DISCLAIMER: CSI New York and its characters are the property of Jerry Bruckheimer and CBS. No infringement is intended. Eden Ashley is an original character. All mine.
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
FEEDBACK: To debrafitzakerley[at]yahoo.co.uk
Eden Ashley Chronicles
By EdenAshley
Part 10
It had been Ashley's first day back at work, since the Ellis episode. It had been relatively straight forward, thank God; she really couldn't cope with any more drama. The guys have decided that in order to celebrate Ashley's return and the revelation of her relationship with Stella, they are going for drinks tonight.
They have just arrived at Maguire's and the whole team is here, Mac is at the bar ordering drinks, he's the boss, so he has to get the first round, thems the rules! Ashley, Adam, Flack and Hawkes are currently racking up the pool table getting ready for a game of doubles, and Danny, Lindsay and Stella are seated on bar stools at a table not too far away from the pool table.
Lindsay has a huge child like grin on her face; she has been dying to get a few drinks in Stella, ever since she found out about her and Ashley. She keeps looking over at Stella, trying not to be too obvious at how excited she is, but drastically failing, Stella has evidently noticed.
"Lindsay, why do you keep giving me that goofy grin?" A grin which has now been replicated on Stella's face.
"Oh you know, I'm just excited we're all out together, it's not often Danny and I can get a sitter." Lindsay doesn't want to give herself away just yet; she at least wants to get a drink in Stella, before she starts trying to extract gossip.
Stella is not buying it, she knows exactly why Lindsay is acting like a school girl, but to be honest she's kinda excited herself, she hasn't been able to talk to anyone really since her and Eden got together, she was looking forward to having a girly chat, after a few drinks for Dutch courage obviously.
"Hmmm Okay." The look Stella gives Lindsay tells her she doesn't believe her one bit, but the fact that Stella is smiling, means Lindsay is going to get the gossip later.
Meanwhile over at the pool table. As Flack is arranging the balls, Adam has a sudden thought which he needs to voice immediately.
"I call Ashley." The other three's heads snap up straight away.
"Excuse me?" Ashley just looks at him waiting for an explanation.
"Well you kick my ass, at every other sport, plus you're British so you're bound to be good at pool. I want you on my team."
Adam's face is completely serious, Flack just shakes his head and smiles, Ashley replicates his smile. "I guess it's me and Adam versus Flack and Hawkes, that okay by you guys?"
Hawkes laughs "Oh it's on."
"Now that is fighting talk, you are going down losers." Flack sticks his tongue out at Ashley as he speaks.
"Now that is fighting talk, Adam you better not suck as bad at this as you do at basketball."
"Hey words hurt you know," Adam feigns hurt, trying to hide the smirk on his face. Ashley just returns the smirk.
Mac heads over with a tray of drinks. "Okay guys, four beers right?" He settles the tray down on the table.
"Thanks Mac you're a star." Flack grabs the beers and distributes them amongst the guys.
"So you guys shooting some pool."
Ashley smiles and takes a quick sip of her beer. "Yeah winner stays on, you up for a game after?"
"Sure thing, I'm sure I could teach you guys a thing or two."
This gets everyone's attention, this is most definitely fighting talk, and Flack's bravado means he's first to respond.
"Well, I'd go and get yourself a partner Mac, cos I don't think this is going to take very long." He looks over at Adam and Ashley, who are currently picking out cues. Ashley just shakes her head, she cannot wait to beat Flack and wipe the smile off of his face. "You'll be playing me and my man Hawkes here."
Mac just shakes his head laughing. "Well I'll be over here with the civilised people." He gestures towards Stella, Lindsay and Danny. "Come and get me when you're ready."
Flack turns back to the three pool players. "You know what, I'm so confident I'll even let you guys break."
Adam relishing the opportunity, and also worried that the break might be his only chance of actually getting a shot, quickly grabs the cue ball, Ashley however has other ideas, she places a hand on Adam's arm, his face immediately drops, something tells him he won't be getting the chance to break after all.
"We don't need any charity from you Flack." She smirks as she says it. "Besides I don't want you having any excuses when we beat you."
Flack is impressed. "Whatever you say girl. Flip for it." Ashley just nods in agreement. Let the games commence.
It's been a tense twenty minutes, Flack and Ashley are both equally determined not to lose, Hawkes isn't really bothered, and Adam is just excited that he hasn't lost already. Flack is at the table, it's a pressure shot, if he sinks his next ball, he's on the black, if he misses, Ashley is up next, in the same situation, one ball then the black. Ashley smiles, she swears she can see a bead of sweat forming on Flack's forehead, and the look of concentration on his face is priceless.
He pulls the cue back, and smashes the white ball, no going back now; he watches the ball up the table, as do the other three with great interest. Flacks head drops when he sees his final colour ball, ricochet around the pocket, and then bounce back out. Gutted.
"Tut, tut, tut. Unlucky Donald." Ashley can't help the teasing tone to her voice. Flack stands upright, he can't believe it, he's going to get beat, and by a girl at that. He can't let it happen. He decides his only option is psychological warfare.
"Laugh it up Ashley; you've still got two balls to pot."
"Easy." And she is right of course; potting her final two balls should be no problem, as long as she doesn't let the pressure get to her like Flack.
Flack decides it's time for drastic action. "So anyway, Ash, the reason we're all here tonight, you and Stella huh? That's, pretty hot."
Hawkes shakes his head smiling, Adam laughs, and Ashley just looks at him smirking. "Really, you're resorting to this to try and put me off?"
"Resorting to what?" Flack acts offended, but for some reason can't wipe the sly smirk from his face. "I thought we were all here to celebrate two of our favourite ladies falling in love, the least we can do is talk about it."
Ashley doesn't respond immediately, she leans over the table, and smashes her final colour ball into the pocket, stands upright and chalks her cue, then glances over to Flack. "I guess you're right, I mean like you say, that is why we're all here tonight."
Hawkes and Adam are suitably impressed, Adam is just excited that his team is about to win. Flack, has to give it to her she is good, Ashley moves round the table sizing up her next shot, as she continues to speak. "So what do you wanna talk about?"
Ashley leans over the table again, she is looking forward to winning, and Flack knows this is his last chance to put her off. "How is she in bed?"
This gets Ashley momentarily, but she shakes it off smiling, Adam cringes, he is sure that is gunna knock her off her game, Flack feels bad for playing dirty, but to be completely honest he kinda wants to know the answer too.
Ashley smashes the black to win the game for her and Adam. Adam celebrates like he's just won the super bowl. Ashley gets up smirking at Flack.
He extends his hand, Ashley sportingly shakes it. "Did you really thing that would put me off?" Flack just shrugs still smiling.
"Oh and just so you know, if I ever gave you details about my sex life with Stella, I probably wouldn't have a sex life with Stella anymore. Well more precisely I wouldn't be alive anymore."
Flack laughs "Just the confirmation that you have a sex life is enough to get me through those lonely nights."
"You're such a typical man."
Over at the table, Lindsay and Stella have just finished the bottle of wine they were sharing, Mac is at the Bar getting more drinks. Danny and the two, now slightly tipsy women, are chatting, when Lindsay decides it's time to get down to the nitty gritty.
"Okay Stella, girly chat time, I want details, about you and Ashley."
Danny smiles, "Oh great I love girly chat time." Stella and Lindsay laugh.
"You never know Danny you might learn something." Lindsay winks at him then turns to Stella expectantly; she nods at Stella urging her to speak.
Stella doesn't really know where to start. "Well, what do you want to know?"
"Everything." This makes Stella laugh out loud.
"I don't think we have time to go through everything."
"Okay okay well give me the Cliffs Notes version. When did you first know you had feelings for her?"
"I guess from the first day I met her." Stella can't help the huge smile that appears on her face when she talks about Eden. Lindsay sees the smile, and can tell her friend is the happiest she's ever been, she doesn't know if it's the alcohol or the happiness of her friend but Lindsay can't help but replicate her smile, she actually feels a little emotional. But she is dying to know more.
"Then what happened?"
Stella smiles at her friend's enthusiasm, she decides to power through with the story of 'Eden and Stella so far.'
"Well, I struggled to get my head around it for a while; Eden showed me in no uncertain terms how she felt."
Lindsay interrupts. "What do you mean by that?"
"She kissed me."
"Oh that's so romantic." Danny smirks at his wife.
"Not really, I hit her." This makes Lindsay's face drop. The look of shock is classic. Stella takes this opportunity, while Lindsay is speechless to finish her story.
"Anyway, she avoided me like the plague for a few weeks, who can blame her. Then the whole episode with Oliver happened, and I realised that I love her, and nothing else matters, and luckily for me, she feels the same. And here we are."
Lindsay face actually looks like its gunna break from the huge smile.
"Aw Stella, I'm just so happy for you." Now they've got the mushy stuff out of the way, Lindsay wants to delve a little deeper, she's been curious ever since she found out. She tries to broach the subject carefully. Stella can see she's dying to ask something, and she has a good idea what, but it's fun to watch her friend struggle, internally fighting trying to word the question correctly.
"So, I don't know, cos I've never been with a woman . . . "This gets Danny's attention straight away, he looks up from his drink, he has been politely listening so far, now he's paying attention. Lindsay continues.
"But I guess I'm kinda curious." Lindsay is playing with a napkin the whole time, not looking at Stella; Stella is highly amused, and just continues to wait for the inevitable question.
"I mean, how did you know you could, I mean what I'm trying to say is, was it not weird the first time. . ." Lindsay decides to hell with it, she's just gunna ask. She drops the napkin and looks Stella in the eyes. "What's the sex like?"
Danny literally doesn't know where to look, he wants the ground to swallow him up, is this really what 'girl talk' involves. He can't quite believe the audacity of his wife, although Stella is still smiling, she's not actually gunna answer the question is she? Danny can feel his mouth go dry.
There it is, Stella had to laugh, Lindsay was trying so hard to word it sensitively and in the end she just blurted it out. Stella has the opportunity to have some fun here, but she decides against torturing her, instead she just answers truthfully.
"Oh my God, it's fantastic." Lindsay and Stella just fall into fits of giggles. Danny can't take it anymore he decides to go over and join the guys at the pool table.
The guys at the pool table are still laughing and joking about the last game of pool. Danny joins them and they immediately notice the weird expression on his face. Flack is the first to speak.
"Hey Danny, are you Mac's partner." Danny just looks at him like he's an alien. "Err, is everything okay Danny?"
He snaps out of it. "Oh yeah, I just got caught up in some 'girl talk' over there, real eye opener."
Ashley smiles, "Oh yeah?"
Now it's Danny's turn to smile. "Oh, yeah. All about you buddy."
Ashley quirks an eyebrow at him. "Really?"
Flack pipes in. "So, Danny, what was the topic of conversation?" He's knows whatever it was, it will be good for teasing Ashley with, a fact which Ashley is also aware of, she's praying Stella wasn't being to mushy.
Danny has snapped out of the trance the girl talk appeared to put him in, and is now firmly on the same wave length as Flack.
"They were talking about sex." He looks Ashley square in the face. "Apparently you're fantastic."
Ashley can feel her cheeks burning already, she looks over to the table where Stella and Lindsay are sitting, they look like a couple of school girls, deep in conversation, giggling every now and then.
Flack can't help himself, he loves having banter with Ashley and he knows she takes it in the good spirit its intended. "So let me get this straight, you would get in trouble for discussing your sex life with us, but Stella's allowed to chat as much as she likes with Lindsay?"
Ashley just smiles. She hands her cue to Danny, "Maybe I'll just go over there and make sure everything's okay."
The boys all laugh as Ashley makes her way over to the table. Stella sees her straight away and smiles. "Hey sweetie."
"Hey, how are you two?"
Lindsay who still has a permanent smile on her face decides to answer. "We're having a great time, having a good catch up."
"Yeah I heard." Stella looks at Eden to make sure she's okay; Danny has obviously told her what they have been talking about. Ashley notices the tinge of worry on Stella face, and winks at her to reassure her, that's she's not been remotely offended by the topic of conversation.
At this point Mac returns from the bar with drinks, he smiles at Ashley when he notices she's joined them. "Cocktails all round."
"We better get back over to the pool table Mac."
"Has your game finished?"
"Yep."
"So, am I playing Flack and Hawkes?"
"Nope."
"Good girl." Mac smiles and puts his arm around Ashley as they head back over to the pool table.
The Pool playing finished around an hour ago, Flack had to call it quits when he and Hawkes got beat by everyone. The group are now all sitting around a table, Stella and Lindsay are particularly worse for wear, having fully caught up on all the gossip, they have been giggling like school girls the majority of the night, Danny and Eden took it upon themselves to split the pair of them up, so now Eden and Stella are on one side of the table and Danny and Lindsay at the other, with everybody else in between. The conversation is flowing nicely and everybody is having a really good time.
Stella leans into Eden and whispers in her ear.
"I'm having a really good time."
Ashley smiles and looks over at her, she looks adorable, most definitely tipsy. "I can tell. You Stella Bonasera are drunk."
Stella laughs and squeals at the same time, which causes everyone else at the table to look over. "I am not."
Ashley can't help but laugh out loud. Flack is intrigued. "What's going on ladies?"
Everybody looks over expectantly. Stella composes herself, trying her best to look as sober as possible. Failing miserably.
"Eden here thinks I'm drunk."
Mac laughs. "No." Everybody is amused except Lindsay, who doesn't know what everyone else is laughing at, probably because she is just as drunk.
"I'm happy to admit I am probably not the most sober. But I just am having the best time tonight with you all. It's been too long since we've done this."
She pulls Eden closer as she speaks, she's happy basically that everyone else is happy too.
Mac responds. "You're right. It's been too long; we need to make this sort of thing a regular occurrence."
"Amen to that." Adam raises his glass, and everybody else follows suit.
Just as everybody was about to return to their previous conversation, an unknown voice catches everyone's attention.
"Stella?" Everybody looks over in the direction of the voice. "Stella Bonasera?"
Stella looks up and immediately recognises the guy. Ben Evans. Mid thirties, cute, brown hair blue eyes, she had dated him for a couple of months, about 3 years ago. She immediately feels awkward, Ashley senses this from the way Stella tenses next to her, she guesses this guy is probably an old flame.
"It is you. Wow, how are you? Long time no see."
"Ben hey. Yeah it's been a while. I'm good, how are you?"
"Good, well all the better for seeing you." Ashley rolls her eyes and looks over to Adam, who just smiles and shakes his head. Stella cringes, Ben continues.
"You look great Stella."
"Thanks." Stella doesn't really know what to say, so she just smiles and nods her head, hoping he will take the hint and just walk away. He has other ideas.
"Maybe we could get together some time. Catch up on old times, be nice to see you again," Stella is massively aware that Eden is right behind her, and just wants this guy to go now.
"I don't think that's a good idea." Ashley can tell Stella feels awkward, she wants to convey that she is not remotely bothered by this Ben guy, she has a hot girlfriend, who is bound to get hit on from time to time, this guy is only human after all. She grabs Stella's knee and gives it a quick squeeze under the table. Stella immediately feels better, and gets her confidence back. Ben looks quite disappointed, something which hasn't been lost on Adam and Flack who are both quite amused with the scene before them.
"Oh. I take it you're seeing someone then?"
Stella just beams at him. "Yep, and I couldn't be happier." Stella doesn't know what possesses her next action, either happiness or drink. "In fact she's right here." The look of confusion on Ben's face is priceless. Ashley nearly chokes on her drink. Stella just grabs her.
"This is Detective Eden Ashley, my girlfriend." Ashley quirks an eyebrow at Stella, before reaching over and shaking Ben's outstretched hand.
"Hi." Ashley is almost certain her cheeks are bright red. Ben is certainly looking quite embarrassed.
"Erm, nice to meet you." He just looks back and forth between the two women. "Well I better go. Nice to see you again Stella."
And with that he runs in the opposite direction. Flack, Adam and Danny are in fits of giggles, Mac just shakes his head smiling.
Stella turns back to the table, and grabs her drink, just as the straw is about to hit her lips, she sighs. "Well, I enjoyed that."
Ha now everybody is in fits of giggles. What a great night.
The guys called it a night not long after the 'Ben' incident, and Ashley and Stella have just stepped out of the elevator in Ashley's apartment building. Stella puts her arm around Ashley and leans into her as they make their way to her front door.
"I know I keep saying this, but I had a really great time tonight."
Ashley smiles, truth be told she had a great time too; she hasn't really been out with everyone at work at the same time before, usually just Adam and Flack, and sometimes Danny. It was great to have the whole gang together, and for them to be so accepting of her and Stella, she wasn't really used to it, she has come up against so much adversity in her life, and it feels so amazing.
"Yeah me too. I love it here. I love you. I feel so lucky right now." Ashley can't help but voice her feelings; she honestly couldn't be any happier right now. Stella's heart literally bursts when she hears Eden speak; she loves how Eden can reduce her to an excited school girl. She loves her so much it hurts. They stop walking when they reach the front door.
"Keep talking like that you're gunna get a little luckier." Ashley slips the key into the door, smirking at Stella's latest statement. Stella slips her arms around Eden from behind patiently waiting for her to open the door. As soon as she does, Stella immediately has her up against it on the other side, she looks deeply into Eden's profound blue eyes, god she loves her eyes, before moving her attention to her lips. Within seconds she is kissing her. Passionately.
They both fight for control; the kiss is filled with love, emotion, wanting, Ashley pushes forward moving herself away from the front door. Now Stella is against the wall in the hallway, she grabs Eden's jacket and pulls it down off her arms, and throws it on the floor, she then removes her own jacket and discards it in the same way, never breaking the kiss. Ashley's hands are immediately on Stella, grasping for access to her skin.
Stella decides she wants to be in control again. She quickly reverses their position so Eden is against the wall again, momentarily breaking their kiss, she looks at Eden, now she looks drunk, but on lust not alcohol, Stella loves the reaction Eden gives her, she has never felt more wanted or more sexy than does when she's with Eden. She quickly initiates the kiss again. This time its Stella's hands that go wandering, straight to Eden's shirt she undoes all the buttons, once the shirt is open her hands are on her stomach, she breaks the kiss again to take in Eden's current state of undress, black bra, toned stomach, her scar only enhances her beauty.
Stella is once again back to Eden's lips, Eden is intoxicated, just letting Stella do whatever she likes, she is in heaven. Stella's lips move from her own and start making their way down her face and her neck, small kisses, and nipped biting, and then sucking on her pulse point. God Ashley is melting, getting lost in Stella's passion.
There is not nearly enough skin on show for Stella, she needs to take this to the next level, she pulls Eden away from the wall, momentarily yanking her out of her haze, she looks at Stella questionably, Stella just smirks, the lust in Ashley's eyes mirrored in Stella's. She continues to pull Eden towards the bedroom. "Bed now."
Ashley just smiles at Stella's words. God this woman makes her so incredibly happy, and if her conversations with Lindsay are anything to go by apparently Stella feels exactly the same.