Title:
Curve of the Earth
Characters:
Don Flack, Lindsay Monroe
Prompt:
#14, Fixation
Word
Count: 336
Disclaimer:
The names of all characters contained herein are the property of
Anthony Zuiker, Jerry Bruckheimer Television, CBS and Alliance
Atlantis. No infringements of these copyrights are intended, and are
used here without permission.
A/N:
Written for a challenge community on Livejournal, psych30.
Curve of the Earth
The first thing that strikes Flack when he sees the new CSI is her smile. It makes him forget for a moment everything that he's seen on the job, and everything that's come along with it. He forgets Gavin and the dead baby they found the other day, he forgets Danny and the Tanglewood gang. If he's honest with himself, he knows that if it came down to it that smile could make him forget the curve of the earth. Something Flack has to say about Lindsay's smile is that she means it, and when she says her first words to him it is, of course, with a smile.
"I'm Lindsay Monroe, the new CSI here. Sure is hot in the city."
Flack shakes the hand she's offered and it's soft, a woman's hand, and he's struck by how perfectly it fits in his own. He offers a smile and drops Lindsay's hand as quick as possible with out being rude.
"Yeah. Hot."
But then he remembers why she's there—Aiden's gone, she's Aiden's replacement—and Flack makes a decision to stop thinking about the new girl. It doesn't matter that she makes him lose all coherent thought with just a curve of her lips. None of that matters.
From then on, though, he fixates on her smile, whether he means to or not. If he has a bad day, he closes his eyes and remembers; it makes it better for a while, shutting out the dark with light. If he's drunk, it's worse. Flack will see the smile on any girl he's with and when he wakes up in the morning and she doesn't have that smile he ushers her out of his apartment. He tells himself, when he does recognize his fixation, that it's okay.
Flack needs something to keep him grounded, to remind him of what is out there to fight for. And he guesses if a simple smile is all it takes for him to regain hope, then he'll hold onto it.