"Flangell's Valentine's Day"
This story is not part of my 'Flack & Angell; First Dates' series.
I'm just taking a brief break to write this one for Valentine's Day, then I'll get right back to the series.
In this stories time-line, Flack & Angell have been dating for quite a while.
It was just a knock at the door. He even knew who was on the other side. But that's what gave Flack even more butterflies in his stomach.
"Hey, Jess. Come on in." he said, stepping aside so she could enter. He stood behind her to help with her long winter coat, just so he could catch the scent of her hair. Her beautiful brown locks and ringlets floating across her upper back. He folded her coat across his arm as she turned in front of him and smiled. But it wasn't just her mouth that smiled, she had a way of smiling with her eyes, too. Those big beautiful brown eyes he just couldn't get enough of. "You're early." he said, wrapping his free arm around her waist.
"Yeah. The perp confessed to everything so the paperwork didn't take too long." she said before they kissed.
'How does she do that? How can she talk about a murderer and make my heart pound at the same time, just by looking at me?' he asked himself. "It's too bad all the perps aren't so cooperative."
"That would be nice." she said, watching him hang up her coat, while she secured her gun next to his in the closet. Angell turns to take in the room.
"Wow. Your place looks nice tonight." She commented, taking in the visual impact of his obvious attempts to impress her. "Roses?" She asks, pointing to the arrangement on the table already set for two.
"Mhmmm." Was his only reply, along with a not-so-innocent smile before he headed back to the kitchen.
"Mhmmm?" she mimics him, "That's all you've got to say? That's not a real answer, Don. In fact, 'mhmmm' isn't even an actual word." They both laugh. "So, what's up?" She asks, seeking clarification as she makes herself comfortable on a stool at the counter. After all, it's obvious that this was not going to be just one of their usual evenings together.
"Just wanting our time together to be special." He says, handing her a glass of wine as he rests his elbows on the counter in front of her. "Do I have to have an ulterior motive for wanting to spend a nice evening with you?" He adds, staring back at her while twirling his own glass of wine.
"I hope not." she says smiling and leaning across the counter for a kiss. "What smells so good?"
"Lasagna. My mother's recipe."
"Really? You cooked?" She asks, eyeing the salad and bread sticks already on the table.
"Jess, you know I can cook." he says surprised.
"Yes, I do know that. But I also know you just got off your second double shift. I can barely tie my own shoes after pulling a double shift." They both laugh. He understanding exactly what she meant and realizing how tired he really was. He was definitely running on adrenaline for the evening, an evening he wanted to be very special for them. The oven timer goes off. "Saved by the bell?" She asks as he leans away from the counter with a smile to check on dinner.
The wonderful dinner Flack made was eaten to candlelight and the scent of the roses.
After dinner, they sat on the couch. Angell sat sideways with her back against the armrest on the end and her feet up in Flack's lap. What woman wouldn't enjoy a nice foot massage after a dinner like that. "If I fall asleep, it's all your fault, ya know."
"Really?"
"Mhmmm." she said with her head laid back and her eyes closed.
"I thought you said 'mhmmm' wasn't a word."
She laughed, "Okay, you got me on that one." She opened her eyes to catch his blue ones staring back at her. "A girl could get used to this, ya know."
"The same girl who wore new boots to work in all day?" He smirked, as it was a rhetorical question.
"Yep. That would be me." She answers anyway, realizing her sore feet were self-inflicted.
The evening went on with lots of small talk about family and mutual friends, while avoiding all work related topics.
"Jess, I wanted to tell you about something that I heard the other day."
"Sure. What is it?" Angell replied, wondering if there wasn't a sudden change in the tone of his voice, and curious if everything was okay.
He noticed her beautiful brown eyes grow just a little wider with curiosity. "I was at that little market just around the corner, and down the aisle from me was a lady shopping with a little girl of about six years old." He began, as Angell leaned slightly forward quite intrigued so far, "The little girl was fascinated by a display of all things pink." Angell got a curious look on her face before Flack continued, "I could hear the mother explaining to her that it was for Valentine's Day, but it was obvious the little girl didn't know what that meant. So, the mother went on to explain about Valentine's Day and how she would come back later and pick out a card for 'Daddy'. Of course the little girl wanted them to get a card for him right then, so again the mother had to explain that it wasn't time for Valentine's Day yet and why they had to wait." Flack could see by the look on Angell's face that she was totally engrossed in what he was relaying from that night. "What really stuck out to me was the girl's reply.... she asked her mother, 'but, mommy, if you love daddy so much, why would you want to wait till then to tell him?'" Flack watched Angell's face light up at the mental picture she was getting.
"Out of the mouth's of babe's." She said smiling at the innocent comment from the little girl.
"Exactly." Flack said, regaining her gaze, "The mother obviously caught on, too, because she and the little girl began looking through the cards."
Angell's smile grew, "That's adorable."
"And true. That's why I wanted to make tonight a special night for us." Flack said, taking Angell's hand, "The things that little girl said got me thinking,... about how I feel about you, Jess. You've been very special to me for a long time now, and I hope I've done a good job of letting you know how much I care about you." Angell nods and blushes a bit. "But it's more than that, Jess. I'm in love with you, and I want you to hear me say it, not because the calendar says it's time, but because you deserve to hear it. You deserve to know how much you are loved and how special you are to me." Flack couldn't believe he'd gotten the words out without tripping over his own tongue, without making a fool of himself or at the very least rambling a bit. He continued to hold her hand and look into her eyes as he pulled her in for a very passionate kiss. "I love you, Jess." he breathed just before their lips met.
Angell wrapped her arms around Flack's neck, she could feel her heart pounding as her chest was pressed against his, and his warm breath against her neck as they embraced. "I love you, too, Don."
February 14th came the following week. Flack was on-call while Angell had to work a late shift that day. Both were a bit disappointed they couldn't go out that evening or at least see each other that day. This at least made Flack glad that he had already told Angell that he loved her. Their special evening had gone exactly the way he wanted it to, and the fact that they were dating was, despite their efforts to keep it quiet, becoming known to others in the precinct, or at least to IAB which made them both feel like everyone knew.
Angell noticed the back of his shirt read 'Flower Express' and he was setting the lovely floral arrangement on the desk opposite hers. "I was told these belong here." the delivery man said to Angell who nodded.
"I doubt she'll miss noticing them." Angell replied with a polite smile, realizing how unnecessary it was to say 'I'll make sure she sees them.' There's no way Officer McKenzie, or any other woman, wouldn't notice those. McKenzie's desk had been temporarily put there as their desks were all moved by the cleaning crew to wax the floors. McKenzie was nice to chat with, but Angell missed being able to look up and see Flack's blue eyes. 'Our desks should all be back in place soon.' She told herself.
It was early evening when Angell noticed Flack's name on her phone. "Angell." She said, trying to sound professional as she answered her phone.
"Hey, sweetheart." Flack said, imagining her blush as she hoped no one could hear, and he could almost sense her smile. "Just wondering how your day is going."
"Paperwork mostly, from yesterday's bust. Otherwise pretty quiet." Was her answer.
"Sounds nice and uneventful."
"True. But that would be a good thing in this job." Just then the captain came out and called her into his office. "Looks like I spoke too soon. Gotta go, another case just came in."
Flack was a bit curious after hanging up the phone. 'Did she not get the flowers I sent? Maybe it wasn't a good idea to send them to work after all.' He thought to himself. He wasn't sure what to think.
The interrogations were over, most of the paperwork was finished, and Angell was about to head for home when her phone rang again.
"Hey," was all she said, but he could still hear the smile in her voice. "Thought you had the early shift tomorrow?"
"I do."
"Shouldn't you be getting some sleep?" She could sense some hesitation in his voice.
"Yeah, I will. But I wanted to find out first if you liked them."
"Liked what, Don?" She asked, not following what he was asking at all.
"The flowers. Since you didn't mention them earlier, I thought maybe you weren't pleased that I'd had them delivered there at the precinct."
"You had them,...." She began, but suddenly lowered her voice. "...did you say 'delivered here'?"
"Yeah. I guess I should have..." He began.
"Don, I'm not following what you're talking about at all."
"You mean you didn't get the flowers I sent you for Valentine's Day?" He asked, both confused and thinking the delivery service had messing up.
"Don, the only flowers in here at all are on Officer McKenzie's desk." She clarified, then realized she hadn't even seen Mckenzie all day.
"Um,.... they wouldn't happen to be half white roses and half red roses, would they?"
"Yes, they are." She answered as she looked across her desk at the arrangement, but trying not to draw attention.
"Um, Jess, you might want to take a look at the card."
"I'll call you back." She said, hanging up, then discretely removing the little envelope from amongst the roses. Drawn on the card were two hearts linked together, the outline of one was made up of little J's and the other little D's. A smile spread across Angell's face as she let out a sigh. They were for her. She had been secretly wondering all day if Don would do anything for Valentine's Day since they had sort of celebrated it the previous week with that special dinner. Not that he had to, but it sure would have been nice, and the fact that he had made her feel good inside. She put the card in her pocket, then headed for the locker room. She would pick up the arraignment on her way out, so fewer people would notice. Once in the locker room, she took out her phone.
Okay, folks, there you have it.... Valentine's Day... Flangell style! I wanted to make sure this was finished and posted by Valentine's Day. Now I'm going to get busy working on the next story for my 'Flack & Angell; First Dates' series.