Work Text:
Every morning, Christofer read the newspaper on his way to work.
It had started as a habit to pass the time on the bus. He would flick through the latest news and celebrity gossip, then drop the paper back in the box as he exited at his stop. Then one day, he got an earlier bus, intending to use the gym before work instead of after. The bus was delayed in the heavier early morning commuter traffic, and Christofer managed to flick further through the paper than usual. That’s when he discovered the puzzle page.
His initial excitement quickly dissolved into infuriation over the next few days.
Christofer had started taking the newspaper with him to work, leaving it on his desk while he headed to the gym. Upon his return, the sudoku page had been filled in—in pen. The numbers were written neatly—confidently—with no other marks or annotations. He deduced that whoever was completing it was an expert, but in a building filled with geniuses, that didn’t surprise him.
He’d hoped it was a one-off. Someone walking past, noticing it, and not being able to help themselves. But after four days, he knew this was intentional and, quite frankly, downright rude.
So, he hatched a plan. Christofer would catch the culprit in the act.
The plan started simply: head back to his office sooner than usual.
He ended his workout early and jogged back to his office. When he arrived, the office was completely empty, as was the corridor. Christofer felt a swell of hope that maybe the culprit had ended their streak of graffiti on his newspaper. Stepping into the office, he strode to his desk and found the newspaper exactly how he left it.
Grinning in satisfaction, he sat in his chair and flicked the paper open to the puzzle page.
His jaw dropped.
There in front of him was a perfectly filled-in sudoku, as confidently completed as the last four. Christofer swiped the newspaper off his desk, flinging it across the room, and huffed in irritation.
“Everything okay, Colonel?” Kate’s voice sounded from the doorway, her lips twitching in amusement at his show of emotion.
“Fine,” Christofer groaned. “Everything is fine. Please tell me you are here to distract me with work.”
“Always happy to provide you with work, Colonel,” Kate teased with a grin, waving her tablet at him as she moved to settle on the edge of his desk.
As angry as he was about his paper, he would never send Kate away. In fact, it turned out to be the best way to stop him thinking about the newspaper, his mind too busy focusing on trying not to show his adoration for her.
***
The next week continued much the same. Christofer mixing up his morning schedule several times in order to catch the sudoku solver out. Each attempt failing, as the culprit managed to outmanoeuvre him and remain uncaught.
He was about to resort to using a mini camera to film whoever was entering his office, getting ready to set it up, when the alarm blared through the building.
Forgetting about his personal mission, Christofer’s attention quickly turned to preventing an alien invasion. What started off as a small-scale invasion turned out to be the start of a much bigger—but not very well planned—full invasion.
The team spent almost a week thwarting several attempts by the invaders to take over the Earth. The Aerugipolladian, a copper-rust coloured species from several galaxies away, had an army of ships waiting just outside the Earth’s atmosphere, all prepared to attack. It was to the advantage of UNIT that the attack was very uncoordinated, and the ships were entering the atmosphere one by one, rather than all at the same time.
After six days of preventing the invasion and destroying over nineteen of their ships, the leader of the Aerugipolladian army finally agreed to retreat. However, not before shooting a well-aimed missile at UNIT tower, taking out the galvanic beam and injuring several personnel.
Although relieved that the invasion was over and the Aerugipolladian had left, everyone on the command deck was bruised and beyond exhausted, ready to sleep for two days straight.
Christofer was debriefing his team, praising their quick thinking and tactics, when he noticed Kate slip out of the room. They had grown close recently, spending time together to complete reports and debrief privately. Somehow, their close working relationship had led to Christofer developing feelings for Kate, the teasing and soft touches drawing him in. His feelings had made some situations rather difficult, like this one, where his eyes often kept drifting to her and ensuring she was okay before focusing on anything else.
He knew she had been thrown to the floor and hit by debris when the missile hit. He’d been the one next to her when the glass shattered and the one to pull her up from the floor when the smoke began to clear.
Kate had waved him off and insisted she was fine, instantly turning her attention to ensuring everyone else was okay and that they weren’t going to be attacked again. Christofer had tried to get a medic to check her over, but she said it was unnecessary, and no one wanted to argue with the Commander.
Knowing she still hadn’t been checked over, he ended the debrief and went after her.
He checked her office, finding it dark and empty. Hoping she’d seen sense and decided to get checked out, he made his way down the hall towards the lifts. Just as he was passing his office, movement caught his eye.
Christofer pushed open his office door. He paused as he found Kate sitting on his desk, pen in her hand and newspaper on her lap.
She raised her head, hearing the creak of the door. Kate bit her lip and tilted her head down sheepishly, feeling guilty at being caught red-handed. However, Christofer suddenly didn’t mind that he never got to complete the sudoku anymore. The sight in front of him was enough to persuade him that a silly sudoku doesn’t matter anyway.
He stalked towards her, taking the sudoku out of her hand and tossing it carelessly to the floor. His other hand came up to cup her cheek, raising her head gently. He used his thumb to pull her lip out from under her teeth. Christofer paused briefly, giving Kate a chance to stop him, before he dipped his head and pressed his lips to hers.
The pen clattered as she let it fall from her hand to the desk. Her initial shock was replaced by need as she reciprocated the kiss. Kate looped her arms around his neck and parted her legs, letting him step between them and pull her closer. The kiss deepened as they pressed against each other.
The pair eventually broke the kiss, panting with their foreheads resting together.
“I’m sorry for completing your sudoku,” Kate mumbled breathlessly.
“You can continue to complete my sudokus if you let me take you out for dinner,” Chris murmured, tilting his head to press another brief kiss to her lips. “Deal?”
“Deal,” Kate agreed, grinning as she pulled him back into a proper kiss.
***
Sudoku ended up being their thing. If it was a hard day, Kate would often be found curled up against Christofer’s chest, newspaper on her lap as she solved the sudoku. If they had the time, they’d take a stab at completing the crossword together, but the sudoku was always completed first.