Glimpses: A Collection
by: raileht

Summary: A collection of short stories, some from a prompts we have in our board, some from a series I'm doing for fun. It depends—I'm picking through them, some I'll post here, some I won't.

Disclaimer: The ones you don't know are mine, the ones you do aren't.
Rating: T, to be safe
Spoilers/Timeline: it's pretty all over the place.

Warning: Bad writing…bad scenes…a few bad stuff. Don't know. I just write 'em. Some may even seem AU, some a little…er, impossible. It's basically just a bunch of crap put together, okay? They tumble into my mind, I write them and...well, it's up to you if you like them or not.

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One
(from a prompt with the keyword as "Secret")

Secret

"Good night, Diane."

"Good night, David," she smiled.

It was late, the office was empty, but for once, she was smiling. She hasn't smiled in a while, not like this and god, did it feel good.

But, of course, being her, that feeling and that smile wasn't bound to last.

"What do you think you're doing?"

She stopped and was glad she managed to suppress the urge to jump. She reached out, flicking on the lights and smirked, "Sitting in the dark. A little dramatic, don't you think?"

"I asked you a question."

"And I'm choosing not to answer it," she shrugged, "It's late, Will. I'm going home."

"Diane."

She ignored him, bypassing him as she went behind her desk, reaching for her bag and turning off the lamp on her table. She gathered the papers on her desk, meaning to leave them on her assistant's desk. She'd written in enough post-its for the instructions on what to do with them.

"Good night, Will."

"Diane, I'm talking to you. What the hell are you doing with David Lee?"

She stopped by the doors, letting her head hang for a moment before turning around to meet his hard stare.

"I never did get basketball," she said, shrugging slightly. "I mean, to me it was always like any other sport—bunch of guys, running around, passing a ball and dunking it where it needs to be dunked to score…basically, just guys acting like little boys fighting over a ball."

Will looked appropriately confused, "Wh-what are you talking about?"

"And you know what? My brother," she shook her head, "Didn't get the whole thing either so, he never played. I mean, he had friends, but, of course, since he didn't play, they just eventually stopped hanging out with him. And that was bad, for a while, but he did manage to find friends, you know, other guys who were like him—smart, different and incredibly into the things the jocks couldn't even spell if they tried."

"I don't get where this is going."

"I know," she smiled. "My brother couldn't fit in with the crowd he started out with and for a while, he tried but of course, still couldn't. He couldn't understand why, even after everything. He just didn't like basketball…it bothered him for a while, but in the end he saw reason."

She paused.

"He realized he couldn't fit in because he…didn't belong."

"What…"

"Things change, Will," Diane said. "And sometimes…things don't always change for the better…for everyone."

"Diane…"

"I stopped fitting in a long time ago," she shrugged, "but that's okay."

Will stared, wondering if he was missing anything, wondering if perhaps he was dealing with something he hadn't foreseen or expected. He was at a loss on what to say—he couldn't even understand what she was talking about.

"I still don't understand."

Diane smiled, but not in a way that comforted him. Her smile was ominous, eerie even and he'd seen it before. She'd never smiled that way to him, never because, as far as he knew…

Whenever Diane smiled like that, someone was bound to go down and it was usually the person she used that smile on.

"That's okay too, Will," she said, coming into the room, taking each measured step towards him and leaned in close, her mouth next to his ear and whispered,

"It'll be a cold day in hell before I let you take me out."

Will froze, swallowing slightly. It wasn't the menace dripping like acid that made his blood run cold, nor was it the words she chose.

It was the softness of her whisper, the way it seemed louder than if she'd screamed at him. Something in her voice told him that this time, once she started, there was no going back, no apologies to be made over drinks, no laughter in the night.

And it scared the hell out of him.

"If there is anything more I hate than people I trust lying to me," her eyes darkened, green eyes piercing his brown ones. "Its people I trust keeping secrets from me."

"Diane, I…" something told him this was the time to tell her the truth, tell her everything.

She shook her head at him, still smiling that damned smile.

"It's okay, Will. You and Derrick keep playing…don't worry about me," she turned her back on him, heading towards the door, only to stop again though this time, she didn't face him.

"I've got other friends too."

Then she walked away, the clicking of her heels fading with each step she took and Will stood there in her empty office, wondering if he'd done the right thing by keeping his mouth shut.

He tried to ignore the heavy beating of his heart and the way he'd begun to subconsciously curl his fists up to the point he'd begun digging his nails into his own skin, nearly drawing blood. He ignored everything, even the instincts that told him to do something now, after keeping silent for the last few months.

Will ignored everything, everything except the voice, telling him one thing, over and over again.

Diane was going to make him pay.