Work Text:
Ava watches as Beatrice is held at gunpoint, hands raised above her head in surrender as Lilith and Mary handcuff her. She feels Camila doing the same to her hands, and she sighs inwardly at Bea’s compliance. She scowls, pushing back her shoulders a little and swearing, “If we didn’t fucking run out of bullets you shitheads would have died.” She feels another pair of hands on her shoulder – an officer she vaguely recognizes – Crimson, one of her seniors. “If you give up the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. This shows defiance and can increase your jail time, I suggest you shut your mouth if you know what’s good for you,”
Ava winces slightly, she knows Crimson doesn’t know about her, she’s been wiped clean from records and never shared a class with the lady, let alone interacted with her but she still hates the way she’s spoken to. Criminal or not, no one should be treated with this amount of disrespect, but she supposes she can shove one up Crimson’s ass, “Oh yea fuckface? What if I don’t want to? You gonna gag me?” She feels herself getting shoved into the wall, her breath knocked out, “Maybe if I fucking rearrange your face you’d learn how to speak to an officer of the law.”
“MacInnes, stand down.”
Holy fuck Shannon.
She has never been more thankful for Shannon.
“Captain.”
Ava smirks internally at how Crimson’s voice shakes, at how quickly her hands retreat from Ava’s head and back.
Ava makes a run for it.
She doesn’t get far of course, officers surrounding and cornering her easily, but she still sends a megawatt smile to Beatrice when she’s forced onto the ground with more hands on her this time. Beatrice sends a small one back, but she can see the crease in her forehead and the way her shoulders slump slightly. Ava knows she hasn’t truly surrendered yet, thinking about the ways to escape captivity, but with so many officers nearby and Lilith and Mary’s death grip on her, she probably wouldn’t go much further than Ava did. Sure, Beatrice is skilled in like 30 thousand martial arts but against this many officers with weapons while her hands are cuffed? Yeah, even she’s not James Bond.
When Ava is hoisted up, she behaves – or at least her body does, her mouth running as she tries to get on every person’s nerves. Crimson stays away (no fun) but she can see the annoyed looks of the officers around her. Ava knows they can’t technically gag her, since she hasn’t caused any physical harm with her mouth yet, but it’s still fun when she hears Lilith’s threat, “I will shove a dirty cloth in your mouth if you don’t shut the fuck up.”
Ava chuckles but complies.
-
The car ride back to the station is uneventful. She doesn’t try any funny business for approximately 5 minutes before she falls asleep. Only when Camila shakes her awake softly does she realise that they have reached the station.
“Shit I need to rub my eyes,”
“I know Aves, I know, but I can’t let you out yet. Hold out another 5 minutes.”
Ava’s yawn is her only response when she gets escorted out of the car by Camila and Dora.
-
“Fuck it feels good to be back,” Ava voices, popping her shoulder as she finally gives her eyes the rubs they need. Shannon chuckles next to her, “You were missed.”
“She was not.”
“Aww Lily, I know you missed me.”
Lilith scoffs and her face contorts into disgust, but Ava can see the small pull of her lips upwards.
“Can I get a hug?” Ava pouts, pulling out her dog eyes at Lilith. Instead of a verbal response, Lilith pulls her into a fierce hug, and Ava sinks into her embrace. Lilith doesn’t pull away after her usual 3 seconds and Ava almost cries. Almost. (It would be very embarrassing and they would never let her live it down)
Lilith pulls away when the door flings open and Mary enters with Camila, and Camila practically jumps into Ava’s embrace. Mary joins soon after, “Welcome home baby girl,”
“I missed you guys,”
Shannon clears her throat behind them and they all pull away reluctantly, “As much as I don’t want to cut short our reunion, Young is waiting.”
Camila beams as she pulls Ava into one more quick hug before she schools her face into the serious one Ava is still unnerved by after so many years. Mary pats her back in farewell before she follows Camila into the adjacent room.
Lilith, Ava and Shannon all turn towards the one-way glass and Ava harbours a question, “Usually there’s more people?”
“Duretti has a slight altercation with Ulloa. I have orders to keep them off the case for the time being.”
“And Superion?”
“On her way, but she’s flying in from another state. Depending on Young’s cooperation, she might not even make it back in time.”
Ava turns her head back to the glass when she hears Beatrice speaking, “Skip the questions, I want to see Ava.”
Everyone’s shoulders tense, but Mary recovers practically instantly, “There’s no Ava,”
“She’s unhurt?”
“Of course,” Mary replies, and Ava can see the way Beatrice smirks.
“This just means I’m right, aren’t I?”
“Ms Young-”
“Cut the bullshit, I know Alba’s real name is Ava and she’s here,” Beatrice turns towards the one-way glass and looks towards her. Logically, Beatrice can’t see her, but that still doesn’t stop her back from shivering as their eyes ‘connect’ through the glass.
Lilith and Shannon audibly stiffen beside her, but Ava can’t tear her eyes away from Beatrice. Call it an idiotic magnetic pull or a stupid coincidence that Beatrice is looking at her and straight at her, even if the glass is long and wide (and okay maybe she’s standing directly perpendicular to Beatrice but that’s not her point) but she’s looking straight at her, what are the chances? (Very fucking high Ava, don’t delude yourself)
Mary lets out a guffaw as Camila continues typing on her laptop, “I think you’ve lost your mind a little, Alba’s your accomplice is she not?” Mary cocks her head towards the one-way glass, “Why would she be in there?”
At Beatrice’s lack of answer, Mary soldiers on, “And besides, your lack of name change is not lost on us, is Alba’s real name Ava?”
Beatrice turns her head back to face Mary and Ava immediately misses the way her eyes bear into hers, even if, yes, they’re not exactly looking at each other. Though, throughout most of her time spent next to Beatrice, she finds her eyes striking, many at times reading her like an open book and has made her on edge, lose her composure and worry about her position being compromised.
She supposes at this moment, it’s not much of a shock, but it still comes as it is. For what it’s worth, Beatrice has never not trusted Ava, even at the start when Ava was merely nothing more than another associate, never shown any signs of knowing Ava’s true allegiance. Ava can’t count on both her hands how many times Beatrice had the opportunity to leave her to death, or take a knife and stab it through her – even earlier today, Beatrice could have easily used her as a human shield or a distraction as she escaped, yet she did neither of those things, gripping Ava’s hand throughout their escape attempt.
Even when they were cornered, forced to banish their weapons and separate, Ava wanted to trick Beatrice into a lesser advantageous position – not that she thought she could do that, considering Bea’s intelligence, but trying was not futile, even if she did no such thing (her infatuation wasn’t lost on her). Beatrice purposely put herself in harm’s way, gave Ava more cover and allowed herself to be taken on the grounds of Ava’s safety.
Ava had swiped one of Beatrice’s mags and disposed of it earlier, causing the older woman to run out of bullets before Ava. Ava might have had half a magazine more, and she wasn’t purposely wasting bullets per se, but it wasn’t in her nature, let alone allegiance to hurt anyone.
Simply put, Ava coincidentally allowed herself to be hemmed in, and instead of continuing to fight back, Beatrice surrendered when the others had slipped close enough.
“Alba, I’m out!”
“Fuck! I only have half a mag left,” Ava had replied, aiming her pistol at one of the closer officers and missing his head by merely an inch, the bullet burning a clear hole through the wooden box and probably coming out the other side, not like she could check.
Beatrice’s reply was cut short by rampant gunfire raining down on her position, and Ava felt a lump in her throat.
Ava knew Beatrice speaking revealed her location and predicament, and her reply equally as such for her own. Bea was not stupid by any means, far from that even, but it seemed that any inhibitions and thoughts left her when it came to protecting Ava.
Of course, they were in love, Beatrice had stated multiple times throughout their relationship (whatever that was) and Ava had replied back in equal measure, but it was still vexatiously against everything Ava was after. She was supposed to gain Beatrice’s trust, and send the team to catch her in an incriminating act that would start her downfall – and yet, somewhere along those lines, everything had blurred and Ava found herself intertwined with the very woman she was supposed to bring down.
Beatrice was a threat, clearly, with numerous forms of martial arts and weaponry she had mastered, her intelligence her biggest weapon. And yet…she was not unjust or unkind, wise beyond her years and constantly holding herself to a higher standard than anyone else. Many at times she had disobeyed her parents’ orders, secretly paying off debts and letting people continue living their lives.
Simply put, Beatrice was not her parents, and she clearly didn’t choose this life. Ava found herself enamoured with the woman behind the criminality of it all.
“BEA!” Ava shouted, blazing through the gunfire to get to her side. Her heart lurched in her chest as time seemed to slow to a standstill, her worry etched on her face. She didn’t want Beatrice to die.
She managed to get to the taller woman, uninjured but slightly unnerved, wood chips surrounding her. Ava’s hands immediately found purchase on her lover’s face, checking for any injuries.
“Put your hands up!”
A slight trepidation crossed Beatrice’s face, and Ava briefly wondered how many officers were behind her right now. Bea’s hands reached out towards her, and her worry shifted.
Was Beatrice about to use her as a human shield?
Instead, Beatrice’s fingers smoothed the crease on her forehead, “Let go of the gun A, I rather be in jail than see you hurt.”
Ava allowed her fingers to be coaxed off the gun, as they both surrendered, getting pulled away from the other.
Ava didn’t want to go down without a fight, and she allowed herself to be a dick for no more than a minute until her face was promptly slammed into the wall (not a fun experience, 0/10 do not recommend).
Ava was jolted back to the present when Beatrice let out a tired sigh, “Please, I just want to talk to her.”
“That can be arranged, but most probably in court when both of you are facing trial,”
Beatrice lost her composure then, which was extremely rare for Ava to see, even after two and a half years under her leadership, “Fuck just let me see her, I don’t care if you don’t want to admit that she’s one of yours or how many guards you want in the room just let me fucking talk to her!”
Ava took a long hard breath, waiting for Mary’s response. Shannon’s voice cut through the speakers in the room, “Word.” Mary stood up with a huff.
Mary entered the dimly lit room, but Ava cut her off. “I want to do this.”
“No.” Lilith spoke up, her perfect annoyed scowl now nonexistent as her face slipped into something more akin to worry (wow Lilith is worried for her?)
“Baby girl, I don’t know what weird relationship you got going on with her but no.”
“I can get to her, and all of you know it.” Ava countered, straightening her back and watching the 3 older women, “And besides, she already knows. You lie to her now and then what? During trial, I’m there against her and you think she’s just gonna sit there and take it? She’s highly trained, I think we all know that. I wouldn’t be surprised if we got her in some box and she still somehow rips someone’s brain out. Even if I have proven numerous times how she much rather go the diplomatic route,”
Shannon sighs, “I suppose you want to go in as Ava and not as Alba anymore?”
Hell yeah, Shannon’s on her side!
“Yup.”
“Shan-”
Shannon raised her hand to silence Mary, “I trust Ava’s judgement. If she thinks she can somehow get through to Young, then I will let her try. The moment I see anything amiss, I will pull her out.”
Lilith looks like she’s about to burn a hole into something, but her jaw tightens and she holds back her comments.
Ava pumps her fist internally (just in case any of them change their mind), and Mary allows her to enter the interrogation room alone. Camila looks up from her laptop, eyes flickering between her eyes and her notes before she stands up and leaves the room too.
Okay, wow, just me and Beatrice.
Sick, no biggie.
She knows they are all watching in the adjacent room, but she can’t help but feel like it’s just the two of them, her mind only focusing on the woman facing away from her. She contemplates sitting close to Beatrice, but she vetoes that idea. Too distracting and she needs business right now. She slips into the chair opposite and her all-business talk crumbles in her head when Beatrice opens her mouth.
“My feelings for you are true.”
Ava lets the silence carry on for a moment, not sure what to reply before she swallows, “Mine are too. But I can’t-”
“I know, and that’s okay. I didn’t ask you to come here to try to convince you to break me out,” Beatrice laughs, a cold empty one that Ava decides she never wants to hear again, “I’m going to plead guilty to everything, I-I want to bring my dad down,”
Ava knows the man, how he treated everyone and never showed mercy, even to his daughter. She had already decided from day one that he was far worse than Beatrice could ever be, but he had kept everyone at arm’s length, as with Beatrice, but look at where they are now. Ava reaches out and allows Beatrice to decide.
Beatrice closes the distance between their hands in a heartbeat.
Ava rubs her thumb along Beatrice’s knuckles soothingly, “And I promise to get your men proper help and lighten your sentence by saying you were forced,”
“I didn’t-”
Ava cuts her off, “I don’t want to hear it. I’m doing it because these 2 years, I’ve seen you for who you are truly, and you’re not bad, and we both know the roles your parents have caused in this for you,”
“I fell in love with the Beatrice Young under all those masks that your parents forced you to put up, and I cannot watch you get incriminated for them and take the fall and take the blame because I know you and I know you’re going to just take whatever jail term but I’m not allowing it, not on my watch because I love you too much to let you do that to yourself,”
Beatrice is silent and Ava knows she’s already managed to get through to her.
She can’t help but nail the point home though.
“And besides, I actually want to have a life with you after you get out, and we can’t have that if you have life imprisonment, can we?”
Beatrice takes in a deep breath, her eyes widening, “You’d still want me after?”
Ava almost wants to laugh, but she stops herself, dropping a kiss on Beatrice’s knuckles, “Bea, I love you, if that wasn’t clear enough all this time. I might have been undercover but every time I protected you or kissed you or even fucked you, those were me, truly. At first, it was just for the case but when I got to see the real you, I started falling. I tried to pretend it was just to get close to you, but deep down I knew I did actually love you. I loved you then, and I love you now, still am actually, and if you’d have me? Then I would wait for you till the end of time.”
Beatrice cries then and Ava immediately closes the distance and hugs her. She feels her shirt get drenched and fingers digging into her shirt and sides, but she merely cradles the older girl’s face as she sobs into her.
No one stops them and Ava is eternally grateful.
-
Later, when Mary takes over the questioning again, Ava watching from behind the glass (“I want to be here, but I’m afraid I might have biased questions, and we can’t have that,” “I know, and I trust you to be here after it ends?” “I will, I’ll stay as long as I can.” Beatrice had teared up again and it had prompted another 5-minute cooldown), Shannon drapes a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “Everyone would probably know about this.”
“I know.”
“The tapes, we could-”
“I don’t want you to break any laws or code for me, Shan. I know what it’s going to get me into, maybe I’ll even lose my job,” Ava allows herself a shaky laugh, “but I love her, so fucking much, and I love you guys in equal measure too, and I can’t jeopardise one for the other, I won’t allow it.”
Shannon’s only response is a tight hug, and Ava falls in love with her all over again.