Emma wakes with a start and a gasp. She's not in her own bed, her subconscious is screaming. It takes a moment to remember where she is and how she got here. However, she still doesn't remember getting in bed. She glances down and notes her comfy clothes all still in place. Clay must've moved me after I fell asleep. Speaking of Clay, these sheets smell like him. She burrows in some more. Not even 5 minutes later she hears movement in the living room. He's not so stealthy in the walking boot. She decides she can't keep stalling and makes her way to the bathroom for a quick shower.
Clay hears her get up and start the shower. He smiles and shakes off all inappropriate thoughts. Time to make breakfast, Spenser. He starts bacon and eggs - simple but hearty.
She comes out dressed casually for the day to the smell of bacon filling the air. Her stomach rumbles. He hears and chuckles. "It's not much but it's hot and it'll help with that."
She sits at the kitchen bar and digs in. "Thanks for breakfast, Clay."
"You're very welcome, Ems. But if you want more food today, we need to grocery shop."
After breakfast while he's in the shower she looks around the apartment. There isn't much decor to speak of. In some ways it feels like her dad's place. She wonders if this is how all the DEVGRU guys live unless their wives change their home. He sees her looking around and clears his throat. She blushes knowing she's been caught. "It's hard to be invested in making this more homey when we're gone so much and nobody stays here when we are." She nods.
"So, you up for grocery shopping?," he asks.
She nods. Then timidly asks,"Do you mind if I cook some?" It makes her feel more even in this arrangement. So then with more confidence she adds, "It only seems fair."
"Absolutely! You can cook. Mi casa es su casa. And what man in his right mind turns down a home cooked meal he doesn't have to make?"
She smiles and it lights up the room, but he pushes that thought away, filing it under inappropriate things to be thinking about Jason's daughter.
They drive to the store, once again talking about music. She's also making a list of things on her phone.
They start in produce joking about their mutual feelings about fresh salads being amazing and so underrated. They get the ingredients for paella and couscous (with his language background comes a love for international food) and bok choy wraps and poke bowls (things she misses from college). He jokes that since she's a New Yorker now she should make him pizza. She agrees to the attempt, so they add dough ingredients and toppings. He grabs bagels and lox as another nod to her New York life. She rolls her eyes. Then he grabs a 6 pack of beer and on impulse stops to look at wine.
"Hey, Ems, what do you like?"
She hesitates. He doesn't know how young I am. A cold feeling settles into the pit of her stomach as she feels certain he'll send her back to her dad's now. "I have no idea. Dad's not much of a wine drinker, so I've only had a beer or two at home and jello shots once at a frat party if you don't count that time I got arrested in high school for DUI." She's rambling and blushing.
He smiles reassuringly. "How old are you?"
"20, but 21 in a couple months."
She's 9 years younger than me, he thinks. But she's still an adult, the unhelpful part of his male brain that he's been trying to control chimes in. "Well then, we'll just have to do a little wine tasting then." He grabs a couple bottles of his favorites.
She lets out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. They mosey up to the check out and he pays for groceries. When they get home she throws together salads while he puts groceries away. It's comfortable and easy.
They pass the remainder of the day watching movies on the couch.
That night he makes her chicken tandoori and couscous. She secretly loves that he's comfortable in the kitchen, but teases him about being domestic anyway. "Spenser, you'll make someone a great house husband when you stop operating."
He chuckles, "Hayes, it's just called being self-sufficient and mission ready. Besides who said anything about stopping operating?"
She recognizes his self-assured cockiness as being a cover up for all the doubt that he is currently experiencing in light of the recent injury. So she let it go.
