[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

[hoeyon.livejournal.com]

This sounds insanely awesome.