Conundrum

Part 24

JessLainsley

Hidsen was standing at the window, looking out at the streetlights, when she heard a rustling behind her. Her head turned slowly to look over and see Tristan pulling himself off the bed to stand next to her. He hugged her from behind and rested his head on her shoulder, still groggy and not processing the world around him.

"I'm sorry, Tris, did I wake you?" Hidsen asked in the quiet of the night.

Still half-asleep, Tristan responded, "Not at all, Angel... What's on your mind?"

"This case... I am sure I have the right person... but I don't know if I can arrest her. She is a public figure, popular with the masses. How do I arrest someone like that without causing an issue with the media?"

"The media will always have issues, Angel... and you arrest them by putting handcuffs on them and saying 'you are under arrest by...' I don't know, whatever their crimes are," Tristan smiled up at Hidsen and the corners of her own lips curled up.

"It is not as cut and dry as that, but I will keep that in mind."

Hidsen looked out into the night again, her mind running through all her options, debating what could actually be useful in the situation without stirring up too much trouble for the MDA. There was also the question of what to do with Robin Smith. The girl was an experiment, so having magic was not entirely her fault, but what do they do with her after her experimenter is arrested? Do they find a way to neutralize her powers? Detain her? Eliminate her because of how dangerous her powers could be?

Suddenly, she felt movement on her left hand. Hidsen looked down to see Tristan twirling the new gold band on her fourth finger, smiling as he did so.

"Tris... what are you doing?"

"Admiring my wife's new ring... I like that... wife. Cecily, I love you so much," Tristan sighed and held Hidsen closer, "Come back to bed, hm? I'm sleepy... and so are you... Your issues will still be there in the morning, no use losing sleep over it when they won't dissolve overnight."

Hidsen smiled and reached her hand back to gently stroke Tristan's chin, "I love you too, Tris... and you are right, we should get back to bed."

..........

Hidsen was filing some paperwork at her desk when Vincent walked over and sat down, the faint smell of beer following in his wake. She looked over and lifted a brow as she fixed her glasses.

"Can I help you, sir?" She asked, looking over the name on the file before sorting it.

"You sure can, Agent Hidsen. Do you know anything about an Agent Mauryne?"

Hidsen nodded, "Yes, she is a lower level agent then ourselves, she is on task with Agent Chase Lockfeld and Robin Smith. Why do you need her information?"

"For a special project I have been toying with. Do you have any information on her schooling? What she went to college for?"

Hidsen looked over and frowned, "Well, she went to the local college and graduated only a year or two ago... It was for something engineering related, I am not quite sure how she ended up as an agent, she never said."

Vincent nodded before getting up and heading for the door, the alcohol wafting after him, but lingering in the air, stale and bitter. Hidsen crinkled her nose at the slight smell, but it wasn't as bad as it has been before.

"By the way," Vincent turned around and pointed at Hidsen's hand, "Is that a new ring?"

Hidsen smiled a little, a rare occurrence in the work place, "Yes, my fiance and I got married last weekend."

"No one was invited?!?" Vincent turned his full attention to her.

"It was a private affair... just me, him, and his parents, mine could not make it. We just went to the courthouse and got our affairs settled, and that was it. We have already been living together for about four years, it was inevitable that we would get married someday."

"Well, still. You could have told me or Danh, we would have gotten you a gift or something. Do you have a registry?"

"As I said, we have been living together for years, so there was no need for anything. We already own a house and have all the appliances we need. There is no need for gifts or a registry."

"Was there a party?"

Hidsen shook her head, "Nope, just us at the courthouse."

Vincent nodded and looked at her left hand, "Well, congratulations, I am sure Danh would say the same if he were here, speaking of which, have you seen him today? It is unusual for him not to be here by now."

Once more, Hidsen shook her head, "I have not. I have been busy filing and sorting through our case files today. I am trying to find something to use for the Smith case."

Vincent nodded before heading out the door in search of either Danh or Wisteria, whichever caught his eye first. It did not take long for him to spot Wisteria, sporting a bright pink shirt under a black blazer chatting to another agent about some show she was watching.

"Agent Wisteria Mauryne?" Vincent asked when they paused their conversation to look over at him, their noses slightly crinkling.

"That's me! How can I help you?" Wisteria chirped, her voice much too cheery for mid-morning.

"I have a favor to ask, would you mind?"

"Not at all. See you later, Hannah, we can talk more over lunch," Wisteria waved to her friend as she followed Vincent to his office and sat down when he did, "What's up?"

"I have a college kid here, trying to work on something for me. I need you to help him, if that is within your scope of expertise?"

Wisteria smiled, her teeth could be on a toothpaste commercial with how blinding white they were, "Of course! I have a degree in electrical engineering and a minor in computer programming, so anything to do with those things, I can totally help out with."

Vincent nodded, impressed with her abilities in both school and how to be so happy all the freaking time.

"So what is the project?"

"Ah, yes, he is making some new tech for us, to help contain magics better and with more success than we've been having," Vincent sighed and leaned back in his chair, that stain still clouding his mind and eating away at his mental capacity to not think about it.

"Ooh, sounds fun! I love doing that sort of thing. When I was in high school, I joined my school's robotic team and we made this totally awesome bot that could register commands in about five seconds and was able to catch, throw, and find a ball within a twenty-by-twenty space. It was pretty neat and worked like a charm. I did most of the programming for it, while a lot of my friends built the thing. Oh! And in my senior year of college, I was in this program where we had to design something new that could be sold or patented for different places and we decided to make..."

Vincent stopped listening as she rambled on and on and on... he needed a beer. How could it only be 11 in the morning? Where was Danh? Surely he didn't have the day off today... Vincent would have known.

"And the other funny thing about that project was my friend Tamma-"

"So you are willing to work with this kid, right?"

Wisteria seemed a little put off guard by the sudden interruption, but she bounced back and smiled bigger and brighter, "Yes sir! You can count on me!" She laughed and stood and exited the office, leaving it in a somewhat peaceful, yet awkward silence.

Vincent let out a sigh... What was the funny thing about Tamma?