TWO NIGHTS, THREE DAYS
A/N: Ok kids, it's what we're all here for, it's time for these two to meet! Who makes the first move? What was Kate's first impression? And how many times can we throw in that amazing "Kate Whistler thinks Lucy Tara is adorable" smile?
PS: All offenses against the timeline are mine, canon is exploited to fit my agenda.
Disclaimer: As always, I'm writing for fun, no profit was made and I own nothing about these characters.
Message In A Bottle
Lucy's nerves were hopping and her stomach was churning as she crossed the room, but she was determined to finish that walk and talk to the only person on the planet who had ever rendered her speechless. She was halfway to her goal when her focus was broken by the sound of her phone, and since the alert was her work text tone she stopped in her tracks and immediately looked at the message.
Tennant: How's the elbow?
Lucy: Still sore but it'll be alright.
Tennant: Wow, you're still awake?
Lucy: Youthful enthusiasm for the win :p
Tennant: Or the triple foam latte ;)
Lucy: Or that :D
Tennant: Get some sleep Special Agent Tara, we need you well rested and recuperated by Monday.
Lucy: Special Agent? Are you serious?
Tennant: Well, Junior Special Agent..
Lucy: I'm so excited! How am I supposed to sleep?
Tennant: The caffeine will wear off eventually.
Lucy: Haha.
Tennant: Welcome to the team, we're lucky to have you.
Bolstered by Tennant's news, Lucy decided that even if she got rejected today she'd be able to live with it, but what she couldn't live with was knowing that she could have had something great if she hadn't been afraid to try. Remember who you are. Chin up and shoulders back, she took the remaining steps like the heiress that she was.
Watching with fascination as he wiped down the table closest to the blonde, Antonio wondered what just happened as Lucy's face transformed from sheer fright to absolute confidence as she locked her phone and slid it back into her pocket.
He shot a questioning glance to Miguel, who had also seen the change and merely shrugged in response. The bewildered barkeep then slid the shot back to Coral, who immediately drank it and declared, "That one's on the house."
Just Kate
"Please tell me you ordered the swordfish," Lucy boldly stated as she slid into the seat beside the stunning woman, "because if not, I don't think we can be friends. And I'm an amazing friend, so you definitely don't want to let that happen."
"Excuse me?" Kate replied, ready to argue with the presumptuous woman beside her until she looked up from her phone and saw that the voice belonged to what was possibly the sexiest human she had ever seen.
"I noticed you ordered dinner and I'm pretty sure, at least from what I can see," she paused as her eyes traveled that delicious body, "that you have impeccable taste. So," Lucy continued as the drawl began to slip out, "I'm going to believe that you made the right selection."
"And if I didn't?" the blonde challenged.
"Then I'd have to insist you come back tomorrow and try it," the brunette answered with hooded eyes and a sexy smirk.
"And if I did?"
"Then I'd have to think of another way to get you back here tomorrow."
Kate laughed out loud in response, and Lucy decided that that laugh and that smile were her new favorite things.
"I haven't seen you around here before," the raven-haired beauty observed, "and since you're here alone I'm going to guess that you're either one, on vacation and got in a fight with your boyfriend, or two, you're meeting him here after whatever it is that he was doing with his day." Pausing to take a sip of her beer she added, "In either case, he's a fool. Am I right?"
"No vacation," she replied with a slight blush at the cooly inserted compliment, "and no fight. What's number three?"
Voice dropping a register, Lucy batted her eyes and responded, "Doing your part for island beautification?"
Kate ducked her head as she felt the blush creeping across her face, her eyes averted as she struggled to appear as though every word hadn't caused a delightful jolt of pleasure. Smile so wide that it felt like her face would split, she replied, "I don't know about all that, but based on your very specific set of rules I think we can definitely be friends."
"Since we're friends," Lucy said as she leaned in conspiratorially, "I will tell you that I'm here in the afternoon on a weekday because I just worked a double, not because I'm unemployed. You?"
"In town for a meeting," the blonde replied, "and impressed by your stamina. Aren't you tired?"
"Exhausted," Lucy admitted, "I've been awake for 36 hours and haven't been home since Tuesday."
"I haven't done a thing since Tuesday," Kate laughed, "and today all I did was surf and eat before I needed a nap."
"Well, I bow to your severe grasp of how to behave on island time," Lucy grinned.
"And I bow to your superior staying power," Kate smiled.
"To be fair, I'm cruising on caffeine and adrenaline," Lucy admitted.
"Still," Kate replied as she gave into the urge to look the tiny brunette up and down, "your ability to hold a conversation at this point is impressive."
"Once my head hits the pillow I probably won't wake up until Monday," Lucy confided, her overactive imagination painting a delicious picture of herself and the blonde wrapped up in each other when her head hit that pillow.
Cut it out Tara, you just met her. Don't make it weird.
"So you're on a four day weekend?" Kate asked.
"Three day," Lucy corrected, "I just got off work an hour ago, so I technically worked today."
"To your three day weekend, and spending at least some of it with friends," Kate said as she raised her glass and pictured the charming brunette sleeping and wondered what she had to do to insert herself into that picture.
Cool it Whistler, you just met her.
"So generally," Lucy started with a nervous head tilt and an adorable sideways glance, "I like to know my friends' names. It's awkward," she said with a slight shrug, "to introduce you to people without it."
You're anonymous, make something up. Tell her you're Chloe or Siobhan or anything other than - "I'm Kate," she heard herself say with a warm smile as she offered her hand, "and I would love to meet your people."
Or that.
When the mocha skinned beauty took the hand in hers it was electric, the contact like an unexpected bolt of lightning that threw the usually composed blonde for a loop. As unsettled as she was by her visceral reaction to the innocent touch, she was also gratified by the little gasp that told her that the beguiling brunette felt it too.
A clearly rattled Lucy wanted to simultaneously yank her hand away and hold onto the delicious contact forever. She had never felt so alive as she felt in that moment, sitting there holding a stranger's hand that had every fiber of her being alive and screaming for more. "So do you have a last name Kate?" she asked as she continued to adorably smile and shake the blonde's hand. "In case your boyfriend calls or comes looking for you," she finished with a frown.
Kate was equal parts flattered, intrigued, and insanely attracted to the brash but ridiculously sexy woman who was obviously flirting with her. She also realized that she would give up state secrets if she kept holding that hand, so she reluctantly released her grip so that Lucy had no choice but to let go as she responded, "Just Kate."
"Tara," the brunette replied, the mood broken by what seemed like a rejection, "welcome to the island Kate."
"Tara? Really?" The blonde mumbled, "You've got to be kidding me."
"What's wrong with my name?"
Caught, the slightly embarrassed blonde responded, "Nothing! I didn't mean to say that out loud."
"Well you did," Lucy replied.
"Yeah I know, it's just..."
"Just what?" Lucy drawled.
The universe playing a colossal joke on me? Ghosts of DC haunting me?
"Nothing," she finally whispered.
"Okay," Lucy replied, squinting as she assessed the other woman. "Well, me and my offensive name are just going to leave you to your dinner, so sorry to have bothered you," she mumbled as she slid off her stool.
"Tara wait," Kate said with a little too much desperation in her tone as she placed a hand on the fleeing woman's arm, "it's not what you think."
Lucy wasn't sure if it was the sincerity in the woman's voice or the mind scrambling effect of her touch, but either way she wasn't going to move as long as Kate kept touching her. "I'm listening."
"Did you ever just want a break from being who you are?" Kate asked, and her softly spoken inquiry seemed to strike a chord in the other woman. Encouraged by the flicker of recognition in the expressive eyes looking up at her she continued, "I hope I didn't offend you, and I'd very much like to spend more time with you."
Lucy smiled radiantly and responded, "I would love to see more of you." Kate blushed as her eyes widened and her face split into a huge smile in response to the badly worded sentence, the smile continuing to grow as Lucy stammered, "Oh God, I didn't mean more of you, like that, I meant spend more time on you," head shake, "with you." Kate couldn't stop the smirk that the adorably rambling woman's words elicited, but she also recognized that Lucy was flustered so instead of commenting she just waited for her to pull herself together and continue with her train of thought.
Pausing to take a cleansing breath as she basked in the glow of that beautiful smile, Lucy exhaled and said, "Let me just start over. Kate, I would love to spend more time with you, do you have plans after dinner?"
"Just sightseeing," the blonde replied, "I haven't seen much of the island but today I'd like to."
"Well you're in luck," Lucy smiled, "because I'm an awesome tour guide."
"Oh wow, you'd do that for me?" Kate asked, then added, "My boyfriend will be so excited to hear that a local islander volunteered to show us around!"
"I'm not a local," Lucy growled.
"And I don't have a boyfriend," Whistler winked.
Thinking that this woman might very well be the death of her, Lucy did her best to act like she wasn't painfully turned on by that tiny flirtation. "I am going to leave you to your dinner," she said, her voice a little strained as Miguel delivered the fragrant dish, "but I'll be right over there kicking ass at trivia if you'd care to join me after."
Carpe Diem
"Oh my God," Lucy groaned as she returned to her friends, "I just colossally forgot my words when I was trying to be smooth and ask her out."
Miguel slid a fresh beer in front of her and observed, "Well whatever you said it seemed to work. Look." She followed his gaze across the bar and saw that the chair she had just vacated now contained Kate's purse, and the gentleman who was clearly trying to join her was being rejected. Kate's eyes locked on hers with a silent "help", so Lucy set down her drink and went to the rescue.
"Hey babe, we're going to start the first round. The guys know you had to work late, so Miguel will take your place until the second round."
Addressing the hapless lothario as if she'd just noticed him, Lucy drawled, "Can I help you?"
"Just waiting for my drink," he grumbled.
"Well, wait over there," she said as she pointed to the opposite side of the bar. She then snaked an arm around the seated blonde's waist and stared in defiance until he walked away.
Kate was shook by the intensity of her reaction to that simple touch, and once Lucy released her and headed back to her game she found herself craving the feel of that warm arm and the grip of those fingers on her waist. Everything about the moment that the gorgeous brunette had embraced her was burned into her brain, from the heat of the touch to the smell of the grill and the exact part of the song that was playing on the jukebox. Tara's embrace was surprisingly strong and comforting, her hair silky where it had briefly grazed her cheek and dear lord, if sexy had a smell it could only be described as what she had experienced when she had inhaled the woman's unique scent. Kate gave herself a mental shake and returned to her meal, which was as amazing as promised, and she took the time to savor every bite as she covertly observed the way Lucy was interacting with her group of friends. The woman was like a force of nature, sexy, self-assured and commanding without trying to be. She was absolutely irresistible, and Kate sent up a thank you to whatever god had compelled the diminutive firecracker to approach her in the first place.
The blonde's entire body was still humming from the brief contact the women had shared, and she was seriously considering dragging the brunette into the bathroom and begging her to stoke the fire that she had started. Fuck she's hot, she thought as she watched that tight little body do a victory dance. She couldn't resist, she was actually craving the sound of Tara's voice and the warmth of her touch. Please let that damn name be a ruse. Deciding she had waited long enough to not look pathetic and desperate, she grabbed her drink and headed over to join in on the apparently cutthroat trivia game.
"Y'all, this is Kate," Lucy beamed in her thick Texas accent, "and she's about to witness the greatest victory in the history of the island."
Whistler laughed at the introduction, and soon was involved in what was, indeed, a great victory. "No fair!" cried Trig, "you brought in a ringer!"
"You're just mad you didn't go talk to her first," Coral grumbled as she forked over her share of the cash that they had just lost.
"That's because she wouldn't let me!" Trig cried, earning a smack on the back of his head from Antonio who just happened to be walking by. "Ow! Why does everyone keep hitting me?" he grumbled as he rubbed his head.
"Because you have a big mouth," Coral replied sweetly as she patted his arm placatingly and added, "next time, I call Kate."
"Next time, huh?" the blonde smiled as she pretended not to notice the telling blush staining Lucy's cheeks.
"Damn straight," the disgruntled surfer replied, "gotta give me a chance to win my money back."
"Well," Kate said as she tapped her chin in thought, "I suppose I can give you a chance to win it back, but I'm not switching teams."
"No fair!" Trig spouted, "You know you'll just cream us again!"
"What can I say?" Kate smirked, "I'm a sucker for an accent."
"I don't have an accent!" Lucy wailed as she stood and collected her winnings, the sound of the trio's laughter following the two women as they stepped out into the warm late afternoon sunshine.
~e ho'omau 'ia~