the timeline in which they had a person in their life when they needed one the most
timeline shift: liam never passed way
Nic had never moved so fast in her life. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. She had probably moved faster when she was chasing down perps who thought running from the police would be the best way to end the altercation. But Nic had never moved so fast outside of her job--her legs seemed to have a mind of their own. The body could do amazing things when it was in fight or flight mode--she had ran through busy intersections and jumped over cracks and crevices just to move her body faster to her destination. hell, the woman should have taken her bike to the location in question but that hadn’t crossed her mind until after she was four blocks away. go, and go far. she simply heard. not a particular place had ever been uttered by her brain, but her legs knew where to take her.
she arrived at the door and knocked loudly, rapidly--the kind of knock you’d hear if someone was being chased. which meant it was no surprise when the person who answered the door looked alarmed. “Nic?”
“Hi--” she choked out, though if it was emotion or breathelessness, no one could quite tell yet. “I--can i come in?”
The boy raised his brow but let her in. He surveyed her appearance, a look of concern swiping over his face before going back to a straight one. Silence fell around them, before he finally spoke up. “So, are you gonna tell me why you look like sonic the hedgehog’s more chaotic sister or am I going to have to give you the second degree?”
Ah Liam, always one for making jokes at the worst time. Or maybe the best. “Wait--why do you get to be Sonic when I just had fourteen blocks over?” Indignant as ever, Nic was.
Her brother just waved his hand. “It doesn’t matter, Nic. Tell me what’s going on before I cuff you to a chair.”
Truth be told, the woman didn’t want to speak. She feared that if she said anything--it’d become real. And the last thing she wanted was to feel like any of this was real. That she hadn’t just been found out her husband had chosen someone else instead of her--that the smell, the words, the lipstick were not seared into her brain. they taunted her, they tightened her chest when she thought about it. So maybe it wasn’t that she didn’t want to speak, maybe it was that she couldn’t.
She moved quickly and wrapped her arms around her brother with such intensity he almost fell over. Hugs were not their love language--it was punches and shoves and the occasional high five. all out of love--but not traditional. so when Nic squeezed him, it took him a moment to recognize the severity of what had happened. But with the first tear that landed on his shirt, something switched and his arms encircled her. “Hey, shhh. I don’t know what’s going on or anything, I’m here, Nicki, I’m here. No going anywhere. It’ll be ok.” He said softly. He seemed to know that talking was not the priority right now and it gave Nic great comfort that he didn’t press. She simply buried her head in his shoulder and sobbed, letting the comfort of her big brother surround her broken heart.
