Distance
"Believe it or not," Paige calls, rinsing conditioner out of her hair. "When I was a little girl, I never pictured myself caring this much about what a PCP dealer thought of me."
She hears Charlie snort from the other side of the shower curtain, where she's perched on the bathroom counter listening to Paige lay out her plan for the evening. Time got away from her earlier and she's running late, so now she's multitasking, briefing Charlie and grabbing a quick shower before she heads to the club.
"What, you don't think he's dreamy?" Charlie teases.
"Luis Enos is a snake," Paige corrects. "And we've been after him for weeks now."
"Did you know the agent that died? Mark Willis?" Charlie's outline flips through the partial file that she left on the counter for her.
A few weeks ago, someone hopped up on Enos's personal brand of PCP had gone into a rage when confronted with a federal warrant and beaten a DEA agent to death with his bare hands. It's all anyone talked about at headquarters anymore. Paige had only known Mark in passing, but he was good back up when she needed a tactical team and seemed like a genuinely good guy.
"Sort of," she admits. "Not really."
She turns the water off and sticks her hand out through the curtain, feeling for a towel. When she finds one, she slips it back through the curtain and ties it around herself. Charlie is still focused on the file when she steps out of the shower onto the bathmat. "Does he have any priors?" she asks frowning.
"I don't know yet. The name seems to be new. I have someone at the agency looking into past aliases."
"Until then, you're right," Charlie agrees. "Girlfriend's probably the best angle."
They're in the doorway when the power flickers and dies, giving in to the rainstorm that's been threatening to knock it out all day. Paige groans. "My hair is wet."
"Come downstairs while I still have enough light to do your makeup. We'll figure something out," Charlie chuckles.
Paige nods, stumbling over a shoe that Johnny left in the middle of the hall. She chucks it at his door and goes to change, glancing mournfully at her hair dryer. This feels like a bad sign.
Johnny wolf whistles loud enough to wake the dead when she comes down the stairs in her outfit for the night. She stomps on his foot on her way to where Charlie has her make up bag spread out on the coffee table. Everyone's gathered in the living room where the tall windows are letting the most light, looking kind of lost without their technology.
"Big house like this doesn't have a backup generator?" Mike asks. "What do we do now?"
Briggs shrugs. "Drug lords aren't known for their personal responsibility. Go get something out of the game closet."
"We have a game closet but we don't have a generator?"
"Drug lords love Monopoly," Johnny says somberly.
Rolling her eyes, Charlie turns her attention back to Paige's case. "Is your phone charged?" she asks, leaning back to see if she's applied the eyeliner straight.
Unable to move without messing up Charlie's work, Paige waves at Jakes, who's nearest to her phone, silently ordering him to check.
"Thirty percent," he reports. Charlie makes a face and glances at Paul.
"I'll go with you," Mike offers. "I'm fully charged."
Not exactly how she wanted to do things this evening, but she's pretty sure Charlie and Briggs were about to either tag along or tell her to put it off until another night, so she'll take what she can get. "Fine, you can come."
"I'll drive!" Johnny announces.
Paige sighs.
Now it's a group activity. Perfect.
Mike and Johnny disappear into the crowd seconds after they enter the club, Mike protesting and muttering something about protocol and Johnny dragging him by the shirt and countering with something about drinks. Paige shakes her head and tucks herself into a corner to surreptitiously look for her man. It doesn't take long to spot Luis Enos seated in a corner booth, enjoying some expensive bottle service, surrounded by four or five lower level dealers that serve as his entourage.
The other men prove themselves to be very protective of their boss, turning three perfectly attractive women away from the table in the short time she's been watching. Paige nervously tugs at the hem of her dress. She's a reasonably confident woman, but she's not arrogant or stupid. There's a very good chance that she won't be getting anywhere near Enos tonight.
With her eyes still on the corner booth, she feels someone press themselves against her side, hot breath on her neck. Without looking, she scowls, thinking wistfully about the beat down she'd lay on him if she weren't very carefully not attracting attention to herself. But when she whirls around to give him a quiet, discreet piece of her mind, it's the one and only Mike Warren, smirking like he knows exactly what she's been contemplating. Cocky bastard.
Johnny watches from the side, nose crinkled in distaste. "Should I like, give you two a minute?"
Paige rolls her eyes and nods across the dance floor to where Enos is sitting. "That's my guy."
As they're watching, Enos's men send another woman packing with just a shake of their heads. Luis doesn't even look up.
Mike whistles lowly. "That was harsh. Sure you're going to be able to get past the goon squad?"
"I'll never know if I don't woman up and go over there," she says shrugging. With a tug on each of their sleeves, she repositions them in front of her, shielding her from view. Paige grabs for Johnny's drink and holds it under her nose. Harsh and warm, clearly alcoholic but not so strong that the smell would make her sick. Some kind of spiced rum maybe?
She dips two fingers into the glass, ignoring Johnny's sputtering protests, and dabs the alcohol on her pulse points and along the curve of her collarbone, applying it like perfume. When she's done, she reeks like someone who's been drinking heavily. There's still a swallow left in the bottom of the glass, and she gulps it down. Certainly not enough to feel any effect, but enough to let Luis smell it on her breath. Drunk and vulnerable may very well be his type.
Except, he's been turning away plenty of drunk, vulnerable, ready and willing women tonight. Paige frowns. Walking straight up to him is not going to get her the kind of attention that she needs.
She hands a sulking Johnny his empty glass back and snatches Mike's drink out of his hand. "I'm gonna take this over there," she says, using the glass to gesture towards an empty barstool near Enos and his gang. "And you're going to come over and hit on me."
"That's cool," Johnny calls as they both walk off, Paige to her place at the bar and Mike to take a lap around the club before he approaches her. "I'll just wait here. You know, keep an eye on things."
Once she's in place, she can see that her instinct was right. Luis doesn't look in her direction as she passes by. It's going to take a little finagling to get in with him. She continues to watch him out of the corner of her eye until Mike sits down next to her.
"Hey stranger," he whispers, looking like he's not sure how much faking he should actually be doing. Paige smiles.
"He can't hear us," she promises. "You just have to look like you're coming on strong."
Mike leans in closer, and she winks and crooks her finger until her lips are nearly at his ear. "In...forty seconds maybe, I'm going to pour this drink on you. This is your permission to make a scene and call me every unflattering name in the book."
He scoffs and shakes his head. "Any reason you didn't have Johnny do this?"
"I thought about it," she admits. "But you got a little handsy earlier, and Johnny's been known to do terrible things to our toothbrushes in the name of revenge."
With that, she dumps his gin and tonic down the front of his shirt.
The crowd around them whistles and howls when he goes off at her, but Paige just erupts into a peal of laughter, some of it genuine because Mike is the epitome of a white boy from DC when he swears. She doesn't have long to enjoy it though because as the commotion dies down, she can feel eyes on her from the direction of the corner booth. Suppressing a grin, she scans the club, eyes raking over Enos and continuing on without a beat. She manages to confirm that she has his attention without showing any interest, which was exactly her goal.
A quick glance tells her that Mike has returned to Johnny's side on the other end of the club. Johnny seems thrilled by the show they've just put on, and she knows that he'll be ribbing Mike the whole way home. Now, however, he's work Johnny, who has to keep all his attention on her and the case. Still, he winks and smiles at her.
"Miss?" Someone taps her on the shoulder, and Paige turns around to see one of Enos's men standing behind her. "My friend would like to invite you to join him."
For the first time, she purposefully makes eye contact with southern California's premier PCP supplier. Luis Enos smiles cordially. She looks back and forth between him and his boys and forces a laugh. As expected, Enos raises an eyebrow, and the man at her elbow starts to look nervous.
"No really," he says, helping her down from her stool. "He insists."
When she's seated next to her target, her escort returns to his place in line, blocking most of her view of the rest of the club and isolating her with Enos.
A finger runs along her chin and tilts her head so she's staring straight at him. Bastard can't stand being ignored.
"Something is funny?" Luis asks softly. She's normally very good with accents, but doesn't immediately recognize his. Did she read it in his file?
"No, it's just…" Paige laughs again and looks down, playing embarrassed at having been caught. "It's just that your friends seem to think you're pretty special."
Enos bristles at the slight, but remains the consummate gentleman, still smiling politely. "You don't think I'm special?"
Paige shrugs. Even without a verbal answer, she's sure he can read it all over her face. No. "Do you think you're special?" she asks casually.
He pauses, looking officially irritated with her. Which is perfect because the more he wants to put her in her place, the longer he'll keep her around trying to do so. And the longer she'll have to dig something up that will put him away.
"I suppose I would know better than you would," he says finally. "I'd offer you a drink, but I think you've proven that you can't be trusted with it."
"You saw that then?" she asks grinning. "Well, we can't all have a team of bodyguards to ward off unwanted advances. Some of us have to fend for ourselves."
Something changes in his face. He drops the fake smile and his eyes harden as his face tightens in muted anger. His pride's been offended, and men like Enos don't take kindly to that.
"Let's go for a walk," he says, rising to his feet and gripping her upper arm tightly. Paige follows, mostly to keep him from ripping her arm out of socket. She shifts slightly in his grasp, but it doesn't give.
Luis leads them out the side door and into the alley, something that would so not be happening if Mike and Johnny didn't have her back. The rain has stopped, but the temperature is still significantly lower than usual. It's not until the cool air hits her skin that she realizes she's flushed and hot from either adrenaline or anxiety. Maybe a little of both. The rough brick scrapes against her skin when he pushes her up against the wall, and she wishes that she'd worn a dress with more of a back. His free hand closes around her other arm and clamps down.
"Make no mistake," he says lowly, pressing a kiss to the side of her neck. "I can hold my own. But I'm a very important man, and it's wise to surround myself with people that recognize that."
Paige smirks. "Special and important, huh?"
She barely has time to rest her head against the wall before his lips crash down on hers, no doubt fueled by the desire to shut her up. He releases one of her arms, and briefly she marvels at just how sore it is before reminding herself to feign interest and retaliate. Her hand brushes through the back of his hair and she tries not to wince at the oily hair gel that leaves her fingers feeling sticky. His lips dip down towards the strap of her dress, and she deems it time to put a stop to things, jabbing a shoulder into his chest until he gets the hint and backs off.
"Exactly how far do you think I'm going to go in a dirty alley with a man whose name I don't know?" she asks coolly.
"Of course," he says hollowly, breathing heavily. He's smiling again, previous annoyance seemingly forgotten. "Of course. I'm Luis. Luis Enos."
She nods, resisting the urge to rub some relief into her aching arms. "Paige."
"Paige," he repeats. "Just Paige?"
"For now," she says, forcing a smile.
"Well, Miss Paige. I would like to see you again."
He kisses her again, this time taking her bottom lip between his teeth. There's a sharp pain and a salty taste that usually signals blood, but she refuses to give him the satisfaction of acknowledging it. The smirk on his face tells her that it was no accident. He takes her number and insists he'll remember so it won't be necessary to write it down. Paige recognizes it for what it is – a head game designed to make her doubt herself and his investment in her. She'd be impressed if she wasn't so disgusted.
And then she's alone in the alley. Her fingers reach up to prod at her lip and come away red.
It's been a long time since undercover work has given her this sick sensation in her stomach.
She's still trying to figure what feels so inexplicably wrong when Mike bursts into the alley, Johnny hot on his heels.
"You okay?" he asks a little breathlessly. "You're bleeding."
He presses the pad of his thumb against her lip, directly on top of the split. The pressure causes a shock of pain that helps to clear her head.
"I'm fine," she says, surprised to realize that for a minute there she thought she wasn't. Had she been afraid? This kind of recon definitely fell on the less dangerous side of the spectrum of what she usually has to deal with, but for some reason her gut is churning, instincts screaming something that she can't quite interpret. "Fine."
Johnny clears his throat and knocks Mike's hand out of the way. "Man, that ain't sanitary."
He replaces Mike's thumb with a cocktail napkin from his pocket, instructing her to purse her lips around it until the bleeding stops. "Just, uh, try not get the phone number part all bloody."
Paige rolls her eyes and smiles, slipping into place between the two of them as they head back towards the car. It's heating up again. Southern California never stays cool for too long. Still, even when Johnny slides his jacket over her shoulders, she feels a chill that she can't quite shake.
"Teaberry, Johnny? Really?"
"Dude, we brought you ice cream," Johnny groans, throwing an arm over his eyes and reclining against the arm of the couch. "How can you be so pissed off about ice cream? Seriously, man."
Charlie smirks. "He's just pissed that he lost at Jenga three times tonight."
Probably Jakes is more pissed that he had to play Jenga in the first place, but Paige keeps that thought to herself, taking a bite of her own ice cream as she watches the others.
Jakes scowls. "Exactly what about me screams 'teaberry'? Explain it to me."
"Johnny bought it," she says apologetically, trading her tub of peach for Jakes's teaberry because she likes both and she'd rather not listen to this for the rest of the night. Jakes smiles in thanks. "I was in the car, so I wasn't supervising."
It's probably too late to be ingesting this much sugar, but no one seems to notice or care. The other three spent their night playing board games by candlelight (Charlie's decision) until the power came back on, a few minutes before Johnny, Paige, and Mike returned with their midnight snack. So they're eager to hear about any actual undercover work that took place while they were playing Monopoly.
"Was your new boy toy as dreamy in person?" Charlie asks grinning.
Paige shrugs. "He bit me," she complains. There's still a spot of dark blood on the corner of her swollen lip, which she medicates with a spoonful of cold ice cream. When it starts to melt, she pulls it away and slurps it down. "Who does that?"
"That's no way to impress a lady," Briggs says mildly, glancing sideways at Mike.
Mike nods slightly. "Seems to have a temper on him. Right, Paige?"
She considers that for a second. The easy answer is yes. Mike mentioned in the car that they'd watched Enos pull her out of the club and it looked as rough as it felt. But he seemed to know exactly what he was doing. He was rough because he wanted to be, not because he was losing control. "He's intense, I guess."
Her arms still sort of hurt. She puts her ice cream down, freeing her hands to remove Johnny's jacket and check for a mark.
"Keep me updated," Briggs says finally. "If he starts having trouble keeping his hands to himself, we'll shut the whole thing down."
Her hands stop short and drop into her lap. Unconsciously, she draws the jacket tighter around her. "We can't shut it down," she says incredulously. "The shit he's selling is taking people over the edge. We've already lost one of my DEA guys."
Everyone has turned their attention to this conversation now, interest drawn by the urgency in her voice. Paul looks at her oddly, clearly not sure why she's taking this so seriously. "Then we'll go at him from a different angle," he says slowly. "It will take longer yeah, but if it's what we have to do, we'll do it. Besides, this is all hypothetical, right? He isn't giving you any trouble?"
It's quiet now, and all eyes are on her. She feels flushed again.
"No," she agrees softly. "You're right. I'm sure it won't be a problem."
Conversation resumes, but Paige stays quiet until she says goodnight and retreats towards the stairs. Charlie is watching her carefully, a thoughtful look on her face, but Paige doesn't acknowledge her. In the bathroom, she shrugs Johnny's jacket off and inspects her arms in the mirror. Dark red splotches circle her upper arms, already purpling into what are sure to be nasty bruises.
They're not life threatening. Certainly not bad enough to warrant closing her case. But still, Paige gets the idea that she should keep them to herself. Just in case.
AN: Doesn't really fit into the season two timeline, so we're gonna call it AUish, taking place after season one if Mike hasn't gone back to DC. This was originally all jammed into a chapter of Dynamic, but then I was stuck on whether or not to play around with Mike/Paige and the tone was just too serious to match the others. So now we're going to take things slow and spread it out into a long one. Hope you enjoy!
