The Cats And The Ladies (Criminal Minds, F/F)

[Chanel_no5]

***Note***

I’ve toyed with this idea to and fro alongside of other projects for some time just for fun. Got down to business and finished it today to get it out of my head, and because I do know there is still a bunch of people out there agreeing with me on the appeal of older women sneezing, here you go.  

Pairing: Blake/Strauss.

This is for you, Bruyere.

***

“I’m glad we got some time alone,” Erin Strauss said, almost hesitantly. “You keep declining my offers to have a coffee sometime, and I really want to talk to you.”

“What about?” Blake replied, tapping her fingers against the steering wheel and staring straight ahead. She still didn’t feel comfortable around her boss. She could accept the apology, but she wasn’t going to forget the fact that Strauss - a woman Blake had been secretly in love with back then - had ruined Blake’s career with stone cold determination just to save her own. And she sure as hell wasn’t going to feel obligated to spend her precious spare time in the company of her own personal Judas. Maybe she would have as a fresh recruit, but not as a seasoned agent with over twenty years in the Bureau. Not a chance.

“I’ve missed you Alex,” Strauss simply said, looking away. It was the truth. “I’ve missed talking to you. We used to have a lot of fun.”

“Yeah, that’s right, we used to. Before you decided to cut my rope the one time I needed a friend to have my back.”

“The Amerithrax case wasn’t easy on me either,” Strauss replied, knowing she sounded defensive. Blake scoffed.

“I bet it wasn’t.” She realised that she sounded childish and petty, and tried to pull herself out of it. It was too unprofessional. “I’m sorry. But it did cause a lot of damage, not just to my career but to me personally. I’m not too eager to spend a lot of time chitchatting with the person responsible.”

“Understandable. But I want you to know that I truly am sorry.”

“Fine. You’re sorry. I don’t want to talk more about it, Erin, if that’s okay,” Blake said, just barely avoiding to sound venomous. Strauss knew when the line was crossed, and she kept her mouth shut in spite of all the words that wanted to spill out. The sorries and missed you’s she had expressed so far had all been met with indifference from the other woman, and with that track record only a fool would drag up more emotional subjects. Strauss was no fool, and so they spent the rest of the ride in uncomfortable silence.

Strauss rarely came with the team on cases, but this once she had, and of course Hotch had sent her with Blake to talk to the latest victim’s grandmother. Blake supposed Hotch hoped they would make amends, but she wasn’t keen on it. She just wanted to get this over and done with so she could shake Strauss off her back. The past was always too present around her, somehow.

***

The house was small but well maintained, and the elderly lady who lived there was in her mid 80s, with a sweet grandmotherly face and a clear, quick wit. She showed the agents into her living room and provided them with tea and cookies before either of them could decline.

“I knew Patrick would get into trouble, he was just that kind of boy,” she said. “It wasn’t that he sought it out, but trouble always seemed to find him.”

Blake nodded and briefly pressed a hand to her nose to stop a light tickle before it could grow stronger, not giving it a second thought.

“Did you know that he was involved in drug dealing?” she asked, keeping her voice as gentle as possible. As she spoke, she realised that she was somewhat congested. It was probably nothing - going inside after being in the cold winter air did that to her sometimes - but paired with the tickle, she suspected this would lead to nothing good. She hoped she wasn’t coming down with a cold. The last thing she wanted was to display any form of weakness in front of the team, and especially if Erin Strauss was around.

“I had my suspicions,” the old lady said with a sigh. “Of course he never talked about it, but…” she trailed off and took a sip of her tea, looking away from the agents as if she was ashamed.

Blake had to rub her nose again, this time sniffling lightly as she took her hand back down. She felt so tickly all of a sudden. Almost as if…

Something moved in the doorway and immediately caught her attention. To her horror, she realised that it was a cat. She hadn’t spotted any cat hair on the furniture, which of course didn’t mean anything - the lady probably had a very good housemaid - but the lack of obvious evidence had caused her to not even consider it. She was madly allergic to cats, a condition that had gotten progressively worse over the years. She could deal with dogs just fine, but cats were impossible. It started like this; a stuffy nose and a tickle. Then her nose would start to run, and her eyes would begin to itch. And then the tickle would worsen into a burning tingle, and she would start sneezing. Then she would sneeze, over and over, sometimes for hours. In fact, she felt that she was about to already. It was ridiculous how powerful her allergies were.

While she had this horrifying revelation, Strauss had asked the old lady something. Blake tried to keep her facial features indifferent, but she felt sure she was displaying every sign of a building sneeze. All of a sudden the itch was impossible to keep in check, and she ducked her face into her sleeve and muffled a sneeze into the black fabric.

“MnktCHgh!”

The elderly lady they interviewed directed all focus from Strauss and the question she had asked, to Blake, a development the dark-haired agent did not appreciate.

“Bless you, dear. Are you catching a cold?”

Blake shuddered at the embarrassing attention.

“No, I’m alright. Excuse me. Please, go on.”

She dared a quick glance at Strauss, who looked at her with raised eyebrows, as if waiting for something. She couldn’t possibly remember, could she? Blake blinked as the need to sneeze returned with a vengeance, and she fought it bitterly and to no avail.

“NktSChh!”

Another sneeze joined the first one and Strauss kept looking at her, this time with a tiny smile on her lips. Blake shot her a sharp glare over the arm she kept in front of her nose and mouth, but even as she did, her eyelids fluttered.

“HEH-ttsshho!”

“Bless you, Alex,” Strauss said and turned back to the woman they interviewed. “She rarely sneezes just once,” she said before returning to the subject at hand. Blake was mortified at her own lack of control, but she hoped that this triple would keep her nose satisfied for a while, buying her at least some time. Only that was too good to actually happen. Her sinuses were tingling with more sneezes, and her eyes watered from the irritation.

Inwardly, Blake was screaming with frustration and the despair only a very allergic person could feel when they’re trapped in public and on the verge of a massive sneezing fit. Outwardly, the only thing that betrayed her distress was a slight but repeated flaring of her nostrils, paired with fluttering eyelids. She was so close to sneezing, but she kept pushing it away in spite of knowing that this usually made the sneezing much worse once it finally broke through her walls.

No more, not here, please, she begged her nose, but it was no use. She had to sneeze again. She brought her wrist up to her nose and somehow managed to reduce the first - or fourth, depending on how you viewed it - sneeze into a soundless, very brief bob of her head. She could just as well have dipped her head in a nod. The next sneeze followed right upon its heels and while not completely soundless, it was nearly motionless. She exhaled very carefully, praying that the next would be inspired by the previous two and stay as reined-in as humanly possible.

“Hahnkpthh!”

In her defence, it sounded more like a strangled hiccup than a sneeze, but it was clearly audible, and the two other women stopped talking and looked in her direction.

“Bless you dear,” the lady said after a moment of silence, and this time she sounded more concerned. Strauss said nothing, but Blake knew she was staring intently at her.

“’scuse me,” Blake muttered and wiped at her watery eyes.

“What’s wrong, Alex?” Strauss asked under her breath.

“It‘s nothing, just a tickle,” she replied and would have given anything for that statement not to be a lie. She was getting increasingly stuffed up, but at the same time her nose was starting to run. She put her hand into her coat pocket and fished out a tissue. This time of year she was prepared, although it was usually for that from-cold-to-warm-air reaction and not for a sudden allergy outburst. She really didn’t want to blow her nose with an audience, but she was running out of options. If she did blow her nose perhaps she could fight the allergens for a little while longer. “I’m sorry, go on,” she said and turned away from the others to give her nose a quick soft blow. God, she wanted this talk to be over so she could escape into the cold but allergen-free air.

The cat that had lurked outside the doorway, decided to come inside and take a good look at the strangers. Blake felt a rush of panic as the slender tabby strolled up to its mistress and bumped its head against her hand.

Don’t come any closer to me, she thought and subconsciously pulled back a little. I’m going to sneeze myself to death if you get in your mind that you want to jump on my lap.

The cat gave Blake a quick glance as if it could hear her thoughts, and then, with a look of utter contempt, dismissed her and left the room. Blake breathed a sigh of relief, even as her nose burned with the building desire to sneeze again.

The cat’s owner smiled. “That’s my baby. I have three more, but he’s born in my bedroom, little fellow.”

Three more? Four… four cats?! I have to get out of here.

Just knowing there were so many shedding creatures in this house seemed to trigger her allergies even further and something that sounded much like a whimper emitted from her throat as she tried to fight back the itch.

Just then, another cat - a tuxedo - came inside, and this one immediately walked up to the visitors to greet them, first to Strauss, who absently bent down to scratch the feline behind the ears. Blake’s nose reacted immediately to the fur and dander floating up in the air. The itch was so intense it was nearly paralysing. She held her breath trying to keep the sneezes at bay, but there was little to be done about this. She brought the tissue up to her nose, pinched her nostrils with it, and swallowed a ticklish sneeze.

“Mnggthh!”

It only made matters worse, and by now her nose was running like a faucet.

“’scuse me,” she mumbled into the Kleenex. Strauss’s eyes were glued to her, she could feel it although she wasn’t looking that way. She could only imagine what a mess she was, and her nose was still tickling. She couldn’t stop sneezing.

Getting up from the couch, she did the second best thing to stopping - stifling. It was painful and got more difficult with each sneeze, but she refused to lose control completely.

“I’m really sorry. NktsChgh! NtSSHkk! I… it’s the cats, I’m… ah… ahh-nxth! Nntsshhkk! Allergic…”

Strauss made a move to get up and follow her, but Blake raised a hand to stop her.

“I’m okay, you stay and finish. I’m really sorry… huhh… ngktSCHHkk! Excuse me.”

She all but ran out, pressing the crumbling tissue to her face. She was going to sneeze hard and long after this, but she preferred to do so outside, where she wouldn’t have to inhale more allergens with each time she took a breath to sneeze.

***

She had been sneezing almost non-stop for about ten minutes and just as she was convinced she’d never be able to stop, the fit seemed to taper off. At least a little bit. Her nose felt like she had snorted pepper, her eyes itched and streamed, her throat was scratchy, even her ears itched. To think that one tiny Claritin would have stopped this from happening in the first place… but she didn’t want to think about that. It was far too depressing.

“How are you, Alex?” Strauss’s voice spoke from behind her. Blake was just raising a fresh tissue to her face, and she shuddered and shook her head.

“Allergic.”

She proceeded to blow her nose, grateful that she had her back to her boss.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“By the time I saw the cats, it was already too late,” she replied. “I’m okay Erin, really. I’m going to sneeze on and off for hours now, but I’m okay.”

Strauss watched her closely to decide the truth in this statement, and she endured it stoically even though being subjected to that stare was intimidating enough without adding the fact that you looked like a complete and utter mess. Blake knew only too well what she looked like during an allergic outburst - nose dripping and feverishly red, eyes watery and swollen, and the constant need to sneeze tugging at her nostrils and making her eyelids flutter. It was about as far from attractive or composed as anyone could get, but was there anything she could do about it? No.

“How bad is it?” Strauss asked, and she could not lie.

“It’s bad,” she sniffled. “But not bad enough to warrant a visit to the hospital.”

“A drugstore?” Strauss asked, only letting her eyebrows rise ever so slightly. Blake realised she wasn’t quite off the hook yet with the medical attention thing.

“That I might need,” she admitted and wiped her runny nostrils with another sheet of Kleenex. The pace of which she went through the tissues alone warranted her a trip to a drugstore. Or a supermarket. Or anywhere they sold the damn things. Her breath began to quiver.

“Sorry, I have to… agnxTSCHoo! Sneeze again. AaaeeeSSCHHoo! Oh my God,” she murmured under her breath. It wasn’t the worst reaction she had ever had to cats; her in-laws had had one and the first time she saw them she had absolutely no idea about it. It had been bad, and she had suffered through a whole Thanksgiving dinner trying to deny it and force her allergic reaction into retreat, with no success whatsoever. This was nowhere near as embarrassing and itchy as that had been, but it was bad enough.

“Are over the counter medications enough to deal with that,” Strauss asked. Blake wanted to roll her eyes, but they kept closing.

“Y-yeah… hahh…” she pressed the crumpled up tissue against the underside of her nose and tried to stifle another sneeze. “AaktCHggh!“ Her body was exhausted and stifling was near-impossible by now, but she didn’t want Strauss to be a witness to the drawn-out, loud, scraping sneezes that she was likely to produce if she didn’t try to restrain them.

“Bless you,” Strauss said and frowned. “You look awful.”

“Thank you,” Blake replied harshly - she never would have spoken to her boss in that tone if she wasn’t suffering so much she didn’t really care how she came across - and buried her nose in the last usable tissue. “HnnkktSCHh! NktSCHkk! Ow…”

”I had no idea you were allergic to cats,” Strauss mused. ”You never said anything. Though I guess it explains why you pushed Mushroom down when he was jumping onto your lap that time.”

Mushroom. Blake hadn’t given a thought in at least a decade to the white fluffball of a kitten that Strauss used to have back in the day. She had opted to let Strauss think she hated cats rather than admitting to being allergic. She had known about the cat before her first visit to Strauss‘s place, so she had always been prepared with antihistamines. It worked fine as long as the animals weren’t right in her face. Unmedicated however, well, that was a different story altogether, and one that was now unfolding in all its inelegant glory before Strauss’s eyes.

“I don’t hate cats,” Blake said. “I’m just… ah…” she moaned in agony before the teasing, irritated sneeze snuck out. “AhhnktSCHhew! A little bit sensitive to them.”

“Yeah, I think that’s the understatement of the year,” Strauss replied and crossed her arms. “Why didn’t you tell me? I’m not talking about right now, I’m talking about ten, twelve years ago. You were at my place now and then. You must have suffered horribly.”

“I took allergy pills.”

“I still want to know why you didn’t feel you could tell me, Alex. How is that embarrassing? You can’t help it.”

“Exactly,” Blake replied. “I’m a repulsive, allergic mess and I can’t do a thing about it.”

Strauss hesitated, then put a hand on Blake’s shoulder. Blake stiffened, but Strauss kept her hand in place. “You cannot possibly be repulsive,” she said quietly. “I’m just sorry you’re suffering.”

“I’m fine,” Blake tried to insist, but she had to sneeze again, this time being completely unable to hold it back or stifle.

“HaaaEESSHHHOO!”

She doubled over by the sheer force of this violent, throaty outburst before straightening up with a tired sigh.  

“You don’t sound fine to me,” Strauss sighed, and rubbed Blake’s shoulder with a gentleness that surprised the other woman. “So that’s why you never told me? Because you thought I’d think of you as disgusting or weak?”

Blake didn’t know what to reply, and now she actually welcomed the interrupting sneeze attack as it meant she didn‘t have to try and find a suitable response. She cupped both hands over her nose and mouth and gave in to a rapid, miserable fit of half-stifles. All the while, Strauss’s hand stayed on her shoulder as in comfort. Once Blake managed to stop, she refused to look at the other woman. Strauss, however, wasn’t having any of that.

“Look at me, Alex.”

When Blake stubbornly kept looking at a vague spot on the horizon, Strauss’s grip hardened. “If it makes you feel any better, I’ll tell you something embarrassing about myself. The reason I was unnecessarily harsh to you back then was because… well, had started to suspect that my feelings for you went a bit beyond the appropriate, and I didn‘t want any rumours to start.”

Blake turned to look at her. To her surprise she saw Erin Strauss blushing fiercely. She couldn’t remember ever seeing that before. It wore down her defences more efficiently than the words could, but she wasn’t going to admit to feeling the same way. Besides, she was still hurt. Not to mention that Strauss hadn’t said anything about her feelings in this day and year. The topic was just not one that came easily for the linguist to handle; she only felt more confused, so she delivered a rather hostile reply.

“You’re just trying to make me feel better.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing. Let’s get you back to the hotel.”

“I’m fine. I just need a… C-clahhaESSHHH! Claritin and then I can go b-back… haeSSCHH!”

“In this condition you are useless on the field. I am ordering you to do as I say, agent Blake. ”

Blake coughed out a chuckle.

“I guess that changes matters.”

“Yes, it does. Get in the car.”

Blake didn’t want to admit it, but she was rather grateful to have someone else taking command for once. She was way too controlling for her own good at times.

“Yes, ma’am,” she said. Strauss, who had once been accustomed to Blake’s every mood, huffed.

“Are you mocking me, agent?”

Blake looked back at her, trying her best to look innocent.

“Of course not.”

“You know, those big doe eyes used to fool me when you were 24, but it doesn’t work any longer.”

Blake smiled and tilted her head a little.

“It doesn’t?”

Strauss’s lips pursed for a moment, then she rolled her eyes.

“Oh, alright, it does. Will you get into the car now, or do I have to cuff you?”

“I doubt you have the rights to take such measures,” Blake retorted.

“Must you always argue? It’s difficult to make amends when you keep firing at me,” Strauss said, only half-joking. “Isn’t it exhausting to keep trying to get even with the world?”

Blake gave her a defiant stare, then questioned herself, and relented.

“Yes, it is.”

“I know part of it, maybe the most part, is my fault, but still. You don’t have to keep doing it. Come on. Let’s go and find a drugstore, and then get you back to the hotel.”

“I don’t want the others to know,” Blake pleaded. She knew how helpless she sounded, and she despised it, but she couldn’t help herself. The last thing she wanted was for the team to know about her allergies.

“I’ll tell them you have a migraine. Aaron has had those before so he knows how debilitating they can be.”

“Will they believe it?” Blake had never taken a sick day and always managed to hide any physical ailment from her colleagues, she wasn’t sure how well a lie about a sudden migraine would work.

“They will if I tell them,” Strauss deadpanned and unlocked the car. Blake took a couple of steps towards it, then stopped as her itching nose decided it was time for another sneezing fit. She pinched her nose in a desperate attempt to stifle the attack, but that only seemed to make the itch worse, and instead of calming down after a few sneezes, she found herself caught in a rapid-fire fit with seemingly no end in sight.

Strauss promptly grabbed her by the arm and helped her into the car, then closed the door behind her and went around to sit in the driver’s seat. Once seated, she took a long good look at Alex Blake, who was a mess and still beyond beautiful in her rare moment of lost control. From the tears spilling from her red rimmed eyes, to the painfully pink shade of her quivering nostrils, to the tired sounds of misery that she did her best to silence, everything about Blake called for some TLC and Strauss was aching to offer it. She found a handful of tissues and handed them to Blake, who put the whole bunch up to her leaking, itchy face.

“Just let them out before you pop an eardrum or something,” Strauss sighed as she fumbled with the car key. “It’s okay. No need to be embarrassed.”

Blake was embarrassed - she was terribly embarrassed - but her poor nose wasn’t going to take no for an answer anymore, if she couldn’t let the sneezes out and relieve the intense tickle she feared she wouldn’t be able to stop for God knew how long.  

The next sneeze tumbling out was less restrained than the previous, and the one after that a full-volume, throat-scraping explosion.

“HeeeAAARRSCHHHHEW!”

Strauss slowly shook her head as the other woman kept sneezing one violent, desperate sneeze after another. Of course she had seen Blake sneeze before, but she couldn’t recall her sneezes being so loud or helpless. Those allergies of hers were fierce, and obviously, so were the resulting sneezes.

“I am so, so sorry,” Blake gasped between sneezes.

“You don’t have to apologise. It’s not your fault.”

Blake knew that was true, but she still felt like it was. Why hadn’t she been prepared? It wasn’t unusual for people to have cats; she usually took an antihistamine as a precaution before going on these assignments, so why had it slipped her mind this time?

Strauss. She had been distracted by Strauss’s presence.  

***

After stopping by at a drugstore and providing the miserably allergic agent with tissues and allergy pills, Strauss drove back to the hotel. By the time they arrived at the destination, the medication had started to kick in, and although it couldn’t create any miracles, it did make a big difference. Blake could finally breathe through her nose without sneezing, for example. But the migraine lie wasn’t so far from the truth after all, as the sinus pressure did bring on a bad headache. Not to mention that she was so tired she almost felt like she had a fever.

“You can go back to the others, I’ll be fine now,” she said and stepped out of the car, eager to get some privacy. Before Strauss could respond, she added a quick; “Thank you,” without making eye contact, and headed for the hotel entrance in a brisk pace.

***

She felt like everyone in the lobby stared at her red-nosed appearance and the tissue box she had tried and failed to fit into her purse and was forced to carry openly, but it was probably just her imagination.

It would have stayed her imagination if her nose hadn’t suddenly decided that this was the perfect opportunity to let out a stray sneeze, and it was too sudden for her to hold back. It wasn’t one of those very loud ones, but instead it was a high-pitched, spraying squeak that got everyone’s attention.

“Huh-yIISSCHhih!”

Not stopping to look at anyone, she rushed through the lobby and into the elevator, which thankfully was empty. She leaned back against the wall and sighed as she pushed the button for fourth floor. She just wanted to get to her room and lock the door behind her.

***

Eventually that wish was granted, and she slammed the door shut and sneezed at the same time.

Oh my God this is one of the worst days I’ve ever had.

She briefly pondered taking a shower and then dismissed the idea, took off her jacket and shoes and lay down on the bed. Her headache was getting worse, and laying down caused the congestion to worsen again as well. Her nose tickled, and she moaned in disbelief.

“I cannot possibly have to sneeze more,” she muttered, but that was precisely what she had to.

“Hah-iSHHHew! Hah-Essshho! HA-tSSHHHiew!”

She sniffled and rubbed her nose with one hand before breathing a tired, annoyed sigh. This was getting on her nerves.

A knock on the door interrupted her self-pity.

“Alex?” Strauss’s voice spoke. “Can I come in?”

Blake wanted to tell her no, but she had to admit she was rather curious about Strauss’s uncharacteristic declaration of love. Or whatever she should call it.

“What is it, Erin?” she snapped as she tore the door open. “I’m pretty beat, in case you didn’t…” she didn’t have a chance to finish.

“I need to explain myself.”

She sighed and opened the door enough to let the blonde in.

“Fine, go on.”

“I am so sorry,” Strauss began. Blake rolled her eyes and rubbed the heel of her hand against her assaulted nose.

“You’ve said that more times than I can count.”

“Yes, I’ve said it plenty of times, without telling you the reason why. We both kept our secrets, although yours was way more innocent than mine.”

She shook her head, smiling a little. “Allergic to my cat. And I thought you avoided coming to my home on invitation because you were uncomfortable with me.”

“I, no, I wasn’t…” Blake said, uncertain of what to say next.

“I was sure it was very obvious to everyone that I was… infatuated with you. And I was afraid it was obvious to you too, and that you found it uncomfortable or, well, repulsive.”

“I had no idea,” Blake replied, and it was the honest truth. “Actually, the reason I avoided coming home to you was because I was afraid you’d be put off by me if you saw my allergies acting up. You have no idea how hard I crushed on you back then.”

Strauss stared at her.

“You’re saying you felt the same way? And nothing happened because you were too embarrassed to admit you were allergic to my cat?”

“When you put it that way it does sound ridiculous,” Blake replied dryly.

“Can we do something about it?” Strauss asked.

“Change the past? No, we can‘t,” Blake replied, and Strauss looked disappointed but stoic before the brunette continued; “but creating a different future? Yes, that much I think we can manage.”  

“A future together, maybe?” Strauss asked. She was amused to find that she was trembling like a schoolgirl before her crush. It was silly. Also wonderful.

“As long as I don’t have to live with a cat, I guess anything‘s possible” Blake replied, and this time she was smiling. Strauss returned the smile.

“You won’t. Mushroom moved out with my youngest last year. The house has been cleaned thoroughly but of course maybe I should have experts coming in and…”

“Erin,” Blake chuckled, “I’m not that allergic.”

Strauss glanced at the other woman’s still swollen and inflamed nose and watery eyes, and scoffed.

“No, I can see that. I just don’t want you to feel miserable and…”

Blake finally had enough of this beating about the bush and shut Strauss up the quickest way she could think of; by kissing her. To hell with her allergic appearance and all the embarrassment, past and present. This was what she wanted. This was who she wanted.

She supposed she should even thank the damn cats for making this happen… though maybe not in person.

 

[Bruyere]

This was great! I'm so glad you posted it. I'm on my tablet and I can't figure out how to quote my favourite parts so I will be back at some point to do that!  

[Timberlane]

Very good, I found myself super interested to see how it ended. Loved it.

[NoV]

On 3/6/2016 at 7:47 PM, Chanel_no5 said:

The next sneeze tumbling out was less restrained than the previous, and the one after that a full-volume, throat-scraping explosion.

“HeeeAAARRSCHHHHEW!”

Strauss slowly shook her head as the other woman kept sneezing one violent, desperate sneeze after another.

I love this sort of helpless desperation in sneezefics, which you are always so adapt at portraying  

[Chanel_no5]

On 2016-03-06 at 0:00 AM, Bruyere said:

This was great! I'm so glad you posted it. I'm on my tablet and I can't figure out how to quote my favourite parts so I will be back at some point to do that!  

Thank you, m'dear! *bows* I'm really glad you liked it! I probably had way too much fun writing it...  

On 2016-03-07 at 4:39 AM, Timberlane said:

Very good, I found myself super interested to see how it ended. Loved it.

Thank you very much!

On 2016-03-08 at 0:11 PM, NoV said:

I love this sort of helpless desperation in sneezefics, which you are always so adapt at portraying  

Oh there is indeed something about that desperate loss of control, n'est-ce pas?

[24Me]

Oh my gosh! all hail the queen! This is so, so good! Cat allergies are my absolute favorite, and you wrote this so well! I love all your stories, and this one is just as amazing as your others. You are so talented and I absolutely loved reading this-I can't form a coherent thought right now. Beautiful job! 

[Bruyere]

Did I mention I was glad you posted this because I am. What Blake is for you Strauss is for me I'm pretty sure.

On 3/6/2016 at 7:47 PM, Chanel_no5 said:

The past was always too present around her, somehow.

I love this line and how much it says about the two of them and their relationship.

On 3/6/2016 at 7:47 PM, Chanel_no5 said:

“I don’t hate cats,” Blake said. “I’m just… ah…” she moaned in agony before the teasing, irritated sneeze snuck out. “AhhnktSCHhew! A little bit sensitive to them.”

“Yeah, I think that’s the understatement of the year,” Strauss replied

Hee! I think that's true.

On 3/6/2016 at 7:47 PM, Chanel_no5 said:

“You’re just trying to make me feel better.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing. Let’s get you back to the hotel.”

Ah, Blake. Don't make this harder than it needs to be! And I loved Erin blushing. I imagine it's something that happens once in a blue moon.

 

On 3/6/2016 at 7:47 PM, Chanel_no5 said:

Blake finally had enough of this beating about the bush and shut Strauss up the quickest way she could think of; by kissing her. To hell with her allergic appearance and all the embarrassment, past and present. This was what she wanted. This was who she wanted.

She supposed she should even thank the damn cats for making this happen… though maybe not in person.

Aww, I love this ending. Just perfect. So glad you posted this

[tenderwarrior]

I can't believe I haven't seen this until now! It was so sweet and fluffy. I love when two people both like each other but neither of them say anything until they finally both admit it together!! Well done, Chanel! Thank you for this!!