This story is dedicated to TheSingingPterodactyl and was written as a birthday gift to her. I hope you all read it and please wish her a happy birthday in the reviews J
(PS: Sorry if this story isn't as good as some of my others… I've been up since 4am (and it's 1am now) and I've not really written any Claudia/Cutter before.)
Cutter smiled to himself as he stepped into the ARC lounge to fetch his lunch from the refrigerator. Claudia was sitting curled up on the sofa, her feet tucked under her and her nose in a book. She was so absorbed in her reading, that she hadn't noticed him enter.
He glanced at the book title as he sat down beside her, startling her out of her story. "The Curse of the Cuckoo Clocks?" he read from the cover. "Hadn't pegged you as a Mystery-Reader."
Claudia put a bookmark in the hardcovered novel and placed it on the coffee table in front of them with a smile. "And what would you have pegged me as?"
Cutter thought about it for a moment and then shrugged, "True-life stories maybe, autobiographies, histories and such. Maybe mysteries if they were actual unsolved crimes, and possibly a fan of the romance genre, but only secretly."
Claudia chuckled and shook her head with amusement, "Well you're not far off. That's some good guess work, but you're usually right so I shouldn't be surprised. Actually, the book belongs to Abby; she left it on the counter and I saw her name in it. Picked it up to serve as a distraction for the time being."
"Any good?"
She shrugged again, "Not bad I guess. Not really my style, but entertaining enough that I could get through it. I can see why Abby likes it though."
"And why's that?"
"Main character is about this cute geeky guy named Connor Church. Who do you think she pictures when reading it?"
Cutter laughed. "And does Mr. Church like all things dinosaur?"
"Nah, he's a bird expert this one, has a pet cuckoo named Hem. He does wear a fedora though."
Cutter picked up the book again and turned it over. "Hmm… that's odd," he said as he read the author information.
"What is?"
"I was starting to think maybe Abby actually wrote it, that's all."
Claudia chuckled and gave him a playful shove. He didn't respond, but he did turn to flash her a grin and their eyes met and they both turned suddenly serious as they stared at each other, losing themselves in the other's gaze. Cutter recovered first, standing quickly and moving to the fridge.
"What're you doing?" Claudia asked.
"Lunch. It's noon and I'm hungry. He pulled an egg sandwich and some carrot sticks out of the fridge.
"You can't eat now! I want you hungry for my lasagne!"
Cutter shot her a puzzled look. "Lasagne? What lasagne? You made me lasagne?"
"For the party, Silly."
"Party?"
"Didn't you get the invitation last week?"
"No. Who's having a party and why wasn't I invited?"
"Connor. He was upset that no one bought Abby any birthday cake on her birthday."
"I didn't know it was her birthday. Have we ever gotten cake for anyone on their birthdays?"
"Well the party's not for Abby."
"Now you're confusing me."
Claudia grinned at him, amused at Cutter's puzzled expression. Usually it was he that had to explain everything to her, so she was truly going to enjoy this moment. "I pointed out that same thing to Connor and he decided to throw a birthday party for the entire team. Sorta a joint group birthday party for everyone, regardless of when their birthday is. He sent us a list of stuff to bring and my job was the lasagne. I made it from scratch."
"I didn't get that, was I supposed to bring something?"
"Probably. He said he stuck the invitation on your desk."
"Well that explains it. Thing is so cluttered up I never see anything on it. Better go find it I suppose."
Claudia sighed, her eyes following him as he left the room.
5:00. That's what the invitation said. It was 3:00 now, and that didn't give him much time to go home, get something nicer to wear (the invitation read that it was a formal affair, though he couldn't figure out why) and to pick up the cheesecake and Blue Bell ice cream he'd been assigned to. Hell, he'd never even heard of Blue Bell ice cream. He wondered why the list was so specific and thought he'd give Connor a call on that and find out if just regular old no name brand would work. He had an unopened carton in his freezer at home already.
He glanced at the list again. Lester was assigned to bringing Pistachios and Apple Juice, Claudia had the lasagne, Stephen was bringing meatballs, Abby was bringing mashed potatoes loaded with butter and Connor was going to be bringing nachos. Cutter picked up his mobile and dialled the man-in-charge.
"Connor?"
"Hey Professor! Are you all ready for the party?"
"No. What the hell is Blue Bell ice cream? Can't I just get some I've heard of?"
"Uhm… I'd really prefer the Blue Bell."
"Because…"
"It's my favourite."
"So this is really just a list of 'Connor's Favourite Foods'? Thought this party was for all of us?"
"Well, yeah," Connor spoke up a bit uncertainly, "but I did go to all the work of making that food list on me own, you know. No one helped or anything, so I thought…"
"You're right, Con," Nick said, a hint of sarcasm obvious in his voice. "Writing a list of your favourite foods is hard work. I apologize. Where can I buy Blue-Bell ice cream?"
"It's an American thing, I think. Abby usually has it shipped overseas for me in a big freezer. Expensive, but soooo worth it."
"Connor?"
"Yeah?"
"Don't take this the wrong way, but I think Abby loves you more than I do."
"Wow!" Stephen commented as he stepped into the ARC gym after work.
Nick nodded as he looked around at the heavily decorated room. "Connor's sure outdone himself, eh? Get the feeling he's trying to impress a certain blonde lizard expert?"
Stephen looked around too, "Oh, yeah, room looks great, but I was referring to her."
Nick followed his friend's gaze until his eyes landed on Claudia Brown standing over in the refreshments corner pouring herself a glass of punch. 'Wow' had actually been an underestimate, he decided. Her ginger hair was still done up in a ponytail, but the office-attire he'd always seen her in before was gone and she was wearing a flirty emerald-green sundress and matching accessories and makeup.
Stephen glanced at Nick at waved his palm over Nick's eyes. "Earth to Nick? You gonna stand there daydreaming, or you gonna go talk to her? Because if you don't ask her to dance, I will."
Nick glared at him. "Don't even dream about it, Buddy-Boy. There's more than enough techs here for you to flirt with. This one's mine."
Unlike earlier in the lounge, Claudia looked up immediately when Nick started to approach, her eyes focused on him. She smiled.
"You clean up nice, considering how short a time ago you learned about this party," she commented.
"Thanks," he smiled at her, but to Claudia's disappointment he didn't say anything about how she looked.
She blushed, thinking there must be something wrong with her outfit, and tried to make up an excuse. "I wish I'd had more time after work to get ready myself. Us women take longer, you know; I didn't really have enough time."
He shrugged, "What's wrong with how you look now?"
Claudia paused and then sighed. "I don't even know, but apparently my outfit doesn't meet your standards, seeing as how you never commented on it."
Nick smiled and reached gently for her hand. "Claudia, you shouldn't dress up to impress anyone but yourself. And if I didn't comment on how you look, it's because there aren't any words in English that don't seriously understate how amazing you look, amazing being one of them."
"Yeah?" she whispered, her breath catching. She glanced at his hand and let her fingers curl around his. Then she grinned. "Well, what about in some other language then?" she teased him.
Cutter smirked, "I doubt it, but I don't speak any other languages."
"You could make up your own word."
"Fine," Nick replied, pausing for a moment to think. Then suddenly he grinned. "Claudia, you look absolutely Claudiatastic tonight."
"Cheesy, but I'll take it."
Nick let out a chuckle, "You'll have to, I can't think of another. Did you finish your book about Connor?"
"Nah, Abby took it back. Might not be our boy, but there's only so much Connor you can take in one day, you know?"
"I do. I wonder how Abby manages at times," Nick laughed. "But enough talk about Connor. There's a waiting dance floor, I do believe."
The dancing thing was a bad idea, Nick decided. Not that not dancing would have helped. He'd always been told that it was just plain stupid to date a co-worker and he was fairly certain that dating your work-superior was even stupider, but he'd fallen for her months before they started dancing at Connor's party, so it really didn't make a difference, did it?
Granted it didn't make it any easier to get over her, but stupid or not he hadn't decided that he wanted to get over her. Anyways, no matter what he said or did to her, he could always defend himself with the simple yet childish phrase, 'Well, you kissed me first!' And she had, in a pub. He thought about it and remembered how nice she'd tasted. That he decided, was the moment that he'd fallen for Claudia Brown. So they might as well dance. She certainly wasn't protesting.
"What you thinking about?" Claudia broke the silence.
"You," he answered simply and honestly, but at a pointed look from Claudia that told him she required far more information than that, he amended his answer to, "Us."
She smiled, a blush covering her cheeks, "Good thoughts, I hope."
" 'Course."
Claudia stopped dancing and Nick looked at her questioningly. "Nick, people say it's crazy to like someone you work with."
"Yeah, that was a thought that crossed my mind in my musings. Actually, it was the main topic of my thoughts if I'm gonna be honest," he admitted, not letting go of her hand but leading her into the hallway where they could talk in private.
"And?" she questioned once they were out of earshot of the party.
"And I think I like you, a lot, stupid or not. I think I don't care what other people think. I also think we're both smart, and not stupid, so maybe all those people are wrong."
"They've gotta be," Claudia mused, "Because you're always right."
Nick chuckled before letting his lips crash down onto hers and he smiled when he felt her kissing him back. This was far more than a case of them 'liking' each other, he decided.
"Where are they?" Connor whined. "I wanna cut the cake."
"Seen them ten minutes ago kissing in the hallway," Stephen said. "Any bets they're still there?"
Abby went out to check and found Stephen to be right. She cleared her throat and smirked as the red-faced couple started and whirled around to face her. "Sorry to interrupt," she said. "But Connor's hungry."
Claudia and Nick exchanged sheepish grins as they re-joined the rest of the group in the gym. There were more than a few whistles and cheers when they walked in, leading the pair to assume everyone knew what they'd been doing. Nick squeezed Claudia's hand and whispered to her, "They approve anyways. Not all people think it's dumb."
She nodded, but didn't speak because Lester suddenly stepped forward to make a speech,
"Welcome Anomaly Chasers to this waste-of-time. Why we bloody well have to have a birthday part when it's no one's birthday is beyond me, but happy birthday to you all I suppose."
Everyone cheered, knowing that coming from Lester these were very sentimental and heartfelt birthday wishes indeed, and Connor broke out into the birthday song for a few seconds before Abby shut him up.
Nick wrapped an arm around Claudia's shoulder. "Happy non-birthday," he whispered to her.
"Same to you," she grinned back.
"Best non-birthday ever," he laughed, giving her a quick peck and pretending he didn't hear Connor's rant about the generic ice cream.
The End :) Happy REAL Birthday to TheSingingPterodactyl