A/N - this was a "cut scene" from Once in Forever but I liked it so decided to share. :) Hope other people enjoy as well. Happy reading! xoxo - tmtcltb
A/N2 - warning for language.
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"Well, he's fucked." Val said, tossing down the facsimile that Kara had received thirty minutes earlier. "American Navy Commander caught on camera in the middle of butt-fuck nowhere doing shit that clearly has nothing to do with boats or water. Doesn't take a genius to figure out that he's there to overthrow the government. I mean, they're probably going to think CIA rather than Naval Intelligence but not like there's really a difference anymore."
Val's description of the scenario might be apt, but Kara had forgotten how annoying the computer programmer could be. "Danny wasn't there to overthrow the government," she corrected, pacing back and forth across her office.
"Why was Green there then?" Val asked, leaning forward, elbows on knees.
Kara gave her a look. Val might be useful enough, and dangerous enough, for the Navy to have hired her as a consultant at an exorbitant salary, but nobody was naïve enough to actually give her a security clearance.
"There was a Vargas sighting." When Kara narrowed her eyes, Val gave an exaggerated sigh. "Again, doesn't take a genius."
Deciding that getting into a debate over the fact that Val was a genius and therefore really couldn't say what a non-genius could or couldn't figure out, Kara went back to pacing. "So how do we fix it?"
Alisha picked that moment to enter. "What's going on?"
"Green blew his cover," Val announced. "So obviously Foster's freaking out."
"That's not what happened," Kara snapped. She picked up the draft newspaper article, before slapping it back down. Neither she nor Alisha read Portuguese, the reason Kara had called Val in the first place, knowing that the woman was fluent in an astonishing number of languages. A move that she was now seriously regretting. "There has to be a way to spin this."
Alisha exchanged a look with Val, their unspoken communication annoying Kara more because she could tell that they were about to humor her. "Sweetie, covers get blown. It happens. He'll transfer back stateside to a nice cushy desk job for a year or two before he retires and goes contract like Tex. Danny's got to be close to twenty years in at this point."
Kara swallowed. Alisha was right. Of course she was, everything she said was true. And objectively it all sounded good.
Except that it was absolutely not what Danny wanted.
Danny had never hidden the fact that riding a desk was his definition of hell. On the Nathan James, he and Slattery used to laugh about it. How going home in a box was preferable to becoming a desk jockey. Back when such jokes were still funny, before the likelihood of dying became all too real. But some things didn't change. Kara could still picture Danny's face after the Nathan James rescued the team during that FUBAR mission in Costa Rico.
Sidelining Danny now, when there was still so much that needed to be done, would kill him.
"Only sixteen. That's at least four years at a desk. He would hate it. You know he would hate it." Kara stopped, picking up the paper and shoving it at Val. "Translate, please."
Kara resumed pacing while Val read, listening intently. When Val finished, Kara considered the article. "That isn't actually too bad."
"It's the fact that Danny was in Columbia in the first place that is the problem," Alisha replied, dubiously.
"On vacation," Kara asserted.
"In a war zone?" Val snorted.
"It doesn't say that in the article," Kara pointed out.
Val was now the one pacing. "Anyone who isn't an idiot knows that the Colombian government never rebuilt after Tavo's coup. The entire region is in turmoil. President Gomez is nothing more than a figurehead."
"True, but at least some of the regional governors are stable," Kara pressed. "You're telling me that there are no resorts within driving distance of Tunja?"
There it was again, Alisha giving Val that look. After a moment, Val spoke. "There might be one in Medellin."
"So he was there on vacation with his girlfriend. Got lost looking for..." Kara twirled her hand.
"Coffee," Val added reluctantly. "The area is known for its coffee."
Kara nodded, chewing on her nail as she spun the story. "Looking for local coffee to bring home as gifts. Support the economy. Spread dollars. American dollars. He got lost and then the landslide happened. He stopped and helped. He's a hero. Not a spy."
"It's thin," Alisha said, somewhat doubtfully.
"We pump up his past on the Nathan James. Release his official file. Make a point of saying that the leave was personal. What else would help?" Kara didn't really expect an answer, but Val threw one in anyway.
"A picture."
"What?"
"A picture would help." Val said impatiently. "Half the population never actually reads an article. They look at the headline and any pictures. That's it."
"She has a point," Alisha noted.
Val rapped her finger against the desk. "So, do you have one of him and Laura?"
Both Kara and Alisha stared at Val until it apparently occurred to the woman that Kara was unlikely to have a picture of her ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend hanging around. Val pulled out her laptop. "Let me see what I can find..."
Fifteen minutes later, Kara was staring at a picture of Danny and Laura in swimsuits, cocktails in hand. If she hadn't been well aware of what Danny looked like under his uniform, she would never have guessed that the picture was a fake. As for Laura, it was amazing how an innocent photo of a teacher sitting near her desk drinking coffee could be transformed.
Kara shook her head. "There are times when you scare me."
Val shrugged. "I may be a genius but only an idiot would believe this story."
"Maybe. Maybe not." Kara pulled out her phone.
"Who are you calling?" Alisha demanded.
"Jacob Barnes," Kara replied.
"You're calling a reporter?" Val's mouth dropped.
"The same reporter you claimed that you would never talk to again after he ditched you at that biker bar in the middle of nowhere and you had to call Carlton to come pick you up?" Alisha added.
"Who better to write a fake article than a real reporter?" Kara asked, shrugging. Jacob might be only somewhat above a parasite on the food chain, but she kind of liked him. Not enough to sleep with him, of course, but enough to tolerate another evening at a dive bar. And this time she would drive herself. "Besides, Barnes owes me."
Alisha shook her head, moving towards the door. "Barnes doesn't work that way, Kara. You know he's going demand something before he agrees to help."
"Probably another date," Val added, smirking. "You know, seeing how well the last one went."
"That wasn't a date," Kara argued, although she knew it was pointless.
Alisha turned to stare at Kara for a long moment. Finally she sighed. "I hope that you know what you are doing, Kara."
"I do," Kara replied, phone to ear, watching as Alisha and Val left. "Hi, Jacob? It's Kara. Yeah, it's been a while..."
Whatever the cost, Danny was worth it.
