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“Lean on me.”
“I am leaning on you.”
“You're not; you're putting too much pressure on the knee.”
“I am not…ow, shit.”
“Told you.” she stopped walking and gave him the look.
He knew that look well, his mother used to give him that look. How was it possible for two women to not even know each other, be about 2000 miles apart, and still have the exact same look? That was his luck. Some might say that was his bad luck. Anderson wouldn’t quite say that.
“You feel justified don’t you?” he asked. “You feel justified that you're right?”
“Are you serious?” Gina raised an eyebrow. “I don’t even know why I like you. You’re a twisted, weird ass human being. You're hurt…I don’t want to be right doofus. I just want you to be OK.”
“You also want me to listen to you. Admit it; I can read it in your eyes.”
“Would you just stop it and lean on me. Its drizzling and I want to get inside. C'mon, don’t make me smack you around in front of your neighbors.”
Sighing, he leaned on her again. This was one of those times he was really glad he moved to Arlington. His apartment building was drab and filled with twentysomethings who drank and partied too much but there was parking. Parking made things better. When he lived in DC he would have to park three or four blocks from home sometimes. Anderson couldn’t imagine having to walk that far on a day like today.
The morning started off rather nice with a grapefruit and a little weight training. He was meeting Gina at the American University track for some running. They'd never exercised together and Anderson planned to impress her. Impression turned into competition and soon they were jumping over hurdles at alarming speeds.
Anderson could feel it in his bones; he was going to hurt himself. But he wanted to impress her. Flying over a hurdle, his foot got caught and he went down hard. It took every ounce of his manhood not to scream like a little girl from the pain.
“I was stupid.” He mumbled.
“What did you say?” she asked.
“You heard me; I'm not repeating it.”
“Anderson, just stop.” Gina shook her head. “What's your problem?”
“I'm being an unbearable man.”
“I'm glad you know.”
She used his keys to get into the apartment. After helping Anderson sit down on the loveseat, she went to the kitchen and got him a bottle of water. Gina made a face when his stomach made a funny noise.
“I'm hungry.” He said.
“I hear that.” she smiled.
“I didn’t intend to spend a few hours in the ER this morning. I planned to exercise and then take you to brunch. My knee just decided it had other plans.”
“I feel like it’s my fault. I was the one who started throwing out Olympic sized challenges.”
“I wanted to prove I could do it.” Anderson said. “I wanted to impress you.”
“Trips to the emergency room for epic feats of stupidity haven’t impressed me since college. You need to elevate your knee and I’ll get you an ice pack. Do you have any food here?”
“Nothing I want to eat.”
“OK.” Gina sighed. “I’ll run out, get us some food, get all the things you'll need to relax, and be back.”
“This isn’t really what I had in mind when I woke up this morning.” he mumbled, grimacing as he turned to lie on the couch. It was hard not to shout out in pain when she slipped two couch cushions under his leg. Anderson handled it like a trooper.
“Oh c'mon, tell me it’s not a fantasy to have me waiting on you hand and foot.”
“You weren't wearing track pants and an FBI Academy tee shirt.”
“You dirty bastard!” she exclaimed.
“I was…I didn’t mean…”
“I'm joking silly.” Gina laughed, giving him a friendly punch in the arm. Then she leaned and kissed him. When he pulled her down onto his lap, Gina let out a squeal of surprise. She wrapped her arms around his neck and the couple kept kissing. “I bet this was your plan all along.”
“Yes, I intended to make you believe I was going to impress you but really planned to injure myself and eek sympathy that would get me kisses. Mom would be so proud of how I'm using my overpriced Penn education.”
“I should let you starve.”
She didn’t want to get off his lap but Gina was hungry too. She’d do a run to the pharmacy, the market, and maybe the Red Box too. The doctor told Anderson to stay off the knee at least until Tuesday. She was pretty sure he had enough video games and books on his Kindle to keep him occupied until then.
The idea of cuddling up on the couch for movies was more what she had in mind though. At least it was for now. She could kick his ass in video games after they'd been seeing each other a little longer. Having a few secrets was good for relationships.
“Can you bring some ice cream?” he asked.
“Butter pecan?”
“That’s my favorite.”
“Anderson, I've known you a long time.” Gina said. “I know what your favorite ice cream flavor is.”
“Oh…yeah.”
“I'm sure you know stuff about me too.”
“I know stuff about you.” he cleared his throat and wondered why his voice just sounded like it did before his balls dropped. One day he would find a way not to make an ass of himself in front of this woman. Odds were not in Anderson’s favor that it would be today.
“OK, I’ll be back.” Gina turned to leave but then came back. “I need your keys.”
Anderson reached into his pocket for them and threw them. Gina caught them without a problem.
“Do you want to go to the bathroom or anything before…?”
“Gina, I don’t need your help with that.”
“I meant walking to the bathroom. I wasn’t planning to hold it for you.”
“No,” he shook his head. “I’ll be OK. My apartment and I are pretty good friends.”
“Fine. I’ll be back.”
He nodded and watched her leave. Here he was off his feet for the next three days. The plan had been to sweep her off her feet not to end up on his ass. A twisted knee was nothing to fool around with and he knew both Hotch and Gideon would give him hell before clearing him. They'd been giving him hell since Elle Greenaway had been shot.
Anderson shook his head; that was the last thing he needed to be thinking about right now. He would think about Gina knowing his favorite ice cream flavor instead because that brought a smile to his face. It almost made the pain in his twisted knee disappear. Food and Motrin would work better and she’d be back with those soon. He grabbed his cell phone from his sweats pocket and looked through his address book until he found her. The phone rang a few times before she answered.
“Are you alright?” Gina said instead of hello.
“Cookies and cream is your favorite ice cream flavor. You actually love anything cookies and cream. It was the reason for your freshman 15 in college because you were so homesick you ate it for comfort.”
“Now that impressed me, Anderson.”
“I do know a lot about you.” he said. “I've watched you for a long time.”
“There are laws against that you know. They're pretty stiff in this part of the country.”
“I hurt my knee because I was trying to be cooler than I normally am.”
“You don’t have to do that. I like you just the way you are; I always have.”
“OK.”
“I’ll see you in a little while. Lie back, relax, and imagine all the fun we’re going to have together.”
“I've got a healthy imagination, Gina.” He said.
“Good, that makes two of us Agent Anderson.”
***