Hey all, this is AC, with part 1 of 3 of our next co-op which also kicks off season 3 in the CVTCS-verse. Apologies for the delay, we have no good excuse except we're hard at work writing on individual drabbles for y'all to enjoy. Anyway, thanks as always for all your amazing reviews & for reading, usual disclaimers apply, & enjoy!

"Jeden latte, dodatkowe duże, proszę," AJ said to the young lady manning the counter of the coffee shop she'd just walked into. Her flight from Florence had been delayed, so that she'd gotten to Warsaw hours later than she'd planned and exhausted to boot. Sometimes she wondered how she'd survived her first world tour, constantly moving around from place to place. Maybe she'd stay in Warsaw for a while, if only to catch up on sleep.

"AJ?"

Beth thought she was going crazy when she spied the brunette from her corner table; she dismissed it as a simple coincidence. But when the woman turned, Beth knew it had to be her. Heck, she should know. She spent the last year in the gal's presence. Protocol advised against approaching, but that didn't stop her. Yep, standing in front of her, now looking at her with a shocked expression was one AJ Abbott, former Nerd Herder and Orange Orange's true-blue customer.

"Beth? Is that you?"

No, it couldn't be. Beth had curly red hair, and was off saving the world…somewhere else that wasn't Warsaw. This woman, her hair was brown and straightened, pulled up in a bun. Still, the face was the same, and really who would call her AJ? It had to be Beth.

Laughing, Beth nodded. "Yep, it's me all right. Look a lil' different to you I expect. 'Fraid part of the job required some…changes." She made a face, gesturing to her hair. "It was this or blonde—I figured bein' a brunette would make me a bit more sophisticated. That's what the stereotype says anyway. What're you doin' in Warsaw?"

AJ pulled up a seat, still trying to reconcile the fact that her redheaded friend and the brunette sitting in front of her were one and the same. "I, um, never made it here the last time around, somehow managed to travel all around Poland without stopping in the capital, and I was in Italy, so I figured close enough, right? Never thought I'd find you here though!"

"Honestly, I didn't expect to be here either. I'd have preferred someplace more…well, not Poland. Not a lot in Poland, personally. Plus, I have to deal with," She paused, rolling her eyes, "juveniles. Like children they are—'Can we do this?' 'Why we gotta get in so early?' 'I got lost on the train again; do I have to come in today?' It's enough to drive a gal to drink. But, it'll get better—it's only a temporary assignment…I hope. Then I'll be back, well, who knows, but I'll be back. But enough 'bout me, chattin' like I'm the only one here. How long are you here for? If you're here more than a day or two, you should check out this lil' place on the other side of town—Sondra says it's got some good yogurt—I wouldn't know, obviously."

"Actually, my schedule's pretty open; I was thinking of staying a while, and I'll definitely have to check out the yogurt, though I doubt it can compare to the deliciousness you used to serve up at the Orange Orange." AJ paused as her coffee was brought over. "Dziękuję. Będa mogli i jeden z tych wypieków widziałem na przeciw zbyt proszę? Dzięki tak wiele."

"You speak Polish?" Beth asked.

AJ shrugged, accepting the pastry she'd ordered with a dziękuję. "A bit."

"Sounded like more than a bit to me."

Smiling, AJ said, "Eh, I've picked up a little over the years. Anyway, sounds like you've got your hands full. I don't suppose you've had a chance to go back ho—to Burbank then?"

"Not ye—well, no. Went to the States though—it was nice to be on American soil, but…"

"…but?"

She sighed, running a hand through her hair. "It wasn't the same. Whole lotta politics in the sp—in my job. Had forgotten about it when I was in Burbank. Had forgotten 'bout a lot of things, actually. What about you? Stopped in to visit yet?"

AJ shook her head. "No point really. I mean most everyone's gone anyway. Besides, I'm living the good life, traveling the world again, going where the wind blows. It's great."

Beth noticed her smile wasn't nearly as enthusiastic as it should have been. Taking a sip of her coffee, she casually asked, "So, ya haven't talked to Morgan then, I take it?"

"What? No! I mean, well, why would I talk to Morgan?"

Giving her a piercing stare, she pretended to think about it for a moment. "Hmm…let me think about this—maybe because you've been friends since you were…ten and are just a lil' bit irrevocably in deep like with him?"

"I'm not in love with him, Beth, that's crazy!" AJ said, trying to hide her blush behind her coffee cup.

"I never said love," Beth answered, smirking.

Well…merde. Time to divert. "What about you? Have you kept in touch with Casey then?"

The now-brunette fiddled with her coffee cup, debating how much to say. Well, it couldn't hurt to tell the truth, could it? It wasn't like anything could be inferred by keeping in contact; they had been roommates. She finally nodded, her answer a simple, "He calls."

AJ raised an eyebrow. "He calls? How often?"

At her question, Beth bit her lip, but couldn't conceal her smile. "Yes, he calls. Is that so shocking? As for how often, well…mosteveryday." She said the last all in a rush, maybe in the hopes AJ wouldn't hear her.

But she did. "John Casey calls you every day? A man like Casey calling everyday—if that isn't love, mój przyjaciel, then I don't know what is," AJ said, shaking her head in disbelief. "You're a lucky woman."

She ducked her head down, half shrugging. "I wouldn't say that's love. Just…I mean, he probably gets lonely. I mean, I do. It's good to know how he's doing—he calls at the beginning of his day, so I can ask him how the day before was, whereas he asks me about the present day, cause I'm halfway through my day by the time he calls. But I am lucky. He's a good man." She paused for a second. "Er, friend. Man friend," she finished lamely.

"Yes, I'm sure he's a good man friend," AJ said with a laugh. "Though I'd like to point out that none of my man friends, or friends in general, call me daily. Or at all."

"Well that might be kind of challenging considering none of us have your cell phone number," Beth pointed out.

"I don't have yours either," AJ retorted, before waving her hand impatiently. "But that's not the point. The point is Casey wouldn't just call because he's lonely."

"Well…"

"There's something you're not telling, isn't there? Because you know Casey never does anything without a reason."

"Um, well, we were roommates, right? And then there was that whole wedding incident, and it kinda brought us closer together, and it may technically have something to do with the fact that hekissedme, but I'm not really sure about—"

"—He kissed you?" Everyone else in the bar shushed AJ, so lowered her voice and repeated, "He kissed you?"

"Well, yes?"

"When? Where? I want details!"

Making sure the rest of the shop's occupants weren't focusing on their conversation, she took another sip of coffee before speaking. She was gonna need it. "When: Five days before the wedding. Um, not that I have it memorized or anything. Right, anyway! Onto the where—our kitchen."

"Details! I'm assuming you didn't just kiss him out of the blue."

"Well, not exactly. Though that might be close to the truth. I woke up when I normally do, and John was just walking through the front door—he'd gone practically a two and a half hour's drive to pick up my favorite pancakes. And then, well, okay, he had blueberry pancakes and I had chocolate, and I made him take a bite of mine, because I said they were better. And he disagreed, saying his were, so I kinda stole a bit of his. And then we were really close together, and I kissed him. And he kissed me back."

"You kissed over breakfast? That's adorable! Wait, he drove two and a half hours just to get you pancakes? That's serious!"

"No, it's not," Beth said, hastily taking another sip of her coffee.

"Yes, it is," AJ insisted. "If it's only a crush, then you drive to the nearest McDonald's to pick up a breakfast burrito. But that long of a drive just because he knew those were your favorite pancakes? Face it, you two might as well announce your engagement."

Ignoring the comment, Beth gestured to AJ. "Enough about me—where have you traveled? You said you were headed to Dubai, so how'd you end up in Warsaw? I promise you—it's not that great. Have you acquired any more of those foreign boys you were so fond of? Didn't run into Javier by chance, have you?"

"No, I didn't run into Javier," AJ said testily. "Haven't acquired any more foreign boys either. I spent a week in Dubai, then hopped a plane to Istanbul for a few days before going to Corfu then Florence and then here. Actually, it's been pretty dull."

"That's dull?" Beth said. "I haven't been to half of those places, and I'm a—in a business that involves a fair amount of travel. So why no foreign men?"

"Just haven't felt like finding anyone is all."

"Or is it that the one man you want is definitely Americanized and halfway across the world?"

"Americanized isn't a word," AJ pointed out.

"Actually, it is. And you're deflecting. I already know you like Morgan. You just have to admit it to yourself. And if his actions indicate anything—he likes you too. Maybe it's just not time for you two to be together. Well, that, or you're both too stubborn to let yourselves be together."

"He doesn't like me," she replied lifelessly.

"Like hell he doesn't! Have you realized that Morgan has a tendency to do things he wouldn't wanna do only if you ask him? Or how he's 'in love' with Anna until you come around, and then he drops her like the dirty habit she is. Face it, sweetie, whether he realizes it or not, he likes you in some regard."

"Can we not talk about this?"

Beth shrugged. "Alright, then how about we talk about why you haven't gone back home if you're so bored with traveling?"

"Who said I was bored with traveling?" AJ said, taking another sip of her coffee only to find her cup empty. Waving over the waitress, she said, "Dwa więcej proszę," before turning back to Beth.

"Hun, nobody calls visiting five countries in less than a month dull unless they're bored with traveling. You've still got your apartment, so why don't you go home?"

"Honestly?"

Beth nodded encouragingly.

"There's no one to go home to. You're here, Chuck's 'on vacation' in Prague, Morgan's in Hawaii—" she paused as their refills were brought over. "It just wouldn't be the same. Now, if you were to come back with me, then at least it'd be a bit closer to normal."

"AJ, I can't."

"Why not? What's stopping you? Can't you just ask to be reassigned if you hate it here so much?"

"It's just not that simple. Asking for a reassignment can take a long time if there's not a glaringly obvious reason why you need reassigned, like if your partner's a creeper and tries to molest you or something…don't give me that look, AJ, nothing like that has ever happened to me."

"Right, because it's not molestation when John does it, right?"

Beth turned bright red before hissing, "AJ! He just kissed me, remember? Nothing more. And weren't we talking about you?"

"We were, and now we're back to you. So, reassignment—why's it so difficult?"

"It just…a can be a lot of paperwork and, well, Beckman swears I'm needed on this mission."

"The way I understand it, she's not even really your boss. Which means you can just go over her head. Besides, Casey obviously missed his Tulip—that oughta be enough of a pressing reason."

"But the mission…"

"Sounds to me like you're babysitting a bunch of morons; anyone with half a brain can do that."

"Well…" AJ had a point, she knew. She'd had the argument with the General more times than she'd like to recall. Beckman always stood by her belief that Beth was the best person for the job; though, Beth wondered if maybe the General's decision had more to do with the 'casualties' she had faced. After Valerian's 'hands-on' approach and getting shot while trying to nab the Intersect, Beth suspected Beckman feared she had been put on active duty too quick. But until the General said something, she wouldn't be able to refute her.

Finally getting impatient, AJ snapped her fingers at Beth. "Well what! You know I'm right. You don't belong here."

"Do you?"

"What?"

"Pardon, not what. Why is it I always have to correct people on that?" Beth asked. "And I mean, maybe I don't belong here—I'm certainly not disputing that fact, but do you belong here?"

"In Warsaw? Well, no, because I—"

"—not in Warsaw, AJ. Traveling. Taking life one day at a time, flyin' by the seat of your pants. Is it you?"

"It was."

"But is it now?"

"I, it's always been me. Always. People don't just suddenly change and put down roots after a lifetime of not doing so. It's just not natural."

"That's a bunch of hogwash."

At AJ's look, she continued. "The reason you never set down roots—not just you, but people in general—is they don't have a reason to stay. They're searching for something, and when they don't find it, they head to the next town or the next bed or the next mission. It's how people get caught up in the—my job. Because if you're alone, the job is easy. You have yourself to take care of, your partner. That's it. Then you end up part of something bigger, and you see it's not just you that you have to take care of. There are people who care about you—who will hunt you down if you go missing, who aren't afraid to drop everything and tell you exactly what you screwed up with. But they're people who watch chic flicks together and tease each other, or rant about the craziness that is men.

You get comfortable—you put down roots because you flourish. You're nurtured with friendship, camaraderie, fellowship—with love—and you grow. You grow as a person, you set down roots, and you decide that maybe bein' in one place, bein' the sturdy oak or the pliable yew, maybe it's not so bad. It's perfectly natural; it's a fact of life. Some trees take a year to grow, some take five. Others still take ten or twenty—it depends on how loved and cared for said tree is. But eventually, every tree wants to thrive in the forest."

"Are we still talking about me, or are we talking about you now?" AJ said, smirking. "Because I definitely remember Casey calling one night when you didn't come home, and I have no doubt that afterwards he chewed you out proper. As for the chic flicks and teasing, you're definitely talking about Girls' Night at Ellie's. Face it, it's the pot calling the kettle black; you want to go home just as much as I do, but we can't. Not yet."

"You called it home."

"Huh. I guess I did. Tell you what, Beth, how about we make a deal? We give ourselves a year, you to wrap up whatever mission you've got going on here, me to visit every last place I've ever had an inkling to visit, and then we'll get ourselves home by whatever means necessary. And if not, we reserve the right to drag each other home."

Pausing for a moment, Beth slowly nodded, holding out her hand. "Alright, it sounds fair enough. We shake on it?"

"Unless you know someplace we can drink to it?"

"Funny you should mention that…there's a nice lil' pub down on the corner…"

"Let's go then. Proszę sprawdzić," AJ said to the waitress, paying when she brought the check over.

"You didn't have to do that," Beth said when she realized AJ had paid her tab as well.

"Fine, first round of drinks on you then," she replied with a wink.

Beth grinned secretively. "Now that, I can do."

LB here, with words of wisdom...okay, no words of wisdom, just comments. :) Well, there's the first part! What'd y'all think? Brunette Beth-weird right? So Beth and John are trying to make a long distance relationship work...and AJ's still in denial over Morgan (c'mon AC-we all know they're meant for each other!) Let us know how ya liked the chapter-we love feedback as much as AJ loves those foreign boys! (Pre-Morgan, that is)