Natara's POV

When I woke, bright sunlight was filtering in through the fabric of the tent. I smiled slowly. I just had the most amazing dream. Mal had finally confessed his love for me, and we had, to quote Blaise, 'crazy good sex'.

Wait. Reality check. I blinked, and the golden haze cleared from the world. I was actually in bed. With Mal. And we were very much naked. His arm was draped around me, and I could feel the steady beat of his heart against my chest, feel his slow breaths. My heart suddenly jumped a few notches. It felt so light that I half expected it to jump right out of my chest. I felt better than I had in many mornings. I fully took in the sight of a sleeping Mal next to me. He looked so peaceful that I hated to wake him up. But our car was probably waiting, and I had to quiet the annoying buzzing against my thigh I had just registered. So I prodded him with my foot. "Mal!" I muttered sleepily. "Get up!" "Unghhhhhhh…" Mal grunted and tried to bury his face in my hair. He looked so adorable that I had to laugh. "Mal!" I said more insistently. "What?" he grumbled sleepily "The car is waiting for us, and it seems if the whole of San Francisco has decided to text me at once!" I told him, shaking him awake. "Huh, wha-" he said, taking in the scene. I saw doubt and indecision flash in his eyes. I felt panic rising up inside me. I would not let him slip away from me. Not without doing everything in my power to stop him. "Mal." I said, looking him in the eye. "I regret nothing. Not one bit." He visibly relaxed, drawing an arm around my shoulders, and pulling me close. I finally reached down, to quiet the incessant buzzing, and found me phone ringing with two new text messages. I opened the first one, which was from Ken. It read-

"Damn, could you two be any louder, woman? We could hear you two going at it all the way down. At least give me some warning the next time you two do it! I really did not need to hear that one.

P.S. Anders isn't too happy. "

I gasped, my cheeks turning bright crimson. I had no idea we had been that loud. And the thought that Anders had heard us made it absolutely mortifying. I quickly flicked to the next text, which was from Kai.

"Did you and Malachi have fun last night? ;) ;) ;) You won me ten dollars from Amy! We made a bet on whether you two will get all hot and heavy on this trip! Never knew you were a screamer, Agent Hottie!xxxxx

P.S. Bartaugh told me you looked sexy in the dress you were wearing last night. Do you mind wearing it to work sometime?"

"Ah hell." Mal said, just as I finished reading the texts, and shaking my head at Kai. I looked over and found him checking his phone. He had obviously received similar texts. "I swear I will kill Kalaba the second we get off this goddamn mountain."

he growled. Much as Kai irritated me sometimes, I did not particularly want to see him becoming a victim of Mal's wrath. "Mal." I said, putting a steadying hand on his shoulder. "We were loud and you know it. "Yeah, yeah." he said. Then, with a sudden smile, he continued. "But that was the best sex I have ever had." "Mal!" I said blushing lightly and swatting at him. "What?" he said "It's not like you can deny it!" "You're right." I said. "I can't." "Now let's go!" he said, lightly grabbing my hand. We made our way hand in hand down the hill. As we neared the bottom, we were greeted by a loud whoop from Kai. "Soooooooo Malachi.…" he began, but was effectively shut up by a glare from Mal which screamed bloody murder. "Alright, alright." he muttered, and we sat in silence for the rest of the drive. Mal's hand was still in mine, rubbing soothing circles into the base of my thumb. Somehow, everything was easier with Mal by my side.

After what felt like an eternity, we finally arrived at the precinct. Officers went about their work as usual, paying no attention to us. It was almost strange that they could go about their daily work so normally, when my entire world had been turned upside down- in a good way. Apparently the news about us had not spread yet. Anders was waiting for us when we made to enter our office. "In my office, Detective, Special Agent. Now. " he said in a furious voice. "Oh, great." Mal muttered as we followed him into his office. He ushered us in and shut the door. Well, slammed it would be a better description. He sat at his desk, and fixed us both with a stony glare. "Explain." he said. "What?" asked Mal, playing dumb. "If you wanna know about the capture, well Tasha jumped out at-" "Not about the capture." Anders snapped. "From what Kalaba let slip this morning, I gather that you two… uh, slept together?" He said, seeming ill at ease now. "Yes." I said slowly. "Yes, we did." "And I regret nothing." Mal put in.

If Anders had seemed furious before, it was nothing compared to how mad he was now. His face went red with rage, and he was literally foaming at the mouth. "How dare you!" he was yelling right in our faces now, and we faced him boldly. "Do you know what this means for your career? Do you not know that partners cannot have romantic relationships?!" "And why, exactly?" Mal asked, cool as a cucumber. This seemed to calm him down somewhat, because he settled back down in his chair, which he had risen right out of in his screaming fit. "Because- because you might put the- uh, desires of your body above your work!" he said, once more seeming discomfited. "If you think we will shag when we're working a case, it's not gonna happen." Mal said brazenly. "Language, Detective!" Anders said, back to his original cold state. "Still, do you know the risk-" But here I cut him off. I could not bear it any longer. "Fine." I said. "Fine! I quit!" "Excuse me, Agent Williams?" said Anders, seeming startled. "You heard me. If I can't be with Mal, I quit." "Have it your way, Agent Williams." said Anders coldly. "We have a lot of excellent officers in the task force." I will not work a case without Natara. I quit too." said Mal in a ringing voice. I protested weakly. "Mal!" I said. "You shouldn't-" "No, Nat. We're in this together." he said, with finality. He took my hand, and together we walked out, leaving a stunned Anders in our wake. Blaise was waiting for us outside. "What was the royal screaming-fest going on in there?" she asked. "Chuckles giving you a hard time?" "Sort of." I said ruefully. "We quit." This startled her out of her tracks. "What for?" she asked, coming to a sudden stop and whirling around to face us. "Long story." I said. I suddenly realized I would miss Blaise. A lot. "I'm not staying here without you two. I quit too." she said, rushing off towards Anders, but Mal grabbed her hand. "No, Blaise." he said. "I cannot let you ruin your career for us." "Shut up, Fallon. Since when have I ever listened to you?" she said, then did a double take. "Wait a minute. Us?" she said incredulously, pointing a finger at the two of us. "You're together, aren't you?" "Well, sort of." Mal admitted, blushing a little. "I can't believe you two didn't tell me! You sneaky bastards!" she said, rushing off toward the bullpen, yelling "Jeremy, get in here!"

Soon it was all over the precinct. The fact that we were together, and the fact that we had quit. Suddenly, apparently on Blaise's orders, the entire precinct was assembled in front of Anders' office. Someone knocked on the door- Blaise. "Come in!" said a hassled voice. "No, you come out, Chuckles!" she said. "I will not be spoken to in that way!" said Anders, rushing out to search for the culprit. "You are-" he looked taken aback as he saw the whole precinct assembled before him. "Mal and Natara are quitting because they want to be together. I will not work without them. I quit as well." Blaise said. "Me too." said Jeremy. "So am I" said Kai, serious for maybe the first and last time in his life. Soon enough, the whole precinct was quitting as Anders stood watching helplessly. "You-you can't do that!" he cried. "On the contrary, Chuckles, we can." said Jeremy unexpectedly. "We can't force you to accept Mal and Natara's relationship, but we can resign."

"Al-alright." stuttered Anders, but seeming to pull together his collected demeanor again, he berated deeply and spoke. "Very well. Will you withdraw your resignations on the grounds that I accept this… er… relationship?" he said. "Yeah." said Blaise. "All right." said Anders heavily. "Detective, Special Agent, you may come to work tomorrow as usual. We will accept your hrelationship, provided that we do not face any.… disturbances." "Heh." said Mal. "Don't worry, we'll keep the PDA to a minimum." he said , chuckling. Then he tilted my chin up and captured my lips in a sweet kiss. Cheering and wolf-whistling broke out amongst the officers as Anders looked on in outrage. "Starting now." said Mal, grinning at him. I barely heard Blaise shout out "And for the record, guys, me and Jeremy are in a relationship as well" and the cheering break out anew. I giggled as I saw Anders priceless expression. And then Mal had an arm around my waist, and was leading me out of the precinct, with numerous people stopping to congratulate us, or to tell us how much money they had won in bets over us. I felt indignant. I had no idea that people had bets on us. But then we were out of the precinct, and in Mal's car, on the way to his apartment. "This is the happiest day of my life." he whispered in my ear as we made our way into his apartment. "Mine too." I whispered back, wrapping my arms around his neck and kissing him sweetly. We just cuddled together that night, no sex, just happy to be with each other. And I wanted to do this, to be with him, every single day, minute, second of my life. Somehow, I just knew that we would be very happy.

'Kay my loooooooooovely readers, I'm ending this story here :((((((((((((( I really enjoyed writing this, and reading your reviews. There will be an epilogue, though, and it will NOT be what you expect! How do you like sad endings? Biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig shout-out to Jade, Molly and Dani for stating withmore throughout and reviewing on every chapter! People like you inspire me to write.

Molly, oh how I lobe making you squirm! ;) I could almost FEEL your embarrassment. Thanks soooooo much for reading and reviewing babe xoxo

Dani, Ha ha, that's soooooooo nice of you! I was again walking around with a goofy grin on my face after I read your review! Thanks for reading and reviewing, and I can't wait for ytot exams to get over! ;)

Yaoifangirl, wait and see ;)