Firstly, allow me to thank you amazing people for all of the kind words and encouragement! It means a lot and I hope you guys enjoy the chapter.
Just some things to note: I referred to Mikhail as Assistant Director in the first part but I forgot I made Rose a detective and NOT an FBI.
Soooo please forgive me! And on with the show...
Chapter 1
Rose knew she was in trouble the minute she stepped foot in the bullpen.
There weren't any obvious indicators like an irate boss cursing her name. and no one looked at her funny in the oh man you are so fired kind of way.
What did give it away was the shit eating grin on the tall redhead currently reclining in Rose's chair.
Fuck. Couldn't anything ever be handled calmly and quietly around here? You know, like civil adults?
Sighing, Rose kicked the wheels of her office chair, sending Mason gliding right into his desk, which was right next to hers. He collided with an unexpected ooph, his arms flailing wildly as if he was about to fall off a damn cliff and not like was just given a little twirl in a freakin chair. And people called her a drama queen?
At least he was no longer grinning.
Rose smirked before gripping the back of the chair and tilting it forward so that he was forced to stand or really fall this time- sadly, he chose to stand.
"Oh come on, don't look at me like that! You asked for it. How many times do I gotta tell you- stay off of my freakin' chair!"
Smoothing a hand down his- quite ridiculously- crisp shirt, he fixed Rose with a glare before relaxing into a smirk of his own.
"We're partners, so it's our chair. And, I'd say maybe this time you'll learn your lesson but somehow I think we'll be in this exact position again very- and if I know you at all- very soon."
Leaning on his desk, arms crossed, Mason was the picture of ease. As her partner for seven long years and best friend for ten even longer years Rose adored him as much as she could another human being. Others she could only tolerate in small doses.
At least that's excuse she used for noticing how much his shirt was pulled snug across his toned body and tucked into some admirably snug pants that accentuated a very round, very nice ass. Kat was one lucky lady.
"Yeah well, you know me. Kicking ass and taking names, consequences be damned." Rose responded drolly, not having the energy her daily choco-iced donuts usually plied her with as she waited for…
"Consequences my pale ass! You know you could have gotten dead this time right?"
Right on the money! Rose didn't bother to look at him as she went about fussing with her desk. The tone of his voice, all calm and clear, belied how worried he must have been and how much he was trying not to yell at her- for the millionth time…this week.
Dammit, there was supposed to be a box of emergency hostess cakes somewhere in there.
"Well, as you can see, I'm great! Perfectly not dead." She mumbled distractedly before slamming the last desk drawer shut sans cupcakes.
"I'm not going to ask you to be serious because we both know you're an emotionally stunted mess," ouch, "but as your partner and best friend, at least tell me you're really okay." It wasn't quite a plea but it was close enough and it was the least she could do.
"Your insults aside, I'm really okay, Mase."
And since she was giving the poor guy a break by letting him into the void that was her mind, a little more honesty couldn't hurt. Well, it could in the sense that what happened yesterday was painfully embarrassing and she never wanted to hear the name Ivashkov ever again, but this was Mase after all.
Blowing out a breath, she turned to her ride or die who, correctly interpreting the noise coming out of her mouth, immediately straightened to hear what she was about to say.
"Actually, I was hoping that you coul-" she started before she was rudely interrupted, or saved, from spilling her guts to a guy a who loved and cared for her because she was super healthy.
"Hey, Hathaway! You're a real psycho, you know that Rose?"
Boy, if Rose had a quarter for every time a guy's called her that, to her face no less, she would be rolling in it right now.
Deciding to face her superior, oh god that always hurt to say when referring to Spiridon, she pasted a polite smile on her face before turning towards him.
"I think you give me way too much credit Sarge."
"You deserve every ounce of it though. Seriously, you've got some balls on you kid." He said it so earnestly that Rose wanted to slap him. She could already feel her palm itch.
He was a fine one to talk about credit. Where was all of this "praise" when they promoted him instead of her?
True friend that he was, Mason rolled his eyes behind Spiridon's back before thankfully intervening.
"Oh, by the way Rose, Tanner wants to see you in his off-"
"HATHAWAY. OFFICE. NOW!" Mikhail's roar- and it was nothing less- startled Mason who accidently elbowed Spiridon in the ribs.
"-ice."
She would have taken some satisfaction in Mason's loss of composure if, well, if it hadn't been her name being shouted for the whole office to hear. Nobody stopped and stared though, thankfully acclimated to Rose's shenanigans, or insultingly if nobody was surprised anymore.
With a sniff, Rose decided she'd work on that.
"Gee, thanks for the heads up partner." She bumped Mason on her way to doom.
"Anytime, and good luck partner." He muttered, before abandoning her to the wolf. "I think you're gonna need it this time."
I do too.
Five minutes of silent staring later, Rose started tapping her feet. She hoped it was conspicuous enough because Rose hated showing her nerves more than she hated being nervous, but in this particular scenario, she didn't want to come off as impatient to the boss.
Deciding to break the stare-off, Rose cleared her throat. "Can I go get some coffee first or-"
"Shut up."
"Yes Mik-okay, sir." Rose tacked on the sir hurriedly. When he was mad it was either Chief or sir, Mikhail just tended to make him extremely upset. Rose clamped her lips shut, knowing better than to speak right then.
'Would you care to explain," Mikhail began, his thick eyebrows creeping up, up and ah there it is, up his forehead, "why you broke protocol on a very, very important operation?"
Was it a rhetorical question?
Rose wracked her brain but it was impossible to pinpoint exactly which protocol he was referring to. Not to brag, but Rose had broken more than a couple, all of which she fully intended to lie away or deny.
It was probably safer to go with the latter.
"I'm not sure what you mean. We got our guy and a crap load of evidence to boot."
She really should have known better by now.
"Ohh, are you dumb now Hathaway? Is that it? Because crap, I gotta tell you right now, things aren't looking too bright." Mikhail's tone conveyed exactly what he thought of her, his handsome stern features not giving an inch of resolve.
"Hey! That is incredibly rud-"
"Cut the shit Hathaway. Why," he gritted out, "did you have a gun full of fake bullets on such a goddamn high risk mission?"
That brought Rose up short. Okay, so maybe this was worse than she anticipated. Before she could respond, Mikhail put a hand up to stop her.
"And why, I really wanna know this one, did you find it necessary to assault not one but three goddamn suspects, on camera?"
There was only one thing Rose could do- stall.
"Ah crap, I totally forgot!" she cried out exaggeratedly.
"What exactly did you forget?" Mikhail asked suspiciously.
"Hm? Oh, no I just remembered that I forgot to replace my emergency desk-cakes this week and I was looking for them but they…weren't…there." She trailed off lamely, deciding it would be a good idea to shut the fuck up at the severe twitch of the Chief's left eye.
So that didn't work but there was still time. If she played her cards right she could get out of this without so much as a slap on the wri-
"No. I'm not done yet so whatever it is you're plotting in that thick skull of yours, let it go."
"Fine," muttered, relieved to not have to explain anything anymore.
"As punishment," Chief began
Maybe she deserved this.
Daring Rose to object, he continued, "You will be questioning our main suspect, Mr. Ivashkov, and you will be monitored since I cannot trust you not to harm him- again."
Roses jaw dropped. Where the hell had that come from? Chief was known to be tough on his detectives but he wasn't generally cruel. At least never to her.
Yeah, that's why they say there's a first time for everything.
Fuck that! Rose deserved a lot of things but not that. Anything but that.
Please God let it be literally anything else.
Pushing her chair back in outrage, delighted when it screech dramatically, Rose was about to let the Chief know exactly what she thought of his little punishment.
"Now you listen here Chief. That-that druggie was a total douche and not to mention a giant creep and I will not," she continued gallantly, "I repeat, WILL NOT, willingly go within 20 fuckin' feet of him!"
God, just thinking about the creep made Rose want to take an hour-long shower with lots of soap. Just, ew.
"I'll make you a deal," Chief folded his hands on his huge wooden desk, "Answer my question. Tell me why you were using dummy rounds and then explain to me why it is you haven't been in to see Alberta yet…and I'll let Mason do it."
As if to punctuate his evil, he leaned back in his oversized chair and waited for my choice.
"I've visited Alberta plenty in the last month."
"Did we not just establish that dumb is not a good look on you," he asked with another quirk of his brows. He had to be doing that on purpose. Everyone knew how much Rose hated when people did that to her. Although, not everyone knew it was because she could never do it herself without looking like a catatonic doofus. Chief was not one of those people.
"Hey! Again with the insults, Boss. I'm starting to feel real unappreciated here!"
At this, Mikhail ran a hand through his hair- something he reserved just for Rose- before running it tiredly down his face. "Christ Hathaway. Why haven't you completed your freakin' psych eval?"
Pushing out a tired breath, Rose pasted on her "I'm about to be a total bitch" smile and faced her boss.
"I'll go pay Alberta a visit." She acquiesced, straightening her spine. "And, I think I'll take the creep over this little mini interrogation." With that, Rose didn't bother to ask if she could be excused. ordinarily, no matter how mad she was, she still tried to be respectful of Mikhail since she practically worshipped the guy, but not today.
Today Rose was fuming and she had one bastard to blame for that.
Ohhh he is going to pay for this.
In a few short sentences her Thursday morning- and possibly her entire life- was ruined.
And fuck it all, Rose still didn't even have a damn cup coffee to show for it.
Figures.
A/N: Whoa! Things are getting interesting, no? Huh, I wonder what will happen. No, I don't know either and I'm pretty sure I won't until it just magically appears in a dream or something! But please feel free to comment your thoughts and what you think will happen or some things you might wanna see? Idk but we'll see how things go. Anyway, thank you all for the love! You're all awesome!
PS- They started filming for the VA tv show! Are you guys excited for this do over? Do you like the cast? Ahhhh, the possibilities!