The Short Game
Story 1
Author's Note: You should read The Long Game ff before this, but it's up to you. In The Long Game Ressler and Keen have an undercover mission that lasts from the beginning of Season 1 until Eli Matchett in Season 3.
In The Short Game, Ressler and Keen go on a series of brief undercover operations in a variety of roles, but they are the same Ressler and Keen from The Long Game with a history I developed there. I hope that explains where we are with this story. Each story is an undercover operation at some point during the series.
Episode: After Lady Ambrosia
Let me know what you think!
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Liz Keen tugged at her skirt as they stood in the elevator.
"Stop fidgeting," Don warned her.
"You try wearing this," Liz said as she looked at him standing in his dirty loose jeans, Metallica t-shirt, big baggy flannel shirt, and boots. He looked grubby but much more comfortable than she was.
Don sighed. He was not happy to be back undercover working with the woman he loved who was carrying another man's baby.
"Skirts this short are not meant to be worn with a pregnant belly," Liz said annoyed as she tugged at it again.
"It's only for an hour or so," Don said, not looking at her. He knew what she looked like, blue streaks in her hair, short jean skirt, dirty yellow tights, revealing top, heavy makeup. She didn't look like Liz. "Then you can go home and pull on a muumuu."
"Okay Mrs. Roper," Liz laughed.
Don smiled at her laughter, it had been a while since he heard it.
"Ready?" Don asked her.
Liz nodded and the doors opened.
Don walked out of the elevator ahead of her, not looking back and not paying attention to her until they got to the desk.
"Give them your name," Don ordered her sharply.
"Carrie," Liz stammered.
"Your whole name," Don said annoyed.
"Carrie Hoog," Liz offered as she tried to look intimidated by Don. He was acting the part of the asshole brother quite well.
"Yes, Miss Hoog," the woman said as she smiled at Liz. "It should just be a few minutes. Please take a seat."
"Come on," Don said as he stepped away from the counter and left Liz to waddle behind him to the chairs.
He sat heavily in one and leaned back with his legs man spread wide. Liz sat in the chair next to him and shifted toward him, he pulled away.
Five minutes passed with them ignoring each other.
"Matt, I don't think…" Liz started.
"Shut up," Don hissed loudly. "No more Carrie, Jesus Christ, keep your fucking knees together next time."
All the people in the waiting room looked in their direction. A couple in their thirties near them seemed to lean away slightly.
In their investigation into adoption agencies with the latest case, they had unearthed 3 other agencies that had sketchy practices. Samar and Aram were at another one today portraying a rich couple trying to buy a baby out of the hands of people on a wait list for years. Later today, Liz and Don would also hit another agency offering her baby up for sale to them.
This operation was about an involuntary adoption, they had heard and received testimony from several women that they had been forced by various family members or boyfriends to place their child up for closed adoption despite clear misgivings on the part of the mother. In one case, a woman had been forced to sign away her child at gunpoint by her father and in another, a woman had been housed in a private facility until she gave birth then promptly removed. No one had believed the woman because they were either underage, special needs, street workers, or from the wrong side of the tracks.
Don had chosen the brother-sister angle and Liz knew why. After all that had happened between them on their last two-year long undercover operation, all they had felt for each other, it would be difficult to be a couple on the first case. She was back with Tom, having a child with him, unsure of her future, but having chosen Tom as her path. And she knew he was angry with her, had felt betrayed by her, but was too stoic a man and too much of a boy scout to even broach the subject of them with her current state. No, Don wasn't happy, but he had accepted their place with each other. Partners.
"Miss Hoog?" A woman said from across the room.
Liz didn't move.
"Fucking go," Don said sharply as he stood and gestured.
Liz didn't move.
Don grabbed her arm and forced her up.
"Carrie, don't pull this bullshit," he said as he walked with her, gripping her arm, toward the woman trying to hide her alarm.
Liz and Don walked into the woman's office and Don shoved Liz toward a chair. All of his manhandling looked worse than it actually was, but it was still alarming to be treated like this by Don.
"So, you are interested in placing your child up for adoption?" The woman asked calmly as she looked at Liz.
Liz started to cry.
"Yeah," Don said. "Give me whatever papers she needs to sign, and I'll get them signed. She already has three fucking kids with no fathers around…"
The woman shoved a tissue box toward Liz.
"I know this is hard, but this is for the best," the woman said as she laid some papers on the desk and assessed them. "You already have children?"
Liz sniffled and nodded.
"I want to keep this one too," Liz said clearly as she met the woman's eyes.
Don raised his hand as if to back-hand her and she flinched when he stopped inches from her face.
"Sign the god damned papers," Don said with venom in his voice.
The woman looked between the two of them.
"You are the father?" She asked.
Don snickered; a statement could never be more untrue.
"No, brother," Don said as he picked up the papers. "Probably the only man she hasn't fucked."
Liz looked at Don hurt. He was enjoying this role, enjoying being mean to her under the guise of a case and acting; channeling his hurt into the role.
"She is on welfare, she's got three kids, she doesn't even know who the father…" Don started.
"Gary, fucking Gary Kominski…." Liz said.
"Well, Gary's in jail, so a lot of good that does you," Don said as he shook his head. "And really, are you just sayin' Gary? Because her bedroom has an open for business sign above it…"
"Fuck you!" Liz said as she hit him in the arm hard.
Don wound up as if to punch her and then held her gaze. "You know I'd do it. Sign the fucking papers."
"How about we get the papers signed?" The woman said nervously, wanting this volatile pair out of her office as quickly as possible. "I think your brother is right, you have enough on your plate and another child will just complicate your life."
Don dropped arm and sat back in his seat fixing his shirt. "Listen to the lady."
"You are due in a month?" The woman confirmed.
"I want it," Liz said through tears.
Don clicked the pen and shoved the papers in front of her.
"Now Carrie!" He said.
Liz cried. He took her hand and placed the pen in it, wrapping his own around it until she looked at him with a pained expression. "Now."
Liz cried.
"We can provide you with a sum of $2000 dollars to cover your prenatal care, to help you get back on your feet after giving birth, and…"
Liz signed the papers with Don's hand wrapped around hers, crying the entire time.
"She needs to stay with you until she pops out the kid," Don said.
"We do have a facility…"
"No!" Liz said as she stood.
Don pushed her shoulder down until she was sitting again.
"Our ma will take her kids until she gets rid of this one," Don said.
"I can't…I don't want to…"
"She'll be made to stay?" Don asked.
"We have security…for her protection," the woman said as she hit a button on her phone.
"Matt, don't make me do this," Liz pleaded as she grabbed at his shirt.
"You should have got rid of it when you could," he said with venom as he pushed her hands away. "Now, you're getting rid of it one way or the other, Carrie."
He stood as two security officers walked into the room.
"We will take good care of your sister, and I have the number where we can call when she is ready to be picked up?"
"Yeah," Don said as she started to walk from the room.
"Matt, don't do this! Don't! Matt!" Liz called.
"You fucked up!" He said as he turned pointed a finger at her, his face red with anger and emotion. "You made this bed, now you fucking lay in it!"
Don walked from the room and the two guards took Liz by the arms. She started to struggle.
The plan had been to allow them to take her to the secure facility, but Don had noticed a syringe on the doctor's shelf behind her desk, ready to go. He couldn't risk Liz's baby for a sting operation. He hid outside the door.
"Breach" Don whispered into his mic.
"Let me just…" the doctor said. "This will calm you down."
Don rounded the corner with his gun drawn "FBI, freeze!"
The doctor screamed and the guards dropped Liz's arms and she pulled her own gun and pointed it at the doctor as she stepped away. "Hands on the desk!"
The doctor dropped the syringe and the two guards held up their hands and Don pushed them both toward the wall as the team stormed inside.
"Where's the facility?!" Liz demanded.
"I want a lawyer," the doctor said as she shook.
"Where is it?" Liz yelled. "I can throw you in a private cell or I can throw you in with the crazies and general pop, your choice."
The doctor started to cry.
"The address!" Liz demanded.
"46 Pearl Street," the doctor said, her crying now ramping up.
"Did you get that?" Liz asked her com.
"Sending a team now," the voice called back. Liz stepped back and watched the officers cuff everyone and read them their rights.
She and Don holstered their weapons and he walked up to her.
"You, okay?" He asked.
"I didn't see the syringe until…" Liz admitted.
"I noticed it right away and knew we couldn't go farther than this office," Don said as he watched her hitch at her skirt again.
"Here," he said as he took off the baggy flannel shirt and handed it to her. "Tie it around your waist and you won't have to worry about anything hanging out."
She smiled at him and took his shirt, trying it around her large belly and covering herself down to her knees.
"Thanks," she smiled at him.
Don looked round and saw the team coming in to access all their files, people being led away in cuffs, and patrons in the lobby being interviewed.
"Come on, they can handle this," Don said. "Myers, you're in charge. Call me if you need anything."
Liz and Don walked from the office and back toward the elevator.
"Did I hurt you when I grabbed your arm?" Don asked, recalling what had happened.
"No," Liz said. "I think your grip looked stronger than it was."
Don nodded as they waited for the elevator.
"You make a good asshole brother," Liz said as she looked sideways at him. He'd been all business since she returned, and they had hardly spoken privately.
"I don't have any sisters, so I tried to channel my inner Jamie Lannister," Don said.
"And I'm Cersai?" Liz asked with a raised eyebrow, knowing that brother-sister duo were more than platonic siblings.
Don furrowed his brow, it did sound wrong when she said it that way. Luckily, the elevator arrived, and the conversation was cut short.
"And in two hours you are going to be my boyfriend?" Liz asked him. "We may need therapy after this."
"It's all just an act Liz," Don said, trying to will the elevator to arrive at their floor more quickly so this conversation with her would end.
Liz wasn't so sure everything he said was, though. She watched him swallow hard when he said the baby wasn't his, and she was sure she was looking at Don and not 'Matt' when he yelled she got herself into a mess.
"Don, maybe we should have a coffee and talk about…"
"Talk?" Don asked as he looked at her. "What's there to talk about?"
She could see his walls had come up and he was going to deny any previous relationship they had, things she had written, things they had said, things they had done…
"Look, I know that my pregnancy caught…"
He watched as they approached the floor when he could escape this conversation.
"I'm happy for you Liz," Don said as he looked at her quickly and then looked at the doors opening. "You'll be a great mom."
He walked past her into the lobby that was teaming with FBI and Liz stepped out of the elevator and saw him get lost in the crowd.
To be continued…