Scotty woke to an annoying, persistent pain in his side, winced and rolled over to his back in an attempt to escape it, sleepily opening one eye; the bedroom was light, sun streaming in through the slightly opened blinds and the source of the pain was a very beautiful, blonde creature, grinning at him as she poked her forefinger into his ribs one more time.
"Good morning. Are you awake yet?"
"No," he groaned, removing the pillow from under his head and covering his face with it. "Go away. You're evil."
"Aww. Come on, sleepyhead." Lilly chuckled, removed the pillow and kissed him deeply, thoroughly. "Are you awake now?"
"Mmhm," he muttered, lifting a hand to the back of her head and pulling her down again to continue enjoying her silky lips. "I might be. Come back to bed."
"I wish I could," she sighed regretfully, sitting up and smiling at him. "You're not a big fan of mornings, are you?"
"Not really. Especially not Mondays." Scotty yawned, rubbing his hands over his face and checking the time; twenty past seven, which meant they had to be at work in a little over an hour and the morning traffic was bound to be horrific as usual. "Are you gonna drive? We probably shouldn't be seen arrivin' together, or we're never gonna hear the end of it from Nick an' Kat."
"Let's just take the train, split up somewhere in the vicinity of the precinct." She leaned down for one more kiss before standing, and he noticed she was already dressed in work clothes, looking very stylish like always. Today she had chosen black pants and a blue shirt that was the exact color of her bright and sparkling eyes, her blonde hair on its usual adorable ponytail, slightly wavy, some soft tendrils framing her face. He swallowed, a tsunami of emotions washing over him upon remembering everything that had happened lately; just three short days ago they had been fighting on the street, this very same street her house was on, shooting insults at each other, both of them sad and tired and desperate, the gnawing terror over the possibility of her leaving just completely eating him up. And now this breathtakingly gorgeous woman was his fiancée, and his most important order of business was to find her a ring to match her beauty, soon; it might not be an easy task, but he was determined to get there.
Lilly looked at him, gave him her stunning smile as though she was reading his mind, guessing his thoughts, and warmth moved into his heart; after this incredible weekend and after receiving many, many smiles from her, he was ready to go, fully energized again, even though he still would have preferred to stay in bed with her all day long.
"There's fresh coffee," she told him quietly, her face telling him she maybe had similar thoughts. "Hungry?"
"A bit." He stood, giving her a teasing grin. "I thought you weren't gonna cook for me."
"I'd better not, but I can maybe... talk the toaster into preparing some bread for us." She smiled, moved her eyes over his bare upper body, gently caressing his bicep. "It's the least I can do after you blew my mind with that omelet yesterday, and I do suppose you should get some energy to maintain all this…"
Scotty took a deep breath, shivering slightly, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her close, very close. "Is that the... only way I blew your mind yesterday, Rush?"
"No," she whimpered, grinding her hips against him and now it was definitely his mind that was in danger of blowing up; they delved into another heavy kiss, lustful and filled with need, and there was no way he was letting her go anymore, backing her up against the bedroom wall, driven into madness by the expression in her huge, wide, very blue eyes when they managed to break apart to breathe.
Somewhere in his hazy mind he remembered he needed to be careful with her neck, to not leave any obvious marks onto her light, sensitive skin; she fumbled with his boxers and he freed her of her pants and underwear, finding her hot and wet, fully ready. Her head fell back against the wall, revealing the gorgeous expanse that he so desired to devour but shouldn't… In an attempt to distract himself, he caressed her for a moment, then grasped her hips and lifted her easily; Lilly wrapped her long, slender legs around him, a choked scream escaping her lips as he rammed himself inside her.
He set a fast, hard pace, mindful of the time passing and nearly at the brink of a release already, able to tell she was too; the way she felt and the way her creamy skin contrasted with the dark-colored wall were fueling his lust towards breaking point, not to even mention the sounds she was making, moaning at each thrust, her mouth open and her eyes wild, like an ocean he was rapidly drowning into.
"Mmm… that's it, baby," he muttered, giving her a few long, deep, slow pushes, then speeding up again. "Let go."
She came with a scream of complete abandon, squeezing him into his own bliss, her name exploding out of him too in a harsh growl against her forehead; Lilly trembled, tried to catch her breath and Scotty gently set her back onto the floor, feeling weakened by his incredible release to the point of not being able to hold her up, even though she was very light.
"Oh God," she whimpered, her heart pounding against his lips when he finally gave in to the urge and kissed her neck, very carefully, knowing that his stubble would probably still leave some signs on her skin. She didn't seem to mind, closing her eyes for a moment and just breathing; after a while she looked at him again, her gaze tender and serene before turning slightly panicked.
"What time is it? We're going to be late soon and Boss will kill us."
As on cue, his phone vibrated on the nightstand and he pressed a quick kiss onto her lips, reached for the device, noticing it was in fact John Stillman calling.
"Mornin', Boss."
The Lieutenant greeted him, informing his detective that they had a new case. "Construction workers found a body early this morning, from the site of the new upcoming shopping complex at Point Breeze; it's been there for at least 40 years by first estimation, buried under the foundations of one of the houses they tore down. The foreman's going to be there at nine, so I told him we'd meet him then. Any word from Lil?"
Scotty tried to think fast, forcing his voice to sound normal. "I think she's doin' okay; I'll give her a call an' pick her up on the way. We'll see you at nine."
"Alright; thank you, Scotty." Boss hung up and he tossed the phone from his hand, released a long breath, still remaining against his gorgeous fiancée. She was watching him, a little smile on her lips, her hand softly rubbing his shoulder and he grinned, feeling somewhat relieved.
"Saved by a body."
Lilly snorted, kissed him briefly and fixed her clothing, slipping out from between him and the wall. "Where?"
"South Philly; they're diggin' for the new mall, an' it looks like they also dug up somethin' not so nice." He scratched his neck, then froze. "Oh crap; I told Boss I'd drive us there, but I obviously don't have my car."
"Yeah, I noticed that little slip," she commented dryly, giving him a small smile. "It's okay; we can just say yours didn't start or something, and I picked you up instead. I'll go make that toast."
He nodded, stopping her gently and pulling her close for one more kiss. "Thank you, ángel."
She arched a questioning eyebrow, touching his cheek. "For what?"
"Everythin," he sighed, leaned his forehead onto hers. "Just everythin'. Especially for makin' this Monday mornin' a thousand times better just now."
She laughed softly, kissing his jawline. "Well, it wasn't exactly a hardship. Get your sexy butt into the shower, Valens."
He chuckled, watched as she left the room, shaking his head; Jesus Christ, he was truly the luckiest man in the whole damn world.
The body was very old, Frannie's new estimation putting the time of death closer to 60 years ago; by early afternoon they had identity, and Nick retrieved the evidence box for Cassie Williams from the storage room. Cassie had disappeared into thin air one July afternoon in 1954, leaving her house on the opposite side of Philadelphia for a shopping trip and never returning; somehow she'd ended up into the foundations of a house that had been under construction on the south side at the time, a house that had recently stood derelict for over ten years before the city had torn it down a few months ago to make space for the new shopping center. The team dispatched out for interviews, and to his relief Scotty didn't notice any difference in how he and Lilly operated together; no one else seemed to spot a change either, not looking at them strangely or commenting on anything, and he breathed out a tiny sigh of relief as there simply wasn't anyone he would rather have worked with, even when he held a very deep appreciation towards every other member of their team too.
The investigation got off to a promising start right from the get-go with several leads, and the days were long and intense; a couple of times they slipped out of sheer tiredness, nothing major, just a quick touch to a shoulder or a hand, a look that lingered slightly too long, standing a bit closer to each other than usual when getting coffee in the break room. She always snapped back to full professionalism quickly and he followed the example, perfectly content to do so, since each evening he was able to go home with her, have dinner with her, make love to her and hold her during sleep, all of which more than made up for the struggle of having to stay away during the day. He barely stepped a foot into his apartment except to retrieve more clothes, just feeling so happy and content in her house where Tripod and Olivia fully accepted his presence now too, or at least seemed to be doing so; one evening he made Lilly laugh for a good ten minutes after expressing his suspicions that the cats were perhaps planning some action against him together. She shook her head upon managing to calm down slightly, gave a pointed look towards both cats curled up against him on the couch, purring happily and about to fall asleep; after snorting with laughter a few more times, she quietly asked him whether he really thought so and Scotty quietened, his cheeks feeling slightly hot as he looked down to the two felines, with a little sigh acknowledged the fact that he seemed to be rapidly turning into a cat person. Still chuckling, Lilly proceeded to call her father to check on Lizzie and ask for any news about Christina, clearly relieved to hear her sister was still at the rehab center and seemed to be making progress; she was obviously sometimes wondering whether everything would again turn bad, whether Christina would run away and throw recovery into the wind. He couldn't blame her, having firsthand experience of the woman in question disappearing without a trace.
Midweek, Will announced his retirement date which would be in three weeks; it wasn't a surprise but Scotty still felt sad, really couldn't imagine the team without the solid, reassuring and knowledgeable presence of the older man. Nick seemed to be taking the upcoming loss of his long-time partner very badly, his expression stormy and his body language not inviting anyone to talk to him; Scotty could relate very well, constantly on tenterhooks over Lilly's decision which she still hadn't made. A couple of times during the day, he noticed her watching Will with tears clearly brimming in her blue eyes, wanted nothing more than to go over and hug her, kiss her and tell her everything would be all right, but he couldn't do any of that until much later, not until they got to the house; she cried against his shoulder, sharing memories from the time when he hadn't been with the team yet, when Will had helped her out with some tricky situation, or had made some amusing comment to brighten her mood during a demanding case or an otherwise difficult period of time. Scotty sent a quiet, thankful thought to their colleague, knowing he too owed the older man more than he could even begin to comprehend.
By Thursday afternoon they had cornered a suspect, Cassie's brother-in-law, nearly 80 years old now but still perfectly compos mentis; he'd been in love with her, not getting any of his feelings returned from her side. And so in a jealous rage he had strangled her, during the following night burying the body into a random construction site where it had remained until this week, three families happily living in the house back to back, without any clue a woman had been buried underneath. Cassie's husband had died over 20 years ago, never really happy again after the sudden vanishing of his wife; their daughter, just a baby at the time of her mother's disappearance, had provided the team with his journals and Scotty had never in his entire life read anything as sad and awful, the man's agony, grief and uncertainty bleeding out onto the pages, the ink clearly stained by tears here and there. He could tell it affected Lilly a great deal too; they couldn't let each other go at all on the evening after going through the journals, just physically unable to separate even for a moment, and he shuddered at the thought of ever losing her like that, quickly pushing it as far away from his mind as possible.
They went after the brother-in-law with everything they had, fueled by an almighty rage over the horrible fate he'd condemned Cassie to, the pain he had put her family and friends through; they both skillfully contained it to begin with, friendly and polite until the suspect was feeling more relaxed, on a comfortable ground. Then Lilly struck suddenly, so fast that the old man had no time to comprehend what had happened; Scotty followed her lead, as usual turning the interrogation into a back-and-forth banter with his partner, reading her mind, finishing her sentences, their tactic quickly breaking the perpetrator down. This was them at their best, a technique they had honed to absolute perfection over the years; they were a team, an amazing team, and he couldn't help a tiny smile tugging the corner of his mouth at the secret knowledge they were now that in personal life as well, finally, after seven long years. He had botched up a couple of interviews right in the beginning, in the Paige Pratt case, the first one they'd worked together; in addition to having been quite nervous due to the new job, he had felt more than a little annoyed by Lilly's attitude that had clearly branded him as the rookie. As a result he'd found himself desperately wanting to impress her, but his frustration over having been put into cold cases had made him short-tempered, causing them to clash a bit; since then, however, they had developed into a well-oiled machine, extracting confessions easily, and this time was no exception.
Lilly guided the arrested suspect out of the room and towards the holding cells downstairs; he gathered the files and closed the door, giving a nod to John Stillman who had been watching them from observation.
"Got him, Boss."
"Good work, Scotty." The Lieutenant gave him a pat on the back, checked his watch. "And just on time for First Thursdays. I hope you're joining us? It's Will's last one as a part of the team."
He hesitated for a moment, definitely wanting to; before he could, however, he had something else to take care of. "I'll see you there in a bit; I need to run an errand first."
Stillman nodded, making his way towards his office; Nick and Will were packing all the material back into Cassie Williams' evidence box, Kat waiting with the black marker and Scotty chuckled, surrendered the couple of files he was holding. It was definitely the best moment, at the end of each case, writing "CLOSED" onto a box, having the knowledge they had again found justice for another person, a killer behind bars, right where they belonged; even when there was still paperwork to do, the weight of another unsolved crime was lifted.
He grasped his phone and jacket, pulling it on. "I'll see you guys at Joe's."
Will nodded at him, Kat and Nick bickering good-naturedly over who would get the honor of buying the first drink for their retiring colleague tonight, both launching into a flood of objections when Will exasperatedly announced he'd buy the damn thing himself; Kat rolled her eyes, gave Scotty a little wave to acknowledge his words before punching Nick on the shoulder.
"Now look what you did! I already said you can get him donuts all of next week; the drink is on me."
Nick threw his hands into the air, muttering something about being Will's original partner and Scotty saw it best to depart, chuckling to himself as he headed towards the elevator. A part of him wanted to go tell Lilly he was heading out for a moment, but she might guess what his errand was, and he wanted nothing more than to surprise his incredible fiancée later tonight. He took a deep breath upon stepping out into the still warm evening and crossed his fingers briefly, glancing at the dark sky and uttering a silent prayer in his head, a prayer that he would find the very, very special object he was looking for.