Solving for Myself

Chapter 9: With Care

It had taken 3 hours for Carson to draw that conclusion and it was now 5 pm in the evening and Stella still hadn't awoken. Carson went upstairs to the balcony and decided to have a smoke as the sun set early but his break was interrupted by furniture falling over. He quickly headed back downstairs to find Stella stumbling around. He grabbed her arm and said "Hey what are you doing, you need rest" She said, "Nonsense, I'll be okay, we have to keep this case moving". Carson picks her up, carries her up to her room, and says"Now good luck trying to get back downstairs now". She screams "You're such a jerk...you're always treating me like I'm some weak, inferior child...so I had a horrid childhood but I'm just as capable as you, dick wad".

Carson walked over to her bed and sat next to her and said"I know you're capable...hell you're more than capable. The reason why I'm always hovering over you is not because I think you're inferior, I do it because I want to protect you. I admit that I do see your past as one of the reasons why I don't ever want to see you suffer again but there's much more. This case is dangerous and one of us could get killed, it's part of the job and we accept the risk but I don't want it to be you. You worked hard to rise through diversity and you are amazing at what you do plus I-". Stella said"You what?" Carson said"We'll talk about the other reasons at a different time" before he got up, only to be pulled by Stella, flipped over, and pinned to the bed.

She frowned and said"I'm sick of this mysterious routine, you will tell me everything you have to say right now before we go any further. Once I submit this evidence I intend to get uncomfortably close to that cult and its members and I need to know that my partner is trustworthy and is gonna back me up. The secrecy shit ends here, the split lines end here, we're a team and we are gonna work together starting now". Carson sighs and says" The reasons are that I- I- "Before he could finish, Stella's face had moved in on his and their lips connected. Stella pulled away and said"was that what you were trying to tell me?" He nodded with a blush before she giggled and said"y'know it's nice to see you feel embarrassment for once...I was beginning to think you were a lost cause".

Before he could say anything, Stella pulled him into another kiss and this time he kissed back before she gradually deepened the kiss. The two pulled away for air but this time Stella dove back in and planted kisses on Carson's neck before unbuttoning his shirt and planting kisses all down his toned chest while giggling and teasing him in a seductive Voice. Carson was too shocked to really do anything; in fact he found himself questioning if this was reality, or had he fallen asleep at the table.

Carson called Stella's name to which she replied with "Hmm?" he said, "A-are you sure you're not going to regret this later considering your p-". He was cut off by her putting a finger on his lips and saying"I'm tired of remembering that so tonight, I wanna make new memories with the person I love, so don't hold back".Carson nodded and pulled her into a kiss which led to them both undressing and before the evening had ended, they had become much closer than partners should be. Stella by now, was feeling normal once again and you couldn't really tell that she had even been poisoned earlier...maybe it was the sex or shock of it all but she was feeling great. As if things weren't weird enough, the two spent the rest of the evening talking about forensics to try and escape the awkwardness of everything that went down while still trying not to give the other person the wrong idea by dashing out.

Eventually, Stella broke the conversation and told Carson she was going to bed and wished him goodnight. All through the night, his heart was beating and so was hers but the two managed to get to sleep despite not knowing what to do tomorrow. In hindsight, this situation was rather hilarious as you have two of the world's best detectives who have solved numerous cases and yet here they are dumbfounded by something as simple as love, or was it? Love had the power to be a double-edged sword; it can be both good and bad and be simple yet confusing but for these two, it was quite confusing since neither one ever experienced it before. Now these would have to navigate two cases, one of a murderous cult and the other, of each other's delicate feelings.

The next morning, Stella came into the living room, still feeling a bit sick, but finally able to walk properly. Carson was already there and waiting and over the next 2 hours, he explained his findings and conversed with each other on the plan, until Carson's phone rang. He looked over and saw it was the chief and immediately answered it. The chief said, "I received your report and forwarded it to the FBI and they have loaned use usage of a high-altitude drone and some heavy-duty surveillance equipment". Carson said"I wonder how you got em' to cooperate so easily" The chief said, "They're missing tactical hardware and an undisclosed amount of federal money they traced to local government heads and they intend to recover or at least locate it to prove they aren't totally incompetent".

Carson said"Well either way, it's good to have 'em' on board" The chief chuckled and said," Tell me about it, but speaking things, how is Stella?" Carson blushed hard and said, "Stella is making a speedy recovery and she's even eating fine and conversing with me on things despite me telling her to rest but hey you can't argue with a wall".The chief laughed and said, "All right, keep working and I'll do everything from my end...the satellite control should be patched into your computer soon, good luck". Carson hung up the phone, turned to Stella with a smile, and said"We 'got's FBI equipment now".