isn't it? [taylor swift]

chapter 56

"You know, I don't know how professional this is."

Thena rolled her eyes as Leia smirked at her over her own cup of coffee, the duo walking down the street after leaving the shop. It was getting a lot colder as they reached the middle of Winter, but Leia was still pretty found of takeaway coffee and strolls.

Her baseball cap was snug on her head and the scarf around her neck had provided a nice bit of warmth but also privacy. It was easy to pass on the street and not realise, but she wasn't hiding either.

"Lots of people take their informants for coffee," Thena replied. "It's not a date."

"Could have been," Leia joked, but they both knew she didn't mean that. "In all seriousness, I am happy you reached out. How's desk duty been treating you?"

Ever since Dylan's case had came through, Thena had promptly been taken off her undercover work. Her face had been plastered all over the news, and it was likely that she'd probably never have a deep undercover role like that again. Instead, she was back to sitting behind a desk and helping process other cases - just like Leia's.

Thena gave her a deadpan look, but there was a faint smirk pulling at her mouth. 

"Desk duty is as thrilling as you'd expect. Filing paperwork. Drinking terrible coffee. Trying not to kill the new recruits. I miss the field."

Leia chuckled and took a sip of her drink. "Sounds like a blast."

"It's not the same," Thena admitted after a pause. "But it was always the plan after something big like that. Once your face hits primetime news, you're not exactly useful for undercover anymore. Besides, I think I'd burned out a little. Yours wasn't an easy case."

Leia looked at her sideways, her breath misting in the cold air. 

"No," she said softly. "It wasn't."

They walked in silence for a few paces, the only sound the rustle of city life around them and the distant screech of a bus turning a corner. The sky was a dull, winter grey, the kind that pressed down on your mood if you let it, but with Thena at her side, Leia didn't feel the weight of it quite as much.

"Sometimes I forget it's over," Leia said finally. "Like, I'll be brushing my teeth or making toast and suddenly... boom. There's this flash of it all, especially that last night. Him. What he said. What he got me to do."

Thena glanced at her, eyes steady. "That's not something you just move on from. You survived it, but it's going to echo. Maybe for a long time."

Leia nodded, chewing the inside of her cheek. 

"I don't talk about it much with my people, if I'm being honest. I mean, Georgie, Riv, Adrian and Azul know everything. Jack knows some. Taylor..." She paused, tasting that name again. "Taylor knows a bit more than most in some ways. But even then, I don't always want to make it real by saying it out loud again, you know?"

"I do," Thena said simply. "But you're not alone in it. You never were."

Leia looked over at her, a smile flickering on her lips. "You always had that annoyingly stoic, reassuring agent thing down."

"Comes with the badge," Thena replied with a grin. "That, and looking incredibly hot while interrogating criminals."

Leia laughed, throwing her head back a little, the sound genuine and bright. 

"You really are something."

"Something incredible," Thena agreed shamelessly. "And not to brag, but I've definitely seen at least two people walk by and assume you're on a date with me."