AN: Gotta hurry and post this because I'm in a severe thunderstorm warning but I wanted to give you this chapter before the weekend.


Joss had it! She flung the remote control to his TV down on the coffee-table when she saw it was three o'clock in the afternoon. The aggravating man spent all his time upstairs in his room conveniently having a new bookshelf to put together, leaving her downstairs, alone. He didn't want her to leave, yet he didn't want to stay in her presence because he was attracted to her and didn't want to deal with it. Well he was going to deal with it because she was done. She was bored out of her mind and he was going to entertain her!

She made her way up the stairs and found his bedroom door open with a light on. Joss moved slowly with the use of the crutch and stopped on the threshold and smiled. Okay, so he wasn't lying about the bookshelf as she once thought. He was on his knees, butt to the door, which she should thank the high-heavens for gracing this man with such a nice ass, and looking at the directions he held. He had been up here for hours and this was all that he got done: unboxing it. Either he was avoiding her with going ridiculously slow or he had no clue what the hell he was doing and refused to ask for help. He was a man so she was venturing to guess it was the latter.

"Need some help?" she asked and watched with a smile as she moved quietly enough to catch him off guard. He jumped as he tried to turn quickly and fell back onto that great butt of his. She hoped he didn't hurt it or she could kiss it better. Joss groaned at the thought; that's it, she was not looking at any more of Shaw's texts until she was not in John's orbit.

John glared at her. "Thanks, for taking ten years off of me," he grumbled.

She chuckled; glad the earlier tension between them seemed to have taken a holiday. "Sorry, I was bored. Bear's asleep and there's nothing on TV," she admitted as she worried her lip as she moved into his bedroom, not missing the opportunity to take a gander around. "You have a nice bedroom, John," she said softly. Off to the left there was a door that led to a bathroom and beside it was a closed door which she assumed was his closet. On the wall between the two doors was a large screen TV with just a simple end table beneath it. Across, on the other side, John had a king sized bed with a beautiful mahogany bed set. The headboard was amazing and looked to be hand-carved.

Joss cleared her throat as she forced her gaze off the bed as an image of John sleeping in it, preferably naked, flashed into her mind.

She looked at John, who sat in the middle of his floor, as he watched her look around his bedroom. Joss saw a bare wall near the window and knew instantly he was going to put the bookcase there. She hobbled closer to look over his shoulder. She was impressed by the piece of furniture as she eyed the picture of it. The bookcase was very stylish in a sleek dark finish. It would be quite tall. It had two hutches and two open shelves above those.

"It's gonna look nice once it's finished, John," she acknowledged.

He laughed softly. "You mean: if it ever gets finished," he commented as he lowered the paper and they both eyed the screws, brackets, knobs, and pieces of wood that littered the floor that was to be put together to make the sophisticated bookcase.

"Not a handyman, eh?" she teased.

John watched as she struggled to lower herself down to the floor without putting much weight on her foot. He reached out and helped her. "Is it that obvious?" he wondered out loud.

"Kind of, if you've been up here for hours and only have the bookcase unboxed and not much else done," she murmured.

He shook his head. "You caught me: I am a DIY virgin," he confessed.

Joss giggled, grateful for the easiness between them that was reemerging. "I can tell, but you're in safe hands," she joked and he shook his head as he let out a rueful laugh. "At least tell me you got the necessary tools to put this baby together?" she asked as she motioned for the directions which he readily handed over. Joss looked at the lone sheet of paper that they called 'directions' and swore it was written in Portuguese because she was sure it wasn't in English.

John motioned his hand at an adequate toolbox sitting near the pieces of wood. She nodded before resuming her perusal of the riddle that the directions were written in. "Joss…"

"Hmmm?"

"I might be new to DIY projects but perhaps having the directions facing right-side up would help." he murmured gently, with laughter lacing his voice.

Joss blushed as she turned the directions around. "Ah, now it makes more sense," she lied.

"You have no clue either, huh."

Joss flung the sheet of paper down. "I say we can figure this out ourselves without the need of those directions since the manufacturer forgot to include the code to decipher it!" she muttered.

John stood up and gazed at the mess on his bedroom floor. "Stay put; I'll go downstairs to get us some beer, we're going to need it," he decided.

Joss smiled. "Yea, because everything looks better once you have a beer or two," she agreed.

John chuckled as he turned and proceeded to go get them some beer and chips.


An hour and a half later Joss made a face as she eyed the structure they had put together and to the spare parts that laid on the floor. "Is it normal to have so much extra left over?" he wondered innocently.

"No." Joss sighed, looking at the useless diagrams in a feeble attempt at figuring out where the hell these screws went. There were holes that needed screwing…Joss groaned, she was never talking to Shaw again for all those dirty texts she sent her because now every little thing she did or said or thought was construed to be sexual, especially with John hovering nearby.

"You okay?" John asked.

Joss lifted her gaze off the directions she wasn't really reading to look at him. "What do you mean?"

"You moaned. Is your back hurting from leaning over trying to help me put this damn thing together?" he asked in concern.

Joss froze. She moaned out loud?! "Fine," she blurted out, flustered. She took a deep breath. "I'm fine," she said again but this time more calmly. "I'm just frustrated that I messed this up; I mean you could have done this." she muttered as she motioned at the bookcase.

He laughed. "Oh thanks, for the vote of confidence," he said softly before he sipped what was left of his beer.

She smiled. "You know what I mean,"

They spent about ten minutes taking apart what she spent an hour putting together and they restarted. After another hour and a half passed; she was hungry but triumphant. They had a bookcase that was nearly close to being together with no spare parts; it just needed the doors to the hutches screwed in place and it would be complete. Then they could stand it up and move it where he wanted it to be.

Bear at some point had come upstairs and into the bedroom, hopping up onto John's bed wanting to be with his master. He lifted his head as John got to his feet and helped her to hers.

"I think this can be finished and moved after we eat some dinner. I'm hungry." he murmured as he collected the empty beer cans and the nearly finished bag of chips.

"Me too," she admitted as her stomach rumbled on cue, which made them both laugh (well she did after she got through being mortified) before she set the crutch under her arm, following him out with Bear bringing up the rear.

They worked well together; John followed her direction and once she figured out the diagram it had been smooth sailing. Joss was dismayed that John had left her in the dust as she navigated his stairs and she wondered if the damn dog accompanied her to make her feel better about being so damn slow.

"Wait till I can walk on my own two feet again Bear, your master won't be able to run on me," she declared in complaint.

Once she finished the stairs she made her way to his kitchen and realized the reason John had left her behind was because he was busy looking through his freezer for something to make. "While we worked on that damn bookcase; I lost track of time." he murmured as he must have heard her approaching.

"Do you have any frozen broccoli?" she asked suddenly.

John turned to look at her in surprise. "Yes…."

"How about some cans of cream of mushroom soup?" she asked. She made her and her son bread bowls full of soup all the time when they needed a quick meal. Hopefully John had the necessary ingredients.

"I do."

Joss grinned as she made her way to his refrigerator to make sure he had some cheese. She opened the door. "AHA!" she sang happily, grabbing the few bags he had. One was sharp cheddar and the other was Mexican Style Four Cheese. These would do. She grabbed them and the gallon of milk, tugging them out. He was eyeing her with a questioning gaze. "Do you have an uncut loaf of bread?" she asked hopeful. She wasn't sure if he would or not and if he didn't then they'd just have to make do.

"I do but…"

"Good, can you grab it and those cans of cream of mushroom soup you have?" she asked.

He nodded moving towards a cupboard to pull out the cans of soup first. "What are you making, Joss?"

She looked at him. "When me and my boy needed a quick meal because of my work or if he had a basketball game I would make us broccoli and cheese soup bread bowls. It will be quick and filling." Joss explained.

John got her everything she asked for and jumped right in to help make their dinner while Joss felt a little funny at ordering John around in his own kitchen, but after twenty minutes their food was hot and ready to eat.

John took the first bite. "This is really good," he murmured.

"You say that like you were expecting it to taste like dirt!" she accused with laughter.

He laughed as his gaze dropped to his food before he looked at her and she saw sparkling mischief in his gorgeous eyes; they were radiant and she liked how they caught the light. "Are you suggesting I ate dirt before?" he teased.

She shrugged. "Well boys will be boys; my son tried to eat Play-Doh when he was just a tot." she murmured casually, praying she was going to get something personal from him.

"I didn't eat dirt but I did try worms." he replied.

Joss's eyes widened as she looked at him. "No, you didn't! I bet your momma washed your mouth out!"

He laughed. "She did," he said softly and Joss watched as the smile was gone and the lightness in his expressive blue eyes dimmed. Whatever he was thinking about was making him sad.

Joss chose something else to talk about and managed to recapture that smile he had. John shoved back his empty plate after a little while. "That was really good for such a quick meal." he said.

She grinned at the praise. "Thanks." she replied appreciatively.

"Definitely better than worms," he added.

Joss laughed. "Well that's definitely good for my ego," she assured him as they both climbed to their feet at the same time and she accidentally knocked the crutch over.

They both moved to grab the fallen crutch and bumped heads. "Ouch," Joss mumbled as their heads clunked and John grimaced as he rubbed his temple as he grabbed the crutch.

"Sorry," he murmured, feeling like he had two left feet around this woman.

Joss waved him off as she rubbed the pain away. "It's okay; I don't know why I'm so clumsy around you," she said with a nervous laugh. John stood in front of her and she felt trapped between the kitchen island and him. She had to lean her head back so she could look him deep in those impressive eyes of his and her pulse started to race.

His eyes searched her face. "I make you nervous?" he replied.

"No," she lied quickly, too quickly; his brows rose and she sighed. "Maybe you do, but not for the reason you think," she admitted rather reluctantly.

"And what reason do I think, detective?"

Joss tried to ignore the thrill that his voice caused. "Because you're a 'stranger' by your definition and I don't know you," she supplied.

"By my definition?—we just met, Joss," he pointed out.

Joss shrugged. "We did, but I feel like I know you better than I know half my friends," she confessed gently with a helpless shrug. She sure hoped he didn't ask for more of an in-depth answer than that because she didn't have one…yet.

He didn't. "So if it's not because we just met then why do I make you nervous?" he asked.

Joss winced because she didn't really want him questioning her on that any more than she wanted him to dig further about why she felt closer to him than people she's known for years. So she chose her only answer she could think of, "I plead the fifth."

John's gaze bore into her and she felt like her breath caught as her body felt on fire as his hot gaze slid over her before sliding back up to find her eyes. Joss lips parted as she recognized that look: it was desire. She hadn't seen in a long time but that didn't mean she didn't know what it looked like. She unconsciously took a step forward as her hand rested on his as he still had the crutch in a death grip.

It felt like she was touching fire as her fingertips stroked his skin. His blue irises darkened further as his gaze dropped to her lips. Joss subconsciously wetted them and swore she heard him groan; her fingers itched to touch his skin more. His head dipped down and Joss jumped when Bear barked.

John's eyes widened as he lurched back and the crutch fell to the floor for a second time. John didn't bother to pick it up for her this time as he ran a hand through his short hair as he took a few steps back with eyes averted.

He cleared his throat as she stood staring at him. "Uh…Bear, you have to go out don't you?" he stuttered to the dog.

Bear barked again in answer, looking cross at his human companions.

Joss stood still trying to bring her rapidly beating heart under control and she told herself it was because Bear barked unexpectedly but it wasn't the dog. It was John. He was going to kiss her and this time she doubted it was going to be a light peck on the lips. And she couldn't help but feel disappointed she hadn't gotten to experience it.


AN: Poor Bear his little bladder was being tortured as he waited for the two to kiss. If you guys can survive at least one more chapter of tension there is a reward coming soon since these two won't be able to take much more of it ;D

Thanks for reading!