Title: Too Long Between Kisses
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Carl Hickman/Louis Daniel
Fandom: Crossing Lines
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 457
Disclaimer: This is entirely a product of my own imagination, and I make no profit from it. I do not own the lovely Carl Hickman or Louis Daniel, unfortunately, just borrowing them for a while. Please do not sue.

***

Louis stared at Carl, dark eyes wide, a million questions on his lips. But he couldn't make himself speak to ask any of them; they all seemed frozen in his head, unable to make it to his lips and out into speech. Really, he already had the answers, anyway.

There was no need to ask Carl why he had kissed him. This was merely the two of them picking up from where they had left off fifteen years ago.

The kiss they had shared then had frightened him with its intensity; he hadn't been ready for such feelings at the time. His affair with Michael had just ended recently, and he was too raw, too heartbroken, to let another man into his life and his heart.

But that was then. This was now.

He had thought about that kiss for years, wishing that he'd had the courage to follow through with it. It had been a missed opportunity, one that he had always bitterly regretted -- particularly after Carl had been shot and his life had seemed to go to hell.

Louis had wanted so badly to rescue him from that life, to pull him up from the gutter he had fallen into, to help him brush himself off and come back to life. With Carl's inclusion on the ICC team, he was sure that he'd managed to do just that.

Carl had always been his weakness. The other man didn't even know that Louis had watched over him for a long time, wishing that he could find a way to approach him, but knowing that Carl's pride would only cause a rift between them. He hadn't been ready.

That weakness had remained, even after Carl had been brought back from the depths and they had begun working together. He'd had to keep distance between the two of them, to be sure that he didn't give in to that weakness.

Now, there was no reason for him not to give in.

It was past time for that weakness to become a strength. Slowly, Louis raised his hand to cup Carl's cheek, a smile curving his lips. "Fifteen years is far too long to go between kisses," he murmured, tilting his head to the side. "Would you like to make up for lost time?"

Carl's answering smile was all the answer he needed; it seemed that the other man did indeed intend to make up for all the time they'd spent apart.

When their lips met again, Louis let himself sink into the kiss, his body relaxing in Carl's embrace. He didn't know just where this was going to take them, but he knew that wherever Carl led, he would follow, no matter what that path might be.

***