A/N: Jade is an Air Force base cop. She's recently been transferred to a checkpoint station between an engineering building and housing. Tori is an engineer that has to pass through daily. I truly know nothing about the military.
Her new station is a small enclosed booth with a table set up outside it, with two chairs where she and her partner sit. She's in charge of verifying personnel and her partner checks any bags or packages. The first to come through are a group of engineers. She has them form a line and begins comparing their IDs with information she has on a clipboard. She sends the second to last in line on his way, and as he walks off a woman is revealed to her, and it really feels like time slows down, maybe because shes stopped breathing. This woman is insanely beautiful. Golden brown hair with heavy curls, bronze skin and striking cheekbones. Her overalls are pulled halfway down and tied around her waist leaving her in just a tank top, showing off her glowing shoulders and collarbones and slightly sweaty chest in the california heat and instead of any of this the words that escape Jades mouth are "How'd a scrawny thing like you make it through basic?"
At first Tori is taken back but the sudden insult, but then she rolls her eyes and holds out her ID. "How would a meathead like you end up anywhere but security?" she smiles smugly but then looks uncomfortably at Jade's station partner she'd just unintentionally insulted as well. She quickly snatches her ID back then hurries to join her coworkers.
After that she staunchly avoids making eye contact with Jade during check-ins, and it's a little easier for Jade to breath during them.
A month or so later Jade is at Nozu's on her day off. It's a popular airmen bar in town, and Jade likes to spend her time there getting absolutely hammered, maybe taking home a townie if she's so inclined. Tori is there with her friends but being so much smaller than the other airmen, Jade doesn't see her until she's made it onto the dance floor, moving fluidly by herself.
Jade's breath catches in her throat, but adrenaline quickly floods her veins as she downs the rest of her beer and rises. She slides up behind Tori and leans down to whisper in her ear. "You know, you are way too pretty to be dancing alone." Tori looks over her shoulder boredly. "I do know, because you're the fourth person to tell me that tonight." Her eyes widen when she realizes who's hitting on her this time. Jade shrugs, smiling unbothered. "Fourth times the charm?" Tori crosses her arms. "Why would I want to dance with you?" Jade's hands grasp her hips lightly, tugging them forward and back alternatingly in a sort of dance. "Because I'm a better dancer than them." Tori scoffs but undoes her arms and lays them on Jade's shoulders, swaying with her. "I don't know that. I do know that you were incredibly rude the first time we met." Jade smiles despite her scolding tone. "I was just teasing you. Pulling on your pigtails. You are like, the most beautiful person I've ever seen." She says happily, eyes flicking all over Tori's face.
Tori shakes her head, dumbfounded. "Are you a totally different person?" Jade's expression is still soft but more serious than before. "Drunk mouth, sober thoughts." She says quietly. Tori tries to read the expression in her narrowed eyes but before she can recognize the intention in them, Jade is leaning forward. Too far forward unfortunately, and she stumbles before Tori steadies her. "Whoa." Jade chuckles dazedly. Toris upper lip curls in concern. "Very drunk mouth. Are you here alone? Do you need a ride home?" Jade shakes her head, then stumbles but catches herself on Toris arms again. "Yeah that'd be, that'd beat walking."
Tori sits Jade down on a stool at the bar and gestures to her friends until one of them saunters over. "Hey this is…" she looks confusedly down at the inebriated woman. "Officer West? I don't know your first name." Jade smiles up at her, swiveling the chair in small motions. "I'm Jade. And you're Tori Vega, and you're Andre…Harris." She blinks hard as she thinks. "You came through my check point last month delivering…munitions!" She claps when she recalls it then resumes her twisting happily. "This is that mean base cop outside of engineering? She's like a totally different person!" Tori nods. "I know right? I'm gonna get her home safe before.." she gestures to her ditzy twirling "this gets her into any trouble." Andre sags. "Come on Tori, we just got here and you're already going home with somebody? What happened to bros before hoes!" he jokes. "I'm stopping her from getting taken advantage of! I'm not going to do it myself!" He laughs and says "Okay…" but makes an 'Im watching you' gesture. Tori rolls her eyes and leads Jade out.
Jade manages to direct her to her place off base and Tori parks out front. Jade puts her hand on the handle but turns to her. "Thanks for the ride… do you…wanna come inside?" Tori laughs but it's more derisive than humorous. "You're welcome, now get out of my car."
The next day Jade has sunglasses on despite the dimness of the predawn morning. Tori doesn't avoid her eyes for once, searching for them behind the shades. "How are you feeling?" Jade stares at her blankly, expression unreadable. Finally she hands back her ID and gestures for her to move on. "You could've left me an aspirin or some water or something. My head is killing me." The only trace of emotion in her voice is a hint of annoyance. Toris eyes flick to Jade's partner in the booth and her own coworkers up ahead, none of them within earshot of the small table set up outside. Tori steps around it to stand in front of Jade. "Try not to get so drunk next time and you'll be able to take care of yourself." She thinks for a moment, then adds. "Someone could have hurt you."
A small smile tugs at the corner of Jade's lips as she stands, her eyes still a mystery. "I'm lucky I had you to protect me...And that I didn't breathe too hard and knock you down myself." She leans in and puts her hands on the table behind Tori, trapping her and emphasizing her smaller stature. Tori crosses her arms unbothered.
"Your breath isn't that bad." Jade's eyebrows shoot over her lenses, betraying her expression. "You've got a smart mouth." Jade says, straightening in front of her.
"Is that why you keep looking at it?" Tori asks smugly. She's bluffing, she still can't see Jade's eyes, but the way Jade pauses before speaking again makes her think she was right. "It's gonna get you into trouble." Jade crosses her own arms, and Tori cocks her head to the side. "Being smart is what gets me out of trouble, not into it." Jade lifts up her sunglasses purposefully, wanting Tori to see as she looks her up and down slowly. "You are trouble." She says with a timber in her voice that causes goosebumps to erupt on Toris arms. She flushes, unusually flustered. "You don't know what I am." She mutters, storming off after her long gone coworkers.
Tori stays late that night, but when she arrives at the checkpoint Jade is still there. She rolls her eyes and hands over her ID. "You're still here?" Jade takes it and hands it back without really looking. "Double shift, hence doing two nights worth of drinking in one." She smiles but Tori doesn't laugh. She just turns around and walks off. Jade says a quick "I'll be back." To her partner and jogs after her. "Hey, it's late. I'll walk you home." Tori stops walking. "Yeah, I had a long day and I don't really want to hear you insult me the whole way home so, no thanks." She turns to walk away but Jade grabs her arm, lightly and free of pressure. "Hey, nobody should walk home alone at night. Let me walk with you." Tori studies her. "You almost sound like you care?" she questions. Jades eyebrows furrow.
"Of course I care." She shakes off some of the emotion in that statement. "It- it's my job. And besides" a sly smile takes over her features. "You could be carried away by some bird of prey or…a strong breeze." Tori pushes her and starts to walk away again but Jade catches up. "Okay, okay, no more teasing."
They walk down the dark streets, past the houses of some of the airmen Jade remembers. "Ah 112, that's… James Stone. He's a…flight technician." She scowls. "With a unibrow." Tori shakes her head. "How do you remember all this?" Jade shrugs. "It's my job."
"I thought your job was to check IDs." Tori says, then winces. "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I just meant, maybe you're overqualified?" Jade nods. "It's okay, my job is to check IDs. And it's boring as shit. But, in a year or two, I'm hoping my over-qualifications will land me something more interesting." Tori smiles, "Jade West, base detective." Jade stops and lifts a finger gun in an action pose, humming her own dramatic theme music. Tori laughs, surprised at the silly antic from the sulky security guard. "It's good to see you're not only nice when you're drunk." She says. "Oh?" Tori looks at her in surprise. "You don't remember?" Jade shakes her head.
Tori tries to imitate Jade's voice. "Oh, you're the prettiest girl I've ever seen!" Jade's cheeks color. "I did not say that." She says dismissively. "Oh yes you did." Tori contradicts. "And you know what else? You said the reason you're so rude is that you're just 'pulling my pigtails'. Like, if you can't flirt just say that." Jade huffs "I can flirt." She says haughtily. "Oh yeah? What's your best pick up line?"
"Don't move." Jade freezes, facing her. "That's it?" Tori questions. "No, no one uses pick up lines. Don't move." Tori is about to respond when a deep, guttural growl emerges from behind her, her face contorting in fear.
Seemingly unbothered, Jade raises a hand to her cheek. "Look at me." She commands softly. "There's a freakin mountain lion behind me! Now is not the time to show me your moves!" Tori whispers in a panic. "I'm not, look at how calm I am." And she is, reassuringly so. "There's nothing to be afraid of, ok? I'm going to slowly reach for my weapon and fire at the ground to scare it away." And she does. Three loud pops and Tori's twisting to watch as it takes off into the brush lining the left side of the street. "Ok, and now we're going to go onto the porch of his house and I'm going to call us an escort." She gently leads Tori to the closest house opposite the brush. Before she can walkie in hers buzzes and a fuzzy voice says "Officer West, come in. We have multiple sources reporting shots being fired in your area." She explains about scaring the mountain lion and requests a ride. "Understood. A unit will be there shortly, stay in a safe area."
Jade sits Tori down in one of the chairs on the porch they're sheltered on. She gently rubs at her shoulders, the smaller woman still clearly shaken. "Why didn't you shoot it? I mean I'm glad you didn't, but won't it just come back? Don't they tell you guys to shoot?" Jade shakes her head. "It probably won't be back after that. If it was dead another would take over its territory and possibly venture this way again. This guy knows better now." She says knowingly. "Besides, we shouldn't kill things if we don't have to." She adds, looking down at Tori. "We're the Air Force, not the army." She smiles and Tori manages one back despite her state.
Their ride comes and Jade is surprised it's her partner. "Oliver? Who's watching the checkpoint?" She asks as they approach. She opens the back door for Tori and ushers her in, her attention still on her partner. "I called in that prick Daniels." he says, and Jade laughs as she climbs in the front passenger seat. Jade chats with her partner on the short trip to Tori's house, they had been almost there. She doesn't get out to open Toris door, so the girl climbs out on her own but turns around when she hears Jade's voice. "Want me to walk you to your door?" Tori starts to smile but it falls when Jade adds "I think I saw a hawk. Can't be too careful, little thing." Tori rolls her eyes. "Pigtails…" she sings and Jade flushes. The windows are down so as she walks away she hears the other officer say "She's a cute one." Jade chuckles. "That's an understatement." Tori turns around and shoots her a look. Jade flushes again. "Shit, Oliver, just drive." And he laughs as he pulls away.
After that Jade is a little more polite to her. When she checks her ID she offers a gruff "Morning." but the way everyone teases her about it, it might as well be a daily serenade.
"You got the ice queen to melt! Even the California sun couldn't do that!" Andre teases her as they walk into Nozu's. Jade is already there, flirting with some girl, and Tori avoids looking in their direction as she and her friends sit on the other side of the bar. But when Jade sees her she excuses herself.
"Hey hawk bait." She says as she steals the stool of the man who'd just gone to the bathroom and asked Tori to save his seat. Tori rolls her eyes. "You are so cute when you're annoyed." she adds, and that catches Tori off guard. "Am I?" She asks. "Oh yeah. I like that about you." Tori hums. "Is that what you like?" She says boredly, trying to hide her interest in the conversation. If it worked, Jade didn't notice. "It's one of the things. I think I like everything about you, though. You are like, the perfect chick." Tori laughs and sips from her beer skeptically. "Really! You're hot and youre and engineer, so you've gotta be smart too." Tori laughs again and chokes on her drink. "That's all a 'chick' has to do to be perfect? What are you then?" Jade answers immediately. "I'm hot and funny. See, we'd be so good together." She says, sliding an arm around Tori's shoulders. "You'd do the thinking and I'd do the joking." Tori hums again as she finishes another sip. "Ah, but that wasn't funny." Jade smiles "Who said I was joking?" Tori narrows her eyes. "Then what did you seriously mean?" Jade looks at her excitedly. "Come home with me. I'll make you feel so good, you'll never wanna leave." Jade says, wiggling her eyebrows goofily. Toris begrudgingly laughs, then her eyes flick to the girl across the bar Jade was with earlier, who is clearly looking for her. "Two things: One, even if I 'didn't want to leave', I'd have to, right? When you sober up and forget how much you 'like me' again?" Tori says, free hand miming air quotes with derision.
"Oh I don't forget" Jade interrupts innocuously. "Seeing you is like, the best part of my day. When you come up to my booth and I see you it's like my heart goes ba-poomp ba-boomp and I actually feel alive for a few seconds during those boring ass 8 hours." Tori is so shocked by this admission she forgets her second point, eyes flicking between Jade's wide honest eyes and her hands cradling an imaginary heart trying to escape her chest, until it starts walking up to them.
"Hey I was looking for you." The girl says. Tori smiles "And point number two, if you go home with me, then what about her?" The girls looks confused, then offended. "Is she serious?" She asks. Jade looks between the two of them. "But I liked her first." She gestures to Tori. Then she looks up, thinking for a second. "And more." She answers lightly, almost happily. The girl takes what was left of her beer and empties it over Jades head before muttering some obscenities and stalking off.
Jade's hangdog expression is icing on the cake and Tori can't help but laugh. "Are you mad at me too?" Jade asks. She sounds like a preschooler who got in their first fight with a friend. Tori sighs, finishing her own beer before she hops off the stool. She takes Jade's wet hand, "No, I'm not. Let's get you cleaned up."
This time she does make the effort to locate Jades cups and ibuprofen, setting them by her bed while the other woman returns from her shower. As Jade pulls the covers over herself she smiles at Tori, watching her set them up. "So you don't snap at me again." Tori explains. For a moment all she can see is Jade's green eyes peering at her from beneath the covers. But her smile is revealed again as her arm dislodges the blanket on its path towards Tori. Her fingers tug gently on one of Toris curls. "Pigtails."