Summary:
Trusting people is hard, especially when they've let you down so horribly before. But you trust Kate, and Kate trusts Alex. And trusting Alex? Well that might just change your entire life.
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It was a beautiful, sunny, colorful Virginia afternoon, just like every other you'd had so far this week. The weather was just warm enough to heat your skin in the sun, just cool enough to feel chilly in the shade. You'd brought a smart-looking blazer along that morning, just in case, but it was slung across your messenger bag, unneeded in the balmy weather. You'd stopped by your favorite coffee stand on your lunch break, let yourself be flirted with by the teenaged barista, and now walked briskly into Langley, swirling your iced espresso as you went. Your heels clicked on the tiled floor, echoing through the near-sterile hallway. You smiled and nodded at your colleagues as you went, stopping just short of the elevators when you heard your name.
You turned to see Kate Laswell half jogging down the hall to catch you up. "What are you working on right now?"
All traces of your smile dropped at her serious tone. "Coding. Why do you ask?"
"Hand it off, you're coming with me. I need you on the ground." She flashed you an apologetic look. "I need someone I can trust."
Your spine straightened, field training falling over you like a sheet. "Yes ma'am."
Kate had already hustled past you, but threw a smirk over her shoulder. "None of that 'ma'am' shit, Trip. You know my name." She waved a hand over her head, calling back "Twenty minutes to brief!"
You didn't bother answering her, punching the button for the fifteenth floor. You rolled your shoulders back, taking in a deep breath. You'd been off the field for nearly a year, after almost losing an arm in a firefight. Physical therapy had lasted for months, and trauma therapy for months after that. You'd been working out of the main Langley offices, mostly programming, while you healed. You couldn't deny that you were itching to be back on the ground. But you hadn't been expecting to be pulled by Kate Laswell of all people.
The elevator couldn't move fast enough, your tapping foot the only evidence of your growing impatience. When you reached your floor, your director met you at the elevator.
"Kate find you yet?" You nodded. He grunted irritably. "Why on Earth she felt she needed you specifically is beyond me, but I wish she could've found someone else." Harsh as he sounded, you took his words for what they were- disappointment at losing one of his best assets.
"Don't worry, sir. I'll be back before you know it." A look passed over his face that you couldn't quite name. Wariness? Resignation?
After a moment, he shook his head. "I hope so," he muttered. Then he turned his back to you, stalking down the hall to his office. Something about this whole thing seemed off, but you couldn't focus on that right now. You watched him go for a moment before shrugging the whole odd encounter off and making a beeline for your desk.
There, you logged into your desktop to forward the files you'd been working on and to set an automatic response on your emails before pulling your locker out from its place beneath your desk. The tiny key felt both foreign and familiar as you turned it for the first time since your injury.
