Ficathon entry for giantessmess
Title:  Nerdy
Author:  Wonko
Written for:  giantessmess
Prompt:  Nerdy (the title's dead clever, huh?)
Summary:  When Ash gets reading glasses Scribbs wastes no time in teasing her partner, not realising she's touching a very raw nerve.
Archive:  Anyone who wants it can have it, email is wonkots42[at]msn.com.

DCI Sullivan ducked his head through the door leading to the squad room.  "Any sign of Ash yet, Scribbs?" he asked with a slight frown.

Scribbs shrugged.  "'Fraid not boss.  She said something about an appointment and buggered off at lunchtime."  Scribbs was still sulking a little about that.  She and Ash always had lunch together but today her partner had refused to even explain where she was going.

"Looking for me?"

Ash breezed into the room with a tight smile for her boss and barely a glance for her partner.  Scribbs slouched back into her chair, a scowl beginning to deepen on her face.

"Oh, there you are Ash," Sullivan replied, oblivious to the minor tiff building up between his officers.  "Wondered if you could have a look at this."  He proffered a file in a buff folder with a hopeful look.  "Come and see me when you've read it," he added as he retreated to his office.

"Right."  Ash glanced around briefly as she took the file.  Then, with extremely forced casualness, she fished a pair of glasses out of her pocket and placed them delicately on the bridge of her nose.

The reaction was instantaneous.  Scribbs let out a short burst of laughter, which attracted the attention of everyone else in the room.  Ash kept her eyes firmly on the file, but the tips of her ears turned a rather fetching shade of pink under the scrutiny.

"So that's where you sloped off to," Scribbs crowed.

"Are you quite finished?" Ash asked frostily.  "I'm trying to read this file."

Scribbs wasn't about to let the subject drop that easily.  "Well, that should be easy now you've got four eyes."  This comment was met with a stifled giggle from one of the younger PCs who was trying his best to look as though he wasn't listening.  Ash rounded on Scribbs, flushing hotly.

"DS Scribbins, your childish remarks are not helpful.  Now, I think you have at least five case reports pending, correct?"

"Case reports?  Come on Ash, it was just a joke."  An aggrieved tone had crept into Scribbs' voice.  Ash raised an eyebrow and said nothing.  After a moment Scribbs huffed loudly and flounced off to her desk.

Ash ripped the glasses from her face and proceeded to squint at the case file until her eyes watered.

* * * * * *

By that night Ash had built up a nice little store of annoyance which she was currently unleashing on her partner in tiny incremental doses.  She glanced over at Scribbs and frowned deeply.  "How many times have I told you not to eat in my bed, Scribbs?"

Scribbs swivelled her head quickly to fix a petulant stare on her partner.  "It's a hobby.  You're allowed to do your hobbies in bed."

"Reading is a hobby.  Polishing off three bags of Walkers and half a pack of Chocolate Digestives is not."

Scribbs pouted.  "Two bags..." she mumbled.  "It's not as if you're reading anyway.  You've been squinting at that page for twenty minutes.  Just admit you need the bloody glasses and be done with it."

Ash flashed Scribbs a warning glare.  "I am not squinting."

"Are too."

"I'm not about to get into a juvenile playground argument with you Scribbs.  Now, sweep those crumbs off the duvet please."

With an exaggerated sigh, Scribbs swept a cursory arm over the duvet and turned over onto her side.  "'Night then."

"Goodnight."

Ash squinted at the page for ten minutes longer before sighing deeply.  "You awake Scribbs?" she whispered.  There was no reply, so she gently placed her book down on her lap.  As quietly as possible, she slid her bedside drawer open and grabbed the glasses from inside.

"Aha!"  Scribbs twirled round suddenly, crowing in triumph.  "You do need them, I told you so!"

Ash jumped, her left hand flying to her chest.  "I thought you were asleep!" she snapped.

"I was pretending so you'd get your nerdy specs out," Scribbs replied with a grin.  "You gonna put them on then?"

Ash turned onto her side, presenting Scribbs with her back.  "No," she huffed.

Scribbs chuckled, almost rubbing her hands in glee.  "Come on, they're not that bad.  You could have a bit of a Miss Moneypenny thing going on.  Or a sexy librarian.  You know, the hair's up, the glasses are on and everyone thinks she's dead plain until she whips off the specs and lets the pins out and suddenly she's a sex goddess.  I mean, fair enough, yours look a bit like something my granny would have worn, but still-"

Just then a sound made her stop short.  A tight sob had risen up from Ash's throat and choked its way out, despite the brunette's best efforts.

"Hey," Scribbs said, the grin well and truly wiped off her face, as she rested a hand on Ash's shoulder.  Ash shrugged her off and brought a hand up to wipe her suddenly damp eyes.

"Leave me alone, will you?" she muttered, sniffing.

Undeterred, Scribbs wrapped an arm around her partner's waist, and this time was not rebuffed.  "Shan't," she said.  "What's wrong, love?  I was just teasing, you know that."

"I know," Ash conceded.  "It's stupid."

Scribbs raised herself up onto one elbow and pulled Ash onto her back.  "Hey," she murmured, pushing a stray strand of hair behind her partner's ear.  "Anything that makes you upset like this is important."  Ash managed a tight smile, but it didn't reach her eyes.  "What is it?" Scribbs pressed.  "They're not really that nerdy, if that's what's worrying you."

"No, it's not that," Ash muttered.

"What, then?"

Ash squirmed a little.  "You'll laugh."  Scribbs shook her head.

"Nuh uh.  Promise."

Ash ran a hand over her face, wiping away the last stray tears.  "Okay," she agreed eventually.  She took a deep breath.  "It's what the optician said.  About reading glasses."

"Uh huh," Scribbs prompted.

"I asked why I suddenly needed them now, and she said...well, she said it's just something that happens as you get older."

Scribbs waited for a moment before it dawned on her that Ash had finished.  "Is that it?" she asked slightly incredulously.

"I knew you wouldn't understand," Ash replied as she tried to turn her back on Scribbs again.  Scribbs placed a restraining hand on her partner's shoulder.

"Explain it then," she said.  Ash seemed to have great difficulty meeting her eyes.

"Well," she mumbled after a few silent moments.  "It just reminded me, I suppose...that I'm getting older.  And that you're younger than me."

Scribbs frowned.  "Yeeeeeeah," she drawled.  "Always have been, always will be.  And?"

Ash looked away, biting her lip.  "Do you think I'm too old for you, Emma?"

There was a brief moment of silence in which Ash clenched and unclenched her toes while listening to the distant drip of a leaky tap in the bathroom.  Then she felt a gentle hand tugging her gaze upwards until she was forced to look up at her partner's face.

"Kate," Scribbs said softly.  "I love you.  I loved you yesterday.  I'll love you tomorrow.  I'll love you when you're ninety.  And nothing, least of all a pair of reading glasses, is going to change that."  She sealed her declaration with a brief kiss which she pressed onto her lover's forehead before pulling back to bestow an indulgent smile on her.

Ash bit her lip.  "I've been silly, haven't I?" she asked.  Scribbs nodded.  "I'm sorry I made you write case reports," Ash added, wrapping her arms around the blonde's neck.

Scribbs leaned down and kissed her gently.  "You're forgiven," she murmured.  "Sorry I called your glasses nerdy."  Ash shrugged.

"You're forgiven too," she said.  "You're only young, after all."

Scribbs barked with laughter.  "Right enough, old woman," she retorted.

Ash huffed.  "Oh...shut up!" she said and then kissed her.

Which was by far the best way of shutting Scribbs up.

The End