Yay! Eleventh chapter. Ew... Spanish AP tomorrow ...
Lindsay awoke the next day to find herself face to face with her daughter's pajama covered bottom. She sat up, brow furrowed in confusion, and looked around, blinking. Her eye caught on a note on Danny's side of the bed, attached to the side of his pillowcase with a paperclip.
"Had to get to work. J had a nightmare. I put her in with you. Back before dinner. Officer Ellis outside. Do NOT send him away/insult him/hurt him. Love, Danny"
"Wasn't planning on it …" she grumbled. She glanced over at Jilly, sleeping curled between the pillows with her bottom plopped high up on Lindsay's pillow. Her nearly-fluorescent yellow pajamas covered the majority of her body, making her appear like a giant blob of butter gobbed onto their bed. Lindsay giggled. She smoothed Jilly's hair with a hand and crawled out of bed. She found her way to the kitchen, where a pot of hot coffee and a covered plate sat waiting for her. She lifted the cover off of the plate and found still-steaming pancakes, with a note on top –
"Take it easy today. Please. Love, the best husband ever."
She chuckled, and set aside one pancake for Jilly before starting in on the other. It was only a few minutes before Jilly trundled out into the kitchen, rubbing her eyes with one hand and reaching up to Lindsay with the other.
"Hi, baby," Lindsay said happily, and leaned down to pick her up. She shifted her up onto one hip and cut up a pancake for her. She tried not to look at the ring of bruise around Jilly's wrist. Jilly didn't seem to notice anymore.
Lindsay settled Jilly down in front of the television to watch cartoons before checking on Officer Ellis outside the door.
"Hey, Mike."
"Hey, Messer. How you doin?" He asked, eyeing the bandage on the side of Lindsay's head and the cut above her eye.
"Pretty good. So … did Danny say anything to you?"
"Yeah; said if you wanted to go to the park, it ain't gonna happen."
Lindsay smiled. "Is that all?"
"He also said if anything happened to you, he'd hunt me down and kill me," Mike said with a grin.
"It's just the park …" Lindsay wheedled.
"He said if you tried anything, I had to tell him," Officer Ellis said firmly, and turned away to face the hallway, a not-so-hidden smirk on his face.
Lindsay heaved a sigh and wandered back into the living room, plopping onto the couch. "Looks like we're stuck here, Jillian," she said dully. Jilly jumped to her feet and threw her hands in the air.
"YAY!" She shouted.
Lindsay laughed. "Are you trying to cheer me up?" She asked.
Jilly giggled and crawled onto the couch. She jumped up and down next to Lindsay. "Come jumping, Mommy, come jumping!" She called.
Lindsay laughed at the sight of Jilly, leaping up and down all over the cushion as her curls bounced happily.
"How about I get us dressed, first?" Lindsay asked. Jilly jumped into the air one last time before landing on her butt with a pout.
Lindsay winked at her before jumping to her feet on the couch and giving it a good, hard jiggle with her feet. Jilly shrieked with laughter.
Lindsay pulled Jilly up, and brought her to her bedroom. She brushed her curls and dressed her in her favorite set of periwinkle overalls with sequins around the pockets. She set her on the ground and shooed her off to the toys near her crib. She made sure Jilly was occupied with a toy police car (a gift from Flack the past Christmas) before heading into her own bedroom.
She threw on some jeans and a t-shirt, after sneakily putting on a red, lacy pair of underwear and her matching push-up bra. Danny was getting punished for the park embargo. Cue evil laugh, Lindsay thought.
She convinced Officer Ellis to accompany them to the bodega a block away to get lunch. Lindsay swore she wouldn't tell Danny.
When Danny arrived later that night with take-out from her favorite Indian restaurant, Lindsay eyed him with heavily mascara'd eyelashes. Danny gulped. He was distracted when Jilly threw herself at him full force, and he absolutely had to pick her up and tickle her until she cried uncle. He fed her quickly, chased her around the apartment to wear her out more, and finally got her sleeping.
He covered her up to her chin with her blanket, rubbing his thumb over her forehead. He turned around to find Lindsay leaning on the doorframe.
"Hi," she said with a grin.
"Uh, hey," he said. He walked out, nearly pushing past her, and made his way to the kitchen to clean up. He avoided her eyes, throwing away the cartons and washing the plates in the sink.
He turned around midway through the washing of the glass to find her sitting on the counter, swinging her legs and stretching.
"No," he said hoarsely, "you can't go to the park."
She laughed teasingly, bringing one leg up suggestively to rest on the counter with her. "Who said anything about the park?"
They stared at each other for a moment before Lindsay leaped at him, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him with such fire that, for a moment, he had no idea what hit him. He stumbled backwards, only to find that she'd used his backwards momentum to reach between them and pull of his shirt. She threw it to the side. He hooked his arms under each of her thighs and brought her deeper to him.
When he pulled off her shirt, he knew he should suspect something. That bra was too … too magnificent to be true. He eyed her carefully, but she distracted him with a pull to the back of his neck.
When he tugged off her pants, he knew she had something planned. "OK, why the new underclothes?"
Lindsay pouted. "You don't like them?"
"What do you want from me, ya vixen?"
Lindsay outright laughed. Danny took that as a simple 'nothing,' and decided to not look a gift horse in the mouth. He reached behind her to unsnap the bra, but she pushed him away.
He looked at her with confusion in his eyes and tried again. She pushed him back a second time.
"Alright, what is this?" He asked.
"No more."
"What?"
"They don't come off until you promise we go to the park."
He groaned dramatically and leaned his head on her chest. "Whassa big deal? It's just a park."
"We get antsy," Lindsay explained.
"Fine," Danny murmured, and kissed her again. She pushed him back.
"What now?" He asked exasperatedly.
"You have to say it."
"Fine – tomorrow, we will work out a way to get to the park."
"Good," she said, and pulled him towards her.
He grinned against her lips. "Manipulative little…"
She chuckled, and let him unwrap his present.