Chapter Text
The people over at CBS were nice enough to make a trailer for me...
A Marriage of Inconvenience
"Why are you sighing?" Magnum asked as he took his burger out of the takeout bag. They were on a stakeout, using the Range Rover to blend in, and since he'd just returned with food he was expecting a happy Higgins. Especially when she realized he'd remembered to tell them to hold the pickles and gotten her the fancy brioche bread she liked (but cost a dollar extra), all without being asked. But that wasn't what he was getting.
"No reason," she said, not looking up from her computer.
"I brought food," he said, pushing the brown back in front of her screen.
"Yes," she said, pushing it away. "I can smell that. But I'm busy at the moment."
"I made sure they didn't put pickles on yours," he said, shaking the bag. "Come on. You need to eat. You didn't have any of my pork rinds. And I'm pretty sure all you had for breakfast was coffee."
That made her stop her typing and turn to give him a look. And a frown. She closed the lid of her laptop and took the bag from him.
She extracted the burger and inspected it for pickles. She somehow managed it without getting any sauce on her fingers or the wrappings. It was the strangest thing. Since she didn't have much experience eating burgers in cars he always expected her to slobber it all over. But just like everything else, Higgins had in the very short span of being his partner, somehow, mastered the art of eating burgers without getting any sauce on her. A real feat, Magnum felt. And much better of a life skill than for say golf and chess. Not that he'd ever share that opinion with her.
"Thank you," she said after deciding he had in fact gotten her order right and she smiled a little smile. More at the burger than him, but at least he'd gotten that. Only, she was still looking a little frowny. Clearly something was bothering her.
"I have a question," he said as she bit into the burger, deciding he'd work up to asking about what was really wrong. "How can you hate pickles but eat vegan bacon? And you drink chai lattes but not real tea? And what do you have against pears?"
She raised an eyebrow. "I do believe that was three questions." But she thought about it for a few seconds then answered. "I just don't like them. And the vegan bacon wasn't that bad."
"Are you kidding me? It was awful." He grinned.
She did too, then a bit to his surprise, admitted, "It kinda was."
He loved times like this, when they'd just be working a case, often killing time waiting to follow a guy or take a pic, and she'd say or do something that surprised him. Most often the surprise wasn't her actually agreeing with him, more like her suddenly being able to speak Rumanian or being a fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer or having met the Queen (he wasn't sure that last one was true or if she'd just been pulling his leg, as a Brit would say).
They ate in silence for a few moments, watching the hotel. He kept on glancing over at her to see if she'd gotten any ketchup or mayo on her face, just so he could tease her about it. But she managed to eat her burger like a pro.
"Magnum," she said as he balled up his wrapper. "You got sauce on your face."
He wiped at his cheek.
"Now you made it worse," she said with an eye roll before reaching out with her own napkin to wipe away the offending substance. "There."
For a few seconds, they locked eyes, and then, as if she'd realized what she'd just done she swallowed, dropped the napkin and looked out her window.
"Thanks," he said, rubbing the spot she'd just wiped clean.
"You heard from Robin lately?" she asked, suddenly, clearly wanting to change the subject.
"Isn't he still undercover in Somalia, doing research for his next book?" Magnum wasn't regularly in contact with Robin unless there was some problem, and even then he did his best to keep from bothering Robin with issues or asking him for too many favors.
"Yes," she said, not sounding pleased about this in the least. Magnum wasn't exactly thrilled about it either, because Robin Masters wasn't great at staying out of trouble.
"You think something is wrong with Robin?" he asked, suddenly concerned. Maybe Juliet had some information he didn't have access to, via her MI6 contacts.
She shook her head, not meeting his eyes. "No."
He furrowed his brow. He wasn't sure what this was all about. This was rare for him these days since he was pretty in tune with Higgins's expressions, moods and even her three different shrugs. This he couldn't decide what it meant. Which only made him want to know more.
"Spill," he said, angeling himself around so he was facing her almost completely. "What's going on?"
She sighed again. "It's not...it's just, Robin needs to approve my new visa."
"Your visa?"
"Yes," she replied with her 'it's a big deal but I'm trying to not make it seem like it' shrug. "My visa is about to expire."
"Oh," he said, feeling stupid. He hadn't really thought about that, the fact that she needed a visa to stay in the US. "But it's okay right?"
"Okay?" she said, her voice suddenly very crisp and high. "Magnum if Robin doesn't approve my work visa, which I've been trying to get him to do for almost two months, I'll have to go back to the UK."
"Yeah," he said, not liking the sound of that. Not one bit. "I get that. But Robin will come through."
"Well, he's running out of time," she said, biting her lip. Something he'd never seen her do before. "Magnum, my visa expires in twenty-three days. After that, I can't stay here, legally, anymore."
"Okay, we'll find a way to contact Robin," he said, suddenly wanting to jump out of the car and pace back and forth. Or maybe he just wanted to escape the feelings this sudden revelation was causing him. "Or maybe we can figure something else out. I mean there is gotta be something we can do, isn't there?"
"Like what?" she asked. "I've been in contact with a lawyer trying to figure out what kind of visas I could be eligible for. I could apply for a work visa as a priority worker, probably get a job as a programmer but I might not be able to find anything here on the island and I'd have to go to the mainland which I have no interest in doing so I'd probably have go back to England-"
"That's not happening," he said. "You're my partner. Working with me here, helping people, that's what you're meant to do."
She smiled at that, but sadly. "It seems I might not have a choice in the matter."
"There is gotta be some way!?!" No way was he giving up that easy. He'd fly to Somalia and find Robin himself before he let Higgins slip from his life.
"I'm not sure there is Magnum." She swallowed then tried to smile and joke. "Unless you know where to find the capital to start a multi-million dollar company? Make me an overnight movie star? Or perhaps you know some poor chap that is desperate to marry a stranger?"