A Different Brew

Kate Moretti's slightly raised voice dragged Daniel's focus away from his music. Tugging down his headphones and glancing up at the young FBI agent, Daniel expected to see her holding out a steaming travel cup. He was confused to instead see her brandishing a paper bag toward him, an impish grin on her face.

Daniel took the bag from Kate, his confusion growing as he looked between the brown paper and Kate.

"Chamomile, no milk, no sugar, no...water?" he asked, raising his eyebrows. Kate rolled her eyes at his intentional obtuseness and sat down beside him on the stone bench.

"As usual, your wit astounds me," she replied drily. Ignoring his mock-indignation, Kate continued. "I thought you might like to try something new for a change, so I made you a new blend of tea."

"Um," Daniel said, looking at the bag of tea with a dubious expression, absently clenching and unclenching his hand on the paper. "Oh, well, thank you. I don't–I don't really drink other teas, though. Chamomile is really–really my go-to tea, you know. I–I mean, thank you for the thought, but I've been managing with my chamomile, no milk, no sugar for years now. I'm comfortable with chamomile. So–so, thanks–" As Daniel spoke, his stammering increased and his unoccupied arm wrapped itself around his middle tightly, his hand fisting in the material of his jacket. By the end of the spiel he was hesitantly offering her the paper bag back.

Kate had waited for him to finish talking with a patient smile on her face, though the faint lines of tension around her eyes revealed that she had noticed all the hallmarks of Daniel's growing unease. Once she was certain that his nervous stammering had subsided, Kate took the bag out of Daniel's outstretched hand only to tuck it into his open briefcase.

Ignoring the furrowing of Daniel's brow, Kate stood up. "Look, Daniel, I know you have certain routines that work for you, and I don't want to mess with your method. But I don't want to watch you get stuck in a never-changing rut, never trying new things just because your routine is blinding you to other possibilities. Part of being human is changing, and adapting to those changes, right?" Her eyes strangely earnest, Kate gave Daniel that smile of hers, the one where one side of her mouth slowly quirked up before breaking into a crooked grin. That smile never failed to make Daniel think that Kate looked like she had a secret, and if he was just good enough, she would share it with him.

"I'll see you around, okay? I'll call Max if there's a case. Oh, and the tea is herbal. Caffeine-free." Kate gave him one last look and strode off while Daniel was left looking between the bag and her retreating form in confusion.

"I don't understand her," Daniel complained to Natalie as he stared at the steaming mug in front of him. Natalie sighed when he gave the brew a skeptical sniff.

"What is there to understand, Daniel? Kate wants you try a different tea. Not everything has a secret meaning, you know," she replied, slightly exasperated. Daniel eyed her, his skepticism not abating.

"You weren't there; you didn't hear her talk. She was talking about tea, but she was not talking about tea," Daniel said, his eyes sliding back to the cup.

Natalie raised her eyebrows.

"Well, if you are so sure that Kate meant something else, please, enlighten me," Natalie said, gesturing grandly and bowing her head in mock-deference.

"I–I don't know!" he replied, flustered. "I can't read minds. It's just–the way she looked at me while she was talking about the damn tea..."

He trailed off as he noticed Natalie looking at him expectantly.

"What?" he whined as she gave him that look–the one that told him he being an idiot and missing the obvious.

"Daniel," Natalie said in that tone that made him feel like he had answered a question incorrectly in grade school. "Do you think that maybe what Kate was talking about is less about the gift and more about the giver?"

"What are you talking about?" Daniel replied, getting so frustrated that his words sped up and started tripping over each other. "Kate? Kate's part of my routine; I help her with cases and she gets me out of having to do things that I hate."

"But it sounds like Kate is worried about being stuck in a rut rather than in a routine, Daniel," Natalie reminded him. "Maybe...maybe she's hoping to try something new. For something to change."

Daniel gazed at the mug. Steam had long stopped curling over the rim of the ceramic, but he knew the contents would still be warm.

He looked at Natalie abruptly. "Do–do you really think that she, that she might–"

Natalie shrugged. "Sounded like it to me. But you'll never know unless you try."

Daniel reached out and slowly dragged the mug across the counter to him until he cradled it in both hands. He closed his eyes and inhaled the gentle scent of the herbs, not even noticing that Natalie was no longer present. Instead, he thought of Kate and of her crooked smile, of how she paid attention to his tea preference while still catering to her own caffeine addiction, of her anxious and earnest eyes on his before walking away from him that afternoon. Daniel thought of fear and hope, of loneliness and light, and of a possible end to a terrible, terrible longing.

He braced himself and took a deep gulp of the tea, parsing out each of the new and wholly unexpected flavors of Kate's tea. Unbidden, a smile emerged as he ducked his head, staring into the mug before taking another sip.

It was delicious.

This story was originally published under the username Trolio rather than EnoughToTemptMe as a sort of experiment. Rest assured, this story actually belongs to me. Thank you to the following individuals who reviewed A Different Brew prior to the move over to this username: hamrensel, Hawkfire28, DaisyDay, and theinvisiblequestion (aka the reason for the experiment).