AN: for midnightjen, since I don't think I was holding up my end on the ficlet front. Perhaps this will help get you through the rest of those sad, depressing days between posts better.
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She was, okay, a wee bit drunk, maybe.
Tipsy.
Pleasantly friendly, she would say.
Unable to walk a straight line or pass a field sobriety test Nick would probably argue, but fortunately he drove so, really, it's not like she would have to do either. And she could kinda sorta walk a straightish line. She could definitely walk with some flair, and besides, Nick would help her with that, too.
Where was Nick anyway?
She had lost him, somewhere about the time she had decided to powder her nose, and then spending twenty minutes in the bathroom talking with the other girls in there about some topics she was a little bit fuzzy on, although one was how hot Nick was, or actually- maybe she brought that up? Anyway, they hadn't disagreed—and she had returned to the rented dining area in the restaurant to find him gone.
Anyway, he was probably outside on his phone, talking to Hank, or Wu, or maybe even Monroe. He had soldiered through another boring office party with her, so she supposed he deserved a five-minute reprieve. Honestly, she didn't recall how tedious they could be, but maybe that's because she no longer spent most of them calculating how to power-play against the rest of her fellow lawyers.
Also, alcohol helped.
She stumbled slightly along the carpet, and looked down. Oh, it was tile. Well, her foot must have caught on the grout or something. No matter. She fixed a bright smile on her face, eyes darting around to see if anyone had noticed that piece of comedy and snagged a glass of champagne from a server. She had just raised the glass to her lips when Nick appeared at her elbow from somewhere.
He was dressed in a light gray suit, a teal dress shirt, and a smart looking matching tie and looked, frankly, good enough to eat, and Adalind's mind caught on when was the last time she had indulged in a little Nick action. It had been a couple of weeks. He had been busy with work lately and so had she, on top of battling a pesky bladder infection. So, really, she was due some one-on-one time with him, and tonight, maybe, yes, she thought, looking him over carefully, just might be night she would collect. He caught her expression and the drink she was holding and gave her a look of warning.
"Are you sure you should be drinking that?" he asked her and she frowned, looking at the champagne absently.
Okay, she was definitely a bit buzzy, she wouldn't argue with that. No, probably, she shouldn't. It was one thing to be pleasantly warm all over, another to be sweating alcohol as you hung your head over the toilet bowl.
"Maybe not," she conceded, and Nick nodded as she set the flute back down disappointedly. She looked at him again, his head turned slightly away to observe the other party goers, giving her a wonderful view of his handsomely defined profile. Her eyes traced over his dark brown hair, with those two stubborn locks that refused to stay in place falling messily over his forehead; the faint stubble sprinkled over his cheeks and jaw. He had actually shaved earlier, and she could see the adorable cleft in his chin more easily because of it. He glanced back at her, and his eyes narrowed slightly, recognizing the heated look she was giving him. He tried to turn nonchalantly back to the room, but his gaze flickered back to her when she sidled closer to him.
He smelled good.
"You smell divine," she murmured, breathing him in, and he looked at her, looking faintly amused. "Probably as good as you taste," she added, mostly to herself.
"How much have you had to drink?"
Adalind shrugged, momentarily distracted. She wasn't sure exactly. "A couple of martinis. A glass or two here of champagne," and he nodded again. "Why?"
"Because you always get, shall we say, amorous when you're a little bit drunk."
She frowned, recollecting distantly Nick commenting on that fact some other time. Experimental, she thought was the word he used. He hadn't seemed overly upset about being experimented on though.
"I'm having a good time, aren't you?" she asked him, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him.
"Hmm," he replied noncommittally when they broke apart.
"We could be having a great time if you take me home," she added, looking up at him from under her lashes and he gazed back at her, considering.
"That would be taking advantage of your slightly inebriated state, I suspect," he said.
"Maybe I want you to take advantage," she countered.
"Of course you do, you're drunk," he replied. "You always want me to do everything under the sun to you, when you've exceeded your limit."
"Not really," she said, pressing her mouth against his again, "just all the really sinful things you won't do otherwise."
"You taste like a blueberry martini," he returned, unimpressed, "I'm probably going to fail a breathalyzer just from making out with you," and Adalind pouted prettily at him, and batted her eyelashes and the amused look deepened.
"Nice try," he added, turning away from her, and she eyed his profile again and traced the line of his jaw from his ear with her mouth, tongue darting out to taste him.
"We're in a restaurant, Adalind, with everyone you work with," he murmured, trying to squirm out of her reach.
"Only because you won't take me home," she replied, "Take me home, Nick," she added breathily in his ear and he jerked his head away. "Take me to bed. Just…take me."
"Tell you what. I'll make you a deal: If you can weave a straight line to the car I'll consider humoring you."
Adalind grinned triumphantly and bounced up on her toes, balancing heavily against Nick, and placed a loud, wet kiss on his mouth.
"Deal."
She turned and made her goodbyes, Nick lingering behind her with a steadying, and unnecessary she might add, hand—but not unappreciated—and then she sashayed out of the restaurant, stumbling slightly on the sidewalk.
It was these damn heels, Adalind thought, frowning. At four plus inches her center of gravity was off, was all. If she just got rid of them, walked in her bare feet, she'd be totally fine. She kicked them off, watched one sail into the night and heard Nick heave a sigh.
Her feet met warm asphalt as she slid off the edge of the sidewalk and she meandered a little more purposefully towards her goal, Nick hovering just slightly behind her.
"So just how many of those blueberry martinis did you have tonight anyway? When I last saw you'd had at least three by my count, but I lost track of you for about an hour or so," Nick said, warm hand on her waist to guide her to his truck. He was always so gentlemanly, she reflected, watching him pause and go after the shoe that she had flung off a dozen or so yards away. It had hit with a thunk against one of the junior partner's cars.
He handed her the pump, slight frown on his face. "I didn't see where the other one landed," he said, and she pointed a wavy finger towards the lawn beyond them and Nick's frown deepened. God he was sexy, she thought, frowny face and all. He looked fantastic tonight, all handsome and masculine and dangerous. He looked handsome and masculine and dangerous most days though.
"Let me get you settled in the truck and I'll go look for it," he said with another sigh, and she smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck and proceeded to kiss the hell out of him, just because, just because he was so handsome and masculine and dangerous, deepening the kiss when he reluctantly allowed her to, perhaps more willing now that they didn't have an audience.
"I love you," she said when they broke apart, and Nick gave her a shadow of a smile.
"Of course you do, you're drunk," he replied, unlocking the passenger side door and pulling it open for her. She kissed him again, loving the taste of him, the feel of his hands on her, and slid her fingers through his dark hair, pressing her body against him.
"That's not the only reason," she said coyly, and he flashed a polite grin at her, listening absently while waiting for her to get into the car. "I have many, many others."
"I have no doubt," he replied, waving a hand to indicate she should get in. She slid her arms around his waist instead and rested her chin on his chest looking up at him, and he glanced around the parking lot before bending his head down to press a kiss of his own against her. "I love you, too," he murmured. "Even when you're three sheets to the wind."
"I'm only two," she argued. "If I was three I wouldn't be able to appreciate this," she added and slid her hands down, over the solid, smooth seat of his pants and grabbed a handful of fine, firm male ass and he jerked in surprise.
"Okay!" Nick said, grasping at her hands and pulling out of her grip. She let him go with a snicker. "Ahem, okay, let's just…that's enough of that," he stuttered before regaining some of his composure. He indicated the passenger seat. "In you go."
Her lips curled into a smile, and she reached for the lapel of his suit. He batted her hand away, making sure it stayed where his eyes could follow it and she smirked again as she turned to look at the seat he was indicating.
"You need some help?" he asked when she hesitated, and she nodded. He suppressed another sigh and moved to help her and she deftly slipped under the proffered arm and looped one of her own around him and captured his mouth again. He must have been impressed with the slick move since he kissed her back, and she enjoyed the kiss for much longer than strictly necessary.
He produced a slick move of his own when he abruptly slipped both hands under her arms and hefted her back into the front passenger seat. She broke away with a short laugh, and watched as he seat belted her in, shut the door, and then spent about ten minutes searching in the grass for her other shoe.
The buzz from the alcohol and the sedentary activity were combining to make her sleepy and by the time he jogged back to his truck she was propped up against the window, enjoying the cool glass.
"Your slipper, my lady?" he said, offering her the shoe. She shook her head and he tossed it into the backseat behind him, where she had deposited the other one, and started his truck. It roared to life with a throaty rumble and he looked at her again and bit down another smile. She smiled sheepishly in response, aware she was looking a little peaked, despite her claims otherwise, and ran a hand over his cheek.
"You're very good to me," she said, thinking of everything he'd done for her and their family in their time living together, and everything since they became involved.
"You're just trying to sweet talk me into something," he deflected as he put the car in gear and pulled out of the lot.
"Having your way with me," she retorted and settled her head back against the window.
"In your present state, that would be too easy to do."
"Are you trying to say I'm easy?" she said indignantly. She reflected that prior to her relationship with Nick, and maybe, even going back a little to Sean, that's exactly what a lot of people would say. She had always equated sex with love and affection, power with respect, and she had wielded her sex appeal accordingly. A few times she had enjoyed the trysts that would result, but when it had counted she had largely been left disappointed.
Until she fell in love with Nick.
"I'm saying I'm taking you home and putting you to bed. How I put you to bed remains to be seen," and Adalind grinned to herself, realizing he wasn't as resistant to taking advantage as he was trying to make out.
She pushed away from the window and kissed his profile, trailing kisses all along the side of his face, one on his mouth when he turned to her at a stoplight.
"See? Not nearly as intoxicated as you've been insinsuating…insinsu-insinuating," she said. "It's a really hard word to say," she said at Nick's amused look.
"You're pretty damn close," he replied and jumped when her hand found its way in his lap. The smile abruptly left his face. "Okay! That's…that's not a good thing to do while I'm driving," he said, voice jumping an octave as she found the zipper. "Adalind. Adalind! Oh, god," he said, moaning a little when it slipped inside, knuckles whitening on the steering wheel.
"Adalind, stop. Stop!" he commanded, swerving before he hit the curb, and she pulled her hand away and grinned triumphantly at him. He gave her a look, face slightly flushed and flustered, looking down at his lap as he commenced some heavy breathing.
"You're sure you don't want me to continue?" she asked him innocently. He flashed another look at her and tried to zip up his pants with one hand.
"Want me to get it?" she offered cheekily.
"Hands where I can see them," he ordered, and she held them up. "Keep them on your side of the console," he added. "Better yet, put them on the dash so I know where they are at all times."
"If I put them back in your lap you'll know that, too." He glared and she snickered and faced forward as he came to another light, and worked on righting himself. She stared out the window, allowing him a moment's peace to gather himself, as she surveyed their surroundings.
"Oh, the park! Nick! Let's go to the park. It's such a beautiful night," she said catching sight of the signage indicating the turn for Summit Park was coming up within a few blocks.
"I'm taking you home. This time of night, the only people at the park are drunks, although, really, you'd blend right in," he said, still a little salty over what she'd done to him.
"Ha, ha," she said. "Summit Park, let's go there," she said, turning to him and he frowned. "No one's ever taken me there," she said to him seriously, eyes beseeching.
"Summit Park? You mean the lookout point?" he said, and she nodded. "The make out point?" he said again and she nodded and smiled.
"I'm not making out with you at Summit Park, especially in your current state," and she frowned. "There's no telling what you'll do to me," he muttered, what was probably supposed to be to himself.
"'Fraid I'll take ruthless advantage of you? I'll be gentle, I promise," she said with a smile.
"That's another thing, I'm a cop, Adalind," as though she had forgotten.
"I'm aware," she said petulantly, thinking maybe he was trying to imply she was so intoxicated she had forgotten something so fundamental, or incredibly sexy, about him as him being a detective.
"Really doesn't look good when you get busted by one of your own at the local teenagers' baby-making spot."
"Oh, we should totally make a baby there. Think of how romantic!" she said, mostly to annoy him.
"Christ, Adalind," Nick said, obviously taking her seriously.
"Please Nick," she wheedled, giving him the works, the pouty lip, the big blue eyes, the hopeful expression. He glanced at her and looked away. "It's such a nice night out, we could just sit and enjoy the stars and the cool night air,"—and each other, she thought silently. "I promise I won't take advantage of your delicate sensibilities," she said, crossing her fingers in the space between her seat and the door, out of Nick's view, and he gave her a disbelieving look regardless.
"Please?" she pleaded, giving him soulful eyes and he shook his head again. She sighed theatrically and turned slightly towards him. "Well, then, I might, take advantage of them if you don't," she added, reaching for him again, and he jerked the wheel slightly as he attempted to stay out of her reach.
"Adalind! Fine! Fine. Keep your hands where I can see them," he said again and she smiled victoriously and held them up in the air and dutifully placed them on the dash for the rest of the way.
He made the turn onto the mountain road and drove to the top, and pulled to edge, glancing around him. It was a quiet night, only two other cars at the Summit. One looked like there was a foursome enjoying some underage drinking, and Nick noted the license plate and Adalind saw him wrestle with his responsibilities as a cop before he shut off the lights. The other vehicle—well, the windows were so fogged up it didn't leave much to the imagination as to what was going on. Particularly when one took into account the slight rocking of the vehicle.
"Looks like somebody's enjoying the view," Adalind commented.
"Christ," Nick said again, shaking his head, though his attention was still locked on the juveniles drinking and cheering the spectacle next to them.
He undid his seatbelt, and Adalind shot out a hand to stay him. "Nick," she said, but she knew it was a lost cause as he frowned again and reached over her legs into the glove box where he grabbed his badge and a gun, she noted with surprise, and slipped out of the vehicle with a promise of, "I'll just be a minute."
Twenty minutes later the juveniles were gone, driven away by the one underage occupant who was apparently sober, having passed the field sobriety test Nick conducted on her, an unnerved teenager who had just received her learner's permit two weeks ago, judging by the looks of her, and Adalind doubted they would get much farther than turning back onto the highway before they were pulled over. The car with the fogged up windows left not a few minutes later, spinning out rock and dust, apparently having reached the climax of their evening and departing before the local police took an interest in them.
Nick watched them go before turning back to Adalind who rolled her eyes and slipped out of the vehicle.
"What?" he asked.
"Well, it looks like we've got the place to ourselves," she remarked, and padded carefully across the rock and uneven ground in her bare feet.
"They're underage drinking," he defended. "They could kill someone. Like me or you, not to mention themselves," he added, and she nodded. Being a cop was so fundamentally ingrained in him that she let it go, conceding he had a point. Besides she found him ridiculously attractive when he was in cop mode.
"You call it in?" she asked him, but of course he had. She had seen him on the phone briefly and he nodded.
"They'll be pulled over as soon as they get off the access road," he said and she nodded again and then walked over to cliff edge, a grassy spit of land about thirty feet wide and a dozen feet deep, that overlooked the city down below. It was beautiful up here and she reflected she had missed a key point in growing up by not having had someone take her up here. Then again, likely she wouldn't have seen much, some hormonal teenage boy with his hands up her shirt and down her pants. She looked at Nick, and wished he was a little more hormonal tonight, since she'd gladly allow him the privilege.
He rustled around in his SUV, before coming up with a blanket from the back, the boy scout and cop in him ever prepared. She watched as he laid it out over the ground next to her before turning back to the view one last time before joining him on the blanket.
"See?" she said, indicating the panorama of the city lit up at night. "You might have missed this."
He snorted. "I've seen it."
She raised an eyebrow. "Just who have you been parking with up here?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?" he said, smiling.
"I would," she agreed. "You've led me to believe along that you were a shy teenager."
"I don't know about shy," he said, looking away, smile still playing on his lips.
"Oh really?" she said, her finger tracing the edge of his ear. He turned his head slightly and looked back at her, eyes warm and bright. "Do tell, Casanova."
He shook his head. "I've never had a girl up here at Summit Park with me."
"How sad," she said, though secretly she was glad, afraid he and Juliette might have partaken in the excursion. "So how is it you came to be familiar with the view?"
"I used to have some patrols through here. Got a couple of calls. And the one woman I was partnered with when I covered this area she probably would have shot me if I had tried anything like what you're insinuating with her."
"Hm."
"So, you're the first," he said, and she smiled.
"I never parked with a guy," she remarked. "Hard to believe, I know," she added wryly at Nick's slightly stunned expression.
"I didn't say I've never parked with a girl. I've parked with plenty of girls at plenty of lookout points."
She smacked his arm. "Oh, really?"
"No, not really. Two, I think," he said, squinting as he searched his memory. "Both when I lived in Idaho one summer."
"One summer? How quickly were you going through these women, Romeo," she asked teasingly. Nick had confessed to being somewhat of a late bloomer. He wasn't a love 'em and leave 'em type of guy. Not like her, particularly as she had become more comfortably with her sexuality and wielding it to get what she wanted.
He was, surprisingly, a bit of a romantic, though she didn't know why it surprised her so much. Even if the relationship was short lived, he gave it his all, which was saying something since, from what she could tell, he seemed to be fairly focused on work early on, so for a woman to turn Nick's head she had to be exceptional.
Still, he had once been a hormonal teenage boy like all the others, working on some different mysteries then. The mystery of the opposite sex.
"Just the two."
"Was it true love?" she asked with a smile.
"It was definitely true lust," he said. "Hence my taking them to Lover's Leap, in case my motivations weren't obvious enough."
"Hope you at least bought them dinner first."
"I couldn't afford some flashy date. I think I took one for a movie. I was too terrified to try anything slick there, so I thought maybe I'd try my luck at the Leap," Nick said. She smiled, imagining him as a teenager, no moves, and no confidence, feeling his way through a date. Perhaps literally, she reflected with a snort.
"Wow. You could have at least cooked them dinner."
"I can't cook, and I wasn't about to bring them home to my aunt," Nick said, and she grinned at his look. "She would have saw through that scheme right away."
"Where'd you find these two willing fellow leapers?"
"One was my lab partner in science."
"Working on your own chemistry experiment, were you? Going for the extra credit?"
"That experiment blew up in my face." Adalind chuckled as Nick stretched his legs out on the blanket.
"And the other one?"
"The less said the better," he replied.
"Oh come on," she pleaded. "I love hearing how adorably dorkable you were."
"Thanks," Nick said drily.
"Come on. Did you round the bases with the other one at least?" and Nick smiled and shook his head.
"No, my aunt had figured out where I was disappearing to by that point. And why," he added and Adalind grinned widely.
"Lover's Leap? Hard to imagine ole Aunt Marie couldn't divine the real purpose for that. Did she find you in a compromising position?"
"At sixteen? I should be so lucky. No, she found me as I was grounding into first, as it were," Nick replied and Adalind covered her mouth with her hand as another snort of laughter slipped through. "Claimed she had some emergency and she needed the car," he added sourly.
"How did she get there if you had the car?"
"Our neighbor drove her. Our neighbor, whose daughter I was with. Given what she was and was probably doing, maybe she did need it," he continued after a moment, referring to his aunt's identity as a Grimm. "Either way, I was glad we moved at the end of summer so I didn't have to face either girl at the beginning of the school year."
"Hmm, well, I'm sure your moves are much smoother now. I mean, look, here we are," she said, indicating the Summit.
"That's largely because of your rather bold and insistent moves."
"My moves are pretty smooth," she agreed. "Still, I'm betting you might just get lucky and hit a home run. Maybe even bring home a souvenir," she added, with another sexy grin, just to goad him. "In about nine months or so, anyway."
"We are not making a baby here," Nick said, looking slightly alarmed by the concept, taking the bait and Adalind's grin widened.
"We'll see," she said and Nick shook his head before she raised up awkwardly onto her knees and climbed over his legs to straddle his lap.
"Adalind," he said, but then he mercifully shut up when Adalind kissed him, still feeling a bit buzzy from the alcohol, and Nick, and their night out. "No," he said sternly, but then ruined the sentiment when he gently nipped at her neck.
"Nick," she whined playfully, "all the other kids are doing it."
"I'm not telling one of our kids that they might have been conceived at the local make out spot one night while their mother was shitfaced drunk and I took advantage."
"I am not shitfaced," she said hotly, pulling away a little. "I'm pleasantly…plastered," and Nick snorted. "And why not? Do you prefer telling them that they were conceived as the result of a spell where their mother looked like the girlfriend of their father, whom she hated at the time, and whose true identity their father hated."
"God, I am never telling that story," Nick said. "We need a better story if Kelly ever asks."
"Maybe he'll never ask," Adalind said hopefully.
"He's going to notice the math doesn't add up. He was born two years before our wedding date, and god forbid if he realizes he was born nine months after Monroe and Rosalee's wedding date. When I was still with Juliette."
"Why would he know that?"
"Because there's pictures of me and Juliette from Monroe's wedding where we're clearly a couple."
Yes, actually, she recollected seeing one from Rosalee's wedding album. They looked like a rather miserable couple though, but she didn't dare point that out. Given what she had done to him, and the fact that Nick had put it together pretty damn quickly afterwards, or, apparently, Juliette had, she could understand the looks of unhappiness.
"I'm sorry," she said, not for the first time.
"We've been over it," Nick said dismissively, and yes, that was true, and truer still that they had somehow managed to put it all behind them.
"I wish things had been different," she said, also not for the first time. "That he was a choice we both made because we loved each other not...not the way it was."
"He was a choice we both made to raise together, and we love each other now," Nick said.
"Mommy and daddy took the long way to loving each other?" she suggested, returning to his original question.
"Not how I remember it," he said, obviously referring to their afternoon together.
"I was on a time crunch," Adalind said, and clearly the alcohol was affecting her, because she usually shut up about that day and changed the subject. "I didn't know when Juliette would be back, but I was hoping she'd give me enough time to be convincing at least."
"Christ," Nick muttered, shaking his head and Adalind shrugged, tugging his tie. "Don't think you're going to convince me to sleep with you here."
"Why? I can be very convincing," she said, tipping her head forward and finding his mouth again. She slid her arms around his neck and felt Nick slide a hand up her back a few moments later, his own fingers playing against the back of neck. His hand slid back down her spine, warm and solid, as he was underneath her, and she rocked her hips suggestively against him. He broke away from her mouth with a groan.
"Adalind," he said, breathing heavily.
"What? We're all alone here, thanks to your law-abiding efforts."
"So we should break a few now of our own, now there's no witnesses?"
"Exactly. No witnesses is the best time to break laws. That's when I try to break all of mine," and Nick gave her a look. "Unless I know you'll be the arresting officer, then I make sure to thumb my nose at you in the hopes you'll get a little bit angry and use the cuffs and maybe a little unnecessary force on me."
"Adalind," he said again, sounding a bit turned on by the idea. He found her mouth this time and she returned the kiss, encouraging him to deepen it. She pressed against him and after some resistance he allowed her to push him back, so that he was lying against the blanket, her on top of him. They made out for a while, the cool night air fighting against the heat Nick was rapidly generating. The breeze blew her locks around them, and Nick pulled a hand away from her body, to smooth them out of their faces. He slid his fingers through her hair, trailing through the silky strands. He always loved her long blonde hair. He looked happy, and content, and not at all bothered despite his claims to the contrary to be spending an evening at the lookout point—the make out point—with her, doing exactly as the nickname dictated.
He kissed her deeply again, and shifted their weight so that he was rolling her underneath him, and Adalind sighed contentedly, hoping he was finally getting on board with what she was trying to do here, which wasn't, for the record, trying to collect a souvenir from their encounter at Summit Park. Like him, she would rather be home, or at least somewhere more private than an open cliff side, but, okay, maybe he was right that her getting a little inebriated meant that she was a little less discerning about where she became uninhibited.
And it was such a beautiful night, and she was in Nick's arms, which was always a rather enjoyable place to be, and judging by Nick's response she didn't think she'd have to do much to convince him to take her home and finish the job they were starting, and really, mission accomplished, wasn't it?
"Stop smirking," Nick said breathily. "It's not like you've won anything."
She grinned, meeting his eyes.
"I was planning on taking advantage of you when we got home anyway."
"Leave a girl wondering," she said.
"You begged me enough," he said, and she opened her mouth in mock-outrage. He captured her lips again and let his hands wander over her body for a while before pulling away. "Come on, I think it's time to take you home."
"You're sure I'm not too drunk?"
"You're just drunk enough to be agreeable for what I want to do with you," he replied and she smirked. "And at least when I kiss you I don't feel like I'm drinking a blueberry martini anymore."
"Ha," she said. "Those are really good."
He rolled his eyes as he got to his feet, and held out a hand for her. He helped her get to her feet, steadying her, though she didn't need it, but she used it as an excuse anyway to hold him close. He watched her carefully start to pick her way across the gravel, before heaving a loud sigh and sweeping her up in his arms, bridal style, and carrying her the rest of the way.
"My hero," she said, "I just might let you do all sorts of unspeakable things to me," and he rolled his eyes again and bit down a smile.
"Like you were going to say no," he said.
"No, probably not," she agreed. He set her carefully on her feet by the car and she opened the door and slid in, and Nick went back to collect the blanket. He settled in beside her a few minutes later, catching her eye as he shut his door, and inserted the key in the ignition. The radio sprang to life, and Adalind watched him sit back as he stared at her for a moment longer. This time they both moved to embrace the other and Adalind and Nick spent several long moments tasting and enjoying the feel of each other before Adalind registered a noise beside her.
A second later someone rapped on Nick's window and they both jumped apart.
"Agh!" she uttered when a bright light flashed in, and she held her hand out reflexively in front of it, trying to block it.
"License and registration, sir," came a crisp, no-nonsense voice and Nick raised a hand also to try to block the light when it shone suddenly on him.
"Dammit," she heard Nick mutter. He rolled the window down, still trying to get the flashlight beam out of his eyes to see, when whoever was holding it wiggled it across Nick's face, almost mockingly. Adalind squinted at the uniform.
"Wu?" she asked, recognizing the voice and the outfit, and closed her eyes reflexively when Wu shone the light back in her eyes.
"Agh!" she said. Wow. Damn, those things were bright.
"Wu?" Nick asked, sounding peeved. "Is that you?"
"Detective Burkhardt," Wu said mockingly. "Fancy meeting you here. Can I see your license and registration, sir?"
"What are you doing?" Nick asked irritably and Wu blessedly turned off his flashlight. Adalind blinked, light blobs floating in front of her eyes.
"Got a call from dispatch saying you had reported some underage drinking from the Summit. Wanted to make sure you were okay."
"Yeah, I'm good," Nick said gruffly.
"I can see that," Wu replied, making a show of looking away from Nick to Adalind. "Hey Adalind."
"Hey...Wu."
"I was worried you might be having some problems up here, especially all alone, but I can see you're not exactly alone are you?"
"I'm good."
Wu looked past Nick to Adalind again. She could imagine the sight she made, hair mussed, makeup mussed, dress mussed. It was not the teeniest least bit incriminating.
"I think we're in trouble," she told Nick, finding the whole situation absurdly amusing, though perhaps that was the alcohol she had imbibed.
"Why, Miss Schade? Have you been doing something you shouldn't be?" Wu asked her.
"Burkhardt," Adalind corrected, flopping her head against the headrest and Wu narrowed his eyes at her. "Missus Burkhardt."
"She's a little bit drunk," Nick said.
"And, so, what, you thought you'd take some pretty woman up here and take advantage?"
"I'm not taking advantage! And she's my wife," he added.
"So, what? That just gives you the right?" Wu said nonplussed, and Adalind covered her mouth with her hand, and Nick glared up at Wu.
"He's not taking advantage," Adalind confirmed solemnly in Nick's defense. "Believe me. I've tried just about everything," and Nick transferred his look of aggravation to her as she grinned cheekily back and Wu bit down a smile.
"I see. License and registration, sir."
"Wu!"
Adalind smothered a laugh, especially when she realized Nick's ears were turning red.
"I'm going to count to three, sir, and if you don't cooperate then I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to step out of the vehicle." Nick held up his hands from the steering wheel in supplication.
"Okay. I'm going to reach into my glove box for my registration, and my gun, and then I'm going to shoot you with it," Nick replied.
"I'm going to let you off with a warning," Wu said magnanimously after a short moment to reflect.
"Why, thank you, officer," Nick said sarcastically.
"Since I'm not sure I want to see any evidence of what was going on if you do step out. Might lead to more charges," Wu muttered. "It's a lot of paperwork."
Nick gave him a dark look, and Adalind bit down another smile.
"If that's all, Wu," Nick said curtly.
"Sure," Wu said. "Saw your vehicle parked here and just wanted to make sure you were okay. I'll let you get back to the rest of your evening, Detective. Missus Burkhardt," he said to Adalind and she nodded with mock-gravity. "Don't let me keep you from enjoying the rest of your night," he managed with a straight face. Nick squinted at him and Wu smiled serenely and left.
"I'm never going to live this down," he told her, rolling up his window.
"It's just Wu," she said. "He won't tell anybody."
"Of course he will. He probably already has. Hank, for one."
"Well, what did he even see? Us kissing? We weren't doing anything embarrassing by the time we got back in the car." They had been doing plenty of feeling each other up earlier.
"You were doing a little bit more than that," Nick said, and she recollected that her hands had been sort of wayward and busy again.
"I doubt he could see that. And anyway, so were you," she returned with a sniff. "You don't hear me complaining."
"As if you were going to?" he scoffed. "Why is it whenever I'm with you all logic and reason and sanity just flee?" Nick said, looking up at his visor and shaking his head.
"Because you love me," she replied, at once cheeky and serious, "and love's not exactly logical."
"Nothing about what I feel for you is logical," Nick said with a sigh, perhaps making the understatement of the century in regards to their relationship, but he already sounded like he was getting over his aggravation of being found out at the makeout spot by one of the guys.
She was thankful it was Wu, since despite Nick's claims, Wu would take care who, and how, he passed the story along, and likely Nick realized that too, or he'd still be more upset. Nick's phone chimed and he reached into his pocket distractedly. He frowned at the screen.
"Oh, look. See? Hank already knows," he said to Adalind pointedly, holding up his phone and clicking the screen off in disgust.
"I promise I'll make it up to you," Adalind said smiling in amusement, and leaned over the console to brush an apologetic kiss over his mouth. They jumped again when a siren chirped behind them and then Wu's voice came over the megaphone speaker.
"All right people, show's over. Let's move along," he said, and Nick sighed disgustedly, and turned to give Wu a frosty look over his shoulder. Adalind caught sight of another car, high beams flashing over their cabin, as another set of lovebirds hoping to delight in the night air and each other rolled into view. It spotted Wu's cruiser as it turned at the summit, before it promptly executed a smooth one-eighty and headed back down the mountain road. Wu chirped his siren again and then drove off, leaving Nick and Adalind alone.
"I'm surprised he's still up," Adalind replied, referring to Hank. "It's late, isn't it?"
"That means he's alone," Nick said, with a snicker. "He'll hate me tomorrow."
"Why?"
"Because I intend to stroll into the department tomorrow morning looking like I just had the best night of my life."
"How do you expect to achieve that?"
"By having the best night of my life," he said, looking at Adalind calculatingly and Adalind smiled. "If I'm going to endure endless ribbing from the guys about this, I'm going to at least have made it worth my while."
"The best, huh? That's a lot to live up to," she said, running her hands over his shirt, and slipping his tie from the knot.
"Well, at least in the top ten," Nick said, watching her hands as she slowly pulled the tie away. "Say, three of the others have been when you were a little…more uninhibited also, shall we say."
"Amorous, I believe was a word you used earlier. Experimental was another." His mouth curled into a smile.
"That was one of the other nights I was referring to."
She figured.
"Well, I need a little more room to work, if we're talking best night," she told him and his smile widened. He slid the gearshift down and pointed his SUV in the direction of home and started down the mountain road.
"Especially if we get experimental again," she added.