanted to play outside, so Eli rode his bike around the driveway and the street in front of my house and Luke's, while Cade ran around the yard with his toys while I chased him.

Being with the boys made me feel better.

They came first in everything I did, but I felt like Nessa could come a close second if we got back together, and even though we weren't together she was still pretty damn important to me.

She had been the first woman after my wife died. That wasn't something that I could just ignore.

And despite the fact that I had been married, Nessa had given me feelings I had never felt before. The way she kissed made me my skin become covered with goosebumps. When she touched me I could feel want in her touch, she had wanted me.

But now she wanted nothing to do with me, and that was my fault.

I took Eli and Cade inside for dinner and then put them to bed.

After I showered I went to bed myself, hoping tomorrow would be a better day.

My alarm woke my up in the morning and I changed into my uniform after I woke up both Eli and Cade and got them ready.

We ate breakfast at the table together, Eli holding on to the toy Nessa had given him.

After locking up the house and meeting Luke at my car, we dropped them off at daycare before we headed over to the station.

Nessa wasn't at her desk but I knew she was here by the sight of her bag on her desk.

I wanted to see her so badly but I also knew that seeing her would hurt.

So once I knew she was gone Luke and I set out on patrol.

The two of us decided to skip lunch at the corner store and get tacos from the restaurant I had taken Nessa to on the day we went to buy her car.

We sat in there to eat, and then got back into our car.

"Dispatch. We have a three car accident on Roosevelt. It's a silver Buick SUV, red Ford truck, and a black Ford Focus. Witness says the driver of the focus is seriously injured. Bus requested."

"10-4." I said into the radio and then turned on the lights and sirens so the cars would move as I drove us to the scene.

"Doesn't Nessa have a black Ford focus?" Luke asked next to me as I weaved between the cars.

"There's thousands of those in this town alone." I muttered.

As I approached the street I could see cars stopped ahead and had to honk the horn for them to move before making way through them.

We were about a block from Roosevelt street and I could see some smoke up ahead and drove a bit faster until we arrived at the scene of the accident.

The black ford focus was crushed between the SUV and the pick up, all three cars obviously totalled.

A woman began to run to our car and Luke and I got out.

"There's a girl in the car!" The woman ran up and shouted and Luke ran to the cars as the man who was driving the pick up came my way.

"We have an ambulance on the way, I need you to tell me what happened."

"I don't know, I think the truck hit her and she slammed into me."

"CALUM!"

I looked over at Luke who was looking in the window of the focus.

"It's Nessa!"

No.

No.

My blood ran cold and then rushed into my head, and I didn't even feel myself take off in a sprint towards the cars.

When I got there I could see Nessa inside, her eyes closed and the air bag deployed, blood trickling down her forehead.

Smoke was coming out of the hood of her car and I knew it was probably going to catch fire.

The driver side door of Nessa's car was smashed by the woman's SUV.

"We have to move this car. We have to move the car!" I yelled to Luke and we began to push on the SUV to move it.

I kept looking back at Nessa as we tried to move the SUV, and soon other people ran up to help.

We were able to push the SUV away and I whipped around to open the door of Nessa's car.

"Nessa! Nessa!" I called at her but she didn't open her eyes. She didn't even move.

I reached forward to place my hands on her neck, feeling for her pulse. It was there.

"Nessa? Nessa, open your eyes." I said to her but she didn't.

"Calum the bus is here." Luke said and I saw it there, waving them closer.

Michael and another EMT jumped out and ran towards us.

"It's Nessa!" Luke yelled and Michaels eyes went wide when he approached.

"Tom get the stretcher!" Michael shouted at the other guy when he got there and moments later a fire truck pulled up and Ashton got out with a few other guys.

"We have to get her out of the car." Michael said and so he and I began to get her out. We unbuckled her seat belt and He went to get her upper half while I got her legs.

When I touched her leg Nessa let out a whining noise.

The Tom guy came back with the stretcher, him taking my place as he and Michael pulled Nessa out of the car and laid her on the stretcher.

"She has a broken leg." Michael said as he began to strap her down. "Maybe a couple broken ribs too."

They put some padding on the sides of her neck to stabilise her in case it was injured and then began to roll her back towards the ambulance.

"Calum, go with her." Luke placed a hand on my shoulder and I nodded before running after them.

They got Nessa into the back and I climbed in with them.

Outside was a mass of sirens and red and blue lights, but I looked back at Nessa who was just laying there, looking like the life had been taken from her.

--

Nessa :(

Thought i'd leave it on a cliffhanger for you guys, but i'll update soon!

More to come!

Much love xx-m