Summary: Your father calls in a favor, much to your dismay. Though, it leads you to meeting someone who could get you out of your rut.
Chapter TW: none?
Word Count: 941
A/N: It's so good to be back!! I've been working on this fic since college, and it has eight chapters as of now. I was waiting until I finished to post it, but I got impatient lol
Masterlist
You glance around the bullpen. It certainly looks different when there are people here. “Excuse me,” you say, grabbing the attention of a blonde. “I need to see Agent Hotchner.”
“I’m sorry, he’s in a meeting.”
You groan. “He’ll see me.”
“Ma’am, I’ll be happy to let him know you’re waiting for him, but-”
“I’m from Senator Healy’s office.”
Her eyes widen. “I’ll be sure to let him know. Please have a seat.”
Though you aren’t quite proud of your strategy, it never fails. “Thank you.” You sit in one of the uncomfortable chairs that seem to be in every government building, watching her walk up to an office with the blinds drawn. You should have guessed that was his.
He peeks through the blinds before sending the blonde and an older woman out of his office. Taking your cue, you head up to the office.
“Senator Healy?” he asks as soon as the door shuts.
You shrug, falling onto the couch. “It was the easiest way to get up here.”
He rolls his eyes. “That was my supervisor you sent out.”
“You’re welcome.”
He stifles a chuckle as he tries to scold you, “(Y/N).”
“Alright, I’m sorry, but I’ve only got like thirty minutes, so why did you want to see me?”
He sits next to you. “I need to ask a huge favor.”
You eye him suspiciously. “You told me that when you asked me to come here. What is it?”
“I’ve got a case coming up, and I need you to watch Jack.”
“Why can’t Jess?”
He closes his eyes. “It’s not a normal case.”
“What is going on?”
“I’ve been assigned to an overseas case,” he explains, “and I don’t want to disrupt Jess’s summer. She’s got kids, and it would be tough for her to-”
“And it’s not tough on me?” you interrupt.
“(Y/N), please. I-”
You stand up. “I barely know him!”
“He’s your brother.”
You roll your eyes. “Half-brother,” you correct. “Besides, I haven’t spent more than ten minutes with him.”
“I know, and if you would give me a chance to explain-”
You let out a loud groan before leaning on the edge of his desk.
“I know that this is not ideal, for any of us, but I want Jack to be with you. I’m not sure how long it will be, but there’s a chance that it’ll go into the school year. You live in his district. Jess doesn’t.”
Sensing a lull, you point out, “He doesn’t know me.”
“I was hoping that we could fix that.” He still won’t meet your eyes. “He’s got a soccer game this weekend. It’s a low-stakes way for you to meet him. We’ll eat after, then we’ll all do something together.”
Completely fed up with the conversation, you push yourself off the desk. “There’s a vote this afternoon. We’ve been getting constituent complaints about it all day. I need to get back to Healy.”
“(Y/N), just think about it.”
You don’t give him an answer as you walk out of his office. He follows you out, causing the other agents to stare. You don’t bother to look behind you as you open the glass doors out of the bullpen. Unfortunately, you don’t bother to watch where you’re going either, and push the door open, right into a strikingly attractive man who seems to have been bringing lunch to the whole team.
You apologize, immediately dropping to the floor to help him pick up.
He flashes a million-dollar smile that would make your knees weak under normal circumstances. “Don’t sweat it, sugar. Though, I have to ask, what made you so distracted that you couldn’t be bothered to look through a glass door?”
You smile, looking over your shoulder to where your dad is walking back towards his office. That seems to be enough for the mystery man to understand. He laughs. “Can’t say I blame you.” When he has as much of the food as he can save, he scribbles his number onto a napkin. “Give me a call if he gives you any more trouble.”
“And if he doesn’t,” you respond, reading the napkin, “Agent Morgan?”
“Call me anyway.”
The day is long, and you can feel that napkin burning a hole in your pocket. You stare at it for a minute, debating whether or not to call him. Before you can make up your mind, your dad calls.
“Yes?”
“Jack’s game is at ten tomorrow morning, the park across from his school. I already told him you’d be there.” He knows that you don’t mind disappointing him, but you won’t disappoint a kid, especially Jack, if you can help it.
“Fine. Is that it?”
“I look forward to seeing you, too.”
As soon as he hangs up the phone, you have made up your mind to call Agent Morgan. He answers the phone with an almost rehearsed confidence and agrees to meet you for drinks that evening.
Normally, you would stay in the office well after Healy left to get things in order for Monday, but not today. As soon as he leaves the office, you’re out the door. Unfortunately, your early departure doesn’t go unnoticed.
“Hot date?”
You roll your eyes. Gareth Ritter truly will always be a pain in your ass. “Jealous?”
He smirks, stepping out of Senator Wheatus’s office. “Not one bit,” he states, standing next to you. He ghosts his lips over the shell of your ear as he finishes, “because I know that you’ll always come back to me.”
Shivering, you pull yourself away from him and grab your bag without a second glance.
AN: Welp. As I was updating things I realized that I had not completed this series here but I had on the other platforms. So here is me updating this series. I hope you enjoy and I’ll be getting the rest of this out asap. It’ll be posted through my queue.
The next morning, she hand delivered her update to Blades. "I feel like I should really be taking this to Marchant but I also feel like the answer you're about to give me is keeping me from that."
"And what answer is that?" He asked as he looked over the file.
"Do I have enough evidence for us to storm these locations?"
The silence was tense as Bex anxiously awaited his response. Blades meticulously looked over every detail and then let out a sigh. He didn't like the look of things either and he would be more than happy to get a team together but Bex's assumption was correct.
"Sadly, no and then there's not really another way for you to get more unless you go deep undercover but we need you here, rather than trapped like Warren. Get me more information and I'll help you present your case to Marchant."
Bex nodded. "What I thought. Thanks, Blades."
The rest of the day didn't turn out much of anything. She kept looking into the locations but nothing was coming up that she hadn't already found. Not to mention how the special prosecutor along with yet another one of Red's interns had somehow gone missing. She really wanted to butt her nose into that investigation but Marchant had shot her down, telling her that she already had one too many hands in the pot. So she stayed on course.
She had just pulled out a full tray of cookies from the oven when there was a knock on her door. Baking helped her think and she was frustrated about everything so she hoped it would help her see something she had somehow missed. "Just a minute!" She called out, setting the cookie sheet down and taking off her oven mit. She picked up the knife she had been using earlier to cut the dough and made her way to the door.
Seeing Mike on the other side, Bex let out a relieved sigh as she opened the door. That is until she saw his expression. "What's happened?"
He motioned for them to go inside and Bex nodded before heading back to the kitchen. "I've made cookies. You want one?"
"I honestly don't know if I can eat after what I just saw." Mike answered, sitting down at her kitchen island bar.
"What did you see?"
Mike gagged a little bit which caused Bex to pour him a glass of water. He took it gratefully, taking a few sips before continuing. "I saw a bug, a big bug, laying eggs in some cherry blossoms. Red was talking to it and then it went right back in his ear after it was done as if it was the most normal thing in the world."
Bex dashed out into her living room and grabbed her notepad and started writing everything down. "We might need to figure out a way to finally get Laurel to bring you on board because this is huge."
"This is the craziest thing I've seen. Bex, we were just working a mafia case a few months ago and now we're talking about space bugs living in people's heads."
"You sure you don't want a cookie?"
He let out a sigh. "I'll take a cookie."
Smiling, she took one off the sheet and handed it over before getting one for herself. "I know it's insane but we gotta look at this as all factual stuff, like putting together an info board as if we were trying to take down another mafia family. It makes investigating a little easier."
He nodded as he chewed his latest bite. "Is there anything you can't make? Cause these are really good."
"Creme Brulee, Baked Alaska, uh, I've not given my shot at making a pie before, believe it or not, so I could be bad at that."
Mike laughed. "Come here." He held out his hand for her.
Bex walked around the island and took his hand where he soon pulled her to him. She fit so easily in between his legs as he gently wrapped his arms around her waist. He placed a sweet kiss to her lips before resting his forehead against hers. "Thank you. I needed this."
Just then notification sounds beeped and dinged as things came swarming in. He let out a heavy sigh. "I will be so glad when this cover is over."
"What's going on?" She asked, playing with the hair at the nape of his neck.
"Red is going to be releasing a budget plan tomorrow that's going to be voted on in 48 hours. That's probably everyone I reached out to in order to get a press conference scheduled."
Bex pulled away slightly, confusion written all over her face. "Now I'm no politician but isn't that kind of quick?"
Mike nodded. "Not to mention it worries me because it came out of SBR-54."
"Oh, that's not good, at all."
"No, it's not." Some more notification sounds went off. "I really would like to stay here longer and eat some more of those delicious cookies but duty calls."
Bex nodded, giving him a kiss before stepping away fully. "Maybe I'll stop by tomorrow. Bring some of my cookies over. I'd rather not read a budget plan but I'm currently at an impasse with everything else, so might as well."
"I'll see you tomorrow." Mike smiled, giving her one last kiss before heading out the door.
<LINE BREAK>
As promised, Bex came into the office with a tin full of cookies and Mike let out a sigh of relief when he saw her. Red had just come in to give notes on the speech he had typed up and questioned if they were still on the same page, going so far as to check his temperature. "I think he's starting to question things." He whispered to her when they hugged.
"We can't know anything for certain, we just have to keep acting as if everything is normal." Bex rubbed his back a moment before pulling back to smile at him reassuringly. "I'm here. I got your back through all of this. Have you talked to Laurel?"
Mike nodded. "Will you come with me when I meet her?"
"Of course." She smiled before opening the lid of her cookie tin as she brought it in between them.
"Seriously, you're the best." He chuckled as he took one. Sticking it into his mouth, he scribbled down the notes that he had been given to revise Red's speech. After he finished his bite, he slowly reached out for the tin that Bex was still holding.
"Are these for me to keep?"
Bex laughed and handed them over. "I'm glad I made as many as I did."
"I'll bring you back the tin, promise." He said around his latest mouth full.
"I'm assuming that means later this evening." She teased him, flashing him a cheeky smile.
"Oh, ha, ha. You're not gonna get it back now until tomorrow, at least." He replied as he motioned for her to head out of his office.
She let out a small gasp, acting as though she was slightly offended. "Don't you keep my tin hostage."
"I would never. How else am I supposed to get whatever baked good you decided to whip up next?"
Bex just laughed, Mike's laughter following hers soon after as they made their way to the courtyard that he had asked Laurel to meet them at. He grabbed them both cups of water, wishing that the drinks were a little stronger especially after what he had just witnessed. He knew going into this assignment that he was dealing with something he had never seen before. Last night, however, no matter how much Bex had told him and no matter how much he had mulled over the details, left him a little frazzled. After all he had finally come face to face with what he was investigating and he was really glad that Bex was now back helping him because he was pretty sure he would have found a way to get back to the office to beg for someone else to take the assignment over.
"How many people do you think are infected?" He whispered to Bex as he took in the people surrounding them. It seemed as though no matter which direction he was looking in, someone was watching him, them. He wasn't quite sure and honestly he was starting to feel a little antsy so he sipped on his water.
Bex noticed his leg bouncing and reached out to place a calming hand on his thigh. "That's probably not an answer you'd like to hear right now. Let's just focus on right now, focus on getting Laurel to bring you in and then we can maybe take a lap around the Capitol or I'm sure I could figure out a way to steal you away so we could go to the firing range."
Mike brought the hand that was on his leg up to his lips to kiss across her knuckles. He felt so incredibly lucky to have her by his side. He also wished that he had just stayed in D.C. after he had finished with Graceland the first time and instead of falling into bed with Jessica, he had gotten the courage to get to know her beyond their sticky note and sweets exchange. He was just about to tell her this when Laurel showed up.
"I'm not interrupting a moment am I?" She asked as she sat down.
Shaking his head, Mike turned his attention towards the other woman while still keeping his and Bex's hands interlocked. "Not at all." The two agents smiled reassuringly at the brunette.
"Okay, good, because I'm actually glad you called. Can I ask you a question?"
Mike took a deep breath to refocus. "You can ask me anything you want."
Noticing how visibly shaken he seemed, Laurel waved her hand while eyeing Bex to see if the blonde would somehow let her know what was going on. "No, I'm sorry. You first."
"No, no you go. Mine's..." he trailed off looking to Bex who just smiled encouragingly, "too weird." He finished looking back to Laurel.
"Okay." She once more looked between the couple, trying to figure out what was going on but soon Bex's smile was turned onto her and she continued on with her question. "What's your boss doing with this budget?"
That wasn't quite what either was expecting but Bex had hope that if Laurel was looking into the budget too that meant her mundane days were about to be over.
"I don't know. What do you mean?" Mike answered her.
"Should I be aware of something hidden in it?"
"I don't know. Maybe. I don't know. I..." He let out a huff which caused Laurel to scoff. Well if she was getting nothing out of that, maybe his question would help in some way.
"Okay then. Your turn. What is it?"
Mike chuckled a bit, sipping on more of his water. "This other theory of yours about the CHI's. What is it?"
Laurel was a bit shocked and looked to Bex, who nodded approvingly. "What did you see?"
Mike retold the story of what he had seen happen in Red's office the previous night which then led to Laurel telling him about her bug theory. She then asked for him to draw it but when it didn't look like a regular ant, she shook her head. Bex slid the napkin over to take in the detailed sketch. Getting a better view of it caused a shiver to go down Bex's spine. That had crawled out of Red's head? If she would have seen something like that in her apartment she would have gotten a shoe as quick as she could have.
"I didn't see this." Laurel said.
"You told me there were bugs in people's heads." He gave her a bit of a pointed look.
"Yeah, but not these bugs. Bex knows. They're more ant-like." Laurel motioned towards the woman sitting on his other side. "Are you sure this is what you saw?"
Mike was getting a little more flustered. "I don't know. I'm not sure..." His voice raised but when he noticed people staring at them he lowered it again. "I'm not sure what I saw anymore."
"And how big was it?" Laurel asked.
Mike gauged the size with his forefinger and thumb, scrunching up his nose in thought as he tried to remember. When it was about the size of what he saw the previous night, he tossed his head from side to side as if saying about this big.
Laurel's eyes widened at how big the bug apparently had been. "Are you serious?"
"Yeah."
"And that went into Red's head?"
"Yeah." He sighed, looking back to Bex, trying to gauge how things were going while also just trying to ground himself. "This is insane." She squeezed his hand. "I don't like things that are this insane." He said as he turned back to Laurel.
"Yeah, I know, you'll get used to it. Bex did." She was actually rather surprised it seemed like the two hadn't talked or maybe they had and that's why he called her.
"Bex works with insane problems all the time. I, however, went the calmer route and yet here I am in the middle of one of the biggest ones I've ever heard her mention." He said, playing into their cover story.
"Didn't you tell me it laid eggs?" Bex asked, to get the topic back onto the bug so that they would be able to steer clear of any lies overlapping.
Laurel looked at the two shocked. "Eggs? You saw it lay eggs?"
Mike nodded. "Yeah. That's what it looked like."
Laurel picked up her purse and silently asked for the drawing which Bex handed over. "Okay, let's go."
"Why?" Mike asked, looking between the two women.
"Because we have to show this to someone." She said, motioning for the two to hurry so they could follow her.
Soon Mike, Bex, Gustav, Rochelle, and Laurel were all sitting in front of Dr. Wu at the CDC. "Okay, let me just say something here." Mike started before answering the doctor's question. "I'm not completely sure I saw what I saw."
Gustav rolled his eyes. "Come on. You told us that you saw it." He then pointed at the picture and looked back to Dr. Wu. "It's the queen bug, isn't it?"
The doctor looked down at the picture, perplexed. "I don't know, but this part looks like the egg sack." He looked back up to Mike. "That's where the eggs came out?"
Mike looked as though he was going to be sick and nodded as he took a deep breath to calm the nausea that was rolling through him. The two agents sat back and listened as the rest of the group discussed what finding the queen bug could mean. The group soon landed on that there was a chance if they killed the queen, they could kill the others. "I think we better go." Mike moved to get up, nudging Bex with his leg to follow him. This was a lot of information that they needed to discuss so they could plan their next move and he was slowly losing his patience over this assignment. He so wished he had been given another assignment with organized crime. That would have been so much better than whatever this was turning out to be.
"No. Wait. Why?" Gustav asked, looking between the pair.
"Because you're going to want to know how to get a large bug out of my boss' head and I don't think I have the patience for that conversation." Mike answered.
"It's in Senator Wheatus' head?" Dr. Wu asked just as Mike started to push up so he could stand.
"We should kill him." Gustav suggested.
Both agents covered their faces with their hands. This was why Mike was trying to get them out of there. If this turned into a plot to kill a senator, they would have to do something about it and knowing Bex's distaste for unnecessary paperwork was as bad as his, he really did not want to be there anymore.
"You can't just say that in front of a federal agent." Rochelle admonished Gustav.
Thank god they knew Bex's real identity, Mike thought.
"We're not going to kill him." Laurel said, looking to Bex reassuringly.
"I mean I'm just saying that if it'll save the human race is it wrong?" Gustav asked, looking at the group.
Mike looked up, eyebrows furled as he looked to Bex and then to Gustav. "Human race?" He then looked to Bex and Laurel. "When did we start talking about human race?" He knew, of course, that Bex had mentioned that this case was definitely meant for Area 51 but she didn't mention that the whole human race was now apparently in danger.
"You guys didn't tell him everything?" Rochelle asked, looking a little sheepish.
It was Laurel who answered but Bex wasn't sure how grateful she should be. "No, I-I don't think it's a good idea to get into..."
"What?" Mike asked, interrupting her. "What is everything?" He asked again when she didn't answer.
"They're not of this world." Gustav answered.
Mike looked at Laurel and Bex in disbelief. This was starting to become too much to handle even if he had known about the ties to space previously. "I'm going." With that he finally stood up and made it out of the room.
Everyone had their eyes on Bex who let out a heavy sigh and held her hands up, signalling her surrender in the choice to follow him. "Gareth, wait!" She called out, hurrying off after him.
She luckily didn't have to go too far, for he had waited for her out in the hallway. "Talk to me." She said, reaching out for him.
He let out a sigh and offered his arm, which she gratefully took. "Bex, when does this end? I mean I know you confirmed the whole Area 51 thing and they wanted more proof but this? I didn't sign up to be an agent for this. What am I supposed to do? They're in there without either one of us probably figuring out a way to lure out Red and they've already discussed killing him. What are we supposed to do with that?"
Bex leaned her head against his shoulder. "We've got to somehow get proof of what's inside Red's ear and what they're planning on doing. What you found isn't quite enough. Maybe we need to take the bugs out of this all together. I mean they're working as a hive which means it's kind of like a mafia family. We just need to know our key players and work our way from there."
Mike stopped just as they reached outside and looked down at her. "Bex, I saw something slightly bigger than a wasp come out of a man's ear. Is this really what my assignments will be from now on? Did I screw up that badly that they thought they'd just stick me with the joke assignments and all will be well?"
"I don't think this is punishment for you. I believe they truly thought that this would be an easy assignment but it turned out much larger than anyone could have ever expected."
He slowly nodded. "I should probably really get back to work. Are you going to be okay?"
"I think the question is, are you going to be okay?" She asked, worry written all over her face as she looked up at him.
Bringing a hand up, he caressed her cheek before kissing her, enjoying the feel of her lips under his for a moment before pulling back. "Yeah, I'll be okay. I'll call you." He promised with one more kiss before heading towards the front circle of the CDC building so he could get a taxi back.
Just as he had gotten out of the car at the Lincoln Memorial, his phone began to ring. Pulling it out of his pocket, he saw Charlie's name displayed on the screen. He had worried the first few times she had called randomly but by this point he knew to expect her either calling to check in on him or to ask his opinion on a case she was working. "Please tell me you're working on a normal case. I could do with a bit of normal right now."
"Aw, sorry, Mikey. I'm actually in between cases right now. You and Bex alright?"
He let out a disappointed huff. "Yeah, yeah, we're fine. This latest case is just insane and she just came back from dealing with a whole lot in Kansas City."
"Wait, she was the federal agent that had been kidnapped? She's really okay?"
Mike nodded despite his friend not being able to see him. "Yeah Charlie, she's good. I went out and got to bring her home. We, uh, we're actually together now."
"Holy shit. You finally asked her didn't you or did she ask you? I knew there was something between you two when I was there." She laughed a bit before growing a bit somber. "No matter how it happened, I'm glad you've got her."
"Now why do you say it like that?" He asked, a bit confused.
"I know you figured I was just calling to catch up since I'm not on a case right now but Mike, I called to warn ya too."
He did not like the sound of that, at all. "Warn me about what, Charlie?"
"Paige is back in D.C. She's on some apology tour. She left me this morning after spending about a week here. I told her to leave you alone but you know how she is."
Mike groaned and put his head in his hand. "That's not really the news I needed to hear after the day I've had."
"I know, Mikey but promise me you'll let Bex know. I'm sure she'll help you stay clear of her if she's able to find you."
He pinched the bridge of his nose. That was definitely not a conversation he was looking forward to having later. "I promise. I should probably get back to work. I'll talk to you later, okay?"
"Course. I'll talk to ya later and I'm sorry about adding onto what apparently has already been a shit day."
"It's okay. Thanks for warning me Charlie." He told her before hanging up. Mike let out a groan as he looked towards the sky. Why? Why did Paige have to come back when his life outside of the Bureau seemed to be doing so well?
