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“I’d be offended, but I agree it is definitely a concern,” Jensen replies, not seeming as concerned as I certainly feel about it, especially since if I’m becoming responsible for making sure that he doesn’t hurt himself then that also means Ever giving me that look if he does.
“Dinner is ready, guys,” Rafe yells from the kitchen.
“Thank god, I’m starving.”
“You’re always starving,” I reply with a grin and then add, “I’ll start working on some stuff that we can practice that should help you build up the strength you need as well. You’re going to be walking and running too, right?”
He nods as we make our way to the table to join the others, “Yeah, down in the gym until the snow melts, and I don't want to risk slipping on the ice.”
“Okay, good,” I reply, my mind going a mile a minute.
Rafe made curry with all the trimmings, and it’s fucking delicious, but then I can say that about pretty much everything that Rafe cooks. Ever and the others already filled Lyric and her men in about what happened, so the conversation turns to their next job instead.
“You guys have another job in the next couple of days, right?” Jynx asks.
Dominic nods, “Yeah, only Ezra, Creed, and I are going. The others have work commitments that they have to keep.”
“Do you need any backup?” Rome asks.
“Nah, thanks though, man. It’s really straightforward this one,” Ezra replies.
“No worries, let us know if that changes,” Rip smiles.
“Wait, can you guys even help?” Lyric asks as everyone looks at Trick.
Trick shrugs, “I don’t see why not. I mean, if they did need the extra backup, then it would be because we can’t be there because of the Rylie case, and Jynx and the guys are helping with the Rylie case, so in a roundabout way, you’d still be helping because of that. Besides, Mr R knows that there’s no way that I’d risk any of you because of not having any backup, especially when we’ve got extra people who are very capable.”
“There you go,” Rome grins.
“Great, hopefully, we won’t need to call you in, but it’s good to know that we can,” Creed smiles.
After that, the conversation is our usual easy-flowing banter as everyone completely devours the food that Rafe’s made, making him smile proudly. We don’t end up hanging out for much longer as everyone is pretty tired, either from the long day or being pregnant.
Ever
“Elijah is calling with the team debrief if you want to sit in?” Trick asks me as he stands in the doorway of my room.
“Yeah, absolutely,” I reply, putting the book I was reading down and hopping up to follow him down to his office, where he likes to take these kinds of calls.
Once we’re seated, Trick answers the phone, “Hey guys, how did it go?”
“It went as expected, surprisingly smoothly, and we got the evidence that we needed, so the local cops can now arrest him without worrying that they don’t have enough evidence or he will get off on a technicality again,” Elijah replies with a smile.
As always, while Trick listens to the more in-depth debrief, I take a moment to look over Elijah, Callen, Marty, and Noel, making sure that they’re okay and that none of them have any serious injuries, that sort of thing. Other than the fact that Marty and Noel are standing as far away from each other as they possibly can and refusing to look at each other, they all seem to be okay.
I pull out my phone and send Noel a text message asking if everything is okay, and he immediately replies.
Noel: Just the usual, but this time, I brought him up on it and asked him if he ever wanted anything more with me since he knows how I feel, and this constant back and forth isn’t fair.
Me: Wow, well done. I’m really proud of you. What did he say?
Noel: Nothing. He refused to answer and hasn’t spoken to me unless absolutely necessary. It’s pissed me the fuck off.
Me: I’m not surprised that’s a dick move. I’m sorry.
Noel: It is what it is. At least I know now.
I frown. I know that I didn’t imagine the chemistry between them or the blatant interest on Marty’s behalf. Something more is going on, but it’s not my place to interfere.