Cosima hated that it was her turn to do this. In the long run, though, it was all worth it when the endgame involved being handed three or four generous stacks of one-hundred-dollar bills.

She should have known that she would be scoping out a building that seemed to be holding a business party, of all things. She never got the cool ones. There were silver-haired white men in plain suits in every direction, if that helps you get a better understanding of the atmosphere that this place held.

She was here with one other person, but only because they could use their status as a cop to help Cosima get into the place easier. Beth was cool, but she quickly walked off to do her own thing and left Cosima to get to work, which she was done with within about fifteen minutes.

Now, she was just observing. People-watching was one of her favorite things to do at events like this. She made imaginary bets on the men in particular, estimating how long it would take until one of them approached a female that appeared to be at least ten years younger than him. Bonus points if he refused to acknowledge the obviously uncomfortable expression of the woman he chose to pursue.

Only once did Cosima witness a young woman approach one of these men instead of the other way around.

Watching her began to feel like stalking. She felt like she was seeing something that was not meant for her eyes to see. That's why she couldn't look away. It was odd, because the woman wasn't really even doing anything. She was making small talk with men considerably older than she was, but Cosima started to doubt herself.

Maybe that wasn't a very odd sight these days. In the however-many-minutes Cosima had been watching her at this point, the woman had received three different drinks from three different men.

She wasn't after men, though. There's no way she was. It was all in the way she held herself, the way she started conversations with one gray-haired man after the other, the way she only ever seemed to ask for clear drinks, and the way she watched each man that went to fetch her one like a hawk.

Every time Cosima watched the woman stare down a man from across the room, she couldn't refrain from smirking. It was just too much fun to watch, though it was the same cycle over and over again. Move to one man. Talk to him. Smile and laugh at jokes that probably weren't funny. Walk with him for a moment, maybe even link an arm around one of his. Whether the man offered to buy her a drink or not determined how long each of these exchanges were. If no drink was offered, it all went by pretty quickly before the woman pointed in another direction and made up some excuse so that she could leave and start the pattern over again with someone else.

Cosima's favorite parts were when a man that the woman had already talked to approached her again. These were her favorite because those were the only honest moments the woman seemed to have. Her expression would quickly dissolve from cool and amiable to fidgety and eager to get away by the mere existence of whichever man it was. Needless to say, they were all driven off pretty quickly, muttering insulting profanities. 'Bitch' and 'Cunt' were a few prime examples that Cosima had had the pleasure of hearing herself when they were close enough. Then, she was off to her next target with her fake emotions covering her face like a mask.

The word 'target' is used very loosely, because Cosima wasn't sure if they actually were victims of this woman. Emotional victims, maybe, in some cases.

The woman was tall and wore all black. The dress that cut off just above her knees was black, as were her stilettos, her nails, any jewelry she was wearing, her purse, and even her hair. The only things about her that weren't black were her pale skin and her lips that were colored with red lipstick.

Everything about her seemed elegant. It was a dangerous kind of elegant, though. The kind of elegance that drew absolutely everyone in. Cosima couldn't tell if she was just faking that as well as the way she was confidently smiling up at a man who was at least an unsettling fifty-five years old.

"I just expected you to be here primarily on shittily-thought-out illegal business. Yet here you are, staring down what looks like a very expensive prostitute," Beth's voice was a whisper, but the close proximity in which she was standing next to Cosima made her loud and clear. She nudged Cosima with her elbow, "What's with that, huh?"

Cosima turned her head slightly so that Beth could hear her better, but her eyes still never left the woman, "It's not shittily-thought-out, first off. I'm just scopin' this place out a little bit. I already got all the info I need, though, so I'll stare at whoever I want," she nodded towards the woman in black, "She's not a hooker. Definitely not…" Her voice kind of trailed off a bit towards the end and she paused before speaking up again, "She's up to something, though. I just can't figure what."

"Just looking to get some free drinks, maybe," Beth shrugged. They were both watching her now. The woman was currently in the middle of her process of staring down some poor bastard that offered to buy her a drink, making sure he didn't try anything.

"I dunno, man," Cosima sighed, "I don't think that's it."

In silence, they continued their attempted analysis of her, watching as she smiled and took her newest drink from the man. They began talking, and Cosima desperately wished she knew what they were saying to each other. Had the woman been striking up the same topics of conversation with every single man she'd come across? Just the thought of it made Cosima laugh. The woman leaned in and whispered something in the man's ear, smiled sweetly, and left him looking like a grinning idiot who thought that he actually had a chance with her, even though he obviously did not. It was quite a beautiful scene, actually. Everything this woman was doing (whatever she was doing) was executed perfectly enough to make all of these guys look like damned fools.

Cosima snapped out of her trance when Beth laughed beside her, "You're smart, Cosima, but you're a dipshit at the same time."

"What? What are you talking about?" Cosima asked, finally looking at her friend instead of the black-haired woman.

"You've easily been watching that woman for ten minutes at least, and the only thing you picked up on was that she might be up to something?" Beth had an incredulous look on her face.

Cosima didn't respond, but she now understood why Beth was a detective.

Her friend sighed and rolled her eyes, "Well, genius, I think we just witnessed theft," She patted the other woman on the back, "Not your kind of theft, though. Looks like that woman decided to go with the good, old fashioned method," she smirked and shook her head.

Cosima quickly became skeptical and her voice lowered to a whisper again, "Theft?"

"Yup."

Cosima looked back to the tall woman, but couldn't find her. She let her eyes trace over the entire room but didn't see her anywhere. She turned to Beth again, "She's gone."

The detective pointed and said, "She went into a back room."

"With who?" Cosima asked quickly, turning her body to face Beth completely.

"Jesus, calm down. She didn't go in there with anyone."

Cosima gave a sigh of relief. Knowing that she went into a back room with someone would have ruined the the enjoyment that she was getting out of this. It also would have hit her with a pang of jealousy, but Cosima chose not to dwell long on that part.

"I should probably arrest her," she heard Beth sigh beside her, and that made Cosima snap away from her thoughts again.

"That kinda douche-y, don't you think? Why would you do that?" Cosima sounded personally offended, as if she were the one being arrested.

"Because I'm a fucking cop, that's why."

"Yeah, but you're not a real cop," Cosima argued.

"Bitch," Beth remarked, looking her up and down, "I went through the school and I earned the badge and you're trying to tell me that I'm not a real cop?"

"Sorry, sorry," Cosima put her hands up in defense, "I meant to say that you're not exactly a traditional cop."

"You're damn right," Beth agreed, "But I prefer the term 'double agent.'"

"I think 'two-faced' is a better descriptor," Cosima commented, and Beth smirked.

"Listen, I'll always be on you guys' side because I owe Alison and, truthfully, I've grown to like all of you morons," Beth explained, "And I'll never turn on you guys, but

I'm still a cop. I've gotta arrest people now and then, or people will start to get suspicious when they realize I'm taking advantage of resources and not raking in actual criminals."

Cosima nodded, albeit slowly.

"I'll protect you guys. I always will, but," Beth pointed to the back room, "I don't have any connections to that woman, and it just so happens that I just saw her steal a wallet. Probably not the first one she's stolen tonight, too."

Cosima was about to comment on that when the door to the back room opened. The black-haired woman wasn't the person who emerged, though. Cosima felt her heart drop in disappointment.

"Who the hell is that?" Beth wondered.

Cosima didn't answer; she just took a moment to analyze the person who left the room. It was another woman, except this one had wild blonde and wore a jeans and a black coat. She looked… good. She looked really good, but the outfit seemed a bit unfit for the type of event they were currently at.

She also had a purse that looked awfully familiar. Then, the realization hit her hard. Cosima squinted and pushed her glasses closer to her eyes, trying to get a better look at the woman's face. Any make-up she was wearing had been wiped off, but it was undoubtedly the same woman.

Cosima just started laughing, "Wow. Just… wow," she turned towards Beth with a grin, "We just witnessed something extremely shady," she continued laughing, maybe a bit louder than she should have been.

Now was Beth's turn to play the confused role, but she quickly caught on. She snapped her fingers and pointed at the woman, "Same person?"

Cosima nodded once, still grinning, "Yup."

Beth started laughing, "She didn't even use a back exit or anything! She must be pretty confident," she began, "Now that's actually pretty fucking funny. I should have known that that black hair was fake. It's so obvious now."

Cosima nodded.

Beth's amusement subsided and she sighed, "I almost don't even want to arrest her now."

"Woah, woah," Cosima turned towards her friend again and put her arm up in front of her so that she wouldn't move, "You're still gonna arrest her?"

Beth nodded.

"C'mon, man, don't be a bitch," Cosima tried to reason.

"Legally, I have to arrest her, Cosima."

"Yeah, I know that, obviously," Cosima said, unconsciously using her hands to assist in what she was trying to get across to her friend, "And legally, you shouldn't be doing half the shit you do as a cop."

Beth said nothing and just shrugged. Cosima looked back towards the blonde woman and spotted her as she was about leave the building. Beth saw this as well and instinctively started to follow her.

Cosima started walking alongside her, "Hey, hey, hey. Slow down." Beth didn't slow down, of course, and Cosima continued, "Earlier you said that you were going to arrest her because you have no ties to her, right?"

Beth kept walking and nodded.

"Well then, there we go," Cosima said and halted. She grabbed Beth by the arm which forced her to stop walking as well.

Beth whipped around to face her, obviously annoyed. She yanked her arm out of Cosima's grip and snapped, "What?"

"If I go talk to her before you have a chance to slap on the handcuffs, then you will have a connection. She's a soon-to-be friend-of-a-friend," Cosima grinned, and put her hand on her friend's shoulder, "There ya go. There's your connection."

Beth crossed her arms and just stared at Cosima. She eventually just sighed, "You're a fucking piece of work, you know that?"

The other woman just kept grinning.

"Fine," Beth groaned, "Have fun with your sleazy new friend, then," she said and turned on her heel.


AN; I will GLAAAADLY accept any constructive criticisms on anything, but especially on how I write Beth, because I've honestly (and maybe obviously) never written Beth before, and I want to do her as much justice as I possibly can. It's kinda tough because we never really got to see much of her personality, just buts and pieces here and there, ya know. Thanks!