Six Months, Two States
Disclaimer: The characters belong to the brilliant creative team of NCIS: Hawaii and no profit has been made from this story. Also, F you CBS, Paramount plus and everyone else who had a hand in screwing over the greatest cast in the history of network tv. #SaveNCISHawaii
A/N: So yeah, it's been a minute huh? Life and travels kind of got in the way, but this story and our girls have been my constant companions through the ups and downs these last few months have thrown at me. This summer has taken me from the east coast to the Na Pali Coast and to a dozen fascinating spots in between, and all of that traveling (and lack of service!) definitely interfered with my creative process. However, I also experienced the joy of standing in Kacy's footsteps - I KNOW, RIGHT? And drew some serious inspiration from the experiences I had in and around Honolulu. I hope y'all are still enjoying this as much as I'm still enjoying writing it.
PS: Let's ride!
There She Goes
After Heather Boone dropped in on her that afternoon Lucy felt terrible for lying about her dinner plans, and the longer she sat there and tried to focus on her shows the dirtier her deception felt. She had so much respect for the older woman who had been the first to make her feel like she was part of a family back when she had just arrived on the island, and she hated the thought of even telling a little white lie to the one person who had nothing to gain by making her feel safe and accepted. What if she's sitting out there waiting to see if I leave? What if I go to work on Monday and Jesse asks about my night and I have to lie? I'm the worst liar, there's no way he won't see right through me. Then he'll tell her and she'll know I didn't tell the truth. Turning up the volume she tried to ignore the guilt that was eating away at her, and as she sat and stared defiantly at the fridge she wondered how in the hell a simple plate of food could make her feel like she had just committed a mortal sin. This week on the Tell-Tale Plate, Lucy stays on the couch and gets caught in a lie.
"Fine!" She huffed in exasperation as she stood up and turned off the tv, "I'll go to dinner. I'll talk to people." Opening the fridge, she glared at the foil wrapped dish and laughed out loud at the neatly handwritten reheating instructions on the shiny silver surface. She knows me so well.
Driven by equal parts guilt and the fear of being found out she quickly freshened up and headed to her local bar, figuring that it counted as dinner plans even if all it entailed was eating whatever Miguel had come up with for his chalkboard special that day. She took an Uber this time, determined to avoid the awkwardness of her return home after her last embarrassing exit, and after tipping the driver she got out and walked up to the door. Pausing in front of the entrance, she took a moment to read the chef's special. "Blackened ahi sliders served island style" and "Honolulu's angriest ahi dip" beckoned from the brightly colored sandwich board, and she scowled as she recalled Kate's admission that the sign had been the reason she'd chosen that bar for dinner on the day they'd met. I really hate that chalkboard. I can't look at it without thinking of her. Everything here reminds me of her. Sighing, she recalled a recent case that had involved a psychiatrist who had been fully invested in the belief that one could rewire their reality by doing mundane, everyday things from a different perspective, which she had scoffed at and dismissed as silly at the time. Now? What the hell, can't hurt to try. So she took the long way around to the beach front entrance that she had never used before and ran into a surprised Dani, the new bartender that Miguel had hired during her initial boycott of all things related to Kate.
"Hey," the raven haired beauty with the ice blue eyes greeted, "haven't seen you in a while. What brings you out tonight?"
I have a plate of food made and delivered with love silently judging me from my fridge, so I had to leave the house for a meal to make it stop staring at me. "Didn't feel like cooking," Lucy lied, "and I didn't want to eat a whole pizza by myself - though I totally could," she chuckled, "so I figured I'd see what was on the menu tonight. Is uh," she hedged as she looked through the doorway past the other woman and saw none of the usual crowd, "is Trig or Coral around?"
"Trig was in this afternoon, said he had a date tonight," Dani replied, "and Coral has her husband's retirement party, but said she might stop by after."
"Oh. Okay well, how do the sliders look?"
"Amazing," Dani admitted.
"And by island style he means?" Lucy asked, her skepticism written all over her face.
"He's dressing them with house made pineapple salsa and hot honey drizzle. I was actually just about to clock out and grab a plate with a side of dip, would you like to join me?"
No. Absolutely not. I don't like the way you look at me, you seem nice but I am just not interested, don't want to give you the wrong idea by saying yes. Plus I embarrassed myself the first time we met, and-
"Where'd he get the pineapples for the salsa?"
"Maui Gold."
Dammit, the good stuff.
"He get the Maui onions too?"
"Yep, and the rest of the ingredients from the farmer's market."
Sonofabitch I'm in. But-
"Look, I can't eat all that dip by myself, and if you're hesitant because of what happened last time?" Dani offered, "Don't be. The guys filled me in, and I get it. If you give me a chance you'll find that I don't judge, and in fact I'm going through a similar situation myself right now."
"You fell for a tourist?" Lucy challenged.
"I did."
"And she ruined this island for you?"
"She did."
"And you don't even know her last name?"
"Oh no, I know her name, and her phone number," Dani admitted, "we kept in contact."
"And?" Lucy prompted, actually interested in hearing from someone who had made the choice she hadn't.
"And I'm starving. Can I tell you all about it while we eat?"
After they were seated with their meal and Lucy was more relaxed in her little foodie heaven (the sliders were, indeed, to die for) Dani gave her a nervous smile and launched into her tale. "I met Claudia a little over a year ago, right after I first started working at Barefoot. She was indescribably hot, the sexiest human I had ever seen, and that night all eyes were on her. I'm not exaggerating when I say that everyone inside that place wanted her, hell, even the straight girls couldn't stop looking at her, so imagine my surprise when she came onto me. After flirting with me every time she ordered a drink she must have overheard me say that my shift was over, and she didn't care that everyone in that bar was watching as she literally dragged me onto the dance floor. I don't know if it was the music or the liquor or the moonlight, all I know is that I had never wanted anything the way that I wanted her in that moment, and I couldn't believe that she actually wanted me too."
"Yeah, I know that feeling," Lucy admitted, eyes downcast as she listened to the story that was so similar to her own.
"She was staying in an airbnb with her family, so we went back to my place," Dani said with an almost embarrassed smile, "and over the next twenty-four hours we only paused to eat. She destroyed everything I knew about passion, desire, making love," she sighed, "and it was so, I don't know, easy? With her, almost like we'd been made to be together, ya know?"
"Do I ever," Lucy nodded, her mind wandering to that first passion fueled night with Kate, "that's exactly how it felt with - wait, her family was here?"
"Yep, she was here for her sister's wedding. So that Sunday morning she woke me up to ask me to go to breakfast and I was confused because, why would we want to go anywhere that required clothes? But I agreed and before I knew it I was at Duke's, having the breakfast buffet with her entire family. They-"
"She didn't warn you?" An incredulous Lucy asked.
"She did not, but it wasn't horrible at all. They were actually really cool, and I fell for her even harder once I got to know them. From the way they talked and the way she behaved that week I honestly believed that it was the real thing, that despite the distance we would somehow figure it out and find a way to be together. It was the hardest I'd ever cried at a wedding," she admitted, "because I knew she'd be leaving in the morning. And when morning came and she left? I thought I would die."
"I resemble that remark," Lucy sympathized, "but at least you could call her, right?"
"Right," Dani responded, "which was amazing at first. We would text wildly inappropriate messages back and forth all day long, then at night we would call or Facetime and watch our favorite shows together or just talk until we fell asleep. We made all kinds of promises about how hard we were working to get the money to get her back here for a visit, or me there, and of what we would do when we finally saw each other again," Dani sighed, seeming lost in the memories.
"So what happened?" Lucy prodded.
"One night I called and she didn't answer. This wasn't unusual, because she works odd hours and I figured she would just call back when she was free, but she didn't. Then the next day I got a text that she hadn't been feeling well and had gone to bed early, which is totally plausible since she's in Arizona and there's a three hour time difference."
"Right," Lucy agreed, "my family is in Texas and that time difference does make communication difficult at times. But you said y'all had been in constant contact up until that point?"
"Yes, so I had a sinking feeling something wasn't quite true about what she was telling me. Then another couple of days went by and her texts, which were sporadic at best, started to seem, I don't know, forced? Like she was sending them out of duty instead of desire, so I called her out on it and asked what was going on. Her response," Dani said as she wiped sudden tears from her face, "was that she was just busy, that I was too needy and didn't respect how long or how hard her work hours were. That hurt, so I backed off and waited for her to reach out first, but after a full week went by with nothing more than a like on my insta post I finally caved in and called her."
"And?"
"And a strange woman answered the phone."
Lucy couldn't help it, she actually gasped in horrified response.
"Yeah, I'll never forget that conversation," Dani admitted with an ironic chuckle, then in a mock valley girl accent she stated, "Hey babe, there's a Dani on the phone for you? Did you want to talk to her or-"
"Then she was on the phone, explaining that she didn't want to hurt me but she was lonely, missed being touched. The worst part is, I actually understood where she was coming from. I know I'm no ten, but her? She's an eleven," Dani said as she nodded her head, "and I also knew, from that first night, that she was the type of woman whose sexual appetite needed to be fed. She wanted it too much, too often, for me to expect her to go home and go without, whereas I? I would have waited forever for her."
She paused then, taking a sip of her beer as she looked into compassionate brown eyes full of empathy and understanding. "Staying in contact, in retrospect, is the worst thing I could have done, and I wish I'd had the courage to just end it like you did, you know? Let it be a passionate, illicit, beautiful affair that was over as fast as it started. I have a lot of respect for you, Lucy, which is why I wanted to meet you so badly."
Listening to the forlorn bartender's story felt like watching a horror movie for Lucy, who had wrestled every single day for the past ten weeks with thoughts of that exact same scenario playing out in Kate's life on the mainland. "I'm sorry I judged you," she offered, "and I'm sorry that happened to you." Placing a comforting hand on top of the other woman's, she was almost disappointed to feel nothing from the touch. "Is that why you left Barefoot?"
"It is," Dani admitted, "I couldn't work every day in a place that was, I don't know, infected? By her. It's also why I moved into an apartment I couldn't afford and currently tolerate a less than ideal roommate. Speaking of which," she groaned as she looked past Lucy at the woman walking toward them, "here she comes now. Hey Key, what are you doing here?"
"I heard my girl got off early and there were killah slidahs in da housssee," the newcomer replied as she eyed Lucy, slid into the booth beside Dani and dipped a crispy wonton chip into the rapidly disappearing bowl of angry ahi dip.
"Lucy, meet my roommate, the feckless foodie freeloader who has no problem eating me out of house and home."
Chewing on another chip, the newcomer quipped, "You're just salty I'm not eatin' you out," then snapped her fingers at Antonio and ordered a plate of sliders as Lucy's jaw dropped in horrified response to the brash newcomer.
"Kiana Quinn," she stated as she took a swig of Dani's beer and offered her hand in greeting, "are you gonna finish that slidah?"
"I am?" Lucy responded, taking the offered hand.
"Answers in the form of a question? Odd," Kiana observed, "so what's your deal?"
What's my deal? My deal is that I'm madly in love with a ghost of a memory that's disappearing a little more each day, falling away in tiny shreds as details begin to fade. Would I even recognize her voice? If I saw her, would I know it was her? It's not fair that it's getting harder and harder to remember her, because everyone I meet gets measured up against her. So my deal is that I'm sitting here with you and Dani, literally surrounded by gorgeous women, and all I can think about is how broken Dani is and how rude you are and how neither of you can hold a candle to her. "Just a neighborhood girl looking for a good meal," Lucy lied, "I've been coming here regularly since I moved to the island."
"When was that?" Kiana asked around a mouthful of food.
"It's been almost a year now," Lucy replied, "I came here for a temporary assignment and bounced from one short term lease to another, but I've always stuck to this neighborhood."
"I haven't seen you around since Dani started here," Kiana countered, green eyes narrowed with doubt as she eyed the petite Texan, "and that's been at least a few months."
"I took a little break from the bar scene," Lucy stammered, I-"
"She got hurt at work and was out of commission for a little while," Dani interjected, rescuing Lucy from the truth as she continued, "remember I told you about Trig and Coral's friend that had returned a little while back?"
"No," Kiana flatly stated as she scrutinized the two women, "are you guys sleepin' together?"
"NO!" Dani and Lucy replied in unison, and a moment too late Lucy saw the smirk and realized that the mocha skinned islander was just messing with them.
Green eyes sparkling mischievously, Kiana looked back and forth between the two of them and said, "Well maybe you should."
"Jesus Kiana," Dani snapped, "Lucy and I just met! What the hell is wrong with you?"
"Didn't you jump straight into bed with that mainlander who broke your heart?" Kiana challenged, and it was obvious that she didn't care at all that she was hurting Dani's feelings.
"Shut up Quinn," Dani warned, and it was clear to Lucy that they'd had this argument before.
"I'm just sayin'," Kiana prodded, "seems like-oh shit, wait, did you say Lucy? Like, the Lucy you and Antonio had to carry outta here?"
"Hey!" Lucy defended, "I walked out of here on my own two feet!"
"If you say so," Kiana shrugged, then muttered under her breath, "but that's not the way I heard it."
Glaring at the offensive woman, Lucy considered arguing her point before realizing that was exactly what Kiana wanted. "Since I just met you, I'm going to go ahead and let that slide," Lucy smiled, scrutinizing the other woman who was obnoxiously inhaling her dinner, "but your line of questioning has me wondering. Tell me, Kiana Quinn, have you ever fallen for a tourist before?"
"Hooked up with? Yeah," Quinn admitted, "fallen for?" She said with an exaggerated eye roll, "Absolutely not."
As they sat and talked Lucy discovered that Antonio had an embarrassingly obvious crush on Kiana, who liked herself almost as much as she liked food. She was a true local, as her mother was an islander whose roots went the whole way back to the original Polynesian settlers, while her father was an Irish cop from New York City who had been assigned to a task force on the island in the eighties. According to Dani her roommate had inherited her intelligence and beauty from her mother, while she got her appetite and abrasive behavior from her father.
"I also got my daddy's green eyes," Kiana said smugly, "and there's not a person with a pulse on this island that can resist them."
"Whoa, let me get this straight," Lucy said as she stared incredulously at the boorish woman, "you think we're pathetic for falling for mainlanders, but you wouldn't even exist if your mother hadn't fallen for one?"
"You two fell for tourists," Quinn retorted, "my father was a transplant who adopted this island as his home."
"If you say so," Lucy smirked, "but that's not how it sounds to me."
"Whatever," Kiana growled as she abruptly stood and stepped away from the table, "I think we need another round."
"Was it something I said?" Lucy innocently asked, hands up in the air as the islander swiftly marched away.
"Oh my god Lucy, nobody's ever thrown her own words back at her like that before," Dani hooted, slapping the table as she laughed out loud, "I've never seen her so pissed!"
"Wait until I tell her I have a pulse and those green eyes don't do a thing for me," Lucy chuckled, "that'll really get her going."
"Probably," Dani agreed, "but I'm pretty sure she isn't going to hit on you. Him," she explained as she pointed across the bar at the young surfer Kiana was talking to, "I'm not so sure about."
"I'll pray for him," Lucy laughed, "or maybe I'll go over there and teach him how to shut her up."
"That was pretty amazing," the young bartender admitted, blue eyes sparkling as she smiled at the chuckling Texan, "usually people just back down from her."
"Well if she's always this obnoxious and unable to take a joke I can see why," Lucy observed, "and I might be small, but I don't back down from anyone."
"You ARE a bull rider, aren't you?"
Rolling her eyes and groaning in disgust, Lucy growled, "I swear to god if Coral tells one more person that-"
"Just sayin', it fits," Dani shrugged, then lowering her voice she added, "and it's also kinda hot."
"Okay so anyhow," Lucy blushed, "I know you have to live with her, so I'm, sorry? I didn't mean to offend her, but she's-"
"A lot," Dani finished, "I know, but she'll be fine."
"You sure?"
"I think so," Dani admitted, "I've honestly never seen her react like that before, but-"
"Wait, really?" Lucy skeptically asked.
"Yeah, really," the bartender responded, "I don't know what got into her tonight."
Okay Kiana Quinn, what is your deal?
In truth Kiana was stunning, as long as she kept her mouth shut. She had flawless dark skin and sparkling green eyes with a gloriously thick shock of black curls crowning her head. Her perfectly sculpted body was clad in teeny tiny shorts and a form fitting tank top that left nothing to the imagination, yet all Lucy could think about when she looked at her were her ignorant comments and the way she had so rudely snapped her fingers at Antonio. Am I even gay anymore? When Kiana returned and pointed out the extremely handsome guy who had just hit on her while she was ordering their drinks Lucy barely looked and thought, yep, still gay.
"You don't think he's hot?" Kiana asked.
"Not really my type," Lucy shrugged, "but you should go for it."
"So what is your type, Lucy?"
Tall, blonde, indescribably beautiful. Endlessly long legs and impossibly soft skin and the most radiant smile, the whole island lit up when she smiled, and- "I don't really have a type? But I'm definitely not attracted to men, so..." She trailed off with a shrug, thinking how ironic it was that before Kate she had mostly dated women more like Kiana. In all honesty, the first girl who had broken her heart, Marcella, closely resembled Kiana, and from behind they looked exactly the same.
"Well it might be your lucky night then," Kiana winked, looking sideways at Dani and adding, "you never know what hookups might happen with a little alcohol and a little magic on the dance floor. Speaking of which, are you two lady lovers ready to dance?"
"Thanks, but I'll pass," Lucy replied, "it's been a long day and now I'm just ready for my pjs and my couch."
"You say that now," Kiana grinned, "just wait until you see our moves."
"Sorry Lucy," Dani said as she glared at her roommate, "she's a mess, but she really does know how to have a good time."
"Just wait for it," Kiana chuckled as she finished her meal, polished off Dani's and stared disappointingly at Lucy's now empty plate, "any minute now Antonio will be out here feeding the jukebox and trying to grind on me. Happens every week," she smugly explained, "but Miguel always busts him, then Dani and I end up putting on a show that drives the poor boy wild."
"Not cool," Lucy replied, clearly disgusted, "he's a good guy, and he's my friend."
"That he may be," Kiana said condescendingly, "but I'm the one he wants to get friendly with." Smirking, she rose from her seat and sauntered up to the bar.
"Eww," Lucy shivered, then turning her gaze on Dani she said, "and shame on you for going along with it."
"Claudia's not the only one who misses human contact," Dani sighed wistfully, her eyes on her roommate as the boorish woman leaned across the bar and flirted with the young server who gladly handed over a free round of drinks.
"See?" Kiana said as she returned to the table and distributed the bottles, "A little T, a little A, and it's drinks on the house for me and my friends."
"Gross," Lucy replied, but Kiana just chuckled and said, "Drink up princess, I'll grab another round after we get him worked up."
Soon Antonio, who had clearly done this before, was pumping quarters into the jukebox and encouraging the trio to join him on the dance floor. Lucy was hesitant at first, but she could see how much it meant to him, so she got up against her better judgement and danced. At first she was wooden, reserved, but as the music pulsed and she felt her body move she loosened up and realized that she really was tired of being depressed and alone all the time. At one point some old school hip hop blasted from the speakers, and she found herself pressed between Kiana and Dani in a very sexy tangle of roaming hands and sweaty skin that made her realize how damn much she also missed physical contact. When the song ended Kiana didn't back off, and as a clearly surprised Dani watched them the islander boldly spun Lucy around to face her, catching the surprised Texan mid-spin and pulling her in close. "Damn Lucy," she panted, her breath hot on Lucy's face, "I was just trying to mess with 'Tonio, but-" The words were cut off by the sound of Kiana's phone, which erupted with an emergency alert pulling her back to work.
In the heat of the moment a stunned Lucy didn't answer, and before she could think too deeply about it or formulate a response Kiana was gone.
Antonio, who had missed the entire interaction, was beaming as he approached his friend and his co-worker. "That was awesome!" He proclaimed, "I think she's finally starting to see me as something more than just the guy who works at the bar."
"Tonio!" Miguel barked, and as the young server walked away Lucy looked at Dani and said, "Okay, well..."
"Yeah," Dani agreed, scratching her head and adding, "so that happened. Look Lucy, I'm sorry, I never would have thought-"
"Yeah me either," Lucy said on a shaky breath, "Antonio really seems to like her, and I really don't. I also refuse to be the reason she breaks his heart," she expounded, "he's a great guy and he's been a solid friend, sooo..."
"I'll talk to her, ok?" Dani offered.
"Yeah, thanks," Lucy replied, "and can you tell her that-"
Placing a sympathetic hand on her shoulder, Dani promised, "I'll tell her."
Lucy smiled in thanks and asked, "Hey, what does she do?"
"Kiana?"
"Yeah, I just realized she bolted when her phone went off. There aren't many jobs that require that level of response, so I'm thinking she must be some sort of first responder."
"Firefighter," Dani replied, "and up until five minutes ago I'd have said she was one of the few straight female firefighters on the island."
"Oooookay well," Lucy nervously deflected, "another beer?"
"Sure, but only if you let me buy," Dani laughed, "after subjecting you to hurricane Kiana it's the least I can do."
Lucy agreed, and as they approached the mahogany counter she was caught off guard as her new friend stated, "So, I told you about my experience, but you never did tell me about yours. Did you want to talk about it, or?"
At Lucy's stricken expression she softly suggested, "You don't have to if you don't want to, but sometimes just telling your story helps."
Lucy clutched the edge of the bar, her expression grave as she considered how to respond. Scrunching up her nose and pursing her lips she decided, "We're going to need shots. Miguel!"
"Just leave the bottle," Lucy instructed as Miguel poured out two shots, but he wisely refused as he watched the pair down their first round. "Hit us again," she sweetly asked, and he poured another round. "Whooo!" She exclaimed as she finished her second shot, smiling as she felt the alcohol start to take the edge off of her nerves. Two more shots and she was ready, sipping on her beer as she started her tale. "So it was late afternoon, I had just finished a grueling double shift and I stopped here to have a drink and decompress before I went home to crash. The mainland dinner crowd was just filtering in and I was standing right there at the jukebox when-"
"How did you know it was the mainland crowd?" Dani interrupted.
"Because one to two o'clock is dinner time to them," Lucy stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "So," she continued, "I was picking out the playlist most likely to annoy Trig when the door opened and she walked in..."
There She Goes Again
Waves were killer today and the tropical storm that just blew through guarantees they'll be high through the weekend!
Kate smiled as she read the text from her new friend Chloe, the free-spirited surfer she had met on her recent trip to Florida. Sounds amazing, send pics! She replied, adding a surfer emoji and a smile.
Why don't you come over for the weekend and see for yourself? Chloe replied.
I really wish I could but I'm swamped at work. Maybe next weekend?
Ugh, that's what you said last weekend!
Truth be told, Kate had been in a permanently depressed state since that night she'd seen the fireworks in Waikiki on that livestream in Florida. It had been 3 months since she'd last seen Lucy. Three horribly long, lonely, desolate months of missing the most amazing woman she had ever met, and even though she knew that shutting down and refusing to enjoy the things she loved to do wouldn't ease the pain she just couldn't bring herself to do anything but work.
So why don't you do something about it?
The nagging idea of using her vast resources to track Lucy down played hard on her psyche, and she was surprised to find that as time went on the urge to abuse her power got stronger instead of weaker. She wondered, as she so often had since returning from that trip to the Pacific, if Lucy was really that special, or if it was something more to do with the island charm that had her romanticizing the entire affair in a way that she wouldn't have done if she'd met the sassy Texan here in DC. Was she really that remarkable, that enchanting, that unforgettable?
Yes, she thought as she reflected on the way her entire body screamed in response to even the most innocent touch from the intoxicating Texan, yes she was. Dammit.
In truth, the further she got from that trip the more the little details started to fade. Any time she heard a feminine voice with that distinctive Texas drawl her head snapped around to see if it was Lucy, most recently when she was at a business lunch with DIA Director Baldwin. "Everything ok?" He'd asked, concern in his voice as he scanned the room and reached for his gun. "Yeah I just thought I heard someone I knew," she replied, embarrassment coloring her tone as she realized how ridiculous her reaction had been. You're in the middle of DC, thousands of miles away from her. When are you going to stop pretending that she might magically appear?
Truth be told, she often wondered if she would even recognize the tiny brunette's voice if she heard it, or if she'd know her if she passed her on the street. What was it that song said about time playing tricks on a memory? Making people forget things they knew?
Her phone ringing snapped her out of her reverie, and when Seth explained that his day was being disrupted by a suddenly cooperative witness who had finally agreed to sit with a sketch artist she decided that she needed something concrete to do to take her mind off of Lucy, so she replied, "I'm actually free this afternoon, why don't you let me take him?"
A grateful Seth admitted that he had a lot going on and could really use the break today, so he sent her the witness's number and advised, "He's a little skittish, so good luck."
Aided by two of DC's finest, Kate escorted their witness to the federal building where the sketch artist was waiting. After a few false starts and head scratching moments, they finally had a rendering of who their witness was certain he had seen. "Wow, that's a really great portrait," Kate admitted as she looked back and forth between the surveillance photo she had of their suspect and the artist's version, who had no idea that the photo existed, "and all of that from just a description? You're really good," she smiled. Sending the witness away with his armed escort, Kate turned toward Peter, the artist with the charcoal stained hands and asked, "Where did you study?"
As they talked Peter warmed up to the inquisitive DIA Officer, who was quite frankly the most beautiful woman he had ever met, and he suspected from past experience that she was more interested in his skill than in truly getting to know him. "So," he said as he smiled affably and crossed his arms, "before I pack up my pencils and scrub this charcoal off my hands, who did you want me to sketch?"
Caught, realizing how foolish entertaining that notion had been, Kate stammered, "No-noone! I, I honestly just wanted to hear about-"
"About my life, my history, my relationship status?" he asked, "Because if you are, then I'm going to have to admit that I've been trying to figure out how to ask you out ever since you walked in that door."
"I'm flattered," the statuesque blonde admitted, "but I'm just coming off of a really, complicated? Relationship, and-"
"He's a fool."
We were both fools. "Be that as it may," Kate deflected, wondering why she hadn't corrected to "she", "I didn't mean to give you the wrong impression. I really am impressed by your work."
"In my experience, nobody cares that much about the sketch artist until they need the sketch artist," he chuckled, "but it's ok," he soothed as her face turned beet red, "I like you. If you change your mind, call me, I'd be happy to help."
Properly chagrined, she ducked her head and said, "Thank you," then quickly exited before she gave into the urge to have him capture Lucy's likeness before even more of the memories faded away. How could I ever forget those deep, dark expressive eyes? Those lips, so perfectly soft, and that adorable little eyebrow crinkle? How would one even describe that feature, so unique to that impossibly perfect, exquisitely beautiful face? God, you've got it bad Whistler, and you're a fool for just letting her go.
Not for the first time, she tried to imagine what the sassy Texan was doing right now. Every time she thought about her she wondered, is she thinking about me? She wondered if she was working too much, wondered where she took her kickboxing lessons and wondered if she'd acquired any more unsightly bruises. Does she get lost in thought like I do? Space out during work or sparring sessions, sometimes forget where she is because a scent or a sound or a taste triggers memories that are so vivid it's like being back in that moment? Does she-
"I couldn't believe it was true so I had to come and see it for myself! Katherine Marie Whistler, the very best lawyer I've ever seen in action, actually gave it up to go and be a fed?"
Turning at the sound of the heavily accented words, Kate snapped back to reality as she recognized the voice of the only true friend she had made in law school. "Ivana Jelena Jankovic, what in the world are you doing in a government building in D.C.?"
"Family business," the statuesque blonde with the twinkling blue eyes explained as she warmly hugged the DIA officer, "the question is, what are you doing here?"
"Trying to make a difference," Kate replied, and Ivana's expression softened as she recalled the day the outstanding law student had received the news that had forever altered the course of her life.
"You never had a problem making a difference as a lawyer," Ivana countered, "in fact, you were the only one good enough to get my wayward baby brother out of prison and safely back home to Serbia."
"In his defense," Whistler offered, "who would have thought that just sitting on a sidewalk in "the land of the free" could get you thrown into jail?"
"I don't think it was the sitting on the sidewalk as much as it was the way he responded when the officer told them to move," the foreigner admitted, "thank god for you and your language barrier defense! It was brilliant," Jankovic beamed, remembering that day in a Nevada courtroom when she had been certain her baby brother was going to be locked up for the simple act of sitting on the sidewalk until Kate shredded the prosecution with her defense strategy.
"That was a good day," Kate smiled, "and a lucky break for him that I happened to be doing an internship in Vegas. But," she said as she thought back on that day, "I still don't think he should have been banned from visiting Reno."
"Denied access to one American city instead of six months in jail and a criminal record?" The Serb clipped, "We'll take it! So, what does the rest of your day look like? Do you have a hot date lined up for your Friday night, or are you free to join an old friend for dinner?"
"I'm actually just wrapping up here," Kate replied, "I can meet you at your hotel in an hour?"
"Sounds great," Ivana replied, "I'm at the Westin."
Exactly an hour later Kate was sitting at the bar in the hotel's restaurant waiting for her friend to join her, and she couldn't help but let her mind wander to the last time she'd been in a hotel bar waiting for dinner. She would never, ever forget the vision of Lucy dressed in that perfectly tailored white dress, wearing those sexy heels that raised her height and perfectly accentuated her glorious bottom. As she sipped on her drink she allowed herself to indulge in the memories of that night, from dinner to dancing to pizza and fireworks on the balcony, then-
"Whoever she is, I think I need to meet her," Ivana chuckled as she took a seat next to Kate at the bar, "especially if she makes you smile like that."
"Come again?" Kate asked, blushing as she realized she'd been caught daydreaming about Lucy.
"I haven't seen you smile like that since before Noah died," Jankovic said as she placed a sympathetic hand on Kate's arm, "so whoever it is that brought that smile back? I want to meet her."
"And I'd love to introduce you," Kate honestly replied, "but I'm afraid that's not currently possible."
"She a felon?"
"No!"
"CIA operative currently on assignment? Black ops squad member? Wait, I know! Witness protection?" Ivana guessed in rapid fire succession, not pausing even a second to give Kate a chance to reply.
"Are you done?" Kate asked.
"I am," Ivana chuckled, "but am I right?"
"No, no and no," Whistler replied, "and when I tell you what happened you're going to wonder who the hell I am and ask what I did with the real Kate Whistler. So I was in Hawaii for a meeting..."
The Kindness of Strangers
"Wow," Dani said, aghast as Lucy finished her tale, "so that's it? You really just spent two nights, three days with this, by all accounts, ethereal goddess, then just kissed her goodbye and walked away?"
"I did."
"Wow. I can't even..."
"To be fair, I got a 911 call into work, so I had to go. I honestly believed that there was a slight chance I'd wrap it up and be back before she left," Lucy admitted, "but by the time I finished working that day she was long gone."
"Wasn't that hard?"
"What do you think?"
"I think that you're a lot stronger than me," Dani admitted as she drained her third glass of whiskey, which she had switched to when Miguel refused to keep pouring shots, "there's no way I could have done that."
"Yeah well, it wasn't easy," Lucy sighed, her eyes taking on a faraway look as she thought back on that day, to that last perfect afternoon in Kate's hotel room when she had tied that anklet on and made the blonde promise not to forget her. "But it's for the best," she lied, "her life is there and mine is here and no amount of trying to make it work was feasible. She knew it, I knew it, and we both agreed from the start that all we had was two nights, three days. No strings, no promises, no hurt feelings."
"So if you went into it knowing that it had an expiration date, that probably made it even hotter," an inebriated Dani guessed, "maybe made it seem better than it actually was?"
Lucy went silent, considering the other woman's words. But then she remembered her instant reaction to the blonde's touch, the way that she had felt the most innocent handshake in every single part of her body and she thought no, absolutely not, what was between us was visceral and explosive and very, very real. "No," she finally answered, "I don't think it had anything to do with that at all. What was between us, Kate and I, it was indescribable, primal, like every single nerve ending was raw and exposed and screaming with satisfaction every time we touched."
"That's how Claudia made me feel," Dani sighed, and in her drunken state suggested, "but maybe it was situational? Like, that good because it was spontaneous and temporary and not actually about who I was with."
"I can't speak for you," Lucy replied, "but for me? It was definitely who I was with."
"Are you sure about that?" Dani asked, her voice dropping to a throaty whisper as she leaned in close enough for Lucy to smell the whiskey on her breath.
"Yes," Lucy insisted, suddenly uncomfortable in the other woman's presence, "absolutely."
"I can't say the same," Dani replied, her eyes traveling slowly over the tiny Texan's shapely body, "and as a woman who went through a similar experience, I think it might be a good idea if we, you know, maybe-"
"Are you seriously hitting on me right now?"
"I'm just sayin', we get each other. You're hot, I'm hot, and I think-"
"Okay that's enough," Coral, who had appeared as if from nowhere, said as she stepped between the pair and placed her hands on Dani's shoulders, "you're drunk, little girl, so let Paul and I get you out of here. Hey babe, can you pull the car around?" Coral asked her husband as Dani mumbled an apology for her inappropriate behavior.
"It's all good," Lucy replied, "go home and sleep it off and I'll see you soon. Coral?"
"Yeah?"
"See you Thursday?"
"You know it kid," the old surfer grinned, "have a great night."
I haven't had a great night in three months. God, I hate this. "Yeah, you too," the brunette softly replied.
Returning home, Lucy was pissed off that she had wasted money on an uber when she'd ended the evening sober enough to drive, but also pissed off about everything that had happened between herself and Kiana and Dani that night. Why couldn't she just be a friend? Why did they both have to hit on me, have to dance with me, have to make me think about the past and everything I lost when Kate left? Sighing, she stripped off her clothes, tossing them into the hamper before pulling on a tank top and a clean pair of panties. The worst part about her apartment was the lack of air conditioning, which she could easily remedy by purchasing a window unit, but so far she'd survived the warm tropical nights by wearing very little and keeping the ceiling fan on while she slept.
Flopping onto the couch, she reached for the remote and turned on the tv, and as she scrolled through the menu she realized how tired she really was and thought it probably had something to do with the whiskey. Knowing it wouldn't be long before she fell asleep, she opted for a rerun of the British Baking Show that she had seen enough times to not miss a thing if she didn't pay attention, and within minutes of pressing start she felt her eyelids getting heavy. She knew she would regret sleeping on the incredibly uncomfortable couch, which she decided to replace immediately, so she grabbed her phone and stumbled to her bed, where she scrolled through the Waikiki buy/sale/trade listings.
"Free couch, you haul, must be gone by noon? Yes please!" Lucy said as she responded to the ad posted by cat_trick93, "See you in the morning!"
A Friend In Need
"And she just left? And you let her leave?" An incredulous Ivana asked as Kate wrapped up the tale of her Hawaiian romance.
"She did, and I did," a forlorn Kate admitted.
"Seriously, who are you and what have you done with Kate Whistler?"
"I know!" Kate groaned, burying her face in her hands as she responded, "Can you believe I did literally any of that?"
"Honestly? No," Ivana admitted, "the Kate Whistler I know is guarded, cautious, definitely not the type to jump into bed with a woman she just met."
"I don't know what got into me," Kate confided, "all I know is that from the moment she slid up on that seat beside me and I heard her voice and looked into her eyes and saw how incredibly gorgeous she was I just couldn't help myself, I had to have her."
"Which begs the question, why in the world did you let her go?"
"As crazy as it sounds, at the time it seemed like the right thing to do," Kate explained, "we were in this sexy little bubble where we only used our first names, we didn't discuss our lives or families or jobs and we just had the most amazing, passionate, guilt free weekend together. We knew that all we had was that brief moment in time and though it was hard we also knew that it would be unbearable to watch each other move on, so we intentionally did not exchange contact information."
"Well that's just about the dumbest thing you've ever done," Ivana declared, "and considering that I saw what you did to become a Theta that's saying a lot."
"Trust me, I know," Kate replied, "and I've spent every day of the last three months regretting that decision."
"So do something about it," the Serb insisted, "you have connections, access to surveillance and satellites and I'm sure any other resources you would need to find her. How hard can it be to find a Lucy who drives a black SUV and hangs out at a specific bar on one relatively tiny island?"
"Harder than you think!" Kate exclaimed, catching her friend by surprise as she explained, "This woman is like a ghost. For starters, I don't even think that's her name," she sighed, "I couldn't do nothing but I also didn't want to get too deep, so I ran a list of all vehicles on the island matching the make and model of the SUV she drove, but none of them were registered to a Lucy."
"Wow, that's a giant desperate leap for you, isn't it?"
"I really, really fell for her 'Vana," Kate said with tears in her eyes, "but from the start we said it was two nights, three days, no strings attached. I want to respect her enough to leave her in peace to live her life without me, but-"
"But the heart wants what the heart wants," Ivana softly supplied, "so instead of sitting here in a hotel bar crying about it to your dearest and most loyal friend, tell me, Kate Whistler, what are you going to do about it?"
Kate's silence was telling to Jankovic, who knew the stubborn blonde well enough to know when to back down, so she shelved the discussion for the time being and said, "Okay so since I know that you read the entire menu five minutes after we decided to eat here, tell me Kate, what are we eating?"
"I'm torn between the pizzette and the summer market salad," Kate laughed, "but you'll probably go with the whipped feta dip and grain bowl."
"You know me so well," Ivana chuckled, "so now that that's settled, let's talk about-"
"You and Miklos?" Kate interjected, "Did you think I didn't notice the ring?"
"Fine, I'll tell you all about it," Ivana beamed, "but first, let's get a table."
A hui hou