Brenda felt like an idiot, dressed up in the tight black gown. With the help of a black wig covering her blonde hair, she was now dressed for the department's Halloween party, but she still felt ridiculous dressed like Morticia Addams. For some reason, Fritz had thought it would be great to dress as the Addams, and had been practising his Gomez Addams schtick all day, grabbing her hand to kiss it. She couldn't very well get out of going to the party, she'd already accepted the invite, and barring getting called out on a case, she was stuck. Of course, that was before she found out it was a costume party. Horrified by the thought of dressing up, she'd told Fritz about and was even more horrified by his enthusiasm for it. And then he'd brought their costume picks home, she thought she'd die of embarrassment.
It was so not her in so many ways. Tight,, hard to walk in, and vampish, all things she would have avoided in a costume. Princess was more like her, a big ballgown would have been more her style. It was a sexy look for her, but not what she wanted to wear in front of her coworkers. She sighed, as Fritz came into the room, ready to go.
"I know you're mad at me because of the costumes, but come on, Brenda, you have to admit you look ravishing in this." He grabbed her hand and kissed it again.
Brenda snatched her hand back, miffed by his actions. "Please, Fritz, you just picked what you wanted to wear. This is so not a good look for me."
"Well, as usual, you left it up to me. If you don't like the costume, blame yourself for not making the time to go pick one out." He turned, grabbing his car keys, ready to go.
"Why is it always MY fault? Just cause I don't agree with the costume choice? What, are you going to blame my work again?" Brenda walked behind him, arguing all the while.
"Hey, if you couldn't take a half hour to go and pick something you liked to wear, don't bitch at me cause you don't like my choice. I'm sure you couldn't spare the time, much like you can't spare the time for anything besides work." Fritz sneered.
"That's not fair, and you know it! I've been very busy at work. It's like all the nuts have come out the last few weeks in L.A. We've been working ourselves hard on some of these cases."
"Don't I know it. You've been spending more time with Flynn and Provenza then you do with me. And frankly, I don't like it. They're starting to rub off on you. I don't know what's wrong with you lately."
Brenda teared up, but kept silent. She should have known he'd make an issue of her work, he always did. She felt less like going to this Halloween party now than ever. The rest of the trip was made in silence, before Fritz pulled up in front of a large mansion, where the party was being held. It was suitably spooky, decorated to the hilt with gaudy Halloween decorations. Brenda suppressed a shudder, she'd never been all that wild about Halloween, other than for the free candy.
Fritz held out his hand to help Brenda up the steps, but she ignored it, concentrating on picking her gown up and not tripping over it. She finally made it to the top, following him in the door, overwhelmed by the creepy atmosphere inside. Spooky music greeted them, and they entered the large room where tables were set up, and a dance floor was lit with twinkling lights. Brenda looked for any of her team that might be there, intending to make a beeline for them, but Fritz ushered her towards her bosses, including Chief Delk. Brenda groaned, she was not spending the evening talking with him. As soon as she could, she made her escape from them, searching out her team instead. It didn't take long for her to find them, Tao was holding court at a table, dressed as a wizard, his wife dressed as witch, complete with hat. Gabriel was a pirate, Provenza was Dracula, Sanchez had come as a cowboy and Flynn, well, he was dressed as a gangster, a hat sitting on his head jauntily, a fake tommy gun part of the costume. Brenda liked the look, whether it was the hat or not, thinking he looked as dapper as usual, considering he was wearing a suit. She'd never have figured him to dress up in the first place, so his concession to a costume was surprising.
Brenda walked up to them, and her team seemed to take no notice of the black haired vamp who approached them. It was only when her southern accent said "Good evenin' y'all" that they took notice of her. Surprise lit up her team's faces, they'd never seen their boss like this before, and jaws dropped on some of them, especially Flynn. Brenda felt his eyes rake over her, and felt even more exposed than she had previously. He actually made her blush, just with the look he'd given her.
"Uh, Chief, great costume. Morticia Addams, right?" Gabriel stumbled over his words.
"Yes, Sgt., Fritz picked the costumes. He's Gomez." Brenda grimaced.
"How'd you end up over here with us?" Flynn asked, surprised she'd bothered to come and find them. FBI guy wasn't particularly happy with her spending time with the team, and Flynn thought that he'd have her locked to him this evening.
"Not my idea of fun to kiss the higher ups butts, if you know what I mean. Fritz is safely ensconced with Chief Delk and the Mayor right now. He fits right in with them. I don't." Brenda said.
"Well, you can sit with us, Chief. We'll make room." Gabriel volunteered, and everybody shifted over, grabbing a chair from another table and making sure she could sit with them. Brenda found herself sitting between Flynn and Provenza, which didn't surprise her.
When the waitress came over, Brenda ordered a big glass of Merlot, and started to relax. Maybe this evening wouldn't be so bad after all. She made small talk with them all, and took turns dancing with them. When it came around to Flynn to ask her to dance, she felt nervous for some reason. She felt like a teenager, dancing with her crush at a school dance. She shook her head, she was married, her husband somewhere in the room, while she danced with Flynn.
She was surprised by how good a dancer Flynn was. He kept a respectable distance between them, and moved her around the dance floor with fluidity and grace. She never tripped over her dress, and felt quite at home in his arms. His hand on the small of her back felt right, and that shocked her. This was Flynn, for crying out loud. At one point, he twirled her, and she laughed. She felt less stressed than she had in a long time, actually laughing.
When that dance finished, they moved right into the next one, never giving anyone a chance to break in between them. She found herself dancing with him most of the evening, and forgot about Fritz. Out of the office, Flynn was actually charming and endearing, a part of him she'd never seen. As the evening wore on, she realized she needed some air, and finally excused herself from him, heading towards the balcony doors. She went out them, down some steps and found herself on a path leading to some benches by a fountain. She sat out there, confused by what had transpired the last few hours.
The man she was married to had spent the evening ignoring her, talking to the higher ups, which had become somewhat the norm when they went to these functions anymore. The man who was her coworker and friend had spent the evening dancing with her, making her laugh, making her feel human again, which hadn't happened in a while. She shook it off, she was just feeling that way because Fritz and her hadn't been getting along recently. Working close together was not working out for them, they fought more about things now than they ever did. They were often on opposite sides, opposed to what the other did at work, and their marriage was suffering. No wonder a little attention from another man was having an effect on her.
Her revery was interrupted by the appearance of her gangster dance partner. Flynn had seen her come out into the garden, and given her a few minutes before following her out. He worried about her, seen how unhappy she'd been lately, and tonight was the first time he'd seen her happy in a long while.
"Am I disturbing you?" Flynn asked, afraid he was.
"No, no, it's fine, Lt., just needed to get some air. It was getting stuffy in there. Here, sit down." Brenda moved over, clearing room on the bench for him to sit with her.
Andy took the seat beside her, not really knowing why he'd followed her out there. "Are you okay, Chief? You don't seem yourself tonight."
"I'm not myself, not at all. I haven't been for awhile." Brenda admitted.
"Your husband and you not getting along? Sorry to pry, none of my business." he added, realizing he'd maybe gone too far.
"Working together isn't going too well for us. I guess we want different things. I want to solve cases, he wants to protect reputations. Mainly the FBI's. Plus, I never noticed how politically motivated he was before. He's in tight with the Mayor and Chief Delk. He doesn't tolerate me nearly as well anymore." Brenda sighed.
"Isn't the important thing that we get our job done, solve the cases, give closure?" Flynn asked.
"No, we're to solve cases in the least messy way possible and keep the department looking good. That's enough work talk, Lt., I get enough of this from my husband, as he reminds me of this constantly." Brenda rolled her eyes.
"Can I say how unexpected it was to see you in a costume like this, then? It suits you very well." Flynn changed the subject.
Brenda looked down at her costume, the black wig hanging down. "Fritz picked it out. I'm not sure it really does suit me. In fact, we had a fight about it before coming to the party."
"Well, you look great in it. Not something we'd typically see you in. I mean, it's a costume, yes, but I'm talking tight and ...never mind. I shouldn't have said anything." Flynn stumbled over his words, embarrassed to have admitted at looking at his boss.
"You really know how to impress a girl, don't you, Lt." Brenda laughed.
"Apparently not. Listen, I'm sorry, I'll leave you alone now. When you come back in, would you like to dance again?" Flynn got up to leave.
"I'd like to dance now, if you don't mind." Brenda stood, they heard the music coming from inside.
Andy looked at Brenda nervously, wondering why he felt nervous. He'd danced with her most of the night so far. He took her hand, pulling her in close to dance. Maybe it was the moonlight, the song, but their bodies swayed closer to one another, making the atmosphere electric around them. Andy found that he couldn't help himself and the next thing he knew, he was kissing her. As if that wasn't a surprise for both of them, the fact that Brenda didn't slap him, but instead was responding to his kiss was an even bigger one. They stood like that, kissing for what seemed like forever, before she finally broke the kiss.
"I'm sorry, Chief, I'm sorry. I don't know what I was thinking." Andy released her, sitting on the bench, feeling like a heel.
"It's just as much my fault as yours. Everything is just wrong with me right now, and kissing you certainly isn't going to help. Of course, it didn't hurt either." Brenda admitted, slowly sitting down beside him again.
"I'm not going to say that it hasn't been something I've wanted to do for a long time. I have. But you're off-limits. I know that. But God, I wish you weren't." Flynn groaned, admitting to feelings he had had for awhile.
Brenda sat there, taking in his words. She thought of Fritz and the life they'd built together, her career and everything that would be at stake if she took this past one kiss. As much as her body wanted to proceed with Flynn, her mind was screaming no, and it ruled her.
"If I weren't married and your boss, I could see something having happened between us long ago. But the fact remains, I'm both of those things. It doesn't mean that I might wish things were different too." Brenda revealed.
Flynn turned to her, seeing the regret in her eyes, and he couldn't help it. He kissed her again, figuring this might be his one and only time to ever have an evening like this. He knew it wasn't going to lead to anything else, and even though she was married, he still kissed her with everything he had. They stayed that way for the next few minutes, making out on the bench, til they heard Fritz's voice calling out for Brenda. She broke away from Flynn, knowing she was flushed and probably had swollen lips, looking like she'd been thoroughly kissed. She couldn't do anything about her makeup, and she dashed from Flynn's side, trying to find a way to back into the mansion to fix her makeup before meeting up with Fritz.
Flynn, however, stayed where he was, stunned by the events of the last few minutes. This was not the outcome he'd expected this evening. He'd come to dance, maybe pick someone up, take them home for an enjoyable evening, that was it. Now, he was emotionally compromised, hung up on his boss, who from the feel of it, had enjoyed kissing him as much as he enjoyed kissing her. He was still sitting there thinking about the kiss when Fritz happened upon him, asking if he'd seen Brenda.
"I was dancing with her for awhile, but she excused herself to get some air. Haven't seen her since." Flynn lied.
He refused to get Brenda in trouble over nothing. Yes, they'd kissed, but she'd made it clear nothing was going to change. So, he packed his feelings away, pressed them deep down inside, and decided he'd have to pretend that nothing had happened between them. He figured it was for the best, even though he felt like it was tearing him apart.
Fritz went on his way, leaving Flynn alone with his thoughts again, and wishing that instead of going home alone, he was going home with Brenda. To Flynn, it was like a horrible Halloween trick had been played on him, and he wasn't going to be able to forget it for a very long time.
Brenda had made it back into the mansion without being seen by her husband, disappearing to the bathroom to fix her face. Staring into the mirror, she seen that she was right. Her face was flush, her lips swollen, and she did her best to cover it up so that Fritz wouldn't see. The entire time she thought of Flynn, and how kissing him had been an unexpected pleasure. If things were different, she thought that there might be something there between them, worth pursuing. But she wasn't a cheater, this wouldn't proceed. She'd been burnt being Pope's woman on the side, she wasn't going to do that to Fritz, in spite of their fights, deserved better than that. So, as good as it had felt to kiss Flynn, she wouldn't do anything.
Exiting the bathroom, she tracked down Fritz and told him she wanted to go home. He acquiesced, and the two left the Halloween party, one thinking it was a successful evening, the other wishing she'd stayed home and ate Halloween treats instead. Overindulging on sweets would have left her feeling the same way as she felt now, sick to her stomach and wishing Halloween was over.