Throw Away The Key

3. Home Invasion

The house is quiet and dark by the time Nick gets home, the living room lit by a single lamp by the door. He steps inside, closing the door behind him with a resounding thud that echoes through the empty living room. For a minute he just stands there, his shoulder pressed against the door and his eyes traveling around the darkened room, taking in the long, deep shadows that fill the corners and the thinner, lighter ones that linger near the edges of the lamp's glow. The living room is cold, the air stale, and it sits on top of him like an invisible weight. He lets out a slow sigh, closing his eyes and letting his head fall back against the door.

He's tired, bone-weary and stretched far too thin like a piece of cotton on a loom. The days seemed endless, the weeks longer, and it feels like wading through freshly poured concrete just to make it through the day. He'd never been one for depression, not since his parents died when he was twelve, but that's exactly what it feels like now. His entire body aches from the mental and physical strain he's put on himself and there's no changing it anytime soon. He's never felt more worn in his entire life; not when he was training at the police academy, not when he was pulling three and four day stakeouts, hell, not even when he discovered he was a Grimm. Right now he just feels drained, like his very life force is being siphoned out of him. Renard had urged him to take a few days off but he politely refused; the last thing he needed was more time alone.

He drops his keys onto the table next to the door with a loud thunk, wincing just a bit at the exaggerated volume of the impact. It sounds so loud in the house now that its empty, he'd never realized that until now. Juliette had moved out almost a month and a half earlier and the house was still yawning and gaping with her absence. There's still evidence of her decorating skills all over the place: paintings on the walls, a hand-painted coat rack, the rug that leads down the hall to the bedrooms. Nick shakes his head and closes his eyes; he can't think about that right now…its all too much to bear.

He pushes himself off the door and walks into the kitchen, his footsteps slow and forced. He flips a switch as he passes and the light over the sink flickers to life. The kitchen looks spotless, the countertops clean and the sink empty of dirty dishes. Its been that way since Juliette left because Nick honestly can't bring himself to cook in the kitchen without thinking about her and that hurts enough to take his breath away. He walks over to the refrigerator and grabs a beer, absently noticing that the milk is several days past the expiration date and there's a weird blue fungus beginning to grow on the English muffins in the corner. He sighs and closes the door; he'll deal with it later.

He wanders over to the table and sits down heavily in the nearest chair, popping the cap off the bottle and tossing it into the trashcan a few feet away. It makes a tiny metallic clink as it bounces off the wall and tumbles into the bin; it sounds like a car being crushed in a compactor to Nick. His personal cell phone is sitting on the table across from him, flashing green every few second indicating he has a new message. Nick stares at it for several seconds, working up the will and energy to reach across the table and grab the phone. He finally picks it up and opens the home screen, revealing he has both a missed call and a new message. The number isn't local, it isn't even from this state, but Nick knows who it is immediately. He takes a deep, somewhat shaky breath, and presses play.

"Nick?" The minute he hears her voice, he nearly wants to cry. It's a very heroic fight to control the sting of tears that prickle behind his eyes. "Nick, its Juliette. I…I just wanted to call and see how you were doing…I wanted to see if you were okay." Her voice hitches a bit on the other line and Nick feels his own breath catch in time with hers. "Nick, please take care of yourself, okay? For me? I just…" There's another pause and Juliette's voice cracks a bit when she's finally able to speak again. "I just want you to be okay…I miss you…" She sniffs on the message and Nick can't fight the tears that sting his eyes anymore. "Be careful, okay?" On that final note, the message ends and Nick is left with nothing but silence to fill the void.