Colby's even breathing told Hannah that he'd fallen asleep. She smiled with satisfaction. The events of the last few days had been traumatic for him. She had done what she could to be there for him, but he'd kept his own counsel on most of it. They hadn't had much of a chance to relax with each other, but she hadn't wanted to press him. Although she wasn't ready to sleep, she didn't stir. He was a light sleeper, and she wanted him to get all the sleep he could. Besides, she was pretty sure he would wake up at some point. They hadn't had dinner yet, and he'd never, to her knowledge, missed a meal.
"What are you thinking about?" Colby's sleepy query broke into her thoughts.
Hannah raised her head and rested her chin on his chest to look at him. His eyelids were still heavy with sleep, drooping over those sexy, bedroom eyes.
"That was a short nap."
Colby smiled sleepily, "You were thinking so loudly, it woke me up."
She laughed. "God save me from light sleepers." She laid her head back on his shoulder.
He reached down to kiss her on her forehead. He pulled her a little closer, and she slid her arms around him for a hug.
"Hannah, I should say it more often than I do, but I really appreciate you putting up with everything. The crazy hours of the job, emotional baggage, everything. It never seems to bother you, and more than one person's mentioned how much they envy that."
There was a moment's silence while Hannah decided on how to respond. "Well, except for that one time, you've not exactly been there to see the fits I pitch," she trailed off.
Colby was startled into laughter.
"I'm not exactly proud of them," she continued, ruefully. "It's hardly reasonable to pitch a fit if you're working hard on solving a case, or if you're struggling with the fact that you've just shot a man. Kind of puts a ruined dinner on the not-so-important list, you know?"
He pressed another kiss on her forehead, and rested his cheek on the top of her head. "I'm given to understand that doesn't stop everyone. That also doesn't mean I can't do a better job of letting you know."
She grinned, and rolled on top of him so her chin was resting on his chest again. "You certainly could," she said solemnly, "and I'm going to punish you because you haven't been." Then she blew a loud raspberry in the middle of his chest. Colby looked amused. "That didn't tickle you at all, did it?" she demanded, a little put out.
"Nope," he said. "You're the ticklish one." And he flipped her over and blew a raspberry on her neck, sending her into fits of giggles. Grinning, he leaned down to kiss her. And they both burst into laughter when his stomach growled. "Come on, I'll take you out to dinner."
"There's beef stew on the stove," she said. "Did you really think I wouldn't plan dinner?"
"Just didn't want to take it for granted."
Hannah pulled on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt and watched in amusement when he only pulled his boxer briefs on. "You going to eat dinner in your underwear?"
"Why not?"
She chuckled, "Okay."
He put out some of the candles while she warmed up the beef stew and heated up some rolls. Then he pulled her into his lap at the dining table.
She laughed, "What are you doing?"
He grinned, "Just want you close. We can eat like this, can't we? We can feed each other."
Laughing again, Hannah settled in. They were quiet for a while, the occasional grin when food was spilled, or Hannah's giggles when she licked spilled stew off him.
"I think Olivia's finally realizing how much David means to her. I'd been thinking that she wasn't quite serious about him, until the shooting at the office." Hannah told Colby.
"He's crazy about her. So I guess I'm glad she does care a lot about him, even if she's only just now realizing it. He's a good guy."
"Don and Robin looked happier, when we were at lunch the other day."
Colby smiled, "It was funny how he accompanied her to lunch and ended up talking to me all through lunch. You women and dresses!" He smirked.
"It's a formal ball!" Hannah protested. "She's going to be beautiful! They're going to look really good together. Olivia and I are going to Robin's to help her get ready for the ball."
"You don't think she's learned how to get dressed all by herself?" Colby rolled his eyes.
"Just a few special touches. You guys are just too cavalier about that sort of thing. I wonder if Don knows how to dance?" Hannah mused.
Colby shrugged.
"I finished Megan's birthday gift. Dr. Fleinhardt's all excited about it. I think he's taking her to a cabin in the mountains on the weekend of her birthday."
That amused Colby. "You know, I never would have figured for them to get together."
"He's really sweet. I love listening to him talk, even though I'm not sure what he's saying half the time! Oh, and the jewelry I designed for Amita looks fabulous on her. Did you know Charlie came by and asked me to set one of those aside? He's going to surprise her with it. I never would have figured he would think of something like that. He's like in his own world all the time I've seen him."
"You're making out like a bandit, aren't you?"
Hannah laughed softly, "Yeah, the perks of dating an FBI agent."
He hugged her. He was feeling mellow and relaxed, and it made him happy to see her happy.
"It's really Megan's friends who are making a huge difference in sales. I had no idea her family was on the social register. All her friends are coming to the store, and making referrals. I'm going to have to hire an additional artisan just to take care of those sales."
"I didn't know that about Megan." was Colby's thoughtful response. Megan was a private person, and he only knew her in the context of their job.
Hannah nodded, "I supposed it really wouldn't come up at work. She's a very generous hearted person. So is Robin. She's referred her friends and her coworkers to the store. All in all, dating you has turned out to be very lucrative," she teased.
"It's almost funny how people are pairing off," Colby mused, half to himself, "emotional baggage and all."
"Well, it's not like anyone's perfect, Colby. We all just do the best we can. Deal with things when they happen." She was quiet for a moment, the she said softly, "How are you managing, honey? With the shooting?"
Colby was quiet for so long, Hannah didn't think he was going to answer.
Then he said slowly, "It's still hard to wrap my head around it. It's still my bullet that killed him. And I'll have to live with that. I've been trained to kill, but it doesn't mean I've had to do it, and it definitely doesn't mean I like doing it." He hugged her close. "I'm going to manage though. I always have."
They were both quiet for a minute, then Colby grinned, "Working with Rilla's been a hoot though. She definitely doesn't let anything get her down. She finds the silver lining in everything. She's fond of saying that if you can't laugh about it then life isn't worth it."
Hannah smiled, she'd liked the older woman when they'd had a chance to talk. "Why don't you ask her over for dinner some time. It can't be fun to be away from home like that all the time."
"And you'll want to make it a big get-together because you'll just have to ask Olivia, and if you ask Olivia, you'll have to ask the other ladies, and if you ask the ladies, you'll have to ask their significant other, and so on," Colby said wryly.
She giggled. He had her pegged. "It'll be fun though! Have the baseball game going on TV, wine and beer, it'll be a good time!"
"Hannah, do you want to go out for a movie or something? We don't always have this opportunity."
"Not dressed the way you are!" she laughed. "Actually, I thought we could play some more," she grinned at him. "I have a few more silk scarves."
She shrieked with laughter when he put her over his shoulder and headed for the bedroom, "You're not using those silk scarves on me ever again. But, I could use them on you!"