Work Text:
"Jacobi? Major? Do you read me?" Maxwell asks from the car they parked in front of the building.
Kepler answers first, his voice a whisper, "Loud and clear Maxwell. As you know, this mission is an intelligence operation. We download the information and get out. Do you copy?"
Two voices respond in unison, "Yes, sir."
Kepler turns down his earbud and walks into the building they’ll be infiltrating while Maxwell directs Jacobi up the back stairwell. Kepler’s flirting with the guard ringing in their ears.
Jacobi’s always wondered what her story is. Math genius, grew up in a small town in Montana, and stopped contacting her family years ago. That’s all he’s ever gotten out of her. All the nights when they were both lying awake in hotel room beds, the nights when they talked about anything and everything, had only gotten him that far. Every time he tried to push a little more, get a little deeper, she shut him out entirely. Faked a yawn and turned so she wasn’t facing him.
His problems start when he gets to the corridor with the office, which they’re sneaking into. Kepler is distracting the guards on the ground floor, and there aren’t that many guards on this level. Jacobi strolls nonchalantly down the hallway, making small talk with Maxwell. “So I’m thinking we slime him. Or maybe the rake thing? Something simple enough that he won’t th-“
“Jacobi! Guard behind you, don’t run.” His better half tells him.
Jacobi turns around with a fabricated easy smile and greets, ”Hey there!” The guard looks uncomfortable but responds, “No one is supposed to be up here. This is a restricted area.” Jacobi grins and says,”Not for me it isn’t.” The guard is visibly confused, so Jacobi keeps standing there, working on the guard.
“Busy day?” Jacobi asks, trying to flirt the way Kepler does. “Because there is a lot of tension in your shoulders. That isn’t good for you, sweetheart. Maybe I can make that tension go away…” He winks suggestively as Maxwell starts giggling in his ear. The guard is so uncomfortable that he turns tail and walks off to Jacobi’s cries, “Baby, wait! I thought we had something!”
He waits until a voice in his ear gives him the go-ahead. He pulls out a lock-picking set and starts to work. It’s not his best work but he tries the handle. It doesn’t turn. He groans quietly.
”Today would be great.” Maxwell’s deadpan voice makes him grin despite himself.
”Oh, shut up.”
Jacobi finally gets it(after much teasing) and walks in. He plugs the hard drive into the computer and Maxwell gasps. “The encryption on this is like nothing I’ve ever seen.” That was Jacobi’s cue to stop listening, as Maxwell would devolve into incomprehensible technical gibberish.
Suddenly, a floorboard creaked loudly. A deep voice curses quietly. Uniformed guards flood through the recently unlocked door and surround Jacobi, guns all trained on him. He throws an explosive, and one of them catches it on instinct. Blood and guts splatter everyone there, and the remaining guards turn to him. “A little help here?” Jacobi asks, voice even. The tinny voice of Maxwell echoes, “The whiskey major won’t turn up his fricking earbud!”
Jacobi’s conversation is cut off by a sharp kick to his ribs. His breathing becomes heavy and irregular, and then he’s on the ground. Maxwell’s voice is coming through, though he can’t tell what she’s saying. Blood trickles down his arm(both his own and others), mixing with newly formed bruises and old scars. He can’t wait to tell Maxwell his outlandish made-up stories about all of the new injuries when he survives this. If he survives this.
Then, one sharp-toed boot stops kicking. Another. All their attention is focused elsewhere, and Jacobi knows he should worry about what’s important enough to distract them from the guy who was trying to steal corporate secrets, but all he can think about is stopping the blood that is pouring out of him. The loud noises are distracting and his ears hurt, but he can’t summon enough willpower to cover them.
He somehow props himself up, but his eyes are blurry. Fists flying. His savior is a blur, every guard falling to the ground after they’re done with them. Tripping and whirling, ducking and elbowing, and everyone is on the ground except his savior. His vision fades to black.
Someone hoists him up, stumbling a little, and he notices that his savior is limping slightly. “Major Kepler?” He calls, unable to think clearly. They get to the stairs, almost falling a couple of times. His savior nearly collapses at he bottom but keeps him propped up, safe.
The car that he came in is sitting in front of them, and only then does he remember his mission. “Hard. Drive.” He says in between panting, trying to let his rescuer know. It was then pressed gently into his palm. The savior hugs him carefully, as if scared he would explode(he might) Jacobi falls asleep in the comfortable embrace of his savior.
He wakes up to a hotel room. He’s on the only bed, Kepler on the couch. Kepler is out cold, so he doesn’t notice the pained gasps coming from the bathroom. Jacobi does though, so he knocks quietly and hears, “Come on in.” from the other side of the door.
Maxwell is in the tub with rubbing alcohol and a rag, pouring some on the long gash on her leg. She winces but doesn’t gasp, conscious of Jacobi’s eyes on her. He asks, “Where did you get that? You were in the car.”
“Yeah. The car.” Maxwell says, noncommittal. “Maxwell…“ Jacobi says, an unspoken question in his voice. “I was in the car,” Maxwell replies with a bit more force this time, avoiding eye contact by pressing the rag on her leg. “If you don’t tell me right the hell now, I swear to-“ “One of the guards had a knife I didn’t see. Didn’t realize until I was bleeding,” Realization dawns on Jacobi’s face, “It was you. You’re the one who beat up the guards. You’re the reason I’m alive. You… saved me. “Of course I did.” Maxwells voice darkens, “No one, no one, messes with my best friend like that.”
Jacobi was once again reminded how little he knew of her. She started cleaning his wounds, starting with his legs. He had a gunshot wound, which Maxwell carefully pulled the pellet out of, strings of blood connecting the bullet to his leg. His pain was over quickly as Maxwell bandaged him up and handed him pain meds. The rest of his wounds got alcohol and Band-Aids.
They were all cleaned up and Maxwell looked ready to pass out. “How long have you been awake?” Jacobi asked, hoping his insomniac friend had slept in the past week .
”Um…24, that’s 60-something, 74 hours.” Jacobi shook his head. With each number she had rattled off, his spirits had sank a little more. He was the one supposed to pull her out of her ‘work high’. They called it that because she lost all concept of time and coming down from it was rough. He had questions, but they could wait until morning. Maxwell, however knew him too well. “Ask your question, Daniel” She only called him that when it was serious, only used during their midnight talks. “Fine, Alana. But you gotta get some sleep after, ok?”
”Ok. Just ask the damn question.”
”Where did you learn to fight like that? And why haven’t you been in fieldwork since Day 1?”
”I learned to fight in Montana. Daddy Dearest taught me how to fight at the ripe age of 5 and started hurting me as ‘practice’ at 6. He taught me how to use a gun at 7, he wanted me to be a hunter like him. Like I would ever want to be anything like him.” Sarcasm dripped off her words, “I was winning at the fight club by 12 and could beat grown men at 15. I left that life when I got to college and never went back. I refuse to be anything like my father.”
Jacobi hugs her tightly. “Thank you. For saving my ass and telling me and all of it.” Maxwell relaxes into him and they lay down on the bed. She buries her face in his chest and he jeeps his arms around her. With his best friend in his arms, he wishes to undo all the harm this world has caused her. He would do anything to keep her safe, and, as evidenced by today she would do the same for him. So this is what family feels like.