Title: Curious (2/3)
Fandom: Women's Murder Club
Pairing: Jill/Cindy
Rating: PG-13, I guess
Word count: 1,574
Disclaimer: Alas, characters aren't mine.
Spoilers: None
Summary: What happens after Cindy's latest bad date.
A/N: So, I'm still having no luck at my vague attempts to move forward on "Witness." In the meantime, here's something new!

Part 2: A Surprise

"So, do you have a girlfriend?" Jill asked as soon as the movie ended.

Cindy's blush was almost instantaneous. She had been wondering when Jill was going to bring up Cindy's newly-revealed sexual-orientation. The club had gotten together for dinner at Jill's new apartment, but Cindy was the only one left, since Claire had a husband and kids to attend to, and Lindsay had one of her scheduled long-distance phone calls with Pete.

Taking a moment to swallow her handful of popcorn, Cindy replied, "Don't you think you'd know if I had a girlfriend?"

"Well one would think so, sure, but you managed to hide the fact that you'd even be interested in having a girlfriend, so you never know. Or, well, you know, obviously, so I guess it's really more like I never know."

Cindy laughed lightly, idly thinking that Jill was cute when she rambled. "No, I don't have a girlfriend," she answered, as Jill reached over to grab the popcorn bowl.

"And have you had a girlfriend since I've known you?"

"No."

"Why not?"

Cindy frowned at the question. "What do you mean, 'why not?'"

Jill pulled her legs up onto the couch, twisting around to fully face Cindy, who was sitting at the other end. "Well, you're an attractive girl. I'm sure there are plenty of interested females out there. So why not?"

Cindy shrugged. She wasn't interested in random hypothetical females so much as the one female in front of her, but she wasn't about to admit that out loud. "I dunno. I've been on dates, as you well know. Just...no one's clicked yet."

Jill eyed her speculatively. "Okay then, when did you have your first girlfriend?"

"Junior year in high school. And what's with the twenty questions?"

Jill smirked, and Cindy found herself thinking that her friend's expression was impossibly sexy.

"I'm interested in your lesbian lifestyle."

Once again, Cindy laughed, forcing herself to shift her gaze away from Jill's lips.

- - - - -

Cindy was at home, working on an article, when her phone started ringing. She reached over and grabbed it, not bothering to look at the caller ID. "Cindy Thomas," she greeted.

"It's your turn to play chauffeur, Cindy Thomas," came the reply on the other end.

"What? Jill?" Cindy switched her attention from the computer screen in front of her to the phone.

"Yes, it's Jill." The attorney sounded almost offended that Cindy even had to ask. "And Denise, who is much drunker than I am, by the by, has informed me that if I try to drive myself home, she's going to call Lindsay and have me arrested for driving while intoxicated. And why call a cab, when I can call you? So come pick me up."

Cindy had to try very hard not to laugh out loud. "Sure thing. Where are you?"

"Not at The Lesbian Club, unfortunately."

Cindy paused, unsure about what to make of the word 'unfortunately.' "Lexington. You mean The Lexington Club."

"Sure, close enough. But I'm not there, so it doesn't matter. Anyway, one of the ADAs in the narcotics unit is moving to Seattle, so we're having a goodbye party, and there's free booze, but now I'm bored, so get your ass over here."

When Cindy pulled up in front of the function hall fifteen minutes later, the first thing that Jill said upon entering the car was, "Have I ever told you that you look cute in glasses?"

Cindy simply stared at Jill for a moment, before slowly responding, "Um, no. You haven't."

"Well I should have, because you do. Look cute, that is. But you always look cute, damn you, so no surprise there."

"Uh, thanks? You're not so bad yourself." Cindy couldn't be sure if Jill had always been this flirty, and she simply hadn't noticed, or whether all the free alcohol was to blame.

The ride back to Jill's apartment was filled largely with gossip about Jill's colleagues, but Cindy couldn't have repeated any of it if asked to, since she found herself too distracted by the generous bit of cleavage she could catch whenever she glanced in the rearview mirror.

"Cindy!"

Startled out of her daydream, Cindy became aware of the fact that Jill was staring at her.

"What? What's wrong?"

"You just drove right past my apartment!"

Cindy looked out the window, finally paying attention to where she was. "Huh? Oh. Shit, sorry."

"Jesus," Jill exclaimed, as Cindy suddenly hit the brakes and pulled a quick three-point turn. "You suck as a chauffeur."

"Good thing I still have my day job, then," Cindy commented dryly as she parked Maggie.

"Well to make up for it, you have to come inside and keep me company for a while." Jill exited the car and walked straight up to her building without a backward glance, leaving Cindy no choice but to follow.

Inside the apartment, Jill waved a vague hand towards the living room, indicating (Cindy assumed) that Cindy should go there, as Jill disappeared into the kitchen. Cindy settled into the plush couch, waiting until Jill reappeared, with a beer in one hand, and a bottle of water in the other. She handed the beer to Cindy before sitting in the chair opposite the couch.

"I probably shouldn't drink," Cindy said, taking the offered beer anyway. "I still have to drive myself home, after all."

"Not if I get you drunk enough to convince you to have a sleepover," Jill replied with a grin. "And either way, one beer won't kill you. I know you're little, but you can't be that much of a lightweight."

So Cindy convinced herself that she had to drink the beer at that point, if only to prove that her tolerance could handle it.

The problem with that, however, was that once she'd accepted the first beer, it made it easier to accept a second one, and then a third. And then Cindy could only watch, wide-eyed and seemingly forgetting to breathe, as Jill stood up and strode over to the couch, removing the empty bottle from Cindy's fingertips, and proceeding to essentially crawl into Cindy's lap.

"Um, hello," was all Cindy could seem to say.

"Hi," was Jill's breathy reply, as she leaned down and captured Cindy's lips with her own.

Cindy remained frozen to the spot, completely bewildered, until she finally moved the upper half of her body (the half that Jill wasn't straddling) sharply to the right, pulling slightly away from Jill.

"Jill! Wh- What are you doing?"

"Isn't it obvious? Trying to kiss you." With that, Jill leaned back in, but at the last second, Cindy moved her hand in between their lips.

"Why?" she asked against the palm of her hand, an element of panic entering her voice. She had in no way seen this coming, and had no idea what to do about it.

Sighing, Jill pulled back, but chose not to remove herself from Cindy's lap. "Oh come on. Haven't you noticed that I've wanted to kiss you for awhile, now? And I totally caught you checking me out in the car, so I know you're not completely averse to the idea."

In spite of the circumstances, Cindy couldn't help but be impressed with Jill's use of the word "averse," considering the fact that neither one of them was completely sober. Regardless, Cindy decided to ignore Jill's last sentence for the moment. "You... you've wanted to kiss me? No, I can't say that I'd picked up on that."

"Then you're blind, Cindy Thomas. But you're still hot, so I'll forgive you." Jill leaned in again, but Cindy was a bit more prepared for it this time, so she managed to shift and slide completely out from beneath Jill.

"I... I should go."

Jill sighed once again, flopping down onto the couch and then turning to look over at Cindy, who was now sitting up straight, as far to the other side of the couch as she could get.

"Wow, you really had no idea, did you? I thought I had been more obvious about it," Jill commented idly, brushing her bangs out of her eyes.

Beneath her panic, Cindy couldn't help but notice how beautiful Jill looked in that moment, the soft light of the nearby lamp falling gently across her pale skin. Cindy swallowed audibly, finding her throat to be uncomfortably dry.

"Look," Cindy began, "I don't know what's going on. Not really. But I've been a straight girl's random experiment, before. Things like that don't end well. They never end well. I don't know if you're just curious, or what, but I won't do that with you, Jill. For the sake of our friendship, and my sanity, I won't do that with you."

Cindy could only wait anxiously as Jill continued to silently gaze at her. Finally, the blonde blinked, sitting up straighter and breaking their eye contact, before shyly looking back over at her through long eyelashes.

"I'm sorry, I've..." Jill paused to run her tongue over her lips and a hand through her hair. "I've fucked this whole thing up. I shouldn't have just accosted you like that. But seriously, you've had three drinks. Just stay here tonight, okay? Will you stay if I promise not to sexually harass you?"

Cindy couldn't help but smile at Jill's choice of words. "Okay," she replied, briefly wondering if she was giving in too easily, and then deciding that she didn't quite care.

TBC...