Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS: New Orleans or its characters…

Author's Note: Just when I think I'm finally going to be free of my writing vice, I find a new fanfiction plaguing me horribly… HELP! I'll never get my original novels written! (Is there a support group somewhere for this issue?)

WARNING: References to Mature Subject Matter. Nothing Explicit (yet). CHERRI (Chris/Merri) all the way!

Chris had left a t-shirt and jogging shorts out for her. The shirt was a pretty good fit, which wasn't too surprising. Her partner wasn't a large man, just a well-built one, so she wasn't swimming in the garment. It was loose in the waist and shoulders but just roomy enough in the bust, worn to a lovely degree of softness and smelled of Chris -a scent she still hadn't yet pinned down, even after investigating all of his few toiletries. She passed on the shorts, however, figuring he'd already seen much more than her naked legs, so what did it matter if she wandered around only in bra, underwear and his old college t-shirt?

That was a mistake, Merri realized all too late when she followed her nose to the kitchen where breakfast was being prepared, and saw Cade sitting at the table, while Chris fried up some eggs at the stove. The older LaSalle brother grinned broadly at her, and her first instinct was to flee back to the bedroom to put on those shorts, but he was already saying 'Mornin', Agent Brody' and it would not only have been rude to leave then, but she suddenly realized the boyshort cut of her lace underwear would give him a much more intimate view of her backside than she ever wanted to expose to the man.

So instead, she hastily took up an empty chair at the table, hiding her practically naked lower half beneath the table, and returned his greeting.

"Good morning, Cade," she said. Chris glanced back over his shoulder at the sound of her voice and smiled at her in a ridiculously happy way. She smiled back just as stupidly. And the notion she'd had in the shower returned to her. It was still only one-time, even if it stretched on through the following day... and maybe night. As long as they weren't apart, technically it was all the same event...

"When did you get in last night?" she asked of Cade nonchalantly, as if it hadn't been a concern of Chris', the only thing that had momentarily distracted him from his night-long attentions to her.

"'Bout 2:30 in the am," he replied, getting up and fixing Merri a cup of coffee and putting it before her, which she thanked him heartily for. She watched him like a hawk, trying to pick up any signs of his mental state, knowing Chris might not ask her directly, but would appreciate the second opinion about his brother. She wanted to be able to tell her friend that he didn't need to worry, but late nights were part of the more destructive cycle of Cade's disorder.

"So an early night?" Chris said, trying to play it off.

"Yup. I needed a good night's sleep after the day I had at work," Cade said. He'd gotten a job with a construction company, and it kept him busy, the jobs tended to be short and varied, which also held his wandering attention better. Chris had been glad when the steady work showed signs of doing his brother good.

Cade grinned, an all too familiar mischievous glint in his eye when he looked at Merri.

"Not that I did get any with the racket ya two were makin' all night."

Merri wasn't shocked. She was waiting for the teasing to commence. It was inevitable with the LaSalle brothers. She'd been exposed to many a tease-fest the more time she spent with Chris, and consequently Cade. This however, did make her a little nervous, since normally she could just stand back and watch, but this time she resided at the heart of the topic itself.

Chris put a platter of eggs, bacon and toast in the center of the table, handed out plates and silverware, before he sat down himself, with a theatrical sigh.

"I blame this one," he said, pointing his fork at Merri. "When's she's not screaming down the house, she's makin' these interestin' li'l-"

She promptly kicked him in the shin, making him grunt and then laugh.

"Oh, you're worse than I am," she said, figuring if you couldn't beat 'em, join 'em. "Don't you know there's other things you can do with your mouth than talk when you're in bed with a woman?"

Cade's slightly deeper chuckle joined his brother's.

"Ouch. Ya wound me, woman," Chris said, knowing just as well as she that he'd shown her precisely all the wonderful things he could do with that mouth of his, in addition to talking her ear off.

They exchanged a lengthy glance, obviously thinking about exactly the same installment of the previous night's sex marathon, when he had her on her back with her legs thrown over his shoulders, parting her thighs with his strong hands and holding her in place while he used his tongue to... She wondered if maybe he was also thinking, like her, that this meal was just another, longer break in the same carnal event they'd begun last evening. They'd dozed here and there, cuddled, touched, teased, played, tasted, aroused, fucked, and made love. There was even the occasional (okay, more than occasional) sucking and biting. Merri hadn't examined herself closely in a mirror, but she was certain she'd find the soft pinkish brown bruising of love bites and hickies scattered about her body. She couldn't complain, either, for she'd given Chris the same treatment.

"Jesus, ya two want I should get gone for awhile, 'efore ya combust right here at the breakfast table?" Cade interrupted the heated stare between the yet-new lovers.

Merri hastily looked down at her plate, and picked up a biteful of egg to shove in her mouth, desperately trying to stop considering what it felt like to have Chris' naked body at her disposal and yearning to possess it once more.

"That's alright, Cade," Chris said. "We'll keep it PG for ya."

"So how long have ya been hookin' up anyway?" Cade asked between bites of toast. "I always thought there was somethin' between ya, but face it baby brother, Merri's way outta your league."

Now Merri was really blushing. She'd never been sure what her partner's older brother thought of her, even thought they got along fairly well, when they were hanging out at Chris' place and Cade was there, too. When you befriend a person who lives with a sibling, you by default befriend the sibling as well. The fact that he openly approved of her being involved with his baby brother gave her a warm spot in her chest. Not that she and Chris were anything more than friends. And this one time. Just one time, that's what they'd agreed, that's what she'd talked him into when she'd showed up at his door, sexually frustrated beyond reason and wanting him, the only man she trusted enough to go to bed with. Sure, she'd been on a few dates with Dr. ? Wilkins, and she liked him. But she didn't know him yet. And she wasn't going to have sex with him before they were even really dating.

"That she is, brother," Chris said after a minute or two. "An' we're not together."

"Oh," Cade said, lowering his voice and leaning in conspiratorially. "Keepin' the relationship secret?"

"No," Merri said. "We're not dating."

"Casual sex thing?"

"Not quite..." Chris said, blushing more than a little.

"Friends with benefits?"

Chris and Merri both shook their heads. Friends, yes. Benefits, plural, no. One time only deal.

Cade had a very confused look on his face now, which only confirmed to Merri what she had always expected. Chris LaSalle was not a one-night stand sort of guy, despite all of his supposed 'womanizing' and undeniable charms.

"Well, no matter what ya got goin' on between the two of ya, ya can count on me to keep my trap shut," Cade announced as he cleaned up the last bite of egg on his plate. "I won't tell that Agent Pride of yours. Or any of t'others. Or..." He looked sharply at Chris for a moment. "...Savannah."

And with that, Cade got to his feet, put his plate in the sink and left. Merri turned her gaze on her partner-friend-temporary-lover. He shifted uncomfortably in his chair, and her stomach suddenly felt hollow despite the eggs and toast filling it up.

"You said last night that you and Savannah aren't an item, Chris."

A/N: You already know there will likely be more... because I just can't stay away.