The Professionals Circuit Archive - Writing in Progress	Writing in
Progress

 

by James Walkswithwind

  
 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 --

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