Daina stared down at the coffee that was slowly getting colder and colder with the passage of time as she thought about her latest case.

She knew that it was safe to let her mind wander in this little cafe that she frequented, so she felt no need to raise alarms internally in order to protect herself.

Her mind however had decided that her last case was just not enough for her and chose to stubbornly dwell on the police officer involved in the case that stirred some sort of internal heat within her being and hinted at something deeper and much more dangerous.

She and Alfred had not really seen eye to eye on everything involved in their first case together though certainly a part of her both craved for more cases together with him and yet less at the same time.

Daina longed to see if his stubborn hotheadedness would continue to last though his ability to get things done due to such a nature was not an awful thing in and of itself.

Alfred was actually quite successful with his cases and never seemed to be the sort to allow any result from those that was less than perfect.

He was stubborn in that regard too.

A part of her secretly thrilled at the thought of that stubborn hothead finding her here and very much by herself.

She detested that strange desire though she had never been one to fight harshly or vocally against someone that she did not get along with as she kept her thoughts mostly just to herself unless they regarded a case or she was near those that she cared about and was close to.

Daina questioned herself with why she thrilled when he came there to get a cup of coffee in the early afternoon while the rain pittered and pattered away outside.


She smiled as she felt those tough arms encircle her waist, and she caved into the steady and familiar feeling of her boyfriend's kiss on her lips.

Daina knew however that this moment would not last and that the dream would fade with the intensity and disappointment that it always had.

She felt herself shiver lightly at the vaguest hint of her coming to from her dream though the quickly rising heat of her blush did not desire to fade so soon.

The Lithuanian detective slowly realized that she was not blushing from the dream as she awoke to a fire burning around her that was slowly destroying the home that she had come to enjoy despite how often Felicija complained of its plainness.

Daina quickly rose to her feet and hurried to flee the burning building through whatever option that she had left which just happened to be her two story high window; fear ricocheted throughout her being as she finally moved forward to jump from the building and to safety in someone's arms below that had to have just seen her prepare to jump to be positioned just right.

"I got her. I got her." The twang of some undetectable American accent rang in her ears as she was carried in steady arms away from her quickly burning house.

"Officer Jones?" Daina was dazed, not quite fully awake from having just woken up, and still dimly in shock of having woken to a fire.

"Yeah. Hey, she's out! No one's in the building anymore." Officer Jones called out to the firefighters gathered infront of Daina's still burning home.


Daina had no idea whether she had expected a substantial change in how close they were to each other or if she had just expected something more even if just by a little bit.

She sat here in the police station of all places reading and analyzing specific case information for her next job and despite it being yet again with Alfred, she never felt more distant from him as he barely paid her attention and possibly less than he did initially though he listened to her with her own insight into every case they were on together.

Though sometimes despite having moved to a new house, she could hear the distant ringing of the fire in her ears and the warmth and safety of Alfred's arms and being within them tugging her near and absorbing her thoughts.

She desired to truly spend time with him and to know him as more than that one cop that she worked with time to time on certain cases when they both could help each other figure them out.

Daina just wanted to be more than an occasional coworker with the American that she was currently working with; she wanted that and perhaps to become someone that he would hold dear throughout his life and that she likewise would for him.

She wanted it despite its cliche sound and even more almost because of it though she did not think of it as cliche; she thought of it as a way to allow her feelings for him to be free and in its own way, a chance to see if they could last despite all of their differences.

It distracted her mind sometimes from work though never long enough to have her make massive mistakes while she worked away and pushed forth with the best evidence and information that she could find.

At least, if she couldn't have that chance for their relationship to grow to friends or more, she wanted to find a way to thank him for saving her life as just living without saying more than a simple, "Thank you," to the man that had saved her life did not sit well with her at all.

Daina wanted to let him know that it truly mattered to her and still affected her in some way and enough of a way to fully express or come as close to expressing it fully as possible.

She finally sighed and stood up to share the file with the American that had in his boredom opened up some sort of game on his phone to pass the time.

"Officer Jones, you may read the file now." She worried over how formally she always addressed him though she knew better than to worry over something as simple as that as this was her job, and formality was a part of that.

"Thanks, Daina." Officer Alfred Jones smiled as he thanked her rather informally which paid quite a stark difference with how they greeted each other though he had been this informal with her once he'd learned her first name and now refused to stop using it.

"You're welcome." She smiled though sometimes his American accent that seemed to consist of many different American accents butchered her first name's pronunciation, and it had now.

She sat back down and watched him read the file and wondered if there was anything that she could say that possibly did not deal with the case at hand to Alfred to fill up the potential silence once he was done reading the file.

Her mind left her very little options in that regard to which she bit her lip at her own internal frustrations.

Daina watched as he finished reading the file, watching his animated expressions while doing so always hinted or more accurately described his thoughts and fascinated her in a way that she could not simply explain away despite her tendency to do just so with many things in life.

"Will you allow me to take you out after work today as a thank you meal for what you'd done two weeks ago?" Daina asked nervously, forced to further confront her slight withdrawal from formality and work related talk to hold this new conversation with the American that she had fallen for.

"Sure!" Alfred grinned as his stomach chose to growl at the mention of food; Daina smiled and lightly rolled her eyes upon hearing his stomach do so.

She moved away from her previous seat and switched the conversation back to the case and worked with him on possible suspects and motives for the continuous killings.


Daina smiled at seeing the animated joy on Alfred's face over the food that was soon to be placed down on the table in front of him though it cost nearly her whole paycheck to pay for the amount of food that Alfred alone had ordered.

She politely thanked their server for delivering the insanely large meal and for having made sure that their orders had been sent back despite their size.

The Lithuanian woman that was on this almost date with the American nearly cringed once she saw him eagerly dig into his food; she turned her attention to nearly delicately eating her food to distract herself from her 'date's' table manners or near lack of them anyway.


"You didn't have to, Daina, really. You can call me Alfred too since I call you Daina." Officer Jones shrugged as he stared at the really pretty detective that had taken him out to dinner that very evening.

"I should have done more as a thank you though." Daina responded though her insides squirmed with eagerness and joy at having learned that she can now call him by his first name.

"Next time, I'll take you out though as the Hero should do so with his lady, and I'll pay." For the first time in front of Daina's eyes, she saw how nervous the policeman was and how his blush grew along his cheeks with his nervousness in regards to asking her out.

She felt her own face flush but smiled and answered him despite her own sudden shyness, "I'll be there."
Daina's blush would only turn brighter when Alfred would give her a lingering, parting kiss on her cheek before he left.