Chapter 10 – These are a few of my favorite things…..
Thanks to all for following the story - sorry for the delay of three weeks or so while RL has been getting in the way! I've also been moderating the forum (kids stay AWAY from the mint choc chip icecream and the Oreos please!) and also co-writing with BEG 75, which was a joy and a privilege. I have also been on nights. Again. So thanks for all your patience - this is dedicated to each and every one of you following the story. I am going to take it down the garden path quite soon, as in jump it around from year to year a lot, but I hope you'll bear with me.
Disclaimer: CBS own the original characters; I own Anna Malloy and all the Malloys. Tinks owns Slippers the cat (not appearing in this chapter), Sam Ross/Flack, All the other Flacks.
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There were few things in life that made Adam Ross uncomfortable. Pissing off his boss, Mac Taylor was one, followed closely by annoying Stella Bonasera. So these were two things he tried very hard not to do on a daily basis. Irritating Sammie was another, seeing as his sister had no compunction at all about hitting him hard. Usually where it hurt. And although he had to admit he had a constantly growing respect and brotherly affection for his brother-in-law, getting on Don Flack's wrong side was not on Adam's to-do list on any normal day.
How he felt right now? Like he'd been caught by his teacher doing the wrong thing and had been sent to the Principal's office.
Fate had found him and Anna at the Flack family residence, on a Sunday, as was becoming a regular habit for all the family, bar Mel and Chris, although to be fair, Chris had come along once or twice in the months that Anna has been part of the family and grudgingly admitted his new sister was "alright". But this? This was pure hell. Anna and he were on the small two-seater sofa in the window, while Don was glaring at them from an armchair and Don Sr and Jimmy were sitting on the larger sofa that backed onto the dining area.
The look on Don's face could have frozen water into ice. Hell, it could have frozen nitrogen. Don Sr just kept giving meaningful glances at his service pistol, now framed and box-mounted above the fireplace. And Jimmy? Well Jimmy Malloy just kept looking at him thoughtfully. In the time Adam had known the Flacks, he'd heard some things about Jimmy's past, involving knee-caps. And not in a good way. Adam gulped and gripped Anna's hand a little tighter. She turned to look at him and gave him a small, encouraging smile.
Adam could not even focus on the delicious smells coming from the kitchen, where Pat, Mary Malloy and Sam currently were. The two older women were cooking and Sam was chatting. At least that's what Adam hoped she was doing. His sister was not known for her culinary skills.
"So," Don Sr said, as Jimmy cleared his throat and glared at the duo meaningfully.
"So what?" replied Anna, a little cheekily.
"You spent the night at his place then," said her father, looking sharply at Adam, who could feel beads of sweat forming on his forehead. Anna rolled her eyes.
"It is the twenty-first century you know," she said, "I am over thirty. And more than one night actually." she popped a mini pretzel into her mouth and chewed.
"We don't approve," said Jimmy finally. Adam gaped at his girlfriend's uncle.
"I'm sorry?" said Anna, incredulously, "Who died and made you the relationship police?"
"We're just all concerned about you Anna," said her father, trying a new tactic, "I mean you're my little girl and all..."
He quickly realised this was the wrong turn to take.
"So you're going all medieval on my ass are you?" she said, huffing, crossing her arms and throwing herself back on the couch.
Adam didn't know what to do. Fortunately, Patricia, bearing a large dish of mashed potatoes emerged form the kitchen area of the room.
"Lunch you lot," she announced.
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The mood over the table did not improve over the course of the meal. Sam was upset about something else that the two older women had been trying to calm her over. Anna didn't know what it was about, but apparently it had something to do with a colleague of Don's who wasn't taking no for an answer. Anna and Don had been fighting the entire time, throwing snide remarks back and forth across the table. Adam just tried to keep his head down and focus on his food, without looking at anyone.
It was not a fun time.
Finally, Don came out with something sarcastic about Anna's taste in things generally, which got him a smack upside his head from his wife and a thrown piece of cutlery from Anna. Don ducked just in time. Don Sr tried laying down the law, but with two grown up toddlers both screaming for "Mom", it was Patricia who settled things finally.
"Anna," she said, "Please behave like the grown adult you are at the table and keep your cutlery to yourself."
She spooned some more potatoes and Mary ladled some more gravy onto Jimmy's plate before handing it to him.
"Donald," Pat said, "Your brother-in-law is a fine young man and all of you should let them about their own business. They are both old enough to know what they're doing."
"Thanks Mom," said Anna, smiling triumphantly at the men of the household. Adam squeezed her hand.
"Yes," finished Pat, "If she wants to fornicate with him under his roof, I say let her alone."
She finished serving the family their second helpings as a deathly hush came over the assembled group. Right before Sam started laughing out loud, closely followed by the rest of the family.
The meal went a whole lot better after that.
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Over Irish coffee after the meal, Jimmy took Anna aside.
"I'm just worried about you girlie," he said, "After all, you're my responsibility now your ma is gone."
Anna snorted at that and her eyes flashed.
"I'm no-one's responsibility Uncle Jimmy," she said, "And I haven't been since Mum decided she loved the bottle more than her own daughter. And you know that."
Jimmy sighed.
"Would it make any difference to you if I said not under my roof?" he said, a little irritated by the way Anna was pushing all his buttons.
"Fine," she said, "I won't then, not that I have."
She stomped over to Adam, who was sat between Pat and Mary watching some black-and-white film on the TV, pulled him upright and half threw, half-pushed his bag into his arms.
"I'll just move out then."
The room went quiet.
"Jimmy?" asked Mary, "What did you say now?"
"Nothing," snarled the red-headed old man, "She's just being bloody difficult as always."
But Anna and Adam were already out of the door and Pat had her head in her hands.
"When will you two morons learn to leave her alone?" asked Mary, really quite annoyed, "Was Don Sr like that with his other children?" she asked Pat.
"Oh much worse," confirmed Pat.
"I was not!" argued Don Sr, from his armchair by the gas fire. Don just snorted in reply.
"Dad," he said, "You have no idea."
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Adam was in shock as Anna directed him back to Malloy's. He had a bad feeling about what had just went down at the Flacks.
"Anna?" he asked. Silence. He tried again.
"Anna?"
"What!" she barked back, suddenly realizing she was addressing Adam and not her extended family. She laid a hand on his arm.
"Sorry," she said, a little sheepishly.
"What just happened there?" he asked.
"Jimmy's been on my back about sleeping with you," she said, "Apparently seeing as I live under his roof and work for him and he is in loco parentis - his words not mine - he thinks he has the right to interfere in my life."
She closed her eyes and laid her head back against the head rest.
"He's doing my head in geek, I have to get out of there."
"So where are you moving to?" he asked, cursing himself as the words came out of his mouth. As if he didn't know. This was confirmed by Anna giving him a look that clearly stated she thought he was challenged.
"Where any normal, thirty year old would go when she announced she was moving out," she said, "I am moving in with you!" and promptly shot him a beaming smile.
Adam just gulped.
"When?" he asked, a little weakly.
"No time like the present," she said firmly.
Oh god, thought Adam. There was a good reason he had not gone down the road of co-habitation up until now.
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All Adam could do was watch as Anna grabbed her possessions and stuff them into her suitcase and backpack. She hadn't brought much with her from Ireland. Everything else fitted in a few boxes.
When Adam had commented on the fact that she hardly owned anything, she pointed out that she didn't want anything to remind her of her hellish childhood and she had sold her grandparents' house and furniture as soon as she could. A clean slate she called it.
Adam was also a little perturbed by the fact that she was actually a pretty tidy person too, like her brother, whereas he, on the other hand, was like Sammie and while she was mostly tidy, he wasn't. He considered there were better things to do with his time. Like play on his Wii.
It took a short half hour to pack and load everything into Adam's car and for Anna to write a note for her uncle, advising him of where she was.
Then they were off.
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It didn't take long for Adam to make space in his closet for Anna's things, or for her to unpack and he left her to it. But he was feeling extremely...threatened. Yeah, much though he really, really liked Anna, this was kind of happening awfully fast.
It wasn't that he didn't want her there. In fact, it was quite the opposite. He liked waking up beside her, making her breakfast and watching her doodle away in her notebooks; little ideas for comic books and what not. It was just sharing your space on a permanent basis meant changing your space on a permanent basis and really letting someone in.
And while Anna had gotten closer to him than any other woman ever had - and in a surprisingly short space of time - he wasn't sure if he was ready for it. Or able to cope.
Everything had a place in his apartment and there was a space for everything. There was a good reason for it too. Control.
It didn't matter if he didn't know exactly where everything was, the point was he knew it was somewhere. He knew where his mugs were in his cupboards and what not. He knew where the coffee grounds were kept. He knew he could reach out, his eyes stinging with shampoo and lay his hand on the shower gel without looking. Because it would be in its place. And that helped Adam stay in control.
In the Lab, he was the same; no-one messed with Adam's lab or his work stations. It was an unwritten rule amongst the staff and CSIs that Adam was the one in charge and things needed to go where he had put them. For the most part, it was entirely logical, the way he arranged things, so he got away with it, even with Mac. The only person he would tolerate messing with this arrangement and anally sparten organisation of things was Sam. And she didn't do it often. Because she knew why.
Realizing Anna was not, in fact, completely rearranging the apartment caused him to exhale the breath he hadn't realized he was holding. She was humming happily, changing the sheets right now. And that was OK.
He smiled at her as she walked back into the living area, beaming a smile at him and bearing Marvin.
"Where should he live?" she asked, waving the figure still in its packaging. Adam took the figure from her and went to the display shelves, where he had a whole host of smaller figures from Star Wars and some original Transformers neatly arranged. He made a space at the back and placed Marvin there.
"How about here?" he asked. Anna walked up to him and placed her arms around his waist. She rested her head on his shoulder and looked. His hands covered hers.
"I think that's perfect," she said, "He looks like he was always meant to be there. Adam turned his head and kissed her on the tip of her nose. She smiled.
"Wanna go out and grab some dinner?" he asked.
"Absolutely," she said, "I'm starving."
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Unfortunately, as Adam realized less than 24 hours later, his relief was short lived.
He fiddled with the key in the lock, letting himself into the one bed apartment in downtown Manhattan and pretty quickly realized that things were different. He felt his chest tighten in panic.
The place was clean and tidy. The rugs on the hardwood floor finally making an appearance for the first time since Sam had left. All the clutter was tidied away. He feel his anxiety rising.
He made for the kitchen area and went to find a glass for some water, which he hoped would calm him down and stop his heart from racing, as it was now starting to do. He opened the usual cupboard.
No glasses.
He opened another and another. He couldn't find them. He felt his breathing pattern change and his starting to hyperventilate. He pressed his forehead against the refrigerator and closed his eyes, feeling his shirt get damp with the sweat that was pouring off them.
TV, he thought, he could watch some TV or play some Wii or something. That would calm him down.
Except he couldn't find the remote. Or the Wii or the guitar attachment for that matter and the tide of panic rose again. He lurched to his feet, his eyes darting around the apartment, not really seeing anything, knocking over a side table he hadn't seen before in his rush to stand up. Something smashed. He didn't know what and the noise brought Anna from the bedroom, wrapping a towel around herself, her hair wet.
"Hey!" she started, before seeing Adam clearly in a state, "Adam, hon, are you OK?"
He didn't answer her, he just ran his hands through his hair, shaking all the while, totally panicked. Anna could tell from the expression of sheer panic and terror on his face that he was not OK. She rushed over to him and laid her hand on his arm, desperately worried about the state he was winding himself up into.
"Don't touch me!" he yelled and backed away from her, stumbling a little as he staggered in the direction of the bathroom and turned on the faucet over the sink. The noise soothed him a little. Till he took a look around the bathroom and noticed that, that too, had been rearranged and the panic that had begun to ebb away rushed back in an overwhelming tidal wave that threatened to take him over. That was it. Adam snapped. He had to regain control.
Anna stormed into the bathroom to find Adam, to demand an explanation. Only to stop dead in her tracks as she watched Adam scrubbing his hands and arms raw with the nail brush, the water on it's hottest setting.
"Gotta get clean, gotta get clean," Adam was saying over and over, all the while he scrubbed at himself.
Anna was speechless, truly appalled at what she was witnessing. And her guilt rose. This was all her fault.
"Adam," she said gently, putting a hand on his shoulder, wincing as he flinched away from her at first. She reached out and turned off the faucet. She covered his hands with her own and forced him to turn and face her.
He was still wide eyed with panic, but the look was less intense and fading by the second. But his hands were raw. He looked at her and then at his hands and he started to shake.
"Oh my," he whispered, "Oh my. I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
Anna pushed him backwards till he half stumbled into sitting on the toilet, the lid of which was down and she crouched down in front of him as much as the towel would let her.
"I'm so sorry," she whispered, "I didn't realize, I didn't think..."
Adam reached out one shaking hand and touched her cheek gently. He gave her a tiny smile, his breathing slowly coming back under control at the sight of her worried face searching his.
"It's not your fault," he said, "I should have told you that...that I get this way."
"No," said Anna firmly, "This is my fault. I forced myself on you, into your space, I rearranged everything and went shopping at Target and stuff. I should have asked first. I should have done it with you."
Adam took a deep breath and closed his eyes briefly. Then he opened them to see the concerned hazel ones looking up at him, before she stood and took him into an odd hug, which had his head pressed into her stomach and his arms around her waist. She stroked his spiky, messy hair.
"Can I have a guided tour of my apartment?" Adam said, his voice muffled by the towel.
Anna heaved a sigh of relief. The episode had passed.
And Adam had to admit. The place looked pretty damn good now she had tidied it up. There was a work station for him and all his - their - gaming stuff was neatly stacked in a wicker basket arrangement. And the glasses and mugs, as he found out a few minutes later, were now in fact in an entirely logical place, above the kettle, in the same cupboard as the tea bags and coffee grounds.
That and the fact Anna spent most of the evening making it up to him in the best way possible.
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Anna and Adam stood outside the Flacks' apartment. A grinning Danny Messer opened the door.
"Gruesome twosome," he greeted them, giving Anna a hug, "How're you coping with the Geek, Ireland?"
"Better than I would with you, Staten Island," she retorted, shrugging out of her jacket and EMU boots, hanging the garment on the rack by the front door, before taking Adam's and doing the same. As he headed towards the living room, she cleared her throat. Adam guiltily snuck back and took off his trainers, neatly pairing them by her boots. Danny laughed.
"Damn, she's got you whipped!" he said, pushing his glasses back onto his nose. Anna smacked him between his shoulder blades.
"Unlike you," she said, "He has better sense than to mess with a Flack. I am trying to housetrain him before the baby arrives."
"Yeah, but shoes off? Like a kid?" asked Danny, perplexed.
"The streets of New York are not paved with gold," said Sam, waddling from the kitchen to hug her sister-in-law, "They are covered with all manner of foul germs, viruses, bacteria and doggie doo that I do not want on my floors now I got them re-sealed," with a pointed look at Danny's Italian loafers. Muttering under his breath, he shrugged them off.
"How in hell does the Crimestopper put up with you?" he asked.
"Because she's got him whipped," said a cheerful voice, as Lindsay came from the kitchen to join them.
Adam has disappeared into the lounge in search of Don, who was watching the highlights of the Knicks game. Shaking his head, Danny went to join the men and the women linked arms with Anna and dragged her into the kitchen.
Sam perused the take-out menus with a frown.
"Do you think they'll add marshmallows and anchovies to the Hawaiian pizza?" she asked. Anna made a gagging sound.
"This is New York," replied Lindsay, "Of course they will. But onto more important matters. How are you guys dealing with that crazy woman and her kid."
Anna decided to read the menus and ignore what Sam was saying. She missed part of it, while concentrating on the Thai take-out place they all frequented, but she caught the next part.
"I mean she's a sweet kid and all," said Sam, waving her hands in the air, "And Don always tries to do his best for people he knows, you know, and he has a big soft spot for kids, but she's not his and no amount of her mother trying to keep him around is going to change that." She sighed.
"Have you spoken to Don about this?" asked Lindsay.
"Yes and we both spoke to her mother, but it's not doing any good!" Sam waved her hands around again. "It's like she's pissed at me for having Don's baby. That now she won't have Don to play Daddy to her dysfunctional little family whenever she snaps her fingers."
She groaned. Then she beamed a little smile and sat upright again.
"But less about me and my drama," she said, "Linds wants to know all the details," she said to Anna.
Anna choked on the nut she was swallowing.
"Details?" she asked.
"Preferably juicy," said Linds.
"Please and thank you," added Sam.
"You are not normal," said Anna, "Wanting to know about your little brother's sex life."
"Oh dear," said Lindsay, "Should I get Danny to take Adam aside? Teach him everything he knows? Would that help?"
Sam choked on a mouthful of her drink before she started laughing.
"What's going on in there?" shouted Danny, from the living area, separated from the kitchen by the breakfast counter.
"Nothing your innocent ears need to hear Messer," Sam shouted back.
"They're comparing notes on us," said Danny, frantically moving his hands around on his PS3 controller, trying to get past both Flack and Adam on the racetrack.
Don glared at Adam, who tried to focus on the game.
"Don't glare at my brother," called Sam, "I know that look. Like he defiled the Virgin Mary. Or I will tell him all about how your dirty, perverted mind corrupted his sister."
"Yeah," piped up Anna, "Or I'll get Adam to give you some pointers little brother, just in case you need them!"
The women giggled again. Adam tried not to look at Flack and Danny started laughing again.
"What is it about them and sex?" asked Adam, managing to maintain his lead, "Why do women feel the need to talk about all the details when they're together? I don't get it."
Flack smirked and shot a look in his direction, while taking over Adam's car on the screen.
"Because they're women," he said finally, "And it's not like we don't, I mean Sammie..."
"Gonna tell about the alleyway your son was conceived in?" asked Danny, with a grin.
"What about the pool table Messer?" shot back Flack.
"Please," said Adam, clapping one hand over his eyes, "How many times do we have to have the discussion about me NOT wanting to know the details of you and my sister's sex life?"
"Probably another hundred times or so at least," said Don frankly.
"Why can't you people have sex in a bedroom, like normal people," asked Adam, trying desperately to focus on the game at hand.
"What fun would that be?" asked Flack, with an evil grin on his face, "In fact Ross, right where you're sitting? On the couch? I think your sister left some biological trace right there on that cushion. Messer'll lend you his UV torch if you want to check, right Danno?"
But Adam had thrown the game controller onto the floor and leapt off the couch, losing his balance and landing on his ass on the floor, much to Danny's amusement, the tears pouring from his eyes in sheer amusement as he took off his glasses ton wipe his eyes.
"Never a dull moment with the Flacks and Rosses," he said, wiping away.
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"You didn't answer the question," Lindsay persisted, "Or take me up on my offer of Danny."
"Danny what?" the namesake called.
"Never you mind!" answered Lindsay.
"It's OK Danny," shouted Sam, "She's just pimping your services out!"
His reply was unintelligible. Anna merely smiled.
"Thank you kindly," she said to Lindsay, "But I won't be needing Danny to show Adam the, err, ropes. He is uh, more than satisfactory in that department thank you. I am more than capable of giving him pointers if he's going wrong. Which he isn't."
Sam and Lindsay let out a cackle of laughter. Then Sam leaned on one hand and blinked her eyelashes looking at her sister-in-law.
"So tell me," she asked, "Cause I've been trying to get Don to return the piercing favor, does having his you know what pierced make things better in the sex department?"
Lindsay gasped, her mouth open in a perfect O.
"The Geek has his....No! I don't believe it!" she said in disbelief.
"My brother had a Prince Albert done I will have you know," said Sam to her best friend, "And I have been trying to convince Don to go for the same thing but he keeps saying hell no. So," she turned back to Anna, "Is it true?"
"You're definitely sick and weird to want to know," said Anna, sipping her drink, "I will neither confirm nor deny what you want to know. I will only say, it makes things....interesting."
And she blushed a little, with a small smile toying at her lips.
"I knew it!" said Sam triumphantly, "I am so telling Don he has to return the favor."
"What favor?" asked Anna confused.
To which Sam stuck out her tongue and revealed her tongue piercing, with a wink.
"That's not all he has pierced," said Anna in reply to that, grinning in reply.
Lindsay couldn't hold back the laughter.
"What in God's name are you talking about now?" called Flack, a little irritated with the interruptions the wild cackling from the women in the kitchen were causing.
"Metalwork!" they called back in unison, dissolving into laughter again.
Danny and Flack looked confused. Adam just blushed.
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A huge thanks and big hugs to Tinks for helping me with this chapter - luv ya loads girly!
Please stop by and let me know what you think!