THIRTY-FOUR... creatures of habit

                                        

                                              
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
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A fresh, hot shower was all Collins had needed to lift her spirits. They were still shot to hell of course after the day they'd had, but at least Collins didn't smell like she'd been crawling through a sewer and she could relax under the warm confines of her bed. And perhaps that was all she needed. A quick reset might be the solution to finding a solution if Collins could just think with a clear headspace. 
She'd rinsed off her and JJ's clothes with the hose outside, so they were now on their second wash in the spin cycle with lots of detergent. Her wet hair was pulled into a braid down her back and her legs were under the covers of her sheets with her textbooks sprawled around her. Okay, so this wasn't exactly the brain break that she knew she needed, but at least she was thinking about something other than murder weapons and murderers. Not to mention that she had to set aside time to actually do her work instead of letting it pile up and become another source of stress for her to worry about. It was all about time management. 
JJ came out from the bathroom with a damp towel in his hands as he dried his hair which was dripping with water. His face was flushed from the hot steam but he looked equally as relaxed as Collins did when she came out. Upon entering her room, he immediately fell onto the end of her bed with a sigh in tranquility and closed his eyes. Collins chuckled at him, scribbling away in her notebook. 
As much as she enjoyed the nights partaking in their wild adventures, it was the ones where nothing was going on that Collins felt like she appreciated the most. It was mainly because they didn't have to be doing anything to relish in each other's company. They could be doing completely different things right next to each other and still have a good time. 
Collins had been so wrapped up in her work that she hadn't paid any attention to notice that JJ had gotten up from the bed to toss his towel in the dirty linens basket. It wasn't until he was leaning onto the bed with his arms propping his body up and his face nearing Collins did she finally realize he was silently asking for her focus. 
She turned her head to look at him, though their eyes didn't meet right away. JJ's were more concentrated on her shoulder, taking his hand to push her braid out of the way and take a better look at it. 
"Was this from the fall?" He was referring to the deep purple bruise on her shoulder blade which was at full display since she was wearing a tank top. Collins tried to catch a glimpse of it, almost forgetting that it was even there. 
She nodded. "Yeah, it only hurts if I press on it though." She'd been fairly sore for a bit, hardly even able to lift the limb up. It felt a lot better now, she hadn't even realized what color it was. She supposed it did look like it hurt a lot more than it did. JJ pulled his mouth into a tight line as he stared at it questionably, before he finally decided to touch his lips onto the mark with a gentle kiss. Collins smiled softly as they lingered, accepting the tender gesture appreciatively. "What was that for?" She asked him when he finally pulled away. 
"I'm just grateful for the fact that you're sitting here and not in a hospital bed." He told her, reminding Collins of the very likely outcome that could've been occurred as a result of their little activity. "I don't know what I would've done if something had happened to you."
"Don't think like that." Collins said, reaching a hand out to hold his head, stroking his hair with her fingers to remind him with her touch that she was there. She was right in front of him, present, alive, breathing. "I'm here, I'm okay."