AC: MotW – Valentine's Day

A/N: Just a bit of fluff I wrote because it's Valentine's Day and my awesome hubby is out of town. As far as time line goes, this falls after Chapter 35 of MotW and before the Epilogue. It's a scene I kind of wanted to write in MotW, but there was nowhere it really fit.

2/14/2013

10:00

Bronx, New York, USA

Lucy sighed as she sat down in her office at Einstein. She'd gotten a job lecturing on cognitive neuroscience, and ironically her background at Abstergo had helped her land the job easily. Her pregnancy was progressing normally, according to the doctors, and she felt keenly the extra weight of the growing child within her these days.

It hardly seemed like a little less than three months ago they'd huddled in a cold, dark Temple, built by the Precursors to their own race – their creators and enslavers – and used their technology and Desmond's extraordinary power to save the world.

Since that time they'd stayed in various hideouts. The Templars had been strangely quiet since the narrowly-averted Apocalypse, and for that they'd been grateful. They'd all needed the downtime to rest, and Desmond had slept for weeks at a time – so much at first Lucy feared he'd slipped into a coma, but to her surprise, Altair and Ezio had assured her that Desmond's body was now demanding the rest it'd been denied for so long.

It had taken her some time to get used to the fact that they were able to appear at practically any time. She winced as a sharp kick to her ribs interrupted her thoughts. She frowned, saying softly to her rounded belly, "Hey now, Mommy would like to have ribs left when you come out of there."

There was an answering twitch, and Lucy almost laughed.

"Hey Lucy!"

One of her new co-workers came over to her desk, bearing a gaudy red Valentine.

"You look tired, sweetie."

Lucy inwardly groaned even as she smiled at the woman. Deb was the "office mother," and she spent an inordinate amount of time gushing over Lucy. Privately, Lucy detested the woman, but she held a great deal of clout with many of the staff, so Lucy was forced to be polite to her.

Lucy sighed.

"I am tired, but who isn't these days?" she said, shrugging. "Just taking a break till my next lecture."

Deb frowned. "Don't push yourself too hard, Lucy. I brought this by, I thought it would cheer you up."

Lucy took the Valentine, reading it quickly and smiling automatically.

Deb leaned on her desk. "Any big plans for tonight? Maybe having dinner with that phantom boyfriend you keep mentioning? What was his name again? David...? No...something French, right?"

Lucy resisted the urge to growl.

"Actually, his name is Desmond."

Deb smiled. "Oh yes, I thought it was something classical like that. Desmond...so...when do we get to meet him?"

Lucy sighed. "He's been...sick, lately. I'll invite him to visit sometime soon."

Deb leaned towards her. "What, he's not going to do anything for Valentine's Day?" Now Lucy was irritated, and she couldn't quite keep it out of her voice as she replied, "He's been really sick lately. I'm not going to risk his health for the sake of a commercialized excuse to sell candy."

Deb looked surprised, and before she could say anything, Lucy's phone rang.

"Excuse me..."

Lucy answered it.

"This is Lucy..."

The receptionist at the front desk sounded breathless. "Ms. Stillman, you have a visitor at the front desk." Lucy frowned. She hadn't been expecting anyone. She hung up the phone. "Excuse me, apparently I have someone waiting for me at the front desk."

Deb got up to follow her, and Lucy internally muttered curses. "I was headed on my way to coffee anyway, so I'll tag along and see who your mysterious visitor is."

Lucy sighed, making her way to the front desk. When she reached the reception area in the lobby, her eyes went wide as Desmond rose from the chair he'd been sitting in.

He wore his usual jeans, T-shirt and hoodie, the silver chain of Kyle's dog tags the only new adornment to his usual uniform.

"Des!" she said. He smiled at her, his eyes like melted honey.

"Hey Luce. Er...surprise?" He grinned a little, and Lucy wasted no time in wrapping him in a fierce hug.

She sighed, listening to the beat of his heart, steady and strong. Desmond tilted her head up to kiss her gently.

Deb's voice intruded on the moment as she said, "Jesus Lucy, you might've mentioned your boyfriend was drop-dead gorgeous."

Desmond glanced at the other woman, and Deb found herself momentarily unable to look away from his striking golden gaze.

"Uh...wow...I'm Deborah. Nice to meet you...er...Desmond, wasn't it?"

Desmond nodded once. "A pleasure to meet you." He offered a hand, and Deb shook it, noticing the intricate lines of a tattoo peeking from beneath his sleeve.

Deb smiled nervously.

"Now I know why Lucy never invites you to visit...none of the ladies around here would get anything done with you walking around." Desmond laughed softly, one dark brow raised as he glanced at Lucy, who was blushing.

"Luce, have you been telling stories about me again?"

Lucy purred, and with an aside glance at Deb she said, "Only the ones that matter."

Deb stood frozen with embarrassment as Lucy pulled Desmond a bit away. "Des, as nice a surprise as this is, what are you doing here?"

Desmond's expression was guileless as he regarded her with wide eyes.

"What, I can't visit my beautiful girlfriend at work and embarrass her on Valentine's Day?"

Lucy's gaze narrowed. "Des, I know that look. What are you really doing here?"

The golden eyes glinted.

"Well, I needed to drop something off. I ordered it for you awhile ago, but it took awhile to get here, and I thought today might be an appropriate time to give it to you."

Lucy frowned.

"Des...you're avoiding answering the question."

To her surprise, Desmond blushed, rummaging in his pockets for a moment before offering her a small box. Lucy dimly heard the receptionist and Deb gasp behind her.

Lucy stared up into Desmond's eyes as he said softly, "I know I asked you before...but at the time, I didn't have anything to give you, and it didn't seem right."

Lucy took the box with trembling hands. Inside was a plain gold band, engraved with the Assassin compass, a ruby set in the center of the tines.

"Oh my God...Des. It's beautiful."

Desmond smiled. "Altair helped me design it...I'm not half as good an artist as he is."

Lucy slid it onto her left ring finger. The ring was a good fit – too good, and her eyes narrowed. "How on Earth did you know my ring size?"

Desmond coughed a little. "Uh...Becca keeps insanely detailed stats on...uh...right. It's her fault, I swear."

Lucy pretended to frown until Desmond actually squirmed, and then she laughed, hugging him. "Des, sometimes you're just adorable."

Desmond kissed her, and his gaze was a bit wary as he said, "So the wedding's still on, right?" Lucy laughed.

"Yes, Des." She kissed him again to the sound of applause.