Wide Awake and Dreaming

Dani was dreaming. She was sitting on a swing in a vast empty playground. The sun was shining brightly turning dewdrops into diamonds. The sky was an impossible blue, and the grass was the emerald green you only see on golf courses. There was no litter, no noise, no people, just birds singing and the solid feeling of the planet spinning underneath everything. It was the Zen state Charlie would often describe as being "one" with the world.

She was swinging back and forth between this world and the next. When she swung backwards, strong arms gathered her to a warm solid chest and whispered her name on a soft wind into her hair. As she rose, it felt as though she might take flight. She was happy, giddy, dizzy, but joyous.

With each swing, the voice became fainter on the upswing, but it remained constant and she felt herself drawn back to it – to him - magnetically. She leaned back and looked at the person propelling her higher and higher, yet holding her in this world on an invisible string. He seemed taller than she recalled and thinner, but his eyes remained a piercing blue and his shock of red hair she'd know anywhere even upside down and dreaming.

The impression was sudden and immediate; she could feel him, smell him. He surrounded her, enveloped her, immersed her in a feeling uniquely Crews. There was no way to describe it – words failed. It was as if he operated at a frequency of light only visible to her, his soul vibrating with a warmth that only she could feel.

"Crews," she smiled and mumbled his name in her sleep.

She blinked awake to the feel of Charlie Crews snoring lightly on her shoulder, with his arm wrapped around her waist. Her hipbone was snugged up against the hollow of his chest and the softness of his red hair whispered against her cheek. She did not take in other things, surroundings, furniture, times, dates – none of it mattered, only the man sleeping beside her.

She sunk her fingers deep into his hair and drew him closer still. He shifted in his deep sleep and laid a tender kiss on her collarbone and nuzzled her throat, "Dani" his dreamy commentary reinforcing that she wasn't just some random girl he held to his chest. It was her he wanted, her he dreamed of and yearned for. It was exhilarating and frightening at the same time. Crews was pushing her on that swing and pulling her back to him and he had been since the beginning.

"Crews," she called to him, but he was deep in exhausted sleep and would not wake. She reached deep and pulled that magical rabbit from her hat, "Charlie" she whispered against his forehead. That did the trick as she felt him stir beside her.

"Hey," she jostled helping him along, "no sleeping on the stakeout remember?"

"Where have you been?" he eyed her sleepily, still not fully awake.

"Here. I've been here, Charlie."

"Before you were so far away," he mumbled looking down, "I thought I'd lost you."

"You can't lose me," she smiled and gripped his hand. "We're partners right?"

"No. Not anymore," he said firmly, now awake and alert.

"No? Did something happen while I was out?" She went from zero to pissed off in 2.8 seconds just like he knew she would. "That's bullshit. What happened wasn't your fault," she blustered.

"You don't even remember what happened do you?"

"I…uh…no…" she stumbled as he leaned in close and cupped her face with his palm.

"I fell in love with you," he said softly, stroking her face. She bit her lip, but didn't speak so he continued. "I can't go back to just being your partner at work. I want to look after you, to care about you in a way work won't allow. I want to fall asleep with you every night and wake up with you every morning for as long as I live."

"Could we go back just a minute for those of us who just woke up? When did all this happen?"

"Go back where? To before we met? Before we were in love? Before we admitted it? Do you want to go back there?"

"No," she smiled, and then added their internal joke. "Thought there was no past, no future, just now."

"Do you love me now?" he asked like his world didn't balance on her answer.

She tried to push herself into a sitting a position but needed and let him help her which was a first. "Uh… yeah, yep," she confessed quickly averting her eyes like she had something to be ashamed of. "I do and that's not something I expected."

"I like that – to be unexpected," he grinned.

She blushed and he scooted closer to her on the bed.

"Are you ready?" his voice a low tone that set off a riot of feeling she was sure was in no way related to her medical condition.

"Ready for what?" she wondered aloud.

"I'm gonna kiss you now," he promised in a voice so low it dragged the pavement.

His cracked lips were close enough to visualize her tongue wetting them and the heat she felt had nothing to do with any infection. Charlie Crews was about to do unspeakable things to her for the rest of her life and it started right here with this kiss. She looked up into his eyes and found him watching her intently. His eyes shifted from her lips to her eyes and back. He dipped his head close and almost touched her then withdrew.

Her frustrated sigh made him smile and his eyes softened. "Tell me you love me again," he negotiated his terms.

"I never said that," she flatly denied out of habit.

"No?" He was millimeters from beginning a kiss that she ached to feel. "Are you sure? Cause I distinctly remember you saying that…"

She groaned in agony, rolled her eyes, tossed her head back and he dove for her exposed throat like a vampire. The trail of hot kisses he planted along her neck ended at her ear where his tone sent chills up her spine. "I want you to say the words, Dani." His implication replete with the unspoken "I won't give you what we both want until you do."

"All right damn it…" she muttered, "I love you. You drive me insane, you talk way too much, this fruit thing is idiotic and I'm not sure I'll live five more minutes if you don't kiss me right now, Crews." It was more than he'd hoped for from his usually reticent partner.

"Are you always so pushy?" he teased as he closed on her mouth. Whatever response was on her lips was swallowed as he framed his hands around her face and kissed them both breathless.

The nurse station suddenly registered a meteoric rise in Dani's Reese's vitals. Her temperature, blood pressure and heart rate shot up. Her mother stood outside the room observing her daughter and Crews as the nurse approached at a quick step.

"Is she awake?" the woman in hospital whites asked.

"Yes," Roya responded with a knowing smile. "Perhaps for the very first time."

Author's Note: This story is heavy on the angst and dedicated to my devoted beta (Jo Taylor) who brings order from the chaos and keeps me honest in tone, tenor, grammar and content. But you guys had to know I wasn't gonna kill Dani off - they belong together - they are both just too stubborn to see it. So I gave them a little push :)