Closeness, In The Dark
Set in A La Carte when the lights go out on Catherine and Warrick at that eating in the dark restaurant and Warrick has the night vision goggles on.
'Can you turn off the lights for a second?' he asked, fiddling with the object in his hand. Night vision goggles, he predicted, but it was time for him to have his fun with Catherine. He wouldn't tell her a thing.
Pressing the button, the lights began to dim, which made Catherine giggle slightly.
'I'm sorry,' she said, trying to recover. 'But this is a stupid idea for a restaurant.'
She had no idea that he was watching her, the night vision goggles giving her a pale green aura. There was no doubt, Catherine Willows stood out from the crowd. She had an ethereal beauty about her, something that was just so attractive to him, something that he had kicked himself about not trying to possess, instead marrying Tina in the heat of the moment.
Ah, Tina, the wench who practically ruined his life. Why did he miss out on an opportunity to be with Cath to marry Tina? Argumentative, cheating Tina...
'I need to see what I'm eating,' she remarked, holding her hands up as if to feel around where she was, not feeling comfortable with not being 100% sure of where she was and where she was heading.
She carried on as normal, not knowing that a pair of emerald green eyes like precious jewels were watching her surrounded by green shades, imagining, no, fantasising about everything that could be accomplished between them if the timing was spot on.
She continued to look around her, her eyes adjusting to the lack of light somewhat, but still not being able to see fully. But he could see her perfectly.
Beginning to move closer to her, his inspection of her grew. He just wanted to be close to her. Edging closer and closer, she didn't even notice him there.
Breaking the silence that had enveloped between them, Warrick stated, 'I can see just fine.'
She turned towards where she heard his voice, her face confused about how he could see and she couldn't. Something had to give...
Her eyes looking to every corner that she could lay them on, she said, 'Where are you?'
She didn't realise that she was practically nose to nose with him.
'Right here,' he said softly, smiling to himself at the confused, slightly weirded out look on her face.
Looking up and down, she said, 'Oh...'
It was as if everything was becoming clear now, this might just be a case breaker...
Raising her hand, she clicked the button to turn on the lights. Once they were up, she realised how close Warrick had got without her realising a thing. He could have stayed there and admired her forever, all without her noticing anything at all.
As they gazed into each others eyes, thinking about moving in for that kiss that would change everything, Warrick held up the night vision goggles in his hand.
'Hi,' she said breathily, it only just occurring to her what a strange experience that was.
'Hi,' he replied with a smile.
As the screen lifted, their blinkless gaze into each other's eyes stopped, both of them tilting their head slightly back beyond the screen.
'Night vision goggles?' she asked, slightly bemused.
'Someone left these behind,' he stated.
'Kind of defeats the object of dining in the dark,' she pointed out.
'Unless you don't come here for the food,' he replied. It was a valid point, if opportunities like that presented themselves when dining in the dark like the opportunities he'd previously had with those goggles with Catherine in the darkness, maybe he should bring Catherine here, just once, and see what would happen...