If There's One Thing I Hate

[LovelyLinda]

I don’t know if any of you knows the Stephanie Plum book series by Janet Evanovich,

but I totally fell in love with one of her characters, Joe Morelli.

You don’t need to know that much, basically it’s about a witty, young woman called Stephanie Plum

who earns her money as a bounty hunter, she has two attractive cops who are helping her, the dark skinned Ranger,

and my favourite, the Italian cop Joseph Morelli.

Joe and Steph have sort of a funny relationship, they’re not really together, but tease each other with occasional kisses. =D

(Don’t blame me if there is anything wrong, I’ve just read the first two books^^)

All rights belong to Janet Evanovich, I took one of her scenes and re-wrote and extended it.

Oh, and since Morelli’s a fictional character, I can’t really tell you how he looks like, I kind of imagined him like Jeffrey Dean Morgan x)

Morelli was already waiting for me when I got home.

He was slouched against the wall, hands stuffed into pockets, ankles crossed, his eyes fixed on something on the ground.

For some reason he looked tired, but maybe it was just the dim light of the old building.

Well, maybe it wasn’t.

When he heard me stepping out of the elevator, he looked up expectantly and smiled at the brown grocery bag I was carrying.

“Let me guess,” he said. “Leftovers.”

His voice cracked at the last word and he gave me one of his mysterious smiles.

“Gee, now I know why you made detective.”

He laughed and I raised the key to unlock my door, but stopped in the middle of the action because my door was already open.

“What the…?”

Morelli mumbled something that sounded like, “I was really planning to tell you.”

My heart beat a little faster and I unholstered my gun.

“Relax, I’ve already taken care of this.”

I raised an eyebrow at Morelli, still clutching my gun with both hands.

“What’s that supposed to mean? What happened?”

“I…uhm…just thought you might appreciate some company, so I came here and found your door being wide open.

I checked your apartment, no one was in, and no one was hiding on the fire escape, either.

But there is some…ahem…better see it for yourself.”

My eyes adopted the size of ping-pong-balls and I thought they’d plop out of my head, which they thankfully didn’t.

There were big graffiti letters sprayed all over the wall of my living room, saying “Take a vacation.”

It was rude, it was threatening, and to top it all off, it was misspelled.

Who on earth spells vacation with a “w” ?!?

I involuntarily rolled my eyes. I didn’t feel threatened at all. Rather angry because I’d really liked that wallpaper,

and was pissed off that someone had cracked my lock open.

“So what?”

Morelli shrugged.

“It could be dangerous for you to be on your own.

Besides, your door has been unlocked with pretty little effort, I doubt that it’s really protecting you.”

Of course he was right, a hell of a lot people were longing to get me dead or alive,

but one more lunatic or one less didn’t really matter, did it?

“Now that you have a cop at your side, you don’t need to fear anymore.

I guess I could stay the night if you want me to, protect you from the lunatic, you know.”

He gave me a smug grin and cleared his throat.

“Yeah, sure. That’s all the police sent me for protection? That’s pathetic. I think I’ll be okay on my own.”

Gleefully, I watched his mouth crinkling into a pout.

“Wanna have dinner with me, though?”

I pointed at the grocery bag I was holding.

“Sure.” His face lit up.

“Typical.”

I slid the chain bolt of my door for good measure.

Then I entered the kitchen and reheated some of the food in the microwave.

While I was waiting for the food to finish getting hot, I watched Morelli making himself comfortable on my sofa.

He didn’t stretch out his legs on my table as usual, which was odd.

Besides which, he looked somewhat pale with deep shades below his eyes. Maybe he had had a tough day.

I grabbed two beer bottles out of my fridge, balanced the food in the other hand and brought them to my living room to set the table.

Usually Morelli would have taken a seat within three seconds, but this time he was still settled on my sofa.

“You coming?” I asked, but I didn’t get a reply.

Confused, I approached the sofa and noticed his eyelids were shut and his mouth a tiny bit open.

He seemed to be sleeping, which was weird since it was only early evening and I’d been gone for maybe three minutes.

“Joe?” I gently shook his shoulder and was startled when he started to cough slightly, which obviously woke him up.

He moaned and opened his eyes.

“It’s time for dinner,” I told him.

He blinked dizzily at me and seemed so vulnerable for a fraction of a second, but then he regained his composure again and grumbled,

“Finally, pancake, took you long enough.”

Rubbing his eyes, he got up from the sofa and sat down at the table.

Had he really just called me “pancake”?

Since he was a cop and I only a simple bounty hunter, he was in a way my boss.

And oh boy, he really enjoyed that part.

Telling me what to do, calling me stupid names, yeah, he really loved it.

I soooo longed for revenge. Watch out, Morelli.

He brought a forkful of mashed potatoes up to his mouth, hesitated for a second, but eventually ate it.

Chewing I held some chicken out for him, but he shook his head, no.

A pained expression crept over his face when he swallowed the bite and hastily reached for the bottle of beer next to him.

“Don’t you like it? I don’t think my Mom cooks that badly.”

He avoided my glance and forked up another piece.

“No, actually it’s kinda tasty. I like it.”

His voice sounded a little deeper than usual, and I could swear it had a hint of scratchiness in it.

I wondered why I hadn’t noticed it earlier in the day.

Another swallow was followed by some coughing.

He tried to muffle it in his fist, turning away from me.

“Swallowed…the wrong way…” he excused himself.

“Very smooth, genius.”

But he repeated his performance once more, coughing so hard he wasn’t able to muffle it anymore, his face going all red.

“You okay?” I asked, this time with real concern.

“Yeah,” he rasped, out of breath and tried to clear his throat.

With little to no success.

“You sure?” I cocked an eyebrow at him.

He looked a little sheepish, trying to weigh up his options whether to tell me or not.

“Hurts,” he finally said.

“What? Your throat?”

He nodded, “I think I was yelling too much today. Overusing my voice, you know.”

Yeah, sure. Yelling to much, pff. I mentally rolled my eyes.

I couldn’t help but smile at him, Morelli feeling unwell – this situation was priceless!

Oh boy, how long had I been waiting for this.

I damned myself for being so sadistic and decided to be a little helpful at least.

“I could go fix you some tea,” I offered and stood up, ready for heading into the kitchen.

Morelli looked like he was going to drown himself in the nearest river, thanked me and said he was fine without tea.

I shrugged and sat down again.

Fail. Why did I have these strong imaginings?

He was a Morelli, and real Morellis didn’t get sick. For sure.

I should bury all of my hope.

I took a glance at Morelli, who was kneading his forehead with one hand.

“Headache?” I asked him as a pained expression showed on his face.

“Nah, I’m just tired, I guess.”

Uh-hu, tired, sure.

He put his fork down, obviously he had finished eating.

“Hey, guess what I have left in the grocery bag!”

His eyes focused on me. “What is it?”

“Momma’s apple pie.” Jackpot.

He adored this pie, he would do ANYTHING just to get one single crumb of it.

When he didn’t reach out to get a piece of the pie, I knew that something was generally wrong with him today.

I was just before asking what was up with him as a firm expression crossed his face and I thought he was going to say something important.

He turned away from me and sneezed into the crook of his right elbow instead.

“Heh’DGZshh-uhh.”

He straightened himself and gave his Roman nose a quick swipe with the back of his hand before he looked up again.

I think my mouth dropped open, at least my lips felt strangely dry.

I didn’t think I could handle this hotness.

“What?” He looked at me because he noticed me staring at him, but didn’t even give me time to answer, because he just smothered another sneeze in the fabric of his shirt.

"Ihh’TZSH-uhh.”

A warm shiver passed my body and I wanted to touch him so badly.

Pull yourself together, Stephanie, I told myself and tried to get my face as neutral as possible, which wasn’t that easy since Morelli drew my attention again when he wiped his nose with the back of his hand, which was also more appealing than it should have been.

“You sure you’re not coming down with something?”

Now I was sure I was acting way too obvious. Damn me and my loose lips.

“Positive. I’m just tired. It doesn’t matter, anyway, I got work to do.”

He reached into his trouser pocket, took out a little box of pills and swallowed a couple of them down with a grimace.

“You should rest, you shouldn’t dope yourself up so you can keep on working, it’s no good for you.”

“If there’s one thing I hate, it’s a wise-ass bounty hunter. I can handle it, trust me. I’m not five anymore.”

I pouted. This man was so horribly stoic, he’d never admit he wasn’t feeling 100 percent. If he kept on working in this condition, he’d end up catching his death.

I needed to do something. But what?

“Thanks for the dinner, but I think I’d better go home now. You don’t want my help anyway, do you? Call me if you need me, okay?”

He almost reached my front door when I heard myself saying,

“I was kidding before, I’m really afraid, please stay the night.”

A surprised look took over both of our faces.

Had I just really said that? Seriously?

Morelli crinkled his lips to a weak, but winning smile and turned on his heel, heading straight to my sofa and for the TV.

Geez, only because I didn’t want him to work anymore, I had to spend a whole evening with him. It wasn’t that I minded being with him, rather the opposite, it’s just that I didn’t want to admit, that I couldn’t resist him.

* * *

To be continued...?

Edited June 20, 2011 by LovelyLinda

[Sneesee]

Ooh yes, please continue! I've only read two of her books as well, but I am familiar with the characters enough to LOVE THIS! Have I mentioned that I love it?

[Ciuty80]

hrhrhr there it is

i love it and of course...PLEASE continue!!!

[March Hare]

Oooh, this does not look bad at all. I think I like it!

Just one thing... is there a reason you put each sentence on a new line? Because to be brutally honest, that is kind of distracting... No offence meant, obviously

[LoneStar]

Please! Please, for all that is good, continue this. I red her books when I was in middle school and fell in love with the characters. Seeing Morelli like this....

[Scion]

Oooh, this does not look bad at all. I think I like it!

Just one thing... is there a reason you put each sentence on a new line? Because to be brutally honest, that is kind of distracting... No offence meant, obviously

I kinda disagree. I like the way it's formatted. It makes it easier to read. I always start to go a bit cross-eyed when there are no spaces between the lines.

And @ Linda, Anyway, this is really good, and I love the way you write the characters (even though I've never read any of the books). Yummy sneezes, too. More!

[LovelyLinda]

@ Sneesee

Aww, thank you so much

I'm at book three now, tehe. And I love the characters a lot!

You should really read the others as well !!!

@ Ciuty80

Thank you

I'm so glad you like it! It was such a lot of fun to write <3

@ Maru-chan

Thanks

Yeah, I know, I tried to make it easier to read, it's just that I don't really know how!

If you have any suggestions, please say so

@ LoneStar

Tehe, yeah, it's the same with me. Seeing Morelli like this is just priceless <3

He's really a lot of fun to play with!!

@ Scion

Aww, I'm glad you like it even though you don't know the books

Yeah, I tried to space it out a bit, but obviously it's still not that easy to read o.O

Guh, I can't believe that you like my writing. I mean...You...and I...and...wow.

I kind of adore you, you know?

I wish english was my mother tongue, then my writing abilities would be a hell of a lot better than right now :/

But I'm still improving Maybe you won't notice it someday...

Edited June 25, 2011 by LovelyLinda

[LovelyLinda]

Ooops, I forgot to post the new part

Here it is! I hope you enjoy <3

We were watching TV for about 2 hours, listening to Morelli’s occasional sniffles, when I heard a strange noise.

Panicked, I grabbed the remote and pressed the mute button. Morelli gave me a confused look, obviously he hadn’t heard anything.

Huh.

The sound repeated itself and I felt my heart beating faster and my hands getting sweaty.

“Don’t you hear that? There’s someone at my door!”

He listened carefully for a few seconds, then shook his head.

“Don’t hear anything.”

I got up from the sofa, took my gun from the table and tip-toed to my door.

It wasn’t just my paranoia, I actually heard a few footsteps and some men talking,

so I pressed my ear to my door and listened carefully.

“Heh’GNSH-uh, Heh’TZSHhh.”

I gave Morelli a deathly look, he just shrugged and scrubbed at his nose.

The faint talking went quiet and I heard fading footsteps.

I gave an annoyed sigh and hissed at Morelli,

“Thanks a lot Officer I’m-Just-Tired, you just screwed up my plan to get the son of a bitch who’s stalking me.”

He gave me a tired look and rubbed his eyes.

I groaned in resignation.

“What’s the matter with you, anyway?”

“Huh?”

“I never heard you sneeze before, and now you can’t seem to stop it.”

Morelli looked at me with a blank look on his face.

“Heh...Ihh…Ugh. My nose tihh…tickles just so mu…uhh…much.”

His breath was hitching in anticipation, his nose twitching madly and his eyes were fluttering shut.

No sneeze, though.

He gave a frustrated groan and sniffed wetly.

I felt the blush rising up my cheeks, I think I’d already wetted my undies.

“You want some tissues?”

His green-brown eyes faced me, but it seemed like he was looking through me and not paying attention.

“He’GDZSHH.”

The sneeze came out of nowhere and left him dazed and confused.

“Uhh…Finally.” He sighed.

He wiped his nose on his sleeve, leaving a slightly wet trail.

“Come on, face it, you are sick.”

He gave me the stink eye and dropped his head between his knees, coughing wetly.

I inched a little closer and rubbed my hand in circles over his back till the coughing subsided.

“’m not sick,” he slurred, his eyes shimmering feverishly and his body was shivering from the cold.

“Morellis don’t get sick. Ever.”

“’Course not,” I soothed, gently pushing him down on the couch and covering him with my blanket.

“You sleep, and I’ll go fix you some tea.”

I got a quiet groan in response.

* * *

[Ciuty80]

i like the denial of being sick so much

i wonder what comes next^^

please continue

[March Hare]

I like your choice of characters! The possibilities for interesting (sneezing) scenarios are MANY and that kind of chemistry is always fun And I LOVE your spellings. They sound wet and desperate and clinchy. Mmm. Nice!

Edited June 28, 2011 by Maru-chan

[LovelyLinda]

@ Ciuty80

Tehe, me too I love the whole "Nope, I'm a Morelli, and Morellis don't get sick."-attitude

I'm glad you like it!

@ Maru-Chan

Aww, thank you I also love the relationship between Steph and Morelli^^

Oh yeah, there are a few interesting sneezing scenarios to come

Hope you like them x x x

When I returned with the tea, Morelli seemed to be asleep.

His mouth was wide opened and I even spotted a little bit of drool on my pillow.

My eyes spotted him clutching his empty pill box.

Jesus, how many had he taken? No wonder he was sleeping like a log.

I sat down beside him and put the mug down on the table.

My hand slid down Morelli’s chest and I felt him breathing evenly, which was a good sign. With my other hand I stroked his wavy brown hair and enjoyed its softness. Suddenly I noticed his breathing becoming faster and him wriggling his nose back and forth. I scratched his nose for him and waited. His breathing slowed down a bit, but his body was still tensing and expecting the sneeze.

I giggled and traced my finger down the bridge of his nose. Nothing happened.

With feather-light touches I slid my finger down the side of his nose and to my pleasure he took a shaky inhale.

I tickled the tip of his nose with my finger and he scrunched his face up in anticipation.

When I lightly touched the underside of his nostrils, I finally succeeded.

“Huhhh,” his muscled tensed and his body jerked to the side. “Hehh’GZSHh.”

Actually I’d expected him to wake up, but he was out like a light. He didn’t even open his eyes. I slowly dipped my head down and kissed his forehead.

I nosed my way down to his temples, his cheeks and his throat.

I tried to avoid kissing his mouth, not because I was worried about catching his cold, no, rather because I was afraid to wake him up.

But I couldn’t resist the temptation for too long. Naughty girl.

I slowly pressed my lips to his mouth but intuitionally backed off as I felt warm puffs of air on my skin. Oh boy.

His breathing quickened and he gasped for air, his nose twitching wildly. “Heh…Uhh.”

I sighed when I saw the frustrated look on his face.

I set a soft kiss on the tip of his nose and let my long hair brush against the underside of his nose. This did the trick.

“Hehh…Ihh’DGSHH, Ih’TSHH…uhh…Heh…Hehh’DGDGZSH.”

I felt the moisture on the skin of my décolleté and groaned lustfully.

In that moment, Morelli opened his eyes and looked at me confusedly.

“Are you takigg advadtage of be, Plum? I knew id.”

His voice was so rough and congested, but sounded ridiculously attractive at the same time.

“I...uhm.”

There he had me. I wasn’t able to think properly.

I felt my cheeks blushing deeply and thought of something sensible to say.

I didn’t know what, though.

“I just…”

All I wanted was to get laid by this beautiful man.

To my surprise I didn’t even need an excuse, since he fell asleep as quickly as he had woken up. Whew. That had been close.

I tried to get up from the couch but couldn’t because there was some weight on my lap that hadn’t been there a few minutes before.

I looked down at a heap of curly brown hair. Damn it.

Morelli turned his head and I had a perfect view of his face.

He had unusually long lashes for a man, and also his soft lips looked quite feminine, but after all he was a really handsome man.

I loved all of the little freckles on his nose, which he really hated because they made him look kinda young, but were really adorable.

My hand wandered up to his hair and I twisted the silky strings between my fingers. His forehead shimmered sweatily and felt strangely warm.

I didn’t even need to take his temperature, I knew for sure that he was running a fever.

His whole body was radiating an unusual warmth although he kept shivering hard. I felt my heart twinge in sympathy and reached for the blanket to adjust it around his lean body. Carefully I lifted his head from my lap and got up from the couch.

In the bathroom I soaked a washrag with cold water and returned.

The blanket was of no use, his teeth had even started chattering now and I wanted to warm him up so badly, but needed to get his temperature down a lot. Gently, I placed the cold cloth on his forehead and lay down beside him.

I snuggled closer and felt his body relax a little. He would kill me if he knew that he was the little spoon. He’d really hate that.

But I kind of enjoyed being the bigger spoon, besides it would warm him up.

His chest rose and fell evenly except for a few occasional coughing fits, that made his whole body shake.

* * *

[Ciuty80]

*collapsed on the couch*

I really like this part^^

i really want to be "plum" to torture morelli

please MOARRRRRRR!

[March Hare]

Plum?? Awwww.

Tee-hee, sneezing in his sleep. Why is that so ridiculously sexy and endearing? Oh, I LOVE this particular scenario.

[LovelyLinda]

Hi! Thank you Sorry for the delay.

I’d almost fallen asleep, too, when I heard this noise from a few hours ago again.

Tiredly I rubbed my eyes and didn’t want to believe what was going on.

I searched for my gun, it didn’t lie on the table. Shit. Where had I put it?

The noise was getting louder and it seemed like someone was trying to enter my front door.

Startled, I grabbed my pepper spray and reluctantly got up from the sofa.

Slowly I aimed and approached the door.

The person in front of it didn’t move, either. Crap.

Was I really that bad as a bounty hunter?

“Who’s there?”

I yelled, trying to sound more confident than I felt.

No answer. Sure. Would have been too easy, huh?

I moved a little closer and looked through the peep hole.

“Once again, who’s there? It’s freaking 2 o’clock in the morning!”

Suddenly I noticed some movement next to me. Morelli.

“Dod’t worry, Steph, I’ll prodect you frob thad sud of a bidtch.”

He had a fork in his hand and looked more asleep than awake.

His eyes were red-rimmed and so was his nose.

Just before I was able to say anything, he steadied himself on the wall and busted out coughing.

“Geez, you’re such a help,” I commented sarcastically and looked through the peep hole once again.

This time I saw a beardy man looking at me, a silver knife blinking in the light and I suppressed a scream.

“Hello honey, I can see you,” he twittered, waving at me with an evil smile.

Gasping, I moved away and clutched my pepper spray tighter.

I needed to call Ranger, he’ll hopefully take care of that guy outside my door.

“There…There is a guy outside. With a knife,”

I stuttered into my cell phone and Ranger promised me he’d come immediately.

Partly relieved I set the phone down and checked my companion.

Morelli had stopped coughing in the meanwhile, but still didn’t look like he could do anything to save me from that guy.

Red fever patches had spread over his cheeks.

A loud thunder echoed through my house and it took me a while to realize, that it was the guy,

forcefully trying to open my door.

“Led be handdle this.”

Morelli swayed on his feet as he tried to open my door, not noticing the chain bolt.

“Stop that, you’ll get the both of us killed. You’re not in any condition to fight.”

He gave me an angry look and gave his nose a quick swipe with his hand.

“Cookie, I’b the ode to protecd you, dot the other wahh…way…aroudd.”

I rolled my eyes, I knew what was going to happen just by looking at his face.

Being horny wouldn’t do me any good right now.

Haha, yeah, I'm mean, I know that

[Ciuty80]

yeeehhhaaaa update!!

upcoming sneeze...*rawr*

i need definitely more

[Scion]

Mm, the stuffy voice!

[Mr Sneezy]

I've read all sixteen books in the series.....and sadly, I'm still waiting for Stephanie to sneeze.

[VividBubbles!]

Oh My God! This is awesome! You better continue or I might just come to your home and POP you! Update soon!

BYE!

P.S. This is so cool! Look --> Haha! I love that dude! I know. I'm childish. Oh well!

BYE! Again.

[March Hare]

Morelli is an idiot and a half, trying to fight in his condition. Hoo! Exciting! And well... not as though being horny is going to do much harm... right?

[LovelyLinda]

@ Ciuty80

Haha, yeah, I was kinda mean to stop before the actual sneeze. I'm sorry

But now here's the next part

@ Scion

Hell yeah, I love the stuffy voice almost as much as the actual sneeze

I'm glad you enjoy it <3

@ Mr Sneezy

Whew o.O You just ruined my hope to find a Steph sneeze.

I thought sooner or later there would be a sneeze since she's blowing her nose quite a lot.

(I've read 4 books and in 3 of them there was a mention of nose blowing. Why not a sneeze?!?)

@ Bubbles!

Haha, yeah, this dude rocks

Aww, I'm glad you like it.

Thanks for reading!

@ Maru-chan

Aww, I love this stubborn part of Morelli

Hehe, course it would do much harm,

but I think Steph wants to contaiin herself when she has to face an evil son of a bitch

And the next part:

A little silly, but tehe, I still like it!

I'm sorry it's so short...

* * *

“Joe, no matter what happens, you don’t have to worry about me. Just lie down again, please! Your fever is pretty high.”

His eyes were full of confusion and obviously the fever had taken its toll because he didn’t seem to notice me and pressed his knuckles under his nose, trying to starve the tickle off.

“Ihh’GZTShh.” Fail.

My thoughts drifted off to wanna-get-laid-by-Morelli-land.

The guy outside reminded me of his presence as he kicked against my door, causing my chain to slid open. Crap.

I backed up a few steps and prepared myself to give him a dose of pepper spray.

Ranger, where the hell were you?

The door flew open and the guy smiled at me, revealing two rows of bad teeth.

“Don’t move, I’m warning you. Just get the hell outta here!”

His smile grew bigger. Was he making fun of me? Sonofabitch.

“You hehh…heard her. Dod’t bmove or I’ll edd you.”

Oh yeah. I’d totally forgotten about Morelli.

Like a bat out of hell the beardy guy jumped on Morelli and threw him to the ground.

He tried to stab him with his knife, but somehow Morelli managed to pierce him with his fork.

The guy screamed and got furious, he sliced the cop’s arm but dropped the knife as he got a kick in the balls.

Morelli was panting with exhaustion, sweat running down the side of his face. Now it was my turn.

I took all the courage I had, aimed and gave the guy a face-full of pepper spray.

Wincing he got off Morelli and rubbed his eyes, calling me dirty names and calling for his mummy.

Geez, that was easier than I’d thought.

For some reason Morelli also winced although I hadn’t hit him with the spray.

Then I looked at his bloody arm. The cut wasn’t that deep, but it surely hurt and stung like hell. I’d take care of that.

Unfortunately the hint of pepper spray in the air had another effect on Morelli. His eyes unfocused, his chin went slack.

“Hehhhh.”

“You okay?”

He nodded weakly and directed a weary sneeze onto the ground.

“Heh’Gzshh.”

And another round. “Ihh’Tshh, Heh’gtshh, uh..uhh’Gshh.”

Then he was out like a light. Great.

How to get a tall, muscular man on your couch again?

I heard footsteps and turned my head to look into a smiling face.

Ranger. Thank God.

* * * Wanna know what happens the next morning? * * *

[Scion]

Haha, awesome. This is hot. HE is hot. YOU are hot. Kay.

[LovelyLinda]

Thank you Scion

Here's the last and final part!

Thanks to all of you for reading and being so awesome in general !!

The next morning came way too soon.

I awoke as Morelli gave a heart-wrenching groan and sat up.

“Heh’DGRZshh.”

I looked at him with glee and almost laughed at the confused expression on his face.

“Whad the hell?” His voice was a congested mess.

He looked at his bandaged arm and started coughing.

After he hacked up about half a lung I decided it would be a friendly gesture not to let him suffocate, so I got up and handed him a bottle of water.

After he had taken a gulp, the fit subsided and he croaked a “thanks.”

His eyes were droopy and teary when he faced me.

“Whad happedd?”

He barely managed to get out a whisper and I could tell that speaking hurt.

“Oh, no biggie, I just got attacked yesterday. You tried to hurt the guy with a fork and fainted by sneezing your head off.”

His face was unreadable but I noticed how embarrassed he was about everything.

“Add thed? Whad happedd to the guy?”

He wiped his nose on his sleeve and got a black look from me in return as I pushed a box of tissues towards him.

“Ranger came and helped me to get rid of that guy. He’s in prison right now. Oh, he also helped me to get your sorry ass on my couch again.”

He blushed a little and didn’t reply. Reluctantly he snatched a couple of tissues out of the box, turned away from me and tried to blow his nose with little success. Somehow I felt sorry for him. Only a little, tiny bit.

I was enjoying his current condition way too much.

I handed him a cup of tea, thanks to my Thermos it was still quite hot.

He took a sip from the steaming liquid and winced.

“Yeah, I forgot. Your throat hurts. What about some honey?”

Once again I got his typical never-kid-a-Morelli-look but I didn’t leave him a choice. I spooned some honey into his tea and forced him to drink it, even though he was protesting a lot.

“You better do what I say, otherwise you’ll faint again. You need to rest and to be taken care of, at least for a day.”

“And what is if I don’t want to take a day off?”

“Then I’ll tell Vinnie about your little fainting act. I think he’d love to tease you with that for half an eternity.”

Morelli groaned and rested his head on his crossed arms.

“So we okay?”

He mumbled something incoherent into his arms.

I knew what I had to do.

“Ahh, my fingers are itching. I think I need to dial Vinnie’s num…”

“Yeah, fine. Deal.”

A winning smile spread across my face.

Oh sweet victory.

* * * The End * * *

Edited July 20, 2011 by LovelyLinda

[Ciuty80]

awww that was sooo freaking cute!!

thank you for writing this and sharing it with us

hope to read even moarrrr of you in the future