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call me hot, not pretty [closed]
Jan. 31st, 2026 05:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
higginbottomEsther is ready for her date (?) (!!!) with Gaheris. She has a lovely dress that's a touch more modern than what she's used to wearing, but hey, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.
She's waiting in the Mansion kitchen, with books of poetry and novels by her side - and she's reading through the recipe for a sponge cake she found in the Mansion's library (go figure, they've got cookbooks too!).
She's eager, and excited, and a little nervous.
She's waiting in the Mansion kitchen, with books of poetry and novels by her side - and she's reading through the recipe for a sponge cake she found in the Mansion's library (go figure, they've got cookbooks too!).
She's eager, and excited, and a little nervous.
new equation, part 11
Feb. 10th, 2026 07:03 pmdeniabilitiesTo say that the drive back to the hospital is awkward is an understatement. Janet has a discomfort in hospitals after everything she's been through, Michael isn't great with them either for the same reason, and both of them don't like Richard Ambrose. To suddenly be on his side is a strange twist of fate. "This isn't at all what I expected to be doing on a Thursday morning," Michael says simply as a way to break the silence. "I know," Janet replies, "but it doesn't matter what we're doing as long as we're doing something that matters."
The most important thing is that they're helping to put a criminal away. That's always been Janet's priority, no matter what her physical or emotional state. Which is why it's always been Michael's job to keep everything else in mind. "How do you want to approach this?" she asks. "When do we bring up what happened before?"
She can't help but be offended that Ambrose didn't remember Michael. That they worked their asses off to arrest him and yet he was just able to forget all that. Part of her wants to walk into that hospital room and make herself known. But she also knows that's not the morally right thing to do. So she's checking herself, deferring to her partner and now boss to lead the way.
( cut for length )
[1445 words]
The most important thing is that they're helping to put a criminal away. That's always been Janet's priority, no matter what her physical or emotional state. Which is why it's always been Michael's job to keep everything else in mind. "How do you want to approach this?" she asks. "When do we bring up what happened before?"
She can't help but be offended that Ambrose didn't remember Michael. That they worked their asses off to arrest him and yet he was just able to forget all that. Part of her wants to walk into that hospital room and make herself known. But she also knows that's not the morally right thing to do. So she's checking herself, deferring to her partner and now boss to lead the way.
( cut for length )
[1445 words]
new equation, part 10
Feb. 2nd, 2026 05:17 amdeniabilitiesTurning the investigation to another angle—like Janet used to do with all the Rubik's Cubes she solved—is all it takes. That shift in perspective makes lines of inquiry clearer and the situation feel less chaotic. Chase Bergen is focused entirely on a day-of timeline he's been building for himself, until he feels someone looking at him and glances up to see his partner and his boss in the doorway. "What are you doing here?" he asks them, prompting Janet to glance up from her own file to nonverbally have the same question.
"I wanted to hear if there was any update," Michael replies. They're just a few minutes from the two-hour deadline that Carter set to reconvene with new information, and it's also now late enough in the morning that other pieces like the second neigborhood canvass should start coming into play. Chase can understand that but then his eyes flick to Adam. "Why are you here?" he says, with a lightness because he can guess.
"You expected I wouldn't check on my partner?" Adam teases. But that joke has a grain of truth to it because he cares about Chase and he cares about Janet and so he wants to be sure they're okay.
( Read more... )
[1224 words]
"I wanted to hear if there was any update," Michael replies. They're just a few minutes from the two-hour deadline that Carter set to reconvene with new information, and it's also now late enough in the morning that other pieces like the second neigborhood canvass should start coming into play. Chase can understand that but then his eyes flick to Adam. "Why are you here?" he says, with a lightness because he can guess.
"You expected I wouldn't check on my partner?" Adam teases. But that joke has a grain of truth to it because he cares about Chase and he cares about Janet and so he wants to be sure they're okay.
( Read more... )
[1224 words]
[daily_prompt] and the grand facade
Feb. 4th, 2026 09:05 amdeniabilities[Prompt: Summer cold.]
When Chase asks if she wants to get dinner, it goes completely over Janet's head. This is not abnormal; Michael told her that she practically needs a sign to know a man is into her. It has never once occurred to her that Chase could be interested in her as anything more than his mentor and friend. Not even when he was holding her in the back seat of his Genesis. She knows about his ex-wife and how hard he took the divorce, and that's always been how she views his romantic life. It doesn't possibly include her.
After the first time, she starts to suspect something, but she tells herself that he's just being nice because she's done so much for him over this second phase of his career. That of course he's looking up at her because she's always been there for him. It's after the second time that Chase realizes he has to say something, that he can't let her literally walk away from him as they're leaving the restaurant. He swallows his anxiety as she walks to her car and calls her back.
"I'm not just asking you to dinner," he tells her in the parking lot. "I'm asking you out."
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[1040 words]
When Chase asks if she wants to get dinner, it goes completely over Janet's head. This is not abnormal; Michael told her that she practically needs a sign to know a man is into her. It has never once occurred to her that Chase could be interested in her as anything more than his mentor and friend. Not even when he was holding her in the back seat of his Genesis. She knows about his ex-wife and how hard he took the divorce, and that's always been how she views his romantic life. It doesn't possibly include her.
After the first time, she starts to suspect something, but she tells herself that he's just being nice because she's done so much for him over this second phase of his career. That of course he's looking up at her because she's always been there for him. It's after the second time that Chase realizes he has to say something, that he can't let her literally walk away from him as they're leaving the restaurant. He swallows his anxiety as she walks to her car and calls her back.
"I'm not just asking you to dinner," he tells her in the parking lot. "I'm asking you out."
( cut for length )
[1040 words]
new equation, part 9
Jan. 31st, 2026 10:27 amdeniabilities"Where the hell is your partner?" Adam Lydon quips when he arrives forty-odd minutes later. "Was it something I said?" It's absolutely like him to lead with a joke—but he's doing it because he has a sense that Janet's absence is a sign that something bad is happening. She and Michael are always the first two people in the financial crimes bullpen, and Michael is the only one there. So if he can make Michael laugh, give him that little ounce of levity, he's going to.
And Michael laughs, because he's amused especially this early in the morning. "Janet and Chase are helping CID on a case," he explains. "A federal judge was shot a few hours ago; they're running down a few leads." Adam nods, wondering like his partner did before why he didn't get the second call, but unlike Chase it doesn't bother him that much. "How serious is it?" he asks the more important question. "Other than the obvious."
"We don't know yet, but it's shaping up to be a pain in the ass," Michael says. "So I'll cover Chase as necessary while I put off as much of what Janet and I are working on as I can manage. Hunter and Nick will have to handle themselves. You let me know if you need me."
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[1340 words]
And Michael laughs, because he's amused especially this early in the morning. "Janet and Chase are helping CID on a case," he explains. "A federal judge was shot a few hours ago; they're running down a few leads." Adam nods, wondering like his partner did before why he didn't get the second call, but unlike Chase it doesn't bother him that much. "How serious is it?" he asks the more important question. "Other than the obvious."
"We don't know yet, but it's shaping up to be a pain in the ass," Michael says. "So I'll cover Chase as necessary while I put off as much of what Janet and I are working on as I can manage. Hunter and Nick will have to handle themselves. You let me know if you need me."
( cut for length )
[1340 words]
new equation, part 8
Jan. 29th, 2026 04:13 pmdeniabilities"Is it fair to say," Carter Harris comments to the room, "that we have fuck all?"
It's a blunt assessment meant to lighten the mood, but he's not wrong. Between the two other CID agents he had called to Kensington and the three from financial crimes, one would think somebody would have found something. But the biggest revelation in the Paulina Hanover case is what they've managed to rule out. Carter has heard the prison recording Chase received, and they're all in agreement that this shooting has no direct connection to the fraud investigation last year. But if it's not that, what could it be?
"I want to look at her personal life," Chase says, repeating what he had mentioned to Janet earlier in the morning. "This is someone who had to know where her teenage son lives. That's not readily available information. Either someone was following her before this—or it's someone who knows her personally." He looks at Janet and Michael, wondering if they're going to mention the Ambrose connection, and is surprised when they don't bring it up immediately afterward. They're both trying to logically decide if it even matters.
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[1388 words]
It's a blunt assessment meant to lighten the mood, but he's not wrong. Between the two other CID agents he had called to Kensington and the three from financial crimes, one would think somebody would have found something. But the biggest revelation in the Paulina Hanover case is what they've managed to rule out. Carter has heard the prison recording Chase received, and they're all in agreement that this shooting has no direct connection to the fraud investigation last year. But if it's not that, what could it be?
"I want to look at her personal life," Chase says, repeating what he had mentioned to Janet earlier in the morning. "This is someone who had to know where her teenage son lives. That's not readily available information. Either someone was following her before this—or it's someone who knows her personally." He looks at Janet and Michael, wondering if they're going to mention the Ambrose connection, and is surprised when they don't bring it up immediately afterward. They're both trying to logically decide if it even matters.
( cut for length )
[1388 words]
