A/N: So, I got on a bit of a role with the 'early days' stories and this is kind of Jackie's side of "Paint" and "Movie Night" although you don't need to have read them. Slight references to "Rogue's Gallery." Hope you enjoy.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Danger
Jackie hadn't been in CID long before she discovered that Michael was really just a cheeky little boy underneath his straight-laced exterior.
She had first discovered it, quite by accident, when working on her first case as part of the team. The amused looks they'd share behind Taggart's back had first aroused her suspicion, but it wasn't until she helped him clean up after being covered in red paint that her suspicions were confirmed.
She had been pleased to have managed to make him laugh and even more so when he had returned the favour.
That was when she decided that there was definitely more to Michael Jardine than met the eye.
She then had ample opportunity to test her theory and was not disappointed. He had responded to all her teasing in kind and they often shared a private joke over something that occurred.
Her crowning moment of success in this area, however, came when she convinced him to come out with her for an ice cream and then a walk through the streets. It was one of their first 'proper' conversations and Jackie thoroughly enjoyed herself.
She found him to be very charming and easy going once he was relaxed and Jackie decided to make it her mission to make sure that he did just that. He submitted to all her attempts with good-humoured grace and she respected him all the more for it.
It was after they started their movie night tradition and she found herself doing more things for the sake of doing than with him than getting him to relax that she realised she was in danger.
In very serious danger of falling in love with him: his steady, gentlemanlike manners coupled with his wicked sense of humour that gave him a boyish charm was a very dangerous combination.
But as she looked up from the case file she was reading and caught him watching her, she mused that perhaps it wouldn't be such a bad thing.