Staring at a motionless television screen for hours on end does something to a person Bellamy has decided. Especially, when the staring takes place in a poorly ventilated van on an unseasonably warm October afternoon. Beads of sweat roll over his neck and forehead as he shifts to look out the windshield of the van he's sitting in. He presses his binoculars more firmly to the bridge of his nose as if that would make something appear. He sighs and lowers them before taking a swipe at the pool of moisture they left across his face. Bellamy is once again reminded that the cliché of boring stakeouts is intact for a reason and he can't help but be disappointed.
"So," Bellamy's partners starts. He turns to look at him with an unimpressed eyebrow already raised. "That girl you took home last night... Bethany was it? She seemed really into you. How'd that go?"
Bellamy turns around and brings his binoculars back up as Jasper carelessly tries to toss a caramel into his mouth and misses. Bellamy internally cringes when he hears it bounce off the metal siding of the van and skitter somewhere across the floor.
He likes Jasper... Most of the time, but occasionally he finds himself wondering exactly what Chief Jaha was playing at when he paired the two of them together. Bellamy likes quiet and Jasper is anything but. Their relationship had started out rather rocky, but eventually the kid had worn Bellamy down until he could almost tolerate him most days. Today was not one of those days.
"How do you think it went, Jasper?" Bellamy grunts with a roll of his eyes. His patience is wearing thin after hours of being stuck looking at the same empty house and the English muffins from earlier are long gone. He's irritable and hungry and this isn't a conversation he would want to have on a good day, much less right now.
"I'm assuming like all your conquests go since you have an incessant need to be as unhappy as humanly possible," Jasper says, trying to catch another caramel. It bounces off his bottom lip and ricochets off the tiny table the television is standing on to land next to Bellamy's foot.
"Would you stop that?" Bellamy yanks the candies from Jasper's hand and tosses them toward the front of the van. Candy spews out, tiny brown circles decorating the stained beige carpeting. Jasper makes a noise of annoyed amusement at the back of his throat and reaches into the paper bag on the floor beside him. He pulls out another box of caramels. Bellamy grunts, unsurprised.
"That's just wasteful," Jasper sighs as he rips open the new box of candy. He doesn't try to toss it into his mouth again; instead he makes a show of carefully placing it on his tongue and slowly closing his mouth. Bellamy narrows his brown eyes and reaches across the space between their chairs to smack Jasper firmly on the back of the head.
"Smartass."
Jasper grins widely and chews unnecessarily loud. As soon as it came his smile disappears and is replaced by a look of complete seriousness. He snatches the binoculars from Bellamy's hands, dropping his new box of candy in the process, and leans over him. One hand is pressed to the arm rest on Bellamy's chair, the other is holding the binoculars firmly in place, and his head is just shy of being visible from outside the van. Stealth had never been Jasper's strong suit.
"Dude, what the fuck? Personal space," Bellamy complains and tries to scoot further away from his partner's body by pressing himself into the back of his chair, but finds he has no where to go. He sighs and accepts it, settling back into his seat. He does his best to crane his neck around to see what Jasper is seeing, but the house is too far away and Jasper's torso is directly in front of the television screen. "What is it, Lassie? Is Timmy trapped in a well?" He quips when Jasper remains in the same position for an uncomfortable amount of time. He rolls his eyes when Jasper shushes him and waits for him to say something. Finally, Jasper leans back and tosses the binoculars into Bellamy's lap as he falls back into his chair.
"Holy shit, dude. You're not going to believe this," he motions for Bellamy to take a look, still slack jawed from whatever he'd seen.
Jasper was right. He doesn't believe what he's seeing.
"Something's not right," Bellamy says with a shake of his head. He puts the binoculars down and squints at the television, watching as several men dressed in street clothes carry arm loads of unsheathed guns into an empty warehouse.
"What do you mean it's not right?" Jasper asks, tugging at his bulletproof vest through his button up shirt. He fidgets when he's excited.
"I mean, obvious isn't Shumway's M.O. He's baiting us. He knows we're here," Bellamy shakes his head again and runs a frustrated hand through his curled brown hair. "I bet he has papers for every single gun in there. He's watching us watch him."
Jasper scoffs.
"You're being paranoid, dude. How would he know we're watching him?"
"Dirty cop?"
"No one knows about this except the unit. I trust those guys with my life. I thought you did too."
Bellamy flinches at the hurt in Jasper's eyes and rolls his lips between his teeth.
"I don't know, man. Something's not adding up here." He looks at Jasper questioningly and raises his eyebrows. "Does this feel right to you?"
Jasper glances at the television screen and shakes his head so slightly Bellamy thinks he may have imagined it before he speaks.
"No, and I know you're usually right about these things. I hate to admit it, but you're actually pretty smart," Jasper smiles. "I'll call this in," he says as he stands and jerks a thumb over his shoulder toward the screen. He claps a hand over Bellamy's shoulder as he makes his way to the radio to speak with a dispatcher.
Bellamy nods silently and leans closer to the screen. He presses his hands together and places his forefingers to his lips, resting his chin on his thumbs and balancing his elbows on his thighs.
"What are you up to?" He mutters to himself.
"Of all the cliché things about being a doctor, why does the bad cafeteria food one have to be true?" Monty whines as he tosses a styrofoam container of dried out cornbread onto his tray. Clarke laughs as he knocks his tray into hers and bumps her shoulder. "Why can't you just make all of our meals?'
"Because I have to sleep at some point and I don't get enough as it is."
She makes a face at the green jello at the end of the dessert table and pushes at the tiny plate with a hesitant finger. It's been out for too long and the edges have started to melt, but her choices are limited to the jello or the lone piece of chocolate cake that she's pretty sure someone had stuck their finger in. She shudders and decides desert isn't necessary. Monty slides in behind her and reaches over to grab the piece of cake. She looks at him incredulously as he plops it onto his plate with a pleased smile.
"What?" He asks with a shrug as he brushes his dark hair from his forehead. "It's not like I haven't already been exposed to whatever that kid had on their hands."
"You assume it was a kid… and that it was just germs they had on their hands."
Monty's face screws up and Clarke laughs as he puts the cake back and picks up a jello instead.
"Point taken, Ms. Griffin, point taken."
Clarke laughs again and starts toward the register when someone collides into her, spilling her open glass of tea down her pale blue scrub top and smearing green beans into the pristine white of her coat.
"Oh, god, Clarke, I'm so sorry!" A familiar voice says, taking the napkins from her hands and trying to wipe at the stains. She sucks in a breath and snatches the napkins back, taking a step away from the man in front of her. She catches a glimpse of Monty out of the corner of her eye with his eyebrows raised and a frown on his face. She's pretty sure her face looks similar.
"Its fine, Dr. Collins, it was an accident. It's not a problem."
She turns around and places her upset tray onto the metal of the buffet table and starts to pick up the bits of food that had landed in the floor.
"Here, let me help," the young man says and bends to help her.
She throws up a hand and shakes her head, forcing a smile without looking at him.
"I've got it. Thank you."
She lets out a sigh of relief when he nods and walks away without another word. She makes a mistake though when she looks up too soon to find his warm brown eyes trained on her over his shoulder. She swallows hard and forces herself to look away. When her eyes flicker involuntarily to where he stood a moment ago he's already gone. Monty clears his throat beside her which causes her to jump.
"I guess you'll be having a side of awkward for desert," he mutters as he bends down to help her.
She laughs and shakes her head to hide the tears forming in the edge of her eyes.
"A big, heaping serving," she agrees.