I wrote this back in December, I think. I decided to upload it here to let people know that I still live! I will be working on Uncertainty again soon, so yay! Anyway, I thought this might be a fun read, and it's kinda cute... Enjoy!

-Gwen

Michael straightened his tie quietly in the mirror at his apartment. His hands shook nervously as he made sure he looked his best. After a long night of thinking about it and wondering how he could make advances he finally decided to just come out with it. He was going to tell Naomi Kimishima that he loved her and he couldn't wait another day. He walked out of the bathroom and checked his cell phone, brows furrowing at the lack of messages. Each time she'd say something that even remotely sounded like flirting, his face would flair up in red and mostly he was glad they just communicated over the phone.

Heart racing, he put on his dress shoes and headed out for work, his office wasn't too far from CIFM and he spent a lot of time traveling between places as Naomi's partner... much to her disappointment at the beginning they had been paired up and she often did things on her own.

"Nice tie, Little Guy. Now be a good boy and stay."

Fortunately for him those weren't the orders from the higher-ups so he continued to call and get calls from her personally. Mostly though it was for investigations and he always ended up analyzing different things ranging from dust to guitars. The drive was quiet until his phone rang and without looking at the ID he flipped it open.

"Navel speaking."

"Hey Little Guy, where are you?"

Naomi... he couldn't help but smile. "I'm on the freeway, headed for the office."

"Good, I need you to analyze a pair of scissors for me."

It never ended, the strange items for evidence would come in at all times no matter what. It was nothing new, they always had strange cases often involving murder. He sighed.

"Will do. H-Hey can I-" Before he could finish speaking Naomi hung up and he stared at his phone sadly. Staring at the empty screen, he shoved the phone back into the case attached to his belt and drove over to CIFM.

"Gill Reeds..." Noami said to herself out loud as Michael walked into the morgue where she was looking over a corpse of all things. "You are one tricky puzzle." Before he could fully approach her, Naomi's hand reached back with a baggy labeled Evidence.

"Here they are."

Michael sighed, "Were they on his person?"

"They were." Naomi glanced back at him out of the corner of her eye and he just stood there absolutely dumbstruck. "Is something wrong?"

"Huh? Oh... no. I was just thinking."

"We don't have a lot of time so can you send those to the lab?"

"R-Right... I'm on it." Feeling slightly dejected, Michael walked backwards and slammed into the wall, switching off all the lights instantly.

"What are you doing?!" Naomi snapped.

"S-Sorry! I'm going!" He flipped them back on and walked, completely red-faced, out of the morgue. Flustered and frustrated with himself, Michael headed over to the lab to take the scissors for analyzing. They would pick up finger prints, the brand and whatever information was needed. She'd probably speculate that it may have even been the murder weapon.

He could never be sure, there wasn't blood on it... was he a hair stylist? Some hairstylists had their own set of scissors. He smacked his forehead and stopped short of the lab. "What... she'll figure it out." He dropped the scissors off and then went to his office, checking his phone to see if Naomi had left any messages but he hadn't heard it so he decided she hadn't.

All I need is one second of her time... or even a minute would do. It takes less than a minute to ask a woman out on a date.

But that wasn't the case with Naomi. Michael walked back into the morgue and found that she wasn't there like he expected her to be. He turned and left, jogging to her office where he saw her on her computer. He walked in and opened his mouth, but just before he could say a word Naomi grabbed his tie.

"It doesn't appear that the scissors were the murder weapon after all."

"H-Huh? There was no blood in the-"

"None, just hair. His finger prints are the only ones showing up."

Michael stood up straight after she let go of his tie. "Ahem... so are we at a dead end...?"

"Of course not! I'm going to the crime scene!" Naomi stood up and walked to the door, putting on a long coat and buttoning it up.

"Wait-"

"Later! I'll call you if I find anything!" And with that she was out the door without another word. All he could hear was the click clack of her boots echoing as she walked evenly down the hall. She didn't even ask if he'd get the authorization. He dialed a number and heard it ring.

"Dr. Kimishima is heading to the crime scene... yes... thank you." He hung up and then flopped back into her desk chair, raking his fingers through his hair in frustration.

When he made the decision to confess his feelings he had no idea that Naomi would make it this hard. He got up and went to his office, pulling up the computer just in time for Naomi to make her first call.

"Hey Little Guy, I found the murder weapon. Bringing it in for analyzing, I also found a cell phone and I'll need you to pull the records of previous calls made from last week!"

Michael blinked numbly, "Right, I'll have the software ready when you get here. Hey I wanted to -"

Hung up on again, and it wouldn't take her long to get back with the evidence that he'd inevitably have to run up to the lab for her. He didn't have a problem with it but he had something he wanted to do. Michael got out of the desk chair and sat down in a chair next to it with a loud yawn. "Maybe lunch..."

Lost in thought, he never saw or heard Naomi approaching him and just ended up seeing a larger pair of clipping sheers in another bag marked evidence... again.

"This?"

"They have blood on them, I want to get them tested to see if they have the victim's blood."

"Great, but after this -"

"And they should have the killer's prints too, send them to the lab for me, will you, Little Guy?"

Will you, Little Guy? Ily.

Michael watched her walk off and smirked, she was far too sexy for her own good and he had to stop staring and take the clipping sheers to the lab.

After dropping them off he pulled his keys out of his pocket and headed for the exit, making sure to keep his phone and pager on loud just in case the results came back. Michael had to make this quick, she would notice he was missing if he didn't so he drove around the corner to the nearest flower shop and parked in front of it.

"Hello!" A woman said as he entered the building and removed his sunglasses. "How can I help you today?"

"I want to get some lilacs..." Michael smirked, "for a special lady."

"I see!" She began to put together the bouquet which took all of ten minutes and then his phone went off and this time he checked the ID.

Crap.

Back at CIFM, Michael debated heavily on whether or not he should head into the office. Naomi seemed somewhat agitated but since he had the results of the analysis, surly she would be a little more accepting of him. He leaned against the door and dialed her number.

It rang once. Twice.

"Kimishima here."

"The results of the analysis are in. It's not the murder weap-WOAH!" He fell through the door when Naomi opened it and stepped aside so he wouldn't land on her.

"You are certainly acting strange today, Little Guy." She looked down at him with raised brows, almost as if she was amused. "What are those for?"

"What? These?" Michael stared down the lilacs deep in thought before he stood back up and handed them to her, "Uh... happy one year of being partners?"

Naomi looked skeptical, "Thank you... but there really is no need." She handed them back to him, "Go find a vase for me? Please and thank you." She also took the results of the analysis away from him and then sat back down at her desk to compare notes. "Oh and by the way, I almost forgot to give you the cell phone."

Yet another baggy was handed his direction. "I'll... I'll take it to the lab." He put the lilacs in a vase before heading back out to do the task at hand. The longer the day went on without any success the more he felt like it wasn't going to work. He dropped the phone off so it could be analyzed and they could look at the phones records. Naomi was right when it came to him acting strange, he knew that was true and agreed wholeheartedly.

And yet he didn't want to give up and decided while the phone was being analyzed that he would go talk to her right away! He walked quickly down the hall and back to her office where she was still comparing notes quietly. He stood in front of the door for almost ten minutes reciting in his head what he was going to say to her. And then...

SLAM.

Michael's face met the door and Naomi peeked around and saw him stepping back with his hands over his nose.

"Why are you standing in front of the door again?" She asked, "Anyway! You forgot to tell me the results earlier so I got them myself, it's not the weapon. I'm going back to the crime scene."

"I know... the blood was-"

"They were used to work with fresh meat. Anyway... you should get your nose looked at, is it bleeding? I have tissues in the office... oh by the way, can you run out and find a new vase?"

"What?" Michael was taking in everything she said all at once. "I guess so... I still need to get the results from the phone records."

"I'll be gone for an hour or more looking so you can do both! Please and thank you!" And with that she was leaving again and he'd failed to confess for the umpteenth time. It was still early and he'd tried to be forward with her more than once. But then maybe he had to try harder than that, Naomi could be tough.

Michael came out of his daze and pulled his hand away from his nose and sighed in disgust before walking into the office to grab a few tissues. Holding them to his face, he headed out again to get the records from the cell phone analysis. That didn't take very long so there wasn't much else to do and he couldn't be sure if Naomi was completely serious about the vase. To play it safe though he picked up his keys and headed for the exit again. He was thoroughly frustrated, having not felt this stressed out since Naomi found that guitar after an explosion, not that it was as serious as his confession would be, but it had seriously flustered him. But at the rate this was going he was going to have to take drastic measures just to get her attention and he feared it may call for shouting. But only to get her attention, he wasn't angry, no, it was hard to make him mad.

After a good search for a vase and a short drive back to CIFM, Michael's phone rang again and he opened it and as soon as it reached his ear he could hear Naomi going on about new evidence.

"I have more for you to get analyzed, on my way back!"

"Hey, can I-"

The buzz of the dial tone came and he snapped it shut in frustration trying to control himself before doing something rash, like breaking his phone. Tossing it almost seemed fitting but he wasn't mad enough for that. Needless to say, he reached CIFM before she did and then walked to her office with the silly vase she wanted that he wasn't sure if she was serious about or not. So he changed it out, it was an oriental white and red vase that he thought seemed fitting for the scheme of her office. After replacing everything, he put the last one away just as she walked through the door.

"Oh good, you're already here!" Naomi gave a smile and started to hand him two baggies but was caught by surprise when he grabbed her wrist and glared at her in what appeared to be frustration.

"What's wrong?"

"I'll analyze these things but first I need to ask you something."

Naomi snatched her wrist back and gave him an equally scathing glare, brows furrowed in a way that said she didn't have any patience to deal with whatever he had to say.

"I'll get it done myself then!" She turned away from him and was about to grab her desk chair when he grabbed her shoulders, making her drop the baggies on the floor. Michael roughly turned her to face him and then pushed her against a wall.

"What are you doing?!" She snapped, "Let go of me right no-"

Before she could finish Michael had bent down to her level and placed a firm kiss directly on her lips. Her eyes were wide with shock and her cheeks turned bright pink. His kiss lingered for what seemed like hours but in fact had only been seconds. He stepped back, stumbling over his own feet and breathing heavily like he never had before.

Naomi stood in complete shock, her eyes were still wide open and her mouth dropped open, gaping. She breathed almost as heavily as he did. Michael couldn't read her expression and it was horribly silent in her office.

"Th-That's all I have to say." Michael stepped back again and picked up the evidence off the floor. "I... I'll get this analyzed now."

Just as he was heading for the door, Naomi hurriedly marched past him and shut the door, locking it tight and then looking at him with a serious expression.

"You didn't let me reply..."

End