Various ratings, pairings, etc, for various challenges.
Fandom: CSI: NY (Stella/Flack)
Rating: G (200 Words)
Prompt: Orchid, varietypack100 056. Breakfast
His grandmother had taught him that it was rude to show up at someone’s house empty handed. So, when he accepted Stella’s invitation to brunch, his first thought was to pick up some bagels from the local bakery – maybe, some fresh danishes. He certainly hadn’t set out to buy her flowers.
Stella could be prickly about certain things. Food was always good – the more exotic the better. Wine was acceptable. Flowers entered territory that could quickly get dangerous, but as soon as he caught a glimpse of the orchid, he knew that he would get it for her. It was beautiful and exotic, and it reminded him of Stella, and the grace and strength she hid beneath the appearance of fragility. Stella would be the first to protest any comparisons to delicate flowers, but when the proprietor caught his interest and began gushing about their qualities, the sense of rightness settled in his chest. The guy said orchids represented love, beauty, wisdom, and thoughtfulness. That was Stella to a T.
He bought the flower and had it wrapped, but he made sure that he didn’t forget the pastries. He might like to live dangerously, but he wasn’t stupid.
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Title: Rebel
Fandom: CSI:NY, Danny Messer
Rating: PG
Prompt: varietypack100 096. Writer’s Choice.
Notes: Character experiment, answers a question from the theatrical_muse list: #144 — Have you ever rebelled? If you have, how did you do it? ( Spoilers for ‘On the Job’ )
I rebelled – all the way to the NYPD. Some rebellion, huh, punk kid becoming an upstanding member of society. Except it wasn’t like that at all. It wasn’t about stickin’ it to my old man, or Sonny Sassone, to anyone. Hell, it’s more of a joke than anything to the guys in the old neighborhood, and it ain’t much better around here, where the whispers and looks follow me around corners, like I don’t know what they’re saying, like I’m not a crime scene investigator who puts shit together on a daily basis.
Except, that’s how I feel right now – the rebel without a clue. Act first; think about it never. When everything is pushing in on you, putting you down, sometimes, you just have to push back. The problem is that once you do – when you feel the power and finally get free – that you forget to stop pushing. Sometimes, though, you just got to stand there and take it like a man.
I forgot about that, or maybe I just didn’t want to believe it. Now, I’m paying the price. Should have listened to Mac. Should have believed he had my back, that he wasn’t just trying to push me down, put me in my place. I didn’t, though. Got to go my own way; got to be the rebel, right? All I did was look like everything they believed about me, everything they whispered behind my back was true.
One of these days, I’m going to learn that being a rebel doesn’t make you right. Sometimes, it means knowing when not to fight.