AN: Post-canon (as in, post Season 3)

Winter (Spring)

Linden had never been in the camp of people who looked forward to winter holidays. The reasons were obvious. She didn't grow up with any sort of family, therefore, didn't do any of the usual things families did. One of which, of course, being to celebrate the holiday season as a nice, warm, happy unit.

She'd wanted to change this when she married Greg. She'd hope that marriage would be the start to a whole new set of traditions, ones that would make up for what she missed out on in her past so she could teach herself to love these traditions the way everyone else seemed to.

For a few years, this had been successful and more so when they had Jack. But then work started making things difficult again. At first, she did her best to make up for missed birthdays and Christmases, then she lost track of how many she needed to make up for and gave up on it altogether.

This year will be another year with the Seattle Police Department in which she plans to take her work home with her and lie about what she's actually doing. She plans it so that she'd be the last person to leave (which is pretty much the norm anyways), and then sneak out with the files she's working on. It's not stealing, just borrowing and she does it all the time.

Everyone's gone, except Holder, who doesn't seem to be doing anything other than warm the chair with his ass.

They stare at each other; she challenging him and he challenging her. She takes a sip of coffee, then goes back to browsing the web and making it look like she's doing something important.

He grins, making those dimples appear.

"What?"

"Nothin.'"

She gives him a sidelong glance and turns attention back to her screen.

He swivels his chair and attempts to get a basket. He fails.

"I thought you've been practicing."

"I have, just tryin' to see if you're payin' attention."

"I'm always paying attention. And maybe you're not as good as you think." She smirks, eyes still fixed on her computer.

"Oh really," He crumples a piece of scrap paper into a tight ball and tosses it at her. It bounces off her and onto her keyboard. "Then you try."

"I don't have time for this."

"Too busy with your –" he peeks at her screen before she could change to a different tab, "Googlin' long-tailed possums?"

"Yes." And she feebly adds, "It's part of my research."

He makes a noise that's probably meant to be laughter but sounds more like a cat scratching a metal washing basin. "If you say so."

"So is this what you're planning to do all night?" Her tone is cool, which is telling only to the few who know her.

"Yup."

"Doesn't sound very productive."

"Didn' say it was."

"So what's the point?"

He shrugs, "What do possums have to do with a serial murder?"

"That's my business."

"That'd how the whole partner thing work, is it?"

"Whatever. Just go home already, I know you want to."

He gestures dramatically, "And miss out on all this? The office is where it's at!"

Linden just rolls her eyes.

A period of silence follows in which Linden's impatience grows. She has resorted to making tumblr, Pintrest and LinkedIn accounts. She considered a facebook as well, but decided against it. Because, really, what about her life other than work would she have to talk abou –

"Man, I'm starvin'."

"Then eat something."

"The vendin' machine is outta the chips I like."

"Then go elsewhere."

"Like where?"

"Have you given thought to the possibility of leaving the station?"

"Nah man, that's crazy."

She looks at him, exasperated. "What are you trying to do, Holder?"

"I think the real question here is what are you," he flicks his index finger at her, "trying to do?"

"I'm working."

"No you're not."

She huffs, "Fine! I'm not. So what?"

"Look, it's gotta be like," He makes a pretense at checking his watch, "Eleven thirty. I know a 24/7 burger place, let's grab a bite."

Linden hesitates, but knows it's probably to no avail.

He leans in, and those thin lips grin at her again, "Promise I'll turn my back when you jack those files under your desk."

She clenches her jaw, "I'm not 'jacking' anything."

"The point is, I'll turn my back."

Sometimes, she thinks to herself, he is just absolutely unbelievable. But she finds herself struggling to hold it against him, at least not this time.

"Fine."

-End-