Ted entered in the kitchen by the garden door.

The morning sun made the red hair of the man that was standing behind the big counter shine.

Charlie was eating a pear, a half smile on his face while his eyes wandered on something unintelligible in the middle of the kitchen.

"Oh, Charlie, there you are! There is…"

The red-headed man startled at the sound of those words "TED?!...I…I thought you left!"

The alarm in his voice stopped Ted in his track.

"…yes, I left, but I met detective Reese near the gate, and she asked me if you were ready to go, so I thought it was polite to tell her to enter while I….Charlie...are you all right? Did you hear what I've just said?"

While Ted was talking, Charlie started to blush and bang his hands on the counter like if he was losing his balance, shutting his eyes and lowering his head, letting out a bad stifled "mmmphf" from his lips, that, very far from being an answer, made the situation even odder.

"Charlie...?"

Ted, worried, started walking towards his friend but, raising a hand in the air, Charlie stopped him again before he could reach the side of the counter.

"Give me just a minute, Ted." whispered Charlie, like he found it very difficult to talk, his arm still raised "Could you leave the kitchen, please? And tell Reese that-"

"-that you're finally ready to "fight crime", I hope." A strangely cheerful Reese ended the sentence appearing behind Ted's back.

Dani's smile faded immediately when she saw the look her partner was giving to her; two puzzled, wide open blue eyes were settled on hers and, maybe for the first time since she met him, Charlie was speechless.

Ted and Dani looked at each other interrogatively.

"Crews?"

Dani was still taking Charlie's strange attitude in, her head slightly tilted and her eyebrows knitted together, when, from under the counter, exactly in front of Charlie, jumped out a petite blond woman.

With a mischievous look in her eyes she turned to face Dani and Ted and explained "Detective Crews offered me an apple for breakfast…" She shrugged her shoulders "...but I preferred..." An ironic little smile appeared on or beautiful face"...a banana."

Complete silence followed her joke. Forcing his eyes to meet Ted's ones and curling his lips into a smile that didn't hide his uneasiness, Charlie suddenly blushed, still trying to zip his fly and managed to babble some words.

"Ted...Do you remember Tina?"

"Oh yes, Tina!" Ted's voice came out way too high-pitched to be truthful.

"But I'm Gina!"

"Of course, Gina! ...The bus...the warm pool...Gina... Hi, Gina." Ted then turned back to Charlie "I'm so sorry, Charlie, I never thought-"

Charlie lifted his eyebrows, eyes wide open, plastic smile on his lips, the lines by their sides more pronounced than ever, as if to say 'ok, not your fault but now let's get through this awkward situation'.

Thankfully, Ted got the message. Walking to his best friend and the girl of the night, Ted laid his hand on the woman's shoulder, pulling her away from Charlie, saying something like "What about having a good swim in the morning? I've just got a little thing to take care of, but I'll join you very soon by the pool."

Dani was still there, standing with her weight adjusted on one leg, her dark red lips slightly parted, looking at Charlie like this was the first time she was really seeing him. He, on the other hand, wasn't able to take his eyes off hers.

They were standing nearly in front of each other, his hands on his hips, legs slightly parted. His light blue shirt matched his eyes and was so well designed that it shaped perfectly around his muscular and elegant body; his tie perfectly laced, so strange for a man who had to go to work in a place like the hot L.A..

A half smile grew slowly on Dani's face as she turned on her heels, and putting her sunglasses on, she said to her partner: "See you in the car, Crews, hurry up."

An amazed Charlie followed Dani walking through the garden with his eyes.

The wind played with the collar of her pink shirt, open enough to show her white tank top, and the sun made her hair shine while she walked to the car, that strange half smile still playing on her lips.

xxx

TBC