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Janice Rand is an organization specialist (not_a_secretary) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2012-06-09 14:56:00

"I kind of wish I'd gotten a shot in."
Who: Gaila, Janice
What: Meetings and Rings and Spy Things.
When: Yesterday
Where: coffeehouse
Rating: PGish, don't think there's much cursing or anything in this one, if at all.
Status: Complete!




Gaila was waiting at the aforementioned meeting point. She had a gun. It was loaded. But it was more of a just in case thing - she didn't think she could hit the broad side of a barn right now. She ordered a root beer float and nursed it.

The aforementioned meeting sight was a coffee house on a busy street corner. It had only one entrance door, and the walls were essentially big glass windows that everyone could see into and out of. It was exceptionally well lit.

Janice walked in, in a black business suit with a tan colored blouse underneath. She too, was armed, with a gun. And pepperspray. And a large swiss pocket knife. But that's neither here or there. She didn't relish the idea of using any of those things, actually. Mostly because she was still sporting that mark on her chin. She really hoped that scar fading lotion was going to work, since the stitches were just freshly out.

She looked around for Gaila, and then picked a table close to the middle of the room, where everyone would have to pass by and see them.

Gaila looked up from her seat in the corner, then got up and shuffled over to the table. It took a little bit of time, but she eventually sat down. She couldn't very well shoot her here, which was probably the point of the location.

Indeed, it was. Janice watched her with the sort of gaze that mirrored a hawk honed in on prey, even if the rest of her face was devoid of any emotion at all. She was good at hiding things.

"Let's order first," she finally suggested, still watching Gaila's every move. "Iced coffee, not hot. Then I'll explain, and return what's yours to you."

Gaila gripped her root beer float, "I'll stick with this, thanks."

"Root beer float in a coffee shop. You're full of surprises, aren't you." Janice ordered an iced latte, and didn't speak again until it was in front of her and she'd taken at least three drinks off it.

"I deserve what I get from you, because like Jim said, I could have found another way."

She'd wanted something comforting. It was comforting, shut up. "You could have."

"And I should have. But it's not the same with me as it is for him. I don't think outside the box like he does. I'm always stuck inside it. And that's why I thought there was no other choice." She tucked a strand of hair back behind her ear and her voice actually softened a little bit. "You made a grave error telling me the things that you did, Gaila. You're a spy, and you told someone from Starfleet Intelligence that you killed an ensign, and that you were a spy. When we're not able to make contact with Starfleet, and there's no means to escort to a prison facility or hope of rehabilitation, we're often left with only one choice. You now know the sort of choice that I've been told I had to do, like you knew you had to kill that ensign, to keep your cover safe."

She paused and looked into Gaila's eyes, saying even more softly, "I wasn't happy with myself. I asked for forgiveness at that grave. But I saved this, because I didn't think it deserved to be lost. It meant something to you, and that's not the sort of fate such things should meet. Even if I don't necessarily like rings and things."

She reached into her pocket, set the ring on the table, and pushed it halfway across with the tip of her index finger.

"You're what?! Does Jim know?" Gaila nearly spilled her float. Then she stared at the ring.

"No. I couldn't say anything even in my timeline. I was trying not to say anything here. But now you know. It's only fair, considering what I did to you." Janice folded her hands on top of the table, so Gaila could see she wasn't going to go reaching for a weapon. "We're supposed to think on our own, but...follow a predetermined set of objective and regulations, too. That's what I'm used to. So that's what I did. I think..." She paused and drew in a deep breath. "...that you've been conditioned as a sleeper agent, and in this timeline, it's not possible for the Federation to help remove that sort of conditioning. That's based on what you told me, and some of your mannerisms. So that's why I deemed you a threat. Even if you had pheromone treatment, your conditioning could still be triggered, and thus you're a danger. Potentially to others."

"Even so," Janice finished, "I remember parts, and not all. I still think I have missions and objectives missing, too."

"What do you expect me to do about it? It's not like I want to go back. I like who I am." Gaila rested her chin on her mug, "I don't want to be a spy."

"I know. What made it worse for me, is you said you didn't want to die. And I felt locked into what I had to do, with little choice. It wasn't until afterward, when I asked Jim a hypothetical question that maybe hinted at this...that he said no matter what, he would have found another way."

She took a long drink off her coffee. Somehow, she managed to not get any whipped cream on the tip of her nose, either.

"I like who you are, too. So maybe, if we find a way to our own timeline...I have a plan."

"I don't want to go back to my timeline..." Gaila shook her head, "It would mean I would have to go back, or kill myself before I was turned in. There's no other way. I'm happy here. With my bar. With Scotty. But I wouldn't want to put him through what would happen if I go back."

"No, you don't have to do that, either way. Also, if I know Mr. Scott...which I do relatively well enough...he'll want to go back. Asking him to stay put, would be like tearing him in two. I also don't think Kirk would let either of you stay, if he was given the opportunity to screw everything in as many solar systems as he could rub his ego all over."

Janice tipped her head to one side, appearing to study Gaila.

"So, you flip sides," she said. "It's easy enough. And if I'm able to, then I'll go with you, to vouch. Temporal Investigations is set up to deal with debriefing in that aspect, so they'd simply give me a new name and identity, anyway. They've done it before, not out of choice but necessity. So it's not like you'd be alone."

"I'd never ask him to stay put." Gaila shook her head. "Never. I'd rather break my heart than do that." She hugged herself, "You know he hit on that shy girl on the valarnet? What about Ensign Giles?"

"I know he hits on anything that moves, Gaila. It's simply the way he is. I accepted that already. You have to accept some things about people." Janice appeared thoughtful, like she was seeing how the pieces of a puzzle might fit. "What about Giles? What's done in that timeline is done. You admit to it. Say you want and need help, then cut a deal. Get help. Continue being a spy. Only you're telling both sides, instead of one."

Janice was realistic enough to know you can't bring back the dead. Unless it was Gaila, and then she ended up being pulled out of rivers and surviving. It was mind boggling, but Orions were apparently sturdier than previously thought.

"What if I want to cut a deal now, but then the conditioning..."

"Now's a moot point. But truce. I wounded you, and you'll heal. Peace offering is the ring. I couldn't let it be lost in a river. I felt bad enough. I get to walk around with a scar that the doctor said will fade with time." Janice drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "The conditioning is problematic. It would require some time to reverse whatever procedure was used on you. But I can say...I won't tell anyone else. No more attempts to kill you. Unless. I catch you trying to hurt one of the crew. And then I'd be forced to at least try to stop you, but that's if Kirk didn't try to stop you first. Which I think he'd do. Mr. Scott is too much in over his head with you, to do such a thing. And I believe everyone, including you, knows that."

Gaila looked down at the ring again, her eyes watering, "You shot me. We had this..THING going and you shot me."

"I know saying I'm sorry won't amount to much, after a betrayal like that. But I felt a betrayal when you told me what you did, too. Because I suspected, but then I had it confirmed. I wanted to like you. I still do. And that's not...the easiest thing for me to get close to people. I’m all business. I’m quiet, but with a side of sarcasm sometimes."

"Did it mean anything to you?" God, she sounded like a spurned lover.

"How do you mean?" was the calm, but openly cautious reply.

"Us? What we talked about? All that stuff? Before you shot me."

"It did. It made it worse, having to do that. The whole time I traveled back and even after that, I was very upset," she confessed. "It meant something before that, on the phone, in Vegas, because I wanted to help you, but you were...repelling everything. I was angry at the way you were acting, but I understood it, later on. I suppose it was a matter of Mr. Scott getting through to you, where others could not."

"A little bit." She shrugged a shoulder, "I never should have let him in.."

"I think the point is, when you let people in, it's supposed to make you a better person. That's why most people do that. Or because they're lonely."

Janice shrugged. It was what it was, and maybe it shouldn't have happened. But she was often left staring at the proverbial cards she was left holding, and had to make do or make sense of them, as they were.

Gaila worked her throat, and her jaw and just..stared at the ring, "How do you deal with it? With the way Jim is? Because I'm not that different from him."

"You learn to accept it. Difference is, you seem to have some genuine feeling for Scotty, and you two...despite your differences...seem to be more devoted to one another. Heavily smitten." Janice shrugged a shoulder. "I'm a realist. I take what I can get, and I make it work. The best that I can, as efficiently as I can. We're not together. He's going to come and go. And I don't need a ring or a house or any of the things that I can get for myself. We're getting an annulment. They said the papers should make it here, this week. By the deadline. Apparently something got held up. I'm not too worried about it."

"So, what, are you going to be the woman he comes back to after he's done shagging half the women on the valarnet?"

"I'm not always available like that. I'm sure he knows that. I have my own life to lead. So does he. I'm not bothered by it." And she meant it. She really wasn't bothered by it. If there had been some form of commitment, then maybe, if it had been serious. But she was actually fine with the way things were, and didn't want or need the commitment, anyway.

Gaila wasn't sure she believed that. But she shrugged her shoulder, "I don't know what I'm going to do. If I have a choice.."

"It's my hope that you'll stay with him. It seems you two have a shot at something, especially more so because you survived the way you did. That's nothing to be wasted. It's an opportunity most people aren't granted."

Janice drummed the fingers of a hand on the table, saying softly, "And as for the choice with that deal...think on it, okay? It’s an option."

Gaila picked up the ring, and slipped it back onto her finger, "I'll think about it. And I owe you a phaser wound."

A soft smile graced Janice's lips for a moment.

"You do. We can call it even, though I've got your teeth marks left on my face too. I underestimated the viciousness of Orions in hand to hand combat."

"I was just desperate!"

"You were also armed. I thought you meant to do the same to me as well."

"I was a woman hitchhiking cross country!" Gaila gave her an incredulous look.

"With a gun. And you could probably kick-box a trucker to death."

"I had the gun, just in case. It was pretty easy to get in Texas." Gaila shrugged a shoulder, "I saw you go for something and I just kind of reacted."

"It was a good decision. I would have done the same." She grinned then, even if it was for a fleeting moment. "I was impressed."

"I kind of wish I'd gotten a shot in," Gaila admitted, eyedarting.

"I kind of wished that I had missed."

Gaila smiled ruefully, "I don't know how I lived, really."

"I don't either. But...I'm...relieved you did. Even if you shoot me with a phaser some day. I promise though. I'll find another way. No more shooting you. It was...Jim was right, it wasn't a good decision. It was a bad one. For that, I'm sorry."

Now there was a gleam in her blue eyes, and a smile on her lips that was like a inner spark of her true self showing through. "Next time, fist fight."

Gaila tilted her head, "No holds barred?"

"None," Janice agreed, pushing her now empty coffee cup aside. "In fact, it would probably be good practice. I'll accept a pummeling with blood and stitches and plenty of bruising if obtaining a phaser gets difficult. After all, I won't ever heal up from what you can."

Part of Gaila would be fine with that. Her pride was still wounded, and her trust still bruised. She squashed that part. Too much time laying around and thinking, and her anger had burned out from being hidden around Scotty so much.

Speaking of which, Janice had to ask, "Did you tell him everything?"

"I told him it was probably a mugging."

"I'll leave it to you to decide. We could wait a while and come clean. I told Jim that I took a spill down the stairs. Face-first." And bruised herself up on purpose to make it look like she'd taken a few bumps and tumbles down said stairs, to cover up any other marks Gaila had left on her. "But, everyone needs someone to talk to, so if you want...next time, you have my ear. Only. No repercussions. We'll take up kickboxing each other, for that."

"How do we explain the inevitable broken bones?" Gaila smirked at her.

"Got carried away. Same way you'll have to explain when your nose is smeared across your face," Janice replied, breezily. She even winked.

"We fell." Gaila giggled. She was still tense, but it wasn't as bad as earlier.

Janice looked relaxed. But she looked that way most of the time, in a professional demeanor. Or, rather, she tried to make herself look that way. Sometimes annoyance or fear creeped out, but it took an exceptional moment to have it appear on the outside, these days.

"We fell. I like that. I'll set up a scene to make it look convincing." He almost laughed too, but as soon as she looked at her phone, she realized how late it was. "I have an appointment with a client. I set it up on purpose, so in case I went missing, there'd be questions. I wasn't sure if you'd try something out in public like this. But nothing happened. So that's a load off."

She started to stand up, "You have my number still, so if you need anything or want to set up a match between us, let me know. And if you need to vent about Scotty or spying or anything else, you know how to reach me. Anytime."

"Last week I would have put a bullet between your eyes." Gaila's voice was a little cold. It visibly startled her.

"Yes. It might still happen. If you want to think of it this way, it's better to keep your friends close and your enemies closer." Janice adjusted the strap of her purse so it was over her head, and the strap was crosswise over her body. It was what was most comfortable for her. "We'll be very close frenemies."

And maybe someday they'll try to kill each other again. Or make out. Gaila was game for either.