step by step
An NCIS fic collection
by mew-tsubaki
- ^-^3
imagine: miscellany 31—reunion (this post on the sideblog: 774239755803213824/ parknight-imagines-miscellany-31-reunion)
tags: s22e1
- ^-^3
It's been too long, with the team scattered to four corners. For someone used to working on his own, this is a new feeling for Alden Parker. And yet…
It's strange, having a friend upstairs in the big office (he might be aiming for deputy director, but that future title, "Director of NCIS," looks good on McGee, too).
It's strange, having a friend deep under, with Parker as the handler (because he was never the handler before, because people didn't rely on him like this before, but now Torres relies on him, trusts him to look out for him when the younger agent stops checking in regularly on this case he's been working the last few months).
And it's strange, having…having Knight so far, far away (even if this isn't like the fairy tales, even if there are no dragons between them, just a phone call or a plane ride away…the distance still seems too great).
The emptiness of the bullpen weighs on him with each passing week. Worse still, when Torres does call in, with his distress signal, Parker is a mix of emotions: concern, because Torres is good at what he does but always seems to get into the stickiest of situations, and elation, because…Parker will need help. All the help he can get.
If anyone stopped to ask him, he'd offer the excuse that it's why he was on the first flight out to California, to secure the best backup anyone could ask for, but—well, two birds, one stone, yeah?
Her training area at Camp Pendleton is nice, and there are a lot of agents to wade through…but, even with her hair plaited and with her outfitted in camo hues, Jess Knight still stands out amongst the crowd. As if sensing his eyes on her, she turns Parker's way and grins.
They don't get the chance for a proper hello just yet, no. The case comes first (it always does), and they sit with their suspect's ex-wife, one of Knight's trainees, Special Agent Moreno, to see what she knows, if anything. The poor woman has good reason to be done with Molina, and there's nothing more from her for now. Instead, McGee calls Parker for an update, and Knight gives him half a smile, encouraging him to go on, since she's still got a day's work to wrap up, after all.
But, as luck would have it, the info McGee gives him merely sends Parker back to Knight's side, and he finds her car waiting near a food pantry on their list of suspicious locales tied to their case. But, despite the absurd twists of this case—this damned case can wait, for just two minutes. And he turns in the passenger seat of her new car, drinking in the sight of her, all sun-kissed highlights and west coast warmth. He exhales, a long breath he's been holding these past six months. "…California looks good on you," he says at last.
And Knight glances at him, her copper eyes crinkling. "You're looking pretty good with this sun yourself," she teases, gently poking his nearer scruffy cheek.
And if she's his sun…then he has no doubt he must be, Parker concedes as he leans into her touch.
- ^-^3
S22 opener, but make it purely Parknight bc that "California looks good on you" line never left my brain. XD This season has been…an up-and-down one, *lol*, but I still deffo have Parknight feels! I also just have way too many ideas, for them as well as other OTPs, across all my fandoms, to tackle in a given day/month/yr.
-mew! :')