AN: Ok, so here is where I frantically grovel for forgiveness. So, finals sucked, and two days later, I was shipped over to Italian Immersion for a month and a half with no internet and no english. So, nothing even resembling any sort of chapter was written. But, as I frantically typed this out on the plane, and as I upload this in the airport, I promise that I'll write something legitimate in the coming weeks, as my vacation has actually begun. Cheers.
"Ok, you are officially ridiculous."
"Thank you."
The two had been sitting on her couch for close to four hours, drinking tea and acting appropriately British. Lizzy had curled herself into an old college sweatshirt and tucked herself into her favorite chair. Darcy had removed his tie and jacket and undone a few of his buttons, calling to mind Benedict Cumberbatch among other, less family-friendly thoughts.
"So, the question comes again. Why are you here Darcy?" He shifted in his seat.
"I'm not quite sure honestly, I just felt like talking to someone."
"So call a sex line. Why me?"
"Ouch, should I be offended?"
"Not too much. I'm grumpy when tired."
"There's something bothering you. What's wrong?"
"Nothing that particularly involves you, I wouldn't worry about it."
"So there's something."
"No…I didn't…look, I don't want to talk about it. Not with you."
"I'm pretty sure I'm meant to be offended."
"No, really, it's just…so there's this guy."
"Ok, I'm out."
"DARCY!"
"I'm kidding, I can play the sassy gay friend. What's wrong with Cailean?"
"What? How do you…?"
"Jane is very bad with secrets."
"I should have guessed as much. No, it's not really anything, I mean, he seems….oh, I don't know. I start rambling when I get tired."
"Well, in that case," the man sat up, "I think I'll be going."
"NO!" the man turned. "I mean, I want you to stay."
"Lizzy, I can't really stay, you know that. We aren't eight, sleepovers get a touch awkward."
"It's not a sleepover Darcy. I feel…I feel scared."
"Lizzy…I…ok. But, when this becomes horribly horribly strange at work, I just want you to remember this exact moment in which you asked me to stay the night. Lizzy? Lizzy?" She was curled up on the couch, eyes, closed, breathing soft. Darcy sighed quickly, then turned to the other couch. After making brief prayers for the situation of their future relationship, Darcy joined Lizzy in slumber.
She started. Rubbing her head, she turned herself around. Grumbling to herself, she pulled herself from her bed and walked into the kitchen to grab coffee in an attempt to wake her self up. She pulled her mug down and turned the machine on. Beginning the walk back to her bedroom, she caught a glimpse of moppy hair on her couch. She started again, then walked to inspect the intruder. There, a shirtless Darcy lay, snoring softly. Shrugging quickly, she walked into the kitchen, grabbed her coffee, and walked back to her room.
"Oh my god, Darcy!" She ran back into the living room, he was in the same position. She jostled him briefly, he jumped up.
"Why are you here?"
"Lizzy, you asked me to stay the night."
"No. We were talking and then… I fell asleep on the couch and…why did I wake up in my bed?"
"I moved you. After you told me to stay the night." The two glared at each other, he shirtless, in dress pants with moppy hair and she in a sports bra, tank top, and lady boxers.
"Well. This is awkward."
"Yes Darcy, seconded. Ok, I have an appointment in about 27 minutes so, I'm going to shower and be dressed. Feel free to use the other bathroom or make yourself coffee or do whatever the men folk do in the morning, but I shall see you at work later today." She stalked out of the room, leaving Darcy to wander aimlessly, put his shirt on, and eventually leave.
As Lizzy pulled on her assorted clothing after one of the quicker showers taken since college, today a mint and cream striped shirt with herringbone pants and blazer, she pondered the intricacies of the situation. So, Darcy had slept over. Ok, but he was clearly clothed from the bottom half, and he was in the other room so, we can make the assumption that we didn't do…you know…that. Oh Jesus, I have to deal with Cailean and…ok, one thing at a time. So, Darcy. We didn't do anything, so that keeps professionalism as some sort of an option. Hip hip hooray. Unfortunately, this created one of the worlds more awkward situations, so that's just bloody awesome. What did we talk about? God, what DID we talk about? I'd assume that it wasn't anything too horrendous, as that would have most likely imprinted itself in my mind for the rest of eternity, but…ummm…probably something about the case. Yes, that makes some sort of sense and…maybe something about the mutual British-ness? Probably some sort of witty retort, because everyone knows that's how we have to speak and…oh we didn't. Yes we did. We talked about Cailean. I remember that specifically. Good lord Lizzy, why are you physically incapable of keeping yourself put together in occasions like this. This is a coworker that you are talking to. He isn't particularly your best friend. And I'm not entirely sure why he was even there in the first place. Did he ever say? Of course not, why would he possibly explain why he was at my house in the middle of the night. It's not like that would make sense or anything. So, the question becomes, ummm….what? What did you say? Think Lizzy, this is important, because…you know…there is some sort of your future professionalism that relies upon these cases actually being solved at one point or another. And here you sit, just hanging out, flirting with an, albeit attractive, FBI agent and inviting him to sleep over at your house. You are not five Lizzy; there comes a point in which it does mean something else to ask a man to sleep over at your apartment. But, of course, it's not like you thought about that or anything. Why would you possibly? Good lord man…oh shit, ok, late for appointment. Lizzy began to walk out of the apartment. Oh god I hope he's not here I hope he's not here I hope…ok he's not here. Now, Lizzy, do something correctly for once in your godforsaken life and run. Just run.
"So, he slept over at your house last night?" Dr. Gardiner had retrieved the chai before Lizzy had arrived, just in case.
"I don't know what I was thinking. I asked him to, something about being scared. I can't quite remember what happened. But, that's usually how these things happen, right? You do something stupid and it just turns into something more stupid than you stupidly, previously thought." Lizzy attempted to disintegrate into the leather couch; it proved too difficult. She sat up and had another gulp of chai. She lay down and stared at the ceiling.
"Why did you ask him to sleep over?"
"I think I said something about being scared. Which doesn't make sense?"
"Why?"
"Why doesn't it make sense? As a job, I look at dead people and try to figure out how they died. My entire family is gone, killed by something that has yet to be figured out. I'm a small female who lives by herself in a big city. I've been stalked by serial killers on numerous occasions and I'm approaching thirty, in some semblance of singledom. I have every right to be scared. But I'm not. I'm a brave person. And, besides, it's not like Darcy could save me from any of those things." Dr. Gardiner coughed slightly.
"Lizzy, I think you need to look at the underlying aspects of your relationship with Mr. Darcy. You're coworkers, sure. But, there seems to be a friendship between the two of you that neither of you have quite uncovered. Now, before we talk about him a touch more, I just want to understand the entirety of your social life at this point, if you don't mind me asking of course. You said earlier," she consulted her notes, "something in a semblance of singledom. If you would care to elaborate…"
"Ok, so there's this guy, Cailean. And he took me on this lovely and ridiculous date at this horribly expensive restaurant and he's this horribly, nauseatingly sweet guy."
"Did you sleep with him?" Lizzy flipped her head towards the doctor.
"It's 2011, I'm single, he's attractive."
"Duly noted. Continue."
"I don't know, there's not really that much except…oh yeah. When I was…you know…that, I dreamed it was with Darcy." The doctor sat back. "You know, Violet, you do a horrible job hiding your surprise." The doctor coughed again.
"Yeah, we're going to go back to Darcy now."
"No, I don't know either. I really want to be friends with the man but…he's in my mind. And I don't know what to do about it."
"This is new for you, isn't it?"
"What?"
"This sort of infatuation with any sort of man. It's new. You're used to being in control, we've discussed this whole aspect of your personality quite often. In your field of employment, you are in charge of your own working atmosphere, so to speak. Between you and Jane, you take care of the entire center. It's the two of you who do the job and, while you consult with others and you do have to, on a very abstract level, report to someone else, you really have the total control. Looking past at your past romantic life, you have a tendency to pick men with weaker personalities, small egos, et cetera. What you need to do is bond with Darcy, clearly one of the stronger people around you, personality wise. Jane, I know you love her, and I'm sure she's the sweetest person on the face of the planet, but, between the two of you, you are clearly the stronger personality." Lizzy humphed. Dr. Gardiner ignored her. "I think that your subconscious is telling you that you need to spend more time with other personalities similar to your own, in essence, keeping you safe. In my pseudo-professional opinion, yes Lizzy, you can stop rolling your eyes, you need to spend more time with Darcy outside of the professional atmosphere. As for Cailean, it seems as if he might be a different type of personality, whether or not he'll be strong will be seen. However, he's new and, if he makes you happy, I think you should pursue it." Lizzy flopped about on the couch.
"But…it's scary."
"Yes Lizzy, it's scary. But, life is scary. So, tell me about the case right now."
"Well, nothing new really. We've hit of sort a stop, if you will."
"Stop?"
"So, we narrowed down the type of wire that could have possibly been used to strangle the victims, we started there because it was the one thing that was really consistent throughout all of the deaths. Apparently, the type of wire is only available to certain groups of the military, very tightly controlled. But, there still is the black market and all, so it's not ironclad. However, it's really the only thing that we have, so we've been running with it. And, if that were to be the case, if the wire truly did have to come from the government, which it most likely did, it really does narrow down the amount of people that could have access to it. The wire isn't old, so it can't be someone ancient holding a grudge. That doesn't really fit with the profile anyway, but you never know. So, you move on to people that have gotten out recently, or who are on break, something like that. And, since it's only available to Delta, that's a pretty damn small number to begin with. Maybe one or two thousand at the most are possible suspects. Then, you narrow down to ones that are geographically viable, and the number gets even smaller. But here's the thing. Jane and I operate separately from the government. We work on grants from museums and sponsors and such. So, even though we are working with the FBI on this, most in the other branches of the government are less than excited to work with us. And, I understand that we seem a little green, we are two women under the age of thirty who started our own thing, but we have a stellar track record. It's ridiculous how frustrating some of the people are. Long story short, we can't get a list of all the soldiers on leave or retired who may have access to the wire. Thus, here we are, up shit creek without a paddle. Darcy's been working on it, but I'm not sure how much progress he's made. I don't know. I have faith in the dude and all, but they seem on the harder side of impenetrable. The guy used to be a Navy SEAL, and he has no pull at all. Probably because he's Scottish and all. And so, here we are. And nothing is being accomplished, and I have no idea what to do." And then, Lizzy began to cry.
Ok, on a second note, I just wanted to add that I've been struggling a touch on where to go with the ends. Feel free to leave suggestions in comments, and thanks for reading. Much love!
