Work Text:
Only once Mia's slammed the phone down onto the receiver does she dare to voice her thoughts about this ridiculous situation. She doesn't even voice them, really, so much as screech at the wall.
It's not like it matters. Nobody else is here to hear her right now. Grossberg had dumped far too much paperwork on her after lunch and, just before leaving for the night, he'd shrugged and told her to lock up when she was done.
She's still not done. But she's pretty sure Aunt Morgan would have disowned her if she'd waited until she was home to call her like she promised she would. As it is, being disowned is looking real attractive right now.
But her own family drama—that can wait until after she's done with her paperwork. And, first thing tomorrow, she's going to see if any other law offices in the area are hiring.
(Even if they are, who would want a lawyer who can't defend? She's pretty sure the only reason Grossberg hasn't fired her yet is because Hammond is notoriously finicky, Armando is busy with his own cases, and Grossberg himself is too busy complaining about his hemorrhoids to do anything himself. Maybe it's time for a career change. If Mia never has to hear about Grossberg's hemorrhoids again, it’ll still be too soon.)
"Right," Mia says into the quiet office. "Back to work, then."
She takes a deep breath. She stops glaring at the phone, because it hasn't done anything wrong. And she reaches for her clipboard—
"You doing okay?"
The funny thing about someone saying something right behind you, when you thought you were alone, is that it tends to trigger a fight or flight response. Consequently, Mia spares no thoughts for the sudden voice until after she's already thrown the object currently in her hands behind her with a startled yelp.
She turns around, just in time to see her clipboard smack Diego Armando in the face.
Mia gasps, quickly turning red. "Mr. Armando! Hi, I'm so sorry—what are you doing here?"
"It's all good, didn't mean to scare you. As for your second question…" He bends down to pick up the clipboard, offering it back to her with a wry smile. "Found out that I'd forgotten my keys when I got home. I was planning to use the spare one to get in, didn't expect you to still be here."
"Haha… yeah…" Mia grimaces. "Still got quite a bit of work to do before I can go home, unfortunately. Do you need help finding your keys?"
Armando reaches into his pocket and pulls out a keychain. "I've got 'em already. But I do have to ask…"
She grimaces harder. "No, that phone call wasn't for work. I know I shouldn't have been making a personal call on company time, but my—"
"Mia. Relax." He sets a hand on the desk and gives her a look. "I don't care, and I really doubt Grossberg would. But on the off chance he does, what he doesn't know? Won't hurt him."
Mia breathes out. She hadn't realized she'd been holding her breath. "Thank you, Mr. Armando."
"No worries. Being a snitch would go against several of my rules. And I think, after that nightmare of a trial we had together, you can call me Diego." He pauses. "If you want to."
"Alright." Mia shrugs. Holding her clipboard to her chest, she stands up again. "I… still have a lot of work to do. I won't keep you. But thanks, Diego."
Diego nods. "Like I said, anytime. How much work do you have left?"
"A lot. I'll… I have tomorrow off; I can stay as late as I need to. I'll get it done."
"I'm sure you will." Another pause, longer this time. "Hey, listen. Another one of my rules—if a friend needs help, you offer it. You want help?"
"I—"
See, Mia's pride says no. But Mia's sleep deprivation says yes.
The sleep deprivation wins out because she's already got too much without adding to it. She sighs. "You know what? Sure."
* * *
An hour and a pot of coffee later, most of which hasn’t been consumed by Mia, Diego looks up from a file on one of Grossberg's upcoming clients and asks the question she's been somewhat dreading: "So what was that call of yours about?"
Mia snorts and sets down her own file on a different client. "What, is respecting a woman's privacy not one of the many rules I'm not convinced you don't make up on the spot?"
Diego stares at her for a second. Then he buries his face in paperwork and cackles. "It is, actually. Won't ask again if you don't want to share."
"But you're curious."
"I'm a defense attorney," Diego says in explanation. "We both are, aren't we?"
"I mean…"
No, she's not sure about her potential career change herself yet, and him actually offering to help her with this mess has definitely made her reconsider it. Also, regardless of any life changes, being curious is just part of who she is.
She shrugs and says, "Yeah, we are. Point very much made."
"So?" He raises an eyebrow, even as his gaze returns to the pre-trial paperwork of one Ms. Faye Scarborough. "Care to share?"
"You might regret asking that," Mia warns, looking back at the post-trial file on Mr. Ernest Chapman. "The short version is, if there was an entry for dysfunctional family in the dictionary, right there would be a picture of mine."
Diego grimaces sympathetically. "I didn't catch much, just heard you slamming the phone down. Mom? Dad?"
She shakes her head. "Never knew my dad, Mom… hasn't been in the picture for a long time. My little sister and I were mostly brought up by our aunt."
"Mmm." Diego finishes up with Ms. Scarborough, sets down that file, and picks up another. "She that bad?"
"Not most of the time. Not to me, anyway, it's… complicated. She never liked our mom, for reasons I kind of do agree with." Mia squints at the picture of Mr. Chapman until the words stop swimming and reaches for her lukewarm mug of coffee. "She's not too bad, it's just… she's somehow gotten the idea that I've got a boyfriend. And she wants to meet him."
"I… take it you don't have a boyfriend, then?"
Mia snorts and downs the rest of her coffee in a single gulp. "Never wanted one, and I'm not about to drag some random guy I barely know into the utter mess that is my family drama. I'll make some excuse about being busy with work, like I always do. It's not even really an excuse."
Diego hums in vague agreement. "Is it just your aunt that's the issue?"
"Pretty much, yeah." The village elders certainly no longer cared what Mia did, once she formally renounced her claim. And her aunt… almost seemed relieved, somehow. "Everyone else is either not in the picture anymore or… a literal child."
"I see." Diego pours himself another mug of coffee. He's taking his time with this one. "Got to say, at this point I'm almost curious."
Mia sighs. "When I say it's a mess, believe me, it's a mess. I think by some definitions my hometown would technically be a cult."
"Oh."
"That much of a mess," Mia emphasizes.
"Well now… what happens if she doesn't accept your excuse?"
"Possibly nothing. Might get disowned, except what are they going to do, disown me again?" Mia takes in the markedly concerned look etched into Diego's features like it belongs there, clears her throat awkwardly, and says, "It's really not that big a deal. Really, I kind of technically disowned myself!"
Diego sets down the mug with a quiet, yet very audible thunk. "I get that you're trying to scare me off, but I’ll tell you now, it’s kind of backfiring."
She laughs unhappily. "It's really not that interesting, just… annoying to deal with. But I will. Always have before."
He sighs. "Mia. Look at me."
Mia looks at him. Is she missing something here?
"Clearly, subtlety isn't working, so…" He sighs again, deeper this time. "Listen. We maybe don't know each other super well, except for the single worst trial Grossberg could have thrown you at, so I'm not sure if I'm much more than some random guy you barely know. But I'm curious, I'm damn good at bluffing, and this sounds a hell of a lot more interesting than how I usually spend my time off."
Oh. Okay, she was definitely missing something.
"Really? I…"
Mia blinks a few times. If she didn't still feel jittery from the aftereffects of late-night caffeine, she wouldn't be entirely certain this is real. As it is… damn, if he's seriously offering, and if none of Kurain Village's particular brand of bullshit scares him off…
"I might actually take you up on that," she says thoughtfully. "Warning you now, it almost certainly won't be anything remotely relaxing. It's a two hour trip one way, and while we will probably have to do something to convincingly make Aunt Morgan think we're dating, I don't want… how do I put this…"
Diego raises an eyebrow. "Take your time."
"I don't like men," Mia says bluntly. "Like… I have never, in my life, met a man that I was remotely interested in, romantically, and I'm sorry but you're not an exception. So if you're expecting anything to come of this… don't. Okay?"
She's not sure how she expects Diego to respond. She's definitely not expecting him to shrug and to say, "Okay."
Mia blinks. "Wait, actually?"
"Yeah?" The other eyebrow goes up, too. "You're pretty, sure, but respecting people's boundaries is one of my rules. One of the most important ones, I'd say. And not one I made up on the spot."
"You made up the rest of them on the spot?" Mia jokes.
He opens his mouth. He shuts it again, in a rather impressive and completely unintentional imitation of a fish. And he says, weakly, "I plead the fifth. Let's get back to work, I don't think Grossberg will be thrilled if you're still here when he comes in tomorrow…" Diego glances at the clock and winces. "Today in about six hours, actually."
"Oh god." Mia's face falls. "Agreed."
It's a few weeks later when he meets her at the station, and the first thing out of his mouth upon seeing her is, "You know, when you said your hometown was two hours away, I wasn't expecting it to be by train."
"Morning, Diego." Mia shrugs and takes a bite of her bagel. "Most people don't. There are roads going there, but it's actually shorter and cheaper to take the train, so…"
"No worries. I got coffee on the way here." He holds out a disposable cup to her, which she takes, before staring up at the train itself. "I've never actually been on one of these before."
"Oh! I'm glad I got to introduce you, then." Mia grins, sipping at her coffee. "We've got about half an hour to get on board and get comfortable, and then… well, to be honest, most of the people on here aren't going to Kurain."
Diego raises an eyebrow, mouth full of coffee, and wordlessly motions for her to continue. Or elaborate. Or something.
"First stop is ours, and there's occasionally tourists who get off there too, but they don't tend to stay very long." Mia shrugs. "From there, I think the train goes to Santa Barbara and San Jose, maybe San Francisco?"
"The first stop is ours?" Diego asks. "How long are we going to be on the train?"
"Not that long," Mia says, as Diego tips back his cup to polish it off. "Just a couple of hours."
Diego chokes. "Just? What do you mean, just?"
"I usually bring a book."
"I… didn't."
"Neither did I, this time," Mia clarifies, leaning forward across the table between them. "Two hours is enough time to figure out how we're going to make this work. Normally, I'm all for winging it, but I really don't want either of us to get caught in a lie."
"Good thing about being attorneys, we know what lying to people looks like. What gives ‘em away."
She nods, folding her arms against her chest. "And usually, what does is the little things. Fortunately, my aunt isn't likely to pay that much attention, so as long as we get our stories straight, we'll be good."
"Well, the story's that we're straight," Diego says. "And it'll be easier to remember if we base things off of reality. Much as we can, anyway."
Mia nods. "Then we met when both of us were working on the same case. Let's… leave out the details. I don't want to talk about that case."
"It was, genuinely, a real rough one." He sighs. "There were no good outcomes for that case. You did the best anyone could've, if it helps."
"It doesn't. But thanks." She closes her eyes, tries to put that mess back as far out of her mind as she can before they continue. "We can use that, anyway. It was a real rough case, but we made a good team. You asked me out afterwards."
Diego squints at her. She can practically see the wheels turning behind his eyes. "For coffee. It wasn't a date, then, but the next time was, and we counted that as being when we started our relationship."
"That works," Mia agrees. "So what do we… do, on dates?"
"Coffee?"
"Please, please tell me that isn't the only date idea you've got rattling around in that brain of yours."
He grins, which isn't encouraging.
"I like coffee," he says, which is even less encouraging. "’Sides, what else am I supposed to do, take a girl to a crime scene?"
"I've had some of my best dates at crime scenes.”
"Really?"
Mia smirks, puts her arms behind her head, and leans back against her seat. It's funnier not to mention that her girlfriend is a police detective and the date part is usually while she's on break. Usually.
"But you’ve only had one case…”
She knows she's helped her girlfriend solve at least one of her cases, intentionally or not.
(Let's go, lesbians, let's go.)
"Don't worry about it," Mia says breezily. "I haven't had any more cases since then, but you sure have. I could have visited you on the scene. Sometimes."
"Sure, okay." Diego doesn’t look like he wants to drop it. "We can say that you helped with the cases I was with Hammond on. He’s… not a great team player.”
"Somehow, that doesn't surprise me."
"You didn't hear that from me.”
"I didn't hear that from you," Mia agrees.
Between the two of them, they manage to hash out a halfway believable cover story about a romantic relationship that never existed. It wouldn't hold up in court, but it doesn't need to. It just needs to hold up for her hometown.
"Anyway, welcome to Kurain Village!" Mia turns around, spreading her arms wide. "Population: thirty-four, unless you count the goats."
Diego nods, looking a little uneasy. "Any relation to—the goats?"
"The goats," Mia confirms, pointing. Diego follows her gaze towards a particularly large black billy goat standing on a rock, staring at them. "They kind of do what they want. That one's Blackjack, if he starts sniffing at your clothes, you have about a minute before he starts eating them."
He stares at Blackjack and takes a couple steps back. "Thanks for the warning.”
"And yeah, the name's not an accident." Mia starts walking, eyeing Blackjack warily as they pass him. "The village's founders emigrated here from Khura'in originally, via Japan. Fortunately, my ancestors left centuries before they got all anti-lawyer."
He exhales slowly. "That's good. I was starting to get worried."
Mia snorts. "Nah, that's not why I got disowned. I got disowned by revoking my claim to the title of Master of the Kurain Channeling Tradition, because that title destroyed the relationship between my mom and her sister and I would rather die than let that happen with my sister."
"There’s so much to unpack here, I’m not sure I want to.”
"Yeah, Kurain is just like that. Speaking of my sister, that's her up ahead!" Mia cups her hands around her mouth and hollers.
Her baby sister lights up, barreling down the village path far faster than a tiny girl in medium garb has any right to travel. She nearly bowls Mia over entirely, wrapping her arms around her and shouting, "Hi!"
She grins and ruffles her little sister's hair before hugging her back. "Hey there, munchkin. I want you to meet my fr—my boyfriend, Diego."
"Your aunt is insane," Diego says as they board the train to go home. He holds out a hand to help her up.
Conscious of the fact that said aunt is still watching from a distance, she takes it. "I know."
"Your sister's alright, though," he says. "And your cousin."
"Pearl is literally a baby, but thanks," Mia says wryly. She slides into her seat. "You regretting helping me out with this yet?"
Diego takes the seat opposite her. He thinks about this. "Weirdly, no."
"Really?"
"Yeah." He shrugs. "It was awkward, but a little awkward is better than making a friend go through something like this alone. Helping out a friend in need, if I've got the opportunity to do it? 'Course I'll do it. That's—"
"—One of your rules?" Mia finishes for him, grinning. "Guess we're still friends, then."
"As far as I'm concerned, yeah." He grins back. "Want to get coffee sometime? As friends.”
"Yeah. As friends." Her grin widens. She glances out the window, at where Aunt Morgan is watching the train pull out of the station, one hand on Maya's shoulder. "Do me a favor, though? Let's never speak of this again."
Diego laughs. "Fine by me."