Save the Date! (7 page)

The invitations had been sent out yesterday. It was official. Dixon was getting married to Gemma Harrison in a manner of months and after that, who knew? There was really nothing he wouldn’t do for his job, it would seem. An ironic smile touched the corners of his lips, and as he flipped through the newspaper, he thought about his current predicament. He had never actually thought about getting married to anybody, not even Eva. Of course he cared about Eva and had considered a proposal, but he never really thought about what marriage meant. Such a big commitment? Dixon had never been a fan of that, despite the fact that he was quite dedicated to his career. And yet here he was, doing his job that proclaimed he was getting married.

The invitations had been sent to his family
down in Deep Creek, even to his old partner at Atlanta’s FBI base, his boss, anyone he knew down there. Brent Harrison had not wanted to leave any stone unturned when it came to his daughter's fake big day. He idly wondered what Brent and Carlene would be doing if Gemma were really getting married. The thought amused him more than anything, and he chuckled at it. Gemma would probably crush their dreams of having a big wedding, although he didn't doubt that Brent would get excited upon hearing his daughter wanted to get married on an old fashioned ship.

To be honest,
Dixon hadn't even thought of that prospect. He took a sip of his hot coffee before leaning in the chair he was sitting in. Currently, he was in the Harrison's dining room, his blue eyes flickering around the room occasionally before returning to the paper. It was hard for him to actually read the words because his thoughts proved to be rather noisy.

But if he
were
to get married, he actually liked the idea of getting married on a ship. Maybe he would find someone who was as interested about the sea and sailing as he was, as Gemma was. Hell, this whole fake wedding might have been more bearable if they were actually planning it on the ship.

Everything had to be traditional.

Except the age between them. That amused him to no end as well. But oddly enough, the Harrisons didn't mind. There was a gap between the married couple as well, so they weren't quite affected the way other parents may be.

He flipped another page and came to an abrupt halt when he recognized his picture on the right page. There he was, with Gemma. It was one of the photos the couple had taken at the park. She had messed his hair up slightly so it was sticking up more so than usual, and he was on his knees, leaning forward. Gemma was wrapped around him, leaning her torso on his back, curling hers so it would shape to his own. Her hair fell over one shoulder as she rested her chin gently on the top of his head. Her arms coiled around his neck loosely, and
Dixon's arms reached up to encompass her bare forearms with his long fingers. Oddly enough, both of them were smiling genuinely. They had managed to get a pedestrian to take the photo, and after posing, Gemma started to laugh at how ridiculous the whole situation was. Dixon had no idea why, but he joined in and the pedestrian took the picture.

Upon studying it,
Dixon's lips curved up. He liked this picture, despite the fact that most of it was staged.

Gemma Harrison, 20, has found her Prince Charming in
Dixon Black, 35. The two got engaged once Dixon took leave from his job at an undisclosed government agent, which was sometime late July. The wedding date is set in November or December, depending on how soon Dixon's family can come up from Atlanta, Georgia. They are said to be very much in love, despite factors that may have originally kept them apart. But love knows no boundaries, as they say…

It took everything in
Dixon to keep his laughter in check upon reading the announcement of their engagement. He wasn't exactly a romantic, but he was sure that if Gemma were with him right now, she'd be laughing her ass off.

At that moment, Brent headed out downstairs with his own cup of coffee in his hand, looking like he just stepped out of a shower. As always, he was immaculately dressed, ready for work. Upon getting assigned this case,
Dixon came to the house early and left late at night, so it was not uncommon to see him lounging around, much to Gemma's dismay. Brent walked out the front door after greeting Dixon, prepared to go to work. Carlene and her daughter had left moments ago, looking at place settings and the like, something Dixon didn't have to (and didn't particularly want to) be a part of.

A moment later, Brent dashed back inside, his cup of coffee forgotten wherever he had left it outside.
Dixon abruptly stood, perking his brow up as though to inquire what was wrong.

"I found this," Brent said almost breathlessly.
  He was holding a piece of paper with a pair of tweezers he probably kept in a tool kit in his car. "I found this in the mailbox."

His hand shook as he handed
Dixon the same engagement announcement, except this one was destroyed with a black permanent marker. Gemma's head was circled crudely, and the words
I will get her
, were written next to her.

Suddenly,
Dixon felt his blood run cold. "When did you get this?" he asked, his voice crisp and calculating. All the amusement had fled from his eyes and he looked expectantly at his boss.

"I, I don't know," Brent said, stuttering slightly. He looked as helpless as
Dixon was sure he felt. "It wasn't there last night, so probably this morning."

"We'll send it to the agency and check for prints,"
Dixon said, glancing back down at the article. "Any print that doesn’t belong to you or me should be considered suspect." Brent said nothing but nodded. Dixon had never been one for words, nor was he talented at reassuring anyone, but he placed his hand on Brent's shoulder and locked eyes with him. "We will get to the bottom of this, sir," he said firmly, hoping Brent believed him. "I won't let her out of my sight."

"Yes, of course," Brent said, attempting a smile but failing miserably. "I, I know you will,
Black. I just, it would give me great relief if you moved into the house, at least, at least for now. I know I am asking you a lot, and I promise you will be greatly compensated, but please… It would put me at ease if I knew you were here to call upon if something happened. Please?"

Brent was not a man who said please unless he was with his family.
Dixon realized this was not an order, but a request. He found it quite surprising, but even more so than that was the fact that he answered without hesitation. "Of course," he said.

"And you won't have to worry about your apartment," Brent assured him. "I will pay the rent, of course. Oh thank you,
Black. Thank you. I need to get to the office, and I'll drop the paper off at the lab."

"Harvey should be here soon,"
Dixon told Brent. "I'll inform him of the events that have transpired and we'll see what to do from there."

Brent left, and fifteen minutes later,
Dixon's partner, Harvey Stevens showed up. Dixon explained everything to the man, and even showed the untainted announcement he had been reading to emphasize his points.

"She is a beaut, isn't she Dan?" Harvey asked
, cracking a smile and hoping to alleviate the tension he could feel radiating off his partner. "Very easy to fall in love with, huh?"

Dixon shrugged. 
"She is quite charming when she wants to be," he said, his eyes returning to the photo and looking at it. And maybe Harvey was right. If he spent enough time with her… Not that he loved her now, or anything, but he did care about her, and if anyone tried to harm her, they would have to go through him first. But yeah, he could see how she was one of those people one couldn't help but fall in love with.

"Sounds like you like her," Harvey teased, and then laughed. "I remember when you were first assigned to the case, how the two of you couldn't stand each other. Every night, I'd call you up to check up on things and you would tell me everything about her antics or what she had done to piss you off."

Dixon's lip curled up into a half smile that did not quite reach his eyes. He didn't really find anything funny right now, though he was grateful for his friend's attempt. But even so, when Dixon focused on something, or considered something to be important, nothing else consumed him more than solving a problem. And this was quite a big problem.

"I
like her," he admitted, but that was all he would say on the matter.  “A little.”

By the time Saturday came around, Gemma was seriously sick of everything and anything that related to weddings. She couldn't even watch her favorite movie,
Wedding Crashers
, without turning it off (though she did wish she was marrying Vince Vaughn just so she could dance with the man) fifteen minutes in. Invitations went out at the beginning of the week, and Gillian had already RSVP'd. Ever since her best friend had found out, Gemma was beginning to think Gillian was getting a kick out of how events had played out, and found Gemma's situation quite amusing. Gillian, of course, didn't know the whole wedding shindig was for show, but she still found it humorous. Gemma frowned just thinking about it.

"Well, I'm glad my life is suitable entertainment for you," Gemma had told her friend sarcastically.

"Oh, it is," Gillian had said with a smile. "So congratulations to you."

Saturday morning was a blessing for Gemma, and she managed to sleep in until nine o'clock. She knew her parents had something to go to today and wouldn't be back until late this evening. She slipped out of bed and glanced up at her bulletin board, preparing herself with a wince, ready to get one of her mother's constant reminders about this or that or whatever. But, much to her utter delight and relief, there was nothing there. She had this day completely to herself, without the worry of her parents or even Code Blue.

Although… Gemma halted her steps and bit her bottom lip. He wasn't
as
bad as she had originally thought. And after looking at their picture together in the announcement section a few days ago, she admitted, at least to herself, that he was quite a catch when it concerned physical attributes. He was very handsome, and she hadn't quite seen anything like him before, especially those eyes.

Actually, Hugh Laurie had pretty kick ass eyes, but they didn't compare to seeing
Dixon's in person.

Whenever the CIA agent and her fake fiancé looked at her, she felt as though he was looking through her, like maybe he could see something inside of her that she couldn't. This, of course, scared her to no end because she didn't like the fact that he might know something about her that she didn't.

Maybe she was overanalyzing the whole situation. She had always been good at doing things like that, especially when it came to guys. Once she hit college, she had promised herself that she would go with the flow, see where something was going without trying to figure it out. She hadn't, of course, expected Dixon to walk into her life. She hadn't expected him at all.

"Don't think about him now, Gems," she told herself as she walked out of her bedroom. "You have the whole day to yourself."

Gemma bounded down the stairs in a loose white t-shirt and pink boy shorts. The weather was ridiculously hot, especially at night, and since nobody was home, she didn't think it was necessary that she had to change. Instead, she headed into the kitchen and poured herself a glass of orange juice. She took a seat in the dining table and contemplated what she was going to do that day. It took twenty minutes before a sly smirk decorated her face. She placed the glass in the sink after rinsing it out and headed into the living room.

Gemma had never seen
Risky Business
before, but she knew the infamous scene with Tom Cruise dancing around in his underwear. She had always wanted to try it, but never had the time or if she did, somebody else was in the house. She felt that a perfect opportunity had presented itself and she wasn't going to let it go to waste.

The young woman walked over to the expensive stereo system her father had bought on a whim, and inserted Lady
Gaga's
The Fame
. The first track was probably the best since it was a song about dancing.

At first, Gemma felt silly wiggling around the living room, but after a couple of minutes, she allowed herself to get swept away in the music.

Of course, she didn't know someone was watching her as she danced around in nothing but a t-shirt and boy shorts, or she probably would have stopped.

---

Dixon awoke this morning due to the sounds of footsteps walking down a staircase. Last night had been his first night at the Harrisons, though he hadn't seen Gemma that night. Her mother reassured him that she was out while Gemma was in her room, staying up late on Tumblr, so there was nothing to worry about. Oh, and they hadn't told Gemma of the new addition to the house because… well, even they didn't know why they hadn't informed their daughter.

"It would be like a surprise," Carlene said, though it should be noted that her nose was buried in the planner she kept with her much like a shadow.

Humph. A surprise. Yeah right.

When music started playing, he had already started to get out of bed. His hands encompassed his face and he quickly wiped away the sleep from his eyes. With that God-awful music playing, there would be no way he would be getting back to sleep any time soon, and the culprit that caused his sudden abrupt awakening could only be one person.

However, when he opened the door to scold her for being so loud, he halted. There she was, dancing around her living room as though no one was watching and lip synching the song lyrics perfectly. But that wasn't what caused him to stop. She was doing all of this in nothing but a t-shirt and boy shorts.

Dixon
wasn't exactly sure what to think. Somewhere inside of him wished he had a camera on hand in order to document these precious moments so he would be provided with blackmail should their marriage awry. But he was almost transfixed by the sight of her, moving without a care in the world and completely
happy.
She wasn't trying to be witty or sarcastic or defensive. Her attire was simple and appeared to be comfortable; she wasn't dressing up for anyone, that was for sure. She was vulnerable, but she wasn't weak. He didn't think he had ever seen her more beautiful.

At that thought, he blinked, unsure of where it came from and cleared his throat. His lips quirked up at the sight of her face when she realized he had been watching
her, and her cheeks turned beet red. Now he wished he had a camera for that look. He wanted nothing more than to save it because it would most probably continue to amuse him to no end.

"Just what are
you
doing here?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest despite the fact that it was the lower half of her body rather than her upper half that needed the covering.

"I live here," he said simply, knowing that would upset her even more.

If it was possible, her whole face paled at the mere mention of his words. "
What
?" she asked, and though her voice had become low and articulate, it was still sharp.

"I live here," he repeated, and then decided it was probably best if he elaborated. "Your father wants to ensure your safety by every means possible, so he asked if I would mind moving in."

"And you said no?" she asked, incredulous at such a notion. Dixon gave her a dry look, indicating that what he had answered was rather obvious. "Oh my gosh," she muttered under her breath. "Could my life get any worse?"

"What are your plans for today?"
Dixon asked her, wanting to cut through the crap and focus on what she was planning to do today so he could plan accordingly.

"Well, it doesn't matter now," she snapped, but then her face softened. He was here because of her. It wasn't like
Dixon wanted to be babysitting some twenty year old, and she shouldn't take out her frustrations on him. She sighed through her nose, closing her eyes and trying to collect her thoughts. When she reopened them, they immediately locked into Dixon's. "To be honest, I was planning to watch a bunch of movies today."

This caused a warm feeling to spread through him, though he had no idea as to why it was there or where it had come from. His lips twitched up and he gave her a cryptic loo
k. "Really?" he asked, his tone dreading what was to come. "And here I thought you were going to be gracing some rambunctious party with your presence."

Gemma rolled her eyes and dropped her arms so her hands rested on her hips. "Okay, first of all, parties don't start until much later," she said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Second of all, I'm the furthest thing from a party girl you could ever imagine. I hate parties." This seemed to surprise
Dixon, and for a moment, his blue eyes mirrored that, but he quickly masked such thoughts and his face returned to impassive. "So if you'll excuse me," Gemma said as she headed for the door. "I'm going to get pants on now that I know you live here."

And with that, she headed up the stairs, hoping her face was free from its redness.