Work Text:
The low knocking noise momentarily distracted Kate, the dusky dark outside her office window told her that the interlocutor couldn’t be an idle passing colleague.
“Kaaattte”, the elongation of her name underscored the frustration of her visiting girlfriend, a note of chagrin in her low tone. She watched the NCIS agent sidled through her office door, looking more characteristically concerned than annoyed as she surveyed the scene in the office; manuals and paperwork littering the environs of the stressed-out blonde.
“Come on. Home time”. Lucy's tone was lighter as she stepped closer to the chaotic work surface, reaching to close her girlfriend’s laptop; deaf to the FBI agent’s exacerbated sigh; as she captured Kate’s lead hand before she could switch her focus to collecting the tottering stack of paperwork parked by her legal pad.
Lucy let her hand rest on her girlfriend’s tense shoulder, ignoring the questioning gaze peering up at her. With a gentle pressure she slowly inched the office chair to point away from the desk, until her captive audience was facing her, her features are the epitome of tiredness. “It’s quitting time, we are going home”. She saw the guilty look pass over her girlfriend’s face, her hand caught mid-hover to retrieve her laptop, as the Texan shook her head slowly indicating she would not continence any arguments, lacing her fingers so their digits intertwined, negating the initial attempt to gather her work to go.
Lucy pressed her advantage, swooping in for a quick kiss, scooping up the FBI agent’s phone and keys (she wasn’t taking any chances), guiding them into her back pocket for safe keeping; as the kiss ebbed; to allow them both to regather their breath. A slightly shame-faced Kate bid her a belated and breathy ‘hello’, as her eyes darted to an open manual dog-eared from overuse. Lucy was not going to allow herself to be distracted by niceties as she continued unabated, “Working on the weekends, is not healthy Kate. I bet you haven’t even left this desk all day... not even to get food”. The NCIS agent’s observations hung unchallenged in the silence of the office. Kate grimaced a sheepish smile, which confirmed the suspicions. Lucy perched herself into a kneeling position, straddling her girlfriend’s lap, resting her free hand gently at the nape of Kate's neck, as their combined momenteum wheeled Kate’s office chair back to her filing cabinet with a soft thud.
“But…”. Kate found her sentence was subsumed by another kiss, her locked lips engaged in a more pleasurable and less articulate pursuit. Lucy’s fingers danced lightly over a fair-haired bun, sweeping loose tendrils of hair back from her girlfriend’s tired face, her kind eyes assessing her girlfriend knowingly.
“Katherine. Marie. Whistler. No. More. Excuses”. The tone was scolding but each word was punctuated by a chaste kiss. Her determination sprung from a concern that in the myopia of work her girlfriend often neglected self-care.
“Up… we are heading home”, Lucy’s words were a statement as if she had already willed them into reality. She dismounted from her girlfriend’s lap, while retaining her light grip on Kate’s hand, guiding her forwards, before leading her out the FBI office; empty-handed; brooking no attempts to gather paperwork or computer as they made their escape.
“I’ll drive” Lucy opened her passenger-side door, feeling a twinge of concern as her girlfriend slouched silently into a seated position. Kate yawned, mumbling a half-hearted apology, as she struggled momentarily to buckle the seatbelt. Lucy decided it was time to breakout her emergency car snack pack, pressing a small bag of potato chips into her girlfriend’s hands, she was rewarded with a grateful look, as the hungry FBI agent, ate with a mechanical gusto, as Lucy timed the trip home carefully giving her girlfriend ample time to refuel on junk food which illustrated neatly how tired and hungry her normally health conscious partner was.
* * * * * * * *
“Yoga?” Kate looked at the mat, cocking her head in tired confusion. Lucy shrugged, correcting the puzzled blonde that it was ’stress-relief’ not yoga, she opened the balcony door allowing the sea-breeze and distant sounds of waves to permeate their home. Kate nibbled on her lip nervously, rubbing the back of her neck, as Lucy dimmed the lights, before lighting the candles on the low table. Lucy slipped her hand under her girlfriend’s Northwestern sweater, removing the outer layer, to reveal the pristine white tank top hiding underneath. Lucy fished a hair-tie from the pocket of her own sweatpants. She pressed lightly on her girlfriend’s shoulders until she was seated on the yoga mat. “Tie your hair, I’ll be right back”.
Lucy took a moment to observe her partner from the lintel of their bedroom, even at this distance she could feel the tension positively radiate from her girlfriend. They hasn’t discussed the caseload that had caused late nights all week, but she knew it was particular sensitive for her girlfriend. Lucy factored in the reality that if the stress-relief of ‘Surf Saturday’ had been eschewed for a day in the FBI field office, it could be a case of vital importance. She knew she was regarding ‘work-Whistler’ with the weight of current FBI operations pressing down on her shoulders. Lucy could sense that Kate hadn’t truly disconnected from that pressure, her beautiful nerdy brain churning away on plans and paperwork, but Lucy resolved to lighten this burden, at least for tonight.
Lucy padded soundlessly back into the room, kneeling briefly behind her worried girlfriend. “We’ll do some breathing and then we are going to do some poses, just to loosen out your tense muscles, just close your eyes”. Kate could feel familiar fingers ghost over the knot of tension, knitted to the spot were neck met spine, her senses were heightened in the darkness, as two small hands were placed on her rigid shoulders, Lucy leaned closer to whisper directions for deep breathing into her ears and a gentle command to keep her eyes shut. Kate followed the instructions, grateful for the opportunity to decompress.
In a rustle of movement, Lucy placed herself cross-legged mirroring her girlfriend, sharing the real-estate of the yoga mat. Her expression was soft, as she saw a flash of brown eyes peak to confirm the change of position, as she focused on continuing the guided breathing, watching as the walls of ‘work-Whistler’ melted into the welcome sight of Kate. She praised her girlfriend compliance, as their deep breathing pattern continued, allowing time for the small rosy blush to dissipate on the fair features across from her. With a studious eye, Lucy gauged that her girlfriend was in a sufficiently relaxed position to start some simple stretches, Lucy stood to help guide her student into ‘downward-facing dog position’ for a few breaths, before easing into a ‘cobra pose’, watching the longer body stretching upwards as the tension began to bleed away from her previously hunched neck and shoulders, as the sequence was repeated.
Lucy was impressed, she had practised yoga on and off herself since rehabbing a cheerleading injury in high school, with Kate’s innate athletic abilities she was sorely tempted to try some more advanced poses. Kate finished another flawless ’sun salutation’, her loose tank top sticking to the curve of her chest, as the first glisten of the modest exertion showed on her high brow. Lucy took immediate note, guiding long limbs down to allow some boneless resting in ‘child’s pose’. The steady rise and fall of directed breath the only indication that Kate wasn’t in-fact already asleep. Lucy remembered the gruelling 14 hour work day her girlfriend had already laid down and she knew yoga had served the intended purpose of distracting Kate from her work worries and stretching disused muscles, as she thought about booking a couple’s massage in the morning to complement her impromptu yoga progress.
In the silence, Lucy spies Kate chancing another look through hooded eyes. Her gaze was slightly unfocused, as she blinks slowly, not having the mental bandwidth to look away from her smiling Yoga tutor. “So good, I’m just going to help you into savasana", Lucy eased her girlfriend backwards, "hmmm, yes just lie on your back. Yes deep breaths, very, very good”.
Lucy reclaims her hair tie, letting light hair halo around her girlfriend as she waits for Kate to be comfortably splayed to her full height on the yoga mat. She tries telegraphing the sounds of guided breathing again, but she quickly comes to the realisation that the FBI agent’s energy is completely spent, she watches each inhalation and exhalation carefully seeing only tired not laboured breathing. Her sole concern is how she was going to get her tired girlfriend into bed.
“Just getting a washcloth, be right back”. Lucy pressed her lips lightly to the crown of her girlfriend’s sleepy head, Lucy can see the subtle angle of a nod, but this time brown eyes remain hidden behind heavy eyelids. Kate drifts in and out of hazy verge of near-consciousness, where waking reality has the patina of a dream-like quality. She can feel Lucy run a soft cloth over her forehead, then downwards to her neck and shoulders. She's not sure if it is supposed to feel so good, but it does, so she relaxes into the touch, grateful that she doesn’t feel sweaty anymore from the exertion of stress-relieving yoga. She can only find energy for an approving hum, as she is guided to their bedroom and into the safety of their four-poster bed, dispensing with her leggings as she senses Lucy is close enough to wrangle their mountain of pillows into a more comfortable sleeping arrangement, this time she reaches for Lucy's hand.
Lucy heard the soft plea from her bedmate. “Can I kiss you?”
Lucy licked her lips unconsciously in anticipation. “Oh course.” Her smile adding an eagerness to her otherwise nonchalant tone.
The kiss was a mere peck, too-fleeting, as Kate tilted her head so her lips were within a hair’s breath of Lucy’s ears, a barely audible ‘thank you’ exhaled in exhaustion, before she rolled over to Lucy’s side of the bed insensate to the customary heart-eyes her soulmate was imparting on her sleeping form.