Title: I'm the lie living for you

Disclaimer: not my characters; title from Evanescence

Warnings: takes place after chapter 3, references to violence/death

Pairings: none

Rating: PG

Wordcount: 1340

Point of view: third

Note: SO. Chapter 4 is fighting me something fierce, possibly because the main story is only from Brian's pov and so there's a lot of shit he can't narrate. Therefore, I've mostly decided to write quite a few interludes to set everything up. I may wait until they're all done so I can post them chronologically or I may get frustrated with RL and post as they're finished. We'll see.

"Fuentes!" Monica looks up to see Markham frowning down the hallway. "C'mon, we have a meeting," he says, so she locks her computer, slips her heels back on, and heads over.

"Who are we meeting?" she asks. She's always liked Markham; he'd had faith in her from the beginning, gave her chances few others would have, believed in her when she went under against Verone. She's always been a gifted liar and to finally be able to use it – after everything went wrong, it would've been easy for Monica to be blamed for everything, but Markham made sure it didn't happen.

"Someone from the DSS," Markham answers. "And Bilkins is back, too."

"So it's about –" she hisses, regret and rage both shooting through her, and Markham nods.

.

In the meeting room, there's Bilkins sitting at the table and a huge man leaning against the wall. He's something – Monica studies him, inhaling sharply. She knows the scent, has scented it somewhere else, but it was a long time ago and she doesn't remember what it was.

"Agent Markham, Agent Fuentes," Bilkins says, "this is Agent Hobbs." He smiles grimly. "Hobbs is going after O'Connor."

"I hope you put a bullet in the bastard," Markham says.

"That's a last resort," Hobbs replies, glancing at Monica. "I need to know everything you know about O'Connor and Verone."

"Alright," she says, sitting across from Bilkins.

.

She has relived that final day a thousand times. She relived it for the debrief with her superiors, with the FBI, in her nightmares. She'd woken up like it was normal, eaten breakfast with Carter, counting down in her mind. She'd found a few seconds to herself to text Markham about the airstrip Carter was sending the money to, so she knew everything would be over soon.

And then Carter smiled at her, setting down his silverware, wiping at his mouth with a napkin, and then he purred, "Customs agents sure are getting pretty."

She'd frozen for just a moment before calling up a smile. "What?" she'd asked, sounding bewildered.

"Monica," he'd said gently, reaching out to caress her wrist before his fingernails became claws, which he trailed along her skin. "I've known from the beginning."

Every time she's explained that moment, she's never had the words to convey the sheer terror that swiftly became resignation. Sitting at the table in the garden, staring into his dark eyes, Monica had known she was dead. She considered shifting for a second, flying away, but his grip tightened. She'd be dead before she finished the shift.

"Come along, Agent," he'd said and escorted her to the Navigator. Her phone was left on the breakfast table. And even though there were eyes on them, she knew it wouldn't save her.

That's possibly the hardest thing to explain, and it only convinced quite a few of her coworkers that she had turned: Verone left her alive. In the Navigator, he'd wrapped his hand around her neck and she knew she was going to die –

But she woke up to Miami PD and DEA agents shouting, alone in the Navigator but for the driver, and she had no explanation at all.

Well. Not until O'Connor and Pearce disappeared with all the money and Carter Verone. Not until Markham and Bilkins told her the lies O'Connor and Pearce had told.

.

After Monica, Bilkins, and Markham all tell their parts of the story, Hobbs just looks at them. "And none of you had any idea that O'Connor was playing you?"

"No," Bilkins says. "And that's on me." He sighs, shaking his head. "He was a great cop, Hobbs. I thought if I gave him a little trust, he'd see – "

"I never trusted him," Markham interrupts. "But I just thought he and his buddy would run. Him working with Verone the whole time?" He throws his hands up in disgust. "We had eyes on Verone for over a year and there was never even a hint they knew each other."

Hobbs nods, rubbing at his chin. "So he's a damned good liar. Able to pull together plans quick as lightnin', too. Good at improv." He looks at Bilkins. "The LAPD is sendin' me every case O'Connor ever worked on. I'll need the FBI's notes, too, including whatever the fuck happened with Arturo Braga's case."

"You got 'em," Bilkins says, so Hobbs turns to Markham with a raised eyebrow.

"Anything to help catch that bastard," Markham says. "Everything we have on Verone and that complete fuck-up of an op with O'Connor."

"Bilkins, we'll talk more later," Hobbs says. "You spent the most time with O'Connor." He meets Monica's eyes and tilts his head slightly. "Walk with me?"

"Sure," she says, pushing away from the table.

.

"Bilkins and Markham seem like good men," Hobbs says. "But they don't understand, do they?"

"Not even the rest of the shifters do, really," Monica admits. "They never met him." Monica chuckles, mostly without mirth. "He's charming," she says, shaking her head. "The best liar I've ever met."

"What about Pearce?" Hobbs asks.

"Definitely in Brian's pack," Monica says after a moment's thought. "Brian took the lead in every interaction I saw."

Monica has never needed or wanted an alpha; she understands that a pack is something like a family, but she has a family. She's known alphas, though, good and bad, and Brian – "If you do find them," she says, "Pearce might your way in. There was something… almost fragile about him, I think. He was fresh out of prison when Brian brought him here and it showed in how Brian treated him."

Hobbs laughs. "That'll be a good way to have a big cat going for my throat."

"Yeah," Monica agrees. "Be sure to ask Markham how that feels."

Hobbs laughs again before asking seriously, "But how did Verone and O'Connor interact? See, the reports I've gotten from LA make it seem like O'Connor chose Toretto as his alpha but somethin' about that doesn't fit."

"No," Monica says, shaking her head. "That doesn't fit at all. And Verone – Brian, I'm sure he could fake if someone's his alpha or not, but he never once deferred to Verone on anything but surface things, you know? And Pearce looked to him, not Verone. Brian, from what I saw, he is the alpha, he doesn't follow anyone."

"Okay." Hobbs assesses her for a moment and Monica raises a brow, meeting his gaze. "If Verone knew you were undercover the entire time, it implies the previous attempts were known, too. Now, from what I've read, Verone ain't the kind to be merciful, so how do you explain that?"

"I don't know," Monica answers simply. "Look, Agent Hobbs, I've gone over every word in every file we have on Verone. I've watched every video, listened to every tape. There is nothing to indicate he and Brian had ever met." She shudders, remembering Verone's claws around her throat. "I have no idea why I'm alive."

"Okay," Hobbs says again, holding out one of his massive hands, which she shakes firmly. "Thank you for your time, Agent Fuentes. I'll keep you posted."

"Thanks," she replies. "And good luck." You're gonna need it, she doesn't say but he gives her a smile with just a hint of fang.

.

After reliving that terrible day again, Monica decides to leave work early and treat herself at her favorite spa before going for a flight.

It's not that they don't know where Brian O'Connor and Carter Verone are, because they do. It's that they have no legal cause to have either of them extradited, and the one time Markham mentioned it to someone in Argentina's government, they were completely ignored for two weeks. Approval hasn't come down yet for anyone to be sent in undercover – and since Monica reported that Verone claimed to have known the entire time, she's pretty sure everyone's a little hesitant.

But whatever happens, it's out of her hands. She's taking the afternoon to relax because she doesn't want to dream tonight about Verone's claws sinking into her throat.