"Oh, Harper's gone nuclear? Like, foaming-at-the-mouth maniac? Is that surprising news to anyone?" agent Skylark laughed, holding up a tablet which displayed an online version of a New York tabloid, the headline that read "DSO's problem child indicted" plastered over a somewhat blurry photo taken before Hunnigan had managed to shield Helena with her coat.
"And why am I not surprised to see Hunnigan protecting Harper? I guess it makes sense, you hire someone for their ass, you gotta be prepared to cover it," she went on, either unaware of the awkward throat clears the agents in the room did to let her know Hunnigan was right there, or then genuinely not caring that she heard it.
"Actually, I hired her for her tits," Hunnigan commented dryly and Skylark spun around in her chair to look at her, unapologetic and unimpressed as always.
"Well, either way it certainly explains why a twenty-something nobody got a position at the DSO right after being kicked out of all her previous posts due to anger management problems, which, apparently, are still a thing, but I doubt she'll even get reprimanded, will she? I mean, she got away with treason already, what's a little murder on top of that," Skylark laughed, her mirth bitter and insincere.
"Agent Harper was at the top of her class and a prime candidate due to her skills and personality, and it's not like the DSO can afford to be too picky about the agents' histories when it comes to recruiting the best of the best. I look out for all the agents," Hunnigan said, the smirk spreading on Skylark's face letting her know she'd walked right into it, getting so defensive being a dead giveaway of her perceived sympathy toward Helena.
"Oh, yeah, sure, like the way you jumped to my defense when my ex-husband made those false accusations of child abuse during the custody battle, and everyone at the agency was so understanding about it," Skylark drawled, and Hunnigan felt her nose twitch in annoyance, that particular chink in her stoic armor a trait she'd inherited from her father whose moods were difficult to read until that happened, typically when he realized he'd lost an argument, just like Hunnigan felt she'd lost this one right now because whether she liked it or not, Skylark was right.
Hunnigan hadn't jumped to her defense, because frankly, she'd felt it hadn't been her place to do so. Whatever mess had gone on between Skylark and her husband had been her personal matter, and Hunnigan doubted Skylark would've welcomed her help even if she'd offered. Besides, it wasn't like the agency had threatened to fire her over the false accusations. They'd had to investigate to make sure they were indeed false, but beyond that, no one had even implied Skylark should resign. Hunnigan had suggested she take some time off to sort out her personal life when it had become evident it was interfering with her ability to perform as an agent, but she hadn't forced her to do anything, and she reminded Skylark of that fact.
"You realize I'm not jumping to Harper's defense as a representative of the agency, I'm doing it personally because I consider her my friend who needed my help. If you have a problem with how I handle my agents, then I suggest you take it up with the director," Hunnigan said, managing to sound more confident than she felt, and Skylark smiled sweetly.
"Oh, I have, and I think he shares my curiosity regarding where exactly your loyalties lie," she said, and Hunnigan was on the verge of bitch slapping that smug grin off her face.
"Children, behave!" Shepard's voice called out, interrupting the argument. "Hunnigan, my office."
"I've been made aware of the recent charges against one of our agents, and some at the agency have voiced their concerns regarding having to work with someone who has been proven as volatile as Harper is," Shepard got to the point immediately after Hunnigan had closed the door behind her.
"Frankly, the charges are bullshit, and—" Hunnigan began and Shepard scoffed loudly, talking over her.
"Maybe they are, maybe they aren't, funnily enough that doesn't even matter at this point. What matters is that she's been labeled a rogue DSO agent in public, this a PR disaster, especially for an agency that's supposed to be known for being honorable and uncorrupt!"
"Well, I agree, but I don't see how that is our problem, we have a PR department for a reason, don't we?" Hunnigan quirked an eyebrow, not hiding her agitation any more than he did.
"We do, and they're dealing with it, but what I want to know is how did we get here in the first place, and based on what I've seen, you're the common denominator here!" he raised his voice as he leaned over his desk and pointed his finger at her to emphasize his words. Hunnigan glanced at his finger wondering what he'd do if she'd grab it and twist until it broke.
"Me?" she asked instead of finding out.
"Don't be cute, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Leon calls you to tell you he's just shot the president, and what do you do? You cut him loose based on a lie Harper told you."
"If I hadn't cut them loose, we probably never would've found out that Simmons was behind it!"
"Yes, you were right. That time. What if you hadn't been?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Hunnigan narrowed her eyes.
"That in the eyes of the other agents, you have allowed a rogue agent you've recruited run the show, and by doing so you've undermined my authority."
"So, that's the problem? I've made you look bad?"
"Oh, there's that famous Ingrid Hunnigan brand arrogance. It goes well beyond simply making me look bad!" he slammed his palm against his desk. "I am the director! If someone gets hurt, that's ultimately on me! If a rogue agent kills someone, that's on me!"
"If you were me in the same situation, you would've done the same thing I did, you would've trusted your gut, and I'm sorry if expecting you to trust my judgment is too much to ask and comes across as arrogance!"
"I've tolerated the liberties you've taken because I've trusted you and your gut, and you've been right in the past, but that won't always be the case, and the fact that your protégé has just been indicted with murder kind of makes my point, wouldn't you agree!"
"No, I wouldn't because she didn't do anything."
"As far as you know. Unless you were there with her, you can't know for certain, and you aren't infallible. The sooner you stop acting with the confidence of someone who is, the better!" Shepard spat, exhaled in exasperation and ran a hand over his face. "What's your relationship with Harper?" he then asked after taking a few seconds to calm down.
"The same as my relationship with any of my agents is, so don't even go there; if you want to smoke me out of the DSO you're gonna have to do better than a sexual misconduct lodge."
"For Christ's sakes, Hunnigan, no one's trying to smoke you out," he rolled his eyes. "But like I said, concerns regarding your behavior have been voiced and frankly, your integrity is in question."
"Cut the crap and just tell me what the accusation is. Better yet, let me face my accusers."
"At the moment I'm accusing you of being too emotionally attached to Harper and that makes me question your ability to work with her. You've covered for her to the point of putting other agents at risk."
"How!" Hunnigan scoffed in disbelief.
"By omitting her obvious mental health issues from your reports to HR! She's been barely passing her psych evals, in the latest one Wilkes stated that unless Harper agrees to start seeing her weekly, she should be suspended, but amazingly that report failed to leave your desk!"
"I needed her on the field!" Hunnigan argued but in her heart she knew it wasn't the full truth. As short staffed as they were after the attack in Tall Oaks, she could've and should've let Helena take a few mental health weeks, but she hadn't because she hadn't wanted that on Helena's record; Helena had been under so much scrutiny over everything already, her career wouldn't have survived that remark in her file.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions, Hunnigan recalled her father's words from years ago when she'd been a selfish brat and put her own comfort ahead of doing the right thing in the name of making someone happy. It hadn't been until Nolan's cocaine overdose that she'd decided she'd rather he was angry at her than dead, the latter being where he'd end up if she kept enabling his addiction just because the thought of him temporarily hating her for intervening made her sad. She'd realized too late she hadn't done him any favors, and she was now realizing she hadn't done any to Helena either.
"What do you think happens if she has a dissociative episode on the field, huh? How do you think that would turn out for everyone involved!"
"I felt it was worth the risk because I didn't have any reason to think otherwise!" Hunnigan flat out lied.
"And who the hell are you to decide that against Doctor Wilkes's assessment!" Shepard yelled.
"Harper's handler!" Hunnigan yelled back, fully aware of just how weak her argument was, if it should even count as one.
"Not anymore!"
"Excuse me?"
"No one is unexpendable, no one is infallible, not even you. You'd do well to remember that, agent Hunnigan. You may be the one who runs field operations support, but I am your superior officer, and you report to me. Understood?" Shepard said after a long moment of tense silence.
"Understood," Hunnigan said tersely.
She was upset and wanted to keep arguing but she couldn't because she knew she had no argument. Talking back now would be nothing more than juvenile whining, and she was above that.
Shepard had been more than reasonable with her and her indiscretions, he was good at his job and knew when to look the other way if doing so served the greater good. Doing so now wouldn't serve anything other than Hunnigan's ego and she agreed he had every right to question her now. Understanding he had a valid reason and agreeing with him didn't mean she liked it, though.
"We have rules and codes of conduct in place for a reason, I expect you to understand that better than anyone. If you want to keep working here, you will obey orders, and as your commanding officer I am telling you that this is your final warning. I am placing you on probation, and I'm assigning Harper a new handler if the charges against her are dropped and if she passes her psych eval."
"Understood," Hunnigan repeated.
"Schedule yourself a psych eval as well, that's an order, and then have Kennedy and Harper transferred into agent Harding's care and take over her agents."
"Yes, sir," Hunnigan muttered, thinking this was Shepard's way of forcing Hunnigan and Skylark into the proverbial get along-shirt; agent Harding had been Skylark and Hawke's designated FOS agent, and now Shepard was testing Hunnigan's professionalism by forcing her to work with the woman he knew she did not get along with at all. Hunnigan had to commend him for his cleverness. What better way to clip Hunnigan's wings and get her to behave than openly challenging her ability to handle herself professionally by pairing her with the one person she was most likely to clash with.
"Dismissed."
Wordlessly, Hunnigan stood and exited his office, barely resisting the urge to slam the door. Such childish demonstrations of anger would've served no one, no matter how good it would've felt. As she passed the field agents' bullpen, Skylark drew her attention.
"Oh, Hunnigan, heheh," she chuckled and then spoke in a condescending insincere sad voice, "this might not be the right time to ask, what with your career in the toilet and everything, but isn't your parking space right by the entrance? I'm thinking about upgrading my space, I think my car would look great in your spot."
"Huh-larious," Hunnigan drawled sarcastically, "keep it up; if you remain as banal and unoriginal as you are now you're bound to put Amy Schumer out of business," she then smiled sweetly and made her way over to the kitchenette, deciding to grab a mug of coffee before getting to work on transferring her agents to Harding.
"Darn it, Leon," Hunnigan heard an annoyed sigh from the kitchenette. Speak of the devil.
Agent Lace Harding stood in front of the cabinet with her hands on her hips, and Hunnigan saw the problem. Apparently Leon had been in charge of emptying the dishwasher today and he'd put Harding's mug in the cabinet along with the others which wouldn't have been a problem if it weren't for the fact that Harding was barely five feet tall and thus the mug placed in the back of the third shelf in the cabinet was just out of her reach.
"Here," Hunnigan said and handed the mug to her.
"Thanks. This is embarrassing, like, what am I, a five year old who has to carry a little step ladder with her?" Harding scoffed and Hunnigan smiled. She was a solid foot taller than Harding and had plenty to say about the perils of being on the other end of the problem.
"Never enough leg room, I keep hitting my head on things, don't even get me started on fixed showerheads, cold hands and feet due to poor blood circulation..." Hunnigan trailed off as she poured herself coffee. "Do you want me to 'gently' remind Leon to keep your mug better available?"
"No, he's not doing it because he's a jerk, he just doesn't think because as smart as he is, he's a dumbass," Harding laughed softly and Hunnigan nodded in agreement.
"Speaking of our beloved dumbass, Shepard has ordered you and I to switch agents effective immediately, so you'd get Leon and Helena, and I get Hawke and Skylark," Hunnigan informed her. Harding's eyebrows rose, a surprised expression setting on her freckled face, then she rolled her green eyes.
"Let me guess, Skylark had something to do with that."
"Well, she has apparently very actively campaigned for having me removed from my position, but I don't think she guessed it would backfire on her this badly, I doubt she wanted to end up working with me."
"Yeah, I bet, she has been rather vocal about her opinions, especially after... well, the whole murder charge," Harding said somewhat awkwardly.
"I'm sure. But, just so you know, this is happening, so if there's anything I should know, any cases that I should be up to date on, let me know. I'll look into what Leon and Helena have been working on and get you the details, and inform the agents in question about the new arrangement."
"Sounds good," Harding nodded.
After picking up Seeley from Major and having a late dinner, Hunnigan sat on the couch and opened her laptop to get started on the transfer process while Seeley focused his attention on the TV, watching the escapades of the animated little ponies. He'd spent most of dinner excitedly telling Hunnigan about all the fun he'd had with his father and Josephine, and while Hunnigan was beyond happy to hear he'd been well taken care of and had a good time, she couldn't help but feel a bit jealous and somewhat annoyed even. Evidently there was more fun to be had at his father's house than here, and while the rational side of her knew it was in no way Major or Josephine's fault Hunnigan couldn't think of fun things to do or have the time to do them as often as she knew she should've, she felt wronged somehow.
She should've been the one to take him to playgrounds or amusement parks and aquariums and museums, she should've been there more, spent time with him, played with him. Instead, when they did have time together, she sat him on the couch and worked while he watched cartoons.
Way to be a mom, Hunnigan sighed internally. Then again, that's how my mother did it and we turned out fine... aside from Nolan's drug addiction and me not getting along with her. What is wrong with me, what am I doing? she scolded herself silently for ignoring her son despite just thinking what a terrible job she was doing as a mother. She shut her laptop down and switched her phone off, deciding that everything else would just have to wait. She then scooted closer to Seeley, and he snuggled against her side as she put her arm around him.
"How you doin', buddy?" she asked.
"I'm good. Can I have chocolate milk?" he asked and she smiled.
"Sure thing," she nodded and went to make some. Once done, she closed the lid of the glass mug and put the straw in, and returned to the living room.
"It's not full!" Seeley complained when Hunnigan gave him the mug that was indeed only half full, but he didn't take into account that it was a large mug and had she filled it, he wouldn't have had the strength to lift it nor the appetite to finish drinking it.
"I will make more if you finish this first, okay?"
"Fine," he grumbled a little, but snuggled back in her lap regardless of being somewhat displeased with her antics. Hunnigan nuzzled his hair and kissed the top of his head as she held him in her lap and pretended to care about Applejack's argument with Fluttershy as much as Seeley did.
Hunnigan smiled when he reached up and sought out a lock of Hunnigan's hair which rested over her shoulders, free from the bun she usually kept it in at work. He twirled it around his index finger and then proceeded to fiddle with it, Hunnigan knowing by now it would result in an impossible to solve-tangle, but loving the fact that he still did it; it was something he'd done since he was a baby, and Hunnigan dreaded the day he'd stop because that would mean he'd grown out of it.
She knew there was nothing she could do about it, it was an inevitability every parent faced, but knowing that didn't stop her from childishly wishing he wouldn't grow up, at least not so fast. She doubted she had many years left when he'd happily sit on her lap or cuddle with her in bed while listening to her telling him stories. He'd be a grown man soon enough, and all she could do was hope that she'd done a decent enough job as his mother to ensure he'd grow up to be a good man.
But for now, he's still my baby boy, Hunnigan smiled and hugged him tightly to herself and peppered the side of his neck and his cheek with tiny kisses.
"You're crushing me," he giggled.
"I can't help it, you're so cute and I love you so much I just want to squeeze you and kiss your little face," Hunnigan laughed.
"I love you too," Seeley chuckled, allowed himself to be snuggled and kissed and then finished his chocolate milk, belching loudly and asked for a refill, eliciting a hearty laugh from Hunnigan who didn't even bother scolding him for his lack of manners.
