Everybody – Ingrid Michaelson
Just let the love, love, love begin
.
She's laughing, smiling, and enjoying herself.
It's unusual, especially after the week they've just had.
Of course, he's laughing with her, smiling with her, catching her attention and it just makes her smile wider. He moves the hair which has fallen across her eyes, shielding her from him as she shifted in her giggles. He can't stop himself. When she is this carefree, he needs to capture every second of it, burn it onto his retinas, never forgetting it. He won't have her hair shrouding it, throwing a blanket over her face.
She jerks slightly at his touch, still completely absorbed in the conversation surrounding them, some joke Ryan or Esposito have shared with the group, or maybe it was a snide comment from Lanie. He doesn't know which and he doesn't care.
She flicks her eyes at him, quips a brow in silent question.
He knows exactly what she's asking. No one else will understand.
He raises the corner of his mouth and flicks his eyes to the others for a second, relieved to find them all still deep in conversation, oblivious to their interactions. It surprises him, normally they are watching them like hawks, especially Lanie – but apparently not tonight.
His response causes her face to soften. Then she shifts her hands, stops nursing her glass and shoves her hands beneath the table and gives a slight shiver at her shoulders, just in case, making like she's shoving her hands beneath her thighs in the cool of the bar. But she's not.
She doesn't shove them under her legs like he expected, she wraps a hand around his knee and gives it a gentle squeeze. He isn't sure what she's implying because she's turned her attention back to the rest of the table, rejoined the laughter, throwing in a comment.
When they had gained the have the ability to have a complete conversation by simply reading the expressions on each other's face he isn't sure. But he's just realised how valuable this skill may prove to be.
Then she's smiling again and it makes him wish they were alone so he could pull her closer, test the boundaries they've only recently established, cross lines and build bridges. But they can't – at least not under the prying eyes of the rest of the team.