"Not at all."
He had to admit, that surprised him. He looked at her for a second, curious, wondering what was going on in her mind. Never had he known her to reject a call from work, not when it meant the possibility of recovering a ten million-dollar painting or nailing some smug white collar criminal's ass to the wall. Sara Ellis was the job, and the job was Sara Ellis; it had always been like that, from back five years ago, when she had testified against him at his trial, to just yesterday, when she had apologetically cut their lunch short to run to the office. He understood that about her; in a way, he was the same.
He found himself grinning as he pulled her in for another kiss. It had been a long day of stale coffee and mortgage fraud at the FBI, and the pure rush of delight he'd felt when she'd shown up at his door had scared him a little. He remember their reunion, working together on the Halbridge case, and the flood of wariness that had filled him at the sight of her walking down the street in her impeccable suit and dangerously high heels. When had he gone from dreading working with her to looking forwards to seeing her?
She pulled back and shot him a little frown. "You're distracted." It wasn't a question.
He reached up and pushed aside a stray curl of her silky copper-colored hair. "Now, how could I be distracted when I've got such a beautiful woman in my arms?"
She smirked. "Neal..."
He slid a hand up her back. "Sara..."
She looked at him sideways, suspiciously, before rising a little and removing her hands from his hair. "Oh. Okay. If you want to be like that."
"Now, wait just a second..." He grabbed her hips and flipped them over, laughing when she squealed a bit as he pinned her underneath him. "You're not pulling that one on me again."
She placed her hands on his chest, holding him back. "Neal, seriously. What's wrong?"
He hesitated, looking at the serious expression on her face. What could he say? That she made him happy in a way that no one had in a long time? That some part of him, some buried, subconscious part, refused to let him fall in love with her because he didn't want another Kate to torture him? He could handle her leaving, he would be fine without her, but for how long? How serious did he want to let him and Sara get?
"Neal?" She looked at him searchingly, troubled.
He felt himself relax as he smiled down at her. "Nothing's wrong. I'm just happy to see you."
It was the truth. And it had become far more true than he had ever expected.
She smiled softly. "'Kay." She paused. "I'm glad to see you, too."
He stroked aside her hair and went in for the kiss.
He figured, maybe he didn't have to worry about that right now. He would deal with it later; he had more pressing things to think about at the moment. Love, permanence, baggage and scars-it could wait. Because for now, Sara Ellis was the best part of his day. And for him, that was enough.
A/N: Yay! More Sara/Neal fluffiness!
This marks the end of this Sara/Neal ficlet, but I'll probably be posting more of the pairing in a separate story. I'll possibly even start a Sara/Neal drabble series, so be sure to stay tuned!
Review, please! :)