Title: The More Things Change
Author: Michelle
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: See Part 1
Part 39: Smoke and Mirrors
Stiles was on his way to hail a cab when he saw Chance. "Hey, what are you doing here?"
"I'm picking you up." Chance answered with a "duh" tone in his voice.
"Yeah, I see." Stiles eyed his friend suspiciously."What's going on? that I get picked up by the deputy DCI? What next, an escort to the White House?"
"No, Iraq. We need you in there A.S.A.P."
"Things are that bad?"
"Not that bad, the timing is just right. They were going to call you and have you come straight to Langley, but I heard about your little visit from Terri the other night so I'm taking you home first. We don't have a large window here, but I know you need to do this."
"Thanks."
Chance smiled. It was about time his friend was happy. They rode in silence for a while until Chance started laughing.
"What's so funny?"
"Nothing."
Stiles was intrigued. "Come on. You start laughing out of nowhere and it's nothing?"
Chance tried to stop, but couldn't. It got worse when he finally decided to let Stiles in on what he found so funny. "Eleven months, two days and what was it, three hours and 12 minutes?"
Stilessighed. Terri had obviously told Bailey about their conversationand Bailey had told Chance who was now laughing at him. "No wonder she didn't answer the phone when I called last night. This is all a joke to her; I bet she and Bailey got a good laugh too, didn't they?"
Chance felt bad and tried to fix things. "Hey, no I'm sorry. That's not it at all. I mean, yeah she told Bailey, but from what Bailey said, Terri's happy. She probably didn't answer the phone because of the storm last night. Phone and power lines are out all over the area."
Stiles felt some relief when Chance told him about the phones. Maybe she wasn't avoiding him.
"Anyway, she said she…" Chance was about to mention Terri's breakup with Matt, but he wasn't sure if she'd actually done it so he stopped.
"She said what?"
Then he had to cover himself. "She said you two were staying together and that things were good. II think she feelsbad about what's happened. Ireally don't think it's a joke to her, not at all."
"But it is to you?"
"Stiles no. Come on man, you know how I feel about the whole thing. I've thought you two should be together from the beginning."
"She hasn't broken up with Callan."
"What?" Chance tried to act surprised.
"We're in bed talking about the future and she brings him up, says he's been pressuring her to sleep with him for months. I asked her to stay away from him—at least until I got back. Turns out, she needs to see him to tell him about us—like she couldn't have done it before now! We'd pretty much worked things out before I left. I just want this whole thing over with. I want my old life back."
Chance reached over and patted Stiles on the shoulder. Oh how he wanted to tell him they broke up. "I'm sure things will work out. You've been through too much for them not to. Talk to her—that's why I'm bringing you home." Chance made a gesture for Stiles to look up.
Stiles looked up and smiled; they were sitting in front of his house. "Thanks Chance."
"It's the least I could do. We need you ready to go in two hours and we have a few things to go over at the office before you leave. I know it isn't much time, but I thought you would want to see her. Now get out and go kiss your wife."
"I'll be back."
Chance wiped his brow as Stiles practically jumped from the car.He was ready for things to get back to normal too.
Stiles walked in the house and called for Terri. When she didn't answer, he looked at his watch and thought she may be in the shower. He smiled at the possibility of surprising her there. He bounded up the stairs two at a time. His first stop was their bedroom. It was obviously empty so he went to hers. The door was closed so he knocked softly as he walked in.
"What the …what are you doing here?" Stiles walked in to see not Terri, but Matt sitting on her bed.
Matt was drying himself when Stiles walked in. He smiled when he realized he was sitting there, on Terri's bed with nothing covering him but the edge of a towel. He could see the rage radiating from Stiles' body.
"I just got out of the shower. What are you doing here? You're supposed to be on your way to Langley."
Stiles looked down and saw Terri's robe lying on the bed next to Matt. He walked over to the bed, causing Matt to flinch. Stiles wasn't concentrating on Matt at that moment, he was looking at the robe. He picked it up and confirmed his suspicions. It was the same robe and gown that Terri had been wearing two nights earlier when she stayed with him.
"Pretty isn't it? Though it's much prettier when she's wearing it."
Stiles looked up at Matt, and punched him without thinking.He was too angry and hurt. All he could think about was his unanswered phone calls the previous evening. Terri's words echoed in his head, "…I haven't had time…I have everything under control…He keeps trying…I almost let him…"
She'd almost slept with him before and it looked like this time it wasn't almost. She slept with his boss in his house after she had also slept with him, after she'd sat there and told him she loved him. Chance was wrong, this was a joke to her and he was the fool—but not anymore. Stiles pulled up from the bed, where he'd flopped after being hit. When he realized that Matt was naked, he let him go and threw a towel at him. "Where is she?"
Matt quickly stood and tied the towel around his waist before Stiles could come after him again. "Gone to the office. She had some last minute work to do—you're going to Iraq you know. It's a dangerous place right now so we've got to make sure our bases are covered. We wouldn't want anything to happen to you. Rest assured that I'll be here to look after Terri if anything goes wrong, just like she took care of me last night."
"You…Stiles took the gown and threw it in Matt's face. He had his fist drawn, ready to hit Matt again when his cell phone rang. Matt used Stiles' distraction to grab his clothes and slip back into the safety of the bathroom.
"What?" Stiles barked into the phone, without looking to see who it was.
"Sorry, but we need to go."
Without turning around, Stiles grabbed his bag and went downstairs. He would deal with Matt when he came home. As for Terri, he would make sure he dealt with her immediately.
Stiles slammed the door when he got in. Chance looked up, startled.
"I know that wasn't long, but at least this time you know she'll be waiting for you when you get back."
Stiles grunted in acknowledgement and mumbled, "Maybe we'll all be better off if I don't come back." Chance was confused. Stiles walked in the house eager to see his wife, he came out angry mumbling something about not coming back.
"What are you mumbling about? Terri isn't mad at me for making you leave so soon, is she?"
Stiles huffed. "She's not even here, she already left."
"Oh, man I'm sorry, Joshua probably had her come in early; she's doing some of the background stuff for your cover. I'm sure you can catch her before you leave. She may even be able to go out to the airstrip." Considering Stiles' demeanor, Chance didn't dare ask why he'd been in the house so long if Terri wasn't there.
Stiles didn't say anything else until they reached Langley; he was trying to come up with a reasonable explanation for why Matt was sitting on his wife's bed naked. He wanted to give Terri the benefit of the doubt; he wanted to wait until he had talked to her, but it was hard. Stiles just didn't want to believe she was lying to him when she said she loved him, but all hecould think about was Chance laughing earlier. His mind kept replaying Terri's words, "He keeps trying…I almost let him…"