I pinched the bridge of my nose and sighed deeply, listening to Liz and Tom bickering in the other room. They had been at it for hours, picking at tiny, insignificant aspects of the others outfit or word choice or whatever other bullshit they could think of. It was all obviously nonsense, the tension between them was not caused by any of those things. The succubus could tell that Tom didn’t like her, which wasn’t a surprise, Tom wasn’t making any effort to keep it a secret. I would say it was lucky that the plan didn’t require them to interact too much, tomorrow, but that had been extremely intentional. Still, I hadn’t anticipated it being this bad. I had assumed Tom could at least be professional. I had hoped the two of them might even get along. They had the last time. But apparently that was just wishful thinking, on my part. I had already come to accept that Tom was committed to this cause, and I doubted that there was anything I could say that would make him change his mind. But we did still need to get along well enough to make it through tomorrow, so it was time to deescalate things, if I could. Taking a deep breath, I picked up my teapot from the kitchen counter and carried it back into the living room. I placed it down in the centre of the small dining table and clapped my hands, silencing the argument for one blissful moment, as every head snapped to me.

“Well, I think we’re done here,” I announced.

Luke, at least, looked relieved. He had been standing in the corner, attempting to melt into the floor for most of their current squabble.

“Done?” Tom raised an eyebrow. “What are you talking about? We are still working.”

“Are you? I can’t say I noticed,” I replied, dryly. “You haven’t done anything but argue for the last hour.”

“At least we are doing something!” he retorted. “You don’t think I noticed that you disappeared on us like 15 minutes ago?”

“That was necessary. I was removing a threat,” I replied.

“Threat? What threat?”

“Me. If I listened to the two of you fighting for one more minute, I was going to shoot one of you. So, I went and made some tea. Sit, have a cup. We aren’t going to accomplish anything else worthwhile tonight, anyway.”

Tom, Luke and Liz just stared at me; I sat down and started pouring. After a moment of awkward silence, they grudgingly joined me at the table. Tom took a sip from his cup and coughed.

“Seriously, Ray? Is this tea or whiskey?”

“It can be both,” I shrugged, taking a swig from my own teacup.

“I don’t think this is a good idea. We have to be on our game tomorrow. And you’ve already been drinking all day.”

“Exactly, so what harm can a few more do? Besides, I already told you, it is important to relax a bit before a big job. It isn’t that late, and we don’t have ready until noon. It’ll be good for you.”

“I don’t know, Ray, he might be right on this one,” Liz chimed in.

“Well, of course you’d think that. You ubarae can’t hold your liquor. It’s different for humans,” I turned back to Tom. “But, of course, I don’t want to push you. If my special brew is too much for you, I can get you water, like the succubus.”

Tom hesitated for a moment.

“You know what? Fuck it,” he muttered, then tossed back the rest of his drink. “One or two won’t hurt.”

I lifted the pot and refilled his cup, then my own,

“Good choice, you’ll feel better.”

Luke sipped more cautiously, but otherwise followed Tom’s lead. Liz just shook her head.

“So, is this supposed to be some sort of teambuilding exercise?” she asked.

“You could think of it that way, if it helps,” I replied. “That is what we need most right now, after all. Mechanically, everything has actually come together pretty well.”

“Except for all the things we can’t control,” Liz noted.

“Life’s full of those, Lizzy. Might as well get used to it,” I laughed.

“I still think we should discuss…”

“Nope,” I raised a hand to silence her. “No more talking about tomorrow. The plan is set. Everyone knows their roles. We aren’t changing anything now. Let’s move on and talk about something else. Something other than work. We can all just have a normal conversation.”

Silence.

“Ok, Luke, how about you pick a topic?” I attempted.

“Me?” Luke almost choked on a sip of tea. “Why me?”

“I don’t know. You are young, you must have something interesting going on.”

“I really don’t. I…” he paused. “I haven’t had much of a life, lately.”

His discretion was improving. That was positive.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

“Alright, fine. Then I will tell a story. I just have to think of one you won’t already know, Tom.”

“Are there any?” he asked.

“What, you think you know all my secrets?” I chuckled. “Come to think of it, I don’t believe I have told any of you about what exactly happened the night I met Simon. That seems appropriate for the audience. Now, you know how it starts, of course, I had the day off because of the car crash…”

“Car crash?” both Luke and Liz repeated in unison.

“Right, you two wouldn’t know that part,” I rubbed my chin. “Well, then I guess I will have to backtrack and start with how I met Vicki, then. Let’s see, I guess we could start with Tom and I setting up a profile for online dating…”

“… And everyone here knows the rest, right?” I concluded.

Lifting the tea pot to refill my cup, I splashed tea onto the table and wiped it up with my sleeve before bracing my arm and trying again.

“Holy shit!” Luke blurted. “That isn’t how Wallace told that story at all! Is that how you guys remember it?”

He looked between Tom and Liz, who both nodded.

“The parts I was there for, pretty much,” Liz agreed.

“I’ll admit, I am very curious what Wallace has been telling people,” I said, refilling the cup he held out to me.

Luke gulped a healthy portion and set the cup down heavily before continuing.

“Well,” he leaned in conspiratorially, though he did not lower his voice at all. “The way he told it to us, he’s the one who first noticed something was wrong, when a few agents went silent. He went out to investigate and found that they had been ambushed, and he was able to call the rest in from the field just in time to prevent everyone from being killed. He saved all of your lives, and then came up with a plan to stop the Domini and their attempt to seize power.”

I snorted,

“That’s rich. He investigated. That jackass hasn’t ‘investigated’ anything in years. And if we are being honest, he wasn’t very good at it then, either.”

Even Tom chuckled a bit at that.

“You know, I worked with him once, when he was still out in the field,” I continued.

“You must have been pretty new, then, Wallace… Pete,” Tom corrected himself, “has been a bureaucrat pretty much as long as we have been in the game.”

“Yeah, it was pretty early on for me. I was still being paired with older agents, at the time. And it was actually Wallace’s last case in the field.”

“His last case, huh?” Tom laughed. “Were you that irritating to work with?”

“Sort of,” I replied, wryly. “I never did tell you, but I registered a complaint against him. Looking back, he was probably already on thin ice, and that was enough to finally get him shuffled out of the field.”

“What did he do?”

“Well, we were out looking for a suspect in a movie theatre. We had a general description, had gotten a tip that he was there. We went in to flush him out, and we split up to search. Eventually I find the guy and drag him out into the alley behind the theatre. Wallace is already there, with a suspect of his own. He’d beaten the guy half to death by the time I stumbled on them. He thought it was our suspect, got mad he was ‘lying’ about his identity. Thing was, he wasn’t lying. Wallace had grabbed the wrong guy. Once we got that sorted out, he begged me to tell the bosses that the incubus had been belligerent, refused to identify himself, that he had attacked us, that sort of thing. I told him to go to hell and when they asked, I told them the truth,” I drained my cup. “He hasn’t really liked me much, since.”

“What did you think of him?” Tom asked.

“At the time, I figured he was just burned out, had seen too much. But now… let’s just say I wouldn’t be as charitable.”

“That does explain a bit of the tension between you two. I did always wonder,” Tom reflected.

“Of course, he just got shuffled to a position with more power, probably more money, too,” Liz scoffed. “That asshole got better than he deserved.”

“Hey, fuck you,” Tom jumped to his feet, swaying slightly. “He did what he needed to, to protect people.”

“Who was he protecting by assaulting an innocent person?”

“Person? Ha!” Tom barked a sarcastic laugh. “I don’t think…”

“That now is the time for this sort of conversation,” I interrupted, putting a hand on his shoulder and gently pushing him back into his seat.

Liz glared at me, furious. I could tell she was running out of patience, both with me and with the situation. Fair enough.

“Look, everyone just chill out. We just need to get through tomorrow, and then we can go our separate ways, alright? Here,” I splashed a sip’s worth of tea into an empty cup and slid it over to her. “You need to relax a bit.”

“Not interested.”

She went to push the cup away, but I put a hand on her wrist and met her eyes,

“Seriously, one sip won’t kill you. Just do it.”

Liz rolled her eyes but raised the cup to her lips. I knew she wasn’t planning to drink it, she would simply pretend, to get me to shut up. That was enough. For just an instant, I saw her eyes widen, but she covered it with a quick cough. When she put the cup down, it was empty.

“Happy now?” she asked.

“Of course,” I grinned. “Now, perhaps Luke here can tell us what else Wallace has been saying about me?”

We all turned back to the younger man, only to find him with his head resting on the table, fast asleep.

“Light weight,” I chuckled.

Tom laughed, but shook his head,

“Be that as it may, we should probably all turn in. I am feeling a little wiped out, myself,” he finished his drink and rubbed his hands over his face, his lids seeming to rest very heavily on his eyes.

“Good point, tomorrow is a busy day and sleep sounds very welcome,” I rose, steadying myself in the table.

“You think you can manage to take Luke with you? I’ll bunk with Liz,” Tom instructed, stifling a yawn.

“You think that is a good idea, boss?”

He still didn’t want me alone with her.

“We can’t fight if we are sleeping, can we? And I need to go pass out, so let’s not argue.”

“Fine, fine,” I raised my hands in surrender.

Tom stumbled down the hallway, bracing himself on the wall as he did. Liz rose and followed behind, and as she passed by me, I clapped her firmly on the shoulder.

“Thank you, for helping, Liz.”

“I’d say any time, but seriously, Ray, never again.”

I smiled and clasped her hand, briefly,

“I understand. Goodnight.”

“Hurry up,” Tom called.

She turned and walked away. I shook Luke by the shoulder, and he roused enough for me to only need to half drag him to the bedroom, but the moment I dropped him into the bed, he was gone again. I sat in the dark for a few minutes, listening to his slow, steady breathing. Finally, when I was pretty sure he was deeply asleep, I lifted his right arm above his head and let it drop. It smacked him in the face, and he snorted in his sleep, but otherwise didn’t stir. Perfect. I rose and slipped out into the hallway, returning to the living room. I wasn’t quite ready to call it a night, just yet. There was one more thing I needed to take care of. I sat down at the table and retrieved my teacup. The pot was nearly empty and, as time passed slowly by, I was beginning to contemplate brewing another, when I finally heard the door down the hall open softly, and Liz stepped out into the hall. She closed the door carefully behind her and approached the table, studying me carefully as she did. I smiled.

“Glad you could make it, Liz. Now, we can finally have a little talk.”