Eric and Katie
Paul Briggs and Charlie Demarco sat on opposite sides of the café's bistro table and scowled with annoyance at each other.
"Once again, I told the Bureau to find someone else- anyone else to parade around as Eric, so you can jump off that high horse, Katie." Paul stabbed the air with his fork as he spoke in an emphatic attempt at defending himself and his actions.
Charlie narrowed her dark eyes and hissed, "Well then, how about you try to keep your voice down, Eric, so that this op doesn't go bust and we can manage to get the job done and go back to a better life."
A sudden gust of wind blew the napkins off of their outdoor table, and stooping to retrieve them, Paul noticed their marks exit the café juggling plates of food. As hoped, the couple spied the empty table Paul and Charlie had strategically pulled closer to their own and wound their way through other patrons to claim it.
That provided a golden opportunity and Charlie seized it. Leaning over to the newcomers as they settled she handed over a fistful of napkins with a beautiful smile. "Hey, my husband and I managed to hang onto these through that sirocco there. Help yourselves."
The woman smiled gratefully, reaching for the stack. "Too kind." Attractive and well dressed, she certainly did not resemble a hard core criminal capable of outwitting federal agencies. Then again, how accurate was a hard core criminal stereotype?
Taking advantage of the segue Paul addressed the husband. "This is the first time Katie and I have eaten here, so we weren't sure exactly what to order. The corned beef tastes good, though. You'll have to tell me how the ham and cheese stacks up against it."
"Will do," the man agreed, looking from Paul's sandwich to his own.
Thus ushered in the very first Eric and Katie collaborative undercover operation. Though Paul Briggs and Charlie Demarco had worked together several weeks, they had not tackled a case where they pretended identities as an established couple, Eric and Katie. However, necessity had forced them to create the personas to get next to their current assignment, a Canadian couple suspected of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of jewelry from three high end stores in Los Angeles.
Katie and Eric exuded charm and personality, and not surprisingly, the bistro encounter led to plans for the two couples to rendezvous at a popular nearby nightclub that very evening.
A couple of days after that, the four rode bikes leisurely along the beach, stopping to enjoy a picnic lunch while they watched the Pacific Ocean.
The four even scheduled a double decker bus tour of noteworthy Hollywood homes. By the time they returned to the tour's point of origin the two couples found themselves comfortable enough to share future plans and swap confidences.
Favor shined upon the hardworking Charlie and Paul immediately thereafter when Phillip and Lorena invited Katie and Eric to join them in pulling off an impending jewelry heist.
Despite their ease in slipping into the role of a committed couple, Paul and Charlie had not personally travelled a romantic road with each other. Truthfully, they worked together and lived together as just two of the six agents based at Graceland with a deeper relationship never entering their emotional beings. No, indeed, mixing private lives with public ones certainly would complicate real life and lead to insurmountable problems.
However, the truth of the matter was that Paul Briggs and Charlie Demarco shared some characteristics along with other undeniable sparks. As Capricorns, their sensitive, methodical, and disciplined natures certainly enhanced their professional abilities. In addition, as the de facto agent in charge at Graceland, Briggs cast a watchful eye over his team and the household while Charlie had unofficially taken over the role of Graceland's nurturer. On the other hand, each possessed stubborn streaks which contributed a bit to their self centered and avoidant tendencies.
Despite all of that, though, destiny inevitably has a way of exerting itself.
Thrown together for the extended period of time generated through the Canadian couple's jewelry heist case, resisting the pull between them stretched the tension to a breaking point. Arguments to withstand the attraction evaporated, leaving them struggling to sort the dynamics of their attraction. Though they insisted to each other that the bond simply played a crucial role in establishing the context for a convincing Katie and Eric, their own inner honesty contradicted that floundering reasoning.
Charlie and Paul finally accepted that a magnetism prevailed and would always prevail between them, with or without Katie and Eric.
Still, to weave the charade into their real lives could prove professionally shaky. If they did not end their liaison after the assignment finished, the relationship could distract them, their emotions could hinder their workplace actions, or the constant togetherness could destroy the house or them.
Both Charlie and Paul had invested their talents and their time to earn the respect of the FBI and reputations as stellar agents with careers on the fast track.
Adopting positions as the two necessary individuals of an invested couple at Graceland would not be fair to their roommates.
All of this logic Eric and Katie debated back and forth as they drove to their rendezvous with Phillip and Lorena the morning of the actual jewelry heist.
"What happens once our cavalry bursts into the jewelry store and hauls us all out of there in handcuffs?" Charlie asked quietly, working with barrettes to pin her hair on top of her head. Pushing at stray curls, she completed the look by covering up with a knit cap.
Paul glanced over from his seat and his mouth tilted into a sweet smile. Slipping one hand off of the steering wheel he used it to rub softly up and down her thigh. "You know the answer to that one, Chuck. They release us once transport hauls Phillip and Lorena away from the jewelry store and out of our sight. Our newly christened best friends will think we have been arrested right alongside them."
"No, Pauly, I meant with us," Charlie contradicted. "After that rough patch at the beginning, we lived this Katie and Eric cover in every way possible." She gave him a sideways glance. "We moved into a new arena there."
Paul grinned and licked his lips suggestively, "Well yes, Katie, we certainly did, and in fact, we lived some of those parts much better than other ones. Want me to run through the most pleasurable or the ones we need to repeat?"
Charlie laughed. "Stop it. My point is that in just a couple of hours we have to untangle ourselves from these alter egos and resume life as Paul Briggs and Charlie Demarco. We resume life as two of six agents based at Graceland."
"You don't think we'll need Katie and Eric for another op?"
"Yes, honestly, I do think we will use the Katie and Eric aliases again. We created a pretty solid cover with them and masquerading as a couple offers us more versatility."
"Ok."
"Back to my original point, though, which is what now?" Charlie leaned over and smoothed Paul's hair, then allowed her fingers to travel to his lips.
One strong hand grabbed them and he kissed each softly. His voice turned serious. "What now is we separate our real lives from our fantasy lives and turn back into two of the agents or roommates at Graceland-by-the-sea."
"That easy?"
"No," Paul disagreed, "not easy at all. But I do know this, Chuck, and that is saddling Graceland with a bona fide couple will blow up in our faces unless we decide that we are ready to present ourselves as a couple and then walk that walk." He smiled at her. "We are the opposite of ready to walk that walk, my gorgeous girl. You shun long term commitment as much as I do."
They lapsed into silence after that, both lost in their own musings.
Paul finally turned their truck into the lot that served as the rendezvous point.
"In a minute," Charlie noted, "Katie and Eric will join Lorena and Phillip for the mother of all jewel heists. Once we exit the store the takedown will involve enough enforcement that we could conceivably resume our true identities in, uhm, two hours, I guess."
"Right."
"Will you be sorry to say goodbye?" Charlie regarded him thoughtfully. "Tell me the truth. Don't make up something."
Paul pulled the truck into a parking space and cut off the ignition. Leaning across the seat, he caressed the side of her face before kissing her softly on the lips. "Let's just say that the Katie and Eric I know would design some ways to team up together in the future, whether or not they say goodbye today."