The papers that lay on my desk seemed to taunt me endlessly. I had planned to go out bird watching today, but apparently, this paperwork was so important that it all needed to be completed right away. The heat in the room was unbearably high as well. I sighed and glared at the offending documents that were the cause of my trouble. Terse knocking at the door interrupted my battle of wits with the pile.

"Come in," I acquiesced wearily, unable to concentrate on the task at hand anyway. Alicia stepped in energetically and smiled, but by the time she reached my desk, all of her energy had been spent. The door shut behind her with a soft click.

"Ugh, it's so hot in here… How can you sit there with your uniform perfectly arranged?"

I shrugged and regarded her curiously. "So, do you need something, Alicia?"

"Hmm? Oh! That's right…" Alicia adjusted her collar and continued, "Largo got a watermelon for us. I wanted to see if you wanted some."

Watermelon? That sounded nice… One glance down at my desk told me otherwise. Alicia's gaze seemed to follow mine. The papers seemed to enjoy torturing my existence at that very moment.

"You have work to do." The way she had said it, it was more of a statement than a question. I sighed and nodded. Varrot wanted these papers as soon as possible… "Well, I'll just go tell everyone to save some for you."

I wanted to protest, but she was already at the door. A moment had passed, however, and she still hadn't exited. I quirked an eyebrow. "Alicia?"

There was a frustrated grunt. "I can't get the door open!"

"What?" I stood out of my seat and immediately went to her side. I tried to pull the door open, but it wouldn't budge. "That's strange…"

"Strange? Is that all you can say?" Alicia suddenly grabbed my collar and forced me to look at her. "We're stuck in your office!"

Before I could protest, my mind went blank at our proximity. I could feel her hot breath fanning my face, and it wasn't helping the heat problem at all. Her tongue snaked out from between her dry lips to wet them. I couldn't help but stare stupidly.

"F-fine, then!" She let go of my uniform and staggered over to my desk. "What about your window? Can you open that?"

I snapped out of my daze and shook my head. "It's been jammed since earlier this week. It's supposed to get fixed tomorrow…"

Alicia let out an exasperated sigh and collapsed in my chair. She slowly pulled off her gloves, undid her uniform jacket's buttons and slid it off gracelessly. The offending garment landed somewhere in the corner with my field equipment. "Ahh," she whined softly. "It's so hot!"

I sighed as well and walked back to my desk, grabbing the stack of papers and sat on the floor with them. Truthfully, the floor wasn't as comfortable as my chair, but a little change didn't hurt. In this heat, it was probably the only way to get my focus back, especially with my sergeant occupying my chair. I might as well get as much of the work done as I could since there was no escape. Alicia peeked over my desk at me and pouted.

"You're still going to do all of that?"

I nodded and looked the papers over. It was mostly just new procedures that I needed to agree to; that meant that I only needed to sign all of them. I glanced up at Alicia. "Could you hand me my pen?"

"Sure." A moment later, my pen was hanging in front of my face.

"Thanks, Alicia." I took it and looked over the paperwork. Silently and diligently working, my pen painstakingly scratched across the pages for about an hour before the last signature had been given. When I stretched, a series of satisfactory pops erupted from my back. I stood up and placed the papers on my desk in a neat stack. "How're you feeling, Alicia?"

I looked up at my sergeant and almost blanched. She was lazily sprawled in my chair in a precarious position, and in the time I had been working, she had not only stripped off her gloves and jacket but also her boots and stockings and had undone the top buttons of her shirt.

"It's still too hot, Welkin…" She leaned toward me and grabbed my collar again. "Isn't it hot wearing that?"

I gulped and gently grasped her hands. "I-I'm fine, Alicia." I felt sweat nervously drip down my forehead.

"You're lying," she said matter-of-factly. Within moments, she had undone all of the buttons on my jacket and tugged my tie loose. I stared at her dumbly; I had never seen anyone's fingers move so fast and deftly. "There, isn't that better?"

I looked down and realized that I did, in fact, feel more comfortable. A grin unconsciously spread across my face. "Yeah, that does feel better, actually."

I didn't know how it had happened, but my hands were suddenly tangled in Alicia's hair. I blinked at the sight before me. Alicia was mere centimeters away, but I didn't feel the least bit uncomfortable. I could feel her breath on my lips again and struggled to resist temptation. "Welkin…"

"Alicia, I –" There was a light knock on the door before it opened.

"Lieutenant Gunther, about those papers…"

Alicia and I immediately jumped away from each other at the sound of Varrot's voice. Then it suddenly registered in our overheated minds.

"Ah! Don't let the door shut!"

"Hmm? What?"

There was a soft click.

A/N: I started writing this at the end of August on a fairly hot day. Then I forgot about its existence until today. Heated encounter between Alicia and Welkin in his office for the win! :D

On another note, I'm still working on the next chapter of Refraction. It's not really writer's block as much as it is a lack of time and the need to research some things. It's not every day I go to weddings, you know.