It doesn’t take much time to say three words. And “I upendo you” is just that… Three little words… “I upendo you”… No, not long at all. Well, I mean, it doesn’t take long to say the actual words but getting to that point where wewe can say it, and mean it? That takes a long time. But she supposed if wewe work alongside a man most of your time that must amount to enough because right now she was ready to say it and ready to say it with conviction. She was ready to shout it from the rooftops, all-day, everyday and she never tired of letting him know that, he didn’t either. The fist time had been the hardest though. Of course it had been. She hadn’t known how he would have reacted. But life was too short to guess at people’s emotions. Being kidnapped and almost murdered helps wewe realise that. It certainly did in her case anyway.

There had only been about a few sekunde to tell him how she really felt before SWAT, the rest of the team, the local police force and the paramedics all came rushing in, but that was all the time she needed. The events leading up to that moment had been treacherous and heart-breaking, were her feelings mutual? Sometimes she thought they might be, the way he placed them together often on cases and how he occasionally reapplied her blanket when she was asleep on the jet. But then the inayofuata siku he’d be yelling at her for breaking protocol au something. It was, to heck with making clichés, it was an emotional rollercoaster! One that left her crying at night and drove her crazy with both frustration and exasperation. But it had all been worth it, what she’d seen his eyes when she’d first told him how she felt, a mix of so many emotions. Realisation, relief, joy to name only a few. That look was one of the things that had saved her, between all of the rushing to hospital, filling out reports and recovering in a hospital there hadn’t been much time to talk things over with him. But she didn’t need to talk, all she needed was that memory. That was all she did whilst she was in hospital, she just lay there on the uncomfortable kitanda and remembered, and every time she envisioned it she saw a new emotion, a new piece of evidence that her feelings were returned.

Although they didn’t talk about it in depth then but they did later. Of course they did, it was an tembo in the room, a big, giant, fat tembo in the room that had protocol written all over it. But to her relief for once he decided to throw protocol to the wind. Who cared about section 9 subheading 4 anyway?! Not when true upendo was involved that was for sure. But even though they loved each other doesn’t mean that everyone knew, no one did. It had been hard to keep it a secret, especially seeing as they worked with a bunch of profilers who read people’s actions for a living. But the fact that they themselves were profilers helped a lot, after all if wewe know what to look for wewe know what wewe have to not do in order to make it unobvious. But that didn’t mean they still couldn’t have fun, they met up every time they had some time off, went out to dinner, went to the cinema, they just had to their upendo on the field, they could have little moments at work they just had too make them discreet and few and far between but the occasional brush of hands and the way he always gave her the hottest coffee sufficed. Then there were the looks so special and yet so familiar… Of course they seemed familiar; she’d been receiving them for so long but now there was a realisation, a knowledge she’d never had before, these weren’t normal, everyday looks, these were looks of love. Looks she was zaidi then happy to return…
“You shouldn’t sit like that.”
“What?!” The familiar voice awakened her from her daydream.
“You shouldn’t sit like that. It can’t be good for the baby.” The voice repeated again patiently.
She stared down at her knees which where currently pulled up to her chest and shrugged, “Nah, it’ll be fine.”
“Emily.” The voice was sterner this time she couldn’t help but listen to it.
“Fine!” She dramatically sighed and relocated herself on the sofa, now she was lying down head resting in his lap. She was content with all things the way they where. She knew they’d have to change, of course they would, her lump would grow bigger and then what? She didn’t know what. But it didn’t matter. It was something they’d handle when the time came and when they did they’d handle it together, as a couple. That was what was important to her. She told herself not to ponder of the future and finally relaxed and let the cheesy 80’s sitcom immerse her. “All in good time", she told herself, "all in good time.”