Title: Fruit of the Poisonous Berry
Fandom: Longmire
Characters: Vic Moretti, Walt Longmire, Cady Longmire, Ferg, Ruby
Category: Romance, Angst, Drama, Holiday
Rating: M
Word count: ~ 10,000
Summary: What will happen when The Ferg decides some Christmas decorations are in order and Walt and Vic end up under the mistletoe? Post-Season 4 Fix-It. Fic.
Spoilers/Timeline: Post Season 4
Author's Note: Written to the soundtrack of Clare Dunn's "Move On" and "Tuxedo" and Ellie Goulding's "How Long Will I Love You."


Ferg had been stirring around the office all morning while Vic tended to the paperwork she'd gotten behind on over the past week. She had been doing her best to ignore him and focus, but it was hard not to notice that Ferg had disappeared into Walt's office five minutes ago, shutting the door behind himself, and hadn't come out yet. It had peaked Vic's natural curiosity. They didn't have a case at the moment and things had been quiet, almost as quiet as when Vic had first come to Durant. The handful of drunk and disorderlies from the casino were annoying but easy enough to deal with. Walt hadn't even left his office for them, another similarity to when she'd first started working for the Sheriff's office, and why she was currently finishing up the paperwork for them. It was still her least favorite part of the job.

Walt's familiar irritated growl seeped through his office door. Vic shot to her feet. It had been nothing but irritated growls and low snarls around the office since Walker Browning had burst down the door of Walt's cabin, gun in hand, intent on finishing what he had started on the Reservation, and caught Walt with the good Doctor Monaghan. Only Vic's timely intervention when the hospital had notified her of Browning's escape - and that they couldn't get a hold of the Sheriff - had kept the situation from turning from a disaster into a tragedy.

When Vic had arrived, her truck spraying gravel as she slid to a stop, Browning had his gun already pointed at Walt. As she had crept up on to the porch, Vic had heard the unnecessary click of the hammer being drawn back and hadn't wasted any time telling him to freeze. Knowing he would take his shot the moment he heard her voice, Vic shot instead. The bullet had torn through his shoulder and Walt had taken advantage of his distraction to surge forward and slap the gun out of his hand. His eyes had flicked to Vic as she had taken in his naked form and the mostly naked woman in his bed in quick glance as she stomped forward to slap cuff on Browning. Without a word, Vic had hauled Browning to his feet, dragged him outside, thrown him in the prisoner area of her truck, and slammed the door shut. Then she'd doubled over, heaved her guts up in Walt's front yard, gotten into her truck and driven him back to the station where she had thrown every charge in the book at him.

Vic hadn't met Walt's eyes since and had done her best to avoid him. That sick feeling in her stomach had come back each of the few times Walt had tried to talk to her about it and she'd done her best to avoid getting cornered. Maybe it would go away in time if she ignored it and him. That was what the job was for and she was trying her damndest to do it.

..which was why, as Undersheriff, she wasn't going to let Walt take his bad mood out on Ferg. Vic pushed to her feet and took a few quick strides toward Walt's office. Her hand had just closed over the knob when it was yanked out of her grip and Walt stormed out. Her momentum was too much and Vic slammed into him, chest to abdomen, and bounced back. Walt caught her forearm to keep her from falling and Vic flinched.

"Doesn't it look festive, Walt?" Ferg asked, sounding eager and younger than he had for a long time. "It really brightens the place up. If you liked it, I thought I could put some more stuff up. Just a few little touches here and there," he continued.

Vic followed Walt's gaze up and saw a sprig of mistletoe hanging above them, the deep green of the leaves contrasting with the bright, almost shiny red of the berries. "What the Hell, Ferg?" Vic demanded before she could stop herself. "It's a fucking sexual harassment lawsuit waiting to happen."

"It doesn't have to be like that," Ferg contradicted her. "It could be a friendly thing, like you and the Sheriff."

Vic winced, giving Ferg a too bright smile and bit her tongue so she wouldn't snap his head off. It wasn't fair. Ferg didn't know what was going on. For that matter, neither did she, but she had gotten the message loud and clear. Walt wasn't interested, not in her.

"We could certainly use some cheer around here," murmured Ruby from her desk, across the office, low enough that it could be ignored, but pointed all the same.

"Fine," Walt grunted. "But this place doesn't need to look like Christmas exploded in here. This is a jail, not a nativity play." It was the most Vic had heard Walt say in months and she barely noticed because of the way his thumb ran over her forearm as he pulled away to head back into his office. Every nerve in her body sang and Vic sucked in a sharp involuntary breath at the gesture that hadn't been meant to feel like a caress at all.

"Well, Walter, aren't you going to start us off right?" Ruby called after him. It took a second for the words to sink into Vic's thoroughly distracted brain. As soon as they did, her gaze flicked up to Walt's face. He looked like a deer caught in a spotter's headlights about to be shot, a combination of horror and uncertainty that made her guts clench. She would not be sick, not here and now in front of everyone. Their eyes met and gazes held so she saw the exact moment he made his decision.

"Uh, okay, I guess," Walt answered Ruby, as he ducked his head and tilted his cheek toward Vic, leaving the final decision up to her.

It was such a fucking Walt thing to do; she wanted to punch him square in the shoulder. For a moment Vic considered pushing him away and retreating to the safety of her desk. She wasn't exactly known for her good cheer, so it wouldn't be out of character for her.

Walt's fingers twitched at his side, tucking into a fist and then slowly opening back. It struck Vic in an instant that he was nervous too, and she acted. Her heart sank into her stomach as she rose on her toes, intending to peck him on his stubbled cheek and then march back to her desk head held high. Instead just as her lips were about to touch his cheek, Walt turned his head to see what she was doing. Her lips brushed the corner of his mouth instead of his cheek and Vic caught the faintest hint of his lips, soft and a little chapped amid the faint scrape of stubble, against hers.

Vic drew back like she had been shocked and stumbled away, her heart pounding. Her first instinct was to touch her lips, tingling with the roughness of his stubble and burning with the barest brush of his lips against hers. She caught herself on the edge of her desk and straightened instead. She had a reputation to maintain. She couldn't look like a schoolgirl with a crush in front of the people she worked with. Pushing away from her desk, and ignoring the looks that Ferg and Ruby were no doubt giving her, Vic made a beeline for the Reading Room. She needed a minute without anyone staring at her. She couldn't look at Walt. She didn't even want to know what he thought. She just….needed a minute.


"Go away, Ferg," Vic snapped in response to the knock on the Reading Room door, as she leaned over the sink. She probably needed to apologize for her negative response to his Christmas cheer. He was trying, after all, and that was something no one else in this office was doing, except maybe Ruby. But Ruby tended not to interfere except for the occasional comment, preferring to let them sort out their own problems.

The door creaked open and Vic whirled to face Ferg, ready to give him a piece of her mind for not respecting her wishes and stumbled back against the sink in surprise.

"I'm not Ferg." It was the tone of Walt's voice more than anything else that startled her. He didn't sound angry. Just the opposite, his voice was calm and gentle, a tone he hadn't used with her in a very long time.

"Shit, Walt," Vic breathed, holding her hand to her heart. "You scared the crap out of me." It was the truth. She could feel her heart racing beneath her palm. "What are you doing in here?" Anger was good. Anger was what she needed. Walt was the last person she wanted to see right now, not when the merest brush of his lips against hers brought back that sick feeling in her stomach and the knowledge that whatever she had thought lay between them wasn't really there.

"Vic…" Walt said her name the same way he had spoken a moment ago, a soft caress of sound that sent a shiver down her spine. It wasn't fucking fair of him to talk to her that way, not when he had made the boundaries of where she stood in his life so very clear. She was on the outside and he was with Doctor Monaghan. That was that.

Or not. Vic thought, questions spinning wildly on the tip of her tongue. There was barely any space between them as it was in the tight confines of the Reading Room, but what little distance there was was eliminated when Walt took one step forward and then another until she could feel his belt buckle pressing against her stomach. "What the fuck, Walt?" She meant to demand it but the words came out far softer and breathier than she'd intended.

Walt opened his mouth to speak and then shook his head. He raised his hand and brushed her hair back behind her ear. His skin was rough and dry and sent a small tug of pain through her scalp when her hair caught on his callused fingers. It was the last thing Vic noticed before Walt bent his head toward her and pressed his lips against hers. She jerked back in surprise - kissing her was honestly the last thing she had expected him to do - but he followed her warm and insistent. One hand came up to curl around her hip and pull her closer while the other cupped her cheek.

The kiss was rough and deep, slipping his tongue in her mouth and nipping at her lower lip. Vic's hands came up to brace against his shoulders and she relented for an instant kissing him back, letting herself forget everything else but the way he felt, the way he tasted, the way he made her head spin with just one kiss. Her fingers curled into his shirt until she was clenching it so tight her knuckles ached.

One large hand slid from her hip up to the curve of her ass and squeezed, running up her back, brushing over the curve of her breast and pressing her full against him. Then she pushed and shoved him away, breaking the kiss as roughly as it had began. Her body ached for his touch as soon as his hands had left her and she stared at him for one wild moment, taking in quick sharp breaths.

Everything hung in the balance, the air charged with tension. Anything was possible. Then Vic took a step forward and pushed past him, slapping the door open with both hands and striding out into the main office. "Ruby, I'll be out on patrol until I go off duty. You know how to reach me." She shouldered her go bag and strode for the door without looking back. She'd had enough of looking back. Vic wouldn't make that mistake again.


(1/3)

I'll be back with an update tomorrow or Tuesday. I discovered the tv show and inhaled the books a few weeks ago. Then promptly lurked my way through all the fic I could find in this fandom. I really enjoyed everything I read (and need to go back and comment on). I hope folks enjoy my little addition!