𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫, 𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘀𝘀

𝟎𝟒𝟕

𝐍𝐨𝐚𝐡
𝟰 𝗠𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗖𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘀

"Damn it," Emily says under her breath and presses Noah's contact.

The phone barely rings once until Emily hears her daughter's voice.

"Emily!" Noah exclaims.

"What's up?" Emily asks casually.

"I texted you, like, five times," Noah huffs out of frustration.

"I'm sorry, I, uh—" Emily stutters.

"What's going on?" Noah asks forwardly.

"Nothing, sweetheart, just get some sleep."

"No, something's wrong!" Noah exclaims as her quick temper kicks in.

"Everything's fine, I promise," Emily says softly.

"When will you be home?"

"Uh, I'm not sure,"

"Emily—"

"I'll text you when I'm on my way, but don't stay up too late." Emily cuts her off, "I love you,"

"Yeah, sure," Noah snaps and hangs up the phone.

Emily holds her phone out and sees her home screen.  She sighs as she tries to clear her head.  One part of her is telling her to work on the case and the other is telling her to go home to her frustrated daughter.

—

Emily sits at her desk, gathering research between her knowledge of the past and Garcia's deep search into Matthew's life.

The woman can feel herself practically nodding away.  She has hit a wall in the case and cannot seem to get her head straight.  Losing Matthew is the worst news she has gotten in a long time.

"Can I talk to you?" A voice behind her asks.

"Noah, what're you doing here?" Emily questions the teen as she sees her completely dressed and fully awake.

"I was worried about you, so I told Derek to bring me here.  What's going on?" Noah pleads for an answer.

"It's nothing—"

"Don't lie to me again," Noah puts her foot down, "Don't keep me out of the dark, you know how much I hate that."

Emily stands and leads Noah to the round table.  She sits the teen down and slowly takes a seat next to her.

Noah can feel the air soften.  Suddenly, her anger is pushed aside as she analyzes Emily.  She is moving slowly, practically dragging her feet along.  Her body language is tight but almost drowning.  Her eyes are dark and she had not bothered to fix her hair after walking in the rain.

"Something happened," Noah says in a quiet tone.

"I lost an old friend," Emily admits.

"Oh," Noah softly replies, "I'm sorry,"

Emily sits quietly, having nothing to add.  Matthew is gone.

"Em," Noah mumbles and pulls Emily into a hug.  She holds the woman tightly, never seeing her so defenseless before.

Noah's heart sinks for Emily.  If anyone knows how it feels to lose a friend, it is Noah.  She watched her friend die right before her.  She does not have to imagine how Emily feels, she has witnessed it within herself.