A Card

By: The Confused One

Rating: K

Disclaimer: I own nothing related to L&O or Bobby. I only wish I did. Please don't sue.

Feedback: PLEASE review. It's my first holiday story, so I'd like to know what people think. Thanks.

Archive: I don't mind, as long as you tell me where you put it.

Summary: Bobby looks for the perfect Valentine's Day Card.

A/N: I intentionally left off who he the card is for. I hope everyone can enjoy Bobby's little shopping excursion. I promise to get back to my other stories now.

Bobby stared at the rows and rows of cards. It almost made his head spin. He couldn't understand how there could be so many. It was almost enough to make him want to cry. As he started to look through the cards he wondered how he ever got himself into this. Picking up a beautiful card full of hearts, he read the inside:

Love is forever.

That's right. He had gotten into this for her. He would do anything for her, including the trappings of a holiday he never liked. That's right. Bobby hated Valentine's Day. He always felt it was too commercial. It was forced and obligatory. It was definitely not romantic. He had no intentions of ever changing his mind. Well, he hadn't had any intentions of changing his mind. The next card had pastels. Bobby read inside:

For a Sweet Gal.

Bobby grimaced. No. That would never do. It so utterly understated how he felt that it was almost laughable.

Ever since he had met her he was captivated. Something about her just spoke to him. Up until now he hadn't had the courage to speak up. But something, something she had said the day before gave him reason to hope that she felt the say way about him, but he was still scared.

Now, it wasn't like Bobby didn't have experience with women. He dated plenty. He'd even given plenty of Valentine's Day roses and gifts. But this was different. The woman he loved was no ordinary woman. She was hard to please. He wasn't even going to think about the fallout at work. No. He wasn't going to let the moment be ruined with all the reasons he really, really shouldn't be doing this. The next card had red hearts all over it again. The writing on the outside read:

Roses are Red

Violets are Blue

Sugar is Sweet

Putting it back, Bobby knew what the inside said. It was definitely not the card he was looking for. He hands practically shook. He was nervous, and this was hard. He wasn't sure why it was so hard but it was. Another card read:

Be My Valentine.

Nope. Not that one either. Something felt wrong about it. As he moved down the line of Valentine's Day cards, Bobby wisely ignored the ones with naked people. She'd kill him. He was sure of that. At the end of the line, he finally noticed a plain red card. Opening it up, he read the inside:

You are everything to me.

Bobby smiled. Grabbing one of the envelopes that went with it, Bobby headed for the counter. He had survived and managed to find the right card. Maybe things would work out the way he wanted.