Title: Burning Brighter Than Fire (1/5)
Theme: Morning for stagesoflove, and love for10whatifs
Rating: PG
Summary: One day. One case. One chance.
Author's Note: Not betaed yet considering I'm coming in so close to the deadline. This was also written while cooking dinner for my sister's screaming softball team (nothing burned, yay!) but. I've just been really short on time this week.

Morning was his least favorite part of the day.

Especially mornings like this one, where he woke up cold and alone in his Lindsay-less bed after too few hours of sleep. Especially mornings after they've worked different shifts and he hadn't actually seen her since he "accidentally" ran into her in the layout room two days before. Especially mornings when all he wanted to do was curl back around her, bury his face in her curls, and pray that the city's criminals would give them just one more hour together in pillow-top paradise.

He pulled the blankets closer to him and tried to pretend there was nothing between them, instead of the twelve blocks separating his apartment and hers. He wanted her there so bad, wrapped up in his arms, warm and wanting and his.

And even though they were meeting at their favorite little café for coffee before work, that wasn't now and he was starting to get impatient. Later, as he waited for her to show up, he started to outfit a plan. He needed her in his bed, her toothbrush next to his, her clothes taking up more than her half of his closet, and somehow he didn't think just moving her stuff was going to cut it.

He had a feeling that she'd need to be convinced first (or at least asked). This required planning and words he didn't have. He might have shown up in Montana when she needed him, but he really wasn't a big romantic gesture kind of guy.

The tough guy in him, the one that told Mac he'd never fall in love, objected to dreaming of a life with her that included fancy bottles that smelled of Lindsay exotic flowers, for him to knock over in the shower when he got too clumsy. But, it was still the morning, he got a pass. As he ordered them coffee and a muffin to split, he wondered if that guy still existed.

She slid into the chair next to him, smiling and giving him a kiss, before any good ideas come to him. He really needs to come up with a plan soon because he doesn't want to share her with anyone. Especially not those in the café and especially not when she runs her foot up his calf and his gut reaction would probably get him thrown out of the place.

On the upside, he could use it as a way to try to convince her to have coffee together at his their place from then on (or maybe not).

After they finished their coffee, they walked into the office together, but not hand-in-hand. He's not allowed to touch her where their coworkers might see (apparently they're still a hushnotelling secret). Although, they both know that their colleagues know too. They're all trained investigators after all. But this wasn't allowed to interfere with work (not that anyone would think less of her for it).

There are bright red flowers waiting for her in their office, flowers he didn't send. Along with the guilty look he almost missed when he asked about her answering machine, he gets a funny feeling in the pit of his stomach.

No, he didn't like mornings at all.