Ten Years Ago

It made her want to throw up.

Watching her aunt walk side by side with Clark as she led him back out to the main area so his cover of being absent to flirt with her stayed intact. Her stomach rolled especially hard because he was still flirting with her, though despite her smile there was a hardness in Lydia's gaze now that said she was no longer interested. Tess could see it even through the shitty security cameras, she'd be suggesting they get better ones, and didn't know how the men tailing him didn't but maybe they were used to watching him fail with women. Or maybe they just didn't care. Clearly they weren't expecting anything to go wrong which should've made her feel better but it didn't.

She didn't think she would be able to breathe properly again until this was all done.

"I would really like to hit him." Jay said tightly, a quick glance showing his hands clenching into fists as they watched Clark be so bold as to actually peck Lydia on her cheek before finally sauntering out.

She'd like to hit him too but she didn't think either of them were going to get the chance.

They couldn't risk anything going wrong.

There was a part of her mind that kept wondering if it already had, if by listening to Jay's suggestion that they come here today she had set them all up for failure. Or worse. But as much as they hurt she knew those thoughts weren't true. Or helpful. What was done was done and now they needed to focus on what came next. She just… she still wasn't sure what that was.

If she brought in the agency then they'd know about her involvement and therefore her aunts.

If she brought in the police force then Jay would be involved and while she knew he wouldn't hesitate she was. She didn't want him linked to any of this, linked to her.

Which meant the only option left was to handle this herself.

"We are not on foreign soil."

Tess didn't know what caught her more off guard about Jay's next comment, the rigidity in his voice or its pointed accuracy.

Or the shame that instantly made her shoulders curl in.

"If you want to make the plan, that's fine. We'll follow you. But this is our city too. And you don't get to tell us that we can't fight for it." He spoke evenly, and easily but the smidge of disapproval in his voice cut to the bone, as did the stern refusal and not-entirely-hidden hurt in his eyes.

That wasn't what she was trying to do, what she wanted to do but clearly he knew she would have.

And she didn't know what that said about her.

But she didn't think she liked it.

"I'm sorry."

"I get it." Jay said quietly, swivelling Lydia's chair so she faced him, looking her over for a long minute before he gently tucked her hair behind her ears and firmly cupped her cheek. "But we're in this with you. You just have to let us be."

Tess only had a minute to let that hit and ripple through her before Lydia and Mouse came back. Their friend had been tailing her aunt both for her safety and to sync his phone his Mattias' men and they both paused after shutting the door to look them over, their brows quickly raising. It didn't take a genius to figure out what they'd been talking about, the poker face she had on missions never seemed to hold up around them and she knew they weren't bothering to manage their own expressions. Greg had the same understanding Jay did, but also the same hurt, and Lydia was a combination of scared and stubborn.

Was that what she looked like?

"You talk her out of being a martyr and doing this alone?"

She scowled a little when Mouse ignored her to direct his question at Jay but her aunt's pointed look had her deflating, as did the hand Jay ran down her back as he straightened. "I did."

"Good." Lydia said with a decisive nod, ignoring the light kicks she and Mouse shot each other as they both sat in her spare chairs. "Now let's come up with a plan to make these assholes regret ever coming to our city."

Nine hours later Tess still didn't know if she liked the plan. It wasn't that it was a bad one but it was the exact opposite of what she'd first planned on because instead of her taking care of everything she'd be taking a backseat. And that wasn't something she was used to. She was trying to do her best with it but it didn't help that no matter how hard she tried to hide it they all knew she was having a hard time and were doing their best to alleviate her concerns. Which they couldn't because they were her concern.

And they were without her.

They hadn't meant to cut her out but the more they'd talked about what needed to be done the clearer it became that she couldn't be involved; if they wanted to put Mattias and his men behind bars, where they all believed they should be, then they couldn't risk them recognizing her. Or remembering her if they had any future run-ins. And she was adamant that if it wasn't going to be her who brought them in then it wasn't going to be any of them. The idea that they might seek retribution against Jay, even just as a cop and not someone related to her… It made her physically sick. She wanted to do everything they could to make it so that none of them were linked to any of this, which was when it became clear that she also couldn't be at the museum with Lydia. Jay at least had signed on to be a government employee in charge of protecting civilians and while Mouse wasn't attached to any agency he had the skills. Her aunt did not and none of them were going to risk putting her in danger. So in order to ensure her safety, plus that of the artifacts while also making sure Clark neither ratted on them nor got himself killed her and Mouse would insist on staying with Kathy, playing the role of oblivious nuisances. And working with Clark to swap out the potentially fake Imperial Seal for one that definitely was. Meanwhile Jay would be nearby in case things went sideways, close enough to help but well hidden so that they wouldn't suspect anything was amiss. And her?

She'd be outside sitting in a car.

She was the most trained with the most experience and she'd be sitting in the fucking car.

It was so ludicrous all she could do was laugh and since there was no one around she did, only minorly disturbed by the hysteria she could hear in her own voice. Tess told herself she was just hyping herself up but she couldn't ignore the feeling that this was a precursor of something worse to come. It was a horrifying thought but she worked hard to push it back, running over the plan for what was probably the fiftieth time.

As soon as Clark and the other men were clear Mouse and Lydia would offer/demand to drive Kathy home before going back to the brownstone to wait for them. However instead of joining them Jay would book it to her, having been very insistent that she too have backup, though it wasn't like it was necessary. All she was going to do was trail Clark and Mattias' thugs to where they were supposed to meet with their boss, just in time for the feds to arrive and, as Jay called it, slap bracelets on all of them. Of course Clark would eventually be let go but they'd make him sweat a little first. He deserved it. He wasn't as bad as most of the people she dealt with, honestly he probably wouldn't make the list at all if he wasn't also dealing with them and while he may not see an issue with that she did. She saw what happened behind the scenes, how the funds he used to buy his illegally obtained and often culturally stolen art pieces were used to fund terrorist groups and war bands, had seen the bodies of villagers ripped apart by newly purchased high power weaponry. She had broken his nose last year when he'd dared to suggest he held no responsibility for their deaths. It was true that those war lords likely would've gotten the money some other way, it was despicable but that was the way the world worked. But that was because they let it work that. Too many people refusing to accept responsibility had created a global culture where doing the wrong thing was the same as doing nothing.

And maybe it was, two sides of the same awful coin but the real truth was that either one was a choice not to do something good.

And that she couldn't understand.

And she hoped she never would.

A buzz of her phone had her straightening at the warning that Clark and the goons had arrived, shooting off a quick text to let Jay and Mouse know before she started tapping out rhythms on the steering wheel to try and release some of her anxious energy. It didn't really work but she needed to do something. It took less than an hour for them to be done, the majority of that spent on authenticating the legitimate artifact. The clear annoyance of said goons had her convinced that if Mouse and Lydia hadn't been there they would've just killed Kathy in order to leave, which despite her frustration at the situation had her glad for their involvement. As soon as they were gone she pulled into the back so Jay could hop into her car, his reassuring look giving her that familiar blend of comfort and worry. That was probably why he stayed silent, just a quick squeeze of her hand before he began giving her directions from the homemade tracker she'd placed on their car after they'd gone inside. They followed them right into the hotel Mattias was staying at, incorrectly feeling safe to do business there, and watched from the bar with bated breath as the FBI team swarmed in to scoop them all up.

Coulson had arranged for them to come, after she'd eventually called him. It hadn't been hard with all the records the thieves had and with how quickly he'd come on board Tess wondered if maybe she shouldn't have been so surprised that he agreed to help. It wasn't like he wasn't also known for breaking the rules but he had a closer bond with the agency than she did and she was still learning how to balance all these lines.

Like all the others he'd been insistent her name be kept out of any official, or unofficial reports, and had actually been the one to find the fake Imperial Seal; a fake since apparently the lost artifact was something people often tried to 'discover'. All that was left now was to decide what to do with the one Clark had smuggled in. She knew it had hurt her professional integrity but Lydia had understood why it couldn't be given to the museum to verify, or to Kathy because as much as her aunt loved her she knew how bad she was at keeping secrets. But then the question became where did it go? The obvious answer, really the only one was the Chinese government because it wasn't theirs to claim, but it wouldn't be easy to get it there while keeping their names out of the story. And if it did turn out to be another fake, which was the most likely outcome, that could cause diplomatic issues at a time when things were already tense.

"Did you decide what you want to do?" Jay asked once they made their way back to his car, still so full of trust she couldn't help blurting out the question that had been bothering her all day.

One of them anyway.

"Are you really okay with me taking the lead on this?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" He answered immediately, genuinely confused, a feeling that passed to her as he took her hand again. "Tess, you're the most trained out of all of us. I know it wasn't easy for you to take a backseat on this but just because we were a bit more on the frontlines doesn't mean we don't trust you. If you have a plan then I'll do what you need to see it through."

"Even if it's mildly insane?"

There was the briefest flicker of concern before his smile grew and his head shook lightly. "Babe, most of your plans are insane."

Well that was true.

Time to see if this latest one would pay off.