Title: Day Jobs
By: Kryptonite
Disclaimer: I do not own the comics or movie, merely the contents of my mind (sometimes).
Cougar was about to go out of his mind. Normally, he thoroughly enjoyed the womanly attentions he was able to attract without effort on his part. However, he had agreed to the idea of a private investigators firm simply because he assumed he would be doing the running around. But it seemed most of their business the last two weeks had simply been lonely, desperate, married women who just wanted someone pretty to sit and listen to them. Yes, Cougar referred to himself with a very sarcastic pretty. His whole job thus far consisted of listening to driveling women. Only a few had panned into actual jobs. Clay was happy because everyone that came in at least paid for their time, even if it didn't continue into an actual job. Cougar felt a little dirty sometimes.
He was pulled out of his reverie when he realized that there was a light on in the building. It was ten to nine, when they officially opened, and Cougar was always the first to arrive, despite the fact that Clay and Aisha were renting a place a lot closer than he was. Cougar checked his first instinct, which was to draw the pistol hiding behind his back, and simply continued with his normal routine. Walking to the door, he attempted to open it and found it still locked.
Cougar's urge to draw his gun intensified.
It was eradicated when the new girl's head popped up behind the counter and she held her hands out, indicating to him to wait just one second. Cougar hadn't given the woman more than the occasional passing thought, but now that she was back in his line of sight, the questions from two weeks ago flared back into his mind. It bothered him, this preoccupation with a stranger. Then she was standing in front of him opening the door.
She was smiling broadly as she started speaking, "Sorry, I was gonna unlock it in a few minutes. Didn't think anyone would be here just yet, since Clay said no one got here before nine."
Cougar didn't say anything, just stepped in the open door. It was better she learn now rather than later, that he was considered the quiet one for a reason. He heard her inhaled 'okay' that she whispered as she let the door close.
"Last thing I'm gonna ask, promise, and then I'll leave you alone. You're Mr. Alvarez, but your friends call you Cougar, correct? I need the names if I'm going to answer the phone."
Cougar paused for a minute, entirely too conscious of the woman standing behind him and staring at him as he stood with his hand on the gate separating the waiting area from the back of the store. "Si," he finally answered, continuing on his way.
"Thank you," she answered, staying where she was. "I'm Lexi," was added as an afterthought. Cougar risked a look back at her before he entered the office space he shared with Jensen. There was nothing about Lexi that should hold his attention the way that she was. She was pretty, but she wasn't jaw-dropping gorgeous like some of the women Cougar had been with. Cougar decided to attempt to chalk his fascination up to the fact that, for once, the team hadn't been given a sit-rep and a complete background on her.
The phone rang at the same time that the bell above the door dinged open.
"Moving Target Private Investigators, how may I help you? Just one moment please." Cougar glanced out to see her set the phone back in its cradle. "Mr. Porteous… did I say that right?"
"Yes ma'am."
"You have a call on line one."
"Thank you." Cougar dragged his peripheral vision away from Lexi as Jensen entered their office.
"Morning," Jensen intoned, still sounding half-asleep. Cougar smirked at Jensen's appearance. The hacker could be up and going for days on end, but when he was on 'vacation time' as he called it, you couldn't drag him out of bed for nothing. Jensen was still working halfway between 'work' and 'vacation time'. At least his shirt was relatively normal today.
The two settled down to the comparatively dull monotony of their new job. The door dinged open once more, admitting Clay and Aisha, Cougar assumed, and then the building was pretty silent for the rest of the morning.
"Lunch, losers." Clay called, just after noon. Cougar dragged himself out of the sync of paperwork. He'd had one real job and was still in the chasing leads portion of it that seemed to generate so much useless papers.
"Lexi, are you joining us for lunch? It's Aisha's turn to cook, she's not so bad." Lexi flashed a smile at Clay's request, and it tugged mercilessly at Cougar's heart. A heart that he thought had hardened beyond these emotions when the helicopter full of children was shot down in Bolivia.
"No thank you, sir. I brought my lunch from home and I really need to keeping working on this before I lose my train of thought." With that, she turned back to the computer screen that she had been glued to all morning.
The Losers piled around the small table in the just as small 'employee lounge'. It was a nice perk however, having a refrigerator and stove and some counter/storage space. The group took turns cooking lunch and it was always interesting to see what the person in charge managed to make. Thankfully, Aisha wasn't too horrible of a cook, despite her upbringing. Or perhaps it was because of her upbringing.
As they ate, Cougar couldn't help sneaking glances out the door. He told himself constantly in his head to knock it off, that she wasn't as interesting as he was making her out to be. It didn't stop him from looking and wondering. Finishing his plate, Cougar rinsed it in the sink and then went to crouch next to Lexi where she was working.
"What are you doing?" Cougar asked in his accented English after a few moments of watching her type away.
"You really want to know?" Lexi asked without even breaking in her work.
"Si." She paused for a moment at his quiet answer. A million thoughts ran through her head, the foremost being a simple state of mild shock. Then she shrugged herself out of her mental reverie and went about answering the handsome man.
"I am simultaneously attempting to re-label and re-file both the paper and electronic customer information, and set up an accounting system that's a little more to my liking than the current… paper one."
Cougar smiled momentarily at the veiled disgust in her tone. Paper was Clay's routine, a throwback from numerous mission reports in his years in the military.
"Unfortunately I'm needing to work within the confines of Quickbooks. Here's hoping that it's easier than some of the software I've used in the past. Seems to be working pretty well so far, but I haven't done anything fancy yet. Not planning on doing anything fancy," she added as an afterthought, half under her breath.
Lexi glanced at Cougar out of the corner of her eye, doing her best not to be obvious about it. A little thrill ran through her that Lexi had always associated with the start of a crush. She shoved it away and firmly told herself to knock it off. She had other concerns than dealing with men again.
Cougar tore his eyes from her and back to the computer screen when he caught her looking back. It felt like being a teenager all over again. He'd hated being a teenager. With that thought, Cougar pushed himself into a standing position.
"See ya," Lexi spoke before he could say anything, already seemingly immersed in her computer. Cougar hid the flash of hurt that her abrupt dismissal caused him. Turning, he walked back to his office, promising himself to think over and get rid of this well of emotion that was starting within him.