DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN CSI:NY OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS. I DO HOWEVER OWN SAMANTHA ROSS.
THANKS TO ALL OF THOSE ADDING ME TO ALERTS AND FAVS!
On the floor and at the door
"There's a new wind blowin' like I've never known.
I'm breathin' deeper than I've ever known
And it sure feels good, to finally feel the way I do
I wanna love somebody,
Love somebody like you
I'm lettin' go of all my lonely yesterdays
I've forgiven myself for the mistakes I've made
And there's just one thing, the only thing I wanna do,
I wanna love somebody,
Love somebody like you.
I wanna feel the sunshine,
Shinin' down on me and you
When put your arms around me,
You let me know there's nothing in this world I can't do."
-Somebody Like You, Keith Urban
Flack lay on his back in the middle of the living room floor. Despite the fact that the hardwood was freezing cold and sticking to his bare back, he had never been more comfortable in his entire life. His entire body and mind were perfectly sated. All the stress and aggravation and utter bullshit from the day had evaporated thanks to twenty odd minutes of nothing but pure, unadulterated pleasure. It had been several minutes until he had managed to get his thundering heart under control and his lungs finally regained the capability of drawing breath following the intense, raw and emotional love making. Then he had pulled himself up off of the floor long enough to dispose of the used condom, snag two bottles of water from the fridge before returning to the living room and grabbing the throw pillows and the blanket from the couch. He'd arranged them neatly on the floor before lying back down. Drawing the wool blanket over their sweaty, slightly trembling bodies.
Neither were in a hurry to move. They lay contently and silently together. Flack's left arm around his girlfriend's slender body as she rested on her side, tucked tightly into him. Her face buried in the space between his neck and shoulder. One of her legs draped loosely over his thighs as her hand rested on his chest. He could hear her heart beating in unison with his, and feel her soft, warm breath tickle his skin. A mix of sweat and her gardenia scented shampoo permeated his senses. Her fingers were gentle and soothing as they combed through the hair on his chest and her nails drifted along his collarbone. Over and over again. The repetitive motion lulling him to sleep. Until his peaceful, pre-slumber was so rudely interrupted as Sam's fingers suddenly stilled and she let out a loud giggle.
He cracked an eye open and looked down at her. "What's so funny, babe?" he asked.
"I was just thinking about something," she replied, running her hand across his chest. "Something really, really stupid."
"About…?"
"Did I ever tell you that my brother has his you know what pierced?" she inquired.
Flack grimaced. Pain shooting through groin at the mere thought of any man intentionally, and willingly, doing that to himself. "Yeah…you told me about a month ago. I am just as horrified now as I was then. Because that is just not right. Your brother is a complete wackadoo for doing something like that to himself. I mean a ring through your…" he shuddered. "That is just completely fucked up."
"Apparently, every girlfriend he's had just raves about. Kendall was going on about it once in the locker room. How it rubs you right in the…"
"Sammie, please. The thought of your brother having sex is enough to give me nightmares. Never mind what it does to me to hear about him doing that to himself. And I can't believe you'd be thinking about something like that after what just went down between us. There's something slightly disturbing about you thinking about your brother's genital piercing after we've had sex."
"It was just a thought that crossed my mind," she defended herself. "Don't be so sensitive."
"We really need to work on your pillow talk. You realize that, right?"
"And what should we be talking about?" Sam asked, pressing kisses along his jaw line as her hand trailed lazily over his chest and down onto his stomach. A fingertip lightly trailing around his navel as her lips grazed the sensitive spot below his ear. "To you have a topic of conversation in mind? Is there something pressing you'd like to discuss?"
"Yeah. I was thinking we could talk about when we're going to put curtains on your windows to avoid any further x-rated photographs to be taken of us."
"I've already figured all of that out," she said, shifting beside him so that she was propped on her elbow and her chin rested on his chest. "I decided that I'm not going to be living here that much longer."
"We haven't even found a place yet," Flack reminded her, reaching up to stroke the top of her head. "We need to find some time to go and look at some of those that you circled in the paper."
"Well here's the thing. We can take it easy on the actual looking for a while," she told him, twirling his thick, white gold chain around her finger. "Because Adam came up with the most amazing idea ever."
Flack cocked an eyebrow.
"Well, apparently, my step father got a transfer with the airline and he's going to be working out of New York City. So Adam figured, instead of causing my parents a whole lot of migraines by forcing them to actually find their own place, and sparing us from the torture of them staying with one of us until they do find a place…"
"You're rambling, babe. Spit it out."
"…Adam came up with the genius idea of me letting them take over my lease. And then that means that we, as in me and you, can move in together sooner then planned. Into your apartment. Which already has blinds on the windows. Sound like a plan?"
He smiled and twisted a pig tail around his hand and pulled her down towards him, covering her lips with his in a long, soft kiss. "Sounds like a plan," he said. "When are you folks moving to New York?" he asked, settling back down on the floor and bringing her head down to rest on his shoulder.
"A couple of weeks," she replied, giving a loud, long yawn followed by a heavy sigh. "Can you tell I'm just so thrilled at the thought of them, especially my mother coming here to brighten my life?"
"Babe, how many times do I have to tell you?" Flack asked. "Sarcasm is MY specialty."
"Oh I'm sorry. I forgot," she said, as she lightly raked her fingernails down his chest and over his stomach. "And what is my specialty?"
He thought for a moment. Then chuckled.
Sam laughed as well. "Pervert," she scolded, and press a kiss to his shoulder.
"What?" he asked innocently. "I never said anything."
"You didn't have to. I can read your mind. 'Cause I'm cool like that. And you have a very, very dirty mind."
"Yeah…I do. But when my dirty mind and my body mix it up? Well I don't exactly hear you complaining. Or protesting. In fact, those were anything but complaints and protests coming out of your mouth while I was f-"
She laid two fingers over his lips. "I know full well what your body is capable of, baby. And you're right. I wasn't putting up a fight or bitching. Far from it."
"Just stating the facts. In case there's ever a doubt over whether or not I take care of business adequately enough. So…your parents."
"And you complain about my horrible pillow talk," she laughed, nuzzling his neck with her nose. "What about them?"
"I was just wondering if they knew about me. If they knew we were seeing each other."
She rolled her eyes and kissed his chin. "What is it with you and the whole 'seeing each other' thing? Do you really have to use that term?"
"Why do those words offend you so much?" he asked.
"We've already been through this," Sam told him, sighing heavily as she sat up. "It seems so…cold and impersonal. And you and I are far from impersonal. Or at least I thought we were."
"Of course we are, babe. I mean, do you really think I'd be lying on a hardwood floor causing my back all kinds of agony for just anyone?"
She frowned and reached behind her for the discarded dress shirt.
"That was meant to be a joke," Flack told her.
"Well maybe I'm not in the mood for joking," she said and slipped into the shirt.
"You're not going anywhere," he informed her, and laying a hand on the back of her neck, gently pulled her back down. So that she lay on her stomach with her chin resting on his chest, her golden brown eyes focused intently on him. "I'm sorry," he said. "You're right. It isn't the proper term for us. But what else am I suppose to call it? Would you rather I said, 'do they know you're fucking someone?'"
"How about 'do they know you have a boyfriend?'. Or maybe 'do they know you're dating someone?'. Or how about 'do they know you're in a relationship?'. All of those are great options."
"You're right. I'm sorry," he kissed her forehead. "Sometimes I'm an insensitive ass. I don't think before I speak. But you know that our relationship means more to me then just seeing each other. So I don't know why you get so bent out of shape about me saying those words."
"Maybe I'm just overly sensitive," she reasoned. "Or maybe I'm self conscious and I worry that it's not more serious to you and that in three months you're going to find something better and you're going to…"
He pulled her into a long, hard kiss. "Never going to happen," he told her. "You need to relax a little and trust me more. Trust yourself more."
She nodded in agreement.
"So your parents," he pressed.
"My parents know that I'm with somebody. That I have someone in my life. Adam opened his big trap and told my mother."
"And what did he tell her?"
"That I have a boyfriend and that he's a cop. A homicide detective. And that he's a really nice guy who treats me good. And that I'm happy. That we're happy."
"Are you?" Flack asked. "Happy?"
She raised her head and stared down at him, her eyes narrowed. "You have to ask me that?" she inquired.
"Sometimes…yeah," he admitted.
"Well I guess that means I'm not the only one with confidence issues," she said, as her fingertips drifted over the thick, jagged scar on his stomach. "I'm very happy. You make me happy. Please don't ever doubt that."
"Hard not to when you were so willing to walk away from me this afternoon."
"Donnie…I was freaked out. And stressed. I'd just been shown sexually explicit photos of us. I was just reacting to the situation. And I reacted badly. But that's the way I am. Things get out of control and my first response is to run away from it all. That's just me."
"You can't go through your whole life running away from things, Sammie. What does it solve? All you achieve is hurting yourself. I mean, you realize that right?"
She bit her bottom lip and nodded.
"Just say that I'd let you have things your way. That I had let you walk away from me and that I hadn't bothered going after you. If I'd just throw my hands in air and said, 'Fine, if that's what you want, we're done.'? How would you have reacted to that?"
"You wouldn't have done that," she said.
"Okay, so it's a hypothetical question. What would you have done if I had have just let you walk away?"
"I don't know," she replied, voice quiet.
"What do you mean you don't know?" he snapped, pushing her off of him and sitting up, "How can you not know? It should be a simple goddamn answer! You mean that would have been it? It would have been over? Just like that? What we have doesn't mean enough to you to actually swallow your pride and fight to keep it together?"
"You know I'd do anything to save us!" she retorted.
"Would you? Because this afternoon you were so willing to throw it away. And now you're telling me that you don't know what you would have done if I hadn't have reacted the way I did!"
"I guess I would have waited a little while until we both calmed down," she said. "I guess I would have…"
Flack held up a hand to silence her. "You guess? You shouldn't have to fucking guess!"
"I don't know what I would have done. Okay? I just know that I would have done something to get you back. I don't know exactly what. But something. You know I love you, Don. You know you're my everything."
"Most of the time…yeah, I do know."
"Most of the time?" she cried. "What the hell is that suppose to mean?"
"Eighty percent of the time I know you love me. I hear it in your voice. I see it in your eyes. It's in the way you touch me. The other twenty percent? That's me trying to boost your self esteem. Always having to reassure you that you're beautiful and you're smart and that I love you and there's no one else in the world I want. No one should have to work that goddamn hard at loving someone! And it feels like I'm putting more into us then you are. I'm laying it all out there. All my feelings and my thoughts and my heart. I give a hundred percent all the time and it seems like you're holding all of that back still."
"I agree," she said calmly. "And that's something I need to work on. Because I've always had to hold something back in order to protect myself."
"And what have I told you a million times? That I'm not going to hurt you!"
"I know…I know…it's just…" she sighed and raked her hand through her hair. "Old habits die hard. Please don't be mad at me."
"I am not…" Flack took a deep breath and briefly closed his eyes. Releasing his breath, he opened his eyes and looked at her and reached for her hand. "I am not mad at you. And that's another thing, Samantha. Just because we argue and I'm being totally honest with you and it comes out harsh? That does not mean I'm mad at you. Frustrated with you. Irritated even. But not mad. I can be harsh, I admit it. It's just the way I am. I've always been that way."
"And I've always been overly sensitive."
"So then we need to work on things," he concluded. "You notice I said we? I no way am I laying the blame for our issues solely on you. I've got lots to work on too. I need to learn to be a little more gentle with you. To turn off that aggressive, assertive cop side of me when we're dealing with personal things. I've never been able to do that. My cop side, as you call it? It's always been at the forefront of everything. Which is probably why I've had so many shit ass relationships. I can't turn that off. I can't put someone before the job. And with you I want to. Badly. I don't want to be all cop, all the time. I want my job to always come first. Because we both know, there's going to be times that it does take centre stage."
She nodded in agreement.
"But I want to change. Trust me. I don't want to be this way. I don't want to be…" he sighed. "You make me want to be a better man."
She smiled and leaned into him and kissed him softly.
"And you…I don't know. The Samantha Ross that I got to know first is the Sam Ross that's at work. Feisty and aggressive and tenacious. Hard ass sometimes. Sarcastic to a fault. That's the Sam Ross that I was attracted to. And when we got together…I don't know. Outside of work you're just so different."
"And you don't like the me outside of work," she concluded.
"What? No. That's not what I was trying to say at all. I love all the different parts of you. Every single one of them. But I just wish that someone of that on the job Sam Ross would mix in with the out of work Sam Ross. At work you're confidant and you take no shit. And outside of it? You're completely different. And then there's me and I'm exactly the same as I am on the job and that's not good either."
"So we're just two completely messed up people," she said, buttoning up her shirt. "And we mess each other up even more by being together. Maybe we're both just better off apart. Has that thought ever occurred to you, Donnie? That maybe you and just don't work?"
He shook his head. "We do work, Sammie. It just takes us a hell of a long time to make us work."
"And do you think it's worth it?" she asked. "Do you think that I'm worth all the aggravation and irritation and the pure and utter bullshit that I bring into this relationship?"
"Samantha, I would walk through hell for you. I would lie down and die for you. I'd take a fucking bullet for you. Understand me? So don't ever ask me something like that ever again. Why? You don't think I'm worth all the bullshit I bring into your life?"
"I will gladly accept your bullshit and then some," she declared, pulling her pig tails out of the back of her shirt.
"You know," he said, taking one of the pig tails in his hand, a slow grin spreading across his face. "There's something insanely sexy about the whole Pippi Longstocking persona you've got going on right now."
"Pippi Longstocking?" she laughed. "What do you know about Pippi Longstocking?"
"Mel used to love stuff like that. How else did you think I came up with the nicknames of Thumbelina and Rapunzel for you? I remembered them all from things my sister used to read or watch. You know, before she went mental and became a mangy crack whore."
"She's still your sister, Donnie," Sam reminded him, her knees cracking as she stood up and moved to the couch. Sitting down, she picked up her now lukewarm drink and took a sip. "She's got some massive issues and deserves to be locked up, but she is still your sister."
"That's not my sister," he said, shaking his head as he stood up and grabbed his sweats and slipped into them. "She stopped being my sister a long time ago. The old Melanie is gone. This Melanie…" he sighed and gathered up the pillows and blanket and carried them to the couch. "I don't even know this Melanie. And honestly, I don't want to."
"Maybe one day, she'll be the old Melanie again," Sam said, frowning down at the bowl of melted ice cream.
"Maybe," Flack agreed, as he plopped down on the couch beside her. "But I'm not holding my breath."
"Melanie and my mother would get along quite splendidly," Sam declared, grabbing her bag of candy hearts. Plucking one out, she laid it on his stomach, just above the navel and bent over to scoop it up with the tip of her tongue.
"Now if that was a completely random thing to do," he grinned.
"My mind is all sorts of twisted," she giggled, and proceeded to lay more candy out along his body. From his belly button and up in a straight line all the way to the middle of his chest.
He watched, both amused and completely turned on, her warm mouth and moist tongue travelled up his body, 'cleaning up' all of the treats. Shivering at the sensation of the metal of her tongue ring sliding across his skin.
She sucked the last candy into her mouth and gave him a sly smile before kissing him. Long and passionate. Transferring the tiny, sugary heart from her mouth to his. "Mmm…" she said and sat back. "Nice and sweet."
"As bizarre as that was, it totally turned me on," Flack informed her.
She looked down at his crotch and smiled broadly. "So I see Detective. I thought you said you were tired."
"I am," he said. "You know, that whole candy heart thing you did reminds me of this case Danny told me about a long time ago. I don't remember the exact story behind it, but the evidence led him back to this sushi place. A naked sushi place, actually. Hot girls letting people eat off of them."
Sam grimaced. "That must have turned Danny on. But how do men know when to stop eating? How do they know when the sushi is finished and they're suppose to stop and they see her…"
"You're goddamn warped," Flack told her. "You realize that? I can't believe you'd think something like that."
Sam shrugged. "I bet you would just love to have me lie down and eat food off of me. You can combine the two loves of your life into one. Food and sex. Too bad you don't like sushi. Somehow I don't think pizza and chicken wings has the same effect."
He frowned. Twisting sideways, he grabbed her by the hips and lifted her up and settled her on the lap. "Maybe I'll just drizzle melted cheese all over you and add some pepperoni slices and make a pizza out of you," he teased, tickling her sides, just below her ribs. "Would you like that?"
"No!" she squealed, giggling hysterically as his fingers mercilessly assaulted her.
"I bet it would completely turn you on," he laughed, moving her so that she sat astride his lap, not relenting in the tickling. "You'd probably get all hot and bothered if I was to lick cheese and eat pepperoni off of you. You'd probably love it."
"No I wouldn't!" she insisted, struggling to escape his clutches. "Oh my God! Stop, Donnie! You're going to make me piss myself! Stop it!"
"Beg!" he demanded. "Beg me to stop the same way that an hour ago you begged me to…"
"STOP!" she shrieked, tears spilling down her cheeks. "PLEASE STOP! YOU'RE GOING TO MAKE ME PEE!"
He laughed and finally stopped the tickling and wrapped his arms around her slender body.
She wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her shirt before curling her arms around his neck and resting her head on his shoulders.
"I love you, baby," he said, his lips against her temple. "So much."
"I love you, too," she told him. "I just wish we didn't fight so much."
"It's what we do, Sammie. It's who we are. We fight. And it's all about me being an arrogant sonofabitch and you being a total pain in the ass."
With a grin she sat up and looked at him. "Nice adlibbing, Donnie. I knew you were paying attention to The Notebook at least one of the six times I forced you to watch it."
"It wasn't that I was paying attention. It was that I heard that one part and couldn't help but think how that one quote perfectly describes us."
"Still can't be healthy that we fight as much as we do," she said.
"Actually, I pick fights for a reason," Flack told her. "There's a method to my madness."
She arched an eyebrow.
"I start shit with you just so we can get to the make up sex," he admitted.
"Is that all you think of?" she asked.
"You actually have to ask me that question?" he retorted.
She smiled and covered his lips in a long and steamy kiss.
"I'm starving," Flack announced at the end of the moment. "Are you hungry? I'm hungry. You want to order something? Pizza? Chinese? Thai? My treat?"
Sam picked up his right hand and turned it around to look at his watch. "It's after midnight," she said, climbing off of him. "Will they still deliver?"
"You have been out of the city way too long," Flack informed her, grabbing the cordless phone that sat on the coffee table, "This is the city that never sleeps. You can get anything delivered at any time of the day."
"You know you eat a lot of take out when you have the numbers stores in your brain," she laughed, nodding at the phone. "I think we should get cleaned up first though. We both stink now. Sweat and sex. What a lovely combination. I'll have to leave the windows in here open tonight. I'm going to go and run a bath for us."
"Just no bubbles," he pleaded. "Please just no bubbles."
"Go and ruin all my fun," she sighed, picking up her drink and finishing it. "I'll be back," she said, and leaning over him, kissed him chastely.
"I'm just going to grab another drink," Flack told her. "And something quick to eat. So I don't wilt away from starving because you won't let me eat before we clean up."
"I think you'll survive," Sam laughed and headed from the living room.
"Well if you come out here and I'm skin and bones, you'll know how wrong you were about that statement," Flack called to her.
"Something tells me you're going to be just fine," she laughed. "But I'd definitely cry if your love handles suddenly ceased to exist."
"Love handles," he snorted. "I don't have love handles."
She didn't respond.
Flack glanced down at his stomach. "Okay…maybe I do!" he yelled through the apartment. "But they're just little ones!"
"Whatever you say, honey!" she shouted back, before turning on the taps in the bathroom to fill the tub.
"What are you going to do when I'm fifty five and have a middle aged spread?" he asked, stretching out his legs and putting his hands behind his head as he closed his eyes.
"Fifty five!" she laughed hysterically from where she stood in the bathroom doorway brushing her teeth. "Baby, no one lives to be a hundred and ten."
"Not true. I heard about some guy in China celebrating his hundred and thirteenth birthday."
"And he probably lived this squeaky clean life. No drugs, no booze, no smoking. Lots of physical exercise and a great diet."
"Wow…if those are the requirements for living a long life, technically I should have been dead about a decade ago."
"Gives you incentive to start going to the gym more and eating better and not drink so much beer," Sam said, winking at him before disappearing into the bathroom.
"You've got another thing coming if you think I'm giving up my Guinness," Flack told her, closing his eyes as he leaned his head against the back of the couch. "You'll just have to learn to live with the beer gut I'll have in five years. And you'll have to learn how to cook haggis."
"You're not even Scottish!" she cried.
"You don't have to be Scottish to eat haggis, babe. My old man got me and my brother Chris onto it."
"Well you're living on another planet if you honestly think I'm actually going to take a lamb's internal organs, crush them up and boil them inside a sheep's stomach. The sheer thought of that makes me want to puke."
"Don't knock it until you try it. I'll get my dad to make it for you some time."
Sam gagged noisily. "No thanks. I'd rather regurgitate my food and eat it up again with a spoon."
Flack grimaced. "You're on sick woman, do you know that?"
"Yeah…it's the Ross in me. But you love me and wouldn't want me any other way."
He smiled. She was damn right about that.
"Are you cleaning the living room?" Sam called down the hall.
"Ummm…no. Did you want me to?" he responded.
"Well isn't it a mess?"
Flack cracked an eye open and looked around the room. "Yeah…I'd say it looked like a bomb was detonated in here."
"Hmmm…well I guess seeing as I'm in here…"
He smirked and opened his both eyes and removed his hands from behind his head as he sat up. "You have such a subtle way of bossing me around," he said, and standing up, yawned noisily and sretched until his back cracked. Sighing heavily as he surveyed the mess, he grabbed the bag of candy, the bowl of melted ice cream and the large plastic tumbler and carried them into the kitchen.
He had just rinsed the dishes and set them aside to be washed the next day and had snagged himself another bottle of water when a loud knock came to the apartment door. Frowning, he snapped the cap off the plastic bottle in his hands, took a swig of the water and headed out of the kitchen.
"SAM!" he bellowed through the apartment. "Someone's at the door! You expecting anyone?!"
"It's probably just one of my crazy neighbours wanting to borrow something!" she yelled. "Just answer it and give them whatever they want and tell them to take a hike! Hopefully it's not some would be robber in a hot wired tux!"
"You're never going to let me live Devon down are you!" It was more a statement then a question.
"Ummm…actually, no I'm not. Because it's unforgivable that a guy like you was ever with someone like that. I mean being excited about getting robbed? Wearing a fuchsia bra and underwear with a black dress? I mean, like seriously. Come on."
"I never should have told you those little details." Flack sighed, as he stepped into the small foyer and slid the chain across and snapped open the dead bolt. "Look," he said as he pulled open the door. "I don't know what you want, but…"
He stopped mid sentence at the sight in front of him. A short, slightly overweight woman, possibly in her early fifties, with cropped salt and pepper grey hair and wearing a pair of knee high brown suede boots over her slim fitting jeans, and a black faux fur jacket. Beside her was a tall and powerfully built man of the same age. His snow white hair and matching goatee a stark contrast to his black leather bomber jacket. Both were holding onto the handles of wheelie suitcases, while other bags lay behind them in the hall.
"Can I help you?" Flack asked. Slightly amused by the woman's wide, embarrassed eyes and the frown on the man's face.
The older man looked him up and down, his mouth set in a grim line as he took in not only the fact Flack had on no shirt, but bore deep red scratch marks down his chest, across his left side, and a noticeable bite mark in between his left shoulder and the side of his neck.
Flack wondered what they'd say if they got a look of the road map of fingernail gouges across his back.
"Who are you?" the other man asked.
"Who are you?" Flack countered.
"Maybe we have the wrong apartment," the woman said.
"No, no, this is the right one," her companion argued, and reaching into the pocket of his jacket, pulled out a wrinkled piece of lined paper and looked at it. "Apartment 303," he read, then nodded at the brass numbers attached to the front of the door. "It's the right place. This is the address Adam gave us."
"Adam?" Flack asked. "As in Adam Ross?"
"You know him?" the woman asked.
"Yeah…we sort of work together. You haven't answered my question though. Who are you two?"
"How about you tell us who you are," the older man countered.
"I'm…"
"Donnie?" Sam's voice called out to him as she headed into the living room and towards the door. "Who are you talking to? I just told you to give them whatever they wanted and send them on their way. There's a nice warm bath calling our names. Not to mention bed seems like a great idea."
"It isn't one of your neighbours, Sammie," he said over his shoulder, as she stepped into the foyer in his dress shirt. And nothing on underneath.
She sidled up alongside of him and curled an arm around his waist. "Well who…" Sam's eyes widened in both shock and horror at the faces on her doorstep. "Oh my God!" she exclaimed. "Mom?! Dad?!"
"These are your parents?" Flack asked, stepping away from the door. "For real?"
Sam nodded. "What the hell are you two doing here? Two weeks! Adam said two weeks!"
"That's not a very warm welcome," her step father scolded her, as he motioned for his wife to step into the apartment. "I thought you'd be happy to see us."
"Two weeks!" Sam repeated. "Adam said…"
"We thought we'd come down sooner," her mother explained, loosely embracing her daughter and kissing both of her cheeks. "Spend some time with the two of you before things got hectic with your father's work. By the way…" she held her daughter out at arms length. "You've gained a lot of weight since you've been in New York."
"That's nonsense," her step dad declared. "She looks beautiful. You look beautiful, lady bug."
"Thanks, dad," she accepted a kiss from him and a warm hug. "Why did you just drop in on me like this?" she asked. "Did Adam know you were coming to town?"
"It was a surprise," her mother said. "And our hotel isn't ready until tomorrow and we needed a place to stay. So…"
"Well you can't stay here!" Sam protested, staring in disbelief as her parents brought their luggage into her tiny foyer. "I can't…you can't…you just can't be here."
"It's a two bedroom," her mom reminded her. "There's lots of room for one night."
"It's not that," Sam said. "It's just that…this isn't a good time for you two to be here. Alright? I'm kind of not prepared for company. I'm actually rather indisposed at the moment."
"So we've noticed," her mother looked Flack up and down. "Aren't you going to introduce us to your friend?" she asked her daughter.
"Maybe if you come back in the morning and we're not busy," Sam replied. "Seriously, you can not stay here."
"Clint Chambers," Sam's step father stepped closure to Flack and held out a large, strong hand. "Adam and Sam's step dad."
"Don Flack," the detective said, shaking the older man's hand.
"The cop, right?"
Flack nodded.
"And the boyfriend," Clint stated.
"That would be me," Flack confirmed.
"This is my wife, Lynne," the older man gestured to the woman beside him. "Ignore her bitchy mood. She's never been a good traveller. I tried to knock her out with some tranqs mid flight, but they didn't work. Unfortunately."
Flack couldn't help but smirk.
"Looks like it's going to be a crowded apartment," Clint observed.
"Actually," Flack said, clearing his throat noisily. "I'm not staying."
Sam stared at him, eyes wide in horror at the thought of being left alone with her parents.
"Well I was," the detective added quickly. "But seeing as you guys are here and haven't seen your daughter in awhile and it's not exactly appropriate if I stay here, with her while you're here, I'm going to head home."
"Smart idea, kid," Clint said with an approving nod. "Never a good first impression when you answer the door to your girlfriend's parents and you're half naked. Not to mention those nasty war wounds you're sportin' there."
"Dad!" Sam exclaimed. "What did you expect? You just showed up out of nowhere!"
"Well we didn't expect to find you like that," her mother answered, eyeing her daughter's ensemble.
"Don and I need to have a moment," Sam said, and snatching Flack's hand, yanked him into the kitchen. "You two just…I don't know. Just go somewhere else and leave us alone for a while."
"Take your time," Clint told her. "Your mom and I will be in the living room."
"Whatever," Sam huffed and disappeared into the kitchen.
"I don't think your parents are going to be too happy when they go in there and see a box of condoms and an empty wrapper on the floor," Flack commented.
"You didn't clean up?!" Sam nearly wailed.
"I cleaned up the bigger mess. Your bowl and your cup and all that crap. I didn't think of grabbing the other stuff. I figured I'd do it later or tomorrow morning. I wasn't expecting your parents to come knocking on the door."
"I can't believe this…" she breathed and raked a hand through her hair. Which she now wore loose, the tight pig tails leaving waves through her dark tresses. "I can not believe they just showed up like this! Can you believe this?"
"Well from what you've told me about your wackjob of a mother, yeah, I can."
"I am so sorry that you were subjected to that. Seriously. You did not deserve to meet the wicked witch under circumstances like this."
Flack shrugged. "Personally I find it kind of amusing. Me walking around in just my pants and you walking around naked under my shirt. Not to mention the place smelling like sex and a condom wrapper and an entire box of rubbers lying around on the living room floor. It's actually pretty damn humorous."
"This is so not funny," Sam declared. Then looked at him.
Flack smirked.
She burst into giggles. "Okay. So it's hilarious. Seeing the look on my mother's face was nearly worth all the torment and agony she's caused me all my life. You're not seriously going to leave me alone with them, are you?"
Flack nodded.
"How could you do that to me? How could you leave me with them?"
"Sam, your parents don't even know me. Do you realize how awkward this is all is? I mean, I know it's funny as all hell, but meeting your parents like that? Not that way I thought meeting them for the first time would go down."
"Why does it matter how you meet them?" she asked. "Regardless of how it happens, they're still going to be evil."
"Your parents have never met be before and the first time they do is with both of us half naked, evidence of sexual activity in the living room, and injuries left behind on my body from their daughter. Something tells me meeting them over dinner would have gone down a lot more smoothly."
Sam sighed heavily and leaning back against the fridge, placed a hand over her eyes.
"I guess isn't a good time to tell you that I have to work tomorrow. Noon to midnight."
She snorted and shook her head and removed her hand to glare at him. "You're kidding me, right?"
"Whitmore is on my ass. I thought for sure after I stayed late tonight and got all that crap she wanted done, that I'd be walking out of there free and easy for tomorrow. She nailed me before I could get out of the door. Reminded me of time I took off when I had the blue flu and how it would be beneficial to my career if I helped her out a bit."
"You took off what? Not even a full shift? She's lucky it wasn't days."
"Well apparently she feels I have a lot of making up to do. What was I suppose to do? Say no?"
"Uhhh, yeah," Sam responded. "How about telling her that you asked for the day off a month ago and that you had plans?"
"Wouldn't have made a difference. She doesn't give a shit. You could still go to the hotel. You're off at what? Four? You could go there right after work and just relax. Go swimming. Use the spa. I'll even give you money."
"The whole point of going to the hotel was for us to spend time together," she reminded him.
"So we'll do it next weekend. We're both off next weekend."
"You play hockey on Saturday morning and we told Danny and Lindsay would go out to lunch with them afterwards."
"Okay…so after lunch we check into a hotel and not come out until Sunday at check out. We'll just have a belated Valentines Day."
"Fine," she said with a heavy sigh. "Seeing as this is one argument I'll never win nor will I be able to change your mind in a million years…"
"I'm sorry, baby. If I wasn't on Whitmore's shitlist already, I would have just told her to fuck herself. But…"
"I understand. You don't have to go through it again. I understand and you're right. We can just do something next weekend."
Flack frowned.
"What?" she asked irritably.
"No freak out? No yelling at me and tossing things around or slamming doors?"
"Is that what you were expecting?" she asked, her golden brown eyes sparkling as she smiled.
"Honestly? Yeah. I was."
"This is one of those time where the job has to come first, right? I already told you I accept that there's going to be moments like that. Just like one day I'm going to get called out and it's going to ruin something else we had planned. It's just a fact of life. The nature of the beast."
"I'm sorry, Sammie. If I…"
"If you could have gotten out of it unscathed you would have," she finished for him. "Seriously Donnie, it's not that big of a deal. I mean, it is. Giving that it's our first Valentines Day and all. But it's not the end of the world."
He nodded in agreement and reached out and laid both of his hands on her slender hips. "I love you," he said, pulling her into him and covering her lips with his in a smoldering kiss.
"If you loved me you wouldn't leave me alone with my parents," she teased.
"I'm just not comfortable being here," he reasoned. "Sleeping in the same bed with you while your parents are in the next room. That just…I don't know…it's just plain creepy."
"What are you going to do when we're married?" she asked. "And we're forced to stay under the same roof with them? Are we going to sleep in separate rooms?"
"No," he said. "That's a completely different scenario. I mean, your parents will actually know me by them. And I'm sure when that day comes, your mother will have pissed me off about something and I'll be looking for something to do to irriate you. Having sex with her daughter and forcing her to listen to all the noise you make? Perfect way to aggravate her."
"I really am sorry," Sam said. "That you had to meet them like this."
"How were you suppose to know they were just going to show up? So it's a little awkward. I'm sure we'll all get over it."
"Just like I'm sure they're going to cause me sheer hell once you leave," she sighed.
"I seriously would stay if I thought it was appropriate. But…"
"But it's not," Sam concluded and smiled up at him. "I understand. And I love you too."
He kissed her softly. "You know, it really made my entire day to hear you 'when we're married'. That's the first time you've actually talked like that. That you've made any kinds of future plans for us."
"Oh I make a lot," she told him. "I just keep those kinds of secrets to myself."
He smiled and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "I should go and get cleaned up and take off. I'll call you when I get home, okay? Make sure you'll still alive?"
She nodded.
"You're going to be okay," Flack told her. "I'm sure your folks will go easy on you. It's late, they're probably tired from their flight. They probably don't have the energy to start shit with you."
"You don't know my mother," Sam said with a frown. "Next thing you know, she's going to be wanting all of us to go out to dinner to get to know each other better."
"What's wrong with that?" Flack asked.
"Because she'll probably want you to bring your parents along too."
"Nothing wrong with that."
"Nothing wrong with that?" Sam asked. "I don't want to be subjecting your parents to her!"
"Hey, my family is no picnic either. We should invite Melanie along and watch things get really interesting."
Sam stared at him in complete horror.
"You're going to be alright, baby," he said, wrapping his arms around her and holding her tightly. "Trust me."
She relaxed in his embrace, closed her eyes and curled her arms around him.
Smiling as she finally realized that she was holding on to her forever.
Thanks to everyone that is reading and reviewing! I appreciate each and every one of you. Even the lurkers! But please, please review. It's what keeps the stories going. Especially when I'm always wavering on whether to actually continue or not.
Special thanks to:
Hope4sall
Laurzz
Afrozenheart412
Muchmadness
rebandmel
Twinkeyrocks
Wolfe lady
Soccer-bitch
daytimedrama
