"Okay, this is the Weber case, the one with the skittles fetish and-"
"I remember, spare me," Cheryl cut Matt off as he went on to describe the sixth case they were coordinating paperwork on. It had been a busy month, and they also had Emily's to contend with. She'd left her completed and organized stack on her desk, before rushing off to her class, missing the monthly paperwork bonanza. Matt was very jealous.
"Gladly, guy was a freak…uh, I think this is the last one, the-what is this? Oh, Strauvsky, drunk Russian guy prattling on about his girlfriend, while he held a gun to his head. That one was a joy." Matt let the sarcasm drip from his voice, knowing Cheryl was used to his unpleasant attitude during paperwork time.
"Yeah, don't think I got the pleasure of that one, you were on your own." She added it to the stack, shoving her own pages into the file.
"That's it, thank god," Matt said stretching, thrilled to be finished with paperwork.
"Hey Matt?" Cheryl suddenly asked.
"What did I forget something?" Matt sighed.
"No, I just…can I ask you something?" She wasn't entirely comfortable posing the question.
"Yeah, shoot."
"You really care about Emily, right?"
Matt was surprised, Cheryl never asked either of them about the other; she played toward, wanting not an ounce of information that could make her more nervous about keeping them together. He opened his mouth to answer, and then closed it, thinking a minute.
"I'm crazy about her."
Cheryl gave him a small smile at that. "Okay, let's say I get promoted four years from now, they'd undoubtedly promote you or Emily to this position. And if they chose her, could you handle it? Her outranking you, I mean?"
Matt thought for a moment. He knew what he would have liked to answer, but he knew that might not be the case. "I don't know. I'd like to think I could, but I'm a guy, I'll admit that's not an easy thing for a guy. I hope I could, I wouldn't want to lose what we have over something like that, especially if we last over four years."
She regarded him for a moment, a small smile on her face. "You know what Matt? I think you could. Frank would give you hell, but I really think you could."
"Thanks…You okay?" He'd been watching her the last several days, since Sam was shot.
"Yeah, I'm fine. He was dirty, it makes it easier," she assured him. It wasn't easy by any means, but that one little fact did make a little easier to move on.
Matt nodded, as Cheryl dove back into the paperwork, effectively ending the conversation. It had been Matt she ran to, stunned and upset almost two years ago, on what should have been a happy day for her, the day she accepted her promotion. He'd let her talk without question, and joined her in getting drunker than either of them had since college. He'd even paid for the cab that got them to their homes in one piece, but right now, she didn't feel like dwelling anymore.
An hour later
"Hey, how was the lecture?" Matt greeted his partner, as she flopped down the red chair.
"Dull. I think I managed to put at least four people to sleep."
"I wouldn't take it personally, what did you cover today?" Matt yawned even as he spoke, having been almost asleep when Emily came in.
"Protocol," she stated as if it put a foul taste in her mouth. "Maybe on the days I go over the rules, I should wear low cut tops? At least I could keep the guys awake."
Matt went to nod and then stopped abruptly, "whoa, what?"
She grinned at him, "just making sure you were awake."
"I definitely am now that you had to talk about showing your cleavage off."
"Hey, it served its purpose, kept you awake. It's not actually a bad idea," she commented offhandedly, studying a memo left in her inbox.
"Oh come on, don't do that. I don't want to think about a dozen guys staring at your chest for two hours twice a week," he whined. "Besides, it's not like they'd learn anything that way."
He turned to see her laughing, not even looking at her paper anymore. She was trying to keep her giggling silent, but not completely succeeding.
"Are you laughing at me?" He demanded indignantly.
She sobered up long enough to answer, "nope, never," before beginning to laugh again.
"You are, you're laughing at me. I'm trying to convince you not to show the world your cleavage and you're laughing at me." He was clearly offended.
"No, I'm not. I promise, I'll find other teaching methods." She hadn't intended to use her cleavage anyway, but was enjoying screwing with Matt.
He watched her sobered herself up again, before going back to ignoring the memo in her hand. He thought about what Cheryl said to them days ago, and what they'd talked about earlier.
"You know, Cheryl and I had an interesting conversation before."
"What? About a case?" She turned toward him, abandoning her memo.
"No, about us."
"What, us like you and me, us?"
"Yeah, that would be us."
"And what about us?" She wasn't sure she wanted to know.
"She asked, if you got promoted to her position a few years from now, could I handle you outranking me." He watched her reaction, which in fashion true to Emily, was guarded.
"And you said?"
"I'd like to think I could handle it, but I don't know."
"Fair enough." Again Emily's reaction was guarded, outward appearances saying she was unaffected by his answer.
"Cheryl seemed to think I could handle it."
"Yeah? I'm inclined to agree. But it doesn't matter." She shrugged nonchalantly, turning suddenly back to the memo.
"Of course it does, this could happen in the future," he insisted.
"No, it can't." She turned back to him, "I can't get promoted Matt."
"What?" Matt was confused, Emily was a talented negotiator, one of the Bureau's best, where was this coming from?
"After Washington found out about my sister…she's an embarrassment to the Bureau." She offered no other explanation.
"That's it, because of Ally they just decided this is as far as you go?"
"Yeah, that's it."
"Well, that's not fair." He sounded almost like a child in his statement, as if learning that life isn't fair for the first time.
"Life's not fair, Matt. You learn to deal with it." She explained the most fundamental of life's truths.
"Yeah but-" he started to protest.
"Just drop it, Matt." She cut him off, ending the conversation.
He closed his mouth, watched her try to read the memo for the umpteenth time, and turned back to his work himself. A slightly awkward silence trapped them for several minutes, until Matt felt the need to say something or burst.
"I still think I could have handled it," he told her, eyes still staring at the paper he'd been studying when she walked in. He needed her to know he would have supported her, if she'd been given the chance for advancement, even if she'd never get it now.
"I don't doubt that you would have." She meant it, she trusted him, but she was still kind of glad they'd never have to find out.
Another one posted first at the message boards, that I never got around to posting here. Thanks for reading and reviewing!