-
"You're almost thirty years old and you still sleep with a stuffed animal?" an amazed Sam asked, holding the old, stuffed tiger up by its tail. "Wow! I'm really not sure whether I should laugh or cry right now."
"My guess is that you're leaning towards the former." Danny replied, trying to grab the stuffed animal out of the woman's hand. However, she was one step ahead of him and moved it quickly out of his reach. "Come on, Sam. Give it back."
"You know, maybe you should be seeing that therapist Ed set you up with." Sam chuckled, moving the toy every time Danny attempted to reach for it. "I mean, it's evident that you have some sort of strange need to share the bed with something, even if it is an inanimate object." The dark-haired woman finally let the ex-Marine grab the toy away. "Although, you could have just told us girls about this problem. I'm sure that we'd be a bit more therapeutic and less embarrassing than a stuffed kitty."
"You are so lucky that I don't have the energy to strangle you right about now." Danny replied, glaring at the woman. "If you must know, my Dad is the only reason Tugglesworth…"
"Tugglesworth?" Sam interrupted with a giggle. "It actually has a name? Just when I thought that this couldn't be any more pathetic!"
"Whatever." Danny rolled his eyes, "The point is that I don't have a problem!"
"Oh, yeah?" a grinning Sam asked as Danny noticed that he had unconsciously been protectively clutching the stuffed tiger to his chest. As Marquez let out a huge laugh, the brown-haired man let go immediately. "God! To find juicy blackmail material on you when I'm not even trying? It is a good day."
"You don't have any blackmail material because what you're assuming isn't true." Danny argued, rolling his eyes. He could swear that Ed told Sam to take it easy on him.
"People don't know that." Sam pointed out with a grin. The dark-haired woman was clearly enjoying where she had her co-worker right now. "Ah, to think how fast something like this could travel around the Montecito! Mike and Ed would never let you live it down."
"Clearly, you don't intend to." Danny sighed, rubbing his forehead wearily. Fortunately for him, he knew the only way (unless you were Ed Deline) to make sure that Samantha Jane Marquez stayed quiet about something. "How much?"
"Your holiday bonus sounds about right." an honest Sam replied.
"My holiday bonus?" an aghast Danny stammered.
"Yep." Sam confirmed with a nod.
"Forget it!" Danny exclaimed, turning his head away from the woman. There was no way in hell that he was going to pay Sam a thousand bucks to stay silent about this, especially when it wasn't true.
"Fine." Sam replied, getting up from her seat next to him. "You should probably get that rest Ed wanted you to get." As she walked to the bedroom door, a laugh escaped him. "However, don't be surprised at all the points, stares and laughs directed your way tomorrow."
"You heartless…" Danny started as the door closed behind Sam. Rubbing the back of his neck wearily, McCoy sighed and hoped that Marquez was just kidding about spreading that rumor about him. After all, there was a fifty percent chance that she was just playing with him, as well as the fifty percent chance that she was actually planning on doing it. Falling back against his pillow, he let out another sigh. "Sleep sounds really good at the moment."
-
Something soft bouncing along his leg was the first sensation Danny woke up to. Not wanting to open his eyes, the brown-haired man just guessed that it was Sam bouncing Tugglesworth up and down his leg to annoy him. With a growl, he rolled hastily over onto his other side.
"Knock it off, Sam." he ordered, pulling his blankets around him.
The bouncing continued as if the person hadn't even heard Danny. Clearly, their only objective was to annoy him, which would fit Sam to a tee.
"Sam!" an enraged Danny started, sitting up in bed. However, Marquez was nowhere in sight! Instead, a very familiar red-haired woman was sitting on the bed, holding Tugglesworth in her hand. Upon seeing her, McCoy instantly relaxed, but questioned how. "Mary?"
To be continued...