"The Good and the Bad"

June 15, 2008
Safehouse 1

"It's alright, don't bother," she stopped Declan from lifting the
dead body.

"We can't just, you know..." he looked uneasy.

"Medical will come and get him...in fact...they're already here," she
gestured to the couple of medical personnel making their way to the
van with a stretcher, complete with body bag, between them. "C'mon,"
she gestured to him to follow her as she got out of the van. She
spied Gray and Rebecca. Not very good looks. Gray said something to
Bella and Rebecca just stared at the girl. Bella then walked away
from them and Paige mentally shook off the last comment from Bella.
She knew where Bella was coming from, what made it bothersome was
that Bella knew what she was thinking. That was just unacceptable.

Paige moved towards Gray and Rebecca, Declan trailing, and her eyes
never wavered from Gray's. When they finally stopped in front of the
two superiors Paige looked expectantly to Gray but he remained
silent. Paige tilted her head, "Bella go to medical?" Probably not
the right question to ask.

"I wouldn't worry about her if I were you," Gray said flatly.

Definitely not the right question. Gray turned to Declan, dismissing
her and making it glaringly obvious. "Well, your first mission was a
failure," Gray managed out in a haughty condescending manner. Declan
was smart, stayed silent, and only maintained eye contact. "Both of
you, debrief, we'll be right there."

Paige moved immediately with Declan trailing behind her. When they
reached the safety of the elevator and the shiny metal door had slid
shut Paige let out a sigh, "that went well," she said brightly.

"They are a cheery bunch," Declan huffed back.

"Ah, yes, we do love them two...like intestinal flu, mind you, but
love is love."

Declan laughed softly, "intestinal flu, that's good, I'll have to
remember that one."

"See, I'm not just a bitch, I have a little sense of humor," Paige
grinned at him. Perhaps he would fit in well after all.

"Bitch? You?" he feigned disbelief. "No," he shook his head, "I
hadn't thought that at all."

"It's fine, it's been a shitty couple of days around here and this
little jaunt didn't make it any better."

"Ah, yes," he shook his head knowingly.

"You heard then?" Paige arched an eyebrow at him.

"I was told. Lost one of your team two days ago."

"He was a good friend. An excellent agent," Paige said softly.

"It always sucks when we lose one of the good guys," Declan said.
Thankfully, he spared her any 'I'm sorry' comments which just weren't
appropriate in their line of work. People died, that's the way it
was. Like the way the sun came up or ice cream melted...it just was
and people died.

"Really? Some think we're the bad guys," she quipped.

"What do you think?" he asked her.

She looked at him carefully. There was no challenge in his voice but
it was a strange question. "I don't," she finally said as the
elevator came to a stop and the doors opened.

He leaned forward a little bit, the gesture slight enough not to be
threatening, but enough into her space to be heeded and it gained her
full attention. "Maybe you should," he said with a nod of his head
and then exited the elevator.

Paige stared after him. What was there to think about? There wasn't
any good guys and bad guys. It was all a game. A game of survival. A
game of who outsmarts who, and who outlasts who, and who kills who
first. There wasn't any good and bad. Sometimes they did bad things
for the common good and sometimes they just did bad things. It just
wasn't that black and white. It was all gray. A very dark shade of
gray, but gray all the same.

She scooted out of the elevator just before the doors shut again and
made her way to the large sitting area outside the offices and
conference rooms. Brian was curled up on one of the couches busy into
something. Paige walked over to him seeing he was playing with a
small game of some sort.

"What's up, kiddo?" she said rustling his hair.

"Paige!" he grinned up at her.

"What's that?" she nodded towards the game.

"Gameboy, vintage Donkey Kong. Becs bought it for me," he grinned
widely.

"I dunno what a Donkey Kong is, never mind a vintage one. But I do
know those things will rot your brain out."

"You think everything rots your brain out," he rolled his eyes at
her. "Besides, I'm taking it apart later."

"Oh," she shrugged, "I guess that makes it ok, then. And don't let
Becs here you calling her Becs. She'll throw your ass out on the
street."

"Not a chance," he huffed, "I got her wrapped around my little pinky."

"Yeah, don't kid yourself," Paige grinned at him.

"Who's the new guy?" he said leaning so he could look at Declan.

"Oh, new team member," she said.

"Uh huh," he looked up at her expectantly.

"What?" she asked.

"Aren't you going to introduce us?"

"Christ," she rolled her eyes. "Declan, come'ere." When he walked
over she made introductions. "This is Brian, Brian, this is Declan."
They shook hands and seemed to hit it off right away. Which didn't
surprise her since Brian was a sweet kid and Declan (who was not a
replacement for Baz in any way (at least she told herself that))
seemed like a nice enough fellow. There conversation was cut short by
Gray and Rebecca coming in and directing them to the smallest of the
conference rooms. Simon was also with them but noticeably absent was
Bella.