Path of Love

Disclaimer: I own nothing it's as simple as that.

Authors Note

So there are two things you probably should know.

First, I am an American and while I love watching British TV I am still an American and there are some things we have different words for (and spell differently I believe). I have when comfortable (and by comfortable I mean when I felt I was using a word/term or phrase in the correct context) used words the characters would use. But when there was any question in my mind that I was possibly using something incorrectly I went with the Americanism to be safe. I like to be accurate to a character but not at the risk of being insulting or appearing stupid. So forgive me I am currently at the mercy of what I can watch on tv and research on the Internet and I am sure we can all agree those two are not always reliable sources.

Second, this is a series that is made up of 56 one shots. One for each episode staring with season 5's Final Curtain and ending with season 10's Little Brother plus a few extra stories stuck in. They are all one shots but they build off each other. All 56 have been written, revised and edited. I will give each a final edit right before posting but they are for all intensive purposes done and ready to go. I am going to try and update one every day, that's the goal forgive me if I don't meet it every day. Also I have tired really hard to find and correct typos but I am only human so I apologize if there are any.

Final Curtain

"Did my nephew actually take you out to dinner?" Robert Strickland asked in a shocked tone. He was standing in Sandra Pullman's office doorway watching her work trying to keep the nervous energy inside him from escaping. He watched her body jump at little when he spoke. His voice sounded loud against the silence of the office and he regretted startling her.

Both his question and his presence caught Sandra by surprise and she wasn't exactly sure how she should answer. She had accepted James' invitation on a whim and hadn't even given a thought to how her boss would react. She looked up from her paper work and stared at him for a minute before answering him trying to compose both herself and an answer.

"Yes he did…for my birthday." She replied cautiously, the night hadn't gone very well and she didn't want to insult one of his family members. She was also hesitant to say any more, she was having a difficult time reading her boss at that moment and wasn't sure if he was upset or just curious.

"And you agreed of your own accord? You actually went?" He was stunned and the words flew out of his mouth before he realized what he was saying.

"I did, is there a problem with that?" She asked getting a bit defensive, there was an edge to her voice that was meant to indicate he should watch what he said next. Going to dinner with James may not have been the smartest idea she had ever but she was an adult and she did get to make foolish choices like this if she wanted.

"He's a child" he blurted out confused and foolishly missing the tone in her voice completely.

"Yes well he is a bit younger… okay a lot younger… quite a bit younger than me I suppose." She had started out growling at him but by the end even she could hear how pathetic she sounded.

"No, no, I mean he acts like a child. I'm not sure he has ever acted in a mature adult manner in his entire life. I apologize for anything he may have said or done." He was quickly becoming embarrassed as he managed to say all the wrong things once more.

"Oh…ah…he was fine sir." She replied a little taken aback she didn't quite know how to interpret his comments. The entire conversation had been rather strange and it made her feel uncomfortable. At that moment she would have preferred if he were in her office to yell at her, at least then she would have known how to respond.

"You don't have to be nice, unless he really did show you a good time in which case I'm pleased to see he might actually be growing up." He said realizing he was continuing to insult her and that was the last very thing he wanted to do.

"I wouldn't say he was childish but he did have a lot to say about himself," she admitted a little more willingly this time. The night had not been terrible but it was far from a good birthday dinner and she was not planning on repeating it with the younger Strickland again.

"I guess that is progress, but I am sorry if he monopolized the conversation and the evening, I'm sure that was not exactly how you wanted to be celebrating your birthday." He felt the need to apologize for his nephew's actions but he was trying to do so without insulting her any further, the task seemed near impossible to accomplish.

"It wasn't exactly the night I was expecting, actually I'm not sure what I was expecting." She confessed with a sigh. "Honestly I only accepted his offer because I was mad at Brian and Gerry for forgetting my birthday and after the way they reacted when they discovered James had asked me out to dinner…well I knew it would piss them off." She had no idea why she was telling him this but it somehow felt right and the words were out of her mouth before she could second guess her decision.

"But you're the one who got struck with James for the night," he pointed out confused.

"True" she laughed.

"Could I make it up to you?" He asked boldly holding his breath; she had already turned him down several times in the past when he had offered to take her out and he was expecting yet another rejection.

"Sir?" she asked confused by his proposal.

"Can I take you out to dinner tomorrow or whenever you are free and your case load allows?" He clarified, hoping against hope that she might finally agree.

Her immediate response was to say no she had said it to him more than once. But she stopped herself; she quickly discovered part of her wanted to go to dinner with him. It was no secret the two of them had started off on the wrong foot and their working relationship had been more than a little rocky over the past few years. Yet during the past several months she had come to discovered that she had feelings for the DAC.

A year ago she was convinced she was indifferent to the man but that changed when she saw him kissing Christy Berlin six months ago. She was taken by surprise at the wave of jealousy that consumed her when she accidentally witnessed their kiss at the circus. She was understandably angry at him for using her team to help his personal life, but she was angry for another reason. She was angry that he was kissing another woman at all. She had tried to suppress the feeling it was not as though she had any claim on the man. Yet with him standing there offering her dinner once more she felt her restraint withering.

"You know what, yes I would like that, and we just finished this case so tomorrow night would be great." She agreed smiling at him.

"Wonderful I'll pick you up… seven sound good?" He had expected her to say no and he quickly came up with a plan for the following evening. At the same time he was rather pleasantly surprised she has actually said yes and he couldn't keep a smile off his face.

"Sounds great, I'm looking forward to it" she told him and she truly meant it, a smile of her own appeared on her face as she said it. She tried to ignore the little flutter she felt at the thought of going out to dinner with him, she reminded herself it was just dinner but the flutter only got stronger.

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"I hope you had a better evening tonight than a few nights ago?" He asked her later the following night, they had finished dinner and he was walking her to her door. The night had gone even better than he was hoping and he couldn't keep the goofy smile off his face, he just hoped she hadn't noticed it.

"A hundred times better, thank you," she replied flashing him a giant grin. They had both had a glass of wine with dinner and she was feeling happy and relaxed. She had really enjoyed spending the night with him and she wasn't ready for it to end just yet. Taking a deep breath she decided it was time to take a chance and find out what his true intentions were. "Will you be trying to kiss me like James did?" She asked him with a wicked smile.

"He what?" Strickland bellowed he couldn't believe what he had just heard.

"He didn't succeed" she informed him quickly but that was not quite the response she had been expecting.

"I should hope not, I am going to kill him," he growled as his head filled with the image of his nephew trying to kiss Sandra.

"I think he was sufficiently embarrassed" she laughed nervously as she remembered that night. She was hoping he would answer her question instead of planning ways to harm James.

"I wouldn't be too sure, that boy has a huge ego." He couldn't believe James had the audacity to try and kiss her. He was angry and jealous at the same time. Thoughts of killing his brother's son had taken over his mind.

"You didn't answer my question." She reminded him, the last person she wanted to be thinking of at that moment was James Strickland.

"Your question?" he replied confused he had been too focused on the thought of James kissing her and how he could bring the man's short life to a quick end.

"Will you be trying to kiss me?" She asked again felling far less confident than the first time she asked. This was not going the way she had planned.

"I…um…I could…" he tried to answer unsure of what he should say. All thoughts of James and his transgression were gone and now all he could think of were her lips. He knew what he wanted to do but he wasn't clear what she wanted. His thought process had shut down and he could barely get the words out.

"Would it help if I told you that you might have more luck?" she offered hopefully. She was going to feel very embarrassed if he didn't want to kiss her.

"Yes that would help." He added a smile finally appearing on his face. He then leaned in closer and kissed her. It started as a simple kiss but soon it became something much more. He reached over and cupped her face in hand as he worked on deepening the kiss. He didn't pull back until he realized they were snogging on her front step and he had no idea how long they had been going at it. "Sorry" he gasped out of breath as he pulled away. He realized they were putting on a show for her neighbors and that was likely the last thing she wanted to do.

"Would you like to come in for a night cap? And maybe you could do that again?" She asked once she had composed herself.

"I would love to." He admitted as he willingly followed her into the house. This night was turning in to so much more than he could have hoped for. If this was a dream he never wanted wake up.

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I hope you enjoyed the first story...hope it wasn't too terrible. As I said there are more to come and I hope you will keep reading and forgive me for any errors or mistakes. Thanks for reading.