A/N: I will ship this in hell, I wrote this a while back for my RP blog. It's fluffy and cute and sad.
A pale hand gently stroked his wrist in an awkward, but comforting gesture. He wasn't sure how to explain it, but she somehow made him feel more at ease. They were almost perfectly in synch when they were working, which was far more than he could've ever asked for in an assistant, and she was willing to talk to him like a person, an equal.
She was far kinder than most others had been up to that point. A friend, a competent co-worker, she cared about him, and she believed in him. He couldn't help but smile down at her concerned face. With her there, it was hard to even remember why he'd been so stressed in the first place. Something about a lack of respect, but she made it worth it. Just having someone who listened, who cared, it was more than he could've hoped for.
Gently, he signaled to her that she was welcome to come closer. He'd picked up on her discomfort with contact if she wasn't the one initiating it rather quickly, and respected that. He respected her. She hadn't expected that.
She hadn't expected he'd treat her as kindly as she treated him. Hadn't expected her feigned kindness would become anything more, but it did. As she drew closer to him, she felt an unfamiliar warmth in her stomach, a weird nervousness that she'd never felt before. Not with any of her college boyfriends, or girlfriend, for that matter. No, none of it compared at all. She could feel the flush rising to her cheeks, so she tried to look away and hide it. Somehow the thought of him seeing her blushing was uncomfortable.
He simply chuckled at her, "Linda, you don't need to hide from me." He was sincere. There was, in his mind, no need for secrets between them, they were close, and he cared about her. He trusted her, and he wanted her to trust him.
Poor fool.
Her thoughts were torn between how this intimacy and trust was beneficial to her, how much less likely to find out about her minor tampering he would be if he trusted her. How much easier it would be to access his research with his trust than without it. And how painful it was, in some weird, unfamiliar, uncomfortable way. When he put his trust in her, it made her feel something beyond just success. When they were together like this, it just felt…right, and safe. That wasn't supposed to happen. This was supposed to be easy.
This was supposed to be like any other time. He was just a man, she wasn't supposed to give a damn about him. But somehow, the thought of what she had to do, what she was doing, it made her sick, like a rock in the pit of her stomach.
Maybe, if she was lucky, the whole ordeal would be over with, and he'd never remember. Maybe she wouldn't have to give up the first real connection she'd had with someone on a level beyond acquaintanceship. Maybe.
Love is…hard.