Hey babes! Back again with a new Brightwell story for you! Honestly, I meant to get this up earlier during the hiatus, but other stuff got in the way. But I'm posting it now because the new episode is on tomorrow and I am very excited.

Enjoy!

"You know, you really gotta be more careful while we're at work."

Malcolm looks up from the array of medications in front of him on the counter, his brows furrowing together as he looks toward the front door. Dani is making her way inside, using the key that he'd given her recently, and shrugging out of her jacket. "What do you mean?" he asks her.

"I mean people are going to start figuring out we're together if you don't pull back a bit."

"We both agreed on no PDA while at work," he tells her, stepping around the counter to join her by the couch. "I've been following that. We both have."

She shakes her head. "Not that. It's the looks."

"What looks?"

She throws her hands up, rolling her eyes. "Of course you don't realize. Every time you look at me when I'm talking you get this...dopey look in your eyes."

His lips quirk up. "Can't help it."

Her own eyes go wide. "There it is! That look. You've gotta stop doing that or someone is going to figure it out before we want them to."

"Honestly, I'm surprised they haven't figured it out sooner," he says with a huffed out laugh, settling himself down on the couch. "They claim to be highly trained detectives, yet they're unable to deduce that two members of their team are dating."

Dani grows an amused smile of her own and joins Malcolm on the couch, pulling her legs up underneath her and resting one arm on the back. "Yeah, they do seem to be a bit oblivious. Nothing has really changed between us as far as work goes, though," she reminds him. "We're still able to keep things professional while we're there."

He smiles sweetly up at her. "We are pretty good at that. Makes it all the more special when we're away from everyone else and can just be...us."

She smiles back at him, reaching out to run her fingers through his hair, her smile growing a little when his eyes flutter closed. It happens every single time. She really doesn't know why it affects him so much, but she loves it.

"You know...it's not fair when you do that," Malcolm tells her in a slightly groggy voice.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she feigns innocence, continuing to card her fingers through his hair.

Malcolm opens his eyes enough to look at her, reaching up to grab her and hand and stop it from what it's doing. He brings the hand down to his mouth and presses a slow, gentle kiss to her knuckles. "You are a master of distraction, Detective Powell."

She just smiles, lacing her fingers through his and giving a small squeeze. "Is it wrong for me to want you to myself after sharing you with everyone else all day at work?"

He shakes his head, letting a quiet chuckle. "No, it most certainly is not."

"Good." She tugs on his hand to pull him toward her, sliding her own body across the couch to get closer to him. She hooks one of her long legs around his waist, sitting up a little straighter as she reaches up to slide her fingers through his hair. "Because I want you completely all to myself right now." She leans forward the rest of the way to connect their lips, smiling when his hands that are on her waist tighten their hold. Not enough to hurt her in any way, but enough to show that they're on the same page with where this is going.

He kisses her back eagerly, deepening the kiss as his thumbs gently rub at the skin exposed under the hem of her t-shirt. He pulls away after a moment, breathing heavily with half-lidded eyes. "While I love where this is going, I think we should probably move to the bed. Much more comfortable there."

"Excellent idea." She gives a quick peck to his lips before standing up and sauntering over to the bed, thankful once again that Malcolm had listened to her suggestion of getting curtains for the giant window overlooking his bed. Despite how high up it is, the thought of having it uncovered whenever they're intimate just didn't sit right with her.

She's standing at the edge of the bed when she feels Malcolm's arms snake around her from behind, his lips pressing a kiss to the nape of her neck. She smiles, leaning into his touch as her eyes fall closed. "We haven't made it to the bed yet," she says quietly, tilting her head a little to the side.

"We're close enough," he mutters against her skin, lowering his hands to rest comfortably on her hips.

She laughs, turning around in his arms and draping her own over his shoulders. She smiles as she connects their lips again, walking backward until the back of her knees hit the edge of the bed.

Grabbing hold of his tie, she pulls him down with her on top of the bed and then rolls them over so she's hovering above him. She pulls away just enough to smile down at him, her hair hanging in front of her face. "That's more like it."

Malcolm smiles sweetly up at her and then surges up to kiss her deeply.

She smiles against him, a laugh escaping past her lips as they quickly get lost in each other, a tangle of limbs beneath the sheets.

.

.

.

He's jolted awake by whatever disturbing thing was plaguing his dreams this time, something he can no longer remember. It takes him a moment to gather his bearings, the alluringness of sleep still clouding over him. He's not wearing his restraints. Which would be alarming if it wasn't for the fact that he's been trying to wear them less and less. He still has nights when he feels he needs to wear them, but thankfully Dani is patient and understanding no matter the situation. He truly is one of the luckiest men in the world to have a woman like her by his side.

The sound of a key in the lock of his front door pulls his attention and his eyes go wide. There's only one person in the world who has a key to his place and would just come over unannounced like this.

He quickly turns toward the woman next to him and gently shakes her shoulder. "Dani," he whispers. "Dani, you need to wake up."

She groggily shifts on the bed, peeking up at him through her hair and squinted eyes. "Bright? What the hell?"

"You need to get up. We're about to have an unexpected visitor."

"What? Who?"

"Malcolm, darling, are you up?"

He cringes at the oh-so-familiar voice, his eyes closing momentarily before looking at his girlfriend. "My mother."

Dani's eyes go wide at his words, her hand immediately grabbing the end of the sheet and tugging it up to cover her bare chest.

Malcolm turns his head in time to see his mother approaching, the same smile on her face that she always has. "Mother, what are you doing here?" he asks, shifting enough on the bed to hopefully provide Dani more coverage. Not that he's necessarily trying to hide Dani, but he doesn't think she wants his mother to see her half-naked in his bed.

"Just checking in on you. Have you been—oh, I see we have some company."

Malcolm closes his eyes and groans internally. He glances out of the corner of his eye just enough to see Dani's hair appear in his vision.

"Hi, Mrs. Whitley," she says, and he can practically feel the embarrassment radiating off of her.

"Detective Powell," his mother says with slightly wide eyes before morphing her face back into her smile. "How lovely to see you again. I didn't know you've been seeing my son."

"No one does, mom," he tells her. "Dani and I have been keeping this to ourselves. We didn't want anyone to...meddle."

"If that's directed at me then I must admit that I'm a little hurt that you think I wouldn't be able to contain myself."

He gives her a look. "Mother…"

She sighs and waves him off. "Oh, fine. But I still think you should have at least told me you were seeing someone, even if you didn't say who."

"And we can talk more about this in a minute. Could you please wait for us in the kitchen?"

"Oh, alright. But don't take too long. I have many questions." She turns and makes her way into the kitchen area, her heels clicking sharply against the wood floor.

It's moments like this when he wishes he didn't have such an open floor-plan. When he'd actually have a bedroom door to close to keep his mother out.

He lets out a heavy sigh and turns to Dani. "I am...so sorry about her."

Dani gives him a tight-lipped smile. "Don't worry about it. Someone was bound to find out eventually, right? I was just hoping it wouldn't be like that."

He lets out a quick laugh. "Yes, that was very unfortunate timing. If you want to go change, I can keep her occupied for the time being."

"You sure you can handle her first thing after waking up?"

"I've gotten quite good over the years at dealing with my mother." He gives her a smile before gently nudging her shoulder. "Now go. Quick."

She sighs heavily. "Alright, I'm going." She leans down over the side of the bed to gather her clothes and then she's wrapping the sheet tight around her body. She drags it off the bed, the rest of the fabric trailing behind her as she moves quickly to the bathroom.

He watches her go for a moment, completely in awe of every single part of her. He loves everything about her.

Reaching down over his side of the bed, he quickly pulls on his underwear, followed by his pants and shirt from the previous day. No sense in trying to find a completely new wardrobe at a time like this.

Shuffling his way into the kitchen, he mentally prepares himself for whatever his mother is going to say or ask. He knows her. He knows how she can be. He wants to try and spare Dani of as much of that as possible.

"So, how long have you two been together?" his mother asks after he's settled himself at the island counter.

"Only a few months. But I really like her. She means a lot to me. More than anyone else ever has before."

His mother turns around and fixes him with a look. "You really care about her?"

He nods. "Yes, I do. She's very special to me, I don't want to ruin this."

She raises a brow at him. "And you think I'm going to somehow jeopardize your relationship."

"Of course not, mother," he says gently, trying to placate her, "but you have a tendency to get a bit...invested."

She rolls her eyes at him. "Oh, honestly, Malcolm. I'm your mother. It's my responsibility to make sure you're taking care of yourself and if you're in a relationship then it's my duty to make sure it's a good and healthy one."

"I promise you that it is," he says earnestly, fixing his eyes on his mother. "She's good to me. She doesn't make me feel like there's anything wrong with me. She doesn't walk on eggshells around me. She's there for me when I don't always realize I need someone, and she waits until I'm ready to talk about whatever's going on in my head. She doesn't push, but she also does. It's a balance, one that she's somehow figured out perfectly. It's...she's amazing."

His mind wanders as he thinks about his girlfriend, about all of the things she does for him that no one ever has before. She's the only person who's stuck by him in such a close manner with no hesitation, because she wanted to and not out of some kind of obligation.

He brings himself back into reality in time to see his mother leaving his apartment, the door closing tightly behind her. Clearly she didn't bother checking to see if he registered her saying goodbye. Or she just figured he'd realize she left when he came to.

Either way, he can't say he's mad that Dani won't have to endure whatever questions his mother had. At least, not right now. But at some point down the line.

Turning his head when he hears shuffling, he smiles at Dani as she approaches, dressed in some of her laziest, comfiest clothes.

"So...your mom knows about us now," she remarks as she enters the kitchen and leans forward against the island counter.

Malcolm nods as he moves to stand next to her. "Yes, she does. Though, I did zone out for a bit before she left so I'm not entirely sure how she feels about it." There's a quick beep from his phone and he looks down at it, letting out a heavy sigh at the message on the screen. "But I think she's okay with it because she wants you to come to dinner."

Dani's eyes go wide. "She does? Really?"

Malcolm nods. "Yes. I can help you find a way out of it if you don't want to go."

She tilts her head in thought for a moment before shaking her head and standing up a little straighter. "No, I'll go."

"You will?"

She nods, stepping a little closer. "Yeah. As...eccentric as your mother may be, she's still your mother. I told you when we started this that I wasn't going anywhere unless by force." She steps closer to him and places her hands on his shoulders, ducking her head just enough to look him in the eye. "I'm going to that dinner with you. Come on, how bad could it really be?"

He laughs quietly, his arms instinctively wrapping around her waist. "You clearly underestimate my mother."

So? What did you think? Let me know in a review down below. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Until next time,
Jellybean96 out!