A/N: This one is a short one, for my Gutterbugs. Un-beta'd, disclaimed and all that jazz.
Hold Music
"Lizzie, really? Must you litter the streets of DC with cell phones?" Red was a tiny bit exasperated, but Lizzie chalked it up to his being worried for her and now Dembe as well. But she can't quite keep the mutinous scowl at bay.
"Sorry, Red, I was too busy fleeing for my life to worry about keeping a cell phone in my hand. I was driving using a rearview mirror while being shot at, if you recall."
"Yes, Lizzie, it was very Grand Theft Auto, I know." He sighed and shifted in his chair, trying to release some of the ever-present tension from his shoulders. Lizzie dropped into the seat next to him, leaning her head back against the cool leather and closed her eyes. She couldn't seem to recall a time before this constant state of fight-or-flight, adrenaline rushes and jags coming so close together these days she no longer required coffee, not that she had time to drink a cup.
She could hear him rustling about, and then the sound of his voice giving account numbers. He was getting her another phone. He never stopped trying to take care of her. No detail was too small. Lizzie tried to relax and catch a nap.
Red's increasingly loud voice disturbed her rest after only a few minutes. She opened one eye carefully, to see him on the phone still, lips pressed tight, brows knitted, whatever the person was saying on the other end of the line was not what he wanted to hear at all.
"Listen to me; I do not need an iPhone. I don't need a phone at all; I have phones by the gross. I need you to turn off the old phone and activate a new one. I can give you all the necessary information. No, no, that is not what I want. Don't…" he stopped midsentence and glared at the phone in his hand. He looked so utterly aggravated; Lizzie couldn't help the chuckle that escaped. His narrowed gaze shifted over to her and as always she was captivated by the flow of expressions over his face.
"They put me on hold. Again."
"How many times does this make?"
"Third time in this call. They want me to get an iPhone. They don't want to activate the old technology. Honestly, why do they even call this customer service?"
She smiled at him. Criminal mastermind and Renaissance man, and he was stuck on hold.
"Do they at least play music?"
"Yes actually, Rolling Stones at the moment."
"Put it on speaker, I want to listen." He pushed the speaker phone button and lay the phone down between them. Lizzie began tapping her foot to Mick Jagger's distinctive vocals.
"I can't get no…satisfaction…"
The irony of the song wasn't lost on Red, the corners of his mouth began to twitch slightly, and soon he and Lizzie were both laughing out loud.
"Sir…?" The tinny voice of the phone company representative interrupted Mick's chorus. He picked up the phone and cut off the speaker.
"Yes? Are you going to do as I have asked now? Have you consulted the cell phone gods?" Red rolled his eyes as he listened to the squawking voice on the other end.
"No, you know what? Put me back on hold and get me your supervisor. I'm done talking to you."
He put the phone back down and pressed the speaker button again, just in time to catch the last bit of "Satisfaction".
"Well, at least the music is good. Honestly, Lizzie, what is it about the iPhone?"
Lizzie laughed until she cried.