The Professionals Circuit Archive - A Little Piece of Mistletoe	A
Little Piece of Mistletoe

 

by LH

  
 Doyle put his glass down very carefully. Not that he was drunk. On the
contrary, he knew he was perfectly sober. Well, no, maybe on second
thought, perhaps just a little tipsy. In which case he should have felt
happy enough ... but he didn't. He hadn't even wanted to come to this
party, wouldn't have bothered if he'd had his way. He'd much rather have
been home alone with Bodie, just the two of them curled up together with a
quiet drink. But if they didn't put in their obligatory appearance at
these CI5 Christmas parties, and kiss a few girls under a few pieces of
mistletoe, he supposed they'd only perpetuate the rumours and speculation
he sensed were already rife about them, because for all their strenuous
efforts to appear as nothing more than jokey mates in public, he suspected
they still came across as much too close and intimate, which was very
worrying, especially when Cowley was around, as he was tonight. He'd often
suspected Cowley might even have guessed the truth about their
relationship by this time, because he had the annoying habit of putting
two and two together and always coming up with a resounding five ... 

But Cowley wasn't the main reason for his depression tonight. No, the
source of his downbent mood was much more straightforward, and very close
at hand ...Karen ... 

A nice girl, with CI5 for years. An old girlfriend of Bodie's from way
back, from long before he and Bodie had become lovers ... and the girl
Bodie had been with almost from the moment they'd arrived here tonight.
From what Bodie had let slip about her, Doyle gathered he'd had quite a
thing going with Karen a couple of years ago, and she'd taken charge of
Bodie tonight as if she owned him, as if their relationship had never
ended. Simply slipped her arm through his and walked off with him ... and
Doyle had hardly seen him since ... 

He wouldn't have minded so much if Bodie hadn't so obviously been enjoying
her company, because pretending they were still into playing the field and
looking for girlfriends was accepted practice by now. Aggravating, but
something they had to put up with when they were in public. But Bodie
looked like he was really lapping up every minute of Karen's company. 

Doyle glanced across the room and took another look at him. Yeah, there he
was, still smiling, talking nonstop, giving her the real Bodie treatment,
while she looked up at him adoringly, and hung on his every word. 

And Doyle supposed he couldn't really blame him. It was flattering to have
a beautiful girl wanting your company, and Bodie liked women ... he always
had done. And they liked him. Doyle knew he couldn't suddenly expect all
of that to stop simply because they'd become lovers. 

And he knew he was over-reacting too. Rationally, he knew Bodie was merely
doing what they both always had to do at these parties ... playing the
game that was all too familiar by now, pretending there was nothing they
wanted more than a pretty girl hanging on their arms, but the fact that
Bodie had known Karen in the past only increased Doyle's insecurity. And
Bodie didn't even look like he was merely going through the motions
tonight. From the bright-eyed, cheerful look of him, he obviously wasn't
bored either, setting at least a dozen alarm bells ringing in Doyle's
head. 

He hated himself for feeling so jealous, knowing there wasn't even any
justification for it. He was as sure of Bodie as it was possible to be
sure of another person. But the worry and doubt still wouldn't go away. If
there was no need to worry, why hadn't Bodie ditched Karen after he'd made
the obligatory few minutes of polite conversation? Why had he stayed with
her? Why was he still with her, hours later? He'd stayed by Karen's side
all night and not come back to him, hardly even sparing him a glance. 

Keeping him on his toes perhaps, Doyle wondered? Warning him not to take
him for granted? No, that wasn't Bodie's style. He never played those
games. Straight as a die was Bodie ... with him at least. He'd never gone
in for this kind of devious behaviour before ... 

A coloured streamer suddenly came whizzing past him, interrupting his
unhappy thoughts, landing half on the back of the sofa where he was
sitting, and half tangling in his hair, clinging to the heavy curls. He
shook his head irritably, trying to dislodge it, but only succeeded in
shaking one end of it loose to dangle in front of his nose. He blew it out
of the way, aggravated, tried to detach the other pieces from his hair --
without much success. 

"Cheer up, mate, it's Christmas Eve," a friendly, Christmas spirited voice
called out as it wafted past him, "... got a face as long as next week." 

He squinted up through the dangling streamer, searching for the speaker.
It was Reynolds, pretty girl in tow, Christmas glass of champagne bobbing
precariously in his hand. 

He smiled back half-heartedly, but Reynolds was already lost to him in the
noisy party throng. Reynolds' comment made him realize how much he was
moping though. Normally he'd have been right there with the rest of them,
joining in the fun, because there was nothing he liked better than a good
party, but tonight ... well, tonight, he was sitting here by himself,
longing for Bodie, and trying to hide the fact that he was spending most
of his time searching out Bodie's sleek, dark head in the crowd. 

Never in his wildest dreams had he believed he could become so involved
with anyone, let alone another man. Before Bodie had entered his life as
lover as well as friend, he remembered he'd even been very cynical in some
of his relationships with women, detaching himself from them, and
regaining his freedom with no compunction at all. But now there was Bodie,
and everything was different. And as far as he could tell his feelings
were only getting stronger as time went on. Crazy ... because he'd always
thought of Bodie as the possessive one, and possessiveness had always been
something he'd hated anyway ... before Bodie ... but now ... he simply
couldn't help himself ... 

Perhaps the way he was feeling at the moment though had something to do
with it being a special time of year, and wanting Bodie more because of
that. And, after all, it was their first Christmas together, or it should
have been, until Karen stepped in and put a stop to it. God, this time
last year, he remembered he'd still been half-heartedly dating Gillian,
the air hostess he'd met at another party -- a party he'd enjoyed much
more than this one. Twelve months ago ... a lifetime ago ... 

He came back to earth with a thrill of shocked pleasure to discover that
Bodie was suddenly, miraculously, no longer on the other side of the room,
but sitting by his side on the sofa, patiently attempting to extract the
recalcitrant remains of the streamer, which were still caught up in his
hair. 

Ridiculous, Doyle thought, as his heart started to pound at Bodie's
nearness, that simply having him close to me can affect me so much ... 

"Got yourself in a right mess here, haven't you, sunshine?" Bodie was
saying levelly, "should've known it'd get caught up in all this woolly
hair of yours. Who threw it at you, then?" his eyes concentrated on
Doyle's hair rather than his face, as he tugged the bright, varicoloured
strands loose. 

"Christ, Bodie, don't do that here," Doyle hissed under his breath, "this
lot don't need any encouragement to assume we're bent as a L3 note as it
is." 

"Over-reactin' ..." Bodie said calmly enough, as he pulled yet another
painful strand free, "besides, it's Christmas ... no one'd even notice.
Hang on, nearly got 'em all now ..." 

Doyle was glad about that because he was feeling distinctly uncomfortable
with Bodie sitting so close to him ... so close he could feel his
brandy-tinged breath hot and sweet on his cheek, the warm pressure of
Bodie's thigh against his own, and the soft, occasional brushing caresses
of Bodie's shoulder against his arm, sending shivers of longing up and
down his spine. 

"There you go ..." Bodie said, pleased with himself, "last one ..."
holding it up for Doyle's inspection with a cocky, Bodie-like grin. It was
bright red and crumpled, and Doyle wasn't particularly interested in it.
He was too busy trying to control the desperate urge to hold Bodie very
close instead. 

A rousing chorus of "Roll Out the Barrel" was going on behind them, and
under cover of the raucous, offkey din, Doyle took the opportunity to
whisper, "I see Karen's nabbed you for the night. You stayin' with her
then?" 

Bodie shrugged, put the red streamer down in a convenient ashtray. "Have
to now, won't I?" sounding noncommital about it. He paused. "You okay? Not
your usual sparkling self tonight," a worried frown settling on his face. 

"I'm fine," Doyle hissed back, immediately on the defensive, furious he
should have given anything of his feelings away. 

Bodie fished the discarded, crumpled red streamer back out of the ashtray
again, playing with it, screwing it into a tight little ball in his hand.
"Come on, Ray, you're not happy. What's wrong?" 

"Nothin'," Doyle said stoically, "for God's sake, go back to Karen, will
you? Can't talk here like this, and it'll look funny if you're away from
her too long." 

But Bodie didn't move. "What happened to Denise then?" he asked, eyes
scanning the room for her, "you were sittin' with her earlier on, weren't
you?" 

"Ditched her," Doyle said shortly, "Christ, Bodie, this should be our
Christmas. We shouldn't have to go through this bloody performance for the
benefit of the tongue waggers." 

Bodie took in the fierce angry glint in the green eyes, and the barely
controlled frustration in the lean body, and saw all too clearly that
Doyle was settling into a mood, and a dangerous one at that. He hadn't
realized the party was getting to Ray quite this much when he'd safely
left him in Denise's amiable company earlier in the evening. In fact Karen
had been hogging his time and attention so much it was only a few minutes
ago he'd realized Ray was on his own, and had come over to investigate
when he'd seen the moody, unhappy little look he knew so well, settle on
his face. 

He was sorely tempted now, to suggest they leave before Ray really lost
his cool and perhaps did something stupid, because he couldn't stand the
thought of Ray being unhappy anyway, and suspected the fact that he'd been
with Karen all night, had to have a lot to do with it. Bodie felt badly
about that, but he didn't see that there was much he could do about it ...


It'd look ridiculous, and highly suspicious if they left the party so
early together now, specially as he'd been with a girl all night. As Ray'd
said, they needed to be very careful, for their C15 colleagues needed no
encouragement at all to assume they were much too close anyway ... 

And as for Karen ... well, it was ludicrous. Karen meant nothing to him.
Oh sure, he was enjoying her company, and it was good to see her again
after all this time, and, as he'd had to find a girl to spend the evening
with, she was better than most, but he was only staying with her out of
necessity, not desire. Even when he'd gone out with her originally it
hadn't been that fantastic. In fact he was beginning to wonder if he'd
ever felt seriously about anyone ... before Ray ... 

"Look," he whispered under his breath, "if you're worried about Karen ...
well don't be. Come on, Ray, what's the matter with you all at once? This
is only what we normally have to do when we come to parties. 

"Yeah, I know," Doyle sighed, "just ignore me. Maybe it's gettin' to me
more tonight because it's Christmas ... and it should be special ... for
you and me ..." 

"It will be special," Bodie promised, "just wait and see. Got a Christmas
surprise lined up for you for a start. Got it all arranged ..." He held
the worried green eyes with his own for a second, trying to make sure
Doyle believed what he'd said. And the surprise was genuine too, not a
spur of the moment thing he'd just thought of to cheer Ray up. He had in
fact carefully arranged it all earlier in the evening. 

"Oh yeah? What's all this about a surprise then?" Doyle asked
suspiciously, but sitting up and taking note all at once, looking a bit
more cheerful. 

"Ah ha ..." Bodie said mysteriously, with a cheeky smile, "wouldn't be a
surprise if I told you, would it? You'll have to be patient and wait and
see." 

He glanced worriedly across the room, saw Karen waiting impatiently for
him. "Better get back ..." he said, standing up, "she'll be missin' me ...
Chin up, sunshine ..." bending down close to his ear, "won't be long now,
and then we'll have three whole days all to ourselves, without havin' to
put on a show for anyone's benefit ..." 

Doyle watched him weave his way back across the room to a smiling Karen,
who immediately slipped her arm through his again ... 

He sighed, not feeling noticeably any happier after their whispered
conversation, his eyes wandering round the room till they found Denise
standing disconsolately by herself. Yeah, Denise ... it'd been unkind to
treat her the way he had earlier on ... she was too good for that kind of
treatment. 

He glanced at his watch. Ten past ten. A while to go yet before midnight,
when he hoped they could respectably make a discreet exit ... 

And in the meantime, there was nearly two hours to be got through as
congenially as possible. In which case ... he got up from the sofa, fixed
his most charming "I'm having a good time" party smile on his face and
wandered over in Denise's direction ... 

As the last of the chimes died away, heralding the arrival of Christmas
morning, Doyle released Denise from the obligatory celebratory kiss he'd
Just given her, and glanced across the room to find Bodie doing exactly
the same thing with Karen. Doyle felt his insides lurch painfully, knew
the jealousy was still there ... 

He soon had other things on his mind though, for a few seconds later the
room was suddenly plunged into instant and total darkness, not even the
lights on the Christmas tree remaining on. 

Amidst muffled curses and complaints, and little excited squeals from some
of the girls,Doyle suddenly felt himself grabbed hold of in the darkness,
held in a strong bearhug, and given a resounding and meaningful kiss full
on the mouth. He would have protested, but the hot mouth covering his was
very familiar, and the caress of the capable hands sweeping fleetingly
through his hair more familiar still. 

"You bastard ..." he whispered lovingly under his breath, once the kiss
was over. 

"Told you I had a surprise for you ..." a silken voice whispered back,
very close to his ear, the brandy-tinged breath even sweeter than before,
"Happy Christmas, sunshine ... love you ..." 

"Love you too ..." 

Then the interloper was gone, and the lights came back on again amazingly
quickly, in a matter of seconds. 

He looked round, blinking dazedly, to find that Denise was still by his
side, and everything was back to normal. He would in fact have believed
he'd imagined it all if his lips weren't still stinging so deliciously
from the kiss. 

The party quickly got back into its stride again, most people assuming
there'd been a momentary power cut, but Doyle knew better than that. When
the pounding of his heart had finally subsided, he looked across in
Bodie's direction to find his partner standing on the other side of the
room with his arm casually draped round Karen's shoulder, looking as
innocent as the day he was born, but to Doyle's shrewd eye his partner was
flushed and still breathless, and the dark blue eyes were sparkling
mischievously. 

And when he looked down he saw that Bodie was twirling a little piece of
mistletoe in his hand ... 

Feeling a bubble of irresistible laughter rising in his throat, he looked
quickly away again, turned back to Denise with his first genuinely happy
smile of the night, all of his depression gone ... 

He looked round the room, taking in the Christmas revellry ... suddenly
liking it very much. No, not such a bad party after all, in fact he'd
decided he might even start to enjoy it from now on ... 

-- THE END --

   Archive Home