MAIZE

"Morning." The greeting came out as more of a groan from the FBI agent.

In the casino, Cassandra had a more plausible portion, a quieter joint for when the party-night casino wasn't running. It was also where they currently housed their mornings. A private section, much like a resort might have for its VIP members. In this case, that was the three of them.

Kishan held his head as he plopped down in the seat across from Alec at the small white, circular table.

Alec gave a raised look at his friend's current crapulence state. They had all managed to change the night before, no longer in their dress attire. Alec looked the closest to how he usually did, in dark jeans and a maroon t-shirt to accommodate the warmer climate. Kishan wasn't dressed all that differently, but his navy linen top had clearly been put on sloppily, and the top two buttons had fallen loose.

"Hangover?" Alec asked with an already knowing look. He definitely wasn't impressed. "Seriously man, I can't believe you let yourself get that drunk last night," he reprimanded with a shake of his head.

Kishan shielded his eyes as best as he could from the indirect sunlight. "The idea held more appeal last night than it does now, if that makes your uptight-ass feel any better..." he snapped agitatedly.

"A little."

Kishan rolled his eyes. "This coming from the guy who was still hungover when he took his final academy exam—if I remember right." He was recalling old times.

"Yet I still passed higher than you," Alec responded. "If I remember right."

Kishan sent him a less than amused look and shook his head in obvious exasperation. "It was ridiculous! How could they not tell you were still drunk?!"

"Beats me," Alec shrugged.

"Don't you two sound like the ever responsible protectors of our community," Maize said with a sarcastic roll of her eyes, glancing between the two.

She sat at Kishan's left, wearing black leggings and a blue long sleeve made of thin material so that she wouldn't overheat. Just as an accessory—since she didn't like to go many places without it—her leather jacket hung draped over the back of her chair. As she continued to listen to the two old friends prating.

Alec shot her a defensive look, "Hey, we were just kids back then. I enrolled at the academy straight after college—and they all did stupid shit like that," he explained, as if that made it any better.

Kishan chuckled and nodded in agreement, "Going to parties before and after graduation was pretty much tradition." He paused and directed at Alec, "But if I remember correctly, you couldn't drink at the ice breaker party one of the guys threw because you were still underage at the time. Ha, should have waited until you were at least 21 to enroll." Kishan laughed. "You missed out on that one."

Alec rolled his eyes, "It wasn't like he didn't throw a million parties afterwards. Besides, you looked like shit the morning after that one...kind of like now," he stated with a pointed look.

"Good job breaking it to him lightly," Maize let out sarcastically.

Kishan grumbled at the both of them under his breath. "Where'd you get the coffee?" he then asked as he eyed the two cups on the table.

"Second hall to the left, take a turn to the mini cafe," Maize said, taking a little pity on the man.

Kishan thanked her and grudgingly got up to go search for morning cure. Maize shook her head at the slight patheticness as she silently laughed and took a sip of her toffee flavoured latte—Cassandra had a sweet selection of caffeine beverages. But she then noticed how Alec's gaze was following Kishan as well, only there was no trace of amusement that reflected in his eyes, he looked concerned about something.

Maize sighed and set down her coffee, folding her arms over the table she looked at him. "Alright, what's on your mind?"

This caught the detective off guard as he turned and gave her an inquiring look. "What?"

"You have that 'look' on your face."

"What? What look?"

"The same one you have on now," Maize stated as she bluntly pointed out his furrow-eyed expression.

Alec paused, relented, then sighed. "I don't know...guess I'm just a little unsettled..." he said.

Maize tilted her head. "By what? Having to hear about your old academy stories and how much an idiot you were?" she asked, being droll.

Alec shook his head slightly. "That's just it...back in the academy, I was the reckless kid who made a lot of idiot decisions—that I'd didn't admit to at the time. Kishan was the one looking out for me and who made sure I didn't get too far out of hand," Alec explained.

"Great job he did if you were hungover taking your final."

"I'm serious, Maize, he's...changed...somehow. I didn't really notice it before, but this kind of behaviour is really unlike him."

"Don't be too hard on him," Maize counselled with a sigh. "I know you two have known each other for years and all, but if it's any consolation, I'd say last night was more a matter of Cassandra's influence if anything else. She's known to have a way with...changing men's ideals."

"I bet." Alec then frowned down at the table. "Even so...I don't know...I'm being stupid aren't I?"

"Well, I can't say this is any stupider than some of the stuff I learned about you in these past few minutes, but anyway..."

"Thank you, Maize, you're so helpful."

"Can you blame me?" She questioned with a slight smirk. "It both surprises and amuses me."

"Good to know," the detective rolled his eyes.

Maize took the time to study him. Bringing up a few thoughts from last night, she quickly pushed them away. "Tell me more about your days at the academy," she blurted, needing an instant distraction.

Alec regarded her suspiciously, "I'm not telling you any more drunk stories."

"Not those. Other things. Kishan mentioned something before about how you were the reason he got into the FBI?" Maize said, recalling back when they had first met, she remembered him mentioning something about that.

Alec blinked before looking down at his cup. "I really didn't think he knew, but I guess they must have told him about it at some point...Back when we were both in advanced training, Kishan and I were both selected to be taken into consideration for the bureau's candidate program. However, there was really only one spot available at the time. I simply opted out."

Maize blinked. "Just like that?" she asked with surprise. "Didn't you want it too? The position I mean?"

"Sure I did," he responded. "I just felt like Kishan deserved it more. He always talked about how he had always wanted to work as FBI, plus, he was older than me and more suited for the job so..." West suddenly stopped and shook his head. "Though this isn't what either of us had in mind at the time. The shit situation he's in sucks."

"That isn't your fault though," Maize stated, furrowing her eyes at the expression that fell on his face.

He didn't say anything.

"Alright, tell me something else then," Maize said, pressing him to continue on.

Alec flashed her a confused look, a sudden undeniable glint of interest sparking in his eyes. "Why the sudden curiosity with me all of a sudden?" he asked, smirking slowly.

"Does it matter?" Maize asked defensively.

Alec shook his head and leaned back into his seat. "Alright, I'll play. What do you want to know?"

"Where'd you grow up? Brooklyn?"

"No, didn't move to the city until I was older."

"Where'd you live before then?"

"A lot of places."

Maize shot him a curious look for him to continue. When he didn't, she pushed the question, "Why was that?"

She noticed the detective's eyes shift away from her own, instead focusing indirectly on the table surface. "Well...my father was kind of a dead-beat that couldn't keep a job, so we ended up moving all over to whatever place he could find work. The man was never sober anyway so that happened a lot," Alec said blankly. Then turned to Maize and saw her expression. "That's probably not what you were expecting to hear, huh."

It wasn't.

He lowered his head, "Sorry."

"No. Tell me..." she said gently. Why was she pushing this? Why did she want to know?

He looked surprised by her straightforwardness. It was alright, she was surprised too. Why did she feel she cared to know?

Alec must have seen something in her gaze, sincerity, earnestness. He looked hesitant for a moment before he loosened and gave a meagre shrug of his shoulders like it was nothing. "There's not much to tell, honestly. He was a drug addict, and didn't really know much about raising a kid...so I guess the whole moving thing never bothered him."

Maize felt her gaze soften as she stared at him. She began gently, "What about your..."

"Mother?" The bitterness as he spoke the word was undeniable. Alec let out a slight diversion between a laugh and a scoff. "She left when I was six...Pretty sure I had a sister, I think, I'm not sure anymore...if I did my mother took her after she divorced the old man. Can't really say I blame her for that though..." he muttered truthfully.

"Why didn't she take you too?" Maize asked, finding it hard to believe a mother wouldn't.

Alec paused, "I don't know."

Maize, for the first time in her life, was looking at the detective with genuine sadness. Maize was surprised that he had even told her all of this—it clearly wasn't something he was fond to open up about. She had never heard anything about his past before. She had assumed everything. But then again, she had never thought asked until now.

When Alec met her eye, he smiled softly. "You don't have to look at me like that you know...this is kind of the reason I don't talk about it..." he muttered awkwardly, running a hand through his hair.

"Sorry." Maize hardly apologized for anything, but for this, she felt she had to.

Alec shook his head softly. "Don't be. My childhood wasn't that bad, honestly."

"What do you mean?"

Alec flicked at his coffee cup, looking like he was stalling to find the right words to explain. "Well...as I said, my father was an addict—yeah, that part wasn't great—and I guess, one night, he was finally caught doing illegal drugs or something and got himself arrested. I was at the rental house at the time, so when the arresting officer went back to the house after being told that the man had a son, he found me alone there. And since my father was never good at hiding his cannabis and shit—leaving it places I guess any kid would have been able to get to without much of a problem, not knowing what it was—they deemed him an unfit parent and I was taken to the station. When it was clear I didn't have any other family—that they could track down that was—the officer that made my dad's arrest decided to take me in. No idea why, but he did. And I'm honestly going to be forever glad he did because he was more of a real father than my biological one ever was."

Maize took in every detail of his story with a sympathetic look in her eyes. She had no idea the detective's past looked this way.

"How old were you when all this happened?" She asked.

"Ten."

"Christ..." she shook her head.

Alec chuckled. "Yeah...but don't get the wrong idea, it's fine really. I actually had a great childhood after I was taken in, it wasn't perfect but it was better than what I would have had. And that's another reason I didn't want to be FBI just yet...I guess I wanted to be like the officer, my adoptive old man."

Maize smiled slightly at the end of the story. It did explain a lot about the detective in ways she hadn't seen before now. His determination in his job didn't just come from ambition, it was also something he was trying to live up to, in honour of the officer that took him in. Although the other portion of his story had been woeful, he brought light into it by focusing on the good.

Maize found herself admiring him for that. But it just brought the braying fact that he was a good person who had experienced hurt that wasn't his fault.

Her story wasn't like that.

They both sat in silence for a few moments, letting the mood settle and enjoying to easing silence that rested between them.

"So what about you?" Alec asked several beats later. His face then twisted up into a playful smirk. "I mean, since I gave you my story, I think it's fair to say you owe me something..." he said.

Maize forced a smile, "I guess that's fair." She paused to think for a few minutes. What could she say? "Well...I guess my childhood wasn't exactly perfect either..." she started, not sure where she was going with it.

"No?"

"No. No parents. I did have a brother once though..." Maize heard herself say before she could stop herself.

Alec was quiet, "Had?"

"He..." Maize looked away, growing suddenly cold. "He died."

This time it was Alec who sent her the sympathetic looks. "I'm sorry."

"I could say the same for you," she answered.

"Somehow I doubt either of us are really the sympathy-seeking kind of people," Alec said after a moment, gaining a small laugh from Maize—forced as it was.

"Somehow I doubt it," she agreed with a tight smile.

Kishan came back not too long after. But by then, Maize and Alec had gone on to discuss other, simpler topics.

Among a cup of black coffee, Kishan also brought with him a small plate of assorted fruit, all cut into nice pieces to be eaten. "One of the employees handed this to me coming back," Kishan explained when he saw Maize's questioning look.

"Cassandra," Maize said knowingly. Her friend was ever the hostess.

Kishan, movements still lagging, heavily dropped down before he lifted his cup and began drinking his black coffee like it was a miracle cure. But then again, supposedly, to a man with a head-splitting hangover, it was.

Maize paid him no mind, choosing instead to grab a piece of the sliced fruit on the plate, specifically the orange mango. She took it and bit into it with a small grin, savouring the rich taste of the perfectly ripe fruit. Cassandra had remembered her favourite.

As she ate, she found herself being watched by the detective, and he had a small smile of amusement on his face. She narrowed her eyes, feigning annoyance, but then smirked all the same as she reached for another.

"Alec," Kishan whined, lifting his head as though it was filled with concrete, still looking groggy even after he emptied every last drop of caffeine in his cup. He started, "You're the detective...so detectify the fastest way to get rid of this freaking headache," he complained with a groan.

"How about...don't get drunk in the first place," Alec said.

Kishan shot him a flat look of mild irritation. "You're a terrible detective. That doesn't help me, at all."

Alec rolled his eyes, "I'm a great detective—ask Maize."

She looked up and rolled her eyes. "If you think you can get me to say it, you're wrong."

"I don't have to, you already did."

Maize was more focused now. "What? When?"

"Last night. You said, and I quoted" —he made that part extremely clear— "your words were 'for a great detective', you know, when you were describing me."

Maize crossed her arms and leaned back in her seat. "I also remember saying, and I quote," she mocked, "that you could be quite dense."

Alec shot her a raised look. "You had no trouble remembering that part now did you."

Maize tilted her head and smiled. "Funny, no I didn't."

They continued on, listening to Kishan's slight groaning, looking outside, and eating the fresh fruit off the plate.

It wasn't until a little while later that Alec's eyes suddenly shot open and he rose quickly from his seat. "Dammit, I almost forgot, Maize is there anywhere I can get a phone around here?"

"Check one of the drawers in the room. Why?" She asked curiously.

"I'm going to make a call to the chief."

That made sense.

"Seems you remembered to do that at an odd time," Kishan commented lazily as he rested his head on his propped up elbow.

Alec sent him a look. "Shut up and focus on getting your shit together. Maize—"

"Yes, yes, I will babysit the poor soul," she said.

Alec nodded, "Thanks."

Kishan sent each of them a glare. "I hate you both."

* * *

ALEC

Back at the room, Alec managed to find a phone—in one of the drawers like Maize had said—and made the call to New York. He had no idea if the Captain would even pick up, seeing how this would be an unfamiliar out of country phone number, but he just hoped he would.

Luck was on his side. The Captain picked up.

"Chief," Alec greeted.

"Detective, good to hear from you! I got worried when you stopped pestering me about the progress of the case. So everything is still alright then?"

"Not quite," Alec answered regrettably.

He quickly gave the Captain a run-though of what had happened and their current situation. All the way up to where they were now. "But otherwise, Captain, we're alright."

The Captain released a breath, "Good to hear."

"So, any updates on the case?"

"Should have figured you'd ask eventually," the Captain answered, but there was an unfortunate air in his tone that Alec knew what he was going to say even before he had to hear the words. "Sorry, Alec, nothing."

Despite that being his prediction, Alec's spirit deflated.

"Nothing?" he repeated.

There was a pause in which Alec guessed the Captain used to shake his head to himself. "Afraid not. There's something...off with this one...I can't seem to get a meeting with anyone at the bureau, and a lot of things just aren't adding up. It's making actually making a defensive case...more difficult than predicted."

"Oh..." Alec muttered. "Shit."

"Language Alec."

He rolled his eyes at the reprimanding tone and chuckled lightly as he sighed, "Yeah, yeah."

"Anyway, I'll do my best so that the next time you call, I'll have some better news to give you," the Captain continued. "Just don't go thinking about it too much. From what you've told me about your situation, you all have enough to worry about as is."

"Appreciate it, sir. I'll try to keep you updated as best I can about what's going on on our end as well."

"That would help ease my mind, yes, if you can."

"Yes sir."

"Stay safe," the Captain stressed, and Alec could picture the familiar stern look that he had seen so many times before as he added, "That's an order."

Alec smiled, "We'll do our best."