step by step
An NCIS fic collection
by mew-tsubaki
- ^-^3
imagine: miscellany 17—heartbreakers (this post on the sideblog: 707834686913773568/ parknight-imagines-miscellany-17-heartbreakers)
tags: established!Parknight, s20e11
- ^-^3
She's grinning when she quips about his good looks and his nice hair in the bullpen, drawing suspicious stares from McGee and Torres, and it takes a beat for Parker to pull himself from his thoughts.
But he does, and—when he does—he catches Knight's eye. And her copper gaze flickers, that grin flinches.
Right. He's not the only one hurt by the reappearance of Joy Aaronson in the midst of this case.
Parker clears his throat and dismisses his history with Joy as precisely that. History. Then he tells McGee to get ready because they're leaving in five to go question the mother of their suspect.
McGee nods, Torres loses interest in the group ribbing, and Parker glances Knight's way. All he gets is the full view of her dark waves billowing behind her as Knight hastens from her desk.
He grimaces and counts to four (one count each for J, E, S, and S). Then he, too, is up on his feet and rounding the bullpen, following in Knight's footsteps along the path in front of the windows. He turns and—
He doesn't have to go far. Knight's hiding in the quiet of the staircase's underbelly. She bites her lower lip as he approaches.
"…to be clear, Joy was a long time ago," Parker states. He raises his eyebrows and stops a couple inches from her.
Knight crosses her arms. Her frown deepens. Then Knight squeezes her eyes shut, tight, and scoots close to him, all but touching. "…I know. You've met one of my exes. Now a second of yours has cropped up."
Parker pinches the bridge of his nose. Torres isn't wrong, saying he has a type ("force of nature" describes Jess Knight just as well as it describes Joy or Viv). But…he's trying to learn from countless past mistakes. He's always thought talking too much about the past was one such mistake. Parker opens his mouth—
But it's as though Knight can read the discomfort as well as the question on his features. She reaches out and touches his forearm, and she smiles. It's small, but her lips curve up just a bit. "Well… We can take this one step at a time. Case first, us later."
One eyebrow sinks doubtfully at that order of things, but he sighs behind pursed lips and brushes back a lock of hair from her face. He lets his gaze linger a little, because it's best not to be too overt at the office, especially when he hears McGee calling for him.
But Parker leaves Knight at headquarters, musing on the fact that he's not the only heartbreaker in this relationship.
- ^-^3
:') Don't worry! Not spelling anything bad for them, *lol*. I actually just loved some of the teeny, tiny Parknight moments in "Bridges." When she just gushed over him, tho, my heart did somersaults, goodness! (Altho no hate on Joy—I actually quite like her!) Also for YearoftheOTPEvent on tumblr (January: "Whenever I look at you...").
-mew! :D