I just want to thank everyone for the reviews! I'm really loving this story so far and I do plan to continue. Honestly, I have an entire future mapped out for McGee and Elle. Please keep reading!
After work, I rushed home to get ready for my date with McGee. He had called me earlier to ask if a Southwestern restaurant would be all right for dinner and I had willingly agreed. Anything was fine with me. I hadn't been eating very much over the past two weeks or so and my clothes were all starting to feel a bit loose.
Once out of the shower, I toweled off and ran a comb through my wet hair to get out tangles that the Pantene hadn't taken care of. My stitches had already come out, but the scar from the cut would be there for life. I ran my fingertips along the scar lightly. It would always remind me of what had happened.
The clocks said 6:15PM, which meant I had to hurry if I wanted to be ready in time. To get me in the mood, I went to my CD player and turned on whatever was already in the player. It was my CD of the Ballas Hough Band that I had bought just before Will's murder.
As the songs drifted quietly through my apartment, I applied more makeup for one night then I had worn in the past three weeks all together. McGee was important to me and I wanted to look my best.
At six-thirty, McGee turned his computer off and got up. "I'll see you guys tomorrow morning," he told everyone.
"Good luck tonight, Probie," Tony called, enviously watching McGee head to the elevator.
"Lucky fellow," DiNozzo remarked to Ziva one McGee was gone.
"You are jealous!" Ziva exclaimed. "I knew it!"
"Fine! So what if I am jealous? Put yourself in my position. Elle Charlton is hot and she's going out with McGee. Our McGee, who doesn't usually get the hot girls," Tony pointed out. "I'd say I have a good reason to be jealous."
Ziva nodded in agreement. "Why don't we go out for a drink and something to eat?" she suggested. "My evening is free."
Tony looked up at her, a smile spreading across his devilishly handsome face.
When McGee got to Elle's apartment, he took a deep breath. He hadn't had a date in a while and especially not one with someone as beautiful as Elle Charlton. He was downright nervous.
Upstairs, he knocked on her door and she answered quickly. He took a moment to take in her—what she was wearing and how she looked. She was wearing a short black cotton dress with a lime green tank top disguising how revealing the dress actually was. She was wearing a denim jacket over the dress and cowboy boots, which still left a good portion of her long, tanned legs visible to McGee's eyes.
"Do I look okay?" she asked, looking down at her outfit when she saw McGee doing the same.
"You look great," he told her sincerely. "Forgive my staring at you. I'm not used to seeing cowboy boots around here. You ready to go?" He offered her his arm in Mr. Darcy fashion and she excepted it happily.
When we got downtown, McGee parked his Porsche Boxster in a public parking lot so that we could stroll down the well-lit, quaint streets in the unusually warm March air. My hand fit into his perfectly and we fell into stride together naturally. The entire thing felt so right—not like anything else I'd ever felt before.
"So, you're a bit of a writer, I understand," McGee commented. When I looked at him strangely, he got sheepish. "I had to read your file, during the case."
"Ohhhh...," I nodded and blushed a little. "Yeah, I wanted to be a writer, but I've had a chronic case of writer's block since I graduated from college. I got a job at Barnes and Noble to pay the bills so that I could try to write, but nothing has come to me yet. I have so many ideas in my head, but getting them down on paper is much harder than it seems." I took a deep breath when I'd finished what I was saying, worried that I'd talked too much.
"Yeah, tell me about it," McGee agreed.
"Is that why you decided to write about your team? Because it was something you already knew about?" I asked, looking up at him curiously.
"Yes, that was mostly it. I wanted to write a crime thriller anyway, so I just took the people I worked with and things that had happened to us and made it into a story," he explained very simply.
"Well, it was definitely a hit. This lady that I recommended your book to a work came in a few days ago and told me how much she liked it. She said her favorite character was MacGregor," I told him. "She wanted to know if you had any new books coming out." I smiled up at him knowingly.
"I guess we'll just have to wait and see, won't we?" McGee raised his eyebrows significantly. Suddenly, he stopped walking and turned towards me. "Why don't you co-write the next story with me? I could use a female perspective."
For once in my life, I was speechless. I tried to think of some way to express my excitement, but nothing would come out for at least a minute. Finally, I managed to speak. "That would be...incredible! I can't believe that you would make that kind of offer. I might actually take you up on it!"
McGee thought for a minute. "Well," he said, "I'd like for you to. I think we'd make a really good team." He slid his arm around my waist lightly and I fit perfectly against his chest.
"All right, Thom E. Gemcity. You and I are going to write a novel together." I stood on tip-toe and kissed his mouth lightly. "I'm glad I met you," I whispered.
"I'm glad I met you, too," he replied, smiling boyishly.
"So, should we stay here on the street, or should we actually go get some dinner?" I asked after we'd gazed into each other's eyes for a while.
"Oh!" McGee almost jumped. "Yeah, sorry. I kinda forgot about that."
I slid my hand into the crook of his elbow and leaned my head against his shoulder. "We're going to write a bestseller, McGee," I assured him. "I can feel it already."
"I always did think that MacGregor deserved a love interest," McGee said thoughtfully.
"Well, I'd say he's got one now!"