Work Text:
Grace Notes I--Two Ships Passing
A Human Target fic
by rhymeswithhope
FBI Agent Emma Barnes slid the pizza into the middle of the conference room table and took a seat with a sigh.
It took a supreme effort of will, but Agent Emma Barnes was resolutely not biting her nails. She was, however, tapping one toe on the floor of the café, and turning her coffee cup around and around in her hands. Her hands with their not-bitten nails.
“I can’t believe I gave up a date to meet with a guy who thinks he’s fucking Batman.” She took a sip of her coffee and grimaced. Too much sugar. No wonder her foot wouldn’t stop tapping.
“Thanks for waiting.” Christopher Chance slid into the seat opposite her and placed a thin manila folder on the table.
“What’s this about?” Barnes couldn’t believe the last time they’d met, she’d actually considered going on a date with this guy. Oh, sure, his eyes did their twinkling thing, and he had that little half-smile playing at the corner of his mouth. But that did nothing to change the fact that this man was a hired gun, a self-proclaimed killer.
Well, a reformed killer. According to him.
And that half-smile only made her guts quiver a little bit.
“Curious?”
“Try annoyed.” She pushed the creamer and sugar in his general direction.
“Well, I think you’ll find this interesting. Winston and I ran across it when we were working a case. It’s . . . tangential to our current project.”
“Tangential? What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means I can’t solve everybody’s problems.” He gulped down the coffee. “Gotta go.”
“Wait, what—“
“It’s all in the file,” he said. As he passed her, he leaned in close and whispered, “And for the record, I would never fuck Batman. Guy’s got way too many issues.”
By the time she turned around, retort buzzing on her tongue, he’d disappeared into a crowd of theater-goers who’d just entered the café. “Dammit,” she muttered.
[end]