Buckle Up and Bunker Down

Skye emerged from the shower at around five thirty, the wispy steam from the hot water clinging to her desperately while the automatic fan dragged it away before it could grasp a permanent hold. She had not slept too well, to say the least. Despite the good behavior of her house guest, the mere knowledge that someone – a stranger, no less – was asleep in her guest room was enough to cautiously prod her awake every few hours just to make sure…

She wrapped the towel around her otherwise bare figure and reached into a drawer to grab her brush and run it through her wavy black hair. She winced through some of the knots and sat on the edge of her already neatly-made bed. Her thoughts drifted lazily through her still-awakening mind. She was used to scraping by on such little sleep. The way she saw it, after the near-bust, they would have to lay low for a while anyway so she could sleep later.

Despite that, a yawn ungracefully dropped her jaw, lifted her shoulders and caused her eyes to water slightly. She groaned and shook her head before pushing off the bed to drop the brush back into the cabinet, quickly brush her teeth and then throw on a pair of athletic shorts and a tank top (all appropriate undergarments included, of course – she had company). She made the decision to make a cautious trip down the stairs and into the kitchen to scrounge up some kind of breakfast that would appease her growling stomach. She was halfway down the stairs when something made her give pause.

…was that…bacon?

Her stomach growled even more defiantly and she slowly reached the bottom of the staircase before cutting to the left towards the kitchen. The unmistakable sound of bacon sizzling then reached her ears and her eyes narrowed. Why the hell was he up that early? She had been planning on rudely waking him up!

She hesitated at the doorway and peered with unabashed curiosity into the kitchen until finding the shirtless back of Derek keeping an eye on a frying pan of sizzling goodness. For the few moments where he did not acknowledge her presence, she couldn’t help but admire the definition of his back – the contours of the muscle definition there made her eyebrows rise. He definitely did not disappoint. Maybe she had discounted his pretentiousness too quickly. It wasn’t like she wanted a relationship or anything, anyway...but she could always go for some fun.

“What do you think you’re doing?” she mused aloud at last, causing the otherwise distracted man to turn and flash that winning smile of his.

“Why, I’m making breakfast. You did help me out, last night.”

With him now facing her, the two took a rather obvious moment to size each other up. She couldn’t help but admire the deliciously sculpted abs, pecks and shoulders facing her and the tease of his jeans slung low at his hips. Genetics could only take a person so far, the rest relied on the individual and he had clearly taken his body and health into his own hands. She cursed her need to put him in his place. Had he not been a cocky bastard, she probably would have placed the offer (or herself) on the table and let their hormones control the course of things from there. But…she couldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing he’d won - especially so soon.

Of course, he wasn’t having any easier of a time. He was used to women flocking to him. All he usually had to do was walk into a bar, for God's sake! Any normal woman would have thrown herself at him by now! And yet there she was in all her tantalizing glory – long, smooth legs, bare shoulders and just the right amount of naked flesh of her breast revealed to his suddenly starved eyes. Her hair was still wet so obviously she had just taken a shower. Needless to say that single idea sent his thoughts spiraling out of control. His pulse quickened and he couldn’t help but notice the direction of his blood flow seemed to change abruptly…

When she realized just how much he had been staring, she smirked and gestured toward the pan.

“Bacon’s burning.”

He finally blinked at the sound of her voice and brought his eyes up.

“What?”

Her entire expression radiated amusement as she pushed her shoulders back and down, effectively sticking out her chest and causing his eyes to inadvertently drop down yet again...

“The pan, genius.”

His attention finally shifted back to the pan which had begun to sizzle unhappily. He cursed quietly and used a fork to save the cooking pork before it was burnt beyond recognition. She stifled a laugh behind the back of her hand and moved over to the refrigerator unit.

“What did you want to make?” she asked simply, opening the door and nearly frowning at the bareness of it. She would have to take a trip to the grocery store later on…she hated grocery shopping. Cooking could be such a tedious process…she came close to buying dehydrated food just for the sheer lack of time…

She flinched when he brushed against and gently past her, placing his hand on her lower back to peer into the open door. It was when she glanced up at his expression that she realized the game was on.

And she had no intention of losing.

“Well let’s see…” he murmured off-handedly, pretending to ignore that his arm remained in contact with her. His expression began to fall into one of legitimate surprise. “…not much, apparently.” He frowned slightly and then sighed and reached for the carton of eggs…only to find four left of the original dozen. He cast a sidelong glance of disbelief at the woman who crossed her arms over her chest indignantly. “Is your fridge always this empty?”

“I’m busy, I can’t help that.”

He smirked and nudged her again. “Do you at least have bread?”

“Second cabinet.” She shuddered as his body heat receded but closed the fridge door to turn and lean against it while he opened cabinet doors until he found the right one. Damn – he was good. He might as well have been radiating pheromones.

But she would not cave.

He sighed at the remaining slices of bread and shook his head. “I suppose this will have to do,” he said simply and moved back to the frying pan. She watched him cook in silence as she pondered her next tactic. She smiled to herself and simply took a seat at the small dining room table, tapping the pads of her fingers lightly against the wooden tabletop. Her legs crossed naturally as she began to hum softly.
It felt…weird. Here this incredibly attractive stranger was, standing and cooking in her kitchen as if he belonged there. She frowned and felt a bucket of sand douse whatever fire had ignited which then caused the icy wall that was her guard to return. He was an outsider who had no business being in her home if it hadn't been for her sense of guilt!

The game was already over...but only for the time being, as some more primal part of her did not fail to let her feel some level of disappointment…

Derek turned from the frying pan with the most suave smile he could muster, but when his eyes landed upon her, he suddenly felt as though she had closed herself off again and was taken aback momentarily.

“Is two alright with you? Seeing that we have four eggs and four slices of bread?”

“Fine.”

What in the hell crawled up her ass? he scowled to himself once his back was to her once again. He thought it had been going so well! But no matter what he did for the next hour or so, she did not reopen to the flirtatious being she had been only moments prior. He retreated into the guest room in defeat once she had disappeared back into her room. All he could do at that point was wait until she was ready to leave.

*---*

At the Freight Station, Skye leaned across the center console of the SDV and yanked the blindfold from the disgruntled male’s face. His eyes adjusted to the dim light and he glanced at her. Her expression was impassive and she waited with no hidden impatience.

“This my stop I take it?”

She only nodded.

He sighed and moved to open the door and exit…but paused. That smile turned itself on again.

“You won, y’know. That means I owe you dinner.” Despite all logical reasoning, she found her own flirtatious grin countering his and his confidence was renewed. “How can I get a hold of you?”

She cast a quick glance at the clock on the dashboard before she leaned towards him and curled the index finger of her right hand in a gesture for him to move closer. Of course, he complied immediately so she could tantalize him with the slightest whisper.

“You found me before, if you find me again maybe I’ll consider. Now if you’ll excuse me,” she took a pause to lean back in her seat. “…I have work to do.”

Something about the mischievous twinkle in her eyes did not crush his hopes perhaps as much as she wanted.

“Then I will see you later.”

She rolled her eyes with a rather odd balance of sadism and playfulness.

“I doubt it.”

And as the door closed, the SDV drove off, leaving an amused officer who had just accepted the challenge of his life.

*---*

Derek walked from the showers to the main locker room at the police station and, with a quick flick of his wrist, swiped his ID card through and yanked the door to his locker open. He rummaged around the mess until he dug up the spare civilian clothes he kept on hand just in case he got…tied up overnight. As he changed, he silently mulled over the events of the night prior and found that he wasn’t even angry about the GTR anymore. Despite endangering his life, he had made an important connection and even if 'Skye' wasn't her real name, he could still go through the list of Skye’s on record and try his damndest to narrow it down.

As he pulled a black polo over his head, he heard voices and the slamming of the door. His locker door closed just as the snickering officers rounded the corner.

“Well, well, well…if it isn’t the station’s golden boy! Get into some trouble last night?”

For a moment, Derek seriously considered just punching the obnoxious second lieutenant square in the jaw…but he’d made a promise to a friend of his…so instead he simply smirked.

“I guess you could call it trouble…strong-willed women are always the most…difficult to keep down.”

The group of men fell quiet, but Second Lieutenant Bronson was not one to back down that easily.

“Woman? But you were on that racing mission!”

First Lieutenant Derek Avery felt the triumphant expression creep from his eyes to his lips even before he could bother trying to conceal it. He patted the stunned man’s shoulder before he left.

“Five foot five, curvy, black hair, the most confident blue eyes you’ve ever seen in your life…not to mention mile-long legs and other assets she knows how to flaunt very-well. Nothing sexier than a confident woman…and nothing is sexier to a confident woman…than an equally sexy opponent.”

And he left, heading to his superior’s office for his progress report.

Captain Lamarr seemed relieved when his thrown-open door revealed the smirking lieutenant. He rose from his seat and smiled good-naturedly.

“There you are, Derek. You had us worried for a bit there. How did it go?”

Derek unceremoniously dropped himself into a seat in front of Harold’s desk and shrugged.

“Other than nearly getting blown up in that piece of shit car, I’d say it went fairly well.” He was perceptive enough not to miss how the older male’s smile fell just slightly as he sat down.

“How well?”

“Perp’s a chick.”

The balding man blinked. “What?”

Derek’s grin broadened.

“You heard me. The driver of that Mustang is a woman.”

The slack-jawed captain shook his head slowly.

“Did you get a name? Address? Anything?”

He didn’t hesitate. “Nope. She’s smart, that’s for damn sure. But I think I can find her again, and when I do, it shouldn’t take much more persuasion from there…if you catch my drift.” Okay, so he was holding out a little. But in all actuality, he wasn’t sure if Skye was her real name, so why should he run the risk of providing potentially false information?

Lamarr was quiet as he mulled over the younger officer’s comments but eventually just sighed and shook his head.

“Alright…if you say so…just make sure you get back in there. We’ll work on getting you another car and –“

“That won’t work.” The cut-off male flinched as though he’d been slapped. “It would be too suspicious if I just happened to show up in another restored car a few days or even a few weeks later. I’ll have to do this the hard way.”

Lamarr sighed and rubbed his temples.

“Alright fine. Just jot down whatever you can into the file and do what you have to do.” A dismissal wave of the hand followed. “Get the hell out of here before you give me an even bigger headache.”

Smirking, Derek rose, straightened his posture and saluted before traipsing out to his desk in the main room. It didn’t take him long to jot down some spare notes into the case file and when he’d finished and saved, he stared pensively at the monitor. What could a little search harm? Leaning forward, he pulled up the database and poised his hands over the keyboard. He had two spelling options that came to mind, and just as he typed the letter ‘S’, all thought was cut off.

“Derek you asshole!” He cleared the screen immediately. “I know you are not about to bail in my time of need!”

He rose and grinned sheepishly at his shorter, older and considerably nicer coworker who clapped a hand on his shoulder. Surprising to most, this was the one person he could truly call his best friend. Mark Cherro was in his mid-thirties and an old friend of the Avery family. Short brown hair, brown eyes and a friendly smile, he was your average guy who was happily married and expecting his first child. The two had quite a bit of history, and his wife Ava was probably the one woman in the world he would never consider shamelessly flirting with.

Derek lifted his hands in defeat.

“Hey, I’m here in my civilians aren’t I? I even made sure my SDV was parked outside just in case I got held up last night!”

Mark rolled his eyes and gestured freely with his right hand. “Well let’s go, then! Ava will kill me if we’re late!”

Their conversation continued as they walked to the double doors of the police station.

“Is she becoming one of those crazy pregnant chicks who screams at everyone for the smallest things?”

“No, only when you say something potentially insulting…like that.”

“Which means...I have to watch myself?”

“You got it, buddy.”

“Fuck.”

*---*

Derek groaned when the SDV parked in front of the tall building that was “Lakeside Genetics and OBGYN”. Contrary to its title, it was nowhere near a lakeside…but it was a building that he had committed himself to avoiding at all costs for at least the next, oh, twenty years or so? Maybe forever?

“Why do I have to go in again?” he grumbled, never losing his proud posture despite the awkward feeling creeping across him. This place was a nightmare for bachelors like him…it meant something had gone terribly, horribly wrong.

Mark noticed the young man’s discomfort immediately and only laughed cheerfully.

“For moral support, my friend! When Ava heard you were bringing me here she even wanted you to be here for this, herself!”

He rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, probably to watch me squirm.”

The laughter confirmed the thought.

“Well on the bright side, Dr. Harrison is a gorgeous, young and single woman! Maybe you can work your charms on her!”

They stepped into the elevator of the clean, vast building and Derek scoffed.

“I’ve got my hands full, the last thing I need is some doctor to tip the balance with brains.”

Several other people boarded the elevator at other floors, so the conversation lulled until they reached their floor and stepped off. A long hallway stretched before them, portraits of landscapes lining the walls spaced between professional photographs of the assorted doctors in the office. He didn’t pay attention for a while, only able to focus on the growing discomfort and knowledge of what lie through one of the doors in this hallway.

“Ah, this one!” Mark paused at a heavy door, his body blocking the picture under the plaque which boldly proclaimed “Dr. Harrison” in some obnoxious and capitalized font. Neither thought anything of it as they entered the lobby. Ava was immediately upon them.

“About time you two got here! I was starting to get nervous!” she announced with a relieved sigh, reflexively dropping her palms to the petite bulge of her stomach.

Ana, herself, was petite. Thin, blonde and every bit as feisty as she appeared docile, she was not an unattractive woman. Her husband embraced her immediately and kissed her sweetly.

“Sorry, dear. Derek was dragging his feet. Uncomfortable being around so many pregnant women and all.”

Ava snorted and faced the utterly tense and otherwise humor-providing man. “What? Afraid you’re going to catch it?”

He snorted right back. “Catch what?”

Her grin turned almost malicious as she leaned forward and whispered the answer in the most conspiratorial tone possible.

“…baby fever.”

He scoffed and shifted his weight uncomfortably. “Hardly. No need to worry when you take all the necessary precautions.”

Ava laughed whole-heartedly and hugged the muscular male all the same. He relaxed just enough to return the gesture before shoving his hands into the pockets of his khaki cargo shorts.

“So what am I supposed to do while you guys are working out this whole baby thing?”

The married couple exchanged glances and rolled their eyes as though they shared some unheard thought.

“Well we were hoping you would come with us, of course.”

Derek shuddered.

“I don’t really think that’s a good-“

“Mr. and Mrs. Cherro?” a young woman in pink scrubs approached, friendly smile perched on her lips and digital tablet in hand. She met Derek’s gaze for a moment and her face flushed almost immediately which then caused a smirk to play across his lips. Mark noticed and rolled his eyes before nodding.

“That would be us.”

Her eyes dragged away from the casually-dressed officer to the couple. “Ah…um…Dr. Harrison will be ready for you shortly…so, uh, if you’ll just follow me,” she stammered and began to shuffle towards another hall. Mark laughed and swatted at his younger counterpart's shoulder before gesturing for him to follow.

And with a resigned sigh, he did.

He strolled at a careful distance behind the pair and took in his surroundings without too much interest until he started seeing pictures of patients with their newborns…and then finally a picture of a young woman in a white coat holding a baby with a somewhat awkward smile upon her lips…

…a very familiar young woman.

He approached the picture and froze.

There was no way it was that easy.

She had the same long, wavy black hair that was pinned away from her face, the same high cheekbones, lips…but the major difference was in the eyes. Although still that piercing blue, they did not radiate the sheer, unadulterated pride and arrogance he had seen earlier that morning and the night before. But there was no way it wasn’t her…

So that meant…

“Hey, Derek? You coming or what?”

His head swiveled and met the confused expression of Mark, who was waiting outside an open door. He had to think fast – he couldn’t let her see him with a uniformed officer!

“Yeah, I’ll be right there..I just, uh, have to go to the bathroom.”

Mark’s expression dropped. “Right now? You can’t hold it?”

He shrugged. He had to get out of there before she saw him!

“Bad for the prostate and all, you know. I’ll get there when I’m done!” and he bolted back down the hallway before another word was said. Back in the lobby, he leaned on the counter and got the attention of yet another female nurse in those confounded pink scrubs, this one not as obvious in her admiration of him as the last.

“Excuse me, where is Dr. Harrison’s office?”

Meanwhile, Skye was finishing up with Mr. and Mrs. Cherro. She found the couple rather pleasant, actually. Very friendly and clearly very well matched in their relationship, they were always quick to make a joke, however they did seem unusually disappointed in something. As she finished her precautionary spiel, all three rose and Mark extended his hand to her. She removed the gloves and gratefully shook it.

“Thank you so much for everything so far, Dr. Harrison. We were hoping to try to return the favor today but plans apparently didn’t work out.”

Confusion flit across her expression, but her smile didn’t drop. “I can assure you there’s no need to return any favor. It’s my pleasure to do everything I can for my patients.”

Ava giggled softly and took her husband’s hand. “Well we will just have to try again next time. We’ll call if we have any questions or concerns.”

“Please do. See you both in a few months.”

After the pair left and closed the door behind them, Skye sighed and stretched her arms above her head unceremoniously. She definitely had not gotten enough sleep the night before courtesy of her…intruder. She frowned at the thought. She hadn't even been able to execute her plan before reality had settled in. And now, all thanks to that same bastard, she wouldn’t even be able to race for at least a few days! She sighed at the thought. At least she could still drive though. Sometimes a nice, relaxing drive was enough to settle her nerves.

Clara stumbled into the room, face flushed and trying to contain a smile.

“Um, Skye, there’s a very – and I do mean very - attractive male sitting in your office waiting to talk to you.”

One of Skye’s eyebrows arched high onto her forehead. “About what? I don't have any meetings scheduled for today, do I?” she mused, half to herself as she sifted through the mental image of her schedule.

Clara shook her head. “Well, no, but he said he had a few questions about your work.”

Skye laughed lightly and shook her head, maintaining her prim and proper work appearance even as she made her way to the door. “That means he’s either married or has a girlfriend, Clara, don’t get yourself too excited. I’ll go see what he wants.”

A few nurses stopped her with an assortment of patient-related questions but other than that, she made good time before adjusting her coat and then opening the door leading to her office with her business smile preset.

“I’m sorry, I hope you weren’t waiting long. I wasn’t expecting –“

“Dr. Skye Harrison, huh? You didn't strike me as the type.”

Skye’s stomach nearly dropped into the floor and she immediately slammed the door behind her and let the business façade fade completely. Her eyes became solid ice as she focused a heated glare upon the unexpected familiar, stranger inspecting the framed diplomas hanging on her wall.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” she spat, brusquely walking past him to stand behind her desk so she could keep an eye on both Derek and the door. He sat down slowly and comfortably, the confident smile still upon his lips.

“You said I had to find you again, right? Well, that's what I did.”

This was not at all what she had been expecting.

And in no way was any of it good.

Fuck was the word that came to her mind.