Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of CSI:NY
When his phone rang at noon on Christmas Eve Don Flack reached over and just about smacked it off without looking. Then he saw Danny's name flash up on his screen and picked up with a sigh.
"Messer, don't you have better things to do today than pester me?" The smart ass comment was tempered with affection. "Shouldn't you be at your ma's?"
"Shouldn't you be out of bed?" Danny asked from the other end of the line. "You sound like you just woke up."
Flack leaned back against his pillows with a grin. "That's the beauty of time off, Mess; I can do whatever the hell I want, including staying in bed all day if I decide to."
"Seriously Don, I know you're not a huge fan of the holidays the past couple years, but you should come over."
He knew that his best friend was talking about everything he'd been through with Angell and with his sister's struggles, and he honestly appreciated the concern. "I'm having a perfectly happy holiday this year, and I'm not planning on intruding on your family's Christmas Eve."
A sigh filtered through the phone and when Danny spoke again it was clear he was resigned. "Okay, but promise me you'll be there for the party New Years Day. And before you tell me it's over a week away and you just don' t know, I happen to know you somehow magic manned your way into getting the whole week between now and then off so you can be there. You know Stella's going to be here again and we haven't seen her since July."
"Danny, I swear I'll be there for the party with Stella." He had to hold back a laugh as he said it, and as it was he heard a low chuckle. "I'll see you in a couple days."
"Yeah I'd better." There was a slight pause. "Merry Christmas Don."
"Merry Christmas Danny; to you and Lindsay and Lucy."
Still smiling, Don disconnected the call and set the phone aside. "You're going to get us caught there chuckles."
Laughter shone from the bright green eyes that gazed up at him. "Well, it would certainly be entertaining, now wouldn't it?"
"Mmm hmmm." He skimmed a hand down Stella's back, a smile seemingly permanent fixture on his face. "Entertaining is one way to put it."
They fell back into comfortable silence, and as his hand continued its lazy path up and down her back as he contemplated the woman who seemed to be drifting back to sleep with her head pillowed against his chest.
Things hadn't been so personal between them when she left for her new job in New Orleans over a year before. They had parted as friends; it hadn't been until she had returned as a surprise for Lucy's birthday party that they had come together in a more surprising way.
Don could vividly remember that night; the way they had laughed as they shared a cab, how she had invited him up to her hotel room to catch up. She had been laughing through a story about a bad blind date, and there had just been something about her, something completely indescribable. He couldn't say if it had been the moonlight, or the crush he had dealt with when they first met, or if it was just the way she looked that night. Whatever it had been, he had been across the room in seconds, her lips avid under his as he tangled his hands in the curl of his hair.
That night had been one of the most mind blowing of both of their lives, and not just in terms of the sex. Neither of them had ever even dared to imagine what had gone on between them, but then they weren't complaining either. From that moment on they had taken every little moment they could with each other; Don made it down to New Orleans on the very few days the job allowed, and every time Stella came in for a visit she tried to make it in early so they could have time together before the craziness of her time with their crime lab friends officially began.
Neither of them had defined what it was between them, mostly because it didn't seem to matter much. They were happy together, and content for the moment to bask in each other when they could and talk for hours on the phone whenever they got the chance.
Don was pulled from his thoughts as Stella's fingers reached up to smooth the wrinkle between his eyebrows. "You have your thinking face on."
"Tends to happen a lot in our line of work," he told her with a smile. "But nothing to serious, I promise."
She pressed a soft kiss to the warm skin above his heart and settled against his chest, her head resting atop her folded arms. "Is it bad that I want to see how long it takes them to figure it out?"
Don let out a laugh. "Not at all, since I've been thinking the same thing. However…" He trailed off as he rolled her under him with one swift movement. Stella let out a chuckle that turned into a throaty moan as he kissed her long and hard. He pulled back and shot her a boyish grin. "My mind is starting to stray very far from our friends right now."
Another low noise escaped from deep in her throat as he nipped at her lips and down to press a kiss to her pulse point. But she grappled for purchase, finally fisting her hands in his hair to pull him up to look at her. "That party isn't until the first, Donny, so I have to ask. What are you doing New Years Eve?"
There was a heady combination of lust and teasing in her voice, and his grinned edge into wicked as he bent again to kiss her. She shivered deliciously as his lips rubbed sensuously against hers when he gave his answer.
"Why don't I show you?"