DISCLAIMER: I am in no way affiliated with CBS or CSI. All characters (except Lydia) belong to CBS. This is written with no authorization or permission and it merely a work of fiction.
Pretzels, Homeruns & The Yankees
He'll never notice me. He never even looks at me. She watched over the rims of her glasses as he strode by the glass walls that enclosed the lab she was working in.
She'd transferred down from the night shift to help with the overflow and so far, everyone on day shift seemed pretty nice, and though she'd (briefly) met Flack, she hadn't worked with him or spoken with him since their introduction 2 weeks earlier.
FLASHBACK
Lydia stepped out of the suburban at 79th and Park, grabbed her case and headed into the apartment building she was supposed to meet Lindsay and Flack in.
5 minutes later she was flashing her badge and heading into the crime scene.
"Hey Lydia. Detective Lydia Wilde, this is Detective Don Flack. Flack, Wilde." Lindsay introduced.
Lydia found herself looking up into some seriously blue eyes and dark hair that was just barely starting to gray. Wow... I didn't know the PD made em' like this.
He barely gave her a glance a nod before launching into the run down. She nodded along with him, snapped on her gloves and got down to it.
END FLASHBACK
It had been a whirlwind since then, she'd hardly spoken to him save for a few brief words here and there.
"You stare any longer and Mr. Oblivious out there might actually notice." Lindsay joked, jerking her out of her fantasy world, and effectively causing her to blush deep scarlet.
"I was not-" She started but Lindsay cut her off.
"Yes you were. And it's ok. He's hot. You're a woman. You're allowed to be attracted to him." Lindsay reminded her.
"Yeah yeah. But it doesn't matter because no matter how much I stare at him, he'll never notice." Lydia replied as she re-focused the microscope.
"What are you up to tonight?" Lindsay asked as she spread out the evidence in front of her.
"Remember that baseball ticket drawing the lab had a few weeks back? I won 1 of the 2 tickets they were giving away! I'm going to the Yankees/Red Sox game tonight! I'm so excited!!" Lydia replied, smiling in her giddy excitement.
"Oh yeah, that's right! That'll be fun! Well, if you're interested, we'll be watching the game at Freddy's, and we'll be there awhile after, so you should come up." Lindsay offered.
"Yeah, I might do that! I'm really looking forward to it. Normally, I have to pay for tickets, and that's an arm and a leg, so it'll be nice not to pay for once." Lydia went on, turning back to her evidence.
"I know. So, who else won the drawing? You know, for the other ticket?" Lindsay questioned, her voice ultra casual.
Lydia gave a shrug. "No clue. I know it was wasn't someone on nights, because I was still on nights when I won. So, I guess it'll be a surprise." She replied, her tone indicating that she wasn't too concerned with who it was.
"Hmm, well, that'll be fun… Surprises are good…." Lindsay responded, her voice trailing off.
Had Lydia been paying more attention to the sly brunette from Bozeman, she might've caught onto Lindsay's tone, but she was too focused on what she was doing and frankly, to her, it didn't matter who she went to the game with, as long as she was going.
"You comin' up to Freddy's after the game?" Danny asked Flack as they headed back to the lab after lunch.
Flack nodded. "Yeah, I think so." He replied, sliding on his sunglasses.
"Do you even know who you're going to the game with?" Danny questioned as they walked across the street.
"No. It's not anyone from dayshift, so I figure it's some dude off night." Flack replied, obviously not too concerned with it.
"Yeah. Probably some dude…" Danny trailed off as they headed into the building.
Flack was just far enough in front of Danny and didn't catch the last few words.
At 5pm, Lydia pushed back from her desk and quickly straightened her files and stowed them in her desk. She hurried to the locker room to gather her things and change.
She switched from her dark gray pantsuit to a pair of white shorts and a navy T-shirt with the NY logo over the left breast. She pulled her white Yankees cap on, shoved her feet into her white flip flops, grabbed her sunglasses and purse and headed out.
Flack exchanged his suit for khaki short and a dark blue NY Yankees T-shirt and flip flops. He slipped on his aviator shades and grabbed his keys and started toward the stadium.
Lydia found her seat relatively quickly and sat down. It was perfect weather for a game. She stretched her long legs out in front of her, resting her feet on the seat in front of her. Her eyes roamed the stadium, now more than a little curious about who her seat mate would be for the game.
Flack weaved his way through the crowd, holding a beer in one hand and a bag of peanuts in the other. He quickly made his way through the throngs of people and finally found his row.
His eyes traveled down the row and came to rest on a pair of long, toned, tanned legs stretching across the seats in front. She was wearing white shorts and a navy Yankees shirt. Now this was the kind of woman he wanted to spend a baseball game with.
He slowly made his way towards her, his grin growing as he realized that he'd be sitting next to her.
He was practically beaming when he sat down, though she'd yet to turn and meet his eyes.
She'd been so out of it, her eyes gazing off at the New York skyline that she didn't even notice someone had sat down next to her until she turned to her right, and she certainly wasn't expecting to come eye to eye with a certain brown haired blue eyed detective.
"Oh! Detective Flack! Hi! I didn't know you won the other ticket!" She exclaimed, blushing slightly as she realized there was a thousand things she could've said besides that.
He was silent. Her blush grew as she realized he didn't know who she was.
"I'm sorry, have we met?" He asked sheepishly.
"Yes… I work at the lab… Just transferred over from nights…?" She trailed off, hoping to trip his memory as she pulled off her hat and sunglasses.
Recognition spread across his face like wildfire. "Oh yeah, Linda right?" He guessed.
"Lydia, actually, but points for trying." She replied, feeling thoroughly embarrassed now. Of course he wouldn't know my name…
"Sorry. I should've known." He apologized, a little red in the face himself.
"No, it's OK, really. I mean, it's been really busy…" She responded, grappling for any sort of excuse.
"Maybe, but I should've known who you were." He told her as he settled back into his seat.
She nodded lamely, not knowing what else to say.
And it stayed like that for 3 innings. They didn't speak once. She found herself barely enjoying the game because she was hyper aware of the man next to her and the fact that he couldn't have picked her out of a crowd if his life depended on it.
Finally, after the 4th inning ended, she'd had enough. Screw this, I'm not about to let a man ruin my game. She got up and headed out to the concession stand. She bought the biggest beer she could and a giant pretzel.
She quickly made her way back to her seat, sitting down next to him again, not even giving him so much as a glance.
He however, had given her a glance. He'd given her several, in fact. He'd downright stared when she'd gotten up to head to the concession stand.
He had been silent for 4 innings, he felt completely stupid and rude for not knowing who she was and at this point, he was fairly sure there wasn't anything he could do about it.
She set her beer in the cup holder and tore off a piece of pretzel. She snuck a glance over at her co-worker. He looked like he felt just about as uncomfortable as she did.
So, she took a chance. She tore off a piece of pretzel, and without looking over, she held it in front of him. A moment later, he took it.
"Thanks." He said, his voice carrying a slightly hopeful tone.
A moment later, the crack of a bat sent the ball flying into homerun territory. Lydia leapt to her feet, hands in the air, screaming along with the rest of the stadium.
He was right there with her, cheering at the 3 run homer. He offered a high five and she returned it eagerly.
All it took was a pretzel and a homerun and the ice was broken.
She'd never had so much fun at a baseball game. They talked players, stats, positions… She was still in slight disbelief that she was even sitting next to him, let alone talking baseball.
He was amazed by her. He'd never met a girl who knew just as much about baseball as he did. Not only is she hot but she's into sports…
All too soon, the game was over, the Yankees winning 8-4. They stood reluctantly and started to make their way out. Her phone rang a few minutes into their walk.
"Hey Linds." She greeted into the phone.
"Hey, good game! Are you coming up?" Lindsay asked into the phone.
"Umm… Yeah, sure. I'm coming. I don't know when I'll be there, but I'll do the best I can." Lydia replied.
Flack's ears perked at this. He poked her in the shoulder. "Where are you going?" He whispered.
She pulled the phone slightly away from her mouth. "Freddy's, to meet up with Lindsay." She replied.
Lindsay slid her hand over to Danny's and squeezed, shooting him a sly look as she listened to the conversation going on at the other end of the line.
"I'll take you. That's where I'm headed." He told her.
"Thanks." She replied, doing her best not to sound giddy.
"I have a way there. I'll see you in a bit." Lydia said into the phone before clicking it off.
Half an hour later, they arrived at the bar, the whole way having a heated discussion about which players should be traded next season.
"Hey guys. I'm gonna get a beer. You want one?" Flack greeted Danny and Lindsay before asking if Lydia wanted a drink.
"Actually grab me a Jack and Coke, would you?" She asked, reaching for her wallet.
"Jack and Coke? That's what you drink? Nice. But I got it, I'll treat any woman who drinks whiskey." He told her as he made his way to the bar.
"So… Happy with your game?" Lindsay asked, leaning in close.
"OK, so this is gonna be girl time. I'm goin' to get a refill." Danny said, pushing away from the table.
"Yeah, I am… He didn't even recognize me at first, but we were good by the 5th inning. It was so great Linds… I really had an awesome time." Lydia gushed, unable to contain her excitement any longer.
"So… You and 'legs' over there hit it off huh?" Danny asked as he took a spot next to Flack at the bar.
"Legs huh? She's got a set of those alright. Yeah, man, it was good. Better than I thought. She knows her shit…. And she's not dumb. Most of the women I've gone to games with, they ask me a million questions or want to leave early… She isn't like that." Flack told him.
Danny nodded as he paid for his drink.
"And I'm getting' the feeling that she's different in more ways than just one." He went on as they turned and headed towards the table.
He set her drink in front of her and took a seat on the stool next to hers. She offered a quick smile and thanked him for the drink.
The night wore on and he found he was enjoying just talking to her. His earlier notion that she was different in more ways than one was turning out to be true.
At one point, "Faithfully" by Journey came over the speakers. Before they could even blink, Lindsay was dragging Danny out onto the dance floor that was quickly filling up with the bar patrons.
He stood up. "C'mon, it's Journey. I think there's a law that says you have to dance to this song or something." He told her, holding out his hand.
She hesitated for a moment, long enough for him to take a step towards her, take her hand, and lean down and whisper in her ear.
"Dance with me. Live up to that last name of yours." He said, his breath rushing into her ear.
She grinned and stood as he led her out to the dance floor, holding her hand in his as she followed behind.
His left arm went around her waist and he grabbed her hand with his free one and pulled her close.
Her body was warm against him as they moved. Her free hand rested on his shoulder. She came up to his shoulder and as a result she was breathing in his cologne. Her head was spinning with the combined effects of the game, alcohol and him. She found herself stepping in closer to him.
He felt her move closer and adjusted slightly. She felt good. She felt damn good. He liked the feeling of her body pressed to his. He splayed his fingers out along her waist, his fingers applying a bit of pressure, holding her tighter.
"I'm sorry." He whispered into her ear, breathing in the smell of her shampoo.
"Why?" She asked, pulling back, looking into his eyes.
"For not knowing who you were." He replied, the apology written all over his face.
She offered him a small smile. "It's ok, really. Don't worry about it." She told him, squeezing his hand.
"Still… I feel bad. Especially since you're just about the greatest girl I've ever met. Gotta tell ya, sort of makes me feel like an ass. Let me make it up to you…. Have dinner with me next Friday?" He asked, his hand on her waist was now on her back, tracing slow circles along her spine.
She pretended to think about it. "Hmm…. That's pretty good…. But Friday's a week away. What are you gonna do about it now?" She questioned.
He looked down into her eyes and saw the challenge in them. Unbelievable… She's not… She is…She wants me to…
"I can think of something, I guess… I mean, it's a long shot…" He replied, his tone teasingly vague.
She laughed a bit at him, and smiled. "Eh, give it a shot. You never know." She told him.
His grin was small and his hand on her back moved up to her neck and he leaned down, brushing his lips tentatively across hers.
She felt her whole body sigh in relief at the touch of lips and then scream in frustration when he pulled away.
She wasn't frustrated long because a moment later, his mouth descended on hers again, this time, he kissed her like he meant it. His lips pulled at hers as her hands wrapped around his neck, up on her tip toes, getting as close as possible.
After several deep, breathless kisses, he finally pulled back. He held her close, his gaze holding hers, his face flushed.
"Thank god for the Yankees." He breathed, leaning down to capture her lips again.
FINIS