I keep a close watch on this heart of mine

I keep my eyes wide open all the time

I keep the ends out for the tie that binds

Because you're mine, I walk the line

I Walk the Line, Johnny Cash

Z "So this is what a real FBI takedown looks like?" I asked Stasiak and Brian.

The standard looking garage was filled with agents and crime scene investigators wiping down every inch of the place with fingerprinting dust. Pieces of cars were scattered across the space, hoods leaning on the brick walls, doors in stacks on the floor. There was clear evidence of identity theft from the few cars that did have paperwork with information on it in the glove box. The criminals we'd picked up were sitting in a line, handcuffed and waiting on transport, including the guy Eddy was so freaked out about. I had been running them from Brian's car laptop, and many of them had very violent priors. Pulling them off the street was a big deal.

Penning had been informed of the collar and was sounding like a proud father on the phone. Brian was clapping my shoulder like a dad. Because I was there and he was training me, he wasn't a part of the actual team raiding the place, but he was still dressed in his tactical uniform and looked much more at home than he did in a suit. We had been stationed outside in an SUV parked on the street. We had a short car chase with one of the thieves, that tried to run, but he had been young and panicked, driving back to the garage and right into the mass of cops who had already descended on the place.

That short car chase had briefly left me with my head between my knees trying really hard to hang onto my lunch. Stasiak had been cackling at my obvious discomfort. It was easy for him to judge when he was safe and sound in the van looking at screens. He had strolled up in the aftermath wearing khakis, a polo, and a bulletproof vest. He looked like he had been worried his golf game was going to be interrupted with a shootout.

"You got some luck, O'Conner." Stasiak slapped him on the shoulder. Brian shrugged him off with an easy smile.

"Yeah, you know it happens like that sometimes," Stiasak smirked.

"Yeah. It never seems to happen like that for anybody else. Not even Billingsly got this lucky." He pressed. Brian's shoulders got a little tense.

"So which one of you jokers is taking me home?" I broke in before they could start bickering as I speed typed the rest of our report.

Brian and I still weren't exactly friends and I knew he could handle himself, but I didn't want Stasiak starting fights right now. I hadn't slept much because of the alcohol and we had spent the entire day planning this operation. I wasn't even interested in prying into Brian's backstory today; I was sure I could eventually get him to crack like a nut tell me what I wanted to know, but I was going to have to work on him for a while.

"They didn't give you a replacement?" Stasiak sneered. I exhaled sharply through my nose as he began to work my nerves.

"The replacement car is also in the shop, which should shock nobody because all of the Tauruses are pieces of shit." I spat as I tapped the final save button on the report and closed the laptop. The other agents that were booking in the suspects could finish up the rest.

"It doesn't have anything to do with you bending that Charger?" Brian pressed with a grin. I gave him a look that told him exactly what I thought about that statement.

"You don't have a personal car?" Stasiak asked.

"Nope. Lost it in the divorce." I paused as I decided how much I wanted to push my luck. "A phrase I'm sure you're familiar with."

Stasiak flipped me off and then raised his ring finger so both fingers were sticking up in the air. I shrugged. We both knew that ring was from wife number two, but I let it go for now. I didn't need to be on Stasiak's bad side. The whole incident that led to me being put back in training had rumors flying and I knew Stasiak was enough of a gossip to add more fuel to the fire if he was angry at me.

"I'll take you back." Brian offered once we drop the prisoners off.

"No man, I'll do it. You've been spending a ton of time together. Don't want to get sick of each other this early when you have six months of training left to go." Something about the way Stasiak said that made my heart sink inside my chest.

Z

Stasiak pulled up in front of my apartment building and let out a low whistle.

"This is a shit hole, Beck." I rolled my eyes at him.

"It's temporary," I replied, reaching for my bag in the floorboard.

"Having second thoughts about LA?" His voice had the same edge as when he was locking into a suspect. I threw him a mirthless smile.

"I hate this place, but it's not running me off," I told him. He nodded slowly with a smirk. "I get what I want. Stasiak, and not because somebody hands it to me. Did you think I was going to let this bit of a setback get to me?"

"No, I know better. You're a goddamn bulldog."

"Good, don't forget it." I popped open his door and had one foot out when he made the next jab.

"You and O'Conner seemed like you were getting along very well."

I exhaled through my teeth as I put my foot back in the car and slammed the door shut.

"Now, you know me better than that." I snapped. He shrugged.

"It's O'Conner. Because it's him, the rumors are already starting."

"Are you adding to them, Stasiak?" I could feel my face turn red as I glared at him. He looked offended at the suggestion. "What did he do that's so bad? I know he let Dom go, but people act like he shot the president while he was undercover."

In the low light of the street lights, I watched Stasiak silently drum his fingers on the steering wheel and pull at the color of his light blue polo shirt. This deep contemplative state absolutely wasn't Stasiak; he was all loud and bluster and big man posturing and this just didn't fit him at all.

"You actually respect O'Conner, don't you? You're never one of the ones that talks shit about it, you're just rude as hell. You don't even want to talk bad about him now, do you?"

"Everyone's pretty sure that the reason he let Dominic Torretto go had less to do with Toretto and more to do with his sister." He started slowly. He looked like he was about to say more, but I let an angry laugh.

"So he banged a witness and everyone automatically thinks he's banging me? I haven't let anyone else from work in my pants, why would I let him?"

"Considering Bennett was telling everyone you slept with your last chief to get this job and now you're with the pretty boy, that rumor was bound to happen. Hey, I'm only telling you this because it could hurt your chances at moving up, Beck."

Rage was spreading through me like a heatwave. I could just barely register my nails clawing into the armrest of Stasiak's car.

I was going to rip Bennett's head off of his shoulders the second I saw him. That arrogant little cockroach had this job when he couldn't follow a lead to save his life because his daddy was a hotshot state senator and got him a spot at Quantico. He and I had butted heads since the very first time we met and it had only gotten worse. Figures the spoiled brat would be the one spreading this.

"What is his fucking problem with me? He hasn't liked me from the beginning. Is it the perfect tits on an agent that are throwing him for a loop? Or is it just the fact that I'm younger than him and closing out bigger cases?"

Stasiak laughed without humor.

"Monday's going to be fun." My eyes narrowed at him and he laughed harder. "Go on. Get some sleep. You can deal with this later. Just be careful around O'Conner."

Z

"So which one were you thinking?" I glanced up from my work computer to see Brian poking through my notes on car ads.

"I don't have a clue." I went back to fingerprint records.

"You're all over the place. Camry, Chevelle, Impreza, Road Runner, 350 Z," I watched him flip through the pages. His brow furrowed. "Are these in alphabetical order?"

"Yes." The partial wasn't coming back to anyone in the California prison system, so I expanded my search to the New Mexico state database. My computer was running too slow to run more than one database at once.

He sighed as he leaned back in his chair and propped his feet on the open bottom drawer of my desk. I glanced up from my computer when I saw movement across the bullpen. Bennett was standing with a cup of coffee and a smirk on his face as he watched us work. I briefly fantasized about knocking the coffee all over his crisp white shirt. Lisa the analyst turned after she finished arranging her files on his desk and scrunched her nose up at him in disgust before rolling her eyes at whatever he was saying. She walked away from him without another word. Sensing that I might have an ally in her, I pushed my chair back.

"I'll be back. I'm going to get a doughnut." Brian waved me off as he continued looking at my pro-con lists on cars.

I'd met Lisa a handful of times and was always impressed by how intelligent and elegant she was. She rolled with every challenge with such ease that I was always jealous of her. She always rolled into the office looking polished and put together and had everything together. We hadn't talked very much, but I had a feeling we'd be good friends. Today, I was feeling like taking a little initiative to get to know more people outside of this suffocating hell hole that was the LA field office.

"Someone's going to forget some time soon and bring doughnuts when it's not Penning's cheat day and it's going to be a bad day for us all." I opened lamely as I walked in behind her.

She threw me a pity smile as she poured her coffee.

"There are plenty left." She poked the box with her perfectly polished, neat fingers.

"Where'd you get your nails done?" I asked as I grabbed a doughnut and set it out on a napkin. She glanced down her lavender nail polish. "I haven't had mine done in forever and I miss it. I haven't taken much time for myself since I moved down here."

"This great place downtown. Where'd you move from?" She asked as she fixed her creamer.

"Portland," I answered.

"I've heard it's nice up there."

"Yeah, it's great." We fell into a slightly awkward pause and I shoved the doughnut into my mouth so I didn't say something awkward to ruin it.

"Look, Bennett's a dick." She finally broke the silence. I nodded in agreement.

"I don't even want to know what he was saying. I've heard enough. Nothing is true, so I'm just going to ignore him until he goes away." I told her. She nodded

"I'm going to get these redone next week. Want to come?" She wiggled her fingernails at me.

"Yes," I answered emphatically.

"Us girls have to stick together around here." She offered me a smile before walking out to get back to work.

I felt myself smiling back as made my way back to my desk.

Brian was absolutely right; I needed to do something outside of work or this place would destroy me. I'd get out from under all of this and I'd still rise up the ranks, but the rumours and demotion were stinging me more than I cared to admit. I needed friends and he couldn't be one of them if I wanted the talk to stop.

Z

"So you're hanging out with Lisa this weekend?" Brian beamed at me like a proud big brother as he filed away the evidence reports. It broke me from my thoughts about my meeting with Penning and how I was supposed to handling retraining with Brian.

"Yeah. I think it'll be fun. I've had a hard time meeting girlfriends since I've been here. Especially since work is like at least eighty percent dudes." I forced a smile back at him as I sorted through my stack of papers.

"It's good that you're branching out. You need something that's not this." He gestured to the scattering of paperwork covering my desk.

"You're really right." I paused for a second to wave goodbye to one of the agents as he headed home for the day. "What do you do for fun outside of work, Brian?"

He snorted, shrugging amicably.

"Not much." He rubbed the back of his neck, a gesture that was becoming Brian's signature sign he felt a little uncomfortable. "I just got back in town, so I feel like I'm still settling in."

"Why don't you come out for drinks with me and Lisa next week? I'm sure she won't mind. You can invite whoever you want and we can make it a party. I'm really hoping to meet people that aren't from work." I pressed, gently enough that I wouldn't upset the balance, but firmly enough that I might make something happen.

"Want me to teach you how to drive a stick?" He offered instead. I nodded immediately. "Most of what you were looking at has a manual transmission, plus you need to know anyway. I can show you around some of the city outside of the office. Maybe you'll like it more if you get outside this bubble."

I smiled broadly. Driving lessons meant cars and Brian and cars meant street racing. Plus, I did actually need to know how to drive a stick if we were going to be partners. Penning tended to assign Brian car-related cases as evidenced by the chop shop case we were finishing up the paperwork for.

"Let's do that. I need a car."

"Sunday?" He offered. "Ten AM, okay?"

"Perfect." I stuffed the last of my papers in their spot and set my files aside. "I'm supposed to have a sedan waiting for me in the parking lot so nobody has to drive me home today and I can meet you."

Brian brushed that off with a smile.

"I'll pick you up. I kind of want you to see me shifting gears for a while before I turn you loose on my transmission." I didn't know what the fuck he was talking about but I nodded anyway.

"Well, I've got to head out. I've got some stuff to catch up on." I opened my drawer and pulled out my purse.

Brian stacked up the last of our paperwork.

"I'll get all this handed in. See you Sunday!"

"Bye!" The smile melted off my face as I turned around to leave.

Brian always seemed so earnest. Picturing him working with hardened criminals was difficult, but I knew it wasn't that far fetched, especially since he had just come back after helping the Vegas division bust up a huge human trafficking ring that he was undercover in.

Maybe he fell in with Toretto because he was stupid? That didn't make sense. He hadn't gotten sucked in any other undercover job, just that one. Toretto didn't look like he was enough of a snake charmer to draw him in like that either. I didn't understand, and it was going to take me a while to break into O'Conner's head enough to get the answer.

I crossed the parking lot, waving to leaving coworkers as I went and replying to a text from Lisa about what time to meet tomorrow. My standard-issue sedan was parked exactly where Agent Pedretti told me he left it. I fished the keys out and unlocked it, sliding in and tossing my purse in the passenger floorboard.

I opened the center console and pulled out the file I had asked Stasiak for. Penning had thrown a fit about it, but I had insisted that if the top brass wanted confirmation that O'Conner wasn't dirty I needed all of the information. I flipped it open to double-check the picture inside.

The picture was taken from far away, but I could tell she was beautiful with a tall, slim figure dark brown eyes and dark, straight hair. She had on a very feminine dress with a cardigan and sandals. I found it a little odd that she dressed so girly after being brought up in a car garage.

I dropped it back in the console and slammed it shut.

Penning was most likely right; O'Conner had a naive moment when he was loose cannon new agent and got too lost in the weeds on his very first undercover job when he met a beautiful woman and would never do it again. He was so very kind and good-willed and thoughtful, that he might try to protect her family, but at the same time, he was so duty-bound and job-focused I couldn't see him risking anything professionally a second time.

Either way, one thing was absolutely for damn sure; I couldn't go back to the top brass with an all-clear report on O'Conner until I knew how things were between him and Mia Toretto.