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.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thanks to Nikky for the beta!
Everything Changes
By Demeter
Christmas is not for the cynical. From her time as a rookie, Lindsay remembers how the domestic disturbance calls seemed to double. The monsters she is dealing with now won't let themselves be stopped by the Good News either. So at some point, she simply decided to ignore the abundance of Christmas lights and music blaring from the speakers of every store. If anything, there was more work during the season.
Christmas is for family and children. So it's not for her. Or so Lindsay had thought.
"Why don't you come?" A simple question conspiring with a foolish hope became the reason she'd spent nearly two hours on the road, after the flight. This was the first time she'd taken off for the holidays since the last year she'd spent with her mother and sister. Cindy had probably been plastered with her Grandma's eggnog, or bored out of her wits when she'd asked, but Lindsay had been too eager and desperate for – something.
"I can't ask Claire obviously, and Jill, well, she's never alone."
Well thanks for making me only # 3 on that list, Lindsay thought somewhat bitterly.
"Wait, that didn't come out right," Cindy said, softly, only a heartbeat later. "It'd be fun if you all could be here. But I'd really like you to come."
Why? Lindsay wanted to ask. "Why not?" She heard herself say instead. It was just hard resisting Cindy even if she was near drunk and thousands of miles away to spend Christmas at her grandmother's in Seattle. She listened really hard for any hints of sympathy, or worse, pity, but couldn't detect any.
"That's great, Linds! How soon can you be here?"
That was when the mild panic had started. The two of them hadn't really spent time together that was not work.-related. What were they going to talk about?
"Does that mean I'll have to buy you a Christmas present?"
"When did you know?"
Lindsay chuckles softly. Trust Cindy Thomas to still have questions when for Lindsay, all questions have ended with where they are now. It also makes her a little melancholy, because she wishes she could say, that first moment, but there have been too many false starts and regrets in her life, even after that moment.
"I'm not sure. I know now. Does it matter?"
"Took you long enough to notice," Cindy chides gently, but she leans over to kiss Lindsay to take the sting from the obvious truth. All her misgivings are far away at the moment anyway, as she runs her hands down Cindy's back, reveling in the pleasure of touching bare skin, being as close as she's ever dreamed of.
Cindy settles back into the cushions and her arms with a happy sigh. "This is the best Christmas ever," she declares.
"I'm not going to argue with you."
The End