9 August 2013
6.57 pm
Motel Room
A knock sounded at the door, and Giorgio opened it to find Richard standing on the other side. "Come to join the party?" He raised an eyebrow, stepping back to let the veteran agent in.
Richard smirked as he entered the room. "I heard you guys needed some backup. Luckily for you, I happened to be in town. Was starting to get bored wandering around anyway, so perfect timing."
Evan gave him a sheepish look. "We only have two beds here though. Maybe we could ask for an extra cot—"
Richard dismissed this with a shake of his head. "Don't sweat it. I'll bunk on the sofa."
He paused, then casually added, "That is, unless you two are planning to share a bed?"
"…Excuse me?" Giorgio's expression conveyed disinterest, but his right eye twitched slightly.
"Surely you're not unfamiliar with the concept, Giorgio?" Richard shot back, carefully keeping a straight face as Evan cracked up.
"Who says you'd be getting your own bed? You and Gi could share," Evan snickered, ignoring his partner's death glare.
"If you want to explain to Rachel why I was sleeping with someone else, by all means go ahead," Richard retorted, mouth twitching slightly at the look on Giorgio's face.
"I have no idea what you two are going on about. Can we please drop the subject?" Giorgio interjected. Despite his annoyed tone, the tips of his ears were painfully red.
Richard smirked to himself. Giorgio was as much of a blushing maiden when it came to sex and romance as he had ever been.
That said, as fun as it was to wind Giorgio up, perhaps it would be better to concentrate his matchmaking efforts on Evan instead.
Of course, all of that could wait until they were done with the Terror Bite incident. There was no sense in getting distracted now and losing sight of his immediate goal.
"Alright, enough of that," Richard said, getting back to the business at hand. "Update me on what's going on."
As Giorgio and Evan began to brief Richard on the situation, he resolved to do whatever it took to watch their backs and ensure the mission ended on a triumphant note.
10 August 2013
2.45 pm
Colorado Air Force Base
Giorgio, Evan and Richard ran after Wild Dog as he fled, determined to ensure the madman didn't get away.
Running into the warehouse, they found Wild Dog waiting for them, a scowl on his aged face.
"A bunch of annoying little flies," he snarled.
Then, disconcertingly, he smirked.
"Ah, Mr Miller. It's been a long time, hasn't it?" He said mockingly.
Richard merely glared at him in response, steeling himself to do battle with the megalomaniac once more.
Despite his advanced age, Wild Dog was no less dangerous than he had been when Richard had last fought him all those years ago.
And once again, despite the agents' best efforts, they were unable to stop him from blowing himself up, preventing them from achieving a confirmed kill.
Richard was sure (especially from Robert's reports regarding the timeline he had been in) that Wild Dog had survived and would live to fight another day, but he couldn't worry about that right now.
It didn't take much longer for the rest of the mission to play out as Richard had expected.
They fought against Gregory Barrows and the last of the Terror Bites, watched as he blew up the stairs leading to the missile control panel, climbed a human pyramid and killed Barrows, and finally detonated the missile prematurely, preventing them from destroying their targets.
Finally, it was all over. They could go home.
"Are you heading back to finish off the rest of your vacation, Richard?" Evan asked.
Richard shook his head.
"Nah, I was getting bored anyway. I'll accompany you guys back to HQ," he said.
Upon boarding the chopper, Giorgio took the window seat beside Evan and promptly leaned against the window, closing his eyes. Within moments, he was asleep.
"I'll never understand how he can fall asleep so quickly at any place or any time," Richard commented.
"Just another one of Gi's superpowers, I guess," Evan said, laughing quietly.
The expression on his face was fond as he watched his sleeping partner, and suddenly Richard remembered the other part of his plans.
"Speaking of Giorgio… When are you going to tell him?" He asked.
Evan looked confused. "What do you mean?"
Richard gave him a pointed look. "You know what I'm talking about. You two have been dancing around this topic for more than a year."
To his credit, Evan made no attempt to pretend that he didn't know what Richard meant.
"I don't want to hurt him," he said quietly, glancing over at Giorgio to make sure he wasn't listening. Fortunately, the older agent hadn't stirred, still fast asleep in his seat.
"I know that Gi is… I mean, he has a lot of baggage to sort out. Right now, if I tell him that I like him, it'll just upset him. He's not ready to hear or believe that at the moment, and he'd probably do something stupid like freak out and try to push me away."
"It's obvious he has feelings for you though," Richard noted, keeping his voice soft to avoid disturbing the subject of their conversation.
"Obvious to everyone except him, perhaps," Evan countered. "You saw how easily flustered he gets when it comes to stuff like flirting, right? I don't think he even realises how he feels yet; if he does, then he's in denial about it."
"That's the other reason why I won't say anything yet; not until he's sorted out his own feelings first. If I jump the gun and bring it up now, he'll just bury his feelings even deeper, and I probably won't get another chance."
"And if he never comes to terms with his feelings? As you've pointed out, Giorgio tends to be rather dense regarding matters of the heart."
"Then I'll just keep quiet and leave it be," Evan said firmly.
Seeing that Richard looked somewhat surprised, the younger agent decided to elaborate.
"Giorgio… He deserves to be happy. What we have right now… it's nice enough as it is. He's not the most cheerful person around, but he could be a lot unhappier than he is now. I'm not going to ruin that by selfishly rushing things and making him uncomfortable."
"Even if we don't act on this thing between us or even talk about it, we're partners. I know Gi cares about me, much as he likes to pretend otherwise, and that's… it's good enough for me, most of the time."
Richard shook his head slightly.
"It's good that you care about Giorgio's feelings… But you deserve to be happy as well."
"What good would it be for me to chase my happiness if it means making Gi unhappy?" Evan retorted. "I wouldn't be happy either if that's the case."
Richard studied him curiously for a long moment.
"It's not like you to be so pessimistic," he finally said. "Isn't this a risk worth taking?"
Evan blinked at him in surprise. "What do you mean?"
"Perhaps you're right, and he's simply not ready to let himself love someone or accept that someone could love him. But if you don't take that step, Giorgio is just going to keep hiding his heart forever," Richard pointed out. "He won't take the first step for the same reason he won't admit his true feelings to himself: He's afraid."
"While it's true that he could be a lot worse off, I think you know that a life ruled by fear is no way to live. Don't you think he deserves to be free?"
"I…" Evan still looked hesitant, and it occurred to Richard that perhaps Giorgio wasn't the only one who was afraid here.
"You're nervous about changing the status quo too, aren't you?" Richard realised. "You're worried that if Giorgio reacts badly, things will become awkward between the two of you."
"…You're right," Evan admitted. "If Giorgio takes it badly and starts to pull away… I mean, he's my partner and my best friend. I don't think I could bear to lose him."
"If I might offer my advice, Evan…" Richard said gently. "Trust in the strength of your partnership. We both know that Giorgio cares for you deeply and the two of you share a strong and deep bond."
"Regardless of how things work out romantically, I have faith that your bond will only continue to grow stronger in the years to come."
Before Evan had a chance to respond…
"Could the two of you keep it down?" Giorgio said grumpily, cracking an eye open. "I'm trying to sleep."
"Sorry Gi," Evan quickly apologised, wondering how much of their conversation Giorgio had heard.
Judging from Giorgio's half–asleep state, Evan guessed that if he had heard anything, he certainly wouldn't remember it once he woke up properly.
Instead of placing his head back against the window, Giorgio leaned against Evan's shoulder, letting out a sleepy sigh of contentment as he drifted off again.
Trying not to laugh and jostle him, Evan glanced over at Richard.
"Thanks Richard," he said quietly, not wanting to disturb Giorgio again. "I'll think about it."
Richard nodded at him, then sat back to enjoy the rest of their return journey.
(Naturally, once they landed and Evan woke Giorgio, Giorgio was thoroughly flustered by the realisation that he'd been cuddling up against Evan while fast asleep.
Richard couldn't help but laugh at the sight, and he found himself wondering whether Giorgio would still be this easily flustered by intimacy once he and Evan finally got together.)
Upon their return to Headquarters, the three agents reported in to the Director for their debriefing. At the end of their meeting, the Director dismissed Giorgio and Evan while asking Richard to stay behind for a while.
After Giorgio and Evan left the room and the door swung shut behind them, the Director turned to Richard, studying him thoughtfully.
"It occurs to me, Richard, that the timing of these events was impeccable," the Director said, clasping his hands together.
"You just so happened to take a vacation to California right before a major terrorist incident occurred in the same area. A vacation that you decided to cut short and abandon after the incident ended, I should point out. It's almost as though you knew something was going to happen."
Richard was silent for a moment.
"With respect, sir, are you asking as the Director right now?" Richard finally responded, keeping his tone neutral and noncommittal.
For several long minutes, the room was silent.
Finally, the Director inclined his head in acknowledgement.
"Well, Agent Miller," he said, placing a slight emphasis on Richard's title, "I can only assume that it was, in fact, a coincidence that you were in California when the incident occurred."
"Because if it hadn't been a coincidence, I would be forced to assume that you had some form of foreknowledge about what was going to happen but chose not to report it, which would be a black mark against you as a VSSE agent."
"I would, in fact, be forced to conclude that you were either involved somehow or uncovered the information through channels that are not entirely legal. Thus, I must say that it's very fortunate you happened to be in the area when Agents Bruno and Bernard needed backup."
Richard gave the Director a small smile, grateful that he had understood.
"Will there be anything else, sir?"
This time, the Director actually smirked.
"Get out of here, Richard. Go spend some time with your wife."
Grinning slightly, Richard nodded and bade the Director farewell, exiting the room.
Returning to his apartment, Richard greeted a pleasantly surprised Rachel, who was happy to have him home earlier than she'd expected.
Having heard about the Terror Bite incident and Richard being sent in as backup, she asked, just like the Director had, if Richard had known that something was going to happen.
Richard glossed over it, saying he had heard some rumours about suspicious activity but didn't have enough proof to go to the Director with it. The only thing he could think of doing to help was to place himself in a position to be called in by being physically nearby.
Accepting his explanation, Rachel had kissed him, and then they'd headed to the bedroom to make up for lost time.
It wasn't quite over, of course.
Richard was still trying to figure out how to make use of what he knew about the research corporation to ensure they got their just desserts. Perhaps he could disguise his knowledge as an anonymous tip that he'd picked up in California or something.
But he would have time to figure it out, and so would the rest of them.
Or so he thought.
