Light
Nick and Jen were snuggled up on the sofa at her house watching a DVD and having a quiet night in when the lights flickered and went out. Everything went dark.
"Did the power go out?" Jen asked stupidly.
"I think so, yeah. Where's your fuse box?" Nick asked, moving her off him so he could stand and investigate.
"Outside on the back of the house," she replied.
Nick was glad she couldn't see his face. He had half-expected her to have no idea what a fuse box was. But he should have known better. Jennifer Mapplethorpe wasn't some damsel in distress. She could very much hold her own in any situation.
Jen remained safe on the sofa as Nick blundered about the house. She tried very hard not to laugh when he shouted out after running into a side table, a wall, and a door. But she couldn't help herself.
"It's not funny!" he yelled back through the house in response to her giggles.
Once he had gone out to the yard, Jen decided to come up with a contingency plan in case his quest to fix a fuse proved fruitless. She carefully went around the house with a box of matches and lit all the candles she kept around.
Jen had just finished lighting the fireplace, despite the warm summer night, when Nick returned.
"Nothing wrong with the fuses. And the streetlamps are out too. Must be a power outage on the grid," he announced.
"Well I guess no more film tonight," Jen replied in resignation.
"I should head home," Nick offered half-heartedly.
"You don't have to go," she said quickly.
He grinned. "Alright."
Jen sat back down on the sofa, surrounded by candles and adjacent to the firelight. "Not so dark now, eh?"
Nick just stared at her with a small smile.
She frowned, unsure what his expression indicated. "What?"
"Nothing. Just looking at you," he told her softly.
Her eyebrows jumped up her forehead. "Oh?"
"I've never seen you by candlelight before."
"Do I really look that different?"
"I guess not. But you're all golden and shimmery. Your hair shines in the light and you just...glow."
Jen was sure he could see how she blushed at his words. She tried to keep herself from laughing, not that he'd said something funny but because she was a bit taken aback and almost uncomfortable at the level of care and concern he showed her. She'd never been with anyone like Nick before. He was charming without being too smooth and smarmy. He was kind and considerate without being a pushover. He was strong without being closed off. He always took things seriously but he always had a teasing joke at the ready to lighten any mood. "I love...the way you talk about me," Jen said, stopping herself from saying the wrong thing.
He came to sit beside her on the sofa again. "And I love...everything about you," he replied softly.
As with so many things since their time undercover together, neither needed to say the words to know what was really being said. They shared a slow, passionate kiss in the firelight, and they both knew.