[fic preview] On Some Idle Tuesday

[calleigh_j]

A preview for my thelittlebang fic

Title: On Some Idle Tuesday
Author: calleigh_j
Fandom: Criminal Minds/The West Wing
Pairing: Emily Prentiss/Kate Harper
Rating: NC-17 (this part PG-13)

Set after 'In Heat' (Criminal Minds) and 'Drought Conditions' (The West Wing, in a universe where those two episodes happened at the same time), Emily Prentiss and Kate Harper meet in a bar one Tuesday night. Things happen.


Excerpt One:
"Act like you know me."

With her eyes fixed firmly on the fraying beer mat, the voice from above her caught her completely by surprise. When Emily looked up, it was into the face of a very determined looking and completely unfamiliar woman.

"I'm sorry?" Emily asked, unfailingly polite even when confused.

"Act like you know me," the woman repeated, "Unless you really want those guys over there to come over and start talking to you." The woman gestured over towards the group of men at the bar, and as Emily looked over, she saw that they were all looking intently at her and the stranger.

"They were, I believe," the woman continued, "Just discussing the best way of getting you to have a drink with them."

Sizing up the unknown woman and the men at the bar, Emily put on her brightest smile and, standing up, proceeded to greet her supposed saviour like an old friend. As Emily sat back down, the woman pulled out the chair on the other side of the table and sat down with her. Placing her full bottle of beer down beside Emily's, the woman sneaked a surreptitious glance over at the men who had now turned their attentions to the small television showing a baseball game.

"I'm really sorry about that," the woman said, taking a long pull of her beer, "But I didn't particularly want to spend my evening fending off the advances of some drunk businessmen, and it didn't look like you did either. I'm Kate, by the way. Kate Harper."

Despite the intrusion into her planned evening of mournful introspection, Emily couldn't help but smile at Kate's explanation.

"Emily Prentiss."


Excerpt Two:
She walked quietly down the stairs, the beginnings of a headache forming in her temples. She stopped on the second step from the bottom. Emily stood in the kitchen, a short dark brown robe skimming the tops of her thighs, pouring something into a silver travel mug. Kate moved again and the bottom step creaked, alerting Emily to her presence.

"I made you some coffee," Emily said, fastening the lid onto the mug, "And I got you some aspirin - I thought you might need it."

It'd been a long time since Kate had anyone to do anything like this for her. It inspired feelings within her that she didn't really want to examine too closely at this hour of the morning: affection and trust and comfort (she thought maybe, maybe it might be love; not yet, not four months and one more than slightly drunken night into whatever it is that they're doing, but maybe someday, maybe soon).

Evidently this moment of introspection was obvious on her face because Emily looked at her with concern and asked, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Kate replied. The words came out more harshly than she had intended and Kate continued quickly as Emily's face fell, "Sorry, sorry, I'm just tired. Thank you for the shirt. And the coffee. And the aspirin," she added, gulping down the offered tablets with water from a glass Emily handed her.


Excerpt Three:
Emily was still laughing when she opened the door, wallet in hand.

"Oh," she said with surprise. It wasn't the takeout, as she'd expected, but JJ and Garcia instead. Self-consciously, Emily ran her fingers through her hair, trying to straighten it out from the mess she suspected it must be in.

"Ah ha," Garcia said triumphantly, turning to JJ, "Secret boyfriend. I was right."

Emily winced before she could stop herself and then hoped, just for a second, that they wouldn't catch it.

"What?" JJ asked, and Emily knew they'd seen her expression change, even if it was just for a moment.

"Come on," Garcia persisted, shuffling past Emily and into the apartment, "You knew you would have to introduce us eventually."

JJ followed Garcia in, looking half amused and half curious. There was a long pause, and then Kate stepped into view from the kitchen.

"Hi," she said with an awkward wave, "I'm Kate: the secret boyfriend."

There was a moment of silence, in which Emily wished she had a camera to capture the looks on Garcia and JJ's faces, and then Garcia said, "Wait, Kate Harper? From the White House thing? Kate Harper the National Security something? Kate Harper the naval commander?"

Kate nodded, "That would be me."

"Well, now the secret part makes sense," Garcia said, putting the bag Emily had just noticed she had in her hand onto the floor.

Comments

[bessemerprocess.livejournal.com]

I am SO looking forward to this!

[calleigh-j.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I only hope I can make the rest of the fic actually work.

[mcgarrygirl78.livejournal.com]

Dare I say I like this. You are SO NOT ALLOWED to make me a Kate Harper fan! I love how Garcia seems to take it all in stride, I love her. I would really love to read more of this.

[calleigh-j.livejournal.com]

Hee - it's my aim to make everyone a Kate Harper fan. And come the end of the month, there should be 15,000+ words more to read...if I could only get some motivation.

[mcgarrygirl78.livejournal.com]

Tell me about it....when it comes to motivation I am on the ground floor standing in front of a busted elevator.

I dont think anyone can make me a Kate Harper fan but you have a real gift for the way you write Emily.

[calleigh-j.livejournal.com]

I'm just hoping two days back in England with nothing to do will force me to write.

I can but try! And thank you - honestly, I think Emily has just taken over my brain and it means a lot to hear a compliment like that from another Emily fanatic like you!

And in other news, I just finished reading your bau_bigbang fic and it is awesome. I'll e-mail you about it tomorrow, but I loved it.

[mcgarrygirl78.livejournal.com]

I just read that and I totally just screamed out "shut up!" in my completely quiet office. No way, I cant believe you liked it....I was seriously biting my nails waiting for word. OMG YAY!!!! I cant wait to hear your thoughts and see what you would fix/change.

Emily permanently lives in my brain, of that I am sure, like three different Emilys actually. We have fun together most of the time so I surely wont complain : )

*I cant believe you're using that Jean Grey icon, I wrote a story in which Emily talks about being Jean Grey for a superhero birthday party.

[calleigh-j.livejournal.com]

Seriously, I adore it. And you're pretty much the only person who can get me to believe Hotch/Prentiss or Hotch/Gideon, and this has both and I totally see it. Have finally arrived back in Winch so as soon as things are sorted out, I shall be reading and commenting.

Yeah, I have different Emilys too. I like my Emily in this a lot though.

I heart Jean Grey! And have about a bajillion ideas for X-Men crossover fics. Now, where was that motivation...

[mcgarrygirl78.livejournal.com]

That is a total compliment, thank you so much. I really love this story so I am excited to see if other people will love it too. I thought making it Gideon/Prentiss would turn people off but in the end I have to write mostly for me. I love when people love it but if I am not staying true to myself or what's in my head then I should stop.

Also, for every story I write, I think there are 3 that I have no motivation to write. Procrastination, lack of motivation, and brownies.....those are my downfall.

Look forward to your beta and more of the Idle Tuesday story : )

[racethewind10.livejournal.com]

OMG *FLAIL*

Ok now i actually have to go read it....

[racethewind10.livejournal.com]

omg i love you. Seriously, I can't WAIT for this, and once again, I'm so sorry I'm such a lousy beta. *bows* please forgive me! This fic is going to rooock!

[calleigh-j.livejournal.com]

You are forgiven! Glad you like the excerpts (worringly, they're the only really finished bits of the fic so far) and I hope the rest of it can live up to expectations.

[racethewind10.livejournal.com]

oh good :) and I know the rest will be great!

[llyfrgell.livejournal.com]

Oooh hey I totally forgot this was today. So I suck as a beta, but I swear I'll do something productive with the fic soon. And regardless, it's AWESOME. :-D

[calleigh-j.livejournal.com]

Hee, don't worry - I almost forgot about it as well. I'm hoping to have it actually finished by the end of the weekend, which leaves a week and a half for making it better.

[racethewind10.livejournal.com]

ooh ALSO icon!love. I miss the original Rogue! kick ass bitch that she was.

[calleigh-j.livejournal.com]

I know, and with her calling everyone 'Sugar' and 'Darling', what else are we supposed to do but slash everything?!

Currently though I'm having a massive love affair with the Evolution cartoon, in which Rogue is essentially a big emo pile of angst and I adore her mopey self. The thing is, I have fic ideas for it (Rogue/Kitty, because it's clearly there and no-one's written it!) and there's a scifibigbang running until December and I think I have to sign up for it, which would make it my third big bang this year. Am I insane?

[racethewind10.livejournal.com]

You are, in fact, insane. But I LOVE IT lol. And yes, in the original cartoons, I shipped Rogue/Storm So. Much.

[calleigh-j.livejournal.com]

Insane, yes - just signed up for 25,000 words of Evolution fic by the beginning of December. No idea what I'm writing about (other than the epic gay of Rogue and Kitty), but I have four months to get a first draft done and deadlines are the only thing that makes me write.

Oh, TAS: where the men have weirdly defined six packs and Rogue and Storm are clearly gaying it up at every opportunity, and where I want to like Jean Grey but she cries all the time and lets Scott be a wanker.

[racethewind10.livejournal.com]

Hahaha. That is the best description of TAS I have ever seen. *snerk*

[racethewind10.livejournal.com]

Icon love!!

[infinitlight.livejournal.com]

I don't know West Wing at all, but this looks ridiculously awesome. I might need to do some research... :)

[calleigh-j.livejournal.com]

To be honest, I don't think there's a lot of background needed - it's a lot more about the two characters than it is about the rest of the stuff on either show. But this makes me think it might be a good idea to have a bit of background info at the beginning for people who know one show and not the other.

[infinitlight.livejournal.com]

I would follow Prentiss to the gates of hell, so into another fandom crossover is small potatoes.

I understand that these excerpts are from some part in the middle of the story, and if I was reading from the start I would have more chance to get used to the character I don't know.

That said, I think a little bit of background at the start would be a great idea. I know I'd certainly appreciate it.

[calleigh-j.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean - I'll read basically anything with Emily in it.

Actually, the first excerpt is almost the start of the fic and is the first time Kate appears, but hopefully there should be enough parts specifically about her that you can get used to her. Although POV does alternate, I started with Emily and I guess my intention was to introduce a character Emily doesn't know, but the reader does...clearly I didn't really think about people reading who only knew one of the fandoms. I hope there should be enough Kate stuff in there though that her character makes sense to you.

I'll try and sort out a couple of short character bios then, maybe with a couple of YouTube clips for the lulz and the pretty.

[infinitlight.livejournal.com]

I'm intrigued by Kate, even not knowing anything else about her (I love "I'm Kate: the secret boyfriend." Squee!).

I'm really looking forward to reading the whole story.

[hoeyon.livejournal.com]

This sounds insanely awesome.

[raf-51.livejournal.com]

Really interresting pairing.
I can't wait to see what's coming next.