Thank you sparkyCSI!

Chapter 10 – My Door's Open

Two months had passed almost in a flash and Christmas was near. It was the first week of December and Lily was doing her Christmas shopping. Her closest friends were the first on her list. A pair of shoes for Mary (the ones she's been dying to get), Broadway tickets for Meredith and her husband, a futuristic lamp to decorate Emily's place, Lisa gets those art books she wanted and I'll get Josh another Yankees shirt. She was trying to find a present for Lisa's dad when something caught her eye. It was a tie with a weird design in green and yellow and she couldn't help but smile. It's definitely Don's Christmas present. She smiled sadly when she realized they weren't on speaking terms but bought it anyway.

The days went by quickly and there was only a week left until Christmas. Lily's three friends had come in turns to leave their presents at her place, since this year the Christmas Even dinner was being held there.

After wrapping the gifts and putting them on her bed, she proceeded to store them in a cupboard. She put the last one (a box that she knew contained his present) on a shelf and made a decision.

Half an hour later, Lily was knocking insecurely on Flack's door. He answered and couldn't suppress his astonishment.

'Hi,' she said shyly, thinking it hadn't been such a good idea after all.

He motioned her to come in and sit down.

'I wanted to apologize,' she said bluntly.

Flack laughed at her directness.

'I shouldn't have fought with you, I kind of overreacted. I'm sorry.'

'It's okay, I'm your friend; it's my job to respect you and I didn't. I'm sorry too,' he said truthfully.

Lily took a paper out of her pocket and gave it to him. He unfolded it and smirked.

'A Flack coupon?' he asked.

'I wasn't going to leave unless you forgave me, so I brought backup,' she smiled.

'I would have forgiven you anyway, but I'll take it.'

'By the way, what are you doing on Christmas Eve?' asked Lily.

'I'm working 'til nine p.m. so me and Danny are going to have some takeout, play some poker … why?'

'We have our usual Christmas Eve dinner and I don't know, maybe you and Danny could come?'

'We work late,' he repeated.

'We always get so caught up that we don't eat until nine, nine thirty,' she explained.

'Thanks but, we'll be a nuisance.'

'Not true! Look, you don't have to come if you don't want to. We're going to be twelve people, two more won't change anything.'

'Twelve?' he asked shocked.

'The girls, Josh, Lisa's parents, Meredith's husband Nick and her in-laws and Emily's brother and sister.'

'Wow, there's lots of you! You do that every year?'

'Yes, although this is the first time Emily's brother is coming. This year it's at my place. So if you change your mind …'

Lily stood up and left, explaining she had to go to work.

A week passed and it was already Christmas Eve. Near six o'clock the guests started to arrive at Lily's place. They laughed and talked while the food was cooking. Twenty past nine they sat at the table and were ready to start when the doorbell rang. Lily opened the door.

'I'm glad you could come,' she said with a smile and after hugging both men, led them to the table.

Proper introductions were made and dinner started.

'So, what is it you gentlemen do for a living?' Lisa's mother asked Danny and Flack.

'We're detectives, Ma'am,' answered Danny.

'You've always had a thing for cops Lily, haven't you?' now she was speaking to her daughter's friend.

'Jenny!' she said and blushed a deep red.

'Well, it's true. Remember Henry and Gary and how was the other one called? The short one?'

'Robert,' she said. 'You're making me look bad, Jenny! I haven't had that many men.'

'Yeah, mom, she never had a love life.'

'Lisa, sweetie, you're not helping me here. So … Dean,' Lily addressed Emily's brother trying to direct the attention off of her, 'how's life in Kansas?'

The conversation continued throughout dinner, laughs a common thing in this big and dysfunctional family.

After dessert they all moved to the living room, the girls entering with bags of candy.

Flack was sitting on the couch, one arm holding a beer bottle. Lily sat next to him while eating marshmallows from the bag on her lap. He reached for one but Lily moved the bag from him.

'C'mon, give me a marshmallow,' he pleaded.

'Not going to happen.'

'Just one?' he gave her the puppy dog eyes.

She shook her head.

'If you want one so much you'll have to give me something in return,' she explained. 'That's how it works.'

'What do you want?'

'What can you give me?' she smirked.

'I don't know … I don't have that many things on me. Two bucks, handcuff marks or my shirt; that's all I can give you.'

'There are lots of people so I guess the last two options are out of the question,' she said flirtatiously.

Flack rummaged through his wallet.

'I don't have the two bucks either, so I guess we could arrange it later,' he returned the flirty comment with a wink.

'We'll see …' was her answer. 'Until then, no marshmallows for you.'

'You're mean!'

After talking for a while, they decided to open the presents. The whole group gathered around the Christmas tree and gifts started to be unwrapped. Soon, thank you's and kisses and hugs were exchanged between them.

After a while, the guests started to leave. First Nick and his parents, then Lisa's parents with Josh followed by Emily's siblings. Only Flack, Danny and the girls were left.

Lily was tiding up a bit when Flack approached her.

'Thanks for the book, I'll sure find it very useful,' she told him with a smile.

'I like the tie too,' he paused. 'I returned the pearl necklace last month. Got back almost all the money.'

'Almost?'

'Yeah, 'cause I bought something. And I hope this time you accept my gift.' He looked apprehensive.

She gave him a warning look but smiled anyway. Flack took out a box from his pocket and gave it to her. Lily opened it warily and her smile widened.

'Thanks, it's beautiful,' she said in a whisper as she took it from the box.

Flack moved behind her and clasped the Heart Link lariat that had been his gift. Then she went to her bedroom to see how it looked and he followed.

'It's gorgeous,' she beamed and hugged him tightly.

'Glad you liked it.'

Flack was leaving the room when she stopped him.

'Wait! I've also got another present for you,' she rummaged through the bedside table and got a box wrapped in red paper.

'Umm, thanks,' he ripped the paper and opened the box.

'I know it's not a very interesting gift or anything but I want you to carry a little piece of me.'

He smiled, touched by the gesture and after reading the engraving in the pen again (Seek and ye shall find. With love, Lily), hugged her.

They joined the others in the living room. He sat on a couch and she sat on one of the armrests.

'What's that on your neck, Lil?' asked the always observant Emily.

'A Christmas present,' she answered simply with a small smile.

'Nice! I wish I had someone to give me that kind of presents,' said Lisa.

'The disadvantages of being single …' added Mary.

'Sorry to disappoint you but I'm single too,' commented Lily.

The girls smiled slyly and Danny rolled his eyes.

They kept talking for a while.

'I think we should get going,' Flack said and yawned.

'Yeah, been a long day,' Danny stood up.

'Well, you can stay for the night. I don't want you falling asleep on the wheel,' said the host.

'Nah, don't worry,' said the taller man.

'I could take you up on that offer,' answered Danny after yawning three times in a row.

'I'll set up the couch then. You can stay too, Don.'

'But I don't have any clothes or anything,' he explained apologetically.

'Liar. You've got a bag in the trunk of your car with clothes for every occasion,' Lily paused to give him a smile, 'But you don't have to stay if you don't want to, we have Danny here to keep us company,' she gave the blond man a squeeze of the shoulders.

'For Messer's sanity I'll have to stay,' Flack spoke as if he was making a sacrifice when the truth was he was dying to say yes.

'How altruistic of you!' said Lily with sarcasm and a big smile.

'I'm sure I can handle four beautiful women on my own,' added Danny with a huge smirk.

After fetching their things from their cars, the men returned to the apartment. The women were already prepared for bed and were preparing the hot chocolates for their Christmas ritual.

'We always have a sleepover after Christmas dinner,' explained Meredith. 'We stay up until eight or nine a.m. watching movies, eating candies and chatting.'

'It's like we're teenagers again,' commented Emily with a huge grin.

'And it's huge fun,' said Lily as she dipped a candy cane on her chocolate and licked it.

This drove Flack over the edge. Because even if it had seem natural to her, it was an extremely sexy gesture. And the fact that she was wearing her customary skimpy nightgown didn't help either.

The four women in their diverse nightclothes went into Lily's bedroom to continue the practice they had started many years ago, during their Freshman year at University. And the two men waited until the door was closed to talk.

'I think you should stay tomorrow and tell her,' was Danny's advice.

'Tell who what?'

'Don't play dumb, Flack! Tell Lily you love her. Or at least that you want a chance with her.'

'You've drank too much alcohol today, Mess.'

'Deny it all you want but I saw the way you melted when she licked that candy cane.'

'I'm a man and it was sexy; doesn't mean anything.'

'It was sexy, but she's supposed to be your friend and you treat your friends as sisters. Unless you have a thing for them …'

'Whatever, I'm going to sleep now.'

Meanwhile, the conversation with the girls was taking the same turn.

'You saw how he drooled?' asked Mary.

'Yeah, it was kinda cute,' said Meredith.

'What are you talking about?' was Lily's question.

'The way Don drooled over you,' stated Lisa.

'Right! I think you've ingested too much sugar and you're hallucinating. I'm his friend.'

'Sweetie, he wanted to take you right there,' Emily put things bluntly.

'I think you should give him a try, it's obvious you two are attracted to each other.'

'It's hard not to, Mer! He is extremely hot but it's not going to happen.'

'Why not?' asked Lisa.

'He likes beautiful women.'

'You are a beautiful woman,' Mary pointed out.

Lily shook her head.

'You go ask Martin, Chris the D.A., Flack, any other man and he'll tell you I'm right.'

'You need to work your self-esteem. It's stopping you from being happy and realizing your true potential.'

'Could you just be her friend on this one and not a shrink?' asked Lisa.

'It's just that he's way out of my league,' Lily sighed. 'He's handsome, charming, a great guy …'

'And you're a successful lawyer, smart, pretty and a good person. Yeah, he can't feel you're out of his league, why would he?' Meredith spoke with irony.

'I don't know if I can do it.'

'At least try with his hot friend,' joked Mary.

'You think Danny's hot? Oh, please!'

All but Lily agreed on the fact that he was cute.

'Okay, so I like his sense of humor but Danny's not handsome,' Lily stated.

'Yeah, girls, Lily here likes her men tall and sexy and sleeping on her couch,' said Emily.

A few hours passed and they went to sleep. Around seven in the morning Lily woke up. She went to the kitchen to drink some water before going to bed again. She slipped out of the room and crept towards the kitchen. Flack noticed the movement and went after her.

'What are you doing up?' he asked softly so as not to wake anybody.

'Just having a drink. You?'

'Couldn't get back to sleep so I jumped at the chance of talking to someone.'

'Okay, but let's go to the guest room. That way we won't wake up our friends.'

Once inside the room Lily got into the bed and lifted the covers up to her neck. He sat in front of her. They talked for a while.

'Aren't you cold sitting there? I'll make you some space on the bed,' she moved towards the wall and he took the offer.

Flack shivered as he pulled the covers over him and Lily snuggled into him in order to warm him up faster.

'It's been a while since the last time I shared a bed with a woman. Especially after the blast,' he confessed with his eyes closed.

She didn't say anything but squeezed his hand until he opened his eyes again and smiled.

'You should smile more often, you can't deny us the privilege of seeing your gorgeous smile. It's simply unfair,' she told him.

Their conversation continued for some time until they fell asleep. Their friends discovered them four hours later still asleep, her head on his chest, one of his arms round her waist.

'They should just admit their feelings,' said an exasperated Lisa.

'Flack's having a hard time doing that,' commented Danny.

'Lily's too stubborn and too afraid of being hurt,' explained Mary.

'And she's losing this one chance of being happy,' said Meredith sadly.

'Give them some time, they'll come round,' Emily assured and motioned them to leave Lily and Flack alone, not wanting to disturb the couple's peaceful slumber.

The pair woke up eventually.

'My neck's really hurting,' she said with a groan.

'My back's killing me. Guess we're getting old.'

'Maybe you are,' Lily patted his thigh, 'I'm still young and fit.' She climbed out of bed.

'I can see that,' he smirked and watched her take out one of the robes she never used and was kept in the guest bedroom and put it on.

'I'm dying for a cup of coffee, if you want to join me …' Don was at her side in 2.3 seconds.

They couldn't help but wonder why they had been so proud and stupid to stop talking for two whole months. They loved each other (in a non-romantic way, of course) and they discovered –the hard way, mind you- that their lives without the other one was lonely and less fun. In a few months ever since they had rekindled their friendship they found a missing piece of their lives. That's what their friendship meant to them and why they wouldn't risk losing it for a physical attraction.

If you're curious as to how the necklace looks like you can either go to tiffanydotcom and search for 'heart link lariat' or read this description from my aboslutely wonderful beta:

"She looked down at the sterling silver neckace, a simple chain with hearts around it. The chain ended in two hearts, both open, one with the chain threaded through it with another heart dangling down from it."

Chapter eleven's coming soon: Just Call On Me

You've got to be careful what you wish for, it can come true.

LaUrIsHa-just me