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Kate would love to say that the morning after she reclaimed the love of her life she was awakened by the morning light slowly breaking through the curtains and bathing Lucy’s angelic face as she slept peacefully next to her. It would have been fucking amazing if after she had boombox’d her way back into Lucy’s heart that they had walked up the steps to Kai softly strumming ‘Here Comes the Bride’ to Ernie, wearing a tuxedo t-shirt, who had married them on the spot. Alex Tennant could have hobbled to the makeshift altar with rings tied into his shoelaces while Jesse’s faceless wife fashioned Lucy a veil out of one of Jane’s curtains. That would have been a storybook start to the next chapter of their love affair. A wonderful tale to regale their children (or dogs) with later. But, life’s not exactly a fairy tale. And that’s not what happened.
Actually, the shrill ringing of Lucy’s phone startled them both awake before the sun even fully rose over the island the next morning. Kate opened one eye, startled by the intrusion, and she struggled to focus enough to find the source. Whatever twangy, steel guitar sounding ringtone Lucy used was indecently loud. “What the hell?” she asked gruffly, trying to find her bearings.
“It’s me, it’s me,” Lucy groaned as she slapped indiscriminately at the nightstand nearest her side of the bed. She realized, though, after four slaps that she wasn’t at her place. They were at Kate’s. Kate’s was a closer drive from Tennant’s and those eight and half minutes were not to be wasted. There were months to make up for so every second counted last night. And their frantic, frenzied coupling did not bode well for the whereabouts of Lucy’s phone. “Fuck, where is it?”
Kate sat up, the sheet pooling at her hips as she wiped the sleep from her eyes. “Don’t know. I didn’t see it last night after-”
“After my bra came off? That’s because the sight of my boobs practically made you catatonic,” Lucy reminded her as she lifted the sheets to check. For her phone, not for her boobs.
“Not my fault,” Kate countered, a sly smile forming on her lips. She, too, lifted the sheets to look, probably not for the phone. “They’re nice and I missed them.”
“You really did, they’re feelin’ it,” Lucy commented as she crawled over Kate and hung off her side of the bed to follow the sound and sure enough under Kate’s panties and her own broken sandal, there was the ringing offender. “Hey, hey, hello! I’m here,” she said as she answered then after a beat, more professionally, “Special Agent Tara.”
Kate couldn’t help but laugh, but then placed one hand on Lucy’s ass to keep her steady as she continued to dangle and speak to who had to be Tennant.
It was then that the realization hit her like a train. Lucy . Lucy was here in her bed, albeit talking on the phone about what sounded like was probably a murder before morning even broke. But, more importantly, she was here. Kate remembered having a fleeting thought before her eyes finally closed that she hoped it hadn’t been a dream. The months of fighting through the longing and sadness had made her understandably anxious. Last night had been perfect, though. They stayed a respectable amount of time at the party. They chatted and then made out in the bathroom and then chatted some more. As soon as they could, though, they came back to Kate’s and had really, really great makeup sex. Like, they could have qualified for the playoffs with how good they were at that. That had never been the issue, though. The sex was always great. From the very first night, years ago, they had nailed it. Pun intended. Their communication game is what had hurt them. No, had ended them...at least temporarily. But, Lucy was here . And Lucy was her girlfriend...potentially. They hadn’t quite covered that yet. Again, communication game: weak.
“Shiiiiit, sorry about that,” Lucy said as she balanced just enough to push her phone on Kate’s bedside table. “Tennant.”
“Figured.”
Lucy pulled herself fully back onto the bed and situated herself on Kate’s thighs and then let her arms dangle over pale shoulders. “Mornin’.”
“ Good morning?” Kate questioned teasingly, voice still rough.
“Great morning,” Lucy said with a bright smile. She leaned in to brush her lips over Kate’s softly. “Hi.”
“Hi,” Kate responded quietly, smiling like an idiot despite barely having her eyes fully opened yet. “So, work?”
“Yes, unfortunately,” Lucy pouted. “Body on the beach. I need to get down there. She did say to tell you hi, though.”
Kate cringed, “Ugh. That’s going to be a thing now, huh?”
“Oh, one hundred percent,” Lucy said with a chuckle. “You absolutely guaranteed it.”
“Worth it, though,” Kate confirmed as she palmed Lucy’s ass and pulled her closer for a kiss.
“Yeah?” Lucy prolonged it and then let her lips trail down Kate’s neck. “I’m not loving my job right now. I had all kinds of plans for us this morning.”
“Oh?”
“So, so, so many plans,” Lucy went on as she leaned down to quickly suck Kate’s nipple in her mouth then let go with a loud pop just to give her an inkling about the nature of said plans. “Really detailed. Thorough plans.”
“You have to leave now?” Kate groaned, her voice wavering at the feeling of Lucy’s lips. “Are you sure? I’ll call Tennant. Tell her that you’ve got a really important case here in bed that you’ve got to work. My life might depend on it.”
Lucy kissed her way up to Kate’s ear and sweetly asked, “Say it again?”
“Huh?” Kate asked as she tried to fight through the sexy haze and make sense of Lucy’s words. “Say what? My life depends on it? Morbid, but okay.”
Lucy chuckled softly. “You know what I mean.” She bit Kate’s ear lobe lightly, “Say it again.”
“Oh, oh !” it dawned on Kate finally. Maybe it was the way that Lucy dipped into the low, Southern drawl that usually made Kate lose her fucking mind. “ That .”
“Yesss,” Lucy hissed at the end while her fingertips drummed impatiently on Kate’s shoulder blades. “Say that .”
Kate had sung it, and then said it, and then repeated it, and then moaned it a couple of times while Lucy got reacquainted with her body. But, here was Lucy, still bubbling with anticipation about hearing the simple phrase from her lips. Kate thought to herself for the millionth time in the last twelve hours that she was the luckiest woman on the damn island. “Does that do it for you?” Kate asked, just to continue the tease.
“Fuck, yes,” Lucy confirmed as she stole a quick kiss. “Now, say it.”
Kate smirked, biting her lip in an attempt not to give it away by smiling too much. She reached up to brush a few errant curls away from Lucy’s face. “You’re awfully demanding this morning.”
“Say it,” Lucy whispered softly as she scratched her nails up and down Kate’s upper arms, tracing a trail over her collarbone. “Please.”
“I love you,” Kate told her sincerely when she caught Lucy’s eyes. “I’m so in love with you. I should have told you months ago, but I will tell you every single day from now on. I love you.”
Lucy inhaled like it was her first breath of the day, “It doesn’t get old.”
“No?”
“No,” Lucy smiled. “You would think it would lose some zing after the hundredth time of hearing you say it, but, nah. Still magic.”
“You are,” Kate said as she caught Lucy’s lips and let their noses brush. “I can’t believe you’re here with me,” she said to herself as much as to Lucy.
“I can’t believe you sang to me,” Lucy said, her head jerking back and eyes wide in wonder. “What the hell, Whistler? Where did that even come from?”
“I didn’t know what else to do!” Kate shrugged. “I was desperate. And then Ernie said...”
“Ernie said what?” Lucy questioned.
“Go big or big home,” Kate recalled. “And, so...I went big.”
“Aww, baby,” Lucy gave her the cutest pout as she pecked Kate’s lips and shimmeyed back to disengage. “Just, maybe, next time...not such a public spectacle?”
“Um, next time?” Kate’s eyebrow raised as she tried to hold on to her for a few more seconds. “I hope there’s not a next time.”
“Yeah, let’s not.”
“I’m good with that,” Kate agreed. “But, you’re here and I love you and it could have ended much worse than just some teasing.”
“I love you, too,” Lucy told her as she cradled Kate’s face with her hands and then kissed her soundly. “Gotta shower.”
“Okay,” Kate said reluctantly as she watched a naked Lucy scurry across her bedroom grabbing her clothes from the night before.
Kate sighed happily. Goddamn, she was happy. She was happier than the last time she genuinely felt happy, which had been with Lucy on her balcony right before everything went to total shit. She had been happy that day. Today, she felt more settled. In love. Yes, there were things they needed to clarify. Kate didn’t want to make any assumptions about what they were until they cemented it, but they felt good.
She heard the shower kick on and climbed out of bed. Lucy had left a shirt around here somewhere that she had probably forgotten. She dug it out of a drawer and rapped on the bathroom door.
“Miss me already?” came Lucy’s muffled reply.
Kate cracked open the door, “Of course.”
Lucy pulled back the shower curtain and poked her head out, “You coming in?”
Kate was tempted, but that would definitely make Lucy even later than she’d be already. “No, just bringing you a clean shirt.”
“Oh,” Lucy smiled, recognizing the white henley that she’d lost track of months ago. “I wondered where that had gotten to.”
“I found it under my couch after...anyway, it’s clean,” Kate shrugged. “I kept it. Sorry if that’s kind of weird.”
“Useful for today,” Lucy said as she shut the curtain. “Thanks.”
“Do you want me to make you some coffee?”
“Coffee would be great!”
“Okay,” Kate said.
The curtain opened again before Kate exited. “Hey,” Lucy got her attention.
“Yeah?”
“It’s not weird.”
Kate smiled. “Maybe a little considering-”
“I have your to-go mug, Kate,” Lucy confessed. “I have a note you left me on my desk from months ago that just says, ‘call me.’ I still have the Northwestern sweatshirt that I took after the first night I stayed here. I wear it sometimes. It’s not weird. Or...maybe it is and I’m weird, too.”
“It’s incredibly comfortable,” Kate said seriously. “So, that’s not weird at all.”
“It’s yours,” Lucy said. “And I loved you. Even when I was really pissed at you. I still wanted to be close to you in some way.”
“You’ve got me now,” Kate told her. “For as long as you want me.”
“Good,” Lucy said, shutting the curtain again. “I hope you don’t think you’re getting that shirt back, though. ‘Cuz never happnin’.”
Twenty minutes later with another to-go mug in hand and a carefully superglued sandal on her foot, Lucy pocketed the keys that had been blindly tossed on the counter the night before.
“So, I guess I’ll see you later?” Kate asked, being the slightest bit clingy and still a little nervous about bursting their reconciliation bubble.
For some reason, Lucy felt none of those nerves. “Yeah, we’ll make solid plans after I see how my day is going to shake out. Is that okay?”
“Yes!” Kate answered. “Sounds great. You think you’d be up for dinner? Like, um, like...like a date thing?”
“A date thing?” Lucy asked, suppressing a grin. “Are you asking me out, Whistler?”
“I am,” Kate nodded exaggeratedly. “I’m totally asking you out.”
“Well, I’m totally saying yes,” Lucy said with a wink.
“Good, great,” Kate replied. “Tonight. You and me. Dinner.”
“Dinner,” Lucy confirmed and stood on her tiptoes to kiss Kate goodbye. “You and me. Tonight.”
__________
“Luce!” Jesse gave her a wave as soon as he saw her get out of her SUV. “Running a little behind this morning?”
“I’m actually about two hours early,” Lucy shot back as she adjusted her NCIS cap over her still damp ponytail. “Honestly, It’s a miracle I’m here at all. It was really hard to leave.”
“Oh, I bet,” he said, barely refraining from a full on chuckle. “Um, how is everything going?”
“Fine,” she said, letting the “i” draw out into two syllables.
“Didn’t see much of you after the concert last night,” Jesse continued as he led her to the lifeless body on the beach. “The encore must have been at an undisclosed location.”
“Victim is Private First Class Mitchell Rivera,” Kai said as he joined them in step. “One bullet to the back of the head. And not a thing disturbed anywhere around him. This bullet came out of nowhere. Had to be long range and just not run-of-the-mill. So much so that ATF is interested. Which, unfortunately for us, does not include musical accompaniment,” he finished with an elbow to Lucy’s shoulder.
Lucy smirked, but didn’t get a chance to answer before hearing Tennant also appeared.
“Lucy,” Tennant greeted her. “I hated to call, but-”
“It’s fine,” Lucy cut her off. “Sorry it took me an extra few minutes to get over here.”
“Further to drive?” Jesse asked, almost pulling off the innocent look on his face.
“Not much sleep?” Kai questioned with a grating smile.
Tennant nodded at her. “You’re forgiven this time.”
“Thank you,” Lucy said, trying her best to stay as professional as possible and not fall all over herself gushing about her night since these people had just witnessed some of it for themselves.
“Just wanted to make sure you were feeling the love,” Jane said as she clapped Lucy over the shoulder. “After you finish up getting some notes here, get me all the info you can on our victim’s known associates. Ernie is already running his finances at HQ.”
__________
Lucy didn’t have to look very far to find Ernie later that morning. He was tapping away on his computer as she entered the lair.
“Hey,” Lucy got his attention. “What have you got on Private Rivera?”
“Nothing necessarily wonky in his financials, but I’ve found some suspicious exchanges on his socials,” Ernie started as motioned for her to come closer. “But, before that...”
Lucy rounded the desk. “Before what?”
“Last time I saw you, you had a Whistler attached to your face and it didn’t look like you were very interested in removing it.”
“I wasn’t,” Lucy told him, then turned the tables. “Go big or go home?”
“That’s hearsay.”
“I haven’t said anything yet, but just your immediate acknowledgement makes you seem guilty.”
“I may have encouraged some sort of movement on that front,” Ernie admitted. “I just gave her some information about who you may or may not be dating and what she might do to get the ball rolling.”
“I told you not to-”
“Yeah,” Ernie shrugged. “But how was your night?”
“You didn’t let me finish!” Lucy slugged him lightly on the arm. “I told you not to, but thank heavens you did.”
“Watching you two was starting to get painful for me ,” Ernie said. “But, it’s good now, right? You made up and talked ...and...whatever else you two crazy kids got up to.”
“We got up to plenty,” Lucy blushed ever so slightly. “Talking...eh, not a lot of that.”
Ernie’s eyes got big. “Luce,” he warned. “Settle it.”
“We will. It’s fine. We’re fine.”
A beep at the door interrupted them, and sure enough, a wild Whistler appeared. “Oh,” she said when she saw that Ernie was not the only occupant of the room. She tried to fight back the smile that formed on her lips, but it was no use. “Special Agent Tara, wasn’t expecting you.”
“Whistler,” Lucy grinned back. “What brings you by this morning?”
“Actually, I was circling back with Ernie on the Nikitin report. Didn’t get to finish up last night,” Kate said as she shoved her hands in the pockets of her slacks.
“Something else bogarting your time, Whistler?” Ernie asked obnoxiously on point, per usual.
“Guess you could say that,” Kate said, not looking away from Lucy.
Lucy was looking, too.
They were doing that starry eyed, dopey smile thing. Ernie’s gaze flitted back and forth between them, watching the metaphorical heart eyes dancing over the short distance. “Aww...”
That sound broke Lucy out of her spell and she walked over and grabbed Kate’s wrist and pulled it closer to see her watch, despite the huge honking timepiece on her own left arm. “Look at that, it’s time for a break,” she said as she tugged Kate out of the room.
“Not fooling me!” Ernie called after them. “I’ll send you both emails with the relevant info about your respective cases.”
“Thanks,” they said simultaneously as Lucy led Kate through the winding corridor until it was just the two of them. She picked a random doorway to lean against and turned her attention to the other woman. “Hey.”
“Hi.”
Lucy adjusted her grip on Kate to hold her hand instead. “Sorry I had to leave this morning.”
“I get it,” Kate said and squeezed Lucy’s hand in reassurance. “How’s your day been so far?”
“Started off really good,” Lucy said with a wink. “Then, murder schmurder.”
“Every day,” Kate complained. “You would think we would have solved all that by now.”
“Nah, they just keep the hits coming,” Lucy said. “Literally, though. Appears to be a sniper assassin.”
“I heard.” Kate replied as her thumb brushed over Lucy’s knuckles slowly. “So, you’re here with Ernie for this one?”
“Tennant has me doing a deep dive on the victim’s known associates right now, so I’ll be at my desk for the foreseeable future,” Lucy answered. She noticed the immediate sigh of relief from Kate and her brows furrowed “What?”
“Honestly?”
“Yes,” Lucy said. “Please.”
“Just...yesterday, um, I was a little...anxious...about you being in a building with a bomb,” Kate answered. “Ernie made a suggestion, but that really made it hit home. Us. And the urgency to fix it. I’m not sure why all of a sudden, maybe my own... thing a couple of weeks ago.”
“Okay,” Lucy nodded at the reference to Kate’s pummeling at the hands of Andrea Medina. “I completely understand that fear.”
Kate’s eyes snapped up to meet hers. “I’m sorry that I scared you that day.”
“You don’t owe me an apology for that.”
“I was reckless,” Kate said. “And you care about me, so yeah, I do owe you an apology for that.”
“Is that why you came by this morning?” Lucy asked. “Are you checking on me?”
“No,” Kate replied. “I came by to talk with Ernie. You’re just a bonus.”
“Bonus, huh?” Lucy asked, using her free hand pull at Kate’s jacket. “I’ll take it.”
“Hm.” Kate gave her a onceover and bit her lip. “This is going to be hard, huh?”
Lucy’s eyebrow arched. “What’s that?”
“Working together,” Kate answered. “It was hard before. But, now, it’s not a secret and I’m allowed to touch you and...” she took a deep, slow breath, “I want to.”
Lucy smiled at that admission and tilted her head, “Ah. Do you mean super stoic Special Agent Whistler might have a problem keeping her hands off at work?”
“Shut up,” Kate replied at the teasing with a shy grin. “You are not easy to ignore.”
“Well, don’t,” Lucy said. “I mean, obviously, we should have some rules, but-”
“Rules,” Kate agreed, standing a bit straighter. “Yes, definitely. Clear and defined work rules. That’s a good idea.”
“Okay, so what are you comfortable with at work?” Lucy asked. “Because, there was a time you didn’t even want to talk to me here.”
“That’s not true!”
“Um, excuse me, former DIA Officer Whistler,” Lucy reminded her. “You didn’t speak to me at all for weeks after you came back.”
“That was self-preservation,” Kate argued. “I was in shock.”
“For six weeks?”
“Yes!” Kate said with a firm nod. “And you did not make it easy.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“But, you were looking.”
“Of course, I was looking,” Lucy agreed wholeheartedly. “Have you seen you?”
“I felt your eyes on me,” Kate confessed. “It was very distracting.”
“You’re very distracting.”
“And you’re not?”
“I’m just a junior agent, trying to work here,” Lucy offered with a put upon innocence. “You’re the high-powered suit fresh from DC that just showed up after fucking me senseless for a whole weekend.”
“Luce!”
“What?”
“Okay,” Kate put up a finger. “Maybe...not comfortable with those discussions at work.”
“Noted.”
Kate reached out to grab Lucy’s other hand and pull her closer. “It took me all that time to build up enough resistance to not just word vomit all over you about how much I wanted you. Because that had been the best weekend of my life and you were the most amazing woman I’d ever been with. By the way, you played it really cool.”
“Did I?” Lucy asked honestly. “Because I was not feeling cool about it.”
“You were very cool,” Kate remembered. “It threw me off.”
“I threw you off? Good information to have.”
“You knew that already.”
“I’m not so sure I did,” Lucy told her, taking another step closer. “But I do now.”
“You do.”
Lucy looked up to her with fluttering eyelashes, “So kissing?”
“Kissing is fine,” Kate agreed, licking her lips. “But...”
“But?”
Kate rolled her shoulders, obviously trying to work out the tension. “No tongue.”
“Kate, c’mon,” Lucy looked affronted. “I hardly think-”
“Very clear and defined rules,” Kate reminded her. “And you do a thing that reminds me of another thing and...it’s just not a good workplace practice. Also cameras, all over.”
“What’s the thing?” Lucy asked after a second.
“We’ll talk about it later.”
“Oh, really?” Lucy asked. “It’s that much of a thing?”
“Yes!” Kate said adamantly. “It is.”
“Fine,” Lucy agreed. “But, I reserve the right to revisit.”
“Okay,” Kate said and then glanced at her watch while still holding Lucy’s hand. “I gotta get back.”
“Already?”
“Yeah,” Kate frowned. She did a quick 360° check and leaned down for a no tongue kiss as stated in the very clear and defined, recently agreed upon work rules. Unfortunately, Lucy was doing her own check and didn’t realize in time. Their height difference is super hot and all, but sometimes it takes extra concentration to negotiate all the space and angles in between. Kate ended up kissing Lucy squarely on the nose.
“Shit, sorry,” Lucy tried to readjust but got the bottom of Kate’s chin.
By that time, they both heard incoming footsteps and separated.
“Wow,” Kate huffed. “That was bad.”
“Definitely tricky,” Lucy said with a disappointed pout. “Try again later?”
__________
It was the next day before Lucy even saw Whistler again. Much to her dismay, Kate got stuck in an avalanche of paperwork that she had put off the day before to sing her heart out and Lucy’s case was getting more complicated by the hour. They had sent texts and held out hope, but they weren’t able to make dinner. With the lack of sleep she had gotten the night before and the long ass day at work, Lucy was ready to pass out as soon as she left the office.
Kate had called and they shared a very sweet good morning phone call during her drive to work this morning, but that didn’t quite quench the Whistler thirst. Thankfully, she’d been mostly distracted...
“The bullet was specifically military sniper designed,” Kai was explaining as they all stood around the war room, focused on the big screen. “And it came from the direction of the ocean. There’s no other explanation.”
“That’s why I stay away from that watery beast,” Lucy told them.
“You’re telling me someone on a boat from nearly half a mile away is responsible?” Jesse inquired. “Because no one reported seeing a vessel around shore at that time?”
“That’s exactly what he’s saying,” Ernie supplied. He zoomed in on the exact spot in the ocean in question. “Shot came from here. So, unless it was a tuna, it was someone on a boat.”
“Or someone who specifically trained to make that swim,” Lucy suggested as a person in her research came to mind. “Someone with a marksman badge.”
“With a semi-automatic rifle...at night?” Whistler asked as she made her presence known.
Lucy turned around, not trying to be too conspicuous, but failing utterly and completely when she saw that Whistler had gone all in on her new all-black motif. Lucy coughed when she took in the perfectly tailored black suit that Lucy had not remembered ever seeing before and underneath she had opted for a black shirt that was less buttoned up than usual. Kate’s hair was down, wavier than she’d ever worn it work. It was a lot for a weekday.
The choking on air sound that she made wasn’t egregious, but enough that everyone turned to her. “Uh, um,” she recovered relatively quickly. “It only had to be a one-way trip with it. The rifle, I mean. That’s what we’re talking about, right?”
“If that’s the case, then someone is definitely missing it,” Jane said. “Maybe you should travel out to K-Bay and check out the lead.”
“On it,” Lucy said, immediately getting out of dodge.
She was already down the steps and at her desk gathering her things when she realized that Jesse had been instructed to go with her.
He was laughing. At her.
“Don’t even start...”
“I’m going to have so much fun with this,” Jesse informed her. “For the whole thirty minute drive, just so you know.”
“That won’t get old fast at all,” Lucy volleyed back as she looped her keyring on her finger and took off. “Nope.”
__________
Lucy had never been so happy to close a case before when they tracked down the culprit and hauled him in. Not because of the justice done, but because she had a ‘regular restaurant’ date that was long overdue. She had just buckled her belt when she heard a knock on the door.
On the other side, Kate stood there smiling. She paused before crossing the threshold, letting her eyes freely roam over Lucy’s body. “You look amazing.”
Lucy looked down and back up to Kate. “I look like I always do.”
Kate nodded. “Amazing.”
Lucy tugged her in for a kiss, which Kate immediately deepened. “Mmm,” Lucy moaned. “You know we don’t have to go out. I’ve got food here, possibly a box of waffles. My bed is here...”
Kate withdrew from Lucy’s very inviting lips and disagreed. “We do.”
Lucy shook her head, “I assure you, we do not. Going out is overrated.”
Kate reached up to touch Lucy’s hair, twirl a curl with her finger. “I think it’s important that we do. I want to. This will probably sound dumb, but it feels like it will make us official in a way we weren’t before.”
Lucy melted at the explanation, but then asked, “Wait. Are we not official enough?”
“So, um,” Kate cleared her throat and then shifted uncomfortably. “About that...”
“Yeah?”
“Part of the problem, I think, was a lack of communication,” Kate started, “between us.”
“I’d say that’s a fair assessment,” Lucy agreed. “I think we both contributed at times.”
“I just...I said I wanted to do this the right way. Go on real dates to real restaurants and be seen together because I want people to know we’re together. That I’m with you. That I love you.”
Lucy wrapped her arms around her. “I love you.”
“And...have real conversations, even if they’re hard...and awkward. Sooo...I think it’s important to clear this up.”
Lucy shifted backward to get a better look at Kate’s face for a hint of what was coming. “What do we need to clear up?” she asked, worry tinging her words.
“So. We didn’t get around to talking very much the other night.”
Lucy bit her lip, thinking over some of the activities they had stood in the way that definitely hadn’t included a whole lot of conversation. “No, not exactly.”
“So, we...” Kate’s eyes flicked away for a moment to draw up some courage before meeting Lucy’s again. “I love you. You love me. But-”
“But?”
“This feels like such a stupid question. And also, we have a strange history with what defines the word now, because girlfriend by some definitions is not another’s definition. I mean, you know what happened, so...” Kate tried to explain. She finally just asked, “Are you my girlfriend now? Because we never discussed that. Not explicitly-”
“Whistler,” Lucy said in her most authoritative tone, “I better fucking be your girlfriend.”
Kate smiled as brightly as she had the night at Tennant’s. “Yes, yes, you are. Absolutely. Okay.”
“You’re...” Lucy huffed, exasperated at the semantics already. “I would very much like to be your girlfriend, Kate.”
“I would very much like you to be, Lucy.”
“Damn, Whistler,” Lucy rolled her eyes. “You need a lot of things spelled out, huh?”
“Sometimes.”
“Okay, then, while we’re having honest conversations,” Lucy led Kate to the door and opened it so that they could exit. “Can you stop wearing the all black combos that you’ve suddenly gotten attached to?”
Kate stopped short. “What, why?”
“It’s too much.”
“Too much?” Kate wondered aloud.
“Yep,” Lucy nodded. She made a motion toward herself with both hands. “I can feel it.”
“Feel it?” Kate asked, still clueless, but walking ahead. “Feel it how?”
“Specifically, in my clit. That’s why it’s a bad idea,” Lucy answered as she shut the door.
“Luce!”
"We're not at work..."