A/N: I decided I couldn't leave it where I did, so this is the next morning :) This is loosely based on the breakfast scene in the Castle episode "Boom!" I apologise that it's a bit short, but I hope you like it anyway :)
Michael woke up slowly and groaned; he was about to roll over and go back to sleep when the sound of someone moving around alerted him to the fact that Jackie was awake.
He smiled a little, pleased that his half remembered dreams about her checking on him during the night weren't just drug induced fantasies. Heaving himself out of bed he groggily made his way to the kitchen.
He stopped short when he caught sight of Jackie, freshly showered and dressed, moving around the kitchen cooking them both breakfast.
Two glasses of orange juice sat on his kitchen bench accompanied by cutlery and plates. He watched as she dished out some bacon into a serving bowl next to one containing eggs.
She looked so natural in his kitchen, almost like she belonged there, that he found himself drifting off into some sort of domestic fantasy where she really did belong.
She glanced up and caught him watching her.
"I...uh...hope you don't mind...?" she began, looking a little flustered, breaking him from his potentially dangerous thoughts.
Michael shook his head, absently rubbing one of his eyes as he entered the room, "Not at all, I was just coming to check that you weren't burning my house down," he teased, reaching out to take a piece of the bacon.
He pouted as she slapped his hand away playfully with the spatula. "You insult my cooking and then think you can just steal some?" she teased.
"I wasn't going to eat anything, I was just going to move it out of your way," he defended. She rolled her eyes as she turned to attend to the kettle that had just boiled.
As she made their coffee he snuck a piece of bacon, but his hopes of her not noticing were dashed as she turned around and he was forced to shove the whole piece in his mouth.
"Here's your coffee," she told him, handing him the cup.
He took the proffered cup, trying desperately not to let on that his mouth was on fire – man that bacon was hot!
She eyed him suspiciously, "Michael Jardine did you just steal some bacon?"
He nodded guiltily as he finally managed to swallow it, sucking in a huge breath of blessedly cool air as he did so. Jackie just shook her head, "Serves you right, I told you not to steal any."
He made a face at her as he took a sip of his orange juice in a further attempt to cool his mouth down. "You didn't tell me it would be that hot," he countered once he was able to locate his voice.
"Michael, you saw me put it on the plate, straight from the stove top, what did you think it would be?" she demanded.
Michael chose to ignore her comment as he eyed the rest of the food she'd prepared in mock suspicion, "What else have you got here to kill me with?" he asked.
She stuck her tongue out at him, "You won't be getting any breakfast if you're going to take that attitude," she countered. "What would Taggart say if he found out you didn't have any breakfast?" she asked sweetly.
"What would he say if he found out you'd made it for me?" he countered, just as sweetly.
"Touché," she conceded as she went to serve him his breakfast. "I guess we'll just have to keep this as our little secret," she told him, a mischievous twinkle in her eye.
"I guess we will," he agreed, stealing another piece of bacon which made Jackie laugh.
Watching her laugh brought back some of those fantasies that he had been entertaining when he first entered the kitchen and Michael reflected that he could very easily get used to waking up to Jackie every morning.