-Ten-
"Why are you so happy?"
Detective Don Flack turned around to find Aiden Burn squinting at him.
"Quit looking at me like that," Flack answered, trying to avoid answering her question for he knew that she wouldn't let him off easily.
"I will if you tell me why you have that goofy smile on your face."
Flack glared at Aiden and tried to walk away, but she surprised him by scooting in front of him and held her arms out wide.
"Uh-uh. You're not taking another step until you tell me everything," Aiden said, stressing the last word. Flack kept his gaze on her, as if saying, "No way" and Aiden raised an eyebrow in response as if to say, "Oh yeah?"
"Fine, don't tell me. I can pretty much guess anyway."
See, having a couple of crime scene investigators as friends may not be a good thing, they notice everything! Flack thought to himself. I hope Aiden won't go blabbing to Morgan about—
"You asked her out, didn't you?"
Aiden surprised Flack in mid-thought with her remark and he tried to appear nonchalant about it. "You're half-right," he answered.
She rubbed her chin with her thumb and index finger for a moment before she realized what he was implying.
"She asked you out!"
Flack gave a little nod in affirmation and found himself being smacked on the head by Aiden. "What did you do that for!"
"'Cuz you're too chicken to even ask her out," she replied off-handedly, as if smacking his head was the most normal thing in the world to do. Flack inhaled deeply and let out his breath with a whoosh.
"Well, FYI, Morgan asked me out to dinner because I helped out on Danny's case earlier, so it's not exactly a date, okay?" he said, attempting to clarify, if you will, that his impending dinner with Morgan was not considered a date, more like a thank-you dinner.
"Right." Aiden was obviously unconvinced. "You don't see her asking me out to dinner, do you?"
Flack balled his fists together and waved it in front of her face to show his frustration. "Just stop sticking your nose into this, okay?"
She'd always liked to see him like this. Aiden's 'mission' accomplished, she made a face at him and sauntered off. "Hope your date goes fine!" she called as she went.
XXX
"Hey, you busy?"
Aiden popped her head into the AV lab, which surprised Morgan. "Um, no, not really. Why?" She then walked in and plonked herself into chair next to Morgan, saying, "I heard you asked Flack out to dinner today,"
One of Morgan's characteristics was her naivety within that independent soul of hers. "Yeah," was all she said, and Aiden knew that the girl doesn't realize that someone, a certain Don Flack was harboring a great, big crush on her.
"And how do you feel about that?" she asked, and Morgan seemed confused. "What do you mean? It's just a thank-you dinner,"
Pigs will fly before these two ever get together, Aiden thought to herself. Flack, she knew, had been single for a couple of years now, but it wasn't as if nobody was interested in him. He just hadn't met the right girl yet, and Morgan might just be the one for him. Aiden could see the sparkle in his eyes whenever he talked about her, and she hadn't seen that spark before, even when he was talking about other women in the past.
"Haven't you noticed that Flack seems to be really interested in you?" Aiden asked.
Morgan thought back to the day she'd given Flack her phone number and email address—when she had a slight notion that Flack might be interested in her. She had never thought much about the possibility, but now she was really beginning to worry. Would it seem like I feel the same way about him with the dinner invitation? Morgan thought to herself. It had been some time since she last had a relationship with someone—not that she was looking to get into one right now—and Danny's "protective instincts" only made things more difficult for her to meet the right guy.
"Are you sure?" was all Morgan could answer.
"Are you kidding? I've seen the way he looks at you whenever he's here. He's just too chicken to make a move," Aiden exclaimed.
"Flack's a good friend and I don't wish to see him get burnt. So if you think that he's not your type of guy, I suggest you tell him ASAP, okay?"
Her change in tone surprised Morgan, who nodded in response. Aiden then flashed a big smile, saying, "But it never hurts to try," before leaving the AV lab.
Left alone, Morgan began to think if it was such a good idea to go out with Flack that night. Now armed with the knowledge that Flack treats her as more than a friend, she was afraid that things might become awkward between during the night, especially since they haven't actually spent time alone together before. What if they had nothing in common to talk about? Just as Morgan was contemplating giving Flack a call to cancel dinner, Aiden's voice rang in her head. "It never hurts to try…"
You never know what may happen until you experience it, Morgan thought to herself.
XXX
When Morgan signed out of the lab promptly at seven o'clock, Flack was already waiting outside in his car. He honked his horn just as she'd stepped out the front door and she walked over and got into the car.
"Hey, you're early. Sorry to make you wait, you could've called me on my cell,"
"It's okay, I was only five minutes early," Flack answered, telling a little white lie. He'd actually been waiting in his car for the past half hour thinking if he should go inside and "escort" her out, but decided against it because it might seem a little over-the-top. After all, it's just a dinner, not a date, Flack muttered under his breath.
"Did you say something?"
"Uh—no, nothing."
"So, where shall we go?"
"How about a movie? There's a whole bunch of new movies out this week," Flack suggested. He'd thought about this while in the car earlier, maybe they could watch a horror movie, and he could comfort her when she gets spooked…or maybe a tear-jerker, so that he could offer her a shoulder to cry on…this isn't a date, Don, he reminded himself.
"Great! How about 'Batman Begins'?" Morgan suddenly exclaimed. "I've been waiting to watch that for a long time,"
Flack was a little thrown off by her sudden outburst that he stuttered a little in his reply. "Uh, s-sure, n-no problem!"
The truth is, Flack didn't think that Morgan would be interested in such superhero action flicks. Then again, she wasn't just any other girl who would most probably prefer love stories to action flicks. Morgan's a unique individual, Flack said to himself for the umpteenth time ever since he'd first laid eyes on her.
"So, have you always been into Batman?" Flack asked during the drive, trying to make some conversation. She flashed him a smile and rattled on about watching the first 5 movies of the franchise, and about how she had had a big crush on the actors who played Batman and Robin in 'Batman Forever', Val Kilmer and Chris O'Donnell. "I was about 12, I think, and I remember watching it on video so many times without getting sick of it. But I think Danny was starting to hate it already," Morgan laughed, continuing, "You should have seen the look on his face when I bought the DVD a couple weeks ago and showed it off to him,"
"I think he was just about ready to smash his head against the wall." She chuckled.
"That was in what, '95? I remember that it wasn't too popular among comic-book fans," Flack replied.
"Well, at least it was better than 'Batman and Robin'," Morgan deadpanned. "That's why I'm really looking forward to this new one, plus Christian Bale's really hot." She added with an impish smile on her lips.
"What about you?" she asked Flack, referring to his question.
"Me? I have some of the comics I bought when I was still a kid," he said. Morgan remembered seeing a box in Danny's room in which he kept his comics, and he'd nearly freak out when she tried to take them out for a look. "Danny used to collect comic books too, but I think he sold his collection years ago," she said. Flack almost asked why, but he stopped himself in time when he recalled Danny telling him that he'd had to take care of Morgan all by himself even before he entered high school. Probably sold them for the money…for Morgan…
Their first full-length conversation was getting off to a great start, Flack realized, and pretty soon they had reached the cinema theater. There was a long line at the ticket counter, but they managed to get good seats for the movie, and they even had time for a quick bite before the movie started. "Hey, I know a café just down the street that serves really good coffee," Morgan proposed.
They got to the café, made their orders and got started on the topic of comic-book movie adaptations. Flack was surprised to learn that Morgan had seen most of the movie versions in recent years such as Spider-Man, and was even looking forward to catching Sin City. That surprised him even more because that didn't seem to be the usual fare that girls would go for. Morgan, on the other hand, was having a great time discussing comic-book movies and also confessed to being a sucker for those cartoons when she was a child. "Must be Danny's influence eh?" Flack asked.
"Nah, he was too busy going to school or working part-time," Morgan answered. "I think it was a boy who lived down the hall that got me into watching those cartoons." She said with a musing smile. Although Morgan seemed to be perfectly fine with mentioning her childhood, Flack got the feeling that she didn't like to linger on that topic—the same feeling that he got from Danny. He didn't know what exactly went on during those years, all he knew was that the siblings' mother died early, father was probably not around much. It's not as if Danny went around telling people about his past, Flack mused to himself. Perhaps she'll open up a little more when we're better acquainted with each other…
How time flew. Just as Morgan was talking animatedly about her Power Rangers obsession years ago, Flack glanced at his watch and gasped. "Shit. We have less than 10 minutes to make our way back to the theater," he said hurriedly as they gathered their things and made for the front door. In her haste to cross the street, Morgan failed to notice an oncoming car and Flack moved quickly by grabbing her arm and pulling her back. The swift action made her body turn around so quickly that her long dark hair swished against Flack's face and he caught a whiff of the scent of her hair. It was the smell of the shampoo she used, but to Flack the scent was as fragrant as a garden of flowers.
"You move fast," Morgan said, and promptly took Flack's hand off her arm. "Come on, we're gonna be late!"
Both of them entered the theater just as a whole bunch of computer-generated bats fluttered across the cinema screen. "Just in time," Flack whispered as they settled down in their seats. Morgan flashed a smile and silenced him with a finger to her lips. "Shhh."