Authors Note: Notesofwimsey and foxdvd take the credit (or the blame possibly) for encouraging me to write a Stella/ Flack fic. It started as one thing and ended up as quite another...not sure how or why, I just know that this is the way the muse took me!

SallyJetson beta'd, hand held, encouraged and nagged and gets much much wub.

Not Even Close

'Feeling nostalgic?'

Flack was grinning as he watched a young couple groping each other while they indulged in a game of tonsil hockey. Danny grunted.

'Nostalgic? For what? A grope in Central Park?'

'Nah, the whole thing. Spotting her across the room; the thrill of the chase; the first kiss; the –'

'- the first interrogation over how much money you make. The hints on the second date about her being ready to settle down, are you? The grief you get the first time you have to cancel a date because of work?'

Flack shrugged,

'Yeah, well, that's the game isn't it? That's the fun of it?'

Danny looked smug.

'Well you keep playing my friend. I have found 'the one' and am now officially retired.'

Flack made mock choking noises, stepping sideways to avoid the good natured swipe Danny took at him.

'Just because the two of you are love's youngish dream…….'

He avoided a second, less good natured swipe.

Danny had just admitted that he and Lindsay were about to move in together. Flack was already planning two books; one about when Lindsay got rid of the Harley; the second about when the pool table got shifted out. Personally he reckoned the Harley would be lucky to last the month, although, from hints Danny had dropped, he guessed the pool table might hold a dearer place in Lindsay's heart. He reckoned that might last to around Thanksgiving.

'Got to miss the excitement though, right? I mean don't get me wrong, you've hit the jackpot with Linds, but…….'

He allowed his voice to trail off suggestively as he waggled his eyebrows at Danny.

Danny shook his head, a grin on his face.

'A wise man once told me that I'd find love one day and he was right. If it can happen to me it can happen to you.'

Flack pulled what he hoped was a disbelieving face as he shook his head.

'Well, I've not even been close so far.'

She'd parted her lips slightly as she'd wrapped her arms around his neck.

'Kiss me Don……kiss me.'

Danny shot him a look that had Flack shifting uncomfortably.

'Not even been close huh? You keep telling yourself that.'

'Did you know the first kiss can make or break a couple's relationship?'

Stella tensed and took a deep breath before she looked up from the magazine she was reading.

'Huh?'

Lindsay waved towards the New York Times on the table in front of her.

'A professor at the State University in Albany has conducted a scientific study about kissing. It says that the first kiss can make or break a relationship.'

Her eyes had been locked on his lips; lips she had imagined kissing her own so many times. A shiver had run through her as she realised she was finally going to find out how they felt.

'No…..no I can't….Stel I'm sorry but this is wrong.'

Stella gritted her teeth as a wave of embarrassment washed over her. She forced herself to sound interested.

'Really?'

'Yeah. I mean it's got the obvious stuff in here about women placing more emotional importance on a kiss than men do, and how men just tend to see kissing as a means to an end……..'

Lindsay sat forward, obviously intrigued by the information in the article as Stella felt the horror of two nights ago wash over her again.

She had offered herself up on a plate and he'd turned her down. She felt her face start to burn at the memory of his rejection.

'……and it says that 59 percent of men and 66 percent of women said that they had lost interest in someone they were attracted to after kissing them for the first time……'

He'd lost interest before he'd even kissed her. She had tortured herself for the last two nights about why.

'Stel, you OK? You don't look so good.'

Lindsay was looking concerned. Stella took a firm hold of her emotions.

'I'm OK, a touch of flu or something.'

She swivelled the paper towards her and glanced down at the article Lindsay had been reading. Attack was the best form of defence, so;

'So what was yours and Danny's first kiss like?'

A tinge of colour appeared in Lindsay's cheeks and her smile threatened to split her face in two.

'It was great……..really, really great.'

The incurable romantic within Stella, as far as other people were concerned anyway, flickered into life.

'Come on then. Tell me more. When did he first kiss you?'

'After the verdict……..in my father's truck………'

Lindsay had a dreamy look in her eyes. Stella raised her eyebrows.

'Romantic.'

She couldn't keep the amusement out of her voice. Lindsay snapped out of the reverie and grinned at her.

'It really was…..and he's a great kisser.'

Stella forced a smile onto her face as she poured herself a coffee, and managed to restrain the bitch in her from pointing out that with all the practice Danny must have had she would imagine he was an expert in the art now.

Like someone else she knew……..or rather someone she had thought she knew.

The break room door opened and Danny and Flack walked in. Her hand jerked and a wave of coffee stained her shirt.

'Damn.'

Everyone sprang to her aid, but Flack got there first.

'Here, let me.'

He was wiping her down with some paper towels, his hands making firm sweeps of her abdomen. The instant warmth between her legs shocked her and then made her as mad as hell. She glared at him and he stopped, an embarrassed look on his face.

'Er, here….probably best if you do it.'

She snatched the paper towels from his hand and pushed past, desperate to get away. She didn't miss the flash of hurt in his eyes.

'I'm going to get changed.'

The room was silent after Stella left. Flack could feel the looks Danny and Lindsay were giving each other and knew that the questions would be starting any minute. He headed for the door.

'Why don't you just tell her?'

Danny's question stopped him in his tracks. He gritted his teeth, and turned around to face him, knowing he'd have that stupid, cock sure grin on his face.

'Danny'

Lindsay at least had guessed he didn't want to talk about this, although to Danny's credit the cock sure smirk was absent. Instead he was frowning at Lindsay.

'Someone's got to talk some sense into him.'

He turned back to face Flack.

'We saw you.'

Holy crap. Please god don't let him mean what I think he means.

'Two nights ago, outside Sullivans. We saw you.'

He wanted the floor to open up and swallow him whole.

'What's the problem? She likes you; you like her………….'

Danny shrugged then glared at Lindsay as she poked him again, a frown on her face, as she shook her head to indicate that he should shut up.

There was a war going on inside Flack's head. On one hand he wanted to tell Messer to fuck off and keep his nose out of his business; on the other hand he had knew Stella was changing her shirt feet away from where he was standing and the images in his head were driving him mad.

Correction. He had reached 'mad' two nights ago. Mad had been turning her down. Mad had been not forcing her to listen to his reasons for why he had rejected her advances. Right about now he was reaching certifiable insanity.

He turned and jerked the door open. Long strides took him to the locker room; a kick opened the door.

The shock on her face, and her naked torso, stopped him in his tracks. She quickly covered herself with her arms.

'What the fuck do you think you are doing?'

Her fury had him taking a step backwards.

'I need to talk to you, I need to explain, I –'

'Explain? Explain? You don't need to explain. I made a fool of myself. I don't need you to explain that to me.'

She turned away from him. He made a half move towards her then stopped. He was sailing on the edge of a sexual harassment charge, not to mention the very real possibility of her busting his balls, if he laid a finger on her, but Christ, she was beautiful. He shifted uncomfortably as his cock strained painfully against the restrictions imposed by his pants.

'You were drunk. I didn't know if it was the drink talking when you….you came on to me…… and if it was I didn't want you doing anything that you'd regret later.'

He finished in a rush, praying she would listen to him, that she would believe him.

'Turn around.'

The instruction was curt. He turned his back to her but he couldn't stop the images of her standing before him, half naked, running through his mind.

'You can turn around again now.'

She sounded spitting mad. He took a deep breath and turned back to face her.

She was standing feet apart, her arms crossed, looking as if she wanted to do nothing more than kick him into the middle of next week. He took a step towards her.

'Stella, when you put your arms around me; when you asked me to kiss you; all I wanted to do was exactly that.'

He took another step towards her, his hands outstretched.

'But you were drunk……..very drunk, and I didn't want you to wake up the next morning and regret what you'd done.'

He took another step towards her his eyes pleading with her to believe him. She felt a flicker of hope.

'That's the only reason…………that I was drunk?'

'Yes.'

No hesitation on his part as he answered her.

She narrowed her eyes and placed her hands on her hips.

'So if I asked you to kiss me now, would you?'

Good god woman, where the hell did that come from?

In a heartbeat the expression in his eyes changed. He took the final step to close the gap between them as one arm snaked around her waist, pulling her tight against him, and the other tangled in her hair.

She heard a soft gasp, and realised it had come from her, as he slowly lowered his head, all the time holding her eyes with his own.

The first touch of his lips on hers was soft and too brief and felt even better than she had imagined it would. She pressed closer, tipping her head back and parting her lips, silently begging for him to kiss her again.

His lips grazed her top lip, then her bottom lip, then he softly kissed each corner of her mouth.

She moaned and locked her arms around his neck, pulling his head down for another kiss, then another, then another, as heat flooded her body.

The arm he had used to anchor her to him slowly moved up her back until he had both hands tangled in her hair as he cradled her head. The kisses deepened, lengthened. He parted her lips with his tongue and she acquiesced immediately.

Dear god, where did he learn to kiss like this?

Their tongues became entangled in a heated erotic dance that was sending waves of lust rippling through her body; she clung to him on shaky legs as the sensations grew stronger and stronger. She slipped one hand beneath his shirt...

'Oh god…..sorry………..er……'

Hawkes backed out of the room far more quickly than he'd come in, but the spell was broken.

Flack was staring at her, his eyes burning with a desire, a need for her, that left her unable to breathe; that scared her; that terrified her. Her instinct for self preservation kicked in.

'Well, that was nice.'

She heard her voice as if it belonged to someone else; amused yet dismissive.

His expression changed. The fire in his eyes was extinguished first by a wave of disbelief, then pain, then nothing. He didn't speak; he just turned and left the room, slamming the door behind him.

She stood for a long time staring at the door, waiting to feel something, but she felt nothing; just an emptiness that she thought she might drown in.