Moments


A/N: Thank you all for your lovely reviews, and kudos to those who picked up on the Princess Bride reference ; )

Just a reminder, 'mein Kuschelbär' means 'my cuddly bear' in German, and fyi: 'mein Esel' means 'my jackass'

Anywho, enjoy!


Poker Game


"So, Fisher, what are you going to do now that you've successfully closed your grand case?"

"Don't you mean since he's nailed those profiteering bastards to the Sing-Sing wall, Carter?" Wallace interjected.

"In your more – er – colorful language, yes," she acknowledged with a smile, even as she waited expectantly for a reply.

Fisher had been stressed for days – no, weeks. He deserved a reward. She half-expected him to say 'a weekend getaway with his wife' or 'a fishing trip with his brothers', even those who hadn't closed a big case like he had had plans for the weekend. Most had cleared out early to go to some sporting event or another. (She tuned them out if anything they mentioned ended in the word 'ball'.)

Fisher's worry lines were already smoothing out as he contemplated his prize. With a wide grin, he declared, "The wife has let me cash in my annual pass to play poker with the boys."

A small "Oh?" was all she could manage at this revelation. Although it should not have been so surprising that the office follow-the-money agent would be so keen on a night of gambling.

Fisher's smile faltered a little and his cheeks tinged a pale pink as he hastily added, "Oh, and though I told her 'boys', you're invited too. I just didn't know how to explain it to her and all, so I decided to keep it simple and general would be the wisest course."

Peggy smiled gently her understanding at the babbling man, and secretly reveled in the fact that he even thought to invite her. A year ago, it would have been 'Oh, we're going out and could you finish my analysis work?'. And the fact that he had considered how he would explain (or not explain) her presence to his wife meant that he wasn't just asking now out of politeness.

"I would love to. Where is it going to be? And who is all going to be there?"

"At my cousin's bar," Wallace answered. "He's loaning us the backroom, so we don't have all his local flatfoots butting in."

"And it'll be everyone who did a major assist on this – Thompson, Sousa, Ramirez, and Wally here. Palmer would have come, but he already had plans with his girl."

'So people I like, who seem to finally respect me, and who most likely won't resent me if I take all their money. Excellent.'

Picking up her purse and tugging on her gloves, she flashed the two men a wide grin, "Count me in."

~A~

"Check."

"Call."

"I raise you ten."

"So what's it going to be, Carter?"

Peggy ignored Ramirez. He had turned out to be one of those aggressive goading players that you wanted to slap or duct-tape into silence, but she had been settling for taking his money. Now, she wasn't too sure if it was going to be her who did so, or if she was going to have to rely on one of the others to give her the satisfaction.

She wondered if Fisher and Wallace were now regretting inviting her, or any of the others for not protesting her presence, as she had proven to be able to hold her own in this corner of the men's club as well.

She glanced at her cards (a queen and a deuce of hearts, a queen of spades, a deuce of clubs, and a three of diamonds), and then she assessed everyone else.

Jack, who had yet to bet, was calm but was scrutinizing her – so he had a good, if not excellent hand. Ramirez, the dealer, was impatient as always when he liked his hand, but he was tapping his cards and not his chips – so it was not a terribly strong one either.

Both Wallace, who had bet nothing this round, and Fisher, who had matched Ramirez's previous raise of $5 but had not been willing to go any higher, were confident enough in their hands to stay but not to risk their dwindling funds.

It was Daniel that gave her pause. He was an aggressive player like Ramirez, but he was far more tight in his approach, which meant he probably had a strong hand.

She eyed him a bit longer, causing him to squirm just a little, and then she…

Folded.

There was a dramatic sigh of relief from everyone, except Jack.

He groaned and folded as well.

Eyebrows were raised all around the table at this. Jack had not been telegraphing his intent to fold, which he usually did after seeing his cards from the draw, and when anyone else folds, he usually smirks and makes some sort of patronizing remark. He does not suddenly follow suit.

If all this was not bizarre enough Ramirez did not seem all that surprised. His eyebrows were raised in the 'really?' manner of someone who cannot believe another is going through with a dare than a person who is surprised, and then he shot Daniel a speculative glance. (Peggy was proud to note that Daniel's cool façade remained in place and he only fiddled with one of his chips.)

Daniel's fiddling seemed to mean something to Ramirez, since he shot Jack a smirk of his own, as he declared smugly, "Call."

His smug smirk quickly fell when Daniel revealed a 3-to-7 straight to his two pair of nines and fours, which would have beaten out Wallace's and Fisher's own two pairs.

While she had been exceedingly fascinated with Ramirez's odd behavior, Daniel had been quietly studying Jack. After collecting his winnings he finally blurted, "Why did you fold?"

Jack leaned back and smirked, "Carter only folds this late in a hand when you have stellar cards."

Daniel, if possible, looked both chagrined (that she could still read his tells) and relieved (that no one else could). He should be proud at the latter. All the hard work he had been putting into their tutorial sessions while on stakeouts together was beginning to pay off. Even Jack had noticed before this that Daniel was getting better at his interrogations.

That was all fine and dandy for Daniel, but not so for her.

"I don't know how much I like it that you find me so predictable," she grumbled petulantly as she poured herself another shot of whiskey.

"Well consider my knowing you so well a good trait to have in a partner," he oh-so-casually declared.

She snorted and nearly spewed her whiskey that she had just downed all over the table at his words. It took her several moments to recover, and even then she was gracelessly gasping past the burning of her sinuses, "P-p-partner?"

Jack's blue eyes sparkled with manic glee and his smirk turned into a smug and satisfied Cheshire grin, as he explained for the entertainment of all, "Yeah, Marge, partner. Johnson thinks you're a wild card and that I am the only one who has even a remote chance of keeping up with you."

"Oh? And what makes him believe that is even 'remotely' possible?" she retorted coolly.

He shrugged and then said impishly, "Could be all those 'mein Kuschelbärs'."

"Well, in that case, I'm going to have to change it to 'mein Esel'," she muttered darkly (to the delight of their rapt audience) as she glowered at the cards that Wallace had just dealt her.

Under the cover of her glare at their amused tittering, she studied their own reactions to their hands.

It pleased her to no end that her chances of exacting a little monetary revenge were exceptionally high this round.

~A~

"So what's the real reason for Johnson officially making us partners?"

Ambushed.

Jack had known that Carter wouldn't let this go, but he hadn't been expecting her to pounce on him as soon as he had tucked the sloshed Ramirez into a cab.

Fisher and Wallace were enjoying one last round of drinks with the remaining money he and Carter had left them. And he had thought she had gone home when boy-scout Sousa had. But no, she had waited until now, when he had no back up, to have her husky voice accost him from the dark.

It was perfect timing really.

Assuming a defensive position that would allow him to block or dodge any violent repercussions that might come his way, he asked with mock hopefulness, "Would you believe me if I said he wants to keep all his bad eggs in one basket?"

Silence. Not even a huffed sigh of impatience. Although he could not see her eyes in the shadows, he knew that they flashed with annoyance.

With a resigned sigh, he gave into the inevitable and admitted, "I was telling you the truth when I said he thought I could keep tabs on you, but what I left out was his theory that with all of my 'gender-equality coffee antics', I am the most likely agent in the office you will confide in if you go rogue again."

What he left out even now was that Johnson had ended this little speech with the caveat of 'as long as your little infatuation won't turn out to be a hindrance'. She didn't need to know that.

He waited expectantly for a growl of irritation, a gasp of indignation, or a snort of derision.

But she did none of these things. Instead, she quietly stepped forward and out of the shadows to look him squarely in the eye as she softly asked, "Would you want me to? Would you want to be my partner in crime?"

Had he claimed to have finally found her predictable? Ha, more fool him.

However…

However, as he stared at her earnest face and into her dark wide eyes, he knew that while she still had the ability to surprise him, he had managed to gain some level of understanding of her. And he knew that she was not asking 'Can I trust you to have my back?' but rather 'Do you want to risk your career for the sake of a true partnership?'

It only took him a few moments to realize that either way, the answer was yes.

Meeting her gaze squarely on, he pledged, "Carter, if you go down, I'll go down." A little more facetiously, he added, "And if that is the case, I want to have the fun of doing the crime as well as the electrifying experience of The Chair. And if I get to stick it to Johnson in the process, well – hoorah!"

Carter's breath had hitched in – surprise? joy? awe? He could not tell. Her following pleased smile that quickly shifted into a smirk as he had continued with his droll speech, he could read.

She was going to be merciful and let him off with a light tease.

"That's a little … disturbed."

"Ha, ha, pot meet kettle," he rejoined, as she turned and hailed a cab.

He had thought he had gotten the last word in, but then just before she slid into the back of the taxi, she declared with heavy significance, "No, Jack – partner."


A/N: Yep, it's official ; )

Thoughts?