Covert Affairs: "The Good Chatter"

Nov 01, 2011 22:04

Title: "The Good Chatter"
Author: Keenir.
Fandom: Covert Affairs.
Characters: Agent Rossabi, Danielle Brooks.
query: AO3 lists his name as "Vincent Rossabi" - in which ep did we learn it was Vincent? or is that fanon?
Summary: In the wake of the s2 finale, Danielle gets paid a visit. She and Agent Rossabi talk about each other and Annie. And then Danielle does some thinking about Annie.
Note: I think this would hopefully result in Annie getting to stay at Danielle's.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The girls answered the knock at the door.

"Is your mother home?" he asked them, letting them see his badge. "I'm Agent Rossabi of the FBI."

"MOM!" the girls said.

The three of them waited at the door, but not for long before Danielle Brooks joined them. "Can I help you?" Danielle asked him.

"Can I come in?" Agent Rossabi asked.

The part of the badge that said 'FBI' sunk in. "This is about my sister, isn't it?" she asked.

"It concerns her, yes. Nothing classified, though," Agent Rossabi assured her.

"I see," Danielle said, and knelt to talk to her eldest daughter. "I want you to take your sister upstairs to play," Danielle told her. "Do you understand?"

She nodded.

"Good," Danielle said. Once the girls were upstairs, she turned to Agent Rossabi and asked, "You can come in. What about my sister?"

"You wouldn't rather be sitting?" Agent Rossabi asked.

"I'll stand."

Okay. "I understand you're upset with Agent Walker right now."

"What do you care? I thought the FBI and CIA didn't get along."

Small smile. "We can work together. We just prefer it when people don't step on our toes. Now, your sister?"

Danielle said, "Is Annie a friend of yours?"

"Of sorts.

"And by kicking her out, am I breaking any laws?"

Only ones of hospitality, and those are unofficial. "Would you like to talk about it?" Agent Rossabi asked.

"That's why you're here, isn't it?" Danielle asked. "And if I don't talk, you'll arrest me."

"Nope."

"Then I don't understand."

"Annie and I have a work relationship which, of late, has gotten a little better. Also, and this goes no further than us, one of her colleague's father is my boss - and none of us want her -"

"Homeless? On the street?" Danielle asked. "Then why don't one of you set aside a guest bedroom for her?"

"I see. This was a misunderstanding, then," Agent Rossabi said. "I'm not here about the housing situation. That will settle itself out, no matter what."

"Then why...?"

"Agent Walker depends on her friends for support and backup. But there are three people she's closer to than to any of those friends. Care to guess who they are?"

"I doubt I'm one of the three after all this."

"You still are."

"And you know this how?" Danielle asked.

Agent Rossabi didn't reply.

"Are you and my sister...?"

"Concerned?"

Danielle opened her mouth, then shut it when she realized that his one word could be both a guess at the end of her question - and a question aimed at her.

Agent Rossabi said, "You and your daughters are what keeps Annie on the straight and narrow. You're her moral compass."

"That's very sweet, but I don't think -"

"You're her protective older sister, aren't you?" Agent Rossabi asked, switching tracks.

"She told you that?"

"I saw it in you - I used to have one. She always knew the right course of action to take, kind words at the ready. Giving money to those who needed it, no matter what.

"I never got the chance to repay the favor. She was in the North Tower when it went down."

"I'm sorry," Danielle said. "So you joined the FBI to protect people like her?"

Agent Rossabi nodded. "I'd promised her I'd keep the peace. That nobody else would end up like her."

***************
Danielle's POV:

That Agent Rossabi's been gone for a while now...and I still can't get his words out of my head. The girls are upstairs playing so nicely that I don't want to interupt them, even to ask them what they think I should do about Aunt Annie lying to us.

All our lives, I've been the responsible one, the one with both feet on solid ground. Annie had her head in the clouds, when she wasn't soaking up everything on our travels with mom and dad.

And it wasn't any different when we grew up: I was the one holding down a job, getting married, having kids... While Annie goes off with Ben on a world tour. Ben, who she had known barely more than a week before she got on a plane with him.

And when she came back, Annie was so different. No less determined than before, but now she got a job and kept it, she dated people who didn't drag her across half of creation, and she wanted to help me with my family.

I suppose I didn't like thinking that I owed all that change to the CIA, and that was a large part of what upset me when Annie told me she was a spy. It wasn't just that I couldn't protect her - her, my little sister! - anymore, though that was part of it. It was because there was so much I hadn't known.

We never kept secrets like that before.

And I remember what Agent Rossabi told me just before he left: "My boss would like to know if you would like a job," and handed me his card.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
the end

agent rossabi, agency, covert affairs fanfiction, danielle brooks, covert affairs

Previous post Next post
Up