Disclaimer: Still don't own it
Mona just looked out the window as they drove.
As she sat in the passenger seat, she did her best to ignore the person next to her; trying to focus on the scenery.
Instead of pulling another all-nighter at the office, Toby had sent everyone home for a more meaningful rest. He could tell that both Spencer and Mona were exhausted and deserved a night in their own bed; a recharge of their batteries. She understood where he was coming from since they needed a fresh set of eyes. There had been times where Mona's subordinates had to force her to take a break; usually when there was such a long wait time in between ops. They would escort her home and even stand guard in order to make sure that she got at least nine hours rest as well as to get something healthy in her stomach. During her training, the young woman had lived on junk food and was prone to malnourishment at times.
Truthfully, it had felt good to sleep in her own bed for once and even had gotten to have a conversation with her mother. Mona had made it a habit to check in with her mother at least twice a week; something that had gone back to when she left Rosewood for good. At times, her mother would come and visit wherever Mona was; spending a couple of days so that they could go and do something together in between missions. The older woman had yet to visit her daughter in the new place due to Mona's busy schedule; but she had helped when it came to shopping for the residence given that she was so close. Leona had never asked her daughter to return home which Mona was grateful for.
After she had arrived home, Mona felt that she needed a real meal so she made herself some eggs and sausages; with a glass of orange juice to go with it. While the rest of her house was unpacked and could use some touching up, Mona had always kept her kitchen well stocked; using a service ran by some ex-employees of the Agency. The young woman had always been paranoid and found that she wasn't alone in this; thus every agent made sure to stick with those who they trusted. Even the movers were NSA trusted; though she would have just done it herself. During her training, everything she had in Rosewood had been transported to a storage unit in Washington until she needed it.
Making sure everything was locked up; Mona made her way to her bedroom for the night.
Unlike the rest of the house, the bedroom was fully unpacked and set up to the young woman's personal tastes. Her bed was a custom made four poster makeup made with black painted redwood; having pink sheets and pillows. While the rest of the house sported white walls, her room was painted green which matched the color of her old room back in Rosewood. In fact, other than the bed, everything in the bedroom was from her childhood; from the furniture and right down to the computer she used when she was still a student in Rosewood High. The room had been setup to match her old room too; though she had a few more pictures on the walls as well as her various degrees. The room had a larger closet though that housed her personal firearms as well as her clothing. Another change was that Mona had an entertainment center all setup at the end of the bed; so that she didn't have to go downstairs to watch television.
Her security system was top of the line and didn't stop with the alarms on the doors as well as windows. Mona had hidden cameras all over the house with motion activated sensors in order to prevent her from being surprised. Everything was routed to another computer which was not connected to the internet in order to prevent it from being hacked. Though her job at the NSA had never earned her any real enemies, ones who were still alive anyways, she was still paranoid which went back to her teenage years. There was a lock on her bedroom door that couldn't be picked which was backed up by two deadbolts; the door itself being made of a very thick and sturdy wood. She also had a weapon near her body at all times with a gun under her pillow for good measure.
After she changed into her bed attire, which consisted of a white tank top and shorts, Mona decided to call her mother. One of the new elements of their relationship was that they no longer kept secrets from one another; an aftereffect of what happened in Rosewood all those years ago during the A drama. There were exceptions of course, given Mona's career so secrets that had to do with the NSA were off limits. After a few rings, Leona picked up and appeared delighted to hear from her daughter; after a minute of chit chat, Mona told her about what was going on; though she left out the grittier elements of the case. The older woman was surprised that her daughter was willing to work with the others, especially Mike, but understood none the less. She offered the younger woman some advice, which Mona listened to, and they agreed for Leona to come for a visit when it was all over.
After hanging up, Mona watched a little television before going to bed.
Getting a full night's sleep, Mona got up and did her usual routine of bathroom time and then breakfast; almost through it when Mike showed up, dressed in a clean suit and touched up. He was early and she was tempted to make him wait in the car while she got ready; ultimately deciding to let him inside and hang out while she dressed. When she came downstairs, he was on his phone while sitting on the couch in the living room. He smiled at her and commented on how he liked her place, which she politely thanked him for. She knew from Spencer that he still lived with his parents, though he was trying to find a place in the city. In better circumstances, she might have been tempted to rent him a room given that she had more than enough space. Once she was ready to go, they departed to head back to the prison.
"So I looked for more references to Charles's mysterious visitor in his journals and I get the impression that she might have been there for reasons other than him," stated Mike suddenly, breaking the silence that had lasted a bit.
"How so?" asked Mona, looking over at him and curious. The two had just left the city's limits and were on the main road going north.
"He mentions that they met by accident after running into each other in the hallway; which told me that maybe that is why we didn't see her on the visitor's logs," informed the young man. He had stayed a bit after everyone had left, reading until he decided that it was time to go.
"She could also be a doctor or another type of prison official as well; not just someone visiting another inmate. This would allow them to communicate without the prison noticing," Mona said, thinking out loud about the information. It made sense given that similar elements happened back at Radley.
"Which will make it a little hard to find her; glad I brought a warrant and Tanner will provide help if we need it," he told her, smiling over at the young woman; which she gave a bored look to in response.
"Actually, finding her might be a little easier than you think. While Radley kept their staff close-lipped, I imagine the guards here will rather be loose lipped instead since they are State employees," Mona commented which earned her a confused look from Mike.
"Why would it matter who pays the guard's salary? I work for the State and don't have a problem," said the young man, not really understanding where Mona was coming from. The pay was actually a lot better than what he got in the military and with the added bonus of not getting shot at.
"You work at the high end of your profession while most prison guards are at the low end; thus their pay and benefits are not exactly up there with yours. While the prison might have a policy against idle gossip, I doubt that any of the staff really obey it so what we have to do is get a little chatty with a few of the staff," said the young woman with a smirk and Mike was instantly reminded of the person he once knew back in high school.
"So how do you want to do it? I don't think the warden is just going to let us chat idly with his own staff," stated the young officer with a slight hesitation. They were about a quarter of the way there and he was glad that the two had some sort of plan on how to proceed.
That was one of the many reasons why he loved Mona so much; the fact that she always had a plan of sorts.
"Leave that to me; I want you to handle the system and wave that warrant around while I look for someone to chat up. Should have brought some cookies," stated the NSA Agent, wishing that she would have thought of this earlier.
"You still bake?" Mike asked casually, trying to show that he wasn't too interesting even though any information Mona shared about herself was of great importance to the young man.
"No; though my mother still does and I could have asked her last night during our weekly chat," remarked the young woman casually as well. She knew full well what he was trying to do and decided to throw him a bone to at least give him something.
"You still talk to your mother?" he inquired, happy again that she was opening up to him even though it was a slight trivial thing.
"More than you do with your mother," Mona said informally, making a subtle point with the young man. Mike was caught by surprise by what she said though it didn't seem condescending or rude to any degree.
"How do you know that?" he almost demanded to know. While he was trying to hold his temper with her, it was comments like that which caused Mike to get annoyed.
"Don't get so worked up about it; you forget how good I am at picking up on things," answered the Federal Agent with a bit of annoyance in her voice as well. That seemed to cool him off since Mike knew full well what Mona was capable of when she was angry.
"Sorry," he said calmly as he got into the other lane to pass a logging truck which was forcing him to slow down. There was a minute of silence before Mona spoke up again.
"So why are you not talking to your mother?" asked Mona, now wanting to know about Mike a little more. She had in the past to find out how he was doing but decided not to since his betrayal had been still fresh in her mind.
"It's not that I don't want to talk to her but she keeps harping on me to find someone special and raise a family. I think she also wants me to make peace with Aria," informed Mike as followed the signs that led to the prison.
"Don't lose your family over me Mike; family is important and should be cherished," advised the young woman, surprised at herself on how gentle she had said it. In the past, she would have been happy to learn how Aria and Mike were not talking and while it didn't really bother her, she did feel that things needed to get resolved.
"I am sorry about what happened; I should never have betrayed you like that," Mike stated apologetically, taking this opportunity to clear the air with her; given the sudden personal connection they presently had.
"I know," was all that Mona said and her voice was rather soft.
Truthfully, she wasn't sure that she could ever fully forgive him after what he had done. It had truly bothered her that Mike had believed everyone else over her when she had been framed for helping A; especially after her being subjected to the same kind of torture in the Dollhouse. Not only that, he took it on the word of Alison herself; the blonde that had caused all the drama in their lives. That was the rub that angered her the most since all the things she had done for everyone had been forgotten so easily. She had tried to make up for it and it was still all thrown back in her face. There was however a small part of her that still loved Mike but she suppressed it in order to move on. Mike was her past and she needed to focus on her future; though this case didn't help.
After driving the rest of the way in silence, the two eventually made their way to the prison.
Since they didn't have an appointment this time, their arrival was unexpected and had to wait in order to be checked in. The wait would have been longer if Mona hadn't flashed her NSA badge to the guard, who then waved her through right away. Mike had to admire the way how his companion can just open doors to places that would require a mountain of paperwork for him. Once they were inside and parked the car, the two entered the main building and headed to the administration section with Mike following Mona since she already knew the way. They passed numerous personnel this time and Mona made a note of every one of them in order who could be a possibly be a weak link. That is something caught her eye and she knew that the opportunity could not be passed up.
"The Administrator's office is in the next section and there are signs saying where to go; you go ahead and serve the warrant while I pursue another angle," ordered the young woman and she walked away from him in the opposite direction. Mike was about to protest but there was something in her voice that made him realize that it was better for him to simply do what he was told.
Mona quickly made her way down the hall to where there was an empty section of hallway. She then spotted the nurse and guard that caught her attention earlier and she followed them as they entered a room that appeared to be out of the line of sight for the security cameras. Sticking to the same path, she made her way slowly while keeping out of sight though she could have activated a small device in her purse that would have knocked out the cameras for a few seconds; something that she kept on her person at all times. Looking around to see that no one was watching, Mona slipped into the room and was not surprised on what she found. The nurse had just sat on the desk with the guard taking off his pants when they spotted Mona; the two freezing on what they were about to do.
It was your typical situation that Mona had seen many times in her career. She had often visited prisons before and knew the signs of staff members having affairs while on duty. The nurse was you typical blonde b*** with a big chest with the guard being a huge Hispanic with a massive chest. It was obvious that they were doing this on the sly given that they were in a barely lit room with no cameras to spot them; probably on some sort of break or had someone covering for them since things like this were always against the rules. Isolated facilities like this always had situations like this which provided opportunities for Mona to take advantage of. While Spencer, Mike, and Toby would not know what to do in this kind of situation; Mona was different.
"Hi; getting a little naughty are we?" Mona asked in a sweet voice while giving the two lovers the most evil smile she could muster. Both their eyes widened and they struggled to compose themselves until Mona put her hand up for them to stop.
"Listen, I am not here to lecture you on whatever rules you are breaking; I really couldn't care less. I do need information though and I think a trade is more than fair; my silence for whatever you two can tell me on what I want to know," offered the NSA Agent; being honest but threatening at the same time.
"What do you want to know?" asked the blonde, looking at her male companion in fear. He seemed equally nervous but Mona could see that he knew he was powerless in this situation.
"I imagine you both knew who Charles DiLaurentis was?" she asked them and both the guard and nurse seemed to recognize the name automatically.
"I need to know who his female visitor was since it wasn't listed," Mona answered and both looked a little nervous at that.
"How do you know he had a female visitor?" inquired the guard and Mona noted that there seemed to be a trace of genuine fear in his voice.
"I have my ways and I want to know everything you know about her. None of this as well as what you tell me will make it back to anyone; I promise," Mona genuinely said and the two seemed to believe her. It only took a few seconds for both the guard and nurse to start blabbering; seeming to hold nothing back.
Mona was surprised at what she found out.
Please Read and Review; also a shout out to my friend Paraddicted for the pre-read!