Title: Seeing Is Believing
Author: Cyclone
Rating: G-PG-higher - depends which way your (dirty) little mind works. )
Category: Doggett/Reyes
Disclaimer: Do you really not know who owns 'em by now? K – to summarise – John belongs to Monica, and she belongs to CC & Co.
Summary: Monicasees something that she shouldn't have.
Notes: Rewritten, because the first version was a bit on the crap side. 'Tis much better now. And longer, too. Hence the breaking up of the story and multiple chapters.
Enjoy.
XxX
Friday
Sunshine Motel, CA
3:39PM
XxX
"John!" Monica gasped in surprise. "Ohmygod!"
In hindsight, she really should have knocked. Or she should have just gone straight to her own room and packed, or checked them out, or called out from behind the door, or - something.
John's eyes flew open and immediately wished that the ground would open up and swallow him.
"Wha? Monica! Aw, shit!"
She shouldn't have stared. She knew that. It was incredibly rude, not to mention extremely uncomfortable. But for all her embarrassment, she couldn't seem to look away. "Sorry – I, ah – didn't know –"
"It's not what it looks like," he said quickly.
"It's not . . . I'm not judging you."
"Really, let me explain."
"You don't have to," she almost stammered. "Really. No need. I'll just leave."
"Wait! Look, this is in no way indicative of . . ."
She had to get out. She was staring again – still – and staring was bad. "I really shouldn't be here."
"Will you just hang on a minute?"
Oh no. No freakin' way was she hanging on for another minute. She was out of there. "I should have knocked," she mumbled, mostly to herself, but loud enough to be heard.
John had regained a bit of composure, and moved slightly to unkink the cramp in his neck. "Yeah, you should have, but that's beside the point."
Ohgod, he moved. Don't look, don't look, don't look. "I didn't think you would be here. How could I have known?"
"By knocking?" he suggested.
"Yeah. Absolutely." He was right. She really, really should have knocked. She'd never enter another room again without knocking. Ever. She took a step back and bumped into the wall, her apology sounding lame even to her own ears. "I didn't mean to embarrass you."
"You didn't – I mean . . . if I could just show you. . ."
Ohcrap. He wanted to show her? Really not a good idea. "There's no need."
"No need? You can't really think this is me?"
She hadn't been trained to answer questions like that at the academy. Why the hell hadn't she been trained to answer questions like that at the academy? Because if she had, she would have been able to come up with a way better answer than, "Um . . ." and her face might not be flaming as much as it undoubtedly was.
And she wouldn't have been staring. Again. Or was that still?
"See something you like? Just wait until – "
"No! I mean . . ." Shit. He'd caught her. And the bastard even had the gall to grin at her. Why hadn't she knocked? And where did her voice go? "I'm . . . I'm really uncomfortable being here . . . like this."
"You're uncomfortable?" He couldn't move lest he embarrass himself any more than he already had, and she was uncomfortable? "Look, if you just let me prove that this is an anomaly -"
He wanted to prove something to her? What could he possibly have to prove? And how would he do it? "How? I mean, no!" No, no, no. She didn't need proof. "I told you, there's no need."
"If you're gonna look at me like that for the rest of our lives, I think that there is."
God. Why the hell couldn't her eyes stay . . . up? "It really doesn't matter," she said, and almost believed that he bought it.
Until he reached out and touched her. "Yeah," he said quietly and firmly. "It does."
There was nothing else to say to that. Nothing else to do but get the hell out of there and forget she'd ever seen . . . what she'd seen. "Look, if you say that's not you, then I believe you."
She didn't believe him. Who did she think she was kidding? "No you don't. It's written all over your face. Besides, there's scientific proof that when -"
She had to leave. She had to get out of that room, right now. If she didn't . . . If she didn't then she'd end up demanding his proof and that would be a very bad thing. Besides, it was none of her business what he decided to do behind closed doors. "Sure I do. And I'm . . . I'm gonna leave now."
"Monica. Gimme one minute to . . . just gimme a minute, will ya?"
But she'd already closed the door behind her, leaving him mortified, aggravated and alone.
TBC...
Ugh, not sure how this will turn out. The format is appearing all screwy and I've tried to fix it, but I think I'll just have to cross my fingers and hope for the best.