Author: Cyclone
Rating: PG
Summary: They don't really see it.
Disclaimer: The puddle jumpers remain unchristened so obviously MGM & Gekko still own them.
Notes: Just a short little ficlet to ring in the New Year.
XxX
She smells him before she sees him, and her lips automatically curve into a smile. It's not the smile she wears for the rest of the world, but a softer, more intimate version that's reserved especially for him. It transforms her from merely beautiful to stunning, and she doesn't even realise that she's doing it.
He does though.
It's why he seeks out her company on the flimsiest of reasons. It's why he perfected the puppy-dog look that an almost forgotten woman told him didn't work on her in another lifetime. Because it does work on Elizabeth. At least, it does when she decides to let it. Convincing her to succumb fills more hours than he's comfortable with admitting, but it doesn't stop him trying. And it's why he flirts madly and makes with the ha-ha's, and almost convinces himself that it's just a bit of harmless fun.
He's deluding himself, of course.
Occasionally they'll meet in the TV room. He'll sit on one end of the couch; she'll sit on the other. He'll rest his feet on the coffee table; she'll tuck hers underneath her. He'll start off with small talk and after a while she'll turn the conversation around to more personal matters. He'll open up and tell her things no one else knows. She'll listen, sometimes questioning, sometimes just letting him talk. Sometimes he'll be the one who instigates a more intimate conversation and she'll open up and tell him things that no one else knows. It's all very platonic.
Except.
That when she smells him, her heart starts beating that fraction harder. When they're on the couch and he's relaxed, he'll find little reasons to touch her. He'll stroke an imaginary piece of lint from her hair. Or his fingers will brush hers in the popcorn bowl and linger for that split second longer than necessary. He'll smile at her for no apparent reason, and then clam up when she calls him on it. He doesn't know that he has a smile reserved especially for her either.
But she does.
End.