- Surprise!
by Camilla Sandman
Disclaimer: Pleeeeeeease? It’s my birthday Hal, can’t I just for once get to say “they’re mine and don’t ya dare touch”???
Author’s Note: Yay! It’s my birthday!! So I’m writing myself a birthday present.. A birthday fluff!!
~~~~~~~~~
Frank Holloway woke up that day feeling ancient. It was a warm morning with plenty of sun.. and it also happened to be his birthday. Yeah, another year older, another reason to stay in bed. Groaning, he got up, wondering what kind of stunt Rachel would pull on him this year. Last year she had lured him to mud-wrestle Tommy, the year before that it had been a stripper bar where HE had been the entertainment.
This year he’d be damned if she’d get him. He was older, wiser, and alert.
He stepped into the station carefully, watching his every step like a poisonous snake could jump out and bite him anytime. He couldn’t see anything suspicious, but that only made him more alert.
“Morning Frank,” Helen greeted him.
“Morning.”
“Fine day today,” she remarked seemingly innocent. He smiled a “I’m-on-to-you” smile in return, trotting up the stairs. He peeked casually behind his back to see that Helen had gone back to working. Playing that game, were she? Well, so could he.
"I’ll just go and work,” he shouted down at her. She looked up at him strangely.
“Yeah.. that’s good Frank, that’s what we do around here.”
He took a good look around before entering the office. Rachel was looking down at a report, there were no suspicious looking bags near her, not even a party-hat. She had probably hid it somewhere.
“Goood morning Goldie,” he called out. She looked up annoyed.
“What’s so good about it?”
“Oh, nothing, nothing.” He just smiled when she gave him a glare. He didn’t buy it for one second. A real smart-arse she was.. probably waiting for him to relax so she could pull something really nasty at him.. what could it be this year? Skinny-dipping in a pool at the retirement home, perhaps? That’d be just like her.
“So what’s up?” he asked conversely.
“Reports. You got a stack to do as well.”
“What, don’t I get a special treatment today?”
“For what?” She didn’t even look up now, jotting down something on paper.
“Nevermind.” Playing the “I-have-forgotten-what-day-it-is” game, was she? Two could play that.
“So what are we going to do on this not very special day?”
“Solve crime, Frank. Like we did yesterday, and the day before, what we’ll probably do tomorrow and the day after that. And then we fill out paperwork on it.”
He stuck his tongue out at her sarcastic remark, quickly withdrawing it when he saw Hawker standing in the doorway.
“Don’t you have something more useful to do with your time Holloway?”
“Yes, sir.”
Rachel just shook her head as Hawker walked off.
“Come on Frank, you can buy me lunch.”
“Oh really?” Buying her lunch, that was a good one. She probably had some kind of grand scheme ready.
“Really,” she replied as they walked out, “what’s up with you Francis, you look ready to jump.”
“Think I should relax a bit, do you?” he asked, quickly throwing a glance behind them. No one was following so far. They were probably waiting by the car park.. he scouted the area eagerly.
“Most definitely.” She was throwing him weird glances, if he hadn’t been a wiser man, he’d think she really had forgotten. But this one-year older version of Frank Holloway weren’t gonna be caught with his pants down, oh no, that time had passed. She would not get him this time.
No one was waiting in the car park, or at the lunch spot. Still, he stayed alert all through the meal, looking at every waiter like a bringer of Doom. It’d be just like her to pull something off at a crowded area like this. But she didn’t. She was obviously hoping to wear him down, but then she had underestimated him. He’d get the last laugh this year.
They went back to the office, and he checked under his desk before sitting down, just in case. There were no paint-bombs under it as far as he could tell. He got no crank-calls, no bogus cases.. frankly, it was just a normal day at the office. Seemingly. She must have something really great planned, otherwise she wouldn’t be playing innocent so well.
“So, wanna head down for a drink after work?” he asked casually.
“Noo.. I can’t. Got somewhere important to be.”
“Yeah?” He tried not to sound too hurt.
“Yeah. In fact, I should head out now, so I’m not late. I’ll catch you tomorrow.”
“Uh-huh.” She was good, he had almost believed her there. She was probably heading right for the pub and whatever they had planned there.
“Yeah, I’ll see ya,” he replied calmly, trying to sound disappointed.
He gave her ten minutes before heading out himself, stepping out of the door carefully in case a bucket of ice water was ready to fall on him or something. He only got a puzzled look from Tayler, and a sore neck from trying to peek up on the roof without sticking his head too far out.
He went to the Cutter bar expecting people to pop out from behind chairs and shout “Surprise!” Instead he got a few glances and some “heya Frank”. So he told people last year he wanted no fuss, but really.. He was beginning to feel ignored.
Rachel wasn’t even there. He drank his scotch miserably, listening to the cheerful banter around him. Maybe she had a date or something, even though they had been expanding the friendship lately.. that made him feel even more miserable.
“Well, I’m leaving now,” he announced unnecessarily loud, in case they were waiting for him to leave, then would yell surprise. He got some muffled “c ya mate” and “already?” but that was it.
He stepped into the warm evening feeling utterly alone and miserable. They really had forgotten. And what was worse, his weird behaviour would probably be the end of every joke for months.
What a life. Stepping into his dark hallway, he tossed the jacket into a corner and threw the shoes somewhere in the vicinity. He’d just go to bed and pretend this day never had happened.
The bedroom was dark too, even though he could swear he had left the light on, and he stepped on something soft. Picking it up, he noted it was silky, he didn’t own anything silky, but..
“Surprise!”
The light suddenly flickered on to reveal a very unclothed Rachel on his bed. He stared. She laughed, pulling up a bottle of wine.
“You liking what you see?” she remarked when he continued to just stare.
“Yeah.. you could say that,” he muttered, taking a step closer, “what are we celebrating?”
“Nothing yet.”
He stared at her disbelievingly.
“You forgot my birthday!”
“Frank,” she grinned, “it’s not until tomorrow.”
“No way.” He shook his head, trying to remember if he had checked the dates recently.. he had to have. They couldn’t have..
“Way,” she laughed, “we got you there.”
“No you didn’t.”
“Yes, we did.”
“You were all in on it?” he asked sourly, and she smiled sweetly in reply. Grabbing his tie, she pulled him close, gazing into his eyes.
“Did you think I would forget?” she smiled, kissing him lightly on the lips. “I would never miss a chance to get you.”
“Is that so?” he smiled, pulling her on top of him, “all you had to do was ask. I’m gettable all the time.”
“Yeah.. Frank, just one more thing..”
He stopped kissing her neck to look up at her as she pulled up the bottle of chocolate body paint and a box of strawberries.
“I thought I’d give you a special kind of birthday cake..” He stared at her wide-eyed, his mind already racing over the possibilities.
“Surprise!”
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