Code Roses
by Gail (gem225@hotmail.com)
JAG
Clark Palmer/Clayton Webb
Rating: adult
Clayton Webb gets roses at work from an admirer.
Eclipse Snapshot #36
Disclaimer: Not mine, never will be, love them anyway.
Please do not archive this story without asking me first. It's more than likely that I'll agree, but I want to know where my stories are.
Warnings: It's the Eclipse universe, so if you hate Clark Palmer, you probably don't want to read this. Also, if you haven't read the previous Eclipse stories and Snapshots, this story won't make a hell of a lot of sense, so you might want to do that first.
For two of my dearest friends, Tinnean and Scarlet, for Valentine's Day 2006 (2/14/06). Thanks to Tinnean for a quick and wonderful beta, as always.
*****
I was halfway through the new pile of folders that I'd found on my desk when I'd come in this morning when my door opened and my secretary entered. I didn't like being disturbed, and she knew that, but she also had good discretion and judgement, so I tried to keep the frown off my face.
"Excuse me, Mr. Webb, but this just came for you, and I thought it might be important." She was half-hidden behind a huge white box that looked too big for her to hold comfortably, and I rose and took it from her. "Thank you."
"You're welcome." I set the box down on my desk - not easy to do, since it was so big - and eased off the top. Roses, dozens and dozens of roses, pink and white and red. No card, though.
"They're beautiful." My secretary had an envious look on her face, and I smiled.
"Take some. I don't need that many roses." She could take as many as she wanted - all I needed was one to remind me that Clark had thought to send me flowers. I was sure that they were from him. "And put them in water for me, please."
"Thank goodness I bought some vases on sale.." She scooped up the box, but before she could take them away, I lifted out one white rose. "That's so sweet. I'll be back in a few minutes. Do you want a bud vase for that one?"
What the hell. "Yes, please, if you have one."
"I do, and I'll bring it in with some water."
She smiled at me and took the flowers away.
When she was gone and the door shut again, I lifted the rose to my nose and sniffed. Not much of a fragrance, but enough.
I had a reservation to an excellent, quiet restaurant and a limousine so that neither of us would have to drive - our Valentine's Days out had become a fine tradition - but I hadn't even thought of getting him flowers.
Trust Clark to go the extra mile.
I was smiling as I set down the rose beside my keyboard - it would be fine there until my secretary got back with the vase - and got back to work.
*****
I waited for Clark to show up and see how much his flowers had delighted me, but even at 4:30 he hadn't, so I called and ordered him over. He never minded that. Sometimes I thought that Clark liked when I ordered him around at work. Well, not sometimes and I didn't think, I knew.
He knocked before he came in. Of course.
His eyes went right to the big vase, then the bud vase with the one white rose, and I could have sworn that he smiled for a moment. "Roses? Somebody sure likes you, Webb." He shut the door.
I tilted my head and gave him a half-smile. "Pity there was no card with them."
"No card?" He was frowning. "Maybe your mother sent them."
My half-smile turned into a frown, and the tuna salad sandwich I'd had a few hours ago turned in my stomach. "They're not from you?"
"You think I'd send you flowers? How come?" He wasn't frowning any more, but I still was.
"Clark. Straight answer, now, no joking. If they're not from you, I'm throwing them out and initiating an investigation." Mother would have enclosed a card, and I didn't even want to think about them being from Harm. That would guarantee him a short, cold talk with me, if not a cold, early grave courtesy of Clark.
"Hey, hey, don't throw out my flowers. Sorry. Should have made out the card in code instead of leaving it out, but I thought you'd know they were from me."
They were from Clark. Thank god. "As long as you used an approved CIA code."
"No fun if it's approved, Webb. You know that."
I smiled and shook my head. That was Clark. "And here I thought you liked the CIA's rules and regulations."
He snorted and rolled his eyes. "Sure I do. Can we leave yet? I don't have any work to do - "
"I can fix that."
He snorted again. "Yeah, yeah, you'll have me moving boxes until midnight. Come on, I want to go home and shower and get ready. Got me a date tonight."
"And you're expecting to need time to get ready for it?"
He smiled, and the heat in it left me wanting to fuck him, now. "Yeah. Want to look my best."
I swallowed and reminded my cock that it was used to waiting and that we'd get Clark in bed, naked and wanting whatever I wanted to do with him later for sure, and reached for a folder. "Well, take this and read it, then get back to me and we'll go, unless you have something constructive to tell me regarding the situation it details."
"Yes, sir."
He moved toward the door, and I realized that I didn't want him to leave. "You could sit down," I nodded to the chair in front of my desk, "and read it there. Quicker."
"Yeah. Lots quicker. Thanks."
He sat down and flipped open the folder, and I went back to my pile of folders, smaller than it had been.
We'd leave in more than enough time to make our dinner reservations, with time for a shower first and maybe even sex, and we'd have another fine Valentine's Day together.
*****
[End]
Posted 2/14/06
To read the next Eclipse Snapshot, go to On That Train Tonight
