DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN CSI:NY OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS. I ONLY OWN SAMANTHA FLACK AND THE FLACK KIDS.
ONCE AGAIN, THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO VOTED FOR ME IN THE AWARDS! I AM STILL SHOCKED AND EXTREMELY HUMBLED!
AND CONGRATS TO ALL THE OTHER WINNERS AS WELL!
SPECIAL THANKS TO CASS FOR ALL OF HER WONDERFUL LITTLE IDEAS, AND HALEY FOR GIVING ME THE GREEN LIGHT ON THE SNOW BALL THING.
OKAY, I DECIDED TO GO WITH A FLUFFY FUTURE CHAPTER TO BREAK UP THE WHOLE SADNESS SURROUNDING HAWKES' DEATH, FUNERAL ETC. ENJOY!
COOKIES TO WHOEVER PICKS OUT THE TIE IN TO 'TIME'S UP' AND TO MY FIRST STORY, MEMORIES OF BROOKLYN
Flack Family Fun
"I will remember your pain,
And fears.
Come on,
Come on yeah.
You stay here,
Every moment there you are.
I grow up,
I hope to get the hang of this.
I bleed from six strings,
I let the truth fall from my lips.
Do you remember what we were?
Do you find out what a kiss is for right before you die?
Just like when you have fallen,
I will be there when you rise.
In all kinds of weather,
I will be there when you rise.
Ohhh... It's the most peculiar feeling,
I don't know what's coming.
After we die,
Ohhhh... I will be there when you rise."
-Rise, Will Dailey
Flack was freezing.
From the waist down, he was nothing short of a living and breathing icicle. The front and the back of his jeans, from the ankle to where the bottom of his black and red snowboarding jacket - a Christmas present the year before from Sam, who got tired of seeing him bundled up in layers as opposed to actually wearing a normalwinter coat- fell just below his ass. And even that was wet, considering he'd been parked on his rear for the last ten minutes huddled behind the large yellow plastic slide in the middle of Jack Bleeker park, two blocks from his warm and cozy home.
He attempted to wriggle his toes. Despite the three pairs of wool socks he'd been smart enough to wear under his Timberland boots, he was somewhat disheartened to realize that he could barely feel his extremities. It was well below zero and his lungs burned with each inhale of the winter air. His cheeks were a crimson red and his eyelashes, chin and the tip of his nose nearly frozen. He was just thankful that he'd actually listened to his wife when she'd tossed him an navy blue wool hat with NYPD written across it and a pair of thick, well insulated clothes and insisted that he wear them. It was the first time in nearly eight years together he'd actually admitted to her face that she was right about something.
And knowing Sam, she'd never let him live that down.
"Daddy!" Kellan whispered harshly, from where she stood between his legs, her arms wrapped tightly around his neck. Her pink and white stripped scarf had fallen down and settled underneath her chin, and like her father, her cheeks were bright red and her eyelashes bore tiny chunks of ice at the tips. Her nose was running. Profusely.
"What, baby sweets?" he asked, and reached out to wipe her nose with one of his gloves. The things we don't do for our kids, Flack thought, as he cleaned his hand off on his thigh. He wondered when in the hell he ever went from a carefree bachelor bar hopping into the wee hours of the morning and then stumbling home blissfully drunk, to parked on his ass in the snow, wiping his kid's snotty nose without the use of a Kleenex.
"It's snowing again!" Kellan informed him of the obvious, as she tilted her head back towards the grey, dull sky, and closed her eyes and giggled softly as snow flakes tumbled down onto her face. "I like the snow! I wished it snowed all the time, daddy!"
Flack just smiled. Silently wishing that he shared in his daughter's enthusiasm for the bitter winter weather and praying to the higher powers for not allowing the brutal New York winters to last even longer than they already did. "Do you see anything, Kellan?" he asked, his voice low and serious as he tugged his daughter's scarf up to cover her face. So that just her big blue eyes were visible.
"I don't see them daddy! I don't see mommy or Kallison."
"Well keep looking. I'm counting on you here, baby sweets. You're the look out. It's your job to make sure we don't get caught. That they don't sneak up on us. That we can get the drop on them the second you see them. See all them snowballs there?" he nodded down at the dozen tightly packed orbs of snow sitting beside him.
Kellan looked down and nodded.
"That's our arsenal, alright? We're getting our butts kicked here. Mommy and Kallie are just lying in wait hoping to smoke us out. They're just hiding somewhere thinking we're going to think they've giving up. They're hoping we're going to think it's safe to come out. And when we do….they'll nail us. And we don't want that, do we?"
She shook her head vigorously.
"So you keep a good eye out? Okay? You wanna win the war? You've got to be smarter than your enemy. And we're definitely smarter than mommy. Right?"
"As if daddy," Kellan said with a roll of her eyes.
Flack smirked and leaned his head back against the slide behind him. He tried to concentrate on warm things to keep his mind off of how damn cold he was. He thought of those two weeks he'd spent in Turks and Caicos. Where the temperatures had hovered just below a hundred during the day and rarely hit below eighty five at night. He remembered those long, sweaty nights -more due to strenuous newlywed activity then the actual heat itself- and how he and Sam would lie in the middle of the bed in their hotel room afterwards. Hearts pounding in their chests and their slick limbs entangled. Listening to the sounds of the ocean through the open patio doors and staring out at the beautiful, full moon that filled the room with heavenly, silver light. He imagined that instead of sitting in the snow, he was in his basement, sprawled out on the couch of lounging in his favourite chair, a bottle of beer in his hand, the Rangers on television and the fire place crackling.
And how, as he immersed himself in a game of snow ball tag/hide and seek, his brother in law was taking his place on that sectional couch. Most likely watching something on the Space or Sci-Fi channel, or playing video games, while babysitting Dawson and keeping an eye on Wiener. The guests, after a lively and raucous breakfast, had scattered in their separate directions. Reed, Natalie and the kids packed up and headed out to Mac and Kelli's while Jess and Mark and their two hellions left to make a day out of visiting Mark's family and her father and brothers. Danny's parents had come to take Amanda back to their place. Lindsay wanted all three of her kids together until Danny was released from the hospital in a few days, and Sam and Flack, with their twins and a new baby in a house, just didn't have the room or the patience to take on all three of the Messer kids.
Being stuck inside the house was driving Sam and the girls absolutely crazy. And when it had been his wife who'd gotten the girls riled up with a suggestion that she, and daddy, take them to the park and play tag and hide and seek, he hadn't had the heart to disappoint his kids. Or Sammie for that matter. All three women in his life had long ago perfected their pouts and their best whiny voices, and he was a goner the moment they began batting their long eyelashes in his direction. Although spending an hour or two in the freezing cold wasn't exactly his idea of a relaxing afternoon with his family, neither was listening to the girls bitch and moan about how bored they were. Or watching the same Disney movies over and over again. Or bearing witness to their fighting.
Or having to immerse himself in the numerous chores that Sam had written down on her 'Honey Do List' and tacked to the fridge.
Snowball tag and hide and seek was definitely better than having to clean the utility room or paint the en-suite bathroom or change all of the light bulbs in the house to the energy efficient kind.
"Daddy!" Kellan cried from behind her scarf as she peered around the slide. "I see them! I see mommy and Kallison!"
"Do they see you?" he asked, as he reached out and closed his hand around a snowball.
"I don't think so…" she replied. "They're over by the swings!"
Flack twisted his body around and peeked out from around the slide as well. Watching as his wife, bundled up in her pink and black snowboarding coat and matching pants, a bubble gum pink hat perched on her head and matching mitts covering her hands, lifted Kallison onto one of the swings and commenced pushing her back and forth. She'd either given up on the game, or was pretending she had.
"Maybe mommy thinks we ran away," Kellan said, as she released her hold on his neck and turning around, settled herself on his lap. "Maybe she doesn't want to play anymore."
"Or maybe mommy is just sneaky," Flack told her. "Maybe she's trying to fool us into thinking that she gave up and doesn't want to play anymore. Let's hand tight for a couple of minutes, okay? This could be a trap and we're too smart to fall for a trap like that."
"What if mommy never comes over and finds us?" Kellan asked, as she picked up one of the snowballs with both hands and brought it to her lips. "What if we sit here forever and freeze to death?" she inquired, as she munched at the snow.
"We won't freeze to death," her father promised her. "We'll just give it a couple of minutes and…"
"Gotcha!" Sam bellowed, suddenly appearing at the side of the slide, startling both Kellan and Flack. "Take that!" she cried, and pelted her husband in the chest with the snow ball clutched tightly in her hand. Sending chunks of snow flying up into his face as the ball disintegrated on impact.
"Mommy!" Kellan shrieked, then began giggling so hard she tumbled backwards off of her father's lap, landing spread-eagled on the inches of snow that blanketed the ground. "You got us, mommy!" she squealed excitedly, then began moving her arms and legs vigorously as she made a snow angel. "I told daddy that you were smarter than he was but he didn't listen!"
"When does your dad ever listen to anything I say?" Sam asked, her eyes widening at the sight of the snow ball in Flack's hand. "Don't you dare!" she cried and began slowly backing away. "You already almost got me in the face once today!"
"Oh trust me, Sammie…" Flack wiped his face off with the sleeve of his coat and swept the snow off of his chest with his hand. "I won't be aiming for your pretty little face…"
"I won fair and square!" Sam informed him as he pushed himself up onto his feet. "Kallie and I won this battle outright! You said that whoever got nailed last was the loser. Game over. And that was you…" she held her hand up to her forehead, forefinger and thumb in the shape of an. "You're the big L, Donnie."
"The big L…" he snorted. "I'll show you the big L," he said, and made to grab her. A mischievous grin curving his lips as she took a couple of steps backwards. "Don't make me chase you, Sammie. That's one race you won't win babe. I'm only a foot taller than you. Much longer legs, babe."
"Yeah? Well you're also a hundred pounds heavier which means you're like a slow, lumbering elephant," she teased.
Flack frowned, then took a lunging step towards her.
She gave a shriek and turning on her heel, nearly stumbled in the snow as she took off running in the direction of the swings with Flack, and Kellan, hot on her heels. The twins' giggles floating on icy air as they watched their parents with great amusement.
It wasn't often that they got to sit back and see their parents acting like the little kids in the family. And it was much better to see mommy and daddy smiling and laughing and teasing each other then it was to see them mad at each other and to hear them arguing and saying mean things to each other. Mommy always cried when daddy and her got into a fight and daddy always scared her by yelling really, really, really loud. And neither of the girls liked angry daddy. At all.
"Save me, Kallison!" Sam breathlessly pleaded, as she sought shelter behind her daughter. "Save me from the big bad policeman."
"Oh nice, Tinks…" Flack smirked, hunched over, his hands on his thighs as he attempted to catch his breath. The intake of the frigid air burning his lungs. "Use a five year old…our five year old…as a human shield."
"What's happened to you?" Sam asked. "Out of shape, Donnie? What ever happened to the guy that could chase a perp for seven blocks and still get his man in the end? You're not even thirty-eight yet and you can't even make it a hundred yards without nearly having a heart attack."
"It's the weather," Flack told her, coughing noisily and then spitting into the snow.
"And the fact that you smoke a pack a day," his wife added. "You need to sit down and strap on an oxygen tank, Don? Can't keep up in your old age? Or are you just worried about getting your butt kicked by a girl? Again."
He frowned. Then bolted around the side of the swing and grabbed a hold of his wife by her hips. "Whose going to get their butt kicked?" he inquired, laughing as he hoisted her effortlessly over his shoulder. An arm curled around her petite frame and a hand on her ass as he carried her away from the swings.
"Let me go!" she squealed, kicking and squirming in vain. "Let me go! Put me down! Put me down right now, Don! Or I'll…"
"Or you'll what?" he chuckled. "What are you going to do, Tinks? I've got you in a completely submissive position here. You can't go anywhere. And if you don't stop all that kicking and fighting me, I'm going to lose my grab and drop you flat on your ass. Just take it easy."
"You're evil!" she declared. Shrieking as he allowed her to slip over his shoulder and slide down her back. Her hat tumbling to the ground. "Donnie!" she screamed. "You're going to drop me!"
"I am going to drop you if you don't calm down," he told her, as he trudged through the snow, the twins both scampering behind them. Giggling and chattering about what daddy was going to do to mommy. And just who the bad guy out of the two was. "You calm down and nothing bad will happen to you? Got it? You just relax and take it easy and you'll get through this in one piece, babe."
"Jesus, Mary and Joseph!" Sam grumbled. "I swear to God if you let me go…"
"I promise you I will not drop you," Flack told her. "At least not on your head."
"What are you…?" her words were cut off as she found herself lifted off of his shoulder and then quickly deposited, flat on her back, in the middle of one of the tall snow banks that served as a perimeter on the poorly made outdoor rink the city had completed just days before. "I can't believe you!" she cried, struggling to climb out of the bank. "You are an evil shit, Donald Flack Junior! What was I ever thinking marrying you? I never should have agreed to go out with you eight years ago. I should have just kept shooting you down!"
"I don't take no for an answer, remember?" he grinned down at her. "You did that and I'd still be on your ass about dating me even now. I wasn't letting you off the hook, Sammie. You were destined to fall for the Flack charm. Even if it did take me forever to bust it out on you."
"You're such an arrogant SOB," she muttered, then held out her hand.
"But you love me. It's why you married me, Sammie. You were wildly and desperately in love with me then, and you still are. Your life would suck without me."
She snorted.
"And think about it. Had you not agreed to go out with me?" he curled his fingers around her tiny, mitt covered hand and pulled her to her feet. "If you hadn't have agreed to go out with me, we wouldn't be here right now," he finished, as he wrapped his arms around his wife's slender body.
"You mean in the middle of Bleeker park in the dead of winter freezing our asses off?" she asked, hands gripping the front of his jacket, her teeth chattering as she beamed up at him, her golden brown eyes sparkling.
"Well that too…but I was thinking more along the lines of how we're embroiled in complete domestic bliss. Crazily and madly in love with each other, two amazing, beautiful little girls, an adorable son. You ask me, you did the right thing giving in eight years ago."
"Don't you mean you did the right thing by pulling your head out of your butt and then parking it on the stairs in my old apartment for three solid hours?" she teased. "If I do remember correctly, you came to me. You were waiting for me to come home. Not the other way around."
"Yeah…waiting for you to come home from a date with that f--"
Her eyes widened and she cast a glance towards the twins who were three feet away, on their backs in a snow bank, making snow angels.
"That freaking a-hole defence attorney who talked about himself all night and ate off your plate during dinner. At Tavern on the Green. And who took a personal phone call in the middle of a carriage ride. And who had the nerve to bad mouth and who actually thought he was going to score a second date with you."
"Well you know…I probably would have went out with him again if you hadn't have been sitting on those stairs waiting for me," Sam admitted.
Flack grimaced. "You telling me you actually would have dated that tool again?"
"He wasn't that bad," Sam reasoned. "Okay….so he was arrogant, obnoxious, had absolutely no sense of humour and talking to him was as exciting as watching paint dry. But he was rather attractive and he did have tons of money. We would have made some beautiful kids that we could have raised together in some fancy brownstone. Or that a nanny could have raised while I drove around in my BMW and blew his money on Fifth Avenue."
Flack snorted. "Come on…how boring would that kind of life have been? You wouldn't have wanted to live like that. Think of how dull that would have been. Living the rest of your life with that moron? Chances are your kids would have been just as damn pathetic as he was. Least with me, you got yourself some damn good looking kids. And I may be just some blue collar guy on a city salary, but I rock your world and you know it."
"Oh I still would have hooked up with you," Sam chided. "You would have been my lover. I would have keep going to you when I needed crazy, hot, kinky sex."
He grinned. "Are you saying you would have used me for my body?" he asked with a dramatic gasp.
"All six feet two inches, two hundred and ten pounds of it," Sam replied. "I would have used you and abused you, Donnie."
"You've been doing that for the last eight years," he laughed. "And have you heard me complain once?"
She shook her head, then placed her chin on his chest and smiled up at him. "I love my life," she told him, her voice quiet and sincere. "Despite all the bad times and all the tears and all the fighting…I wouldn't give you up for anything in the world, Don. You're my everything. You've always been my everything. And you're right. We do have beautiful, amazing kids together. And I am madly and crazily in love with you."
"You forgot passionately," he told her with a dimply grin.
"And passionately…" she added with an exaggerated, dramatic sigh.
"And you know what babe?" he asked, as he pulled her even tighter against him as the other reached up to dust snow out of her hair. "I gotta admit…I got a pretty damn big crush on you."
She smiled. "You do, do you?"
He nodded. "Massive, in fact."
"Well then you have very, very good taste in women. Such a drastic improvement from your days with leggy, red headed socialites with no brains."
He frowned, then laying a hand on the side of her face, covered her lips with his in a long, slow kiss. Her lips were freezing cold and tasted of a mixture between cherry chap stick and snow, but feel of her body against his and her hands gripping the front of his coat tightly quickly warded off the cold.
"Daddy!" Kallison cried, her face wrinkled in sheer disgust. "Mommy! Get a room why don't ya?!"
Sam burst out laughing, bringing an abrupt end to the kiss. "Where did you learn that?" she asked her daughter. "Who taught you that?"
"I will not give away my confidential sources," Kallison replied.
"You have been spending way too time with your Uncle Peanut," Flack declared. "Either that or you were eavesdropping on Uncle Reed when he was on the phone this morning."
"I heard nothing and saw nothing," the five year old said. "That's my story and I'm sticking to it!"
Flack grinned at Sam. "I think we have either a future detective or a future reporter on our hands," he said, giving her a wink and a peck on the cheek before walking over to the snow bank where his daughters lay on their bags, eyes closed and their tongues sticking out as they attempted to catch snowflakes. "Come on, ladies…" he said, and crouching down, scooped a child up under each arm. "Time to head home. It's freezing out here. Don't want you two getting sick."
"Do we have to go back to school tomorrow, daddy?" Kellan asked, wriggling her legs in indication that she wanted to be put down.
"Yep…Christmas break is over," Flack said, as he set her down on the ground. "Time for you guys to go back to the old grind."
Kallison let out an exaggerated sneeze, followed by a cough. "Daddy…" she whined, as she wrapped an arm around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder. "I don't feel so good."
"Nice try pumpkin eater," he chuckled, and pressed a kiss to the top of her head.
"Are we ready?" Sam asked, as she bent down to pick up her hat from where it lay in the snow. A frown covering her face as she realized it was soaking wet.
Flack nodded, and reaching up with his free hand, pulled off his own hat and handed it to her.
She gave a soft smile of appreciation and slipped the NYPD wool cap onto her head as she fell in step alongside of her husband and his hand settled on the small of her back.
"Can we have hot chocolate when we get home mommy?" Kellan asked hopefully, grabbing a hold of her mother's hand and skipping along happily beside her.
"With marsh mellows?" Kallison piped up.
"Lots and lots of 'em!" her sister cried excitedly. "I want to use daddy's big cup!"
"No I want to use daddy's big cup!" Kallison argued. "You got to use it last time!"
"Did not!" Kellan retorted.
"Did too! I remember! I got the memory of an elephant, 'member?"
"Uncle Peanut meant that you look like an elephant," Kellan said.
"Girls…" Flack attempted to keep the peace. "Easy now…easy…we had a really nice, fun afternoon out and you don't want to ruin it by fighting, do you?"
"But Kellan got to use your cup last time, daddy! It's my turn!" Kallison cried.
"Well, seeing as I don't have the memory of an elephant and I can't remember who did what, how about you two have race to the gate up there and the winner gets to use my cup. Sound good?"
Both girls nodded.
Flack placed Kallison on the ground, grinning as the two girls, in their pink and purple snowsuits and their clunky boots and their purple, yellow and neon pink 'jester' style hats complete with bells on the ends of each tail, took off through the snow. Stumbling several times and giggling hysterically as they collided with each other more than once and tumbled down onto the snow.
"Oh they're definitely Ross' alright," Flack said to his wife, as he draped his arm across her shoulders and pulled her tight into his side.
"Yeah…they got all my brains and all of your looks. Lucky for them, huh?" she teased, as she curled her arm around his waist. ""Cause if they'd gotten their father's brains…"
"Enough out of you," he said, and bent down to kiss her. "No more comments from the peanut gallery."
"Not even if it's to tell you how much I love you?" she asked curiously. "Or would you prefer I kept that too myself?"
Flack grinned down at her. "You can tell me that as much as you want," he said.
The evening had been one of the most relaxing Sam could remember the family spending together in a long time. With their home back to order for the time being and their guests opting to stay overnight at the places they were visiting, it was quiet and peaceful around the Flack house was quiet and peaceful. Or at least their version of peaceful. There was never a dull moment with two rambunctious five year olds, an equally as hyper dog even made more so because Adam had been sneaking it table scraps all day despite Sam's direct orders not to do it, and a month old baby that coaxed laughs and giggles and gushes of praise for every little thing he did. Whether it be blow a bubble while pursing his lips together, giving a smile brought on by gas, or letting out some of the noisiest bowel movements that any of them had ever heard. Everything that Dawson did was cute, as far as the ladies in the house were concerned. Even if it was puking down daddy's shoulder and back after letting out a huge belch.
After dinner and the girls had been bathed, the entire family had retreated down to the family room to watch movies and indulge in some left over Christmas candy from stockings a bowls of popcorn. While Adam opted to hang out in the home office and surf the 'net - "Don't let me catch you on any porn sites or chat lines" Sam had warned, to which her brother had rolled his eyes in response- the girls had snuggled up together on one part of the sectional couch while their parents lounged on the other.
It had been Kellan's turn to pick the movie. It was movie night twice a week and the girls took turns on choosing what the family would want. That night it was Snow White. Flack had inwardly groaned and rolled his eyes. They'd only seen that half a dozen times already.
But it was better than The Tinkerbell Movie or Cinderella, which had been on constantly nearly every day for three months after the girls had received them for their birthdays.
"There's something I don't get about this movie," Flack had said, his eyes narrowed and a frown on his face.
"What's not to get?" Sam has asked. "It's Disney. It's not suppose to make you think."
"What I mean is that there is no way that…" he had glanced over at the girls, then leaning into his wife, placed his lips against her ear. "…there is no way that one woman a can live in total isolation in the middle of a forest and have a strictly platonic relationship with any of the seven men she's living with."
Sam's cheeks had flushed bright red. Then she'd given a scowl and pushed him away from her. "Way to just ruin my whole childhood you big tool!" she'd cried.
Three hours later, with the movie long finished and the girls long tucked into bed and the house in silence, Sam and Flack found themselves completely alone for the first time in what felt like an eternity. Adam was upstairs holed up on the computer, the girls, although not yet asleep, were in their rooms giggling and chatting through the walls with each other, and Dawson was upstairs in the master bedroom in his portable playpen. The baby monitor switched on and the receiver parked on the coffee table.
"We're pretty goddamn boring," Flack declared, as he lay stretched out on the longest part of the sectional. The television off and the fireplace illuminating and heating the room.
She nodded in agreement as she rested on her stomach on the smaller part of the sofa, her head nestled into the crook of her husband's neck. "I don't know if its so much boring as it is that we're just plain lazy," she said.
"That could be it," he said, and yawned noisily. "We've got a long week ahead of us," he commented. "Hawkes' visitation, his funeral the next day…"
"At least he got what he deserved," Sam said. "I'm glad that the department was shamed into giving him a proper funeral. I don't feel to good with having to go to that kind of extent. But…"
"They deserved it," Flack declared, as his fingers combed through her hair. "Fucking shameful how they acted. It was disgusting. And if they'll do it to Hawkes, they'll do it to anyone. And that's just not right. You know I don't want anything like that, right? A massive departmental deal? You know that I just want something small and quaint when I kick the bucket?"
"We've talked about this a million times," Sam reminded him. "And you've written it all down. So can you please not go all fatalistic on me tonight? It's bad enough dealing with losing Sheldon. But to hear you talk like that? Just…just please don't do it, okay?"
"Okay…" he said, and kissed the top of her head. "It's just good to be prepared, Sammie. That's all."
"And you are prepared. Very prepared. Only I'm not prepared to lose you and I can't stand it when you talk about stuff like that. We had an amazing day, Donnie. And we're having a great night. Please don't mess that up by talking about death. Especially your death."
"Sorry…" he said, his hand settling on the back of her neck. "What do you want to talk about?" he asked.
"I heard a weird story on CNN today," Sam told him. "About this spa on the upper east side that offers bird dropping facials."
Flack grimaced.
"Apparently it's the hot new thing," she said. "I guess they gather up the bird droppings and grind it into powder and then turn it into a cream. I'm not entirely sure how, because by the time that I got to that part I was completely grossed out and no longer paying attention."
"Who in the hell would pay money to have bird shit smeared on their face?" Flack asked. "And never mind that, who in the hell's job is it to collect the stuff? I hope whoever does it gets paid a hell of a lot of money. 'Cause that's just gross. Never mind what diseases those goddamn flying rats might be carrying and dropping all over the city."
"People will pay money for the strangest things," Sam reasoned.
"True…kind of like when you dropped two hundred bucks at a salon to stick your feet into a fish bowl and let the little bastards nibble on you," he shuddered. "I'll never understand why you did that."
"They're called Doctor fish," Sam told him. "And it was honestly the most relaxing thing I've ever experienced."
"Well no one ever said that you were normal Sammie," he said. Then winced as she dug her teeth into his shoulder.
"Watch it or I'll nibble on you," she told him, raising her head to smile at him.
Flack grinned. "Just my feet or other places too?"
"I'm not into the whole foot thing like you are," Sam reminded him as she sat up. "But there's a couple of other places I wouldn't mind getting a hold of."
"Yeah? Like…?"
"Like your love handles," she teased, and pinched his sides. "And your potato patches!" she cried gleefully, and tickled the insides of his thighs.
"Leave them goddamn potato patches alone!" he shoved her hand away and clamped his legs together.
"But baby…." she kissed his cheek. "I love your potato patches. They're so cute. The girls have them, too. And so does Dawson. Did you noticed that when you were changing his diaper? That he has your potato patches?"
"I did. I also noticed he has my big…"
Sam placed her hand over his mouth. "Please do not finish that sentence," she begged, then removing his hand, covered his mouth with hers in a long, sizzling kiss.
"So is this where you start making last night and this morning up to me?" Flack asked hopefully.
Sam just smiled.
"'Cause hold that thought if it is," he said, and quickly sat up. "'Cause I've got something for you. A little surprise. Little something I picked up just for the two of us when I ran out to grab milk this morning."
"What kind of surprise?" she asked, watching as he climb off the couch.
"The kind that you can't know anything about," Flack replied. "It's what makes a surprise a surprise."
"Well I know that," she huffed. "But is it good? Bad?"
"Would I ever give you a bad surprise?" he asked, and crossing the basement, disappeared into the utility room. "It's a good surprise!" he called to his wife.
"Okay…" she frowned at the sound of the freezer squeaking open and items being arranged inside. "But what kind of surprise would come out of a…"
Her words were cut off as Flack stepped back out into the basement. A massive, mischievous grin on his face. And a container of ice cream in one hand and a dirty towel from the laundry in the other.
"I love ice cream," she declared, licking her bottom lip in anticipation.
"Not just any ice cream," he told her, and spread the towel out on the couch. "This is extremely special ice cream. Mommy and daddy ice cream."
She arched a quizzical eyebrow.
Raising his eyebrows, he held the container out. "Your favourite," he said. "Mint chocolate chip. And you know what mint chocolate chip ice cream means in our relationship, right?"
She gave a huge smile and nodded. Then without a word or without being told, scooted backwards on the couch until she was sitting on the towel.
Flack grinned, and tearing off the plastic wrap covering the lid, popped the container open. Sticking his finger into the ice cream, he leaned over the couch and held his finger out to her.
Grabbing him the wrist, Sam took his finger into her mouth and sucked aggressively. "It is my favourite," she declared.
Smirking, he tossed the lid onto the coffee table and dropped to his knees at the side of couch.
"And you say we're boring," she laughed.
He kissed her. Hungrily and passionately. Then dipping his finger into the ice cream once more, proceeded to spread the ice cold treat along the side of her slender neck.
"The things I have planned for you," he said.
Thanks to everyone that is reading and reviewing! And even lurking! Words can not express how humbled I am not just by the results in the awards, but in the constant outpouring of love and support for me and my stories! I appreciate each and every one of you!
Please R and R folks!
Special thanks to:
CSINYMinute
Hope4sall
Laurzz
Afrozenheart412
HighQueenReicheru
Wolfeylady
Delko's Girl 88
xSamilciousx
Forest Angel
Soccer-bitch
