forum Unusual Partners // Buddy Cop One-On-One // Open

Started May 18, 2019 by @WriteOutofTime

tune

Alex accepted it thankfully, taking a long gulp despite how hot it was. "Thank you. You have no idea how much I needed that." People were beginning to arrive in the airport, as the flight got closer and closer.

She nodded, leaning back and glancing down at her phone. They still had a little while before they were supposed to board. "Ever been? To the town we're going to, I mean."

Alex shook his head. "Nope. Only been to Mississippi twice, and once was just a drive through. With any luck, we won't have to be down there long." He scratched his head, mentally listing the contents of the file.

(twas actually Mississippi lol)
"I've never been very far south," Nyir admitted, swirling her coffee before downing another gulp. "I've heard the humidity is terrible."

(I will edit that… I had a feeling it was wrong)
He groaned. "I hope not. Why don't we get some nice cases in Rome, or Venice, or Alaska. Maybe Canada, or some tropical islands. At least on tropical islands the humidity feels right." He rubbed his head, still sipping the coffee.

"Since we work for the American government, it's unlikely we'll get to go anywhere nice," Nyir pointed out, smirking.

"Fair point. Mississippi, I suppose. Do they even have beaches? Alligators, probably." He matched her smirk with a looser version of his own.

"I heard they eat alligators down there," she said in a flat tone, shrugging. "And raccoons. It's an entirely different world down there."

"No kidding. I'm not opposed to eating alligator, but raccoon doesn't sound good." He stood up and stretched, looking around to pinpoint the line for their flight.

Nyir hefted her bag over her shoulder and finished the rest of her coffee, tossing the cup away. She followed Alex to their line just as they heard "Now boarding zone 1."

She hated flights. She'd never admitted that fact to anyone else. It wasn't even the altitude or even the idea of being in a plane. It was more the lack of control. She sighed inaudibly as shs boarded.

Alex snuck glances at her as they made their way onto the plane. It'd been a while since they'd been on a plane together, since the last few cases hadn't been far from home. Once they were on, Alex tossed his duffel onto a shelf and reached over for Nyir's.

Nyir allowed Alex to take her duffel. Usually she would insist on doing things on her own, but relinquishing a small amount of control seemed the right move to prepare for a flight. She took the window seat. "Mississippi, here we come," she mumbled.

Alex threw it up along with his. He closed the storage compartment and stood by the seats. "Do you want the window seat, or the outside?" There was a row of three, so the simplest strategy seemed to have one of them by the window, and one of them by the outside. It was that or some strange person came and sat next to him, and he wasn't listening to another teenager on the phone with their boyfriend/girlfriend for three hours again.

"I'll keep the window," she responded automatically. She drummed her fingers against her tablet.

"Sounds good." He sat on the end and leaned his head back, taking a deep breath and relaxing slightly into the chair. If things went as usual, this would be his last chance to get a few hours of sleep. He was still tense, still on the lookout, but years of training had taught him to sleep when he could, before he couldn't.

Nyir slipped on her headphones, turning her music up loud, her muscles tense. She glanced over at Alex, envying his ability to relax, and then turned her gaze back towards the window. She settled down and let herself get lost in her music, hoping the flight would be brief.

Alex jumped when he felt the plane touch down, his hand moving to his hip to feel for his gun. It wasn't on him, of course, but by the time he realized that he'd calmed down. He sat up, stretching his arms out and cracking his neck.

Nyir removed her headphones as the plane landed and the doors opened. The flight hadn't been terrible, but she'd been uncomfortable and on edge the entire flight. She gathered her stuff, including her duffel, and followed the crowd into the Jackson, MS airport. They still had a decent drive ahead of them, and she wanted to get it over with as soon as possible.

Alex stayed close to his partner, still tired despite the sleep. They were able to find a rental car, and Alex grabbed the keys before Nyir could. It was his turn to drive, her turn to sleep.

Nyir lifted an eyebrow at him, throwing her duffel bag in the car before leaning against it, not getting inside. "O'Neil, you're still tired," she pointed out. "I've had two cups of coffee. Let me." She held her hand out for the keys.

"I'll be fine. You need sleep, not coffee." He opened the drivers door and sat down, adjusting the seat and waiting for her to get in.

Nyir pursed her lips, hesitating. "You should know by now I don't sleep very often. There's no reason we should both be tired."

"I'm not tired, you are. So you should get some sleep and be less tired. I'll stop somewhere and get coffee on the way, for both of us. Deal?" He raised an eyebrow at her, waiting for an answer.