So I seriously debated whether I was going to keep posting this story. There just doesn't seem to be that much interest anymore. I mean, I do post this for you guys (okay, maybe it's for me too... my coping mechanism for Cold Case's cancellation). I've had a lot of people add this story to their alerts, but not a lot of reviews (too high expectations?). Anyways, I have the next few chapters planned, but I don't know if I'm gonna post them. For now, enjoy this and please just take a second to leave a comment...

Disclaimer: I don't own them - not inspired, I know...

Chapter 5: Home

When they looked back on the next few hours of that night, neither Scotty nor Lilly would remember much about it. Between the fatigue of being up until sunrise and the emotional weariness that got the better of both of them, they hadn't said much more.

After their discussion Scotty had tentatively stood up, grasped Lilly gently by the hand and led her back upstairs. They slipped into bed, both too exhausted to talk, and Scotty reached over to switch off the bedside lamp. When the room remained illuminated, Scotty sat up in surprise.

"What the…" He looked around the room suspiciously.

From her horizontal position on the bed, Lilly giggled, "It's dawn Scotty." She gestured toward the rays of sunshine peeking through the curtains. Glancing at the disbelieving expression on Scotty's face, Lilly got up and pulled the curtains closed, then climbed back into bed as quickly as she could.

Lying back down and rolling over to kiss her, Scotty mumbled. "No it ain't. I'm still tired so it's still night."

Lilly laughed out loud at his childish, endearing attitude and Scotty smiled into the back of her neck.

"What?" She asked.

"Just nice to hear you laughin'." Scotty replied simply.

Turning in bed to face him, Lilly wrapped an arm around his neck and kissed him slowly and deliberately. Then she looked over his shoulder, at the expanse of gray that pulling the curtains closed revealed. She frowned, remembering why she usually didn't sleep in here anymore.

Scotty immediately sensed her discomfort. He leaned over, knowing instinctively what she was thinking, kissed her brow to remove the frown and whispered. "We'll change the curtains Lil."

And that was all they needed to fall asleep.

A few hours later, Scotty awoke and inhaled the sweet, intoxicating scent that was Lilly's shampoo, Lilly's pillows, and Lilly's... wait. Were those cats? He opened his eyes fully and found that the soft thing he'd buried his face in wasn't a blanket or a pillow. It was a cat. A three legged cat giving him the most ferocious cat glare he'd ever seen. Her orange counterpart also stood between him and Lilly, forming an impenetrable wall of feline.

Scotty frowned and continued to look wearily at the cats. He knew they were doing their best to protect their beloved owner. In fact, they'd probably witnessed the Kite, Ray, and Joseph debacles, and were now resolute and determined to protect Lilly. "I ain't gonna hurt her." He reassured Lilly's cats.

Olivia and Tripod only hissed. So much like Lilly's common reaction to people invading her personal space. And with that, Scotty began pondering the relationship between Lilly and her cats. Olivia's missing an eye. Tripod's missing a leg. Lilly's missing… what? Lilly was so guarded that Scotty didn't really know a lot about her past. Except what he learned from Christina and the things she'd let slip in passing, unawares of a breach in her walls.

He remembered a cold night more than three years ago, during one of their very first cases together. Toya Miles. Bruises and butterflies. Throughout the case, Scotty had remained stoic in his belief that while Rosie had made mistakes, she wanted the best and loved her little girl. When they left the precinct that night, Lilly had surprised him with her sudden bitter and unforgiving tone.

"Unwanted kid. Mom runs out of food stamps, makes an excuse for why there's no dinner tonight. Oh, and uh, no breakfast either."

"You tellin' me not once did you feel … some kinda love?"

Lilly had dodged his question, putting on an icy mask and diverting the topic back to the case. She'd suggested they take Rosie home tomorrow and Scotty knew that was all he was getting out of her tonight. He knew that the survival instinct kicked in and Lilly was suddenly, horribly aware of everything she'd said.

That night when he got home, Scotty had pulled an album from a box in his closet that he had not yet unpacked. He'd spent hours flipping through one dusty album after the other. Gazing at picture of him and Mike, of his parents, Ramiro and Rosa, and he remembered being suddenly filled with an overwhelming sadness for Lilly, and all she'd missed out on. This was back before he'd even known what she'd grow to mean to him, and even then his heart had gone out to her. He couldn't imagine not being loved as a child, and convinced himself that it wasn't as bad as she made it out to be.

The only other thing he knew about her was from the few weeks he was caught in Christina's web of manipulation. Being completely lost after Elisa's death had rendered him unsympathetic to the pain he was causing Lilly by stepping out with her sister. Even when Chris tried to explain what happened between the two sisters, Scotty had cut her off. He told himself then that it was because he respected Lilly's privacy and that what went down between her and Chris was none of his damn business. But later, when the haze of pain cleared, Scotty knew it was because he didn't want to know anything that would make it hard to be with Chris. If he knew the reason their relationship was hurting Lilly, he'd know the extent of the damage he was doing.

And it would be too hard.

Now though, Scotty could analyze the things Chris had tried to tell him without being overcome by guilt and he knew that there was not much to the story. Her fiancé of 9 years ago was just another betrayal, aggravated by the disloyalty of her own sister. And that was all he knew about her past. Betrayed so many times she didn't know who to trust.

Snapping out of his completely ill timed torrent of thoughts, Scotty looked up to find Lilly's cats looking appeased. Almost like they'd sensed the memories he'd just been through and were convinced they'd be enough to warn him off of hurting Lilly. They stepped aside, removing the barrier between him and Lilly and allowing him to put his arms around her. In that moment, after receiving the blessing of her cats, Scotty swore he'd never ever do anything to break the fragile heart she'd inadvertently entrusted him with. Then, he drifted off to sleep once more.

It wasn't until a few hours later that Lilly awoke. Raising her head to glance at the clock, she was surprised to discover it was past 4 PM. She and Scotty had been asleep for … almost 12 hours. Lilly gazed over at – her partner, boyfriend? – and felt warmth flood her heart. She leaned over and pressed a kiss to his lips until his eyes fluttered open.

"Mm. Ain't that a nice way to wake up…" He whispered against her mouth.

"I'm hungry." Lilly replied. And she was, famished in fact.

"Me too." And the look in his eyes and the way his hands began to roam her body told her exactly what he was hungry for, and it wasn't food.

"Scotty!" She swatted his hands away. "I'm actually hungry, for real food. And besides," she pouted, "you promised me a date."

"I did, didn't I?"

"Yep." Lilly replied cheerfully.

"Then I guess we better get outta bed, and take a shower, and get dressed, and go out…" Scotty trailed off, clearly indicating how much work that would be.

"Ugh." Lilly flopped back down onto the bed and registered her unwillingness to do that much movement. "Or we could stay here."

"Finally, you see the light."

"But I'm still hungry." She insisted.

"I'll cook for you." He offered.

She raised her eyebrows incredulously. "I don't keep food in my fridge Scotty. You're never gonna be able to rummage up dinner."

Leaning in for another kiss, he replied, "Never say never."

Twenty minutes later, Scotty and Lilly stood at the door of her refrigerator. Lilly, dressed in pajama pants and a cotton long sleeve, watched carefully for Scotty's reaction at the contents of her fridge. There was a collection of old takeout containers. Ranging in age from a few days up to… Was that? Yeah two weeks. That made up the bulk of her fridge, along with a bit of cheese and ham that she occasionally fed to her cats, a six pack of beer and a few jars of tomato sauce.

"What's the tomato sauce for Lil'?" Scotty asked, curious. After all, it was the only non takeout or ready-to-eat food in her fridge.

Lilly shrugged, "Tomato sauce is easy to heat up."

Straightening up, Scotty shut the door and turned to Lilly. "How do you feel about pizza?"

Grinning, Lilly replied, "Told you so." She reached for a stack of take out menus. "Pizza Hut, or Domino's?"

Placing a hand over hers to stop her, Scotty chuckled. "Oh, we ain't orderin' pizza Lil, that's way too easy."

His lopsided grin gave her pause and she considered the meaning of his words. Her eyes widened in shock. "No way Scotty. That oven hasn't been turned on since I moved in."

"Then maybe it's time we give it a spin."

The look on his face told her he wasn't backing down on this. He told her he'd cook for her, and that was damn well what he was going to do. Lilly acquiesced, but informed him grimly, "Fine, but just so you know. I can't cook. And I mean it, not even breakfast, and here you are, in my kitchen…"

Scotty cut her off before the nervous rambling got the best of her. "Don't worry. I'll show you how it's done. Grab some flour, a measuring cup, the cheese, tomato sauce and ham."

As Lilly scrambled to gather the ingredients he needed, Scotty preheated Lilly's oven and cleared the counter of files from work.

"Watch." Scotty added some water to the flour and began to knead the dough into a perfect consistency.

Lilly looked on, curious about the man she really only saw in a suit and tie, who was now, not just in her kitchen, but putting it to use for the first time in years. From behind, she wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her head on his back.

"You do that, I won't be able to finish our dinner Lil." Scotty informed her jokingly. All of a sudden, he had an image of himself spinning her around, pressing her against the counter, and having his way with her. Dinner be damned until… The grumble of his own stomach and the desire to impress Lilly interrupted his lascivious thoughts and he extricated himself from her arms, making room for her at the counter.

Lifting up the now circular dough, Scotty spun their dinner around in the air before expertly catching the base of their pizza. He laughed at Lilly's wide eyed look. "You wanna try?"

Lilly tentatively lifted the dough and attempted a halfhearted toss, resulting in their dinner coming about 3 inches from the floor, before Scotty caught it with a grin.

"Just takes practice" He reassured her.

A few minutes later, when the tomato sauce and cheese had been added to the pizza, Scotty turned to her and asked. "So what toppings you got, Lil?"

"Toppings?" Lilly stared back. "You've seen the inside of my fridge Scotty, that's about it." She paused, then handed him the chunk of ham. "You could use this, but the cats might scratch your eyes out."

"Well, we already took their cheese. Maybe we shouldn't traumatize 'em too much."

"You're probably right." Lilly responded, clearly amused.

"The pizza just won't be right without toppings Lil!"

Lilly laughed, the open, beautiful kind of laugh that can make someone's entire face light up. "You're too high maintenance, Valens."

"What are you talkin' about?" He shot back.

"Oh, real nutmeg in the coffee, toppings on pizza."

"That ain't high maintenance, Lil. It's food."

The words slipped out before Lilly could stop them, "Well in my family. Cooked was whatever was spinnin' under a lamp at the 7 – eleven. So…" She turned away, embarrassed.

Scotty sighed, slid the pizza into the oven and smiled at her. "Cheese pizza will be fine." He commented quietly, as he brushed a lock of golden hair out of her face.

A while later, Scotty leaned back on Lilly's couch. A pizza cooking in the oven. Cold beer in his hand. Lilly next to him… this was really turning out to be a good date. He wasn't sure who had suggested they watch TV, but as they flipped through Lilly's DVR, the tension of a visit from Lilly's past melting by the second, Scotty felt a sense of being… home.

"What do you wanna watch?" Lilly asked, folding her legs under her and glancing over at Scotty.

Scotty looked at the list of shows Lilly saved for later and laughed. "Criminal Minds? Seriously Lil?"

It was Lilly's turn to go on the defensive, "What?"

"They're cops." He replied. "You, you are what them profilers would call a creature of habit."

"It's a good show." She protested. "And you obviously watch it too."

"Only sometimes." He shot back. He listed some of her other shows. "And Law and Order? CSI?" He grinned, making his point clear.

Before Lilly could come out with a clever comeback, the oven dinged and Scotty got up to get their dinner, flashing her another flirty grin. Nice goin' Valens. Scotty 1, Lilly 0.

When he got back though, they both dug into their dinner, all thoughts of what was playing on TV forgotten.

"Oh God, Scotty…" Lilly trailed off, taking another huge bite of pizza.

"Good?" Scotty grinned "Imagine what I could do with proper ingredients."

Lilly didn't know if she was just starving, but this was definitely the best pizza she'd ever tasted. "Thanks." She smiled. Pausing, she added, "You've got tomato sauce on your chin."

And she leaned over and slowly licked the sauce from his chin, raising her eyes to find that his had darkened with lust.

"I'm not done my pizza yet Valens!"

And there it is... I really don't know how pizza is made, and I hope it's along the lines of that :)