Cheers to Star Jelly, Rittanicus and citsol, for their reviews.
This chapter and the previous one takes place a short time after the events of, "One".
Don't own, never will.
Reviews would be appreciated. Thanks.
Envy
Charlie could usually tell if a woman wanted him or at least something from him. Dani Reese never gave him that look, ever. Except for today, she just really wanted his banana. Charlie smiled back.
He couldn't believe it; he was jealous of a small banana.
"It makes no sense I mean I'm me, you know how I feel about fruit and Tidwell is Tidwell. How can that make…"
"How can that make what?"
"Evidently the little one is a glutton for fruit."
"What?"
"I'm pregnant."
If Charlie was driving he would have crashed the car instead he squeezed the bottom half of his banana.
"Banana," he said in a tone that usually elicited a strange look out of Dani. She instead kept staring at the road and he could only see half of her smile.
He broke a piece off the banana and gave it to her. She just about inhaled the fruit from the Musa family.
"So I get free fruit, now?" she said looking at Charlie.
His response was to stare at her, mouth slightly open and hand her another piece.
"Well…okay but I'm kidding."
She ate the other piece just as fast as the first.
"Thank you Crews."
Silence.
Charlie realized that he should say something. He was the one who chattered, who talked, who would be the first to ask strange questions and reveal strange facts, like that the only mammals that don't have live childbirth are the platypus and echidna. Hoping to reveal that fact to a wife when she told him she was pregnant. But he could not think of that.
"You're welcome Reese," he said. "So how far along are you?"
"Three months."
"Congrats, how is Tidwell?"
"Did you notice how he went through several toothpicks already today? He's a bit freaked out."
He disliked the man at that moment; he had no reason to be freaked out. Dani was… well Dani was smart, beautiful, loving, and brilliant. She shined a light onto parts of his life that he would often ignore and overlook. Just like now and the man who could see the connections in a crime scene, looked a person in the eye and read their life, realized he was envious of the former resident from the Big Apple. For reasons that would break up the best part of his life and earn sympathy looks from Ted.
Charlie sent a quick text to Ted telling him to order something for him.
Still he could do nothing and should do nothing. He regretted that quickly fired off request. There was Reese, Tidwell and a child. They had built something and he would always be connected to her, just not in the way he wanted. And as much as he wanted to tell her those facts about platypus and echidna, she was not that woman, no matter how much he wanted her to be.
So in that moment in the car he said something that he wished someone else would say about him.
"Don't worry he'll be a good father."
Later that day there would be a large fruit basket sitting on Reese's desk. The note, "1+1=1" was from a jealous man. The man who removed it wanted her to be happy.
Still it did not stop him from stopping into his superior officer's offices and discussing just how happy said officer was going to make his partner.