When Duty Isn't Enough: Interlude
Author: Firebird
Rating: T
Disclaimer: Neither Hot Fuzz nor its characters, settings etc. are mine. Original characters are, as the name would imply, original and belong to me.
Author's Note: First of all, a big THANK-YOU to all the people who have taken the time to write me reviews, particularly Spud. Thanks guys for making a lonely fanfic-writer very happy. This chapter and the next are made up of a bunch of ideas that didn't really seem long enough to carry chapters of their own. None of them are particularly plot-relevant, they're more in the way of a series of snapshots in Nick and Lily's developing relationship.
**
First Date
Nick checked his watch. It was ten past six, and he had effectively promised Lily he'd be late to pick her up. He had a suspicion, however, that she would be counting on his lateness, and had booked their table for seven o'clock. Allowing half an hour to reach Buford Abbey they still had twenty minutes in hand. He knocked on her door and waited. After a moment, the words 'just a minute' filtered through from inside. After almost five minutes there was a clatter of feet down the stairs, and the door opened. Nick couldn't help but stare. She was wearing a floral-print dress which hugged the curves of her body before falling away to a long, floating skirt. A touch of make-up highlighted her eyes and cheeks, and she was wearing some kind of spicy-floral perfume.
"You look amazing," he told her honestly.
"Thanks. You look pretty good yourself." He was wearing dark pants with a short-sleeved white shirt and a jacket. She caught him by the lapels and pulled him in for a kiss.
The parted after a moment and he gestured towards the car.
"Shall we?"
"We're going in that?"
"Yes," he replied, puzzled. "What's wrong with it?"
"Nick, that's a police car."
"And I'm a police officer. What did you expect?"
She laughed. "Not this."
He opened the passenger-side door for her with a grin. "Are you coming or not?"
She shook her head, smiling, and seated herself inside. He walked around the patrol car to join her. It had occurred to him only at the last moment that, with no vehicle of his own, he would have no option but to use his work vehicle. He had barely had time to fill out the required paperwork before he came to meet her.
"You know, I've never ridden in one of these before," she told him.
"Well, it's generally better to be in the front than the back."
She reached towards the shiny buttons, an expression of magpie-like fascination on her face. "Which one of these is the siren?"
"If I tell you, will you press it?"
"Possibly." Her fingers were now hovering just in front of the dashboard. He caught her hand gently in his and replaced it in her lap.
"Please," he asked, "don't touch anything?"
"Spoilsport," she told him good-naturedly.
**
Pub
Doris and Sarah had grabbed a booth and Danny was at the bar ordering drinks when Nick and Lily walked through the door. Having resigned himself to the reality of a public relationship, he had decided to take the bull by the horns and arranged to introduce his girlfriend to his two closest friends at the refurbished Crown.
"Hey, Nick!" Doris called cheerfully to him. Sarah, who didn't know him so well, smiled and waved.
"Hey Doris. Lily, these are Constable Doris Thatcher and Sarah Johnston, Danny's girlfriend. Ladies, this is Lily."
"Nice to meet you." Lily reached over to shake both women's hands. Nick rested a hand on her waist.
"Can I get you a drink?" he asked her.
"Vodka-lemonade?"
He kissed her cheek. "Coming right up."
Danny passed Nick as he headed for the bar and scooted in close to Sarah, handing her and Doris their beers. "Hey Lily."
"Good to see you again Danny."
"Nick getting you something?" She nodded. "Not cranberry juice?" Doris laughed, and Sarah and Lily exchanged puzzled glances.
By the end of the evening both women understood the joke, and plenty of others as well.
**
Conversations: a matter of faith
"Did you really become a Christian just to annoy your parents?"
She thought about it for a moment. "It started out that way," she admitted. "Typical teenage rebellion, really, but after a while I began to see something more in it. In the end I realised that I believed it. Without sounding too much like a wide-eyed fanatic, I came to believe that there was a God who loved me, who wanted to know me personally, and that that would have implications for how I lived my life. So I started to change my life in response to that. Now," she shrugged, "I can't imagine living any differently."
"Oh." He thought about this for a while. "I studied Eastern religions a while back."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. Got kind of interested in Buddhism, but, I don't know."
"Never found anything you believed in?"
He shrugged. "I believe in the law. Protecting the weak, upholding the rights of the powerless, seeing that justice is done. Isn't that what religion's supposed to be about?"
She nodded. "That, and grace."
"That everyone should get off scot-free no matter what terrible things they've done?" He frowned slightly. "Never really saw the justice in that."
"Hmm." Lily frowned thoughtfully. "It's not like that, because you have to repent first. That's the deal. Know that you need to be forgiven. Believe, then receive." She sighed. "I'm useless at these sorts of conversations," she admitted. "I always start talking in clichés."
"Change of subject?"
She grinned. "How do you feel about pineapple on pizza?"
**
Conversations: people will say we're in love
"Danny, I think I'm in love."
"With Lily?"
"No, with you."
The look on Danny's face was priceless. "Uh, listen mate, I'm flattered and all, but-" At that point, Nick's control broke and he could no longer maintain a straight face. "You bastard," Danny cursed.
Nick continued to shake with silent laughter for a moment more, enjoying his revenge. Now if only he could find some way to get back at Doris...
"You know," Danny informed him, "it'd be easier to tell when you're joking if you did it more often. You nearly had me there."
"But if I did it more often I would have missed seeing that expression on your face. Honestly, Danny, it was priceless. A mixture of confusion, mortification, and blind terror."
"You know, usin' humour to hide your fears is both childish and completely out of character," Danny informed him with exaggerated dignity.
Nick sobered, and sighed. "You're right. And in answer to your question, yes, I think I'm in love with Lily."
"'Ave you told her that?"
"Not yet. Do you think I should?"
Danny shook his head. "You really are hopeless sometimes, aren't you?"
**
D.I.Y
"Lily, are you home?"
"In the living-room."
She was dressed in cargo pants rather than her usual skirt, and had a piece of timber balanced across two wooden saw-horses, which she was cutting industriously. The room smelled of fresh plaster and fresher sawdust.
"What have I said about leaving doors open?" he asked as he brushed a kiss over her lips.
"Oops? Fancy a cup of tea?"
"Yes please, and don't change the subject."
"Me too. Milk, one sugar, thanks."
For a minute he stared at her, open-mouthed. Then he shook his head and went to fix them both a drink. He came back a few moments later and handed her mug to her, seating himself on the arm of the dustcloth-covered sofa while she perched on one of the horses.
"I'm serious, you know."
"Yes, you usually are."
"Is this going to be an argument?"
"Only if you refuse to let it go. This isn't London, Nick. I always lock up at night and before I go out, but when I'm home I prefer to leave it open. Besides," she added, with an air of finality, "like my mum always says, 'locked doors only keep honest people out'."
He gave up. She did have a point about the relative safety of Sandford. Since the NWA had been arrested there had been several cases in which valuables had been taken from houses where the front doors were left open, but no incidents of violence against the inhabitants.
"I came over to give you a hand," he told her, and she brightened at the change of topic.
"Excellent. I'm just working on some new floor-boards."
"You can actually do those by yourself?" He was impressed.
"There are a few bits that really need two pairs of hands, but pretty much, yeah. I'm getting a professional in to do the windows, though. They're way beyond me. Still, you do what you can, not what you can't, eh?"
**
Conversations: three little words
"You know I love you, right?" Nick said suddenly.
The movie they had been watching had just finished, the credits still rolling across the T.V. screen. Lily lifted her head from his shoulder and smiled at him.
"'Course I do," she replied. "Only fair, really, since I love you too."
There didn't seem to be anything else to say at that point, so he kissed her instead.
**