Fresh off his first patrol as an HPD beat cop, Junior Regins had learned an invaluable lesson from walking those streets:
Pepper spray just narrowly lost to getting shot in terms of pain. What exacly was in that concoction ?!
" It still burns. ", he lammented, making his way into the 5-0 Palace's sunlit Ops Center the morning after his encounter with the vicous spray. As the paramedics had told him, he must have some kind of allergic reaction to the mace, which would defineitley explain why he still couldn't stop blinking every few minutes. Tthe urge to rub his palms into his eyes hadn't gone away either.
It was somewhat of an improvment- as opposed to how his entire face had felt that it had been set ablaze seconds after he'd been hit- but Junior still found himself mildly ticked off; He'd only been trying to help, and for that, he'd gotten pepper sprayed ?! The more levelheaded side of him reminded him that you had to expect unpredictable reactions from the public, but even so !
The locals on this island really were strange. As if Jerry wasn't proof enough of that. Junior had been in plnety of different locales during his days in the SEALs, but ultimately, there wasn't anywhere like home. Which, as he'd just found out, wasn't always a good thing.
" Hey, Junes, if you want, I could call the Fire Department ".
Well, at least home had more folks you knew. He wasn't alone this morning; fellow 5-0 newcomer Tani' Rey was walking beside him, and her playful faux-serious question abruptly reminded Junior that he's spoken out loud.
" Hm ? " Blinking, ( not because of the lingering effects of the spary, for a change, but out of surprise ) Junior glanced to his right to find the beautiful fellow rookie of his smirking at him, with a badly disguised attempt to appear innocent.
As if she'd stopped doing either after he'd gotten blasted by that spray. Yes, she'd gasped in shock right when it happened, but shortly thereafter, had declared her intent to spread the word of the incident to everyone they worked with.
Not that Junior could fully blame her for wanting to do that. It was just the sort of thing he'd gotten used to in his Navy days.
" Well, I appriciate your concern, but I think these drops will be enough. Hopefully. "
Reaching down into one of his cargo pockets, he fished out and help up a small plastic vial for emphasis. It was filled with a solution that would soothe the irratation, and reverse its effects.
Then almost immedietley wound up rubbing his eyes, as a wave of said irratation struck again. It wasn't as bad as yesterday, where it'd been every few seconds, but it wasn't not a problem. Yet.
" Ow, ow. "
Graciously, Tani resisted the urge to chuckle. Or, just as likey, she was interested in giving him just the smallest of breaks.
" Hey, I am concerned. , FYI. "she promptly informed him. " Otherwise, I wouldn't have offered to escort you to work today. I know you're a big boy and all, but I can't really explain to our boss that his protege is home sick with some bad face rashes, can I ? "
So much for breaks.
" Woah, woah. Hold up there a moment. " Junior pocketed the vial, and turned to face her, coming to a halt as he did. Deftly, Tani mirrored him.
" Doesn't that say I needed needed your help ? Becasue, let's be honest: You offered to come in with me. As in, you volunteered. "
He took relish in how Tani promptly crossed her arms, and locked her tongue in response. " Oh, Junior. Such a prideful man, you are. That must be normal for Special Ops. Our dear commander notwithstanding."
" You mean SEALs in particular ? Or just me ? "
Tani canted her head to one side, contemplating.
" Well, technically, all of them, But, mostly you. "
Her answer was delivered with a small laugh, and Junior soon had one as well.
It was all getting familar for both of them, this form of bantering/actual, real conversation. It was something they'd slipped more and more into after they'd begun working together on the taskforce these past few months.
Junior knew he'd gotten used to this. He enjoyed this kind of casual interaction that had nothing to do with work and let one just feel relaxed around one's teammamtes; it somewhat reminded him of the exchanges he used to have with his SEAL comrades on the SEAL team. That had been one of the bedrock layers of that former life, and after he'd begun his new line of work here in America's island kingdom, he's hoped to experiance it again. And, he had.
( Though, not quite, of course: There were no girls in the SEALs ).
Yet for all of that, , there was something different about that whole dynamic now. Even as they both chuckled just now, a lingering realization came up again to the forefront of his mind.
For some intangible ' why ', this didn't just seem like casual back and forth anymore, at least not to him. He'd only noticed it today, and just now, in these last few minutes, he'd become sure it was real, and not just some strange, fleeting thing that would go away when they were anywhere near each other. Now that he was in her presence again, and he still had this feeling, he was more and more convinced it was here to stay.
Question was, what exaclty could he call it ? Fondness ? Affection ? It seemed like those, at least. Was it that, really ?
"Ah, Earth to Junes ? ". Tani waved a hand over his face. " You zoned out for a second there. Everything allright ? "
Junior blinked again, wihtout any of the lingering stinging for a change. He had indeed zoned out, twice now.
" Hm ? Oh, yes, a little. It, uh, still strings. " He backed up the hasty exsuce with a quick rub across his face, which didn't actually do what stinging there was any favors, but he did his best to hide it from her.
Which he suceeded in doing, but only partially.
Maybe Tani did realize that he was telling more than he was thinking ( which Junior didn't doubt much, if at all; Women always found out the truth ). Or, maybe she really was worried about his well being ( Which was admitedly something he was sure she did more than he thought he knew ).
Either way, what she said next didn't seem out of place at all:
" Allright, you poor thing. This needs a woman's touch. Come on. "
Without furhter ado, she took him by the hand. With gentle firmness of someone used to dealing with men who were sensitive about getting help from others ( wether they realized it or not ), she towed him over to her office, unlocked the door, and ushered him inside.
They were essentially alone in the Ops Center; it seemed, for once, they were the first ones to arrive that day, which was inherently odd. After all, Steve, Danno, and Grover were all the ones in charge here, and they were usually the first ones in, already organizing the day's tasks, case or no cse, before the rest of the taskforce personnel showed up. If any of them had been here, Tani and Junior would've heard Steve and Danno's arguing/ bickering by now.
They had the place to themselves, for now.
" Figured I'd be the one to play corpsman to you. " , Tani remarked, bemusedly, as she bade him to sit on one of the padded chairs in front of her desk. " You men would be wrecked without us. "
Junior did as she wanted him too, taking a few seconds to adjust his postion on the memory filled cushion.
"Comfortable ? ", Tani asked, raising an eyebrow at him. " Done fidgeting yet ? "
Junior froze.
" Well, I've never been here beofre " he admitted, with that bashful off-to-the-side-glance of his his.
" Mmm Hmm. Now, where's that vial ? "
To answer that, Junior fished it out again, and help up the small plastic container. Tani smoothly plucked it from him, and began to examine its printed instructions.
" This, um, won't really be painful, will it ? ", Junior inquired, with a lopsided smile of someone who wasn't exactly eager for something- and getting eyedrops put it definietly counted- but was trying to make the most of it while they had to deal with it.
' There he goes again, trying to be all charming and suave again ', Tani thought, with a small smrik, uncapping the vial. Some things didn't change.
But, others things did.
And then, it was Tani's turn to get his by something that had at the back of her mind for a while, and only now, today, was coming up to the front.
The realazation in question: everything between them just seemed- for lack of a better word- electric. Tense, but in a weirdly good way. When they'd first met, there hadn't been this kind of energy in the air between them, but, that was then. Between then, and now, there'd been a change. Some kind of shift, and she'd noticed it more and more each day, accumilating and getting stronger.
' This is pretty distracting. But, that doens't mean that's a bad thing. I'd know otherwise '
" Ah, Doc Rey ? There's no rush, you know. Just saying ".
Oh, great. Now she'd been caught with her head somewhere else. The irony was not lost on her.
"Oh ! Oh, right. Yes. Hold still. Let's begin ".
With such encompassing thoughts thoughts on her mind, Tani uncapped the vial, then braced her knee on the chair cushion in the narrow space between Junior's leg, and the side of the armrest, to get a better angle to administer the drops.
" Eyes open. ", she commanded.
" Oh, boy. " Again, though, Junior obeyed, retracting his eyelids back as far they would; Tani placed her thumb and forefinger to make sure they stayed that way.
And became keenly aware that she couldn't remember having touching his bare skin before. It sent a distinct tingling sensation up her arms, and spreading into the rest of her.
It was distracting. In a good way, for sure.
She tried to hide it; this- what this was- had to hadndled carefully, or it would just get awkward. She tried to do the trick with some small talk, as she carefully eased a drop out of the vial.
" So, tell me something, Junes: Yesterday, on a scale of 1 to10, how much did this hurt ? "
A drop landed right at that moment.
" Ah ! " Junior involuntarily blinked again.
" That bad, huh ? "
It was an amusing coincidence, and she smirked at it, though she quicky then hoped Junior wouldn't think it was at him.
Fortuntetly, if he did, he didn't show it as he resonded to her question, once again becoming still:
" Just the drops, Tani. They kind just sting more than I thought they will. Getting lit up by that spray was defintely a 10 though. This is about a 4 ".
" Well, from the way you wailed like a 5 year old back there, I thought as much. That's quite a howl you've got ".
That got a laugh out of both of them, as Tani carefully applied another drop. If Junior said it was painful, then she would try to avoid as much of that as she could for him.
" At least you were there, though ". Junior continued, managing to only a slight wince this time as another drop landed. " I mean, you did find it all funny, but you still cared. I think. In your own way, I suppose ".
" Oh ? " The corner of Tani's mouth turned up a bit in a smile. " Well, I thought it'd be safe to tease you a bit. After all, you were in the SEALs; I'm sure you and those boys razed each other constantly ".
" Well, yes, we did. But, there weren't any girls on the Teams, and there still aren't . Navy Corpsmen, sometimes, but that was it ".
Oh, now it all made sense.
" Aha ! So, that's what this is ! A ploy to get a little tlc from a lady ? "
As she said it, releasing the last drop, and then proceding to cap the vial, some side of her, somwhere, thought this whole exchange should've been a fragment of thier usual back and forth. More of the good natured teasing that that accompanied them from when they'd first been teamed up, under the banner of the 5-0 team.
That would've been normal.
It wasn't, though. And there was no point in pretending otherise; she knew that to a fault now. Judging from the look in Junior's eyes as she found herself meeting them- which were actually looking better now, no doubt the drops were doing what they were supposed to-he was on the same page.
He's on the same page. Ok, I wasn't sure before. No longer
Everything seemed to have taken a strange turn, just the way it had the Chirstmas party only a short while ago. They'd crossed some kind of threshold back then, and nothing had ever been the same. It had been a slow change, a suble one, but now, they both understood what they'd both already known.
There was something real between them. And they couldn't deny it any more.
Junior expressed that first. He abruptly stood, carefully wiping away the last of the drops.
The sudden movment put him rather close to Tani, who nearly forgot she hadn't given the vial back. Instead, she now found herself face to face with him.
Intamitely close.
A flurry of thoughts went through her mind, and that tingling sensation came back again; All of them from the last wonderings of her that he just had something to say to her, something just casual, and- well, that was it, wasn't it ?
' Oh, that's just fooling yourself '
' I have been '
She was proven right, when only a heartbeat later, Junior swiftly pulled her right up to him, and kissed her on the mouth.
' He knew ', was Tani's only coherent thought, as she instinctively kissed him back.
Junior knew, somehow, that she'd be ok with this, that she'd accept a kiss from him. It was just like one at that Christmas party, except that now, he was leading the way.
And Tani felt nothing negative about this. She hadn't before, and the same now.
Finally, after long enough that they both felt the need to breathe, they pulled back, but still were only a few inches apart. They were both keenly aware of that now, but it didn't seem so unfamiliar anymore.
Not by a long shot.
Neither said anything for a few seconds; there'd been a rush of adrenaline, along with a strange mutual speechlessness that usually comes right after a man and woman share thier first real kiss.
This was the next step on a road they'd been walking together. One they still had a ways to go. That was fine. They'd walk it together.
After a few heartbeats, Tani finally got it together enough to speak:
" Bold ".
It came out by reflex, the first thing that came to mind. She made sure to look him in the eye when she said it.
And found he was smiling too.