An Insistent Longing

Nigel was working diligently at his task when he heard a knock at his door. He surveyed what his work had produced so far and decided to ignore the knock so he could keep on task. The knocking became more insistent and a softly accented voice called his name. He peered over his shoulder towards the living room, then looked back down at his project and sighed. "I have to go answer that. Don't move. I'll be right back."

Nigel angrily tossed back the covers and climbed out of bed. He pulled on a loose pair of pants and padded on bare feet through the apartment. He unlocked the door and wrenched it open.

"Buggles, what the bloody hell could be so important that it couldn't wait until the morning? Or at least warrant a phone call first?"

Bug stared at Nigel's bare chest for a moment, then raised a file folder as he raised his eyes. Nigel was glowering at him. "I made a breakthrough on the Jackson case. I thought you'd want to see it right away."

Nigel blew a breath through his mouth and rolled his eyes. "Bug, it's after midnight. It's my night off. I appreciate your dedication to your job, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to smack you for interrupting my evening. I'm in the middle of a very important project."

Bug tilted his head as he heard a rustle from the other room. Nigel turned away from the door and Bug peered around his lanky form. A woman appeared in the hallway that led to Nigel's bedroom. She was tall, with long auburn hair that was obviously mussed. Her eyes were bright with lust and her face was flushed. Bug couldn't see her body as it was draped in a bed sheet, but what he could see was quite lovely.

"Nigel? Is something wrong?"

"No, luv," he answered. "It's just my very over-zealous coworker." He turned back to glare at Bug.

Bug blushed and managed to look embarrassed. "I'm, I'm sorry. I didn't know I'd be interrupting your, ummmm," he trailed off as he continued to stare at the woman.

She picked up the trailing sheet and walked into the living room to stand next to Nigel. "You work with Nigel? He refuses to let me meet his coworkers." She secured the sheet in one hand, then offered the other to Bug. "Hi, I'm Gabrielle."

Bug stared at her hand for a moment, then extended his hand to shake hers. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Mahesh, but you can call me Bug."

"Bug? What - do you have a fetish for spiders?" she asked with a soft smile.

"Spiders are arachnids, not bugs. And it's not a fetish. I'm an entomologist," he replied. He realized he was still holding Gabrielle's hand and dropped it suddenly.

"An ento-what?"

"He likes to play with creepy crawly things," Nigel interjected. His expression changed from anger to confusion as he looked at Bug.

Bug felt Nigel's eyes on him and glanced at him before eyeing his shoes. He looked as though he wanted to disappear.

Gabrielle looked at each of the men repeatedly, trying to work out what was going on between them. "Well, I'd offer you a refreshment, Bug, but I don't seem to be in the proper attire for entertaining."

Bug looked up at her, startled out of his thoughts. "No, that's all right. I'm leaving. I just wanted to bring this file for Nigel to look at." He set the folder on the small table near the door and turned to leave. He stopped and looked back. "It was nice to meet you, Gabrielle."

"You too. Hopefully we'll be able to have a proper meeting up soon." She nudged Nigel with her elbow. "I've just got to convince Nige that it's okay if I intermingle with his coworkers."

"We'll see about that. You know how I feel about the whole idea." Nigel reached out and grabbed Bug's wrist. "Thanks for bringing the file over, even at this wholly inappropriate time. We all want to solve this one quickly. I'll look at it before I get to work in the morning. I'll be in early."

Nigel let Bug go and they exchanged goodnights as he left the apartment.

After Nigel closed the door, Bug sighed and rested his forehead against it. Seeing Nigel with Gabrielle had really shook him. His entire imagining of Nigel needed to be reworked, but he didn't have the energy to deal with it tonight. He gathered his resolve and turned to leave. His shoulders slumped as he slowly walked down the hallway.
Nigel leaned against the door and stared at the floor. Remembering the beautiful woman standing in front of him, he shook off his confusion and stood up. Gabrielle was peering at him intently.

"What?"

"You're thinking about something. What's bothering you?" she asked.

"Nothing. I've just never seen Bug stare at someone quite like that. It was strange even for him. See, there's a reason why I don't want you to meet my coworkers. They have the manners of petulant children."

Gabrielle reached up and put her arms around Nigel's neck. He made a lame attempt at catching the sheet before it pooled around their feet, but didn't make it in time. "What do you think his problem was?"

"I don't know exactly," he replied. "He seemed to be pretty interested in you."

"Well, I think he's enamored, but it has nothing to do with me."

Nigel grasped Gabrielle's shoulders and held her in front of him. He looked at her with surprise. "What are you saying?" Nigel thought a moment, then shook his head. "Bug? Enamored with me? No way. It's not possible."

"Nige, I think it's glaringly obvious, and I just met him. There's some definite longing going on there. It's hard to tell if he was more shocked that you had someone here, or that it turned out to be a female. I think he would have fainted if I'd flashed him."

Nigel spun her so her back was against the door. He glanced down her length. "You'd better not be flashing strange men, darling. I want to be the only one who gets to experience your charms."

"Don't worry, sweetie. This is only for you." Gabrielle grabbed handfuls of his hair and pulled him down to her. Their mouths meshed as Nigel pressed her against the door with his body. Gabrielle broke the kiss and feathered whispery kisses along his neckline. She reached that spot behind his earlobe and did the thing with her tongue that drove him wild.

"Your project was nearly at completion when we were interrupted. Would you like to dedicate some more time to it?"

Nigel moved he could see Gabrielle's face and gave her a quick kiss. "Luv, I'd like nothing more." He grabbed her hand and pulled her back down the hallway to the bedroom.

Once he arrived at home, Bug listlessly walked over to his end table. He picked up the frame that held a photo of himself & Nigel. Lily had taken it at work one day when they were all in a goofy mood. They had cracked a difficult case and were blowing off steam. They had posed together for the photo, but Nigel had turned his head at the last moment and kissed him on the cheek. Bug traced the line of Nigel's jaw, then placed the photo face down on the table and walked away.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Crossing Jordan characters. That's NBC Universal & Tailwind Productions, both of which have more money than I.