Hi all,
I've finished my last exam today, and it went pretty well. I think I might be graduating this year! Anyways, let me properly introduce myself. My name is Lisa and I'm 18 years old. I live in the Netherlands (a small country in Europe), so I apologize in advance if my English seems a little off hahah. I started this story a while ago, but didn't post it because I wouldn't be able to update it regularly, so Oscar hasn't popped the question yet. Either way, I'll let you read, and I hope you'll enjoy it!
Oh, I'm planning to write a bunch of Maltara moments (I actually have a whole list..), but if there's anything you'd like to see; tell me in the reviews and I'll be happy to include it!
You are now Detective Mal Fallon.
"Agent Williams, Detective Fallon." Captain Yeong gestures to the chairs in front of her desk. "Please take a seat."
You obey and take the left seat, while Natara settles down at your right side.
"Good morning Captain." the two of you say in unison.
"A good morning indeed." the captain exclaims. "Now, let's cut to business. Since Lieutenant Anders has left, I would like to discuss the... Status of your relationship.. Normally, I don't mean to pry. However, since we..."
You take a deep breath and turn your head to Natara. The voice of Captain Yeong fades away when you get caught up in Natara's beautiful hazel eyes. Your mind drifts away to a few days earlier.
*The Past; three days ago*
It's about 21:45 when you finally walk into your apartment. You've been working all day, trying to catch up on your paperwork. You could've finished earlier, but you offered to finish it alone so that Natara could have a dinner date with the dashing DA.
You throw your jacket over the armrest of your couch and you unbutton your blue shirt while walking to the shower, when you hear a soft knock on the door. While you're wondering who it could be, you walk back and open the door.
Your eyes widen when you see Natara Williams standing right before you, while tears are silently falling from her eyes. She tries to speak, but no words manage to come out. The sight of her crying like this breaks your heart a little. Quickly but gently, you take her hand and lead her inside your apartment. As soon as you've closed the door you pull her into a tight hug.
What could've happened that made Natara, one of the strongest and bravest women I've ever met, cry? Your mind races and you think if the most terrible situations. Did someone die? Was someone kidnapped? …No. I can't think that way. I need to focus on her. I need her to calm down first, and then she can tell me what has happened. You hold her even closer, trying to make her feel safe.
After a while Natara pushes you gently away and you loosen your grip. You look down at her and see mostly fear in her eyes, but there's also a glimpse of pain. She tries to speak again, but still fails. You put your index finger against her lips, indicating that she shouldn't speak just now. Then you gently lead her to the couch.
The two of you sit down next to each other. You're still embracing her. Her head is buried into your white tank top and you're gently stroking her hair. A few minutes pass. Good.. She's finally calming down. When she stops crying you start talking.
"Hey Nat.." you say softly.
No response.
"... Nat?"
Still no response.
"Please, just look at me.. You don't have to talk, okay? Please?"
Slowly, but surely, you feel her move. She pulls back from you and sits on her own, although you still have your arm wrapped around her shoulders. She lifts her head up, but doesn't look into your eyes.
"Look, I may not know what has happened tonight.. But I do know that you'll turn out just fine. If anything, you'll emerge even stronger than before. Well, if something like that even possible, that is.. I doubt it though. I've never met somebody who's stronger than you Nat. Now that I think of it, if I'll ever meet someone that's stronger than you it will probably creep me out..." You gently let your fingers of your free hand run along the line of her cheek. Then you slowly lift her face up, until you are able to look into her eyes. There's a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips.
"I promise that you'll get through whatever it is that you have to get through." You pause to let your words sink in.
You gently wipe her tears away with your thumb. Then you continue. "And.. You don't have to do it alone. I want you to know that I'll always have your back. I'll help you through this, I mean it." You smile reassuringly at her, and much to your surprise she returns a smile.
"You always know what to say, don't you?" she manages to get out.
"Well yeah, you know me!" you say jokingly. Then you turn into serious-mode again. "Will you tell me what happened?
Natara looks down to her hands. "Honestly? I don't even know. I'm just so... I don't know.. I don't even know why I came here. It's just that.. Oscar said some thing when he broke up with me and i-"
"Woah! Wait a minute.. Could you just go back to the part where the DA broke up with you? Did he hurt you? Do you need me to punch him? Because I will punch him if you need me to." you say angrily.
"What..? Wait, no." Natara says, while she's looking confusingly at you. "That's not even my point. My point is that Oscar said some stuff that made me... Realize things..."
"What did he say?" you ask, your curiosity has been activated.
Natara bites her lip. "Well... I don't know if you're the right person to tell everything to.."
"Why not? You know that you can tell my anything.. Besides, you look like you need someone to talk to, and I'm right here, ain't I?"
You see Natara hesitate and she looks away before she answers. "Yes, I know. it's just that..."
You clench your jaw when you're hit with a sudden realization. "It's just that it's about me, right? That little bastard better not talk smack about me behind my back!" you lunge forward, attempting to get up, when you feel Natara's hand push up against your chest, pushing you to sit down again. You look at her when you sit down again, the questions written all over your face.
She sighs. "Look," she says softly. "You're partially right. It is about you. However, he wasn't talking smack about you.. He was complaining about the fact that he's not the top priority in my life. He said that we barely ever communicate, and if we were, it's mostly work related. Then he kept going on about how you and I spend so much time together, and I never seem to shut up about you. He continued by saying that you are more important to me than he was. And then... He said that it was clear that I wasn't in love with him. I never was. He said that he couldn't handle the thought of being in the second place. He wanted to be in the most important thing in my life. And I couldn't give him that."
Hearing that you, according to Oscar, are more important to Natara than he is flooded you with joy. You had to bite your lip to stop a smile from appearing on your face. But there was one part of Oscar's whole speech that didn't make any sense to you. "Wait.. I don't understand. He knew that your job was so demanding. Yet he chose to continue your relationship. Why the sudden change of heart?" you asked confused.
Natara's voice turns into a whisper. "He wasn't talking about my job, Mal. He was talking about you.."
The moment those words roll off Natara's tongue, your heart skips a beat. Could it be? Is she implying that...? You scrutinize her face and realize that she's telling the truth.
A shot of adrenaline rushes through your body and you feel the heat rushing to your cheeks. This is not happening.. Why am I even blushing? Dammit Mal! Get it together man! "Oh.. Right. Well, I... I just... Oh god.. It's hot in here... Don't you think it's hot in here?" you manage to stammer.
You quickly get up and open a window. You put your hands on the windowsill and stare out of the window, trying to avoid Natara's gaze. Is this seriously happening? What am I supposed to say? I've been in love with her for a while now.. Does she know? Ah hell, why am I even standing here? I need to get back there. You deeply breathe in one last time and walk back to Natara. You see that's she's observing you with a small smile. Well, at least you made her smile with your stupidity. You are Mal Goddamn Fallon. And you're acting like an 11-year-old girl. The thought of this makes you blush even more.
You take a seat next to Natara and gently grab her hand. "I was..." you stop, take a deep breath and continue. "Sorry about that. It's not every day that your amazingly cute partner tells you that you're the most important thing in her life.."
"Why, Mal Fallon, did you just call me cute?" she asks. She's somewhat blushing and she can't stop smiling. She hits you playfully on the arm, trying to play it off like she's joking. But you don't fall for it. You know that she's genuinely curious, since you haven't told her upfront how you feel about her, at least not without her thinking that it was a ruse. You decide to tease her a little bit, to cheer her up a little more, before you tell her about your true feelings.
Pretending you're confused you answer "Who said anything about you? I was talking about Bla-"
Before you're able to finish your sentence Natara throws your jacket that's has been lying on the armrest over your head. "If you want to live, you'd better not finish that sentence…" she says while trying to sound serious. However, you detect a small tremble in her voice, indicating that she's faking it. You can't help but laugh because of this, while you're pulling the jacket off your head.
She tries to frown, but you see that she's trying to hold back a laugh. "W-Why are you laughing? I'm serious Mal.." she says, still trying to convince you.
This makes you laugh even harder.
"Quit laughing!" she desperately says.
You take in a few deep breaths and calm yourself down again. "I'm sorry, but you should've seem the look on your face when you were trying to be serious! Do you interrogate your suspects like that?" you say teasingly. Before she can throw something to your head again you cover it with your arms. When nothing seems to happen you lower them again. Natara's looking at you, rolling her eyes and shaking her head. You smile and take her hands into yours. You lovingly stroke the top of her soft hands with you thumb,
"Look, I'm only playing around. Of course I think that you're cute.. You're so much more than just "cute" Nat. Have you recently looked into a mirror? You're pretty, sexy, gorgeous and beautiful combined and even that isn't enough to describe how beautiful you are to me. There are no words to describe your beauty. You're just so amazingly-breath-taking-beautiful.." You say while looking in her eyes the whole time. You want her to know that you mean every single word. She looks down, trying to hide her new-formed blush and eyes with her hair, but you gently stroke some strands of hair behind her ear so you're able to see her whole, beautiful face again.
You scrape your throat to catch her attention. She looks up to you again, still blushing heavily. "As for me being the most important thing in your life.. First of all, I'm truly honoured. Second of all, I know how you're feeling." You smile at her and softly squeeze her hand. "You've been the most important thing in my life for quite a while now. You were there for me when I needed someone to lean on. You are one of the few people who are able to put up with me and my sarcasm. Just being around you makes me feel great. I love everything that you do. Even the little things, that you probably don't even notice yourself.."
You shortly pause. You're not sure if you should say the following, but you decide to go through with it. "I guess that what I'm trying to say is that.. I love you. I truly love you with you all my heart. I love everything about you. And.. I don't think that the amount of love I have for you will ever decrease.."
There's a silence after you've spoken. Why is she quiet? Did I go too far? Dammit, I think I did. Maybe she wasn't ready to hear that I love her so intensely. Why did I have to rush into it like that? You bite your lip and are about to apologize when she speaks.
"I don't think that I'll be able to top that speech.. However, I recognized myself in every little thing that you've said. You were always there for me, supporting me no matter what. You're always looking out for me. You understand me completely, and honestly, that makes me feel incredibly special.. You're so sweet and caring and I'm just so happy to have you in my life.. I love you so much, and I've been neglecting you. I just feel so bad about it. I've been wasting my time with Oscar, while almost ruining my chance with you. I almost lost you because of my own stupidity. And I don't know what I'd do without you. I just can't imagine a life without you anymore.."
You let her hands go and wrap your arms around her, pulling her close. "You don't have to imagine a life without me, Nat. I'll always be here for you. I would have waited for you. You'll never lose me, no matter how much you try." You whisper softly.
She pulls back a little to look into your eyes. "Do you really mean that?"
You smile reassuringly to her. "Yeah, I definitely mean that. I'll never leave you alone. Although it's more for personal gain.. I don't know what I'd do without you either. So yeah.. Seems like you're stuck with me."
She laughs at you and then hugs you back. You close your eyes for a while, enjoying the moment of closeness to the fullest. Then you feel the need to pull back a little and ask "Riddle me this though Nat. Why were you crying before? You don't seem upset anymore because you and the DA broke up.. It looks like it wasn't a big deal or anything. "
"Of course I feel a little upset now that things have ended between me and Oscar.. I've been dating him for a while now and it's strange to suddenly break things off. And.. The thing that freaked me out the most and caused me to cry was the fear of you not feeling the same about me. But now that I know better, I'm not sad anymore. Because I feel like I've gained way more than I lost today.."
She looks at you and leans a little forward. Then she hesitates, but continues anyways. You feel her soft lips on your cheek and close your eyes to savour the moment. After she pulls back, the place where her lips touched your skin kinda tingles.
A huge blush finds its way to your face and you can't seem to stop smiling widely like an idiot.
*The Present*
Your mind flashes back and you see Natara looking at you, smiling. She reaches over and grabs your hand. You softly squeeze it and smile back when she says: "Yes, Detective Fallon and I are in a relationship."
Captain Yeong smiles at the two of you. "Very well then. I'd like to say that it's quite unexpected, but then I would be lying. Anyway, I'll make sure that your relationship will be properly reported. Further more I would like to congratulate the both of you. And I want you to know that I wish you nothing but the best of luck."