A/N: This chapter is dedicated to the posters in the shipper thread at "Look Again," be they shippers or non-shippers. You may recognize some of your arguments in a later scene in this chapter…
Disclaimer: The computer is mine. The desk is mine. The characters are not.
Chapter Two: Sharing the Night Together
"What?" Kat demanded, glancing around the bar at her colleagues, who were all still staring at her in stunned silence. "You all act like you've never seen kickass karaoke before…oh, wait. That's right. You haven't," she finished for them, grinning proudly and taking another sip of her beer.
"So how much have you had to drink?" Scotty asked, carefully studying his partner for signs of inebriation.
"Two beers," she replied nonchalantly. "Why?"
"Only…only two beers, and you're up there doin'….that?" Scotty sputtered in disbelief. "You got any idea how much booze it'd take to get me to sing where people could hear me?"
"Oh, about half a bottle of scotch," a grinning Jeffries replied smoothly, causing Vera to chortle and nearly choke on his mouthful of peanuts. Scotty shot them both a dark glare.
"Now…wait a minute…you weren't drunk when you and Vera sang the theme from Cops that one time," Lilly pointed out, arching a brow in curiosity. "You'd only had a couple beers yourself."
"That's right…and besides…we dared you to do that," Kat realized slowly, turning to fix her partner with a scrutinizing stare. "So..if they ain't talkin' about Cops…what the hell are they talkin' about?"
"Yeah, what are they talking about?" Lilly echoed, from the other side of Scotty, leading him to glance helplessly from one to the other. The idea of his girlfriend and his partner both giving him their own, individual Interrogating-A-Suspect look was, quite frankly, unnerving, and a quick look around at Stillman, who was sitting quietly, smoking his cigar and watching the proceedings with interest, Jeffries, whose dark eyes were still twinkling with mischief, and Vera, who Scotty could tell was cooking up his next smart-ass comment, told him that the brotherhood of the squad was about to fail him. Big-time.
"Holy kickass karaoke, Batman!" Joe the bartender interrupted jovially, leaning his elbows on the bar across from Kat. "Where the hell did you learn to sing like that?" he asked, leading Scotty to sigh with relief and sip his scotch.
"Took a few voice lessons back in high school," Kat replied, with a casual shrug.
Joe winced as a perfectly coiffed blonde soccer mom who had clearly had at least two margaritas too many took the stage and began to gigglingly stumble her way through "Milkshake."
"Well…I've owned this bar for twelve years, and I've never heard anything as good as that. I think I'm gonna have to retire that song," he remarked, grinning widely at Kat. "You just earned yourself a drink on the house."
Without waiting for a response, he filled Kat's beer glass and set it back in front of her, then asked if he could get anything for anyone else. Jeffries ordered a refill of his brandy, but the others shook their heads.
After Joe went off to get Jeffries his drink, Kat studied her beer. "Think I've had enough for tonight," she remarked. "Anybody want this one?" Without waiting for a reply, she slid it over to Vera, who chugged about a third of it, then grinned at her.
"You're welcome, Fatass," she replied drily.
"Hey, Valens," Vera began, leaning around behind Kat to talk to Scotty. "You should order Lil a Screaming--"
"Oh, for God's sake," Kat interrupted, with a playful smack of Vera's arm. "What the hell are you, twelve?"
"Thirteen," Vera corrected, with a teasing grin. "Had a birthday last week."
"So, Miller…why didn't you become a singer?" Jeffries asked Kat as he smiled his thanks to Joe, who'd just brought his brandy.
"You kiddin' me?" Kat replied, glancing over at him incredulously. "Gettin' up onstage, havin' to be perfect in fronta thousands of people every single night?" She shuddered and shook her head. "I don't need that kinda pressure in my life."
"So…you became a cop…" Jeffries finished slowly.
Kat tossed him a grin. "Hey, I got a partner now. I don't need to be perfect all the time," she replied.
Jeffries didn't say anything, just looked over her head at Scotty, who was whispering something in Lilly's ear. Whatever he was saying was causing her to blush madly and playfully shove him away. Kat turned around just in time to see her undeterred partner return to his no-doubt lascivious whispering. She watched Lilly giggle and shove him away again, then turned back to Jeffries with a disgusted sigh.
"Dammit," she griped. "I still have to be perfect."
Jeffries chuckled and sipped his brandy. "So…was this for the glory? The satisfaction? The fact that you made Nick shut up for over three entire minutes?"
Kat's eyes twinkled merrily. "Well, yeah…all those were nice, but…" she glanced slyly at Vera, and realization dawned on Jeffries.
"You did it for the donuts, didn't you?" he concluded, smiling broadly.
"You bet your black ass I did it for the donuts," she replied matter-of-factly. "First dibs on the last one for two entire weeks? And all I have to do is sing somethin' better than Vera's Danny Zuko impression? You think I'm passin' up an opportunity like that?"
Halfhearted applause drowned out whatever Jeffries might have said in response, and he turned around to see a fat guy in an Eagles jersey take the stage, down a shot of tequila, and glower out at the audience for a minute.
"This song is for That Bitch Who Dumped Me," he slurred bitterly, and Jeffries took a sip of his brandy, watching the goings-on with interest. Angry, drunk former lovers always made for the most entertaining karaoke singers. Or…any kind of singers, for that matter, he realized, stealing an amused glance in Scotty's direction.
Much to Jeffries' surprise, instead of the irate hair metal song he expected to hear, a slightly familiar-sounding guitar riff filled the air. It took Jeffries a few seconds to place it, but once he did, he grinned broadly and turned once again toward Scotty. He couldn't have orchestrated this better if he'd been the DJ himself. He thought about saying something, thought about it hard, but decided it would be far more fun to wait and see how long it took Valens to figure it out on his own.
I can take the rain on the roof of this empty house
That don't bother me
The opening lines of the song penetrated Scotty's consciousness, and he paused in the midst of flirting with Lilly to take them in. He didn't know the song, shouldn't know the song. It was country, for God's sake. And he hated country. It never failed to give him a pounding headache. So why the hell, how the hell, did he know, without even thinking, that the next line would be…
I can take a few tears now and then and just let 'em out
Scotty glanced around in confusion and his eyes fell on the broad, twinkling smile of Will Jeffries. Suddenly, he knew. He knew.
"Shit," he exclaimed, before he could stop himself. This. Was. Not. Happening.
"You okay, Scotty?" Lilly asked, pausing mid-laugh to turn and see the sudden change in her boyfriend's demeanor. Where it had been jovially flirtatious moments before, it was now almost…sheepish? What the hell was that about?
She glanced from Scotty to Jeffries, who, for some reason, was grinning more widely than she'd ever seen him, and back again, then met Kat's eyes. Kat, who up until this point, had been arguing with Vera about whether or not KaraoKat would be an acceptable new nickname, glanced back at Lilly in confusion.
"What the hell's goin' on? Why's everybody lookin' at everybody else weird?" she demanded.
"Ask Valens," Jeffries said softly, eliciting a fierce glare from Scotty.
Vera glanced from Scotty to Jeffries, wondering what was going on, and Scotty was momentarily relieved to see a blank look on Vera's face as he sat there, munching on a handful of peanuts and seemingly tuned out to all the commotion around him. Jeffries was far too dignified to say anything, Scotty knew, and if Vera could just remain oblivious for the next couple minutes, all would be…
Crap. Vera suddenly got a knowing twinkle in his eyes, and Scotty realized, with a sinking feeling, that the game was up. He heard the words even before they were out of Vera's mouth.
"Hey, Man Candy," Vera began with a teasing leer. "It's your song. You gonna let that drunk jackass sing your song? You better get up there and do it right. Make us proud."
Scotty shook his head, smiled sheepishly, and lifted his scotch glass in a silent toast to his own drunken stupidity. All Lilly could do was look at him, confusion swimming in her blue eyes.
"What the hell are they talkin' about?" she demanded.
Kat, who was also studying him, suddenly piped up. "Half a bottle of scotch, huh? Sounds like Will knows from personal experience." She paused thoughtfully for a moment. "Wait a minute…" she began, then turned to Vera with a knowing look on her face. He nodded in confirmation, and Kat choked back a giggle.
Personal experience? Lilly wondered. When would Jeffries have had personal experience with…?
Oh.
A sudden memory flashed into Lilly's mind, a memory of the evidence room the day they'd gotten back together.
Thank God, Vera had said, upon learning that they were reunited. 'Cause I can't take any more of Scotty's singin'.
The truth hit Lilly like a ton of bricks. This song must have been what Scotty was singing the night they'd broken up. She grinned slightly and began to pay closer attention, and Scotty could tell by that grin that she, too, had finally figured it out.
And never knowin' what could have been
And not seein' that lovin' you
Is what I was tryin' to do
Lilly listened to the words of the song, and despite the horrible, off-key, tequila-fueled rendition she was hearing, the lyrics pierced her soul with a pang of guilt. This…this was how Scotty had felt the night she'd flipped out and broken his heart? This was how badly she'd hurt him?
"You okay, Lil?" he whispered into her ear, and for a moment, the song, the background noise, the banter of her colleagues, all faded into oblivion, and it was just the two of them in a frozen moment.
"Yeah," she replied, turning to look at him. "I'm just…God, Scotty, I'm sorry I…"
"That was a long time ago," Scotty reminded her gently, placing his hand over hers and looking deep into her eyes. He gazed at her intently, silently willing her to understand that what had happened between them had been forgiven entirely, totally washed away in the waves of bliss that had followed.
When they'd entered Lilly's apartment that night, they'd both sensed that this was…different somehow. Lilly had shyly excused herself upstairs to change out of her work clothes, and Scotty had busied himself downstairs making a fire, piling the sofa cushions on the floor in front of it, and corralling the cats in the kitchen, all the while breathing earnest prayers of thanks that they were together again.
When she'd come downstairs, wearing that black negligee, and he'd gently taken her hand and led her to the makeshift bed he'd created, Scotty's heart had leaped into his throat, not just with lust, but with overwhelming love, a love so powerful it had stolen his breath and pricked his eyes with tears. It had been achingly, deliciously slow that night as he laid her down in front of the fire and breathed words of love between the kisses he pressed against her delicate flesh. Gone was the urgency of that afternoon in the evidence warehouse. She'd promised him her, and he intended to take his time enjoying that gift.
Lilly smiled lovingly at Scotty as she remembered his lips, his hands, and, dear God, the look in his eyes as he'd brought her to a completion so exquisite that it almost made her sob in ecstasy, and as he'd entered her body shortly thereafter, she'd felt him entering her heart, too, and she'd realized that this was the first time she'd truly opened her whole self to someone. She couldn't think much beyond that, though. All she could do was breathe as best she could, grip his slick shoulders as he moved inside her, and gaze into his eyes. As she'd floated down from the stars that second time, she'd looked up at him, her vision blurred with unshed tears, and had been simply awestruck by the beauty of the moment, by the adoration she'd seen shining in his eyes, by the smile he just couldn't suppress, by the flicker of the firelight reflected in the crystal droplets of sweat that meandered down his chest, and as she sought his lips, she'd managed, in a ragged whisper, "I love you, Scotty."
That declaration had come from the very depths of her soul, and she could tell by the expression on his face that it had touched him deeply. He'd kissed her tenderly, then finished with a deep, shuddering sigh that spoke of far more than just physical release. It was the sigh of a man who'd been on an epic journey and had finally found his way home, and neither of them had been able to speak as he'd lowered himself to lie down next to her and she'd cradled him in her arms. She had no idea how long they lay there silently in front of the fireplace, completely sated and half-asleep, but the fire had smoldered down to the barest of embers when they'd finally struggled to their feet and climbed the stairs to finish out the night on a far more comfortable surface.
Lilly could tell, as she gazed into Scotty's eyes, that he was having exactly the same memories she was, and she finally managed a weak-sounding, "Yeah…I guess it was."
Scotty smiled back at her and started to reply, but whatever he might have said was interrupted by the scattering of peanut shells between them. Slightly annoyed, Scotty glanced over his shoulder to find Vera with a gleeful expression on his face, a peanut cocked and ready to go in his right hand.
"Earth to Valens," he chortled. "How the hell are we supposed to make fun of you if you ain't even payin' attention?"
"Oh, leave 'em alone, Fatass," Kat said, grabbing the peanut out of his hand, shelling it expertly, and popping it into her mouth before he could even blink. "They're havin' a moment."
"Well, not anymore," Scotty griped, turning away from Lilly with a reluctant sigh. He shot Vera a glare, but couldn't suppress his grin. Moment, indeed. One that he definitely wouldn't mind recreating later.
Lilly sighed shakily and took a grateful sip of her water. Truth be told, she was slightly thankful for the distraction. Even though she'd opened up slightly to her colleagues, she still wasn't entirely comfortable letting them see just how deep her feelings for Scotty ran, and she was sure that having memories of that particular night in a bar right in front of all of them was not exactly the best way to go about maintaining her comfort level. Although…that night had been wonderful…
"You're still thinkin' about it, aren't you?" Scotty whispered confidently into her ear. He could feel rather than see her slight blush, and he grinned at her. "Me, too," he continued softly, then casually took another sip of his scotch.
Applause marked the end of the Eagles fan's Rascal Flatts rendition, which was punctuated by a drunken-sounding, "Yeeeahhh! You show that crack ho who's boss!"
Stillman and Jeffries turned and looked at one another. "They…did listen to the words of the song…didn't they, John?" Jeffries asked in disbelief.
"You get that much tequila in you, anything'll make sense," Stillman replied with a slight smile, then placed some cash on the counter and rose from his barstool. "I'm gettin' too old for this," he remarked.
"With you on that," Jeffries agreed. "Karaoke night brings an entirely different element to this place." He rose from his seat, took care of his tab, and the two of them wished their younger colleagues good night and headed out.
Lilly looked longingly at the door of the bar as Stillman and Jeffries exited, enjoying the puff of fresh autumn air that reached them where they sat. She stifled a yawn and tried to ignore the fact that she was getting another karaoke-related headache. That tone-deaf Chinese guy was back, and he was trying to sing Enrique Iglesias. Had she not had more than her fill of drunken singing, she would have found it amusing, but this just…wasn't.
Scotty, who had been deeply engrossed in a conversation with Vera about the Phillies' playoff run, suddenly shuddered when the singer reached the chorus.
I can be your hero, baby
I can kiss away the pain
Scotty took one look at Lilly and found her looking a bit paler than normal.
"I didn't think anyone could do a worse version of this song than Enrique Iglesias, but…this guy can," she remarked drily.
"Aw, you ain't a fan of ol' Enrique, Lil?" Vera asked teasingly. "I thought for sure you would be, what with your Latin fetish and all," he remarked.
And with that comment, Scotty had reached his limit. "Okay, we're goin'," he said decisively, laid some cash on the bar, bade his co-workers good night, and escorted Lilly out of the tavern.
Once they were gone, Vera leaned over toward Kat.
"So," he began, the teasing gone from his voice and a hint of what sounded suspiciously, to Kat, like…uncertainty…coloring it instead, "that song you sang?"
"What about it?" she asked, arching a brow.
"That, uh…that…didn't…y'know…mean anything, right?" he asked, with a hopeful grin.
Kat couldn't suppress the smile that tugged at the corners of her mouth. "Course not, Fatass," she retorted matter-of-factly. "It's just a karaoke song."
"Gotcha," he answered. He paused, took a sip of his beer, and turned toward her again. "So…I'm still comin' over tonight, right?"
"What do you think?" she asked witheringly.
"Well," Vera replied, smiling broadly. "Okay, then." Turning his attention from Kat to the bowl of peanuts in front of him, he grabbed another handful and gleefully returned to munching.
When they got back to her apartment, Lilly sank down onto her sofa, scratched Olivia between the ears, and picked up the remote control. She'd never watched much TV in her life, but thanks to Scotty's insistence that she get DVR, she was now able to keep up with a couple of shows. She and Scotty didn't have much in common in the way of their taste in television, she'd realized; he cared much more deeply about sports than she ever would, and his ability to watch two baseball games simultaneously by flipping the channel between pitches completely astounded her. However, they'd found one show they both liked, ironically, a cop show, and she scrolled through the menu for the most recent episode.
Scotty came in from the kitchen with a couple bottles of beer and sat down on the sofa next to Lilly. She took the proffered beverage gratefully, and they clinked the bottles together.
"To another case closed," he remarked proudly, and Lilly rewarded him with a dazzling smile as they each took a sip.
The show was just about to start when Scotty's phone rang again. He glanced down at the caller ID, sighed and rolled his eyes slightly, silenced the phone, and replaced it in its holder, then looked up to find Lilly arching a brow quizzically.
"You gonna answer that?" she asked, nuzzling Olivia under the chin.
"Nah," Scotty replied quickly, glancing at her with what he hoped was a nonchalant smile. "It ain't that important." Without waiting for her response, he grabbed the remote, threw his arm around Lilly's shoulders, and pressed Play.
Within moments, Tripod was curled up in Scotty's lap, and he and Lilly were engrossed in their show, bantering back and forth, and trying to solve the case before the detectives on TV did, something they did every episode, and a game which Lilly won with alarming regularity. This night was no exception.
After the show was over, Lilly gathered up the beer bottles and headed for the kitchen. "Those two make such an adorable couple," she commented.
Scotty was dumbfounded. "Couple?" he echoed in disbelief. "Those two ain't a couple, Lil. They're friends and partners, that's it."
"Oh, not yet they're not a couple," Lilly called from the kitchen, tossing the bottles into the trash and returning to face him with a confident smile. "But they will be."
"Never gonna happen," Scotty disagreed firmly. "Just 'cause a guy and a girl are both good-lookin' and they got a lotta scenes together don't mean they're gonna hook up."
"It's…it's not shallow like that," she replied in disbelief. "Although…he's definitely easy on the eyes."
"Hey, she ain't bad, either," Scotty retorted.
"I just…I can't believe you don't see it," Lilly continued. She grabbed the remote, found the scene she was looking for, and paused the show, then turned back to face Scotty. "Can't you see how he looks at her? He's in love with her…it's so obvious! And you're a detective! I can't believe you don't see it."
With a lopsided grin, Scotty rose from the sofa and studied the image on the screen carefully, looking at it from every conceivable angle, even upside-down, which caused Lilly to giggle.
"I don't," he finally concluded. "I mean… he obviously cares a lot about her, 'cause they're partners… and I don't think he'd be opposed to doin' her, 'cause she's hot…but he ain't in love with her."
Lilly tossed a pillow across the room at him. "You are so unromantic, Scotty," she accused.
"Me?" Scotty retorted in disbelief. "I'm unromantic? Me?"
"You are if you don't see that," Lilly shot back, gesturing toward the TV. "He's crazy about her."
Scotty placed both hands on Lilly's shoulders and grinned at her. "Aw, Lil…" he began, "you're so cute when you're wrong."
Lilly's mouth opened wide in amused shock. "I'm not wrong, Valens," she insisted, around her laughter. "You'll see. Sure, it'll take awhile, but they'll get together someday."
"It'd totally ruin the show if they did," Scotty argued. "This show's about the cases, not about them. If they got all gooey over each other, it'd just screw it all up. Besides…partners hookin' up? I gotta say it's kinda cliché."
Lilly shot him a withering glare and placed her hands on her hips. "So you think partners hookin' up is a cliché, huh? I want you to think very carefully about that for a minute…"
Scotty glanced at her in alarm and hastily tried to backtrack. "Crap…I ain't sayin' it's cliché when it happens in real life…I'm sayin' that because it happens in real life, doin' it on TV is cliché."
"But if TV doesn't reflect real life, then how are people gonna relate to it, Valens?" she retorted, thoroughly enjoying watching him try to squirm his way out of the hole he'd just inadvertently dug for himself.
"People can use their imaginations," he protested. "TV's a helluva lot more fun when it ain't what you do day in and day out."
"Says the person who just happily spent an hour watching a cop show," Lilly scoffed.
"That's different, Lil," he argued. "They ain't a cold case squad. Hell, they're not even Homicide. Big difference."
"Whatever," Lilly replied, waving a hand dismissively. "You're missing the point. The point is, he's totally in love with her, and I can't believe you don't see it. Can't believe she doesn't see it either…is she blind?"
"Well," Scotty said with a shrug and a mischievous grin. "She is kind of a tough nut to crack."
Lilly shot him another glare, and he backtracked again. "I mean…not that I'd know anything about that. And what the hell is so damn special about the way he looks at her, anyway?" he asked, gesturing toward the TV.
"Because it's the same way you look at me, Scotty," Lilly replied softly.
Scotty felt a flood of warmth rushing through his heart, and he broke into a wide grin. "Well, when you put it that way…" he said, crossing the room in about a step. "Care to indulge in a little cliché?" His gaze switched in a flash from tender love to smoldering desire, and Lilly instantly felt her heart start to race.
"Thought you'd never ask," she replied sweetly, wrapping her arms around Scotty as he lowered his head to kiss her.
Their lips were mere millimeters apart when Lilly felt an insistent vibration from Scotty's left hip. He reluctantly paused and let out a frustrated groan.
"That your phone, Scotty, or are you just really, really happy to see me?" Lilly asked with a giggle. Scotty shot her a half-grin, half-glare as he checked the caller ID, but his smile faded when he saw the number, and he swore under his breath.
"Scotty?" Lilly asked him, frowning with concern. "Everything okay?"
"Yeah," he replied with a roll of his eyes. "I just… I gotta take this one. Outside, if that's okay," he said, and Lilly, too stunned to object, merely nodded.
"As always, she's got perfect timin'," Scotty muttered as he sat down on Lilly's front step and flipped the phone open to take the call.
A/N: I promise, the mystery of the phone calls will be solved next chapter.