Ok, it`s my first time writing AU. I don`t even know how it works, so if I`ve broken any rule, let me know. I just really love these characters and came up with a story of my own. Hope you like it.
Elizabeth woke up half an hour before she had to, as she did everyday. She moved out of the bed carefully not to wake her husband up. He liked to sleep as much as he could. She washed and dressed and left the room without making any sound.
She stopped by the room next to hers and opened the door slightly. Inside there was a little girl, 6 years old, sleeping soundly, clutching the Joy plushie her father had brought to her the night before. Since the first time she watched Inside out she had been obsessed with the characters and finally they found something to decorate her room with. She was thrilled when he showed her the toy. And now it rested safe between her little arms.
Elizabeth sighed at the perfect sight and then moved herself towards the kitchen, to start making breakfast.
Eggs, bacon, toast, pancakes, they would have it all this morning. Her husband had been away for a week for work and she wanted to celebrate his return with his favourite meal. She turned the coffee maker on and grabbed the orange juice from the fridge to pour a glass to her daughter. After about 15 minutes, a drowzy man came into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes like a kid. She welcomed him with a kiss.
"Wow! This is all for me?"
"Don't flatter yourself, Donald, this happens everyday" she lied, and then giggled as he stole a strip of bacon from the plate and then moved behind her. He put his hands around her waist, making it difficult to manage the frying pan with the eggs, but she didn't mind. It was so good to have him there.
Maya came into the room a few minutes later, her little hands still clutching the plushie. She was only 6, but was very responsible for her age. She could wake up and wash by herself, and when she showed up it wasn't a surprise for her parents.
"Hey kiddo!" Her father welcomed her ruffling her hair, and she whined. "No, daddy, I just combed it!"
"Well, it looks even better now, sweetie, believe me."
"Mommy!" The girl cried, not really trusting her father. Liz got to her knees to fix her little girl's hair, and then she gave her a little kiss on the cheek, and the girl moved happily to the table.
"Could you please one day stand by me when I say something to her? It's clear you're her favourite, but I would like to have at least an opportunity." It sounded like he was upset, but it was just whinning. Maya noticed her father's disappointment and went to him, grabbing him by the hand. "Come daddy, come sit with me and Joy" to what he turned to Liz and smiled, bragging about their daughter's adorableness.
She was only six months old when he found her. He was following the trail of a drug cartel when he got into a building on fire. Inside, the terrible image of the little baby crying with her birthmother dead on the ground beside her. He didn't think twice, he grabbed her and took her out of the building. When he did that, the baby stopped crying and he knew she had been sent to him. When he took her home, Liz welcomed her like a mother already, and then it was a matter of time to settle officially what was already truth from the start: Maya would be their daughter.
Now, six years after that they were starting to think about kids of their own, but absolutely nothing could change the fact that they were a perfect family already. Liz, Donald and Maya Ressler.
They finished breakfast together and they all helped to clean the table before rushing to get ready for their day. Liz went upstairs to help Maya get dressed while Donald went outside to run for a while. By the time the school bus arrived, the little girl was ready in her thick pink coat, still holding onto the doll her father gave her. Liz took the doll from her promising to keep her safe and kissed her goodbye just in time for Donald to arrive, making the girl rush to give him a hug before climbing on to the bus.
"Bye, honey! Have a good day at school" the couple waved at their daughter and at the bus driver, and then the bus moved, disappearing in the distance.
"And you, Agent Ressler, already off to save the day?" Liz said, turning to put her arm around her husband's neck, while he clutched her around the waist.
"If by saving the day you mean being overwhelmed by stacks of paperwork, sure! But actually, I have the morning off, you know." And he kissed her in the neck. After they adopted Maya, Donald promised Liz to go into a less threatening job in the FBI than field agent, so he was now just an analyst.
"Hum.. Do you? You know what's curious? so do I." She looked at him with mischievous eyes and they both grinned while moving back into the house, under the looks of jealous neighbours.
Xxxx
Donald stepped into the office at the FBI and was immediately called by the director, Harold Cooper.
"Agent Ressler, please, my office"
He moved into the large room and closed the door behind him, and then moved towards the central desk where the imponent man sat. In front of his desk were seating two other people he didn't immediately recognized.
"Donald, these are agent Malik and Navabi, from the counter-terrorist department. They have a case and would like your expertise.
A small woman raised from her chair and reached out her hand to shake his. Her strong British accent explained her poise.
"Agent Ressler, I'm Meera Malik. We were told that you are a specialist in profiling people, is that correct?"
"Yes, that is correct, agent" he confirmed while shaking hands with the other woman, a tall and impressive woman, clearly of Iranian descent. She then proceeded.
"We have knowledge that a former SVR agent, Masha Rostova, has settled residence in the USA under a false name. We need a profiler to analyse her history and come up with possible scenarios that could say where she is and what she is doing here."
"Mind you that this is a very dangerous woman, Agent Ressler, and we should proceed with care. She may be working by herself now, having left the Russian organization. We have intel that says she might be working as a private assassin."
"Ok, sure I'll help. Do you mind if I ask where you got this intel?"
"I'm afraid the identity of our informant is classified. But you will receive all the pertinent infomation on your desk this afternoon."
"You and Agent Mojtabai should create the profiles and a plan of action by the end of the week, Ressler. Please keep me updated, will you?" He nodded as his boss finished his orders, and then greeted the two women before letting himself out of the room. He found his partner Aram a few desks over, and he already knew about their task.
"Tough call, hun? We already have some things about this woman, Rostova. Guess what? No pictures, not even a possible physical description. The woman is a ghost."
"Sure! Just like any other Monday, isn't it?"
Xxx
Liz was having a lazy days as she didn't work on Mondays. She was an English teacher at the local school and had classes only from Tuesdays to Thursdays, a deal that kept her close enough to take care of Maya full time. Sometimes she had to go in on Mondays or Fridays to help with detention, but that wasn't one of those midnays. She stretched and got out of bed after sleeping in when Donald left. She loved those morning when they were left alone at the house, and could keep the fire in their marriage burning. She loved that man more than anything in the world.
She made the bed, and then took a shower. When she got out of the steaming water, she looked at herself in the mirror and sighed, bursting in happiness.
She fiddled with some things in her wardrobe, looking for an old summer dress she had forgotten she had when a big old box fell and almost hit her. She had also forgotten about that box. It was torn on the edges but it was tied shut with a string. She picked it up, cleaned the dust on it and removed the lid, carefully. Inside, her whole past, a past she didn't want to return to. Pictures of herself as a child, next to a man and a woman she barely recognized. She considered them dead a long time ago. One picture called her attention. It was faded, but she could still see the man that had been her hero for so long in her life. She turned over the picture to see scribbled in ink on the top left of it:
"Masha and daddy, january, 1990."
She threw the picture back into the box, tied it shut again and put it back in the wardrobe, making sure it went to the back of the top shelf. Then, she wiped the tears that involuntarily came from her eyes before grabbing any dress from the wardrobe and closing it shut, trying to hide aways those memories. The pictures of a man telling her lies while her mother laid uncouncious on the floor, and then the image of a strong woman, thinking that she had been doing good, filled her mind, and she sobbed a little. she sat by the bed still wearing the towel and then looked over to her room. The picture of her wedding on the bedside table reminded her of what was real. She stoop up, grabbed it and gently rubbed her fingers through Donald's face, smiling in the picture, holding her up while she threw the bouquet. She then put it back to its place and got dressed. A few minutes later, she opened the windows, letting the sun invade her room and warm the bed, and moved towards Maya's room to tidy it and go on with her daily affairs.
