Disclaimer: I don't own the situations or characters portrayed herein. I'm just playing with them for a while.


Stemwinder 1, Part 1

They were settling into a new rhythm.

Go to work. Steal a kiss in the Q Bureau, either across Amanda's new desk or in the vault.

Go down to the bullpen for morning meetings. Try not to make too much eye contact during the meetings if they sat across from each other. Try not to reach for each other if they had the misfortune to sit next to each other.

Get back in the elevator to return to the Q Bureau. Steal a couple kisses in the long, interminable hours until quitting time.

Loudly say goodbye in the parking garage surrounded by coworkers, and go their separate ways: he to his lonely apartment, she to her house that reminded him not so much of a cozy home as it did of Grand Central Station.

On certain days they met up again, at Emilio's. They got an entree to share with a salad for each, and he basked in her smile and made her laugh. Sometimes he kissed her, briefly but sweetly, and she ducked her face and grinned.

They always went home alone.

He had an idea though, of a way to break that routine. Not tonight, because telling her right after he told her about getting hit on by a Soviet agent out trolling was definitely a terrible idea. Not telling her about the woman never crossed his mind. It felt too secretive and dishonest.

He'd tell her he loved her tomorrow.