Forest Picnic
July 12 th , 2022
“Hey, do you have a minute?” Nate’s head appeared in the door frame with a mischievous grin on his face.
Lynn was deep in her surgery reports, so she jumped a little in her chair before looking up and into ocean blue eyes.
“You scared me,” she exclaimed, before bursting into laughter.
Nate entered her office and closed the door behind him, taking long steps towards her desk before placing both of his palms on it and leaning down. Lynn tilted her head a little, unsure what that stupid but cute grin on his face was supposed to mean.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to, darling. You look cute when you’re totally lost in your own world.”
“Cute, huh?” she smiled at him.
“Yeah, extra cute when you stick your tongue out in concentration. God, I love it when you do that.” He pushed himself off the desk, rounded it and stood behind Lynn.
She still wasn’t sure what he was up to, but she tried to relax and wait for him to finally say why he came to visit her in the middle of her shift. He placed his hands on her shoulders and started to give her a massage. Lynn hummed in appreciation and closed her eyes, while Nate worked his thumbs through the knots in the lower parts of her neck.
“You’re working so much lately,” he whispered towards her.
“I know. I have to. I don’t want to disappoint Director Burns, the lawyers or even Marta. I’m very lucky with the sentence I got. I deserve to be in jail. But instead I’m still allowed to work here,” she sighed.
“I know, darling, but you getting burnt out wouldn’t help anybody. We need you here.” He placed a few loving kisses on the back of her head, while still pressing his thumbs along her cervical spine.
“I know. It’s just a lot to do at the moment. We’re having the new Agents starting soon and I needed to give the medical approval for their hire. It was a direct order from Director Burns.”
“Lynn Summers,” Nate said with a flicker of anger in his voice, making Lynn open her eyes and turn her head as best as possible to look at the man standing behind her.
“What?” she asked, amused.
“Stop making excuses for working too much. I know you feel guilty and that’s the only reason you’re working twelve hours a day. You don’t have to, darling. Nobody expects you to do that.”
“But…” Lynn started but was interrupted immediately.
“No buts. I talked to Tia and Birdie and you don’t have important cases this afternoon. So you’re gonna have the afternoon off and you can spend it with a handsome man of your choice.” Nate had leaned down to whisper in her ear.
“But have you…” she started, being interrupted again .
“Yes, I’ve talked to Marta and it’s allowed. No problem, I checked it all for you.” He smiled into the sensitive skin of her neck.
“You’re the best,” Lynn whispered with a wide grin.
Her sore muscles gave her the clear signal that taking the afternoon off was a brilliant idea to relax and clear her mind.
“I know,” he said in between wet kisses on her neck.
Lynn purred in response, a slight moan almost slipping through her lips, but she caught it before it escaped her mouth.
“So who’s gonna be the lucky and handsome man you spend your free afternoon with then?” Nate asked. His mouth was pressed on her ear, his breath hot and wet and a shiver trailed down her spine.
“Maybe I can get some shooting lessons from Oliver. Heard he’s a good teacher,” Lynn said between gritted teeth, trying desperately to suppress her laughter.
“What?” Nate exclaimed, his voice almost breaking at the end. He leaned back, his hands and mouth leaving Lynn’s body, before he grabbed the chair she was sitting on and turned it around so that she was facing him.
Lynn tried to maintain her straight face, visibly amused about the shocked reaction of the man in front of her.
“You’re serious?” Nate asked, his eyes glimmering with sadness, the smile gone.
Instead of answering him, Lynn stood from her chair and stepped towards him until their chests were almost pressed against each other. He tensed, unsure and confused about what she was about to do or say. Painfully slow Lynn raised her arms and wrapped them around his neck, leaning forward. Their lips only inches apart.
“Of course I’ll spend my afternoon with the most handsome man on this base,” she whispered before connecting her lips with his. He smiled into the kiss before kissing her back with tenderness and love.
“You mean me, right?” He chuckled in between the kisses.
“Of course I mean you, idiot,” Lynn responded while playfully biting his nose. That stupid, little, perfect nose.
“Good. Just wanted to double check.” Nate relaxed, placing a tender kiss on her nose, because he knew how much she loved it.
They held each other close, looking into each other’s eyes while a comfortable silence filled the room. Their love for each other was communicated nonverbally.
“I may have an idea how to spend the afternoon!” Lynn exclaimed louder than she wanted, making Nate scrunch up his face in pain because of the too-loud sound in his ears.
“Oh, sorry,” she giggled before placing more kisses along his face as an apology.
“What’s your idea?” he asked.
“Let me surprise you. I gotta check something first and then pick you up from your room in an hour. Okay?”
Nate raised an eyebrow at her. Since his kidnapping, he didn’t like surprises because during that time all the surprises he got were connected with torture and pain. But he’d never told her that before, so he couldn’t blame her.
“I don’t like surprises. But I trust you. I’ll be waiting for you,” he responded, a little flicker of insecurity in his eyes .
Tears brimmed in Lynn’s while she grabbed his face tightly and gave Nate a last passionate kiss before turning away. Nate was quicker, grabbed her hand, spun her around and pressed her against his chest again. Tears had escaped her eyes, but she was still smiling. A combination that Nate didn’t understand. Concern filled his heart and he forced Lynn to look at him.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Nothing. It’s just…” she let out a stifled sob. “… you trust me. That means so much to me.”
Nate hadn’t realized that he’d used the word “trust” and now that he was thinking about it, he smiled at her.
“I do. I trust you,” he whispered, placing another kiss on her nose before wishing away her tears with his thumb.
“I love you,” she whispered, tears still slipping out of her eyes.
“I love you, too,” he answered.
A loud knock sounded on Nate’s door and he quickly jumped off his bed to open it. He was reading a book while patiently waiting for Lynn to come and pick him up for whatever surprise she had planned. He was nervous, had already had to change into a third shirt because he was sweating so much. The warm weather in the middle of July didn’t make it any better.
This week he’d finally gotten rid of the knee brace so he was able to wear some dark shorts without any restrictions. The scars on his knee were still visible but he knew that within a few months they would fade and would not be as prominent as they were right now.
With a few quick steps he walked to the door and opened it. Lynn was looking at him and her eyes lit up the moment they met his. She extracted her arm to show a basket full of food as well as a blanket.
“Surprise!”
“What kind of surprise is this?” Nate chuckled while observing the items in the basket.
“I thought we could have a picnic. Just the two of us and maybe some bees,” she laughed before stepping aside so that Nate could leave his room and join her.
He copied her laughter, closed the door behind him, and reached out his arm for her to grab it. She entwined her fingers with his as they stepped towards the elevator. The moment they passed the communal kitchen they could hear someone whistle after them before a female and a male voice burst into laughter.
Oliver and Marta.
Nate’s face was cherry red when he realized that they were whistling after them, but he stopped and shouted towards the open door:
“Get yourself a room and don’t have sex in the communal kitchen!”
Silence followed before the two voices were whispering towards each other.
“Oh, don’t think I can’t hear you moan his name when you have sex right next to my room,” he added and they could hear footsteps approaching before Oliver’s head appeared in the doorframe.
“Don’t tell anybody,” he said with an angry pout on his face.
“Don’t you think they all already know? There are hearts practically flying around you every time you’re in the same room. Only blind idiots wouldn’t see that,” Lynn answered this time and they could see Oliver blush. A moment later Marta appeared behind him, her face as red as Oliver’s.
“Is it that obvious?” she mumbled.
“Yes. Yes, it is.” Lynn laughed.
“Shit!” Marta whined.
“What’s the problem?” Nate asked, confused.
“I’m his boss. It’s not allowed to have a relationship along the hierarchy,” Marta sighed.
“We won’t tell anyone. You can be whatever you are when you’re around us. We support it.” Lynn smiled at the pair in front of her.
“We…” Oliver started, turned his head towards Marta before looking back at Lynn with a smile. “…we've been in an official relationship for two months now. We just didn’t announce it with everything that was going on.” They looked at each other again with the biggest smile on their lips. Yeah, they were deeply in love.
“I’m happy for you.” Lynn answered, giving both of them a careful hug before stepping next to Nate again. He nodded at the pair in front of them, unsure if he should hug them as well.
“I’m happy, too,” he quickly added after Lynn gave him a demanding side-eye .
“Thank you,” Marta mouthed towards them. She alternated her eyes between Nate’s and Lynn’s faces before she lowered her gaze and saw their intertwined fingers. Lynn followed her gaze, let go of Nate’s hand quickly and stared at the floor, her cheeks flushing.
“I’m glad you’re giving each other a chance,” she commented.
It was a bit pathetic, because Lynn had visited her half an hour ago to ask if she was allowed to go into the attached forest or if that would be registered as “leaving headquarters” and would mean a break of the rules regarding her sentence. They’d had to call the technician that installed the tracking app on Lynn’s smartwatch but finally she’d got confirmation that she was able to reach a few areas outside of the buildings as well. Of course she had told Marta about the picnic idea and that’s why the Deputy Director was standing in front of them with a knowing grin on her face. Trying to hide the information she already had before this encounter.
“Yeah. We are, too,” Nate answered, stepping from one leg on the other a few times.
Lynn knew that it was one of his habits when he was nervous, so she grabbed his hand again and cleared her throat.
“So, we gotta go. See you tomorrow!”
“Sure! We’re out for dinner tonight, so don’t be confused when you’re alone when you return,” Oliver answered, before he and Marta stepped back into the communal kitchen, whispering and giggling. Like teenagers , Lynn thought and shook her head .
Nate and she made their way out of the two buildings and were standing in front of the main entrance. Nate still didn’t know where to go so he just simply followed Lynn, who made her way past the parking lot. When she turned her head to look at Nate, she saw him looking around nervously and confused. With a gentle squeeze of his hand, she tried to reassure him.
“We need to get onto Colonial Farm Rd and after a few steps there’s a small path leading directly into the forest. We’ll follow that for a while until there’s a small grass field. That’s our target,” Lynn explained and Nate nodded.
“But are you allowed to go there?” he asked, concerned, nodding towards the watch on her left wrist that was tracking her movements.
“Yes, checked it with the technician. It’s not as strict as I thought because I have a radius around headquarters that I’m allowed to enter. This field is within that radius,” she explained with a puffed chest.
She was proud that she had figured that out and that she was able to enjoy some time with Nate outside of headquarters. Outside of their rooms.
“That’s awesome. I’ve never been in the forest to be honest,” he answered, his hand gripping hers tightly and she felt that his mind was drifting to all the various reasons why he never felt safe enough to leave headquarters to go for a walk.
She understood, even without him saying it out loud, so she gave his hand a squeeze to bring him back to reality. He turned his head in response and gave her a weak smile .
They reached the grass field five minutes later and while Nate was getting the blanket ready on the floor, Lynn was digging through the basket to prepare the snacks. Meatballs, sandwiches, and some mozzarella and tomato skewers.
“That looks delicious, darling,” Nate commented, wetting his lower lip with his tongue.
“Yeah, I didn’t want to starve if we’re going to spend the entire afternoon here.”
She stepped behind him, wrapped her arms around his abdomen before crossing her hands on his stomach. Her lips hovered over his shoulder blade, unable to reach his neck because of the difference in their heights. She placed a gentle kiss on his clothed shoulder before leaning her head into his back. Nate hummed in appreciation, letting his fingertips gently strike over her forearm. She was wearing a t-shirt too, so he could see and feel the goosebumps on her arms the moment she heard him moan slightly.
“I love when you make that sound,” she whispered and pushed her body even closer into his. Carefully, he turned around within her embrace so that they were face to face. Her face was now buried in the fabric on his chest, her arms still wrapped around his middle while he wrapped his own around her shoulders, holding her as close as possible. He placed his chin on the top of her head, smiling like a love-drunk idiot.
Their bodies were practically merged together, hearts beating in the same rhythm, steady breathing hypnotizing them both. It was a magical moment.
Just Nate and Lynn .
“I love you.” He had shifted his head to bury his nose in the peachy smelling hair of his favorite doctor. Placing a kiss on it to underline his statement.
“I love you more,” she whispered in his chest, her voice muffled.
Nate’s stomach started to grumble, destroying the moment between them. They untangled themselves and started to laugh.
“Gotta get some food in your stomach, big guy,” Lynn chuckled, holding a sandwich in front of Nate’s face. He smiled at her, grabbed the sandwich and took a big bite.
They sat down on the blanket and ate in silence, looking at each other with goofy smiles from time to time. Lynn scooted closer as soon as she had finished her last meatball, leaning her head against Nate’s shoulder who was still eating a sandwich.
He wiggled his arm from underneath Lynn, wrapped it around her shoulders while holding the sandwich with his other hand. It was dangerously close to falling apart but he didn’t care. He wanted to have Lynn close.
“Thank you for this,” Lynn started and saw Nate turn his head in her direction.
“Well you prepared everything for the picnic. I should thank you!” He said between bites.
“Yes, but you organized for me to have the afternoon off. That was very thoughtful of you, so yeah. Thank you.” She smiled into his shoulder before placing a kiss on it.
“Glad that you enjoy it. My cute little workaholic.”
“I am not a workaholic,” Lynn protested, her mouth open in a theatrically shocked expression .
“I said cuuuuuuuteeee,” Nate responded before playfully nudging his shoulder into hers. Lynn started to laugh.
“Be thankful that you’re adorable, or I’d be really offended right now.”
“I’m adorable, huh?” He smirked at her.
Lynn could see some of the mayonnaise on the side of his mouth so she extended her finger to swipe it away. Nate saw it coming, wasn’t sure what Lynn was about to do and ducked underneath her finger. She looked at him surprised, trying again to swipe it away in the second try but he ducked again.
Lynn stabbed her outstretched index finger in his shoulder and said between gritted teeth,
“I’m just trying to get the mayonnaise off your face, you idiot.”
Nate looked at her, something between shock and a smirk on his face before he pressed his own finger in the rest of his sandwich and smeared mayonnaise onto Lynn’s nose. The doctor shrunk back but couldn’t avoid the attack.
“Yooouuuuuu…” she exhaled, pushing herself out of her sitting position and onto Nate.
The Agent was caught off guard, so he didn’t have a chance to defend himself. He fell with his back on the blanket underneath him, Lynn lying on top of him. The sandwich had burst into pieces, but neither of them cared at that moment.
“You’re such an idiot sometimes,” she huffed before starting to tickle Nate’s waist.
She wasn’t sure if he was ticklish there as well, but she thought she would give it a try. Right after his knee surgery she had discovered that he was ticklish under his feet, so maybe he was ticklish at his waist as well.
Nate managed to swallow the bite in his mouth before he started to snort and giggle. He was way stronger than Lynn and if he really wanted her to stop, he knew he would easily have been able to overpower her. But he let her tickle him, suffering through the attack. Lynn lay on top of him, her hands never leaving his waist while Nate tried to squirm his body out of her grip. His abs started to hurt from all the giggling, snorting and laughing.
The moment Lynn noticed that his breaths had become more and more shallow, she stopped her attack and gave him some time to breathe. He couldn’t stop laughing, even now after Lynn had stopped.
“Why are you still laughing?” Lynn asked, confused.
“Because even if that was the worst torture ever, I still love you because you’re so adorable.”
Lynn didn’t answer. She just looked him in the eyes with tears gathering in her own.
“Darling, you gotta stop crying randomly. You’re really confusing me,” he sighed.
“Do you realize what you just said?” Lynn asked with a voice dripping with love.
“No…I…” Nate furrowed his brow while trying to remember the exact words he had said.
Suddenly his lips parted, and he looked at Lynn in shock.
“That your tickling was the worst torture ever,” he whispered.
“Yes.” Lynn smiled at him .
“Oh my god. That’s the first time I thought about torture and didn’t think about Iraq. Oh my god, Lynn. The first time!” He practically screamed at her, before grabbing her face with both of his hands and plastering it with wet kisses.
Lynn squirmed in his grip, but she was so happy for him, so she let him do whatever he needed to do.
“I love you. I love you so fucking much,” he said between kisses.
Suddenly he stopped, his hands still holding her face tightly. And then she could see it in his eyes: The love.
The pure and innocent, never ending love that this man held for her. And all she could do was smile at him.
They adjusted their positions a little as Lynn rolled off his body. He still lay on his back, Lynn wrapped in his arms, while she placed her head on his chest.
“You are the most adorable man I’ve ever dated,” she whispered. With her ear pressed on his chest, she could hear his heartbeat quicken after her words.
“Wow,” he answered.
“I wanna get to know everything about you, Nate. And when I say everything, I mean everything.”
“Then give me some questions,” he responded, carefully caressing his fingertips over Lynn’s back.
“What’s your favorite color?”
This wasn’t exactly the question he had expected, but he answered it anyway.
“Yellow. Because yellow reminds me of the sun. The sun reminds me of summer and summer reminds me of you. ”
Lynn couldn’t answer him. Tears dripped on Nate’s chest, soaking the fabric of his shirt. She let out a silent sob, but of course Nate had heard it.
“You okay?” he asked, lifting and turning his head to look at her face, but he wasn’t at the right angle.
“Yes... Yes. I… I’ve never had someone say something so nice to me. I’m not used to compliments.”
Instead of answering her, Nate raised his head a little to place a loving kiss on Lynn’s hairline.
“I love you,” he whispered with a smile on his face.
“I love you, too,” she sobbed in his chest, still not able to control her feelings.
They lay like that for a while, shooting some questions back and forth to get to know each other. They were mostly basic questions like taste in music, favorite movies, favorite dish, what was on the other’s bucket list and stuff like that.
Because of everything they’d been through together, Lynn and Nate already had a deep connection. But they totally missed the beginning phase of a relationship where they get to know each other. They had started on a different level, but now caught up with everything that came to their minds.
It was already after 7 pm when they decided to go back to headquarters and watch another movie together. With intertwined hands and wide smiles on their faces, they entered Nate’s room and practically jumped into his bed.
Nate pulled her close so that Lynn was lying in his arms while they watched a horror movie. It was his turn to choose a movie and he’d always loved a good movie with some splatter and jump scares in it. Mostly the paranormal ones with women climbing out of TV’s or spooky looking nuns in mirrors. The ones where you know it’s not realistic.
Because Nate’s life had been like an action movie and thriller at the same time, he preferred to watch Science Fiction, Fantasy or paranormal movies. It let him dive into a completely different world and forget about his reality for a moment.
“Why do we have to watch thiiiiiiiis?” Lynn screamed in terror after she practically jumped out of Nate’s arms.
“Come on, it was my choice. And it’s fun. All the adrenaline rushing through my veins,” Nate laughed, before pulling her closer and placing a few kisses on her head.
“I hate horror movies because even if I know that something will scare me in a second, I still jump. I’m not made for watching this scary shit,” Lynn sighed, turning around in Nate’s arms and hiding her face in the fabric of his t-shirt.
“I’ll be here to protect you if someone comes out of that TV,” he chuckled, his eyes still fixed on the TV screen, where one of the characters was currently suffering a brutal death.
“Not helping!” Lynn’s face was still buried in Nate’s chest and she even pulled the blanket higher to place it over her head.
“You want to watch something else?” Nate asked, she could hear his amusement in his voice.
“No, it’s fine.”
“Okay is this one of the ‘No it’s fine’s that is actually fine or one of those where you actually want me to turn off the movie but don’t say it because you’re too shy or you want me to suggest it. Women are complicated,” he sighed deeply.
Lynn pulled her head out from under the blanket and looked at him with a furrowed brow.
“What?” she asked, confused.
“Yeah. You know I’m not good with this whole communicating thing and I don’t want to ruin it because I can’t read between your lines.”
“Nate,” Lynn said, propping herself up on one arm to look him in the face. He looked at her with insecurity in his eyes.
“You’ve really improved your communication skills and you can be proud of that. Also I always try to communicate honestly with you. That means when I say it’s fine, then it is fine. No different meaning between the lines. Okay?” she added.
“Okay. That’s good.” Nate leaned forward and gave her a light kiss on her nose.
Lynn went back into her position next to him, head resting on his chest. The movie was still playing and she closed her eyes, just enjoying Nate’s comforting scent of sandalwood and cinnamon and drifted off to sleep.