Chapter 11: Poker Face

The two girls had, predictably, fallen asleep sometime during the movie. When Ashley woke up, at an ungodly hour for a Saturday morning, she found that both girls were lying down on the couch, spooning. It was a situation that completely threw Ashley off despite being in a million different life-threatening ordeals.

Ashley constantly found herself tangled in Spencer over the last few nights, but this was intimate. There was no room between the two of them, and rather than wanting to jump up and run, Ashley had this giant urge to burry her face deeper into Spencer's neck and stay like that for many more hours.

Upon realizing that, Ashley decided the best plan would be to get some distance.

Ashley was showered, dressed and heading to the market just after the sun had risen. A nice walk and some grocery shopping would give the girl plenty of time to clear her head.


Spencer woke up to the smell of frying bacon. It was a nice thing to wake up to, although she wouldn't have minded waking up next to the Ashley. It had been a good evening, but she was glad to be back in the sobering daylight.

Spencer understood Ashley's hesitation for moving forward. Hell, Spencer herself, was worried with how things were going, this was not a normal relationship to just run into, but she couldn't seem to help herself when it came to the brunette.

Spencer hadn't even sat up when she heard Ashley call out, "Good morning sleepy head! Why don't you go wash up? Breakfast is almost ready."

Ashley laughed when she vaguely heard Spencer mumble, "Creepy spy, with her creepy spy hearing" while heading into her bedroom. The time away from Spencer had allowed the brunette to get her head on straight, and plus, she had a strange encounter in the grocery store that only Spencer could clear up. Curiosity trumped need for distance in this instance.

Spencer emerged just as Ashley was putting down Spencer's coffee cup. The two girls settled to eat, and Ashley allowed for a few minutes to pass before she started looking for some answers.

"So, Spencer, I was at the grocery store this morning, and you will never guess who I ran into! Chelsea, of all people."

Spencer's eyes shot up to Ashley. Ashley could read Spencer's face like a book, busted.

"You don't say! How is Chelsea?" Spencer said, trying to play it cool.

Ashley smirked; she loved when they played dumb. It was more fun getting information when they didn't admit to their crimes right away.

"Well she is good. She said an odd thing when we were leaving though, she said, 'Well, see you later today Spencer's Ashley!'"

Shit, I can't get out of this one, better come clean now. "I was going to tell you Ashley, I swear. But I was waiting for a better time, like, when we were on our way there..."

Spencer was entering full ramble mode and Ashley knew she needed to cut her off so she could hear where they were going this afternoon. "Spencer, where exactly are we going?"

"Um, to my dad's house? We try and have a weekly BBQ and its today, and Chelsea told him about you, and he decided that you had to come. I didn't know how to break it to you. But it will be fine, you'll see…"

Ashley paled as the blonde rambled on. I have to meet her dad and brothers? She wasn't ready for this. Ashley hated to admit how nervous this made her.

Spencer could see it all over Ashley's face, she was nervous as hell. And while the blonde was fully sympathetic, she also thought it was the cutest thing in the world to see Ashley worried over this situation. Spencer had to fight the urge to pinch the girl's cheek.

Spencer placed a comforting hand over Ashley's. "Ash, don't worry, they are going to love you. And plus we already have a cover story, I'll admit, not the best cover story, but it will all work. Don't worry, it's not like it matters anyways."

Both girls hated how that sounded; both girls also knew how untrue it was. It mattered to brunette whether Spencer's family liked her, and the blonde really wanted her family to meet this wonderful woman that she was spending time with, but neither admitted it to the other.

Ashley replied with a half-hearted "Yea". Spencer beamed at the girl.

"Don't worry Ash, this is going to be a lot of fun!"


Ashley was all jittery and nervous as the pair approached Spencer's childhood home. She wasn't ready for this. Ashley never met parents, or families, or anything. Hell, she hadn't been around a normal family in 20 years.

All she could keep reminding herself was that spies don't get nervous. Sack up Davies, you can handle this. You have charmed much scarier people.

Spencer, while she felt bad for the brunette, loved every second of her nervous, awkward, hesitation. It made Ashley seem so normal and human, so Spencer was grateful. It also didn't hurt that the brunette had never been cuter.

Ashley looked like there was an ambush waiting for her on the other side of the door. Yea right, I am sure she would be much calmer at that prospect than what she is about to do. Spencer couldn't help at giggle at her own musings and was met with a sharp look from the jumpy brunette.

"Spence, come on. This is not funny. You have to admit this is really freaking weird."

Spencer had to smile at the girl, it was by far, one of the weirder things that she has had to do, but the more time Spencer spent with the brunette, the more Spencer realized that this all seemed strangely right.

"Don't worry Ash. I know it is weird, but it will be fine. My family will love you because you are great. It will be good to see you a little out of your element too." Spencer smirked at her last comment, while Ashley just gave her a half-hearted grin.

"Come on." And with that the blonde pushed open the front door, but not before lacing her fingers with Ashley. The two girls walked down the hall that was lined with family photos. Ashley made a mental note to come back and inspect them more closely as they made their way to the backyard.

"Hey honey! Glad you finally got here!" A tall, dark haired man shouted out as the two girls stepped onto the back porch. He left his station at the BBQ and embraced Spencer in a big hug.

Ashley couldn't help but notice how similar his kind eyes were to Spencer's. She also couldn't help but notice that the blonde was still holding her hand despite the death grip the older man had on her. Finally they pulled away and Spencer turned towards the fidgeting girl behind her.

"Dad, this is my friend Ashley."

Spencer's father smiled at his daughter, he also took a second to glance down at their joined hands, and then offer his hand to Ashley.

"Ashley, it is so nice to meet you. My daughter has said so much about you over the phone in the last few days. I am glad that your recovery is going well."

Ashley was a little shocked at the older man's admission of Spencer talking about her, and Spencer was turning a new shade of pink that the brunette had never seen before, but happily took Spencer's father's hand.

"It is nice to meet you too Mr. Carlin. Thank you for inviting me to the BBQ. I am lucky to have met such a nice girl like Spencer."

"Please, call me Arthur. And if you excuse me, I smell burning food, Glen's inability to stay still for 30 seconds may lead to a disaster for dinner."

Arthur immediately liked the girl he just met. He liked that she was polite, he liked her look, and he really liked that the girl before him seemed nervous as hell to met him. That was always a good quality for someone to have that has an obvious interest in his baby girl.

"Dufus!"

"Jackass!"

"Ouch Spence, that one hurt. And in front of a beautiful stranger too!" A young, goofy looking blonde man had run over to meet the two girls. It was safe to assume this was the dumb, but loveable older brother Glen.

"Hey there Sexy. I'm Glen." He went to grab Ashley's hand to kiss it, but Ashley's instincts kicked in and she easily dodged the advance, moving out of the way while tripping the blonde man, and effectively making him land on his ass.

Ashley was slightly embarrassed at her natural instincts, but also relieved that her intentions were made obviously clear. You can take the girl out of the spy game, but I guess you really can't take the spy out of the girl Ashley couldn't help but think.

Ashley could hear the blonde girl chuckling next to her, and shrieking laughter coming from further in the backyard. Chelsea was standing bent over, laughing ridiculously loud.

Arthur had also seen the scene and decided that it only reaffirmed his initial liking to the girl. He loved his son, but any girl to fall for that is someone he doesn't want around.

Ashley went to help Glen up. "I am sorry about that. It was kind of my first reaction. I'm Ashley, by the way."

Glen looked at the girl and gave a lighthearted smile. "Don't worry about it. Beautiful women that are feisty make me weak in the knees."

This line only caused Chelsea to howl out in laughter all over again, and Spencer to let out a loud groan.

"Alright Glen, hit the brakes. Let's get this over with." Spencer turned towards Ashley and asked, "Ashley are you at all attracted to my brother Glen?"

Ashley gave the blonde boy a sympathetic smile while shaking her head no.

"See Glen, now leave the poor girl alone."

"It's okay Ashley, we can still be friends. Plus, if I am going to lose a beautiful woman, I don't mind if I am losing her to Spencer here." Glen said, finally noticing the still linked hands between the two girls.

The girls noticed all the glances and dropped one another's hand.

Desperately trying to change the subject Spencer asked, "Hey, where's Clay?"

"Couldn't make it tonight, he got tied up with a case. You know how he is honey, never one to let it go. He gets so wrapped up in it." Arthur replied, saving both girls from the Glen's little comment.

Ashley and Spence both heard Chelsea mumble out, "You can say that again." Spencer just gave Chelsea a soft look while Ashley looked at Chelsea in confusion.

The two girls had made it over to the girl, each giving her a hug and a smile while they sat near her.

"Alright gang, food's ready!" Arthur announced as everyone got settled at the picnic table outside.


It had been an entertaining dinner. Ashley constantly felt out of place in the middle of this obviously close-knit group, but never once felt unwelcome. Arthur was just as Spencer described him, kind, respectful, and obviously over the moon about his three children.

Ashley found Glen amusing. She could see the obvious mortification on Spencer's face every time he made a lame attempt to hit on her, or was crude in some way. Ashley never saw herself going to the opera with Glen, but he did seem like the kind of guy she wouldn't mind drinking a beer with. He was harmless.

Chelsea, despite not being an actual Carlin child, fit in amazingly well. As if the Carlin's wouldn't be complete without her and vice versa. It was funny and strange, but it was nice to see how easily this family could open up to others.

Ashley did notice the one-sided hatred Chelsea had towards Clay. The young artist often referred to him as "egg-head" with a small scowl on her face while the rest of the family easily ignored her negative attitude towards the subject.

And Spencer. Spencer seemed happier than Ashley had ever seen her. She was glowing; while Ashley's logical side told her it was because she was with her family, she had a distinct feeling that it was also in large part due to her own presence at the gathering.

Much to Ashley's relief the blonde stuck close by her, and often shot her quick glances, shy smiles, and kind eyes. As if they were sharing their own moments outside of the moments that were being created during the family BBQ.

Ashley had offered little information about herself. She told the family that she worked in computers and the topic was easily taken off course when Glen jokingly coughed out "nerd". It was a relief to Ashley because she didn't like lying to Arthur; he seemed like such a good guy.

She also told them she was between jobs and lived in Los Angeles. Spencer was helpful in keeping conversation away from Ashley's past. It was nice having an accomplice.

After the food was cleared everyone gathered in the dining table for their "ritual" game of poker. This meant trouble for everyone except Ashley. Spencer sat out of the game, as she usually did, leaving Arthur, Glen, Chelsea, and Ashley to play.

It only took Ashley 15 minutes to win all of Glen's chips. He left the table grumbling about being distracted by hotness. Ashley didn't win every hand, but she was definitely winning.

Ashley knew that Glen stuffed his face when he was lying, his tell being very obvious. Chelsea did this cute, not going to look at anyone when she had a good hand, and got a small wrinkle between her eyes when she lied. And Arthur would get this look in his eyes, like he was excited that he was allowed to lie. Granted the three other players were up against a spy, trained to read these kinds of things, with an amazing memory and high math IQ. Ashley was tough to beat.

Ashley had both Chelsea and Arthur on the run, and Glen, after given another set of chips, on the run as well. The next hand had been dealt, when Spencer hollered from the kitchen that her father's cake was ready to come out. With that Arthur excused himself to take care of the baked goods and asked Spencer to fill in.

Spencer was sitting across from Ashley and couldn't help but give the girl a big smile. The stakes were getting higher. Ashley had a pretty bad hand she was trying to bluff out of; Glen had folded, and Chelsea had folded as well. Ashley knew they would. But Spencer was left.

No one else had been able to tell when Ashley was bluffing, after the first few hands it was obvious that no one knew when she lied.

Ashley wasn't sure what Spencer's hand was. She didn't think it was that great because the blonde held her cards a little too close to her chest, and her reaction when she saw her cards was next to nothing, but Spencer's eyes were boring into Ashley's.

There was a certain level of confidence that Spencer had that made Ashley unsure, not only about the hand, but also about anything she may ever disagree with Spencer about. It was unnerving to the brunette; unnerving, but sexy as hell.

The blonde finally broke the intense staring, "You are lying. I know you are lying." And with that Spencer called and placed her cards on the table.

Ashley was shocked. No one had ever been able to tell when she was telling a lie, not by simply looking at her face. She had fooled con artists, ever passed lie detector tests, so this was easily a first.

Ashley let out a little sigh and a small smile and revealed her cards, showing that Spencer had won the hand, and that Ashley was in fact lying. Both Glen and Chelsea let out a yell of congratulations to Spencer for finally having someone knock the supposed "card shark". But Spencer's eyes never left Ashley's during the celebration.


After about another hour and a half, the two girls found themselves at the front door saying goodbye to Arthur.

"Thank you for everything Dad. It was great as usual. I will give you a call later in the week." Spencer said as she embraced her father.

Arthur pulled back from the hug. "You know I loved having you Honey. Don't worry about calling me, but you really do need to take Ashley here out on the town before she has to head back to Los Angeles. I can't believe you haven't already given her the famous Carlin tour." Arthur said with a laugh and a quick wink towards Ashley.

"I will Dad. You know she needed some time to heal and all that."

"Well good, Honey. And Ashley," he said quickly turning to the brunette girl, "It was a pleasure meeting you, and I hope to see you again soon." And then he pulled Ashley into a rather large hug.

Spencer almost laughed at the shock on Ashley's face and the awkward hug the brunette girl returned.

"Thank you Arthur. These past few days have been some of the best I have had in the longest time." Ashley informed the tall man with a huge smile.

And with that the two girls began their walk back to Spencer's apartment. They strolled along at a leisurely pace, enjoying the crisp fall weather and the presence of one another. Finally, the brunette broke the silence.

"Well, that wasn't as bad as I thought it would be." Ashley said with a small smile, glancing towards the blonde. "But what's the deal with Chelsea and Clay?"

Spencer let out a slight laugh, "Chelsea has had a crush on Clay forever, and Clay is completely obvious. I think it has taken its toll on Chelsea. Clay never takes any of us seriously when we mention anything to him. He just gets so wrapped up in whatever he does, school, a case. So poor Chelsea deals with it in strange ways. Today she was trying out hating him."

Ashley only nodded in response. The two girls enjoyed the silence they found themselves in; it was nice.

"My dad really likes you." Spencer informed the spy with a small bumping of their shoulders. Spencer was happy her family met Ashley. It just meant that when she left, there would be someone that knew that Ashley had been a part of her life.

Spencer also wanted to share her family with Ashley, if only for an afternoon. They had gotten so close in the last few days that it only seemed right that Ashley would get to know such a huge part of Spencer's world.

"I'm glad he likes me. I like him too. You are so much like him. I even like Glen. He is a terrible poker player though."

Spencer, again, found herself laughing. It was true. Glen never seemed to win at the ritual games of poker.

Something had been nagging Ashley since Spencer beat her at that hand of poker, "Hey Spence, how did you know I was lying?"

Spencer looked at the brunette and could see the obvious curiosity. Spencer was glad she won that hand; it proved how well she had gotten to know the brunette in the short time they had spent together. Some time passed before Spencer decided to answer Ashley, trying to find the right way to explain how she knew Ashley was bluffing.

"It was your eyes. It isn't something that I can exactly pinpoint, but your eyes got, uh, dimmer, is the only word I can think to explain it. They just seemed lifeless, like you hated the idea of lying to me. I don't know, I guess I could just tell."

"Well, looks like you are better trained than any CIA officers I have met."

"Naw, you are just interesting to study." Spencer replied without thinking, her face instantly turning red when the words fell from her mouth. Ashley had a big grin on her face, and was fighting off her own blush.

The girls left the conversation at that, neither wanting to erase the feeling that they felt from Spencer's admission. But as they continued their walk home both girls found themselves walking closer and closer together, with their hands constantly brushing and shy smiles on their faces.


Hope you guys enjoyed that one! Reviews are much appreciated!

Irishgrl33: Thanks! I like they are cute too!
2bz2breading: I am glad you liked that chapter, the coming chapter is one of my favorites, I think you'll like it too.
sonfan110: I am glad you found the story, sadly the title is not mine, its a song by Stars. Thanks for the review!
imaferrari: Glad you liked the chapter! I was worried people would get annoyed with the angst, but I am glad you like it! Thanks for always reviewing! ps. meg and julia ARE the romcom queens! you are too sweet.
n: If that is driving you nuts, the next few chapters will make u go crazy. Thanks for the review!
hptriospashley: Thank you so much, glad that still you like the story!
sunshine93lovesson:Thanks for the review, I am glad you think they are cute! ps. 3
greenwave: Glad you are addicted to the story, I enjoy writing it. Thanks for the review!
.dreams: You are so sweet, way to make a girl blush. Glad you like the story, and thanks for the review!
101lincy: I hope you liked Chelsea in this one too. She is a fun character to write, and if badass CIA ashley was a person I am sure she would hug you too. Thanks for always reviewing!
: She did! She did! Everyone needs a working toaster oven ;)
Miss Davies: Don't worry, Ashley is keeping an eye on the CIA, and I'm glad you are enjoying the progression of their relationship! Thanks for the review!
omgasmurf: I agree, Cummings and Ashley are two things that I love and together, oh man. Thanks for the review!
adibou: Thank you for the review! You are so nice, hope you enjoyed this one!
Elly: Glad you like these two. I wanted to take it slow in the story since two weeks in real life is so short, I really wanted to build up their connection. Thanks for the review!