Chapter 6: Rejection

Brooklyn found herself doing busy work in the library for yet another day in a row. Crispin and Warren had taken over her office by unspoken agreement and were working on sifting through Criminal's employees in there.

Crispin, being the sweet and helpful guy he was, had taken it upon himself to clean up her clutter and put away the books that she left scattered in there without telling her. She hadn't known he had done it until she had walked in after work one day to grab her purse and her office was neater than it had been since she had moved in.

Warren had denied he had done it as he walked her to her car. Crispin, he said, had just started doing it so subtly and without any emphasis on what he was doing that Warren hadn't noticed until he was already half done. He had tried to help but Crispin had told him to get to work and focus on what he was doing.

Brooklyn didn't want to seem ungrateful or ruin the tidiness so she didn't feel comfortable going back in there. She left books and all sorts of things just laying around. Unlike ordinary people, she never forgot where she placed something so she never had to worry about misplacing it. As a result, she was very haphazard about putting things down. She didn't want to move back into her office and begin putting down books, keys, papers, files, and who knew what else that Crispin, being sweet, would pick up without comment. So she had let the boys take her space and spent most of her time organizing the shelves, finding work for her little army of assistant librarians, and finding research material for her latest paper.

It was, in fact, quite dull. She knew when she agreed to do this that Jack wouldn't have her doing anything dangerous or outside of her field of expertise. She just hadn't realized it would be so boring. Really, she was doing nothing at all abnormal. All the busy work she was doing, like now putting a shelf back in order that had been knocked over by a careless visitor, could be and should be done by her assistants, but she had nothing else to do. When this was over, she was probably going to check the return cart and put those away.

There was nothing else she could do. Warren and Crispin were the ones Jack put in charge of going through the employees. Until they moved onto Lester's part of the 'inspection' she was completely useless. When they finished, she was to keep up appearances in front of the heads, but for now, she was just a librarian.

It was as she was working on the last shelf that one of her assistants, Kieth, came walking up.

“Oh, I was going to do that, Miss B.” he said looking distressed at seeing her sitting on her knees putting the books back in order.

“It's alright, Kieth.” Brooklyn said softly without looking up. “I've got this covered.”

“Yeah, but it was still my job.” he kneeled down beside her and looked over her work.

Kieth was Brooklyn's favorite assistant, he had been with her longer than any of the others, and he was very laid back with an infectious grin. His surfer boy, tousled blonde hair and sun kissed skin didn't belong in the quiet library but he assured her that he liked working there. He was an undergraduate at the university the next town over and was a mythic history major. Mythics, he had told her, were totally awesome and taking the class was like taking a course in fantasy.

“You can help Merida, she's logging all the new books into the directory.” Brooklyn suggested. Merida could handle it on her own but doing her assistants' work meant they had less to do and were just as bored as her.

“I could.” he agreed but he didn't stand up. “So, we've all been wondering, what's with the guys who've been in your office for the last week?”

Brooklyn chuckled at the way he said it, so nonchalantly as if it meant nothing to him at all and he was just asking as a favor to the other assistants. “Don't bother them, Kieth.” she warned with a smile. “They're doing some stuff for Jack.”

“O-o-oh.” Kieth scooted closer to her with a big grin on his face and a mischievous glint in his eyes. “Something for Jack? Something about bad guys and secrets? You can tell me, I can keep a secret.”

“Your imagination is running away with you.” Brooklyn hoped the lie sounded better than she thought it did. She wasn't that good of a liar. “It's paperwork. They needed a place to work, I offered my office.”

“Paperwork, huh? Lame.” Kieth sighed at the lack of juicy gossip as he picked up a book and placed it on the shelf for Brooklyn. “Nothing exciting ever happens here.”

“I could always get you a transfer to work in Criminal if you want.” Brooklyn said as she picked up the last few books and began placing them, almost lovingly, on the shelf.

“Really?” Kieth said, that same nonchalant tone back in his voice.

“Jack always needs interns to run paperwork.” she laughed as he rolled his eyes. “But you could work your way up to being an investigator.”

“That sounds pretty cool.” Kieth laughed as Brooklyn placed the last book on the shelf and stood, dusting off her skirt. “If it's not too much trouble...?”

“It's no trouble.” Brooklyn started walking away, Kieth at her side. “My assistants don't usually stay as long as you. They use the job here to get a job somewhere else in MCRC.”

“And yet you stay, ever vigilant and true, in your sacred duty as librarian!” he said in a very grandiose voice making her laugh a little.

“Go help Merida.” She told him with a smile. “I think she likes you, you know.”

“I get that same feeling.” he winked at her. “She is cute. But I think I'll just head home for the night. It's getting late. Maybe I can convince Merida to come with me.” He winked at her. “Later, Miss B.” He quickened his pace and headed off towards the assistants' work room.

Brooklyn smiled at his back, he was a nice kid, and turned her feet towards her own office so she could check on the boys.

Not that the boys needed checking on, of course. Brooklyn was just bored. This whole 'spy' thing was a lot more uninteresting than she thought it would be.

“It's not supposed to be interesting for you.” Warren had told her when she had complained the other day. “I would rather this entire thing turn out to be completely boring for you.”

It had taken Brooklyn half the car ride home to figure out that he had been expressing his desire that she remain safe.

She marveled at him, she really did. He looked at her sometimes, she could swear, like he had never seen anything quite like her. She had spent a little over half and hour staring in her mirror trying to figure out what it could possibly be. After searching her face, her body, staring at her drab clothes, she was forced to conclude that she must be imagining it.

But what did it matter, really?

She paused as her office came into view. Warren was showing something to Crispin with a rather severe look on his face as Crispin, who looked as calm as usual, nodded.

He really was very handsome, she thought with a smile. He was bigger than her by a full head, his eyes sparkled like precious gems, and feeling his lips on hers was unlike any other. Kissing him, feeling him pulling her against his body as if he couldn't quite get close enough, made her feel desirable and wanted. In his arms, she didn't feel awkward and separate from everyone.

Every night, Warren walked her back to her car. Sometime they talked, usually about what they had done that day, but often it was just a silent, comfortable walk. He would take her hand in his like they were in school and make her smile and blush by that simple motion alone.

Then, as they drew even with her car, he would spin her around, putting his hand on her waist, then take his time, kissing her like they had all the time in the world. It was sweet, simple, and all the more marvelous because of it.

When he kissed her, Brooklyn smiled as Warren looked out her office window and spotted sight of her, for just a moment, she forgot the entire world existed.

Crispin saw Warren look away and turned to see her standing outside as well.

He smiled and waved, beckoning her in.

She did so, feeling Warren's eyes on her as she walked.

“Hey.” he said as the door shut behind her.

“I was just coming to check up on you.” she said to both of them, though she was looking only at Warren.

“Not as well as I would like.” Warren sat back, he had taken over her desk with Crispin standing next to him much like he did in Jack's office.

“You having trouble getting information on the heads?” Brooklyn asked.

Crispin shook his head. “The problem is that we've got so much on them. Every one of them is hiding something or another. Really, it's a wonder the three of them aren't in jail.”

“We're practically drowning in police reports, employee complaints, financial records, of which Eisenhower has the messiest, and enough speculation about them that it's getting hard to separate myth from reality.” Warren sighed as he looked the files over.

“What have you got so far?” Brooklyn asked, sitting in one of her guest chairs.

“I've got Eisenhower for multiple sexual harassment lawsuits that mysteriously vanished thanks to Cohen.” Warren help up a file. “As well as an embezzling charge from years ago that no one could prove.”

“He embezzled MCRC?” Brooklyn asked, surprised. She couldn't imagine Jack would let that slide.

“No, he embezzled the museum he worked for before MCRC. But, like I said, no one could prove it.” Warren smiled as if he knew what she had been thinking. “He pays his taxes, late every year, but he pays them. He's got so many weird charges to his accounts though, it's hard to see if every one of them is legit.”

“He's known for his parties.” Crispin told her. “So he spends a great deal of money all the time. A lot of that expenditure is hard to track especially since it's generally believed that there are drugs at the parties that he buys himself.”

“Some even say he makes them himself.” Warren held up a file. “He's always loosing female employees because of harassment.”

“And the only people he has working for him are human.” Crispin signed.

“Really?” Warren and Brooklyn said at the same time.

“You didn't notice?” Crispin asked a bit surprised. He didn't think Brooklyn would have noticed, being a human herself, but he was sure that Warren, being a fellow mythic, would have picked up on that.

Warren typed for a moment on his open laptop, then scrolled down. “Huh...You're right. Human, human, human...They're all mostly female and every one of them is human.”

“We'll have to look into the reason for that when we do his inspection.” Brooklyn made a mental note of it as Warren nodded.

“Just because he favors humans doesn't mean he hates mythics.” he said automatically, more out of reflex than he really believed it.

“What about Mrs. Cohen?” Brooklyn asked finding herself wishing they had dug up something truly awful on the horrid women. She chastised herself for having such a mean feeling but couldn't bring herself to dash the hope.

“Assault, assault, assault...” Warren said moving a rather large stack of files. “Last year, her old assistant quit with multiple bruises and a broken wrist but no charges were ever pressed. She's got a pile of dust where a heart should be.”

“Her financial record is clean, though.” Crispin signed. “She's wicked, but her files and life are incredibly well organized. Everything accounted for, everything in its right place.”

“But if you want someone with the psychology of a serial killer, look no further.” Warren rubbed his temples.

“That's a bit harsh.” Crispin smiled taking any heat out of the words.

“And Lester?” Brooklyn asked next. Besides Jack, who she actually liked, Lester was the only one she cared for at all.

“Personally, he's my least favorite.” Warren shook his head, thinking back to the alcohol incident.

“He's a pure scientist.” Crispin signed as Warren typed something into the laptop. “To him, almost anything is excusable so long as it's for science. He doesn't have much in the way of money, his life is as scatterbrained as he is, but he's certainly got the emotionless distance from the rest of society that would be needed to cut people up.”

“I don't think Lester would go so far as to do something like that to still living pregnant women.” Brooklyn frowned. “He's not that bad when it comes down to it.”

“He tried to poison me.” Warren reminded her.

Brooklyn found herself almost trying to defend Lester's actions but she closed her mouth before sound came out. Really, Warren was right, there was no excuse for what he did at dinner that night. And, if he had succeeded in poisoning Warren, even non-fatally, Brooklyn would have tore strips from his hide then let Jack do the same. She realized with a blush that she just wanted Mrs. Cohen to be guilty. She was biased, and she was a bit ashamed.

It was a good thing then, she smiled as Crispin silently pointed to something that had come up on the screen, that she wasn't the one in charge of the investigation.

“We're going to start Dr. Fontane's inspection on Monday.” Warren told her. “We finished looking into Jack days ago, we just couldn't get started on Fontane without spending an adequate amount of time pretending to inspect Jack.”

“I'm guessing Jack passed?” Brooklyn smiled.

“With flying colors.” Crispin winked. “The man is spotless. If Mr. Ozera ever retires, I think Jack should take his place.”

Brooklyn laughed because she doubted it would ever happen. Jack was happy in Criminal. It was his calling in life. Besides, the thought of MCRC ever being run by anyone other than Victor was strange to her. Intellectually, she knew he wouldn't lead MCRC forever, she just had trouble picturing it.

“I'm actually about to take what we've found so far over to him.” Crispin said as Warren closed the laptop. “It's a good stopping place for the weekend.”

“We can't work over the weekend?” Brooklyn asked.

Crispin shook his head as Warren answered, “We can't do the inspections without Mr. Ozera since, officially, they're his inspections. He's got some business dinner this weekend that we're required to attend as his assistant and bodyguard.”

“Most of the bodyguards hang out and gossip like old women at those functions.” Brooklyn smiled, reminding herself to actually look at the schedule Victor's assistant sent over. “You might enjoy yourself.”

“You've been to them before?” Warren asked as Crispin gathered the laptop and a few files.

Brooklyn nodded. “Victor has taken me to a lot of things. It won't be strange to see me there for anyone. That's why Jack chose me for this.”

“And here I though he did that just to torment me.” Warren smiled at her.

Crispin shook his head playfully and left, his arms full so he was unable to say anything but Brooklyn just knew he would have made some kind of comment if he could.

Brooklyn found herself unable to find words to say to that, so she just looked away shyly, hoping she didn't look as inexperienced with flirting as she knew she was.

Warren, however, didn't mind at all.

He thought it was beautiful, the way she could sit there, her ankles crossed, her hands delicately sitting in her lap, and just look like a queen. Brooklyn, he smiled at her as she looked back at him, her cheeks tinted pink, was the most elegant women he had ever met. Just staring at her was enough to make him grin like an idiot.

Could he tell her that, he thought, that he thought she was elegance personified and must have been a queen, no an empress, in a former life because normal people couldn't pull of such simple dignity and not sound like an idiot?

No, he couldn't. He needed better words. He needed to practice better words.

He wasn't good with words.

But, he smiled as he stood and walked around the desk and held out his hand to help her up, he was good at actions. He couldn't tell her such things, but there was no reason he couldn't show her.

Brooklyn looked at his hand for a moment, as if unsure what it was for, but took it and let him pull her to her feet.

The moment she was up, he had his hands on her hips and was swaying her gently with non-existent music.

Brooklyn smiled and leaned against him, savoring the warmth of his body. Halitjas' had a higher body temperature than humans, and she enjoyed the warmth he radiated. He was like a warm summer day and, especially now in the dead of winter, she enjoyed it immensely.

She enjoyed it so much, she didn't want to let him go.

And why should she?

Brooklyn turned her head up and saw him grinning softly down at her.

“I was thinking.” she said, taking a chance. “Do you want to come over to my place tonight?”

Warren blinked, surprised.

He wasn't surprised at the offer. Of course he wasn't. It was an offer he had been anticipating, an offer he had dreamed about. He had found himself waking, many times since he met her, out of a dream where he had had this glorious woman in his bed. He had been looking forward to it, he had even been deciding on everything he was going to do. Candles, light music, rose petals; Brooklyn would be treated like a queen when they finally did come together. Because it was definitely 'when' and not 'if'.

What surprised him was the sudden drop in his stomach at the offer.

Seeing her smile up at him like that, so sweet, so inviting, he suddenly felt so guilty, so wrong. He shouldn't be allowed to hold her like this. He shouldn't be imagining her like that, what was wrong with him?

He was a failure, he was a loser; guys like him didn't get to hold women like her during the night.

“I can't.” He found himself saying, trying to work his features into an expression of regret instead of the guilt and shame he felt. “I still have some work to do.”

“I don't mind waiting.” she shrugged indifferently.

Warren realized he had stopped their simple dance and he dropped his hands. “I don't know how long I'll be.”

He saw the realization of his refusal come into her eyes and she took a small step back as her face fell. It wasn't much, in fact it was almost unnoticeable, but Warren still felt it like a punch to the gut. He wanted to reach out and pull her back, apologize, give her everything she asked. But he just couldn't get his hands to move.

“Alright.” she smiled politely.

She was hiding behind that same old polite mask again he realized and he tried to open his mouth to explain to her, he had promised her honesty and he felt like he was lying, he felt this real need to try and justify why he was doing this. It felt wrong to do it, but he couldn't bring himself to pull her back.

“I'll just leave you to it then.” she turned and walked around her desk and pulled her purse from the bottom drawer.

Warren watched her silently, hating himself and feeling like a complete and total loser, as she walked back around her desk and headed for the door.

Just as her hand reached out for the knob, she paused and turned hesitantly back to him. “I'll see you tomorrow right? At Victor's to get ready for the dinner?”

“Of course.” Warren tried to smile comfortingly at her but even he could feel how fake and painful the smile looked on his face.