.The Protector.

Riley McNabb; thirty-three, detective. ex-secret service agent. ---------- “I can do this”, I thought. Then: “And even if I can’t, I have to.” ----------

[deirdre-collins-blog]

“Oy! My arse is not yours to grab, ya git! I’m walking here!”

[riley-mcnabb-blog]

“I can totally arrest him if you’d like?”

[ryd-her]

I honestly think I’m the only person down to party tonightaround here. 

[riley-mcnabb-blog]

“You’ve come to the right city if you want to party. We’re all caffeine filled, up all night type of people.”

[benrhorror-blog]

“It’s finally the weekend, which means no more reading until Monday and time to practice taking pictures of the awesome things in life!”

[riley-mcnabb-blog]

“Take any good shots?”

[micah-daehler-deactivated201805]

    “Seattle’s nice.” Micah nodded in agreement, following her gaze out the window briefly to look out onto the streets he had gotten to know over the past couple of years. “I miss New York sometimes. So many people are trying to reach New York as an endgame, and I grew up there and ended up leaving. I wish I had gotten to stay, but…it’s nice to get away from your old life.” 

    Micah seemed lost in thought for a moment, something that didn’t happen very often, then he quickly returned his attention to Riley.      “Geneva was nice too.” he went on. “I don’t think I appreciated it as much as I should have while I was there. It was a place I hated at first. Just out of spite I guess since I was practically dropped off without any say on my part. But it’s nice here too. Like you said, I get to do whatever the hell I want with no one to dictate my future for me or hold me back. It’s been good here.” 

    And that was true. Since leaving Geneva and getting his own job and place to live, Micah’s life had calmed down significantly. Sure he still carried the burden of an arguably traumatic past on his shoulders, and of course it all caught up with him from time to time, but he was happier now than he had been in a long time.    “What are your plans now? Stick to being a detective and live out the rest of your days as drama-free as possible?” he asked. 

[riley-mcnabb-blog]

     Riley sat back a bit n her chair, letting slip a low whistle. “New York, huh? I’ve never spent much time there--only for conferences and the like. But when I was there it was very...hustle and bustle. Probably one of the only other cities in the country that could give D.C. a run for their money in regards to just simple production. It’s a lot more youthful than D.C., though. I’m sure it was,” she admitted. “It’s nice to stay in a place that’s familiar but then you don’t get to see anything else. And, well, you probably needed a change in scenery.”

     Quiet life always scared her, though Riley would never admit it. But the city was almost too crowded for her, too. She was paranoid enough as it were thanks to the Secret Service, spending time in New York would have sent her blood pressure skyrocketing.

     “You were young, you’d just gone through family drama,” she shrugged, “Traveling to a different country to just enjoy it probably wasn’t one of the reasons as to why you left New York. Obviously. And, yeah, I get the hating a place out of spit.” She let out a small laugh next, sighing. “That sounds awesome? Drama-free always means less people trying to shoot at me, which I will never complain about. But, then again, I’d probably miss it too much. So I don’t really know. For now it’s just being a detective. You content with being an analyst?”

[lucas-brewer-blog]

Sage took the napkin from the other woman with a smile. “Oh,” she said, slightly absentmindedly. “I hadn’t even realize I’d dropped it. Thank you.” She looked at the empty chair across the table from her. “Would you like to join me?” she asked. “I’m Sage.”

[riley-mcnabb-blog]

"It was probably the wind,” Riley motioned lamely to the air around them, offering a small smile. There was a brief moment of hesitation, however, and she flicked her eyes towards the empty chair. It was a forward invitation--but a thoughtful one. Riley had to remind herself that she didn’t have to be as paranoid as she had been in D.C. Seattle was quiet. “Oh, uhm...” She furrowed her eyebrows slightly before nodding her head, “Sure.” Taking the seat across from the other woman, she scooted the chair in before reaching across the table to offer her hand to the woman--Sage. “Riley,” a smile graced her lips. “It’s nice to meet you.”

[olenkanotollie-blog]

Olenka nodded, sighed, and then put on the shirt feeling very idiotic and pathetic and very much really down on herself. “I feel like there are more people from other places than there are from here these days,” she murmured, making a face at herself in the mirror as she looked at the shirt. At least it was dark, so the dampness wasn’t too noticable.

[riley-mcnabb-blog]

“I feel you there,” Riley nodded. “D.C. was the same. Lots of people who moved because of their job or just because they wanted to see the Capitol. Lots of tourists, too.” Pausing slightly, Riley shot a quick glance up to the other woman, taking in her appearance in a split second before dropping her gaze out of respect. “I think you look fine,” she commented nonchalantly. “You got all of it out from the looks of it.”

[micah-daehler-deactivated201805]

    “The grandparents that raised me were on my dad’s side.” Micah said. “I mean, yeah, they were nice, but mostly just saving face I think. It’d make them look bad to turn me away. I’ve never met my mother’s parents. Her mom was some kind of surgeon and her dad was an author, but they never came around the house so, yeah. I don’t even know where they live.”

    It was clear that family had never really meant a lot to Micah. How could it with the upbringing he had had? In a way, it had led to his passive attitude towards relationships in general. His friendships were short, romantic relationships even shorter. The less permanent people were the better. It was harder to get hurt by people if they weren’t around to hurt you in the first place.

    “How’re you liking Seattle so far overall?” he asked, telling she wanted to change the topic again. “How long did you say you’ve been here?”

[riley-mcnabb-blog]

     She didn’t know why she was carrying on a conversation about family. Or even why she was so interested. Maybe it was a curious thing--to understand why someone was the way that they were. Maybe family had a foothold in creating your personality, but, then again, maybe they didn’t. It probably just depended on the person. Besides, she didn’t really have a right to comment on the subject. Yeah, Micah had had a shit family, but at least he hadn’t shot the man who had been sleeping with his mother.

     “Excuse my bluntness but basically,” she started, licking her lips, “Your whole family is shit?” It was a rather blunt statement, but. It seemed to be true enough. It was an unfortunate fact but Micah seemed to want to be indifferent about the matter. “That’s a bit rough. But, hey. At least you’re not letting it drag you down. Maybe it’s a little bit out of spite? Shove it in their faces that you can be successful without any of their help or connection. Hell, that’d be my reasoning behind it. But, then again, that’s just my way of thinking. Someone says I can’t do something and you bet your ass that I’ll do it.”

     Looking out the window, Riley let out a sigh. “Seattle’s home,” she answered simply, turning back to look at Micah across the table. “Spent seventeen years here before I went to Boston University. It’s the first time I’ve been back in over fifteen years.” She smiled faintly, “Though I never really missed the rain. What about you? Do you like the city?”

[riley-mcnabb-blog]

nerves || riley & andrew.

[drastevens]

“I certainly hope you don’t flip me over your shoulder,” Andrew said, chuckling. For some odd reason, he believed she could do it. The formal way she carried herself radiated that vibe. He gently inspected her neck and continued moving towards her shoulder, tucking at the collar of her blouse to have a better look at the scar the knife had left on her skin.  

“Let’s see,” He said, passing his finger through the scar. “I can’t make a diagnose by looking at the scar, I’m going to need some tests to see what might be causing the tingling in your hand.”

Pressing his lips into a thin line, Andrew considered the possibilities. His biggest bet was that Riley’s nerves had been damaged by the knife and had never been repaired, which was unlikely, but possible. He knew there were very irresponsible surgeons and the nerves connecting the shoulder to the hand could have been easily overlooked when doing surgery. 

“I can give you a possible diagnose of what I think is happening here,” Andrew said after a few seconds of silence, taking a step back from Riley to talk to her face-to-face. “But I will need to run some tests to make sure I’m correct. You see, your nerves were damaged by the knife and what you’re experiencing is a symptom of an Ulnar nerve dysfunction. If I’m right, you’re looking at a few months of physical therapy to recover mobility on your hand.”

Resting his elbow against his other arm, Andrew brought his hand to his face and rested his chin on his palm, still thinking. The chart he had been given with Riley’s information and medical history had been vague and all the jokes she had been doing about hurting him or taking him down made him believe that she was in some sort of intelligence agency, maybe the CIA or FBI. The possibilities that she hadn’t been treated were very slim, considering how agents were normally checked by the best doctors in the country. But, although they were very slim, it was still possible Riley had not been treated correctly.

“Have you experienced any more numbness, pain, burning sensations in your arm or hand, or weakness?” He added as an afterthought.

[riley-mcnabb-blog]

     Riley sat patiently and straight backed, weathered to the poking and prodding of a doctors hand. This wasn’t the first time she’d had someone inspecting a scar or wound and she knew distantly that it wouldn’t be the last. Sighing, she nodded her head slightly, acknowledging his inability to really diagnose. “I understand,” she said evenly. “Obviously I’m not a fan of tests but if you think it’s a necessary evil then I can’t argue.” Riley could, actually, but she’d learned long ago that it eventually got her nowhere.

     The thought of tests made her frown. Tests meant time. Time meant waiting. And if anything did pop up then that might mean surgery. Riley hated surgery. No that she’d been put under all that recently. The injury to her shoulder hadn’t even warranted it--at the time, at least. She hadn’t had the time to let someone poke and prod around inside of her joint. And f she hadn’t had the time then then she didn’t have the time for it now. She didn’t have time for physical therapy, either, but she figured it couldn’t be any more than what she’d had to undergo in the rehabilitation of her lung. “Physical therapy?” she questioned, raising an eyebrow. “Do you think that’ll be necessary? The numbness doesn’t really hindrance me in any way. And the weak grip has always gone away. What’s to say it won’t do the same this time?”

     Her eyebrows furrowed for a brief moment in thought before she shook her head. “Not really,” she replied. “Like I said, the weakness only lasts a few days and then goes away. As for anything in my arm or shoulder, nothing as of late has happened for it to act up. It gets sore when it rains or it’s cold but besides that,” she shrugged, “Nothing out of the ordinary.”

[lucas-brewer-blog]

Sage was enjoying a very unusual day off from working on the farm. With a grin, she had taken the ferry to Seattle and was currently sitting outside of a coffee shop near Pike Place Market. She inhaled the coffee before asking for another, simply enjoying the beauty of the city she’d adopted as her own. When she saw a shadow fall over her table, she looked up. “Oh, hello,” she said with a smile on her face.

[riley-mcnabb-blog]

“Hey,” Riley replied when the other woman acknowledged her presence. Trying to make the whole situation less weird than it already was, she held up the napkin. “This just fell off your table. I didn’t want it to blow away and you be left without it.”

[riley-mcnabb-blog]

I’ve got work early in the morning so I’m going to head off to bed. But I promise I’ll get to replies tomorrow! I swear!

[olenkanotollie-blog]

“DC huh?” Small talk seemed almost unavoidable, as awkward as it was. The only thing that Olenka related to DC was the government, more specifically, the President–but that was where everyone’s mind jumped. “Now you’re cross country,” Olenka, as she washed the stain away, wondered what exactly it was that made someone move to the other side of the country. She couldn’t even imagine doing so. 

[riley-mcnabb-blog]

“Mhmm,” Riley nodded, thought she was fairly certain the woman was far more worried about her blouse than her head gestures. “Seattle’s home,” she admitted with a shrug. “I was going to come back sooner or later.”

[micah-daehler-deactivated201805]

    “A cheesy Hallmark channel movie?” Micah said, then laughed and shook his head, highly amused at the thought. “I seriously doubt that. Those stupid, five minute written scripts were always her least favourite, and she was sent a dozen from her agent every other month. She’s the type you’d see in something much more dramatic. She wasn’t some B movie actress. Her ego was worse than her drinking problem. And if you went out and told me right now that this whole time she’s actually given a damn about what’s happened in my life, I’d never believe you.” 

    Micah knew he was getting personal again, but for one simple reason: he wanted to prove Riley wrong. He didn’t give his mother an ounce of sympathy, so he didn’t want anyone else to either. He wanted to expose his mother as the tyrant she had been to anyone who cared enough to listen     “I used to think that maybe it was just my dad she had a problem with. They fought all the time, and when he did finally blow his brains out, she never came to the funeral. Everything I know about her from the past thirteen years I learned from a magazine, or an interview, or by gossip. Never from her. I knew she was off with the guy she had been having an affair with, but I found out about the wedding via newspaper. My grandparents tried getting in touch with her, as it was pretty obvious they didn’t want to raise me, but she never got back to them. Never answered one of their calls. So, yeah, I really doubt that she gives a crap.”

[riley-mcnabb-blog]

     Obviously Micah and his parents didn’t get along. She had only assumed that it was the regular old trope that she saw with so many people. An ignored child, growing up in a household where both parents were far more invested in their jobs then their children. It sounded like a shitty Law & Order episode, but Riley sighed at how often most of them did. In an ironic turn of events she hoped Hallmark did make a movie about her.

     Taking in a breath, Riley crossed her arms over her chest. “So,” she mused, clicking her tongue slightly in thought. “Your mother wasn’t the most stand up person. An understatement, I know. But maybe you’re right. From the sound of it she certainly doesn’t seem the type to have kept up with you.” Pausing for a brief moment, she wondered vaguely if he’d meant to share so much. Maybe it was a ploy to get her to return the favor again. But Riley was just about done sharing. Especially when he let lose the information about his father. “I’m sorry to hear that,” she said in a low voice. She didn’t know how much Micah cared about the fact--he’d glazed over it in his annoyance--but it was still an unfortunate circumstance.

     “Your grandparents, though,” She fought to change the subject quickly, “They sound interesting. Are they the reason why your Mom’s the way she is? Or are they good people? They can’t be all that bad if they live in Switzerland. Surrounded by chocolate isn’t the worst way to live.”

[aclashofcaps]

[aclashofcaps]

[olenkanotollie-blog]

Olenka did not like the sound of that. She tried to stretch the shirt for it to reach the sink, tried to get water onto it–no luck. “God,” she muttered under her breath, sighing before letting an apology spill from her lips before she shyly shed her shirt, ready for some kind of backlash from the stranger but trying her hardest to ignore it while following their previous instructions: hot water, soap, dryer. She repeated it like a mantra in her head.

[riley-mcnabb-blog]

     “Please, no, its fine,” Riley replied, feeling the frustration radiate off the other woman. “I used to work in D.C. and had my fair share of these mornings. Really, it happens to everyone.” She diverted her gaze to the floor, counting the number of tiles resting beneath her feet to give the other woman some privacy. She certainly didn’t like being less clothed than normal in front of a stranger, so she tried to seem uninterested. “It should be enough to get it all out. To a presentable extant, at least.”

[micah-daehler-deactivated201805]

    While outwardly, Micah appeared calm and collected, inwardly he was silently congratulating himself for getting Riley to open up a little bit more. Playing the sympathy card wasn’t something he did often. He didn’t want people to pity him, and he didn’t want people to know him that well. Sure, Riley could easily go home and google actresses with son’s who were named Micah and find out her identity and the story behind why he was the way he was, but he didn’t care that much because he doubted he’d ever see Riley again. Unless she hunted him down just to tell him she figured everything out. Though she didn’t seem the type to brag.

    “Yeah, every time I stand in line at the grocery store next I get to see her on the front of some magazine, or see her in a movie poster at the bus stop or outside the theatre. I get updates about her life whether I want them or not, yet she probably doesn’t even know if I’m alive or not. Not that I’m really surprised.” Micah shrugged, not letting on how much it really bothered him before turning the topic back to her.      “An injury huh? Makes sense. I didn’t think you were the type to just give up if you didn’t have to. Though it’s nothing to be ashamed of. Our bodies can only handle so much. I’m sure you were damn good at your job while you had it. The country thanks you for your services.” 

[riley-mcnabb-blog]

     Riley rolled her eyes, crossing her arms and fighting back a scoff. She wasn’t a soldier. She hadn’t fought in a war. So she felt the praise was unwarranted. “Oh, please. The country runs perfectly fine without me. I wasn’t good at my job because I cared about the country. I was good at my job because I cared about the people I had to protect. There’s a difference, I think. The ones I looked after just happened to be important.” Distantly she realized she was talking about all of this with a complete stranger and maybe that’s why she didn’t much care about what she said. What were the odds that they’d run into each other again? Still, she didn’t like the thought of anyone knowing things about her, random people or otherwise.

     “What’s her name?” She asked, curious. It’d be weird for her to know who the woman was and see her acting in a movie or on the front of a magazine. She’d always found it awkward when she’d seen coworkers in the newspaper front and center--she could only imagine what it’d be like to see your mother plastered all over the country. There was no privacy and always curiosity. Maybe that’s why he was the way he was. Clearly he didn’t like to compare, but she figured Micah was a lot alike when it came to his parents. In little things, at least. “She’s not the type to keep up with you? Maybe she’s turned her life into one of those cheesy Hallmark channel movies. Maybe she actually does keep tabs on you--you just don’t know it.” Riley doubted it, but she smirked all the same. It’d be ironic to say the least.

[riley-mcnabb-blog]

nerves || riley & andrew.

[drastevens]

Andrew opened one of the cabinets as the woman sat down on the examination table. He took out a lantern and skimmed around to see if there was anything else he needed before closing the cabinet’s door and turning around, flashing the brunette another smile. “So, uh…” Looking down at the chart he was holding in his hand, Andrew read that she was named Riley. “Riley. Is it alright if I call you that?“

Always the polite man, Andrew didn’t want to offend Riley by calling her by his first name. For some odd reason, she didn’t strike him as a common woman. Most female patients he treated introduced themselves right away and didn’t take a second to start batting their eyelashes and act all touchy-touchy around him; they would insist he call them by their first names and be completely fine with him touching them anywhere, yet Riley on the other hand… Well, she hadn’t even given him her last name and had shaken his hand with a firm grip, as if wanting to let him know that even if he was the one checking up on her, she could take him any second. She probably could, she definitely looked like it. 

“Alright, let’s see,” he said, reading the rest of the chart, Andrew listed the symptoms she had described to the receptionist and the rest of the information she had provided when she had checked in. “You say you have a tremor, or a tingling, in your fingers whenever you… uh… try to grip something. It says that it was caused by a knife wound from a few years back, yes?” Andrew re-read that part, shooting Riley a sideway glance with an awed expression plastered on his face for a second before he forced it to return back to normal. “How long has this been going on?”

Placing the chart next to the examination table, Andrew approached Riley and gently placed two of his fingers on her neck. “May I?” He asked, fully convinced that if he freaked her out in any way, she could definitely take him. 

[riley-mcnabb-blog]

     Furrowing her eyebrows slightly, Riley suddenly realized that she hadn’t introduced herself. “Oh, yeah, that’s fine. I don’t mind. It’s my name, after all. Mss. McNabb just... makes me feel old.” Agents were always told to be invisible. The moment they drew attention, they weren’t doing their job. They were there for protection and nothing else--unless she was assigned to look after the President’s daughters. Then she was almost obligated to talk. Neither of the young girls liked the fact that they had to go everywhere with a tail--so Riley was always played off as the family friend to keep up normal appearances. As normal as they could all be being under protection detail in the middle of a movie theater or Chick-Fil-A, that is.

     Rubbing her palms lightly on her thighs, she nodded at his question. She’d been through all this with her last doctor--though they had been specifically assigned through the agency. So there was less surprise at the long list of injuries that adorned her personal file, but she still figured it was more than most normal people. “Yep,” she confirmed, unfazed by the information. “I was told the knife nicked the radial nerve. And I kept using it so the cluster was under stress for a period of time. The few months after it happened I used to have sporadic numbness every once and a while. And the tingling. Couldn’t grip things. But it seemed to heal itself. This is the first time it’s happened in a year. I usually just wait it out--I’m not that big of a fan of hospitals,” she shot him a small, apologetic smile, “But the numbness and the weakness hasn’t gone away.”

     She wasn’t particularly arrogant about her past endeavors, but she did take some pride in the things she’d done and had been a part of. She never thought she was better than anyone else--just that she was more weathered. Underestimating anyone was a dangerous thing, especially in her line of work. “No worries,” she replied, nodding and moving her hair to the side so he could place his fingers against her neck. “I’m not going to flip you over my shoulder or anything.” It was a joke, but she was terrible at them. She’d sense the apprehension. The slight intrigue. The awed expression. She knew there was curiosity there. “I’m not... really sure what you can do, but,” she shrugged. “I was told to go see a doctor if it ever resurfaced again.”