Disclaimer: Perception and all of its characters belong to Kenneth Biller, Mike Sussman, and TNT.
"Remember the night you were with me?
You fell asleep by my side, strangers together, your hand in mine.
How come we never came closer when all the stars were aligned?
I thought we had a moment.
I dream of dreaming dreams of her, in twilight she's a constant blur.
The picture's clear, and I'm still fact, she's fiction."
~"Fact-Fiction" by Mads Langer
"Why don't you just tell her how you feel about her?" Natalie sighed as she watched Daniel scurrying around the kitchen, getting ready for his dinner with Kate. It had been her idea, of course, that they have dinner at his place and discuss the case that they were investigating. He recalled the cold sweat that had crept across his skin and the clammy feeling on his palms as soon as the word "sure" had left his lips.
"Because," He paused and ran his hands through his hair roughly, completely unaware of the flower particles clinging to the strands. "Because I really like the dynamic that we have now, and if I tell her that I lo...if I tell her how I feel, that is going to screw up the entire dynamic." He mused. Natalie leveled an unamused glare at him.
"Daniel, if you don't tell her, you're going to lose her. Remember what happened when you met me? You seriously need to talk to her." Daniel heaved a sigh and moved to pull the chicken parmasean out of the oven.
"I can't lose what I don't have, Natalie." He snapped, leaning his hip on the edge of the counter top and crossing his arms over his chest.
"Whatever you say, Danny Boy." Daniel opened up his mouth to respond, but a knock on his door cut him off. He sucked in a deep breath as his barefeet padded across the living room and into the entryway. He composed himself a moment before throwing the door open.
"Hey, Daniel." Kate smiled, extending a bottle of red wine to him. He quirked an eyebrow at her curiously. Kate rolled her eyes and pushed herself off of the wall that she leaned on. "The wine is for me." She answered his silent question and brushed past him into the house. He closed the door and followed her into the kitchen silently. Kate inhaled deeply, a smile settling onto her face. "That smells amazing, what are you cooking?" Daniel stared at her blankly, seeming to be unable to find the words to respond. Kate turned and looked at him, confused. "Earth to Daniel? Everything okay?"
"Oh. Yes." He wrapped his arms around his torso and shook his head. "Yes, I'm sorry, I just seem to have...lost my train of thought for a moment." He gave her a half-assed smile. "It's chicken marsala."
"I love chicken marsala." She smiled, settling into one of the chairs at his kitchen table. Daniel moved to pour her a glass of the Pinot Noir that she'd brought and collected his thoughts. When he turned back toward Kate, he was startled to see her standing directly in front of him. His breath caught in his throat when he hands landed on his chest to keep him from running into her.
"Oh. I didn't know you were standing right there...I'm sorry." He muttered, his eyes locking with hers before he began to feel uncomfortable and let his eyes fall to the glass in his hands.
"I'm sorry, I do tend to sneak up on people." She chuckled and pulled the cup from his hand to set it on the counter. "You know, Daniel, you seemed to be a bit...off today. I wanted to make sure that everything was okay with you." She whispered, her voice low and gentle.
"Yeah, I'm okay. I think." He gave her a nervous chuckle and shrugged. "I think it was just stressful today, it kind of threw me off. I didn't mean to seem rude or withdrawn. That just happens sometimes. Occupational hazard or something like that...actually, it's not really an occupational hazard, because when I was just doing my lectures, Lewicki made sure that it didn't happen. But now that Lewicki is on vacation, it seems that its getting worse, and I'm pretty sure I should see someone about it, but I'm too damned stubborn for that." He knew he was rambling, and he knew that he should stop, but he couldn't seem to get himself to just stop talking.
"Woah, Daniel, slow down. It's okay. I understand, I just wanted to make sure that you were alright." Kate chuckled, raising her hand and placing it gently over his mouth. He swallowed his words and nodded slowly. Daniel took a moment to marvel at the little electrical sparks that shot through his lips at the feeling of her skin on his.
He allowed his memory to wander back to a dark, and damp parking garage that was filled with promises of meetings and stolen kisses against the side of a police cruiser. His face heated and turned beet red when he realized that she'd been trying to get his attention.
"You sure that you're up for company?" Kate questioned. He knitted his eyebrows and nodded slowly. His eyes flicked to where Natalie was perched on the edge of the counter, swinging her legs and sipping red wine.
"You know, there is an oppourtunity right in front of you to have an actual relationship. Not one that you have to feel embarassed about when people catch you talking to the air." She whispered, hooking her thumb at Kate. "So, why don't you take the chance?" Daniel sucked in a deep breath and paced the length of the kitchen twice before he froze in his tracks and turned to face Kate. He ran his fingers through his messy hair roughly and strode across the room until he was directly in front of her.
"I need to test a theory, Kate." He whispered, one of his hands falling to her hip, and the other curling around the back of her neck to pull her to him. He tugged her forward until her body was flush against his, and wrapped his arm tighter around her waist. Daniel heard her breath hitch in her throat when his nose brushed over hers. He hesitated, giving her the option to back out of the storm of insanity that was 'Doctor Daniel Pierce', but when she nuzzled her nose against his, he leaned in and brushed his lips over hers.
The kiss was tentative at first, but when he allowed himself to sink into the feeling of her kissing him back, it turned passionate. He ran his tongue over her bottom lip lightly until she granted him access and he flicked his tongue over the roof of her mouth. The little sigh that escaped Kate's lips drove him mad and had him pressing her back against the counter top, the polished marble digging into her skin. If it pained her, Kate failed to mention it, so he pressed on, biting into the kissing like a man starving.
When the need for oxygen drove them apart, he pressed his forehead against Kate's and glanced down at the shy smile playing on her kiss swollen lips. She snaked her arms around his neck and placed a kiss to the end of his nose.
"Were the results conclusive, Doctor Pierce?" She whispered, drawing a rumbling laugh from his chest.
"Not as of yet. I'll need to do a few more tests, I'm sure." He smirked, running his thumb in slow circles over the bared skin at the base of her back. Kate nodded playfully and sank into another deep kiss as they stumbled towards his room, the chicken marsala laying forgotten on the cooling stove.
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Hours later, pale moonlight streamed through his bedroom window and washed over Kate's ivory skin. He ran his fingers over her bare shoulder as she snored softly. Natalie smirked at him from where she peeked her head in the doorway. He shot her a disapproving glare.
"I told you so." Natalie whispered, crossing her arms over her chest. "You don't have to keep squeezing her so tightly, Daniel. She's real. This isn't a hallucination and you're going to wake her." He opened his mouth to protest, but Natalie shook her head to cut him off. "Don't even try to pull the 'hallucinations lie' crap with me, Daniel. Just enjoy it. This isn't fiction, and you aren't dreaming. She is lying beside you because she wants to be, not because you thought her up." Natalie gave him a smile before she seemed to just fade away into the wall.
Daniel gave Kate's shoulders one last gentle squeeze and looked down at the halo of brunette locks haloed on his broad chest before smiling and allowing himself to fall into a comfortable sleep for the first time since that frat party where he met 'Natalie.
Thoughts? Drop me a review and let me know.
Much love,
J. Rook