Author's Note: Just two days left for our 'friends' to figure out what they are becoming… Close friends? Friends with benefits? Romantic partners?

Eleven Pipers-piping

Chris LaSalle was wearing that look of most intense concentration, which she'd only witnessed on a handful of occasions when the man was perusing an especially dense forensics report or the like. His brown brows nearly touched in the furrow above his nose, his forehead wrinkling. Generally, his jaw would be firmly set, his lips pressed into a thin line (if he wasn't chewing them or running his tongue over his teeth as he thought). This time, however, his cheeks were puffed up almost comically, lips pursed and parted as he controlled the air flow from his lungs.

"What is that?" Merri laughed. She couldn't help herself. She did recognize the tune, however, as he moved the little set of hollow bamboo rods back and forth picking out the notes. "Three Blind Mice?"

He stopped, panting for a few breaths and said, with a slightly lascivious twinkle in his eye, "Hot Cross Buns."

"I don't think that means what you think it means," she said, returning his smile, and stepping aside to let him in. She caught a whiff of his scent as he slipped by her, and remembered that he'd been evaluating Percy's firearms skills at the NOPD's range. He smelled strongly of gunpowder with just a slight undertone of ginger that she wouldn't have noticed if she hadn't been aware of it. But- Mmm... She'd missed him. Again, work had kept them separated for most of the day. This time, she'd been running down leads with Pride while Chris was stuck with their newbie.

"These 're actually fer ya," he said, handing her the musical instrument.

"Panpipes?" She laughed again. She couldn't remember laughing so frequently and freely as she had this past week and a half. Chris LaSalle made her happy in a way no one else ever really had before. Except for Emily. She was the only other person who she'd felt so comfortable and easy with, like she didn't have to censor a thing she said, like they she -and Chris, too- understood her.

"Couldn' 'fford eleven flautists or bagpipers," he said, his blue eyes studying her face a little more intently than usual, in the way she noticed he tended to do directly before kissing her.

"So you taught yourself?" He stepped into her personal space, his hands settling on her waist. He had that damned adorable, flirtatious, smug grin on his face.

"I got hidden talents." He leaned in and kissed her cheek right on the corner of her mouth. And she sort of had to agree about the talents part, as she felt an electric charge course through her. Damn. But she was discovering more and more of them as they spent time together. And she couldn't resist teasing.

"Talents? You sure that's what you want to call it?" She set the panpipes on the little side table by the door so she could snake her arms around his neck. She teased the tip of his nose with her own in an Eskimo Kiss. His lips twitched. And she wasn't sure if it was because the gesture had made his face itch, or if he was suppressing a chuckle, or if he wanted to kiss her on the lips. Okay, definitely the last one.

Yum! Absence indeed made the heart grow fonder. Okay, it'd only been a single day. Not even, since this time yesterday, they'd been cuddled up on the couch at Chris' place. But still, the deprivation seemed to intensify the mesmerizing allure of his kiss. He pulled back, giving her a Cheshire grin before his expression turned serious.

"Dang, how I missed ya taday," he said. She licked the taste of him off her lips. He'd had something spicy for dinner, with a distinct Cajun flavor. And she would've been disappointed, thinking he wouldn't want to order some delivery from their favorite cafe and have dinner with her, except she was well aware of his high metabolism and constant snacking.

Then again, she herself was feeling a little hungry for something other than food. The question was whether they were 'there' yet? A blind person could tell how badly Chris wanted to roll around between the sheets with her. But whether it was just his body... Or maybe something more... That was the question that plagued her, gave her hesitancy, doubt how forward she'd been behaving.

Over the weekend, he hadn't fended off her advances, but she hadn't pushed for much. She'd woken him up with a little manual encouragement. But they'd done nothing more than cuddle and kiss (with just some gentle groping) over the course of the day. Again, she had to fall back on the excuse of 'Who could resist?'

He was such an attractive man. Physically, yes. But his personality, both open and charming on the surface but also possessing intriguing depths that Merri just wanted to explore and solve the puzzle of his heart. And then there were his captivating deep blue eyes. And the fact that he smelled not only of the musky, sweaty male odor, but that teasing tantalizing accent of ginger. She wanted to eat him up. For so many reasons.

"I missed you, too, Chris," she said, and then feeling emboldened by those (most definitely) captivating deep blue eyes, added, "What do you propose we do about it?"

"Get good 'n' acquainted."

She would ask if he was sure, but the steady, calm look in his eyes gave her all the answer she needed, right before he was kissing her again, in a greedy way that spurred her own deep-seated desire for him. Then they were stumbling towards her bedroom with eager hands stripping away garments and tossing them aside.

Merri Brody was everything he'd imagined she would be. And more. It was a cliché, he supposed. But that didn't make it untrue. Her body was a work of goddang art. And the way she used it... But it was looking into her big, brown eyes while making love that had stolen his heart.

Not that he'd hadn't already been falling head over heels for the woman. Because damn, he couldn't deny it now. He loved her to pieces.

There were really only two directions to go at this point. Either pursue it, see where it went. Or try to call it a day and forget about it.

The latter seemed unnecessarily painful at this juncture. But no one could ever tell what the future held, and maybe ending things early rather than breaking up terribly later was a wiser idea.

Only mebbe Chris LaSalle just wa'n't that bright, after all. But as far he saw it. It was too late. Now or later. He'd already lost his heart. He knew he was the type to fall hard and fast. And he'd guarded against it since Savannah. Only with Merri, it'd been impossible. She'd gotten through his defensive walls. And he didn't begrudge her it a bit.

"Mmm..." She stretched and purred, rolled over onto her side to face him, throwing a leg over his hip. "I think that satisfied me for the day."

"But what happens if I'm missing you tomorrow or the next day?"

He traced the elegant pronounced curve of her side, down the valley of her waist and the rise of her hip, settling his hand there.

"Merri Brody, ya gonna have a hard time gettin' rid a me, now." He watched her closely, his heart swelling when she smiled so broadly that it lit up her entire face. She was a goddang angel when she smiled like that.

"Good."

She wiggled in closer so that her bare breasts were pressing against his naked chest. He could feel the steady beating of her heart through the warm, supple flesh. Her arms snaked around him, hands caressing his back in a simultaneously soothing and rousing manner. And then her soft lips were pressing against his and they were kissing again, slow and tender and loving.

A/N: Chris is feeling it? Is Merri, too? Are they comfortable enough to say it aloud? One day left!