Trip to Egypt (Capital Holiday Sequel)

Chapter Two


Upon entering his and Natara's office, Mal pulled up a chair and faced his computer while Natara was stood near a large cork board, filled to the brim of photo's and small notes attached to each of them. Files and documents were strewn chaotically across her once-neat desk and around five empty coffee mugs were scattered about the place. Glancing over to Natara, he saw her eyes were entirely focussed on the puzzle in front of her and didn't seem to have even heard Mal enter or sit down. He swivelled his chair around to fully face her and leaned back, folding his arms across his chest and smirking. She could be too focussed sometimes.

He sighed and pushed himself up, slowly walking up behind her, going to wrap her up in his arms. When he got inches from her she didn't even turn around and continued working, but stopped him.

"Don't even think about it." She lightly scolded.

Mal frowned and took a step back, putting on his puppy face.

"Why not?"

"I'm busy sweetie, and you know I can't focus when you do that," Finally, Natara spun around and smiled gently at him. "Aw come on, don't look at me like that..."

"I don't know what you mean..." Mal shrugged playfully.

"Yes you do, Mal, stop it. You know I can't say no to that face."

"Then don't say no."

He extended his arms and smiled, gesturing for Natara to step into his embrace. She sighed and rolled her eyes, but walked forward and wrapped her arms around Mal's back, feeling his strong arms hold onto her tightly - almost protectively - as he always did. Allowing her eyes to close, Natara felt at ease for the time being and let herself be gently swayed left to right by Mal. They stayed like that for a while, until Natara felt like she was going to fall asleep, so reluctantly pulled away.

"Okay, now back to work, you got your cuddle" she giggled and spun of her heels, starting to work again.

Mal chuckled and sat down back at his desk, opening the internet and beginning to browse for holiday deals. He decided that the sooner he started the better; he felt Natara falling asleep in his arms, she needed this break.

"Hey Nat...?"

"Yeah?"

"Where would you like to go on holiday?"

Natara stopped working and placed a pin down on the desk, looking over at Mal and raising an eyebrow.

"I'm... not sure, why... are you actually going to plan a holiday like last year?"

"Yeah, why not?"

"We never have time anymore, you know that. Even if you did book it all and we flew out to, oh I dunno... Paris again," Mal smiled at the memory. "We'd be called back in a day."

"Not necessarily babe, it's worth a shot. Maria got people to cover us; I don't see why Chuckles can't do the same thing."

"I can," She sighed "He'd never cover us and you know it"

"What if I... persuaded him?"

"Mal, you are not beating him up. You know the consequences if you did"

"Yeah I know... damn. I just... you deserve a break, Nat. I want to give you one. I really do"

"You're too adorable sometimes, you know that?" She beamed, gaining a chuckle from Mal.

"I try"

Natara laughed lightly and walked over, sitting on Mal's lap and faced the computer screen. She typed a something into Google and leaned back into Mal as she waited. He smiled and wrapped his arms around her waist, looking over her shoulder. Eventually she started organizing a five day holiday to Egypt; more specifically Cairo, Egypt's capital.

"Egypt?" Mal inquired and Natara nodded in response

"That's okay isn't it? You asked where I wanted to go and I'd love to see Egypt."

"Hmm... I thought you already went on a trip around the world years ago?"

"I did, just... not to Egypt. I really want to see the pyramids and maybe go to a museum and find out about the ancient artefacts and pharaohs and-" She stopped mid sentence when she saw the enormous smirk on Mal's face. "-Oh shut up."

Mal laughed and kissed her cheek lightly, once again beginning to sway her gently, gaining a light sigh from her.

"You're such a nerd."

"Am not!"

They both laughed and after a couple blissful moments Natara jumped up.

"I'll leave the rest to you, Mal, I have a feeling I'm this close to figuring this puzzle out."

"You get 'em babe"

Natara rolled her eyes playfully and went back to work once more, while Mal faced his computer.

'Okay, holiday to Cairo for... six of us. Wait, do I really have to take Kai? Ugh, I wouldn't hear the end of it if I didn't, besides... I suppose he wasn't THAT bad last year. I could always leave him there... Heh.'

Mal felt a smile grow on his face at the image of dumping Kai in Cairo, but soon snapped out of it, he had a lot of planning to do after all. Arranging all the flights, hotels and everything else for that matter took up most of the work day and by around 6pm he was finally finished.

"There, that ought to do it"

Around four hours ago, Natara had made a breakthrough in their case and had rushed down to the Crime Lab for more information. She'd returned about half an hour after that and helped Mal with the planning while Joe and Anna went to get their suspect for interrogation.

"Brilliant!" Natara chirped "I'll go let the others know..."

As she started to walk out the office, Mal quickly pulled her back, gaining a quizzical look from her, which looked down right adorable.

"There's still one little thing we have to do first," Mal sighed "And that's convince Anders to let us go..."

"Oh... yeah."

Mal noticed disappointment within her voice and gently lifted her chin up, placing a lingering kiss on her lips. When he pulled back she had regained her smile and took his hand.

"Don't worry, Nat, I'll sort it. I promise. We are going on this holiday, end of story."

"Thanks Mal... I love you"

"I love you too, be back in a jiffy."

"Jiffy?" She laughed.

Mal just shrugged and turned on his heel, heading towards Lt. Anders office, feeling a sudden wave of uncertainty deep in his gut. He knew fully well that this could blow up in his face, but he was determined to get Charles Anders consent. Approaching the door, he ratted on the wood lightly and tapped his foot impatiently, waiting for permission to enter. After a moment he heard a grumble that he took as 'come in' so entered.

"Sir?"

"Detective Fallon." Anders greeted, ending his phone call. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing really, I needed to ask you something, and it's kind of important."

"Shoot."

"Well," Mal started, trying to be polite as possible. He took a seat opposite Anders and continued "It's been almost an entire year since any of us have had a break and I was kind of hoping for some time off for myself, Natara, Blaise, Jeremy, Kai and Amy?"

"Hm... well I'll admit you have been working hard lately..." Anders said more to himself than Mal "Maybe. How long for?"

"Five days."

"That's a long time considering you lot are the best of the force Detective."

"I know it's a lot to ask chuck- I mean Anders, but we need this break. Captain Yeong arranged a holiday for a lot of us last year and got people to cover for us. I don't see why you couldn't do the same."

"Former captain Yeong," he snarled, emphasizing on the word 'former' "ran things differently to me I'm afraid Detective. I can't go losing my best team, especially not at a time like this. You all have cases to be working on."

"You don't think I know that?" Mal retorted "I know that more than anyone. It's these damn cases that have been exhausting us all for the past year, five days rest is nothing compared to that."

"Fallon. I understand your frustration but I don't think-"

"Come on, we can't even function properly anymore Anders. Natara's on the verge of dropping asleep at every possible moment; Blaise and Jeremy are about ready to tear each other's throats out; I'm tired; Kai's been having way too much coffee and Amy is quieter than I've ever seen her. What good are we to you if we can't even do our job properly?"

Anders fell silent for a long moment, taking the information in. Eventually he heaved a sigh and leaned forward, placing his hands on his desk and sending a glare towards Mal.

"Five days. That's all you get. You all come back after those days and work your damn ass' off to make up for it. Are we clear?"

"Crystal," Mal smirked "Thanks chuckles."

He stood up and walked out the office, not even waiting to be dismissed. Natara and the others were waiting near the office, and upon seeing him, their eyes widened with silent plea. Mal waited until he had walked to break the news.

"I'm sorry guys..." Everyone let out a defeated sigh, but Mal smirked and continued "But we all have a lot of packing to do."

"No way!" Blaise yelled and jumped on Mal, enveloping him in a bear hug.

"Heh..."

Amy squealed and Kai jumped up and down excitedly yelling pure gibberish. Natara and Jeremy both let out enormous sighs of relief and laughed.

"I hate it when you do that!" Natara giggled.

"Sorry, Nat... I couldn't resist."

Blaise pulled away and looked at her watch.

"Well what are we waiting for?! Let's finish this damn work day and go pack!"

"One question..." Jeremy piped up.

"What is it Redbird?" Mal inquired.

"When and where are we going?"

"This Monday and its five days long, we're heading to-"

"Egypt!" Natara finished, beaming.

"No way... I've always wanted to go there!"

With that said everyone thanked Mal and quickly went back to work, determined to finish their cases by Monday so they could all finally have a well deserved break. Natara pulled Mal close and pressed her lips to his in a deep, lingering kiss. He pulled her closer and let his eyes shut, feeling a miniature smile tug at the corners of his lips. Eventually breaking apart, Natara rested their foreheads together and gazed deep into Mal's cobalt blue eyes.

"Did I mention that I love you?" She said softly, before kissing him again, not even giving him chance to answer.


There's your next chapter, I know it's a little shorter, but like I said previously, they will be, but not normally this short... Anyways, I couldn't believe the response I got from everyone, it means the absolute WORLD to me. Thank you so much to everyone that read/followed/reviewed etc. I love you!

Thank you to AKgal2001, NaturallyFlaxen, HopelessRomantic1994(Jade), The Sarcastic Polar Bear, DizzyRedhead, Katlana Child(Shelbeast!), nat157's (Natalie), Crimson Endings(Tori). I love you all so much!

And I'm super glad you all laughed at the 'Croc-Kai-Dile' thing, hehe it came to mind spontaneously, so happy it did! :D If you guys ever want to use that, please ask me first, I don't mind but I'd like to know! Thank you and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!