A/N: So many apologies for the delay in updating this story. But I've finished Missing now (finally!) so updates will be coming much faster from now on. I'll also be updating Trust soon for all those following that one. And if you've never played the board game 'Scrabble' then a lot of this chapter may not make much sense to you I'm afraid!
Chapter 26 - Scrabbling
Lisbon sat cross legged on the floor of Jane's apartment facing him and narrowed her eyes, trying to ascertain if he was trying to fool her.
He lay on his side, horizontal apart from one arm that remained vertical and whose hand rested on his chin for support. He stared back with a smirk on his face.
She looked at the Scrabble board that sat between them for the third time in a minute.
'So, Lisbon, are you going to challenge my word or not?' he smiled.
She glared at him, gazing at the last word he'd placed. SYZ_GY. The 'Z' sat on a double letter score square and the last 'Y' on a triple word square. 'The blank tile is another 'Y'?' she asked him for the second time.
'Yep.'
So the actual word was 'syzygy'. She huffed, annoyed that she thought she'd finally found a game Jane wouldn't be better than her at or cheat at.
They had been dating for three weeks now and she had to admit it had been nothing but fun so far. He had kept his word and kept things light between them, going with her to places he knew she'd enjoy although he had drawn the line when she mentioned wanting to attend a baseball game. Most of the time though, like this one, when they had a day off they'd spend it at one or the other's apartments, going out for coffee, ice cream, or just spending time reading or watching some TV together. Although, on occasions, their snuggling up together on the couch could turn decidedly passionate and they'd have to extricate themselves from each other and go for a long walk to burn off some sexual frustration. Neither had pushed each other into taking things further than what could probably once be considered 'heavy petting' and Jane actually seemed to take some kind of twisted delight in holding himself back, like his restraint was an accomplishment. She supposed because of his recent chequered history where women were concerned it was in a way.
She sighed, ruminating on the game. 'How about a definition?' she asked.
'Nice try' he grinned before playing with the letters in the tray in front of him.
She groaned, shooting him a look of annoyance. 'Fine. I'm not challenging.'
He smiled effortlessy, pretending to count the points by pointing at the letters on the board. Like she knew he hadn't already done so before he even placed them there. As he wrote down the score on the notepad between them he replied in a condescending tone. 'Well, what do you know? 93 points. Puts me 125 ahead I believe.'
Lisbon glowered at him. 'Game's not over yet.'
He grinned at her again as he picked through the green cotton bag for letter tiles to replace those he'd used.
She added, 'You know I wouldn't be surprised if you knew exactly what letters you were picking by feeling the raised print on them inside the bag.'
He laughed, leaning over to kiss her quickly. 'You know you really should learn how to lose with some dignity and grace, Teresa.'
'Oh, blow it out your ass, Jane' she snapped.
He chuckled again. 'Such poetry.'
Although she tried to keep a grim face she began to laugh after a moment. 'So?' she smiled, 'Was it a word or not?'
He frowned at her but a smile remained on his lips. 'Ah...I don't believe I have to tell you that.'
'Look, you get the points, I didn't challenge...but, was it?'
He kept his eyes on his tiles. 'I might want to use it again in another game.'
'Jane!'
He chuckled again before raising his eyes to her. 'What's it worth to you?'
After a second she leaned in, captured his lips with hers, her tone seductive, 'Don't know. What would you like?'
He blinked rapidly, caught off guard by an all of a sudden extremely flirty Teresa Lisbon. 'Um.'
She kissed him deeply. 'You're quite the poet yourself.'
He put his hand to her cheek, drawing her closer and kissed her back slowly. 'Stop trying to put me off my game, woman' he finally replied.
She pulled back and shrugged, a smile playing on her lips. 'Well, okay, if you'd rather play this game instead of another I had in mind-'
'Fair enough' he remarked, pulling himself to his knees to kiss her again. When she was just within his grasp she jumped up and rounded behind him for the dictionary that sat on the bookshelf behind him. He almost fell flat onto the scrabble board but just caught her ankle as she tried to pass him. She kicked his hand off quickly, giggling and he got to his feet reaching for her waist as she just got to the bookshelf. He pulled her back by it before her hand reached the dictionary and she elbowed him lightly in the stomach.
'Jeez, Lisbon, I'm not a criminal you need to fend off' he laughed, rubbing his ribs as she began to search through the book for the word he'd used.
He came behind her again, a little more cautiously, and began kissing her neck. As he felt her body mould into him he stopped and yanked the book out of her hand, holding it high up so she couldn't get reach it, before moving with lightning speed out of punching distance. They began to laugh as she pursued him around the living room.
'Wasn't this a Marx Brothers' sketch once?' he laughed as he stood behind the sofa, slightly out of breath, dancing on his toes as he tried to guess which side she'd approach to get the book back into her hands so he could run in the opposite. She stood on the other side of it, panting slightly, grinning, moving one way then the other to throw him off balance.
She finally made her move and he ran to the other side but she caught him around his waist as he slipped on the sheepskin rug in front of the fireplace and tackled him to the ground, him ending up on top of her. He immediately let go of the book to put his arms around her and kissed her soundly instead. She kissed him back and they rolled over so she was on top of him.
'Ouch!' he screamed.
'What!'
He rolled his eyes, lifting them both up slightly to remove the bag of scrabble letters he'd landed on. She chuckled, kissing him. 'Idiot' she whispered.
His hands travelled along her back, his lips on her neck.
'So?' she ventured as she ran her hands through his hair. 'Was it a word?'
His laugh was muffled as his lips made their way to her shoulder. 'Who the hell cares at this point?' He pulled his head back to look at her. 'But yes, it was. Describes an alignment of three heavenly bodies. Although right now I'm more interested in aligning my heavenly body with yours.'
As she began to laugh Jane's cell phone sounded from the kitchen counter. He rolled his eyes immediately, buried his head in her neck.
She began to clamber off him. 'We're on call, might be a case.' Her tone was distinctly that of a police detective now and he knew any amorous activities would take a backseat until she knew for sure.
He moaned but got to his feet with her. 'Whoever it is will still be dead later' he muttered. He picked up his cell phone from the countertop, adjusting his clothing as he went to fetch it, hoping it was a telemarketer. He rolled his eyes again as Marshall's name appeared and nodded to Lisbon who was fixing the shirt tails of her blouse back down her jeans. She rolled hers in return and shrugged.
He answered the call. 'Don, what's up? Isn't it too nice a day for people to be murdering each other?' he grinned.
Lisbon noticed as the colour seemed to drain from his face as the call continued. His expression turned dark and he nodded solemnly. 'Okay. I'll be right there' he said quietly. He glanced at her quickly as the call continued and it was as if he'd forgotten she was there. 'Right' he continued as he focused on the call again. 'No. That's okay. I'll pick her up on my way.'
He ended the call but held the phone to his lips, looking down. She approached him gingerly, knowing at once this wasn't a routine murder.
'Jane?' she said gently.
He started slightly and pulled his head back. 'Sorry' he offered, clearing his throat. 'Um...yeah, we have a case.'
'I gathered that. But it's not a normal one obviously.'
He looked at her, swallowed hard and she could see him try to compose himself. He nodded, seeing in her eyes what she'd already realised by his reaction. Grimly, 'Yes, it's him. Michael. It appears he's killed another woman.'
A/N: So I seem to be in the mood for cliffhangers these days! (for those who have read the first chapter in my new little story Vegas Variation you'll understand that remark). So we'll be getting into some darker territory over the next few chapters as you can probably imagine for this story. But it'll still have some brighter moments.
BTW, 'syzygy' that actually is a word that can be used in Scrabble but you'll need a blank tile like Jane did to complete it as there are only two letter 'Y' in the game!