A special thank you for sleepymr, she is the best beta I could have asked for.
This wasn't the first time it happened, of that he was certain. Ichabod had observed this same behavior a handful of times. Usually, he would watch her, mesmerized by her beauty and fluid motion while preparing this particular snack.
She had downed half a bottle of wine already yet somehow still maintained her balance while she threw two pieces of bread on a plate and covered it with an enormous amount of cheese. That couldn't be healthy but he stopped trying to understand what comfort food means to certain people a while ago.
The last time it happened he promised himself he would try to film her in the act and put it on the Internet. With her permission of course. The Captain in him knew people would fall in love with her in an instant.
That's how he found himself in his current predicament. He could hear her in the kitchen, mumbling about stupid bosses and their big egoist asses, wanting to tell her how best to do her job when she has done undercover work more times than she can count.
He smiled and spoke softly into the cell phone mic as he moved along the hallway capturing her melodious even if a bit drunk voice. "The Lieutenant has just arrived home from work and she is currently in the kitchen making what she calls 'grilled cheeses' and I'm about to investigate."
"Good evening Miss Mills," he called out as he entered the kitchen.
"Crane, hiya," she greeted, extending the last word in a sing-song voice, her full lips twisting into a smile.
"Are you making grilled cheeses, is that it?"
"Yah, see, I wanted to make grilled cheeses sandwiches but we don't have enough bread left, so I'm making goldfish cheeses," she explained, as she put more goldfishes on a plate.
Ichabod tried not to laugh as he filmed her, but his laughter escaped anyway as he asked trying to maintain a modicum of seriousness, even though this was bordering on crazy talk, "So you are making goldfish–"
"Have some wine?" Abbie offered as she grabbed the bottle of Pinot Noir.
"No, thank you –" Ichabod shook his head. She was adorable. In bare feet, sleepy eyes and looking so damn sexy in her work outfit.
"I just had some.." she affirmed, and he retorted, "I can tell."
Abbie simply smiled and poured a bit more for herself.
"Miss Mills are you sure you want to have more wine? Maybe some water or some other beverage?"
Abbie set the wine glass on the granite counter and lost her balance for a second before reaching for it again forcing Crane to murmur, "Oh dear lord," as she also gathered a fair amount of cheese from the container. She was about to start shredding it over the goldfishes but seemed to change her mind.
"It's so hot today–" she complained as she took off her white long sleeved blouse, leaving only her colorful skirt and red slip.
Ichabod watched her, not really surprised since this wasn't something he hadn't seen before. Abbie threw her blouse on the floor and continued to prepare the snack. She suddenly started to laugh at the amount of cheese, and he laughed along with her. "Abbie, what in the world? Are you laughing at the cheese? Stop it, you minx."
"Oh, gosh Crane I forgot to put the garbage out." The way she said this made it seem as if the world was ending. He answered her, "It's okay, treasure, I already did."
"You did? Oh, you're like the perfect husband, without being a husband at all," she mumbled, as she put the plate, now full of cheeses and goldfish, inside the microwave.
"Well, thank you. And you, dear Abbie, are a goddess, beautiful beyond any words I could summon," Ichabod asserted.
"Oh, really, Crane? Well, if that's your truth, why haven't you tried to kiss me before? I might be a "goddess" but I am also a flesh and blood woman," Abbie whined, pouting her lush lips.
Ichabod's brain immediately short-circuited. At a loss for words, he also stopped recording and put his cellphone back in his coat pocket as he watched Abbie take her skirt off and toss on the floor on top of her previously discarded blouse.
"Is Captain Crane, History Professor, Linguist extraordinaire and First Witness, suddenly tongue-tied?" Abbie asked, teasing him.
She turned as the microwave beeped, her body rotating perfectly towards it. Ichabod swallowed hard because honestly, she was being completely unfair. The red slip clung to every curve, her hair fell in gentle waves of curls around her lovely face. And now his petite goddess was slowly consuming the damned 'goldfish cheeses' with her delicate hands and lord if he didn't suddenly have a raging desire to be one of those goldfish.
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he murmured without thinking, "Bewitching."
"Am I?" Abbie teased, licking her fingers one by one, reaching for the wine again. This time Ichabod was faster and before her fingers touched the glass he took her hand and pulled her gently towards his body.
"I never kissed you before because I feared to cross our unspoken boundaries might injure our bond. But it seems that, as guarded as you can be, my dearest Abigail," Ichabod murmured, his free hand coming up to first run a long finger along her cheek and then twist a curl lovingly behind her ear, "you've hidden the same desire I've had for far too long."
Abbie moistened her lips and sighed as Ichabod grew bold and rested his forehead on hers, giving her a gentle Eskimo kiss as he rubbed her nose softly with his.
"Will you tease me or kiss–" Abbie's words were cut off by the feeling of Ichabod's soft lips pressing against hers. It took her a moment to register what was happening and that she wasn't having some sort of wine induced dream but actually feeling Ichabod's lips. He tasted of something sweet mixed with earl grey tea and like herself, it seemed he had eaten a snack as well.
"Crane…did you make grilled cheeses, too?" She asked smiling as he claimed her lips again.
"You are the only 'snack' I could ever desire, treasure.