Mad Dogs
"Did you have fun yelling at us? Your very own theatrical performance put on just for the UCOS team?" Sandra asked Strickland as she cut up vegetables for dinner. She had been waiting till they were home to let him know she knew what he had done.
"What do you mean?" he asked stealing a few carrots from the pile. He gave her an innocent look that tried to say he had no idea what she was talking about, but they both know he was just playing dumb.
She had her hair up in a pony tail, she only ever did that at home and he loved it. He knew it was only in his head but he couldn't help but feel it was something special that only he got to enjoy. He loved how relaxed and at ease she looked standing there making dinner and talking to him. He had gotten used to these intimate moments with her.
He didn't know exactly went it happened but sometime over the previous six or seven months he had begun to spend every night at her place. His clothes slowly began to fill her closet, his toiletries could be found in her bathroom and his little odds and ends were all over the house. Now he only ever went home when his children spent the weekend with him. They had both taken to referring to her place as home, the transition had been gradual but they were now so comfortable that the weekends he spent at him place felt strange to both of them.
His flat felt almost foreign to him now as if it were nothing more than a temporary place to stay. She felt lonely when he was gone and her house suddenly felt gigantic without him. But they had agreed at least for the foreseeable future that she wouldn't spend the night at his place when he had the kids. She might meet them for lunch or an afternoon out but she made sure they had their alone time. Even after their first meeting had turned out well she still was a little skittish around the kids and she felt that if she spent just a little time with them then they would continue to like her but if she spent too much time together they would discover they really didn't like her. It was foolish because the two children really did seem to be fond of her yet that didn't make her completely sure of herself around them. He thought it was silly and did everything he could to keep her with them longer and longer.
"You're the one who leaked all that information to the papers." She replied pulling him out of his thoughts. She had stopped chopping and was giving him a look.
"Did I?" He asked trying to be coy.
"You are such a liar. You should know better than to try and deceive to a bunch of police offers." She laughed and moved on from the carrots to green peppers.
"Fine what gave me away?" he inquired with a dramatic sigh before popping another carrot in his mouth. He was sitting on one of the kitchen stools as he watched her make dinner. He personally thought this was far better entertainment than anything he could have found on the TV.
"You were a bit over reactive. Good acting for the most part though" she laughed a bit more at him.
"Thank you" he grinned at her while giving her a slight bow with his head.
"Don't get any ideas" she told him pointing the knife at him to make her point.
'What do you mean?" he asked genuinely confused this time.
"No running off to join the theater for you" she elaborated.
"Oh, no worries there, I am sorry I yelled and cut you off but I didn't think I could keep up the act with you professing your innocence. I was so close to laughing as it was." He admitted laughing now to make up for his earlier anger. He did have to admit it was a little fun to play a part, maybe he shouldn't have been so quick to dismiss the idea of acting.
"Well then its good you're not running for the theater I think actors need to be more adaptive." She replied as he grabbed a hand full of green peppers from her neatly cut pile. "Stop that or there will be none left for dinner." She cried smacking his hand. He pulled it pack as fast as he could holding on to the green peppers as he did and grinning at her.
"I'm sure we'll be fine and I'm hungry now, I don't want to wait for them to cook." He complained and then took a bite of the pepper as though proving his point.
"It's stir fry it doesn't take that long" she exclaimed.
"Well I'm starving so it is taking too long already" he whinged continuing to eat his stolen vegetables.
"Fine you can finish cutting up the veggies and make it yourself if you feel I'm working too slow." She told him sternly putting the knife down and making moves to leave the kitchen.
"No wait I'm sorry you are doing a great job I'm sorry I said anything. No more stealing veggies I promise." He said standing up and blocking her way out as he begged her forgiveness.
"That's what I thought" she replied with a smug smile turning back to the food.
"The acting part was a bit of fun" he admitted returning to their previous conversation as he got a chilled bottle of wine out of the fridge and opened it. He proceeded to grab two glasses and poured one for each of them. "Here you go" he told her as he handed her a glass.
"Thank you" she took a nice drink of the liquid. "No more acting for you" she told him flatly.
"Don't worry I won't give up my day job. How could I do that to another DAC, put them in charge of you lot, they would go crazy in a week." He couldn't help flashing a huge grin in her direction.
"Ha ha, we aren't that bad" she professed defending her and her team.
"It could be fun to do a little acting though community theater and all that." He replied still thinking about the idea.
"No the only one who gets to see you act is me" she ordered him pointing the knife at him once more.
"Well that could certainly be fun" he replied suggestively.
"We can explore that thought in more detail later right now is all about dinner. Though since we are talking about the case I can't believe in the end it was the father who killed him." She mused as she reluctantly put her wine down and went back to the vegetables.
"All because his father couldn't handle a gay son. There is nothing Rufus could tell me that would make me kill him, arrest him maybe but I don't think I could ever kill my son no matter how angry he made me." He sat back down on the stool as he thought about it.
"He's all of six" she exclaimed.
"He will grow up to be a teenager I remember what it is like to be a teenage boy." He grimaced and hoped he son wouldn't be too much like him when he got older.
"Why don't you let him be a kid first okay" she advised him, there was no reason to make the boy grow up any sooner than necessary.
"Yeah you're right, though I do wonder what teenage me and teenage you would have thought of each other?" He asked rising his eyebrows at him.
"Oh I was mean to the girls and I was vicious to the boys they were all rather immature."She replied not looking at him. She was hardly proud of the way she acted as a teenager and she wasn't eager to discuss it with him.
"You were attracted to older men?" he inquired missing her uneasiness with the subject.
"For a while I guess then the guys got a lot older." She said with a fond smile making it clear she was talking about Gerry, Jack, and Brian. "You know I wish the army was behind this because whatever they really did to those men it is affecting them to this day and something should be done for them." She said changing the subject back to their case. She had no desire to talk about her teenage years in her opinion they were best forgotten.
"Unfortunately we can't fix everything" he reminded her, giving her hand a squeeze. He knew she hated not being able to right all the injustices they discovered in their line of work.
"Sometimes I just wish we could" she sighed staring at the cut vegetables.
"And that is one of the many reasons I love you, you fiercely want justice for those who have been wronged." He told her sweetly.
"Even when you try and stand in my way?" she added giving him a look that told him she didn't appreciate it.
"When have I ever done that?" he joked.
"Let me count the ways" she laughed.
"I would rather do something else." he replied pulling her closer if he wasn't able to feed his stomach he was equally as interested in feeding his other desires.
"Careful I am still holding the knife and I don't want to have to take you to hospital tonight" she cried. She tired her hardest to keep the knife far away from him though he wasn't making it easy.
"Sorry" he apologized loosening his grip but not letting go.
"Are you going to let me finish dinner? You said you were starving." She asked him having a hard time not laughing as she tried to give him a stern look. There were times when he acted more like an overgrown child than the responsible adult he was. It was one of the many things that had surprised her about him. She had always thought he was so straight laced, that was the impression he gave off at work. He was not known for his sense of humor or jokes and pranks at the office. Yet he had a goofy side and had a really good sense of humor she had been pleasantly surprised on their first date. She had been less surprised by his healthy libido but she had absolutely no complaints.
"I'm hungry for something else right now." He told her and he proceeded to nuzzle her neck peppering it with small light kisses as he made his way further down towards her chest. She wisely dropped the knife on the counter before she really did hurt him, if he continued she was going to lose control of most of her senses.
"I am not on the menu right now" she informed him pushing him away. It had taken all her resolve not to give in to him. She was determined to finish making dinner first.
"Oh I think you are but I will admit you look like desert not the main course. So I will hold off till then but only till then" he promised. He could sense that she was not going to give into him.
"Why do I even bother trying to cook with you around?" she asked exasperated. She loved him but he was always doing this to her.
He would admit he had a tendency to side track her into the bedroom when she was trying to cook dinner. It wasn't his fault that he got turned on when he saw her being all domestic. At work she did not appear like she cared about being domestic she was all about her job. It was nice to see her relax at home and it was a huge turn on. The problem was he usually interrupted her when she was cooking because he just couldn't contain his desire. That meant she usually didn't get to finishing cooking and they ended up ordering pizza or Chinese a few hours later. He felt slightly guilty for always ruining her dinners and he decided this time he would try and let her finish.
"I like to watch you cook even if you sometimes burn things" he responded teasing her.
"I only burn things when you distract me" she countered and he knew she was correct.
"There isn't any way we can skip straight to desert is there?" he asked ignoring her comment. He was trying to be good but he was terrible at resisting his urge to take her upstairs.
"Not bloody likely I am going to actual finish dinner for once and we are going to eat it" she growled at him as she added some oil to the wok turning the heat up on the stove to high. "The range is now hot so please be very careful. No one is getting injured tonight because then there will be no desert do you understand me." She said very serious, a trip to A&E was not how she wanted to spend the night.
"Yes ma'am" he replied he knew when to give up trying to seduce her. To avoid temptation and potential harm he moved back to his seat and picked up his wine once more.
"Now that is what I like to hear" she said with a wicket grin. She felt a huge wave of joy that she was actually going to finish making dinner for the first time in month.
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"This is really good" he said as they sat at the table eating dinner half an hour later.
"Thank you, not a burnt vegetable in sight no thanks to you" she answered.
"How can you expect me to watch you looking all sexy cooking dinner with your ponytail and not touch you?" He asked enjoying both the food and the smile on her face.
"I believe it is called restraint" she informed him.
"I have to exercise restraint all day at work. I have to resist the urge to tell all the top brass what I think of them. I have to resist the strong desire not to hit half the people we work with. And I have to resist my deep desire to touch you every time I see you. Not to mention how every time we are in your office I want to take you right there on your desk. So you will forgive me that once we are home I can't resist you anymore." As he sat there explaining all this too her and all he could think about was how soon he could get her upstairs.
"So let me get this straight, when you come into my office to yell at me what you are really thinking about is having your way with me on my desk?" She asked finishing up her food yet she couldn't keep the wicked smile off her face.
"Yes, I may start out mad at you but by the end all I can think about is you on that desk." He admitted giving her a look that told her he was hungry for something other than a second serving of dinner.
"I am going to have to remember that" she replied seductively taking a drink of her wine.
"I'm thinking it is time for desert" he replied.
"Oh do you? Well I was thinking about throwing together a pie or a tart." she teased.
"You think you are so funny don't you?" he sighed dramatically at her teasing she knew exactly what he wanted and she was just trying to make life difficult for him.
"I am very funny if you hadn't noticed" she replied.
"Yes I you are, but since you made dinner I am in charge of desert. I think we should go upstairs and I will show you everything I want to do to you at work." He told her standing up and holding his hand to help her up.
"Promises, promises" she responded taking his and standing up.
"I always keep my promises" he told her pulling her close and kissing her.
"I hope so though knowing what you're thinking when you look at my desk may prevent me from ever being able to look at you the same way at work again." She warned him as she kissed him back.
"I will risk it" he whispered in her ear.
"I love you" she told him.
"I love you too. Now my lady will you join me upstairs?"
"Gladly" she agreed as she followed him.
"I promise the desert I have planned will be far better than any pie or tart."
"Don't make promises you can't keep" she replied playfully.
"I promise" he said and he stopped and turned around to face her. He pulled her close to him and kissed her making it clear that he was fully prepared to follow through on his promise.
A/N I just want to thank everyone for reading and thank you for the reviews.
