Fic: Hearts and Flowers
Title: Hearts and Flowers
Author: Phyllisdobbs01
Characters: Sam/Gene
Rating: White Cortina
Word count: 1500
Disclaimer: All the property of the BBC, Kudos
Note: My first fic, inspired by the wonderful fan art "Keeping Sam Happy" created by basaltgrrl and posted in lifein1973 where it can be found here: community.livejournal.com/lifein1973/2069883.html Many, many thanks to thesmallhobbit for being beta and for the gentle encouragement.
Hearts and Flowers
Sam sat on the side of his bed looking happily at the manila envelope in his hands. It felt reassuringly heavy, stuffed full of weighty documentation. It was the culmination of the better part of a week’s hard slog, most of it done covertly under the undeservedly harsh glare of his superior officer. He was looking forward to an easy day at work just tying up a few loose ends and generally pottering. At least that is what he hoped, no, knew it would be, after his DCI examined the contents. He stood and fiddled with the buttons of his shirt doing up, smoothing down and tucking in. Then he wandered across his bedsit, picked up his mug of coffee and downed the last dregs. As he did so his eye fell across the vase containing three red roses on the counter in his kitchenette area. He decided there and then to steel his courage and let the romantic in him have free reign. He grabbed a pen, scrawled ‘Gene’ across the envelope and then plucked out one of the roses. Sam was standing contemplating the bloom in his hand when he heard a sharp rap on the door.
“Tyler! Get your arse into gear and let’s get moving.”
“OK, OK. Hang on.”
Sam tossed the envelope onto his bed and rather more carefully placed the rose on top. He strode over to the door and opened it with a welcoming smile on his face.
“Gene. Come in. I just need to...”
A hand appeared and pulled him through the doorway roughly.
“No time for fannying about Tyler. Let’s go.”
DCI Hunt glared at his DI with more than his usual dissatisfaction which immediately caused Sam’s heckles to start to rise. He tried to quell his irritation and persevered.
“We’ve got time, Guv. You’re early. Come in for a cuppa. I need to get a couple of things together.”
The hand released its grip on his shirt only to give him a rough push to his shoulder.
“Didn’t you hear me? Move it! You’ve had no time to hang about for me or anyone else this last week. So don’t expect the world to stop just because you’re ready for a breather. Grab that poncy jacket of yours and get going.”
Sam’s good mood evaporated instantly. He scowled at Gene, who for a split second seemed a little taken aback by the intensity of his glare, and grabbed his jacket from the back of the door. With his usual cat-like grace Sam threw it on at the same time as yanking the door closed. He stalked off down the hall without a backwards glance. Gene gazed after him. The door rebounded against the heal of Gene’s shoe, a blow slightly softened by his left hand resting on it. Instead of closing the door Gene pushed it open. His highly-strung DI had been very keen for him to enter his domain so it wouldn’t hurt to try to see why. Gene spotted the envelope and went over to it. He moved the rose to one side. He could see it was marked for his attention but needed the confirmation of closer examination. He sank down onto the bed, envelope in hand, and looked forlornly at the rose. He couldn’t help but put it gently to his nose in order to inhale its subtle perfume. With a start he looked around guiltily as if expecting that Ray would leap out pointing and jeering at him for such ridiculously girly behaviour. He had a fair idea of what the envelope contained and sighed, running his hand through his hair.
“Well Sam, you have been busy.”
Gene put the envelope back on Sam’s pillow unopened with the rose next to it and left the bedsit, pulling the door to.
The atmosphere in the Cortina on the way to work was oppressive. Sam stared out of the passenger-side window whilst Gene kept his eyes on the road ahead, lost in thought.
It must be to do with the Grosvenor case. The robbery had been well executed, an inside job. It was obvious that Rawlings planned and carried it out from the inside. Sam had been ordered to arrest him three days ago. Of course his deputy had insisted that there wasn’t enough evidence and demanded more time. This had inevitably led to a frank exchange of views leaving both of them with a couple more bruises to add to their respective collections. Sam had flounced off threatening to walk subsequently doing everything in his power to avoid Gene. He had even dragged Chris into his little game pretending to be off on another case, but Ray had wheedled it out of Chris that they’d been doing surveillance on the Grosvenor building. Gene had been sorely tempted to arrest Rawlings himself calling Sam’s bluff. What he hadn’t told Sam was that Rathbone had been on his back wanting a quick solution to this case. He’d been intending to haul Sam off that morning to make the arrest. He’d indulged him with this one for far too long.
Gene drew the Cortina to a halt in front of the station.
“This is where you get out DI Tyler.”
He looked straight ahead trying to ignore Sam’s sulky expression and surprised look.
“I’ve got something I need to do.” Gene leaned across Sam opening the door. It was an excuse to feel some sort of contact that had been missing for the last couple of days and to feel the warmth of his body. He could smell a faint trace of aftershave. His heart sank even further. Sam did not usually wear aftershave.
“OK. See you later.”
No fight in that forlorn goodbye. Sam’s shoulders were slightly slumped as he trudged up the steps and was swallowed up by the grey walls of the station.
One hour later Sam was sat at his desk. His expression was one of quiet concentration.
After he’d arrived he’d made himself a cuppa whilst deliberating about going to make the arrest. However, he’d spotted Ray lounging and sent him and Chris off to do it instead. The dour expression on the face of his DS was gratifying as he’d slouched off with Chris in tow. This had left Sam to brood over his coffee. Annie had offered to make him another about half an hour later which he had politely refused. He knew she could sense his mood but had shrugged off her concerns.
In fact his melancholy was starting to lift. Rawlings was now in the cells waiting for a visit from himself and Gene and the prospect of making something out of his disappointment and still possibly turning around Gene’s displeasure with him was a good one.
Gene strode boldly into CID. It was still relatively early and he hoped to god that everyone else was lurking in the canteen as was usual for the time of day. In one hand he held a bottle of nature’s finest nectar otherwise known as Glenlivet single malt whisky and in the other a bunch of, heaven help him, red roses. His eyes were firmly fixed on Sam as he worked away. Thankfully the office was otherwise very quiet as Sam was the only one obsessive or sulky enough to be doing paperwork at this hour.
The object of his affections looked up, back to his papers and then quickly up again. Gene smiled broadly at him. It was a source of great bafflement to him that Sam brought out such feelings. He fought with him over anything and everything, but underneath it all he seemed to be a driven, but not selfish man. Sam’s expression went from bemused to an unguarded full beam smile as he registered both Gene’s grin and what he was carrying. He cocked his head to one side.
“Gene?”
Gene plonked the whisky down in front of him. The roses he swiftly deposited in the top drawer of Sam’s desk.
“Ahem. Sorry Sam, you’ll have to admire them later.”
Sam pushed his chair back and stood up holding his arms open, palms up, his smile never faltering. Gene basked in the glow of such warm emotion. The tension of the last few days melted away. The look that passed between them asked no questions but gave plenty of answers, the only ones that either man wanted to see.
“Gene! I don’t know what to...”
“I think we should go and interview our suspect now. Assuming you’ve got him banged up downstairs. You can thank me properly later. After you my stubborn Deputy Dawg.”
Sam’s ecstatic smile diminished enough to settle into a more neutral one. As he made his way past his DCI he felt a warn hand on his side guiding him past the other desks and clutter. Gene opened the office door and ushered Sam through.
“Hope you’re planning on sharing your present Sam. Rawlings is a slippery git and I think I’ll need something afterwards particularly if I’ve managed not to break the result of all your hard work.”
“Oh yes, Guv. I’ll make it a large one if he’s still in one piece. Either way I think we’ve got plenty to celebrate.”
fin