Thinking through

Julia has always liked thinking things through. Her line of work required her to make important decisions extremely quickly yet, she still preferred to take at least some time to think about what she was about to do. It has been like this for as long as she could remember, even as a child she calculated everything and only then took risks she deemed necessary or beneficial. This way of thinking guaranteed that she would live a comfortable and relatively peaceful life. Her mother always chuckled when Julia explained it to her. She got this funny expression and just nodded at her daughter as if she was trying to say something that Julia wasn't ready to hear. It has always made her wonder what issues her mother saw in her practically perfect way of living.

She finally started understanding when she saw Carmen Sandiego for the first time in her life.

The moment they made eye contact, Julia felt something changed about her. Coat fluttering in the air, slight smirk and that iconic wine red hat, it all made her briefly question her fundamental beliefs.

Standard person would consider such quick doubt in one's world view to be something completely normal, however, no matter how much she tried, Julia Argent was not a standard person. That night after she got to her flat and put herself in her bed, she found herself unable to sleep, instead she laid awake for several hours, the image of the thief flying into the night playing on repeat in her mind. So there, in her bed, Julia Argent started crumbling.

Since then every mention of Carmen Sandiego made her crumble bit by bit, but she could deal with it. Even if her resolve was a bit weaker she still had her head on her shoulders and could face anything thrown her way, with reason and sensibility of a responsible person. She has always considered herself to have strong will and some super-thief in red get up would not make her change it.

Until Julia Argent crumbled again on the train ride. She got too distracted with everything happening to recognize person she was looking for sitting in front of her. Small talk started by the thief managed to completely put her guard down, not expecting to come so close to the woman that the whole world was looking for.

To Julia's surprise Carmen seemed to be pretty human. Everyone painted her as something unreachable, that only few privileged enough or fast enough were close to reaching.

When Julia had realized that Carmen was in fact Carmen she stood in place, not daring to move. Only after her sane and responsible decision has failed she has considered chasing after the thief. She wanted to chase her until her legs gave up, to be one that managed to get to her, to be the first and the only person to ever reach Carmen Sandiego. At this moment Julia Argent crumbled a bit more and something new started forming in her place, something or rather someone who could finally catch, uncatchable La Femme Rouge.

And then Julia Argent crumbled again and again and again until the last one bit fell off in her flat. To be completely honest it's very ironic that Julia Argent finally fell apart in the same place where she started crumbling. Ever since she has sensed that she has started crumbling Julia has expected the final blow to happen in some big fight for world peace or in some very memorable moment, not standing in front of her bathroom mirror.

You see Julia has always spent a good deal of her morning in front of the mirrors as to appear the most professional she could be. Her youthful appearance caused her a lot more problems than it had benefits, especially since a big part of her job required people to trust her and apparently not a lot of people trusted someone who looks young.

So here she was, as always, standing in front of her mirror, getting ready for the day while making a mental list of things to take care of. First she needed to feed her cat, then she would need to water a plant that Carmen Sandiego had dropped off at her door, with a card saying it's a present. Next would be getting to the café in which Carmen Sandiego has been spotted back when she visited Poitiers for the first time, there she wouldn't get coffee for herself and agent Zari. Right after that they would drive to the airport and board ACME plane to get to the next destination, where Carmen Sandiego would be. During the flight she would think about Carmen Sandiego and what her next caper would be and would it be as exciting as the last one.

At that moment Julia Argent realized couple things:

1. She thought about Carmen Sandiego a lot.

2. Thinking about Carmen Sandiego made her smile in some weird goofy way she has never smiled before.

3. Her goofy smile was extremely similar to her mother's funny expression she had when Julia talked about her perfect method for life.

4. It's been extremely long since Julia Argent has thought out any decision she had made in regard of Carmen Sandiego.

And this was it. Julia Argent has crumbled in front of her bathroom mirror, on a Tuesday morning.

Julia Argent, one of ACME's best agents, has crumbled and in her place stood Jules, a woman who loved history and Carmen Sandiego.

The weirdest thing was that, this realization didn't shake her, quite the opposite actually.

It felt right.

It felt as if Julia loving Carmen was the truth that has been established since the creation of the universe, as if it was a general rule of the world, the same as water being wet and sun shining.

And now, after she has become everything she swore she wouldn't be, and it wasn't that bad. Going on instinct and following her gut helped her numerous times and often saved her life since she has realised to just go with it. She finally wasn't an onlooker that stood on the side and took action. This time taking action was especially crucial.

Jules finally took action. That's why she insisted on being placed at the same gala that she knew a certain red thief would be attending. That's why rather than keep her post she was almost storming through the dance floor to get to the smudge of red she had barely noticed with the corner of her eye. It also was why instead of arresting Carmen Sandiego, she danced with Ms. Santa Rosa. It was also why she spent the next hour in gardens kissing the world's best thief as if they both needed it as much as oxygen.

Julia has changed her mind. Thinking things through is overrated.