Title: Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk
Author: Mercury
Rating: PG for some mild language.
Author's Notes: Thanks a ton to Sara Grissom for doing a wonderful job betaing this!
I don't own The Handler or am in any way associated with it, I'm just a fan. And I do not own the song "Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk" which I have borrowed as the name of my fic. It's a song owned and sung beautifully by Rufus Wainwright.
"You can't do this to me. Not now."
As she watched Joe hand the file to Lily, Heather felt a surge of hatred.
The rookie was, in fact, just that -- an inexperienced agent, young and unused to real field work.
As Lily headed off to study her new identity, Heather followed her boss into his office, throwing the file onto his desk as Joe sat in the chair behind it.
"Look," Heather began, "I'm an FBI agent. Not a babysitter."
Joe sighed. "I gave the drug case to Lily because it's something I know she can handle."
"And I can't?"
"No," Joe replied quickly, "you'd just be better off on this job. It's more important than the heist, and you're the only person I know who could do it."
Heather gave a disbelieving nod and picked up the file, thumbing absently through its contents. "How important is this?"
Leaning back in his chair, Joe gestured to show it was pretty big. "The kid's dad is one of us. Got his cover blown a couple of weeks back, and we need someone to keep an eye on his kid so we can stay alive."
She looked up, alert. "What do you mean by 'we'?"
"I mean if these guys get to his daughter and demand a ransom, he'll give them everything. Names, places, the whole package." Joe swung his feet down from the desk where they had been resting and faced Heather. "That's your name and everyone else's here."
"Why not just send child protection services? Something like that?"
"Because they don't train their agents to be good in the field. These guys are the real deal. You mess up with them, you don't get any second chances." His eyes were locked on hers, unnervingly piercing.
Heather briskly shut the file and headed towards the door, pausing briefly as she exited to lean back and call, "Joe?" She paused before continuing: "I don't mess up."
* * *
"Are you the person watching me?"
Heather watched as the swing slowly moved up and down, back and forth with a horrible grating sound of metal against rusting metal.
She ignored the sound and turned to the frail girl sitting on the worn rubber seat of the swing. "Yeah, I am. My name's Amy."
The girl on the swing paused and tucked a piece of wiry black hair behind her ear. "That's a pretty name."
"Thank you," said Heather, uncomfortable in this unfamiliar territory. She was an FBI agent. She was supposed to be going undercover to throw these drug kingpins in jail, not act as a nanny for a kid whose father was hiding from them somewhere in the Northeast US.
They stood in silence for a few minutes more, Heather taking in her surroundings.
It wasn't a very nice neighborhood, the girl having been living in a shabby apartment in these parts for the time being until her father came back. Trash and litter lined the streets, clusters of empty soda cups and hamburger wrappers accumulating by the sewers. A mangled wire fence surrounded the playground where they were enclosed in.
"My name's boring." The silence was broken by the child, whose name Heather had forgotten.
"It's fine." Heather replied, going with a neutral comment.
"Libby's so plain." Libby said, having slowed the swing to almost a complete halt, pushing herself back and forth using her feet against the soft mud of the ground. "There's a girl in my class named Shelley," she continued, quite content to have an audience to ramble to. "That's a nice name."
Heather, once again silent, made a snide mental note to thank Joe for the incredibly exciting assignment when he called later that night.
* * *
Marcy sighed.
She was sick to death of the endless flirting that had been going on between Joe and Lily recently, tired of their little nudges and winks when they thought no one else was watching. Damn, they were obvious.
Joe was handing out folders with their assignments when Darnell came in and sank into a chair, swinging his legs over the chair's arms. "What've you got for us, Joe?" He asked, craning his neck slightly to view Lily out of the corner of his eye.
They were each handed their folders, and flipped through them quietly.
"Lily and I are now fellow doctors for this drug bust case." Joe announced somewhat proudly.
Darnell raised an eyebrow but kept his eyes on his file. "A couple?"
"No, strictly a business relationship," replied Joe, clearly glad to be working alongside Lily.
Heather rolled her eyes as she walked in and saw Lily and Joe's hands vaguely grasp at each other's. Taking her seat, she noted Darnell's sly wink at Lily and struggled to suppress a grin.
Many times had she and Marcy poked fun at Lily and Joe's blatantly obvious affection for each other, yet she had to admire Darnell for his subtle flirting.
As the other agents filed out of the room, Heather moved further into it, walking to face Joe from in front of his desk.
Upon seeing her, Joe sighed and sat down, motioning for Heather to do the same.
Heather remained standing. "I can't do this, Joe. I refuse to be a last-minute babysitter while everyone else gets to go out and catch the guys who need to be caught."
"I don't have time for this, Heather." Joe said, reaching for the phone and lifting it from its cradle. "I picked you for this job because it's important and you're the only one I consider qualified to handle it."
"Because you couldn't stand to let Lily out of your sight, could you?" Her voice dripping with sarcasm, she left just as Joe turned his glare on her.
* * *
"Hey," she said, walking into the apartment and lightly kissing him on the cheek. "Thanks for doing this, dad."
"No problem," he responded. "She fell asleep about a half hour ago. Sweet kid."
Heather walked to the kitchen in the small apartment, taking a glass from one of the cupboards and filling it with water.
"You sure you don't need anything stronger than that?" Mark asked lightheartedly. "I can tell you're pretty bummed about missing out on something bigger."
Smiling, she declined the offer for another beverage. "It's my job. I just do what I'm supposed to and I get paid. End of story."
Her father faced her from across the kitchen table. "Come on, Heather. Ever since you were a kid, all you wanted to do was catch the bad guys. You can't tell me you're disappointed by being assigned to something like this."
She sighed and placed her glass on the counter behind her. "I am. But it's my job, and arguing with my boss isn't going to get me reassigned." Heather headed to the bedroom where Libby was sleeping and scooped her up, kissing Mark on the cheek again on her way out. "Thanks."
* * *
Marcy thought she would go insane if she stayed in that office one minute longer.
Between the sneaky smiles and the winks . . . it was something she just couldn't deal with anymore.
She was preparing to leave for an early lunch break when the radio set on her desk crackled to life.
"This is Heather, requesting immediate backup - "
Marcy quickly picked up the radio and responded. "Copy that, where's your position Heather?"
"I'm en route to the decoy apartment, on Thrates street, g--"
The radio stopped abruptly. Setting it down, Marcy threw open the door to Joe's office, where he and Lily were looking through their folders together, discussing the case.
"Hey!" She called. "Cut the flirting. Heather's in trouble."