Inspired by a scene in Nailed - Ryan's "...never pushed the dinner plate out of the way to get some?" to Calleigh. Dinner plate somehow became fruit bowl, and thus this fic. Colloquially known as the fruit bowl fic. Too bad the title couldn't have been simply that, lol! Posted once for MiamiFicTalk's prompt challenge - prompt word broken; and now fixed, cleaned up, rewritten, all that fun stuff. Usual disclaimers still apply - obviously, nothing recognizable is mine.


Calleigh hated late nights.

There was just something about coming home after the sky had gone dark that had always unnerved her. There was some peace to be found in coming home after a long day while the sun was still shining, however low in the western sky. But after dark, the cold would creep in. Loneliness would settle in, regardless of whether she went home alone or not. Returning to a darkened home always gave her that sense of loneliness. It wasn't the emptiness that unnerved her; it was the darkness. Call it what remained of a childhood fear, but more often than not, darkness had been the harbinger of less than pleasant experiences.

Unfortunately, some nights that darkness couldn't be avoided. Some nights Calleigh couldn't avoid slipping through the door uncomfortably close to midnight. She'd known this would be one of those nights since the day began. Tonight, Calleigh was beyond tired, and having driven home in the dark only served to make her that much more tired.

With a yawn, Calleigh made her way to her front door. Tonight all she wanted was to relax in a hot bath, closing her eyes as quiet music flowed through the bathroom and met her ears, the only light to find her eyes the soft glow radiating from lavender scented candles, her favorites after a long day such as this. She also wouldn't say no to somebody sitting behind her, gently rubbing her shoulders or simply holding her, and she knew the perfect man for the job. Calleigh gave a contented sigh, already feeling the day's tension begin to leave her.

As she pushed open her front door, Calleigh had expected to be hit with darkness, but it was the sheer quiet that had surprised her. Nobody was home. During the last week, that had been the norm, but tonight the house was not supposed to be empty. Especially not after last night.

Forcefully, Calleigh pushed away the tiny surge of worry that sprang up within her. Just because he's not home doesn't mean something bad has happened. It's probably just shaping up to be a long night at work for him too, just like for you.

That had to be it. He'd only just come back to her; surely he couldn't be gone again, not so soon. And, after all, she had told him that she'd be having a late night herself, and for him not to feel obligated to rush home tonight. And a late night it had been, though not quite as late as last night.

Except, last night had been a different kind of late night. Last night had left her feeling deliciously languid, deeply content. Tonight she was just tired, looking so forward to that long awaited bath prior to slipping into blissful sleep beneath soft, downy sheets; sheets that still held his scent within. Better yet would be would be to slip into his strong arms, feeling him nuzzle gently at her neck, pulling tiny giggles from her lips before they both fell into a peaceful slumber, waking up hours later at the first peek of the morning sunrise, still wrapped snugly within his embrace.

She missed him badly enough when he wasn't with her for even a few moments. Calleigh had no idea how she managed to make it through all those long nights alone.

A smile touched her lips as she reminded herself that he'd probably be home soon, and she wouldn't be alone tonight. Hopefully she wouldn't be alone for a great many nights to come.

With a sigh, Calleigh made her way to the table, gladly taking a seat. She gingerly slipped off her heels, taking a moment to rub her aching feet. The day had proven much too long, much too hard for her to wear those shoes.

But she had worn them anyway, and why?

Only to prove to him that she could.

Well, there was also the fact that they were cute. And new. But mostly, she'd worn them because of Jake's skeptical smirk and his "You're gonna wear those today?" earlier that morning.

He'd told her she'd end up paying for it. But at that point in time, paying for it was far more acceptable than conceding that Jake was right. If she did that, she'd never hear the end of it.

Except now, her feet were aching, and Jake would notice that immediately, and Calleigh would still never hear the end of it. Calleigh rolled her eyes; Jake could be so damn cocky sometimes. And he knew it.

Leaving her now not-so-favored heels forgotten for the night under the table, Calleigh stood again, wincing as her feet fully hit the ground for the first time in hours. She really had to get some different shoes for days like this. At least that was one way to one-up Jake; she could always force him to go shoe shopping with her.

She grinned slightly at the idea as she moved through the darkened kitchen, not bothering to turn on the light since she was heading through to the hallway, and then straight on to her bedroom.

One, two, three steps -- and a searing pain suddenly shot through her left foot.

Calleigh gave a soft yelp, reaching out to grip the counter as she hopped slightly on the other foot. "Damn it," she cursed, hobbling back to her chair, this time not neglecting to turn on the light.

She sat again, pulling her injured foot into her lap. Closer inspection revealed a small shard of glass lodged in her skin. Biting her lip, she gingerly eased it out, sighing in relief as the pain began to subside. Rubbing her foot with one hand, she held the shard in the other, staring at it quizzically, unable to figure out why there would be glass on the kitchen floor. Calleigh wasn't exactly an ace in the kitchen, but she couldn't remember breaking anything lately...

And then it hit her. She knew exactly why there were shards of broken glass spread about her kitchen. And suddenly her cheeks tinted; her lips curved upward as she was hit with images from the previous night.

----------

The smile hadn't left Calleigh's lips once in the past hour, not since he had called her to let her know he was on his way home.

These reunions were what she lived for. It was the promise of these reunions that kept her alive during the long nights alone. They kept her from imagining everything that could go wrong, at least most of the time.

When she'd heard his key in the lock, it was all Calleigh could do not to run over and literally jump into his arms. She wasn't exactly sure why she held back either, but that quickly disappeared from her mind as she felt him slip into the kitchen. Her breath quickened and her heart raced as she felt more than heard his footsteps closing in behind her. His name left her lips in a breathy whisper, and she started to turn to him, only to be stopped by him.

He slipped his arms around her waist, pulling her back flush against his chest as gently he nuzzled her neck. "God, I've missed you," he murmured low, deeply breathing her in.

Calleigh shivered in his arms, her eyes falling closed as she tilted her neck to grant him better access. "You were only gone a few days," she mumbled, suddenly overcome with sensation.

Jake nipped at her skin, eliciting a whimper. "A few days too many." His lips traveled upward, over her jaw line and back toward her ear. They finally settled on a spot just below and behind her ear, and at that point Calleigh knew she was gone. As soon as Jake brushed his lips over that particular spot, she was his. She felt her knees weaken, and with a contented sigh Calleigh relaxed fully into his arms.

He swayed her gently, for the moment simply relishing in the feeling of having her in his arms again. While shorter than most, this last assignment he'd been sent on had proven one of the most dangerous, one of the bleakest, perhaps because it was one of the shortest assignments he'd been given. There'd been a complication, one that very nearly cost the whole team their lives. At one point he'd wondered not when, but if he would ever get to hold Calleigh like this again.

Before Calleigh, it had been easy to risk everything.

Not anymore. Now, risking everything was risking Calleigh. And knowing that tore him to pieces every moment he was away from her; every moment he couldn't pick up the phone and hear her voice; every moment he couldn't gaze into her bright green eyes and know he was home.

He'd once been the teenager, the young twenty-something that swore there was no such thing as love, at least, not in the glamorized, fairytale sense of the word. He swore he'd never let himself be deluded into believing in something silly like that.

But then he'd met Calleigh, and suddenly, all bets were off. Before he knew what was happening, Jake was falling harder than he would've ever imagined possible. Even then, he'd been reluctant to let himself believe it, and it took falling for her, losing her, and, years later, somehow crashing back into her life again to solidify his belief. And now…now there was no doubt: this was love.

Gently he spun her, and his hands came to bury themselves in her hair as he lowered his lips to hers for the first time in days. Days that felt like months; like years. Even the fact that he hadn't been away from her for too, too long did nothing to soothe the ache he felt from being away from her.

Calleigh opened her mouth to him, a small sigh of pleasure escaping her lips. Oxygen be damned; she could stay like this forever. Her arms looped tightly around his neck, feeling as though her knees would finally give out at any moment. A rush of dizziness overtook her, and she had to break away from him to breathe, but it was only a second before her lips were back on his, kissing him as though she hadn't stopped.

It wasn't long before hands began to wander. Calleigh's hands slid beneath his shirt, feeling his muscled chest beneath her fingers. Jake pulled away slightly, groaning as her fingertips ghosted over his chest. His own hands left Calleigh's hair, reverently tracing over her face before he brought their lips back together, kissing her with more urgency than before. His fingers continued their trek downward, skimming over her sides and feeling her shiver beneath his touch before coming to rest at her hips.

"Maybe - we should - bedroom - " Calleigh managed between kisses, feeling Jake's hands tightly gripping her hips, his thumbs sneaking beneath the hem of her top, rubbing soft circles on the skin of her abdomen. Things had started innocently enough, but there was no question as to where this was going now.

Jake broke away from her lips, instead leaning farther in and catching her earlobe gently between his teeth. "Why?" he whispered huskily, the tone sending shivers racing down her spine. "We've got everything we need right here. You, me, tension coiled up and ready to burst…"

Calleigh shivered, feeling his hands sneak beneath her top, trailing over the smooth skin of her back. Her eyes closed dreamily, one of her own hands tracing a path over his chest and behind his neck, her fingers threading through the unruly hair at the base of his neck. She'd always loved the way his hair felt between her fingers.

Jake grinned, backing her up against the table, once more claiming her lips. She moaned softly, and Jake felt her other hand slip beneath his shirt, her nails scratching lightly at his chest. She gave a soft gasp as gently he lifted her up, setting her on the edge of the table before blindly reaching behind her and clearing it off with a single sweep of his arm, hearing only vaguely as various objects hit the ground, mostly with dull thuds.

But there was one object that hit the floor with a sickening crash, and Calleigh could hear it shatter into many tiny pieces. Opening her eyes, she pushed at Jake's chest, breaking the kiss as she looked down from her spot on the table. "Jake!" she protested, seeing many, tiny shards of glass staring back at her; shards of glass that had once made up her favorite table centerpiece - her gorgeous fruit bowl.

" Cal!" Jake mocked, fully expecting the glare he received.

"That was my - you - you broke my fruit bowl!" Calleigh complained, frowning.

"So? I'll buy you another one," Jake said, leaning in to kiss her again.

But Calleigh wasn't having any of that right now. "Nobody sells that kind anymore," she pouted, crossing her arms about her chest. Of course, she didn't know if that was true or not; she'd only just bought the bowl a couple weeks before.

Jake smirked. "That's funny. Because I swear I saw that same one the other day in Pier 1."

Calleigh stared. "What were you doing in Pier 1?"

"Doesn't matter. Now don't change the subject."

"Don't break my stuff."

Jake let out an exasperated sigh. "I told you; I'll replace it, babe."

Calleigh grinned sweetly, now in full teasing mode. There was no reason why she couldn't at least try to make him sweat. It wouldn't work - he always saw right through her - but she could always try. "But that one wouldn't be my favorite," she pouted.

Jake pursed his lips, moving even closer to her as he pretended to think. He could play that game too. Play, and win. "Well, this one is only your favorite because it has memories attached," he said with a smirk. "This one in particular."

"Jake!"

"I'm just saying; there's no reason we can't make memories for the new one," he teased. "Besides, Cal, it's just a fruit bowl."

"Maybe to you," Calleigh retorted, narrowing her eyes.

"Really. Okay. Name one thing about it that makes it more than a fruit bowl," Jake challenged, his eyes gleaming. "And really, what makes it a fruit bowl anyway? You never put any fruit in it."

"It's for decoration, Jake!"

"Decoration. Right." Jake snickered. "Like anybody even notices that thing when I'm around to look at."

"You? You act like you're the pretty one in this relationship," Calleigh retorted, smirking.

"Well, yeah. That's common knowledge, babe," Jake confirmed smugly, raking a hand through his already tousled locks.

Calleigh gaped. "You are unbelievable, Berkeley."

"Yeah, I think we've established that already." He placed a hand beneath her chin, gently tilting her head toward his as he attempted to drop his lips back to hers.

For a second she gave in, kissing him softly in return, but she broke away more quickly than he would've liked. "So are you just gonna leave all that in the floor?"

Jake shrugged. "I'd planned on it, for the moment. Why?" he asked, deciding if she was going to keep interrupting him, he'd just have to be satisfied with kissing her neck. He lowered his lips to her neck, gently suckling at the skin there, grinning against her skin as he heard her tiny moan, as he felt her fingers come to play in his hair once again, holding him in place. Like he was going anywhere.

"Broken glass - on the floor, Jake," Calleigh mumbled, lost in the sensations he was creating in her. "I could get cut."

Jake chuckled, his hands sliding underneath her top. "No, you won't. You're on top of the table, and I plan to keep you there. Problem solved."

Calleigh's cheeks tinted. At this point she also had no intentions of leaving that table, but for the sake of argument, she continued. She had to win an argument with him someday. "Eventually I'll have to get down, and then I'll step on the glass and cut my foot. And then I'll yell at you. You don't want that. Trust me."

He pulled back, loving the pout Calleigh gave him when he did. "Oh. I know. Believe me, I know," Jake quipped, earning a swat from Calleigh. "How 'bout this. We get done here; I'll carry you up to bed. Then you won't cut yourself, and I won't get yelled at." He smirked. "Again, problem solved."

It was getting harder and harder to argue with Jake standing between her legs, his hands now gently rubbing her thighs, sending sparks through her entire body. Still, her competitive side refused to let her give in as easily as she wanted to. "But what about when I get up in the morning? Then I'll come into the kitchen and step on the glass and cut myself."

"Not if you turn on the light and watch where you're going."

"Sometimes you can't see glass," Calleigh countered.

Jake grinned. "Way ahead of you, babe. See, once I carry you up to bed to keep you from cutting yourself, I'll come back here and clean the glass up. Problem solved. Just like every other problem you could possibly come up with."

Calleigh pouted. "What if I don't want you to leave me? 'Cause I won't. Then what happens to the -" Abruptly she was cut off, unable to finish as suddenly Jake's mouth covered her own. It had what Calleigh imagined Jake thought to be the desired effect - her mind went immediately blank, empty of everything but Jake and his lips on hers.

Too soon he pulled back, grinning cheekily at Calleigh's slight whimper. "You were saying?" he teased. He watched as she shook her head slowly, as though trying to clear it.

"…I'm out of excuses," she murmured breathlessly, her eyes gazing dreamily into Jake's.

He smirked. "About damn time," he remarked, recapturing her lips with his, kissing her deeply. No longer possessing the strength nor the will to resist, Calleigh parted her lips for him, her arms snaking around his neck, pulling him closer, gently tugging at his hair. She kissed him fervently, and Jake for the first time this evening allowed himself to become completely, utterly lost in her.

That…turned out to be a bad idea. He should've been on guard - he should've known that Calleigh wasn't going to just let the broken fruit bowl go.

Lost in the kiss, Jake only vaguely felt her fingers leave his hair, trailing over his shoulders and his chest before tugging lightly at his shirt. He felt her pulling slightly at the buttons, but he didn't think anything of it.

At least, not until he was pulled from his trance by the sound of those very buttons scattering to the far ends of the kitchen. " Cal…what?" he protested, pulling away to look down at his shirt.

Calleigh simply giggled in response. "I've always wanted to do that, sort of," she commented, as though she hadn't just ripped Jake's shirt off of him. Well, technically she hadn't ripped it off, not yet. She planned to rectify that momentarily. Right now she was busy being amused at Jake's disbelief.

"That shirt was new, Calleigh," he protested.

"Uh, if you'll remember a certain fruit bowl…" She snickered. "That was new too. And besides," she added teasingly, "why cover up that gorgeous body if, as you seem to think, everybody just wants to stare at you all day long?"

He grinned, having easily gotten over the fact that she'd ripped his shirt. He liked feisty Calleigh. And besides, he hadn't liked the shirt too much in the first place. "It's for their own good, babe. If I didn't cover this gorgeous body - thanks, by the way," Jake added, winking cockily, watching Calleigh roll her eyes, "then people would get absolutely nothing done. You know, just like you when you keep staring at me all day."

"Okay, you are way too full of yourself," Calleigh laughed.

Jake grinned, resting his hands at her hips. "Like you'd have me any other way."

"Actually, I'd have you without this shirt," she muttered, pushing the fabric off of his shoulders, smiling as Jake gladly helped her pull it away from him. "Much better," she said appreciatively, trailing one hand over his muscular chest before looping it once more around his neck and pulling him in for a passionate kiss. With the other hand, Calleigh blindly tossed his shirt somewhere over her back, not hearing the small splash that resulted.

Jake, however, did. He pulled away from her, ignoring her whimper and her efforts to pull him back in. His eyes glanced to the sink before returning to Calleigh, giving her a disbelieving stare. "You threw my shirt in the sink?"

Calleigh raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, so?" she asked.

"So now it's all wet!"

"Again, maybe you should've thought about that before you broke my fruit bowl," Calleigh replied, winking. Jake opened his mouth to reply, but instead could only sigh as Calleigh leaned forward, pressing soft, feathery kisses over his bare chest.

He buried his face in her hair, breathing in her intoxicating scent. He could tease her all he wanted, but at the end of the day, it was Calleigh that had him giving in way too easily, not the other way around. The sweet scent of her shampoo, the soft, slightly floral perfume she wore, along with something that was just purely Calleigh assaulted his senses, sending him into a daze. Those days that he worked beside her all day were almost his undoing. Concentrating on the case at hand or on whatever gun Calleigh happened to be analyzing was impossible when with every single breath delivered her sweet scent; a scent that set every nerve receptor within him on fire, a scent that somehow brought with it the feel of her lips softly pressed against his own, the feel of her silky blonde locks trailing over his chest, the sound of his name breathlessly leaving her lips perhaps only the night before.

She didn't even have to do anything, and his self control would be flying out the window. Really, he was the one who couldn't get enough of her. He was the one who couldn't keep his hands off of her.

The pace began to grow ever more frantic as the tension between them rose to a feverish level. Calleigh quickly directed Jake's mouth back to hers, moaning softly she felt him nip lightly at her lower lip before his tongue eagerly explored her mouth. His hands quickly divested her of her top, and he shivered as he felt Calleigh's hands grip at his belt. For all of Calleigh's stalling before, it wasn't long at all before the final barriers between them were quickly shed, leaving them both with the blissful sensation of skin against skin.

Lightly she murmured his name, letting out a soft moan as Jake mumbled incoherently in response against her neck. His hands rested lightly at her hips, holding her gently in place as she squirmed from the continuous assault from his lips. She let out a whimper as he nipped at her shoulder. Jake always did know how to test her control.

She pulled him close once more, shivering as his hoarsely whispered "I love you" met her ears, sending Calleigh soaring even further into delight.

And with that, there were no more words. There were no more distractions, no more reasons to stop. Nothing else mattered; nothing else existed.

And within moments Jake had erased all trace of Calleigh's favorite fruit bowl from her mind, leaving it lying forgotten on the ground below.

----------

Even a day later, the memory still left a satisfied smile on Calleigh's lips. She leaned back in the chair, a dreamy sigh escaping her lips. She couldn't be annoyed by the glass shards remaining on the floor, nor could she be annoyed by the pain in her foot.

In fact, she could barely even feel that pain any longer. It had been blocked out by the tingly feeling that had encompassed her entire body, once again. Jake didn't even have to be in the same room with her to leave her feeling like…this. Calleigh couldn't even find a word for how she was feeling right now.

A wistful smile on her lips, Calleigh glanced to the phone, hit with such a powerful longing to hear his voice, that drawl that never failed to melt her on the spot. If only she knew where he was…if he was on his way home…

By chance Calleigh happened to glance back into the kitchen, a flash of pale yellow against the steel color of the refrigerator catching her eye. She recognized that pale yellow; it was the same yellow as the small notepad on the table. With a smile she stood again, gingerly making her way through the kitchen to the refrigerator, taking the note in her hands.

She rested against the refrigerator, a deliriously happy smile on her lips as she read the note, once, twice, and again. Calleigh could almost hear him behind her, his arms around her waist as he murmured at her ear, his lips brushing it every so often. She could almost see his smirk; hear the amused snicker that found its way to his voice. And even beyond that, she could feel the sincerity in the final three words on the paper, just as she'd heard the sincerity, the honesty, the sheer truth in those same words he'd spoken the night before.

And that was enough to keep her in blissful euphoria for a long time coming.

-

'Leigh,

I checked online and made some calls today during my break. And you'll never believe it -- I found your fruit bowl. See? Told you I could find it. I thought I'd head on out there after work and get you another one. Or maybe two --after all, you never know when the first might end up broken!

Yes, I am amazing. I know. You can thank me later, babe.

I love you.

J.