A/N: A couple of people have been asking for more Joseph/Kidman, and who am I to say no.
Keeping the fresh cup of coffee between her hands for warmth, Kidman quietly walked out of the kitchen and made her way back through the silent house. The subtle warmth radiating from the cup helped to offset the brief chill in the air, if only just slightly. It had rained all last night and for most of the early morning, so the house was a little colder than she would've liked it to be.
Then again, she could've gotten out of bed in more than just a half-buttoned shirt.
But it wasn't like she was planning on staying out for long; in fact she intended on spending most of the day in bed anyways.
Today was the first day off she had had in months and it was well fucking deserved.
The past week had consisted of the entire office working overtime with little to no breaks between each shift. She swore she was only able to go home twice that week; most of the workload demanded that they stay at the office until all of it was finalized and sent off for review. It had been utter hell to deal with it and, regretfully, she knew it wouldn't be too long before they would have to pull that kind of stunt again. So she was going to cherish this time while she could.
She was twenty-seven years old and it already felt like she was too old for this shit.
Sipping at her coffee, she paused at the open doorway and peeked into the dark bedroom.
Thankfully, Joseph was still sleeping, and hadn't been disturbed in the slightest by all of the fumbling around she had done in the kitchen. With how many times she had stayed the night at his place, she figured she would've had a better grasp on where everything was. He was very organized, so it wasn't like everything was switched around during the few nights she wasn't here. Then again, he was usually awake before her and always had coffee ready when she got up, so she never had to deal with trying to find anything.
In fact, this was one of the rare times she was actually awake, and out of bed, before he was.
...
She swore this had to be the longest she had ever seen him sleep before.
Hell, she wouldn't be surprised if this was the longest he had ever slept at all.
Kidman caught herself smiling as she pushed away from the doorframe and slowly walked into the room, working her way towards the messy bed. She tried to keep her steps light and careful across the sometimes noisy floor, figuring the slightest creak would be amplified by the lingering silence. Joseph was a fairly light sleeper, which didn't really surprise her all that much; he was always aware of his surroundings and environment, so most noise would catch his attention regardless.
While he wasn't necessarily light enough to be woken up by thunder in the middle of the night, he could be stirred awake by a partner tossing and turning next to him.
Which was unfortunate, because on a different side of the spectrum, she was a restless sleeper- a habit she had formed over the past few years; so it wasn't surprising to her if she fell asleep on one side of the bed and ended up on the other by morning.
It had been surprising to him though.
Those first couple of nights they spent together had consisted of her, unknowingly, waking him up repeatedly throughout the night, and him being too polite to say anything about it at first.
Although, judging how he was sleeping on his back now, which he rarely did, she could only assume he had woken up at some point between the time she had gotten out of bed to now. He must've planned to get up as well, but decided to change his mind at the last minute instead.
Joseph had made some remark the night before saying that he would more than likely end up going to work anyways despite it being a day off. He insisted that there were still reports he needed to look over and last minute details he wanted to check before he signed off on them; he even remarked that since the office would be quieter today, it would be easier for him to work more efficiently with his time. If anything, he said he would just go in late so he could still catch up on some much needed sleep while the opportunity was there.
She had told him he was crazy and that, if she needed to, she was forcefully going to make him stay home with her the entire day.
And it seemed like things were turning out in her favor for once.
...
She didn't like to admit certain things, mostly for the risk of it making her sound vulnerable, but... she was fond of the way he looked when he slept.
He always looked rather peaceful- more than likely because this was the only time he couldn't spend thinking and worrying about work. At the office, he was either incredibly reserved or consistently frustrated by something, and it usually depended on what was currently going on, or if anything had happened beforehand. He had a wide spectrum of looks, but... well it was easy to notice the most prominent ones.
But right now, for once, he just looked at ease and at peace with the murderous city around them.
Of course, her sense of attraction to this particular look could've been persuaded by his messy hair and the lack of glasses and uniform.
Well, asides from the sheets bundled around his abdomen, there was a proper lack of any type of clothing really- which was, perhaps, the most convincing part.
Setting her coffee cup down on the side table, she slowly hoisted herself onto the bed and slipped herself over him; her legs carefully straddled his upper body. She brought her hands to his chest and pressed brief, light circles against him until a soft groan came free. Joseph barely seemed to stir, but warm hands brushed against her bare thighs for a short second before he slowly pulled himself into a short stretch- proving that he had been half-awake for some time now.
She watched the way his body pulled and stiffened, before he dropped his hands onto her thighs once more; his fingers curled against her colder skin, sending a brief chill up her spine.
She caught the tired smile that played on the corners of his lips before she leaned down and brought it to her own.
His fingertips traced shapes against her legs as they slowly trailed up to her hips; she felt the way his hands slipped around her naked waist and lightly squeezed, causing her to push her hips down in reaction. He briefly bundled her thin shirt in his hands as he brushed them up along her barely covered sides, before he moved to cup them against her cheeks.
With the gentlest of motions, he pulled her closer to him.
Hands moved from his chest to frame his face just the same as she opened his lazy embrace with her tongue.
A quiet moan vibrated from the back of his throat and she lightly tilted his head back to bring it out a second time.
She could hear her phone ringing suddenly from somewhere in the house, but decided to ignore it as his fingers slowly began to unbutton her shirt. Although, technically, it was his shirt; she had just snagged whatever she could find from the bedroom floor before she left to make coffee earlier. Again, she didn't plan on keeping it on for long, so it didn't really seem to matter.
Unfortunately, the caller was relentless.
Then again, so was she.
One hand drifted down to explore his chest, while the other moved to tangle in his hair- teasing the unruly, black strands; she always enjoyed messing up his hair after a long day at the office, but sometimes it was more fun to just enjoy its bed state.
Her lips dropped to the curve of his jaw and she felt the way he turned his head to one side, giving her enough room to move down to his neck.
"Just answer it."
"It's not important," Kidman whispered, as her fingers moved to assist with the unbuttoning of her shirt.
"They're just going to keep calling," Joseph insisted.
"I don't care."
She heard him give a tired laugh as he wrapped his arms around her midsection, before he pulled her in closer to him. The close warmth of his body was engaging and she tucked head into the curve of his neck before she felt him roll her into the empty bed space next to him.
And she would've been aggravated by the motion had he not immediately moved to kissing the curve of her exposed collarbones.
The mattress shifted as he gently eased her onto her back next and followed the motion with his body, partly situating himself on top of her. He kept most of his balance braced on one arm, while his free hand peeled open the loosened front of her shirt; she shuddered at the cool air that eased over her exposed breasts. His warm palm brushed against her waist before it slowly trailed up along her abdomen, following the dip it made with the brief gasp that left her.
A quiet moan escaped her lips as he moved to cup her breast; his fingers gently kneaded the soft flesh before they slowly moved to tease her nipple.
His lips were at her neck as she turned her head to give him more room, taken in by the warmth of his mouth and the subtle play of his fingers. It was almost horrible the way he had perfected the art of giving just enough to tease with, without giving everything away.
"You're not helping your case, you know."
Joseph brought his lips to the curve of her jaw, just underneath her ear, which sent another soft shudder through her body, before he pulled away. "It could be your landlord saying your apartment caught on fire again."
"It didn't catch on fire last time," Kidman corrected, as she pushed her fingers through his hair and pulled him back down to her. She could hear and feel the brief chuckle that left him as he drew his hand from her breast and moved to cup the back of her neck with it, easily giving into her hard embrace. In his semi-exhausted state, it was easy to leave bruises on his lips with the right kind of kiss, and she had every intentions of spending the day doing so; of course, there was still evidence of the ones from last night. "The apartment next door to mine did, but it didn't spread."
"Maybe it did this time," he teased, as he gave into one more, short embrace, before he pulled away from her. His fingers lightly tugged her shirt closed before they moved to brush her hair out of her face. "Just answer the phone, tell them you'll call the police if they keep bothering you, hang up and come back to bed; I will still be here."
There was no getting around this.
She had already heard the phone ring three separate times now.
It wasn't that big of a deal from either of their perspectives, but she supposed she should at least see who was calling. Not that many people called her cellphone anyways, so there was a chance it actually was someone important.
Kidman gave a brief groan as she slowly sat up; she placed one hand on his chest and practically shoved him onto his back as she did so. He quietly laughed at the gesture while she turned slightly to face him, her hand moving to rest on his bare abdomen; the tangled sheets had somewhat slipped lower to his hips now. "You better be," she spoke, as fingers traced slow circles against his stomach before they carefully dipped just to where the sheets had fallen; she caught the brief shudder that shook him at the motion.
"Then you better hurry."
She shook her head and chuckled as she reluctantly moved herself to the edge of the bed and got to her feet. Fingers hastily moved to re-button the opened portion of her shirt as she slowly headed out of the room. At this point, she might as well just remove her phone battery overall to avoid any further distractions. This was the closest she was going to get to having an entire day with just him- she certainly wasn't going to waste the rare opportunity.
Now... just where exactly did she leave her phone?
Stepping into the living room, she figured it was worth checking her coat pockets first and then just retrace her steps from there if the phone was absent. Instead though, she found it vibrating on the couch- right next to her discarded jeans.
Oh right...
The prospect of having the next day off had been exciting, so... last night got a little out of hand.
They might have gotten a little too eager when they finally got to his place.
Well, she might've just thrown him on the couch before he even had his jacket off.
Sighing, she scooped the phone up and checked the flashing ID number, wondering who she would potentially have to yell at. Part of her dreaded it being someone from the KCPD office calling to tell her she'd have to come in anyways; that something had popped up overnight and they needed every Detective out on the field right at this very moment.
Although, the office definitely would've called Joseph first, and seeing how his phone was silent, that couldn't have been it.
...
A cold chill rushed through her as the phone flashed up 'unknown number' instead.
Even without an identifying marker, she somehow still knew...
So, this could still be work calling in for her.
Glancing back to his bedroom, she was positive he wouldn't be able to hear her, but she moved closer towards the front of the house anyways; she couldn't exactly gamble on taking a risk like this right now, and if she wasn't wearing just a shirt, she would've stepped outside for added privacy. Taking a deep breath, she answered.
"I told you to never call me on this number," Kidman quietly snapped, keeping her voice low for extra measure. Her skin was absolutely crawling at this point and she could feel a knot forming in her stomach. "I have a secured phone you call me on- one that you gave me and instructed me to use in the same manner. Are you looking to fuck this up for me?"
"And you are to answer whenever I call," the voice on the other line snapped in return. "Just where exactly are you, Kid?"
She felt herself shiver at the thick tone and tried to push down the sense of uneasiness that welled up in her chest; it sounded like he was mocking her. "That's none of your business," she replied, steadying her composure for the time being. She needed to remain calm and collected; she couldn't risk getting on his bad side- Hell, she didn't even want to know what that would be like. "What do you want?"
"I'm looking for an update."
Of course.
"And you will get one when I have one," she assured, as she glanced back to his bedroom once more. Maybe it was paranoia combined with being caught off-guard, but she was half expecting to turn around and see Joseph behind her. And the last thing he needed to hear, let alone ask questions about, was what she was saying right now. "I'm still working on obtaining more information."
"I fail to see how you could be doing so with all that time you're spending on your back."
Kidman gritted her teeth at the remark, but bit back the urge to say something in return. Her quick tongue had gotten her into plenty of trouble before, but this... this she couldn't risk fucking up.
And he knew that.
"Remember who you're working for here, Kid; it'll do wonders for you."
The sound of the other line dropping was both reliving and gut-wrenching to hear.
The conversation was over with, but there was no doubt that there would be another one soon enough to discuss her undercover tactics. Or maybe lack there of.
She tried to ignore the slight shaking of her hands as she pulled the battery out of her phone and dropped the both of them back onto the couch. It would probably be for the best if she destroyed the device later- just to be on the safe side. She wouldn't want someone potentially trying to use it to trace her calls, although that would end rather horribly for whoever might attempt to do so.
She took a moment or two to calm down and recompose herself; she didn't need to go back to him looking like she had just stared death in the face.
But every step she took to get back to his bedroom only made the knot in her stomach tighter.
It was quite obvious that she had allowed herself to get caught up in living out this... sort of daydream life. She had told herself going into this whole assignment that the last thing she needed to do was get used to any of it; none of it was real- none of it would be authentic, because this wasn't her end goal.
But, for once in her life, she had a decent job she enjoyed, even if her resume had been mostly forged and her training had been half-assed at best.
She actually liked the apartment she was living in; for once, it wasn't some kind of rundown corner room with a ceiling that constantly leaked and a broken lock on the door.
Hell, she even had coworkers that she could tolerate being around- she had even gone out for coffee with a few of them. It was easy to tell they were good people just trying to do a difficult job; she wasn't so sure she could say that about the people at Mobius.
...
And she had him.
She actually had someone who was potentially in love with her.
And he wasn't someone who just wanted her around for sex, or drugs, like many beforehand; and she didn't have to worry about what might happen if she pissed him off, or caught him in a bad mood. Actually, she didn't have to worry about much when she was around him- which had taken her some time to get used to. He had actually been the cautious one going into this relationship, maybe even a little hesitant considering how their work relationship was; it seemed like he was constantly stressing over concerns and worries, while she was just living in the moment around him.
Eventually, they balanced out each other.
It used to be routine for her to leave someone's house before dawn after spending a night with them; it was just the easier way to avoid further conflict that usually showed up the morning after. And she did the same with him after that first night, or at least she had been in the process of it, before he assured her that it was fine if she stayed. So she did, and she still did even up to now.
But... he was in love with someone he didn't even know.
And there was no way she could let him find out who she really was.
Mobius already knew about him, but... now they knew about their relationship as well- and she dreaded to think of what they could do with that information.
By the time she stepped back into his bedroom, she had pushed that twisting knot out of her mind; as sad as it was, it was easy for her to disregard things when she needed to. It was a trait she was glad had come so quickly, and easily, to her. It just made this kind of work... tolerable to do.
All those years she spent forcing herself not to care, and finally making it natural for her to do, had made it all too acceptable to shove unwanted emotions out of the way. And while she knew, at least in this case, it wasn't permanent... it was good enough for now.
At the very least, she found it easy to smile at him again.
"Hey," Kidman started, as she walked in in time to see him drinking from her coffee cup. "I leave for thirty seconds and you do this to me?"
"You left it," he reminded.
Shaking her head, she walked over and climbed back in next to him- watching as he took one more sip, as though to taunt her, before he set it back on the side table. She pulled him over to her once more, feeling the heat from the coffee still on his lips. "Now then, where were we?" she whispered, as she started to unbutton her shirt once again- only to feel him take over to finish the job; his hands pushed the thin material from her shoulders and tossed it over the edge of the bed, finally getting rid of the damn shirt.
He grabbed her by the waist and gently pushed her back against the mattress.
"Is everything alright?"
Of course.
She should've known better than to think that a Detective like him would just leave a simple phone call alone. Although, she knew he was only asking out of sincerity, which was a stupidly attractive trait of his.
"It was a telemarketer," she answered, as her hands moved to push away at the covers around his waist. His body was incredibly warm compared to hers and she quickly pulled him to her, eagerly embracing his skin against her own. She felt him shudder briefly at the contact, knowing well he was just now realizing how cold her skin had gotten from walking around the house. Cupping his face once more, she pulled him down and brushed her lips to his. "Now shut up and come here..."
He was a perfect match.
He had traits she never really knew she wanted in a person.
...
And she would have to exploit him, betray him, by hooking him up to a nightmare machine.