A/N: This chapter is rated M for a small section at the beginning. It's just two adults having a normal adult relationship. If you're sensitive, just skip it and enjoy the rest. Thanks, BEG75.
Moonlight tiptoes
"I know she's not perfect but she tries so hard for me
And I thank god that she isn't 'cause how boring would that be
It's the little imperfections it's the sudden change in plans
When she misreads the directions and we're lost but holdin' hands
Yeah I live for little moments like that
When she's layin' on my shoulder on the sofa in the dark
And about the time she falls asleep so does my right arm
And I want so bad to move it 'cause it's tinglin' and it's numb
But she looks so much like and angel that I don't wanna wake her up
Yeah I live for little moments
When she steals my heart again and doesn't even know it
Yeah I live for little moments like that."
-Little Moments, Brad Paisley
The apartment was blanketed in silence. Moonlight streamed through the windows, sending rivers of silvery light cascading onto the smooth hardwood floors. Patricia Flack slept soundly on the pull-out couch. Her darling grandson had worn her out after a mere half an hour of having to rescue him from one precarious situation after another. The child had no fear. She remembered going through the exact same heart stopping moments when the baby's father was that age. And she'd all but collapsed from exhaustion when finally, after an hour and a half of Kieran standing and wailing in his crib in the darkness of his room for mama and dada, her grandson had decided enough was enough and realized the fight against sleep was futile.
When the noise had stopped from the nursery, she'd gone in to make sure he was okay, and found him, flat on his back spread eagled with his blanket clutched securely under one arm. Her heart had melted at the sight of the moon's rays tickling his face and his long, dark eyelashes falling on his pale, smooth cheeks. He was an angel. When he was sleeping at least. Yet as mischievous and stubborn and precocious as he was, Kieran was perfect. There'd been scares and worries with the pregnancy and all had thankfully been unfounded. He was a happy, smart, beautiful child that was loved by so many people. And it would have been more of a worry if he wasn't so curious and into everything.
"You're going to have to be quiet." Flack warned, as he unlocked the door to the apartment and cautiously pushed it open, trying his best to avoid waking his mother.
The door squeaking was the least of his worries with how giggly and boisterous Sam was. And clumsy. She'd managed to trip over the slight raise in the elevator when the door opened, and walked into the neighbours apartment door and then attempted to unlock it with her keys. He'd had to clamp a hand over her mouth and drag her away when she went into an obscenity laced tirade about the fucking door and her fucking keys both being broken.
"I am always quiet." Sam declared. In a voice loud enough to wake the dead.
"Be quiet." Flack told her. "Unless you want both my mother and Kieran up."
"Absolutely not." she said in a loud whisper. Then she put her finger over her lips and said "Shhhh." before bursting into a fit of giggles.
Flack sighed and locked the door behind them and resisted the urge to toss his wife over his shoulder to get her down the hall and into the bedroom. She was stumbling and awkward on her feet and colliding with anything, big or small, that was in her path. When her left hip made contact with the hall table with enough force to cause her to let out a huge shriek of pain and knock everything over and onto the floor, he knew he was in for a hell of a night.
In the living room, the lamp next to the couch switched on.
"Donnie?" Patricia called groggily.
"It's okay, mom." he assured her in a harsh whisper. "It's just Sam."
"Sam?" she asked, sounding confused.
"Hi, mom!" Sam chirped. "Your son needed to get laid and here I am!"
Patricia chuckled and flicked the light off and settled back down. "Keep the volume down, would you? I need my beauty sleep."
"Get in the bedroom." Flack ordered, steering the way with a hand on her shoulder.
"Impatient, are we? Are you really suffering that bad?"
"You have no idea." he told her with a sigh and pushed open the door to their room.
He barely had the door closed when she was already on him. Reaching for the button and zipper on his jeans with one hand and alternating between stroking his fabric clad ass and cock, coaxing effortlessly and effectively into an erection. There'd always been an incredible sexual attraction between them. Since day one, even, and mutual desire was easily passed between simple looks or touches. The woman had a hell of an effect on him. From the taste of her lips and the smell of her hair to the touch of her soft, skilled hands. There was no part of her that he wasn't attracted to.
All the tension and frustration he'd had bottled up inside of him for the last five days came flooding out of his body as he grabbed her by her hips and yanked her into him and kissed her savagely. His tongue pushing into the warm, moist confines of her mouth and hungrily and greedily seeking out hers. For five mornings in a row they'd been trying to indulge in some form of intimacy, only to be disturbed by Kieran waking up way before his usual time with teething pain. Screeching at the top of his lungs and rocking back and forth with such force the crib smashed into the wall with enough force to chip paint. And by the time Kieran was put to bed, there was cleaning up to do and dishes and laundry to finish and paperwork that needed to be done and by the time they made it to bed it was after midnight and they were too damn tired to even consider anything that required energy. And, if the mood hit at two in the morning, they were usually interrupted by Flack being called out to a scene. Having a kid had put a serious damper on their once full and healthy sex life. Yet they wouldn't give him up for anything in the world.
He broke the kiss and his hands gripped the bottom of her pyjama top and yanked it up and over her head. She moaned as his hands slipped up her smooth skin and fondled and caressed her breasts, thumbs teasing the aching nipple. His lips feasted on her slender neck and her collarbone as the fingers on one hand set to work on the button and zipper of his jeans and the others buried themselves in his hair. They were desperate and needy. Neither wanted to wait yet neither wanted to disappoint the other. He trailed the tip of his tongue along her smooth shoulder and then over the swell of her breasts. Feeling her trembling with anticipation. He slipped one hand down her smooth stomach and under the waist band of her pants. She cried out as he pushed two fingers deep and hard inside of her just as his lips descended on one of her nipples and drew it into his mouth.
She shoved her hand down the front of his boxers and firmly stroked the long, thick, hard length of his erection. Her thumb brushing over the sensitive tip that was leaking pre-cum. He groaned at the sensation of her warm, soft hand bringing him closer and closer to completion. It wouldn't take much after the five days they had had. He pressed blazing hot kisses over the top of her breast and all the way to her eager, welcoming mouth. She drew back to look at him, breaking the contact of their lips, then removed her hand from his pants and brought it to her mouth and sucked the glistening moisture from her thumb.
All his remaining will power and self restraint just snapped. He twisted his fingers in her hair and roughly tugged her towards him, crushing his lips against hers in a bruising kiss as his other hand found her ass and squeezed it hard and he directed her over to the bed. Grabbing her pants and pulling them off of her as she sat down on the edge of the bed and the scooted on her bum into the middle. Tossing the pink and white bottoms aside, he removed his own jeans and boxer shorts before joining her in the middle of the rumpled sheets. Kissing and groping and fondling with urgency and passion and need.
"I missed you." Flack said, in between kisses to her lips and her neck. "So much. Not just this way. In every way."
"God help you if I ever go away for a couple of weeks." she teased, opening her legs to gentle pressure from his hands.
"I'd die." he admitted. "No one to do my laundry or cook me dinner. I wouldn't survive."
"You're such an asshole." she said with a giggle, then sighed as his lips and his teeth grazed the spot just below her ear.
"You love me." he reminded her, running his hand along her smooth, silky leg. All the way from the inside of her thigh and over her knee and to her ankle, drawing her leg around his waist and settling himself between his thighs.
"Wait!" she suddenly exclaimed, a hand on his chest, attempting to push him away. "We can't….not right this second…..wait….."
"What's wrong?" he asked with a frown. "You feel sick or something? Am I hurting you? I'm too heavy?"
"No. Nothing like that. It's Slippers."
Flack arched an eyebrow. "What about her?"
"She's sitting in the window ledge. Watching us."
"She's not watching." Flack assured her.
"She is! She's looking right at us."
"Sam, she's a cat." Flack went back to kissing and nibbling at her ear and neck. "She doesn't know what the hell we're doing."
"I'd feel better if you put her out in the hallway."
He sighed heavily and drew back to look at his wife. "Are you serious?"
Sam nodded.
"For fuck sakes woman." he complained and kissed her and climbed off of the bed. He crossed the room and gently removed the curious feline from her perch in the open window. "What do you think she's going to do, Sam?" he asked, as he carried the cat to the door. "Take pictures or video? Gossip about our fucking to her friends?"
"Just get rid of her." Sam told him.
He opened the door and sat the cat on the floor. "Sorry, Slippers." he whispered. "Gotta find someone else to bug tonight."
He closed the door back up and returned to the bed. This time climbing on it at the very hand and running his fingertips and tongue and lips from the tips of her toes to the inside of her smooth thighs. He felt her shiver underneath him and her fingers bury in his hair as he got closer and closer to her most sensitive spot. But instead of lingering there, he spread the moist lips with his fingers and gave her clit a long, slow lick. She whimpered, her hands in his hair encouraging him to do more. But he continued upwards until he reached her mouth. He propped himself on one forearm, ran his hand over her hair and smoothed it away from her forehead.
He pressed a tender kiss between her eyes. Brushed the tip of his cock against her slick opening.
She groaned and bit her lip in anticipation. Then frowned when he pulled back a little. Teasing her.
"Tell me." he said, looking deep into those trusting, loving eyes.
"Tell you what?"
"Tell me what you want. What you want me to do to you."
"You have to be told? You don't know by now?"
"I want to hear it. Turns me on to hear you say it."
She reached between them to grab his cock and guide it towards her once again. "You're turned on just fine."
He snatched her hand away from him and pinned both of her arms above her head, holding them down by the wrists. He saw that glitter in her eyes and the small smile that curved her lips. This was what she wanted. To be bossed around and bullied and taken total control of. What he liked most about their sex life was that things could go so many different ways. If she wanted to be submissive, that was fine with him. If she wanted to be dominant, which rarely happened, that was okay too. And it could be hard and fast and wild one time and slow and loving and tender the next. It was never boring.
"Tell me." he demanded.
"You're being very…."
"Tell me." he repeated, rubbing himself against her and tightening the grip on her wrists. Hard enough to cause her to wince and to bruise the tender skin. But not lessen the desire she was feeling. If anything, it just heightened it.
"Please." she pleaded, arching underneath him.
"Please what?"
"Please fuck me."
"I can't hear you. What did you say?"
"I said please fuck me." she repeated and brought her head up to kiss him.
He nearly cried out in shock and pain when he felt her teeth sink into his bottom lip. He decided to take back control by thrusting into her hard and fast and unexpected. After Kieran, she had gone on the birth control patch. She had a horrible habit of conveniently forgetting to take the pill and she'd been too scared of gaining a ridiculous amount of weight with the depo shot. The patch had given them a sense of freedom when it came to their love making. No question whether she remembered to take something or put in a diaphragm. The patch sat on her lower abdomen just under the top of her underwear and was replaced at the beginning of the week. And it was fool proof. With Sam, it had to be that way sometimes.
A cry of pleasure threatened to escape her at the sudden thrust and he lightly placed his hand over her mouth to reign in any noise.
"You're going to have to keep the noise down." he said with a harsh whisper. "Tomorrow night you can make all the noise you want. Right now, you have to lower the volume or you'll have Kieran up. Okay?"
She nodded and mumbled something against his hand.
"Hmm?" he took his hand away.
"I was just saying how kinky that is. Covering my mouth like that."
"And you call me the dirty one." he said with a grin and kissed her.
She returned the kiss with fervor. Her nails digging into the back of his neck while her other hand drifting along his shoulder and down his arm to his wrist. He opened his hand and entwined his fingers with hers. Taking his time, moving leisurely inside of her welcoming and familiar body. It felt amazing to be inside of her. The way her body molded to his and responded so eagerly. Each and every time he made love to his wife he was filled with a sense of peace and security. Her body and her arms were his safe place. When he was with her he felt protected and sheltered. As if nothing existed outside of the two of them.
Her legs circled his waist and she arched against him. Drawing him in deeper, encouraging him more harder and faster. Her grip on his hand tightened and the hand on the back of his neck pulled him in closer, her lips and tongue feasting on his ear and the tender spot underneath. She breathed his name when he moved with more intensity. Sweat glistened on their bodies. Their soft pants and light moans lingering on the air. He shuddered at the feel of the tip of her tongue trailing along his outer ear, than groaned as her teeth scraped along the muscle between his neck and his shoulder. He couldn't hold on much longer. Five days may as well have been a lifetime. He released her wrist and slipped his hand between them, seeking out and finding her clit. Stroking it in firm, determined circles as he thrust harder and faster into her.
She came quickly. His name nearly exploding from her lips until he let go of her hand and covered her mouth once more. He drew back to watch her as she came undone. Watched the eruption of pleasure take over her face and her body. Seeing her in that state, combined with the contracting of her kegel muscles sent him over the edge and she brought her own hand up to smother the harsh cry that threatened to escape from him. He uncovered her mouth and looked into her eyes as her body milked every last drop out of him and his body shuddered uncontrollably. When he was finally still, she removed her hand and he had to put his arm down on the bed to prevent himself from collapsing on top of her slight frame.
He pulled out of her slowly and rolled over onto his back. An arm over his eyes and his chest heaving as he fought to compose himself. He felt the bed move beneath him as she moved alongside of him. Her routine was the same. Get up and go to the bathroom and clean herself up. Get a drink of water. Climb back into her clothes and come back to bed. And tonight was no different. She moved quickly and quietly around the dark room. Stumbling and swaying as she went. Flack got out of bed. Straightened and tidied the sheets. Spotted the large damp spot in the middle of the mattress and yanked the top and bottom sheet clean off. Balling them up, he tossed them in the laundry hamper in the closet and grabbed fresh sheets from the top shelf and remade the bed.
"Chores at two in the morning?" Sam asked, as she came back into the room and slipped back into her pyjamas. She climbed back onto the bed and settled down on her stomach.
"You made a mess on our new sheets." he informed her, gathering up the comforter and covering them both as he lay down beside her.
"Always me." she said with a loud yawn.
He rolled onto her side and kissed her shoulder softly and wrapped his arm around her. "I love you." he said. "You were amazing."
"You weren't so bad yourself." she told him with a dreamy smile. "And I love you, too. Goodnight."
"What? No cuddling and pillow talk?" he asked with a grin.
"We've been together for over a year. We are way past cuddling and pillow talk. And you're usually the one who rolls over and goes to sleep or gets something to eat afterwards. Why are you feeling the urge to be so chatty?"
He shrugged. "I think I'm an insomniac." he said.
"I think you need to let me get some sleep. Carmen will freak if I show up with huge bags under my ass and dragging my ass down the aisle. Same goes for you. You are walking the bride down the aisle."
"Makes me nervous."
"Why?"
Flack shrugged. "It's a huge deal. You never even had someone walk you down the aisle."
"There was no aisle. We were married by a JP."
"Do you ever wish we did the big wedding thing? A hundred guests, fancy church, big reception?"
Sam shook her head.
"Never?"
"Do you?" she asked.
"Sometimes." he admitted. "Never known a woman that didn't want a huge deal. The dress and the veil and the flowers and the whole nine. Most women live for that sort of thing."
"Well I'm not most women." she informed him.
"Very true." he agreed and pushed her hair away from the side of her face to kiss her cheek.
She sighed and nestled her face into her pillow.
He stroked her cheek and her forehead with gentle fingertips. Watching as her eyes grew heavier with each passing moment and then finally close. She looked innocent. Pure and angelic. And his heart swelled with pride at the thought that this amazing, beautiful creature belonged to him. Her breathing gradually softened and a slight smile curved her lips as she drifted off into a deep, peaceful sleep.
Flack pressed his lips to her ear and breathed in her soft, feminine scent and whispered to her in the dark, stillness of their room.
"Sweet dreams of sweet things, baby girl."
Sam woke to an excruciating headache and what felt like a mouth full of cotton. Bright sunshine streamed through the open venetian blinds on the bedroom window and bathed the bed in warmth. She cracked one eye open and cast a glance at the bedside clock. Quarter to eight in the morning. The bedroom door was shut tight, but down the hall she could hear the television and Kieran's boisterous, cheerful babbling and his infectious giggle. The baby had been waking up, like clockwork, at quarter after seven every morning since he began sleeping through the night at four months. They'd been pleasantly surprised when he'd gone bed to one night at eight and slept straight through without needing a feed or a diaper change. And when he continued the practice, they bragged about it to everyone they knew. Especially parents who complained that their own child never slept through until closer to their first birthday. Carmen had hoped and prayed that being a bottle fed infant, Addison would adopt her 'cousin's' sleeping patterns. So far, Addie was still up every four hours and exhausting her parents.
The smell of pancakes drifted through the house. Sam was thankful that despite the throbbing in her brain and the acrid taste of bile in her throat, the smell of food or the thought of eating it didn't send her bolting for the bathroom. Instead, the complete opposite happened and her stomach grumbled noisily.
Kieran let out a piercing, ear splitting shriek that seemed to shake the walls and windows. That screech was one of both frustration and anger. The kid had a hell of a temper that Sam blamed solely on his father.
"Kieran! Enough!" Flack's stern, deep voice. "I said no. Get away from there."
Kieran didn't understand the meaning of the word No. Something else his mother blamed on the other fifty percent of DNA in the child's body. He was always getting into trouble and finding himself being scolded for it. And he would give you a cheeky grin and the moment you turned your back, he was right back doing the thing he'd just gotten in shit for.
"MA-MA!" Kieran screamed. Once would have been enough. But he repeated it over and over again until he was coughing and sputtering and his throat was hoarse.
Sam sighed. Another peaceful morning disrupted by an eighteen pound tyrant. She shielded her eyes from the blazing rays of sun as she sat up, her head swimming and her limbs feeling like jello as she pushed the comforter off of her and slipped out of bed.
That is the last time I drink that much, she thought, grabbing her robe from the back of the bathroom door and slipping into it before heading to the sink to splash some cold water on her face and brush her teeth to dispose of the foul taste in her mouth. She brushed out her hair and scooped an elastic from a shelf above the toilet and tied her hair back in a sloppy ponytail.
She headed from the bedroom and almost tripped over a furry, motionless blob lying length wise in front of the door.
"Slippers!" she scolded the animal. "What the hell is wrong with you? You're going to kill someone lying there!" she scooped the cat up and plopped her on the bed. On Flack's side. "Don't you dare even sleep on my pillow." she warned and left the room.
"Ma-ma." Kieran sobbed from his high chair in the kitchen when she entered the room. Fat tears spilled down his cheeks. Being corralled and restrained was the worst thing in the world to him.
"Good morning, mommy's boy." she greeted and wiped his tears away with the sleeve of her robe before smothering his cherubic face with kisses. "What were you getting in trouble for?"
"He thinks the cat litter is a sandbox." Flack said from the stove, already fully dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. Freshly showered and shaven. And smelling damn good. "I must have swept the floor five times in the last half an hour."
"You actually know where the broom is?" Sam teased, wrapping her arms around him from behind.
"You and your lack of confidence in my domestic skills. Is the house not always clean when you come home after we've worked opposite shifts?"
She thought about it. "No." she replied.
"You're so full of shit." Flack declared.
She pinched his stomach. "That's five bucks in the swear jar." she told him.
They had started a swear jar based on Patricia's advice, when she expressed concern that being around two parents with mouths like truck drivers would cause her grandson's first words to be extreme profanity. So far, in the past week alone, over forty bucks had been dropped into that old mason jar on top of the fridge.
"I thought it was two bucks for a medium size swear and five for a catastrophic one." Flack said, flipping pancakes.
"The s word is a catastrophic one." Sam told him.
"What? That's probably the tamest word in this house. Give me a break."
"Last week you made me pay ten bucks for using s-h-i-t and f-u-c-k in the same sentence. And that doesn't count because I spelled them."
"Who makes up these stupid rules?" he asked, reaching into his back pocket and pulling out his wallet.
"You better hope and pray a condom doesn't fall out of there." she teased, as he opened his wallet and removed a five. "Or I'll be saying enough swears to empty the bank account."
"You're very funny." he said sarcastically and moved to the fridge to drop the money in the jar. "And do you really think I'm dumb enough to keep the condoms I use for my girlfriends in my wallet when I know you go in it looking for money all the time?"
"Now who's the funny one?" Sam snorted. She shed her housecoat and draped it over one of the chairs at the small wood table in the corner. "Where's your mom?"
"She had to run out and do some errands. She said we didn't have enough junk food in the house for her liking. I'm surprised you're even conscious this morning." Flack told her, dropping a kiss on the top of her head before offering her a glass of orange juice that sat on the counter.
"I was not that drunk." Sam said, grabbing a handful of dry cheerios from the open box on the counter and scattering them on Kieran's high chair tray. The nine month old abandoned his sippy cup of juice in favour of the cereal. Only abandoning something to Kieran meant tossing it as hard and as far as he could. There was nothing delicate about him. The sippy cup landed by her feet and cracked, leaking apple juice all over the linoleum.
"Kieran!" Sam scolded him. "Stop throwing things! What is wrong with you child?"
"He's violent like his mother." Flack reasoned.
"Why does he throw everything?" she huffed, grabbing the role of paper towels by the sink and ripping off a half dozen sheets, tossed them on the puddle of juice.
"Because he's an evil little s-h-i-t." Flack told her, taking two plates down from the cupboard over his head and dropping pancakes onto them.
He looked down at her hunkered over the mess attempting to clean it up, and was immediately filled with the dirtiest thoughts imaginable. Her pyjama top sneaking up and giving him a view of the smooth small of back that was colorfully and artfully, adorned with a massive tattoo of lotus flowers that stretched from one hip to the other.
Sam finished cleaning the mess and stood up. "You'll have to run the mop over it sometime before you leave today." she told him. "So it won't be sticky."
"My mom will have this whole place sparkling and smelling like bleach by the time we get back tomorrow. I'm going to pack some stuff for you and bring it over when I come after lunch to check in and get ready for the wedding." he sat the plates down on the table and grabbed forks and knives and Kieran's plastic Baby Einstein plate that was cooling in the fridge.
"I need to stop at Victoria's Secret on our way to the hotel." Sam said, tossing the dirty paper towels in the trash and sitting down at the table.
"Yeah?" Flack grinned, dropping down into his chair and reaching out to pull the highchair up to the table so he could reach to feed Kieran. "Want me to come in? Help you try stuff on?"
"I'm not shopping for me." she informed him, dumping syrup onto her pancakes.
He sighed. "Too bad. You mean I have to put up with Hello Kitty or Care Bears on what just may be our only alone night in a long time?"
"You're packing my bag." she reminded him. "Just conveniently forget to pack me any pyjamas."
That grin got even bigger. "Have I ever told you you have a beautiful mind?" he asked, cutting up pieces of pancake into small, baby manageable pieces and dipping them into syrup.
"You've mentioned how much you like other parts of my body." she replied, winking at him over the rim of her juice glass.
"Every single inch." he declared and leaned across the table to kiss her softly.
"Da!" Kieran shouted in protest and banged his hands on top of the tray. Clearly offended he had to share his father's attention with his mother and that she was seemingly interfering with what looked like a promising breakfast.
"Whoa….attitude." Sam laughed. "He gets more and more like you every day."
"He's my boy." Flack said, beaming with pride as he ran a hand over his son's soft black hair and used a baby fork to offer up some syrup drenched pancake.
Sam sat and enjoyed her breakfast and watched the interaction between the two most important men in her life. Flack had been the natural from the moment Kieran was born. Holding him so protectively in those big, strong arms and showering him with kisses and affection and talking to the baby in a soft, loving voice that not even she knew he possessed. He got up without argument to bring the baby to her in the middle of the night for a feed. And when Kieran had been somewhat weaned onto the bottle, even if he'd just worked a triple shift and was dead tired to the world, Flack would sit with him in the nursery or the living room and do the feed himself. He balked at the smelly, foul diapers, but he could bathe and dress the baby with an ease that surprised everyone. He had taken to the role of daddy as if it was the easiest thing in the world. Something no one expected from the big, tough surly homicide detective.
And the physical resemblance was striking. Kieran was his father from head to toe. Right down to the big feet and ugly toes, as Danny had commented once. The only thing that the baby had inherited from his mother was the freckles splattered across the bridge of his nose.
She had never expected when she made the decision to leave Arizona for New York City that in less than a year after her arrival she'd have both a baby and a husband. The last thing that had been on her mind was falling in love with someone. She'd been dead set against it actually. Until she met Don Flack Jr that day outside of the crime lab and her life changed forever. Things had happened quickly and naysayers doubted their feelings for each other and declared it would never worked. Nothing could happen that fast. But so far, they'd proved them all wrong. And she could only hope they'd continue to do so.
"Carmen called." Flack said, after Kieran was full and satisfied and enjoying a cup of milk. "She said she was pissed at you until Gus bailed to meet up with Adam. What was in that alcohol you girls were dinking? E? Making you all hot and bothered like that."
"You know you can do that for me quicker than any drug can." Sam said.
Flack smirked. "That's a very good answer." he told her.
"I've had practiced coming up with things that won't hurt your male pride." Sam joked. Her eyes fell on a stack of case folders to her left. "Did you get up early and do paperwork?" she asked.
"A little." Flack replied. "I know. I need more sleep. I woke up around five and couldn't get back so I decided to come out here and work on some stuff that should have been finished a long time ago. See how drunk you were? You didn't even know I was gone."
Sam thumbed through the files. The majority of names she recognized because she had processed evidence from the cases. The second last folder bore a name that was unfamiliar however.
Lessing, Dean.
She pulled the folder out from the pile. "Whose Dean Lessing?" she asked. "What case was that?"
Flack looked up from his breakfast, saw the folder in her hand and snatched it from her before she had a chance to take a look at the pictures and report inside. The pictures that Mac had taken of him after the massive operation to repair the damage done in the blast. He didn't want her seeing that. And he sure as hell didn't want her knowing who Lessing was until he was ready to tell her.
"It's no one." Flack told her, noticing the startled look that passed over her face as he grabbed the file from her and placed it on the empty chair beside him.
"Must be something important to get you upset like this." Sam said.
"I'm not upset. It's just nothing important. And you shouldn't be going through my stuff like that."
"You've never had a problem before. You always let me look through your stuff. I'm the one that does all the spell checking for you most of the time."
"Sam, it's nothing or no one important. Okay?"
She held up her hands in self defense. "Okay." she conceded. "Don't get all pissy and mad."
"I'm not." he said and quickly finished his breakfast. "I'm going to take Kieran and get him washed up and dressed. You better hurry up and shower and what not so I get you back in time."
She said nothing in response. She just sipped her juice and chewed her pancakes and watched as he cleaned up his and Kieran's places and put the dishes in the washroom before unbuckling and scooping Kieran up out of his highchair and carrying him out of the room. And taking the case file with him.
What the hell was that all about? she thought, startled by the sudden change in her husband's mood.
Whatever it was and whoever this Dean Lessing was, it obviously ruffled some feathers. She just hoped and prayed it was nothing to be too concerned about.
Carmen was a nervous wreck. She had been disturbed from a less than stellar sleep at eight that morning by an arranged wake up call from the front desk. Her head pounded and her stomach was queasy and she vowed to never mix several different kinds of alcohol ever again. The last time she'd been that drunk had been Atlantic City at Thanksgiving the year before. So drunk in fact that although Addison had been conceived that night, she remembered very little except for the fact Tim Speedle had spent the majority of the time handcuffed to the wrought iron bed in their room. And had still been there when she stirred from a booze fueled stupor at eleven the next morning.
As hung over and miserable as she felt, her condition this morning was based solely on anxiety, excitement, and borderline panic. It was her wedding day. At last she was going to be legally bound to the man she had waited for for her entire life. Whom she had created a beautiful, wonderful child with and who had taught her the true meaning of love and adoration and acceptance. Who took the good with the bad and never complained and had gone through sheer and utter emotional hell to keep their relationship afloat. He had never lost faith in her or stopped loving her despite her rash judgment regarding the Matthew situation. He was solid and dependable and strong on one hand. Loving and attentive and tender on the other. And each day, Carmen thanked her lucky stars for that morning on the subway when Sam, despite the crush of people, had spotted Tim standing by the doors. If Sam hadn't have noticed him and made a point of talking to him as they stepped off the train, who knows where Carmen's life would be now. She just couldn't bear the thought of having neither him nor Addie to brighten even the darkest of days.
A nasty hangover and tattered nerves made for a brutal combination. She had had dreams all night of something going wrong with the wedding. From simple things to her dress not fitting right or the minister not showing up to the more drastic. Horrid thoughts of Speed not showing up or the place catching fire or blowing up. She'd seen those wedding disaster shows before and the way her luck had always been, something bad was bound to happen.
First Samantha had just upped and disappeared. Leaving a sloppily written, rambling note in her place. Then Gus had taken off at one in the morning to meet up with Adam after a late night text messaging incident had turned steamy and neither of them could control themselves. Now Stella, a hand on her just showing pregnant belly, was pacing the living room in her pyjamas and bathrobe talking to Mac on her cell phone.
Mac, along with Hawkes, Danny and Angell, had been called out in the wee hours of the morning to a triple homicide in the Bronx. Carmen was near tears at the news. And very close to losing her breakfast. Danny and Hawkes were supposed to serve as groomsmen in less than six hours. Gus attempted to calm Carmen with sips of lemon tea and well meaning words of support and encouragement.
The bride to be was far past being calm. And if Samantha Flack wasn't back in time for her hair and spa and makeup appointment, Carmen vowed that she'd turn that hotel room into one hell of a messy, bloody crime scene. Sam had a knack of taking control and giving orders and calming down a situation. Which was weird, because in her own personal life, Sam was often scattered brained and flighty and the one that became unhinged rather easily.
Stella hung up her phone and offered Carmen a reassuring smile. "Everything is under control. Mac says they only have another hour of processing. He's called the afternoon shift in two hours early and Angell's managed to get another detective to take her case over when he gets on shift at noon hour."
"See that, hon?" Gus said cheerily, rubbing Carmen's shoulder. "I told you everything would work out. No need to get your panties in a bunch."
"Something is going to go wrong!" Carmen wailed, "I can just feel it! Something is going to go really, really, really wrong. What if Delko loses my ring? What if Sam loses Tim's ring? What if Sam doesn't come back? What if Tim doesn't even show? What if……"
"Whoa….slow down." Stella said. "Nothing is going to go wrong. You sound just as bad as Sam did when she thought Flack stood her up and the only thing that happened there was him trying to get out of Gerrard wanting him to work a double because Gerrard didn't even know it was Flack's wedding night. Tim's going to be there. You have nothing to worry about."
The three women heard the soft click of a key card passing through the security box mounted on the door, followed by a louder click and the door opening.
"Morning stranger!" Gus called when Sam stuck her head in. "How was your night?"
"Ultimately satisfying." Sam replied with a grin. "And I bet yours was too."
"Hon, there are not words to describe it."
"You two horny bitches." Carmen huffed. "I could have used some myself last night. Had to live vicariously through you two! Dammit! It's not fair!"
"You'll be getting enough in the next three days to sustain us all." Gus assured her.
"Hope you're all decent." Sam said. "I brought men with me."
"Are they hot and desirable?" Gus asked. "If not, tell them to move on."
"Well," Sam replied, glancing over her shoulder. "The one in Pampers is pretty damn cute."
"Whose wearing the Pampers? Father or son?" Gus quipped.
"You're a damn comedienne, Broussard." Flack snorted as he followed Sam into the spacious living area of the five star hotel room.
He carried Kieran on one arm and a Bob the Builder knapsack over his opposite shoulder and a half bottle of milk in his free hand. Kieran's blue eyes were wide and curious as he took in the sights around him. And he looked adorable in a baggy pair of denim overalls, a red Baby Gap hoodie over a red and white stripped long sleeve polo shirt, tiny black Timberland boots and a backwards infant sized Rangers cap.
A good match to his father in his own jeans and boots and ball cap.
"God in heaven!" Gus squealed. "Can he possibly get any cuter?"
"Thanks." Flack said, sitting Kieran down on the floor. The baby stood unsupported on wobbly legs for half a minute, then swayed and grabbed a hold of his father's jeans and curled both arms around Flack's leg.
"Not you!" the blond rolled her eyes. "Look at him go! Almost standing on his own and he's only nine months? Seems pretty quick. Thought preemies were suppose to learn slower."
"So we were told." Flack said. "We haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary with him. Sam reads all those What to Expect In the First Year books. She's up on that stuff. Keeps that chart on the fridge from the pediatrician to document where Kieran is for his age. Bunch of crap if you ask me. Kid will do things when he does them."
"Don's an optimist." Sam reminded them. "The glass is always half full. Kieran, can you wave to Auntie Gus?"
The baby looked over his shoulder at his mother, then at Gus, offered a dimply smile and holding his father's pant leg with one hand, held out a tiny hand and opened his fist once, then twice.
"He just learned that." Sam said proudly, giggling. "And he's attempting the whole blowing kisses thing."
"Flirt." Stella said. "Wonder who he gets that from. Come here, Kieran." she crouched down and stretched her arms out to him. "Come and see Auntie Stel. Don't be scared."
He reached for his father's hand with one of his own tiny hands, then reached for Stella with the other. His fingers curled around Stella's and then he cautiously let go of Flack and toddled the foot and a half to his aunt.
"Good boy, Kieran!" Stella praised and picked him into her arms and showered him in kisses. He in turn, took her face in his hands and planted a wet kiss on her mouth."He's so damn cute guys." she said, smiling up at Sam and Flack. "But the hat thing? Are you guys trying to make him look like a B-Boy or what?"
"Quit hogging my godson." Carmen said, scooping Kieran up into her embrace. "How's my baby boy?" she asked, cuddling him close and breathing in his soft scent and feeling the silkiness of his skin against her cheek.
She had loved that little boy long before he was born. From the moment his mother announced she was expecting him and those scary moments last October when things seemed bleak and dark and she sat, beside a hospital bed, holding Samantha's hand and smoothing her hair away from her forehead and reassuring her that everything was going to be alright. And it had been, thank God. But those were moments Carmen would never, ever forget. And being there, when he came into this world and took his first breaths, had been the most incredible experience of her life. Until her own precious gift came along and she experienced the miracle of life on a more personal level.
Gus pulled the hat off of Kieran's head and ran a hand over his soft black hair. "Man, no mistaking who his father is, huh? He's a mini Flack."
"Get your own." Carmen grumbled, tightening her grip on Kieran and moving away from Gus when she attempted to take the baby from her. "He's mine. You can't have him. I won't share. Mine's not here and I need my baby fix. And he loves his Auntie Carmen. So back off."
"Possessive much?" Sam asked, helping herself to a handful of grapes from an elaborate fruit and cheese basket sitting on the table by the window. A bottle of wine and several sleeves of crackers and chocolates were also tucked into the mix. "Whose all this from?" she asked.
"Gerrard." Stella replied.
Sam gagged. "Great. Now I'm probably poisoned and I'll die in the middle of the ceremony. He knows I'm here and tainted it with arsenic."
"You're his pride and joy, Sammie girl." Gus laughed. "He adores you."
"He would love to throw me off the Brooklyn Bridge is more like it. For corrupting his golden calf and turning him into a family man and not letting him evolve into some evil, perp killing machine."
"Hey, I am perfectly capable of being both super cop and super husband." Flack told her.
"I can't get you to put down the toilet seat or pick up your dirty socks and put a new bag of milk in the container when you empty it." Sam teased him.
"You're busted, Flack." Stella laughed. "You're just as lazy at home as Mac is."
"And Tim." Carmen said.
"Adam's a clean freak and a perfectionist." Gus happily told them. "He's actually cleaner than me. Thanks to Sam kicking his butt into gear when she lived with him. Albeit briefly because someone in this room, who shall remain nameless, decided to talk his way into her pants and get her pregnant and brainwash her."
"This is not a male friendly room." Flack said. "And she seduced me I'll have you know."
Sam nearly choked on a grape. "Sure I did. You keep telling yourself that."
"You're kid is out like a light." Gus announced. "Either he's napping or Carmen suffocated him."
"He's worn out from all his evil, monster things he did this morning." Sam said, as Flack peeled a sleeping Kieran from Carmen's arms. "Smashed a sippy cup on the floor, played in the litter box, emptied an entire roll of ass paper on the floor."
"Ass paper?" Gus burst up laughing.
"It's a Sam-ism." Flack said. "Weird names she makes up for things."
"Last night she told us she wanted to be nun growing up."
"Yeah?" Flack chuckled. "That would have been a Catholic school I would have killed to go to. So Broussard? When are you and Ross going to start popping kids out?"
"When pigs fly or hell freezes over." Gus responded. "Whichever comes first. You and Sam seem to like baby making or at least the activities that lead to baby making. You guys go to town and have a whole football team and I'll just borrow a couple of them from time to time."
"Don't give him any ideas." Sam said. "He already wants six."
"Starting lineup for a hockey team." Flack agreed. "It's all I ask."
"You ask way too much." Sam told him. "You ask me to cook, clean, do your laundry, give you sex. You'd think I was your wife or something."
"You love me." he said and bent down to kiss her softly. "I gotta go. I don't want to be on Devine's shit list for being late."
"You better look damn good, Flack." Carmen warned, as he and Sam headed to the door.
"Don't I always?" he asked conceitedly.
"Don't worry, Carmen." Sam told her. "I made sure his tie matches his shirt."
The three women behind them burst out laughing.
"How in the hell do I put up with you?" Flack asked, shaking his head.
"You love me." she replied, tossing his words back at him. "And you couldn't live without me."
He smiled and kissed her. Longer and more intense.
"Rent a goddamn room!" Gus bellowed at them.
"We already have one." Sam told her.
"Then go and use it! Don't make us sit here and watch you two make out."
"Come here, Gus." Flack called to her. "There's enough of me to go around."
"You wish. How in God's creation Sam puts up with you I will never know."
"Because she loves me and can't live without me." Flack said, speaking directly to his wife, a soft smile on his lips, blue eyes locked on golden ones.
"I wouldn't go that far." she told him. "I mean, you're okay and all that….."
He silenced her with a final kiss. "You'd miss me. Admit it."
She smiled. "We've had that scare once, remember? I was a wreck. I don't want to go through that again."
"Hopefully, neither of us has to go through that again."
She held up her crossed fingers. "Once a lifetime is enough." she said and followed him out the door and down the hall to the elevators. Not ready to let him go just yet. "Don't forget. Don't pack me any pyjamas."
He laughed. "I won't. And I still can't believe you went to Victoria's Secret and didn't buy me anything."
"They didn't have anything decent in your size." Sam joked and pressed the down button for the elevator.
"You know what I meant."
"Who says I didn't buy something for you to enjoy later?"
A broad grin crossed his face. "Is it hot?" he asked.
"It's racy and sweet all at the same time. Much like me."
"Man, I got the shivers all the way down my spine when you said that. Aren't you glad my mother is the best grandma in the whole world? Babysitting both Kieran and Addison overnight? We lucked out. But you know she's going to start her I want another grand kid talk again don't you?"
Sam nodded.
"Maybe we should."
"Maybe we should what?"
"Give her another grand kid. Have another baby."
Sam arched her eyebrow and tilted her head to the side to look at him. "Last night you nearly had a stroke when I said I wanted another one."
"I know….but after you fell asleep last night I was just lying there watching you and I got to thinking that it wouldn't be such a bad thing. To have another baby so soon. I mean, we're good at the whole process. Really, really good. And look at Kieran. We obviously make beautiful babies. So if it's something that you really want, then I just want you to know that I'm okay with it too. No one says that it's going to happen right away. And practice does make perfect."
"Trust me honey, you do not need to practice your technique. You know exactly what you're doing."
The elevator arrived and Flack stepped on, juggling Kieran's dead weight as he reached for the button for the lobby.
"So you think that sounds good?" he asked. "Try and see if we get lucky a second time around?"
"I think trying is the best part." she replied. Blowing him a kiss and giving him a finger wave before the elevator door closed.
She stood there for a long time looking at those closed doors. A smile curving her lips. A million and one thoughts racing through her head. Hearing him admit to wanting another baby was something she never expected.
But she had never expected, on that warm day over a year and a half ago, that she'd come to New York and find her destiny.
Anything could happen. She and Flack and Carmen and Tim were proof of that.
And that the old adage was true.
Good things did come to those who wait.
Thanks to all of you who are reading and reviewing! I appreciate each and every one of you and I look forward to hearing from you guys! Next chap, I am going back to returning reviews at the end of the chapter. That format seems to work best.
And lurkers? Please drop me a line! Thanks!
PLUGS:
Aphina: Devine Intervention, The Tale of Two Girls and Finding Kate (a fab Miami story)
Hope4sall: Behind the Scenes, Visit from the Past, Moving On