Notes: not mine, no profit garnered. Title and opening quote from Khary Jackson's For Brenda Moossy. For the gwyo settings bingo, setting pictured below. Post 2x24. Thanks so much to Idris Tardis for awesome beta help.

i found a letter in the bayou, in the remains of a molded ax.
it was all in Arabic, the same as my name.
at the end, a voice:

find me.

!

Chris drove in circles after failing to run after Sonja when she turned tail. Then he gave in and went to her house and knocked while he was opening her door. "Why isn't this locked?"

She was putting her gun back on the table - he realized she'd had it pointed at him until she saw his face. "It's not locked because I'm heading out in a half hour or sooner, depending on how long it takes me to pack. You feel free to lock it as you leave."

"You planning on coming back?"

"Of course," Percy said. She rolled her eyes. "I just want a break, like everybody else."

"Where are you going?"

"I bought one of those any destination tickets they have on that site where it's all super cheap because you don't know where you're going. One week destination vacation, plane tickets and 3 stars or better hotel rooms. I have my fingers crossed it's not Alaska because I am not good with the very very cold," she said.

"Just one ticket?"

"Of course," she said, frowning. "Of course. Why would I want to spend any more time with you?"

He got up close to her and held her wrist loosely. Loose was better than tight with her. He said, "Look, I'm not going to listen to any of your excuses here. It's perfectly fine for NCIS agents to date. We're both professional enough to make sure we'd still get the work done if everything went bad. If you're going to try to convince me you're not that professional, I don't believe you. And I'm not either, I am very professional. I'm not secretly married, and neither are you. So I am waving away any of those objections. Pride would approve, frankly."

She didn't pull her hand away. She said, "Why are you waving away objections after one hug? I don't know, country mouse, are you familiar with how this dating thing works?"

"I'm completely familiar, and we both know exactly where that hug was going," Chris said.

She pressed her lips together like she was preparing her rebuttal. Instead he pulled her hand to his heart and covered hers with both of his. Then he leaned down and finally kissed her. She didn't try to turn away this time. She kissed back, fiercely, her mouth open to his. He wanted to touch her, see her naked in the morning smiling back at him.

She pulled away first and he wasn't surprised. Then she went back to her luggage and said, "That is still not dating. One kiss -"

"One scorching hot kiss," Chris said. "We're gonna have many more."

"Why are you so confident?" Her voice was plaintive. Confused even. She was always a pessimist.

"I've made up my mind," he said.

"You didn't make up my mind," she said.

"Do I really have to? You know how you feel about me, I know how you feel about me, you know how I feel about you, I know how I feel about you. We're pussyfooting around like we have all the time in the world and you didn't almost get blown up yesterday. Or you could be about to get eaten by a bear in Alaska," he said.

"I'm not going near any bears if I go to Alaska. I might make a snowman," she said. "Completely non-threatening snowman."

"I'm excited to hear that. Except, no, I'm not. I just want to talk about us in prelude to us being us, hopefully in your bed soon. Or mine," Chris said.

"What if I'm not?" she said. "All this work wife, work husband talk is going to your head." She didn't sound very convinced.

"Sonja," Chris said. "You are, whatever you think you're not, you're wrong, you are. We both know you are. We live lives with a very high risk of explosions and bullets. I know I'm being pushy but I feel a certain urgency here. What with the constant threat of death. Why would we wait?"

Sonja stopped packing and looked up at the ceiling. She still hadn't turned around which he took as a good sign, because she knew she'd agree with him if she were looking at him. She said, "Bears can kill us, too, apparently. Another reason you think there's urgency here and we can't just let shit lie. Are there even bears in Alaska?"

"I have no idea, honestly," Chris said. "Probably. I'm saying life is short. And sometimes life is long and you don't know which you're getting so use the first to motivate you and the second to guide your heart."

"That is some homespun bullshit," Sonja said, finally turning around.

"Do you want to go back to talking about bears? You, you are important to me. You move me, you challenge me," he said. "I got in my car and just drove here without even thinking about it because we didn't end things right." It was a tiny lie, but it was mostly true.

She sighed. "I know I'm irresistible."

"Look at you, being funny," Chris said. "You're resistable, I just don't want to. Neither do you."

"That'll be a great story around the bar, he was driven crazy and drove over, then he said I would get eaten by a bear, but after that it was hearts and flowers and fine wine," she said. But she was smiling. "How did I miss this insane side of you?"

"You've never seen me courting," Chris said.

"No, I've just seen you in love, or sleeping around to dull the pain," Sonja said.

"Well, right now, I'm not sleeping around," Chris said.

"You're insane," Sonja said.

"I am not waiting anymore. Not for nothing. Especially not for you to think yourself out of something good," Chris said.

"Insane," Sonja said. Her eyes were soft looking up at him.

"Don't you just want to be happy?"

Sonja smiled. "You are so full of yourself. I'm in love with you, we're going to have sex, you're going to make me happy."

"We're going to have great sex and that is only one of the ways you're going to make me happy," Chris said. "I'm full of myself and selfish, too."

She was suddenly up close to him, clasping his hands. She said, "Come with me to Alaska."

"It's a mystery ticket," he said. He took advantage of her closeness to kiss her again.

"I'll know where I'm going when I get to the airport - you can buy a ticket there too. The package already includes a hotel room. We can see how great you really are."

"I really hope it's not Alaska," Chris said. This time she kissed him.

"If it is, we are staying away from bears," Sonja said. They kissed each other and he couldn't say who started it.