A/N Another little piece of "Little Moments Like That" Sorry if there are errors!
Disclaimer: I own nothing
Flack and Angell walked into the break room hand in hand.
"Well, if it ain't the happy couple" Danny mused. Flack sent him an ugly look. Lindsay playfully smacked Danny in the back of the head. "Ow, what? Why do you keep hitting me?" He groaned.
"Because you keep acting like a smart ass! You must remember Mr. Messer; you'll have a Mrs. soon. That is if I don't decide to leave you before we reach the alter." Lindsay quipped before leaving to room.
"What? Linds wait" He called, running after her. He was concerned his fiancé had plans of moving out.
"He is so dense sometimes" Falck laughed.
"So Jess how are you feeling?" Stella wondered.
"Oh, I'm hanging in there. I'm starting to get kicked" Angell informed. Stella couldn't help but notice Flack's change in expression; he seemed confused and somewhat hurt. She decided not to pry.
"I'm going to go give Mac this file, I'll be right back, ok?" Flack said finally. Angell smiled at him, he couldn't help but smile back. He kissed her on the cheek and walked out.
"He alright?" Stella asked.
"Yeah, we went to his parents last night and they were messing over me. I think he's feeling a little left out. My parents did the same thing the last time we visited them." Angell explained. Stella nodded and flipped through a stack of pictures Adam had brought in. They were pictures of recent get togethers with the whole group. She laughed lightly. "What?" Angell was curious.
"You're off your game Jess, Flack's ties haven't gotten any better since you married him" She joked. Stella watched as Angell's whole demeanor shifted.
Flack was watching his wife as Mac talked, suddenly he watched her shoulders drop, he knew she was crying.
"Uh, Mac, I gotta go" He stuttered, sprinting back to the break room. He took his wife into his arms. "Stella, what did you do to her? I was only gone for two minutes." He half scolded. Stella just shrugged and shook her head, she truly had no idea what she had done. "Jess, honey what's wrong?" Flack asked softly. Angell pulled away from him and toyed with his tie.
"You have ugly ties" She sobbed. Flack cocked and eyebrow. He knew the crew made fun of his ties all the time, but Jess had never mentioned them. Maybe the pregnancy made her more blunt, that or the hormones. Stella silently punished herself for her earlier comment about his ties. She thought quickly.
"I heard Mac was getting rid of some of his old ties, they were much better than yours, maybe he can help you out" She said with a wink, trying to make the situation better. Angell almost instantly perked up and looked up at her husband.
"We'll have to look into that" She smiled then bounced out of the room.
"Those mood swings are killing me!" Flack expressed. Stella laughed.
"Only three more months" She reminded him.
Don walked into the bedroom to find his wife changing out of her work clothes.
"Hey handsome" Jess smiled as she pulled on a pair of jeans.
"Hey, so I talked to Mac, said we could come get those ties whenever" He mentioned, not knowing if that was still an issue.
"Ok, get changed and we can run over there, then maybe get some dinner" She suggested.
"Sounds like a plan" Don smiled, giving her a quick kiss. After changing into jeans and a light grey thermal shirt he found Jess flipping through a parenting book. "You ready?" He asked, she looked up from her page and smiled. Replacing the book mark, she set the book on the side table. Don helped her to her feet.
"You know, it wouldn't hurt you to pick up a parenting of your own" She pointed out. He just gave her a look. She rolled her eyes and sighed.
Mac heard the knock on his door. He took a quick glance around his apartment to make sure everything was in order. As he expected, when he opened the door, he found Don and Jess.
"Hey guys, come on in" He invited them in. "Jess, how are you holding up?" The older detective asked with a genuine interest.
"If that ain't the question of the year, I'm fine. Just taking it all in." She laughed.
"sorry, I'm sure that does get old." Mac apologized.
"You're fine, really." Jess assured him. Mac smiled lightly.
"So the ties?" Don chimed in.
"Oh yeah, I'll go get them" Mac remembered. Don walked around the living room. Jess could tell there was something ever so slightly off about him. She knew now was not the time or the place to get into that.
"Something seems different about this place." Don noticed.
"You're right, things seem softer in here, there's not such a tough bachelor pad atmosphere." Jess concurred.
"Hmm" Don grunted. Mac soon returned from the bedroom carrying a small box.
"Here you go; you can have the whole box." He said passing the box off.
"thanks, I appreciate it, since apparently I'm not the most fashion forward when it comes to neckwear." Don replied looking sideways at his wife. She giggled softly.
"it's no problem" Mac responded. Don nodded and began to follow Jess out of the apartment.
"Oh Mac?" He stopped before getting completely out the door.
"Yeah?" Mac replied.
"How did Stella know you were getting rid of your ties?" Don wondered curiously.
"Maybe because we're friends or because it came up in casual workplace conversation" Mac answered in a curt tone as he tried to hide his slight blush.
"Okay" Don pretended to believe him and shut the door behind him.
After dinner, Jess sifted through the small box of ties.
"Baby, these are so much better than the ties you have, how did you even accumulate such a collection?" She questioned on a laugh.
"I don't know, gifts here and there, and a few from thrift shop and whatnot" her husband explained.
"There's your trouble" She said almost under her breathed as she pushed herself up from the couch.
"I can put those up, you can just relax" He objected.
"No, I want to do it. If you do it, the old ties will never leave." She mentioned. Don laughed as she sauntered down the hall. Jess carefully pulled the small drawer out of his dresser and emptied it's contents onto the floor. She slowly lowered her self to the ground and scooted so she was leaning against the bed. As she decided which of his ties would make the cut, she noticed something sitting under Don's nightstand. She reached over and grabbed the object. Jess gasped as she revealed a parenting book. The corners were bent and it looked as if it had been flipped through more than a couple times. She took note that certain pages were dog- eared. There were small notes in his handwriting written in the margins saying things like "ask about this" or "look up that". She turned to the page he'd marked that fell closest to where she was at in her pregnancy. The page was about the baby kicking. She smiled and let a tear roll down her cheek as she saw his note saying "Can't wait for this" on the top corner of the page followed by a smiley face. "Don!" She called through the apartment. Don could tell she was crying just by her voice, he jogged into the bedroom. He found her sitting amongst his old ugly ties with his parenting book in her lap. He just sat down next to her.
"What's up?" He asked softly.
"Why didn't you tell me you had this book?" She squeaked.
"I don't know, I guess I just figured you expected me to read up on the subject and really didn't give it a second thought" He admitted wrapping an arm around her shoulders. She smiled at him. "How else would I know what's normal and what's not? If I hadn't read that book, I wouldn't know that you're beginning the nesting phase" He added.
"I guess I am" she laughed, looking at the ties around her.
"Why didn't you tell me the baby was kicking?" Don breathed. Just by his tone, Jess knew that's what had been bothering him.
"I'm sorry, it's hasn't happened much. I really wanted to tell you but I guess I got wrapped up in work" She ended in somewhat of a sob.
"it's ok, I understand, just let me know, ok? I'm really looking forward to that" He crooned. She nodded and leaned into his shoulder. "Love you honey" He said sweetly.
"Love you too" She stated. "Now, let's get back to these ties of yours" She chuckled, picking up a particularly strange one covered in purple and green paisleys. "Seriously?" She asked in disbelief. Don couldn't help but smile.