[the 'ships i want' meme]

[newschool]

from here:

► spies. they're undercover (either having to pose as a married couple or siblings) and things spark.
► something unhealthy. the two partners genuinely love each other but they're just really bad for each other.
► dealing with workahol. most of my characters love their jobs (to the point where if the option was available, they would marry them) and need to be dragged away.
► one-sided love. one's in love, the other's faking it.
► vampires.

Comments

[bestintention]

Here he is.

Maddie might look busy and on her phone like at least half of the crowd milling around the train station, but unlike them, she's sending a carefully crafted code to the agent in charge of the case to let him know that he's here. Maddie is a good actress, though, just in case anyone is watching, and her body language and the way that she sighs, making it appear that it's either been a long week and she's eager to get home, or whoever she's texted is a bother, and she would rather not have to deal with them at the moment.

Sam might look like any other twenty-something, but Maddie knew better. Although she doesn't watch him overtly, she keeps an eye trained on him at all times. He's not nervous, but he's careful. He's got good reason to be - the FBI is on his trail. Make one wrong move, and they'd flood this place to take him down.

Of course, that's not what they're hoping for. What they're hoping for is irrefutable evidence that he's done what they suspect him of doing, and only then will they make the arrest, and hopefully put him behind bars for a long time to come.

It's a lot of pressure on Maddie's shoulders, but she's not afraid of hard work. She's certainly not afraid of the man that she's watching. He doesn't look like a killer.

[couldbesaved]

He pushes the sleeve of his jacket up a little to reveal a surprisingly rugged, outdoorsy watch for a young man who looks like he spends most of his days hunched over a textbook. Maybe he just likes to hike on the weekends (that, plus the boots, certainly give that impression) or he has some other sort of hobby that requires a watch that can take a licking and keep on ticking. He checks the time, then lets his sleeve fall back into place before looking up and down the platform again. It doesn't seem so much like impatience as it is irritation, much like many of the other usual commuters on the platform.

Finally, though, a train does come - and he waits, waits, lets himself be one of the last of the ones swept on to the train so he's close to the door.

[bestintention]

Maddie does her best to keep from getting caught watching - although she's certain that he's not going to do anything overtly suspicious, it was still her job to be careful and thorough, and if he looks up, if they make eye contact, it's not much of a stretch for her to offer the smallest, most embarrassed little smile, and to look away under the guise that she'd simply been ... admiring a rather attractive person.

Because despite the things that he's suspected of doing, he is that. Attractive. Very, very attractive. She is flustered, and she mentally berates herself for it, because, damn it, she's got a job to do. There was no time for anything else.

Maddie does much the same, but only to be sure that she can stand close by. She can't be too obvious in the way that she's tailing him, lest he catch on to what her real agenda is. This time, at least she can stay on his tail long enough to let her team know where he exits the train. It's a start.

[couldbesaved]

If Sam notices that she gets on the train and stands near him, he doesn't make any sign of it. (He does, of course, because he'd be pretty terrible at his job if he wasn't on his guard all the time, but he's also very good at pretending like he's not. He doesn't take notice that she, specifically, is there, but of the people nearest him.) He takes his phone from his pocket again and unlocks it, tapping his thumb against the Facebook app on the home screen.

There's no artifice on his Facebook, if she gets a look at the screen while he's scrolling through it. His name, Sam Winchester, is displayed at the top, and he makes no attempts to hide the names of the friends flashing by under his thumb. Every so often, he glances up at the overhead display, and his eyes certainly never settle on a man in his forties with glasses who looks nervous.

[bestintention]

It's a train, it's the end of the day, inevitably, it's going to be more than a little bit crowded. And so, Maddie does her best to be just another commuter, just another student exhausted by the end of the semester, just interested in getting home.

If she gets caught looking - it's just Facebook, and it's not as though her team hasn't pored over it for information - she can act as though she's simply ... curious to find out his name, maybe for some surreptitious stalking when she's at home and alone.

She knows damn well that he's too smart to expose anything in such a public way.

[couldbesaved]

Another glance at the overhead sign, and he looks around, apparently not really seeing anything, before returning to his phone. His eyes, again, flutter over her without really noticing her, merely seeing that there is someone there.

Then the train pulls into the next station, and the nervous-looking man gets off the train. Sam does not follow, just looks at the sign again and sighs, impatiently. 4G in the tunnels is terrible.

[bestintention]

What is there to see, really, that he probably hasn't seen a thousand times before? Of course, when you're cautious, you take any opportunity you can to make sure that you're safe. And once more, Maddie tries to appear as inconspicuous as possible.

The nervous man leaves, and Maddie is quick to take his seat, the vantage point better than it had been while she was concentrating on standing upright with the motions of the train. She offers a smile to Sam when he sighs, sort of wiggling her own phone in an attempt to offer her sympathy - not that she was really attempting to do anything other than look busy, anyway.

"It's particularly slow today, isn't it?"

She's not supposed to engage, but the comment is innocuous enough, he shouldn't think anything of it.

[couldbesaved]

"Huh?" Eloquent as always, it takes him a moment to respond, pulling an earbud out. He hadn't been expecting anyone to talk to him, because people so very rarely do. Those that do usually want something, even if it's something as innocuous as a phone number, and it doesn't take long taking the train every day to become suspicious of those who start conversations. He takes a good look at her for the first time, not just a once-over.

"Uh, yeah, guess so. Reception in the tunnel's always terrible."

[bestintention]

A flicker of a smile ghosts across her lips, and she's genuinely amused, even though all she's supposed to be doing is observing. It's a simple comment, though, and he doesn't seem to be overly suspicious of her - just surprised that a perfect stranger has spoken to him.

Good. Yes. He's responded in kind, and Maddie quickly shifts into student mode, huffing out a breath and frowning at her phone.

"Picked a bad time to try to find out my final grades. I just wanna see if I passed, you know?"

[couldbesaved]

"Probably should wait until we get to one of the stations." It's one of the things about the subway that's a mild inconvenience, but builds up over time into something that's really annoying. In the tunnels, where one spends most of their time on the commute, the reception is spotty or nonexistent. In the stations, where the train is for, you know, thirty seconds? 4G. He gives her a crooked grin. "Good luck."

He starts putting his earbud back in, signaling the end of the conversation.

[bestintention]

"Yeah," she chuckles, brushing some stray hair out of her face, back behind her ear. "That's probably the smart thing to do. I dunno, I worked really hard this semester, I kinda wanna see if all that work paid off. Next semester, graduation."

It's ridiculously easy to keep talking once the words come, and the exchange, however brief, does give Maddie at least a glimpse into Sam's character.

If she didn't know who he was and what he's done, she would assume that he was just a man, nicer than many she's had the unfortunate tendency to run into, and it makes her wonder, not for the first time, how he'd gotten tied up in the life he lives.

"Thanks."

[couldbesaved]

"Sure." He smiles a little, a crooked twist at the corner of his mouth, and finishes putting his earbud back in. And then, for all intents and purposes, his eyes go right back to Facebook, and certainly his thumb flicks up along his feed like he's reading it. But his eyes flick over to her every so often, too - it's less out of any real suspicion than it is keeping an eye on anyone who interacts with him. You don't get as far as he has in what he does without being aware of your surroundings.

Two stops later, he gets up and 'excuse me's past her to get out into the aisle. "Hey," he adds, almost as an afterthought, "good luck."

[bestintention]

If Maddie were a regular young woman, really on her way home after a long day of work and school, and she noticed this attractive (she's working, certainly, but she's not blind) guy her age eyeing her every now and then, it'd stroke her ego a bit.

But she is working, and she's doing her best to appear as innocuous as possible. Hopefully, she'd have enough to report to her superiors to continue this sort of ... surveillance tactic.

If she looks surprised when he takes the time to speak to her again, it's because she is.

"Ah - thank you. See you later," she answers, offering a small smile. "I hope."

Once the doors close behind him, she can text her partner the stop that he got off at. Hopefully, someone's got eyes nearby. If not ... maybe she'll run into him again.

[couldbesaved]

New York is a big city. The biggest in the United States, in fact. You'd think, that with so many people in so many places, the chances of running into one person again are slim to none. For the most part, that's right. But sometimes paths cross, and cross, and cross again. Maybe it's intentional. Maybe it's not. But as Sam comes down the stairs of the subway station, he spots her again.

He is, as always, a little suspicious. But at the same time, she's pretty, so he gives her a brief, crooked grin.

[bestintention]

It is a very big city, indeed, and it's probably rare to see any one person more than once. Of course, Maddie isn't just another person, and these meetings aren't exactly all machinated by fate. There's a tail on Sam at all times, different agents every day so that he never feels like he's being watched, and since she'd done such a good job engaging him the first time, here she is again, ostensibly waiting for a train as she fiddles with a camera in her hand.

She looks up, and pretends that it takes a moment to recognize him, but eventually returns the smile that he offers her.

"Hey, again."

[couldbesaved]

"Hey." They aren't far apart, and he moves to stand next to her, hands in his pockets, shoulders slightly rounded to make him seem less tall and imposing than he actually is. Gosh, look at this guy. So humble and a little shy. Everything in his body language says it. "Guess it makes sense running into you again, small town like this."

[bestintention]

If Maddie didn't know exactly what Sam is capable of, she wouldn't think a thing about the seemingly innocent, nice guy standing near her. Oh, he's good at this - the whole ... wholesome appearance thing. "We're just lucky, I guess. Or ... right place, right time."

[couldbesaved]

"Something like that." He grins at her crookedly as he sticks his hand out to her. "I'm Sam, by the way. So ... how'd you do on your final? That's what it was, right?"

[bestintention]

If she wasn't aware of just who she was dealing with, she'd be charmed by the smile, by the sort of ... self-conscious behavior. As it is, she's not completely immune to it all, and it might take her a moment to shake his hand, she does, all the while shaking her head as though she's embarrassed for the pause. "Caroline. And - uh ... I got a B. Not too bad, all things considered."

[couldbesaved]

"Hey, nice. That's not bad at all." His hand lingers on hers for a moment too long before he pulls it back, sticking his hands in his pockets, curling his shoulders a little as though to make himself smaller. "I can't remember - did you say what it was in? I keep thinking it's Sociology, for some reason, but I could be wrong."

[bestintention]

For a moment, Maddie can't concentrate on anything but how warm Sam's hand is, how large, how long he keeps her much smaller hand enveloped, and when she blushes, it's her doing it, and she shakes her head and chuckles to herself, and mentally chides herself for losing track of what she's supposed to be doing. "I don't know if I said? Finals week - I'm sure you know how frazzled it can make a person. It's photography, though, it's my passion."

And it had been, before the lure of police work had called to her.

[couldbesaved]

That blush is very attractive. Sam doesn't miss it, and he grins, that warm, open grin that lights his whole face. (Surely not the smile of someone who's killed, right? Right.) The smile falters, falls, for just a moment before it's back in place, just as warm as ever. "Wow, photography. That's really cool."

A photographer. Not the best relationship for him to be cultivating. Of course he's known - but to be known to someone who has an eye for detail, to be known to someone who remembers things - it's maybe not a good idea.

"You're in the best place in the world for it, in my opinion. Must've had an easy time finding a great picture for your finals here."

[bestintention]

All the training that Maddie has had, and the first thing she can think of to say is photographer? Of all the things ... of all the studies, she picks the one thing that could put an end to this before it's even begun? Mentally, she's kicking herself, even if she manages to keep a calm front. "It is, actually. One day, I want to be featured in, like ... National Geographic. I'm not so great at photographing people, you know? But landscapes are another thing entirely. I'd be a ... geologist, or something, if my brain were wired that way."

At least he's still speaking to her. That's something.

"I think I did. You find just the right piece of architecture on just the right day, with the sun shining just so ... it's amazing."

[couldbesaved]

He doesn't visibly relax, because that would imply there was something that made him tense. There is a faint shift around his eyes, though, as they crinkle while his smile grows slightly.

"Yeah, you're right. It's really breathtaking."

Landscape photographer. Less dangerous, yes. Still might be a liability. She remembers places, then; she might be able to put two and two together. A lower risk, but still a risk.

He glances up at the stop indicator.

"What did you photograph for your final?"

[bestintention]

Oh, he's good. He is good at holding this sort of ... everyman facade he's cultivated. If she didn't know any better, he'd seem like another random face in the crowd.

Everyone was a risk these days, what, with mobile phones and their capabilities, if put in the hands of people who were quick-witted enough to know when to take photos, or make recordings.

"You know that little park on Third and Grand? I was passing by one day, the sun was going down, and I got a gorgeous shot of the swings, all empty. I mean, I thought it was beautiful."