by Liz Turner
“I didn’t realize staying with me—staying with the force—would be such a terrible fate for you,” he snapped.
Lily shook her head. “Ryan,” she said, speaking over the lump in her throat and reaching out to lay her hand over his, “I need you to hear me out. Please…”
“Fine.” Ryan pulled his hand away from hers met her gaze. “I’m sorry I’m being such a jerk. This is just hard to hear.”
Lily resumed, her voice thick with emotion. “As much as I love my time here with you, Banks, and Garcia, I need to get moving again. I need to decide on a career and move forward with that decision.”
“I understand,” Ryan said softly with a sad smile. “And it would be selfish of me to hold you back. You’re your own person, and I would hate it if you grew to resent me for giving up on your dream.”
“That would never happen,” Lily reassured. “But I have made a decision. After we caught Levi at the hospital, Banks called me.”
“Banks?”
“Yes. He had a proposition. He scolded me for wasting my talents as an ‘unqualified nobody’ and urged me to move forward.” Lily paused, watching Ryan roll his eyes. “He encouraged me to change my course from being a medical practitioner to pursuing something in the line of a forensic investigating. He said that if I agree to this, he’d write a letter of his highest recommendation to my old college so that they can transfer my credits.”
Ryan nodded slowly. “That’s wonderful news, Lily. I think you’d make an amazing forensic investigator. You’re practically doing the job of one right now. How long would the course take?”
“It depends on how the credit transfer works,” Lily answered excitedly. “But I haven’t gotten to the good news yet…”
“I’m trying to be supportive here, Lil. I mean, I’ll give it my all to make this work long-distance, but I don’t know how much more good news I can take right now…”
Lily laughed. “You’ll be happy to hear that I called the dean at BUSM and he is looking into a program that I might be able to complete remotely if Banks takes me on as an intern.”
“Wait…” A grin slowly broke through Ryan’s gloom. “Does that mean you’d be able to complete your studies, but stay here?”
Lily nodded cheerfully. “Yep. I can study and gain work experience. Of course, I wouldn’t be in the field as much as you and Garcia. But since I’m obviously the reason for the homicide department’s success rate, I’ll still make myself available to consult as an amateur sleuth.” She winked.
Ryan laughed.
“Well, well,” Garcia’s voice interrupted, “I’m not so sure our success rate is entirely dependent on your assistance, but you’ve certainly helped.” He pulled up a chair to the coffee table and made himself comfortable. He then looked from Lily to Ryan, his face stern. “So you two idiots have decided to enter a romantic relationship despite working on the same team?”
“Uh… it wasn’t planned, Filippo,” Ryan spluttered nervously. “It just kind of happened…”
Garcia nodded. “These things usually do.”
“We wanted to tell you, but then the case happened—”
Garcia held up his hand, silencing him. “Before the excuses flow, I just want to say I couldn’t be happier for the two of you. Now that you’re finally being open and honest about things, you have my full support.” He smirked.
Lily threw her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. “Thanks for understanding, Garcia. We don’t deserve a friend like you!”
He shook his head. “No, you don’t. And despite all your little lies and secrets, I knew what you were up to the whole time.”
“Is this why you’ve been so grumpy?” Lily asked.
Garcia scowled at her and then laughed. “I have been a little grumpy, haven’t I?”
“A little?” Ryan repeated with mock surprise.
“Well, at least I didn’t have to hide in a cupboard at Ryan’s apartment,” Garcia countered with an evil chuckle.
Lily felt her cheeks flush. “How did you know about that?”
“I know everything, amateur sleuth!”
*** The End ***
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