I got flowers from Peter today…and he’s in Afghanistan. How did he manage? I have no clue. But, to celebrate, I give you fic…enjoy!

Valentine’s Day Is Not For the Faint of Heart

9:45 a.m.

Two days off and it rains. Pours. Greg was considering if he should gather the animals two by two. It was too miserable to bother going anywhere, and the power kept flickering on and off so even computer use was questionable. So. Two days off and absolutely nothing to do, and no one to do it with.

When he’d left the lab lat that morning, the front desk was already covered with flowers to be delivered to the various lucky Valentine’s Day recipients. It was depressing to see that much evidence that everyone on the planet had someone that loved them except him. Well, that probably was an exaggeration but it sure felt true right now. He supposed he should call his mom. She usually expected a call on any sort of holiday, and would be hurt if he didn’t. That was something he hoped sincerely never made the rounds. Sanders calls his mom for Valentine’s Day. Just staple the “geek” sign to his forehead and be done with it.

He was just contemplating how to avoid sounding as sad and lonely as he felt to his parents when there was a knock on his door. Looking through the peephole, all Greg could see was an armload of flowers. Probably for his neighbor. She was never home with nothing to do, even in a rainstorm.

Greg opened the door to sign for the flowers. Only as he did so, he discovered they weren’t for his pretty neighbor. They were for him.

“Who are they from?” Greg asked the deliveryman.

“There’s a card, stuck inside the stems somewhere. I’ve got another twenty deliveries, man, and it’s not getting any clearer out there.”

“Yeah, sorry.” Greg fumbled out a ten to give the guy.

“No, thanks. The tip and delivery, all taken care of by the sender. Have a nice day.” With that, he left Greg with the mass of blooms and a look of pure confusion.

“Please, God. Don’t let these be from my parents!” He set the flowers down on the table and hunted carefully for the card. There, got it. Giving the nearest blossom an appreciative sniff, Greg opened the tiny envelope with trembling fingers.

“Get a grip, Sanders. You’re becoming pathetic!”

Happy Valentine’s Day, Greg. I’ll call you at noon.

That was all the card said. No signature. Not even handwriting he recognized. He realized belatedly that the florist, dictated over the phone by the sender, probably wrote the card. He could call the shop, he supposed. It was only ten. He’d just have to wait a couple of hours. Funny. He was tingling all over. Just a few short minutes ago, he’d been depressed and bored…now, he felt alive.

“This had better not be my parents idea of a joke!”

Breathing in the delicious aroma again, he settled in to wait.

11:57 a.m.

Greg’s nerves were stretched taut. He didn’t think he could last three more minutes without exploding. So, the second knock on his door of the day made him jump.

“Shit.” He didn’t want a visitor now. He would have killed for one earlier in the day, now he just wanted who ever it was to get lost. It was almost twelve! He looked out, and right into Nick’s smiling face. Shit.

“Hey. What’s up?” Man, the God’s must be out to get him. He was crazy about Nick. Sometimes, he thought Nick might be a little crazy about him too, but today was not the day to explore this…not when the mystery of the flowers was about to be answered. What was he thinking? If Nick was finally going to do something, he wasn’t going to care who sent him the flowers!

“Nice flowers, G. Who are they from?” He didn’t sound jealous, did he? Greg was pretty sure he was imagining that.

“I don’t know, actually. The card wasn’t signed.” He wasn’t sure what perverse part of him made him hand the card to Nick.

“At twelve, huh?” Nick made a show of looking at his watch. “It’s almost ten past now. Want me to go?”

“No, no. Stay. It’s awful outside. Want some coffee?” There, that sounded pretty normal. Not like he was itching for the phone to ring…not that he was desperate.

“Sure.” Nick hadn’t said what he was doing here in the first place. Something else for Greg to ponder on the way to the kitchen. “Can I use your bathroom, Greg?” he called out.

“Yeah, first door on the left.”

“Shit!” Greg almost slammed his fingers in the drawer as his phone finally began to ring.

“Hello?” He could hear someone breathing, but no response. “Hello? Is someone there?” Great, just great. His secret admirer stands him up, he has to explain it to his secret crush, and he has his own personal obscene caller. Great.

With another loud crack of thunder the lights flickered again, and then went out. Great.

“Nick, you okay? It’s just a power outage. The lights have been flickering all morning.” Greg was a little concerned. It was taking Nick a little longer than it should, and he wasn’t good with the dark. “Nick?”

“Yeah, G. I’m right here.” Oh, just great. Greg jumped yet again when Nick put his hand on his shoulder.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you. Was that your admirer on the phone?”

“No. No one there.” Okay, just say it and then it’s over. “The flowers were probably someone’s idea of a joke.” There, not so bad.

“Why would you say that?” Nick watched as Greg lit candles to set around the room. “A bouquet like that must have cost a hundred bucks. Pretty pricey for a joke.”

Greg looked at the flowers with new appreciation. “Really? That much?”

“Yeah. I mean, roses are expensive all the time, but at Valentine’s Day…yeah, those easily cost a hundred. Maybe more.”

“Then why didn’t the sender want me to know who they were? Why not just sign the card? Or, at least call when they said they would?” His frustration and the tension that had gathered over the past hours were spilling out.

“Sorry, I don’t mean to attack you. I’m just kind of wound up.” Greg was grateful for the dim room. It hid the intensity of his blush.

“Don’t sweat it, G. Look, I should be going. I’ll catch you later?”

“Yeah. Sure.” Greg let Nick out into the wet afternoon. “See you around.”

He never even said what he wanted. Now, Greg was back to where he’d started. Two days off, and no one to share them with. The lights clicked back on. “Good, at least that part of the day got better.”

He had a sudden thought. He picked up his phone to checked the caller ID. The last call should be his breather. Maybe the sender and breather were one and the same. Maybe the sender/breather was just shy and didn’t know what to say? Yeah, he was getting excited again.

Last caller, last caller…was Nick Stokes. “What the…” Nick? Time stamp…12:11! He’d called when he had been out of the room. His sender/breather was Nick! He never said anything at all…never hinted.

Greg hit the call button on the phone and waited for Nick to pick up.

“Stokes.”

Greg carefully didn’t make a sound. He just breathed.

“Hello. Anybody there?” Greg kept breathing.

Finally, Nick got it. “Greg?”

“Come back, Nick. You never got your coffee, and I want to thank you properly for the flowers.” His palms were sweating. If he’d got this wrong, it would be bad. Really bad.

“I’ve got the next two days off, and I’d really like to spend them with you.” Okay, way to put it all out there. He waited for Nick to respond.

“Open your door, Greg,” was all he said.

Once again, Greg looked through the peephole. Right into Nick’s smiling face, cell pressed against his ear.

Greg swung the door wide and pulled Nick inside.

“Happy Valentine’s Day, Nick. Thank you for the flowers.” He was saved from further talk by Nick’s finger against his lips.

“Just show me, Greg.”

So he did.