A Second Chance

Afternoon Coffee

Chapter 47

The next day Caden was back at HQ cleaning his office. He has not seen Amari since yesterday and was feeling kinda anxious. What if she was not doing well? Would they tell him? He could not sit still today so he cleaned. Cleaning made him feel a little better, it helped keep his mind off of things.. mostly.

Caden was not sure exactly what happened to him on that mission. All he knew was now he had no problem with Amari being his partner. Now he would not want it to be anyone else. It was like he did not know how much he would miss her until she was almost gone.

He accidentally knocked off his empty coffee cup from moving so fast. Lucky for him it did not break. He picked it up and put it back on his desk. Seeing his empty cup made him feel like getting some coffee. Yeah maybe that could calm his nerves.

"Slow down Rogers before you knock your computer monitor off as well." Amari said from the doorway.

Caden turned around in a flash. She smiled at him. Her right arm was bandaged up and aside from a few scratches on her face he could not see anything majorly wrong. A smile of relief fell upon him. He ran up to her, trapping her tightly in a hug. Amari just stood there confused at first. Caden would barely hand her a clip of ammo more or less hug her. She could feel his heart beating fast.

"You alright today Rogers?" She asked him.

He still hugged her.

"I'm fine Amari. I'm perfect." He told her.

She finally hugged him back.

"Good to hear." She told him honestly.

Amari was kinda confused right now though. He called her Amari and not Shields. Odd but she liked it. He let her go to see her beautiful smile.

"I was just about to go get coffee. Wanna come?" He offered.

Now he was inviting her places?

"Um- Ok." Amari agreed, slightly wondering if this was some prank.

Caden picked up his jacket and grabbed his keys.

"You can ride with me." He assured her.

"Um- Ok." She found herself replying again.

He was acting weird today considering how he has treated her for the last six months. She followed him out to his car. As he drove down the street Amari looked at him unsure.

"Are you positive you're ok Caden?" Amari asked.

He smiled when he heard her use his first name. He always wanted her to call him Caden now. He thought about the question too. Is he ok? What happened to him? Why does he feel so open to her being his partner now? Caden honestly did not know the true answer to that.

"Caden?" She asked again.

He did not dare take his eyes off the road. Not after that car crash.

"Yeah I'm great." He replied.

"That's the problem." Amari joked, laughing.

"What do you mean?" He asked, honestly not understanding.

"You're suddenly-" She stopped herself feeling maybe she should just leave it be.

"Never mind." Amari said.

Caden realized she noticed his change in mood around her.

"I'm ok. Promise." Caden said. He put his right hand in the middle and stuck out his pinky.