Sorry for the delay. It has been one crazy, intense summer! I hope I still have your attention.
Nikka
Andy hung up on Boyd and momentarily closed her eyes, gathering her courage around her. This could be a defining moment of her op so far. Brennan could either give her something that she could report back to Boyd about, or , well, or he could have figured out that she was a cop who he had let into his home, and who had gotten close to the most precious things in his life.
If that was the way that Jamie Brennan's thoughts were headed, Andy prayed that when he was done with her, they would be able to identify her without dental records. She also hoped that it was Boyd that found her rather than one of her friends. Boyd was unemotional where she was concerned and he would think clearly and save her friends from the heart ache.
Shaking her head to clear the thoughts, Andy exhaled and made her way into the living room. Andy reached up to check that her necklace was still in place around her neck. At least Boyd would know if she activated it this time to come in with guns blazing. She was also glad that she told him in no uncertain terms would she be wearing the hideous pin that held the recording device in it.
Honestly, sometimes she thought that the man was so focused that he completely forgot to think. Wearing something that she hadn't been wearing all day would be a pretty moronic thing to do. Brennan would notice right away. He seemed to notice everything about her as if it were second nature, just like Sam.
Andy didn't have time to analyze that realization too much before she entered the living room to find Jamie Brennan alone standing with an arm braced over the fireplace staring off into space. In his hand he had a glass of amber liquid that Andy could only assume was scotch. He had a faraway look on his face that Andy had seen her own partner wear a time or two at the Penny after a rough shift.
She paused in the doorway for a moment unsure of how to proceed. Andy was sure that the pounding of her heart would alert Brennan to her presence. She had expected Maggie to be in the room with them when they had this discussion. Taking a deep breath, Andy fidgeted a bit in the doorway, but wasn't quite ready to enter the room.
"When you're young," Jamie Brennan spoke still staring into space. "When you're young and you don't have anyone to answer to, and you're just trying to find your place in this world, you do things that feel right in the moment."
Andy had jumped at the sound of his voice and hadn't moved since. Brennan neither seemed to care or even notice that he had startled his nanny and instead continued as he swirled his glass.
"I found work that gave me a rush, completely illegal, but it was the thrill of it," Brennan looked up at her for a moment holding her eyes. "What would you do Candace if you thought you'd never get caught? If you could get away with it?"
Caught slightly off guard, Andy had to pull herself together and shrug. "I don't know Mr. Brennan," she spoke hoarsely. "Probably rob a bank."
She watched as the corners of his eyes crinkled and a slight smirk made an appearance on his lips. "And why is that Candace?"
Andy shifted uncomfortably under his gaze. She didn't miss the humor in his voice. For some reason, this man seemed to get a kick out of her teasing her when she was uncomfortable. Not unlike someone else she knew.
"Because if I robbed a bank, no one would get hurt. The banks have insurance, I wouldn't be ruining someone's life. Sure, someone would frightened for their lives, but physically everyone would be okay."
Brennan laughed a bit and pushed himself away from the mantle. He looked at her apologetically and then motioned for her to take a seat on the cream colored couch. Brennan paused for a moment brushing his hand across the sofa and then smiling.
"Maggie likes everything is white," he was still looking down at his hand against the fabric of the sofa. "She says it's clean and purifying, that it makes her feel peaceful."
He shrugged and looked up at Andy. "Me, I always preferred darker colors, blacks. It hides mistakes and anything else you might want to hide from the naked eye."
Andy met his eye and began to feel a bit uncomfortable. She wasn't really sure where this conversation was headed. Her pulse started to race and the drumming in her ears was nearly deafening. Without the conscious ability to recognize her actions, Andy began to let her eyes search out objects in the room to protect herself against Brennan with and what was her best route of escape.
"I have a past Candace," he said gruffly looking at her as she searched the room in desperation. "I'm sure my wife has alluded to it. I worked for some unpleasant people who needed unpleasant things done."
And froze, unsure of how to proceed. Her gut was telling her to be herself and be curious. She went with that feeling praying she wasn't wrong. "Like criminals."
"Like the mob," he deadpanned.
"Oh," she whispered knowing that her eyes had widened. It wasn't as if Andy didn't know the information, but still, it had shocked her that Brennan had admitted this much to her. It still made her slightly nervous. In the back of her mind, there was also this fear that he was telling her so much because he knew that she was a cop and was trying to fish her out. Andy had to shake the thought from her head as she looked up into her employer's clear blue eyes.
She cleared her through and asked in an almost whisper, "What did you do?"
Brennan's eyes never left hers as he answered. "I hurt people Candace," he paused for a moment. "And I was good at it."
Andy felt herself try to swallow a few times, until finally she managed to swallow down her fear and meet his eyes. "Did you enjoy it?"
Jamie Brennan had watched this young girl clearly terrified absorb information that would have had most people frightened out of their wits, but she just sat there, curiously asking questions that she wasn't sure she wanted answers to. Tenacious. That's the word that he'd assign to her, and in a way she reminded him so much of Maggie that he nearly smiled, but now wasn't the appropriate time.
"I didn't hate it," he said simply with a shrug.
"What changed Mr. Brennan," Andy asked as she ran her palms against her legs in an attempt to comfort herself.
For the first time since she entered the room, Jamie Brennan smiled. "I met Maggie," he replied with the smile on her face. "She has this way of seeing the best in people and forcing them to deal with it. Damn persistent little thing she is," he laughed. "A lot like you in some ways."
Andy was startled by his levity and perception. She was sure that perhaps Jamie Brennan saw more than she had ever thought possible of the notorious, although alleged mob hit man. His words had startled her in a way she hadn't thought possible. How many times had Sam picked at her about her relentless faith in humanity and seeing the good in people?
Her quietness seemed to make the air crackle with tension. Jamie Brennan looked over at her again and let out a sigh.
"Mr. Rourke is part of my past Candace," he said matter of factly. "That I cannot change. He isn't supposed to be anywhere near me or mine, and that includes you as well. I'm sorry he approached you today."
Andy looked up at him quietly and shrugged. "It's okay Mr. Brennan," she tried to make a joke of it. "Not the first creepy guy to approach me, I'm sure it won't be the last."
Jamie Brennan laughed at her before shaking his head and turning serious again. "I need you to be alert when you're outside of this house. Even just in the yard. Be aware of your surroundings. If it looks or even feels funny, you get my daughter and yourself out of there."
Andy nodded as he spoke, taking in what he said. He was patient, but to the point. He wanted her to know what was at stake. In the back of her mind she was wishing Boyd had allowed her a gun, but he was too jumpy to allow her a weapon. Apparently Brennan has spidey senses for things like that.
"Candace," he said again standing when she did to leave the room. "If anything happens to you out there, when I'm not there… Look it's on me. Just please be careful. We care quite a bit about you."
Andy nodded and gave her promise that she would be careful before exiting the room. She was struck again by the similarities between Brennan and Sam. Thinking of her partner left a physical ache. She needed his reassurance more than anything right now.
When she got to her room, Andy headed straight for bed. She missed her friends and wondered if they missed her and what they were all doing. She even missed fighting with Dov about bathroom in the morning when he rushed in from Sues, and Chris being a bed hog at night.
In short. She missed her life.
O
Boyd was trying his best to hide his agitation as he waited at the little table for her in their designated coffee shop meeting location. McNally has refused to wear the wire last night and only texted him to confirm their meeting today and now she was late. Fifteen minutes late. She was never late.
Rubbing his hands up and down his scruffy beard, Boyd just felt the wariness that he'd been keeping at bay the past few weeks. McNally had gotten herself situated with the Brennans more quickly than he had anticipated or believed possible for her to have done. Swarek was right. The girl was good and she had been ready.
Thinking of Swarek, he almost smirked. The man had been driving him absolutely crazy with demands that he get to talk to McNally because logically there had to be something she wasn't telling him as her handler. It was driving the man a bit nuts to be cut out of his partner's life so much. When Boyd had call him on it, Swarek had simply replied that what happened was on him and that despite trusting her, this situation was volatile and it was his reassurance that put her in the middle of it all.
Boyd almost smirked at the knowledge that Sam being flustered about his partner would give him ammunition for a while to come, and he was hoping to use it to drive a wedge. Those two were oddly connected in a way he didn't understand. But what he did know was that he needed Sam undercover, and McNally thoroughly occupied and out of harm's way. She wasn't that bad to look at either so maybe he could win on all sides?
He was lost in his thoughts as McNally bustled into the coffee shop and stood in front of him. His eyes met hers and was about to tear into her when she reached for one of the coffees on the table and raised it to her mouth.
He watched with amusement as her face crumpled up in disgust and her eyes met his with an accusation.
"That's disgusting."
"That's because it was mine," he drawled. "Yours got cold because you were late, and is front of the empty chair."
Andy narrowed her eyes at him and then slid into the chair before handing Boyd his coffee back and tentatively sipping her own. Cold, like he said, but made right.
"Mrs. Brennan was insistent on dropping me off after we took her car to the shop," she murmured.
Boyd raised his eye brows at her tried his best not to scowl at her. "What did Brennan want last night?"
"To warn me about Rourke."
He stared at her for a moment trying to not blow up at her. Was she deliberately obtuse or just trying to push her buttons. No wonder Swarek was always in a mood with this woman for his partner.
"About."
Her eyebrow shot up at his tone and a smirk came to her lips. The smile that played at her lips was completely fake and she knew that he knew when she leaned forward. "He told me that he was in the mob and did some illegal things that Rourke is a part of that life and that I need to keep my guard up on outings."
Boyd sat back a bit stunned at her words. Jamie-freaking-Brennan had admitted to being in the mob. He'd never done that before and this freaking rookie didn't get it on tape. He might just kill her.
"You didn't wear the wire," he exclaimed.
She bristled and settled back in the chair clearly not ready to take his shit today.
"He didn't give me details," she snorted. "He was direct telling me he did things he regrets and that were illegal but no details."
"Is he doing it now?" Boyd knew he was pushing her buttons by being demanding but he couldn't help it, this woman was infuriating.
"No," she shook her head firmly to let him know that she meant it. Andy watched him as he threw himself back into the seat and looked dejectedly off towards the window of the café.
"How can you be so sure," he asked meeting her eyes again.
She felt her eyes slide over his face and scruffy beard to the casual way he sagged in the chair. For the first time, Andy was trying to figure Boyd out. It registered quickly that he was exhausted and bothered by this assignment and that didn't sit well with her.
"Gut feeling," she deadpanned.
Boyd's eyes snapped up to hers and he snorted, before leaning forward to plan their next move, while she wanted for Maggie Brennan to return and pick he up.
O
"She trusts you above everyone else," Chris Diaz said following his former training officer into the equipment room. "Even Traci, even me."
Sam stopped abruptly and while his back was still turned to the younger man behind him, he closed his eyes momentarily to collect himself before responding. When he felt his emotions were in check, Sam turned to his current adversary for his partner's affections.
"We're partners Diaz," he responded shortly. "If McNally and I can't trust each other explicitly, we can't have each other's backs. That means sometimes we get to know things about each other that no one else does. "
Chris nodded and then scratched his head. "You two even sound alike, I don't get it," he said distantly. "She said the same thing." He met the senior officer's eyes, "I need to know that she's okay."
Sam could hear the desperation in Diaz's voice and knew that if the roles were reversed, it would be in his. He spared a brief thought that this must be how he had sounded to Boyd all the times that he had asked the same questions. Sam decided that he had to give the kid something, he was suffering here too.
"She's okay."
"Is she safe," Chris asked in an almost pleading voice.
Exhaling he met the younger man's eye again. "As much as she can be undercover."
Before anymore questions could be asked, Jerry rounded the corner looking for Sam.
"Sammy," Jerry waited until his stare down had intimidated Diaz into leaving. "Boyd needs you to meet him now, something's just happened that could break your case wide open."
O
Her meeting with Boyd had last nearly two hours and still Maggie hadn't called Andy to see if she needed a ride back to the house yet. Not one to worry knowing that she had errands, Andy called a cab and headed home. She had been in the middle of starting dinner when Jamie Brennan arrived home.
"Hey Candace," he smiled. "Have you seen where Maggie and Gracie have gotten up to?"
She smiled enjoying his good mood. "Nope," she replied slicing the vegetables for a salad. "I took a cab home, they must still be busy running errands."
Brennan laughed at her and swiped a cucumber from the cutting board and popping it into his mouth. "Oh you mean shopping until I'm broke."
After laughing with "Candace" about Maggie's love of shopping he began asking her about the girls dropping the car off at the shop. They continued to talk until the door bell sounded. Andy excused herself to go and answer the door.
When she opened it, Andy was startled to see two uniformed police officers standing on the door step with solemn looks on their faces.
"May we speak to James Brennan," the younger of the two officers asked.
Andy looked in shock at the woman who was a few years older than herself and nodded. Before she could turn, she felt Brennan walk up behind her.
"I'm James Brennan," he said cautiously. "Maybe I help you."
"Sir," the female officer spoke up again. "May we come in and speak to you?"
Andy's stomach dropped and she had the most sudden urge to faint. She knew exactly what brought these officers to the Brennan's doorstep. She thought she was going to be sick.
O
Eaap! Don't hate me for leaving it there, but I had to! I look forward to your responses, even if you hate it. Lots of stuff to get through in the next few parts!