Rating: Teen
Notes: In continuity with Things You Don't Forget, but can be read separately.
Prompt: Older_Not_Dead - ?. ?/?. New Year's Eve kiss.
Disclaimer: This is a work of fictional parody in no way intended to infringe upon the rights of any individual or corporate entity. Any and all characters or celebrity personae belong to their rightful owners. Absolutely no money has or will be gained from this work. Please do not publicly link, repost or redistribute without letting me know first.
Written: 2/2012
When Shawn had asked if they could host a small, work-only New Year's party at his house, Henry hadn't exactly expected that the whole of the Santa Barbara Police Department would be invited to traipse through his home. Thankfully, it was nice enough that for most of the evening they could be outside where the kids had taken the liberty of hanging strings of paper lanterns and setting up a pretty reasonable buffet.
Henry had, by default as much as not wanting anyone else near his wet bar, become bartender for the night. Most of the night had been a flurry of insanity, pouring drinks and making sure nobody set anything anywhere they weren't supposed to took up a lot of time – but by the time the eleven forty-five rolled around the crowd had slowly thinned until just the usual suspects were gathered around his television milling around as they watched the Pacific time countdown accompanied by terrible live acts and idle gossip.
"Still hiding behind the bar?" Karen smiled, leaning against the solid wood and presenting him with an empty glass.
"Well, someone's got to keep the booze flowing," he replied; already grabbing for the rum to mix her drink. "Besides, keeps me busy… you know I hate parties."
"You do." She nodded; "I'm pretty sure the only ones here who like them are Shawn and Gus."
Henry chuckled; "Are you kidding? They left an hour ago with McNab, something about a cat and a party hat."
Karen shook her head and let out a slight chuckled, "Yeah, well… I guess us old folks can't stand in the way of a real party animal."
"What, like Lassiter?" Henry gestured with the empty Diet Coke bottle to where the head detective was asleep in his favorite spot on the sofa. "Let's face it, this is quite possibly the least successful New Year's bash ever." He licked his lips and shrugged; "And I'm okay with that."
Silently watching as he set the drink in front of her, complete with cocktail napkin and a maraschino cherry on a plastic sword, Karen let the casual moment linger between them. "Last call?" She suggested quietly; "I'm sure between the two of us we could run them off by ten after midnight."
A slow grin spread across his face; "I can break out my Beach Boys album and have 'em out of here before the ball drops." When she laughed, he dropped his voice to a whispered purr and asked; "Nobody needs to know I don't have a date tonight."
"Oooh…" She replied, taking in an obvious hiss of breath; "Was that a subtle hint, Mister Spencer?"
He shrugged and poured himself two fingers of scotch over an ice cube. "I don't know, how's the competition tonight?"
She lowered her eyes and stirred the rum and coke with her cherry and after a long moment answered; "The, uh… the competition is out of the running."
A slight 'oh' exited his lips, but Henry was quick to hide his surprise behind the bite of his drink. "You mean…"
"You know what I mean." She cut him short, looking back up with a stern expression, "Meet you upstairs in… oh, ten minutes?"
His mouth hung open a long moment as the small crowd began to count down to the LED ball dropping.
10 – 9 – 8 – 7 – 6
"That's your cue to nod your head and get that cute blush over the top of your head." Karen took a long nip off her drink and sat it back down. "Your choice, Henry… I understand…"
5 – 4 – 3 – 2
Another slow smile tugged at his lips and he reached across the small bar, wrapping his fingers in the buttons at the front of her blouse – giving a hard tug to drag her in close as the celebrating reached it's somewhat subdued pinnacle – coworkers and their dates pausing for a kiss before blowing their celebratory horns. When his lips met hers, Henry's mouth opened and gave all the answer either needed.
1
Karen broke away with a soft groan, her hair slightly mussed and her top button popped open in the daring pull. Reaching up to wipe away the soft pink lipstick smudged across Henry's lips, she leaned in close and whispered; "Happy new year, Henry."
"About to get happier." He murmured in eager reply; "Think you can have your panties off by the end of 'Surfin'Safari'?"
She licked her lower lip and gently kissed him again before replying; "I'm not wearing any."
Mouth agape again, Henry watched in obvious amused arousal as she pulled away with her drink and snuck upstairs before they could be caught. "Alright everyone, last round – single malt shots to ring in the New Year and then you don't got to go home, but you can't stay here… who're my designated drivers?"