A/N: As usual, I would recommend putting the video on loop.
"Nick, Nick," he heard his name being called out softly. He recognized the voice, and he let it pull him out of his dreamless sleep. Or, maybe, it hadn't been dreamless, but he just couldn't remember what the dream had been about. There was a strange sensation on his lips, the feeling that occurred when a dream was overly realistic and one could feel after effects. That placed ideas into his head about what the dream had been about if he had been dreaming. A slight bit of heat touched his cheeks at the thought, and he scolded himself internally for it too.
"Nick," she spoke his name again, and he felt her shaking his left shoulder a bit. A slight groan exited his lips, and he blinked open his eyes. Braided black hair draped over her left shoulder, and her brown eyes had a warm glow to them. She smiled upon noting that he was awake. "Looks like you took that nap down here after all."
"... Deidre ..." His response was delayed because of his waking mind, and he couldn't resist yawning in the process. She stood up fully and waited for him, a smile still on her lips. "How long have I been asleep?" He leaned forward and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes with his right index finger and thumb.
"About fifteen minutes." She chuckled softly. "Not too long, but it seems like the rest helped you."
He nodded and stretched his arms before he stood to his feet and buttoned his grey coat. "Did you happen to grab the money?" She nodded and pulled out her red wallet. "Great, thanks." Nick faced towards the door and headed outside with her, holding the door open to let her out first.
"Thank you," she responded, stepping out and placing her wallet and hands into her blue jacket pockets. "So," she peered over her left shoulder towards Nick, "any dreams?" He paused as the door closed behind him. She smiled a bit. "Do you remember?"
"No, but it doesn't matter. It clearly wasn't important." His tone wasn't rude, but it was monotone, uncharacteristically so. A small smirk touched her lips, and she didn't say another word since she didn't have to. "But, we've already been over this before. You know where I stand on the matter."
"I do, and I understand. I'm also appreciative. I don't want to face off against the creature, and you don't need to go through that another time, but," her smirk remained, "it's still cute." A sigh parted from him, and he slouched forward a bit as they headed to the restaurant where they bought their breakfast the other day. It was simple, affordable, filling and tasted good. There was no reason to head somewhere fancier and probably pricier.
"You're not going to let this go, are you?" He glanced towards her, and his brown eyes held irritation, but the emotion was coming from a friendly standpoint, not anything harsh. She grinned and shrugged. "Just don't keep bringing it up like Chris. I get enough teasing from her, and you actually understand where I'm coming from."
Laughing, Deidre met his gaze. "Chris knows why you're choosing not to pursue her, but she wants you to be happy too." She stared forward again. "You did seem to be in lighter spirits when she was around. It was obvious you enjoyed her company. Chris just wants you to feel like that again." Deidre smiled gently. "She probably considers you to be like an older brother to her, and she wants to make sure that you're taken care of."
"But with ..."
Cutting him off, she continued, "You still want her to drop the whole thing so that you can move forward." He nodded. "But, can you move forward?" She stopped walking, and he paused with her. "Even if you don't remember your dream, it's clear that you dreamt of her." Deidre began to step forward again when Nick broke eye contact and shifted his attention to his shoes. "I think that until you see her again you won't move forward. And, it's okay to accept that, Nick."
Silence replied to her, but she didn't say anymore on the topic. She would let him figure things out at his own pace; he needed that with everything going on, and he probably just wished to focus on their current case. "While we're waiting for our food, I do want to bring something up that's been bothering me." Deidre peered over to him. "About the case." Kindly, she nodded, and he was grateful that she didn't push him anymore on the subject of (f/n).
Once at the restaurant, he opened the door for her, and he headed in after her. A few people came in after them a couple of minutes later, and a family was ordering in front of them. When the family finished, they stepped up. Deidre ordered two chicken sandwiches, a Caesar salad, a fish sandwich and two large fries. Their drinks would be some of the bottled water they had stored in their hotel room fridge. After they paid, Nick walked over to a table in the back of the establishment and took a seat on the dark purple and light blue cushioned booth. Seating herself across from him, she motioned for him to begin. "The stolen items." He leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest in a casual manner. "Why would someone steal apples, underwear, jewelry and a lockbox from Ms. Clarence and her daughter? And in our case, why would a supposed ghost do that?"
"It is odd," Deidre began, furrowing her brows in thought. Her button nose crinkled up a bit too before it relaxed when she spoke, "It could be something separate from the ghost. Someone could've stolen the items afterwards. It might've even been the daughter, and she's just trying to collect insurance on the jewelry and lockbox; she also stole the other items to throw people off."
"Possible, but we don't know if anything was stolen from the other two missing people. If we did, we might be able to make more connections and theories about it all." A frown formed on his lips. "And if we do assume that the objects are connected to the potential ghost, it leads back to why. I've never seen a ghost put people into trances or steal so many objects from a household. Sure, something might get moved or go missing, but it usually remains in the area the ghost is haunting. Now, it might be taking these to a subway?"
"The objects could have some meaning to the ghost. Perhaps, it wants certain items in the Delain area." Deidre noted his skeptical stare. "But, the information found on the people who died in the subway doesn't support that since none of them were related to Ms. Clarence or her daughter. None of them even lived near their residence." She pushed her braid behind her. "So, it means that this ghost might not be any of the victims from the subway." Nick nodded, and his frown grew. "Are you thinking of pulling out?"
"No, not yet anyway. I'd interview Ms. Clarence's daughter, but our employer asked us not to include anyone else on the case. He doesn't want to draw the police's attention too much, though; it's doubtful that much was thought of his blog post around here. We're the only ones it seems checking his theory." Nick sighed. "But, that works in our favor. No one even has questioned what we're doing here, or why we had gone to the old road."
"And, you're sure that he isn't pulling our leg?"
"Positive. I trust him, and he even paid half of the amount already. I already have deposited the check he had given me after we first had met, and nothing had come up wrong with it." Again, his frown returned. "He's serious about this, and that's why I brought all of us out here. Three missing people in two months for this town is bizarre, and the facts for the case are just as strange."
"Do you have any theories that you think might reasonably explain the stolen objects?" she questioned as she heard the family's order number being called. They would be up next.
"Well if the ghost is one of the subway's past victims, I'm currently not able to put anything too plausible together. If the ghost is someone else, there's a whole list of possibilities even if the ghost's habits are very peculiar." He tapped his right fingers against the table before he pushed back some of his hair. "If we're not dealing with a ghost, there are many explanations too, and I think that this is more likely at this point, given that nothing was triggered last night by anything odd."
"But, we could've picked a poor night."
"Yes, or it saw us without us seeing it, and it knew to avoid our equipment. It puts people into trances and steals items that don't make sense together. Or, maybe, we're dealing with a hungry individual who wants to make money and is a pervert. This person stole the items and isn't responsible for taking the people, or the individual is responsible for the missing people and just decided to treat themselves to something extra." He glared at the wall momentarily from frustration. "But, that just doesn't sit right with me, or that might be the paranormal investigator in me talking. I don't know, but it feels strange."
Relaxing his gaze, he diverted his optics back to her. "I feel like we're dealing with something smart and abnormal. The stolen objects only increase that feeling for me, which is also why I don't want to head in too deep into the subway."
She nodded and heard their order number being called; both stood up. "We'll be careful and leave when it's too dangerous," she assured, placing a hand on his left shoulder to give it a gentle squeeze.
"Thanks, Deidre." He smiled to her slightly before his expression grew serious. "But, let me know if you come up with anything on the stolen items. We can talk to Chris and Ren when we get back to hear their opinions too." She nodded before they picked up their food, thanked the worker who handed it to them and left the restaurant.