A/N: This is not beta-ed, so please forgive any mistakes.
A/N2: I was trying to come up with a J drabble for my WIP Alphabet Soup yesterday, and I came up with the idea J could stand for Jardin. However, I could not get the scenario down to 100 words (seeing as I'm 900 plus words over the drabble limit) so therefore you get this short ficlet. I hope you enjoy!
A/N3: This is inspired by my mother who decided that she wanted a "pretty" flower garden a couple of Saturday's ago as well as the fact that summer is here/almost here. OH! I use to (like four or five years ago?) watch Trading Spaces and While You Were Out (although I think that show has been cancelled lol) but, uh, let's pretend it's still being shown for this story. As for timeline, I go by TWT (Timeline, What Timeline?).
Disclaimer: I still claim no ownership of CSI (and I'm still upset about that fact).
She was listening to music on her iPod so she didn't hear me come outside. She was also very focused on her current task.
I stood, leaning against the doorframe, watching her.
She was muttering under her breath. I smiled because I didn't realize she had such an imaginative way with words.
Today was a precious rarity in our life. We both had the day off together, which was something I always treasured. Usually, we would stay in and watch a marathon of some Discovery channel show or watch some classic movies on the TCM channel in our loungewear. However, when we woke up for the day, I found that Sara already had an itinerary of what she wanted to do. She wanted to plant flowers alongside our driveway as well as some bushes and other flowers in front of our porch.
I fully blamed Catherine, who had introduced Sara to the channel known as every guy's worst nightmare: The Learning Channel. Or maybe that was Lifetime? I often got the two confused. All that was on TLC it seemed was home improvement type shows. Sara had become addicted to some show called Trading Spaces and another one named While You Were Out. She had told me that Catherine thought the carpenter Andrew Dan-Jumbo on While You Were Out was a "hottie," but she then assured me that she did not hold Catherine's opinion of the man. It wasn't like I was jealous or anything… or, well, not that much. Just because the guy was younger and had some major muscles… I repeat I was not jealous.
Needless to say, I couldn't say no to Sara. So that was why when I would have preferred to stay in, we went shopping for plants and flowers, plus gardening tools since we lacked ownership of them. When we had arrived back home, Sara told me that she did not need my help. She wanted the flower garden so she would do it herself. I had tried to tell her that she might be in over her head and that it wouldn't be as easy as it looked on television. She had shooed me inside the house with orders to 'take it easy.'
That was nearly two hours ago.
She paused, wiping her brow. Then she threw the tool she had been using on the ground to join the four others she had apparently gotten annoyed with and tossed aside earlier. Finally, she looked up and saw me watching. She turned off her mp3 player and took out her earplugs so that she could hear me.
"Hi, honey. Need some help?" I asked. This was the second time I had come outside to offer assistance since she had started her mission to have the 'best-looking lawn of the neighborhood.' The first time she had a pickaxe in her hand so after she had said no I quickly made my way back inside.
"No. No, I can do this. I wanted this flower garden. Damn it! And I told you that I wouldn't bother you with it. This is going to be my special project," she said, placing a hand on her hip while the other shielded her face from the sunlight.
"If you change your mind…" I trailed off when I saw her eyes narrowing. "Okay, that's a negative," I thought as I re-entered our house where it was nice and cool.
xxx
An hour later, I brought out some ice cold water for her to drink. It was an extremely hot day. Her hair had come down at some point, and the humidity had caused it to start to curl around her face. Her clothes that had been clean were now covered in dirt. I could see her body glisten. We had already previously had the conversation where she informed me that women do not sweat; they glisten or perspire. They never sweat because that was what men do.
I do know that she would think she looked awful if she saw herself in a mirror right now, but I thought she still looked beautiful, covered in dirt and all.
This time she heard me come outside and stopped working immediately.
I raised the glass of water I had brought out in greeting.
After taking the glass and gulping down half of its contents, she said, "Thank you," before sitting down on our front porch steps.
I took a seat by her and surveyed the work she had accomplished. She was trying to get rid of all the grass before she began planting. So far, she had managed to make the ground more uneven. The grass and weeds she had already taken up were in a growing but scattered pile. "It looks…" I stopped because I wasn't sure what to say. I tried again. "It's looking quite…" I still couldn't find a 'neutral' word to describe the mess she had made.
She turned to glare at me. After sipping more water, she said, "Don't look so smug."
I held up my hands in the air as if in innocent defense. "I'm not. I'm not. It's hard work. You've done…well." I smiled, hoping to diffuse any potential anger she might have towards me.
"It is hard work," she agreed. Then, as an after thought, she added softly, "A lot harder than I thought it would be at least…"
I took her hand in mine and laced our fingers together. "You do know that it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to ask for some help, right?"
She didn't respond immediately so we sat in silence for a few moments. She drained the rest of her water and sighed. Standing up, she walked over to the yard where the gardening tools were and picked up two tools. Holding one out toward me, she said, "Okay. Will you help me?" Before I could respond, she quickly warned, "And don't say I told you so."
I managed to hide my smile. "I wouldn't dream of it," I said before I kissed her. Taking the garden spade from her, I said, "I am more than happy to help you."
Two hours later, we were beginning to plant yellow tulips alongside our driveway when she looked at me and said, "I love you."
"I love you, too."
Ten minutes later, she spoke up again. "So, what do you think about redecorating our kitchen…?"
I frowned and thought, "Damn Catherine and The freaking Learning Channel!"
A/N4: So I hope you enjoyed this little ficlet, and that you're happy that I wasn't able to get it down to 100 words lol. Let me know what you think? Reviews are like sunshine!