tl;dr
Author: Nathalia
Rating: PG
Challenge:
Candy Bar Crunch #4 - hand in hand
Cheeseburger #13 - tl;dr
Extras / Toppings: caramel, sprinkles
Word Count: 1,391
Story: Dissenters
Summary: On the first day on the case, the Van Sciver file has to be read.
Notes: I need to get a bit caught up posting these.
The file on Ethan Van Sciver was huge as Rip and Helena soon found out, much to their disdain.
"I thought you Europeans were big into reading," Reagan grinned as she saw both of their eyes go wide with horror and chuckled a little at the sight. She wouldn't have wanted to go through this file either, would have delegated it to Kennedy if she had been available. By now she had decided that as son as they found out more, she would have to ask her sister to come back and do the research.
Van Sciver had been with Cerberus for over thirty-five years and had seen a lot of action. The man hadn't married within Cerberus but aside from that, his entire social life had taken place here.
"I'm a citizen of the world," Ripley said with a grin. "My French passport is only one of many."
"It is your real one though," Helena pointed out.
Sometimes, it surprised Reagan that those two knew so much about each other and actually spent so much time together when they made it clear how much they hated each other or at least sniped at each other so much. She wasn't sure if that was because they were masochists or what the deal was but she knew she would only regret it if she asked.
"Double citizenship, actually," Ripley corrected her. "I was born in good old Canada."
"Never would have guessed," Reagan interjected, not wanting it this to get out of hand. "So the two of you are big fans of the Queen, aren't you?"
"The queen died ages ago, prez," Ripley said, rolling his eyes. "Don't you ever read the news?"
"Back to the Van Sciver case," Reagan said, clearing her throat.
This was a bit embarrassing, she had to admit and she had seen what happened when, on an off chance, Ripley and Helena found something they had in common. She didn't want to be ridiculed the way Max seemed to be perpetually bullied though she also knew that she probably could fend them off much easier.
Or just fire them. Most likely Helena for the obvious advantages that keeping Ripley offered.
"We talked to this police officer guy. Braddock. He's helping us with the investigation and if this isn't CIA related, then he'll get the case for himself,” Helena informed her with an air of coolness that was utterly inappropriate for something like this.
Reagan wanted to yell at her that she couldn’t just make deals like that but then again, she wasn't sure if it was true. No rules had ever been established for the inter-agency task force. That was her job for the most part and so far, she was making it up as she went along. It probably was for the better that they had someone else involved, someone who knew what they were doing since none of them had ever been around a cold body for longer than absolutely necessary and there was always the danger of Ripley and Kennedy forgetting what it was they were doing to just yell at each other.
With the exception of Leo who had gotten his start in law enforcement and homicide in particular but Reagan was sure that only she and Kennedy knew about it and she hoped to delay getting him involved, if only for personal reasons. There wasn’t much he could do right now, especially with his broken leg. Who she really wanted and who Ripley asked for was Kennedy and she couldn’t wait for her sister to come back from her week off. Reagan wanted to call her sister later today; she knew there would be much more to look into and having the resident research expert by their side would make it a lot easier.
"Somewhere in this is the explanation for why Van Sciver was killed," Reagan said quietly, looking at both of them with a serious look on her face. "Please don’t turn this into a joke and try your best.”
"You have never worked with Ripley. He doesn’t appreciate applying himself,” Helena said coldly.
"I still score really good results, no matter what I do," he pointed out with a grin. "You on the other hand apply yourself a lot more and it usually doesn't lead to results as good."
Reagan sighed, finally understanding why Kennedy had said that she was sick of them two together and that Reagan was making a huge mistake by having them work together all the time. "Okay, I am sick of your banter. read the file, find things out, see the cop, solve the case. And don't get on my nerves. I need to call Kennedy.”
Neither of them said anything. They exchanged silent looks and Ripley picked up the file that was resting on the desk. "Come on, let's go get coffee and figure this out."
Helena followed suit, no protesting, no nothing.
Reagan leaned back in her chair when the door to her office was closed and massaged her temples. Maybe, this had been the wrong way to approach things but she would find a way to get this case solved even if those two killed themselves in doing so.
Maybe, if she was lucky, only one of them would have to die. She’d prefer it to be Helena.
***
They found an empty conference room they set camp up in, got coffee and chocolate croissants and felt reedy to do their things.
"Do you really think we have to both read everything?" Helena asked, her eyes transfixed on the file that was at least four inches in height.
"What are you thinking?"
"Maybe we could split it. You read half of it, I read half of it and we fill each other in on what we found. It would be like in school. Team work."
"I never was all that good at it but sure, sounds good to me." Ripley grabbed a part of the folder and shoved the other one in Helena's direction.
"I always just tried to make whoever was on my team do the work for both of us," she grinned.
"I bet that actually worked pretty well." He could see stupid teenagers falling for her trick, a little bit of feigned interest here and there. The fact that she had worn a Catholic school girl uniform had probably been very helpful, too.
She nodded, an accomplished smile on her face. "I was really good at it. And I got pretty good grades despite not knowing what it was we were dealing with."
"I'm not doing your work for you this time around. or ever. This way is the only way acceptable, got it?”
"I wouldn't have told you about my trick if I wanted to use it on you." She fiddled with her hair, pulling it into a loose ponytail at the nape of her neck. "That would be just stupid. I fully intend to do my part. After all, I need to impress that cop. He is kind of hot."
Ripley shook his head, laughing.
"By the way, Reagan likes you."
He didn't answer that, opening his file instead and starting to read. She smiled at him generously before following suit, happy that at least, she had managed to rid herself of half the reading. This was better than she had expected, thinking Ripley wanted to impress Reagan and read everything.
She knew where this was going. She had seen how Reagan looked at him. And he would find one reason or another to let her wrap him around her finger. He was good with that -- Helena only remembered way to well how it had been when Ripley had first met Kennedy. He would still do way too much for her even today if she only smiled the right way. Sometimes she regretted having been so mean to him from the start. Maybe then she would have been able to convince him to shave his sideburns off. As of now, she was sure she’d never be able to talk him into it. Not that she had cared about the sideburns to do anything about them when she had first met him. That had probably been her first mistake.
Rating: PG
Challenge:
Candy Bar Crunch #4 - hand in hand
Cheeseburger #13 - tl;dr
Extras / Toppings: caramel, sprinkles
Word Count: 1,391
Story: Dissenters
Summary: On the first day on the case, the Van Sciver file has to be read.
Notes: I need to get a bit caught up posting these.
The file on Ethan Van Sciver was huge as Rip and Helena soon found out, much to their disdain.
"I thought you Europeans were big into reading," Reagan grinned as she saw both of their eyes go wide with horror and chuckled a little at the sight. She wouldn't have wanted to go through this file either, would have delegated it to Kennedy if she had been available. By now she had decided that as son as they found out more, she would have to ask her sister to come back and do the research.
Van Sciver had been with Cerberus for over thirty-five years and had seen a lot of action. The man hadn't married within Cerberus but aside from that, his entire social life had taken place here.
"I'm a citizen of the world," Ripley said with a grin. "My French passport is only one of many."
"It is your real one though," Helena pointed out.
Sometimes, it surprised Reagan that those two knew so much about each other and actually spent so much time together when they made it clear how much they hated each other or at least sniped at each other so much. She wasn't sure if that was because they were masochists or what the deal was but she knew she would only regret it if she asked.
"Double citizenship, actually," Ripley corrected her. "I was born in good old Canada."
"Never would have guessed," Reagan interjected, not wanting it this to get out of hand. "So the two of you are big fans of the Queen, aren't you?"
"The queen died ages ago, prez," Ripley said, rolling his eyes. "Don't you ever read the news?"
"Back to the Van Sciver case," Reagan said, clearing her throat.
This was a bit embarrassing, she had to admit and she had seen what happened when, on an off chance, Ripley and Helena found something they had in common. She didn't want to be ridiculed the way Max seemed to be perpetually bullied though she also knew that she probably could fend them off much easier.
Or just fire them. Most likely Helena for the obvious advantages that keeping Ripley offered.
"We talked to this police officer guy. Braddock. He's helping us with the investigation and if this isn't CIA related, then he'll get the case for himself,” Helena informed her with an air of coolness that was utterly inappropriate for something like this.
Reagan wanted to yell at her that she couldn’t just make deals like that but then again, she wasn't sure if it was true. No rules had ever been established for the inter-agency task force. That was her job for the most part and so far, she was making it up as she went along. It probably was for the better that they had someone else involved, someone who knew what they were doing since none of them had ever been around a cold body for longer than absolutely necessary and there was always the danger of Ripley and Kennedy forgetting what it was they were doing to just yell at each other.
With the exception of Leo who had gotten his start in law enforcement and homicide in particular but Reagan was sure that only she and Kennedy knew about it and she hoped to delay getting him involved, if only for personal reasons. There wasn’t much he could do right now, especially with his broken leg. Who she really wanted and who Ripley asked for was Kennedy and she couldn’t wait for her sister to come back from her week off. Reagan wanted to call her sister later today; she knew there would be much more to look into and having the resident research expert by their side would make it a lot easier.
"Somewhere in this is the explanation for why Van Sciver was killed," Reagan said quietly, looking at both of them with a serious look on her face. "Please don’t turn this into a joke and try your best.”
"You have never worked with Ripley. He doesn’t appreciate applying himself,” Helena said coldly.
"I still score really good results, no matter what I do," he pointed out with a grin. "You on the other hand apply yourself a lot more and it usually doesn't lead to results as good."
Reagan sighed, finally understanding why Kennedy had said that she was sick of them two together and that Reagan was making a huge mistake by having them work together all the time. "Okay, I am sick of your banter. read the file, find things out, see the cop, solve the case. And don't get on my nerves. I need to call Kennedy.”
Neither of them said anything. They exchanged silent looks and Ripley picked up the file that was resting on the desk. "Come on, let's go get coffee and figure this out."
Helena followed suit, no protesting, no nothing.
Reagan leaned back in her chair when the door to her office was closed and massaged her temples. Maybe, this had been the wrong way to approach things but she would find a way to get this case solved even if those two killed themselves in doing so.
Maybe, if she was lucky, only one of them would have to die. She’d prefer it to be Helena.
***
They found an empty conference room they set camp up in, got coffee and chocolate croissants and felt reedy to do their things.
"Do you really think we have to both read everything?" Helena asked, her eyes transfixed on the file that was at least four inches in height.
"What are you thinking?"
"Maybe we could split it. You read half of it, I read half of it and we fill each other in on what we found. It would be like in school. Team work."
"I never was all that good at it but sure, sounds good to me." Ripley grabbed a part of the folder and shoved the other one in Helena's direction.
"I always just tried to make whoever was on my team do the work for both of us," she grinned.
"I bet that actually worked pretty well." He could see stupid teenagers falling for her trick, a little bit of feigned interest here and there. The fact that she had worn a Catholic school girl uniform had probably been very helpful, too.
She nodded, an accomplished smile on her face. "I was really good at it. And I got pretty good grades despite not knowing what it was we were dealing with."
"I'm not doing your work for you this time around. or ever. This way is the only way acceptable, got it?”
"I wouldn't have told you about my trick if I wanted to use it on you." She fiddled with her hair, pulling it into a loose ponytail at the nape of her neck. "That would be just stupid. I fully intend to do my part. After all, I need to impress that cop. He is kind of hot."
Ripley shook his head, laughing.
"By the way, Reagan likes you."
He didn't answer that, opening his file instead and starting to read. She smiled at him generously before following suit, happy that at least, she had managed to rid herself of half the reading. This was better than she had expected, thinking Ripley wanted to impress Reagan and read everything.
She knew where this was going. She had seen how Reagan looked at him. And he would find one reason or another to let her wrap him around her finger. He was good with that -- Helena only remembered way to well how it had been when Ripley had first met Kennedy. He would still do way too much for her even today if she only smiled the right way. Sometimes she regretted having been so mean to him from the start. Maybe then she would have been able to convince him to shave his sideburns off. As of now, she was sure she’d never be able to talk him into it. Not that she had cared about the sideburns to do anything about them when she had first met him. That had probably been her first mistake.