Uncorked

Getting Back in the Game

"If you don't want her, I'll take her.” Trevor smiled crookedly, shutting his locker, leaning back against it.

“Go for it, she loves a good best friend.” Matt teased, voice a little bitter, thinking about what put them in this separation, to begin with. 

            “Aw, did you just call me your best friend? I'm touched," Trevor said back in the same teasing tone, unaware.

            Matt pushed against him roughly, cracking a smile, "Take a shower you smell like a damn dumpster."

            “Look who’s talking skunk ass.” Trevor jabbed at him lightly with his fists. Matt laughed pushing him away.

            Matt's attention fell to the door, eyes hardening, as a man dressed in a sharp, expensive suit walked in. Somewhere along the way, these guys became known as 'suits'. Anyone could tell that these "special agents" had never seen the field once in their careers. Sitting around their glass offices, in their tailored Hickey Freeman suits, hoping they don't crease their pants or heaven forbid chip a nail.

            “Good afternoon, princess," Matt smirked at the suit walking his way, leaning back against the bench.

            "Larsen. Pleasant as ever." There was a tight grimace on the suit's face as if it pained him to be in Matt's presence, "Frank wants to see you so hurry up and shower." Matt knew he had pissed him off with his comment.

            “Why? Am I getting a new partner?" Matt asked, trying to hide the dread in his voice, trying to keep it clear of his face. It would do any good to look weak, even if it was just a suit.

            “Just hurry up and go see him.” The suit turned and made his way out of the locker room

            "McCarty! Hey! Sorry for calling you princ-wait, tell me what he wants!” Matt sighed in frustration rubbing his hand firmly over his face, rocking back on the bench before pushing himself up. He was beginning to wonder how much more stressful this day was going to get as if he needed more things to worry about at 8 in the morning. He hated walking into situations blindly, not knowing what was coming, and surprises were never good. Even when he was younger waiting for Christmas gifts, birthday gifts, and surprise vacations drove him mad. No matter how small or big they were. Nothing good ever came from a surprise, the underlying mystery was like driving a hot nail into his skull.

             Becoming an FBI agent might have been the worst decision he had ever made. When he was involved with homicide cases or missing people, trying to solve the problems drove him so mad that he barely slept, nervous habits coming out of the woodwork to drive him further up the wall. When a mystery was presented to him he needed to do everything in his power to figure them out quickly and correctly. He pulled his shirt back on, straighten up, he was a perfectionist. On top of all of that, he hated being wrong. He was the student in class who refused to answer questions unless he knew he was undoubtedly right. He had to be right, being wrong wasn't an option.

            Recently they had identified a serial killer up in Seattle. They were sending teams of Agents to help the local authorities solve the case. Rumors were running around that he and Trevor would be paired together to go up there. Which meant, hopefully, that was probably what the director wanted to talk to him about. He grimaced at the cold sweat drying against his now-covered back.

            He decided that the shower could wait and that he absolutely needed to know now what Frank wants with him. It was already causing a twitch in his jaw, that he hoped no one noticed.

            "Later Trev," Matt said tossing his towel on the bench heading straight to his boss’s office. Frank was never one for his patience.

            Matt sunk down into the single leather chair facing the desk. It was a bit uncomfortable, which must be the point. He was starting to think that maybe he should have showered since his boss wasn't even in his office. He shifted in the chair, no, that did not make it better. Frank's secretary, Janet, let him into the office to wait for him to come back.

            While he waited he spotted a candy jar on his boss’s desk. The bright coloured wrappers looked appealing, Matt hadn't eaten today besides for water and a caffeine pill. So, he sat there occasionally plucking small candies out of the jar, shifting in the chair.

            Matt approved of the candy his boss had, popping another into his mouth, but he was a chocolate man himself. There have been days where Matt would just eat a whole cake for dinner. Lucky for him he doesn’t retain weight all too well, he could eat pretty much anything. But, he wasn't able to bulk up either like he had been wanting to since joining the FBI. Thankfully, he wasn’t the same skinny teen he had been either. He had a well-toned body that he was never ashamed of, it did him well. Probably because he worked damn hard to gain the muscle he barely had, he ran in the morning but the real work was at the end of the day, lifting. He was attractive physically, he never had any complaints there, though his personality was a bit off-putting; which he could admit. Given what he had been through, trust was hard for him to find in people these days. Especially in women. That’s why he was most certainly not in the market to pick up women right now. Nevertheless, the attention from other women boosted his self-esteem like it would any other man. It even started to boost his growing cocky attitude he never thought he would develop and tried often to keep in check.

            In the past year, his newfound bitterness had bought about it some self-discovery, and he wasn't sure if he liked this new side of himself.  Back home, he was always the guy his friends would come to if they needed help, he tried to do right by people, and he remembered being his happiest there, and it's been a long time since he was happy. In his last moments in New Orleans, he shattered his kind and giving attitude against the wall, instead of on his best friend's head. He had bad aim that day.

            The door opened suddenly making him sit at attention and he made quick work of swallowing the seventh candy he had stolen from the jar. It went roughly down his throat and he choked down a cough as he crumpled the wrappers tightly in his hand concealing them from view.

            "Janet buys them for me, with my low blood sugar and all. Eat your heart out." He tossed a file on his desk sitting down roughly in his rolling chair, leaning back into the creaking leather. He gestured to the candy jar on his desk, before pinning Matt down with an intense stare. His boss was an intimidating man, been with the bureau for 25 years, they wrote textbooks on his cases, and he was still kicking ass and taking names like it was nothing.

            Matt reached his hand into the jar slowly and started on his eighth piece of candy still keeping the other wrappers tightly in his hand. For all his boss knew it had been the first candy he'd taken from the jar. He planned to keep it that way, he shifted slightly in the uncomfortable chair.

            “You are aware of the legal attaché program, yes?” Frank asked rocking back and forth very subtle in his chair, his hands steepled in front of him.

            “Yes, I’m aware, Carmen is overseas now, right? The office in Rome?" Matt asked, unsure if he had all his facts in order. For all he knew, his partner could still be at home on vacation. They kept these assignments very tight under wraps and confidential, subterfuge became common practice. You couldn’t trust anyone to be telling the truth.

            “He is and he needs back up. That'll be a good chance to get you into the field and I think you are competent enough to join him, and let's hope I'm right about that." Frank leaned back in his chair with a thoughtful look.

            “So are you sending me away?” Matt asked with growing curiosity, a chance at a good assignment, to prove himself. He was excited at the thought of finally getting out from behind the boring desk he worked at day in and day out, a chance to actually be in the field again. He would also get to see Carmen again, he'd been on assignment for almost a year now, and out of contact for most of that time.

            “You’ll be joining the legal attaché program, working with Interpol and local LEOs, so we can get you over to Italy. This is an undercover mission that must be handled with care from what I know. You’re to do nothing but gain intel. The office is located in Rome, officially at the Embassy, unofficially where it needs to be. Once you check-in they'll brief you on your case, it's need to know. You follow Carmen's orders and do everything he says, trust your partner, and you do not f**k up the progress he has made there. You hear me? You guys will be mostly dark there with no external help unless technical support is needed.”     

            Matt looked at Frank bewildered, “Italy? I’m going to Italy? So, Carmen is there on an undercover operation, he’s been there for over a year now? Why the hell does he need you to send another agent over there?”

            “Yes, he’s still undercover and he asked for backup. You fit the description of what he needs and you are his partner. We would have sent you if you weren’t still in training, but Carmen said his plan will work, and he asked specifically for his partner, for you. He has been with us a long time and is damn good at his job; I trust him.” He shifted forward in his chair looking Matt in the eye.

            “So I’m just going to walk right into this without a problem? What happens if I do ‘f**k’ something up…sir?” He toned down his voice trying to keep from sounding confrontational, he didn't like walking into such an unknown situation, he met Frank's stare, trying not to twitch. His eyes narrowed.

            "If you f**k this up you will never see fieldwork again. Just get your ass packed and on the plane tomorrow don't question me Larsen or you’ll be sitting at a f*****g desk for the rest of your damn career! So either take the assignment or hand over your damn badge!” The director snapped at him extremely irritated, not happy with this need-to-know bullshit, they were his agents, he needed to know.

            “Yes sir.” Matt nodded and started to stand. As he stood all of the wrappers fell from his lap slowly drifting to the floor. Both his and Frank’s eyes moved with the descending wrappers.

            “…Just…get the f**k out.” Frank closed his eyes waving his hand at the door, as he dropped his attention to a file on his desk.

            Matt left only after grabbing another piece of candy from the jar. He shut the door behind him and Janet smiled at him as he did so, she did have great taste in candy. He smiled awkwardly as he turned the corner.

            He felt his phone go off in his pocket again and fished it out looking at the text message. He glared at it as he took the elevator back to the ground floor. His jaw gave a little tic as he sent a text out for her to meet him at Crazy Betty's tonight, during their usual time. This was going to be a never-ending day.