A persistent nudge finally forced him to push the covers away. Blearily he opened one eye. "What d'you want?"

"We gotta go." His mate -- looking fully awake, dressed, and ready to leave stood over him.

"Don' wanna," he mumbled, and rolled back over, intending to pull the covers over his head.

"We got to!" A hand pulled at him, forcing him to sit up. Ray glared.

"Why've we 'got to'? S'our day off, right? Don't have to do anything..."

Bodie gave him a fierce glare. "Don't ask me, mate. All I know is that we've got to go."

Grumbling, Ray knew he would get no peace if he remained in bed. Flinging the blankets back, he put his bare feet on the cold wooden floor and shivered. The bed had been so much nicer -- warm, soft, and he'd been asleep. What more, really, could one ask? Except breakfast in bed, of course, but he'd long ago given up on that. He sighed, and regarded his partner. "So what's up?" He padded towards the bathroom, knowing that whatever it was he'd feel better about it washed and shaved. Unless it was going to be another of those...

"I'm not sure, yet. Far as I can tell she hasn't decided."

"She?" Ray started, giving his partner a confused look. "But--"

Bodie nodded. "Yeah, yeah, I know. But look, it hardly matters, what with everyone waiting on us... you, rather. Come on, get in there and get on with it!" He urged his reluctantly awake partner onwards into his morning routine.

Doyle finally headed for his shower, and Bodie could hear him muttering about the unfairness of it all, on their day off. Bodie shook his head and didn't try to answer him, instead he went off to make sure he had a steaming mug of coffee waiting when Ray finally emerged, ready to face the world.

They got in Bodie's car, and Doyle watched silently as they headed out into the morning traffic. "So where we headed?"

"Dunno, yet. Figured we'd check the duty board."

Doyle and Bodie sat quietly, waiting patiently. Lines came and went, until finally Doyle exploded in frustration. "I wish she'd bloody well get on with it! Pick something, for god's sake..."

"Ease up, mate. Not her fault..."

"Then why'd she have to bloody well start before she'd decided? Bad enough to get up on my one day off all week. Now we have to sit here in morning traffic doing nothing."

"In a hurry to get shot, are we?" Bodie grinned.

Doyle jerked his head around, and gave him a stare. "Oh, god I hope it's not one of those. I hate 'em."

"You'd rather get a drippy 'will he or won't he'? Or one where we waste all our time fighting and being bull-headed?"

Doyle smiled. "Well at least then one of us wouldn't be incapacitated. Hate having to do things half-way."

Laughing, Bodie nodded. "Good point. I'm just glad she likes me better'n you."

"What? She does not..."

The argument lasted, until they reached CI5 headquarters. The issued unsettled, they broke off when they found the duty board. Always a good place to find out what you were expected to be doing that day. Doyle and Bodie looked for their unit's assignment; Doyle groaned and let his head fall onto the board when he read it.

"Could have let me sleep in, could have rung and told me over the phone... instead of making us drive all the way over."

"Calm down, Doyle. Let's just get on with it." Bodie seemed not to care one way or the other.

"Oh, you sound enthusiastic. Wonderful... really gets me going, that does."

Bodie thumped him in the shoulder, a token of affection, and they headed out for their assignment.

---

"I still don't get breakfast in bed, do I?" Doyle muttered, as he walked back into his bedroom.

"Maybe if you're good, I'll bring you something." Bodie grinned, absently paging through the sheaf of papers he'd finally gotten his hands on.

"Oh yeah? You could've done that this morning, if you'd had a mind to." He reached over and grabbed the pages Bodie had already glanced over, and began reading them for himself.

"Brought you coffee, didn't I?"

"What the hell!" Doyle stared at the page.

"What, you don't think coffee's enough?" Bodie teased, but leaned over to look at whatever had startled his partner. "What's wrong?"

"This!" Doyle pointed to something written on the page. "What the hell is she thinking? There's no way I can do that!"

"Oh, sure you can. Just lean over..."

"I'm not that bloody agile!"

Bodie didn't look sympathetic to Ray's plight. "Don't need to be. Just have to get the right angle." Doyle glared daggers at Bodie's grin. Bodie held his grin for a moment, then shook his head. "Look, let's just try it, all right? You might surprise yourself."

"I doubt it. After -- how many years has it been? Fifteen? God... I don't think anything could surprise me anymore." Doyle sounded tired, and just a little disappointed.

"I know what would surprise you." Bodie smiled, suddenly happy to have found something that wasn't just the same thing over and over again.

"What?" Doyle looked up, suspiciously.

"Breakfast in bed," Bodie said, simply.

Ray stared at him for a moment, then burst into laughter. "Well, what are you waiting for? Get on with it!" Eagerly Doyle stripped down and climbed into bed -- it was still rumpled from earlier, and with little effort Doyle could pretend he'd never left it. He snuggled himself down into the covers, figuring he might even get in a doze before Bodie returned.

When Bodie did return, he came bearing a tray filled with steaming dishes. Ray sat up and gaped as his partner laid the tray across his lap, staring in wonder as he took in the stack of pancakes, covered in fresh strawberries and maple syrup, the coffee and juice, all laid out with a cloth napkin in a silver ring.

He smiled. This was turning out to be a much better story than he'd expected. Even if he hadn't even gotten to kiss Bodie.

-- THE END --