DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN CSI:NY OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS. I DO HOWEVER OWN SAMANTHA ROSS.
Ninety days and counting….
"So take me as I am
This may mean
You'll have to be a stronger man
Rest assured that
When I start to make you nervous
And I'm going to extremes
Tomorrow I will change
And today won't mean a thing
Just when you think, you got me figured out
The season's already changing
I think it's cool, you do what you do
And don't try to save me
I'm a bitch, I'm a tease
I'm a goddess on my knees
When you hurt, when you suffer
I'm your angel undercover
I've been numb, I'm revived
Can't say I'm not alive
You know I wouldn't want it any other way."
-Bitch, Meredith Brooks
She answered the door in a pair of faded jeans that fit loose around her slender legs but hugged her curvy, womanly hips and her amazingly toned ass. An unzipped soft pink hoodie bearing a small Lu Lu Lemon logo on the left breast and a black t-shirt with the words Baby Phat splashed across the chest in bright pink and silver beads. She was casual yet shockingly alluring and beautiful. What took him by surprise was her face. The youthful, pure and innocent glow to it. She looked younger than thirty-three every day. Those who met her for the first time always pegged her at no older than twenty-five. But on this evening, with that waist length dark hair loose and flowing and no makeup gracing her features, she looked barely old enough to have graduated high school.
"Hi," she greeted him with a bright smile. "You're early."
"Just by a bit," Flack told her. Leaning down, he kissed her long and soft. Closed mouth on closed mouth. He pressed his lips to her forehead. Than to the tip of her freckle splattered nose. "You look really, really pretty," he said.
Samantha smiled and held the door open for him and motioned for him to step inside. "You don't look half bad yourself," she told him, eyeing him from head to toe in his NYPD ball cap and his baggy jeans and simple black Henley style shirt and black Doc Marten style boots that he was undoing, crouched down at the side of the door. "And you smell pretty damn yummy there detective."
He grinned. She would have sworn that he blushed. Three months in and at times they were still in that awkward, new couple stage. Despite being friends for so long and once considering themselves as close as siblings, actually acting like a couple was something that seemed so foreign and strange. Who they were and what them tick outside of the job still remained somewhat of a mystery. But the fun part was unravelling it and learning intimate, personal things about each other and experiencing new things together. At work they struggled to keep up the façade that nothing had changed between them. They fought to carry on as if they hadn't made the progression from friends to something so much more. And so far, their sneakiness was proving fruitful. Danny and Lindsay, as their respective best friends, were the only people that knew they were a couple and neither had plans on running around and spreading the news.
Working together, now that the friendship had blossomed into something so much more, was proving challenging. It was hard to keep the personal and the professional separate. The profound worry for each other's safety was first and foremost on their mind. It was hard to watch the other struggle through hurt and disappointment and not be able to offer comfort or solace. More than once, when she was having a particularly horrendous, it had taken all her had as he stood by the side of her car as she prepared to head home, to not put his arms around her and kiss all her pain and tears away.
But once the shift was over, they were just Sam Ross and Don Flack. They kept things quiet and on the down low. They wanted to get to know one another. The sides of their personalities that came out when the badges and guns were put away. Hectic, unpredictable schedules had kept them in contact through the job, but had left little time for anything other than that. Ten dates in just over two months. Not something they were proud of, or that they wanted. Although there were nights when he'd come over, tired and despondent from a rough shift, and simply curl up beside her in her bed and find solace in her scent and her embrace.
And that was far as 'sleeping together' had gone. Sam wanted to take things slow. Or at least that was her reasoning. Although Flack had to wonder what the real deal was when she allowed him to do everything else under the sun to her but she became anxious and panicky if he even attempted actual love making. But he respected her. He wasn't going to pressure her into anything and if she had something to tell him, she would.
"How was work?" Sam asked, as she locked up the door and followed him into the kitchen.
"It was work," Flack replied. "A monster of a case load and no end in sight. Detectives calling in sick left and right and having to juggle the roster in order to get everything covered. You know, same shit, different day. Angell on my ass trying to find out who the new girl is that I'm hooking up with."
Sam groaned audibly and rolled her eyes and opened up her fridge. "We're going to have to tell her sooner or later."
"I know. But she wouldn't be on my ass had you not left your sweater on my couch when you stayed over a couple weeks back."
"Oh that's it," Sam took out a bottle of Bud and one of black cherry Smirnoff Ice. The beer she held out to her boyfriend as he leaned against the counter by the sink. "Blame me. Thank God it wasn't a sweater she could easily associate to me."
"Yeah…" Flack said and took the drink. "God help us if it had have been that Hello Kitty thing you're always wandering around in. She would have known for sure, than. I mean, how many thirty-three year old women wear Hello Kitty?"
"What can I say?" Sam struggled to twist off the top of her beverage. "I am my own woman."
"That you are. Pyjamas and hoodies with cartoon characters on them? A navel ring and a tongue ring? Tattoos? You're certainly not like anyone else I've ever been with."
"Maybe because everyone else you've been with was exceptionally boring. I liven things up. Keep you young."
"Need some help there, Freckles?" he asked, setting his beer bottle on the counter and reaching out to take the drink from her. He easily and effortlessly removed the cap and tossed it into the sink and held the bottle out to her with a smile.
"So that's why I keep you around," she teased, taking her drink. "So I can watch you put your physical prowess to work. And use your height to get things down from the high shelves. I knew you were handy for something."
"That is not the only reasons why you keep me around," he said with a grin, and picking up his beer, turned to hold the top of the bottle against the ledge of the counter and than slammed his hand down on top of it, sending the cap skittering across the formica counter top.
"You are such a guy," Sam complained, leaning against the counter and taking a swig of the Smirnoff's. "And you're right. There are other reasons why I keep you around."
"What would those be?" he asked, swigging beer as he stood next to her and wrapped an arm around her slender shoulders.
"Like you need to be told," she laughed. "Or do you like hearing me talk dirty to you?"
He grinned. "You already know the answer to that.".
"Perv," she said, than giggled as he pulled her tightly into his side and brushed her hair away from the back of her neck. Shivering as he placed a kiss just below her hair line. "Okay.." she stepped away from him and moved to the counter across from him. "You just behave yourself, Donald. I'll stand here and you stay right where you are."
"What? Afraid of me or something? Afraid I might bite?" he teased. "Thought you were into the kind of thing."
"Just be a good boy," she encouraged. "So we actually manage to get to MSG in time. Because every time we're heading somewhere with Danny and Linds we are always late. All because you can't keep your hands to yourself."
"You blame me? Can I help it if you're exceptionally hot? I'm just like every other red blooded male in the free world. I've seen you half naked, remember? And thinking about what the other half might look like…"
"Go and take a cold shower," Sam said and hopped up onto the counter. "But only after we talk about Angell."
He sighed heavily and took a long sip of beer.
"We've kept this from her long enough don't you think? I can only avoid her for so long, Donnie. Jess and I used to be pretty tight and than you and I happened and I closed her off abruptly. I've been screening her calls, barely saying two words to her when we work cases together. She leaves me tons of e-mails and messages wanting to know what the hell my issue is."
"I never said that you had to stop being her friend. You did that on your own. You didn't have to stop hanging out with her just because you and I are together."
"She would have figured it out. She's not stupid. Your stuff is all around this apartment. I wouldn't be able to hide stuff every time she came over. And I've been avoiding her, out of respect for me and you and our thing because I knew you didn't want to tell anyone for a while."
"We both didn't want to tell anyone for a while," he corrected. "That was a mutual decision, babe."
"You're right. And last night you said that you thought it was time to tell everyone. That you were ready to do it and deal with whatever bullshit was tossed our way."
"And I am," Flack said. "Which means she'll find out through the office grapevine."
"She deserves to find out from one of us," Sam told him.
He stared down at the beer bottle in his hand and picked at the label.
"Don't be such a chicken shit," she said. "You're six foot two and over two hundred pounds and you're scared of Angell? What is that about?"
"I'm not scared of her. She's harmless. You, on the other hand.."
Sam arched an eyebrow.
"Okay, okay. I will tell her. I will sit down and I will tell her. Get it all out in the open. Or better yet, you sit down and tell her."
"How did I know you were going to attempt laying that on me. She's your ex girlfriend."
"And she's your friend. And you might be more gentle and tame about it because you're a woman. I just tend to say exactly what I'm feeling and I don't think brutal honest is what Jess needs when she's finding out that the woman I've been falling in love with behind her back for six months is a close friend of hers."
"You should have just been honest right away and told her when you dumped her who the other woman was. Or at least told her when she saw my sweater at her place that night."
"So I'm a chicken shit, jack ass. There's worse things to be. I just…I don't handle stuff like that well, Sammie. Me and her have history and things weren't that great between us and shit will get thrown up in my face out of anger and than I'll react badly. So trust me, it's just better if you deal with it."
"Fine," Sam huffed. "But you owe me big time, buddy."
He smirked as he sipped his beer. "I bet I know just want you want, too."
"Get your mind out of the damn gutter. I was thinking more along the lines of something sparkly to wear on my ears or around my neck," she teased. "That comes in a certain little blue box."
"Well Valentines Day is next week," Flack reminded her. "You'll just have to be patient and see what happens."
"You said the same thing at Christmas. And I didn't expect to get a promise ring from you."
It had been a shock, when as they sat down to dinner at his parents' house in Queens Christmas Eve, she'd found a velvet ring box sitting on top of her dinner plate. Not only was the sentiment touching and somewhat surprising considering they hadn't been together that long and he'd chosen to present her with such a gift in front of his entire family, but the real shock came when she had opened the box and found inside, a band of sparkling diamonds with a single, square shaped garnet set in the middle of it.
It had been as hard as hell keeping that from the people they worked with. Most specifically her brother who would most certainly have a stroke when he found out soon who his sister had been dating for the last three months. All Adam knew was that she had someone in her life. And it was best, for the time being, to keep it that way. So the ring had stayed safely at home in her jewellery box while she worked and only graced her finger when she was off.
It was going to become a permanent fixture in two days. Their cut off time for breaking the news to colleagues and friends.
"It's not a promise ring," he informed her. "It's a commitment ring. Promise ring sounds so…I don't know. Corny."
"But you are corny," she said, polishing off her drink and hopping down from the counter. "Exceptionally corny. And only I get the pleasure and luxury of seeing that side of you."
"Let's keep that side of me just between the two of us, okay?" he asked, swallowing the last of the beer and setting the bottle down on the counter behind him. "I've got a reputation to up hold. Can't let people know I'm not as bad ass at home as I am at work. Don't want them knowing I let a woman whose barely five feet and a hundred pounds soaking boss me around. I wear the pants, okay? If anyone asks?"
"You mean I'm not allowed to let people know how whipped you actually are?" she inquired, setting her empty bottle down on the counter alongside of his and than stepping in front of him and laying her hands on his sides. "I can't tell them that you'd do just about anything and everything for me? That I just have to say jump and you say how high?"
"I am not whipped and you know it. You like it when I'm the aggressive, assertive and bossy one. Turns you on."
"Actually," she said. "It's the handcuffs that do that."
"Who knew a tiny, innocent and sweet thing like you would have such a raging cop fetish," Flack teased, wrapping his arms around her slender body, his hands resting on the middle of her back before slipping down and around to her hips.
"So are you going to kiss me hello?" she asked. "I've been waiting pretty damn patiently for it if you ask me."
"I kissed you hello when you answered the door," he reminded her.
She frowned. "Closed mouth on closed mouth? Are you kidding me? That's the best you could do? You couldn't put a little feeling into it, Donnie?"
"Oh I could. I just didn't," he said, grinning down at her. "Didn't you just say that we needed to get to the arena on time? To avoid the wrath of Lindsay Monroe?"
"Doesn't mean you can't kiss your girlfriend," she pouted dramatically. "Properly."
"Okay," he said with a heavy sigh. "But don't say I didn't warn you and don't be bitching at me when we're really, really, really late."
"Hate to break it to you, babe, but not even your amazing kisses have that kind of effect on me."
"Yeah? You wanna see how wrong you are about that?" he teased.
"By all means," she encouraged, and reaching up, yanked his hat off his head so the bill of it wouldn't get in the way, and tossed it to the ground.
He laid a hand on the side of her face and covered her lips with his in a slow, deep and provocative kiss. His tongue pushing past her teeth and into her warm, moist and inviting mouth, teasing her by allowing the tips of their tongues to briefly, swiftly touched. Feeling her shudder against him as his tongue trailed along the roof of her mouth. Something they'd found out, by sheer chance, drove her absolutely insane. She gave a small moan of disappointment when he extracted his tongue from her mouth and pulled away from her. Her displeasure disintegrating when he brought a hand up to brush her hair off her shoulder and his lips found the side of her neck, sucking and nipping lightly on the sensitive spot below her ear.
"How's that?" he asked, his voice low and deep, his lips against her neck, his hands sliding over he hips to the small of her back and than down to stroked and fondle her ass.
"It's…nice…" she sighed, closing her eyes, her hands tightly gripping the front of his Henley shirt and her head tipping backwards as his lips blazed a trail of kisses over her pale, smooth skin.
He paused to lick and suckle at the hallow of her throat before moving one of his hands from her ass and slipping it up her back to tangle it in her hair and tip her head to the side so his mouth could feast on the other side of her neck.
"Just nice?" he inquired, his lips drifting up to her ear and tracing the outer edge with his tongue before dipping it right inside.
"Jesus," she squirmed, her knuckles turning white from holding on to him so hard. "You can't…don't do that…okay? You know what that does to me."
"Which is exactly why I'm doing it," Flack said with a chuckle and repeated his actions, the hand that was fondling her ass, sneaking between them and slipping up the front of her shirt. His fingertips drifting along her flat stomach and up her side, feeling the goose bumps that assailed her flesh as he moved closer and closer to her breast.
"Donnie…" she breathed, laying her forehead against his chest. "We need to stop…seriously…we need to just stop."
"We're not doing anything," he said, cupping her breast lightly and running his thumb over her nipple that strained against the lace of her bra.
"But we want to," she argued. "I want to…badly…but we can't…we seriously can't…"
He sighed heavily and rested his chin on the top of his head and removed his hand from the front of her shirt and placed both hands on her hips. "I know that we agreed to take things slow, Sammie. And I've been a real gentleman about the whole thing. But this is getting a little bit much. I'm dying here, baby. Seriously. I don't know how much more I can take."
"Did you not just hear what I said?" she asked. "I said I want to. Badly."
"If this is about Danny and Lindsay, we'll just call them and tell them we're going to be late," Flack suggested, kissing her softly, than placing his lips along her jaw line. "Better yet, let's just tell them we're not coming at all."
"As much as I'd like to…" she bit her lip and tensed as his teeth grazed against her ear lobe. "We just…can't. Trust me. We can't."
"I've got protection, Sammie. So no worries there."
"I'm on the pill remember? And we're both clean. So that was the last thing I was thinking about."
"So what's the issue?" he asked, lips against her ears. "I need you so bad, Sammie. I want you so bad."
"And I want you, too, Donnie. So fucking bad. I just…we just. Can't. We just can't."
"Because…"
"Because my period came today. Okay? Is that good enough of a reason?"
"Stuff like that doesn't bother me, Sammie. You think I've never been with a girl who was on her period?"
"It's not that. It's just I've never let a guy near me while I was on my period. And doesn't it gross you out?"
"What's there to be grossed out by? It's just blood. Big deal. You just take precautions. Make modifications. Put a towel down on the bed. I keep my hands above the waist. No big deal. It doesn't stop me from me from doing the deed. Why? You're grossed out by it?"
"It's not that I'm grossed out by it," she said. "It's just…I don't know if I'm comfortable enough with you yet to have sex with you while I'm on it. And I don't really want our first time together being while I am on it. I won't be able to relax and we can't be as intimate as we'd like to be and…I just can't, Donnie."
He sighed and kissed her softly and backed away from her. "Fair enough, Sammie."
"Don't be mad," she said, straightening out her top. "Please don't be mad."
"I'm not mad. Why would I be mad? I'm not forcing you into something you're not comfortable with. And trust me, I want you to be totally relaxed and comfortable the first time we make love. But I gotta admit. It is as frustrating as all hell to hit the brick wall so many times in three months."
"I know," she said and smoothed down the front of his shirt. "But it's not like we don't do other things. Oral and stuff like that. I mean, you are getting off on a regular basis. We just haven't, you know. Gone all the way yet."
"Gone all the way?" he grinned. "I don't think I've used that saying since high school, when I…"
"Got busy with Bianca DeFazio on prom night in the back of your father's caddy. You've told me that story a few times now. I really don't want to be hearing about your previous sexual exploits okay? I prefer to just imagine you as some good little Catholic boy I get to deflower and corrupt when the time is right."
"You have got some seriously strange perversions and kinks, Tinks. Do I look like some good little Catholic boy you can take advantage off? Show the tricks of the trade to?"
"I can pretend, can't I? It's a fantasy of mine. Go all school teacher on you."
He smirked. "I thought your fantasy was having someone go all cop on you. Use the cuffs."
She turned a deep shade of crimson. "Who ever told you such a thing?" she asked innocently.
"Don't try denying it, babe. I have a good memory. And I distinctly remembering you telling me that when you were ready, you wanted me to go all cop on you."
"I don't know what you're talking about," she insisted and moved away from him.
He caught her by the arm and pulled her into him for a long, tender kiss, holding her delicate, petite face in his hands.
"Mmmm…" she said, sighing happily and giving a dramatic shudder. "You're so good at that. "
"Lots more where that came from," he promised, and hunched down to pick up his ball cap. He slipped it onto his head. "I guess we should go before I manage to talk you into desecrating every inch of this apartment."
"Give it a week, Donnie. Once everything is all finished up, we can do it wherever the hell we want. You just need to wait a little longer. I'll be back. I'm just going pee."
"Don't fall in. You know, seeing as the toilet is so high for seeing as tiny as you are."
She snorted. "Bite me," she said and disappeared into the living room.
"With pleasure," he laughed. "And Sammie?" he called.
"What?"
"I'll wait forever if I have to," he informed her.
And he meant if from the bottom of his heart.
The five fifteen train heading uptown was damn near packed solid. The relentless snow and poor driving conditions had forced more people than usual to use the public transportation system. There was university kids heading home from another long day of hitting the books, businessmen, and ladies, doing last minute work on their Blackberries or reading through stacks of folders, and rowdy, young men, and again some ladies, in Rangers hats and jerseys heading up town early to most likely grab a bite to eat and have a few drinks before the game.
"I went for that fitting for my maid of honour dress today," Sam said, as she and Flack, in the last subway car, stood amongst the noisy and sea of people. She was facing him, leaning into his chest, using his body as her sole support as he held on to the bar above his head.
"Isn't it a little early for that kind of thing?" he asked, looking down at her as she flipped through the songs on the bright pink Ipod Nano-chromatic that she insisted on taking everywhere with her.
He was almost regretting buying her the damn thing for Christmas. And for being the one that had loaded the thing up with all the songs she had downloaded onto her laptop but had complained she didn't know how to figure out to export to the Ipod. She had one of the ear phones in as the other rested on her shoulder. He thought how damn cute she looked in her pink, white and black ski jacket and a solid black wool hat that tied under the chin. But those pink Ugg boots just had to go. Damn Monroe for ever introducing his girlfriend to such hideous things.
"The wedding is six months away," Sam reminded him.
"Exactly. So I'll ask again. Isn't it a little early for that kind of thing?"
"Weddings take time to plan, Donnie. Lots of time when you're having a fancy thing like they are. You have to worry about guests lists and seating plans and dresses and a church and a place to have a reception. A caterer and a DJ."
"In other words it's just a whole lot of work, and money, for one day," he concluded.
"It's not just one day. You get to spend the rest of your life with someone."
"And you have to go massively into debt and nearly insane to do that?" Flack asked. "Because Danny is going completely and utterly nuts over this whole thing. Poor guy can barely eat or sleep he's so worked up over it."
"He's getting married, Donnie. To the love of his life. You're usually nervous when you're embarking on something like that. I mean, marriage and kids. Domestic bliss. I'd be worried if he wasn't nervous to be honest with you. He loves Linds and will do anything to make her happy. She wanted a huge thing and she's getting it. Danny isn't the type to go along with something if he wasn't a hundred percent into it. It's going to be so romantic."
"You watch way too much of that Wedding Story show on TLC," he teased her, as she let out a dreamy sigh after the word romantic.
"Which would you rather? A Wedding Story or Jon and Kate Plus Eight?" she asked, eyes sparkling as she smiled up at him.
"I'll take weddings over those goddamn brats any day. Can you honestly imagine having all those kids, Sammie? Do you ever notice how much those parents are ready to kill each other? That husband is like two steps away from going postal on his entire family. He looks like he's ready to just kill that woman sometimes. And the way she fucking nags constantly. I would have been out the door a long time ago. They couldn't have just been happy with the two they had? They had to go all greedy and take meds and have a whole litter?"
"They're really adorable kids," Sam reasoned.
"They're the spawns of Satan, babe. You've seen them. Would you want all those kids?"
"I'd settle for a few. But no. Definitely not eight."
"People are just goddamn insane," Flack declared.
"So now that we've established you want neither marriage or children," Sam said. "Do you plan on spending the rest of your life miserable and alone?"
"Hey, I never said that we weren't going to get married or have kids," he informed her.
Sam's eyes widened at his words but she kept her surprise expertly hidden by keeping her attention on the Ipod in her hands. She wondered if he was even aware of what had just come out of his mouth. She even wondered if she'd heard him properly. If she'd actually heard the words 'we weren't'.
"What would you want?" Flack asked curiously.
"What do you mean?"
"Are you into the huge wedding with the fancy church and hundreds of guests and a big blow out reception afterwards? Is that your kind of thing?"
"Why are we even having this conversation?" Sam inquired. "Are you trying to ask me something in some crazy, ass backwards type of way?"
"No…I'm just asking in case I need to fall back on your answers some time in the future," Flack replied.
"I don't think about things like that," she told him. "You know the whole sordid story about me and Zack. I dumped him the night before the wedding, remember? A wedding that took an entire year to plan and cost an exuberant amount of money. So marriage and doing all that planning all over again is somewhat the last thing on my mind."
"So in other words, Zack, who was the one in the wrong by cheating on you with tons of random women and who spent the majority of your relationship kicking the shit out of you, ruined your entire outlook on marriage," Flack concluded.
"I never said that, Donnie. What I said was that it was the last thing on my mind at this point in time."
"Okay," he said and nodded slowly. "But say it was one of the first things on your mind."
She sighed.
"Humour me, okay? Just humour me. I answer all your hypothetical questions all the time, don't I? Say marriage was the top thing on your list of priorities. Would you go all out and whole hog like Danny and Lindsay or would you go more subdued with like, say a JP and a few guests and a nice quiet dinner afterwards? It's not a difficult question to answer."
"I guess I'd go somewhere in between," she said. "Fifty, sixty guests. A small church. Little reception afterwards. I don't know, Donnie. I don't think about stuff like that."
"And what about kids?" he asked.
She narrowed her eyes as she looked up at him. "What's gotten into you?" she asked. "Talking like this. Was there something in that beer?"
"I am just making conversation," he replied and kissed her softly. "Testing the waters. So I know what I'm up against."
"Two or three kids, I guess," she said. "Just as long as I don't have an only child. I'd want them to have a sibling, or two, to play with. I'm not too greedy. I don't need anymore than that."
"So you're planning on being a single mom," he concluded.
"What? What are you talking about?" she asked.
"You just said I through that entire answer you just gave me. I. You never once said we. I mean, even I said we."
"Maybe I just don't look as far ahead as you do," she reasoned. "But, no, I don't plan on being a single mother. And if I was looking that far ahead, you'd most definitely be the first on my list to consider both marriage and a family with."
"I should be the only one on that list," he snorted.
"You know what I meant. I didn't mean for that to offend you. You know that I'm not with anyone besides you. That you're the only one in my life. So why are you getting like that?"
"I just…I don't know. Don't you ever think about? Me and you? A forever type thing?"
"Not in the middle of a crowded subway," she responded.
"But you do think about it?"
"It's crossed my mind a couple of times," she admitted, and curled one arm around his waist. "But Donnie…we agreed that we were taking things slow. That we weren't going to rush into huge decisions. That we were just going to enjoy ourselves, and each other. And now you're asking me about marriage and babies."
"It's all just for future reference, babe," he assured her. "It's not like I'm going to wake up tomorrow and say let's go to Vegas and elope. Let's start a family. That could take a few months, could take a year or more."
"Or more?" she laughed. "I love you, but there's no way I'm going to wait that long. Even for you."
He grinned down at her.
"What?" she asked.
"I knew you'd be the first to crack. I knew you wouldn't be able to go much longer without saying it."
She blushed furiously. "I was hoping you didn't hear it," she said.
"Why? You didn't mean it?"
"Of course I meant it. I wouldn't have said it if I didn't mean it. I don't go around casually tossing out the L word. I was just hoping that you didn't hear it because the last thing I wanted was for you to get freaked out that I said and than decide later on tonight that you aren't ready for that type of thing and that you aren't feeling the same way for me and…"
He silenced her with a kiss. Long and slow and tender. "I'm feeling the same way for you," he assured her, pecking the tip of her nose. "I just didn't want to be the first one to say it."
"Guys are suppose to say it first," she said, her entire face glowing and her eyes sparkling as she rested her chin on his chest and looked up at him.
"It's the twenty-first century, Tinks. Doesn't matter who says it first anymore. As long as it gets said. This day and age, you could even be the one to propose."
"That will never happen," she declared. "I need to hold on to some form of old fashioned tradition. The guy getting down on one knee and making some long winded, beautiful proposal that makes us both cry. In some romantic type setting like Central Park at night, near the fountain, with the stars sparkling over head."
Flack grinned. "I feel like I should have brought my memo book along to take notes."
"I'm sure you're the type to have a few tricks up his sleeve," she said.
"Only time will tell, Sammie," he told her and kissed her once more. "But I do love you if hearing that makes your night."
"It does," she said, and smiling rested her head against his chest as he wrapped his free arm around her tiny body. After several minutes, she finally pulled away and held up the ear phone to him. "I want you to hear something," she said. "This song here."
"Please no Jonas Brothers or Miley Cyrus or Hannah Montana or some other stupid shit like that," Flack pleaded.
"Miley Cyrus and Hannah Montana are the same person," she informed him. "Hannah Montana is Miley Cyrus' tv show persona. Her alter ego if you will. Or at least that's how I understand it."
"Great. So she's what? Sixteen and is a millionaire with dual personalities? A teenage schizo?"
"Would you just listen to this? Just this small part? For me? Seeing as you love me?"
"Playing that card already are we?" he teased and than gave a sigh and took the ear phone from her and slipped it in his left ear. "At least tell me who it is first," he said.
"It's Christina Aguilera," she replied. "Her new song. Just listen to this one part, okay?"
He nodded.
She pressed play and turned up the volume.
"Kiss kiss gonna tell you right now, I'll make it sweet on the lips, I'll simply knock you out. Shut up I don't care what you say, 'cause when we're both in the ring you're gonna like it my way. Yeah baby there's a villain in me so sexy sour and sweet, and you'll be loving it. Some days I'm a super bitch, up to my old tricks, but it won't last forever. Next day I'm your super girl, out to save the world, and it keeps gettin' better."
Sam pressed pause and Flack handed her back the ear phone.
"Remind you of anyone?" she asked, smiling sweetly up at him.
"Yeah…" he replied. "She wrote that song about you."
Sam giggled and laid her head against his chest once more. "There are so many different sides to me, baby," she declared.
"There are," he agreed and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "And there's not one I could go without."
Danny and Lindsay waited inside the busy vestibule of the TGI Friday's on Broadway, near West 46th in Times Square. Their reservations had been made for six o'clock and they'd changed at work and come straight over from the lab, and now they waited for their best friends. Lindsay sat on a long wooden bench with the thick, blood red cushions with several other diners waiting for their tables to be ready, absentmindedly twirling the large, pear shaped diamond engagement ring around her finger. Danny paced the small space, occasionally stopping to peer out of the glass on the restaurant's front door, looking for the other couple.
"You're making me nervous," Lindsay commented, as her fiance began his pacing once again.
"They're late," Danny said.
"Sam and Flack are always late." she reminded him. "Why is tonight anything new? They probably got held up on the subway."
"Got held up doing the nasty is more like," Danny snorted.
"Sam and Flack haven't…" Lindsay bit her tongue. It was quite obvious that Danny and his best friend hadn't indulged in a little locker room talk. And that if they had, Flack hadn't been so forthcoming about the details of his partial sex life. Sam on the other hand, had spilled the beans to Lindsay in one of their many, many girl talks.
"Haven't what?" Danny asked, peering out the window once again.
It wasn't her place to talk about things that her best friend had shared in confidence with her. Instead, Lindsay sighed and stretched out her legs, using the toe of one beige Ugg boot to clear slush off the heel of the other.
"I was just going to say that Sam and Flack haven't been late the last couple of times we all went out. And they don't constantly have sex."
"Yeah, right," Danny said. "Feisty, hot looking girl like that?"
Lindsay frowned. "Excuse me? That's my best friend, remember?"
"I know that. But can I help that you have a smoking hot best friend?"
"Keep digging your own grave, Messer," Lindsay huffed.
He held his hands up in self defence. "I am just saying Sam's a good looking girl, alright? Don't wanna hear that? Find an uglier best friend."
"You're such a man," Lindsay complained. "You better find a reason for why you're calling my best friend a hottie. A reason that will save your ass from spending many a cold, lonely night on the couch."
"I was just trying to say that Sam's a great looking girl and she's got that whole wild child thing going on with her tongue ring and her tattoos. So you can't tell me that she's not like that in the sack too. And if she's like that in the sack, than I don't blame Flack for always being late. That's all I was trying to say."
Her eyes were narrowed as her fiance sat down beside her. "I guess that's a somewhat acceptable explanation. And how the hell do you know that Sam and Flack are even sleeping together?"
"Are you kidding me?" Danny laughed. "She's Sam and he's Flack. And it's been three months."
"Not everyone sleeps together right away, Danny," Lindsay informed him. "Maybe they're waiting until it's extra special."
He snorted and rubbed her back softly. "Keep fooling yourself, Montana. I know Flack. There's no way he's sticking around if she hasn't put out yet. She didn't put out on at least the third date and he would have been so out of there. And to be honest, she probably put out on the first date."
Lindsay smirked. "Not everyone is like us, Danny."
"I'm not saying that they got drunk and found a pool table somewhere," he teased.
"Watch it, wiseass!" she exclaimed and elbowed him in the stomach. "And what does it matter to you anyway if Sam and Flack are doing the nasty or not?"
"It doesn't. But I'd be mortally shocked if they weren't. Like I said, her and her tattoos and a tongue and navel ring…"
"Never judge a book by it's cover, honey," Lindsay told him. "Sam Ross isn't the wild child you think she is. Or should I say, that you fantasize she is."
"Whatever. You can't convince me otherwise. I've seen her drink. She can nearly put away what Flack and I can. No girl that parties like that can be all sweet and virginal."
Lindsay shrugged. "You just never know. But I think that my best friend's sex life is really none of your business."
She and Sam Ross had hit it off right away. The moment that Mac had brought that petite, attractive brunette into the staff room to introduce her to everyone, Lindsay had known there was more to the Brooklyn native that just girl next door looks and a stellar education. And it hadn't taken long for Lindsay to realize that Sam was strong and independent and exceptionally fiesty. She had a great, often self-deprecation sense of humour and was quick with the sarcastic put downs and comebacks. She was tiny but took shit from no one. And that was just personal wise. On the job she was tough when she needed to be, and caring and sensitive when it was required. And despite her small stature, Sam was one of the few people that Lindsay trusted with her life.
It had been nice to have someone she clicked with that quickly. Someone her age that she could talk with and share similar experiences with. Instead of being made to feel like a whiny, immature baby whenever she tried to talk to Stella about anything personal. Stella was a great friend and an even better boss, but there wasn't that connection between her and Lindsay. So to have Sam simply walk into her life and make such an impact, to be the type of friend that listened quietly and patiently and offered up kind hearted advice. Who never looked down at you or judged you.
Lindsay only hoped she was being just as good of a friend in return.
Most of all, Sam was fun to be around. She wasn't perfect and had some massive issues and baggage hanging off that tiny frame. But she loved to laugh and have a great time and just let her hair down. She didn't care what other people thought of her and did whatever made her happy. There had been times since they had met, that Lindsay wondered just how sincere that constant bright smile and child like giggle really was. If Sam was like that to hide a lot of pain and hurt and disappointment.
But Lindsay was sure that within the last three months, all of Sam's happiness was genuine. And there was only one person who could be credited for that.
The same person who was now holding open the front door of the restaurant and letting his tiny girlfriend duck under his arm. Lindsay always got a little flutter in her stomach when she them together. The way that they'd smile at one another and watch each other so intently when the other was talking. The way Sam always gave this sheepish little grin and blushed madly when Flack so as much put his arm around her and kissed her temple in front of their friends. The way Flack treated her like the most important thing in the world. It was hard to explain, but Flack and Sam just had it. There was so much emotion and feelings passed between them in even the simplest of gestures and the smallest of smiles.
The cutest part was the size difference. Flack with his strong, solid build and standing six foot two, and Sam barely hitting five foot two and a hundred and fifteen pounds soaking wet. They were so different, yet so damn perfect together.
"You're almost late," Danny commented to his best friend, as they waited in line to give their names to the hostess while the women in their lives squealed and hugged as if they had just been reunited after months apart.
"Almost," Flack said. "Almost. And you can blame the subway for that. The train was crazy."
"Bullshit," Danny snorted. "Blame you and the fact you can't keep it in your pants."
"I have no comment for that," Flack said.
"Come on. Don't play innocent with me. You can't tell me that you haven't tapped that yet."
The detective just grinned. "I'm not about to kiss and tell, Messer."
Danny frowned. "That usually means that you haven't done anything," he said.
"I never said we haven't done anything. We've done some things. Just not everything."
"Why the hell not?" the CSI asked. "You can't tell me you don't want to. Because if you're not attracted to Brooklyn like that, there is something seriously wrong with you. She's a beautiful girl, Flack. Whose nuts about you for some reason. Which shows you that she's got something wrong upstairs. She's a few bricks short a load."
Flack smirked. "We just haven't yet, Messer. That's it. There's no reason. We just haven't."
"Slowing down? Losing your touch?"
"It's called respect, Danny. She hasn't felt entirely comfortable and I respect her enough to stop when she says to. Nothing wrong with that. When she's ready than that's fine with me. I'll be here. Even if it takes forever."
"You goddamn sap. You're in love with her, aren't you. Already. You're in love with little Brooklyn."
Flack didn't respond. He just gave a little smile and stepped up to the hostess desk and gave his name. "Use your imagination," he said to to his best friend, before slapping him on the shoulder and heading over to the giggling women.
"Well I'll be god-damned," Danny said to himself as he followed behind.
Hell definitely must have frozen over. Because Danny never thought he ever see the day Flack was the way he was right now.
Truly and genuinely happy with his life.
And madly and crazily in love.
Wow! Fantastic response to the first chapter! Thanks to everyone that read and reviewed. Hope to hear more from you guys! And a great big thanks to those that added me to alerts and favorites. That's awesome! So please read and review folks. It's definitely appreciated!
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