Disclaimer: I don't own anything, Dick Wolf does....blahblahblah no infringement intended blahblah...
A/N: Hopefully this, my humble first story, doesn't suck too terribly. Enjoy!
Chapter 1: Left
"You're left-handed."
Detective Goren looked up from writing in the case file he'd been poring over to glance at the woman sitting at the desk across the aisle from his. "What?"
"We've been working in such close proximity for....what is it, three years? I've never noticed you were left-handed before," Detective Stotts shook her head and let a small chuckle past her lips. "But I know that's probably a weird observation to make so..." She turned back to her laptop, feeling slightly embarrassed at her sudden lack of ability to keep her musings private. It had been a weird day.
Goren rubbed the back of his neck absentmindedly, caught off guard by his colleague's odd epiphany. He kept his gaze in her direction as she began to type furiously, a light blush flooding her already rosy cheeks as she bit her lip in sudden concentration of her work.
Laura Stotts was an enigma; she had joined the Major Case squad a little under four years ago, standing out if not for her young age than for her impeccable knack for deciphering body language and handwriting. The 29-year-old had been an important asset to the squad and had been assigned to a handful of the same cases as himself and Eames, but for some reason their interaction had been kept to a minimum. Their spontaneous exchange was probably the most they'd spoken to each other all week.
What was equally as alluring about her, at least as far as Goren was concerned, was how stunning she was. He'd never admit it, but he'd held a somewhat cautious attraction to her since her first day at 1PP. She was an unconventional beauty; her hair was a warm honey brown, falling in soft waves halfway down her back, a shade that perfectly accented her big hazel eyes. She was by no means overweight, just curved in all the right places, her flatter chest only making her upper body appear more slender, her legs more shapely. She was no doubt the kind of woman that was very insecure when she was younger, but now she carried herself with such a strong sense of self-assuredness it was a surprise she didn't have every male detective at her heels.
"I'm going to grab some more coffee, you need a refill?" Goren was snapped from his reverie as he realized Stotts was no longer sitting at her computer, but standing at the side of his desk with an inquisitive look on her face. She tucked a few stray strands of hair behind her ear as she awaited his response.
"Oh...sure. Thank you." he handed her his coffee mug with a polite smile and she walked away, headed towards the break room. Clutching his forehead, Goren looked back down to the case file in front of him, trying to regain what concentration he'd had minutes before.
"Cream and sugar?" Stotts popped her head out the break room door for a moment.
"Neither, thanks." Goren replied without looking up, playing with the blue pen he held in his left hand as he turned the page, skimming through various reports. Stotts returned moments later, setting his coffee cup down in front of him as she passed his desk on her way to her own. She sat back down and resumed typing, taking an occasional sip from her own mug and making no additional conversation.
As if to purposely thwart his attempts to further interact with her, Stotts' partner, Derek Stevenson, a lanky blond slightly younger than himself, sat at the desk in front of hers and handed her a small stack of folders. Looking up from her coffee, Stodds' warm hazels steeled over as she scanned the grisly photos in the first folder. She was back in cop mode.
"Have we gotten anything from the cousin yet?" her words had a ragged, concrete edge, completely opposite of the tone she used just moments earlier, but then again homicide and caffeine weren't exactly the same conversations. She pinched the bridge of her nose and looked back up at her partner, who could only shake his head tiredly.
"I was hoping you could."
"Dammit," she swore, standing up and flipping the folder shut. She picked it up along with the pile of others and headed off towards the interrogation rooms, Stevenson in tow.
"You know, one of these days she's going to catch you staring at her." Alex Eames' voice suddenly came from in front of his desk and Goren was caught off guard yet again; he was starting to think that he'd been letting that happen way too often lately.
"One of these days you're going to give me a heart attack, Eames."
"Oh, like I of all people would." Eames sat at her desk, smiling at her partner, who'd gone back to trying to get work done in an attempt to cover what embarrassment she'd caused him.
Detective Eames had watched with mostly amusement as her partner quietly became increasingly enamored with their coworker. In the few cases that were big enough that they were assigned together with Stotts and her partner she'd noticed Goren was the slightest bit, if only noticeable to her, off his game. Not so much, mind you, that any speck of evidence would pass under his scarily brilliant radar, but just enough to be...well, cute.
"Have you ever considered the option of, I don't know, asking her out for coffee or something? It's been four years, Bobby. Come on." It was all she could do to keep from smiling at the look he shot her.
"I've just....just been trying to work up my nerve, I guess. I don't know, Eames. Are you here to help me on these case files or are you going to sit there and make fun of me all day?" Goren tossed a folder onto the visibly entertained woman's desk, taking another sip of coffee.
Eames chuckled once again, casting another glance at Goren from over the top of the manila cardstock. No way Goren was going to live this one down.
Evening found the eleventh floor close to empty, Goren finding himself relatively alone at his desk, save the fact that Stotts was at hers, writing the last of her notes down in a case file. Word had gone out that she'd successfully interrogated one of the suspects in the case she and Stevenson were working on, but it'd resulted in her taking a pretty hard slap to the face from said suspect, getting pretty close to physical violence herself. It had always somewhat surprised Goren to hear stories like this about her, but at the same time it made him admire her more, knowing that she was a little like him in some ways. She showed the same level of odd determination he did when it came to closing cases.
Goren leaned back in his chair, necktie long since removed and lying neatly folded next to his coffee cup. He heaved a barely audible sigh and stood up, gathering his things and turning off his laptop, before he turned to Stotts, who sat rubbing her temples in frustration.
"That doesn't work, you know- the....the whole staring trick? I've tried it; doesn't get them done any faster." He flashed her a small smile as she looked up at him from the folder that'd been giving her so much grief, a hand instinctively going up to rub the back of his neck.
Stotts shot him back an equally charming grin. "Thanks Goren. And here I was half expecting it to finish writing itself," She rose from her seat, closing the folder with finality and dropping it into a file in her desk drawer. "when clearly it wants me to get out of here for the night."
"Would you like to go grab some coffee before you head home?" He felt himself mirror Stotts' smirk as he leaned ever-so-slightly in anticipation.
Pulling on her coat, she nodded, pushing her hands into her pockets almost immediately as she felt strangely giddy.
"Yeah, I'd love that."