Author's Note: Well, I wrote this. This storyline has me slightly obsessed, I have to say. This takes place three months after the last one-shot. If it's not obvious by now, it also completely ignores anything that happened AFTER the group – well, minus Ryan – graduated from Quantico. I may eventually write pieces that don't ignore that, but there are people I don't want to write about the deaths of, and writing my way out of those tragedies isn't something I'm loving the idea of. I just wanted to clarify, just in case anyone was confused.
Disclaimer: Nope, not mine.
It was well past three o'clock in the morning when Special Agent Alexandra Booth walked through the door of her darkened apartment in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. She heaved a sigh as she leaned back against the cool oak of her own front door. It had been a truly trying day in the bullpen.
She opened her eyes when she heard the sound of footsteps, managing to smile when her husband came into view. "Hi," she greeted softly, pushing herself away from the door to walk in his direction. She pressed a lingering kiss to his lips, then wrapped her arms around him, burying her face in his shoulder and breathing in his scent. "I missed you," she murmured against the fabric of the shirt he wore.
"Missed you too," he responded automatically, one calloused hand coming up to run through her dark hair. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "You okay?" he asked after a moment.
"Mm," she hummed against his shoulder, her eyes still closed. "Today just further made me realize how naïve I was back at Quantico. I didn't really enjoy it."
"It's not naïve to think people should be punished for their crimes, Alex," Ryan assured her. "You're a better agent because of your idealism. I might not have always said that to you while you were in training, but I always knew it. The Agency is better off having someone who believes in everyone than someone who believes in no one. They're better off having you than the exact opposite of you."
"Mm. You know, for someone who only has three months' worth of experience, you're awfully good at this husband thing," she informed him, causing him to chuckle quietly. She smiled against his shoulder. "I need to go to sleep. I have to be back at the office in less than four hours."
"All right," Ryan agreed without argument. He swept her up easily, causing her to laughingly protest. He pressed a quick kiss to her lips as they made their way towards the master bedroom. "I love you."
"I love you, too," Alex responded. Somehow, those three simple words seemed to undo all the heartbreak she'd collected that day. By the time Ryan carefully placed her on her side of their king-sized bed, she was smiling once again.
Six o'clock came earlier than Alex wanted it to. Ryan was already in the shower when she woke, no doubt preparing for his own long day at the office, and the special agent had to remind herself yet again that they'd been the ones who'd chosen to go to Quantico. They'd brought these heavy caseloads upon themselves.
She arrived at the office fifteen minutes before seven. As usual, she was the first one to arrive, although Rosseau was close behind her. Her partner looked exhausted as she settled into the desk across from Alex, but the younger woman had no desire to bring up the current state of her friend's appearance. She was sure Rosseau already knew. She did, after all, have two little girls with no qualms about sharing their opinions.
"Frank Rutherford was having an affair," Special Agent Alana Campbell informed them both as she barged into the bullpen, shattering the silence in the process. She placed a portable coffee mug on both their desks as she walked past. "Young girl by the name of Vivienne Cooke. She's local, lives near LACC."
"Los Angeles City College?" Alex asked confusedly. "What, is she a student?" She shook her head incredulously when Campbell nodded. "Frank Rutherford was almost sixty years old."
"Yes, and he's worth at least that many in millions," Campbell responded bluntly, causing both Alex and Rosseau to look at her curiously. "Sorry, too straightforward for you? I'll work on it."
"Does that mean we can officially take Jason Collins off the suspect list?" Rosseau asked hopefully. They hadn't been able to tie Rutherford's gardener to the crime or its scene. It was the reason their work had lasted so late into the night the day before.
"Martin won't go for officially, but she does think we should put our efforts into pursuing this avenue, not that one." Campbell glanced from Rosseau to Alex. "Do either of you fancy going back to college?"
"No, thank you. Four years in UC Berkeley's Political Science program was more than enough for me," Alex responded. "Unless Rosseau wants to go," she added, glancing in her partner's direction.
The other woman shook her head, as well. "Really? I spent six years at Brown before I graduated. I have no more desire to deal with the frat boys at thirty-six than I did at eighteen."
"Then I guess I'm dragging de Lange along for the ride. Luke!" she called across the bullpen, causing her partner to shoot her an exasperated look from behind his desk. "Let's go venture back into the past."
Special Agent Lucas de Lange stood from his desk without complaint and followed his partner without question. Alex shook her head as she stared after them. "Sometimes, I think they act more married than any married couple I've ever met."
"Well, they've known each other a really long time," Rosseau pointed out. "Grew up in the same neighborhoods, went to Columbia and Quantico together. If they can't trust each other, who are they supposed to trust?"
"Fair point," Alex agreed after a moment. "So," she began, gesturing towards the files on her desk, "let's dig into Vivienne Cooke, see if there's any reason she'd want her lover dead. Ugh," she shuddered. "That was a weird sentence to say."
"If it makes you feel any better, it was also a weird sentence to hear said," Rosseau informed her, opening up her own file and leaning back in her chair as she began to absorb the information. Shaking her head with an amused smile at her partner's antics, Alex stayed silent and did the same.
It didn't take Campbell and de Lange long to return from their mission to find Vivienne Cooke. Unfortunately for their victim's young mistress, Alex and Rosseau had already found evidence to support the idea that Cooke was responsible for the murder, giving the other special agents enough probable cause to bring her in for questioning.
"Just so you know, she's completely innocent and wants a lawyer," Campbell informed them dryly, leading their suspect towards the interrogation room with de Lange trailing closely behind. "Of course, most innocent people don't have their lawyers on speed dial, especially not at twenty-one years old, so that's certainly not working in your favor, love," she told the young woman, who simply rolled her eyes.
"Why is it that the people who immediately claim their innocence are always the ones who follow their claims up with a demand for their lawyer?" Alex asked as her teammates led Vivienne Cooke away.
"That, my friend, is known as the Criminals' Paradox," Rosseau informed her as she settled back at her desk. "Do we go ahead and call Hanna Rutherford?"
"Not unless we want another murder on our hands. No woman wants to face the twenty-year-old their husband was sleeping with behind their back," Alex pointed out, causing Rosseau to scoff. "What?" she asked defensively.
"You must've learned that at Quantico, because you're married to a man who'd rather shoot himself in the foot than risk hurting your feelings by doing something as simple as calling another girl pretty," her partner informed her amusedly. "You've got one of the good ones, Parrish."
"Yeah, and don't I know it," Alex murmured back with a slight smile, causing her friend to shake her head once again.
"Speaking of your husband, don't you leave for your friends' engagement party tonight?" Rosseau asked, leaning back slightly in her seat.
"Yeah, Shelby and Caleb's," Alex confirmed. "They're having it at the Acre in Orlando. It'll be the first time I've seen them since Ryan and I got married. It'll also be my first opportunity to yell at Caleb for the timing of his proposal." Why couldn't he have remembered that his girlfriend's best friend lived in a state with a time zone three hours behind his own when he'd decided to drop to one knee so early in the morning?
"Ah," Rosseau commented with an amused smile, shaking her head at her partner's words. She turned towards Campbell when the other woman exited the interrogation room.
"Well, I feel as if the spoiled brat may have rubbed off on me," Campbell said in greeting. "She confessed to it. Apparently, he promised he'd leave his wife. When he didn't, she decided if she couldn't have both him and his fortune, then Hanna Rutherford couldn't have him." She shook her head. "Jealousy. One of the oldest reasons for murder in the book, right?"
"It's up there with greed," Alex agreed. "And when the case involves a rich, older man, it's almost always the reason we end up putting someone behind bars." She glanced in Rosseau's direction. "I guess we owe Jason Collins an apology."
"He did have an unauthorized gun," Rosseau pointed out, heaving a sigh when Alex simply shot her an unimpressed look. "Fine. Why don't you call Mr. Collins and express the FBI's deepest apologies for our conversation yesterday?"
"I plan to do just that," Alex shot back, picking up the phone from its receiver and dialing the number. "Mr. Collins? Yes, this is Special Agent Alexandra Booth with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. We spoke yesterday…"
It was after one o'clock in the morning when Ryan and Alex touched down at Orlando International Airport. Unlike their previous visits, they weren't greeted in their terminal. Instead, they grabbed their bags from the luggage carousel and headed for the rental place, renting an SUV for their short time in the city. Afterwards, they drove directly to their hotel, not in any mood to spend any amount of time out on the town. They could do that throughout the weekend. There was no reason to do it before sunrise.
They both passed out in the bed the moment their door was unlocked, still clad in their clothes. Alex curled into the crook of her husband's arm. "I don't want to change," she groaned against his neck, causing him to chuckle slightly.
"I know you don't, but you hate sleeping in jeans," he reminded her, pressing a kiss to the side of her head.
"I know I do," she muttered, sighing loudly as she pushed away to grab a few things from her suitcase. She pressed a kiss to his cheek and then headed for the bathroom to change.
She emerged several minutes later, dressed in a tee shirt and sleep shorts. Her hair was collected atop her head in a messy bun, her face devoid of makeup. She settled back onto the bed next to her husband, who pushed up from the bed a few moments later to change into his own pajamas. He settled on the bed next to her. She curled into the crook of his arm once again, and they were asleep before they even turned off the bedside lamps.
They woke up before their alarm the following morning, likely because the time difference had sufficiently confused their bodies. Breakfast was served downstairs, and they both filled up on comfort food before heading for the joint Haas-Wyatt residence in Parramore. As always, they were greeted with enthusiasm by both members of the household.
"How's your hotel? How was breakfast?" Shelby asked, leading Alex into the two-bedroom apartment while Caleb and Ryan spoke about work by the door. "The Waldorf is supposed to be one of the best Orlando has to offer."
"It is," Alex assured her friend. "And the room has a beautiful view. Thank you for recommending it."
"Oh, of course," Shelby said, waving away her friend's gratitude. "We would've offered you our guest room, but Caleb's doing some DIY or another in there, so it's an absolute mess."
"It's going to work out in the end, Alex," Caleb insisted, causing the brunette to shake her head at the same time her husband smirked. "I know how to build a shelf. IKEA is not going to win this round."
"You let him buy a bookshelf from IKEA?" Alex stage-whispered to her friend.
"I wasn't exactly aware of the purchase at the time it was made," Shelby whispered back.
"Okay, enough of the two of you whispering about how awful my construction skills are," Caleb said, causing the three other people in the room to look at him amusedly. "Shel, my mom wants to know something about the floral arrangements on the tables."
"I can help with that," Alex said as Shelby nodded. The blonde shot her a grateful look, suggesting her relationship with Claire Haas was still as awkward as it'd always been, especially after the end of her relationship with the lawmaker's son. Even though she and Caleb hadn't spent much time apart, it'd always weighed heavily on her future mother-in-law's mind. If it didn't, then Shelby wouldn't be so petrified to spend time alone with her.
"We're getting dragged along for this, aren't we?" Ryan asked after a moment, sighing quietly when both women nodded. He glanced towards his wife. "Aren't you happy we didn't have floral arrangements?"
"Exceedingly," Alex replied honestly, causing their friends to laugh quietly. She then allowed herself to be dragged from the small space by Shelby, the men following closely behind.
"So," Shelby drew out several hours later. She and Alex were alone in the bathroom, preparing for the upcoming party. The bride-to-be was already clad in a long white dress and matching stilettos. Her blonde locks were pulled back and dotted with carefully-placed roses. In that moment, she looked exactly like the Southern belle the world believed her to be.
Alex glanced in her friend's direction as she fastened one of her block-heel sandals. "What?" she asked when the blonde didn't continue on. "You're not getting cold feet, are you?" she questioned concernedly.
"Of course not," Shelby assured her. "I was just wondering how married life is treating you. It's been several months now, you know. Is it all you thought it'd be?"
"Yes," Alex answered honestly. "It is." She glanced at her reflection in the mirror, then reached down to adjust the hem of her ruby-colored dress.
"Because it seems like you know something Ryan doesn't," Shelby said after a moment, causing the brunette to glance towards her once again. "Are you sure everything is okay between the two of you?"
Alex sighed quietly. "It's great," she assured her friend once again. "It's just…" She trailed off, shaking her head. "Shelby, I love you, okay? But what's going on with me right now is something I really need to let Ryan in on before I talk about it with anyone else, even if it turns out to be nothing."
Her friend nodded. "All right," she replied easily, no malice in her tone. "But can you talk to him about it soon? Because I really don't like secrets between friends."
"Neither do I," Alex agreed. She laughed quietly at the look on her friend's face. "I'll go hunt him down now," she told her friend, glancing at her reflection once more before heading towards the hallway.
Ryan and Caleb were seated on separate ends of the leather sofa in the living room, both focused entirely on the football game playing on the screen in front of them. Alex paused at the end of the hallway, standing there for several moments before finally gathering the courage to speak.
"Ryan," she called quietly, causing her husband to immediately glance in her direction. "Can I talk to you for a second?" She smiled in relief when he simply nodded, following her to the guest bedroom without hesitation or complaint.
"What's up?" Ryan asked worriedly. "Are you all right?"
Alex nodded quickly. "Yeah," she assured him. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just, uh…" She trailed off, scoffing quietly in amusement at her own inability to piece together intelligible sentences in that moment. "I think I might be pregnant."
Ryan's smiled appeared slowly, but it did appear. "Really?" he asked after a moment, such excitement in his tone that Alex didn't know how to react. She simply nodded in response to his question, causing his grin to substantially widen. "Have you taken a test?"
"No," she said immediately. "I didn't want to take one before you knew. And I didn't want today to be about us. It's for Caleb and Shelby. I just…" She trailed off, shaking her head. "I don't like keeping things from you. And this is a pretty big secret to keep."
"Yeah," Ryan agreed. "It is." He stared at her for a moment. "Are you happy?" he asked seriously.
"Well, we don't know yet if I actually am," she reminded him, smiling when he shot her an exasperated look for effectively dodging the question. "But if we find out I'm right, then yes, Ryan. I'll be very happy."
"That's what matters," her husband said definitively. "When do you want to take the test?"
"After the party?" Alex suggested. "It's not like I was planning on drinking anyway, and that way there's no chance of Shelby announcing it to over three hundred people after getting a little tipsy."
Ryan chuckled quietly. "She isn't great at holding her wine," he agreed after a moment. When he heard Shelby yell out for them to join her and Caleb in the living room, he held out his arm for her to accept. "Ready, Mrs. Booth?"
"As always, Mr. Booth," she replied, slipping her arm through his and allowing him to lead her down the hallway.
It was well past midnight when Ryan and Alex finally returned to their hotel room. The engagement party had also served as sort of a Quantico reunion. Every time they thought they'd said hello to everyone, someone else walked through the door. That, on top of stopping at an always-open drugstore, meant that the new day had already arrived by the time they collapsed back against their pillows.
"So," Ryan said after a moment, glancing in her direction. "Do you want to take it now, or…"
Alex drew in a deep breath. "Yeah," she responded definitively, pushing up from the mattress and grabbing one of the small boxes with two pregnancy tests from the bag on the floor next to her. She ducked into the bathroom, followed the instructions, and ducked back out, this time without the test in hand.
"It takes three minutes," she informed her husband. "I didn't want to have to stare at it for that long."
Ryan nodded his understanding, then patted the spot next to him on the bed. She moved to sit by his side, her head falling naturally to his shoulder as his hand rubbed up and down her back. "No matter what it says, we'll be okay," he assured her once again.
She sighed. "I know," she said once again. For the next two and half minutes, they were simply silent. When the timer finally went off on her phone, she shook her head against him. "Will you check it?" she asked hopefully.
"Of course," he responded without hesitation, careful not to jostle her as he stood. He disappeared into the bathroom for a moment, then emerged several moments later with the test in his hand and a wide smile on his face.
"It's positive?" she asked incredulously, a smile of her own taking over her face. Ryan simply nodded before he scooped her up and spun her around, making her laugh louder than she ever had before.
It wasn't until that exact moment that she realized what result she'd been gunning for since she told him about the possibility of being pregnant. It was the result she'd gotten. She beamed as they took another step into the future. It felt nice to be so happy, even if the cause of her happiness seemed so normal. She didn't ever want to let that feeling go. If she and Ryan had any say in the matter, then she'd never have to.