DISCLAIMER: Women's Murder Club and its characters are the property of James Patterson, 20th Century Fox Television and ABC. No infringement intended.
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
FEEDBACK: To Demeter94[at]yahoo.de
Room For Three
By Demeter
"I'm thinking I'll call it a night, too," Jill picked up her key card quickly, sending a glance after Lindsay who had just left the room. It was just after three AM, and she hoped it wasn't too obvious, but Claire's smile told her otherwise. Then again, that was Claire. She always knew. At times, it was a real relief to know she was working for the same side.
Her gaze fell on Cindy who was in a deep conversation with Warren Jacobi on the other side of the room, the two of them laughing heartily at something. The young woman's eyes were sparkling, her cheeks tinged with pink. The vision left Jill with a mixture of excitement and melancholy - that's what you got for not sorting out the loose ends in your life soon enough. Then again, the same could be said for Lindsay.
Well, they would sort out one of them tonight, on the first night of 2009.
"Goodnight, Sweetie," Claire said, too thoughtfully for it to be a coincidence. Jill smiled at her, and with a last look at Cindy, waved goodbye.
Don't you worry. This time we'll get it right.
She made her way down the hall to the hotel lobby, and up the stairs to the room next to hers, where the door was left ajar.
"Here I thought you'd changed your mind."
"Not a chance," she whispered. As she melted into Lindsay's embrace, Jill never realized that the key card she'd taken did not belong to her this room.
Determination... is everything. Never give up. Cindy had friendly brushed off all offers to help her find her room, she wasn't that drunk after all, was she? It was remarkable though how the stairs seemed to have gotten higher, and the circular staircase in the lobby hadn't seemed so... circular before. She giggled at her own reasoning.
The truth was, she was really drunk, and happy with just a tiny tinge of... what, it was hard to say. At the beginning of the New Year, she had so much more than she could have ever dreamed of last time, and yet, something was missing.
Then again, she'd been too New Year's Eve's parties before where she looked at the fireworks with people who didn't really know, let alone understand her. Tonight had been different. It was something to be valued.
And maybe she'd just misinterpreted that look Lindsay had given Jill when their glasses clinked together.
Maybe there was still a chance.
With new resolve, Cindy looked at the key card in her hand, frowning, then turned it upside down. The mission was not yet accomplished.
The hand trailing down her back sent a delightful shiver down her spine, and Jill smiled into the pillow, the memory of just what these hands had done earlier, making her toes curl yet again.
"Happy New Year." Lindsay's voice was tinged with satiation and a smile of her own.
"It will be, if the start of it is any indication." She turned to snuggle into the offered embrace.
Finally in her room, Cindy simply stripped down to her underwear and slumped onto the big bed gracelessly. Who cared, no one was seeing it.
Very late at night after a quick trip to the bathroom, Jill smiled at her reflection in the mirror. They had only briefly brushed the subject that exceeded their shared new start together, but there was definitely an option. These brief moments when life seemed too good to be true, you better held on as tight as you could.
She didn't turn on the light in the bedroom, just fumbled her way around the bed and slipped back inside on her side, chuckling quietly over the fact that Lindsay was as usually taking up way more of her share of space. Jill was too tired to give it much thought at the moment, just laid an arm around the other woman's waist and went back to sleep, hoping she wasn't going to end up on the floor before the morning.
Cindy was having a wonderful, if most likely alcohol-induced dream. Warm, comfortable and happy, she enjoyed the feeling of the arms holding her, the touch of a hand on her hip -- wait a minute... Somehow, the dream was not paying attention to logistics, or it was even naughtier then it seemed. She sighed to herself. Not that it would be a surprise. The couple – yes, couple! - ghosting through her more of less subconcious fantasies was very familiar. And she suspected they'd laugh in her face if they knew. No, that wasn't true; they weren't that cruel, but they'd be kind, and somehow, that was even worse.
And what the hell was all that logic disturbing her peaceful musings?
Get a life, Cindy. She was most likely awake now, and this had to be one hell of an intense dream, because the sensations lingered. Cindy openend her eyes and froze.
"Oh my God," she said out loud.
"And I haven't even started yet," Jill whispered, then started just the same. "Cindy?"
Since she couldn't make a quick exit, Cindy simply sat up and covered her face with her hands. "I don't remember. Anything."
Jill reached across Cindy to shake her girlfriend, her voice revealing amusement as she said, "Linds, wake up. We have a situation."
Cindy wanted to disappear in a hole. How could this have ever happened?
Lindsay's eyes widened when she discovered what exactly Jill had meant, and she hastily retracted her hand from where it had rested under the sheet.
"Don't shoot me," Cindy pleaded miserably. "I have no idea how -" She frowned. "Wait a minute, what are you guys doing in my room?"
Jill cracked up at that; Lindsay leaned back against her pillow with a smile. "I guess we're going to have that conversation sooner than we've thought."
Cindy had a hard time to make her hangover-fogged mind process what was going on, but she was beginning to realize one thing. It might be neither kind nor cruel.
The End