It was hard to keep his mind on the stack of papers sitting on his desk, waiting for his scrawl of a signature. It didn't help that the precinct was more loud than usual, perps being dragged in from the streets. A lot seemed to be falling down drunk which was sort of entertaining from time to time. Those papers needed to be signed off on and he had other things he should've been doing but damnit, she was stuck in his head.

A few days had passed since Don and Emma had kissed. He'd been working longer hours and knew she'd been busy too so that didn't leave a lot of time for them to spend time together, let alone have an actual conversation. They'd played phone tag but even those short messages held little to no substance. He knew (as much as he didn't want to) that they'd have to talk eventually. It wasn't that he regretted kissing her because Lord knows he'd been wanting to do it for weeks, if not months, now. He just didn't know where they stood. They'd been on two or three dates, did that mean they were dating exclusively? Did the kiss mean they were? Or did he have to do the whole asking thing? Those questions and more were really distracting him, and it didn't help when he looked up and found himself actually looking at her. Somehow she'd come into the madness of the NYPD and everything had seemed to stop around him.

Okay and it didn't hurt that she was wearing a short black dress either.

Don started to rack his brain, trying to remember if him and Emma had plans that night. Nothing was popping up that he could remember but sometimes he did seem to have short term memory problems so it was possible that they did and he was just an idiot who forgot. Oh God, she'd kill him if he forgot! After all, the mountain of paperwork in front of him wasn't getting any smaller. With Don's luck, he'd be doing paperwork until he was at least 50 at the rate he was going.

But Emma just walked up to the desk and perched herself up on the corner of it. He raised an eyebrow, still slightly distracted by the amount of leg she was showing in that dress. "Did I forget something?" He asked finally.

"Nope." She shook her head with a grin, "Why, think you did?"

"As a matter of fact, yes. Not very often a hot chick shows up at my desk like this." He put the paper down he'd been reading over, folding his hands together on top of the desk, "so what brings you by?"

"Oh! I'm meeting Stella and Aiden, we're going out."

"Out?" Out. She was going out. With Stella and Aiden. Uh oh, they were either going to grill her on their supposed relationship or hunt for other guys. Emma hunting for other guys didn't sit well with him. Jealousy sure was a bitch.

She nodded, "Yeah we're going out. Some art show Stella got an invite to. It should be nice."

It sounded pretty boring to Don but he guessed that was why Emma was going and not him. "Sounds fun," He said instead.

Emma laughed and moved to stand off the desk, "You think it sounds stupid."

"Not my thing, that's for sure." He smiled, "You look...great."

"Oh this old thing?" She laughed again as she tried not to turn an attractive shade of pink, "thanks Don."

"Now you know you're gonna have to wear that or something like it next time we go out." He sat back in his chair, narrowing his eyes when he caught one of the other detectives eyeing Emma suggestively. He gave the guy a dirty look and he finally looked away. Jealousy was definitely a bitch.

Emma watched his eyes carefully, thoroughly enjoying the way he looked like he was about to go over-protective bodyguard on her. She might have purposefully chose the little black dress and might have insisted on meeting Aiden and Stella there instead of at the show itself. Oh yes, payback was also a bitch and this was only the beginning.

"Oh I am? Why do you say that?" She asked as she reached down to straighten out the material of the dress. It'd been an impulse buy earlier that day but she had wanted to look nice. And okay, she did want to show off in front Don a little bit. It wasn't so short that it was indecent and pretty much covered anything else she didn't want the world to see. The air in the city was still cool but she'd brought along a jacket, knowing she'd probably need it that night.

He smiled, leaning forward on the desk some, "Because I think you need to wear dresses like that more often."

"Why? So you can show me off?"

Don shrugged his shoulders, "Yeah pretty much." He laughed softly as he stood, walking around the desk to her, "I haven't seen you in awhile you know."

"Aw did you miss me?" Emma leaned into him some as he slipped his arm around her shoulders, both of them starting to walk towards the doors that led to the outside.

"I don't know, I mean there was this other woman I met...real cute brunette and everything.."

She elbowed him even though she knew he was only teasing. "Just for that I'm going to go find me a hot date tonight."

Don pushed the door open with his free hand, letting her walk out in front of him. He grinned some, "yeah..in a dress like that I could see why you might find a hot date."

She glanced at her watch before pulling her jacket around her. Aiden and Stella would be showing up in a few minutes but she was glad to be out of the bustling precinct for the time being. "You sound a little jealous Don."

"I am not jealous." He put his hands into his pant pockets, rocking back on his feet some. Of course he would be jealous if she ended up finding someone of the male persuasion to spend time with but, not like he could actually admit to it or anything.

Emma just gave him a look but let it drop for the time being. "If you say so," She smiled. "So back to you showing me off.."

"Uh oh..am I in for it now?"

"No!" She reached out to punch his arm, "Don't be a jerk."

Don held up his hands in defense before shaking his head. "Not being a jerk."

She moved to stand next to him, shoving her hands into the pockets of her jacket. "There's a show my gallery is putting on in two weeks. Would you maybe want to come with me? I mean, yeah it'll be slightly boring and I'll probably be running around like a chicken with its head cut off but...yeah, shutting up now."

"Yeah sure I'll tag along." He grinned when he saw Aiden and Stella come out of the doors, whistling under his breath. "Well I just have to say, you all do clean up nicely.."

Aiden rolled her eyes but was smiling as she wrapped her own coat around her, "Yeah yeah keep sucking up Flack."

Stella laughed behind her, "I do have to say we do clean up pretty well. I mean, not like we haven't spent the whole day around dead bodies and other nasty things."

"No details please," Emma said before making a face.

Aiden shook her head, "Yeah you don't wanna know. We probably need to get going though, we're fashionably late as it is."

Stella walked down a few steps, glancing back at the other two women, "We do need to make an entrance after all."

Aiden was right behind her, waving at Don, "See ya later Flack!"

Emma smiled up at Don before moving to follow the two women. "You probably need to get back to work.."

"Yeah just because you three are gonna go have fun, rub it in that I gotta go work," He grumbled, bending enough to kiss her cheek. "Have fun."

"Want me to call you later?"

"Not if you meet some handsome stranger, then I might be heartbroken and all that." Don grinned but nodded his head, "yeah if you want to."

Aiden was standing near the curb where a cab was waiting for them, her hands on her hips. "Emma come on!"

Emma laughed and with one last look to him, she disappeared down the steps and into the back of the cab.

Stella handed Emma a glass of champagne, having caught one of the waiters as he made his way around the room carrying a tray. Aiden had disappeared a few minutes before and both had lost track of her for the time being. Emma took a sip as she looked around the room the show was being held in. It was a pretty small art show but a lot of the paintings hanging had gotten Emma's attention. The art nerd in her was wanting to stand around and stare at every inch of each canvas but, she'd refrained as much as she could.

Stella smiled as she leaned back against the wall. "I think it might be winding down.."

"Oh, yeah I think so." Emma nodded, "But this has been great. There's some really lovely pieces here."

"And we were just fashionably late enough to make a grand entrance. There are some seriously good looking men.." Stella grinned, watching as Aiden approached them, "And here I was thinking you'd gotten swept off your feet!"

Aiden stood in front of them, glancing around the room before setting her sights on Emma. "So, I think it's time that we ganged up on you.."

Emma's eyes widened. She'd honestly been expecting the inquisition from Stella and Aiden, she just wasn't sure when it was going to happen. "I have a feeling I'm in trouble."

"Of course you are!" Stella laughed before nudging her shoulder, "no need to worry because we like you, so we'll go easy on you."

"Seriously what the hell is going on with you and Flack? The guy walks around with a goofy-ass grin on his face," Aiden asked, ever the one to be point-blank.

Emma drank the rest of her champagne, silently wishing that another waiter would make his way by so she could drink the entire tray of champagne. She had no idea what was going on with her and Don, other than they went out a couple of times...and they had kissed once. She shrugged her shoulders, "I...don't know, to be honest."

Stella smiled, "He does have a goofy smile on his face a lot of the time.."

"Well we've gone out a few times but it's always been kind of a casual thing." She was fighting the urge not to blush but the room had suddenly started to feel hot as she mumbled, "he did kiss me though."

Stella gasped, "Oh how cute!"

Aiden smiled, "So that's why he's had the goofy grin on his face!"

"You two can't mention it to him, or he'll kill me for telling." Emma gave them both a look but knew it was probably futile. Of course they would tease Don, it was just something co-workers and friends did to one another.

"Oh please. I think it's adorable." Stella finished her own champagne then, "So are you two together or...?"

Emma shrugged her shoulders again, "That's the big question. We haven't really had a chance to talk since the night he kissed me. I mean, tonight was the first time I've seen him in...I don't know how long."

"And he looked like he was about to drag you into a closet somewhere," Aiden remarked with a sly grin.

"Aiden!"

"Well it's the truth so don't act like you didn't notice either, Em."

She really had nothing to say to that because maybe there had been a flash of something in his eyes. And she had wanted to show off, just a bit, in her new dress. Emma laughed, "I'm pleading the fifth. Are we done with the interrogation yet?"

Stella slung an arm around her shoulders, "Yes for now. Our next target is one, Detective Don Flack Jr."

Aiden laughed, "He's not going to know what's coming."

The three of them left soon after, as the party had begun to wind down. Emma felt bad for Don, he was definitely going to get it from Stella and Aiden and probably anyone else that they told. Oh he was definitely in trouble.

Emma was dropped off in front of her apartment, waving goodbye to the two left in the cab with plans to get together within in the next week or so. She wrapped her jacket around her as she made her way inside the building. It didn't take long for her to get to her floor and soon she was walking down the hallway, her head down as she dug around in her purse for her keys. Emma's head shot up when she heard someone clear their throat.

A relieved smile crossed her face when she found a slightly tired looking Don standing in front of her door. "What are you doing here?"

He shrugged before pushing away from the wall, "I thought I'd wait for you. Although if you didn't show up in the next ten minutes I was going to go home."

She unlocked the door and pushed it open, ushering him inside. "You waited for me?"

"Yeah sure." He looked and acted as if it was no big deal and it probably wasn't, but it did mean a lot to her that he would even think to come over.

"Well if you're going to be doing that then I'm going to have to get you a key. We can't have you camping outside my apartment all the time." Emma smiled as she pulled her jacket off, moving to hang it up.

He laughed softly, "Maybe this is a one time deal. Did you have fun?"

"It was nice, there were all these paintings that the inner dork in me was all about. I could've stood there all night looking at everything." She sighed as she leaned back against the couch, "I would love to do something like that."

"So do it." He stood in front of her, watching as she moved around to take off the heels she'd been wearing all night. "I mean, you obviously love all things art.."

She smiled, "Maybe one day." Emma dropped her shoes to the floor before reaching up to rub her neck, "so..do you want to stay here? Or are you heading home?"

AN: So I'd like to just apologize real quick for the lapse in updates the past few days/week. Apparently my immune system decided that doing anything besides crashing on the couch watching movies was out of the question. So tonight was pretty much the first night I've gotten any writing done! I think I'm on the way to getting over this lovely cold/allergy thing I've got going on so hopefully I'll get some updates out. I'm going to work on ch. 35 at work so I should be able to post it later on. I'm not going to get to the reviews (again, gr) since it's nearing 3 a.m. and I actually have to get UP for work lol but yeah, look for an update soon!