Title: Curious (1/3)
Fandom: Women's Murder Club
Pairing: Jill/Cindy
Rating: PG, for now
Word count: 1,221
Disclaimer: Alas, characters aren't mine.
Spoilers: None
Summary: What happens after Cindy's latest bad date.
A/N: So, I'm still having no luck at my vague attempts to move forward on "Witness." In the meantime, here's something new! Warning: pure fluff alert!

Part 1: A Rescue Mission

Sighing, Cindy pulled out her phone and dialed. She couldn't believe that it had actually come to this, but she was running out of options. As she listened to the phone ring, she couldn't quite decide which would be worse -- the rest of the evening that awaited her if Jill didn't pick up, or the embarrassment that was sure to come if she did.

"Hey Cindy. What's up? Get yourself arrested again?"

"What?" Cindy was momentarily sidetracked with indignation. "No, I did not get myself arrested again! There are other things that I do with my time than get myself arrested, you know!"

"All right, all right, calm down there, tiger." Cindy could practically hear the smirk on Jill's face. "Then to what do I owe the honor of your phone call?"

"Oh. Right." Cindy could feel herself blushing, and was at least glad that Jill wasn't there to see it. "Okay, I have to be quick, since I'm supposed to be in the restroom. I need you to call me back in about ten minutes and make up some excuse for why you need me to come do something important, and then I need you to come pick me up. I'd drive myself, but I've already had two drinks, and I may need to down a third in the next ten minutes, and anyway, Maggie's in the shop again."

Cindy heard what sounded like Jill choking on whatever she was drinking and then bursting out into laughter.

"Jill..." Cindy continued, extending the one syllable into a whine.

"You need me to rescue you from a bad date?" Jill asked, the amusement still easily evident in her voice.

"Yes. I know, ha-ha, it's hilarious. Now will you do it? Please?"

"Yeah, sure." Jill chuckled. "Where are you?"

"The Lexington Club. It's on-"

Jill interrupted, starting to ask, "Isn't that..." only to be interrupted by Cindy, who continued, "It's on 19th and Lexington. Got it? Okay, bye."

Cindy hung up and took a deep breath, before making her way back out towards her date.

Cindy's phone rang exactly twelve minutes later, and a mere two minutes after that, she was sliding gratefully into Jill's car.

"Oh, thank God. I've had plenty of bad dates before, but that one was really bad."

Jill didn't say anything right away. Warily, Cindy turned to look at her, finding the blonde already watching her, a contemplative expression on her face. "What? Why are you looking at me like that? And why are we not moving? Go, woman! Drive!"

Smirking, Jill finally pulled away from the curb. Cindy knew Jill well enough, though, to understand that she had not yet escaped the danger of the contemplative look, especially when combined with the smirk. Sooner or later, Jill would share what was on her mind, and how it related to Cindy.

"So. Cindy." The smirk had expanded into a full grin at this point. It was going to be sooner, rather than later, apparently. "Isn't The Lexington Club a lesbian bar?"

Cindy felt a bright blush spread immediately across her face. "Oh. Um. Hmm." She fidgeted awkwardly in her seat, as the car stopped at a red light, and Jill turned to face her once again.

"Is it?" Cindy asked, hearing her tone rise higher than intended at the end of her question. She cleared her throat self-consciously. "You know, that might explain why there were so many women there." Cindy could only shrug and attempt a smile.

"Right, that could be a hint. Lots of women. Including your date?"

Unable to think of a way to deflect the question, Cindy just squirmed uncomfortably under Jill's gaze. Out of the corner of her eye, though, she noticed a flash of color, so she turned to look out the windshield. "The light's green!" she proclaimed.

Jill faced forward once again. "So it is," she said, moving into the intersection.

They sat quietly for another few minutes, until Jill suddenly broke the silence, causing Cindy to jump in her seat. "Damn it, if I was Lindsay, you would have spilled all the details five minutes ago. Is that why you called me, instead of her?"

"What? No, I just..." Cindy paused, not quite sure why it was that she had chosen to call Jill. "You were the first one I thought of."

Jill visibly perked up at that, smiling proudly.

Cindy sighed resignedly. "And okay, fine. Yes. My date was female. I do that sometimes. Date females, that is. In fact? Now that I think about it? I haven't seriously dated a male since Joey DiFonzo, freshman year in college. Wow, it's really been a while."

"You dated someone named Joey DiFonzo? Did he have Italian flags coming out his ass?"

Cindy giggled, suddenly more comfortable than she'd been for the whole ride. "Shut up, he was sweet."

"And yet apparently he scared you off the male half of the species. The next time you reject a guy who wants to date you, you should tell him that it's Joey DiFonzo's fault."

Jill's teasing smile and light-hearted eyes effectively put Cindy at ease. She couldn't help but smile back. "Um, it doesn't quite work that way."

"No? Well we females are pretty awesome, so I can't blame you there. Anyway," Jill continued, pulling up to the curb, "Get out of my car. I don't feel like playing chauffeur any more."

Cindy frowned in confusion, until she looked out the window and saw that they had reached Cindy's apartment. Laughing, she smacked Jill on the arm. "Damn you, Jill, I was about to launch into a rant about passive-aggressive homophobia."

Jill just smiled innocently. Cindy got out of the car and turned to say goodnight, but Jill had gotten out as well, coming around to lean casually against the side of the car.

"So, you're not freaked out?" Cindy asked hesitantly.

"Are you kidding?" Jill scoffed. "We live in Gay Francisco, of course I'm not freaked out!"

"Well, thanks." Cindy stuck her hands in her pockets, feeling vaguely shy again. "Most of my coming-out experiences haven't exactly gone very well, so thanks for not freaking out. And I'll tell Claire and Lindsay at some point, too. There just never seems to be an appropriate moment for this kind of thing."

"You could always go out on more bad dates in lesbian bars and then call each of them to pick you up," Jill suggested. "But in the meantime, don't worry, your secret's safe with me. Now c'mere. I feel like we've bonded, so I think we should hug."

Cindy giggled again as Jill reached out and pulled her into a tight embrace.

"I'm glad you felt comfortable enough to tell me," Jill continued genuinely, pulling back from the hug, but keeping her hands on Cindy's shoulders and holding her at arm's length.

Noticing the switch in Jill's tone from teasing to sincere, Cindy could only smile at first, unsure how else to answer and feeling unexpectedly choked up. After a moment, she settled on, "Well, thanks for the ride," inwardly cringing at how lame she sounded.

With a smile and a nod of her head, Jill simply got back in her car, but didn't drive away until Cindy had reached the top step to her apartment and turned around to wave.

TBC...