Esposito swiped with the damp cloth at the kitchen counter top and prayed that he'd be done before Meredeth arrived home. He'd wanted everything to be perfect for her, as he had the time on his hands while he was recuperating to help more around the house rather than leaving it all to Meredeth when she was working ten and twelve hour days on her miniseries; she loved it but it was taking its toll on her and today was no exception. When she'd called on her cell to let him know she was on her way home, he'd heard the tension in her voice, figured she'd feel better after the trip home from downtown. He'd taken Arturo for a walk, picked up a bottle of wine from the small market near their house along with a small clutch of brightly coloured flowers, and had carefully selected a recipe from one of Meredeth's cookbooks for dinner he could reasonably make without giving her food poisoning. He was no chef but it seemed that chicken baked with tomato sauce and cheese, and a fresh salad to go with it was pretty hard to screw up. And who didn't love to come home to a lovingly prepared meal?

He heard the dogs tags jingle as he trotted towards the door; Arturo had become accustomed to the fact that Meredeth went away on a daily basis and came home at the same time every day now.

He was glad he'd done the extra bits of housework for her when he heard the front door slam and the sound of his sweet girlfriend arriving carried into the kitchen.

'Arturo, go away. I'm happy to see you but you will get a boot in the ass if you don't move. Move!' Meredeth's voice was sharp and brittle as broken glass, making him wonder what the hell happened to put her in such a foul mood. He knew she came home cranky from work but she never spoke to Arturo that way. With a furrowed brow, he climbed the stairs to their room and stopped at the doorway when he saw a most unexpected sight - Meredeth sprawled on her back on their bed and beating the everlasting snot out of one of his goose-down pillows.

'I take it today was a typical Monday,' he said from the door.

She looked up and when he saw her eyes, it wasn't anger there but frustration and outrage. Treating her as he would a wounded wild animal, he crossed to the foot of the bed and studied her. 'What happened, Mere?'

'I'm not ready to talk about it just yet,' she told the ceiling. Meredeth knew if she looked at her man right now, he would want to cuddle and soothe, and while she knew she'd eventually need that, in an hour or so, she still needed to vent her rage. 'I'm getting a shower.'

She popped off the bed, and would have stormed into the ensuite had he not caught her arm. 'What?' she snarled.

'I love you.'

'I love you too. Now let go.'

He did, and watched her walk into the bathroom, the door closing behind her with a sharp click. Instead of following her over, despite his overwhelming desire to poke at her until she spilled her guts he whistled for Arturo and headed out of the bedroom, downstairs to check on dinner. From the kitchen he heard the sound of water running in the pipes and knew she was in the shower, which gave him ample time to set the mood in the kitchen - candles, her flowers in a vase in the centre of the table, dinner made and ready to go. He didn't care if it made him the biggest suck in the world; Meredeth was unhappy and it was his job as her man, her Javi, to make her feel better.

Fifteen minutes later, after she'd turned off the water and he could hear her pacing back and forth in the bedroom, Esposito decided to venture upstairs to the lair of the Mere-Beast and see if she was in the mood yet to tell him what was going on. Sure enough, he found lying on the bed in her in her comfies, staring at the ceiling again, only this time, Arturo was sitting beside the bed getting his neck scratched instead of one of his innocent pillows being pulverized.

'Feeling better?'

'A little.' Meredeth slid her gaze so she was looking down her body at him, patted the space beside herself. 'Come here. I need a hug.'

'You got it.' In a heartbeat, Esposito was across the room and sitting on the bed beside her, his arms around her and squeezing tightly. When he felt her give a great shudder, like she was fighting off tears, he pressed a kiss to her cheek. 'What's got you so troubled, babe?'

'Stupid fuckwit prima donna asshole actors and their total lack of consideration for the people who give them work.'

'So...not the idea of me making dinner and you possibly dying from food poisoning.'

She laughed, an automatic but genuine reflex; it was her first one of the day. 'Thank you, my love. I needed that. But you are getting better.'

'Being on sick leave, I'm learning things. But that can wait. What's this about actors and biting hands and all that?'

'You know Gareth Mitchell, right?'

'Hollywood's favourite mischief maker, sure.'

'Well, he's officially become the asshole I've always said he is.' Meredeth twisted onto her side so she was facing him. It was in the eyes, she thought sweetly. He had those big brown puppy-dog eyes that could cut her in two like a walnut; how she managed to plan surprises for him and keep them surprises was beyond her. 'Everyone knows he's had a little trouble with drinking and partying and all that, and he's everyone's favourite flavour these days because he talks about the error of his ways and wants to get his career on track.'

'Sure.'

'Well, about a month ago, we got notes from the network saying they wanted him to fulfill part of his contract agreements by being in this project. Problem was there was no part for him, we'd already voice-casted the roles we needed and they wanted to give him a significant role. So they had Bonnie and Mark and myself write in a completely original character and restructure the whole second and third episodes to fit their demands.'

Esposito nodded sagely, sensing this was the ramp-up to what had gotten her so red-eyed on the way home. 'And this isn't going down so well with you and the writing team?'

'I'm not done yet. Last Wednesday, Gareth is out celebrating his new-found employment with his buddies and they meet some girls, and somehow or another, Gareth gets himself arrested for all sorts of happy shit, not the least concerning of which is statutory rape. While they're sorting out all that nonsense in California, the New York offices here decide they don't want to keep Gareth on this project and tell Bonnie and Mark and me this morning that Gareth is no longer attached to our project and the miniseries will go ahead as planned with no original additions to the story.'

The fury and indignity of it had her firing on all cylinders again, and she popped up off the mattress like she was spring-loaded. 'Two weeks of nothing but solid rewrites to work that asshole into the project and the day before he's supposed to fly out and record his part, he does this and makes my work a joke. On top of which, I've also got the new print-book coming out in less than three months and I'm leaving for three weeks to go to Japan before it does, plus there's Comic-Con before that, and Jenny's having her baby some time in July which I might not be here for if she's overdue!'

'I know, babe, it's a lot to deal with in a very short space of time.' Esposito gave her a tight hug. 'But you've been doing great so far, and that was including taking time off to be with me.'

'That wasn't optional, like, oh gee, I'm in the mood for a break with my boyfriend. You were shot on the job, you were in the hospital.'

'And if I wasn't already ass over teakettle in love with you before that, it would have cinched the deal. But my point is, you've had bumps along the way before Gareth went chasing underage tail and you got through those too.'

'I guess.' Meredeth poked at his arm lightly; she didn't always like it when he was so logical and right but she could definitely appreciate it. She kissed him, her first one since she'd gotten home. 'Sorry for being a snarly bitch.'

'Everyone's got their days.'

She looked around. 'Where are the sheets?'

'In the laundry. I've been Mister-Mom-ing it almsot all day today. Figure you'd want to come home to a nice freshly washed bed and a home-cooked meal.'

'You cooked?' Now she was wary. 'Should I have nine-one-one on stand-by?'

'Hey, I'll have you know I'm getting a lot better, I can now do soup without setting off the fire-alarm.'

'My hero.' Meredeth tried to sit up, but found herself weighted down by Esposito's arm. 'If you think I'm in the mood for feel-better sex at this moment, think again.'

'Just because I want to keep you in bed with me a little while longer doesn't mean I'm interested in banging like you like a hammer on a nail. At least not right now,' he added, then made a noise through his nose when she swatted him on the forehead. 'Oh, S&M, I like it.'

'What a funny guy.' But his joking around did make her feel better, if not about the situation with Gareth, then at least making how to handle it the next day a little easier. 'I love you. I know you already said it to me, but I felt like saying it again anyways.'

'I know the feeling, and I love you right back. Hungry?'

'Now that I'm done being pissed off, or mostly done, yeah. Did you really cook, or is this like when you order Petrelli's take-out?'

'I really cooked, and I figure if you're willing to be so unkind to my pillows when they did nothing to you, the least you can do to apologize is eat what I made.'

With that, he tugged her up into a sitting position, then followed her downstairs to the kitchen; because he was walking behind her, Meredeth couldn't see the grin on his face as she entered the room.

It smelled deliciously of roasted meat and tomato sauce. On the table was a vase of slightly wilted but nonetheless cheerful looking yellow flowers, flanked on either side by candles waiting to be lit. The silverware glinted in the overhead light as Esposito went to the stove and took two dishes warming out of the oven, put them on hot trivets. He pulled out her chair with a flourish, lit the candles.

'For the miss tonight, fresh field greens with raspberry vinaigrette, followed by chicken parmigiana, with the chicken hand-breaded by yours truly.'

'God save us.' But she was smiling when he poured her a glass of wine, brought over a basket of bread along with the salads. She recognized the taste of Salamander Bakery's signature loaf instantly, and it made her smile wider that he'd gone to his mother's bakery, or had her drop the bread off, just to make her feel better. When she lifted the lid on the hot dish from the oven, she coughed a little at the steam. Inside were four little misshapen cuts of meat, breaded and sauced and smothered with melted cheese. She selected one, cautiously cut into the middle to see the chicken was completely cooked, if a little dry. Knowing he was eagerly watching, she popped the bite on her fork into her mouth - and promptly spit it back out half-chewed.

'Oh, God, what is that!'

'Chicken parmigiana?'

'Yeah, there's something in the spices, though, what is that?'

'I don't know, I used what was in the cupboards.'

Esposito shook his head, followed her over to the space where she kept the spices. 'I followed the recipe exactly. Basil, oregano, garlic, ground nutmeg-'

He cut himself off when she held up a finger, plucked a small bottle from the shelf containing a ground brown spice. 'This bottle of nutmeg?'

'That's the only one I saw.'

She leaned her head against the door, began to laugh hysterically, so much so Esposito thought was either going to be sick or pop a vessel.

'You...you...you...' she wheezed out, 'You put apple pie spice on the chicken! Chicken parmigiana pie!'

'Dammit!' But he was joining in laughing with her at his own stupidity. 'And here I thought I was going to be all super-fly Jamie Oliver at home for you.'

'Oh, Javi.' Meredeth got ahold of herself when she saw how crestfallen he was. 'Is there any chicken left?'

'Half the packet in the fridge.'

Scooping her hair into a stubby tail at the back of her head, Meredeth got out her dark green apron, and passed him his black and white-one. 'We're going to do a take two on this.'

'You still want me to cook for you?'

'Hey.' Meredeth wrapped her arms around his waist, gave him a kiss. 'You went to a lot of trouble to do something nice for me, and I want you to get it right, so later, it's not just feel-better sex from you to me, it's also thank-you-for-dinner sex from me to you.'

Esposito just stared at her. 'Pass me the tomato sauce.'

R&R&Enjoy.