"You're kidding me."

"Oh god, I wish." Groaning, Carlos closed his eyes and laid his head on the back of the sofa. "When we found out who she was, I thought he was a dead man for sure."

Keira wrapped her arms around her sides, gasping for air around the stabbing pain in her ribs. She couldn't stop laughing long enough to get it. Because of the upheaval with Brad and the Droids, Keira hadn't been at the station the day the new Chief Inspector had arrived. Apparently no one had bother to tell any of the rest of the cops at the precinct that he was, in fact, a "she", a small Asian woman who was barely tall enough to see over the steering wheel but whose arrest record and take no prisoners attitude had her climbing the ranks in record time.

Unfortunately, the first thing she did when entering the building was spill coffee down the front of her shirt and suit jacket, and while she was standing around in her undershirt waiting for things to dry one of the other officers had mistaken her for a prostitute. She was in cuffs and being read her rights when the mayor came out.

Carlos said he was yelling so loud his eyes were bulging, and his face was so red they were afraid he was going to stroke. Keira had a feeling the unlucky officer wasn't going to live that one down any time soon.

"I'm sorry I missed it," she gasped, finally getting control of herself long enough to drag in a deep gulp of air. And then another. Still chuckling, she scooped her ice cream up off the coffee table, settling in contentedly when Carlos reached out and pulled her up against his shoulder, gently stroking his fingers through her hair.

"Yeah well, you could always get Alec to use that super tech of yours to recreate it," Carlos teased, his fingers brushing up against the side of her cheek. "Then you could find some way to digitize it, and we could put it up on the projector screen and watch it on replay."

"That's not nice. But," she added with a smirk, "it might be worth it."

Shutting her eyes and popping a spoonful of ice cream into her mouth, Keira moaned contentedly. Oh yeah, chocolate was definitely one of those things they did better in the 21st century. Letting the taste roll around her tongue, she enjoyed the smooth, creamy flavor that was miles away from the freeze dried treats she'd grown up on.

Just one more reason to be grateful she'd decided to stay.

She had a lot of reasons to be grateful she'd stayed, not the least of which was the man sitting next to her. The one that had loaned her his favorite sweats and gave her the last bit of his favorite ice cream when she admitted she'd never had it before and always, always listened when she had something to say.

Smiling at the reminder of the many things there were to appreciate about her partner, her eyes fluttered open to meet his-and Keira felt something inside her stomach flip over. She'd surprised him, and the look on his face before he quickly covered it up wasn't the easy going affection she was used to. It was raw, hot and hungry and longing in a way Keira had never seen before. In any century.

At least, not directed at her.

They stared at each other, freeze-framed, eyes locked, pulses pounding, and slowly the shields he had quickly slapped up slipped away again. Keira couldn't look away, frozen in place for what seemed like an eternity of anxiety and anticipation before Carlos leaned forward to touch his mouth to hers.

The kiss was soft at first, barely a whisper of a breath. Tentative and asking in a way she wouldn't have attributed to her partner, although when she thought about it-not that she could think-she couldn't imagine why she would expect anything else. Carlos was, first and foremost, a gentleman. He pulled back, just a little, his eyes searching her face for something. Whatever he was looking for he must have found, because he leaned back in, taking her lips with a tender assurance that had her breath catching in her lungs and her heart pounding a little faster.

Then his tongue slipped out to lick the last remnants of chocolate from her lower lip, and the world exploded.

Threading his hands into her hair, and pulling a good chunk of her ponytail loose in the process, Carlos tipped his head to the side and pulled her closer. Tenderness bloomed into something brighter, hotter, that had stars exploding behind her eyes and her heart beating furiously in her chest when he finally tipped his head and pressed his forehead to hers, breaking the kiss with a groan but staying close enough that the heat radiating off him through his soft tee shirt soaked straight into her skin. Keira felt the tremor that started in his body and traveled to the fingers still laced through the hair behind her ears.

"What, ummm…" Keira closed her eyes, clearing her throat and reaching out to set down her ice cream with shaking hands before knotting her fingers in his shirt. She squeezed tightly while her staggering brain tried to process the fact that Carlos, her friend, her partner, had just kissed her. No, not a kiss, she corrected. That was far too small a term for the spontaneous combustion that had just occurred, and it was almost impossible to make herself focus on words when the only thing she really wanted to do was tip her head back, yank him forward and let him do it again. "What was that?"

Carlos

"What was that?"

That was the million dollar question, wasn't it? He hadn't meant to kiss her. Holy god, he hadn't meant to kiss her. And he knew full damn well that once he let her go and stepped back from the flashfire that had just ravaged them both, he might lose everything.

But damn it, a man could only take so much. Sitting there on his couch, warm and soft in his sweats, with her hair in a casual ponytail and not a lick of makeup on her face, curling up against him while she ate his ice cream and laughed about their job…well. They could have been any couple unwinding after a party on a chilly autumn night, and everything had been so perfect, and so perfectly normal, that he couldn't help himself.

"I've been waiting a very long time to do that," he murmured softly. Slipping his hands out of her hair to frame her face, he tipped her chin up so he could see her eyes while he dumped his heart out at her feet and prayed. "I've been waiting a long time to do this too. I love you Keira."

Woah. Crap. Too fast, he realized as her eyes filled with tears that spilled over onto her cheeks. Much too fast.

"God, you don't do anything halfway, do you?" Keira's laugh was watery, tears still rolling down her cheeks-but it was the fear in her eyes that cut him to the core. Cursing, he slid his hands down her arms, lacing his fingers into hers and lifting her hands to his lips.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to just spill everything out there like that," he said earnestly, talking as quickly as he could before she decided to get up and walk away. "I know you've been through hell since you got here, and you might not be ready for any of this. I swear Keira, I'm not asking you for anything right now. Really," he added gently when she laughed again. "You matter to me. A lot. And I don't want to lose what we have now, and if that's all that's ever between us, that's okay. I don't want you to feel like I expect more than you're able to give, because I don't. Just…when you do decide you're ready…if you decide you're ready…I'm here. I'm right here. And I'm not going anywhere," he finished lamely, pressing her fingers against his lips and wishing he could think of something better to say but completely out of words.

"You matter to me too, Carlos. You're my partner," she said softly. "Until today, I hadn't…I mean…god, this is crazy. You know that right? This is absolutely insane." Brushing tears from her cheeks with the back of the hand he still held, she drew in a quivering breath, then fell silent.

Carlos waited patiently, recognizing the signs of his partner getting her thoughts together. He knew that look on her face meant she was wrestling through some issue, just like he knew she arched her eyebrow when she was scared and clicked the pen against the table when she was frustrated. He knew her.

"I'm not very good with relationships," she finally said quietly, the words spilling out in a rush. "Greg and I…things were hard, at the end. There were some days I think Sam was the only reason we kept it together. He always complained that I worked too much, kept too many secrets, was too wrapped up in being a mother and a Protector to be a wife. He cheated on me, you know," she said, the words coming out with the casual air of someone trying to cover up a deep, seeping hurt. "While we were engaged. A last fling, I think. I didn't find out about it until she told me, much later."

"She?"

"The woman he slept with. A mutual friend." Keira shook her head. "We were out together. Her husband was hitting on me, and I was getting uncomfortable. I had pulled her into the bathroom to tell her, and she told me about Greg. Although I guess told me is the wrong word. She thought I already knew." She shrugged. "We got engaged the night I found out I was pregnant with Sam. I've often wondered since that night what would have happened if I hadn't been. Which is the long, roundabout way of saying I don't…I don't think I have what it takes to make a relationship work, Carlos. Greg and I were friends when we started, and at the end we were clinging at straws. If we…if we took this farther, I'm afraid I'd hurt you. And I couldn't live with myself if I ever saw you looking at me the way he did when he thought I couldn't see."

Personally, Carlos thought her husband was a fucking idiot that didn't deserve her anyway. He knew he had to be careful with her from here though-that the words he said now might make the difference between whether she stayed with him tonight or walked out the door.

"I promise, NOBODY knows how much you suck at letting people get close to you more than I do," he told her, smiling when he surprised the laugh he'd been hoping for. "You keep secrets, slam doors. Carry the weight of the fucking world on your shoulders. You won't let anybody help you until you have no choice-which, if you didn't already know, drives me absolutely fucking insane. I know you work a shitty job with shitty hours and shittier pay, because I work that same shitty job with the same shitty hours and the same shitty paycheck."

Letting go of one of her hands, he gently brushed her hair off of her shining cheeks. "I'll deal with it if you will. And if I was ever lucky enough to have kids with you, you'd be an amazing mother. I already know that. I'd be a real jerk not to appreciate that every…single…day. You get me?" She silently bobbed her head, looking at him with eyes that were still full of fear, coupled with something else. Something he sincerely hoped was going to make her give them a chance. "We're going to fight, and we're probably going to hurt each other. That's what happens when you have a relationship with someone-you step on each other's toes sometimes. We'll get through it, together, because that's what people who care about each other do."

"What if it doesn't work? What if we try this, and it doesn't work, and you end up hating me? I can't do that Carlos. I just can't."

Sighing, he leaned down and planted a firm kiss on her mouth. "I couldn't hate you if I tried-and believe me, for a while there, I tried pretty hard," he said dryly. "If it doesn't work, it doesn't work. We were friends and partners when we started, and I have to believe we'll be friends and partners if it ends. But to be honest, I don't think it's going to happen. I think if you give us a chance, a real chance, we're going to be pretty awesome together. I love you, Keira. A few squabbles here and there isn't going to change that."

She looked at him quietly for a minute, eyes filled with tears and doubt, and Carlos felt his heart sink. Then she reached out, grabbed on to his shirt and dragged him toward her to plant her lips on his. This time he didn't hesitate before wrapping his arms around her back and pulling her against his chest so he could deepen the kiss, smiling against her lips when he felt her arms creep up around his neck. God she was tiny. How did he keep forgetting that? She squeaked in protest when he broke the kiss, then laughed when he pulled her onto his lap so he could kiss her without one of them getting a crick in their neck.

Oh yeah. That was going to work just fine.

She wasn't sure of them, not yet, but she was willing to give them a shot. He was willing to do whatever it took to make sure she didn't regret it.

He wasn't stupid enough to think it was going to be smooth sailing from here on out. Nothing was ever that easy with Keira Cameron. But she was here, and she was his. For now, it was enough.

A/N: PHEW! And that's the end These two drained me dry on this chapter, but it was nice to be able to give Carlos a happy ending-or as close to it as he and Keira were going to get! Please stop by and leave a review to let me know what you think, and as always, thanks for reading!