White Collar

"Routine and predictable days are the breeding grounds for complacency."

Lex had read that in one of those interminable self-help books that stacked the shelves of every wanna-be mogul and CEO in Manhattan, back when she was pretending to be one of them, and quite convincingly too. It was a hackneyed quote, but one she had discovered held all too true. Routine was the enemy of keeping one's edge, and for someone whose livelihood had rested on both careful, thorough planning and thinking on her feet it was like a waking nightmare.

The days were all the same at Alderson - the same six a.m. wakeup call, the same bland, tasteless food in the canteen, the same spats and power plays from the inmates and guards alike every day, in and out. Lex knew she was lucky to be there, really, but it didn't make it any easier to swallow.

A glance at the clock told her it was almost three thirty, which meant it was nearly time for the afternoon's 'recreation break', where groups of women would scatter over the basketball court or stroll sedately around the manicured lawns. Lex preferred reading over running about in sweatpants and sneakers but at least it was a change of scenery. She had returned to her cubicle to retrieve her latest book - a well-thumbed paperback copy of To The Lighthouse - when one of the guards, known colloquially as 'Easy' caught her up.

"Rockwood, hold on. You're not going out today - you've got a special visitor."

"A what now?" Lex didn't generally get any sort of visitor, let alone a 'special' one.

"Not my job to ask questions or answer 'em. C'mon, with me - leave the book."

 

The room she ended up in wasn't one of the standard 'visitation suites' with their pretence at comfort and civilisation, but rather one of the back rooms, stark with its single table and chairs and the bare window that looked out over the back of the facility. Lex hadn't been there very long before the door opened and her special visitor walked in - none other than Agent Madeleine Ellsworth.

Immediately, she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end, and immediately she found herself reacting by injecting as much swagger and self-assurance into her stance as she could muster - leaning back in her chair and cocking her head in mild curiosity, rather as though Ellsworth had approached her at a table in a Starbucks rather than in an interview room in a prison.

"Well Agent Ellsworth, aren't you a sight for sore eyes. To what do I owe the considerable pleasure?"

Ellsworth didn't visibly react to Lex's swagger, though that was hardly unusual - she hadn't shown much emotion the day she had clapped handcuffs on Lex, or when she had testified against her in court. "Are you familiar with a man who goes by the alias Joseph Gordon?"

Lex shrugged. "I know a lot of people. Why?"

"Mr Gordon is currently a person of interest in an ongoing investigation and I'm looking for any information that may lead to his arrest."

"Ah, interesting. Well, I'm afraid I can't help you."

"Can't, or won't?" Ellsworth raised one dark eyebrow as she stared down at Lex, the rest of her expression inscrutable.

Lex lifted her shoulders. "Maybe if you could tell me more about your investigation, I'd remember something that could help," she suggested with a benign smile.

"Ms Rockwood, I'm sure you realise that current federal investigations are subject to the utmost scrutiny and as such I am not free to share details with convicted felons with no official relation to the case."

"Surely if I'm being tapped for information I do have an official relation to the case," Lex contested.

"Only allegedly. And given that you haven't volunteered anything to make me think that's true, sharing information would be highly unprofessional and cause for my removal from the case." Ellsworth shifted where she stood, reaching up to brush her long, dark hair back over one shoulder. "You're hardly in a position to bargain here, Ms Rockwood."

"No? Perhaps not, agent, but it doesn't seem as though you are, either. I highly doubt you're about to start calling for my early parole no matter what I do and like I say, I don't know whether I can help if you can't tell me anything more. So I suppose we're at an impasse."

Ellsworth gave a disappointed sigh and turned on her heel; Lex expected her to walk out of the room but she merely stalked over to the slim briefcase sitting by the door and opened it up, pulling out a set of case files and returning to where Lex was sitting. Taking a seat herself, the agent selected a piece of paper and slid it across the table, revealing it to be a photograph of a small sketch of a radiant young woman in a green dress. "Do you recognise this work?"

Lex barely glanced at the sketch. Her eyes narrowed. "Are you messing with me?" she said.

"Mm?"

"Well, it's obvious who it's meant to be... but I've never seen this particular sketch before so without authentication..."

"We have an authentication certificate. Whether it's trustworthy is another matter," Ellsworth said, pursing her lips. "The sketch is with our experts now, but so far results are inconclusive. Simply put, we're not sure if this is a clever fake or the real thing."

"And this Joseph Gordon is tied up somehow?"

"He acted as agent for the sale, and all investigations into the origin of the sketch muddy around him."

"I see." Lex sniffed thoughtfully, frowning down at the photograph.

Ellsworth waited a moment longer before reaching to take the picture back. "If you think of anything that might help the investigation, please let me know," she said, standing.

"It's a fake," the con commented then.

"I'm sorry?"

"If he's selling it and it's a recent find, it's a fake," Lex said simply.

"I see. And your reasoning for that would be..."

"Women's intuition."

There was a distinct flash of something in the agent's expression - annoyance? amusement? - before she shuffled her papers and stuck them back in the briefcase. "I'm afraid I can't go to my supervisor with that."

"Then I guess I can't help you. Not much else I can give you but a hunch when all you've given me is a photograph and a name."

"What else would you need to give me more information?"

"Well, more details about the sale, anything you have on the story of how it was found, and whatever else you've managed to find out about Gordon. Also, seeing the sketch would be helpful," she added in an off-hand fashion.

"Would you like me to deputise you while I'm at it?" Ellsworth asked with a quirk of her lips which Lex realised must have been a smile - or a smirk.

"That would be lovely, but I'd settle for getting out of this place."

"So you do want early parole."

Lex shrugged, smiling benignly up at the other woman. "Or alternatively you could let me out on an anklet. I could consult for you. I promise I'll be good."

"Tell me, Ms Rockwood," Ellsworth said smoothly, "do you think you deserve to be here?"

"Define 'deserve'. Are you asking whether I was guilty?"

"No, I'm asking whether you think you think your incarceration in this facility is fair."

"Is that relevant to whether I can be more useful and productive - and better rehabilitated - on the outside?" Lex shot back.

"You think more freedom will lead to a more successful rehabilitation?" Ellsworth asked, raising her eyebrows at Lex in a way that was surely designed to be as infuriating as possible. "That certainly didn't seem to be the case before your arrest."

"Well, statistics show that criminals who are found successful and productive work following their incarceration have the lowest rates of recidivism," Lex observed, the slightest spark of amusement - and challenge - firing up in those pale blue eyes. "Suggesting that criminal behaviour is predicated more on personal circumstances than in any real change of personality or intent. So compare me leaving prison in two years' rotting with nothing but my considerable intellect to recommend me to the person I might be after two years in what would probably be the closest to a real career I've ever had." A single eyebrow winged up. "Think about it, Agent: two years with a pet cont artist on a leash - that doesn't appeal? There's precedent you know. Or perhaps you don't think you can control me..."

"Two years?" the agent asked, ignoring Lex's attempts at irritating her ego. "I asked for your input on one case. That's all." She stood then, pushing her chair neatly back under the table. "We'll see how you do with that, first."

Both eyebrows rose now, and Ellsworth didn't miss the quick flicker of surprise before Lex caught herself. "So you'll do it?" she pushed. "You'll get me out of here?"

"I can't very well bring the sketch here, so I suppose the mountain will have to come to Mohammed. On a limited basis," Ellsworth told her meaningfully.

The other woman's lips widened into a smile. "It's a start," she said.

 

A few days later found Lex in Washington DC with a tracking anklet firmly around her leg and big task ahead of her. She wasn't that worried about her involvement with the Gordon case, but convincing Agent Ellsworth she was an asset worth retaining was another thing entirely.

Proving the sketch to be a fake had been the easy part - a few hours and cajoling the forensics labs to provide the resources for her to run some of their more expensive tests had turned up some little-known tells that had proved that while it might be an excellent fake, the piece was not a Leonardo. Immediately, she was insistent that there was more she could do. "This proves it's a forgery," she observed to Ellsworth as she reported her findings, "but it doesn't prove that Gordon's responsible for it."

The agent had considered with with her usual inscrutable expression for a few seconds before nodding slowly. "Being able to prove he falsified its provenance would certainly be useful. Now that we've confirmed the forgery we can put a warrant out for a search of his gallery - perhaps that will turn up some incriminating evidence."

Lex was shaking her head even before Ellsworth had finished. "You won't find anything, and you'll tip him off," she said. "He'll be clean as a whistle - or gone completely - before you know it."

"The FBI is very thorough, I assure you if there's any evidence it will be found."

"Okay, firstly, you and I both know the FBI misses evidence, and secondly, if there's no evidence at the gallery, you're done."

Ellsworth raised her eyebrows. "I assume you have another suggestion?"

"I have a few thoughts..."

 

Which is how she found herself gearing up to meet some old friends - ones she hoped to dupe into helping her con Joseph Gordon in the near future, all going well. Lex - or 'Karen' as she was tonight - sipped carefully at the first alcohol she'd had to drink in four years. It was a gin and tonic - not her go-to drink usually and not what she would have chosen, but it was what Karen Graham drank and so that was what she had sitting on its little square of napkin on the sleek glass counter of the upscale wine bar she'd chosen to 'camp', waiting to see a familiar face.

Her chestnut hair up in a sleek twist and her makeup tastefully done Lex knew she was attracting looks from all over, though she refrained from making eye contact or looking too welcoming to any strangers who might feel inclined to invite themselves over to chat. This place could be a meat market at times and the last thing she wanted was to miss someone because she was being chatted up by a lawyer.

And it wasn't lawyers she was looking for, but the other types of people who frequented this particular wine bar. Not for nothing was it called Elysium. It was considered a No Man's Land, a neutral zone where anyone who could scrub up nicely, be they lawyer, PI, con-merchant or straight-up mobster, was welcome to drink and socialise without fear of reprisal.

It wasn't long before she spotted someone who, while not necessarily a friend, was certainly an old acquaintance, and she waited until he spotted her before giving a knowing smile.

"My God, Karen, is that you?"

"In the flesh. How've you been, Bill?"

"Oh, not bad, not bad, you know... God, what has it been, five, six years?"

"Mm, something like that. What'll you have?" 'Karen' asked, nodding in the direction of the empty spot of bar in front of Bill.

"Aw, scotch and soda, go on then..."

"Twist your arm, huh?" Karen nodded for him to sit down. "How's business, Bill?"

"Oh, you know," he said, leaning a forearm on the bar and giving her a knowing look. "Can't complain. Had some trouble with the Russians a while back but who hasn't, you know?"

"Me?" Karen breezed, though she shot Bill a wry grin a moment later.

"Yeah, well, you always were special. So where've you been, what've you been up to? C'mon, you know your stories are way better than mine."

"I was in St Lucia. On vacation." Lex paused. "A really long vacation." She smirked.

"Ah, well. Say no more," he said knowingly. "So what brings you back into town, then?"

"Oh, you know, the same as always. You, er, heard anything interesting lately?"

Bill shrugged and took a drink, tapping the bar with his forefinger to punctuate the silence. "What sort of interesting?"

"Oh, you know what kind of interesting, Bill," Karen said with a quirk of her lips. "Don't be coy, now."

"Hm. Well, there's always something interesting going on in this town. There's been a hubbub lately because of this new.... hey, is that why you're here?" he asked, raising his eyebrows consideringly.

"What?" Karen asked in turn, all innocence.

"Was that you? I knew it, I knew Gordon couldn't have pulled that off all by himself! God, it makes so much sense now."

The young woman raised her eyebrows, a slight purse of her lips heavily implying that Bill had hit on the right story.

"St Lucia, huh? I should've known." Bill huffed out a laugh.

"Anyway, I've still been out of town a while and, well..." Karen shrugged, tipped her head from side to side. "You know Gordon..."

"He trying to screw you over?"

"That's what I want to know. It looks like he might be catching some heat, and, well..."

"Wait, the feds are onto him? I thought he was golden - hell, even I didn't know for sure it was a fake 'til just now."

"Well, you didn't hear it from me, Bill." Lex sighed. "I just have a feeling if he catches wind he's going to split town, and I'm going to be stuck with nothing to do..."

"Yeah, that'd suck, no doubt."

"So... what've you been up to, Bill?"

"Oh you know, small-time stuff really, though there was a Turner a couple months ago..." From there Bill regaled her with the tale of his latest 'recreation' which inspired no small amount of nostalgia in Lex, though Bill had never been in her league. She listened attentively, nodding along and asking questions, and Bill began to relax.

"So Bill," she said eventually. "Do you still know that security guy? What was his name... Larry? Harry?"

"Barry? Yeah, 'course, he's a useful guy to have around, you know."

"Indeed he is. I could really use him right now. But..." Lex made a face. "If it got back to Gordon that I was in touch with him..."

"Yeah, no, of course. Don't worry, Barry can be discreet. You want his number?"

"I don't suppose... you might get in touch with him for me? Set up a meeting?"

"For a small fee, sure," Bill said with a chuckle. "Happy to."

 

"So I found us a patsy, but I'll need three grand."

"Three thousand dollars? When I said 'minimal resources' I really did mean minimal, Ms Rockwood."

"Look," Lex said, sitting back and crossing her legs at the ankle, her well-tailored pants hiking up a little to show off the tasteful bracelet clipped there, winking away, "if you have me here to follow procedure there are a dozen monkeys out there that could do it better. You want results..." She shrugged. "Find me three grand."

Ellsworth's expression soured, and she shut the folder in front of her with a tight snap. "The FBI is a government agency. We have rules, and I can't just 'find' three grand to bribe some crooked cop or whatever it is you have planned."

"Yeah, 'cause you definitely caught up with me by playing by the rules," Lex scoffed.

"That's... that's a different thing entirely."

"Because I was more special to you than millions of dollars of forged Leonardo? I'm touched."

"No," Ellsworth scowled, "because I didn't appropriate government funds to arrest you."

"Oh, come on, you have a kitty for bribery," Lex cajoled, the English in her accent creeping in as she used the Britishism.

"That doesn't mean I'm inclined to use it."

"Do you really think I'd screw you over and put myself back in prison?"

"I'm not afraid you'll run away with our money," the agent said, shaking her head. "I am afraid that it's not a worthwhile use of funds that could otherwise go to save lives. If we can't get Gordon by traditional means then we'll just have to wait until he slips up and get him them."

"Look, Barry's the way in. I'll get him on-side, and you'll get Gordon, I swear it - this is the way," Lex said determinedly. "Come on, don't you trust me on this? You know exactly how good I am."

"Knowing what you're capable is exactly why I don't trust you on this."

"Fine." Lex folded her arms. "Then you might as well send me back to the can now, 'cause I'm telling you: this is our in."

Ellsworth sighed, looking less than pleased with Lex's cajoling. "Have you really exhausted all the other avenues? One night at a bar doesn't seem like adequate groundwork..."

"No, I haven't 'exhausted' anything - this is the best option. Bill hooks me up with Barry, Barry gets me into the building, we find your evidence, you raid for it, you find it, you win, the end. Why would we need other avenues?"

"Because..." Ellsworth glanced down at her desk, lips pressed together, then back up at Lex. "Fine. I'll see what I can do. How much notice do you need?"

"We're on your timeline here, Mads. But if I were you I'd move fast."

"Thank you, I'll take that under advisement," the other woman said dryly. "And it's Agent Ellsworth."

"Mhm. Oh, I've found new accommodation, incidentally."

"I'm sorry?"

"Mm, the hostel wasn't really doing it for me."

"I thought it would be a distinct improvement from a shared jail cubical..."

"Mm, still. I found a loft a couple of blocks over - same rent."

"You're not allowed to make your own accommodation choices - it's going to need to be checked over by an agent, for one--"

"Oh, come on, Agent - I'm on an anklet; what could I possibly be doing?"

The look Ellsworth gave her was withering; it was also a turn-on, if your thing was stern women in suits. "I'll be sending someone around tonight, please leave the address on your way out."

"Why don't I just give it to you?" the other woman suggested with a single raised eyebrow.

"Fine," Ellsworth said, pushing a pad of paper across the desk. "Obviously I'm going to have to keep a closer eye on your tracking data."

"Oh baby."

 

The loft in question was a large warehouse conversion in the same rather rundown district where the hostel had been, but there was no question that it was a far superior accommodation - open and airy, with a shiny, modern kitchen at one end and a sleeping area up on a platform at the other end of the room, though the rest of the area was a little unfinished looking, the furniture mismatched and worn and the walls punctuated with patches of brick, bare plaster and peeling patterned paper.

Lex answered the door wrapped in a towel, hair still dripping wet.

"Ah, Agent Ellsworth. Couldn't wait to stop by huh?"

The other woman was still clad in her navy suit from the office, her hair still swept back in its sensible ponytail. "I was in the neighbourhood."

"Mm. Well, come in, come in. Glass of wine? Beer?"

"No, thank you." The agent stepped in, casting a glance around the apartment. "Interesting."

"Mm. A friend of mine's in the middle of renovations, but this place has gone on her backburner - apparently there's some problem with getting central heating installed. When winter rolls in, I'll have to get by with that..." Lex gestured gracefully in the direction of the large open fire against the outside wall of the room.

"How very bohemian."

"Mm, well, I'll remember that when I catch pneumonia, but at least I won't be in that roach-infested dump you suits put me in."

Ellsworth's lips flattened into a line and for a moment Lex thought she was going to chastise her, but to the thief's surprise she shook her head apologetically. "I'm sorry. I know it wasn't very nice. We don't have the time to do legwork for places like this."

Blinking in mild surprise, Lex shrugged, reaching to stop her towel from falling down as a result of the action a moment later. "I'd better go... she gestured toward the curtained area beneath the bed platform. "...put some clothes on - take a look around."

"All right." Lex could've sworn she felt the agent's eyes burning a hole in her back but when she glanced behind her to check Ellsworth was already over by the kitchen, looking it over with a critical eye. The idea that they needed to 'vet' the place was silly - it wasn't as if she was going to leave incriminating evidence out to be found even if she had any, and there was nothing more inherently suspicious about this place than any other, but she supposed that rules were rules. And the FBI seemed to have a lot of rules.

There really wouldn't have been anywhere to conceal anything untoward in this place anyway - there was a little bricked-off area at one end of the room that must presumably be the bathroom, and the curtained area into which Lex had disappeared beneath the platform, which couldn't be big enough to hold more than some clothes. Near the kitchen was a large dining table, which was already littered with papers - some, Ellsworth could see from here were photocopies related to the case; what little she'd been cleared to pass on to Lex, and others seemed to be fresh pieces of artwork - charcoals and watercolours if the materials sitting out were anything to go by. Clearly the other woman had already begun to brush up on her skills.

With a small frown she bent over the artwork, curious to see what exactly the other woman chose to spend her free time doing. Madeline was an art history graduate who unfortunately had little talent of her own, leaving her to turn her keen eye and extensive knowledge to detecting frauds rather than creating them.

For the most part, the work seemed to be views from the windows that lined two sides of the loft, all beautifully observed - some in charcoal, some watercolour and some pen and ink, done in various styles, some of which distinctive enough that the agent could tell precisely which artist Rockwood was imitating. Sifting gently through the layers of paper, there were a few other works - a few studies of parts of the apartment, some still life and some copies of wallpaper patterns, and finally, beneath that, one or two quick life drawings: loose, energetic sketches that spoke of an eagerness to get them down on the paper. Instantly familiar it took Madeline a confused moment before she realised why: they were of her.

She stared down at them in surprise, taking in the easy way Lex had captured her strong jaw and ramrod-straight posture, somehow managing to make her look feminine despite her dark suit and businesslike hair - the same sort of get-up she was wearing now, as a matter of fact. At the sound of footsteps behind her she hurriedly replaced the papers in their original configuration, stepping back from the table as the other woman approached.

Lex was still barefoot, but she was wearing a well-fitting pair of jeans and a simple white teeshirt, both a little too 'new' to be entirely comfortable and combined with the setting making her look a bit like she was on the shoot for a Gap commercial. Her eyebrows were raised - it seemed that Ellsworth had probably been caught - but she said nothing about it, just nodded toward the kitchen. "I'm making coffee if you want one," she said.

"Yes, all right," Madeline said with a nod; it was only polite, after all.

"Go sit down if you like." Lex nodded toward one of the battered sofas. "I'll be over in a minute."

Madeline surveyed the rest of the apartment as she crossed it, though there wasn't much to see. Besides the art on the table it didn't seem like Lex had had much opportunity to personalise the place, much less start a crime ring, and the agent felt a little silly for making the trek out here herself. She could've easily ordered a junior agent to do it, but she had wanted Rockwood to see her keeping an eye on her.

Apparently the apartment's facilities did stretch to a coffee machine, and soon Lex was joining her on the couch with two steaming mugs of fresh black coffee. "Guessed you were a no-frills girl."

"That's fine, thanks," Madeline said with a nod, accepting the mug. "Everything seems in order here. We'll just run a check on the other inhabitants and then you'll be cleared to stay. Just don't do anything like this without checking with me first next time. It doesn't look good."

"Sure," Lex breezed, though Madeline got the distinct impression the other woman wasn't taking the promise particularly seriously. Cradling her own coffee in both hands she relaxed back in the chair, crossing her long legs in front of her with a contented sigh. The sofa looked out of the large windows of the warehouse off across the river. They were right by the marina, the neat rows of tightly docked boats shining in the golden autumn light and beyond them the banks of East Potomac Park.

"Mm." At a loss for anything else to say, Madeline eschewed the view in favour of staring at her coffee, wishing she hadn't agreed to stay for a drink. It wasn't that she wanted to alienate the other woman, but really, what did they have to talk about?

"I can't go there, y'know," Lex commented conversationally. When Madline looked over she nodded toward the view. "The park. You probably know they set my radius out of some security office over in the Northeast so that it took in the FBI HQ but not the White House." Of course Madeline knew - it was her who'd set it that way. "As it happens, that means my radius ends a few yards off into the river there."

"Parks are a security risk," Madeline replied, frowning even as she said it. "Sorry."

Lex smirked a little, and seemed to be about to say something else, though she appeared to think better of it, just shaking her head and sipping at her coffee as though the agent had made a joke.

"If you need to have your radius extended you can always put in a temporary appeal."

"Hm? Oh..." Lex shook her head. "It's fine," she said. "Just grateful to be out of a cell."

"Cubicle," Madeline corrected her automatically.

"You say potato. My point is..." Lux paused. "My point is, thank you. For giving me a chance."

"You made a good case for yourself," Madeline said with a shrug. One that her boss had been eager to believe, though Madeline herself was far less confident that she wouldn't end up regretting it in the long run.

"I know I don't really do things your way," the other woman conceded then, apropo of nothing. "But I swear I'm not trying to screw you around."

Madeline didn't respond immediately, trying to figure out how to express her thoughts tactfully. "You have to understand that it's... surprising to see someone willing to play informant against their colleagues, especially someone who certainly didn't voluntarily give themselves up to law enforcement in the first place."

"People like me don't really have colleagues," Lex said with a shrug. "There are a few people who I'd be hesitant to chuck on the fire, but they're not people you're likely to be running up against. The people out there like me? They're mostly competitors. Believe me, seeing Gordon taken down will be my absolute pleasure."

The other woman pressed her lips together disapprovingly. "I did not get you out of that correctional facility in order to eliminate the competition. This is supposed to be about your reformation, not clearing the way for your triumphant comeback."

"That, uh... wasn't really what I meant."

"I only have your word for that."

The younger woman's only reply was a tight smile and a light shrug as if to signal her helplessness.

"Just... stay on the straight and narrow, okay?" Madeline said, shaking her head. "Don't push the boundaries and help me catch Gordon. Then... we'll see."

"Right." Lex paused. "I mean, sure. I still think we need Barry."

"I know. And I'm working on it."

"Okay."

"I should know in a day or two."

"Right." Lex nodded slowly, lips pursed. "So... what d'you want me to do in the meantime?"

Madeline made a face. "Behave?"

Those eyebrows rose again. "I think I can probably just about manage that."

"Well. All right then." The agent frowned, glancing down at her half-finished coffee. "I should probably get going. I'm sure you have.... things to do."

"Me? Oh, I'm sure I'll find some way to occupy myself. Do I wait for your call? Or do you want me in tomorrow morning anyway?"

"You... want to come in?"

"Nothing better to do if you have something to occupy me - you got any requisitions needing valued or authenticated?"

"I'm sure we can put you to work," Madeline said, blinking.

"Then I guess I'd better turn up to keep earning my freedom."

"Sure. I mean... right. Well. I'll see you tomorrow, then."

"See you then."

 

Madeline headed home after she left Lex's apartment, though she took a roundabout way of getting there, stopping to pick up food from a deli as well as a few essentials from the first corner shop she passed. She felt a little out of kilter after her brief time in Lex's apartment, though she couldn't quite put a finger on why.

Her own home wasn't particularly far - a somewhat rundown rowhouse in Barney Circle - also with a river view, though rather more obscured than Lex's. She had looked for months before finding it; somehow Lex had managed to find a similar property in less than a week. Still, at least hers had rooms, and a rather demanding cat that wound its way around her legs as soon as she stepped through the door. "Okay, okay, just let me get my coat off..."

One well-attended-to cat and one quick salad later, Madeline was settled on her couch in front of the TV, half-watching the History Channel. There was a stack of case files beside her but for once she didn't open them up, letting the rampaging Vikings on screen distract her from her thoughts, though she couldn't help but think back to the first time she had heard of Lex Rockwood.

 

"Here's one for you, Ellsworth - forgery case."

The object on Madeline's desk was not a case file - or at least, not just a case file - but a small canvas, sans frame, showing what appeared for all the world to be a Monet study.

It was so accurate, as a matter of fact, that she hesitated before reaching down to pick it up as if she might smudge the master's work with her fingers. "Confirmed?" she asked, brows drawing together as she peered at the canvas.

"At length, yes," her boss said with a rather wry smile. "Unfortunately it's taken so long to figure out that it's fake that the trail's long-cold. Probably one to clean-up the paperwork for and stick on your backburner for now. There's one more expert we need on file - a Dr Karen Coleman. I can leave that with your team?"

"Of course," Madeline said with a nod; by the time she pulled her attention away from the forgery her boss was gone, having left her to puzzle over the piece in silence. With a few typed commands she pulled up the number for Dr Coleman out of the FBI database and set about making an appointment as soon as possible - no sense in letting the case stretch out any further than it already had.

"Hello?" The voice that answered the phone was warm and rich, and immediately set Madeline on edge - anyone who sounded that relaxing always made her suspicious.

"Dr Coleman? Agent Ellsworth from the DC Art Crime division here - I'm calling to see if you'd have time to take a look at a piece of evidence for us."

"Nice to talk to you, Agent, happy to help - what do you have for me?"

"A forgery - Monet, and a good one at that. It's been verified by our team but your testimony will help strengthen the case when we track down the perpetrator."

"Sounds fascinating. When do you need me?"

"At your earliest convenience. I assume you'll be able to come to us?"

There was the slightest of pauses. "Absolutely. Tomorrow morning?"

"Mm... Yes, all right," Madeline said, glancing at her diary and quickly rearranging several things until she found an opening. "10 am okay for you?"

"I'll see you then, Agent Ellsworth."

 

Alexis Rockwood was tall and athletic, with glossy, wavy reddy-brown hair, cool blue eyes, slightly sharp, striking features. Her poise and confidence were clear in the way she moved and it was hard not to be intimidated by that self-assurance, that sheer cool. Even as Karen Coleman on that first day, in her dark, conservative suit, hair scraped back into a tight bun, she drew stares from men and women alike as she strode through the bullpen behind the young intern leading her through to Madeline's small, glass-fronted office.

Looking back on it, Madeline could barely believe the chutzpah it must've taken to stride through the FBI offices to consult on that first forgery, but then, confidence men and forgers had no lack of guts. She had met 'Dr Coleman' with a smile and a firm handshake, passing the Monet across the desk to her, eager to discuss her findings.

Taking the piece in long, careful fingers, graceful even in their latex gloves, Karen had taken some time to look over the painting, turning the canvas this way and that, lower lip in the grip of her teeth. At length, she sighed and placed it back on the table.

"The technique is perfect. Eyeballing it, I'd say it was the real thing. I take it you have lab tests that prove otherwise?"

"Mm, yes, we had to go to wavelet decomposition but we're relatively certain now." Madeline paused, glancing down at the painting and then back up at Coleman. "You didn't see it?"

"The labs?" Karen shook her head. "No one's shown me anything. That test can turn out false positives, though... if that's all you have, I'd be hesitant to proclaim it a fake just yet..."

"No, not the labs... this." Madeline pushed the painting back towards Coleman, waving her hand vaguely over the gentle swirl of trees and sky in the upper left corner. "Look closely."

The other woman's brows drawing together thoughtfully, she leaned closer to look at the area in question. "There's some interesting brushwork, agent, but nothing I wouldn't expect in a loose study such as this." She glanced up, raising a single eyebrow. "Do you see something I don't?" she asked.

"They signed it," Madeline said almost gleefully, though her expression was still held in check. Whoever did this couldn't just let it be a perfect imitation. They had to leave their calling card."

"Hm... I suppose there could be letters in there... I don't know, though, agent, are you quite sure you aren't just seeing what you want to? What letters am I meant to be looking at?"

The agent tilted her head, reaching out to brush her fingers above the painting, close to Coleman's. "I'm not sure... A B, maybe? Do you know of any forgers with those initials?"

Glancing up, Madeline saw the other woman's eyes on her rather than on the painting. The lower lip escaped from between Karen's teeth, tongue darting out to sweep across it - quickly, almost certainly unconsciously. Then she shook her head. "I'm sorry, agent," she said. "I see what you mean, but I wouldn't stake my reputation that it wasn't just shapes in the clouds - literally." Her smiled turned slightly playful for a moment. "But there's another test I could run that should corroborate the wavelet. If you'd like to be sure."

Fighting the disappointment the the other woman's words sent coursing through her, Madeline gave a nod. "Right, okay, sure. I'll just sign it out to you and it can be shipped over to you this afternoon."

"If you pack it up I don't mind waiting," Karen suggested. "You could let my try some of the famous FBI coffee."

"...sure, okay. I'll just grab you a mug and get the paperwork in order. One second."

Soon Karen was in possession of a neatly packed canvas, and was sitting down in the department's breakroom with a mug of singularly terrible coffee.

"So, agent. Why don't you tell me a little about yourself."

"Oh, there's really very little to tell," Madeline said with a self-deprecating smile.

"You forget, you're talking to a fellow art nerd," the other woman said with a returning grin. "How did you get into the Art Crimes division?"

"Well, um, my dad was a cop, I was useless at anything but being an art nerd, so..." Madeline shrugged. "After doing my masters in medieval and early modern art at U Chicago I did an internship in the Art Institute, and while I was there I helped the local office with a case and... I got lucky, I guess."

"So you enjoy it, then?" Karen asked with another bright, easy smile. "What you do?"

"I love it," Madeline admitted, her smile growing wider and shyer. "It's the best job in the world. In my opinion."

"The best job in the world, huh? Catching forgers? Why?"

"Because what they do is dishonest, greedy, and disrespectful to the artists who slaved their entire lives to create something new and different and still died in illness and poverty."

Karen nodded, that easy smile not shifting. "You think forgers do it for the money?"

"Some of them, maybe."

The other woman nodded again, this time rather more willingly. "Almost certainly. But copies or no, all art takes love."

"Are you an artist, Dr Coleman?" Madeline asked, inching forward slightly on her seat.

The appraiser chuckled, her lips turning into a self-conscious smile. "A little."

"I thought so. And how would you feel if someone was copying your work and profiting from it?"

"If I was dead I'm not sure how much I would care," Karen opined pragmatically. She reached for the painting, pulling it into her lap and staring down at it as though it wasn't in packaging but rather a frame, her eyes moving around the cardboard as though the picture itself was in front of her. "The person who painted this - if it wasn't Monet himself... he loves it. Loves art. Loves Monet. Whether he's making money from it or not..." The young woman shrugged.

"Then why do it?"

Another light shrug. "Everyone's got to make a living, I suppose?" Karen smirked a little. "Maybe he just doesn't like people who don't really appreciate art paying millions of dollars for status symbols. Thinks they don't really deserve the real thing."

"That's rather presumptuous," Madeline said, raising her eyebrows.

"Just presenting an alternative take."

"Hm. Well, love or not, it's still a crime. And we'll get him for that."

"If it's a fake," Karen cautioned with a smile, lifting the painting up again.

"Well, I look forward to getting your confirmation on that. How soon do you think you'll be able to get back to me?"

"I'll have it back to you on Wednesday."

"Wonderful. Well, I look forward to seeing you then. Or, er... hearing from you. Seeing your report."

"Oh, I'll be happy to bring it back in person for another lovely coffee," Karen said with a slightly playful smile.

"Warn me before you come in and I'll go out for Starbucks," Madeline said, smirking and shaking her head.

"See you soon, Agent."

 

Madeline woke with a start, and was rewarded for her trouble with the unpleasant shock of several claws digging deep into her thighs as Remmy expressed his considerable displeasure at being so rudely disturbed.

"Ow, ow... sorry," she said at the cat's pointed look, rubbing her legs as the pain died down. It was just as well she had jerked awake then, as she didn't think she could stomach reliving what had happened next. She'd caught up to Lex in the end, but not before a long con that seemed even in hindsight to have been a pretty targeted vendetta to make Madeline herself look ridiculous.

Still, she had triumphed eventually, right? Though given that Lex was now out of the correctional facility, living on her own in a swanky penthouse apartment (albeit one without central heating) and consulting for the FBI, Madeline felt less triumphant and more... well, like she had been conned again.

 

"Well, I'm here," Lex said with a smile that was altogether too bright for the time of day. "Put me to work."

A pile of folders slapped the desk in front of her. "Here you go."

"All... right. And what am I looking at here?"

"Cold cases. I thought we could use a fresh pair of eyes," Madeline said, looking rather pleased with herself. "Any insight you could lend would be much appreciated."

"Ah." Lex pursed her lips, then, to Madeline's mild surprise, smiled. "Sounds fascinating."

"Oh. Well... all right, good. You can have the conference room until lunch - we'll find somewhere else for you in the afternoon."

"Oh, is there a meeting?" the other woman asked, perking up further.

"It's our weekly departmental meeting, nothing very exciting. Anyway, I'm sure we'll b--"

"You don't think I should be included in that if I'm going to be consulting for you?"

Madeline made a face. "There's highly classified information discussed at those meetings."

"I've signed the same non-disclosure forms as everyone else."

"Yes, I know, but..."

Lex raised her eyebrows. "But?"

The agent made a frustrated noise deep in her throat. "Very well, you can attend. But as an observer only."

Lex mimed locking her mouth shut. "No problem," she said. "Right. Well. I suppose I'd better get on with these cold cases, then..."

"Mm. Good luck."

Lex watched Madeline go with a thoughtful pout on her face, her mind casting unbidden over their past encounters in the very office the agent was retreating to at that moment.

 

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, agent."

"I don't understand." Madeline looked between the painting and the certificate of authenticity 'Dr Coleman' had deposited in front of her. "Our experts said..."

"Perhaps you should redo the wavelet," Karen suggested gently, tipping her head to the side with a sympathetic expression. "I'm sorry, agent."

Madeline shook her head, leaning in to inspect the painting. The initials that she could have sworn she had seen in the trees no longer resolved before her eyes, and despite the fact that it should be good news she couldn't help but feel disappointed. "Well. No matter. The buyer will be very pleased to hear about this," she said, glancing up. "Thank you for your help."

"You're very welcome," Coleman said with another of those dazzling smiles. "I'm sorry I couldn't give you the answer you wanted."

"No, no... the truth is always wanted," Madeline told her with a shake of her head. "Even when it's not what you expected."

"Well then. I can certainly say that I would stake my reputation on that painting. It's a genuine Monet."

"I hope you won't be too offended if I verify that with our own tests," the agent said, trying to chuckle. "Not that I doubt your word."

"Please do," Karen said. "But if you get another ping on the wavelet... find a new lab, seriously."

"Mm. I'm not sure our funding will stretch to that, but I'll do my best."

 

The wavelet decomposition had come up clean, of course - after all, the painting 'Karen Coleman' had given back to the Feds had been the real thing, Lex's forgery sitting safely at home. She wondered sometimes whether Ellsworth had ever put two and two together and clocked that the real painting had been switched in - it hadn't come up in any of the testimony against her, presumably because there was really no way of proving it without drawing a great deal of potentially embarrassing attention. She made a mental note to ask her some time.

There had, of course, been one other notable occurrence during the Monet investigation - Madeline's awkward attempt to ask Karen Coleman out for coffee.

 

"Anyway," Karen said, standing and smoothing her pants over her thighs. "It was nice to work with you, Agent. I hope we'll have the chance again sometime."

"Mm, yes, I hope so. I mean--" Madeline stood as well, shaking her head distractedly. "Not that I'm hoping for more forgeries, just... it would be nice to see you again."

There was that broad, white-toothed smile again, and Madeline felt her knees weaken slightly. "You too, Agent."

"Actually, I was thinking, if you're free sometime, we should get that coffee... you know, in lieu of subjecting ourselves to what the Bureau says is fit for human consumption." From the fixed expression on her face it was clear Madeline was terrified of the other woman's potential response, but she soldiered through gamely.

"I... I, er, that's..." Karen hesitated, and for the first time since they'd met Madeline saw a flicker of uncertainty in her face.

"But you must be very busy," the agent said quickly, leaning down to tidy the papers on her desk, which were already quite tidy. "And it's good to keep things... professional. I'm sure our paths will cross again sooner or later."

"I'm... sure." Another hesitation, and then Karen's hand was covering Madeline's stilling it, trapping it against the pile of papers beneath it. "I really wish I could," she said, and Madeline knew she was sincere.

"Oh, well. That's nice."

The other woman raised her eyebrows a little. "Right. Well. I'll see you again, no doubt."

"No doubt." It was only after Coleman had left her office that Madeline's head hit her desk. That's nice? Jesus what was I thinking? It's just as well she's not interested, at least I don't have any other opportunities to embarrass myself in front of her.

 

She had seen Karen again - more than once; the young appraiser became a regular fixture at Art Crimes for a while. She was incredibly knowledgeable and though Madeline had felt a little residual embarrassment the other woman was nothing but warm and professional - and helpful, though the Monet was not the last strange case that they faced together.

 

"I think I've found something interesting."

Madeline glanced up to find Lex in the doorway of her office, case file in hand. "What is it?"

"Pretty sure I know where these diamonds are. Or at least, I know who has 'em."

"The Rosenburg case? Really?" Madeline half-stood before reminding herself that there was no need. "Who?"

"A man called Henry Tyrell - you know the name, right? This has his fingerprints all over it - figuratively," Lex qualified with a smirk.

"I've heard of him, yes. What makes you think he's involved?"

"A hunch?" When Ellsworth opened her mouth to argue, Lex held up a hand, "Just kidding, just kidding. I'll show you..." making her way across to the desk, the younger woman skirted round it nimbly to Ellsworth's side, dropping the file down between them and leaning over it, shoulder to shoulder with the agent. "Okay, so this is the first thing that got my attention." She pointed to a highlighted passage in a page of notes. "See this? The cigarillo butt - do you still have it in evidence?"

Madeline made a note of the annotation on the page and then flipped to the back of the file, scanning the list. "Yes, it's in evidence. Why?"

"Did you find out the brand? If it's Fino, it's him. I mean... although that's not all I've got," Lex added defensively.

"That's just as well, because that alone is not enough evidence to restart the case, let alone issue a warrant."

The other woman sighed, and for a moment her eager-to-please demeanour flickered slightly. "Look, I made some notes on the case file," she said, straightening up and stepping back slightly from the table. "I don't know if they're enough to reopen but they should hopefully be enough to convince you. If they do... well, maybe we can find some other route of investigation from what I picked out."

"I'll take a look," Madeline said, nodding and closing the folder. "Thank you for bringing it to my attention."

Lex shrugged. "No problem. I guess I'll get back to it, then."

"Mm. Good luck."

The forger nodded, moving to leave, though she paused and turned at the office door. "Any news on that bribe money?"

"Nothing yet," Madeline said, barely glancing up from her computer. "I'll let you know when I hear anything."

A brief hesitation. Then, "Does it always take this long to clear a simple bribe?"

This drew the agent's attention, and she frowned as she looked up at Lex. For a moment it seemed as if her temper might snap, but all she did was sigh and shake her head. "I'll chase it up this afternoon."

Lex nodded. "I appreciate that. Karen Coleman doesn't have any trouble coming up with a few grand."

"I'm sure she doesn't," Madeline grumbled. Then, "Is that all?"

The other woman raised an eyebrow. "I suppose it is," she said, sounding a little cool. "See you at the meeting if not before."

"All right."

 

The weekly meeting had a surprisingly relaxed air about it - almost the entirety of the (admittedly small) Art Crimes division was there, filling the room with banter as Madeline warmed up the projector and laptop. That being said, the chatting colleagues were given a little pause by Lex's presence, and certainly didn't seem entirely at ease around her, though only a couple threw her actively hostile looks as she entered the room and took a seat near the back.

"All right, quiet down, everybody," Madeline said after a few minutes had passed, rising to stand at the front of the room, though just to one side to ensure everybody had a view of the screen. "It's been a good week - McFarlane closed up the Kushner case, we've got a few leads on the missing Klimt, and we've got potential progress on the Leonardo as well."

"So I see," one rather cocky-looking young man said with a very obvious sidelong look at Lex. "Did we get signed up to some sort of care in the community programme?"

"Ms Rockwood is working closely with me on the case, and she's been very helpful so far," Madeline replied smoothly. "Now, let's go over the Kushner case. Agent McFarlane?"

A somewhat older agent with greying temples and a pleasing, honest face stood, tugging briefly on his tie before launching into his update.

"So, things have gotten a little complicated..."

 

"Thank you, everyone. That will be all."

The meeting had been fascinating for Lex - as close as she had gotten to the FBI she had never sat in on a department meeting before and it was interesting to see how it worked. The short answer seemed to be: because Madeline made it work. She seemed to be able to hold every detail and fact of every case in her head, no matter how minuscule, and coupled with her seemingly encyclopaedic knowledge of art it meant that everybody walked out of the room knowing much more than when they entered.

"So was I well behaved enough?" she asked as the last of the team filed out.

Madeline glanced up from her notes, looking surprised to see Lex still there. "Oh, yes, you were fine. I'm sorry about Oshiro, he's still quite new."

"Hm? Oh..." Lex shook her head. "I expected worse, honestly."

"Well, worse won't be tolerated. What did you think of the meeting?"

"It was... really interesting, actually," Lex said, sounding a little surprised at herself. "It's nice to see you work."

"I, uh... well. That's nice."

"Seems like you have a good right-hand in McFarlane."

"Hm? Oh, yes, he's... very reliable."

"And he has a little of the old silver fox thing going on, too," Lex added with a smirk.

"Mm. Well. The conference room is all yours again," Madeline said, standing abruptly.

"Er, thanks." Lex pushed up from her seat again. "Oh, I'll need to get my files back" she explained when Ellsworth looked mildly confused. "They're stashed in your office for the meeting."

"Right, of course." The agent preceded her from the meeting room, and soon they were back in her small, glass-sided office, complete with its glossy-leafed rubber plant and neatly-organised desk. "Here they are," she announced unnecessarily, picking up the stack of folders and holding them out to the other woman.

With a nod of thanks, Lex reached for the file, her hand brushing past Madeline's as she did so, causing both women to start, just slightly. The agent let go of the files and then stepped back, reaching up to run her fingers through her ponytail.

"Well. I'll see you later, I suppose."

"Yes. Or... no, actually. I'll be leaving soon, you can check out with MacFarlane when you're done for the day."

"Oh, off anywhere interesting?" the other woman asked casually.

"Just running down some leads on the Klimt, nothing too exciting."

Lex nodded again. Then, after a pause, "D'you... want company for that?"

"I'm sorry?"

The younger woman shrugged. "If you'd like another pair of eyes..."

"Oh." Madeline hesitated, glancing at her sensible wristwatch. "Yes, all right."

"Really? I mean, right, great - I'll just get my coat - should I leave these files here?"

"Yes, that's fine. I'll meet you in the lobby."

 

"So!" Dr Karen Coleman smiled brightly at Madeline as she emerged into the foyer. "Where are we going?"

"To a dealer's, over by Georgetown. We've had a tip-off about a potentially stolen piece and I'd like to get a look at it with an expert's eye."

"Happy to help." Coleman fell into step beside Madeline, her heels clicking on the tiled floor.

"They don't know we're coming, and I'd like to keep them in the dark for as long as possible, so if you're comfortable with it I'd like to ask you to-"

"Lie?" Karen raised her eyebrows.

"Well, I was going to say 'go undercover', but I suppose it's a form of lying, yes," Madeline said with a chuckle.

"I think I can probably manage that. Who are we?"

"Ah, well, just interested buyers, I suppose - if we insinuate we have enough money they'll let us have a close enough look."

"I'll... follow your lead," Karen said with a hesitant, slightly excited smile.

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll do fine," Madeline assured her. "I'll be there the whole time."

 

She should've known, of course. 'Karen' had been a natural at undercover work, falling into an assumed persona without any hesitation as soon as they stepped through the door of the gallery. She'd even thought about an angle that Madeline hadn't - why the two women might be looking to buy a painting together.

"So, Mrs..."

"Ms," Karen had corrected the rather unctuous looking man with a beaming smile, smoothly slipping a hand into Madeline's.

The agent had frozen for a moment before smiling and stammering out, "Hewitt. And Greenberg. We're, ah... well, we're doing a little redecoration and I've had friends just rave about the pieces they've had from you."

"Oh, they're your friends when they're raving about art," Karen teased with a chuckle, and without looking Madeline knew she was rolling her eyes conspiratorially at the dealer.

"Yes well anyway," Madeline said, and she didn't have to fake the blush that came with those words, "if we could just have a look around..."

"Please, absolutely, go ahead... ladies..." It wasn't a very salacious tone - Madeline had definitely heard worse - but she found it slightly comforting nevertheless that Karen gave her hand a little squeeze before releasing it.

"Come on, honey, you can wow me with your fabulous taste and knowledge," she breezed. "Maybe we'll find something for above that ridiculous feature fireplace in the dining room..."

Madeline allowed herself to be led away from the man on the floor, still flushing with embarrassment. Normally she was good at undercover work - she did things by the book, but had a decent success rate - but she felt as if she might blow their cover at any moment. They circled the gallery slowly, discussing the various pieces they saw, and it was only this distraction that allowed her to regain her cool. Karen was, of course, knowledgeable about most of what they were looking at, and clearly genuinely excited by some of the pieces on offer.

"Now remember, this isn't a real shopping trip," Madeline chided, shaking her head.

"Although we might get a painting out of it," Karen muttered, leaning close to that she could keep her voice down. Their dealer must have looked round at that moment or something, because Karen giggled then, apropo of nothing, and pressed a featherlight kiss to Madeline's cheek. "I think he's ready for your pitch," she whispered into the other woman's ear, her breath warm and sweet. "We've been looking at all the most expensive pieces and he's been hovering closer and closer."

"Uh. Sure. I mean, right, okay," Madeline replied, taking a deep breath and a moment to compose herself before peeling away from Karen and catching the dealer's eye. "This is all very lovely, but I don't know, it's just not what we're looking for."

"No, you're right, you're right... we need... something bold, something big with really broad, vivid paintwork..."

"Mm, yes, exactly. You know, I heard the Mateyka Gallery had a Gilliam just in, maybe we should go across town, that would definitely show those name-hungry harpies..."

"Did I hear you ladies mentioning Gilliam?"

Karen was facing away from the dealer, and the smile she gave Madeline as they heard his interjection was bordering on filthy. The agent felt a shiver run through her and it was all she could do to keep her expression neutral. "Hm? Oh, yes, your selection is very nice, but it's not really right for our space, you know? We need something with a little more texture, more... dimensional."

"Well, now..." The man hesitated, clearly sizing them up. Could they afford the risk he was about to take? He decided they could. "I haven't got it out on the main floor yet, but I may have something in store that might be just what you're looking for."

"Really?" Madeline raised her eyebrows, a delighted smile curving her lips. "That's fantastic. May we see it?"

"Come this way."

 

"This is ridicluous! I was set up! This is entrapment!"

"No, it's not," Madeline sighed, shaking her head. "And I'm sure your lawyer can explain all the ways in which it isn't, once you've had a chance to speak with them. I'd recommend you don't say anything else until you can have that conversation."

Karen was standing at a respectful distance now, arms folded, a tiny smile on her face as she watched Madeline at work. The dealer protested some more as he was being led away but eventually he was gone, leaving her to supervise the transfer of the painting into the waiting FBI van. Once it was safely on its way she approached Karen, giving her an appreciative smile. "Well, that's a job well done. Thank you again for your help."

"That's all right - it was kinda fun," Karen said, her own smile a little shy.

"Careful, or you'll get a taste for it," Madeline warned.

"Would that be so bad?" The other woman raised an eyebrow.

"As long as you don't forget yourself - we still need your services."

"Oh, don't worry about me, I know just who I am."

 

At the time it had seemed... well, that largely didn't matter. But Madeline couldn't help but wonder just how much Lex had known about the effect she was having on Madeline with 'Karen' - her intelligence and wit, her effusiveness and enthusiasm, the easy affection that Madeline was so unused to from almost anybody.

Now, with Lex sitting beside her in her FBI-issue black sedan, the agent hoped very much that Lex hadn't known. Because if she had, Madeline was pretty sure she hated her. And the more time she spent with the erstwhile con merchant, the less she wanted to hate her.

"Maddy my dear! To what do I owe the pleasure?" Orion St Clair was rotund, flamboyant, and larger-than-life - and one of the most knowledgeable art dealers Madeline had ever met. She grinned as he enfolded her in his usual bearhug, patting his shoulder as he released her.

"We're here on business, as usual. Do you have a minute?"

"For you? Anything... who's your friend?"

"Oh, I thought you might already know each other," Madeline said, glancing between Orion and Lex. "This is Lex Rockwood, my CI."

"I do know Orion, by reputation," Lex said with a friendly nod, reaching out a hand.

"And everyone knows Lex Rockwood - it's an absolute pleasure."

"Good. Well. Now that everyone's been introduced..." Madeline gave an uncertain smile. "We're investigating the missing Klimt - there are rumours it's passing through DC and we need to pin it down."

"And you thought maybe I would have heard something."

"You hear a lot of things."

"I do." Orion's lips twitched with amusement. "C'mon, let me make us some coffee."

 

Information on the Klimt was delayed as Orion first had to share all the other gossip he had been holding onto since Madeline's last visit. The agent listened raptly, occasionally interjecting a question and looking for all the world as if this was her idea of a great afternoon out.

Lex was silent for her own part, cradling her coffee in her hands as it grew cold and the pair bantered back and forth. Orion wasn't a criminal, as such, but she knew him well as a dealer who was known for his ability to walk the fine line of the law, able to cosy up to conmen and cops alike - and here he was doing just that.

Eventually Madeline got up, citing her quickly-downed coffee, and excused herself to the lavatory. Orion got up to refill his own mug, casting a curious glance at Lex. "You're not what I expected, you know."

"What did you expect? A guy? A lot of people think I'm a guy."

"No, not that. Most of the confidence men I know wouldn't be happy playing second fiddle to anyone, much less an FBI agent."

"Ah. Well, I don't know if you heard, but I was in prison. Playing second fiddle is the only thing keeping me out."

"I see. Well, that's a very pragmatic viewpoint," Orion commented, lifting the coffee pot and his eyebrow.

"I'll take a nice loft apartment over a 'cubicle' any day."

At her expectant look he crossed to fill - or at least top up - her mug. "Understandable. And what's it like, working with Maddy?"

"Maddy..." Lex shook her head. "It's fine. I mean, it is what it is. I worked with her before, y'know."

 

"I'm sorry to disappoint again... but this is a forgery."

"What? No, I... I'm sure it's the real thing." Madeline stood up, pacing to the window and then back again. "I mean, the evidence says--"

"I'm sorry, Agent. The blue just isn't old enough - it's hard to age. Someone didn't bake for long enough."

"Fine. Fine. All right, thank you for your help, Dr."

Karen nodded. "I'll see you again, I'm sure, agent."

 

Madeline had been so distracted and disappointed by the news of the painting that Dr Karen Coleman had been gone almost an hour before she realised that the appraiser had left with the canvas.

"MacFarlane! Get in here! We've got a situation!"

 

"Is that so? All I remember of your prior collaboration is that she was the one to put you away."

"Mm. Well. There's a story there. That you will never hear," Lex clarified with a raise of her mug before taking a sip of the slightly over-brewed coffee, and before Orion could press her any further, Ellsworth was back.

"Well, where were we? No, scratch that, down to business, 'Ri. We have places to be, you know..."

 

"Well. At least we know the trail's not dead yet."

"Mm, although this description could be just about anyone."

"That's all right. It's a start." Madeline buckled up and then started the sedan's engine, pulling slowly out of the parking lot.

"So where to now?"

"Time to go shake down some shippers, see if they'll give us anything more to go on."

"Sounds exciting," Lex said, and it took Madeline a beat to realise the other woman was being sincere.

"Mm, well. It might be best if you stay in the car. This could get... heated."

"Really?" Lex looked almost amused. "You think I can't handle a few smugglers?"

"You're not an agent," Madeline pointed out, "and you don't have anything to back you up."

"Well, I assumed you were going to be doing the talking. And you forget, I used to talk to people like those all the time, with no backup and no badge."

"Unless this is a full confession you should probably stop right there," Madeline said with a hint of a smirk. "I don't need any reminder of your sordid past."

"Whereas you're a walking reminder of mine," the other woman countered with a matching expression; though Madeline's eyes were on the road she could easily hear the continued amusement in Lex's tone. "But honestly, Agent, you needn't worry about me - and I may be able to help, depending on who these shippers turn out to be."

"I thought you weren't going to talk?"

"That doesn't mean I won't see something useful."

Madeline sighed, turning into a warehouse parking lot. "All right. But stay quiet. Please."

"I'll do my best."

 

"I asked you one thing - one thing - and you couldn't even do that! I knew taking you along was a mistake, and this has just proven it!"

"Proven it? I saved your ass in there!"

"That is an absolute lie, everything was fine, you have no idea how to follow procedure or even what it is!"

"Oh, come on, you were going to leave with nothing if I hadn't said something."

"And that would have been fine!"

"Better than what we got?" Lex folded her arms, rolling her shoulders back into her seat back.

"What, do you want me to thank you? For explicitly disobeying my request?"

"Well, I guess I just wasn't expecting a slapped wrist for getting us our first solid lead."

Madeline stomped on the brakes rather harder than she should have, jerking them both out of their seats. Lex's intervention had helped, yes, but it had also undermined what little authority she had in the situation. "Why are you doing this?"

Lex blinked, looking genuinely confused. "Doing what?"

"This. Tagging along, taking up cold cases, being my CI."

Lex frowned as though this was a ridiculous question to ask. "I want to stay out of prison," she said flatly.

"And that's it?"

"Isn't that enough?"

"That's more than enough. And our initial arrangement was enough - there's no need for you to accompany me out of the office any more," Madeline said coldly.

"I..." Lex frowned. "I'm sorry I spoke out," she said. "I just knew I could help."

"Mm. I'm sure you'll be able to help McFarlane once we get back to the office."

"What's... going on here, Agent? I don't get it. I know I stepped over the line, but-"

"He'll be taking over as your supervisor. I have too much to do to take this on as well, I never should have taken it on in the first place."

"Wait, wait, I... I don't understand - we work well together, Madeline, you know th-"

"I worked well with Karen Coleman," Madeline snapped, turning the car sharply into the FBI lot. "You and I have never worked together before, and we're not going to again."

 

"Under no circumstances."

Helena Ford was looking between Madeline and the form in front of her, betraying as little emotion as ever. She pushed it back across the desk toward the agent. "We arranged for Rockwood's release on the tracking anklet with you in charge of her movements. A change in that arrangement just isn't going to happen."

"I'll still monitor her movements, but the day-to-day supervision is simply too much for me to handle right now," Madeline said, frowning.

Ford shook her head. "I want that woman glued to your side, as much as is feasibly possible. I must say, I was glad to see you take her out with you this afternoon - I never feel better about this business than when I know Rockwood's in safe hands."

"Safe hands... how could she be safer than bunged up in some little office testing paintings until she's up for parole?"

"Tell me truthfully, Ellsworth. Do you really think that represents best use of the resources at our disposal?"

Madeline opened her mouth to say that she didn't care about the best use of their resources, but then of course she did, and Ford knew that. "She's very difficult."

"All the more reason to keep her close." Ford tapped the form once more, and pushed it right out of the way. "Be her shadow. Move in with her if you have to. That's-" - the director held up a hand - "-a joke. But nevertheless, I'm not signing off on this. You made this happen; I'm not having you palm it off on McFarlane. Work harder."

She knew better than to argue with her boss once the final decision had been made so it was with a resigned expression that she left her office, still saddled with Lex Rockwood's presence and 'help', whether she liked it or not.

 

"We've had alerts out at every airport in the city and there's been no sign."

"Well, maybe she's not flying. She'll know we'll be looking for her, we need to check bus and train stations - can we get notices up on the boards there? No? Well, get agents out, anyway, have them canvas the area, talk to staff."

"On it."

As McFarlane made his exit, Madeline fought the urge to sink her head into her hands and just curl up on the desk in front of her - after all, her office had a glass front. That she'd been taken in by 'Karen Coleman' - now well-proven to be an alias - was bad enough. That the woman had managed to walk out of the Art Crimes headquarters with what was presumably not in fact a forgery was beyond bad. How many other paintings had Coleman misrepresented to her? There was more than one occasion when Madeline had taken Karen's word over that of their own experts, though retests usually corroborated her findings.

...Because they were tests of the paintings Karen gave you...

Madeline groaned as it began to sink in just how roundly duped they'd been. She'd been utterly humiliated.

And it's your own fault. You let her turn your head and it compromised your instincts. This is all your fault.

Feeling sorry for herself wouldn't do any good, however. She needed to fix this. Pushing herself up, Madeline gathered up her keys, coat, and firearm and then headed briskly out of the office - she had work to do.

 

"Um." Lex blinked at the woman on the other side of the door, looking stunned for a moment, but quickly recovered. "Why, McFarlane," she said, stepping back from the door. "You've changed - did you dye your hair? I liked the grey..."

"My request to transfer you to another agent was turned down," Madeline stated baldly, hands on her hips. "You will remain under my supervision for the time being."

Lex tried and didn't quite succeed in hiding how pleased she was at this news. "All right." She paused. "Do you want to come in?"

"I'm sure that's not necessary. I'll see you tomorrow at the office."

"Then why'd you show up at my door at eight in the evening?" Lex challenged, sounding almost amused. "Come on - I ordered too much for dinner; how do you feel about Thai food?"

Convincing herself that at least she would be able to do another spot-check of the thief's apartment Madeline followed her inside, a frown fixed on her lips.

"Beer? Oh, are you driving? Half a glass of wine, maybe?" Lex suggested as she led the way across to the table where a spread of delicious-smelling food boxes were sitting out that there was simply no way Lex could've expected to eat alone.

"Were you expecting company?" Madeline asked, ignoring the question as she surveyed the spread.

"Hm? Oh..." Lex shrugged. "Not really. I mean, I was going to call an old friend, but I'm pretty sure that wouldn't've panned out. So, lucky me that you're here." She said. Was her tone just slightly forcefully bright?

For a moment Madeline felt a pang of what felt like sympathy for the other woman - she hadn't imagined her sitting at home at night and indeed had been surprised to find her there that evening. But then, how many conmen would stick around to associate with someone after four years of prison?

"Do you have any pad thai?"

"Somewhere there, yeah," Lex said, waving a hand toward the spread as she headed across to the kitchen area, fetching both a jug of water and a near-full bottle of white wine from the fridge, pouring water for both of them and wine only for herself - though Madeline noted that the bottle was deliberately placed well within her reach and there was a waiting glass where she'd sat at the second laid place at the table. Clearly, then, Lex hadn't been entirely sure she was going to dine alone.

This made Madeline all the more reluctant to stay, given that she really didn't want to interrupt whatever plans Lex might've had, and she quickly located her pad thai and a fork to serve it with so she could get started with the business of eating and leaving as soon as possible.

"So how did you get on this afternoon otherwise?" Lex asked now, choosing a box more or less at random, it seemed, her gaze very much on Madeline rather than her food.

"Fine. The bribe was approved - you can talk to your security expert."

"Great. Good." Lex nodded, and then asked another question, about their cold case, and another after that, and somehow in spite of her determination to eat and leave and in spite of her general discomfort around Lex, Madeline found that she was talking about as much as she was eating. The other woman had a knack for putting people at their ease - as she well remembered - and she was wise enough to keep the conversation on current work-related topics, which was just about all Madeline felt comfortable discussing with her.

Eventually, of course, the food ran out, and Madeline began to gather up her plate and her water glass, ready to clear her place and then clear out of the other woman's apartment.

Lex stood and did the same, elbow to elbow with the agent across to the kitchen. "Coffee?" she asked. "Think I have some cheese and biscuits in the fridge too, if you like..."

"No, thanks. I should go."

"Somewhere to be?" The tone was almost teasing, and it set Madeline even more on edge.

"That's none of your business," she snapped, setting down her plate with a clatter. "This was a business meeting, and now it's over."

"I..." Lex actually flinched, and Madeline realised her reaction might have come across as disproportionate. "I'm sorry," she muttered, turning suddenly to put her own dishes down by the sink.

"Listen. I can't do this. I'll work with you, because apparently I can't get myself out of the hole I've dug, but anything more than that... I'm not interested." Madeline shook her head emphatically, wrapping her arms around herself as if to hold in some long pent-up emotion. "I can't do it."

"Fine." Lex's voice was small, tight, and she didn't turn around, instead turning the tap on and reaching for one of her dishes in spite of the fact that the kitchen obviously had a perfectly functional dishwasher.

"I'll just show myself out," Madeline muttered, striding for the door.

"Good night, Agent."

 

"...and that is why we're placing you on paid leave, pending a review of your case."

"What? No, please, we're close, I know it..."

"I'm sorry, agent. You worked with this woman on numerous cases; it's just not a chance we can take. Your team will take it from here without you."

Madeline opened her mouth to protest but no sound came out; Ford clearly assumed the interview was over and turned dismissively back towards her work. Backing out of the office, Madeline then turned and fled, making it all the way out to her car without really knowing how. She wanted to blame Alexis Rockwood for this, but really, the fault was all hers.

Still, if Ford thought she was going to just sit back and let her team handle the hunt without her, she was very much mistaken. Badge or not, Madeline was going nowhere.

 

The next morning was pretty textbook for Madeline - she got in early with her coffee and spent a few hours poring over case files, jotting down notes and nursing the hangover that came from a late night and an ill-advised bottle of wine.

Lex was already there when she got into the department, sitting poring over more cold cases in the conference rooms. It was as though she knew that Madeline had entered somehow, because she looked up as the other woman approached her office, watching her through the panes of glass between them. She almost smiled. Then she looked back down to her work.

This only made Madeline wish she had another bottle of wine, and the rest of the morning passed fretfully. The refrain of 'just ignore her' only worked so well, especially when it was all Madeline could do not to go next door and list out all the reasons Lex's presence was ruining her life.

Eventually, some time after lunch, it was Lex who appeared at Madeline's office door. "I, um." She paused, and started again. "I haven't found anything else in the cold cases, but I thought, when you have a minute, we could discuss that... bribe money."

"What about it?"

"Well, how it is being released, how do you want me to go about connecting with Barry..." Lex shrugged. "I just... figured you'd want to take a lead on it."

Madeline frowned. "This is your operation. I'm not taking the lead except in an administrative sense."

"You're letting me run this." It wasn't a question, though Lex did sound quietly, faintly incredulous.

"How would an FBI agent getting involved do anything but complicate things?"

"No, no, I agree, I just... It's not like you to let go like this."

"You don't know what I'm like," Madeline said warningly.

"Sure I do," Lex contested. "I've seen you work on numerous cases, remember? Have you really changed?"

"That was four years ago. Is it so hard to believe that I might have?"

"Frankly? Yes. Why alter a working formula. But fine," Lex said, holding her hands up and backing toward the door. "If you wanna let me take this on by myself I'm more than happy to do that. I guess I'll... can I get cash? That would be easiest..."

"Absolutely not," Madeline said, eyes widening. "Once you have his bank details we'll arrange a transfer, but cash is out of the question."

"All right, but I need to be able to make a call and have it move across instantly, can we do that?"

"Fine."

Lex was frowning a little herself now. "Good. All right," she said. And then, "I, uh. I'll do that tomorrow, then. I..." she waved a hand vaguely in the direction of the door. "I might take off for the day," she said.

Madeline forced herself to shrug. "Go ahead."

Somehow this seemed to disappoint Lex even further, but she just nodded. "You know how to find me," she said with a thin smile, and then she'd turned to leave.

"Rockwood." Madeline's expression when she turned around was pained. Lex said nothing, however, just waiting.

"What do you want from me?" the agent asked eventually, her voice low and close to breaking. "Do you want things to be like they were before? Do you honestly not see why they can't?"

"That wasn't-..." Lex stopped herself, shutting her mouth tightly, her jaw clenching a little as she looked to the side and then back. "I wanted to stay out of prison," she said carefully. "I thought I could make that a good thing, for both of us. But..." She shook her head. "It's clear that's not going to happen. So." She shrugged lightly, straightening the lapels of her jacket in an attempt to hide the slight tremble of her hands. "So I'm just gonna go enjoy what I can of this break while I help with this case. Excuse me, agent." A little too quickly, she turned to go again, out of the office and almost running through the bullpen in her eagerness to be out of the other woman's sight.

Madeline should have felt better - she had effectively put an end to any attempts at familiarity or friendship between them, which was as it should be. Her feelings for Karen Coleman had been carefully cultivated by the other woman in order to pull the wool over her eyes, and given that she was older and wiser now she knew better than to let it happen again. It didn't make the pit of longing and regret in her stomach any easier to bear, but then, she had lived with worse.

 

"I don't know, boss; we're under strict instructions not to involve you further in this case..."

"Listen, I've given my deposition about what I can remember about Coleman, but I'm sure there are things I've missed," Madeline stated. "If you want to catch her, I can help."

McFarlane looked behind himself, as though even in the surveillance van Ford might be waiting behind him, waiting for him to slip up. He made a face. "What do you need me to do?"

"I need you to make some noise at these venues," she said, passing over a discreet piece of folded paper. "Just the usual questions, enough to let them know the heat's not off yet."

McFarlane frowned down at the note. "Okaay..." He glanced back up again. "You don't think she's left town yet?"

"I'm not sure, but this will tell us once word gets out. Let me know once you've had a chance to make the rounds."

McFarlane nodded, shifting a little uncomfortably in his seat. "Um, Madeline..." he tried now, hesitantly. "You know, if you ever want to talk about this, in a more casual context..." He cleared his throat. "I'm here."

"Mmhmm," Madeline said with a dismissive shrug. "Thanks, Mac. I'll talk to you later."

"...Right. All right. Later."

 

"Two visits in one week? To what do I owe the great pleasure?"

Madeline shrugged, her expression studiously neutral as she looked around Orion's quirky gallery. "I wanted to know if you had heard anything more about the missing Klimt."

"Since the day before yesterday?" Orion chuckled, taking off his glasses to clean them on his scarf. "No."

"Ah. Well, I suppose that's not too surprising, they'll be lying low if they know what's good for them..."

"Quite." Orion looks mildly confused, though unperturbed, by Madeline's presence, but he strolled over to stand by her side anyway. "It's a nice piece, isn't it?" he said of the painting she'd been looking at - or through, really, her mind miles away.

"Hm? Oh, yes, interesting use of asymmetry. It should feel unbalanced, but manages not to."

Orion glanced sidelong at the agent. "D'you ever miss it?" he asked. "Just enjoying art as art rather than as evidence?"

"I still enjoy it," Madeline said defensively, frowning at the painting. "One does not preclude the other."

"Mhm?" Orion pursed his lips. "If you say so."

"What, it's your job as well. Are you saying you don't appreciate art just because you spend all day trying to sell it to clueless tourists?"

"Touché," the dealer replied, patting Madeline's shoulder. "You all right, Maddy? You seem... pensive."

"Work is... difficult at the moment," was all she could say.

"That wouldn't have anything to do with the delectable Alexis Rockwood, would it?"

"It would have everything to do with her."

"I see. Difficult, is she?"

"Not in a traditional sense," Madeline sighed. "We've made several advances since she started consulting for us, I just... I find it difficult to work with her."

"Well, she did make a fool of you."

"Thanks," she said, giving him a sideways look. "I remember."

"But you caught her. In the end. You won, and she went to prison."

"And now she's back in my face, more than before, and acting like we should-- like I should just pretend nothing happened."

Orion nodded thoughtfully. "And how would you like her to act?"

"Professionally. No," Madeline sighed, "she's already professional. I don't know what I expect, really. She's a criminal, asking her to be repentant would be a waste of breath."

"So that's what you want? An apology?"

"What I want is for her not to be in my hair at all. I was so stupid, asking for her help. I should have known it would bite me in the end."

Orion's brow furrowed a little. "I'm not sure I'm following you here, Maddy. If she's been helpful to the case... has she been actively insubordinate?"

"She's overly familiar. And yes, on at least one occasion she's disobeyed a direct order... well, request. And above all, I can't trust her."

"Right. Well. I mean, you can just turf her back in the can after this case if you like, can't you? Or now, if you want to, realistically speaking?" Orion paused. "Overly familiar how?" he added, with a little more interest.

"She takes advantage of our history together," Madeline said with a scowl. "Even though it was all a lie."

"Your... history?" Now the dealer's dark eyebrows were winging upward. "You have a history? Together? Beyond her consulting for you and you then hunting her down and jailing her? Am I missing part of the story here?"

"No, no, that's not... that's all I meant, the consulting and the betrayal, that's quite enough, there's nothing... nothing else happened," she finished lamely, feeling her cheeks start to burn.

Orion's eyes widened a little - clearly he had seen the subtext or, failing that, invented some for himself. "Right," he said. "Well. I mean, you're a professional hard-ass, Maddy. Do I need to tell you to screw your head back on, buck the hell up and do your job?"

"No, of course not, I just..." She had just wanted a little sympathy, but given the reputation she had built for herself it wasn't surprising no one was falling over themselves to offer her any. "Never mind. I'm sorry to bother you in the middle of the day - you'll call me if you hear anything, won't you?"

"Absolutely." Madeline had turned to go, but she found herself looking back as she left to find Orion still staring thoughtfully after her. As their eyes met, he hesitated, and then spoke again. "Take care of yourself, Maddy. Use your head."

"I always do," she said, with a grim smile.

 

Orion's words rang in Madeline's ears as she departed the gallery; not just his caution but his observations about art and her apparent lack of enjoyment of it. Maybe it was these musings that found her at the National Gallery of Art almost before she realised it, driving as if she had been in a daze. She almost turned away but the lure of the collection was too strong and she made her way inside, giving an appreciative nod to the docent on duty and heading for the West Building with its medieval European paintings and sculptures, most of which she knew by heart and missed like old friends.

She barely saw them as she walked past, stopping in front of this Vermeer, that Monet, looking but not really seeing, her mind still far away. It was only as she arrived at the etching of The Last Supper that she was shaken back to the present.

"Rockwood?"

Lex looked every bit as surprised to see Madeline as Madeline was to see her. "Agent." She was sitting on the padded bench that ran the length of the room, but she stood now. "Sorry," she said. "I'll go."

"What, no, you don't... don't do that." Madeline frowned. "It's fine. I'll go to another gallery until you're done here."

"No, it's fine. I wouldn't want us to accidentally run into one another," Lex insisted. "I can come back here any time."

"Oh don't be ridiculous, I'm sure we can manage to share an entire building."

"Look, forget it, all right, I'm leaving," Lex said determinedly, her tone almost upset as she turned to go. Madeline's hand shot out to grab her wrist, immobilising her, though the agent pulled her hand away as soon as she realised what she was doing.

"I'm sorry, sorry, I just... this is ridiculous, I don't want you to leave."

But Lex just shook her head, flinching back from the other woman. "I don't know what your problem is, Agent," she said, her tone low, intense, barely audible from where Madeline stood. "I know I screwed around with you, and I know I haven't spent every moment we've spent together apologising for that, but d'you know what? You won. You got me, and you put me in prison, and after this is over you get to put me back there. This place..." She gestured vaguely at the building around them. "This place is my sanctuary. It's where I come to feel safe, to be around the things I love most in the world, to feel like my life is simple and beautiful, just for a little while. I don't want to be here wondering if I'm going to turn a corner and ruin your day. So yeah, sure, maybe it is ridiculous. But I won't have you ruining this place for me. So I'm going to go."

"I'm not going to send you back," Madeline blurted, feeling as if she might either cry or vomit.

The other woman froze, and for a moment Madeline thought she was going to just keep walking, but then she turned, and shook her head. "Don't make promises you can't keep, agent."

"It's entirely up to me. No one is going to question me if I keep you on - especially if this case resolves successfully."

"And tomorrow, when you change your mind, decide you can't stand having me around after all?"

"I'd find some way of working it out, get someone else to supervise you," Madeline said, not bothering with denial for what was possibly the truth. "I wouldn't send you back."

Lex sighed. "Why?" she asked simply.

"Because... because of all this," Madeline said, gesturing around them. "We were talking about you, that day back at the agency. You love it, and I wouldn't take you away from it again."

"I broke the law."

"And you've served time, and will continued to do service with the agency until a federal judge deems you're suitable to be paroled."

The other woman couldn't keep the frown from her face - she was obviously still wounded and confused. But she nodded. "All... right," she said. "Thank you. I'll... get going."

"No, I should - I've got to get back to work anyway. You should stay."

Running a hand through her hair, Lex shrugged, shaking her head as though she was too confused and thrown to think about anything clearly right now. "Right, all right, whatever - I mean thanks. I... I'll be in the office after I've spoken to Bill tomorrow."

Madeline nodded, staring at the other woman for a moment longer before tearing her gaze away to glance at the nearest piece of art, her heart pounding wildly. There was so much more she wanted to say to Lex but this had gone badly enough already. No need to make it any worse.

 

"Okay, I checked them out, and there was nothing at any of the places you mentioned, but... I think the landlord at the Ace was lying to me."

"Yeah? About what, exactly?"

McFarlane made a face. "Not sure," he said.

"All right," Madeline said with a wave of her hand. "I'll go speak to him myself. Thanks, Mac."

"Right." McFalrane hesitated before adding. "Careful, Madeline. Don't get yourself suspended."

"I'm just going to ask him some questions," she said with a shrug.

"Well. Just stay cool."

"Take care of the department, I want it in good order when I get back."

"Yes ma'am."

 

"So. Four years of silence and then you call me up. I was beginning to think you had disappeared off the face of the planet."

"I was on a break. On St Lucia. Hey, I'm here now?" Lex offered, lifting her glass in a sheepish salute.

"Not looking very tan," the other woman said pointedly, though she lifted her own glass in return.

"I wear block. Anyway, how've you been?"

"I've kept busy." Angeline was a fellow forger, though she specialised in sculpture and other 3D media. She had full lips, raven hair, and long, sensitive fingers that Lex had admired both from afar and in more intimate circumstances. "You'll excuse me if I don't go into all the details, given that you were spotted on the arm of an FBI suit just the other day."

"That's... strictly a consulting job," Lex said. "You know I've done that before."

"Ah, so you're trotting Karen out again. You were always overly fond of her, but I suppose it has been years."

"Something like that. Anyway, we don't have to talk about work if you don't want to - what are you doing for fun these days? Did you ever get that studio up and running that you talked about, supplement your income with some straight'n'narrow?"

"I did, actually," Angeline said with a smile, clearly pleased that Lex had remembered. "You should come by sometime, I'll give you a tour."

"I'd love to - where is it?"

"Over in Near Northeast - here, take my card," the other woman said, fishing one out of her purse for Lex. "It's an attic space, really quirky but it works. You'll love it."

There was a flicker of relief on Lex's face, though she didn't explain it, just moving on, "Hah, I'm actually living in a loft right now, believe it or not."

"I should've guessed - all the better to rappel down the roof from."

"Yeah, I, uh, guess so," Lex said, smirking a little and shaking her head. "It was really all I could find, though, to be honest - for now, anyway. Life's been... complicated lately. Moreso even than when we last hooked up - met, I mean, hung out, not-..." Lex did that shy downward look with her eyes that Ange well knew was a total con - the woman didn't have a shy bone in her body.

"Well, I'm sure that's just the way you like it," Ange chuckled.

"Mm. Well. Some complications I could've done without," Lex said now, allowing a little pensiveness to creep into her tone.

"Oh?" the other woman asked, her tone curious but not pushy.

A pained, brave little smile. A slight shake of the head. "I, uh..." A pause. Lex looked for all the world as though she'd like to open up, wanted to talk about whatever it was, but just couldn't. "That's... For another day maybe."

"Fair enough. So," Ange said briskly, "did you hear about Piotr's little fuck up last year? Couldn't have happened to a more deserving guy..."

"I noticed he was off the scene - what happened?"

"Oh, you'll love this. So he got his hands on a Vermeer, don't ask me how, and so he starts shopping around for a buyer..."

 

"So, I know it's been a while... but I hope you'll accept my apology," Lex said as they emerged from the bar into the cool night air.

"Apology? What for?" Ange asked, though her tone made it clear she hadn't forgotten.

"Disappearing on you. And... well, I know that the last time we saw each other I wasn't... at my best."

"Mm, well. At least you came back."

"Mm. D'you want to do this again sometime soon?"

"I'd love to. Friday night?"

"Friday's perfect."

"Great. Well..." Ange leaned in, her lips brushing Lex's cheek. "You've got my number. Give me a call."

"I'll do that."

 

Madeline found herself staring at the phone all morning; she had already authorised the transfer, but what if something went amiss?

When word came, it was in the form of a text, not a call.

All okay, Bill is going to get in touch with Barry for me. Should head from him tonight.

Madeline gave a small sigh of relief, tapping out a reply over the course of a few minutes.

Okay. Great. Keep me in the loop. R U coming in to office?

A pause. Madeline began to think Lex wasn't going to reply. Then:

Do you want me?

Well wasn't that a question.

Would be good 2 have U here.

Another wait that seemed far longer than it needed to be.

I'll be there in an hour.

 

When Lex arrived it was all Madeline could do not to bound up from her desk and offer her a cup of coffee; after yesterday's disastrous interactions all she wanted to do was smooth things over so that their partnership could progress with as little difficulty as possible. As it was, the other woman seemed to be happy to forget that the altercation had happened, giving Madeline a civil nod-and-smile before heading to the conference room and pulling out a pad to jot some notes down while she waited to update everyone on what had happened so far that day.

Eventually Madeline came through in advance of the others, trying not to look too eager as she leaned a shoulder against the doorframe, coffee mug in hand. "I thought I should check in, in case there was anything you wanted to action for later..."

"I think there's not much to say just yet," Lex breezed. "I should have more after I've spoken to Barry, but all I can really give now is a rough plan of how I was going to go about things from here..." Was her voice artificially light? Madeline hopes so, otherwise she sounded considerably more relaxed than Madeline felt.

"Right, of course, well... If you need my assistance on anything, just let me know."

Lex's response was another tight smile.

"Ms Rockwood..."

The smile remained, and perfectly shaped eyebrows rose.

"...I hope this goes well."

"I do too."

Madeline opened her mouth, then shut it again, tongue darting out to wet her lower lip. "Well. I'll just call the team in."

 

"So, er... I'm not sure if I'm meant to open up the floor for questions now."

Madeline gave a small shrug and waved to the rest of the table; most people were frowning thoughtfully or eyeing Lex with what she hoped was a newfound respect, though it wasn't as if the woman hadn't proven her wits already to them.

"Okay, I'll bite." Predictably [Oshima] spoke up. "Why exactly do we think this Barry guy is going to fall for this? He's got to know this is a total trap."

"Oh, absolutely, but he'll also know it's not a trap for him. He's going to think that Gordon and I are taking professional potshots at one another, and that I'm asking him to side with me."

"And why would he want to do that?" he asked, leaning back and clicking his pen in an annoying rhythm. "What makes you so much better - after all, you did get sent away."

"That isn't widely known," Lex said with a slow smile. "Most people don't know my real name - and those that do don't usually know my surname. He's going to choose me."

"Yeah, well, you better hope so," he scoffed. "Otherwise... it's back to the slammer for you."

"Enough," Madeline said sharply. "If that's all the questions, you're all dismissed."

Lex visibly slumped a little as the team left - Madeline's sharp gaze missed nothing, and she lingered behind. "That went well," she said reassuringly. "They can be a tough crowd."

"Mm. Some of them, anyway."

"Don't worry about it. Just focus on the job at hand."

"That's the plan," Lex said grimly, looking back to her notepad before flipping it shut.

"Well, it's a good plan," Madeline replied, perhaps unnecessarily. "You've obviously thought this through. I'm sure it will be a success."

"Right. I mean, thanks."

"Is there... can I get you anything?"

Finally, Lex looked back up, her face a picture of confusion. "Like what?"

"...coffee, or something?"

"Ah. I'm all right. Thanks."

"Mm. Okay. I'll just... see you later, then."

"Mhm." Lex's phone buzzed then, and she reached to check it. "It's Barry," she said flatly when Madeline hovered, clearly waiting for information. "We're meeting tonight."

"Ah, all right. Do you think there might be any danger? Do you want backup?"

"I'll be fine. Thank you."

"Are you sure? It's no trouble to put a detail on you for the evening-"

"Look, I don't-..." Lex stopped herself, lowering her voice again. "I appreciate that. If you'd like to put a wire on me, then that's your call. But I won't need support."

"No, we don't need to wire you. I just... you're under my protection, I want to make sure you're safe."

Lex smiled, though it was a tight, mirthless smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "Thanks. I'll be careful."

"Yes, all right. Just... let me know how it goes, then," Madeline said, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. "I'll be waiting by the phone."

"I'll be in touch."

 

What time was 'the evening', really? It was nine o'clock already and Madeline hadn't heard a word from Lex, which wasn't doing much for her peace of mind - or her liquor cabinet.

When the phone eventually rang, it took Madeline a moment to realise what was happening, meaning that her eventual answering was a scrabble that almost ended in her hanging up before she had a chance to say a word.

"Sorted. Barry's going to break in and take a look around, and report back. Should give us an idea whether it's worth blowing our cover on a raid."

"Good, good, great. That's good. I'm glad it went well."

"He was dubious, but at the end of the day people just don't like Gordon much."

"Good luck for us, I suppose."

"Indeed."

"So... when will we hear back from him?"

"Sometime in the next few days, I'd think. I couldn't afford to look to be in too much of a hurry."

"No, no, of course not..." Madeline sighed, more loudly than she would have if she hadn't been slightly drunk, and there was a pause at the other end before:

"Is everything all right?"

"What? Oh, yes, of course, I suppose I was just... letting my impatience get the best of me."

"I'm sorry."

"It's certainly not your fault. You've done excellent work so far."

"Um, all right. Thanks. Was there... anything else, agent?"

"Yes, I--" Use your head, Maddy. "No. I mean, no, that's fine."

"All... right."

"Did you see Ginevra?"

"Um." Another pause. "I always stop by, yes."

"Good, good. She's one of my favourites."

"... Mine too. Her mouth, that sfumato..."

"It's truly masterful, isn't it? To think, his fingers smoothed her skin, made her glow..."

"Mm. I mean, mhm?"

Lex couldn't have sounded more disengaged and Madeline suddenly regretted ever starting down this avenue of conversation. "Anyway. I've kept you long enough. Thank you for letting me know. About the case."

"Do you need me in the office for anything tomorrow?"

"Not if... no, I don't think so."

"Then I'll be in touch when I have news from Barry."

"Sure."

"Good night, Agent."

"Good night, Ms Rockwood."

 

"Hello?"

"Hey, you." Lex could hear Ange pausing a little before responding.

"Friday's tomorrow, you know."

"I have... a thing. Not definitely, but something might come up and get in the way. Wanted to warn you in advance."

"All right. When's this thing going to come up, so I don't wait on tenterhooks all night?"

"I'm not sure."

"So... what, you want me to just sit and wait around? I'm glad you're back, Lex, but that doesn't sound especially appealing."

"Actually, I thought maybe, if you weren't up to anything tonight, we could just bring the whole thing forward. I know it's late, but..."

"What did you have in mind?"

"My place, a bottle of wine... I hadn't really thought things out any further than that."

"Hm... I suppose I could rearrange some things and make it over by nine."

"I'm in all night."

"I'll see you soon, then."

 

"So I'm afraid we'll have to cosy up by the fire - Gail hasn't got central heating in here yet..."

"Oh no," Ange said with a smirk, handing a well-chilled bottle of white over to the other woman. "Whatever will we do..."

The other woman's smile turned yet more suggestive, and she leaned forward to take the bottle, hand closing over Ange's... and then she seemed to stop herself, looking contrite. "I'll be honest," she said. "I really want to kiss you, but I don't want you to think this was just a booty call..."

"It's not? Then I'm not sure why I wore my fanciest underwear," Ange replied.

"Ah. Well." Lex wrested the bottle of wine from Ange's hands only to put it aside on the nearest surface, turning back to slip a hand around the other woman's waist. "In that case..."

"You want to show me the bearskin rug?"

 

Whatever it was that had gotten into Lex, an evening with Ange had just about gotten it out. The other woman was every bit as sexy - and as energetic - as Lex remembered, and as the pair lay sated and aching on her bed (they got there eventually) she found that Madeline Ellsworth and her current situation had almost completely left her thoughts. Almost.

"What the hell are you wearing on your ankle."

"Ah. That. Hm. So. Here's the thing..."

 

"I can't believe it. First that you managed to keep it quiet, and second that you got sprung by the same woman who put you in there. Unbelievable," Ange said, reaching for the half-empty wine bottle to top herself up. "You are something else."

"You didn't already know that?" Lex said with a cocky smile. This had gone rather better than she'd feared it would.

"I heard rumours, but nobody thought it was actually possible that you got caught, not after giving them the run-around for so long."

"We all run out of luck eventually, if not necessarily permanently."

"Well you've proven that handily enough, haven't you? So how is it, 'consulting' for the suits? I bet they have terrible coffee."

"Oh my God, they really do - everything you've heard is true. I have to bring my own in..."

Ange dissolved into laughter, rolling until she was half-tangled in the sheets. "You poor thing. Out of the frying pan and into the fire."

"Well, exactly, though in prison I couldn't just pop to the local Italian Coffehouse for an artisan blend."

"I guess it's a very middle-class fire, then."

"Hey, no class wars here, next you'll be starting off about your life on the farm again..."

"I had a very formative childhood!" Ange laughed.

"Well, that's what made you so... well-rounded..." Lex said with a grin, slipping an arm around the other woman to illustrate just how 'well-rounded' she was.

"Mm, don't think you can distract me so easily... I want to hear all about your FBI hijinks."

"Well, hm. Where to start..."

"Start with the part where you got slapped in handcuffs. I like the sound of that..."

"You would."

 

"Barry, I don't have time to mess around - could you just tell me what you found?"

"All in good time... can't I just enjoy the company of the lovely Dr Coleman a little longer?"

"Barry..." 'Karen' shot the wiry breaker a warning look, but sipped at the coffee that arrived nevertheless.

"Besides, I want to hear a little bit more about your long-term plan. You've been out of town... you looking to get rid of Gordon and then take over?"

"Not exactly. I just..." Lex shook her head. "I don't like the way he does things." That much, at least, was true. Gordon played in their world, but to Lex's mind he didn't really respect it.

"So this is just some kind of personal vendetta? Interesting..."

"Sure, I guess you could call it that."

"You know, I did a bit of checking up on you," Barry said, sipping his espresso. "Figured after you disappeared off the scene it might be worth seeing what you got up to."

"Is that so?" Lex felt the slightest skip in her pulse, but reminded herself that there was very little Barry could have found out about 'Karen'.

"Mmhmm." He stared across the table at her for a moment before breaking into a grin. "Turns out when you go off the grid, you really go off the grid."

Lex shrugged. "I was on vacation," she said simply.

"If you say so." Barry looked bored with this avenue of conversation and quickly shifted it to something more interesting. "Anyway, here's what I found..."

 

"So I don't know how much you need for probable cause, but... I mean, it seems pretty clear that you could probably find what you needed to pin the forgery on him - or at least, prove he knew it was forged. I'm still not sure who's responsible for the forgery itself."

"Well, that might be something Gordon can tell us once we bring him in," Madeline said, looking pleased as she perused the printouts Madeline had brought in.

"So... you're going to ahead then?"

"Most likely, yes. Unless you have another recommendation?"

"No, no," Lex held up her hands, "I was just a little surprised."

"Surprised? How come?"

"I suppose I wasn't sure that you'd consider the information to be conclusive enough to go forward."

"On its own perhaps not, but I've been doing some investigations of my own and with this I think we have enough to go on."

"Yeah? What did you find?"

"Shopping evidence that Gordon imported some manganese last year - again, not enough to go on on its own, but with your data slightly more damning."

"Definitely. All right. Well." Lex hesitated. "So... what do you want me to do from here?"

"Stay available, I guess, in case we need you. I'll be organising the raid for the next few days."

"I should be there," the other woman said immediately. "I might see things your team would miss."

"I... yes, all right."

Lex blinked - clearly she hadn't expected Madeline to agree so readily to this. "Um. Okay. Good. Thanks."

"Thank you."

"So... I suppose I'll head off and wait for your call, then?"

"You don't have to - I mean, if you want to stay here we'll find you somewhere. An office, I mean."

"Is there something else you want me to be doing?" Lex asked, looking mildly confused.

"Well, you were so helpful with those cold cases, I'm sure I could find some other files for you to look over..."

"All right."

"Or if you'd rather go to the labs I'm sure I could arrange that," Madeline offered helpfully.

Lex raised her eyebrows. "You'd... put me in your labs?"

"Well, not alone but yes, if you think you could help there it could be arranged."

"I think I could probably make myself useful there. I mean, if there isn't something you'd rather I did..."

"No, I'm sure that will be fine. I'll just... set that up, then."

"Thanks." Lex nodded, getting to her feet. "I'll..." She waved vaguely toward the door. "I'll head off for today, then, I suppose and I can come back in when that's sorted?"

"Sure. I'll give you a call."

Another hesitant nod, and the other woman was making her exit.

Another hesitant nod, and the other woman was making her exit. Madeline let out a breath after she left, relieved that they had at least managed to get through a conversation without bickering or tension, though of course that meant she had instead spent the entire time trying to ignore how attractive Lex had looked in the smart, beautifully cut suit that was altogether too reminiscent of the lovely, never-real Dr Karen Coleman for comfort. For her own part Lex appeared entirely unconcerned, even stopping for a quick, congenial-looking exchange with McFarlane on her way out.

Madeline couldn't help herself from calling him in as soon as the con had left. "What was that all about?"

"Oh..." McFarlane shrugged. "Just passing the time of day - she's very personable."

"Mm. Just be careful - that's how she operates."

The older agent raised his eyebrows. "You mean I'll be doing favours and performing cover-ups in no time?" he asked, sounding mildly amused.

Madeline didn't smile. "How are you getting along with that warrant? Is all the paperwork in?"

"It's in - just waiting for Ford's sign-off."

"All right. Good."

"You... feeling better today?"

"I'm fine. Is there anything else?"

"Um... you called me in here."

"Right, of course. Well, then... that's all."

"Very good, boss. I'll see you at the afternoon catch up."

"Mm. All right."

 

Lex turned back from the window, silhouetted against the golden sunset light.

"How did you find me?"

"Alexis Rockwood, you're under arrest."

Stepping toward the other woman, Lex slipped her hands into her pockets, tipping her head to the side. "Really, Madeline? Is that necessary?"

"You've broken more laws than I can even begin to list," the suited agent said sternly. "And that's just the crimes I know about."

"Sure, but what harm have I really done? Honestly? I've never killed anyone, I've never beggared anyone..."

"You have the right to remain silent, anything you do say can and will be used against you..."

"Are you serious?"

Madeline was reaching for her cuffs now, one hand outstretched towards Lex's wrists. "You have the right to an attorney, and if you are unable to afford one, a court-appointed attorney will be provided for you. Do you understand?"

"Yeah, yeah, I und- hey, take it easy there, I'm not struggling, am I?"

"I advise you exercise your right to remain silent," Madeline all but growled, snapping the cuffs shut. "Now come with me."

"Agent?"

"What?"

Twisting suddenly in the other woman's grip, Lex moved not away from the agent but closer, and a second later her lips were on Madeline's in a sudden, deep kiss. Madeline's grasp, almost tight enough to bruise a moment before, went loose. At first firm enough to hurt in its insistence Lex's mouth softened against hers, and she showed no sign of pulling out of the agent's grasp to escape, if anything leaning toward her.

A few seconds later and Madeline was pushing her away, stepping back herself with an expression of such need and disbelief on her face that Lex was moving towards her again before she even realised it, and then Madeline was spinning her around, marching her towards the door, her breathing loud and ragged in the forger's ear.

Lex didn't say another word, her cheeks burning and her expression distant as she was bundled into the back of the armoured van that arrived outside the warehouse building where she'd finally been caught.

 

The weekend brought its own challenges: Lex spent a lovely few days with Ange at her gallery and then the bar below it, and Madeline spent Saturday at least staring at a map, trying to figure out what the con could be doing there and whether it was a precursor to any illegal activity.

On Sunday, she found herself heading into the office and catching up on paperwork just to try to distract herself, though she couldn't help keeping Lex's tracker data up in a background window. Eventually she noticed that Lex had left the Northeast neighbourhood, and it didn't take her long to decide to check it out. For Lex's own sake, she told herself. Except even she didn't believe that very much.

She wasn't terrible surprised to find a gallery there, but it wasn't anywhere that would be of interest to con-artist Lex - a small, independent affair run by a local artist, it seemed, with a modest sign on the downstairs door beside a bar that appeared to mostly be populated with 'hipsters' and students. Curious to see what sort of art Lex had been so interested in as to spend an overnight visit there, she pushed the door and climbed the stairs to the gallery.

It was... very contemporary. Mostly impressionistic sculpture, some of which Madeline found herself uncomfortable looking at head on. She'd only been wandering around the room a few minutes before an attractive brunette emerged from a sideroom and approached.

"Hi there," she greeted her with a dazzling smile.

"Hi," Madeline said, her lips twitching in a reflexive smile. "Are you the owner?"

"For my sins. What bring you here?"

"I was just... A friend recommended I come by."

"Oh - are you a fan of impressionist sculpture then?"

"I'm more into classical, generally, but some of these are nice. Very... evocative."

"You mean you hate them." The other woman looked amused.

"They're not exactly to my taste, but I don't hate them."

"Mm. So what do you like?"

"Ah, as I said, I'm more of a classicist. I guess I'm just old-fashioned..."

"So give me some examples," came the reply, with a sweep of the hand over one of the smooth, curvaceous marble works between them.

"Well, you know... the Pieta has some of the most artfully-done fabric folds I've ever seen, the Life of Christ at the Pisa Baptistry, the Gattamelata, and well, anything by Rodin, really..."

A slow smile spread across the other woman's lips, and she approached Madeline to extend a hand. "Angeline Romero."

"Madeline Ellsworth. I'm sorry, it must seem rude of me to come here and immediately tell you how much I prefer other work. Apparently my manners have deserted me."

"No, no, not at all - I'm just as fond of classical as I am of modern. I just don't think I could best the Masters, so why try, you know? Best to stick to producing work that people won't compare unfavourably with someone else - in skill at least if not in style," Angeline added with a slight smirk.

"Well, you're obviously quite talented, I don't think you have anything to worry about," Maddy said, shaking her head.

"I get by. Anyway," Angeline held her hands up. "I'll spare you the hard sell - let me know if there are any pieces you'd like to know more about."

"Thanks." As Angeline headed back to her office Madeline turned to look at the gallery once again. It was nice, but nice enough to hold Lex's attention for so long? Unless... She turned back to catch one last look at Angeline, her stomach turning in realisation. Of course.

 

"I really don't know what you're talking about - I left that painting in your office."

"I'll ask you one more time... where is the [painting]? We have you on-camera exiting the building with it in your briefcase."

"You have x-ray cameras?"

"No, of course not, but-"

"Then how could you possibly know that I had the painting in my briefcase?"

"Because the painting was gone, and so were you." Madeline's voice shook, almost imperceptibly. "Where else would it be?"

"An inside man?"

"Excuse me?"

"My money'd be on the blonde one with the teeth and the come-bite-me ass, she looks hungry for excitement." Lex cocked an eyebrow.

"You're accusing a government employee of stealing that painting? You have some gall..."

"You're accusing me of stealing it with no evidence, and you are supposed to be a government agent."

"I'm sure a thorough search of your dwelling will turn up plenty of evidence," Madeline said, frowning across the table.

The younger woman lifted her shoulders in a shrug. "Feel free."

"You know, at this point we don't actually need your permission."

"And yet you have it. How irritating that must be."

"Mm." Madeline sat back, folding her arms.

"Anyway, unless you have some other wild accusation to throw at me, I think I'm done talking until my lawyer is here."

The other woman didn't even bother to respond to this, sweeping up her notebook and pen and standing without another glance at Lex. It was as if, after searching for her for so long, she couldn't bear to look at her now.

 

"So... I do get to work in the lab."

"Yes. Under proper supervision. Come this way, I'll get you a lab coat."

Lex followed Madeline through, pausing at the door out of the bullpen. "Hang on. Whose supervision?"

"Patrick is out in the field today, so I'll be overseeing your first day," Madeline said briskly.

"Right. I mean, great, okay, good. Well then. Lead the way?"

With a nod Madeline headed for the lab, which she hadn't set foot in for months. Well, hopefully I haven't forgotten everything...

The Art Crimes lab was small, minimalist, and perpetually underfunded and under-equipped, and Lex loved it immediately. There were several projects on the go and after Madeline gave her a cursory run-down she immediately hopped on the one that piqued her interest and got to work.

Lex in the lab was very different, Madeline realised, from Lex elsewhere. All that loose-limbed ease was gone; her whole posture had changed to one of tense concentration, her vision and her attention entirely fixed on her work. It made her much easier to be around, she found, as the other woman's charismatic attitude was more or less muted by her preoccupation with the task at hand. Though she had only intended to read up on report files the lure of the lab was too much to resist, and before long she had donned a coat herself and was sidling up to Lex's workstation to pitch in a hand. It was with some surprise that Lex looked up to find Madeline waiting to take a sample from her, test tube in hand, to take it for further processing, but presumably she realised immediately that the other woman would never allow her admittedly considerable ego to override her desire to see a job done properly, and entrusted the shaving to her with a somewhat curious smile.

"What do you think?" Madeline asked with a nod towards the painting in question, laid out in front of Lex on a special mount. "Is it real?"

"Hm? Oh, no," the other woman said with a smile and a shake of her head. "Not a chance. Should be pretty easy to prove, too, I don't think they even used the right sort of paint - they were obviously just looking for a quick buck. I think I know the guy who painted this, actually; he could do better."

"Maybe they'd try harder if they knew Lex Rockwood would be scrutinising their work," Madeline remarked, smirking. "It's just as well for us that they don't, I suppose."

"Well, in fairness, very few people know that name," Lex said with a chuckle.

"How many aliases do you have?"

"Oh, not so many," Lex said with a slight smirk. "I get too attached to them to keep more than I have to. I, uh..." She hesitated. "A lot of me goes into the names I create."

"The names, or the personas themselves?" Madeline asked curiously.

"Well, when I said names, I mean, that's what I meant," Lex said. "When you create an alias, particularly a long-term one, you need to inhabit them fully - you really do need to be them. I'm sure you know from your own undercover work that the best way to do that is to lie as little as possible."

"Mm. Our covers are usually more... minimal contact, but I take your point."

"Karen in particular I've been accused of being 'overly attached' to," Lex offered then, her expression suggesting that this was a recent comment from someone.

"Interesting." Madeline's voice was carefully neutral. "Well, I ought to go prepare this sample."

"Right. I mean, sure, absolutely."

With a polite smile the agent excused herself - Lex noted that she kept the door to the adjoining lab space open as she went about her preparations, though she didn't catch Madeline looking her way, and she went back to keeping her attention studiously on her work, very much oblivious to her surroundings as the fine-detail sucked her in.

Madeline wished, as she doused the sample with deionised water and slid it into the vortex, that she could put Lex through a battery of tests herself in order to see exactly what was going on inside her head. Bringing up Karen could have been an innocent comment, or it could have been a tactic specifically designed to get to her, and since Madeline still couldn't get a read on her she had no idea which it was, which made choosing how to react to it difficult.

After all, Madeline had spend considerably more time in the company of Karen than she had Lex's - though, of course, it had been Karen who had spurned her awkward advances, and Lex who had...

She was shaken out of her reverie by the insistent beeping of the equipment in front of her.

"You're right; the test shows anomalous readings."

"'Course I'm right," Lex called in return without looking up from her work.

"'Course I'm right," Lex called in return without looking up from her work. Madeline raised an eyebrow, but after a moment just pulled up a stool to perch on next to the bench.

"I went by that gallery in the [neighbourhood]."

Lex glanced up, the quickness of her movements the only sign that she'd been taken by surprise at this. "Well," she said, "It's good to know you're being so thorough in vetting my tracking data. Did you like the work?"

"It was very... expressive, but it wasn't exactly to my tastes."

"Well, to each his own, hm?"

"Mm. I guess so."

"At least I wasn't in some den of iniquity, huh?"

"I'm sure Ms Romero kept you on the straight and narrow," Madeline said, lips pursed.

"Oh, you met Ange, did you?"

"I did."

"I see. Well, good," Lex breezed on, getting up from her bench and moving over to another bench with her sample. "She's a very old friend."

"She didn't look very old to me," Madeline remarked, scrutinising the other woman's expression closely, but Lex's bland smile betrayed nothing.

"I've known her since we were in school."

"She's from the UK as well?"

"Oh, well, no, but I studied all over."

"Ah. And where exactly did you two meet?"

Lex hesitated - very little was known about her early life, and Madeline suspected this was because even her 'real' name was an alias. Clearly she wasn't sure she wanted to feed the agent any information that might help her find out who Lex really was. "Brussels," she said eventually. "At the international school."

"Interesting," Madeline said, filing this information away for future reference.

"I'm sure," came the reply, Lex's face registering a little amusement once more.

"It must be nice to see a familiar face now, I guess."

"It is."

Madeline knew she should stop pursuing this avenue of conversation, but she couldn't help herself. "That must be why you spent so much time at her gallery on Saturday. And... Sunday morning."

Lex raised an eyebrow. "I suppose it must be."

"Hm." Madeline cleared her throat. "Well. I'm... happy for you."

The other woman had turned away to the microscope but turned back again now, her brow furrowing. "Spit it out, Ellsworth."

"What? There's nothing to say."

"You obviously have something on your mind. Am I banned from having a nice time at the weekend?"

"No, of course not."

"So why have you got a problem with this?"

Madeline blinked, then shook her head, pushing up from her stool. "I'm sorry. We should get back to work."

The other woman nodded slowly. "Right," she said. "All right."

"I'll just be... over there, if you need anything."

"All right."

 

The rest of the afternoon passed in relative silence; except for asking about where to find certain reagents or tools Lex worked away quietly. Madeline sat to one side wallowing in her shame; she knew exactly why she had a problem with Lex's 'nice time at the weekend' and it both embarrassed and angered her. What was wrong with her that she was still hung up on this one woman - this unavailable, inscrutable woman?

She didn't realise how much time had passed until she felt the woman in question's presence beside her and turned to see that Lex had removed her labcoat.

"It's almost six," she said.

"Oh," Madeline said, blinking a little as she glanced at her watch to confirm that it was, in fact, almost six o'clock. "Right, well... You're free to go."

"Aren't you going?"

"No, I... still have some things to take care of."

"Can I help?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Is there anything I can help you with?"

"It's mainly reviewing case files and signing off on them - not really anything you could help with, I'm afraid," Madeline said with a tight smile.

"All right. I'll see you tomorrow, then."

"Mm. Good night, Ms Rockwood."

"Good night."

 

I hear you met a mutual friend at the gallery today.

That tall guy with the dreads was your friend? I should've asked you to introduce us sooner...

I was referring to the Fed with the stick up her arse.

Fed? Oh shit, the suit! I should've known.

You didn't? She practically wears her badge on her sleeve... That was Ellsworth - THE Ellsworth.

Lol. Explains why she got all cross-eyed over the sculptures. Govt employees can't handle a little sex.

Lex frowned down at the text. She had her suspicions that that was exactly the problem - but it wasn't the sex in the sculptures that Madeline had objected to.

See you tomorrow?

Looking forward to it already.

Chewing her lip, Lex replaced the phone in her bag, picking up her walking pace toward her apartment. She knew she should just put Madeline - Ellsworth - out of her mind completely, but the other woman was making it difficult, following her around and quizzing her about her friends and her past. Particularly when it's none of her damn business. The less she knows about me, the better. Don't give her any more ammunition.

 

The next day was more of the same, except that Agent Ellsworth didn't join Lex in the lab, sending instead a junior agent with a sombre demeanour and a hawklike gaze who kept watch over her every move.

She found the work no less interesting but considerably more joyless without the other woman's presence, but she soldiered on through the day, knowing, at least, that she was making herself genuinely useful. Her work was interrupted near the end of the day when Ellsworth appeared, in her well-tailored but severe suit - to offer Lex some unexpected congratulations.

"We got him."

Lex blinked. "Gordon?"

"Mmhmm. He's been taken into custody and I expect his trial will start perhaps as soon as next week."

"Wow. Um. That's great." The forger smiled rather shakily. "Congratulations."

Madeline nodded, then gave the other woman a tight smile. "Thank you. For your help. It was... invaluable."

Lex nodded. "Thanks. I mean, you're welcome."

"Well. I'll let you get back to work. Or... you're free to go home, if you like."

"Um. I'll..." The other woman waved toward the dish she'd been hunched over. "I have some stuff to finish up first. But thanks."

"Sure." Madeline nodded again. "Thanks again."

"Yeah, th-..." Realising that they were about to be stuck in a 'thank you' loop, Lex trailed off with a sheepish smile. "I'll see you soon, no doubt."

"Mm. There's... there's a group going out after hours to celebrate. You're welcome to join us."

"Oh. Um... I probably shouldn't get in the way."

"You wouldn't be, but all right."

"I have somewhere I'm meant to be. But I mean, I guess I'll have a little bit before that... where are you guys going?"

"Oh, some overpriced bar down the street, I think..."

"Well, I guess that should be within my radius..."

"Oh, well, yes, though obviously if you were accompanied by an agent - or several - that wouldn't be much of an issue."

"Sure. Anyway, um. Sure, I'll try to stop by."

"Great. I'll... see you later, maybe."

"Right. See you."

 

It hadn't been hard to find the bar - apparently it was the FBI bar (and if walking into a bar filled with FBI agents wasn't one of the oddest experiences of Lex's life she didn't know what was). The small Art Crimes group was in a corner booth, several glasses on the table before them.

Lex had brought a change of clothes with her to see Angeline for dinner that night, but had felt strange about changing before the bar as that would beg the question why she'd brought a cocktail dress to work, so it was in the same suit she'd worn to work that day, jacket slung over her shoulder, sleeves rolled up from her time in the lab, that she appeared at the booth and slipped into a seat with a congenial smile at the assembled group.

There was the expected hush that fell over the table as she sat, but it passed after a moment, especially as Oshiro wasn't there yet to punctuate the silence with a snarky comment. Madeline was sitting across the table, surrounded on both sides by her team; she grinned nervously at Lex and then snatched up her glass, draining what remained of the white wine within it in one swallow.

"I'll take that as a hint," Lex said, immediately pushing to her feet with a grin. "More of the same?"

"Oh, um, thank you..."

"And a glass of red for me!" one of the younger agents said cheekily.

"Hey, now, I'm English - we buy in rounds," Lex pointed out, taking a quick glance around the table to see people's drinks and pointing at one that wasn't immediately identifiable. "That a gin and tonic or a vodka and lemonade?"

"Uh... vodka tonic?" the agent offered slightly sheepishly.

"You disgust me," Lex said cheerily before turning on her heel and making for the bar.

The gesture seemed to earn her no end of goodwill when she returned to the table; people made room for her and welcomed her into the conversation, which currently revolved around 'the bust' that had taken place earlier that day. Lex hadn't yet heard all the details, and lapped them up, asking question after question about how things had 'gone down'.

Madeline had been there, of course, leading the charge as it were, though she stayed quiet throughout the retelling, sipping her wine. It seemed like a rather textbook raid without any fireworks, but it was evident the group was thrilled to have conducted a successful arrest.

Lex seemed interested, but Madeline didn't miss the occasional flicker of something else in her expression - conflict? Nerves? When the next 'round' came one of the younger agents was grumblingly obliged to get up, vacating a seat next to Lex that she found filled, surprisingly, by Madeline after a few moments.

"This must be strange for you," the agent remarked quietly.

"Mm?" Lex was obviously trying to sound casual, but wasn't entirely successful in doing so, her expression just a little strained. "Oh. I suppose," she said eventually.

"You did the right thing. He broke the law."

"Mhm. Though that wasn't why I gave him to you."

"No?"

"I gave him to you because he was sloppy, and arrogant, and because he tried to imitate Leonardo and anyone who does that deserves to be punished for it."

"I see."

Lex's brows drew together and she turned a little toward the other woman. "I haven't turned into some FBI golden girl," she said. "I'm sorry. Honestly in a way I wish I could have. But I don't work that way."

"Are you rethinking your offer?" Madeline asked, her knuckles around her wine glass just slightly white.

"To help?" Lex shook her head. "I didn't say that."

"But you're not going to throw them under the wagon. The people you respect."

Lex smiled a little at this. "Anyone stupid enough to get your attention no longer deserves my respect," she said simply. "But it doesn't make it easy."

"You got my attention, once," Madeline pointed out.

"And that was stupid of me."

"Hm."

"I mean." Lex sucked in a breath, glancing away from the booth and then back to Madeline again. "To draw attention the way I did. It was stupid. Rash. I let myself get... too close."

"It must have been intoxicating. Walking right into the lair of the enemy," Madeline elaborated. "Knowing that you were pulling the wool over our eyes."

"It was. I mean..." Lex hesitated, her gaze drifting back down to her glass and then back to Madeline. "It was lots of things. But it was also foolish."

"Well, I suppose we all make mistakes." Madeline's cheeks were slightly flushed, her normally carefully-controlled gestures just slightly looser, more extravagant. "You're only human, in the end."

"Conjecture based on circumstantial evidence," Lex challenged with a smirk.

"Hm. Well. Regardless. Everybody acts foolishly sometimes."

"Do you?"

"I... well, I said everybody, didn't I?"

"When did you last act foolishly," Lex challenged with a chuckle.

"I don't think we need specific examples," Madeline said, shaking her head. "Just... trust me."

"Hm. Sounds like a tall order," Lex teased.

The other woman's expression flickered, and she pulled back - Lex hadn't even realised she was leaning in until she wasn't. "I suppose so."

"Anyway, I-" Lex broke off as the young agent returned with the round, and the two women were obliged to move round the booth a little to let him sit back down.

The conversation between the group picked back up and Madeline joined in this time, obviously intent on making sure there were no other awkward conversations with Lex. It was impossible, however, to ignore the warmth of the other woman squashed into the booth beside her, their thighs touching where they sat, and when Lex excused herself, Madeline felt a palpable release of tension, and almost visibly slumped where she sat.

"Well, it was good to meet you all properly outside the office," she said, casting a smile around the assembled group.

"You too," came the rather surprised-sounding response from one of the younger agents, who grinned up at her. "You sure you have to go? It's still so early!"

"Sorry," Lex said with a congenial shrug. "Places to be."

"Well, as long as you keep helping us out we'll get to have more of these little gatherings!"

Lex apparently couldn't keep her gaze from meeting briefly with Madeline's at this, though she managed a cocky grin. "I guess we'll see, huh?"

Madeline dropped her eyes to her glass as the other woman said her goodbyes; by the time she looked up again she was gone and the atmosphere felt lighter - but also emptier.

 

"You're late."

"But gorgeous?" Lex offered with a sheepish smile.

"Always." Ange raised her eyebrows as Lex took a seat across from her. "But I don't like waiting. I hope you're planning to make it up to me."

"Absolutely - but not before dinner. I'm starved."

"And sozzled... you started early, apparently."

"Mm, just a couple, li'l bit," Lex said with a wave of her hand.

"Well, I hope it was fun, whatever it was."

"It was... tactically useful," Lex said, trying to sound casual. "Fun wasn't really the priority, but it was okay."

"Well now I'm interested. Where the hell were you, Lex?"

Lex hesitated. Then, "They took Gordon out today. I was dragged out to celebrate."

"Oh wow. You and the suits?"

"Bingo."

"Wow, that must've been rough. No wonder you turned to drink."

"It was certainly interesting."

"And useful?" Ange asked, picking up her own wine glass.

"Well, I think the team are feeling less hostile toward me, and that's definitely a good thing if I want to stay out of the can."

"So that plan's still going well, then?"

"Well, I'm still here, aren't I?"

"Looks like."

"So I guess it must be going all right," Lex posited, lifting her menu to peruse her options.

"So should I be expecting Agent Ellsworth to slink in at any moment wearing a false mustache as she surveils you?"

"Amusing though that would be I think we're safe - I'm sure Ellsworth has better things to do than pore over my tracking data. Again."

"Too bad... I do so like to be watched," Ange grinned.

"Mm, I remember."

"So. No onions or garlic tonight, okay? I really don't feel like tasting that later..."

"Y'know, if we both had onions and garlic that wouldn't be a problem..."

"Always a problem-solver. Well, let's see what appeals."

"I really, really like garlic and onions."

"You're disgusting."

"You love it."

 

"So, what do you think?" Ange stepped back from the sculpture, beaming. "Pretty good likeness, isn't it?"

Les tipped her head to one side. "It's damn close," she agreed.

"I debated whether I should even tell you... you promise you're not going to go running off to tell the suit?"

"What are you planning to do with it?"

"Mm, no, I don't think that's important, do you?"

"I do. But if I know you, you're planning to use it to make some dumb rich asshole look stupid."

"Would I do that?" Ange asked with a smirk.

"You have done, repeatedly."

"Well, maybe I will, maybe I won't. It's good to know I've got your approval, though. You always did have a good eye for these things."

"Mm. You're not done yet, though? It needs some finishing..."

"It does," Ange said, nodding. "I was thinking of doing something else with my hands tonight, though..."

Lex turned with a chuckle to slip her arms around the other woman. "Oh?"

"Or maybe doing someone else."

"Aw, did you go there? You just went there..."

"I can't help it, I love a good pun."

"And I love good buns," Lex offered in reply, reaching to cup the body part in question.

Ange gave a groan and a grin. "And you say I'm bad."

"I say you're remarkable. C'mere."

 

It was some time later that the two women were free to speak again, their hands and lips no longer occupied by other matters. Ange was in an unusually contemplative mood, curling up around Lex and running her fingers up and down the other woman's arm. "Y'know," she said eventually, "I know it's early days yet, and you're only just back in town, but... I wouldn't mind making this a bit more official."

Lex tried not to start in surprise, but she did pull back a bit to look at Ange, her expression curious. "Really? You... always wanted to stay casual. Before."

"Yeah, well." The other woman gave a one-shouldered shrug. "Casual's fine, but... I dunno, I guess I just wouldn't mind being a bit more settled. I mean, look at me, I've got a gallery, a flat... why shouldn't I have a girlfriend too?"

"Right. Well..." Lex smirked a little. "How long do I get to think over your offer?"

"I'm not giving you a deadline, if that's what you're asking. Just... don't torture me for too long, all right?"

"That very much depends," Lex said, leaning in to nip at Ange's earlobe, "on what exactly you mean by 'torture'..."

"That you can do all you like."

 

It was three in the morning, and Madeline ought to be in bed asleep. She certainly shouldn't be sitting up on the couch with a bottle of wine, watching late-night TV and periodically glancing at Rockwood's tracking data on her laptop.

The con was back at the art gallery - or more likely, the apartment attached to the gallery, owned by one Angeline Romero. It wasn't surprising, exactly, but somehow the predictability of it all didn't lessen the sinking feeling in Madeline's stomach as she glanced between the laptop clock and the data and then back again. No prize for guessing what's going on there...

There was, of course, absolutely no reason why she should care. The woman was out on a leash - as long as she stayed within her radius, didn't break the law and showed up for work she was perfectly entitled to do as she pleased.

The sad fact of the matter was that Madeline was hung up on her - still hung up on her after all these years. She had concocted quite a little fantasy about her and Dr Karen Coleman despite the other woman turning down her advances, and the kiss that Lex had planted on her during her capture had only served to confuse her and fuel her 'what if' wonderings.

In her worst moments she imagined scenarios right out of steamy romance novels - tracking Lex down not in an abandoned warehouse at the old shipyards but on some tropical island, perhaps - walking down the beach to stand beside her, slipping a cuff round her wrist and its pair round her her own, locking them together, the sinking sun drenching them in golden light, the water lapping at the hems of their white linen pants, Lex turning to see her, blue eyes sparkling, looking almost pleased to see her, and when she spoke it wasn't 'how did you find me?' in that bland tone, but:

"I knew you'd find me." And Lex's hand slipped into hers, the cuffs clinking together as she pulled closer...

Madeline shook her head to clear it.

"That's quite enough of that," she said aloud to Remmy, who lifted his head long enough to give her a desultory look before going back to sleep at the end of the couch.

 

The next day, the mood in the bullpen was suitably subdued from the Art Crimes team, who had been out considerably longer than either Lex or Madeline. Of course, both women had been up quite late as well with their own 'distractions' and so it was a quiet day all around. Once again Madeline eschewed joining Lex in the lab, spending the day safely tucked away in her office over a pile of paperwork while Lex slaved over samples, pleased to be left alone to her thoughts.

She had plenty to think about, thanks to Angeline. Not only was the woman planning something that could potentially get her in trouble with the law, but her proposition - invitation - was a startling level of formality and intimacy that Lex herself had never had to deal with before.

It wasn't that they weren't a good match - they got along well, always had, and there was no question that they were physically compatible. But did Lex want a 'girlfriend'? And not just that but did she want to risk putting Angeline under the scrutiny of the eagle eye of Madeline Ellsworth?

Frankly it was all a bit much, and she wished she could avoid the whole thing in favour of going back to her old lifestyle, with few commitments and even fewer ties. That wasn't the way things worked now, however, so she resolved to deal with it as maturely as she could - though a day of burying her head in the sand wasn't too much to ask for, was it?

The day past slowly but uneventfully - Gordon was being processed and Madeline spend most of the afternoon in an interview room with him going by the 'water-cooler talk' Lex caught back and forth. She made sure to keep to herself whenever she thought he might be going to or from the room - there was no need to incriminate herself any more than she had to.

Eventually, towards the end of the day, Madeline showed up, folder in hand. "I need your signature on a few of these reports," she said, setting it before Lex.

"Oh, um... thanks..." Lex took the papers, somewhat bemused that her signature was good for anything around here, but she flipped through and put her name at the relevant placed nevertheless. "Did everything go okay today, then?"

"Mmhmm. It went fine."

"Good. Great."

"Mm. All done?"

"Um... oh, here? Yes, I suppose so."

"All right. Thank you."

"Is that me dismissed for the day, then?"

"I don't need you for anything else," Madeline said blandly.

"All right." Lex signed the last paper with her neat, rather unassuming signature, and pushed up from her seat, shrugging off her lab coat. "Guess I'll see you tomorrow."

"Maybe," the agent replied, blinking several times as if she had just realised something. "I... may be out of the office the rest of the week."

"Oh?" Lex looked mildly confused at this - after all, wasn't Madeline in the middle of wrapping up a big case?

"Well, um, once my work here is through," Madeline clarified, frowning.

"Right."

"McFarlane will be your liaison while I'm gone."

"Silver fox, got it."

Madeline stared down at her for a moment longer before shaking herself and stepping back from the bench. "Well. Goodbye, Ms Rockwood."

 

She must have been pretty distracted, Lex realised when she went into the bathroom in the lab right after Madeline left it to find the other woman's ring on the side of the sink. She knew it immediately - even without her near eidetic memory she wouldn't have missed the delicate yellow gold band with its tiny stones inset - a Victorian eternity ring, white sapphires and emeralds - not precious but almost certainly an heirloom given it was almost the only jewellery Lex had ever seen her wear.

She could have simply put it in Madeline's office texted or emailed her, but something made her take the ring and put it in her own pocket. Did she really need to betray the fact that she'd tracked down Madeline's home address just to return a ring? Perhaps not. But if I'd left the memory of some long-gone family member at work, even knowing it was safely on my desk, I wouldn't sleep, she reasoned with herself, at least half believing it.

The woman who answered the door didn't look as if she was losing sleep - indeed, she seemed to have come directly from her bed, or at least some horizontal surface, judging by her rumpled clothes and oversized fuzzy slippers. "Kar- Ms Rockwood," she said, blinking in surprise. "What are you... how did you get here?"

"I, um..." Lex was thrown, slightly - she didn't know what she'd expected, but it hadn't been this, somehow. "I think you left this behind," she said, presenting the ring. It was warm as she dropped it into Madeline's hand - she'd realised now that she'd been walking along, hands in her deep overcoat pockets, turning it over in her fingers the whole time.

"Oh my god." Madeline made a fist around the ring as if afraid it might jump out of her hand, slowly peeling her fingers away to peer at it once she had satisfied herself with its weight and presence. "Thank you. I can't believe I forgot it, my head's been all over the place..." Realising who she was talking to she trailed off, then shook her head. "Thank you for bringing it by. That was... thoughtful of you."

Lex shook her head as if to brush off the thanks, then looked rather sheepish. "I just knew if it was me, once I missed it, I wouldn't feel right 'til I had it back. Next time you went to wash your hands you'd go to take it off, and... Well. I thought I'd spare you that. It's late nineteenth century, right? Eighteen carat. That's quite a rare maker's mark; it must have been in the family a long time." The implication, of course, being that it wasn't the sort of thing any recent generation of Ellsworths would have bought...

"It was my great-aunt's. She got it from her grandmother. I suppose it's the closest thing to an Ellsworth family heirloom we have."

"Right." Lex nodded. "Well." She stepped back down off the front step, slipping her hands back into her pockets. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Oh, um. Do you want to come in? I was just going to make some coffee," Madeline suggested, more out of reflex than thought.

"I should probably... sure," Lex seemed to decide. She nodded, stepped forward, and it was a more awkward still moment as Madeline took a second to realise what was happening and step away from the doorway to let her in.

"Just, um... take a seat in the living room," Madeline said with a wave of her hand towards the appropriate doorway. "I'll be right through."

When she returned with the coffee Lex had not sat down but was working her way around the wall, examining the paintings there. Of course.

"You have an excellent eye," she said. "But, well, I knew that I guess."

"Oh, er... thank you. I've been lucky to get the pieces I have."

"I particularly like the boats."

"That's... nice." Madeline held the mug out between them.

"Is that - oh, thanks - somewhere in the North-East? Maine?"

"Canada."

"Oh. Huh. Whereabouts?"

"Nova Scotia. The Bay of Fundy."

"Were you visiting there, or..."

"Mmhmm."

"Huh. Well. It's an excellent picture," Lex said, between sips of coffee. "It must have been beautiful in the flesh?"

"Yes, it..." Madeline trailed off and then gave a sigh, shaking her head. "Of course it was. Listen, you don't have to do this."

The other woman blinked in confusion. "I don't follow..."

"This small talk. It's not necessary."

"Small talk..." Lex shook her head. "I was just interested."

"Why?" Madeline asked, an edge creeping into her voice.

The other woman's brows drew together. "Because I like paintings? Because I like... talking about people's lives with them."

"So you can manipulate them."

"Excuse me?"

"Well, it's got to be a useful trick, right? Charm people, get to know them, and you can use that against them when you need to. That's what con men do."

"Okay, firstly, con man is kind of insulting. Secondly... is that what you think of me? You think I'm only interested in deceiving you - you of all people?"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that I'd've thought you knew me better than that by now."

"Excuse me? I don't know you at all!"

"Then how did you catch me?"

"That's... different."

Lex put her coffee down on a side table. "Well," she murmured, her tone rather cool. "I suppose that puts me back in my place."

"Which is where you should have been from the start," Madeline said heatedly.

"I just thought we'd agreed it would be easier on both of us if we were civil."

"We can be civil without you trying to weasel your way into my life again."

"Weasel... again?" Lex was actually backing up a little now, her voice raising slightly. "Are you fucking serious? When did I ever-"

"You used me! You played me like a fool so that you could keep humiliating the bureau, and you enjoyed it."

"That wasn't what that was about!"

"Oh of course it was!" Madeline scoffed, cheeks bright pink.

"Y'know what, fine. Fine, if that's what you think I guess I'd better go." Lex moved to pass Madeline on her way out of the room, rebuttoning her coat as she went. The other woman whirled to watch her go, as if she didn't trust her to leave on her own.

Lex strode out of the room and into the hallway, Madeline following on behind, and the younger woman whirled around as she reached the door. "You know what? Don't flatter yourself. That was never about you. You might be a particularly well-oiled cog in the machine but you're still just a cog."

All the colour drained from Madeline's cheeks; she looked as if Lex had reached out and slapped her. "Get out of my house," she said tightly, "and don't ever come here again."

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that," Lex said. "I'm done with this - I'm done trying to read you and your eternally mixed goddamn signals. Do what you want - put me back in prison if it makes you happy, but I'm done with these stupid mind games."

If Madeline was going to respond that, of the two of them, she was hardly the one to be accused of mind games, it died on her lips as the other woman opened the door and left, almost trotting off down the street. She watched her disappear into the night with a wrenching feeling in her gut; Lex had only confirmed what she had suspected, but that didn't make it any easier to hear. Though there was still a half pot of coffee on her kitchen counter she veered towards the refrigerator and the bottle of wine within, stopping as her hand hit the door handle. No. You've mooned over her long enough. Time to get yourself together and get over her.

 

The following days turned into weeks, and then months. Madeline didn't send Lex back to prison, and the upturn in their case closure rates rendered the woman's place as a consultant-on-a-leash about as secure as any prisoner out on an anklet. Lex's unorthodox methods were often the talk of the office, but no one could deny they got results.

Relations between the two women, however, were cool at best. Instead of their working partnership growing closer they maintained a distinct distance, meeting only in the office and communicating as much as possible through email or text. Outside of work Madeline focused on exercise, her art, and a mostly fruitless but at least distracting turn at online dating, and gradually Lex's presence became little more than an annoying reminder of a past mistake. The other woman seemed to have 'moved on' too - insofar as she had anything to move on from. Certainly Madeline knew that Lex was still seeing Angeline [Whatever], frequently spending the night in her [City Area] apartment. Or at least, she had been when last Madeline looked - as the other woman seemed to be toeing the line to the very letter of her restrictions she had little reason to check her tracking data, and had slowly managed to wean herself off checking it out of morbid curiosity.

Lex had even been off the anklet on a few occasions - in particular evening events when it was impossible for her to look the part without removing it. She still wore a tracker - usually a pin or pendant - but it wasn't locked. The forger had shown herself to be entirely reliable thus far, and had never bent the rules the way she had back on that first case. Gradually she was becoming a trusted member of the team.

 

Perhaps, then, it wasn't surprising for Madeline to be called into the director's office late one afternoon to be faced with a difficult proposition. It seemed there was a rather nasty international case building over a notorious smuggling ring operating out of Rome and the FBI wanted an agent on the ground - not unusual, though it had been some time since Madeline herself had taken a long-term field mission. What was unusual was who they wanted to send with her.

"This is a joke, right?"

"She's ideal," Ford insisted evenly. "Our files - your files - say she lived and worked in Rome for some years, she speaks fluent Italian and more than that, she's the best person we have at eyeball forgery identification." Even the implication that Lex was better than Madeline herself was largely lost in the pile of other alarm bells clamouring for attention.

"So what, we're just gifting convicts with travel visas now? Why don't we buy her a fruit basket while we're at it?"

Helena Ford steepled her fingers, sitting back in her chair. "The situation with Interpol is, as always, rather tenuous," she said. "Alexis Rockwood is, frankly, our second best field expert right now. We need her on this. But..." She sighed. "If you really think you can't work with her..."

"No, I can work with her," Madeline sighed, "I just hope the public never get a hold of this. We'd be pilloried for wasting taxpayer money - it's not like they understand what we do anyway."

The older woman almost winced. "Don't even muse on that one, Ellsworth; my blood pressure can't take it."

"Sorry, ma'am. Do you want me to send Rockwood in? I think she's in the conference room..."

"Mm, I have to get to a meeting," Ford said with a shake of her head. "I can speak to her later - or you can brief her, if you like - it would be a favour."

"Yes, all right."

"I appreciate that, agent," Ford said, shooting Madeline one of those long looks that made her wonder just how much her boss saw. "All right, you can go."

"Thanks."

 

Whereas once she might have hesitated or overthought the situation, this time Madeline made her way straight to the conference room, knocking lightly on the door, which sat ajar as Lex bent over a sketchpad. "Ms Rockwood."

Lex glanced up quickly, flipping the sketchpad face down. "Morning, agent," she said coolly.

"Do you have a moment? There's something I'd like to discuss."

"Um, sure, absolutely."

"Our next assignment has come up - the Bureau want us to investigate the de Palma ring operating out of Rome. Are you able to make arrangements so that you're free to be out of DC for the next month, maybe more?"

Lex just stared for a moment. "I, uh. I'm sorry, what?"

Madeline frowned, annoyed that her nonchalant explanation hadn't been sufficient. "I'm sure you're familiar with Vitale de Palma, yes?"

"Of course."

"Lately there's been an influx in smuggled antiquities through our major ports and all evidence suggests that de Palma is behind it. We need to infiltrate his operation and find proof before we can proceed."

"Right, right," Lex shook her head, as though this was all very interesting but didn't actually help her. "But... me. In Rome."

"You're familiar with the area and the language, and have other skills to recommend you."

"I'm serving a prison sentence."

Madeline pressed her lips together tightly. "Enforced by the federal government and thus subject to a certain suspension of the rules when need arises."

"So... you want me to come to Rome."

"Ford has made it clear you're part of the team that's going. Unless you don't feel you're able to, in which case I'm sure other arrangements will be made."

"I'll do as I'm told," Lex said. "It's just a little surprising. I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I can understand your surprise."

"Um. The team," Lex ventured. "Who else is on it?"

"From this department it will be myself only - there will be other agents involved but not on the ground like us."

"So... just you and me."

"That's correct," Madeline said, with absolutely blandness. "Is that a problem?"

"Not if it isn't for you."

"I welcome your expertise."

Lex smiled carefully. "Then I suppose I'll pack my bags."

 

"I don't know what to say, Ange; I really don't have much of a choice here."

"And you don't think that's exactly how they want it? First sign of something going wrong and it's your head on the line, Lex."

The other woman sighed, leaning back into Ange's arms on the couch. "Not a lot I can do about that. Other than make damn sure nothing goes wrong."

"This sounds like a majorly bad idea, Lex. What if someone recognises you? You used to live there, for God's sake."

The other woman sighed. "You're not wrong there... I guess I'd better minimise the chances of that happening. Right! C'mon," Pushing up to her feet, Lex turned and reached for Ange's hand. "Guess you've got some work to do."

 

"I'm sorry, ma'am, you can't be in he-- Lex?" Madeline blinked, shocked at the transformation that had taken place seemingly overnight.

Shooting her a somewhat sheepish smile Lex reached up to run a hand through her now short, artfully touseled mop of hair, its ends bleached up to a warm blonde. "Figured I'd best be a little harder to recognise in Rome," she said.

"Yes, I suppose so," the agent replied, still staring. "It's certainly... different."

"You hate it," Lex said, though she sounded more amused than annoyed or upset.

"What? No, it's very nice. Besides, it doesn't matter what I think, it's your hair."

"Right. Well. Do we have a briefing before we head of or is that going to happen remotely once we're in Rome?"

Madeline shook her head, seeming to come back to herself a little. "We'll be briefed in Rome; apparently there's still a few things they need to finalise."

"All right. So... does that mean we're leaving, then? Is there anything I need to do? Oh... am I still going to be wearing this?" Lex added, lifting her pantsleg to reveal the ever-present anklet.

"Oh, no, that will be removed for the duration. You'll be monitored very closely, however, so be prepared."

There was a flicker in Lex's expression and Madeline was pretty sure she was biting back some salacious comment at this, but she only nodded. "All right," she said.

"Well. I just need to... finish a few things up. We'll be leaving shortly."

"Shall I wait in the conference room?"

"If you like."

 

The finishing up seemed to be taking forever. Maybe it was just that Lex was feeling decidedly anxious. Though Ange had finally given up on the doom and gloom predictions it had been enough to set her on edge, and the more she thought about it the more this trip seemed like a bad idea.

Rome had been the site of some of her greatest personal triumphs - she'd worked there as a forger, well before she got into dealing and cons herself, but her work had become well known and well respected on the scene. Fortunately she'd had a pseudonym during that period and most had assumed that she was male, but a few people had met her who might still be around, and it would only take one to recognise her...

She didn't know if she trusted Ellsworth not to throw her to the dogs, either. Not that the other woman had been anything but polite to her in recent times, but something about her careful manner around Lex made her think she wouldn't be sad to see her go.

Still, not going just wasn't an option at this point - and if she was honest with herself, she was just a little bit excited about being properly 'out in the field'. The [gang] were a crowd who were easy to hate, their smuggling operation running not just into fine art but also into diamonds - and nobody involved in jewel smuggling on any scale did so without a lot of blood on their hands.

Eventually Madeline emerged from her office, a small suitcase rolling along behind her. "Ready?"

"As I'll ever be," Lex replied, making a face a moment later at the cliché. She stood, reaching for her case. "D'you need to search this? There's nothing not on the list I emailed into the office."

"Oh, I thought someone had checked that over already. Then yes, I'll need to do that now."

"All right..." Hoisting the well-sized case onto the table - they were, after all, leaving for an indefinite period - Lex flipped the catches and opened it up, stepping back.

The selection of clothes inside was rather different from her usual wardrobe - there were a few pairs of her usual well-tailored dress pants in there, but the smart suit jackets had been replaced with more casual linen affairs, already starting to show creasing from their time in the case, and her button-down shirts and waistcoats had been joined by teeshirts and tops in lighter, flimsy fabrics. Finally there were a couple of cocktail and evening dresses. There was nothing out of the ordinary - the laptop in the front pocket was the one she'd been issued, which she knew hadn't been tampered with, and everything was on the list, right down to the adapters and a tiny pair of hair straighteners.

"This all looks fine," Madeline said, smoothing the clothes down with some consideration before moving to close the top again. "Thank you for your patience."

"It's fine - I'm sorry that I held you up; I should've found someone to do that... I didn't think..."

"That's all right. We have plenty of time," the other woman said almost soothingly.

"All right." Lex frowned. Nodded. "Okay. Sorry, I'm..." She shook her head. "Let's just get out of here."

"There's a car waiting for us downstairs. I'll be right down."

 

The two women barely spoke during the journey, both poring over the information available to them thus far on their ereaders until they fell into a fitful slumber in their seats - economy, of course, as much for their cover as because the FBI was tight-fisted. Lex had the window seat - not, she suspected, as an act of charity but rather because there was no way she would be able to get up and wander about without alerting Madeline to the fact, even if the other woman was asleep as she was now.

In sleep the lines around the agent's mouth and eyes relaxed, making her look younger and more approachable. Her dark brown hair was pulled back in a low ponytail, her face clean of makeup, and if Lex didn't know any better she could've been any soccer mom heading out to Rome for a second honeymoon. Impulsively, she found herself reaching to pull the thin flight blanket up a little, and the other woman stirred, shifting a little, and Lex's hand brushed against her cheek. She pulled back quickly, biting her lower lip. Hey, remember, this is work. If one person can take the romance out of Rome it ought to be Madeline Ellsworth.

Not that she ought to be thinking of romance at all. She had agreed to the barest of formalities with Ange - 'dating', with no hint of 'girlfriends' of 'love' entering the picture yet - but that didn't mean she wasn't loyal, in her own way. And underneath that the was the fact that there was no fooling Ange. As strained the past few months had been between Madeline and Lex, the strange way in which Lex found herself drawn to the other woman was impossible to completely ignore, and she doubted very much that the other woman had missed it. Though she hadn't said anything, there was no question that Ange would be wondering what might happen in Rome, and Lex wasn't interested in proving her right.

They touched down more or less on time, and took a cab to their designated meeting place - a small bedsit over a café in one of the poorer parts of the city. Perhaps unsurprisingly Madeline spoke decent Italian, though she perhaps wasn't quite as fluent as Lex.

Lex had apparently either got a good bit of sleep on the plane or was excited enough to be there that she didn't mind, because she was much more alert, now, and rather less edgy than she'd been before their flight. She pointed out sights as they went - not the obvious things like the Colosseum, but smaller, more intimate details about the city - good places to eat, nice little chapels to visit, winding little roads that led to this shop or that tiny, forgotten museum.

"You missed being here," Madeline observed, glancing out the window at yet another sight Lex had indicated.

"It's been a long time."

"I know."

Lex glanced across at the other woman, but said no more, and soon they were piling out of the taxi at their destination.

"We'll just check in, and then we've got an official briefing downstairs," Madeline said, stooping to pick up her suitcase.

"No problem - oh, are we booked in separately, or are both rooms under your alias?"

"There's only one room, and it's in my name." To her credit, Madeline's expression was absolutely straight.

"There's..." Lex blinked. "Excuse me?"

The agent shrugged. "We're on a budget, aren't we?"

"I, um... Right, I mean, sure, of course. I guess that makes sense."

"Is it a problem? I can get the Bureau to book another room, once one opens up."

Lex frowned, shaking her head. "It's fine," she insisted, pulling out the handle on her suitcase and heading for the door to the boarding house.

 

'Fine' just about covered their small room, which was at least light and airy, with a tiny balcony overlooking an alleyway. Lex had been relieved to see two twin beds set along the wall, though a moment later she had to laugh internally at herself. What exactly had she been expecting?

They both moved automatically toward 'their' beds, the unspoken agreement that obviously Madeline would be taking the one nearest the window for reasons they needn't discuss. Both women spent a few minutes unpacking their cases into the small bedside dressers; Lex glanced over just enough to spot that Madeline that obviously packed even more lightly than she had, with just a few pairs of jeans and what looked to be standard white t-shirts disappearing into the drawers. Of course, there was nothing to stop them from buying anything else they needed during their stay, Lex supposed - she had just opted to prepare in advance and assume nothing in the way of 'funding'.

Eventually Madeline turned and gave a small sigh, sweeping a hand through her hair distractedly. "Ms Rockwood. May I call you Lex?"

Lex blinked, looking mildly confused. "You're right, we should probably get used to being on first name terms here. But... it's Melanie, remember? Or, actually, Mel, probably."

"Yes, but I'd like to talk to you, not some alias," Madeline replied, frowning.

"You... want to call me by my first name?"

"I just... I just wanted to talk to you, before this starts, I don't care about names, I just... I wanted to clear the air."

The other woman blinked confusedly, but shrugged all the same, nodded. "Sure. Lex is fine. I don't mind."

"Right. Lex." Madeline turned, pacing a little towards the window. "I'm sorry for any... coolness I have shown you over the past few months."

"Coolness... Oh." Lex just shook her head again. "That's okay," she said, her tone a shade wary, as though the 'punchline' was about to come at any moment.

"It was... necessary. But that doesn't make it particularly kind."

"You don't owe me kindness."

"I owe you quite a lot, now. My status in the Bureau has risen considerably since we started working together."

"Look, agent, I know this has been hard for you. I'm not going to make it any harder - I promise. You don't have to do this."

Madeline's frown deepened, and she shook her head, though she didn't immediately leap to argue. "Fine, if you don't want to... fine. Okay. I just wanted you to know I'm not going to make this hard. Well. Harder than it might be anyway."

"Okay, so neither of us are going to make it hard," Lex said, with a hint of humour to her tone. "So. Should be easy."

"Mm. Shall we go downstairs and wait? Agent Dressler will be here soon."

"Sure - d'you think I have time for a quick shower?"

Madeline gave a short nod. "I'll go downstairs, you can join me when you're ready."

Agent Dressler, their Interpol point of contact, was a small-set older man in a crisp grey suit. He was an American himself, though he'd been based in Italy for some years, apparently, and seemed to Madeline to have picked up a slightly more relaxed approach to their work as a result - though perhaps he had always been that way and that was why he'd ended up in Italy.

"Really, you can begin now - I'll brief my par- Ms Rockwood when she's available," Madeline tried again, resisting the urge to jiggle her foot impatiently.

"Shouldn't we wait?" he said with a slight frown. "I mean, she's the expert, isn't she?"

"From one side, perhaps," Madeline replied, slightly more archly than she had intended. "And that side certainly wasn't with law enforcement."

"Yeah, I heard about that - that your team had a con consulting for you. So this is her, then?"

"Mm."

"What's she like? Rockwood? You caught her, right?"

Madeline shrugged. "As you said - she's the expert. She's very knowledgeable."

"No, I mean... how hard is she to keep in line? I bet you need that one on a short leash."

"She's been nothing but cooperative since she began consulting..." Though that had usually involved a tracking anklet and a bevy of watchful agents. Suddenly Madeline began to regret leaving the other woman alone upstairs. "Would you excuse me for one moment?"

"Absolutely - shall I order you a drink?"

"Espresso. Thanks." With that Madeline was on her feet, fishing the key from her pocket as she left the café and returned to the entrance to their hotel. She cursed herself as she climbed the stairs, two at a time, and nearly battered down the door in her anxiety to get inside and see whether her suspicions were correct.

"Jesus Christ!"

"Fu--" Madeline spun around, slamming the door shut, one hand still on the knob. "Sorry, I'm sorry!"

There was a long pause. There was the sound of rustling material to suggest that Lex was now clad in a towel. "You thought I'd done a runner," she said matter-of-factly.

"I... yes," Madeline replied lamely, blushing in her embarrassment. "It had been a while."

"I was in the shower."

"Yes, I... realise that now. I'm sorry."

"Right. Well. I'm still here."

"Okay. I'll... see you downstairs, then."

"Madeline." Lex had only very rarely used Madeline's first name, and it was at once jarring and strangely welcome.

The agent swallowed, feeling stupider by the minute as she stared at the paint-cracks on the door in front of her. "Mmhmm?"

"Turn around."

When the other woman complied, she saw that Lex was indeed now wearing a towel wrapped around her middle, her arms wrapped around herself. "We can't be like this," she said. "If we're going to stay here together - for weeks, maybe." She shook her head. "You know that."

"Why would you bother?"

Lex blinked, thoroughly thrown by the non-sequitur. "What? I don't..."

"Why stay? You've still got contacts in Rome, I'm sure, it would be the easiest thing in the world to just disappear." Madeline hadn't meant to sound accusatory, but somehow the words came out that way anyway.

"Is that what you want? Me gone? At any cost?"

"No, God no! Jesus, that would be a disaster. I just don't know why you don't want it."

Lex hesitated - for a moment she seemed about to answer. Then she turned and reached for her bra. "I'll be right down," she said.

"...I'll see you there."

 

The briefing was pretty standard - not much they didn't already have in the files they'd both committed largely to memory already. Thus there was very little to talk about over dinner in the little trattoria along the street, instead keeping their eyes and their attentions on their own plates.

The temptation to order a gallon of Italian wine had been almost overwhelming, but in the end Madeline had stuck with a single glass of red that she sipped slowly, trying to make it last through the meal. Lex, by contrast, wasn't drinking at all - particularly surprising given that Madeline knew from her couple of visits to the other woman's apartment that at home she almost always had a bottle open.

The agent couldn't help but feel glum; despite her resolution to start things, if not afresh, then at least on a more positive note, the situation was as tense as ever. It was her own doing, but it wasn't as if she could just ignore that question, the one that Lex had failed to provide any answer to. Why are you still here?

Dinner was late and they were both tired - they managed to get ready for bed largely without speaking, swapping by silent agreement back and forth from the tiny bathroom, Lex going first and already in bed, reading, by the time Madeline emerged in her own nightclothes.

"There's no need to rise particularly early tomorrow," she murmured, tugging the blanket down and sliding into her bed. "So you know."

"All right." Lex put the ereader aside with a yawn, settling further down beneath the covers and turning her own bedside lamp on.

With a click of her own lamp - off this time - Madeline turned to face the wall, her jaw set resolutely. "Good night, Ms Rockwood."

There was a silence, and then a quiet sigh. "You can call me Lex."

"I... all right."

"Good night."

 

Lex awoke the next morning a little after ten to find herself alone in their room. Perhaps it was a pointed statement of trust from the other woman - or perhaps, Lex thought wryly, Madeline had figured she wasn't much of a flight risk while unconscious in bed.

Still tired from their flight but disinclined to waste any more of the day than she already had, she hauled herself out of bed and into the shower, before donning one of the lightweight linen-and-cotton outfits she'd brought along with her (a little wrinkled, but then, that was impossible to avoid with linen) and heading down the stairs in search of breakfast.

The café below them was still serving, and it wasn't long before she had an espresso and a flaky pastry sitting in front of her, ready to be devoured. She was halfway through the meal when she spotted a familiar figure fitting a key into the boarding house door - Madeline, in what looked like extremely truncated jogging shorts and a tank top, along with the requisite running shoes and bouncy ponytail. She was about to look back to her coffee without saying anything when the other woman looked over and saw her, and Lex nodded in silent greeting.

Madeline nodded back, and then apparently changed her mind about going upstairs, instead heading over to the table where Lex was sat. "Good morning. Did you sleep well?"

"Like the dead," Lex said cheefully. "You?"

Madeline shrugged. "Well enough. I've just been for a run - was going to pop upstairs for a shower. I'll... just be a few minutes."

"I see that," Lex said. "D'you want me to order you something to eat?"

"Just a caffe macchiato, thanks."

The other woman's brows drew together a little. "You're not going to eat something? Have you had breakfast?"

"Oh, I don't really.. I mean, with jetlag, and everything," the agent said vaguely. "Just a coffee's fine."

"You just went for a run," Lex pushed, knowing she was almost certainly at least approaching thin ice and skating closer anyway. "Can't I get you a pastry?"

"Oh, all right," Madeline sighed, almost indulgently. "Just some biscotti or something."

"Good girl," Lex said with an amused arch of her eyebrow. "See you a little bit."

The agent looked almost as if she might trip over her own feet on her way out of the café - her run must've taken a lot out of her, apparently. Lex placed the agent's order, and sat down again, trying to turn her attention to her ebook. It was far too early to count anything as a good sign, but... that had been a good sign, right?

 

Madeline returned the the café about twenty minutes later, clad in a plain white t-shirt and worn jeans, her dark hair still slightly damp and curling in the morning heat. Her macchiato was cold but she didn't seem to mind, drinking it down quickly along with a biscotti and then brushing her palms over her thighs briskly. "Well. I suppose we should get going."

"Oh, so we do have stuff to do today?" Lex said, looking slightly surprised. "Yesterday, I thought you said..."

"Well, we need to establish our cover - so while we don't have a set agenda, we need to go out and be seen."

"Ohh, so... like, what, getting a feel for our location, seeing the sights, you mean?"

"Mmhmm. Spending our money, so we're eventually in a situation to need more..."

"All right. Well. I'll go fetch my sketchbook, I suppose - do you have one with you?"

"Hm? Oh, no, I don't really do that any more."

"You mean Madeline doesn't. File says that 'Eve' does."

The other woman furrowed her brow in a frown. "I didn't bring one with me. I'm sure everything won't fall apart if I skip that part of the profile."

"It's fine, I brought more than one - I'll bring it along," Lex said cheerfully, hopping up from her seat and exiting the café without giving Madeline a chance to protest.

She accepted the pad without a word when Lex returned, and after a short consultation they decided to head to the nearest museum - Musei Capitolini - for their first stop of the day.

 

What followed was one of the stranger days Madeline could remember having. She had done plenty of sightseeing around Europe and had been to Rome more than once, but it had almost always been alone, and never with someone who was at best a colleague and at worst an enemy, or at least an antagonist. It was a strange feeling, to be visiting sights and sharing experiences with Lex, of all people, at once knowing that the other woman was just as appreciative of the buildings, sculptures, and artwork as she was, and yet at the same time unable to forget, here especially, just who Lex was and what she'd been doing when she'd last lived in Rome.

Lex wasn't helping matters by being particularly pleasant company - she was engaged and attentive, somehow always knowing when to speak up to take notice of some feature or to point something out to Madeline, and when they should be sitting or standing in silence. She had also stayed close to the other woman, quite deliberately never straying far from her side and certainly not out of sight, obviously keen to be seen to be toe-ing the line.

The strangest experience was surely the times when they sat in galleries sketching, sometimes back-to-back or side by side. Madeline couldn't really relax and 'get into' it with Lex there, which led to stiff, awkward pictures that she frowned at and then hurriedly flipped past. Thus it stopped her dead in her tracks when, over lunch, Lex slid her pad across the table toward Madeline with a wry smile. "Let's have a look, then."

"What? No, I don't... I wasn't expecting to have to share," she stammered, shaking her head.

"Well, you don't have to," Lex said. "But it would help you get your head in the game."

"Is that what you do with your sketches? Show them to other people?"

"Once upon a time," the other woman said with a tip of her head. "I mean, it depended on the context, of course."

"I never really do that. I mean, I did, in school I guess, but not since then," Madeline babbled.

Lex didn't respond to this, just raising her eyebrows, apparently eschewing any further cajoling in favour of waiting for Madeline to either refuse or consent.

Madeline almost certainly would've refused. Eve, on the other hand...

"They're really rough. Just... remember that."

When she pushed the book across Lex flipped it open without another word, her attention now fully on Madeline's work rather than on her. A thoughtful expression fell over the forger's face as she took in the work before her, though Madeline did notice her pausing on the sketches she herself had considered the better ones.

Afraid of being caught looking, she opened up Lex's sketchpad and began to peruse the drawings there, which bore the same strong hand and sure lines that the sketches in Lex's apartment had done. Immediately she felt all the more self-conscious about her own accurate but rather stilted lines, as though their styles spoke volumes about the contents of their respective characters.

"You have a good eye," was all Lex said as she passed the pad back.

"Yours are... lovely," she murmured, handing the other woman's sketchbook back to her. "The folds of your Léda..."

Lex only smiled a little. Certainly she didn't try to deny the quality of her work - after all, this was a woman with the ego to copy the likes of Van Gogh and Monet and pass them off as the real thing.

"Do you do much drawing of your own, these days?"

"Now and then," Lex said, tipping her head from side to side. "When I have the time."

"Well, that's good. You have so much talent. You ought to produce your own work."

Lex smirked. "Is that your opinion as a law enforcement officer?" she murmured.

"Take it as Eve's opinion. She knows good art when she sees it."

"Eve has just seen a few studies."

"Ah. Well, um. I guess she's good at extrapolating," Maddy said, ducking her head and fiddling with her napkin.

"And Madeline has only seen a bunch of forgeries," Lex continued, raising an eyebrow.

"Which were very good."

Now the other woman smirked. "So I assumed."

"Mm. So I guess I'm good at extrapolating as well."

"Sounds as though you have a lot in common."

"Well, you know what they say about covers..."

"Best rumpled?" the other woman suggested innocently.

"Not quite."

Lex chuckled, reaching for the last piece of her bread and shredding it idly onto her plate.

"I'm sure your partner would be happy to help you sell your art," Madeline said then, apparently unable to stop talking even though she desperately wanted to.

"My... Oh. Ange. She's..." Lex hesitated, choosing her next words very carefully. "She's not really a classicist."

"Oh. Well, I'm sure she knows people."

"It's not really somewhere I could see myself going."

"Where do you see yourself going?" Madeline asked curiously.

Another pause. Another hesitation. Then Lex just shrugged lightly. "Mel wants to start up a little business selling postcards on the side while she keeps working toward that BA," she said at last.

Madeline seemed to be able to take the hint, nodding and scooting her chair back a little. "Well, then, we should get going. That degree isn't going to pay for itself."

The other woman's smile grew a little less tight again. "Yeah. How will I make tuition this year..."

"We'll figure something out. C'mon."

"Lead on."

 

They hit a few more museums and monuments that afternoon and then returned to the bedsit to rest and relax. When time came for them to head down to dinner, late that evening, Madeline looked up from the report she had been reading and shook her head. "You should go without me."

The other woman frowned a little. "You're... not hungry? If you're busy I can bring something up for you..."

"No, I just... I'm not hungry. Thanks."

Lex's eyes narrowed. "You barely had breakfast, you picked over lunch and after a day on your feet you don't want dinner? Do we need to have a talk about taking care of ourselves? You should want to eat a horse after today - I certainly do."

"Well, I'm sure you could find that on some menu around here," the agent said with a twitch of her lips.

"That's just racist. Also, that's France. What can I get you?"

"I don't want anything," Madeline repeated, her voice growing a little harder now.

"Are you serious? Are we having this discussion?" Lex looked mildly incredulous now. "Madeline, no normal person doesn't need to eat after a day like that. If you don't feel like a big meal let me bring you some bread and cheese."

"I can't eat, okay?" Madeline snapped. "I'll just throw it back up. So unless you want to listen to that through the door, best forget it."

Lex's brows pulled together. "I don't understand," she said. "Are you ill?"

"Not ill. I just... it's just nerves. I'll get over it in a couple days."

At this point the other woman moved back across the room to their beds, perching on the edge, facing Madeline. "What an I do?" she asked seriously. "Is there something I can get you? You want me to go to a pharmacy?"

"No, no, I'm fine. Just... if you see any peppermint tea around, that would help. I forgot mine."

Still looking thoroughly put out, Lex nodded nevertheless. "Sure," she said, and Madeline knew instinctively that come hell or high water, she would have peppermint tea in her possession that night. With a perverse sort of humour she wondered just what she could have asked for that Lex would've delivered, but of course that was just silly.

"You should go out, if you're hungry."

"Oh, don't worry, I plan to," Lex assured her, standing and heading once more for the door. "But I'll be back soon."

"I hope so," Madeline said with a wan smile, "or else I'm in trouble."

 

Lex did return, and shortly, too - she'd been gone less than an hour when she appeared with the promised tea, insisting on making it for Madeline there and then. Even that didn't seem that appealing to the older woman, but she dutifully sipped from the proffered mug, sitting back on her bed with a sigh. "Did you find somewhere nice to eat?"

"Just grabbed a pizza from the trattoria on the corner - it was fine, though."

"That's good."

"You sure I can't get you anything? I'm not going to be kept awake with your stomach rumbling?"

"Some peace of mind?" Madeline said with another self-deprecating smile.

"Hey, no problem." Lex said, holding up her hands with a wry chuckle. "What would give you peace of mind?"

"Knowing this whole thing will work, that I'm not about to make an enormous fool of myself again."

"A fool of yourself?"

"It's happened before."

"How would it happen this time?" Lex sat back down on her own bed again, surveying Madeline frankly.

"Oh, how wouldn't it happen?" Madeline asked, made a bit giddy by her lack of a decent meal all day. "Our cover gets blown, we fail to find enough evidence to convict, any number of ways. Really I could sit here all night listing them."

"But... you always win," Lex observed matter-of-factly. "You never fail."

"Long-term success doesn't negate short-term failure."

Lex's mouth flattened to a thoughtful line - she looked thoroughly thrown by this new side of Madeline, one she'd never seen before, and after a long pause she got up from her own bed and moved over to perch on the edge of Madeline's. "This is kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy," she observed quietly. "If you're not on top of your game, of course you're more likely to fail. Tell me what I can do to help." Her countenance was so sincere, so genuine, that Madeline almost forgot for a moment that this was the engineer of her greatest short-term failure, the one that had nearly caused her to run herself into the ground to fix it.

"Just... do your part. Of course, you either will or you won't," Madeline said cryptically. "All I have to do is trust you."

The other woman's expression twisted a little in sympathy. "And how are you going to do that?" she asked.

"I have no idea," Madeline sighed, staring down at her mug of rapidly-cooling tea.

"Madeline..." Lex trailed off with a long sigh, staring down into her own hands where they lay in her lap, She blinked, shook her head. "These guys deserve to go down. They're unscrupulous, they've hurt a lot of innocent people, and they have no taste. I am going to help you make this happen. I promise."

"And after that?" Madeline said, glancing up. "What about the next people we take on? What about when we have to take down a friend of yours? What then?"

Lex met the agent's eyes, a look of warning in hers. "I'm making the promises I can, here," she said. "I'm doing my best."

Madeline's looked disappointed in this profession of honesty, though not surprised. "I know."

"I can't promise to use my friends, or to turn against them - what few I have left," the forger said. "But... ask me anything else, tonight, and if it will help, I'll promise to do it. Anything. I just..." Lex sounded almost pleading, and she was leaning forward a little, tense, and Madeline realised that seeing her this way - uncertain, sick with worry, a state she was personally quite used to - had the other woman thoroughly thrown and ill at ease. "Let me give you something. Tonight. Something that will help you sleep, or keep food down. Some way I can make this better."

"Why?" Madeline asked curiously, unable to help herself.

"Because I don't like seeing you like this," Lex said simply. "And maybe I'm being an egomaniac here but I feel like it's mostly because of me."

"Just because you caused a problem doesn't mean you can fix it," the agent pointed out.

"No, but it means I want to try." Another pause, and then Lex pushed up from where she sat, turning and slipping her hands into her pockets. "I'm sorry. I'm being selfish. Never mind. If I can't help, I can't help."

"Lex..." Madeline sighed again, setting aside her mug and placing her hands flat on the blanket beneath her. "I'm sorry, I should've warned you I get like this. I know it's not pretty, but I'll be fine in a day or two. Just ignore me until then."

"I don't think that's going to be possible."

"Do you want a separate room? Listen, I said I'd get y--"

"This isn't about me sleeping properly. Look... oh, just forget it. I just want to help. Or failing that, to not make everything worse." Lex sighed. "And I can see I'm doing just that."

"You got me tea," Madeline said, lifting her mug again. "That doesn't make things worse."

"And then I harassed and badgered you. Maybe I should take off, let you get some rest in peace..."

"No," Madeline said quickly, then blushed. "I mean, not on my account. But if you want to go out, then by all means..."

Looking more bemused than ever, Lex pulled her legs up onto her bed, reaching for her ereader. "I have nowhere in particular to be."

"Nowhere to be? In Rome?"

Lex shrugged. "We have plenty of time to see everything we need to. Unless... would you like to get some fresh air? Would that help? If you want to go for a walk or something..."

"Actually... that might help."

"Great, okay," the other woman said, almost too eager to do something that might help. "Let's go."

 

Rome at night was even better than Rome during the day - the heat was lessened, as were the crowds, and the buildings and monuments lit up never failed to remind Madeline of something out of a fairy tale.

Lex was strolling along beside her, content again, it seemed, the tense woman she'd seen in the bedroom slipping away and some of that youthful swagger returning. She drew no end of appreciative looks from the people they passed, and Madeline felt a twinge of jealousy mix with the nausea she was already feeling; she wasn't sure who she was jealous of, exactly - Lex, or maybe the woman waiting for her at home.

No. Stop it. You have to get over yourself. Just because she showed you some basic human kindness is not a good reason to start falling for her all over again.

At length, they found themselves walking along a dim-lit bath alongside the Villa Celimontana - closed now but still a pretty place to walk by, sweet-scented and cool.

As long as she didn't think too hard about the woman by her side, Madeline found she was beginning to feel a bit better, taking in deep breath of the night air and trailing her hand along the stone wall at her side.

Lex seemed to know better than to break the silence, walking along beside her, or sometimes a little ahead, without a word, hands in pockets, her thin linen jacket hanging gracefully from her lean, shapely frame. Eventually Madeline spoke up, though her voice was subdued, quiet.

"Don't you miss it here?"

One of those long pauses at which Lex seemed so skilled. Then, "Of course."

"Why did you leave?"

"I missed New York. The grass is always greener."

"Hm. I guess so."

"Have you always lived in DC?"

"Me? No... I mean, mostly, in the last ten years or so, I guess, but before that I was in New York, and before that Chicago. No European cities, though, except for a semester in college."

"And where did you go in college?"

"I went to Venice."

Lex gave a sigh, and when Madeline glanced over the other woman was smiling across at her. "Venice is beautiful," she said.

"It is," Madeline agreed, a wistful smile coming over her own face. "I loved it there. I didn't want to leave."

"You know," Lex said eventually, "Venice is only three and a half hours on the train."

Madeline blinked. "Our job is here."

"Or first job is to establish a convincing cover. We get some attention here, make sure we meet the right people, and then..." She shrugged. "Then we cement our cover. A couple of days in Venice and Florence would do that nicely."

"I... I'd have to run it past DC. I can't imagine they'd see the point."

The other woman lifted her shoulders again. "Fair enough," she said. "It was just a suggestion."

"It's not a bad idea," Madeline said, chewing on her lower lip thoughtfully. "I just can't see them going for it."

"Really? My impression was always that Helena Ford would do pretty much anything you asked."

"That's not... that's not entirely true," the agent protested.

"All right."

She wouldn't, for example, allow me to get rid of you. With a sigh Madeline turned and began to head back in the direction of their bedsit, her expression pensive.

"I'm sorry," Lex said, turning and trotting to catch her up. "If I said something wrong, I didn't mean to..."

"No, no, it's okay. It must be difficult for you - it isn't as if at the end of this you can just go on vacation."

"I'm not here to have fun any more than you are," Lex said, sounding a little wounded at the inference she'd made.

"No, of course not. I'm sorry."

"That's okay."

"No, it's not. I'm still treating you like a criminal. Which... you are, but you're also my partner. In this. I should be more respectful."

"I haven't been very respectful to you - second-guessing you, trying to bully you into good behaviour."

Madeline shrugged, too tired of keeping herself on guard to protest much further. "It's fine."

"Not really. I'm sorry. I have no right telling you what to do."

"Lex, please. It's fine. It's not as if I have anyone else to take care of me, and I obviously only partially manage to take care of myself, so."

Lex nodded slowly, shoulders hunching a little as a slightly cool breeze crossed their paths, though the night was largely warm and still.

"I never got that," she said eventually.

"I'm sorry? Got what?"

"You not having anyone to take care of you," the other woman said simply. "All the time I- Karen worked with you, I just never got why you were alone. I mean, it didn't seem like you wanted it that way..."

"Oh. I don't know, I'm just... I'm too picky, I guess, or something," Madeline said, staring at the ground ahead of her. "And I don't have a lot of time for... dating."

"Mm." Lex didn't really seem to know where to take this. "Well. Look, I'll back off - I shouldn't've been so forceful earlier. But... I'm not going to stop looking out for you. Don't think I have it in me. So I may not say anything, but... I'll be here."

"That's... nice." Suddenly Madeline felt a desperate wave of longing for her pressed suits and neat office - anything that could help her get her head back where it belonged. "I mean, thanks."

The other woman gave a wry chuckle. "Don't thank me," she said. "I know you'd rather I just ignored you."

"Hard to do when I'm hovering over your shoulder all the time."

"But you'd worry more if you weren't."

"Mm."

At this, Lex fell silent, and didn't speak again until they arrived back at the bedsit.

"I'm going to shower," she said then. "D'you want to..." She gestured vaguely in the direction of the little bathroom.

"What? Oh, right, of course," Madeline said, blushing and clearing her throat. "Thanks, I'll just be a minute." With that she disappeared into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.

It was while she was brushing her teeth that she heard the ring of Lex's cell, the other woman's voice floating through the door a moment later.

"Hey, you... yeah, all good, you? ... Mhm? Mhm... Sure, totally... Yeah, she's here... Oh, no, no, it's fine... Yes, really... Well..."

Lex described their day - or the parts of it that involved sightseeing and food, at any rate, neglecting to talk about the events of that evening. Perhaps it was wishful thinking - hell, she knew it was - but Lex didn't sound to her to be that invested in talking to this woman she'd been seeing for months and was currently stuck thousands of miles and an ocean away from. Soon enough, Lex rang off, and Madeline, who had long since finished brushing her teeth, took this as her cue to exit the bathroom.

"Well, it's all yours," she said, gesturing behind her at the now-empty room.

"Thanks," Lex said, pushing up from the bed and reaching for her towel and night-clothes before disappearing into the bathroom.

Quickly Madeline changed into her nightclothes and settled into her bed, feeling slightly light-headed. She wanted to stay awake until Lex came out, to speak to her and maybe ask her about her chat with Angeline, but she dozed off to the sound of the shower running, Lex's words echoing in her mind. I'll be here...

 

When she woke again, it was to a sharp pang of hunger in her belly. The room was dark, and the bed next to hers was empty. Disoriented, she reached for the light switch that was of course not there, instead nearly knocking her half-empty mug off her bedside table. She managed to find her cell phone and lit the screen enough to look around the room - still no Lex.

It wasn't until she'd hastily thrown on some shoes and a robe and battered down the stairs that she found the other woman. Following the sound of fast-spoken Italian, she almost burst into the kitchen of the downstairs café to find Lex pottering about the little room in her pyjamas, making idle chit-chat with a similarly dressed old woman who was seated at a battered old kitchen table, two small glasses of something strongly citrus-scented sitting atop it.

"L- Mel? What are you... what's going on?" she asked, blinking in confusion.

Glancing over belatedly, Lex's eyes widened a little. "Hm? Oh... Well, I came down and ran into Maria here - she was just getting up to start prepping the bread for the morning, so I offered to help and, well, we got to talking..."

"Oh." Of course. "Okay. I just... I woke up and you were gone. I'm sorry to interrupt. Scusi," she added, nodding to Maria.

The old woman said something in Italian too fast for Madeline to catch.

"She says to sit down," Lex said. "And have some limoncello. The first batch of bread'll be ready soon, then maybe you could have something to eat?" she suggested.

"I... don't know if I should have anything to drink," Madeline said, sinking into the nearest chair.

"Mm." In the dim light from the lowered lamps Lex surveyed Madeline levelly. "You're probably right," she said. "Some water, then. For now."

Madeline nodded and watched as Lex made her way across the kitchen, familiar already in this unfamiliar space. The smell of freshly baked bread was already filling the room, and the old women turned to her and asked her - slightly more slowly, this time, if she, too, was an artist.

"Oh, no, not an artist. Just an admirer," she said, shaking her head.

"But Melanie said your work was very beautiful," the woman protested.

Madeline blushed, pursing her lips. "Melanie is... very kind. I only dabble."

"Well, if you dabble in art only as well as Melanie dabbles in bakery, I'm sure you're very good," the old woman said then with a laugh as Lex opened the little oven and brought out the first batch of bread.

"It's ready," Lex said in English as she turned, favouring both women with a bright smile.

"It's ready," Lex said in English as he turned, favouring both women with a bright smile. Maria shuffled over to join her, cutting several slices from the loaf and setting them on a plate before shooing Lex away from the oven. Madeline's mouth was watering with the smell, and to her embarrassment she swooned a little, catching herself on the table before she fell too far, and almost instantly she felt a hand at her elbow.

"Careful, now," Lex murmured, "the bread won't be cool enough to eat for a few minutes. Drink your water."

"It smells really good," Madeline replied, doing her best to look like she wasn't about to fall again.

"I'll take that as a compliment," the other woman said, briefly wrapping an arm around Madeline's back before taking a seat beside her. She smelled really good, too, Madeline realised - a little like baking, a little like lemon and a little like warm, healthy skin, and to her continued embarrassment she found herself tearing up, her vision blurring as the tears threatened to fall onto Maria's well-worn checked tablecloth.

Hastily she reached for her water, discovering only too late that she had grabbed hold of one of the half-empty limoncello glasses instead. The drink was syrupy sweet, and strong, and she swallowed it down quickly, coughing with surprise. At least she had an excuse for her watering eyes now.

"Steady, there," came that quiet murmur at her ear. "Here, have some bread - careful."

"Mm," Madeline grunted, accepting the bread and concentrating on that for the moment.

The old woman and Lex continued their conversation while she ate, slowly and methodically working her way through a couple of slices of the warm, fluffy bread. Her slow-burn anxiety eased somewhat, no doubt helped by both the food and the shot of liquor and the soothing tones of rapid and congenial Italian being spoken around her. Before too long, she felt just about ready to get back to bed for another couple of hours sleep before sunrise, and was a little bemused to find the room spin a little around her as she stood.

"Eeeasy there." That warm hand on her elbow again, and now Lex was guiding her out from behind the table. "Let's get you back to bed with some water." Somewhere in the background Madeline heard Maria laughing like a drain and saying something about alcohol.

"What do they put in that stuff?" Madeline muttered, making her way towards the stairs with very deliberate steps. "Horse tranquilisers?"

"Well, it will feel that way when all you've had to eat since lunch yesterday is a couple of slices of bread - albeit beautifully baked," Les said with a chuckle, slipping her arm around Madeline, hand coming to rest at her waist. "C'mon."

Together they climbed the stairs back to their room, and Lex gently deposited Madeline back on her bed and went to fetch her a glass of water from the bathroom. When she returned she found the agent frowning up at her, her expression intense. "Where did you learn to bake?"

"Rome," Lex said as she approached and sat on the other bed, proffering the glass across the gap between them. "The last time."

"Oh." Lex got the feeling that wasn't the question Madeline had intended to ask, but she said nothing more, merely sipping her water slowly and staring into the middle distance.

"I'm no great shakes," she said, continuing the thread of the conversation even though it was one she suspected Madeline had very little interest in. "I only know the basics."

"The bread was very good."

Lex smiled in spite of herself, shaking her head and chuckling. "Pretty sure cold gruel would've tasted good to you right about then," she said.

"Maybe. But I'm glad I had the bread."

The other woman glanced over at her, that tiny, strange smile still in place. "I'd get up and make it every morning if I knew you'd eat it," she said matter-of-factly.

Madeline blinked, refocusing on Lex as if just seeing her for the first time. "You would?"

"Of course."

"Oh."

Another long silence ate at the air between them. Eventually Lex sighed - neither contentedly nor frustratedly, really, more a simple release of breath - and kicked off the flip-flops she was wearing, lifting her legs back up onto the bed. "Well, few more hours' sleep, I guess," she said. "Think you're able?"

"Almost certainly," Madeline said with an echoing sigh, slumping back against her pillow.

"Sleep well," Lex said, taking the time to stretch lazily before nimbly inserting herself back beneath the thin covers.

"Make sure you're here when I wake up... I don't like it when you're not here," came the quiet murmur.

"Oh, um. Sorry. I will." Another pause. "I wish you'd trust that I'm not going to run off."

"I know. S'not what I meant, though."

"Mm?"

"Mm. It's nice having you there."

"Madeline..." Lex's voice had a strange tone to it, and she turned abruptly to face away from the other woman. "Get some more sleep," she said.

"Don't have to tell me twice."

 

Madeline slept solidly for another three hours, waking up shortly before eight am to the sound of the shower running in the other room, steam billowing gently into the room through the part-open door. Though usually she went for a morning run as soon as she woke she found herself lying in bed, turning her head towards the bathroom and closing her eyes to doze lightly, though at the same time fully aware of Lex's presence just a few feet away.

A few minutes later the shower stopped, and she heard the other woman padding from the tiles of the kitchen into the little room. Madeline cracked her eyes open in time to see pale, toned legs crossing her view, and then, off across the room, the very pleasant view of Lex's naked form from behind as she towelled herself off, turned around as though she was half cognisant that she was not alone but not actively expecting to be observed.

After a few seconds she clamped her eyes shut and turned over to face the wall, a not-unpleasant sensation curling within her, though of course it came accompanied by no small amount of guilt.

At length, she heard the other woman sit down on the bed, and was was probably the sound of her picking up her ereader. Madeline waited a few minutes, too keyed up now to fall back to sleep, before turning back over and pushing herself up on one elbow. "Mm... morning."

Lex glanced over, raising an eyebrow. Her blonde-tipped hair was falling across her forehead in damp tendrils, and a single eyebrow arched. "Hey you," she said. "How're you feeling?"

"...not bad, actually."

"Fresh baked bread and limoncello is good for the soul," the other woman agreed cheerfully.

"I don't know about that. Though that bread might have magical properties, I don't know."

"Well, at least you kept it down." Lex looked over then, frowning a little. "You did, right? I didn't miss anything..."

"Yeah. I did." Madeline smiled a little, pushing herself upright. "Are you all done in the bathroom? I might go shower if you are."

"Knock yourself out."

 

Madeline emerged after about fifteen minutes in the bathroom, her freshly washed hair tucked up in a neat towel turban. She was sensibly clad in the same white t-shirt and jeans combination as the day before.

"So. Where to today? We have a meeting at ten, yes?"

"Mmhmm. The first of several unsuccessful liaisons. I don't mind where we go - what do you want to do?"

"Have a massive breakfast and another hour in bed?" Lex suggested hopefully.

Madeline considered this for a moment, then shrugged. "All right."

Lex's eyebrows shot up. "I was, uh. That was a joke."

"Oh. Well, all right. There's still plenty of other museums we can hit. Or we could head for the Pantheon."

"No, I didn't mean that I didn't want to nap, I just..." Lex broke off with a wry smile, shaking her head. "The Pantheon sounds nice," she said. "Let's do that."

"All right. Besides, it's really best to have un sonnellino pomeridiano in the afternoon," Madeline said with a small smile.

Lex only had one eyebrow raised now. "I suppose so," she said. "Well, then, I suppose we go grab some breakfast, and get moving."

The Pantheon was crowded even in that early in the morning, though there was at least enough space to find a place to stand and stare upwards, as everybody did upon entering the monument.

"It's funny, isn't it?" Lex murmured after a bit. "How serene it feels even filled with people."

"Must be the good acoustics," Madeline said, smirking.

"Could be..." Lex let loose with a light whistle then, the little tune drifting off across the room and back to them.

"Very nice."

"Six second echo."

"Makes mass quite an affair."

"I suppose so." Lex glanced sideways at Madeline. "Are you religious?"

The other woman frowned briefly, glancing down at the floor. "Not really. I mean, not in a goes-to-church kind of way."

"But you believe in God?"

"I believe... I don't know what I believe," Madeline said, shaking her head. "I wonder about what's out there, sometimes."

Lex's eyes flickered her way once more, then back to the hole in the roof. "Sometimes," she said, "in places like this, I think there must be something up there watching over us."

"It'd be a relief if there was, wouldn't it. Take some of the pressure off."

"Mm. But then I come back to earth, and I know that there isn't. There's just us." Lex looked back to Madeline and held her gaze this time, hers almost uncomfortably steady. "But that's okay."

"You don't find it hard to trust people, do you?" Madeline asked, shifting under the other woman's gaze. "You just... connect with them, just like that."

Lex blinked. "I know when people are lying to me," she said simply. "Call me arrogant, but I think I know when I can trust people and when I can't. If you think I trust easily it's because I trust you easily."

"It must be a nice skill to have," Madeline muttered, breaking her gaze from Lex's and looking off at a distant group of tourists.

"I couldn't have done what I used to do without it."

"I know."

"I get the impression you find it a bit more difficult to trust," Lex observed unnecessarily.

"I couldn't do my job if I didn't."

"Touché."

"Though even I get taken in sometimes."

Lex looked chastened by this, and almost said something, but instead turned to wander the perimeter of the temple. Madeline turned on her heel to walk the other way, wrapping her arms around herself despite the warmth from the sun streaming into the building. What she hadn't considered, of course, was that they would naturally meet again at the other end, though some minutes later when this happened, Lex merely shot her a small smile and continued past her to complete her slow circuit, examining the walls, the floor, the decorations as she went.

Eventually they met back at the entrance; Madeline had arrived before Lex and was leaning against the wall, her arms crossed over her chest. "Ready to go?"

"Certainly - we'd better head back now if we're to be on time for Dressler."

"Right. Well, let's go."

 

Dressler looked just as he had the other day, relaxed and a little bored, as though this whole affair was just too tedious in this weather.

"Settling in all right?" he asked Madeline as the pair sat down.

"Fine, thanks."

"And you, Mel?" he said, careful to use Lex's alias, as though trying to get into the habit.

"I'm good," came the short response as Lex sat down with their coffees.

"You said when we met next you'd have an update on di Palma's movements?" Madeline prompted, eager to finish their meeting up as soon as possible.

"Mhm - it's all in this file," the bored-looking man said, pushing a file - or rather, what looked very much like a notebook from the outside - across the table toward them.

"Right." Madeline nodded, not making a move to reach for the notebook just yet. "And the Corsini Gallery is still the best place to go to get their attention?"

"Between this and the one in Florence, yes. Ideally you want to be seen at both, but under the circumstances..."

"The... ah. Well, right. Okay. We can do that."

"Oh?" Dressler raised a lazy eyebrow. "I didn't think your budget extended to city breaks..."

Madeline's lips pressed together in the way that Lex knew meant she was pissed. "If your intelligence is reliable, then we'll make an appearance at both."

"Our intelligence is immaculate."

"Well then. Don't you worry about our budget."

"Mm." Dressler was clearly torn between patronising them further and wanting to be done with the meeting as soon as possible, and in the end went for the latter, pushing up from his seat. "Well then, I'll see you both soon, no doubt."

"We'll be in touch," Madeline said, lifting her coffee to her lips with a thin smile.

"Well," Lex murmured as Dressler made his exit. "He's a piece of work, huh?"

"He's an ass."

The other woman grinned. "That he is. So. What now? It's not lunch time yet. Shall we go read those notes?"

"If you like."

"Well, I suppose we'd best get up to speed..."

"There'll be time for that on the train," Madeline said suddenly, scooping up the notebook and standing. "C'mon, let's go see some more sights."

 

The rest of the day was packed with activity - more little galleries and chapels, treading Rome's well-worn streets from place to place. After lunch, they stopped by the station and Madeline bought them tickets for Florence, explaining that if there was any chance that it would be of genuine help to their cover, Ford would certainly sign off on it - once they got in touch. She made no mention of Venice, of course.

They stopped back in their room afterwards to drop off the tickets and the notebook, and after neatly tucking them away in her luggage Madeline turned to the other woman and gestured towards her bed. "Well, if you want a nap, now's your opportunity..."

"Not technically the traditional time any more - we're past mid afternoon," Lex observed. "But I'll take what I can get - never turn down the opportunity to sleep, that's what I say."

"Do you take most of your life lessons from cats, or just many of them?" Madeline asked with a smirk.

Lex chuckled. "I really wouldn't know, I've never been well-acquainted with one. Though I had heard about their propensity for sleeping." With a decidedly catlike stretch, Lex took a seat on her bed, kicking off her shoes.

"Well, it's all true."

"You have a cat? Oh, 'course you do, I remember."

"You... oh, right. Of course." Madeline frowned, remembering the disastrous night Lex had come to return her forgotten ring.

"I've never really had a pet - always moved around too much."

"Hm? Oh, well, they're not for everyone, I guess."

"Oh, I like animals," Lex maintained, curling up on the bed. "I always wanted a dog when I was little."

"But you never got one?"

Lex just shook her head. "Never a good time."

"That's a shame." Madeline opened her mouth to say more, then decided against it, sinking down onto her bed and reaching for her laptop instead.

Lex closed her eyes, settling down on the bed and putting a hand under her head. Madeline had email to read and reply to, news articles to catch up on, and yet her gaze was still drawn to the other woman peaceful countenance, distracting her from all the work she knew she ought to be doing instead.

Lex was a few years younger than Madeline, she knew, and looked younger still with her short, light-tipped hair, her face relaxed in her repose. She'd pulled her legs up to her chest, her head a little bowed, one hand beneath her head and the other curled against her. Though Madeline had been surprisingly tipsy last night she could still remember the scent of her, and the feeling of her pressed against her side, one strong arm around her waist. She felt the familiar pit of longing in her stomach, which, if she was honest with herself, had never really gone away but she had gotten better at ignoring over the past few months. Almost without realising it, she leaned over to grab her sketchbook and a pencil, flipping open to a new page and tracing out the other woman's profile, which she almost knew by heart at this point. If I'm not going to get any work done, might as well be some kind of productive...

 

"Wake up, sleepyhead."

"Hm?" Madeline blinked awake, fuzzy for a split second until she remembered her sketchbook, still lying open - well, probably beneath her at this point. She tried to surreptitiously feel around for it, keeping her expression neutral. "What time is it?"

"Dinnertime - well, a late dinnertime," Lex said with a grin. "But you seemed so relaxed, I thought we could probably wait a little longer."

Madeline's hand alit on the pad - beside her on the bed, and open, though if Lex had noticed it she hadn't acknowledged the fact.

"Oh. I wasn't really planning to nap... I guess I was more tired than I thought." Madeline scooped up the pad, closing it quickly and setting it on her bedside table.

"Getting up at four in the morning'll do that to you. Any preferences for dinner?"

"I don't mind - something simple is fine with me."

"There's a nice little place about ten minutes walk away, if you don't mind a wander."

"That sounds fine. Just give me a moment to freshen up..."

"I'll be downstairs."

 

When Madeline appeared downstairs she was dressed slightly more formally than her usual 'tourist' outfit, having loosed her now-wavy hair from its ponytail and put a slim-cut suit jacket over her t-shirt.

"You look nice," Lex greeted her without really thinking about it.

"Um, thank you. So... do you."

Lex was still wearing just what she had been upstairs - but she did look nice, Madeline noticed now, in a light summer dress beneath her usual linen jacket.

"So. You know where we're going - lead the way."

The restaurant was hidden in the winding backstreets of the city, a tiny place with a single waiter. They sat outside, underneath a faded awning, at a small table lit mainly by a single flickering candle teetering in a wax-covered wine bottle.

"Good evening, ladies," the waiter - or possibly the proprietor given his age and appearance - greeted them both. "We haven't seen you in some time," he added to Lex.

Lex shot him a smile in return. "Just a visit," she said. "I'm not really here."

Whether the waiter took some meaning from this or not Madeline wasn't sure, but he made no further attempt at conversation, merely handing over their menus with a warm smile.

"Did you come here often, the last time you were in Rome?" Madeline asked curiously, holding onto her menu but not yet opening it.

"Quite often," Lex said with a nod. "Don't worry, Gio knows how to keep his mouth shut. He won't say a word about seeing me."

"Mm, all right."

The other woman's expression showed a flicker of uncertainty. "You'd've vetoed this if I'd told you, wouldn't you?" she said. "I'm sorry, I should've thought."

"We're here now," Madeline said with a pragmatic shrug of her shoulders.

"I suppose so. Still, I'm sorry. If it's any consolation, you're about to have a wonderful meal."

"Is that so? Well then, what do you recommend?" the agent asked, setting aside her menu completely.

"Oh, pretty much anything," Lex breezed as 'Gio' reappeared. "Just whatever you like, Gio," she said, this time in English. "Surprise us."

"I will do my best," he replied with a grin, obviously thrilled with the challenge.

"There," Lex said with a chuckle as she turned her attention back to Madeline. "That should be interesting."

"I don't know if 'interesting' is how I like my Italian food..."

"I have never had a meal in this restaurant that was anything less than excellent," Lex said. "I promise."

"Well, I've followed you this far already. I suppose I'll stay."

 

The meal was, as promised, delicious. Gio brought them the same dish, a delicate tagliatelli in a white sauce with mushrooms, which had at first been a bit of a disappointment - until Madeline had taken a bite.

"Ohmygod. This is. Wow." Madeline stared across the table at Lex with wide, rapturous eyes. "It's delicious."

"I did warn you," Lex said with a chuckle.

"I'll never doubt you again."

"Hah, don't make promises you can't keep," Lex warned with an amused glance in Madeline's direction, then turned her attention back to the food with some gusto.

It had just been hyperbole, but Madeline suddenly wished she could take her words back lest the other woman get any ideas. Perhaps it was the change in scenery, but it was getting harder for her to remember to keep her distance and act professionally. "Mm..."

They got through part of a bottle of wine with their meal, both drinking quite slowly and halting for dessert (a selection of gelati, naturally), with almost half of it left to finish by the time Gio was taking the last of their dishes away.

"I suppose we should... head back," Madeline suggested, regarding the half-full bottle with a frown, as if it was deliberately mocking her.

"Sure," Lex said, pulling out what to Madeline seemed a random amount of cash and putting it down on the table, standing and reaching for her jacket with one hand and the bottle with the other. Dumbly Madeline followed her back out onto the street, all the while conscious of the slight buzz she felt from the wine and the remainder Lex was seemingly intent on toting back to their room. She was, she realised, looking forward to drinking more of it, if only because it might give her the excuse to be near to the other woman again - if only to be helped into bed like an invalid.

They walked back to the bedsit largely in silence. When they arrived back, Lex immediately took her leave to shower, soon reappearing in her pyjamas and with her hair damp and tousled, and she poured a little of the wine into her empty bedside water glass before stationing herself on her bed, legs curled artfully beneath her, and reaching for her ebook.

This was the perfect time for Madeline to be getting on with the work she had been avoiding... which meant of course that she had no motivation whatsoever. With a sigh she sat down on her bed, pulling her laptop onto her legs and powering it up.

Lex didn't pour her wine, but she had put the wine bottle at the centre of the long bedside table between their beds. Her attention seemed to have left Madeline entirely now - whether she was catching up on case files or reading for pleasure, it seemed to have her absorbed. After a moment Madeline leaned over to pour herself some more wine; even if they weren't going to socialise there was no reason she should abstain.

There were plenty of emails waiting for her attention, and despite her distraction she eventually got pulled into them, hunkering down on her bed and typing away furiously with occasional pauses for sips of wine. When she next looked at the time in the corner of her screen it was approaching midnight, and her wine - which she had refilled on auto-pilot when her glass had emptied - was once again near-finished.

"Well," she announced, telling her computer to shut down and then closing the top definitively, "that's enough of that for now."

Lex glanced up and over from her book. "Brain fried?" she asked with a smile.

"Something like that. How's your book?"

"Very good - I've read it before, mind you."

"Wow - I wish I had the time to reread books," Madeline commented, swinging her legs off the bed.

"I got through most of my bucket list in prison."

Maybe it was the wine, but Madeline didn't wince like she might've done sober. "That might be a bit of a drastic step just to get some reading in."

"I wouldn't recommend it, no." With a bland smile, Lex put her ereader aside, reaching for her wine glass to drain its dregs. "You wanting to turn in?"

"...honestly? I'm not tired. It must've been that nap."

"Could go for a walk again if you like?" Lex suggested.

"Oh, well... you're not tired?"

"I napped too."

"Right. Well... okay. Sure. Let's go."

 

They took almost the same route as the previous night, their wandering through the streets apparently naturally leading them on through to the parkside once more. They walked in silence, this being easier than small talk and safer than any of the other thoughts in Madeline's head. Lex was stolling alond beside her, her gait long and easy, hands slipped into her pockets.

"It's a nice night," Madeline commented eventually, though she frowned as soon as she had spoken, wishing she had just kept quiet.

Either oblivious to or ignoring her discomfort, Lex nodded easily. "Very," she said simply.

"It's probably too cold to walk around like this in DC without a proper coat on now."

"Almost certainly."

Madeline lapsed back into silence then, insinuating her hands into the pockets of her jeans. They were rounding the far corner of the park now, the street largely dark but for the odd streetlamp. The agent moved to walk a little closer to Lex, conscious that Rome at night wasn't the safest place, though she knew perfectly well that both of them ought to be perfectly well-equipped to deal with most trouble that might come their way. Lex noticed the move, it seemed, and stepped a little closer herself, their clothed arms brushing against one another.

"You haven't talked to Angeline yet today. Do you want to get back so we can do that, or..."

"Oh..." Lex shook her head. "We don't need to talk every day. She emailed, I've answered, that's fine."

"Oh. All right."

Lex let that hang, falling into silence once more as they rounded the bottom end of the park. She was still walking close to Madeline - close enough that she could feel the other woman's warmth by her side.

They might have completed the rest of their trip in silence, returning to their bedsit to sleep in peace, if Madeline hadn't misstepped coming down off the pavement and turned her ankle, due in part no doubt to her distraction at Lex's proximity. Lex must have been as hyper-aware of her presence as Madeline was of Lex's, for the other woman moved like lightning, an arm snaking around her waist almost before Madeline even realised what was happening.

Madeline hissed in pain, clutching Lex close. "God, I'm so clumsy..."

"You okay? Did you walk over on it?" Lex said, her other hand coming to rest on Madeline's hip as she turned to face her.

"I... shit," Madeline said as she tested her weight. "I think so."

"C'mon, with me, we'll take the short way back..."

 

It might have been the short way, but it felt like the longest walk Madeline had ever taken, Lex supporting a good bit of her weight as they traversed the winding streets back to the bedsit, occasionally murmuring encouragement along the way.

By the time they climbed the stairs to their room Madeline's ankle was already swollen, prompting Lex to strip all the pillows off her bed and pile them at the end of the other one for her to rest her leg on. "No, really, that's okay, I don't want to keep you up..." Madeline protested as she sank gingerly down onto the mattress.

"I've slept on far worse, believe me." Lex said. "You won't keep me up. Right, I'll be back in a minute," she continued, making a sharp exit from the room before Madeline could protest, only to return a few minutes later, hands full with a teatowel wrapped around what Madeline soon realised was ice when she found it pressed to her ankle.

"No ubiquitous frozen peas, of course," she said with a chuckle as she sank down to sit at the end of the bed, "so that's some ice - just let me know when it gets too damp and unpleasant for you and I'll wring it out."

"You really shouldn't have to - ow - take care of me." Madeline made a face as she shifted to a more comfortable position. "I'll be fine on my own."

"You'll be better with a little care and attention," Lex said, holding the ice gently against her ankle, trying to cover as much of it as she could, other hand supporting her heel. "If it makes you feel better pretend it's for the good of our mission."

"Oh god, what are we going to do tomorrow? I'm such an idiot, I should've brought a brace, I'll just have too improvise with something..."

"It's just a sprain," Lex said with a tolerant smile. "You'll be fine tomorrow - if it's still sore we'll get you a cane, very elegant."

"As if I need another reminder of my impending decrepitude," Madeline sighed, leaning back against her pillows at last.

"Excuse me? Oh, if this is a mid-life crisis, I don't need to hear about it, you're nowhere near ready for one of those..."

"Aren't I? They come earlier for women than for men, you know. Even though we live longer."

"Oh, you don't believe all that crap about women having fewer good years in them, do you? Particularly given our proclivities," Lex added with a tiny, almost playful smirk.

Madeline looked embarrassed, reaching up to rub at the fine lines around her eyes. "I think we lose our usefulness to society about the same time as we start to lose our looks. No one cares about all the rest."

Lex clucked her tongue and shook her head, looking back down to her work. "There are so many things wrong with that statement I don't even know where to start with it," she said flatly.

"So speaks the young and beautiful."

"I'm not so very young, and you are very beautiful," the other woman said simply - with barely a thought, it seemed to Madeline, though a moment later she had pulled her lower lip between her teeth to chew on it, intent on the compress. "I'm going to give this a rinse," she said then, standing abruptly. "Don't move; I'll be back in a second."

"Couldn't even if I wanted to," Madeline said, raising her voice to be heard over the sound of the running water. She felt her cheeks burning and wondered if she should apply the ice there instead of her ankle.

After some long moments, Lex returned with a somewhat less soggy compress. Her own cheeks were a little pink, damp strands of hair hanging around her face, and Madeline realised she must have been splashing cold water on it. Still, it was with a serene, collected smile that she sat back down and returned to her icing duties.

"Your fingers must be getting cold," Madeline murmured then, leaning forward as if to take the compress from Lex's hand.

"Oh they're fine, don't worry about it, I have it b-" Lex broke off as Madeline's hand covered hers, though she quickly recovered, glancing up at the other woman. "I've got it by a bunched up bit of tea-towel," she finished a little hoarsely.

Madeline nodded, barely hearing the other woman's words as she focused on the sensation of Lex's hand beneath hers. A moment later she snatched it away, curling her fingers against her palm. "Very good planning."

"Well, I am very clever. You should relax," she said. "Try to get comfortable - you should probably sleep with your foot up if you can."

"I'm sure I'll manage," Madeline said, scooting down a little further on the bed. Or not. Like I could sleep right now...

"Do you." Lex stopped, as though this was a complete sentence, pursing her lips thoughtfully before starting again. "D'you need help getting your jeans off?" The question, of course, was not whether Madeline would need help - of course she would - but rather whether on balance she'd rather remain clothed for the night.

"I, um." On the one hand, her jeans were tight enough to make sleeping in them somewhat uncomfortable; on the other, could that outweigh the discomfort of having Lex help strip her of them? "I don't know," she said stupidly.

With a flat smile that showed that Lex at least understood her discomfort, whether or not she shared it, she simply sat forward, moving her hands up to support Madeline's lower leg above where it was hurt, and trained her eyes on the wall. The decision apparently made for her, Madeline pressed her lips together and reached down to unzip her jeans and shimmy out of them as best she could in her current position. Lex's firm grip on her leg meant she could lift her hips from the bed without putting any weight on her foot, and was able to push the jeans down to her knees before she once more ran into trouble. At this point Lex turned back, and, eyes firmly on the other woman from the knees down only, eased them off the rest of the way, drawing a gasp of pain from Madeline as she had to bend her bad foot a little, but beyond that managing very well to avoid her sore ankle. She stood then, fetching her own pyjamas from where they lay beneath her pillow like a child's and heading for the bathroom. "Back in a minute," she said, disappearing and closing the door behind her.

Madeline's own pyjamas were too far out of reach to retrieve, so she merely pulled off her bra and shoved it beneath the bed before carefully beginning to peel back the covers and shift underneath them. She knocked her ankle a few more times but managed to set up the stack of pillows well enough, collapsing back against her own pillow with an exhausted sigh when she finished.

Lex reappeared soon enough - she hadn't showered tonight, opting for a quick wash and change instead, it looked like. "You all sorted?" she said. "I... left the compress in the sink - it was almost all melted, think it's outlived its usefulness..."

"I'm sure it'll be fine," Madeline said with a shake of her head. "Don't worry about it."

"Hey, we've swapped," Lex commented with a slight smile. "Good, then. I won't worry if you won't. You want a painkiller or anything? I have some ibuprofen if you haven't got anything..."

"That's okay. Thanks."

"I'm going to put it by the bed anyway," the other woman said decisively, retrieving the packet from her bag and placing it by Madeline's bedside. After another short trip to the bathroom to refill their glasses, she seemed to remember something else. "Crap, d'you want to brush your teeth? D'you need the loo? Sorry, I'm terrible at this..."

"Hey, no, you've been fantastic," Madeline told her, smiling in spite of the knot of nerves in her stomach. "Really great. I mean it."

"I'll... get your toothbrush."

 

Sleep was elusive for Madeline that night, for a number of reasons - mostly her hot and swollen ankle combined with her sudden hyper-awareness of the woman in the next bed over. She eventually drifted into a light doze in the early morning hours, having exhausted herself with a running castigation over her inability to put Lex out of her head.

When she did sleep, it was fitful, so she was surprised that she hadn't noticed Lex leaving. Nevertheless, when she woke up at almost nine, the other woman was already gone. Her previous concerns about the other woman's flight risk were overridden at present with a pressing need to visit the bathroom, but to her relief she found, on testing her weight on her bad foot, that it was weak and sore but considerably improved from the previous night.

She hobbled to the toilet, then paused at the sink long enough to wash her hands and splash her face with water. Feeling somewhat more awake she made her way back into the bedroom, looking around for signs of where Lex might've gone - and whether she needed to panic. It was as she took in the evidence at hand - Lex's case, packed but present, her jacket, her things still in the bathroom - that the door opened, answering her question conclusively.

Lex looked almost amused to find the other woman standing dumbly in the middle of the room in her underwear and shirt, but she quickly recovered, placing two cups of what was obviously coffee on the nightstand along with brown paper bags that presumably contained pastries, and presenting to Madeline the simple black walking cane she'd until then had tucked away under her arm. "In case you're still struggling today," she said. "Wouldn't want you caught short trying to board a train."

"You actually bought a cane," Madeline said, the statement sounding rather surreal to her ears. "I thought you were joking."

"I was deadly serious," Lex said unnecessarily. "How else are you going to get about today if your ankle's still bad? I can hardly piggy-back you across Italy. It's a matter of practicality. And style in decrepitude," she added with a smirk, nodding to the cane, which Madeline couldn't help but agree was basic but quite well-formed.

"Well, maybe getting old and obsolete won't be that bad after all," Madeline said, considering the cane for a moment before realising she was standing in the middle of the room in her underwear. "Oh, um... I think I might just have a quick shower," she said then, cheeks reddening as she turned to grab some clothes from her suitcase. Did she imagine, out of the corner of her vision, Lex's eyes flickering somewhat appraisingly across her figure as she inadvertently drew attention to it?

"No problem," the other woman said. "Your coffee and croissant will be waitin."

"Mm, thanks."

"Leave the door unlocked, yeah? I promise not to come in unless you yell for me."

Madeline glanced over her shoulder at the other woman, her expression amusingly conflicted. "...sure."

 

Madeline did not yell for her. When she returned, mostly dressed (though it had been with some difficulty and one near-fall), Lex was sitting back on the bed once more, having kicked her shoes off, this time sketching idly in her pad - presumably from her imagination for there was nothing interesting to study in the room.

"Feel okay? How's the ankle?"

"It's definitely sore, but I don't think I did any permanent damage," Madeline said, making her way over to the bed (and her coffee). "Helped a lot that I was able to ice it last night. So thank you for that."

"Least I could do. I'm the one who coaxed you out onto the dark and badly maintained Rome streets in the middle of the night."

"No guilt trips for you. I was a willing participant in that particular ill-timed jaunt."

"Still, I was glad to help. I'm at least carrying your bag today."

"I'd protest if I thought there was any way I could manage it myself without looking like an idiot," Madeline said with a shake of her head. "Thank you."

"Thank me by not pushing too hard today. I know what you workaholic types are like."

"Oh do you?"

"You bet I do - driven, obsessive, immune to the signals your body gives you that it's time to give in..."

"Huh. Maybe you do know us workaholic types." Madeline smirked, taking a sip of coffee and then giving a small sigh of pleasure. "God, Italian coffee..."

"Yes, those two things are very similar. Both strong, both work in mysterious ways. Both based out of Rome, depending who you speak to." Lex paused. "Mind you, the coffee definitely exists, so I'm giving it a win..."

"Hah. Mind you, I haven't seen any art to coffee that's quite as impressive as some of the religious frescos here."

"You clearly have not tasted the transcendent coffee I have," Lex countered with a smirk.

"Oh, is that what you were sketching, then?"

"Hm? Oh..." Lex glanced a little guiltily down at her book and flipped it closed. "I wasn't sketching anything, particularly."

"Didn't take you for an abstract artist," Madeline commented, raising an eyebrow.

"Mm. Well."

"Well. I guess we should get ready to go... it's going to take twice as long for me to get to the train station, now."

"I'll call a taxi. I know a guy." Of course she knew a guy.

"...all right, then."

"So you have time to finish your coffee."

"Maybe I'll worship you instead," Madeline joked, lifting her cup for another long sip.

Lex raised an eyebrow, her expression unreadable. Then she pushed up from the bed. "I'm just going to go freshen up and pack up my soap bag."

"Okay." Madeline watched the other woman go thoughtfully, reaching for her pastry. She knew she shouldn't be enjoying Lex's slight discomfort, but it was nice to feel she had an effect, any effect on her, after so long.

 

The train to Florence was around an hour and a half, a pleasant trip through the gentle, rolling Italian countryside. Lex spent a good portion of the trip looking out of the window, and most of the rest of it sketching - Madeline was pretty sure she was drawing thumbnail caricatures of the other passengers.

For her own part she tried to concentrate on work, though the train had no wifi available which made any sort of attempt at productivity moot. Eventually she shut her computer down and amused herself by flipping through a tourist's guide to Florence, which they had picked up at the station before setting off.

It seemed they had barely settled into the train journey before it was done, and soon they were disembarking - gingerly on Madeline's part - at the Firenze Santa Maria Novella train station. She felt Lex's hand at her elbow as she stepped down onto the platform, before she redistributed their little travel cases into each hand. "You going okay?" she asked.

"Mm, fine." Walking with the cane had taken a little getting used to, but it was actually a great help. "Do you remember what bus we want for the city centre?"

"Mhm. I'm all over it, don't you worry."

"I'll just follow your lead, then."

 

Indeed, Lex seemed to have taken the trouble to thoroughly familiarise herself with their plans for the day, and had even taken Madeline's slower progress into account, having cut out some sites and mapped a careful path across the city that involved minimal detouring and regular stops. New to the city, Madeline appreciated the chance to enjoy it just like a tourist would, and it was all too easy to forget that they were there on business.

They hadn't pre-booked a hotel, trying to give the impression that they actually were tourists, and so their last stop of the afternoon was at a small B&B in the centre of town recommended by Madeline's guidebook as 'cheap but cosy'.

'Cosy' was the word for it - while they'd found a twin room conditions were a little cramped, with barely two feet between the beds and not much space either side between them and the wall. Still, it had an en-suite and was clean, so they were happy to count their blessings.

After a few minutes to put their cases away and use the bathroom the two women were faced with the choice of what to do with the rest of their evening. "I suppose we need to eat, eventually," Madeline posited, sitting on her bed with a tired but cheerful expression on her face.

"I could pop out and bring us some pizza," Lex suggested. "You should get your foot up again, make sure you're better still tomorrow."

"Oh, you don't want to be stuck in here with me all evening, do you?"

"Oh, pfft, I'm sure we could entertain ourselves. Or we could find something sit-down-y to do - I bet there'll be some late-evening concerts in some chapels around here we could go along to at eight or nine."

"That sounds nice," Madeline said, brightening. "Let's do that."

"I'll keep an eye out when I'm hunting down pizza, then. Back soon."

 

Madeline had just finished with her emails when Lex arrived back at the room, the ubiquitous flat cardboard box tucked under her arm. "Good timing," the agent said with a smile, closing her laptop and setting it aside.

"Oh? Had you run out of poor well-meaning criminals to bother?" Lex teased, perching on Madeline's bed and setting the box down between them. "Oh, I grabbed a bottle of wine, too," she said, pulling the red wine from her apparently deceptively spacious shoulder bag. "But we don't need to drink that - or we can save it - or I'll drink it all myself, either way," she said with a smirk.

"If the agency's paying for it I should get at least half."

"Well I'm certainly not paying for it - I never pay for anything if I can possibly avoid it," was Lex's reply. "Maybe just a glass before the concert, though - it's not a long walk to the place I found but it's on cobbles, best be careful."

"You know, now that your career as a criminal is over you really should look into becoming a busybody nursemaid," Madeline said with a smirk, leaning over to retrieve two glasses from the bedside table.

"You enjoying this, are you?" Lex said with a chuckle. "Well. Have some pizza."

Like all of the food they had eaten that trip, the pizza was delicious, despite having come from a shop which Lex admitted 'looked a little dodgy'. It even went well with the wine, though very responsibly they only had a glass each and then set it aside for later.

"I found us some Bruckner motets," Lex said as they gathered themselves together to head out. "Should be very atmospheric."

"I'm looking forward to it already," Madeline said, shooting the other woman a smile across her bed.

Lex smiled back, a little too long and a little too warmly, and both women were blushing slightly as they made their way out onto the street.

 

The concert was very pleasant - a university choir from the UK on a tour of the city, their leaflets suggested - and only an hour long, which was just right for the time of evening and the style of the music, unaccompanied and ethereal in the small but echoing stone chapel, sporting the extensive frescos shown off by many buildings of its type.

When it finished they wandered back towards the B&B - quite slowly, due to Madeline's ankle, which was protesting even after their relatively slow day of sightseeing.

"So what's the plan for tomorrow?" Lex asked as they walked, as much to take Madeline's mind off her ankle, she thought, as due to interest.

"Well, we should probably make an appearance at the gallery and start asking the right questions," Madeline said, watching where she stepped - and put her cane.

"Mhm... well, there's plenty to see there from what I've read. The architecture alone..."

"Indeed. I'm sure we won't need to feign interest."

"It'll be nice. And we can do lots of sitting down, so it'll be easy on your ankle."

"Oh, I'm sure it'll be fine by then..."

"I'm betting you'll still be a little achy, particularly after today."

"I'll just have to drink more wine, then," Madeline said, a bit giddily.

"I wouldn't recommend that while we're trying to scout for contacts..."

"Oh, stop being sensible, I was just joking."

"Hey, I'm Nurse Nosy, you called it, now you have to deal with it."

"Hmph. I'm sure I don't deserve that..."

"Well," Lex said with a wry chuckle. "Perhaps best you and I don't discuss just deserts."

"Now what's that supposed to mean?" Madeline asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Mmph." Lex frowned, her smile turning sheepish, and she shook her head. "Never mind," she said. "Just a bad attempt at humour. Ignore me."

"I'm finding it very hard to do that just now," Madeline murmured, glancing sideways at the other woman before looking back down at her feet.

"Madeline..." Lex's tone carried a warning to it, but at the same time a note of what Madeline felt sure was longing. It struck a chord in her, magnifying her own ache until she thought she might double over from the pain of it. Get a hold of yourself, Agent.

"Sorry. Sorry. Let's... we should get back."

 

They walked back in silence - washed and changed into their nightclothes in silence, settled onto their respective beds with their respective distraction devices (laptop, sketch pad) in silence, and Lex, apparently deciding that more wine was more helpful than less, refilled their glasses in silence too.

Madeline gulped half hers down in one go, barely tasting it as she sought to numb the mixture of desire and embarrassment within her. She couldn't concentrate on her work, staring blankly at the screen as she tormented herself with thoughts of their past days together, their increasing familiarity with one another, and her growing conviction that she was not going to be able to hide her feelings for the other woman for much longer at all.

Lex sipped at her wine, but wasn't more than a couple of mouthfuls in when she seemed to change her mind, and got back up from the bed. "Is it okay if I go for a run?" she asked. "Think I need to burn off some excess energy before bed."

"Um, sure. Just... stay safe."

Disappearing into the bathroom briefly once more, Lex emerged in the requisite quantity of spandex and made her exit.

It should've been easier for Madeline to concentrate with Lex out of the room, but she had no more success with her work than she'd had before. Eventually she put her laptop away and tried to read her guidebook, only to be interrupted by the ringing of Lex's cell phone.

The display registered the call coming from 'Ange', and it wasn't hard to guess that this was Lex's partner, calling for one of their sporadic, quick check-ins. Madeline could've just let it go to voicemail, but something made her reach out to pick up the phone and answer it.

"Hello, this is Madeline Ellsworth."

There was a short, confused pause. When Angeline's gently accented voice floated back over however she sounded entirely collected. "Hello Madeline Ellsworth," she said. "I take it Lexy can't make it to the phone right now?"

"She's gone out for a run, I'm afraid. I'm sure she'll be back soon."

"For a run? Huh. Well, it's no problem, just let her know I called. Thanks, Agent."

"I'll pass the message on."

"So how's Rome, Agent?" Ange asked now, half-interested.

"Oh," Madeline said, surprised, "Rome was fine, but we're currently in Florence."

"Florence." There was another long pause. "And Lex has gone for a run." It wasn't a question. "Well, I'd better go." And the line went dead.

Madeline blinked; it was obvious she had sad something wrong, but given that she had just reported the facts she wasn't sure what it could have been. With a grimace she placed the phone on the table and pulled her legs up onto the bed to wait for Lex to return.

 

It was about an hour after her departure that Lex returned, looking rather rosier - and damper - than when she'd left. With barely a glance in Madeline's direction she grabbed her towel and nightclothes and headed for the shower, reappearing a few long minutes later. She shot Madeline a rather uncertain smile from the door. "Miss me?" she asked, seemingly the first words that came into her head to break the silence.

"Mm. I mean... um, Ange called," Madeline said almost guiltily, as if she couldn't contemplate saying anything else before revealing this. "I told her you were out."

"You answered it?" Lex didn't look annoyed, but did seem slightly bemused at this.

"I... habit, I guess," Madeline said, frowning. "I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to intrude."

"No, no, it's fine... did she say to call back?" Lex asked, moving over to sit on her bed and lifting her phone, as though it might somehow answer this question for her.

"She... no, not really. But she hung up rather abruptly, I didn't have time to check."

"She hung up on you?" The other woman's brows furrowed. "Weird."

"Mm, yeah. I mean, I might have mentioned that we were in Florence, because she seemed to be under the impression that we were in Rome..."

"Ah." Lex's face was unreadable, but she stood again now, looking at her phone as though it might be about to bite her hand.

"I'm sorry. I, um... I might go for a shower now," Madeline said, despite the fact that she much preferred showering in the morning. "Unless you need anything from the bathroom."

"Hm? Oh..." Lex shook her head. "No no, that's fine."

"Okay." With that Madeline absented herself from the shared room as quickly as her sore ankle would allow her to, bringing her towel and pyjamas to the bathroom and turning on the shower to block the noise from the other room - if indeed there was to be any.

On her return, Lex was back in her 'usual' position reclined on her bed, reading, her wine topped up and cupped in one hand where it rested on the mattress. She glanced up with apparently serene air when the other woman appeared.

"Hey," Madeline said, unnecessarily, beginning to fold her worn clothes neatly at the end of her bed. "So how was your run?"

"Refreshing. You get up to anything interesting in my absence?"

"Not particularly, I'm afraid. Only so much fun you can have alone in a hotel room." Once Madeline realised the implication of her words she blushed, suddenly studiously interested in getting the sharpest folds possible in her old t-shirt.

"Mm. Well. Sorry about the... Ange thing. It's no big deal, don't worry about it."

"I hope I didn't cause any problems. I didn't realise you hadn't had a chance to tell her about our travel."

"Mm. No, it's fine, she'd've been annoyed regardless." Lex's eyes flickered Madeline's way and she said nothing for a few long moments. Then, after what was obviously a careful, if brief, internal struggle, she said. "My ex-husband lives here."

"Oh." The thought that Lex could have once been married had never crossed Madeline's mind, and she stood speechless for a moment before giving her head a shake. "Oh. I didn't know that," she added, perhaps unnecessarily.

"Mm, I'd assumed not. So. There it is. It was a long time ago, but it was pretty intense at the time and we've met up since..." Lex only paused slightly at this, but it was enough that Madeline drew her own conclusions. "...though not in a good while, obviously."

"Well, if you want to meet with him while you're here, I mean, I can understand wanting to take advantage of the proximity..." And speaking of 'taking advantage', how is it that we just so happened to end up in Florence?

But to her surprise, Lex shook her head. "I'm not sure I'd know how to contact him now if I wanted to," she said. "And I don't. Want to. And Ange knows that. She'll just be upset because, knowing that she knows all that, I should have made sure to tell her I was going. She'll think it was careless. And she's right."

"I'm sure you two will work it out."

Lex just shrugged. "She'll just be annoyed," she said. "It's fine." In truth, she didn't sound as though she was terribly concerned.

"Okay, well. Well." With a sigh Madeline set her clothes aside and sat down on the bed, pulling the towel off her shoulders to dry her hair. When she glanced back in Lex's direction, the other woman was already looking her way, her expression a little distant. She looked back to her book as soon as she was caught.

Thoroughly thrown now, Madeline concentrated on towelling her hair dry, her expression distracted. She couldn't help but feel that things between Lex and Angeline seemed off, but then, was she really an impartial judge? In any event Lex didn't seem minded to discuss it any further, just reading and sipping away at her wine. Eventually her hair was as dry as it was going to get - though doubtless it would still dry funny in the night and need re-wet in the morning - and Madeline climbed into her bed, finding her wine glass had been topped up, maybe while she was in the shower. She picked it up, staring across the room as she sipped it thoughtfully.

"Who's taking care of your cat?" The question came from nowhere, and when Madeline started, looking over, Lex was watching her again. It would be almost creepy if it wasn't so affecting in other respects.

"Oh, um, I have a guy who comes in. A petsitter," Madeine clarified. "It's easier than taking him to a kennel. Less stressful."

"Ah. Fair enough." Had Lex been trying to find out more about her private life, to weasel some information about friends or close relatives out of her?

"And I... don't really have anybody in DC who'd look after him for me," she added, as if it was an afterthought. "At least, not that I'd trust with my cat."

Lex chuckled. "A delicate soul, is he?" she said, in a tone that suggested she suspected no cat of Madeline's was anything of the sort.

"Mm... more that at least if I'm paying someone I don't feel too bad if they get bullied," Madeline said, making a face.

She was rewarded with another heart-warming, stomach-fluttering chuckle. "It's like that, is it?"

"Well, he was a stray for a long time, so he's got something of an attitude. And a chip on his shoulder."

"Ah, so this taking in strays thing is a habit of yours, eh?"

"Huh? Oh... I don't know about that," Madeline said, chewing on her lip. "I picked him because no one else wanted him. I don't know if that really applies to... anything else."

"I'm not sure the US Department of Corrections could be said to 'want' me, per se. I'm sure they were glad to get shot."

"They'd be pretty pissed if I let you get away completely."

"Then I suppose you'd better not let me get away."

Madeline glanced over at the other woman, her lip caught between her teeth as she tried to read her expression. Lex seemed torn between meeting her gaze and wanting to avoid it, her eyes flickering past the older woman's a couple of times before alighting there, something between a question and a plea in them.

"Well, you're here with me now," Madeline said huskily. "That's... about as good as I've been able to manage so far."

Lex managed a tiny smile at this, and then tore her eyes away and back to her book, though she didn't really seem to be reading it.

"Lex..." Madeline murmured, her heart pounding in her chest.

The other woman looked over again, quickly, not unlike a deer in headlights.

"...I think I'm going to go to sleep now. But you don't have to. You can keep the light on and read."

"No, that's fine. I could sleep." Lex didn't sound at all sure about this statement, but she put her book down nevertheless, and her wine (after a final sip), and hopped up to head to the bathroom once more, presumably to brush her teeth.

Madeline settled down in bed, fluffing her pillow and pulling the blanket over her. Despite all this she felt wide awake, her senses buzzing with the sound of the water running next door, the scent of Lex's shampoo, the feel of the blanket against her skin.

Lex was soon back, pausing briefly in the doorway and looking in Madeline's direction, though she didn't quite meet her eyes, and then moving between the beds to lie down. The space was small enough that he thighs touched the beds on either side, her hand brushing along Madeline's mattress, and it was all she could do not to reach out and catch it.

"G'night," Madeline murmured, squeezing her eyes shut tightly.

"Good night."

 

It wasn't a very good night. Neither woman got much sleep, though neither one would admit it, staying stubbornly in their beds as the hours ticked by. At last, Lex at least slipped into a fitful doze, and Madeline heard her breathing grow slow and shallow with no small measure of envy.

Eventually Madeline hauled herself out of bed and shut herself in the bathroom, hunching on the toilet and burying her face in her hands to muffle her crying. She had let herself get swept up in the fantasy of spending time with Lex as friends, not as criminal and keeper, and her feelings had come flooding back with a vengeance.

Having assumed that Lex was asleep and not likely to wake, she hadn't thought to lock the door, so she wasn't listening for the quiet click of it opening, and jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder, even reaching to grab the wrist attached to it in an instinctive gesture of self-defence.

Lex knelt down beside her, gazing up at her, face a picture of concern. She didn't say anything.

"I'm sorry," Madeline told her, sniffing and pressing her other hand to her eyes to try and blot out the tears. "I didn't mean to wake you up. I should've gone outside..."

"Don't be ridiculous," Lex murmured, reaching to rest her hands on Madeline's knees, hands smoothing across them, warm through her thin pyjama bottoms.

"I don't think I can do this, Lex. We need to go home, we need to get back to DC and away from... all this."

"Come on, you know we can't do that - we're here now. Don't jeopardise your career over..." She blinked, frowned, shook her head. "It's not worth it." Unsaid, but implicit, was the clarification. I'm not worth it.

Isn't it? My career is just a... thing. It doesn't make me happy. Being around you... I feel different," Madeline said. "I like it."

"It doesn't really seem that way," the other woman said with wry smile, clearly referring for the moment to their present situation, though of course in recent months there had been plenty of times when Lex's presence had been a chore rather than a pleasure.

"You're my CI. You humiliated me in front of my entire department. You have a girlfriend. But when I forget about all that... God, I know I shouldn't. But I can't help it, Lex. I've been pining after you for six years now, and it's just not going away."

Now Lex's eyes were a little bright, and she shook her head slightly. "Don't make me the tough one here, the one who has to walk away," she murmured, her voice quiet, strained. "I'm not strong enough."

"But you did it before," Madeline said, and it was half accusation, half plea. "And that's why I can't... I can't stand to watch you do it again."

"Do... what? What did I... I don't understand..."

"You walked away from me."

Lex raised her eyebrows. "How d'you mean?" she asked, her tone careful.

"As Karen. You..." Madeline felt herself start to well up again and took a shuddering breath, shaking her head. "You had to know how I felt. I'm not that good at hiding things."

"Karen." Lex drew in a long, shaky breath, and released it again as a sigh. "Karen didn't compromise her whole livelihood, everything she had, to be near you. Karen didn't consent to a leash and never run when she had the chance because it would mean never seeing you again. Karen didn't let you-" She broke off as her voice began to wobble a little, then tried again. "Karen didn't let you run her to ground and put her in prison just for the sake of one last chance to be close to you, to try to make you see how she felt." She shook her head again, tears escaping onto her cheeks unnoticed. "I'm sorry, Madeline, if it's Karen you want, I have news: she's great an' all - way simpler, way more lovable than me - but she doesn't exist."

"Lex..." Madeline reached down, placing her hands over the other woman's, curling her fingers as if to keep her from escaping. "I don't want Karen. I just want you, whatever you call yourself, whoever you are."

"You have me," Lex said simply, brows drawing together as though this was not something she had expected to have to clarify. "I... thought you knew that."

"What?" Now it was Madeline's turn to look confused. "But what about Angeline?"

"Angeline knows perfectly well that if you wanted me, she and I would be done. It's not pretty, but it is what it is."

Madeline knew she should feel worse, but the idea that Lex wanted her swept away just about every protestation she could muster. "I'm sorry, I just... you really mean that?"

"Would you please stop stalling and just kiss me?"

Madeline had imagined this moment many times, though in her imagination it had always taken place on a tropical beach or in some hallowed art gallery, not in the cramped bathroom of a tiny Italian hotel. Still, even the surroundings could not dampen the passion with which she leaned down to kiss Lex, nor the thrill she felt when their lips finally met.