A/N: Changed the formatting a bit, but it's the same text.
Charlie sighed, pushed his hair back, and shook his head to clear it. It was past two on a Friday morning, and he was still in his office at Cal Sci, trying to finish up some work he'd been putting off for the past two weeks that he'd spent wrapped up in another major case for the FBI, but he'd been there since six that morning, and he had the feeling he was reaching the end of his useful brain waves.
He sighed again, dropped the pencil he'd been pushing around the paper in frustration for the past 45 minutes, and pushed back his chair. It was time to call it quits for the night—it was just about time to go home and recharge before he came back in a few hours.
It had been a long two weeks for Amita as well. She came back from her spring break trip to Chennai and immediately had to jump back into her teaching and her astrophysics research, burning the candle at both ends while trying to overcome a severe case of jet lag.
She was completely exhausted, but determined to finish preparing notes for a lecture she would be giving in a few hours, so she left the small office she shared with two other grad students, in search of a vending machine that could provide her with a quick sugar high.
She dug a crumpled dollar bill out of her pocket, fed it to the machine, and selected a pack of M&Ms. The machine whirred and the coil holding the candy spun, but the candy stuck at the last moment, held from falling into the machine's hopper by the corner of the bag.
Frustrated, Amita slapped her hand angrily on the machine in an attempt to knock the candy loose, but then gave up and dropped her head to rest on the machine's glass front, closing her eyes wearily and acknowledging defeat at the hands of technology.
"Hey," a voice came from behind her, and a warm hand descended on her shoulder. She jolted instinctively, but relaxed when she felt Charlie's warm presence behind her, leaning back into him.
He wrapped his arms around her and held her for a moment, his cheek against her hair, and then turned her around in his arms and brought his hand up to gently touch the side of her face in a concerned gesture. "You alright?" Charlie questioned her, seeing the strain and fatigue in her eyes.
Amita nodded, eyes downcast. "Yeah," she replied, pausing for a moment. Then she blew out her breath, and her words poured out. "It's just that I've got so much work to do and I just feel like I'm never going to catch up on it all and Dr. Kepler wants my research data like yesterday but I have to give this lecture in a few hours and I'm just not ready and I'm so tired right now that I don't know if anything I'm doing is going to make sense later on and…"
She trailed off as Charlie's arms tightened around her again, and she closed her eyes and gratefully absorbed his strength and warmth. One hand rubbed gently up and down her back, soothing her, and after a moment, she relaxed against him and just let him hold her.
It'd been far too long since they'd seen each other for more than just a quick bite to eat or a quick pop into his office, and she breathed in deeply and nestled her face against his shirt, enjoying his closeness.
Charlie continued stroking her back and holding her for a long moment, then released her and pulled her back a bit so he could look into her eyes. He read the fatigue and stress in them, and his brow creased. "You look like you could use some sleep, a break, something to take your mind off of all this," he said, smoothing her hair back from her forehead.
She shook her head in irritation. "I can't!" she sighed resignedly, "I have to finish these notes before ten, and then I have to meet with Dr. Kepler, and—"
"Shhh," Charlie commanded, putting his finger to her lips. "You will finish these notes, and then you will go get some coffee, and then you will give your lecture, and then you will go meet with Dr. Kepler. After that, you WILL go home and go straight to bed and not get out of that bed until I call you tomorrow morning. Then I'll come pick you up, and we will get out of here and you will spend an entire day with me, not worrying about work, not worrying about Dr. Kepler, not worrying about your research, just relaxing. That's all."
Amita started to shake her head, but he smiled and put his finger to her lips again. "No, no protesting," he said. "Just say yes."
She stared at him for a moment, and then smiled a tired smile at him and brought her hand up to cup his face, leaning forward to lay her lips against the corner of his mouth. "Yes," she murmured, her breath warm against his scratchy cheek. "It sounds wonderful."
"Great," he murmured back, threading his hand through her hair. They stared into each other's eyes for a long moment, as something unnamable replaced the fatigue on both their faces.
Charlie kissed Amita softly and then released her, turning around to face the candy machine. He studied it for a minute, and then with his fist hit it quickly on one side. The candy swung once and then dropped into the bin, where he retrieved it, opened it, and shook out some of the brightly colored chocolates into his hand.
He took one between his fingers, and held it up to Amita's lips, and she smiled at him and took it, staring into his eyes as she licked her lips and closed her mouth around the candy. Charlie's own lips parted involuntarily as he watched her enjoy it, and her smile widened as she enjoyed his reaction.
She plucked the bag from his hand and spun around to head back down the hallway, fatigue gone and blood warm from her encounter.
She stopped and looked back over her shoulder, enjoying the sight of him still leaning against the candy machine watching her, his mouth still slightly open. "Tomorrow," she reminded him, "don't forget about me."
Charlie shook his head silently, and as she disappeared down the hallway, he blew his breath out in a long sigh, and then grinned to himself at the thought of an entire day with Amita. Whistling quietly, he headed out of the building to his car.