Italics: Flashbacks

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Chapter Twenty-Five: Mistletoe Aftermath

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"In which I find out that a mistletoe is nothing but pure evil, and Rebecca leaves me alone with Mr. Freeze as payback. Oh, did I also mention that Jill bailed on me?! And…did the unthinkable just happened?!"

[Time: 11:45 p.m]

"Rebecca…this is not what it looks like…!"

Of course, that's the first thing that flies out of my mouth while the devil incarnate has me trapped against the wall.

"What do you mean it's not what it looks like?! What in the world are you doing here?!"

Okay, I didn't expect this to happen!

The plan was to humiliate Mr. Freeze, make sure Rebecca was safe and hightail out of the café/restaurant! There was no possible way Mr. Freeze could have known I threw those spitballs!

That was a lucky guess!

A pure lucky guess!

I had everything under control until Jill had to jinx everything!

"Um…err…I was just…passing by…!" My nervous laugh does nothing to quell the awkwardness of the situation. "You know…just to see…um…if you needed anything and to see how…everything was going…!"

"You do realize I'm not buying that silly excuse, right?" Rebecca's hands are on her hips and she's giving me that 'you have got to be kidding me' look. "And what the hell are you wearing?!"

"What silly excuse? It's true! And this happens to be my...everyday outfit for...undercover stuff!"

Rebecca narrows her eyes. "What undercover stuff? Your hair's sticking up like some psycho killer and he's covered in pasta and spitballs! Unbelievable Claire, just unbelievable! And there's a freaking wig on the floor!"

Oh...that.

You can just count on Mr. Freeze to throw that wig where Rebecca could see it.

"I was trying to protect you from this entity in front of me!" And...there goes my arm flapping again.

I didn't even bother catching the glimpse of that frigid glare Mr. Freeze gave me.

"He's not an entity!" Rebecca snapped.

"How could you even be sure he's not? I didn't have holy water and crosses, so I had to use spitballs!" I retorted.

"That's five-year-old stuff Claire! Five-year-old stuff! This isn't Halloween!"

"He deserved it!"

"You didn't even consider me in this whole situation, did you?"

"What the hell are you talking about? I was trying to protect you! That's why I came here in the first place!"

"I didn't need protection! We were fine until you caused this!"

"Yes, you did! You don't know what he's capable of!"

"Claire, you're being ridiculous!" Rebecca shakes her head in disbelief. "Absolutely ridiculous!"

"This is not ridiculous!" I shot back.

"Jill told you where we were meeting, didn't she?" She points a shaky finger in my direction. "You dragged her into this just to spy on me and your partner! And what are you doing against the wall with him?! I knew you had some weirdo crush on him! Don't deny it! You were blushing in that restaurant last Saturday! And then you were completely melodramatic when I told you about the book signing!"

Yes, Rebecca just said that.

Right in front of Mr. Freeze.

I'm going to kill her!

My cheeks grew hotter than a toaster oven.

"You take that back!" I'm second away from taking a flying leap for Rebecca's throat, but Mr. Freeze wouldn't budge. "Let go, you big oaf! It's between me and her! Rebecca, you wait until I get out of this…!"

I'm punching at his arm, struggling to get away but the minute that tight, cold smirk of his formed on his face suddenly, I knew it spelled trouble.

TROUBLE with a capital T.

You see, I've already outlined Mr. Freeze's personality. If he ever used that smirk, he was about to blackmail me. If he ever frowns, it's either he's confused or claims that I'm too 'weird' for the human mind to comprehend. If he chuckles, it's either something that he thinks is funny or he's about to do something to embarrass me.

I knew that smirk from anywhere!

He's about to stir the pot!

"You have a rather good point, Ms. Chambers." Mr. Freeze looks down at me, while I'm the one shooting daggers at him now. "Why else would she spy on us? I believe it stems from jealousy. And she drags her best friend into this. I do apologize for my partner's immature behavior—"

"Shut up!" I stepped on his foot, catching him off guard, but it wasn't enough for him to let go of me. No, he just grits his teeth and squeezes my waist again as a warning.

The chipmunk squeak has become a new fad.

How am I not hurting him?! How is he just standing there and not feeling any sort of pain?!

Rebecca shakes her head in disgust. "I can't believe you would do something like this! You know what? I'm going home. Thanks for ruining a perfectly good evening!"

Before she turns away, she points at something above our heads. "Oh, and for the record, there's a small mistletoe from last Christmas on the door. You do know the whole mistletoe story, right Claire?"

I just stared at her in object horror.

Mistletoe?!

What mistletoe?!

Mr. Freeze's smirk disappears almost immediately and now he's staring at Rebecca. "Mistletoe...?"

Lo' and behold, the coldest, smartest man on planet earth is dumbfounded for once in his miserable life!

Don't tell me he doesn't know what a mistletoe is!

He can throw those fancy university words around but doesn't know a traditional Chrismas ornament!

"Oh, you don't know about the mistletoe story, Mr. Wesker?" That's when Rebecca shoots a glare at him too. "The one where if two people are standing under a mistletoe, you have to kiss? Well, you two have fun because I'm going home!"

And just like that, Rebecca was gone.

Growling, I stepped on Mr. Freeze's foot again. "This is your fault!"

That was enough for him to finally let go of me. You know, the way he lovingly shoves me aside just to prove a point (and I nearly fall on my ass, again!)?

I stumbled backwards, and found myself staring at the mistletoe Rebecca was referring to.

In plain glory.

It was a pale and dried up, with a red and green ribbon tied around it in a bow. Either this was a sick joke, or it was an honest mistake not to take it down the minute Christmas ended.

I was fuming.

Mr. Freeze glanced at the dried-up mistletoe, and then at me with his death glare again. "How is your immaturity my fault?"

"You should have told her you had something to do and not go!"

"Who are you to tell me what I should do?"

"I'm her friend!"

"Her friend? If you were a friend, Officer Redfield, you wouldn't have caused this in the first place. Eventually, you will pay for your insolence. I will make sure of it."

"Oh, so now you're threatening me? This wasn't supposed to happen!"

"Then how else did you expect your so-called investigation to happen? Perhaps I wouldn't have seen you if you didn't throw spitballs in my direction. It appears that you haven't graduated from preschool after all."

"You deserved every one of them! I'm proud of it! You made my life hell for a good while! And you know what?!" I'm shouting at this point. "I loved every minute of it! You freaking nerd!"

"Watch your tongue, Officer Redfield." Mr. Freeze voice grows angrier by the second. At this point, anyone would cower in fear but me? No, I am standing my ground this time! He can raise his voice and try to act all intimidating but I'm not backing down!

Hence me standing there!

Okay…maybe my knees are wobbling, but that's because I'm trembling in rage!

Usually when you're pissed off, it takes everything in you to not shake like a Tickle-Me-Elmo!

"Oh, watch my tongue?" I mocked him. "And what are you going to do? If you think you're going to handcuff me to another table and catch me off guard, you're wrong! There's no tables here so bring it on!"

And…that's where I should have kept my mouth shut.

The imaginary heavyweight boxing bell rang.

Remember that incident in the café the first time Mr. Freeze and I met?

Yeah, well, it was only a matter of time before we tumbled to the floor after going back and forth with a flurry of punches and kicks. It was like a martial arts movie, where he was blocking practically everything and I was swinging for all the candy in the world.

Piñata reference by the way.

It also didn't help that the manager and his employees were standing there in utter shock, watching us wrestle on the floor like two chicks in a mud fight. Well, okay I was doing most of the wrestling and he was either trying to avoid the slaps aimed for his head and face or looking for a way to pin me down before things escalated.

Let's just say…we had a lot of apologizing to do after our 'catfight' was over, that way Chief Randall never catches wind of this whole incident and yells at us.

Again.

I wouldn't be surprised if we became regulars in his office.

It's bad enough the whole department knows about the 'tension' and 'rumors' flying between us already!

. . . . . .

"…Sorry."

It's not often I apologize for something, especially to Mr. Freeze, but at this point, the manager was in lawsuit mode (our little fight caused a ruckus in the restaurant and drove his customers to ask for the bill and hightail out of there) and he was accusing us of his loss of revenue for the night. This threatened lawsuit would have caused a ten o'clock news highlight, so Mr. Freeze and I did what anyone would do in a time like this.

We apologized.

Okay, I did most of the apologizing and that idiot just said that if it wasn't for his partner, this wouldn't have occurred in the first place. Then I was seconds away from leaping over the table we were forced to sit at to strangle him, (manager swore that if we didn't come to a compromise, the lawsuit would happen), but I restrained myself.

Restrained was an understatement by the way.

I had to reach down and beg every deity in the book not to let me snap again. Then again, how many deities were out there in the world anyway?

Might be something worth researching at some time in my life.

Anyway, getting off topic here.

So, after 'apologizing' just to appease this guy, we left the restaurant, with Mr. Freeze still covered in dried fettuccine white sauce and spaghetti (and dirt, if you count us rolling around on the floor), and me covered in dried marinara sauce (that I tried dumping on him, but missed). Now, Jill's car was nowhere in sight, which confirmed my suspicions all along.

She abandoned the mission!

I can't believe her!

The one friend that stuck with me during the craziest times abandoned me!

Mr. Freeze didn't respond.

I sighed. "What, no stupid response? Gee, I'm actually surprised—"

"I don't need your apology."

He cuts me off, as we're making our way towards his car. Considering that I had no way of getting back over the other side of town (Jill was my only form of transportation because my car was at home), Mr. Freeze had to drive me back.

Although he did say he was tempted to leave me here.

He's such a sweetheart.

That's sarcasm by the way.

"Stop acting like that, for once in your life!" I stopped walking. "Yeah, the spitballs were immature, but I was looking out for my friend's wellbeing—"

"What did you expect I was going to do with Ms. Chambers?" Mr. Freeze stops and turns around, staring at me. "It was a simple meeting. If anything, you should apologize to her for your stupidity."

I was about to yell at him for the 'stupidity' part, but in the end, he was right. I did overreact to this whole thing. To think Rebecca could have been embarrassed on camera of the crew of reporters followed her over here, well it could have made things a lot worse. Then we would have been plastered on the news, like I just mentioned and it would be the talk of the freaking office.

I can't believe…I'm agreeing with Mr. Freeze.

Hell must have frozen over.

"You're…right. I need to apologize to her." And that's when the guilt trip sets in. "This…idea wasn't the best one."

This time, he's the one that sighs. "I'm surprised it took you this long to figure that out."

"Okay, don't make me feel worse than I already feel. I didn't ask for your input, thank you—"

"You needed to hear that."

"Don't start—"

"Were you jealous?" He cuts me off again, but it wasn't the usual 'I'm holier than thou' attitude.

It was a genuine question, combined with a genuine tone.

How Mr. Freeze could be associated with a 'genuine question' and a 'genuine tone' is beyond human comprehension.

Maybe he was capable of emotions—wait a minute, did he just ask me if I was jealous?!

Why does he keep assuming I was?!

"No, I wasn't jealous!"

"Your lies are obvious, Officer Redfield."

"I-was-not-jealous!" I ground out, balling my hands into fists.

"You must think that I was born yesterday." That's when he walks over to me (we were inches apart because he walked ahead of me and I was trying to keep up). We were in the middle of an alley that was a shortcut to his car. The street lights made things not as dark, but I didn't feel comfortable walking around here.

I also…had a small phobia of alleys…which sounds stupid, since I am an officer, but it was part of my imperfection either way.

Not to mention my fear of thunderstorms.

And mice.

And other things that crawl and wiggle in the night.

He's standing right in front of me, gorgeous eyes and all.

Did I just say that…?!

Well um…I did say his eyes were gorgeous at some point but don't get carried away!

"…Don't…don't start!" That was probably the weakest retort I could produce versus this man. "I'm warning you…!"

"Then why are you stuttering?"

"It's a …defense mechanism!"

"I've seen your face on more than one occasion. It's interesting how you go from insulting me to blurting out personal comments."

"…"

Did Mr. Freeze just render me speechless?!

"I…I want to go home, right now!"

"And how do you expect to get there? Your partner in crime left you and you have no money for public transportation—"

"How do you know?!" I interrupted him. "I was prepared for something like this!"

How in the world did we go from being at each other's throats to this?!

What did I miss during this exchange?!

"No, you weren't."

"If you think I was jealous, then you are out of your freaking—"

"Your face turns red whenever we have our little arguments. Then, you were upset that Ms. Chambers and I were meeting here and you tried to talk her out of it."

"How the hell do you know about that?!" Oh no, she didn't…I mean Rebecca wouldn't!

"How else would I know? She told me everything."

That's when my face grew pale. "I…I don't know what you're trying to pull but I was not jealous and I…"

"Then prove it."

The next thing I know, I'm up against the wall of some random apartment building.

You know, because he practically walked me over there! How is this happening right now?!

What the hell is he trying to do now?!

I'm tired, I smell like a freaking kitchen and he doesn't smell any better, unless you count the faint whiff of his cologne still lingering around. Still, we both looked like we've been through a food warzone and this mission was a complete failure.

"If…you're issuing…another challenge…I'm not taking…the bait!" I stammered, refusing to stare up at him. The only thing I focused on was the ground…which was silly but right now I wasn't falling for whatever he was attempting to do!

He's unpredictable!

One minute he was angry, the next minute he's trying to get me to admit I was jealous of him and Rebecca!

"Oh, but I'm not issuing a challenge." His fingers tilted my chin, so I ended up staring at him anyway.

Did…did he just touch my chin?!

I should have slapped his hand away!

'Oh…my…God…' Inner voice is freaking out. 'What the hell is going on?!'

"I just wanted to know why you decided to do this in the first place."

"I told you, I was protecting Rebecca—"

"Why do you insist on lying?"

"Okay, that's it, I'm not riding with you! Stop being creepy!"

"Is that the best you can do?" He was being creepy without the creepy smirk!

Again, I was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

"…Fine! I don't really think you're that bad of…well you're not that bad. It's just that…well why did you even treat me like that when we first met?! Why don't you answer that question instead of interrogating me?!"

"Because I was testing you."

I could have sworn this was the second time he used that phrase.

Testing me? For what?

"What in the world could you be testing me for in the first place?" I demanded. "I'm not even a bad person, let alone a bad cop! I do my job well! Yeah, there's kinks along the way but I made it out okay!"

"I wanted to see how long you could last as my partner. I have to say, you are an interesting case. You continue to be interesting, even after this incident."

"You're like this jigsaw puzzle I can't figure out! I hope you know that!"

"Am I?"

"Look, can you please drive me home now? It's late, we're both covered in crap and my brother's probably worried sick about me—"

"You still haven't answered my question."

"I said I wasn't jealous—"

And…this is where things get complicated.

Mr. Freeze does the unthinkable.

He kisses me.

On the lips.

I have nothing folks.

I have...absolutely nothing.

Rule #27: When you have a partner with a mysterious personality and he kisses you in the middle of an alley, just pretend it didn't happened when it just did. That way, the disbelief doesn't cause a fatal heart-attack.

Author Notes

I um...just dropped another bombshell of a cliffhanger, so I'm either going to be strangled or yelled at. Either way, stories are made of cliffhangers! I felt this was the best place to end it, considering that the next chapter is when things will definitely get serious. Remember, we still have that incident with the drug shipment and the drug lord the FBI and Claire's department are after. Then we have a wonderful trip coming up, where she gets to spend quality time with Mr. Freeze, lol.

I would like to thank everyone for the continued support so far and I hope to have this finished by Chapter 40. Let me know if you want a sequel!