Case Reopened

Making A Friend (Part 3)

The undercover saga continues! Woohoo! Let's do this!! Read parts 1 and 2 if you're confused.

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"Your wife is scary."

Donovan said nothing to Mason's comment and merely continued to watch Carter's progress across the campus back to the dorm room.

"Have you ever thought that she's pretending to be who she is around you and only now that you're married will she eventually reveal the person she's always been and it will be a person you don't know?"

At the high level of stupidity of this question, Donovan look at Mason but didn't move beyond that. The look seemed to be all Mason needed to continue with his line of thinking. He gestured to the computer screens.

"What did we just witness?" he asked. "We witnessed Owens being someone so unlike her that it felt real. Could that be who she really is? Has she been lying this entire time?"

Donovan returned his gaze to the screens. Was Carter's level of acting surprising for the type of person she was? Sure. Donovan could understand where Mason's amazement and shock came from.

But what Mason hadn't seen were the late nights and long hours when he worked with Carter. They perfected her mannerisms and even her tone of speech. Carter transforming herself into someone unrecognizable from the person she was wasn't alarming. It only showed him her level of skill and dedication to her job.

"I mean how do we know that the Owens we knew is the real Owens? It could all be a lie."

"Mason."

Mason rested his elbow on the armrest of his chair, his manner telling Donovan he was ready to drag this argument out until the end of time.

"Shut up," Donovan said.

Mason's face fell and he shifted back in his seat. "Fine but if one day you wake up and you don't know the woman you married then don't come crying to me."

"You would be the last person I'd come to."

"That may be but I'd be the first one to say I told you so."

Donovan said nothing. He wondered how Carter had put up with Mason for all those years in high school. Though from the way they bickered, he figured that must be how. It was easy to deal with someone who annoyed you if you could tell them exactly how much they annoyed you.

Though despite both their clear annoyance with the other, they remained... what? Not friends, that meant some kind of bond and he didn't know if what they had could be called a bond. In a strange way, they are archenemies. Dramatic but true. Archenemies need each other, they give each other a goal to strive for, the other's defeat. It fit but didn't at the same time.

Donovan sighed and stretched his arms before resting his laced fingers on the back of his head. He had no idea what to make of Carter' and Mason's relationship but this mission was giving him a lot of firsthand interactions to try and decipher it.

"Is that sigh because you're sadly coming to the conclusion that I'm right?" Mason asked. "If it is you're accepting this hard truth better than I would imagine."

Donovan decided to cut Mason off before he became convinced that he could share the same banter with Donovan as he did with Carter.

"Mason, you believe Carter would turn into someone else because you've lived a lot of your life hiding who you truly are from the world. You believe that one day you'll show your true colors and the people around you will leave you." He locked eyes with Mason. "Carter is not you."