Fic: Peacocks and Chiefs (The Closer- Will/Sharon) M 3/4
Title: Peacocks and Chiefs
Part: 3
Fandom: The Closer
Characters: Sharon/Will
Word Count: 1782
Rating: M
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from the Closer. No copyright infringement intended.
Summary- Written for the FID Anniversary Challenge- Prompt: Sharon seduces Will on a team building conference. I think the prompt explains premise of the story, I changed it to a teambuilding course instead of a conference and I sort of kind of got around to the seducing eventually.
Will hardly slept; his dreams filled with vivid images of Sharon Raydor dressed up as a modern day Mata Hari. He took a hot shower hoping it would wake him up and sooth his aching muscle. It did little to sooth one particular muscle. He was plagued with what most men had when they first woke, morning wood. Closing his eyes, he decided to take himself in hand. Slowly working his hand up and down his length, he tried to conjure up exotic images of sultry blonde-haired women but they kept turning into serious brunettes. One particular brunette, who had a smooth voice, green-grey eyes, and looked amazing incased in silk. Knowing it was futile to resist, he gave into the temptation and jerked-off to thoughts of Sharon Raydor.
As he dressed, he knew he was in trouble. Always before in any dream or fantasy he had she was always Captain Raydor. He felt like he had crossed some imaginary line he’d had drawn in the sand. She was Sharon now, and that wasn’t a good thing.
He was quiet at breakfast and Taylor had giving him a funny look when he choked on his toast as Sharon took the seat beside him. “Are you feeling better, Chief?”
He couldn’t meet her eyes. He silently prayed for Course Instructor Harry to make an appearance so they could get started. He looked out a window and wrinkled his nose; it was pouring.
“You wanted to talk to me about something last night.” She put a hand on his arm and sighed when he wouldn’t look her way. “Chief?”
He closed his eyes and wished he was back in LA in his office and he never suggested this stupid team-building course to Delk. Remembering why he went to her room and his anger finally outweighed his embarrassment, “Are you spying on me for Delk? Is this what the little hand on the arm routine is about, trying to draw me into your confidence?’
Her eyes flashed and she snatched her hand away, “I am not even going to dignify that with a response. You can think what you want. You obviously have already come to the most ridiculous conclusions on your own, without any input from me. I would hate for you to think my being here on this course didn’t completely revolve around you, I don’t think your overly inflated peacock of an ego could take it.”
She pushed away from the table, gave him a hard look and left the room, anger radiating off her in waves enough for even bar owl Phillip to move out of her way. He looked across to the table to Taylor who mouthed the word damn, it was then that Will realized half the room had heard part of their exchange. Most likely, the peacock part, since her voice had slightly rose at the end. Standing up he gave an exaggerated shrug and big goofy grin, a few of the occupants gave him an encouraging smile as he left to follow in the wake of the very angry Captain Raydor, who wasn’t here as Delk’s spy.
He found her almost an hour later in the meeting room, her arms crossed and the expression on her face clearly read leave me the hell alone. Not even a friendly dolphin dared to go near her and her friend bar owl Phillip was staring at her with wide eyes, Will decided Phillip must have never seen Sharon Raydor pissed off before. Luckily, Will had, a few times, it just normally wasn't directed at him, except maybe that one time because of Brenda and Major Crimes. He couldn’t blame Brenda this time though, this was all his own making.
This had to be some sort of record for him. He use to be suave, quite the ladies’ man once, except with this woman. With her, he wavered from bumbling idiot to complete asshole in matter of minutes. He was working up the courage to talk to her when Course Instructor Harry came in and started discussing the day’s activities. It was for the best Will decided, better to let her cool off first, then he could apologize.
As Harry went on about each of them working in pairs, Will just couldn’t get over the fact that the man expected them to go out in the rain. It was pouring and they were supposed to be doing some outside obstacle course. Were they serious? He watched as everyone paired off and talked excitedly amongst themselves, even Taylor looked keen on the idea of going outside.
Will saw Sharon talking to Harry, maybe she was trying to get him to let the whole outside training exercise a pass. At least that was what Will hoped she was doing. She must not be getting anywhere with Harry, seeing as she had her lips pressed together. Taking a chance he walked up to the two and before he could suggest that they do this outside training inside, Sharon thrust a map and compass in his hands, “They paired us up, hope you know how to read a map.”
“We’re together for this exercise? And we are going outside?” Will looked down at his hiking boots and frowned.
“Normally when someone says you’re paired up, it means that you’re together. And seeing as the obstacle course is on the trail and not inside the resort, I think it would be safe to assume that we will need to go outside to complete our tasks.” Her tone was more than a little waspish. “You might want to go change your shoes, those look new and you wouldn’t want to get blisters.”
“They are new. Well, almost new, I have only worn them one other time.’ Seeing the exasperated look she was giving him, he stopped talking about his shoes, “Why did they pair us up exactly?”
“I certainly hope you don’t think I asked them to.” Her voice was sharp, even Harry winced at her tone.
“No, of course not. I am just trying to figure out why they paired us up, to do this. Why a peacock and a panther? Together.” And yes, it was possible to make a bigger fool out of himself in front of this woman.
She seemed to take a deep breath and closed her eyes briefly, probably praying for patience before answering him, “I assume it is because the instructors thought I was the only one you wouldn’t walk all over.” At Harry’s smile and nod, Sharon huffed out a laugh. Guess they were going to be stuck together. Will followed Sharon outside; cursing himself for even thinking this course was a good idea.
They were more than halfway through the obstacle course and they were making great headway, he thought they might be in the lead. The ideas of finishing first should have had him on cloud nine but Will hated being out in the rain and he hated tracking around in the woods on a muddy trail in practically new boots, a fact he may have expressed to his reluctant partner a few too many times. “Would you please stop your bitching, Will?”
“I would say it’s more expressing my displeasure over the situation than bitching.” He watched as she rolled her eyes, “You just called me by my name. Does this mean we get to be friends and I get to call you Sharon?
“Well, that depends, are you going to accuse me of being the Chief’s plant again.” She quipped out quickly and he smirked when she slipped in the mud and had to grab his arm to stop from falling.
“It made sense at first. You would have to understand all the factures that lead me to that conclusion.” He held the compass out for her to take as they continued their trek in the woods.
“What about me screams spy?’ The sarcasm was evident in her voice and he stopped on the trail and waited for her to turn and face him.
“I was being paranoid. Taylor explained your connection to Delk and Delk had insisted that you come along on this trip. I added two and two together and ended up way in left field. I am sorry, I really am.” He reached up and brushed a stray strand of hair from her face, his fingers lingering a little longer than necessary. Without a lick of make-up and soaked, Sharon Raydor was still breathtakingly beautiful. “Having you here has kind of thrown me for a loop.”
“He wants an assessment on the course. He picked me because this isn’t my first time going to one of these things. You sold him on the idea, and he wants to know if it would be beneficial to repeat the training with a wider range of participants.” She sighed and bit on her bottom lip, as if she was contemplating her next words, “He’s not out to get you, Will. You both want the same things and if you both could swallow some pride, then maybe we could all get out of this limbo and continue on doing our jobs, but someone has to be willing to take the first step, be the bigger man.” She took the map from his hands, focusing back on their tasks pointing to a hill behind her, “I think that just might be the finish line for us. One more task and we can get out of this nasty weather.”
They were the first ones finished and Will felt a certain amount of pride that he and Sharon did so well. He watched as she chatted amicably with Harry. It was their last night at the resort, tomorrow they would be heading back to LA and the responsibilities of their jobs and ranks. He didn’t know if he could fit Sharon back into that neat little corner of being just Captain Raydor again, he didn’t know if he wanted that. Listening to her laugh, finding out just a small part of her life outside work, had him craving to know more, to know her.
Dinner was quiet, Sharon had left halfway through the meal, needing to take a call from her daughter, something about Facebook and broken prom dates. Will wasn’t looking forward to when his daughter hit the teenage years; he just couldn’t see his sweet angel-faced little girl dating. He didn’t envy Sharon having two teenagers, but she seemed to take it in stride, and was seemly devoted to her children. To his ex-wife, his children were the latest fashion accessories that she could take out then ship them back to him when whatever society function was over.