Your Place or Mine…
Charlie sprung his partner from the hospital with multiple caveats and qualifications, like she couldn't work, she couldn't drive, she couldn't walk very far and lastly, she couldn't stay alone in her home. And that was the one that was going to get him into trouble with her and he knew it.
As the orderly wheeled Dani's chair down the hallway, she pouted about the restrictions on her freedom and Charlie could tell she'd have a half-dozen excuses for why they shouldn't apply when they got into his car. He dreaded the conversation that was coming, but his heart soared that they were out of the hospital and in the fresh air outdoors.
There is something about hospitals that all cops hate. Maybe it's the antiseptic cleanliness of the place, maybe it's all the sick people, or maybe it's just the reminder of their own mortality, but cops uniformly hate hospitals. As the glass doors opened to the driveway, both Dani and Charlie inhaled the fresh air and sunshine. It was as if a season in hell or a long period of purgatory was finally over.
It was a glorious afternoon and the late day sun cast everything in golden shades as if the entire world was gilded. It was the most complimentary light, something the Italians called "long light" and it figured prominently in Renaissance painting or so the man on PBS said. Still Charlie thought it was pretty terrific, even Reese smiled slightly as they made their way around the car and he put her inside. The whole world looked and felt new to them both.
Crews leaned over Dani to buckle her into the passenger side of the Maserati, the closeness reminding him of their earlier kiss. He could feel the tension between them build and he struggled with his attraction as he simultaneously wrestled with her seatbelt. "I just can't….get…." he excused the length of time he lingered over her.
"Maybe this will help" Dani said as she put her small hand over his and leaned forward to brush his lips. Charlie's breath caught as she softly captured his bottom lip in hers. The seatbelt forgotten all he could focus on was the soft smooth texture of Dani's lips. He leaned into her, deepening the kiss and the car became noticeably warmer, as his tongue slid along the edge of her lips requesting entrance. She opened to him as the seatbelt clicked into place, the loud click surprising them both. Their kiss broke to quiet laughter and Charlie drew back and winked at her.
"Yeah, next time I'm having trouble with a seatbelt could you do that again?" He teased, then kissed her quickly again, when she smiled and withdrew shutting the door, wondering if his day could get any better.
Three times he'd kissed her now, he thought, keeping score, although technically this time Dani had kissed him. Charlie froze for a moment when he realized she initiated the intimate contact. His heart skipped a whole series of beats and then his pulse raced. Charlie knew Tidwell would be a serious obstacle and he had a lot of making up to do, but he wasn't going to let Dani out of his sight any time soon - so there was time he thought. The Zen mondo "the trouble is that you think you have time" sprung to the forefront of his mind. He wondered if there he had time or if time had him? had them?
He shook his head clearing his musings and buckled himself in, prepared for the battle that would follow his next question. He exhaled in preparation "So, where to?" and without giving her time to respond he continued to recite the restrictions and limitations on her newly found freedom. "Your choices are…. your parents' house with your mom and dad…my house with me….or your house….also with me".
Dani scowled at him. "I thought you just sprung me from jail?" she questioned.
'Think of it more like supervised parole" he kidded with her smiling. Dani's expression did not change with his attempt at levity. "Look you're recovering from a serious injury, that doctor did not want to release you and you're still pretty weak. I'm not leaving you alone – so your mom or me, those are your choices." He laid down the law. Dani ruled his heart, but in this he was firm and unshakeable.
The key was in the ignition, but Charlie had yet to start the car. "I want your word on this Dani, I want you to promise, or we go right back inside" he said firmly. Dani scowled at him. "I'm not buying the look Reese, your word or back to that wonderful room on the fourth floor."
"You don't have to take such pleasure in it" she groused.
Charlie just returned her look evenly. "Gee Detective Reese, I'm glad I got you out of the hospital so we could have this staring contest in my car" he taunted her. He knew he had her over a barrel and wasn't above exploiting it to get her to commit to being safe.
Reese knew Crews was screwing with her and his ebullient mood was part a function of his ability to play with her again and part their escape from the oppressive atmosphere of the hospital. Plus she wasn't quite as annoyed by the prospect of having to be babysat by her partner as she let on.
"Reese?" Charlie spoke her name as a question, prompting her to look at him again.
"I'm thinking" she stalled "Okay, you win" she said trying to sound disappointed and angry instead of excited at the prospect of what she said next "take me home, Crews".
He donned his shades and smiled one of megawatt smiles knowing the next words to leave his mouth would make her groan "your place or mine, honey?"
Dani did not disappoint, rolling her eyes, throwing her head back in feigned agony and groaning in frustration at his lame joke. But inside she was happy, they were back together in that familiar rhythm she missed and Charlie was happy. When he smiled it made her heart do little flips, a problem she'd been having for far longer than Dani wanted to admit.
"Reese?" Crews waggled his eyebrows at her.
"Ok…ok…ok…my house for clothes and then I guess…yours? It has a guest room right? If we stay at mine, there's just a couch and I'm not sure my couch is long enough for you to sleep on." Dani became all business.
"I'm touched you are concerned about my sleeping arrangements, but if you want to stay at your place, I can sleep on the floor" he offered.
"Why would a man with $50 million dollars sleep on the floor Crews?" she asked.
"I ask myself that every time I end up there" Charlie deadpanned.
He started the engine and handed her his cell. "What's this for? Am I ordering pizza?" she said sarcastically.
"Actually, now that you mention it, I was thinking Chinese, but pizza sounds better" Charlie said somewhat seriously. "You do know I can't cook, right?" he added with a soft chuckle.
"Funny Crews….thought that's what you kept Ted around for" she teased. "What am I supposed to magic up the number for Papa John's?" she questioned wryly.
"Only one number you need to know right now, honey" he drew his sunglasses down and peered at her over the tops "your mother" he warned in a low tone. "I'm not about to be in the dog house with two Reese women in one day."
Dani took the hint and started dialing her mother "who said you could call me honey?" she tried to sound gruff through her smile.
Charlie just smiled and drove his little Italian sports car to his partner's house.
*************************************************************************************************
"You do know you can't go back to work for awhile?" Charlie said with a huge hot slice of pepperoni pizza in his hand. He blew on the pizza and his fingers trying to keep the cheese from sliding off while the pie was still too hot to put in his mouth.
"Why don't you eat that instead of playing with it?" Dani scolded.
"I hate burning the roof of my mouth" Charlie whined. "It feels funny for days afterwards" he explained. "You know how it feels when you burn the roof of your mouth, like licking cardboard..." he continued.
"Yes, Crews. I know. Why would you know what licking cardboard feels like? Never mind, don't answer that I don't want to know" she said frowning at herself for saying the question out loud. "Just put it back in the box until it's cool enough to eat" she instructed.
"Yes, mom" he relented and dropped the slice back in the box. Dani was chewing on a pencil, reading through a file she'd picked up at her house and studiously ignoring him.
"What are you working on?" he peered over her shoulder.
"You're not the only one with your own side investigation you know?" she continued ignoring him and flipped a page in the file.
"Whose file is that?" he asked pizza forgotten and genuinely interested.
"Mickey Rayborne's" she said "hush, I'm reading."
"How'd you get that?" he asked curiously, scooting close to her on the big chestnut leather couch and peering over her shoulder. She turned slightly and placed her small hand over his mouth.
"Reading remember?" she scolded with a smile in her voice, locking eyes with him.
Charlie smiled into her hand and nodded. She removed her hand and reminded him "your pizza's getting cold". Charlie looked from the file the to pizza box and back twice, torn. "Eat. This isn't going anywhere."
"I eat when you eat, not before" he said solemnly. "The file's not going anywhere right?" he smiled parroting her words back to her.
"Fine" she said closing the file. She grinned at him over the next words, which made Charlie swallow hard at the double entendre. "Dinner first, then you show me yours and I'll show you mine" she promised with a sly smile. Charlie's mouth went dry and suddenly pizza and case files were the furthest thing from his mind.