ALEC

A FEW DAYS LATER

"Check," Kishan muttered boredly, sliding his knight piece across the chessboard.

"Checkmate," Alec countered indifferently, flicking Kishan's piece with his own to emphasize his triumph. Kishan stared at the board for a few seconds before he threw himself back into the opposite sofa cushions and groaned in defeat. "That makes the score three to nothing."

"Jeez, who knew you were secretly a sadist when it came to chess..." Kishan muttered dejectedly as he glared accordingly at the chessboard as though it had wronged him.

Alec protested, "What's that supposed to mean?!"

"Oh nothing..." he replied. "I'm going to grab a drink, want anything?" he asked and Alec shook his head. He muttered something about not rushing it, seeing how he was not eager to lose a game to Alec for the fourth time in a row. Maybe it would be best if they did something else—not that there was much else to do.

As Kishan left, Alec ran a hand through his hair as he checked for any updates from the Captain, but so far nothing. There hadn't been any word about the case from the Captain since he called to the day they arrived to tell them he was glad they made it there alright. No word on any progression or even lack of since then, and Alec didn't like it. He didn't like the feeling that he could be doing more, working harder to prove his friend's innocence so that they wouldn't have to be stuck here.

But there was little he could do from a safe house. With no updated information, or proper resources to even look up on files. He felt stuck. And even worse, it was all they could do to keep themselves occupied throughout the day.

Kishan, for the past few days, had probably been the most neutral out of the three of them—claiming that being bored was a 'life skill' that Alec oh so clearly had yet to master. He and Alec mostly kept up reliving a few old academy memories, and even a few stories of what Kishan did at the bureau...before the whole frame job. Alec noticed he didn't like to talk about it, and his demeanour noticeably became strained and visibly uncomfortable the closer they got to the subject, so Alec, respectfully, didn't pry too far into. Though he wanted to.

Then, of course, there was the bounty hunter—if she was even still here that was. It was rather hard to tell.

She hadn't shown much, Alec only caught sight of her a few times in the past few days, bringing things to the basement and leaving them there, or when she occasionally came out to eat something. Though it seemed she was rather tense about something. Which was strange because there didn't seem to be anything wrong. That he knew of at least.

He tried to ask her about it—really, he did. Finding it within himself to show one ounce of concern for her...But as expected, all he got in response was a cold shoulder and a snarky remark about him not anything better to do than to bother her.

Some partner she is if she's not even present ninety-nine percent of the time...

Or perhaps was that better?

They didn't get along. Which was proven on multiple occasions. Maybe it would be better—or at least not cause and heated conflicts—if he did just let her keep her distance and do...whatever it was she was doing. Maybe.

But still. Alec wasn't always used to working with partners, but that didn't mean he didn't know how. Partnership worked like a simple mechanism, if one piece was not in sync with the other, something would fall apart, sooner rather than later. He had worked on enough duo cases to know that. If you wanted something, you had to be openly willing to ask in order to know. And in this case, Alec wanted to know if he could trust Maize.

It wasn't like she was the only one with a bad feeling recently. The apprehension of just waiting for something to happen...He was just better at hiding it.

Ten seconds later he made his decision. He stood and pocketed his phone—it wasn't telling him much anyway, before walking calmly down the hall to the bounty hunter's closed door. Taking a relaxing breath, he raised a fist and knocked lightly.

There was a pause, and Alec could practically feel her gaze through the door as if she could stare right through it and could see it was him. Would she just ignore it? That wouldn't surprise him if he did. But all of a sudden, the door opened, with Maize standing there with an impassive gaze. He hadn't even heard her footsteps approach the door.

"What do you want?" his voice was calm, but the underlining edge told him that she would be extremely ticked off if he had come just to annoy her. She was wearing her hair up, for probably the first time Alec had ever seen, and for a moment, Alec was caught in the way the loose strands of her velvet black hair veiled her eyes, making them appear that much more prominent. Like Embers, he thought secludedly, before Alec quickly dismissed it. He was not here to think about her eyes.

Still, under the heat of her pressing stare, Alec tried his best to keep his face neutral and leaned his shoulder against the frame, folded his arms calmly to say he wasn't here for a fight.

"To talk," he said, not surprised when her eyes narrowed slightly.

"To...talk?" she repeated.

He nodded once. "To talk."

"Since when have we ever 'talked'?"

"This would be the first, I know."

Her eyes held a slightly more humorous glint after he made that last comment, but she was still guarded and it showed in her gaze. "So what exactly you came to 'talk' about, West?"

"I came to offer you something." This caused her to tilt her head. "A truce."

"What are we? Two countries at war or something?" she questioned, but she did not dismiss the idea right away. "Where is this suddenly coming from?"

"Call it a change in perspective," he responded. "We're stuck here together, for who knows how long, and in my opinion it would probably be less stress on Kishan if he doesn't have to break up our little arguments every five seconds, don't you think?"

Maize regarded him. "Tell me the real reason and maybe I'll think about it."

"The real reason?"

"You don't really expect me to believe that it's just for Kishan's sake do you?"

He paused and watched her. "Fine...maybe the reason you're looking for is the fact that I don't like the feeling of not being able to trust someone who I'm supposed to be on the same side as..." he said evenly. "So maybe, for that sake, I'd be willing to put up with you."

That may not have come out quite like he wanted, but he held back a grimace and kept his expression tight. He didn't like the fact that's he acted as though she could see right through him, it was unnerving. But he wouldn't take it back either.

"Oh how considerate," Maize responded sarcastically.

"Is that an agreement?"

She didn't say anything.

He waited. One beat. Two beats. A minute.

This was starting to feel uncomfortable, and Alec couldn't take it.

"Or...you really could just not talk to me," he muttered sarcastically, feeling the need to break the stretch of silence, "that'll work too."

"You're so impatient," she rolled her eyes after a moment before up to meet his gaze evenly. "Fine. Truce...but on a few conditions..."

He blinked once. She had agreed? Or had he heard her wrong? And what...conditions?

"I'm listening."

"No being an asshole," she stated flat and clear, her gaze accusingly knowing that Alec felt the pull of a smile at the corner of his mouth.

"Why, Maizey, you flatter me."

Her eyes narrowed and she crossed her arms. "Secondly, agree to stop with that stupid name."

Alec again felt a light smirk pull at his lips that he didn't try to fight off as he leaned subtly closer opened his mouth to answer, when a new voice broke into the conversation.

"Aw, how cute, my bodyguards are finally getting along."

Both of their heads turned to the left to see Kishan standing there, watching the exchange with a sarcastic look on his face as he held a can up to his lips. Maize rolled her eyes and muttered something under her breath as she took a step back from Alec so that they weren't in such tight proximity that had happened some time during their trade, while Alec had his attention on giving Kishan an unimpressed look, pretended not to notice.

"What?" Kishan asked innocently. "Did I interrupt something...intimate?" he raised his eyebrows suggestively.

A beat.

Then something soared past Alec's head then and hit Kishan square in the chest.

He sputtered and stumbled back in surprise. Not to mention his cotton shirt was now dripping wet with the drink he had previously had in his hand.

The man looked down and let out an aggravated sigh. "Well thanks a lot for that...now I have to go change..." he muttered grudgingly as he shot them each a look. Neither of them said anything, merely revealed in the funny moment as, with a huff, Kishan turned and stalked back towards his room with a sulk.

Alec chuckled as he looked back at Maize. "That was a good aim."

"Detective," Maize smiled teasingly, "Was that a compliment?"

"Don't get too excited," he rolled his eyes as he felt the warmth of her brush past him as she bent to retrieve the object in question. It was just a book, a paperback to be precise, from the house's shelf.

Maize flipped it over and read the cover out loud, "Recibió Su Mercecido..." she mumbled. Alec listened to the words as they rolled off her tongue, and chuckled again with amusement. Maize tilted her head. "What?"

"Recibió Su Merecido..." Alec repeated, "if I'm right, translates to 'got what he deserved'. How ironic."

Maize suddenly looked a mix of surprised and impressed. "I didn't expect you to know how to speak Spanish," she mused.

"Never forgot those classes in high school," he replied with a shrug and smirked. "Guess I'm just great at remembering things..."

She shook her head. "That may be, but you're an oblivious idiot when it comes to things around you," she stated, surprising him.

"That so?"

"Yes."

"Well that's just harsh Maizey..." Alec said with an air of mock offence.

"What did I say about the name?" she questioned.

"I never actually agreed."

"Jackass," Maize huffed under her breath, though loud enough for him to still clearly hear—only for once, there was no trace of malice or animosity in her tone. Her eyes glinted with humour as she smiled. Genuinely. Her eyes shone and her face looked rather soft.

He couldn't remember a time—if ever there was one—when he saw her smile like that; without any traces of smirking pompous or domineering intent. Not to say there weren't times when he acted the same, but even so, he couldn't take his eyes off her as a thought crept to his mind.

She should smile like that more often...

The surprising thought broke as soon as it had come against his will as he realized what he had been thinking. Immediately he shook those kinds of thoughts away. It seemed, for a moment, that he had forgotten who this was—not some random girl he had caught sight of in a bar, or one that he had met one night on the street. Maize was the bounty hunter—someone who proved more of an antagonist to him than the criminals in his job ever had.

And yet...here he stood now, enjoying the air between their playful bantering.

Truth be told, he had always been curious about Maize. Sure she came off as rather cold and, at most times, hostile, but it wasn't like he hadn't heard of the nice things kind restaurant and street owners had to say about her, or the fact that she didn't always appear so cold.

There were times he noticed, when she thought no one was paying attention, her cold expression would falter. And sometimes even drop completely. However the moment someone was close enough to see, it was back on.

Alec had always found it peculiar of her. Did she feel she had to be that way? Like she couldn't show weakness. Always had to be on guard. Defensive or offensive...but never neither.

Why?

Maize was strange...different, in a way. Something about her had always enticed and pulled at his mind, but for the life of him, he couldn't figure out why. He only saw what he saw. Heard what he heard.

He didn't know Maize Ember.

He knew the facts about her; like no past records, no identification—seemingly older than a few years, no documented education. She had never been in the system and yet, she had vast knowledge that most normal people didn't have, her physical abilities were uncanny. She was as skilled a criminal hunter as if she was one herself. But there was no evidence to ever back that up, or even anything that suggested differently either.

Because she had no backstory.

So it always begged the question in his mind; Who was Maize Ember?

"Whatever you're thinking about has got you frowning, West. Keep doing that and your face might get stuck that way..."

He snapped out of it, his thoughts, his questions, as he blinked and focused back on the bounty hunter. He had let his mind run too wildly just now hadn't he? And she had noticed.

He pulled his thoughts together enough to chuckle a response. "Beginning to worry about me already, Maizey? You go soft quick..."

"Ha, worried that you've suddenly started to imagine things maybe," she countered, her tone still teasing.

This was easier. No malice. No hate. Friendly banter instead of constant bickering and disagreement.

This was easier.

Ignore the doubting feeling.

It didn't matter what he thought of her, she had so far proven not only useful but an ally to the law and too the precinct—despite his reluctance to admit it.

And even if you do not fully trust her...I do...and my word should be enough...

The Captain trusted her, and he was not a man to simply throw that word around for the fun of it. Alec knew that better than most. And he knew that Captain would not tell him to trust someone if he wasn't completely sure of them...knowing Alec's perspective in the matter.

But Alec and the bounty had always had a rough relationship...that didn't mean she was bad. The banter they had shared more recently was better than the bickering they experienced in the past.

As Alec watched Maize's expression closely, he realized he didn't really hate her. She annoyed him, no doubt. She could set him off more than anyone he had ever met before, no question. But there was no hate.

Who is Maize Ember?

Maybe, by the end of all this, he would find out.

This was a start.