Title: Sunshine and ice cream
Author: Cindy Ryan
Pairings: John/Ellie

Half an hour later Ellie was savoring the last bite of her Volcano burger.

"That was delicious."Bartowski stated. "I won't doubt you again, John."

Casey grunted as he took a sip of his cola.

Ellie grinned. "No, really. I never would've thought of combining
pepper jack cheese, barbecue sauce and guacamole but the guac cools
the spice."

"Glad you liked it."John replied with a grin. "Do you want a 'Johnny B
Goode' Root beer float?"

Ellie shook her head. "No, I want ice cream."

"It has ice cream in it."

Ellie lightly punched John on the arm. "I know. What I meant was I
want a towering ice cream cone."

"Do you want the one note, two note or three note?"

"My turn to order."Ellie stated with a grin. "Your turn to trust me."

Downy meowed her approval and Ellie laughed. ""Yes, Downy you can have
some too."

Casey got the waitress's attention and Ellie placed their order.

John Casey couldn't remember the last time he'd felt this content.
He'd even up the ante and add happy to the list.
Career was going well.
He was getting reacquainted with his daughter.
Plus he was sitting in the sun on a beach with a beautiful woman who
put up with his crazy life.
Today sharing ice cream and listening to Ellie laughed warmed John's heart.
She'd endured too much in her life. More than she deserved.

Ellie finished the last bite of the cone of her two note Death by
Chocolate ice cream cone. John handed her a napkin since most of the
chocolate ended up on her face.

"Did I get it all?"Ellie asked a few minutes later.

"Almost."Casey replied as he leaned forward and kissed the remaining
ice cream off of the tip of her nose.

Ellie giggled. "Thanks."

"Any time."

"And thank you for today."Ellie stated quietly. "I needed it."

John reached up and tucked wind blown strands of hair behind Ellie's
left ear. "I'm glad. We both need days like this."

Ellie kissed him and John lost sense of time for a moment until he
heard birds. He felt Ellie pull away and John looked and saw Downy
near the water making enemies of seagulls.
Three of them to be exact.

"Downy!"Ellie called as she stood. "No dead birds today!"

"Besides you're out numbered."Casey added as he rose to his feet.

Downy looked at her owners indigently for a moment. One of the
seagulls started to fly away and the calico followed.

"Downy!"Ellie chided. "Don't make me chase you."

John chuckled. "I'll get her. We should get going if we don't want to
be stuck in rush hour traffic."

"We could ditch the 101 and take back roads home."Ellie suggested.

Casey smiled as he kissed her. "It's your afternoon, El. Whatever you want."

Ellie squeezed John's right hand briefly. He headed towards the water
to get Downy. Figures she wasn't freaked out by the water like a
normal cat. Then again Downy had spent part of her life in a laundry
room.

"Downy."John called as he shooed away the seagulls. "Time to go home."

Downy meowed in protest as John scooped her up brushing sand from her paws.

Ellie laughed as John placed the cat in her arms. "What am I going to
do with you, Downy?"

The calico purred and rubbed her head against the doctor's right hand.

"Crazy cat."John muttered as he slipped an arm around Ellie's
shoulders. "Ready?"

Ellie looked back at the beach for a long moment before nodded. "Yes,
let's go home."

end