You can also blame my migraine.
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November 16th
Cabe brought breakfast for the team. I don't know how I feel about it, or if he was trying to tell me something. He brought orders of waffles, for himself, Ralph, Toby and Sylvester. He brought eggs hollandaise for Happy. Paige got a smoothie and a yogurt. He got me oatmeal. Had a mission in Solvang at a vineyard. Had to drive because Sylvester would not fly. On the way back, Paige fell asleep on my shoulder.
Agent Gallo pulled the suburban into the gritty parking lot of the vineyard. He hated when people used this pebble turf for their driveway, as if it created some sort of opulent grandeur of the Louis XVI. What he liked to remind people of that time were head rolled. No he had nothing against if people preferred to have sandy gravel for their drive way instead of solid concrete, he just hated what it did to the paint of his car, and the scuffs it imposed on his leather shoes.
"Okay team, here is the plan." He started while turning to face the occupants in the car. Walter and Sylvester sat in the rear of the car, tapping away at their laptops, Happy was sitting in the passenger seat and she was scooting the surrounding area. There were acres of grapes that surrounded the vineyard here in Solvang.
"We got it Cabe." Walter called from back. "We are here to run some diagonostics on the wine bottles. Test some theories of the grapes and do a quick security scan of the system and team. We can handle a little recon."
Cabe shut his mouth and slid his sunglasses on his eyes. He was going to tell them of the cover he had crafted together. The owners of the vineyard had suspected it being an inside job that their private label had been dropping in sales and the wine bottle's glass calculation had been messed with so compromise the integrity of the bottle. He had called ahead and secured a private lab for Happy, Sylvester and Walter to work out of, while he, Paige and Toby would be touring the vineyard as perspective clients. He also didn't get the chance to forewarn the team that he was playing the father of the bride, and Toby was his soon to be son in law.
Yeah, he was going to have with this.
So he scooted from the driver's seat and met with the owners of the vineyard. Bob and Bev Milsap. They quickly exchanged handshakes, and they ushered the three geniuses toward the golf carts. Each genius loaded their equipment to one seat on the back and then took their seats.
"What about Paige and Toby?" Sylvester asked staring at the remaining three still standing by the car.
Walter turned from his seat on the cart. Noting that there was not enough room for everyone to sit. He was interrupted when he was about to offer a spot next to him for Paige. "They are going on a tour of the vineyard." Bev explained. "We think this could be an inside job so we need our staff scrutinized."
"Your appointment is under the future Curtis's." Bob informed them. "We booked you as needing a wedding consultation. You will be seeing the different wedding venue we have to offer, testing different wines, and going on the tour of the distillery. Please, put the staff through their paces, we need to know where the break down is happening." Toby was staring hard at Happy but she would not turn to meet his eyes. Walter was looking directly at Paige but she was listening to something Cabe was telling her a few feet away. Most likely explaining the cover. She was nodding and glancing around the vineyard.
They walked back over to the group as the carts were just finished loading up. Toby offered his arm to Paige who giggled at his gesture.
"Well my future Mrs." He joked and the pair walked off in the other direction leaving a stewing Walter, and an unhappy Happy.
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The three geniuses were shown to the surveillance center that had a rotating feed of all the security cameras on the lot. Bob and Bev had explained to them of the beefed up security ever since they had brought the wine making process to the farm, and they had had problems of vandalism and what they thought to be competitor sabotage. They just did not have the evidence to prove their theory. Just numbers that over the past six months, they have had more loss of inventory due to their product breaking on delivery. A significant loss, plus one of their new recipe had been stolen from them by a competing vineyard the county over. Then there was the contamination of almost a thousand bottles.
From the security office, the team was able to process different tests such as working on bottle density of a standard bottle compared to the vineyard's bottles they made on site. Walter had set up a chemical set to run a series of comparisons between a few local wine recipes. Happy left for a bit to go look at the different areas used to create the wine bottles, and the bottling room. She returned and watched at the news feed. The team had been wearing Comms in their ears in case they needed to keep in contact.
"This cover story is ridiculous." Happy said to herself but she heard the grunt coming from Walter that he agreed with her statement. "I mean, how long are we going to be here?"
Sylvester stopped connecting the rubber tubing to the gas nozzle. "If my calculations are correct the glass test will take about thirty-five minutes, and then to text the wine I would say about an hour."
"Who knows. Listening to how Toby is going on we could be here all day." Walter muttered. He had just hooked his personal computer to the vineyard's security server. He was going to run a diagnostic sweep on the server to see if there had been any security breaches in the memory. The owners had stated the recent declined started about six months ago.
"Seriously, who would want an ABBA themed wedding?" Sylvester agreed at the audacity of the behaviorist.
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An hour later, Paige, Toby and Cabe were seated in a tasting room on the side of the distillery. They had gone through rows of grape vines. Fields of reniot grapes and napa grapes, they had to listen to the difference of red and white grapes, and what it meant to create a fruity bouquet to earthy blend. When asked about the theme of their wedding, it was Toby that mentioned the ABBA theme. Paige nearly blanched at the idea, but she rolled with the idea. The remake had been a favorite movie, Meryl Streep was brilliant.
"What kind of acoustics does this building have?" Toby asked. "We had planned to reenact all of the songs. Maybe incorporate them in the processional, our vows and even as we run out. Would you love that, honey?"
"It would be so romantic." Paige played the in-love bride. "What if we get a donkey to carry me up through the field?"
"We could sing Mamma Mia." Toby laughed and took a sip of his wine. It was his four glass. Paige was keeping pace. They had asked question after question. Demanded taste of all there was to offer. The host had walked off to get a sample of the paper stock they could use for invites, menus and programs.
"Do you think they believe our wedding theme?" Toby asked his companions. Cabe had remained silent. The minute the words, 'Mamma Mia' left the behaviorist's mouth he thought the host was going to demand them to leave. But it was if this was not the first time he had heard the request. The question was returned, "like the movie or the musical.' Paige responded with, "Both."
"He responded, Abba-so-lutely. I think we are safe with this ridiculous theme." Paige giggled as she took another sip of her wine.
"I dunno, the way he shifted from side to side is either a stress marker for outward disdain, or the ultimate consumer. He is conflicted on how to respond. He either thinks this is a good idea or horrible." Toby dissected the man that had been toting them about the afternoon.
"Maybe he was just surprised." Paige offered an insight to their host. He had been flamboyant at the beginning, excited at the prospect of a cash cow client. But when asked about the theme, he seemed to deflate a level. He had spent the first twenty minutes walking them about the inside venues, then sent the group packing on their own golf cart with a farm hand. They had toured the acres of grapes. Once they returned the host came back to serve at their tour guide and brought them to the distillery to taste the various types of wines they could offer the wedding party.
"Maybe we should break into song. Cabe do you know any songs from Mamma Mia." Toby asked the federal agent and the eyebrow quirk was enough to know that it was a negative answer. "What is your favorite song?"
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It was late in the day when the team was finally leaving the vineyard.
The mission had been a success.
"Alright you two." Agent Gallo sighed trying wrangle the buzzed team members to the black suburban. Hilariously, it had been Paige and Toby that stumbled upon the undermining farm hand that had been stealing secrets, bottles and recipes. He had also manipulated the glass calculation that thinned the bottles. It was to the point it compromised the integrity of the glass bottles. So a good hit would shatter the glass.
The pair were waltzing down the pathway, with the rest of the geniuses trailing behind the buzzed counterparts. Paige was holding onto Toby's arm because they had been pretending to be a couple touring wedding venues. Think of it like an episode of 'Undercover Boss'. This undercover idea was not to the liking of Happy of Paige.
They stopped just outside of the door. "Alright the future Mrs. Curtis, let us load up." Toby yelled loudly, "How about one more kiss before we get in the car?" Toby looked over his shoulder at the glares from Happy and Walter. Paige punched his shoulder.
"You are incorrigible." Paige rolled her eyes, blanching at the idea of kissing Toby. Happy step between the pair effectively distancing the faux fiancés, grabbed the handle of the suburban and pointed the liaison into the car.
"Get it, already." The tiny mechanic, she felt the hand of the behaviorist on the small of her back. His thumb trailed up and down. Then it wrapped about her hip. Walter followed behind Paige, climbing into the back of the truck and helped buckle the girl into her seat. Happy turned from Toby's hand and pushed him against the closed passenger door of the car. Sylvester had been sitting in the seat and jumped when Toby's body connected with the glass.
"Listen." Happy whispered bringing her face close to his, cupping her chin with her hand. "I don't like to be made jealous of others. So knock it off." Toby froze for a moment, then slowly brought his hands to her sides. Afraid to scare the petite woman. He knew she had the ability to break his arm. "Got it?"
He swallowed, "Yes."
Happy nodded and then patted her hand against his hair. "Good." She rolled her eyes and then walked away to the other side of the car. Opened up the back driver's side door. Toby remained against the window until Agent Gallo rolled down the window.
"Are you coming Casanova?" He garbled from the driver's seat. It had taken nearly twenty minutes to get the buzzed pair out of the distillery. They had a good two hour drive before they got home. So he was trying to rush. Toby nodded and pulled himself into the passenger side seat buckling into the seat just as the truck lurched forward.
Walter was holding a bottle of water to Paige. "You need to drink some water." He said from her side and Paige leaned her head against the back of the seat. "Please Paige." She gave him a sideways glance, her eyes half closed. He groaned when she looked at him like that. Toby called it, a woman's bedroom eyes. Walter leaned forward and held the open bottle to her mouth. "I am trying to help you."
"Can I have your sweater?" Paige asked finally opening her mouth and then wrapped her hand around his on the bottle. She poured just a sip into her throat. Walter looked at her warily. "Not your cardigan." Paige rolled her eyes and pointed at his backpack. He unzipped the top and pulled the cranberry sweater from the confines.
"I will make you a deal." The genius said leaning his head closer to hers, lowering his voice so she could only hear. Paige tilted her head towards his lips. She itched her fingers against the knitted sweater. "You drink that entire bottle, and I will give you a sweater."
"Deal." Paige drank the water as quickly as she could. It took five sips and then she was handed his sweater. Paige pulled it about her body, snuggling into the warmth and the smell that was uniquely Walter. Wool, sandalwood and soap. She bunched the fabric to her nose and inhaled deeply. Walter smirked at Paige. Buzzed Paige seemed to careless about the social cues, and did not feel she needed to hold back her attraction. Walter pulled out another water bottle from his backpack and offered to Paige.
"Want another drink?" He asked knowing that the water would help dilute the alcohol in her blood. Plus it would help the effect the alcohol would have on her later tonight or tomorrow. Paige took the bottle but only set it to the side in the cup holder. Her eyelids were beginning to droop. "So, the future Mrs. Curtis?"
Paige smiled, "All part of the mission."
"Did he kiss you?" Walter whispered, as Paige put her head on his shoulder. He put his nose to her head and breathed in the scent of her hair. It smelled of vanilla and Dolce and Gabbana Light Blue. The smell from her body wash mixed with her hair conditioner.
"Abba-so-lutely not." Paige responded and Walter physically relaxed. He adjusted his arm so it was wrapped about Paige's shoulder and she snuggled into his side. She slept the entire ride home against a relaxed Walter.
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I hope you guys liked it. It is rough. But I wanted to put something together.