Six Months, Two States
Disclaimer: The characters of NCIS:Hawaii belong to their brilliant creators. No profit has been made from this story.
Contestant Number Nine, One
"Okay Jesse, I have another full day of zoom meetings and in person interviews, so I need you to go to Tripler and talk to the James family. Lucy, I need you to dig into the colonel's background, see if there are any debts or known associates tied to the gambling ring. Our new DIA liaison should be here any minute, so maybe if we get off on the right foot with him he'll be a little more helpful than we've become accustomed to when dealing with the DIA."
"No offense boss, but I wouldn't hold your breath on that one," Jesse sighed, "as long as that wicked witch is in charge over there we might as well get used to doing everything the hard way."
"Perhaps," Jane replied, "but now he is between us and her. Maybe if we make him feel welcome he'll become an ally instead of an opponent."
Furrowing her brow skeptically, Lucy asked, "Do you really think that's going to work?"
"Couldn't hurt to try," Tennant shrugged, smiling at her still two person team as she made her way through the bullpen and into her office.
Taking a seat at the desk, she flipped open the resume on the top of the stack in front of her. Rebuilding the team had been challenging once Jim Carter had resigned, more so because of the boys club mentality of the agents he'd left behind than because he was difficult to replace. He had undermined and betrayed her every step of the way, most notably whenever she had been promoted to SAC, and at first even Jesse had stood silently by in solidarity with the good ol' boys.
She hadn't anticipated a 9-5 job when she'd been bumped to SAC, but she also hadn't anticipated the almost non-stop calls she'd received on her off time when Carter refused to handle anything that he considered "above my pay grade", which was, literally, everything. As time went on and she had proven herself in the field, saving Jesse's life not once but twice when Carter had bolted and put his own safety over the team, things had slowly started to shift in her favor.
It had been easy once Jesse had seen Carter's true colors to promote him to her senior agent, but she'd be lying if she said she hadn't been blindsided when Junior Agent Nathanial Rivas had tendered his resignation. "I'm not going to wait around for you to take me out like you did Jimmy," explained the young agent who enjoyed poker nights on Carter's boat, and despite Jesse's insistence that Rivas just needed a little time to see the truth for himself Jane had moved swiftly to transfer him out of the unit. "I'm not going to spend the foreseeable future proving myself to an insolent subordinate who will most likely report every single detail of our daily operations to Carter," she had explained, "and neither should you."
After a few miserable, stressed to the max weeks of trying to run the squad with just herself and Agent Boone she'd brought in a handful of temps to see if any of them were a good fit, and just when the seemingly endless parade of candidates looked like it would never produce an acceptable choice Lucy Tara had walked in. The scrappy Texan had initially turned down Tennant's invitation, stating that she was quite happy with her law enforcement role in Texas and that her deeply rooted thalassophobia made working for the Navy and living on an island literally the last thing she wanted to do. Jane still wasn't sure what had changed the young agent's mind, though she suspected that Lucy was running from something back home, but it wasn't a criminal record and her performance had been off the charts so she hadn't asked. Watching how Lucy had bonded with Jesse and his family had endeared her mama heart to the young Texan, and when her own kids kept asking when they were going to see Lucy again it had cemented Jane's decision to make the young woman a permanent part of her team.
She had gotten lucky with Lucy, but after that she had hit a wall. Each candidate she had chosen after Lucy had failed, and now she was hesitant to trust anyone in the ever increasing stack of applications in front of her. Sadly, she kept leaning towards female applicants, even though she knew that there were men who were equally qualified and deserved a shot. The hell of it was that her thinking was a direct result of Carter's behavior, and the last thing she wanted was to give the power to influence her decisions to the combative chauvinist who had done his best to run her off the island. So here she sat, preparing for another round of interviews while trying to convince herself that gender didn't matter and that if she selected a man it didn't mean she would be once again banging her head against the proverbial men's locker room door.
As she logged in and dialed up candidate number one on her video chat roster she noticed their new DIA liaison entering the bullpen, and she chuckled when Lucy stood to intercept him as he headed towards her office. Returning to her screen, assured in the fact that the junior agent wouldn't allow him to interrupt her, she smiled at the young man on the display and said, "Good morning Agent Grogh, or I suppose afternoon in your part of the world. So, tell me a little about yourself..."
Let's Hear It For The Boy
"Hey there," Lucy said as she moved to intercept the visitor heading for Tennant's office, "hi, hello, good morning, you must be DIA officer-"
"Flick, Stuart Flick, and I need to speak with Special Agent In Charge Tennant," the newcomer in the sharply pressed suit dismissively responded.
"Okay well, she's not available at the moment, so you get to talk to me. Agent Tara," she responded as she pointed to herself, "and I'm really hoping you have some information regarding Colonel James?"
"I really need to talk to Tennant," he insisted, looking right over Lucy's head and into the woman's office, "I was specifically instructed to only deliver the intel to her."
"By Van Buren?" Lucy challenged.
"She is my boss," he clipped.
"You know I have the clearances for everything Tennant requested," Lucy glowered, "right?"
"And in spite of that irrelevant fact," he sarcastically responded, "I still have my orders."
Rolling her eyes Lucy replied, "Of course, I completely understand," one finger in the air as he fidgeted and she typed out a text to Tennant, "one moment please..."
L: Sorry boss, he will only talk to you.
J: Stall him.
"Follow me," Lucy sweetly instructed as she headed for the conference room.
"But Tennant's in there," the self-important Flick replied as he pointed towards the SAC's office.
"And she's on a call with Rollins? Collins? I can't keep them straight," Lucy lied, and he blanched as he exclaimed, "Mullins?! She's talking to my boss?" and quickly followed the pint sized agent into the conference room. "If you say so," she shrugged, "can I get you anything? Coffee? Tea?"
"No, but thank you," he nervously replied, and she almost felt bad for the smug little twit as she said, "Tennant will be right with you," then turned to walk out of the room.
"Hey, Agent Tara?"
"Yeah?"
He seemed ready to ask a question, then shook his head and said, "Never mind."
She opened the door, paused, turned back around.
"Were you going to ask me why Van Buren is banned from this building?" She guessed.
"No!" He quickly denied, the fear in his expression very real as his eyes darted nervously to the surveillance cameras in the room, "I-"
"Wonder what she did to make Tennant file a complaint?"
"No!" He exclaimed, sweat beading on his forehead as he squirmed and implored, "Please stop putting words in my mouth."
Oh my god, this is almost too funny! I do feel kind of bad for him though, but really? "Relax," Lucy soothed, her voice thickly laden with that charming drawl as she patted him sympathetically on the shoulder and steered him into a seat, "there's no audio in here. Are you sure I can't get you anything?"
Visibly calmer, he settled into his chair and said, "I'm sure, and I'm sorry it's just, it's my first day. I was at the same job for eleven years, so this starting a new role thing is a little scary for me."
A little scary for you? What are you, twelve? "So tell me," she queried as she rested her chin on her fist, "what made you decide to go DIA? I hear you were a legend at your last post, basically ran that place and had the ability to flex your schedule around your family's needs. That must have been hard to leave."
"Well the kids are older and driving now, so they don't need the Dad shuttle anymore," he chuckled, "and I really respect Director Mullins. He made it seem like, I don't know, a calling? I know, it sounds silly, but according to him," Stuart said as he puffed up his chest, "I am one of a select few that are uniquely qualified for this role."
Uniquely qualified? Is that what they're calling it these days? More like happily married and less likely to fall under Lena's spell, plus a big enough ego to-
"DIA Flick," Tennant sweetly greeted as she entered the conference room and Lucy scurried out, "what have you got for me?"
"Colonel James has some interesting friends, especially at the docks," Flick replied, and as he launched into the briefing Jane considered the man in front of her, wondering what Mullins had offered to get him to take the job.
"Thank you Stuart," she smiled amicably as he wrapped up his report, "it's so nice to finally have a good working relationship with DIA. Director Mullins spoke very highly of you," she continued, "but I have to admit that I was surprised to see that you were the one who walked through that door today."
"If the director spoke so well of me, why did that surprise you?"
"Honestly?" Tennant replied as she arched an eyebrow, "I saw his short list of candidates. Of all the names that were on it I considered you to be the least likely to say yes."
Regarding the intimidating woman, he fidgeted and asked, "Why?"
Pausing for a beat as if to consider how to answer, she tilted her head and confided, "Because Van Buren is a lot in small doses, but to have to deal with her every day?" She shivered, "I told him no amount of money could convince you or anyone else to do that."
"Yes, well," the clearly uncomfortable man responded, "I'm here now, and I look forward to working with you and your team."
"And we look forward to working with you," Tennant smiled.
"Good day, Special Agent In Charge Tennant," he stated, and with a curt nod he was gone.
Watching him go, she shook her head and wondered how much they were paying him to deal with Van Buren. Was any amount enough to put up with her on a long term basis? What was it that drove Stuart, who had been comfortably on his way to an early retirement, to take such an awful assignment?
Water Cooler, Wine Cooler
"Hey did you hear the news?"
Barely lifting her head from the report she was currently reading, Kate asked with a hint of irritation, "What news?" James, her personal assistant was fantastic, but he was a bit of a gossip.
"That both the FBI and NCIS teams in Hawaii have finally had enough of Lena's crap, and they have her circling the drain in an administrative role in Oahu."
Pausing for a beat as she considered how James had heard the news, she sighed and stated, "You're a terrible gossip."
"I'm an excellent gossip," he countered, "and you know it. Now," he smiled, leaning on her desk as she did her best to ignore him, "I think you should call Tennant and see what happened."
"I will not," she replied, "and neither will you. It's not a good look, which you know, to dig for trash on our colleagues, so please direct your energies elsewhere."
"Fine," he pouted, "but will you at least find out who was dumb enough to agree to be her puppet?"
"Her puppet?" Whistler asked.
"Yeah her puppet," James snickered, "from what I heard, she's been banned from both the NCIS building AND the FBI building by their respective SAC's. So basically this new agent's job is to act on her behalf, i.e.-"
"Be her puppet," Kate surmised, "got it."
"So will you find out what pathetic sap took the job?" He asked with a gleam in his eye.
"No," she firmly stated, and when he didn't move she challenged, "was there anything else?"
"No," he admitted as he picked at his nails, and when he realized she really wasn't going to discuss the best gossip he'd discovered on the agent they both despised he said, "fine, I'll behave," and with a dramatic sigh he turned and left her office.
Once the door was safely shut behind him she smiled, a brief little victory smile as she considered that Lena's indiscretions and overall lack of job performance were finally making noise in all the right places. How long will she last before they relieve her of duty? I wonder who her direct report will be? Will it be someone on island, someone from the DIA or some other agency? What if-
Her reverie was shattered by the ringing of her phone, and when she noticed the number she swiftly moved to answer it.
"Kate Whistler," she said as she answered the call, her expression changing as she listened. "Yes, my team will get right on it," she stated, then tucking away her personal musings for the time being she sent out a high priority briefing memo to her staff.
The hectic pace of the rest of her day had Kate pushing thoughts of Oahu and Van Buren and job openings to the back of her mind, but once she and her team had completed their investigation and she was alone in her office she allowed her mind to wander to the possibility that she might still have a shot at returning to the island. To Lucy. Unable to resist, she ran a quick search and discovered that the very married, very egotistical Stuart Flick had been assigned to the position at Pearl, and she laughed out loud as she tried to picture the self-important soccer dad dealing with Lena on a daily basis.
"I heard that," James said as he poked his head into her office.
Clenching her jaw in frustration, she glared at him and asked, "Did you need something?"
"I need you to admit that Lena stole that job from you and that you've been miserable ever since she appeared on that island during your trip. And," he said with a conspiratorial smile, "that you're dying to know why in the world a guy like Stuart Flick would take an assignment that put him directly under Lena Van Buren." Rubbing his thumb against his fingertips in the classic sign that indicated "money", he added, "Think it has anything to do with his son Edgar's gambling problem?" then ducked out of the office and closed the door behind him.
Dammit he's got good sources, how did he find out about Flick so fast? And about his son's gambling problem? Even I didn't get that bit of information. I bet Tennant would love to know about that, would appreciate letting the new guy know that she's already one step ahead of him. Grabbing her phone, she typed out a new message to Tennant, fingers tapping swiftly as she drafted her message. The rule follower in her hesitated to hit send, her finger hovering over the little blue arrow as she debated whether or not to tap the icon. Don't do it Kate, it's not your business. It's meddling, and that's not a good look on you or your team. Sighing, she closed the text and packed up, deciding to stop and have a drink on her way home.
"Hey," the bartender greeted as she slid a white wine in front of the blonde, "haven't seen you in a while."
"Been busy," Kate replied, taking a sip of the wine she'd always ordered and wondering why it didn't taste quite as good as she remembered. Why is nothing as good as I remembered? What is wrong with me?
"Cara said you've been traveling a lot," the tattooed barkeep observed.
"Not really," the blonde replied, "I've only taken two trips in the past few months."
"She also said that you two broke up."
"We did," Kate nodded.
"Sorry," the other woman offered, but Kate shook her head and said, "I'm not."
"Ouch," a familiar voice pouted, and Kate turned to pin her ex, who had appeared as if from nowhere, with an annoyed glare.
As the bartender slipped away Cara crawled up on the barstool next to Kate and asked, "Can we talk?"
"Sure," Kate replied, plastering a fake smile on her face as she threw caution to the wind and fired off the text she'd been debating sending to Tennant, "let's chat."
Round Two, Stu
It hadn't taken long for newly appointed NCIS DIA Liaison Stuart Flick to realize two things: one, he was working for the most vile, despicable, ridiculously childish person he'd ever met and two, Jane Tennant's team was loyal, tightly knit and absolutely impossible to rattle. Lucy Tara, the first member of the team he had encountered, was an enigmatic mix of youthful enthusiasm and old soul who seemed to take delight in making his every visit to NCIS headquarters extremely uncomfortable. She hazed him, pranked him and called him the much loathed "Stewie," but it was obvious that she was very good at her job and that both Tennant and Boone were very protective of her. Agent Boone also seemed to like to mess with him, and Tennant? She was actually more terrifying than Lena, which was quite the feat considering that the NCIS SAC had no actual power over him. Sighing as he read his email and saw that visiting NCIS headquarters was on today's agenda, he popped a few headache pills and washed them down with the last dregs of his morning coffee, then located the requested files and headed out the door.
"Stewie's here!" Lucy exclaimed as the much less pompous nowadays agent walked in, and Tennant shot her a warning glance as she moved to greet their visitor. "Good morning DIA Flick," she smiled, pausing to glance at her phone as it vibrated with an incoming text. Reading the message, she smirked and typed out a quick reply, then gestured towards the stairs and asked, "war room?"
Once the pair were safely locked in with the privacy glass activated, the beleaguered DIA officer whined, "Can you please ask her to stop calling me that?"
"Look," Jane replied, hands placatingly patting the air, "I told you, more than once, that to get respect you've got to give respect. As long as you continue to blindly follow Van Buren's lead and insist on only speaking to me they're going to feel disrespected, and I can't fix that."
"You could if you wanted to," the offended man pouted.
"So could you," Tennant countered.
"It's bad enough that I have to take Lena's crap but this? This is something you could stop and you won't!"
"Lena's crap?" Jane asked.
"She threatens me, like, hourly. Calls me a simp, a pansy, an ineffective little lapdog to Tennant the Tyrant and her merry band of -"
"Tennant the Tyrant? That's a new one," Jane chuckled.
"It's not funny!" He snapped.
"So if she's so hard to work for," Tennant queried, "why do you put up with it?"
"Because she's my boss, obviously," he dodged.
"But you didn't actually need this job," she countered, "you were fine where you were."
"I needed a change," he lied, and as soon as the words were out of his mouth he knew she knew he was lying.
"Your son, Edgar? He has a gambling problem. I wonder," Tennant pondered, "how did you manage to pay off his debts and relocate to a luxury apartment in Waikiki on a DIA officer's salary?"
"I had some savings-"
"You had an opportunity to make a hell of a lot more money, and all you needed to do was put up with Van Buren."
"The salary was a decent bump," Flick squirmed.
"But the real perk was the apartment in Waikiki," Tennant smugly stated.
"How did you know?"
"I have my sources," she smiled, sending up a silent thank you that both Whistler's intel about his son and Ernie's observation about his address change had been spot on. "So," she asked, "how do your wife and kids feel about living in the city? It's got to be a big change from life on the North Shore."
"My wife likes the societal status that comes with having a large home in the city, though she misses the privacy of our little place in Haleiwa. And my kids love being in the center of all the action, but they do miss their friends and the lack of tourists on the more secluded beaches."
"So you sold your soul to the she devil, and in return you got to pay off your son's debts while increasing your societal status. Tell me Stuart, now that you're living with your gambling addicted son directly above a casino, how's that working out for you?"
"To be honest, putting up with Lena seemed like a minor inconvenience," he admitted, "but now? Between worrying about what Edgar is doing with that casino right downstairs, your team constantly giving me a hard time and Lena being her usual charming self, I'd give anything to just go back to my old post."
Oh Stuart, you broke so much faster than I'd anticipated.
"Treating my team like second rate flunkies to the SAC isn't helping your cause," she advised, "if you stop blindly following Van Buren they might ease up."
"I still have my orders," he insisted.
"Orders given only to make your every visit to our headquarters more miserable."
As he glowered she explained, "Lena knows, and my team knows that she knows, that they have clearances for one hundred percent of the material we've requested since you arrived. When are you going to stop being her puppet and start being the man that Director Mullins thinks he hired?"
Cry Me A River
Kate wasn't sure if it was the disappointing wine or the familiar, dimly lit setting of the bar or the fact that she believed her path to Oahu was opening up after her communication with Tennant, but either way she found herself listening to the profound proclamations and woeful admissions of her ex. What did I ever see in you?
As the rather plain looking woman prattled on about, well, whatever the hell she was rambling on about, Adele's "Rolling In The Deep" boomed from the speakers and Kate's thoughts drifted to a tropical island and a dimly lit bar where the most amazing woman she had ever seen had rocked her world and stolen her heart. Isn't it funny how a simple song can transport you to a different time, a different place? Lost in thoughts of of the gorgeous Texan, Kate didn't realize that a goofy smile was lighting up her face until she noticed Cara was staring at her with a hopeful expression and...wait, what is she saying?
"...so I figure, based on that smile on your face, that maybe you miss me too?"
Is she insane?
Glancing at the deluded woman as her expression transformed into a look of disdain, Kate allowed herself a moment to really consider everything that had happened between them, from their friendship to their hookup and eventual relationship, which ended with Cara's admitted betrayal. If you were shorter, darker, sassier. Maybe if you had an endearing little eyebrow crinkle, or a sexy drawl, or if the simple act of shaking your hand sent me reeling I might consider giving you another chance. But you're not her, you inspire nothing in me but mild annoyance.
"Say something," Cara implored, her hand reaching to cover the blonde's.
Kate recoiled, snatching her hand from the brunette's sweaty grip as she asked, "Are you insane?"
"Wow, okay, still mad," Cara replied as she clasped her hands together in front of her on the bar, "got it."
"I'm not mad," Kate sighed, "quite frankly, I'm not," she paused, gesturing with a hand in the air, "anything." How could I have ever settled for this? A half-assed relationship with a woman whose touch has never made me feel anything at all? God, I didn't know what passion looked or felt like until a stranger in a bar shook my hand. Dammit I miss her, miss feeling so alive.
"Cara, look," Kate offered as the other woman bristled, "us? We never should have happened. I know you think you ruined everything," she continued, finger in the air as the brunette opened her mouth to protest, "but the truth is that I never really felt anything to begin with. You just made me realize that this wasn't what I wanted."
"But you want her?" Cara snapped, "Don't you?"
"There is no her," Kate woefully admitted.
"But there was," the brunette growled, "deny it all you want, but I know you met someone on that damned island."
"Even if I did," Whistler replied, "this isn't about that."
"Then what's it about?" The brunette challenged.
"It's about the fact that I can't trust you."
"But you can trust her?" Cara spat, "A woman you met and jumped into bed with and walked away from without even getting her name?"
"How did you-"
"Because I know you Whistler, and I know that if you had her name or a way to contact her you wouldn't have said there is no her." Taking pity on the deflated blonde, Cara slid a shot in front of her and raised her own glass and said, "A toast, to you leaving the continent a saint and coming back as everything you claimed to hate about dirty little me."
"I'm nothing like you!"
"Aren't you? Aren't you the one who asked me if I even bothered to learn the names of the women I slept with?" The brunette challenged, "So tell me Kate, what is her name?"
"I'm not talking to you about what I did or did not do in Oahu," Kate said as she tossed back the whiskey.
"More like who you did or did not do," Cara smirked, "and before you deny it again, remember that Lena ran into your little Irish side piece in the elevator at the Ritz. Lena wasn't really that impressed, in fact she-"
"She hit on her and wasn't that impressed because the woman in the elevator shot her down," Kate scowled, remembering Siobhan's tale of sharing an elevator with the despicable woman.
"Wow," Cara smirked, "look at you, actually showing a spark of emotion when defending your lover."
"You have no idea what you're talking about," Kate replied with an exasperated eye roll, "so please, stop. You're just embarrassing yourself."
Stung, Cara snapped, "No, what's embarrassing is that you've got this random piece of ass so built up in your head that you haven't even considered what kind of woman would actually-"
"Shut up," Kate growled, "you don't get to talk about her. Ever."
"Tell me Kate," the brunette said with a sarcastic chuckle, "did you see where she lived? Meet her family? Did you learn anything about her life or her job or why she was on the island, or did you foolishly think that you weren't targeted because of your position in the intelligence community?"
Swallowing her own shot as Kate scowled, Cara offered, "Cheers, to the piece of ass you magically found on the island. Here's to hoping she wasn't a pro."
Disgusted and overwhelmed by the very real urge to show Cara's face what her fist had learned in field training, Kate rose from her seat and left.
Here's The Deal
It had been four and a half long, lonely, agonizingly empty months since Lucy had last seen the mysteriously sexy, ridiculously amazing and insanely gorgeous mainlander who had rocked her world and stolen her heart. Not for the first time, she wondered if Kate was even the woman's real name, while at the same time trying to determine whether she was a Katherine or a Kathryn or a Catherine. Did it really matter? For all you know she's Chloe Larssen, or married to Chloe Larssen. Why haven't you googled Chloe Larssen yet? Is it because you're afraid to-
"Lucy!" Tennant exclaimed, and the embarrassed young agent who had once again been caught daydreaming at work blushed and said, "Sorry boss, you said what?"
"I was saying that our new recruit Agent Molina will be here shortly. Jesse and I are headed to the crime scene, so I need you to stay here and greet him, give him the tour and make him feel at home. Once he's settled in I need you two to dig into the case files and see what you can find out about our hacker's next possible target."
"Yup, got it boss," she smiled, "meet, greet, dig. I put a request into DIA as well," she smirked, "so maybe he'll get to meet our little buddy today."
"Lucy, play nice," Tennant warned, though she was secretly amused by the amount of good-natured ribbing the young agent had taken it upon herself to give their new DIA liaison. "I can't help it," Lucy shrugged, "Little Stewie just asks for it."
"Be that as it may," Tennant chuckled, "maybe try to show him a little respect in front of the new guy?"
"Fine," Lucy pouted, "but you know Stewie boy is going to think I'm messing with him just by not messing with him."
A little over an hour later and Lucy was just wrapping up the tour of the NCIS offices with the new guy, about to dig into their latest case when DIA liaison Stuart Flick walked in. "Stewie's here!" She gleefully exclaimed, swinging her legs on her desk as she smiled broadly at their clearly annoyed colleague.
"Please stop calling me that!" He snapped, and it was clear to Molina that this was an ongoing argument between the two agents. "Alfonso Molina," he stated as he offered his hand to the newcomer, "and you are?"
"DIA Officer Stuart Flick," the annoying little company man replied as he shook the offered hand, "so nice to finally meet an adult in this office."
Lucy glared at the two men, deciding then and there that neither of them were going to be acceptable in the long run. "Stewie, Alfie, now that you're BFF's, can we get on to why you're here?"
When Flick glared at her she looked at an equally annoyed Molina and explained, "Stewie, I mean Stuart, doesn't like to share intel with anyone but the boss. So," she surmised as she bounced off of her desk and onto the ground, "I'm pretty sure he's going to turn around and leave with that "top secret for the SAC's eyes only" file he's clutching in his sweaty little hand. Then he'll very formally request to be contacted when Tennant returns so he can hand it to her, at which time she'll not even glance at it before she hands it to me. Am I getting warm, Stu?"
Turning on his heel and leaving, he tossed back over his shoulder, "That apartment is soooo not worth it!" while a completely confused but highly amused Lucy watched him go.
"What? Was it something I said?" She asked, hands in the air as Molina leveled her with a glare of his own and growled, "Don't you ever call me Alfie again."
"Seriously?" Lucy said with a side-eyed smile, "look, I didn't mean anything by it, I just-"
"I don't care what you meant, little girl, and I don't care why you said it. Do it again," he warned, "and you'll find out why."
Let's Hear It For The Girl
"DIA Whistler, let me be the first to congratulate you and your team."
"Thank you," Kate smiled in response to the praise from FBI Special Agent Craig Wright, a colleague who she had worked with on a case early in her DIA career and greatly respected, "just doing our job sir."
"Be that as it may, nobody in your position has ever done it better, and that is a reflection of your leadership."
Smiling as she accepted the praise, she was surprised when he asked her to meet him for lunch. "I just need to shuffle a few things, but I think I can make it for eleven," she offered, "can I ask what this is regarding?"
"I just wanted to pick your brain while I still can," he admitted, "I hope that's okay?"
She readily agreed and called on James to rearrange her schedule, and once that was squared away she took a few minutes to ponder what this meeting with Agent Wright was really about. Is he going to offer me a promotion, or maybe recommend I send Seth for field training? That would put him on the track to a promotion which would be great for him, though I'd miss him. Why'd he say "while I still can"? Maybe he's going to offer me a relocation and Seth a promotion once I leave?
Relaxing and allowing herself to daydream about returning to Honolulu, she smiled as familiar images of her time there danced through her mind. The daydream was always the same, she'd take a taxi from the airport and on the way to her hotel she'd ask the driver to make a quick stop. Sometimes it was at Leonard's for malasadas, sometimes it was at the food truck park for an acai bowl and sometimes it was at the bar for whatever was on the chalkboard menu. No matter what the scenario, it always involved bumping into Lucy, who never hesitated to run across the space between them and launch herself into the arms that ached to hold her.
It was just about eleven o'clock when she pulled into the parking lot of the diner, and Kate was not surprised at all to see Agent Wright already in a window booth sipping on a steaming mug of coffee. "Agent Wright," she greeted as she approached, and he stood and shook her hand in greeting. "DIA Whistler," he smiled, "so nice to see you again. Tell me, how is that old bastard Baldwin treating you?"
"Great," a surprised Whistler replied, "really great, actually. For the most part he allows me free rein and stays out of my way, but when I need him he's there. Why do you ask?"
"Well," he answered as he sighed and took his seat, "there's been some talk that Baldwin is about to retire. In truth, that rumor has been circulating for years," he admitted, "but the brass has been stubborn about letting him go when there were no solid candidates to take his place. They've calmed down considerably since you replaced Van Buren, but-"
Just at that moment the waitress appeared, and as Kate ordered her own coffee it was written all over her face that she was trying to determine why Wright had decided to tell her about Baldwin.
"Relax," Wright chuckled, "you've got talent, but definitely not enough experience to take on the Director's office."
"Then why did you-"
"Ask for your help? Because I respect your opinion," he admitted, "and I wanted to get your input on who you'd like to see take the position."
"Honestly? I can work with anyone," Kate replied.
"Considering that you thrived under Van Buren, I believe that," he chuckled, "and I also believe that if the rumors are true I'm about to lose the ability to just casually invite you to lunch."
Surprised by the second comment about her not being in DC any more Kate asked, "Rumors?"
"You haven't heard?" He asked skeptically.
When she shook her head no he explained, "You made a real impression on NCIS Special Agent in Charge Tennant at that conference in Honolulu last year, and she's been very vocal about the fact that she thinks you need to be considered for the DIA liaison position at Pearl."
An uncharacteristic break in her professional mask allowed the most enigmatic, magnificent smile the man across the table from her had ever seen to break out on her face, and as she struggled to contain her joy she asked, "Really?"
"Judging by that reaction I don't think I'll have you here much longer," he sighed, "so let me show you the short list of candidates we have for the role..."
After lunch Kate returned to the office where she was buried in work for the rest of the afternoon, and she was surprised to see that it was actually after seven when she finally wrapped up for the day. Just another day in paradise, she thought as she rose and stretched, that glorious smile erupting on her face again as she allowed herself to believe that Agent Wright's admission might be true. Visions of Lucy danced in her head as she closed her eyes and imagined sunny beaches and lush green mountains and the taste of frozen tropical drinks as the sexiest drawl she'd ever heard painted her ears. Rolling her eyes when her phone vibrated and popped her fantasy bubble, she scowled when she saw Cara's name appear on the screen. Nope, not today she thought as she reached to clear the message from her phone, you don't get to steal my joy today.
Trouble In Paradise
Ever since that first afternoon in the bullpen with Flick and Molina Lucy had been on edge around their abrasive new agent. He oozed insolence and his every word and action dripped with chauvinistic sarcasm, and she wondered again for perhaps the hundredth time how in the world a woman she so deeply respected could have gotten it so very, very wrong. Sitting in her chair and mindlessly tapping a pencil on her desk, her nervous energy radiated across the room until Jesse finally had enough and implored, "Lucy, please, just go in there and tell her!"
"Boss, can I talk to you for a minute?" Lucy asked as she walked into Tennant's office, and the older woman nodded her assent as the young agent shut the door and took a seat. "So, every time I sit in this chair, I feel this ache in the pit of my stomach, like what's about to happen is going to forever change my reality," Lucy admitted.
"Relax, Lucy," Tennant smiled, "I'm not the principal and you're not a child."
"I don't really want? To have this conversation," the young Texan admitted, "but I feel like I need to."
Smiling sympathetically at her clearly troubled young charge, Tennant rounded the desk and took a seat beside her and said, "Whatever it is, just tell me."
"I, uhm, I," Lucy said and sighed deeply, "ahh okay, so, Molina? The other day, when he met Flick, he definitely gave off a boys club vibe and he kind of, threatened me?"
"Threatened how?"
Once Lucy relayed the details of that uncomfortable conversation, Tennant, temper rising, pushed down her own reaction in order to reassure the young woman. "I'll handle it," she promised, "and I'm sorry this happened to you." Looking past Lucy as she noticed Molina entering the bullpen, she offered, "Why don't you go see if Ernie has anything on that laptop?"
Smiling in relief, Lucy rose and, escorted out of the office by Tennant's calming presence, headed for the lair.
"Alfonso, can you head over to K-BAY and see what the commander has for us?" Tennant asked, and as he skeptically watched Agent Tara exit the bullpen he clenched his jaw and said, "Sure."
"Thank you," Tennant smiled, leaning on the door jamb as he stood and left. "Jesse?"
"Yeah boss?"
"War room."
a hui hou