Loren peered closely into the reflective surface in front of her, a pair of deep brown eyes staring back as she carefully applied eyeliner and mascara in turn. She then massaged an everyday moisturiser into her cheeks. Being an outdoorsy girl was good for a tan, but too much sun wasn't great for her skin in the long run.
Pushing her cosmetics kit aside, she set to work scraping her short hair back into smooth lines, leaving the bangs to fall free about her face. She then attached long black extensions, sliding them in as close to her scalp as she could before the pain became an ongoing distraction. Once they were safely in place, with no detectable difference from her own hair, she pulled the synthetic piece up into a high, no-nonsense ponytail.
She surveyed herself in the full-length mirror. She looked like a regular woman - smart, tidy and who took pride in her appearance. Her peplum skirt and short-cut blazer hid the gun holster and twin knife sheaths nicely. For the final touch, she slid an extra pop-up blade inside one of her ankle boots and then attached another to the underwire of her bra, just to be safe. You could never have too many knives.
"I hope you're proud, daddy," she told the mirror dryly. "All dressed up and armed to the teeth. I think I'm ready to meet my new boyfriend."
XXX
Chuck held the phone at arm's length from his ear as he doodled absently on a notepad in front of him, confident that the unnecessarily irate customer was still ranting away without pause from the nasal drone he could hear buzzing through the earpiece. He'd never been much of an artist, but his attempt at Pacman was at least recognisable for what it was. He couldn't say the same for his dog, elephant or Sonic the hedgehog.
Morgan Grimes, Chuck's colleague and childhood best friend, halted as he caught site of Chuck's bored look and unusual method of conversing over the phone from a distance. "Are you still speaking to Big-Mouth?" he whispered, amazed.
Chuck discreetly covered the speaker with his free hand. "Thirty-six minutes now. And counting."
"Ouch." Morgan made a face. "Stay strong, man."
Chuck saluted him as his friend continued on his way to harass a leggy redheaded customer, who was studying the display of headphones. He reluctantly returned the phone to his ear and waited for even the slightest pause so that he could force a response of his own into the so far one-sided conversation. In the end, he just had to cut across her completely. He could feel his brain cells in danger of dying off one by one. Plus his notepad was getting seriously overcrowded.
"Ma'am, like I said, we need to determine the problem with your computer before we can decide if you need anything replacing and if we even have the right spare parts for you. But we can't do any of that over the phone."
But still the customer couldn't seem to grasp that the Nerd Herders would need to see the computer for themselves to know what was wrong with it. She ended up hanging up after another bout of complaining over the unhelpfulness of the staff, all because she was too lazy to bring her computer into the Buy More.
As the line went dead, Chuck smacked the receiver several times against his forehead in a dull rhythm. Sometimes he really, really hated working in retail. The customer was not always right. Not by a long shot.
"You know, they say that is the magic technique for fixing electronics..."
Chuck lowered the receiver to see a pretty Latina woman standing at the counter, watching him with raised, perfectly shaped eyebrows. "Trick of the trade," he replied. "Like blowing into old game cartridges."
The woman nodded in amusement. "Or the age-old method: turning it off and on again."
"Hey, these are Buy More secrets. How are you so savvy with them?" Chuck asked jokingly.
She smiled. "I know my way around secrets."
Didn't everyone who he seemed to be hanging out with lately? "So how can I help you?"
"Actually, I was looking for John. Is he around?"
Chuck looked at her in surprise. "John? You mean Casey?" What could this pretty young woman possibly want to do with Casey? Realisation then dawned on him. The new agent was supposed to be joining them today. "Oh, wait, you're... That means you're..."
"Going to fall asleep waiting for you to finish your sentence?" the woman jibed, though she was smiling again.
"Sorry," Chuck smiled back sheepishly. He pointed over her shoulder. "You'll find Casey over there. Green shirt, big bear of a man - you won't miss him."
"Thanks!"
As soon as the woman turned away, Morgan reappeared at Chuck's elbow. "Dude. Serious hottie alert. What was she saying to you?"
"Sshhh," Chuck shushed him impatiently, not even looking at him. "I'm trying to watch the Casey in his natural habitat."
"What are you talking about?" Morgan turned to watch the woman heading towards the kitchen appliance section too.
Loren glanced back over her shoulder and saw that Chuck - easy enough to have picked out from his employee tag - and another, shorter guy with a beard were both watching her. Alright then. She turned back on her course and added more purpose to her step. You especially had to sell it when you had an audience.
She strutted right up to the tall, strongly-built guy in the green shirt who, even with his back to her, was clearly the man that Chuck had described. She reached up to briefly tap him twice on the shoulder in quick succession and then threw her arms around him as he turned around. Casey's entire body stiffened instinctively. Loren recognised the tension instantly.
"I'm here for Operation Bartowski," she said quickly, but quietly before he pile drove her into the floor, without moving away. He was a lot taller than she was, but her voice still reached him.
He relaxed only slightly. "Word of advice, sister; do that again without warning and you could end up inside one of these freezers."
"Somebody's paranoid," said Loren lightly. "I was just trying to sell it. In case you haven't noticed, we happen to have an audience."
Casey glanced over to the Nerd Herd desk without moving his head and saw that Chuck and Morgan were indeed still watching intently. Chuck looked positively gleeful by the spectacle. Casey growled under his breath. Great. He really did hate this assignment.
He grabbed Loren by the shoulders and awkwardly pushed her back to arm's length. "Yeah, well, show's over."
Amusement flickered across Loren's face. She originally hadn't been overly impressed when she'd learnt that the primary part of her mission was to play house, though of course, orders were orders. But something told her that this was going to be more entertaining than she'd thought. Grouchy guys were always the most fun to mess with. And if there was one thing she loved, it was to push people's buttons.
"Too bad," she said in a singsong voice. "I'm sure they would have liked a good show."
Casey rewarded her with one of his best death stares. "Firstly, this isn't a game. This is a top priority operation. Secondly, you haven't even given me a name, let alone shown any ID. How do I know you're legit?"
"You ask every girl for proof of identification on a first date?" Loren joked coyly. "General Beckman didn't say anything about having to win you over first. If this is top priority, then shouldn't I get to sit down with the whole team for introductions?"
"Fine," grunted Casey, glancing over towards Chuck and Morgan again and snatching Loren's hand none-too-gently. "If you want the whole team, then you'll get the whole team."
Though too far away to actually hear anything, Chuck and Morgan were still watching the exchange from the Nerd Herd desk - Morgan in amazement and Chuck more in amusement. It was definitely fun watching the Casey in his unnatural habitat. Sometimes being knee-deep in the spy business had its perks.
"Are you kidding me?" Morgan exclaimed in disbelief. "She's with Casey?"
"I don't know what to tell you, buddy. Casey's life is just one giant secret," said Chuck knowingly.
"So you haven't met her before?" Morgan pressed.
"Nope. First time," replied Chuck, knowing that as much honesty as possible was the safest way to keep from being caught out. Then he remembered that the lie was supposed to entail this new woman being one of Sarah's friends. Oh, man, you'd think he'd have gotten the hang of this by now. "But, err, she's one of Sarah's friends, actually. She only just got back into town."
Morgan bought the bluff easily. "Sarah does have the hottest friends," he agreed dreamily, remembering secret agent Carina who'd caused quite a stir the last time she'd visited. His face then changed abruptly. "Wait, don't tell me that means you might have to double date with John Casey?"
"Group date actually," Chuck corrected. "Ellie's cooking dinner for all of us on Friday."
"You mean she's actually letting Casey back into the house after the pizza delivery guy fiasco?"
Chuck was sure that particular incident was going to go down in history with the reputation it was getting. "My sister, the godsend," he confirmed.
"Amen to that."
Morgan trailed off from making one of his usual inappropriate comments about Chuck's sister as Casey stomped over to the desk, a face like thunder, pulling a seemingly entertained Loren along behind him. He completely ignored Morgan and addressed Chuck only. "Yoghurt time. Now."
"Err, actually, Chuck was gonna take his first break with me at eleven," Morgan piped up.
Casey treated him with one of his trademark glares in response. "I said it's yoghurt time," he repeated dangerously.
"Or, y'know, having my break by myself is fun too," Morgan added hastily.
"Sorry, buddy," Chuck apologised over his shoulder as Casey forcibly pushed him away from the Nerd Herd desk. "We'll sync our lunches instead."
"Move it or lose it, Bartowski," Casey ordered, giving him another shove with his free hand.
"Just once, would it kill you to ask nicely?" Chuck pointed out.
"Probably."
Loren noted the whole exchange with amused interest as she allowed herself to be dragged along. So this blunt exterior was supposedly normal for her new 'boyfriend'. Oh, this was so going to be fun. Maybe this assignment wouldn't be quite the drag that she'd originally anticipated when she'd first gotten the call from General Beckman.
They crossed the car park within the strip mall and Casey released both of them once they were inside Orange, Orange. The small establishment was empty besides Sarah, who was stood behind the cold counter, cleaning the already pristine metal surface with a yellow jiffy cloth. She looked up in momentary confusion that was quickly replaced by wariness when she spied Loren.
"What's going on?"
"Our new team mate," said Casey gruffly, pushing Loren forward. "Apparently."
Loren didn't seem at all fazed by the rough treatment. "I wasn't made aware of how friendly the welcoming committee was," she commented wryly.
"That's just Casey; I wouldn't take it personally," Chuck helpfully cut in.
Casey ignored him, like he tended to at least five times a day. "Well, now that you have the whole team present, as you requested... How do you like your eggs?"
"Sunny side up with wholegrain toast," Loren replied without batting an eyelid.
Chuck, however, was feeling thoroughly lost. He frowned at Casey. "Was that supposed to be some kind of weird, breakfast related pick-up line?"
"It's code, moron," said Casey with a slight eye roll. "It's a way to identify yourself, agreed by the higher-ups, without attracting any attention from civilians."
"Which I just did perfectly," Loren declared confidently. She then winked at Casey. "Though FYI, whilst we're on the subject of breakfast, a glass of champagne on the side never goes amiss." Casey merely grunted in reply, which only amused her more. "So... What do I get for passing my test?"
Casey continued to grumble something unintelligible, so Sarah decided to step up herself. "How about access to the fridge?"
Loren raised her eyebrows sceptically. "The fridge?"
"It's actually a lot cooler than it sounds," Chuck added.
Loren's eyebrows rose even higher. "I hope you mean that as an actual fact and not just some bad pun."
It was fact. Access to the fridge actually meant access to everything. Sarah keyed in the code on the electronic keypad and the large, reinforced refrigerator door swung open to reveal a metal staircase leading down to an assembly of secret rooms that was known collectively amongst the team as Castle. Castle was the base of their entire operation.
Loren whistled, impressed. Most undercover operations tended to run from a secret base. As a fellow agent, she'd seen quite a few of them. Depending of the importance of the operation at hand, some of them hadn't exactly been the best - one of the more infamous ones she'd had the particular displeasure of working from had been in an out of order marked Port-a-Potty block - whereas others had been much more high tech. She was pleased to note that Castle was definitely one of the high tech ones. "Not too shabby."
The heavy door closed securely behind them with a loud clunk as Casey was last into the base. He followed them down the short staircase and got straight to business, stopping in front of Loren with his hand out, palm facing upwards. "Now that we're out of the public eye; your identification."
"A please wouldn't kill you," Loren commented, though she obligingly produced her ID card and held it up, ignoring Casey's resounding growl. "Satisfied now?"
"Not yet." Casey tore the laminated card from her fingers and inspected it closely before holding it up to the light fitting fixed above them for further inspection.
Loren was used to agents being paranoid - it wasn't exactly surprising when you dealt in secrets for a living - but even for a fellow spy, this was total overkill. She looked uncertainly towards Chuck and Sarah. "Is he for real?"
"That depends on your definition of real," said Chuck. "Real as in physically existing on this plain? Sure. Real live human being, however, we're still uncertain. I'm personally hovering over Skynet cyborg..."
Loren rewarded him with an amused half smile. "Are we talking good Arnie or bad Arnie?"
"Again, still undecided."
As he did around eighty-nine percent of the time, Casey ignored Chuck, his attention still focused on Loren's ID card. "Loren McQueen. I've heard of you." He didn't say it favourably.
"Who hasn't?" said Loren lightly, unfazed by the underlying accusation behind his comment.
"Um, isn't being a secret agent the kind of job where your reputation shouldn't precede you?" Chuck pointed out. "Y'know, what with the whole 'secret' part."
"Generally, that is the case," Loren agreed with a shrug. "At the NSA, people rarely know any stories about you. Mine just so happened to spread around."
"Because you were a wild card," Casey said shortly, thrusting the ID tag back at Loren. To her credit, she managed to catch it neatly. "You caused a lot of trouble for being so unorthodox. It's nothing to be proud of."
"See, I always preferred the term 'non-conventional'," Loren responded easily.
"Non-conventional? The incident in Missouri was a lot worse than that."
"Missouri? You mean the hostage situation in Forest Park?" Sarah looked towards Loren. "Even I heard about that and I only transferred in from the CIA recently."
"It wasn't as bad as people made out," Loren replied offhandedly.
"Six civilians were injured, including the president," Casey pointed out.
"Oh, he was fine. Toenails grow back," Loren insisted. "Well... At least they do if you still have that part of your toe attached."
Chuck shot an alarmed look at Sarah, but Casey cut across all of them. "You apparently have trouble taking orders and that is not what we need. Why Beckman decided to assign you on this operation, I have no idea."
"Well, guess what? She did assign me here," Loren bristled, showing the first sign of irritation. Whereas she often took pleasure in striving to purposely annoy people, she didn't see why her reputation was so relevant to Casey's attitude problem. It was true that she wasn't a particularly conventional agent, but that didn't mean that she wasn't good at her job. "So whether or not you approve, I don't really care. General Beckman chose me for this and it's her call. I'm gonna be here for a while, so you may as well get used to it and drop this whole grump factor you've got going on."
"If it's any consolation, he has that going on all the time," Chuck input helpfully. This time, everyone ignored him.
"I don't particularly want to be here either. I can't say that playing house is really my idea of a mission," said Loren dryly. "But I've been given a job and I'll do it. So a little professionalism please."
Casey grumbled, but he seemed at least a little mollified by that. If there was one thing he could abide by within his line of work, it was professionalism. "Fine." He grudgingly held out his hand in an unwilling attempt at reconciliation. "Major John Casey."
Loren eyed his outstretched hand, all irritation now gone. Her voice took on its usual light tone again, bemused once more over her success of breaking through to him just that tiny bit. "I thought our cover was that of a couple. Forget this shaking hands business... How about we kiss and make up instead?"
Casey dropped his hand and responded with a trademark glare. "I'm going back to work," he growled shortly before storming out.
Loren turned to see that both Chuck and Sarah's eyes were now on her. "I said a little professionalism; not a lot," she said innocently.
"Haven't you ever heard the phrase 'don't poke the bear'?" Chuck asked sceptically.
Loren grinned. "Please. I'm just getting started."