Chapter 11 #2
“Hey, Theo, you’re gonna give me and the rest of the guys a complex. We came all ready to be a hero, only to find out that, once again, you’re the hero of the night,” Stuart said.
Monica felt the man next to her stand up a little straighter. “Theo’s a hero,” he declared.
“Yes, you are, bud,” Stuart agreed. He approached Monica’s right side and reached for her other hand.
They walked like that, her in the middle, Theo and Stuart holding her hands, down the sidewalk toward Food For All, which was now lit up, every light in the building shining bright.
They paused before going inside and Monica asked Theo, “You ready?”
“Ready,” he agreed.
She felt a tug on her right hand and looked up at Stuart. “You’re amazing,” he said quietly, then kissed her temple quickly, before squeezing her hand and letting it go.
Feeling warm and gooey inside, Monica led Theo into the building, careful to avoid the broken glass that was all over the floor just inside the door.
Twenty minutes later, after Theo had admitted to breaking the window and telling the police officers what he’d seen, he and Monica were seated at one of the tables. Someone had gotten Theo a piece of paper and a pencil and he was bent over it, drawing.
Pid stood off to the side and kept his eye on Monica.
The way she’d patiently talked with Theo and gotten to the bottom of what he was trying to relay was impressive.
It was no wonder she was as good at her job as she was.
He wasn’t surprised the ambassador’s son had been so worried about her back in Algeria.
He felt someone come up beside him and turned to see Elodie. She looped her arm in his and leaned her head against his biceps.
“I like her,” Elodie said softly.
Pid couldn’t help but smile. “Good.”
“I mean, at first, I wasn’t sure about her. You and her seem so different. And she didn’t seem interested in getting to know any of us.”
“She was nervous.”
“I get that. It’s not easy to come into a close-knit group of people.
Mustang told me a little bit about her, but not a lot.
I wasn’t sure what to expect, and when she didn’t even try to join in our conversation at dinner, I was a little upset.
But after you guys went out to the beach and came back, she was better. ”
Pid nodded.
“So, I figured she was probably just trying to figure out the dynamics of the group. I know us women can be a bit overwhelming at times. But hearing how she was with Theo? And how she figured out what he was saying with that Kevin McCallister thing? And how she is now? I get it.”
“What do you get?” Pid asked, genuinely curious.
“She’s quiet. Introspective. She doesn’t like to bring any attention to herself. She’s never going to be super outgoing, especially in public. But get her around someone like Theo, and she blossoms as if she’s a flower seeing sunshine for the first time.”
He nodded. “It just takes her a while to warm up to people,” he said. “It’s taken her two weeks to really be herself with me.”
Elodie nodded and dropped her arm from his. “If you don’t keep her, you’re crazy, Pid.”
“She’s got a career, Elodie,” he warned. “The chance of her staying is pretty damn low.”
“Then change her mind,” Elodie argued.
“It’s not that easy.”
“Why not? I stayed. As did Lexie. Give her a reason to stay, Pid.”
“Hey, El, can you come here a sec?” Lexie called from across the room where she was still talking to the officers.
“Coming!” she yelled to her friend. Then she turned back to him. “You look…content. I haven’t seen you so laid-back in all the time I’ve known you. If you let her leave, you’ll regret it.” Then she turned and walked across the room to see what Lexie needed.
“Sorry, man,” Mustang said as he approached.
“You heard?” Pid asked his friend.
“Most of it. Elodie’s on a mission to see everyone on the team as happy as we are.”
Pid nodded, but didn’t comment.
“For the record, Monica does seem to have a calming effect on you. Lately, you’ve seemed more settled. If that makes sense,” Mustang said.
It made perfect sense to Pid. Because that was exactly how he felt.
He looked forward to spending his evenings with Monica.
She was easy to be with, and instead of obsessively watching the news, trying to figure out where their next mission might be, he spent his time talking with Mo and seeing if he could get her to smile.
His friend slapped him on the back and headed across the room to his wife.
Slate had left a while ago to take Ashlyn home, and Jag had already left after making sure everything was more than adequately handled.
Lexie and Elodie had insisted Kenna head home with Aleck, as well.
They were meeting with Robert in the morning to go over some wedding details and it was getting late.
Pid was lost in his head, thinking about what Elodie had said, when he saw Monica walking toward him. She had a piece of paper in her hand.
“What’s up?” he asked in concern.
“Theo drew this. I think it’s the guy he saw in here tonight.”
Looking down at the paper, Pid saw a perfect rendering of a man. “Holy shit, Theo can draw!” he exclaimed.
“I know. I mean, I knew he could; look at the beautiful mural on the wall in here. But many times people are good at one kind of art and not another. I wasn’t sure he’d be good at drawing portraits, but when we sat down, I kind of encouraged him to try…and this was the result.”
“Why don’t you bring that over to Lexie and the others and see if they recognize him? If nothing else, the cops need it to help them figure out who he is.”
Monica hesitated. “I thought you could bring it over there.”
Pid reached out and put his finger under her chin, urging her to meet his gaze. “What are you afraid of?” he asked in a low tone.
Monica shrugged. “Tonight didn’t go that great. I know it, you know it, they know it. I figured it would be more comfortable if I just hung out with Theo until you wanted to leave.”
“Cut yourself some slack, Mo. It took us a while to get comfortable with each other. Why did you think it would be any different with my friends?”
The look in her eyes slayed Pid. It was obvious she wanted to be friends with the other women, but wasn’t sure how to do that.
“I’ll go with you. Come on,” he said, not giving her a chance to argue. He reached for her hand once more and counted it as a win when she didn’t yank it away. They walked over to where Elodie and Lexie were talking to two police officers. They all turned to face them as they approached.
“I asked Theo to draw a picture of the man he saw in the building tonight,” Monica said without preamble, as she held out the paper.
Lexie took one look and gasped. “Holy crap, that’s Cash!”
Elodie looked over her shoulder and nodded. “Yeah, that’s definitely him.”
“Who’s Cash?” one of the officers asked.
“He was hired recently to take my place at the downtown Food For All,” Lexie explained.
“Could he have a key to this building?” the officer asked.
“He shouldn’t. But it’s possible he was able to make a copy at some point. And it’s probably not a stretch that he was able to find out the alarm code, so he wouldn’t set it off when he came inside.”
“We’ll look into it,” the other officer said. “That drawing looks pretty damn accurate.”
“Thank you,” Lexie told Monica.
She shrugged. “I didn’t do anything.”
“Yes, you did. You figured out that it was Theo who broke the window, purposely setting off the alarm, and you got him to relax enough to draw this. You practically solved the case for the detectives,” Lexie told her.
Monica’s cheeks turned a rosy pink. “I’m glad I could help,” she said. “But really, it was all Theo.”
“Whatever. Consider yourself a part of our tribe,” Lexie said firmly. “I know you aren’t comfortable with us yet, but you’ll get there.”
Monica looked at her in surprise, her cheeks getting redder. “Oh, um…Okay.”
“And I know you aren’t sure how long you’re staying, but if you could maybe slow down the process of looking at those pictures the commander has you going over, so you can be here for both Kenna’s bachelorette party and her wedding, we’d really like that.”
Pid and Mustang burst out laughing.
“What?” Lexie asked. “I just want her to be around for as long as possible.”
“I’m not sure asking her to interfere in a federal investigation while you’re standing in front of two military members and two officers is the smartest idea,” Midas said as he walked up and put an arm around Lexie.
“I’m not interfering!” Lexie insisted innocently. “Just making sure Monica knows we want her to be here for the wedding in a couple weeks.”
Pid saw Monica give her new friends a small smile. “I’ll see what I can do,” she promised.
“Great!” Lexie exclaimed.
“Awesome!” Elodie echoed.
“I’ll let you guys continue with what you were doing. I’ll just be over there with Theo,” Monica said, gesturing to the table across the room, where Theo was bent over another piece of paper.
After she walked away, Lexie turned to Pid and said, “She’s amazing.”
He couldn’t keep the smile from his face. “Yup.”
“We’re almost done here,” one of the officers said to Lexie.
She turned back to him, and Pid wandered back across the room to a spot against the wall, closer to Theo and Monica. He could now hear their conversation, and Monica looked up and caught his eye. He gave her a reassuring smile, and she returned it.
The sight of that adorable dimple once more made his heart beat faster. He absently listened in as Monica reassured Theo that the policemen liked his drawing. They spoke about how Theo didn’t like crusts on his sandwiches and how he hated waffles.
Monica asked him how he liked his apartment nearby, and Theo said he liked it a lot. He could sleep without worrying about someone stealing his stuff.
“You feel safe there?” Monica asked.
“Yeah, safe.”
“It’s important, feeling safe,” Monica said gently.
Theo looked up at her and asked, “Do you feel safe?” he asked.