Yay
for Valentine's Day… for other people, that is. Personally, I
hate it. Here ya go. Oh, and I think it might be a little AU.
Muahahahaha: Christiana Wong is mine- you can't have her. Bah.
Twelve Red Roses
Lily sat in the solitude of her office at her desk, gently fingering the soft, delicate petals of one of twelve long-stemmed roses resting in an ornate glass vase in front of her. The card that came with them, of course, was unsigned, but had quite a message. Beautiful flowers for an even more beautiful Counsellor. Have a wonderful day, Lily Lebowski. A slight, dreamy smile appeared on her lips. I wonder who they're from, she thought, almost absently. Jeffrey?
The smile disappeared. Things hadn't been quite ideal for them in the last couple weeks. In fact, they had even decided to take a break for a while. Never mind. Maybe work and relationships really didn't mix.
Bug?
As soon as the thought entered her mind, she dismissed it. They had been through that already. He was over her. And while things were still awkward, their friendship was slowly growing. Lily sighed in frustration. Who else could it be? She drummed her fingers against the desk, thinking, brows furrowed.
"Hey," a voice interrupted her reverie, "you okay?"
Lily hummed an affirmative. "Jordan… do you know who sent me these?"
Jordan drew closer and frowned, carefully inspecting the vase, unsigned card, and flowers. "Sorry, can't help ya there." An evil grin pulled at her lips. "But I just might be able to find out."
"How?"
One eyebrow shot up. "I highly doubt your secret admirer was smart enough to wear gloves in his love-struck scheme to deliver you a bouquet of roses, Lil."
Lily gaped at her. "Why would anyone go to the trouble to-"
"Don't make me answer that," the brunette interrupted, heading for the door. "We don't want anyone to suspect anything, so I'll go get some fingerprint tape and be right back, alright? Don't move."
Jordan was back in four minutes with plenty of tape and an even bigger grin. "Here we go."
"Doesn't this sort of ruin the point of a secret admirer?"
"Don't you want to know who this is?" Jordan shot back smoothly.
Lily sighed and sat back. "I guess." She watched intently as her friend dusted and recorded almost every single print on the card and vase. "That's a lot of prints, Jordan."
"And ten bucks says most of 'em belong to the same person."
"The florist?"
Jordan rolled her eyes. "Lily…"
"Sorry."
Jordan came back with a sour expression on her face. "Sorry, Lily, I tried."
"What's wrong?" Lily asked, shoving her paperwork to the side. "Not in the system?" she shuddered. "Creepy."
"No, I mean you're right."
Lily gave her an odd look.
"They all belong to a Christiana Wong."
"Who's that?"
"A florist." Jordan sighed disgustedly. "So your secret admirer is a creep, like you said, or he really doesn't want to be found out."
"Why don't we go ask Christiana if she knows who came in?"
Jordan grinned. "I thought you'd never ask."
A pretty Oriental woman smiled and shook her head regretfully. "I wish I could tell you."
"Can't or won't?" Jordan challenged.
"Can't." Christiana pursed her lips. "He was wearing a grey hoodie under a dark jacket, and the hood was pulled low over his face. I couldn't tell you what he looked like."
"Height?"
Christiana frowned. "I don't know, but he was tall. Also not overly huge, but strong," she offered.
Jordan tapped a finger against her lips. "How 'bout a credit card?"
"He used cash."
Lily spoke up for the first time. "Do you have security tapes?"
"They're getting repaired," Christiana replied.
Jordan exploded. "This is unbelievable! Not you," she quickly reassured the flustered young florist, "this whole damn situation."
Christiana hesitated. "Strong…" she murmured under her breath, "almost like… a cop, maybe?"
Jordan and Lily froze. "No way…"
With a grin, Christiana queried, "Was it something I said?"
"Yes!" was Jordan's instant response. "Dark, sort of long, spiky brown hair? Blue eyes? Clean shaven?"
"He did have dark brown hair- from what I could see," Christiana admitted, "but like I said, his eyes were covered."
"Ass," Jordan muttered automatically. "Typical Woody."
Lily gaped at her with an incredulous expression. "Woody?"
"Wait, wait, wait a sec. He was wearing gloves, right? Isn't it difficult to write something wearing gloves? What did that card say again? Nevermind. Maybe he took them off." Jordan continued quietly to herself, putting out her hands and mimicking their 'suspect's' would-be movements. "He would have spun the card rack… maybe touched the middle rod…" she inspected the rack carefully. "Aha." She yanked out print tape and dust and proceeded to lift a print from the metal. "Only a partial, but it'll do."
Christiana watched curiously. "You guys are in luck. I dusted the front of the store right before he stopped in, so I'm ninety percent sure that's his print."
"We gotta go," Jordan rushed, "you're the best, Christiana."
"No problem," the florist smiled warmly. "I hope you find who you're looking for." She pulled out a drawer from behind the counter, scribbled some numbers on two separate pieces of paper and handed them to Lily. "Here; gift certificates for making my morning interesting."
Lily smiled in return. "Thank you very much."
"C'mon, Lil, we gotta go!" Jordan yanked her towards the exit, "Thanks a million, Christiana!" she yelled over her shoulder.
"You," Jordan pointed a finger at Lily as a mother would a disobedient child, "will stay here and not move. You will not run away; you will not come in; you will sit here and stay here. Any questions? Because it may be awhile before I come out, and there's a serious possibility there may be yelling emitting from behind the door."
Lily bit her lip to keep from laughing. "Your wish is my command, Mother."
"Aw, shut it," Jordan snapped, and disappeared into the office of one Woody Hoyt.
TBC… if you want it. And I mean beg.
