I had a request for something happy, so I decided to give it a shot (mostly to prove to myself that I am, in fact, capable of writing fluff, lol). The result is a little short for my liking so I wasn't really sure about posting, but it's been a while so I thought why the hell not… Hope you enjoy!
"Hey."
She glanced up at the sound of his voice and saw him leaning against the doorway Jack had just exited while pushing the ring leader of a Middle Eastern terrorist cell roughly in front of him. She was tired (exhausted, wiped out and totally and utterly beat would probably be a more appropriate choice of words), but she managed a small smile anyway.
"Hey."
He waited a moment before slowly gliding into the holding room and letting the door fall shut behind him.
"How you doin'?"
His voice was soft and inviting, gentle in a way that made her just want to melt into him and not worry about anything for a change.
"I'm fine," she said lightly, the tension in her shoulders and weariness in her eyes suggesting otherwise.
He smirked, obviously not believing a word of it, but let her live her lie as he scooted closer to her. It had been a rough day for everyone, exhausting and terribly long; but she was young and still learning to cope with it all. Still, he never once doubted her strength, knowing with certainty that she would grow to be the strongest of them all one day.
He let his hand run down her back, watching her eyes close as she held off from her task of gathering the files spread across the table for just a minute. He took advantage of her momentary vulnerability and leaned in to gently press his lips against her hair.
"You will be," he told her softly, his mouth still pressed against her silky curls.
"What?" she asked, too tired to ever remember what he was referring to.
"Fine," he repeated her previous word. "In a little while. I promise."
She knew he was probably right, that her sleep-deprived mind and complaining stomach were makings things seem much worse than they really were. Men before him had tried to reassure her when she showed some sign of distress, but he was the first she actually believed when it happened.
"I love you," she whispered against his throat, feeling his arms tighten around her in response, his fingers gently rubbing the back of her neck.
The words were still new, as they should be after only six weeks of dating, and the impact they had on him was still so intense that it was hard for him to even speak. He was so in love with her that he had to contain himself from singing in the shower, dancing in the rain. He had never thought himself capable of loving like this – he never had before. And to hear her say it back to him with such honesty in her voice made him, if possible, love her even more.
It was funny – she wasn't just the first woman he was sure he loved, but also the first woman he was sure who loved him back.
"I should finish here," she said softly after a minute, indicating to the files still spread across the table. But when she tried to move out of his arms, he stopped her with gentle force.
"Later," was all he said.
She laughed a little. "I need to get those files to Division as soon as possible, you know the drill."
"Relax," he said lazily, "Let Chappelle sweat it out a little."
At this she laughed outright, delighting him with the fact that she was obviously starting to put the day's horrible events behind her.
"Tony, considering you're my boss, that's horrible advice."
He grinned but paid no attention to her protests, securing his arms firmly around her again. He tried not to think of all the rules they were breaking just by doing this – District's as well as their own. They had agreed that their relationship would stay outside the office, for many reasons, the most important being that it was just easier that way. No one knew about them yet, and the last thing he needed was someone putting doubts in their heads, throwing in words like "healthy work invironment" and "interoffice relationships" and "Nina Myers".
But for now, he decided, he would just ignore all that, mainly because he knew that, despite her protests, she needed this. And because he had locked the door behind him after sending the guards home for the day, to avoid the possibility of someone watching them from the other side of the plexi-glass.
He slid his hands down to her bottom and then slipped them under that gorgeous purple silk blouse he swore she wore just to drive him crazy, caressing the impossibly smooth skin of her lower back.
"Ever made love in a holding room before?" he whispered slyly in her ear, his hands moving up to touch her bra.
She blushed. The answer was, of course, negative, but she knew she couldn't fool him into pretending the thought had never crossed her mind. A holding room, his office, one of the CTU showers, the cereal alley at the supermarket, a washing machine at the dry cleaner's… Anyplace that was big enough, really…
"Tony," she warned, swatting away the hand that was now sliding up her bare leg and under her skirt.
"Hmm?" he said in that same lazy voice before gently biting into her neck.
She held back a giggle and tried to move out of his grasp. "Wait… Tony… Tony, wait a second, I have a better idea…"
He finally sighed and released her, wondering what could possibly be better that what he had in mind.
She patted his chest. "How about we get our work done really fast so we can get the hell out of here, we can go back to my place, and y'know…" She grinned slyly and would have batted her eyelashes at him if she weren't going on thirty. "That way we get to have sex and keep our jobs."
He grinned back at her. "A win-win situation, huh?"
"Exactly." She smoothed over the collar of his shirt to hide her pleasure at the thought that the day would definitely be ending in a more uplifting way than it had started.
He pretended to hesitate. "Well… okay. But still…"
At that, she pressed herself against him with a hot, lingering kiss, not unlike the one they'd shared in a dark hallway here not too long ago. She smiled at his breathlessness when they broke apart.
"Go finish your status report."
He looked like he was about to protest, but then just smacked her gently on the behind with one of the files and said, "Catch you later."