"You know, the boss could have at least said something. It was a little embarrassing to run into Vasquez in the field with a different unit…" Adler said. "I mean, we see SHIELD and we back off… I still don't know why because they don't know what the fuck they're doing… I mean, have you seen them? And our poor beloved Vasquez, she's just trying to play the part...like she's never seen a being with powers… It's just sad…"

"It was worse," Benanti put out there. "The name on her SHIELD jacket? Piper. I mean, does she look like a Piper?!"

Alex sighed. Everything seemed to be changing in the DEO and Vasquez hadn't been above it all. They'd moved to a shinier location (which Alex wasn't complaining about because her commute was hardly anything) and now they were public. Winn was working for them full time...and some people had been shifted for other reasons. J'onn had voiced his concern to the president over SHIELD and how it operated. The world was filled with more than just humans or even aliens at that...there were metahumans and inhumans.

She finished off the beer she'd been drinking and looked up at Adler and Benanti. "We just have to hope that this undercover assignment doesn't last long."

"Yeah because I haven't trained that new Winn guy yet," Adler commented.

"Trained him?" Alex questioned, a smile creeping in.

"Yeah, Vasquez didn't need training...she knew when she needed to pass along information in order to save your ass...or the boss'." Adler's hand waved around in a vague gesture. "This other guy though, he needs some serious DEO education…"

"I thought you gave him a donut?"

A donut being given to someone was the ultimate gesture that Adler approved of someone. Alice Adler wasn't really one to instantly trust or approve of someone either. It was really something to be worked at. More of an achievement to be unlocked.

Adler looked disgusted now and then looked over at her wife.

"What?" Lara questioned. "It's not my fault that I was trying to be welcoming...and-"

"So, you gave him the donut?" Alex asked, finally getting it all straight. "I didn't think that was allowed."

"It isn't," Adler grumbled and then drank down the rest of her beer.

"Okay, okay...let's drop the fact that I gave Winn a donut-"

"It was Vasquez's donut."

"We'll just have to buy her a few boxes when she comes back from her undercover assignment," Benanti told her wife. "Maybe have them write her name in icing on them, so she can get used to seeing Susan Vasquez instead of whatever Piper nonsense they've been calling her."

Alex smirked. "And there needs to be drinking…"

"I'm basically hearing that we're having a party," Adler put out there.

"We should rope Harewood into this," Lara added. "Barbeque at his place with beer...and donuts… Who's going to talk him into it?"

"You," Adler and Alex said at the same time.

"That's fair."

"Let's just hope that we get back Vasquez soon, it's not the same...plus, no matter how smart Winn is...there always something he can learn from our agents," Alex said.

"Agreed," Adler declared. "Now, let's get another round and drink to our stolen agent."


The End.