𝐍𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐎𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬↠The Rookie

𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓸𝓷𝓮

"Why are you banging-" Florentina opened her door, it being early in the morning, her nephew had also woken up peeking from the top of the stairs as she held a bat in her hand, not taking any chances if it was about to turn bad.

"We need to talk," Tim pushed past her, walking into her house, slipping off his shoes and walking into the living room.

"Uncle Tim," Mikey said as he ran down the stairs, right into the man's arms.

Tim couldn't help but smile as Mikey ran up to him, he had barely seen the poor kid ever since their friendship with Florentina fell apart. "Hey, Mikey." He said, scooping him up.

"You're so big now." He laughed as he carried the little boy around, Mikey leaning his head against his chest, feeling a bit shy and overwhelmed.

"It's good to see you, little buddy. It's been a while." He laughed as he tickled him a little, Mikey giggling and trying to get away.

"Don't wind him up, he's got to go to bed so he'll get up tomorrow for daycare," Florentina told him, holding her hand out for Mikey to run over and take.

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry, pal," He gently placed Mikey on the ground, kissing him on the forehead before turning back to Florentina, his expression cold and neutral. "Happy?"

"Back to bed Mikey, Mr Rabbit doesn't like to sleep alone does he?" She whispered to the young child.

Mikey smiled at her and ran back up the stairs with his stuffed rabbit toy. He didn't quite know what was going on, but he trusted his aunt implicitly and would do what she said.

"What do you want and why shouldn't I call the police for breaking in?" She turned back to the man and spoke.

His tone dropped to a low whisper as he glanced over his shoulder quickly to make sure Mikey couldn't hear him, "Because we need to talk about what happened the other day ."

"No, we don't," Florentina said as she bent down and started to collect all the toys Mikey had left on the floor, three in each hand.

"No, we don't," Florentina said as she bent down and started to collect all the toys Mikey had left on the floor, three in each hand.

"Yes, we do." He followed her, standing next to her as she picked up everything, "It's been months since we've spoken and I need to explain myself."

"You tampered with Isabel's stash, that's all there is to it," Florentina scoffed before closing the toy chest and shoving it back into the corner.

"No, it's not." He sighed, stepping in front of her as he forced her to make eye contact with him, "Please, just hear me out, I need you to hear this."

"I put it back," Tim told her, "I put it back and they ended up finding it, and you're right she ended up getting a deal, and I saw her last week, she's clean now."

"What?" Her breath caught in her throat as she looked at him in confusion.

"She's clean", he repeated himself, looking into her eyes, hoping that she believed him, "You were right, I shouldn't have gotten involved, but she's clean now, okay? She's clean, and she's doing good."

"What do you want me to say, Tim?" Her reaction was different to what he expected, but he was stupid to think she'd leap back into his arms and they'd be best friends again just like that.

"Say you forgive me. " He finally replied as if it was the only thing that made sense to him, "Please, just forgive me."

Tim felt his anger dissipating as he looked at her with those kind eyes of his, he wanted nothing more than for their friendship to come back.