A/N: Thank you for the reviews! Even if you're frustrated, it makes me happy that you're invested. I wasn't feeling super confident about this chapter, I went back and forth with editing and I finally stopped thinking about it too much and just finished it. Because I have some future stuff written that I like and am excited to get to. Hope you enjoy this chapter! Thank you for the comments and thoughts, they are all appreciated very much and encourage me to keep writing!
Chapter 19: The Marelli's
Beca had never been more angry to hear her phone's ringtone, which, ironically was the intro to Journey's 'Separate Ways.' She pushed the answer button so hard she was worried she might crack the screen.
"Mitchell." Beca growled into the phone, still looking at Chloe. If it was physically possible, Beca would have reached through the phone and landed a solid left hook on whoever the offending caller was.
"Short stack!" The voice of Fat Amy came from the other end. "We found your guy. His name is Jimmy Marelli. We've got a plane ready to go get him, we need you two down to your HQ ASAP."
"Where is he?" Beca started switching gears to agent-mode, trying to ignore the little anger in her about being interrupted as well as the short joke.
"Down in Georgia. He thinks he's quite clever, but not too clever for us at the FBI. So get your asses moving, we leave when you get here." Fat Amy then hung up, leaving a frustrated Beca holding the phone, staring at Chloe. She wanted nothing more than to shut off her phone and finish what was about to happen. But she was a professional. And Chloe was an even bigger professional.
"They got our guy." Beca forced a smile, trying to seem excited about the news.
"Oh? Good...good." Chloe took a step back and ran a hand through her hair. "I guess...we should go then?"
"Yeah, they're waiting for us. Got a plane and everything." Beca nodded while curling her lips together. She shoved her offending phone back in her pocket and motioned for Chloe to lead the way back downstairs so they could get back to HQ.
They got situated in the plane, Aubrey and Fat Amy in two leather chairs sitting across from Beca and Chloe with a desk in between. Beca couldn't stop her knee from bouncing up and down nervously. And Chloe couldn't keep her fingers from drumming on the arm rest trying to ignore the palpable frustration emanating from the brunette next to her.
Chloe was concerned that Beca was embarrassed. She worried Beca almost acted on impulse back at her apartment, but didn't really want to follow through with it. And now she was stuck on a plane with Chloe counting down the minutes until she could tell her it was and would've been a mistake. Chloe tried to push these thoughts out of her mind and focus on the mission. Rejection or no, she still had to be an agent and they were still partners.
Little did she know Beca was sitting inches from her with the same thoughts. Beca was terrified that she almost crossed a line that Chloe never wanted crossed. And now the always-professional redhead would be even more uptight. She worried that every little mistake she'd make, Chloe would nag her mercilessly now especially since she did something as unprofessional as almost kiss her partner. What was she thinking?
"Did you two hear me?" Fat Amy snapped her fingers, looking wide eyed at the two agents across from her.
"What?" Beca sat up.
"Sorry, I was...my mind was elsewhere." Chloe swallowed hard, also leaning forward, ignoring the quick look Beca gave her.
"As I was saying." Fat Amy pressed on, the tension in the airplane obviously going over her head. "Jimmy Marelli is related to a big mob boss we've been tracking down the past four years. We haven't been able to catch him on anything yet, but it seems like Jimmy might be trying to rise in the ranks on his own. This...briefcase...he has could literally be anything or contain anything. Our biggest concern is that it is a massive weapon. We believe he brought it to Georgia to the Marelli's beach vacation home to prove his worth to his father and maybe make a bigger buck off of it by selling it to the highest bidder. It could backfire on the little twerp, he just spent three million dollars of his family's money on this thing. He could've been bamboozled or bought some faulty piece of that happens, I'm sure his father would have him shot on the spot. However, if these Marelli's sell it to an even more dangerous group just for some more cash, we don't know what kind of danger that would be."
"How many people are in this Marelli house?" Beca asked while skimming a few of the briefing pages.
"We estimate at least 15." Fat Amy flipped through her notes. "I have a team ready to respond on my go. Our priority is taking this mob boss down. He's been a headache to the FBI for years. But we won't get in your way of acquiring that briefcase, and we'll do what we can to help. We don't want whatever it is landing in the wrong hands."
"Good." Beca nodded. "So where's our best entrance point." Beca shut off her thoughts of what was happening between her and Chloe and made her focus solely on the mission at hand. Chloe followed her lead and they planned with Fat Amy and Aubrey in detail about how to successfully meet everyone's objectives.
The four agents pulled up about a half-block away from the Marelli beach house. They loaded their guns, adjusted vests, and strapped on any other various forms of weaponry. They were dressed in all black like four burglars prepared to ransack the mansion.
"Alright, Beale, you two take the stairs to the top balcony. Don't get spotted. We'll take the basement entrance." Fat Amy barked the orders as she fidgeted with some of her equipment. Beca took her step to follow Chloe, but was quickly yanked back by her coat by the large Australian. She let out a little squeak which made Chloe pause and whip around too, confused why Beca wasn't following her.
"Not you, short stack. You're with me; Beale is with Posen on this one."
"But, she's my partner." Beca nearly whined, stealing a glance at Chloe who looked equally frazzled by being separated.
"Yes and you still are, but with the four of us as a team, you're gonna be with me." Fat Amy waved her hand as she marched over to the basement window. Beca slouched as she followed her and slowed when she passed Chloe.
"See ya in there?" Chloe shrugged, also disappointed that they weren't going in together.
"Chloe!" Aubrey hissed in a whisper. "Let's go!" And with that the four departed to their target locations. Chloe and Beca glancing over their shoulders one last time at each other as they went opposite each other. Neither had realized how attached they had become as partners.
"You know, I'm not a fan of the short stack nickname." Beca grumbled as she crawled through the window.
"You know, that doesn't really bother me." Fat Amy shrugged. "Now go unlock that door. You know my sexy fat ass won't be able to shimmy through this window like your cute butt could."
"Dude." Beca growled as she stomped over to the basement door. She opened it and waited at the stairs for Fat Amy to come around and jog down before she was spotted.
Chloe and Aubrey made their way up the white staircase with guns in hands, keeping their eyes on the windows to make sure no one was looking out.
"You know, I'm a little offended." Aubrey whispered once they reached the top balcony. "You acted disappointed getting paired with me." She over exaggerated her hurt tone to let Chloe know she was only joking.
"I wasn't disappointed. Its just-"
"You want Beca." Aubrey finished, smirking. "In more ways than one."
"Shut up." Chloe rolled her eyes and took a step in front of Aubrey to check one of the room windows to make sure it was empty.
"Have you two done the dirty yet?"
"Now is hardly the time to discuss that!" Chloe felt her face burn red as she worked on unlocking the window.
"So you have?!" Aubrey gave her a light nudge.
"No." Chloe growled. "And I'm not discussing this with you ever again if you keep it up while we are on a mission. You're supposed to be my superior." Chloe glanced over her shoulder with a mock disappointed face.
"Fine. Fine." Aubrey grinned as she helped Chloe open the window and climb inside.
Beca and Fat Amy silently searched the basement for anything valuable in the FBI case, before climbing the stairs to the first floor. Fat Amy motioned for Beca to get the door and she would face anyone waiting for them. No one was at the basement door so Amy and Beca quickly scurried to what looked like a study. Fat Amy wasted no time in inserting a USB drive to the computer to gain any information off of it and motioning for Beca to search the cabinets and drawers.
Aubrey and Chloe weren't quite as zeroed in on gathering intel as Fat Amy was, since that was more an FBI matter. But they did gather what they could, while moving from room to room.
"Where is everyone?" Chloe whispered as they checked a dark hallway before ducking into another room.
"My guess is they're having a meeting. Jimmy probably only arrived recently. They've got to be debating what to do with the case and Jimmy." Aubrey thought out loud as she quickly searched through what looked like an unlived-in bedroom.
They quickly moved room to room on the top floor, not finding anyone or any significant intel. Chloe led the way downstairs, gun in hand, followed closely by Aubrey. They finally heard signs of life in the form of muffled conversation. The room the voices were coming from was behind two double doors and two goons.
"Why do they think bodyguards at doors do any good?" Chloe scoffed under her breath as she slowly replaced her gun with taser.
"What is it with you and tasers?" Aubrey shook her head as they hid behind a wall. Chloe just shrugged as she narrowed her eyes at the body guards to tase them both rapidly and silently.
Fat Amy and Beca had gathered quite a bit of intel. They were about to make their way up the second set of stairs when they heard a gunshot from the second floor. Beca's eyes were panicked as she looked toward the ceiling, only thinking of Chloe. She made a move to start sprinting up the stairs when Fat Amy grabbed her again.
"Whoa, there, you can't go up there guns a blazing...with two people." She winked as she spoke into her radio for her FBI team outside to start storming the place. Beca clenched her jaw, waiting for the sounds of more gunfire. Surely enough, there were sounds of multiple guns being fired and she'd had enough.
"I'm not leaving her up there!" Beca swatted Fat Amy's hand away as she bolted up the stairs, two at a time. Fat Amy begrudgingly trailed behind her, a little slower. Beca's eyes scanned the hallway and saw flashes of gunfire coming from the large room that Aubrey and Chloe had just found. Beca ran and fired two shots into the chest of one large, greasy Italian man before ducking behind the wall. She saw the mob boss and two men go behind a bookcase into a hall with a staircase.
"You see that?" Beca nodded at Amy.
"I'm on it. You okay here?"
"I'm good. I've been in worse situations." Beca waved her hand for Fat Amy to hustle after the disappearing mob boss. Now, the rest of the mafia men were scurrying around, looking for escapes as the FBI team started coming in through various entrances. She still saw no sign of Jimmy, the briefcase, Aubrey, or Chloe. Beca headed down the halls gun held up, ready for anyone to surprise her. She wanted to shout for Chloe's name to see if she was okay, but she didn't want to bring any added attention to herself or her partner.
Aubrey had gone to the outside deck to get several men into custody with the help of FBI men, while Chloe chased after Jimmy Marelli, who sprinted out of the meeting room with the case in hand. Chloe saw him dash into one of the bedrooms. She had noticed earlier that it had another entrance as well, so she couldn't take too much time, hiding behind the wall. Suddenly she heard a scuffle happening and she could see the briefcase bounce across the floor. She quickly snatched it up with her left hand while holding her gun up with her right to see Jimmy with an arm around Beca's neck and his own gun to her head. Beca was staring at the ground, breathing angrily, trying to think of a way out of his hold. Chloe gulped nervously, terrified of seeing yet another gun placed against her partner's head.
"Put your gun down!" Jimmy shouted. Chloe didn't move. "Put! Your! Gun! Down! Or I shoot her!" He gave an extra shove to Beca's head, making her wince. Chloe quickly dropped her gun, unwilling to test Jimmy's seriousness to his threat.
"Now toss the case over here." Jimmy waved his gun at the case. Chloe took a deep breath, looking at Beca, who still couldn't bring herself to look at Chloe. The redhead reluctantly and with a little anger shoved the case in Jimmy's direction. Jimmy carefully moved with Beca and picked up the case, while keeping the barrel of his gun against Beca's temple. He backed away with Beca, as Chloe stood still, feeling helpless.
Before they reached the door to the hallway, Beca threw her head backwards and hit Jimmy right in the nose. He dropped the case and screamed as he held his bleeding nose. Beca took a swift kick to his gun, sending it flying across the room. Chloe quickly grabbed the gun while Beca snatched up the case. They were about to turn and run down the hall, when Beca felt herself get yanked backwards when Jimmy put a hand on the case as well.
Her knuckles were turning white as their fierce tug of war battle went on. Chloe finally slammed the but of Jimmy's gun into the back of his head, sending him falling to the floor and letting go of the briefcase. Beca's momentum made her stumble back through the glass balcony doors and nearly fall over the edge. Chloe jumped over and held her up by her jacket. The case went falling with a dull thud to the sand below.
Chloe's hands didn't move from holding on to Beca's jacket. They stood there looking at each other for a moment, breathing heavily. While it was terrible timing and really unprofessional, Beca wanted nothing more than to just pull the redhead in for a kiss so intense, it would make everything going on around them fade away. But Beca blinked rapidly before shaking her head and glancing over her shoulder. They both now stood side by side and realized the case was now lying in the sand a floor below. Before they could say a word, Jimmy grabbed Beca again by the collar of her jacket and pulled her back into the room.
"Seriously?!" Beca started squirming, when a gun was slammed into the side of her head for a second time that night.
"Shut up." Jimmy hissed, staring at Chloe who was still on the balcony. "You stay." He talked to her like he would a puppy in training.
"Let her go, you fucking little-" Chloe growled.
"Shut up!" Jimmy screamed, interrupting her. "I don't want to kill either of you. So you." He nodded in Chloe's direction "Are going to let us walk out of here. And you." He shoved the gun harder into Beca's temple. "Are going to be my little body guard until I grab that case and get off this beach. Everyone understand? Because while I don't want to, I'm not afraid to put a bullet through this fiery little agent's head. Got it?" He looked back and forth between Beca and Chloe who just remained silent and still.
He walked downstairs with Beca, giving her unnecessary shoves on the way down. Beca, growing tired of being manhandled, quickly whipped her body around to knock the gun away from her head with her elbow. The gun went rolling down the stairs as Jimmy cursed in frustration. Rather than stay and fight, though, he quickly leaped over the banister and made a break for the beach before Beca could catch up. As soon as he burst out the windowed double doors to the beach, he was greeted with a fist to his throat courtesy of Chloe Beale, who had climbed down the trellis before Jimmy and Beca got downstairs.
"You don't threaten my partner's life and just get to run off like a little chicken shit." She growled as she shot a kick to his ribs.
"Bitch!" Jimmy held onto his throat. She quickly swung her leg around and landed the side of her foot against his elbow, sending him to his knees. Beca appeared from the other side of the porch and sprinted for the case in the sand. Jimmy saw her and dodged another punch from Chloe and sprinted after Beca, Chloe not far behind.
Beca would have loved nothing more than to shoot Jimmy and be done with it. But she knew from past experience it was best to try and keep these types of enemies alive. He probably had a plethora of knowledge that would help the FBI's case. She also figured, given Jimmy's coward-like behavior, he would start singing like a canary within five minutes of being interrogated by Fat Amy.
She snatched the case and then was racing Jimmy to one of the FBI vans, hoping a handful of them would be around to tackle him, while she and Chloe could get out of there with the case. The sand was proving harder to sprint across than she imagined, and Jimmy was gaining on her. She felt his hand snatch at her jacket and pull her backwards. She landed on her back with a grunt, still clutching the case. Jimmy quickly kicked it out of her hand and then reached for her collar. She tried to grab the taser attached to her right calf but he was dunking her head under water before she could get to it. He held her under for a moment and then jerked her out of it. She came out coughing, trying weakly to punch him anywhere on his body.
"You idiot. You think you can take down the Marelli's? We're so much more than just some mafia family. You're as stupid as you look." He laughed and shoved her underwater again as she wriggled around trying to come up for air. She had been through so many life and death situations. She had faced far more physically imposing threats. And at this moment it felt like the breath was being ripped from her body and she was going to drown. She was not going to die at the hands of this sorry excuse of a man. He brought her back up quickly as she let out gasping coughs again. If she could only catch her damn breath.
"You don't mess with Jimmy Marelli!" He slapped her across the cheek before slamming her back under the low tide. Chloe had caught up by now and felt a rage in her chest watching this short, coward of a man nearly drowning her partner. She quickly grabbed the case and swung it like a baseball bat and knocked Jimmy right into the water.
"You want to talk a big game, mini-man?" She grabbed him by the collar much like he did with Beca. "You forgot you were messing with two kick-ass women who don't take shit from little ferrets like you." She threw a punch against his chin and threw him into the water. Beca was catching her breath, watching this scene unfold with pride. Chloe picked him up again and he was crying for mercy.
"You're a pathetic little man. And good luck with the FBI. Fat Amy's going to eat you for breakfast!" Chloe threw her left fist against the other side of his face just to even things out. He fell to his knees in the water and Chloe saw several FBI uniforms running towards the beach to take him into custody.
"You'll be sorry, you redheaded devil bitch." Jimmy spat blood out of his mouth as Chloe grabbed him again to stand him up.
"This is for any woman stupid enough to want to possibly have your hideous children." Chloe swung back and gave Jimmy a powerful and painful kick to his groin with her right knee, followed immediately by another kick from her left knee. Jimmy yelped in pain like a puppy that had just been spanked. He grabbed his crotch, groaned, and slowly fell back into the water. He lay there crying as the FBI uniforms grabbed him.
"Damn." Beca coughed out a laugh. "That was hot." She winced a smile as she coughed up more water. Chloe quickly grabbed the case next to her feet as she went to help Beca out of the water. She set the case down and reached both hands to grab Beca's, who was slow to get up. Chloe was out of breath, not so much from physical exertion, but from the rage she felt watching someone hurt Beca. She didn't realize just how important her partner was to her on more than just a professional level until watching her nearly get drowned. She wouldn't have been able to handle it this time if something had happened to Beca.
"You okay, red?" Beca stood to her feet, finally done with her coughing fit. She looked at Chloe who was clearly shaken up. "Hey...we've been through worse." Beca put her hand on Chloe's back in comfort, surprised that Chloe seemed so upset about the situation.
Chloe just nodded as she picked the case back up and walked with her arm around Beca as they made their way back to the van. Fat Amy jogged over and put a towel around Beca and congratulated the two agents on a successful mission.
"You two are a force to be reckoned with. Hope to work with ya again." Fat Amy slapped them both on the back before sharing a cordial handshake with Aubrey.
"Congrats to you too on finally nabbing your guy." Aubrey nodded.
"Well, we didn't get the boss." Fat Amy sighed in disappointment. "But we got the underboss and a few other high ranking men. Still counting it as a victory. Plus the little man won't hold up long under interrogation. We'll get info out of him I'm sure." Amy said with a sly wink.
"Well, good. We're going to have our people check out the case too. I'll let you know what we find out." Aubrey patted her on the back and turned to say something to her agents, but closed her mouth with a slight smile when she saw Chloe guiding Beca into the van with her arms around the brunette. "Idiots." She whispered to herself as she waved goodbye to Amy and walked towards the van to get home.
Beca and Chloe sat in the back while Aubrey sat in the front with the driver. Beca and Chloe sat awkwardly until Beca realized there was a stinging sensation in her back. She made a hissing noise as she reached to feel for the offending object causing her pain.
"What's wrong?" Chloe quickly looked Beca up and down with concern.
"I think there's something in my back." Beca winced. Chloe quickly moved around so she sat behind Beca and swatted Beca's blindly reaching hand out of the way. She pulled Beca's jacket off and then slowly lifted her shirt where she saw a circle of blood. Her breath hitched in worry until she saw a small piece of glass lodged in her back.
"Its just a piece of glass. Probably from when you went through the balcony doors." Chloe replied, inspecting the wound closer. "Want me to get it out?" She asked as she grabbed a first aid kit.
"I'd much rather you do it than that doctor." Beca rolled her eyes. "She'd probably bench me or something."
"Oh shush." Chloe smirked as she dug around through the kit. She put on a pair of gloves and wiped the area with an alcohol wipe. Beca pursed her lips together, ignoring any minor pain she felt. Once any excess blood had been cleaned up, Chloe grabbed a pair of tweezers and gently started pulling at the glass shard. It felt strange, like she was pulling a rock out of thick jelly. It finally came all the way out and turned out to be only a small piece of glass. Chloe quickly discarded it and started sopping up the small amount of blood that came from the newly open wound. Once it stopped bleeding and she dried it up, she took the gloves off to put a bandage over the area. When the bandage was in place her hands ran over the area of Beca's back. Chloe seemed to get caught up in rubbing the bandage onto the wound and Beca tensed.
Beca felt Chloe's warm hands run over her bare back. She closed her eyes, biting her lip, trying not to act like she was actually enjoying such a small touch. But as Chloe kept going she inhaled sharply, and tensed her body, trying not to let out a moan. Chloe immediately removed her hands and cleared her throat.
Of course Beca would be uncomfortable with Chloe touching her like that. Chloe shook her head and inwardly chastised herself. That could have been embarrassing. Well, it was embarrassing. Beca literally flinched at Chloe's touch, which made Chloe turn a shade of red. She just took a deep breath and organized the med kit before putting it back in its place and returning to her seat beside Beca.
"You okay, dude?" Beca gave Chloe a friendly nudge with her shoulder.
"Yeah." Chloe said weakly, still seeing the image of Beca struggling for breath as Jimmy dunked her under water.
"Hey, we've dealt with worse than the likes of Jimmy or the Marelli's." Beca quickly and unconsciously put her hand over Chloe's. "And I'm willing to wager a large sum of money we're going to face worse in the future." Beca's thumb absentmindedly started tracing circles over the top of Chloe's hand. Chloe glanced at her partner, who's eyes were glued to their combined hands. Beca felt eyes on her and glanced over at Chloe who had an expression she couldn't read. Thinking Chloe was annoyed by the hand holding Beca quickly took hers away and placed them in her lap. She swallowed hard and gave Chloe an encouraging smile before returning her gaze to the front of the van.
Chloe immediately missed the touch but resisted the urge to grab Beca's hand back. She wondered if maybe Beca was actually thinking Chloe didn't want her hand there. After all Chloe had preached professionalism since the day they met. Maybe Beca was just trying to be respectful of Chloe's wishes. But Chloe's wishes seemed to have changed, she thought to herself. And the thought that she might want so badly just to have the simple act of Beca holding her hand was terrifying. What was more terrifying was if Beca didn't feel the same. Chloe took a deep breath, trying to force the thoughts out of her mind to think about later while she took a nap on the way to the air strip.
Aubrey, Beca and Chloe arrived back at HQ early that morning around 4:00am. They were all exhausted, but relieved with the success of the mission. It had been Beca and Chloe's first 100% successful mission in awhile. And while they didn't need a 100% success rate, the two competitive agents hated when they weren't. Its part of why the Captain had paired them together.
Chloe sank into her chair, exhaling heavily. Beca did a similar action and they were left staring at each other from across their little office. As they held eye contact, Beca flashed her partner a weak smile, communicating that she was proud of themselves, and super relieved Chloe had been there to save her. Chloe smiled sweetly back.
"Excellent work today you two." Aubrey walked confidently into their shared office. Chloe and Beca quickly looked over at Aubrey standing in the doorway. "You should both be proud of yourselves. You not only struck a success for the Agency, but also the FBI. We have analysts working on the briefcase right now and will hopefully have more info in the next week. So, take the next couple days off. Just relax. You earned it."
When Aubrey left, Chloe quickly looked at Beca, who had a tired but still cocky grin on her face as she leaned back in her chair. Chloe took a deep breath and stood up to walk over to Beca's desk. Beca watched her carefully, as Chloe exhaled heavily while she leaned against her desk.
"I wanted to ask if you maybe wanted to come to my place tomorrow night. Thought I'd make you a good homemade dinner." Chloe said as casually as possible. "You know, for saving my life a few times and being a good partner. I mean you've taken a bullet, a knife, and dislocated your shoulder for me, the least I can do is make you a good meal."
"Well you kinda saved mine tonight." Beca countered.
"Yeah, but I would hardly say we're even. As much as it pains me to say." Chloe squinted, acting like it was hard for her to acknowledge Beca was winning when it came to who saved who's life more often.
"So, just dinner?" Beca looked up from her desk as she happily watched Chloe fidget.
"And drinks, of course. And...well I can't see into the future so who knows?" Chloe shrugged, and taking a move out of Beca's own playbook, threw her a wink.
"I think that sounds…" Beca gulped, nervous to see this side of Chloe. Why the hell was she winking? "It sounds alright." She regained her confidence and then leaned back. "I'm going to have to check my plans. I'm a very busy and popular-"
"Be at my place at 7." Chloe interrupted, drumming her fingertips on Beca's desk.
"You got it." Beca put her hands up around her head and bit her lip as Chloe spun around to leave. Beca felt her heart rate kick up a notch as she watched the redhead walk out the door.