#tr; maite romero

[thedevilsbckbone]

Closed starter for @heroexxs

It had been two weeks since Maité got the confirmation from her doctor that she was in fact pregnant and how far along she was. They'd had a long discussion about her choices and steps to move forward. It had been almost as overwhelming of an experience it had been when she'd taken the test and when Miles had found out that she suspected she was. Now it was confirmed and the brunette had been a hurricane of mixed emotions ever since. She thought about it all throughout her day, distracting her from work to the point that she ended up rousing a few suspicious glances from some of her coworkers.

Now she sat atop the examination table, awaiting the ultrasound tech to arrive to get a first glimpse at the baby growing inside her to see how things were coming along. Her nerves were still high and she let out a shake breath, chuckling softly as she glanced over to where Mile sat beside her in a chair. "God - I feel more nervous than I think I've ever felt before in my entire life. Which is silly because it's not like it's going to be something crazy." She said with a small shake of her head, feeling a little ridiculous by the confession. "I mean it's not like we'll even be able to really see anything yet anyway." While she had calmed down a ton when Miles promised her that he'd be with her no matter what she chose to do, Maité still hadn't been able to decide what she wanted to do. Sure she had told him she wanted kids sometime In the future but she couldn't help but wonder if this was too soon.

[thedevilsbckbone]

Maité paused her rummaging through her purse that sat in her lap as she heard Rio's God's awful attempt at mimicking a Texan accent. She cringed at it, eyes raising to glance at him beside her and seeing that he too at least seemed to realize how he should stick to his own if they wanted any chance of this mission not going south two seconds in. "Yeah I think that sounds like a good idea." She agreed, her tone dripping with sarcasm.

His next words surprised her though, not having expected the question. She glanced back down towards her lap, seeing her hands still shoved deep into her bag and she sighed, realizing she must have made her discomfort quite obvious. Pulling her hands free, she gave a small shrug, trying to play it off nonchalantly. "Not claustrophobic - just not really a big fan of being trapped in a tube thousands of miles up in the air. I'll be fine though," she brushed it off, trying to ignore the swooping nerves that rolled in the pit of her stomach despite her words.

As his tone lowered, her gaze met his again, narrowing slightly as she noticed him lean closer to her. Her initial instincts were to move away but she stopped herself, remembering they were suppose to be a married couple as of now. A point further made by his words, even if she knew he was saying them to goad her on. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes, forcing a small smile to her lips. "No, thanks. Like I said, I'm fine." She said before adding in a much softer tone, " Besides, what feels more like a real marriage than giving your partner the silent treatment on a flight for getting on their last nerves. " | @molinxsdeviento

Rios wasn't entirely surprised to realize she was a southern menace. She was just as annoying as the average wasp redneck and was inwardly scolding himself not to notice and also for giving a newbie ammunition againt him. Then again the babysitting the newbie was the least of his problems with his op since it had red flags written all over it. but it was work and picard was putting his best man on the job. He'd just have to stick to whatever they had come up with as their backstory snd pretend he was head over hills over maite. At least she was easy on the eyes--as long as she kept quiet.

Once the briefing was over, he made himself some time to check in with his therapist, then his friend who had practically adopted his dog and visited Nat at the hospital--he got chastised by her which was not something he had expected when he mentioned who was replacing her as his wife. Apparently maite had earned natasha's respect and that was no easy fit.

Heading back to the randevouz point with his suitcases--he did not travel light when it was a long con op--he took off his glasses as she couldn't stay sitted still for more than two seconds. She either hated confined spaces la sentiment he shared but was far better at hiding) or hated flying (a necessary evil--also great to meet people-when they weren't forced into your op as your wife).

"That we are darlin'," he tried the southern accent but scrunched up his nose and shook his head. "Ill leave the texan cadence to the expert," he conceded relaxing on the seat and looking at her. "Hate flying or claustrophobic?" He asked assuming he was right-because he was of course. "Also," he lowered his tone leaning closer to her. "We are married and madly in love, we should start selling it from the get go. Wanna hold my hand for takeoff honey?" He was going to try all the pet names he could think of, just to annoy her.

[thedevilsbckbone]

It had been years since Maité had stepped foot back in this town, not since she put the house up for sale after her mother had passed and her father had returned to Mexico. She'd never had the fondest memories of growing up in this place, nor had she ever planned on returning, but after she'd the news about the case of the murdered child and the arrested suspect being no other than Terry Johnson, a guy who had lived just a few houses down from her, the journalist couldn't help but take an interest in the case.

Then the other deaths started to happen, first with the slayed boy's mother and then Terry himself being shot by the boy's oldest brother - of whom which was also killed on the scene of the shooting. It was like some curse had befallen the town and Maité felt this need to figure out what was happening. So that was how she found herself breaking into the Connor's residence through a window she'd pried open. Carefully walking through the quiet home, she detailed what she saw into the tape recorder in her hand, looking for any clues that could help key into what felt so off about this entire case.

"The Connor's residence sits empty and quiet - the air feels nearly colder than outside and there's this sense of despair in the air.... a house where the aftermath of tragedy has sank deep into it's walls. It feels more like a hollow shell than home where a loving family lived." She paused the tape recording, frowning softly. "What the hell happened to this poor family?" she muttered rhetorically to herself. The local newspapers would say one thing, but the journalist just was so sure.

closed starter for @someotherdog

[thedevilsbckbone]

Maité knew she was toeing dangerously close to stepping over the line of what was her professional relationship with Nick. It was hard not to though when he flashed her that smile that was almost too devilishly charming. That smile, plus the accompanying questions he asked, had the brunette squirming in her seat at the implications. She could feel her cheeks grow a little flush but she was chuckling. "I mean, I'll never say no to actual ice cream." She said. "Sure it's a sweet and sticky mess, but it's a lot of fun if you get a little creative with it." She answered suggestively before she could stop herself. Who was she kidding, at this point - they were already beyond that line.

Nick for his part already was there as he admitted to having taken a woman to the bathroom before to fuck her and the brunette couldn't help but lift her brows up in surprise at his bluntness but she had to admit it kind of turned her on. Especially since she couldn't help but imagine that scenario of him in her head."Oh, scandalous." She said with a teasing grin. "I bet you probably had all the girls on campus swooning over you back then." She chuckled, having too much fun with the conversation. When he offered her a bite of his food, Maité nodded. "Sure, I'll take a taste." She leaned over the table again to take the offering. | @turkishdclights

He might have been drunk but the man didn't regret anything he was saying, nor would he after he sobered up. Maite was gorgeous, it would take a fool to act like she wasn't. And while he could be shallow in that he liked people that he thought looked beautiful, more than anything he thought that she was intelligent, charismatic, and sweet. She was easy to talk to and already knew more about him than a lot of people did, even if it was originally learned because of her job. Regardless, she held his interest.

"Self-indulgent..." he repeated with a bit of a cocky smile. "Oh, Maite. That can mean so many things. Do you like to taste something sweet? Or do you have something sweet to offer?" He asked, raising a brow before he chuckled. "Or are we talking literal? Should I invite you over and give you a bowl of ice cream?" He teased her, grabbing a napkin and dabbing at his lip after his next drink. "Crazier than take a girl home is taking a girl to the bathroom..." he couldn't help but laugh, hiding his face for a moment as he looked down and then gulped at the rest of his drink. "I was younger, must have been in college..." he admitted as if to also tell her it wasn't what he would do now. "Want to try some of mine?" @thedevilsbckbone

[thedevilsbckbone]

Carefully, so as not to disturb things too much within the residence since it was still a crime scene, Maité moved throughout the living room over to a wall of photos where the smiling faces of the Connor's kin all captured memories of better times for the happy family. It felt eerie now, knowing most were now deceased. A shift in the air caused a shiver to run up the brunette's spine as her mind began to move in a million directions as question after question filled her mind. It was why her editor said she was so good at her job -- it was as if Maité's brain would think up every single scenario possible and find her way towards the right path to the truth, no matter how wild and unstable some of those said paths seemed to be.

A noise behind her caused the woman to give a startle, jumping back and quickly whipping her head around towards the individual she was quickly made aware was also now sharing the space with her. Instinctively the hand that held the flash light beamed straight into the strangers face as she lifted her tape recorder up, ready to chuck it at the person if need be. Part of her knew realistically it was probably was one of the police officers in town keeping an eye on the home but that didn't stop her mind from jumping to wild conclusions seeing as this was not any ordinary crime scene.

Instead of some monster or crazy boogie man that her mind had briefly conjured up in the darkness, she was actually met by an older man she did not recognize but given the way he was speaking, it was obvious he held some kind of authority. Brows knitting together, she dropped both of her hands, moving the flashlight a bit lower so she could still see him but without outwardly blinding the man. Her gaze looked him over before returning to meet his gaze as she frowned at the assumption. She knew all things considered she shouldn't be offended for being assumed to be some kind of blogger but given how hard she worked to get where she did, the brunette couldn't stop herself before she spoke.

"Well not that I'm admitting to anything... but would it make this better or worse if I said it was actually for the Huffington Post?" She leaned back against the railing behind her, trying to be as casual as possible, not really taking the fact that she could very well get arrested for being here all that serious. After all, it wouldn't be the first, or even the tenth, time she'd spent the night in one of the local jail cells. She just didn't think it would happen on her first day back in town. Go figure.

Still eyeing the man with a bit of suspicion and curiosity, Maité couldn't stop herself yet again as she blurted out after a moment, "I'm sorry but who are you? I mean, for all I know you could be the one trespassing." She said, shrugging one of her shoulders. It had been a few years since she'd been back in La Pine but she had known most of the individuals working at the station as all had been either old vets from her younger years just counting down the days until they retired on people she went to school with who had gone into law enforcement following their family or friends who were already in the precinct. This man wasn't a local though, at least hadn't been for very long -- that much Maité was certain. Besides, if he had been from here or at least knew her like the rest of the authorities did, then this wouldn't have really been all that out of character for her and surprising for him

rick had failed. he had spent over a decade in his previous residence of encantadora, california in order to clean it up. he left it worse than he had found it, finally succumbing to the truth that it couldn't be cleaned up. encantadora belonged to the warring factions of the cucuys motorcycle club and the los lobos locos gang, sinking beneath the weight of their respective crimes, and rick would never be able to save it no matter how hard he tried. and he had tried hard. he gave his whole life to the city, but no one appreciated his efforts and it stole the relationship he could've had with his daughter and late wife. moving there had been the biggest mistake of rick's life.

moving here was supposed to the best choice he ever made. only a few years out from retirement, he moved to his new town because he thought it would be a nice, quiet place to ride out his last few years as a police captain. he thought it was be as innocent as andy griffith's mayberry. for a while, it had been. people mostly called the station to break up a high school party or report a car accident. in his year since his relocation, he never had a case come across his desk that was more violent than a robbery or bar fight. never did he think there would be a murder. the police station didn't even have a homicide division. they never really needed one; of course deaths happened in every town, and some of those deaths could be attributed to murders, but they were few and far between. they certainly didn't occur as often as they did back in encantadora.

it had been such a terrible crime, too. the connors and the johnsons were both classic americana families, totally normal. now rick was on the other side of fifty and worked in law enforcement for a very long time; he knew that no one was truly normal, that criminals could present completely squeaky-clean on the outside and hide a dark underbelly, but the evidence would be there if you just looked. if you looked, you would expose that underbelly easily and all the pieces would fall into place. not for terry johnson.

as a captain, rick didn't go out and actually investigate things very often. mostly, he assigned officers and the few detectives he had to go out and investigate. this case had been bothering him, though. rick spent much of his time thinking about it, how there had been no underbelly to terry. there was nothing on terry's computer or in his house that would ever suggest he'd commit such a horrific offense. no one had anything to say about terry except that he was a kind, polite neighbor. he was the last person anyone would suspect... except for the eyewitnesses and the dna evidence. the only problem was that terry johnson, on multiple accounts, had been on the exact opposite side of town on the morning that the younger connor boy had died.

could a man really be in two places at once? could the coroner be wrong about the time of death? was it in any way possible that terry had a secret, evil identical twin that no one knew about, not even his wife? if the eyewitnesses were wrong, which ones were: the ones that saw terry pick up the kid in a van, or the ones that saw terry at the baseball game?

the questions plagued rick's thoughts and somehow, he found himself driving by the connors' house without realizing it. not until he drove by it a third time and saw movement inside it. quickly, rick pulled his car to the curb and parked it. he crept up slowly but kept his hand off his service pistol; he knew better than to assume, but he was a quick shot and this place wasn't encantadora. here, it was most likely teenagers daring each other to enter a haunted house than gangsters setting up a drug deal. the police tape hadn't been broken across the front entrance, so either the intruder entered through the backdoor or by a window. if rick felt particularly punitive, he'd fine the wayward teens for property damage, if he didn't just let them off with a stern warning.

only it wasn't a group of teens. breaking the police tape himself, rick noiselessly entered the home, he was confronted by a different type of intruder: a woman speaking into a tape recorder. god help him, he hoped she wasn't a podcaster. rick coughed to announce himself, eyebrows raising expectantly at her. "please tell me you're not trespassing on a crime scene for your damn blog."

[thedevilsbckbone]

A relieved sigh left her when Miles spoke, giving her the reassurance she needed to know that this was the right decision. It felt like this huge weight that had been crushing her chest since the moment she found out she was pregnant had been lifted and she could no longer fight back the tears. Blinking as they broke free, she could feel wet streaks roll down her face and she quickly lifted her free hand to wipe away at them as she let out a breathy chuckle heavy with both relief and embarrassment. She was happy though. Maité nodded in agreement as he asked if she was positive about wanting to go through with this. All her life she felt like her feelings were barely even considered but Miles made it clear that he would always have her back and always be there for her no matter what and the brunette knew she could count on him to be there beside her through all the ups and downs. "I'm all in, too." she said with another nod as she watched him pull her hand to his lips, the gesture further helping to ground her off her crumbling nerves. She was scared but also excited, and the more she thought about it, the more Maité knew that they would figure this out. Somehow, someway.

She felt her chest constrict with affection, warmth spreading through her at how he referred to both her and the baby when saying I love you. He would be a wonderful dad, Maité already knew, and she pressed her free hand to her stomach, glancing down to where she knew their child lay growing inside, a smile tipping the corners of her lips. "We will make this work." she parroted, really letting that sink in and after the initial shock of it began to die down, she felt more of those excited jitters begin to rise up in her. "Holy shit - we're really gonna be parents." She said with a nervous chuckle as she met Miles' gaze again. "Well, at least this will get your mother off our backs for a while." she joked. She was sure they'd still have something to say about them not being married but they'd cross that bridge when the time came to it. | @heroexxs

Hearing Maité say that she wanted this made the situation feel even more real than hearing the heartbeat. He told her he would support her either way, but he didn't know exactly where her mind was. Something had to switch during the appointment and he felt something in him as well say his opinion. As he looked into her eyes, he felt a small smile play on his lips as he nodded his head. "Course we can do this." He muttered as he slid his chair as close as he could and squeezed her hands. "I know it won't be easy… it's gonna be rough sometimes." They still had no idea what they were doing or how to prepare for having a baby, but he figured that eventually, they would be able to figure things out. As long as they were in this together, he didn't see why they couldn't raise their little family. "But I know we can do this." Gently he leaned over to clean her eyes and cup her face, seeing how she was fully committed to this. His nerves were starting to fade and turning into more excitement.

"You're positive, right? I'm all in, just say you are, too." Whatever she needed, whenever she needed it, Miles was more than happy to make it happen. They had a long journey ahead of them but he knew that it would be the most memorable. Gently Miles brought her hand to his lips to press a soft kiss to it before giving it another squeeze. He knew his parents would be overjoyed, they had been begging for a grandchild for a bit now but at the end of the day, they were doing it for their own family, not for anyone else. It wasn't the ideal plan that he had for them, he'd love to eventually get married and maybe plan for a child but it seemed like life had a funny way of making their dreams happen a bit quicker. "We can do this." He said with another smile as he leaned in to give her a kiss on her cheek. "I'm going to get the ultrasound from the tech and the heartbeat… if things ever get hard we can just look at our blob and just remember what we're doing everything for." As he gave her hand one more squeeze, he let her clean herself up so they could head home. "I love you two, we'll make it all work I promise."

[thedevilsbckbone]

Maité continued to stare at the screen, her mouth pulled to a thin line as she seemed to be really studying the imagine before her despite it not looking like very much. It was the simple reality though that it wasn't in fact just a little blob on the screen but a baby - their baby to be exact. An odd feeling washed over the brunette and she struggled to decipher whether it was a good or a bad feeling still. However, that all changed the moment the tech asked them if they wanted to hear it's heartbeat. Maité had quickly turned her head from the screen to look at the tech, brows raised in surprise, obviously not realizing there would already be one at this stage. Her own heart began to speed up and she glanced over at Miles for a moment who seemed just as struck by the information. She agreed after a moment with a nod and before long the room began to be filled with the quick rhythmic drumming of the baby inside her.

The moment the sound hit her ears, Maité was left awestruck to the point that her eyes began to glass over with near tears. A sudden realization came to her that she'd not even considered. This felt like the first real good thing she'd done since what happened with her sister. Instead of taking a life she had created one, and with Miles who was more family to her than anyone else had ever been. Suddenly she realized that this felt right. After all, she had wanted a chance at a family again, done the right way, and now she had that chance.She nearly shocked herself by how quickly her decision was made right then and there by that though.

Once the tech left, Maité turned to look at Mile, her eyes still glossy with tears and seeing how his own seem to shine similarly. It only made her more confident in her decision, feeling like he wanted this too and that they could make it work. She licked her lips softly, letting out a small huff as she chuckled softly in agreement. "Yeah," she nodded, giving his hand a squeeze for needed support, reminding herself that he was with her no matter what. "I... never heard anything so beautiful before." she admitted, pausing for a second as if hesitating her next words but after another small push of encouragement to herself she continued. She looked Miles directly in the eyes, clutching his hand between both of hers now. "We can do this, right? Do you believe we can do this? — because I... I want this." The last part was said just slightly above a whisper. | @heroexxs

Thankfully Maité was able to answer any questions that the tech had since for the most part he was a bit clueless. Every now and then he was able to help with his family's medical history but for the most part, this was still very new to him. As he gave her hand another squeeze, he could feel his heart beating harder in his chest since he didn't know what his reaction would be. They were still very up in the air, but he knew that this would make it far more real. His eyes went to the screen as the tech continued to move their machine around before finally stopping when there was a small mass on the screen. A chuckle slipped his lips at her words as he nodded in agreement but didn't take his eyes off of the screen. "It's like a little blob…" He said with another chuckle as he tilted his head. For the moment, it didn't look like much but at the end of the day, that was their baby. Finally, he looked over at her to see her reaction and knew she had to be just as nervous as he was. "It's like a little grape or something." It wasn't until the tech said that they were able to hear a heartbeat that Miles quickly sat up a bit more. That made it far too reach and he didn't know why but knowing that something was actually living here hit him more than he thought it would have. The heartbeat filled the room and for a moment he could feel tears start to well up in his eyes. He didn't think he would get this emotional over something like this but hearing this now hit him like a ton of bricks. As he quickly tried to blink them away, he looked over at her and gave her a small smile. This was her decision at the end of the day whether or not to go through with all of this and like he had mentioned before he would be with her every step of the way. The tech turned everything off and was going to give them a couple of minutes to collect themselves. "That was… something, huh?" He said with a small chuckle and a shake of his head.

[thedevilsbckbone]

As he corrected her regarding wearing a uniform, Maité simply brushed it off with a shrug. She supposed she'd never paid attention and had always figured Howards never wore one was simply because he was lazy, getting away with it for so long because the town was small. Her eyes followed his hand as he moved to unclip his badge from his belt, holding it up in the light of her flashlight so she could see. Her eyes gleaned over the embossed letters that verified what she really already knew to be true. She tilted her head as she regarded him again. "So, you must be Rick then." She surmised with a small hum. "Your photo in the paper hardly did you justice so you can't really blame me for taking precautions." She added, with another small shrug, speaking more casually than she probably should given the circumstances.

When he interjected, saying he'd only been there because he saw her while driving by, Maité couldn't say she really believed him. She always felt like she had a good intuition and it all felt just a little too coincidental that he just happened to pass by right at the right moment to not only see her but to get in as quickly as he had. After all, she'd only been in the house for a few minutes at best before he'd made himself known. "Oh?" She quirked a challenging brow though didn't fight him on that - knowing she'd only probably upset him more and then he might actually decide to just arrest her. Still, she made it pretty obvious that she was less than convinced. "Well, guess that was just unfortunate luck on my part."

As he began to question her, Maité had to resist rolling her eyes when he mentioned not wanting her to go around harassing the townsfolk. She drew a long sigh. "Look I'm not some gossip reporter trying to make a scandal and a buck off of tragedy. My job is to help bring the truth to the public because people deserve it— And, I'll have you also know that I have even assisted in re-opening a cold case before." She added rather smugly, crossing her arms to almost mimic his exact stance.

"My name is Maité Romero -" she answered after a moment, spelling out her name for him, figuring he was gonna get the info from her one way or another so might as well just tell him. "My wallet is in my car outside but you can google me if you don't believe me." Luckily articles she'd written were usually the first things to pop up when someone searched her name, rather than articles written about her. Or rather of the accident and trial. Not unless people were to really look, or if they just asked around town about her.

"Besides, even if I was that kind of reporter, half this town wouldn't bother talking to me anyway - they haven't in years as it stands already - so I wouldn't even bother wasting my time." She threw out casually as an after thought. She supposed that was why she was drawn to this case so much. She knew how quick people in La Pine were to draw conclusions and condemn people without a second thought because it was an easy scapegoat for their pain and suffering. She didn't want that to be the legacy of someone who she knew to have always been a good man. | @someotherdog

there would always be people sniffing around crime scenes. even when he was just starting out back in detroit over thirty years ago, there were people that wanted to rubberneck and people that thought they could do a better job than he could. in la pine, the home of his future retirement in hopefully just a year, he figured it would just be rubberneckers. throughout his career, rick had worked in sprawling metropolises and smaller cities, but la pine was the first small town he ever worked in. for some stupid reason, he thought he wouldn’t be bothered by citizens that thought they could solve the case before he could, but it seemed everyone in town had some sort of theory. even the most heartbroken in town tried to come up with some sort of idea about how any of it made sense. when he bought a cup of coffee at the diner, the barista or a customer would bombard him with their personal opinion, anything from evil twins to alien abduction. it was all so ridiculous. yes, the police department didn’t have a single fucking clue about what really happened, only that dna evidence and eyewitness testimony that gave no other conclusion than terry johnson was the killer, but there had to be an explanation for the unexplainable parts of the case. one that didn’t involve a cockamamie plot from the x-files.

so, yes, everyone in la pine had their thoughts on the case. no one had ever broken into the crime scene before, though. he frowned disapprovingly at her questions. “captains don’t wear uniforms.” rick corrected, tone flat. he hadn’t worn one since he passed his detective’s exam in the mid nineties, unless under very specific circumstances like press conferences, but he doubted she cared about the intricacies of police uniforms. he gave a slight roll of his eyes when she demanded to see his badge, but unclipped it from his belt wordlessly, then held it up in the air so she could see it with her flashlight. the words ‘la pine police’ and ‘captain’ were embossed in gold.

rick returned his badge to his belt. he crossed his arms as he waited for her explanation. i don’t know. unanswered questions. well, welcome to the club, ms. huffington. in fact, most cases weren’t so clearcut, even when he worked vice, but the current one was certainly the weirdest in recent memory. despite the puzzling nature of the crime, it didn’t excuse her breaking into the crime scene in the middle of the night.

she continued on and his expression grew more incredulous the more she spoke. “okay, i’m only there because i was driving by and saw the house being disturbed by you.” he didn’t elaborate further on why he was driving by in the first place, but hey, he was the one that lived in la pine. as far as he knew, she was some random reporter from out-of-state. did he even owe her a response? let alone the truth. “i can legally justify my being here. you, however, are trespassing.” he had half a mind to arrest her right then and there. “why don’t you answer some of my questions before you go around harassing the townsfolk and kicking up dust on a closed case—what’s your name? do you even have proof that you work for the huffington post?” 

[thedevilsbckbone]

As Nick leaned forward a bit and asked what she craved, Maité could feel excited jitters run through her entire body like lightening at the low tone of his voice and the way his gaze seemed to linger to her lips for a moment before returning to look at her again with that devilishly charming smile. It was like he was a wolf in sheep's clothing, hiding a side of him that the reporter had not expected to encounter from the otherwise kind but solemn man. She couldn't say she didn't like it though. Quite the opposite in fact.

Her own smirk mimicked his as she hummed in thought for a moment. "Well my cravings tend to be very self-indulgent - I always like something a little sweet before bed - actually, preferably while I'm in bed." While the words themselves seemed somewhat vague and innocent, the suggestive tone of her voice made it easy to let the imagination run wild. "Oh wow, this looks good." She said as she began to cut herself a piece to try. "Oh is that so?" She grinned at his comment about doing crazier things. "Well now you have me curious - what other crazy things have you done?" She added before taking a bite. She let out a soft moan in satisfaction as she got lost for a second in the delectable taste. "Oh this is very good - You were not joking." She chuckled softly as she spoke once she'd finished her bite.

He leaned forward, both his hands clasped together on the table as he studied her face. “And tell me, Maite. What do you crave?” He asked in a low tone, purposefully trying to get her thinking about him as his eyes drifted down her own eyes to her lips before they were back up at her eyes, giving her a soft smirk.

He wasn’t usually so forward but he usually wasn’t drunk - he usually had a thick layer of walls up around him that had all come crashing down because of the liquor, mixed with the threat of perhaps this being one of the last times he’d get to visit with her if perhaps they would lose contact with one another. He paused when the food was brought out to them, thanking their waitress and giving her a soft nod before he leaned back a bit. “He’s done a lot crazier than bring a pretty girl home - I’ll tell you that much,” he chuckled, digging into his food. “You’re going to have to try it and tell me how it is?”

[thedevilsbckbone]

It was honestly quite surprising, with how high her nerves were, that Maité didn't feel like throwing up. She'd been doing so much of that lately over the smallest things that she'd been scared she might end up barfing right where she sat. To her relief, she'd been spared that embarrassing moment despite how her stomach was twisting into knots. At least Miles was doing a pretty good job at trying to keep her relaxed. The brunette letting out a small groan as she began to laugh. "Oh don't even say that." She said with a shake of her head. With their luck, he'd speak it into existence. She gave his hand a squeeze, thankful for his support, smiling softly in appreciation as she felt his thumb rub soothingly over skin. "Thank you," she said before there came a knock at the door.

A second later, the tech was stepping in, smiling at the pair as she began to ask her questions. Maité answered them to the best of her ability, Miles chiming in to help every now and then. She felt a little bit embarrassed and guilty that she didn't seem outwardly excited as she imagined most people probably were, but the tech assured her it was okay. Maité let out a relieved breath, following the tech's instructions and adjusting her clothes to expose her stomach, still not quite showing much at this stage. "Oh wow - cold," Maité chuckled softly with a small gasp as the tech smiled and moved the wand over top her skin, slowly angling it as the screen began to display black and white fuzzy lines that swept across the whole screen save for a small black mass towards the center. Maité couldn't help stare at the screen intently, thinking how wild it was that somewhere there was a life. "That is... trippy." She said softly, looking over at Miles, wondering what he must have been feeling. | @heroexxs

As Miles shifted in his seat slightly, he couldn't help but let his eyes wonder around the examination room. This was foreign to the both of them, then again just about everything in this whole situation was. The morning sickness, even just scheduling this appointment was easier said than done. A chuckle slipped his lips as he reached over to grab her hand, giving it a small squeeze and letting her know that he was right by her side. It was all he could do, which made Miles feel even worse. This was her choice to make, and he could help in any way he could but at the end of the day he couldn't make it for her.

"I mean… is it too late to tell you twins run in my family?" He said with a straight face before laughing to himself. "Don't be nervous, it'll be alright. It'll be a cool looking blob, right?" Miles had deep dived into just about everything he could find on the internet regarding how to prepare. If Maité wanted to follow through with this, he didn't want to not be ready to take this responsibility head on. "Just hold my hand, I'm not going anywhere." He said as he ran his thumb over the back of her hand. When the ultrasound tech came in, he could feel his chest tightening slightly. He was nervous as well, but just like when she told him that she was pregnant he tried to hide it. He didn't want her to feed off of his nerves as well and then it wouldn't be beneficial for either of them. They asked their questions about the baby, about how they were preparing and he tried to keep it as casual as possible since they still did not know what they were doing. As they set everything up to do the ultrasound, Miles moved a bit closer to her and tightened the grip on her hand.

[thedevilsbckbone]

Maité rolled her eyes at his response, wanting to interject and point out that he knew that's not what he meant but she decided to hold her tongue. She wasn't going to let him rile her up before they even got started. It did become easier to ignore though when he went on to talk about them blending in and having to really sell the act, feeling a smirk tip at the corners of her lips as she glanced over at Rios. "Oh bless your heart darlin'," she cooed softly, letting her natural Texan drawl come forward to play up the part. "Didn't think such a skilled agent would be so worried about that of all things." And maybe she was just talking a big game herself but she had something to prove.

Once Picard entered, Maité turned her attention back as he went on to debrief them of the mission and going over the intel and clues they had gathered thus far. Maité could feel her skin buzzing with jitters that were a mix of both anxiety and excitement. She trained of course and had done drills but none of that could compare to the real thing and she was looking forward to showing off the skills that she'd worked so tirelessly to gain.

Once it was over, they prepped for their flight that would take them to their new temporary home. They met again a bit later once they both boarded, being sat next to one another. She sat, trying not to look phased as she fiddled around with her things, trying to get comfortable. Truth was she absolutely hated flying. She did it when she had to of course, but she knew she'd be a nervous wreck the entire time and was going to have to hide that fact from the man beside her. "So, guess we're officially mr. and mrs. now." she said as the only real greeting, keeping her eyes ahead of her.| @molinxsdeviento

"Why do I say that? I get that we're both very attractive but I was being ironic. We're going to the middle of WASP america and we're both not at all blond or white, which hey, I applaud but well, 'blending in' is not gonna be easy. We'll have to sell the newlywed bliss hard if we want them to buy it."

If he had gone with Nat it'd be an entire different story. He would've played the trophy latino husband that fakes speaking english with an accent and is by the pool gathering intel and making the disgruntled wives and husbands sigh with longing. He was good at honey potting. Now he had to babysit a newbie and choose an entire different approach in the middle of rednecks. Lovely.

Picard went in and briefed them in on the case and how they were meant to be a newly married couple--but also in wit sec. There was a leak and neither agency knew where it was so they got the lucky ticket: he had been in deep undercover for way too long and she was new. Rios' bad feeling about the entire thing got worse by the minute, mostly because he knew Picard and there was more he wasn't sharing--and he wasn't going to.

[thedevilsbckbone]

"Yeah, I can see how that can seem like a hassle when you're used to everything being so close. I don't know though," she said with a small shrug, a smirk tugging at her lips. "I have been known to be willing to drive a couple hours out if it's for something I really want or crave." Coincidentally she had shared with Nick not just the other day that she only lived a couple hours away in the city. The only reason she stayed in a hotel in town instead of driving home was due to the drive being too much to do daily, but the trip wasn't too long where she wouldn't mind taking it on the weekends here and there. She knew the thoughts running through her mind were ones that could make things turn out messy but she couldn't help that she just really did like spending time with the male sitting across from her.

By the sounds of it too, he seemed to be very much in a similar boat. A brow lifted in surprise at his statement, not expecting him to make such a bold remark but Maité would be lying if she said his words didn't excite her a little. "Is that so?" she said, feeling her smile growing and cheeks warming up in a mix of amusement and enticement. She glanced down as another soft laugh left her before she was meeting his gaze again. "Well, I guess I'll just have to wait and see if he truly is that crazy by the end of the night - Hell! Who knows? Maybe I'm crazy enough myself to say yes."

It had been difficult from the very beginning to keep things totally professional with Maite. He had never flirted with her before tonight, but he was very friendly and joked around with her often. Somehow it had gone from just the occasional joke or two while answering questions and it had turned into the questions turning into conversations and Nick making them cups of coffee and bringing out snacks, the two talking until late in the night.

He pursed his lips as she gave him that gentle rebuttal, mouthing a thank you after sipping at more of her drink. “Yeah? But the only bad thing is when you’re in a quieter town, things aren’t as close. The hardest thing for me when I moved out here was not being able to just leave my place to grab a snack from the corner store - now I have to get into car and drive like 10 minutes to hit the 7/11.” He grinned at her words,n confident she was talking about him. “Oh yeah? I’m sure if you asked him he’d try to convince you to stay. Shit, might be even crazy enough to try to invite you to stay just for the night. He’s got a pretty comfortable bed.”

[thedevilsbckbone]

Maité remained where she stood, watching the man with equal parts curiosity and weariness until he confirmed her assumption when he identified himself as the town's new police captain. So, this must have been the man that replaced that old bastard Howards after he finally retired. She was sure his name was Rick from what she could remember from the articles regarding the case. Well the old man before him had always hated Maité for all the shit she'd caused around town when she was younger and now so far it didn't seem like she was off to a good start with this new captain either.

Nor did she help her case as she gave another shrug and gave the man a skeptical look. "You could be lying for all I know - you're not even in uniform." She pointed out, motioning towards his clothes. "If you're the captain of the police, then show me your badge." She demanded softly. Even if she mostly believed him, he was still in civilian clothes, which made it a bit odd as to why the Captain of the police was hanging around the house this late at nice for a case that was closed. It only served to make the reporter even more curious and wondered what he knew.

Posing a question back about what she expected to find, Maité lifted a brow and regarded him with an almost amused look. Well he wasn't instantly arresting her for trespassing, so that was something. So she figured it wouldn't hurt to go along with his questioning even though she knew that rule number one was always never speak to cops. She gave a one sided shrug in answer, pursing her lips softly. "I don't know," she said earnestly, glancing around the dark room for a moment. "There just seems like there are still so many unanswered questions in the case..." Which was also the truth.

Her gaze met his again and her brows knit together softly as she revealed her observation in her response. "Like for instance, why would the town's captain still be hanging around a crime scene, in the middle of the night no less, for a case that's already been deemed closed? Especially if he's so certain his team looked for every possible clue and could say, without a shred of doubt, that Terry Johnson really killed that little boy." She put a finger to her chin, pursing her lips as she hummed softly. "Very curious, wouldn't you say?" She added before dropping her hand carefully to her side once more. | @someotherdog

oh. great. not a blogger, but a journalist. just what la pine needed. just what captain rick kelleher needed. the case was confusing enough, the last thing he needed was someone from the huffington post—of all newspapers!—meddling. he had to wonder how they had even gotten the attention of the media. of course the case had made the local news, even ended up on the news in a few neighboring towns, but the huffington post wasn't some local beat. they were a national newspaper. the last thing the people of la pine needed was national attention. he could instantly see the town portrayed on dateline, keith morrison's voice in his mind: a quiet town where no one locked their doors, a curious case of being in two places at once... give him a fuckin' break.

it was hard not to be irritated. did he not have the right to be irritated? some random woman was breaking into a victim's house and looking at him as if he was the stranger. the case had been stressful enough for him, for the entirety of la pine. blood had been shed and families were destroyed. journalists never met a carcass they didn't want to pick, did they? goddamn. though she had thankfully moved her flashlight so it wasn't directly into his eyes, it was still rather bright and rick lifted one hand to try and deflect it away from his face better.

then she had the audacity to ask who he was. after she broke into the house in the dark. he scoffed. "well, i'm the police captain of this town, and this is my crime scene," rick countered, narrowing his eyes, "kind of hard to trespass on my own crime scene." anyway, she was the one sneaking around in the dark! in a place she wasn't even allowed to be in! he could have her arrested for even being there if he wanted to. hm, the paperwork that would take…

"now it's my turn to ask a question. what exactly do you think you'll find here, ms. huffington, that my detectives haven't already found?" maybe she thought they were all country bumpkins, but they had torn this house apart. they had torn the johnson house apart, the baseball diamond, the van used to take the kid, just about the whole damn town. if something was there, they would've found it. maybe some small town police stations didn't care about solving crimes, but this one did. rick did. everything had ended up so fucked in the end and now that multiple were dead, he didn't know what else there was to find if he did go searching.

it wasn't as if the case didn't weigh on his mind, too. the only reason he even noticed her movements inside the house was due to the fact that he kept driving by the connors' home. there were many unanswered questions. in the eyes of the law, the case was closed. the victims were dead and so was the perpetrator. at this point, they were both just disturbing the dead. / @thedevilsbckbone

[thedevilsbckbone]

As he took a seat, Maité turned back in her chair, to face ahead of her as she waited for Picard to return. They weren't playing husband and wife yet which means she didn't have to pretend right at the moment to like the the other agent. Despite not looking at him, the brunette still heard every word, and spoke in the most flat tone as she answered the question. "Oh I'm practically jumping for joy, can't you tell?" She made she she stood perfectly still with her hands clasped together in her lap. She wasn't sure what he had meant by them being popular and as much as she wanted to just ignore him, she couldn't quite help herself.

"Why do you say that?" She asked, barely glancing over her shoulder towards him. She tried to play it off more as if she were humoring him than anything. In truth though, she was a little curious,. He'd obviously done this a lot more than she had and knew what they were getting unlike her. Not that she'd let him see that though; she would not let him think she wasn't up for the task or that she couldn't handle it.

Before their conversation could get too far though, Picard was coming back into the room and the brunette turned her attention back to him. She was ready to get this going, still pretty excited for the opportunity to finally go out in the field, even if it was under less than desirable conditions. | @molinxsdeviento

Ah, one of the few that hadn't fallen for his charm. It was mutual really. He was usually good with newbies and he had a rule not to sleep with them and actually attempt to teach them his ways, maybe this could be an opportunity for her to see the wrong of her ways.

Ok, granted, he was a cocky asshole at times but heck, he had so many good ops (and a handful of fuckups that turned for the best--for the most part anyway) to feel that way. At least that's what was he was going for here.

Stepping into the room and taking the seat behind her, he took a deep breath and pursed his lips together. "Ah, agent Romero, always a pleasure to see you," he decided to deflect her words though he really felt like pulling rank on her when she mentioned Picard. "Yeah, I just saw him outside," and he had unceremoniously told him to 'suck it', not that he'd share that particular piece of intelligence with his fake wife.

"Excited to spend the next 6 months living a double life in wasp suburbia? We're gonna be popular in no time," he took a deep, deflated breath hoping they find whatever the agency wanted them to fast, there was only so much bullshit he could put up with in american soil.

[thedevilsbckbone]

It had only been about a year since Maité had been working in the field, having spent the years prior as an internal intelligence agent, and Maité knew that she couldn't be picky about the jobs being offered. She knew she had to prove herself still, so when Natasha had gotten injured and a field agent was needed on short notice to fill in her spot to go undercover for the possibility of up to a year, the brunette was quick to jump on the opportunity. So quick that she'd not realized who she would be working alongside until after she'd already agreed.

She tolerated agent Rios at best at the office, finding the man too cocky and arrogant for his own good, and now she was stuck playing happy house with him under the same roof for at least six months. In retrospect it didn't sound so awful, but Maité had a feeling that it was going to be a long and arduous mission, and that was only taking into account having to pretend to like the guy.

She sat in the briefing room, waiting to be given the details of the mission, their boss stepping out for a moment to take a quick urgent call while they waited for her soon-to-be other half to show up. She was hoping he'd have quit or convince them to move him to another case but as the door opened and revealed the agent in question, Maité let out a disappointed sigh to realize that'd been wishful thinking. "Ah, the loving husband makes his appearance. Nice of you to finally join the room." She said sarcastically. "Picard should be back soon, he had to take a call."

@thedevilsbckbone maite & rios, based on this

After being undercovered for so long, it would've been crazy to accept a desk job or even a nice position abroad as the "admiral" tried to persuade him to accept. Nah, he was going to accept the only other option he had, which was play pretend for 6 months to a year being a suburban literature professor married to Natasha. Nat was a pro and anyone locked up with her for a year would be the luckiest bastard on Earth.

Unfortunately, after he had said yes and only with a couple of days until the "move" to the neighborhood started, they heard the word that Nat was injured and had a long rehab process ahead of her and the only other person available was that irritating do gooder that he absolutely loathed. He tried getting the Admiral to change the assignment but old Picard reminded Ríos he had just rejected a perfectly good Op abroad so now he had to 'suck it'.

Taking a deep and defeated breath, he headed towards the briefing room where he and his soon-to-be loving wife were to be informed of the whos and whats and most importantly, whys.