"What did you say?!" Mark asks surprised.
"I didn't say anything?" you answer confused.
"You said 'Jackson was hot', just then. Don't even deny it." he teases and you pale. Oh God, did I say that out loud? "Since when?"
You breathe a sigh, knowing that there was no escaping this, especially with the way that you were looking at Mark warily. So you just bite the bullet, and tell him how you've been harbouring a crush on your partner for two years now. Mark asks why you hadn't said anything to Jackson.
"Well for starters, isn't there a rule against falling in love with your partner on duty?" you sigh again. "Also, it's not like there is a point in telling him, especially since he doesn't see me that way."
"Listen, just because we're cops doesn't mean that we're not human." Mark explains gently. "We are allowed to fall in love with whoever we fall in love with. It's not something you can help. And why do you think Jackson doesn't see you that way?"
You explain to Mark that it's definitely not possible, especially the way Jackson has been treating you of late. You don't know what happened, but he has been acting cold towards you. You didn't think you'd done anything wrong, and you can't confront him about it. As a cop, you're definitely used to confronting criminals, but you have no experience with that, when it comes to personal relationships.
"Leave it to me." Mark gives you a reassuring smile, that actually has the opposite effect on you.
xxx
Jackson sees Mark approach after watching him chatting with you. Jackson could see how your smiling face fell and he is wondering what Mark had said to you to make you upset.
"What did you say to upset her?" Jackson confronts him.
"What are you talking about? If anyone is making her upset, it's you."
It's evident in Jackson's features that he was confused about Mark's statement and Mark rolls his eyes. "Why haven't you told her that you like her?"
"What the hell dude?" Jackson hisses at Mark. "I told you that in confidence. I haven't told her because I know that she doesn't see me that way."
"How are you one of the top policemen in this district and be this oblivious?" Mark sighs. "Leave it to me."
xxx
Mark came up with what he calls 'the best plan ever'. It involved overly flirting with you for the next few days to get Jackson jealous, and to get him to confess to you. Mark had always been a close friend of yours, so you didn't find it unusual that he would always be touching you - making sure to brush up against you at any opportunity - and when he would lean closer to you when he talked to you.
Jackson on the other hand, was livid. He knew that Mark didn't feel that way for you, especially since he'd recently gotten the Captain's secretary's number, but it still didn't keep the green demons at bay. Especially since, he really wanted to interact with you in that same way.
Jackson had been distracted with thoughts of you and Mark the whole day. It even plagued him when the two of you had to go on the road. You were both called out to check out some suspicious activity in an abandoned factory and it had gone awry. The two of you normally stay close to each other during these calls, but since Jackson was a little bit upset with you, he had asked to split up.
You weren't given the chance to decline when Jackson hurriedly entered the factory by himself. You quickly hurried behind him and went the other direction as he instructed. He was covering the bottom level while you did the top. You see a sudden movement on the bottom level, signalling a third person in the building and he was holding a gun up. You follow his line of sight and see that he was pointing it where Jackson was about to walk towards, his back facing the gunman. You had to act fast.
"Jackson, watch out!" you yell out, and Jackson turns just in time, the bullet from the gunman missing him by mere inches. You then pull the trigger, and the gunman falls to the floor. The both of you wait to see if there is another reaction before quickly resuming your search.
"Clear!" you call out from the top before starting to make your way down. He does the same after meeting up with you. The reinforcements come after a few minutes. You had called them after you discovered weaponry upstairs.
"Are you okay?" you ask Jackson once you step out of the building.
"I'm fine." Jackson gives you a tight smile before walking off to go back into the car.
xxx
Back in the office, Jackson can see Mark match towards him as he does the paperwork for the incident today.
"I don't want to hear it." he puts his hand up to halt Mark but he was undeterred.
"What the hell were you thinking?!" Mark seethes. "You put yourself and her in danger!"
"I'm sorry okay!" Jackson says to him. "I was distracted."
"You're never distracted. What happened?"
Jackson explains how he'd been distracted by the recent development between you and Mark. After their initial chat, Jackson had planned to go ahead and confess to you, but when he saw you and Mark together, he thought otherwise.
"You idiot! I did that to make you jealous. So that you would go ahead and confess to her already." Mark knocks his head on his desk. "Ugh, can you go and get your girl already?"
Jackson goes to do just that.
xxx
You try to make yourself look busy when you see Jackson approach. He has a look of determination on his face and you're not sure how to feel about it, especially with the way he has been acting lately. You know that he is about to confront you and you are not sure you can handle it.
"Can we talk in private?" Jackson asks once he's at your desk and you nod. You follow him to one of the empty interview rooms in the precinct.
"Is everything okay?" you ask meekly.
"Yeah, I just wanted to thank you for saving my behind back there." Jackson says and you wave him off.
"I'm your partner. It's my job."
"I know, but we wouldn't be in that situation it wasn't for me. I'm sorry about that, and for the way I have been acting."
"That's okay." you offer a small smile. "I'm sorry, too."
"What for?"
"For whatever it is I did wrong." you reply. "You've been acting really cold towards me lately so surely I've done something wrong. I don't know what it is-"
"You haven't done anything wrong. It's my fault. I didn't mean to act this way toward you. I just didn't know how to handle my feelings."
"Feelings?" you furrow your brows.
"Yeah. My feelings for you. I've had them for awhile and didn't know how to deal with them. And when I saw you with Mark, all I could think about was how I missed my chance and I got distracted-"
"But, I don't have feelings for Mark." you reply warily. "I have feelings for you."
"What?"
"Yeah."
'So, Mark was right. He did say you liked me." Jackson smirks.
"Hey! I told him that in confidence!"
You both look at each other before laughing at the situation that you found yourselves in.
"So what do we do now?" you ask him.
"Leave it to me." Jackson gives you a wink.
