Okay, I lied. I wrote more Vinwell. Happy Valentine's Day, Orwell.
Un-beta'ed and written in 24 hours or less.
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Chapter One: Little Red Hearts
There were times when Vince wished he didn't know his partner as well as he did. He would have been lying if he'd said he knew half of what went through his partner's head on the best of days, but right now it was even worse. He cared for his partner, but some days, it was hard to keep calm and composed.
She really got under his skin some days.
Today was no exception. He'd taken a look at the calendar tacked to one of the walls with a throwing knife, and immediately slunk back to bed. Of all the days for Orwell to be mopey, she'd had to choose Valentine's Day. (He couldn't really fault her for it, though; Dana was having dinner with some guy after work. His only saving grace was that it wasn't Travis Hall.)
The vigilante crawled out of bed shortly before six that evening, preparing for another patrol. Surprisingly enough, nothing was on Orwell's radar. Back when he'd been a cop, it had been fairly busy—Valentine's Day, Christmas, and Tax Day seemed to be the days to commit murder in Palm City.
Vince took one look at his partner, who was slumped over her keyboard and contemplating a mug of cold coffee, and made a decision.
"I'll be back later, Orwell," he said. The non-committal grunt he got in reply wasn't encouraging.
Half an hour later, Vince strolled back into the lair, concealing whatever it was that he'd bought behind his back. Orwell looked at him, eyebrows raised. She didn't look happy, and there were dark circles under her eyes. Vince had the same dark circles under his eyes, so he couldn't fault her there—both of them needed more sleep, or stronger coffee.
The vigilante walked over to his partner and held out what he'd bought. "Happy Valentine's Day," he said, and walked back to his bed. He smiled as he heard Orwell tearing the tape off the badly wrapped package.
Orwell looked down at the red heart-shaped box in her hands, newspaper wrapping crumpled on the floor. Happy Valentine's, the box said. The blogger smiled and opened it. The chocolate was thoughtful of him, and—she checked the packaging—she now owed him big time for finding espresso-laced candy.
She'd never liked little red hearts, but for Vince, she'd make an exception.
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So, what did you think? Mushy enough for Valentine's Day? Drop a line and let me know!