Title: Pleasures of Simplicity
Author: Foxhunt2blue
Summary: It had took one person to open her eyes to
the
things she had always taken for granted. Seeing the
world through his eyes had been like being reborn.
Rated: PG-13
Keywords: MSR
Spoilers: Small ones from the "Pilot" to "all things"
Disclaimer: Never did---wish I had though. ;-)
Author's Note: This one is for Sallie. Godspeed
and hang in there sweetie---what doesn't destroy us
makes us stronger and you my dear are a strong light
among so many. Hugs and prayers go with these simple
words.

~*~*~*~*~*~*

It's always strange how children can't wait to grow to
adulthood---constantly in a hurry to be something
they believe will be so much better. When they finally
get there they wish they were children again.

Somewhere along the way they lose what can only
be called magic, but maybe it's something else.

As she grew older she was no different than any other
kid. There were the spats over curfews, the arguments
over college, boyfriends, and ultimately over who she
was. Breaking her parents hearts had just been one of
many things she had done to prove the difference
between who she was and who they thought she had been.

Along the way she had lost something she hadn't even
realized was gone until she walked into a dark, musty
basement office.

She had heard the stories about "Spooky", but they
were just that stories---urban legends in their own
way.

For a professional to believe any of them was less
than
educated and inappropriate for a agent of the federal
government.

Old "Spooky" was nothing like she had imagined. In
light of the stories she had formed an image of a
wild-eyed man on the edge of insanity. A mussed and
wrinkled suit with the crumbs of lunches past clinging
to a crumpled tie. Someone who was a blathering nut
who should have been put to pasture, but that the FBI
didn't want running lose. Why else would he be lurking
in the shadows of the basement?

What she found was a far cry from that.

Maybe she had fallen in love with him in that moment
when a rich, honey warm voice called out from behind
a closed door.

<No one down here but the FBI's most unwanted!>

Or maybe it was when she saw a beautiful, young
man---shirt sleeves rolled up---with golden eyes that
matched that voice. The room's dim light reflecting
off the glasses that sat perched on a slightly large
nose and a errant strand of dark silken hair that hung
over a broad forehead. These simple things were enough

to convince her he was handsome, but was he smart?

A smart alec was more like it.

He had wasted no time in letting her know who was
in charge. Somewhere between that moment and a
nonplussed look over Oregon---in turbulence---she
had been drawn into his spell. Intrigued and
fascinated
by the way his mind worked.

No, it hadn't been just her professional mind he had
intrigued---it had been that tiny spark. A spark
inside her that had died away with her childhood.

There were moments in those first few days together
that she had wanted to walk away. How could a man
believe in little green men?

Flying saucers, she had thought with a groan. It was
like some bad plot from an Ed Wood movie.

But then she had saw the marks---so similar to those
on the victims---and it didn't seem so farfetched.

They had ended up in his hotel room, her sprawled
across his bed and him sitting in the floor. For some
reason he had began to talk and the floodgates began
to open.

In that candle lit room with the rain spattering
against the windows a love affair began.

Suddenly she began to see things through the eyes of
a believer. A sweet soul that still possessed the
limitless vision to see beyond what every adult knew
was the truth. A belief that was so powerful it lifted
her up on a tidal wave of dreams and nightmares.

No longer was the monster in the closet a thing of
the past or of a child's imagination. The monsters
were real---more real than she had ever known.

~~~~~~

As the days melted into months, then into years
she began to realize how precious the innocence of
her youth had been.

Despite all the darkness they faced, all the evil, and
the laughter of their colleagues she began to live for
the little things.

The sound of her mom's voice as she related her
newest project with her church group or Missy's
latest new age escapade.

The feel of cool spring air blowing through her
hair, the scent of fresh green sprouts and moist rich
earth filling her senses.

At some point those little things began to include her
partner. Things she had never noticed before or were
annoying, now made her heart grow lighter.

It was these things that kept her going when it got to

be the worst.

The sparkle of mischief in his warm hazel eyes as he
pounced on her with another wild case. Then the
soft, sensual pout of his lower lip when she chastised
him for believing in things that weren't
scientifically
possible.

There was the way he lost himself in research--reading

glasses perched on the tip of his nose---as he popped
sunflower seeds.

And of all her favorites there were the endless bad
and sometimes morbid jokes. He always seemed to pull
them out of thin air with a dramatic flair that
deserved a little gold Oscar. Amazing how many smiles
he managed to pull from her---even when she felt
exhausted.

~~~~~~

All these little things filled her life with a light,
a faith that her logical mind fought. No matter how
hard that part of her tried to fight it only seemed to
accomplish a momentary victory.

Not that she was complaining.

She remembered another of those moments that had
made her move closer to that spark of joy.

A hallway after the fight of her life.

In his arms she had found comfort---a small pleasure,
but neither the less a pleasure.

The warmth of his body so close to hers. His scent---a
mixture of leather, soap, and male musk---filling her
body with a need that it was still to weak to feed.
She
knew then that she could never truly leave this man
no matter how hard her logic told her too.

Too hell with logic.

~~~~~~

Her body healed with time and the special magic that
only one other heart in the world possessed.

Sure they had rough patches through their time
together,yet still they stood proud. Only once had she
really allowed herself to lose faith in their future.

Again it was a hallway.

This time her heart was breaking as she looked into
his
eyes seeing the raw pain as he spilled his heart out.
The moment she felt his breath against her face she
knew she was a fool. She wasn't given the time to tell
him though.

When she finally came back to herself they were in
world of trouble. Confusion and chaos kept her from
giving it much thought---her head swimming---as he
grabbed her hand, dragging her across the snow and
ice.

Even in that desolate moment as he passed out in the
snow she found tiny pleasures.

The rise and fall of his chest beneath her numb hands.

The weak, but steady sound of his heart beneath her
ear as she whispered softly to him.

~~~~~~

What hadn't broke them had made them stronger.

Even after all their enemies had pulled out their
darkest plots, their most twisted weapons she still
saw the light gleaming in his beautiful eyes. All
they had managed to do was make the stubborn
child in him rear it's nasty little head.

She found simple pleasure in his stubbornness.

At some point she fell in love with not just the
simple pleasures she found in his personality,
but with the man himself. All those tiny things
over the years had built-up into a snowball of
desire that even the logical doctor she was could
no longer deny.

The silly grin on his face as he sang happy birthday
to her all those years ago. One lonely cupcake topped
by a sparkler sitting between them as he handed her
a small gift box.

Arms wrapped around him as he shivered in the
Florida Everglades while she sang off key. His hopes
dashed when it didn't rain sleeping bags.

A lonely rock at the edge of a lake---his sarcastic
humor helping to pass the time as they awaited a
rescue they hadn't really needed.

His smile wide as he snatched a bite of her tofutti
dreamsicle on a warm Saturday afternoon. That
same night standing beneath a million stars flickering
like diamond chips on black velvet. His joy burning
just as bright as he taught her baseball---his arms
around her and their fingers interlaced over the
smooth
wood of a Louisville Slugger.

She had never reminded him that she was a tomboy
with two brothers. Baseball was the way he had related
to her what he could never say out loud.

How had she lived before those moments?

If she were honest with herself the answer was simple.

She hadn't.

~~~~~~

The final battle had been with the past.

Though she was unsure what she sought on the outside,
the soul she had repressed for so long knew. It had
been on a warm early summer night as they sat together
over two cold beers that the child within her had
tired of playing.

The brush of his lips on her forehead had woke her,
but she lay still waiting. He had been the perfect
gentleman as he allowed her to stay were she had
fallen asleep---his favorite blanket wrapped gently
around her. Lights turned out, door locked, and he had
left the room, retiring to his own bed alone.

She had never intended for it to happen this way.

Even though she had been sure she would leave---she
didn't.

Stripping off her clothes she slipped between the
sheets as he slept. There were no dramatic confessions
of love and forever as most romance writers would have
you believe. Laying quietly on her stomach next to
him---head resting on folded arms---she watched him
sleep.

The heat of his breath and body warming her to the
core of her being. After what seemed hours she found
the courage to reach out, brushing his hair from his
closed eyes. Her fingers traced a gentle path along
his jaw to those full soft lips where they settled.

That was when he kissed her fingers.

For a moment she thought she had imagined it, but then
his eyes drifted open. Honey-gold in the dim light
that played across the tangled sheets. The same color
they had been at their first meeting.

"Now?"

A simple question with only one answer.

It had took one person to open her eyes to the things
she had always taken for granted. Seeing the world
through his eyes had been like being reborn.

Reborn in not just a physical, but a spiritual way.

Had she chose another path she would have never
discovered the pleasures of simplicity.

"Now," she whispered back. One leg sliding over his
hip she smiled. "We've wasted to much time already."

His answer was a gentle smile as he took her in his
arms.

The End