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Mal sighed, tapping the pen in his hand against his desk. It had been two months (two and a half months, if he was being exact) since the Firstborn case had finally concluded with the serial killer’s death. And things had been way too quiet for the brunette detective’s liking. “Hey”The familiar voice and gentle hand on his shoulder caused Mal to look up, smiling as he looked into the grey eyes of his girlfriend. “Hi”.His girlfriend sank down into the chair next to his desk. “Did I miss anything interesting?” she queried.Mal shook his head. “No, just paperwork. Anders was insistent that I spend a week requalifying to use my service weapon and everything after what happened two months ago, so I’ve been busy with that, and today I got cleared for active duty again. I don’t officially start again until tomorrow though, and even then I’ll probably only be working half the hours for another three days while I finish any recovering that’s left for me to do” he responded.Natara sighed. “I see”.There was a pause for a few seconds, and then Natara’s face broke into a smile. “Oh, by the way, there was something I wanted to show you”.She reached into the pocket of her jeans, withdrawing a folded sheet of paper, which she placed on the desk in front of her boyfriend. “Have a read of that”.Mal unfolded it, and did as his girlfriend suggested, his eyes widening in surprise as the contents sunk in. “Really?”Natara nodded wordlessly, and Mal pulled her into a tight hug. “That’s fantastic news, Nat. I’m so happy for you”.“I wouldn’t have had the courage to go through with suggesting it to the Director if it wasn’t for you backing me up, Mal. I need to go tell the Captain, could you call Amy and the others and get them to come up here as soon as they’re free? I think it’s best if we tell them all at once rather than one or two at a time”.“Of course, Nat”“Thank you”Mal’s girlfriend placed a brief kiss to his cheek before taking the piece of paper and walking in the direction of Captain Ander’s office. He waited for a couple of minutes, watching her walk away, before pulling out his cell phone and dialling a number. “Hello?”“Hi, Amy. Is Kai there at the moment?”There was a pause, indicating that the data analyst was checking for the technician’s presence, before she responded. “Yup!”Mal grinned. “Good. Could you put me on speaker, please? I’d prefer to be able to talk to you both at the same time”“Sure, Mal, no problem!”“Thanks, Amy. That makes things so much easier”.There was a pause before the data analyst spoke again. “Alright, Mal, you’re on speaker. What can we do for you?”“Natara wants both of you up here as soon as possible. She has a rather important announcement that she wants to make today, and she’d prefer everyone to hear it at once rather than just a few people at a time” the detective replied.“Alright, we should be up there in about five minutes!”Mal allowed himself a slight smile. Everything was going perfectly so far. “Great. I’ll see you soon then”.“Yup!”And with that, the data analyst hung up. Mal waited for a few seconds before hitting the button to end the call and keying in Jeremy’s number. “Jeremy?”“Mal. It’s good to hear from you. You and Natara really had us worried”.Mal chuckled. “We’re absolutely fine. No need to worry about us”.His friend laughed for a brief moment as well, before becoming serious. “What do you need?”“Can you get Reed and meet us back at the Precinct? Natara has an announcement that she’d like to make, and she’d prefer to make it in front of everyone at the same time”.“Any hints you can give me as to what’s going on?”Mal laughed. “Nope. You’ll just have to wait and see”.“Darn you. Alright, we’ll be there soon”.
~Shortly afterwards~
“Looks like we’re all here. So, if you don’t mind telling us what this is all about now, Mal…”Not all of us are here, really. Mal thought bitterly. Blaise sacrificed herself to kill Noroi and save San Francisco from the Nightmare drug… “Patience, Jeremy. I promise all will be revealed soon enough”.“But how soon is that?” Kai wondered.Mal was considering his next words carefully when the door to the Captain’s office opened and his girlfriend stepped out into the bullpen, followed closely by Captain Anders. “Attention, everyone. Agent Williams here has a special announcement that she’d like to make”.“Oh, so that’s how soon” Kai muttered, receiving a glare from the Captain which shut him up almost immediately.Natara smiled gratefully at the Captain. “Thank you, sir. As I’m sure you will all remember, given the work that each and every one of us had to put in to stop him, and the sacrifices that were made, it has been two months since The Firstborn and his allies were killed. I received a call from the Director of the FBI yesterday. As my investigation into the Maskmaker’s mysterious benefactor has officially concluded, they wanted me to return to DC immediately. However…”She paused, letting her words sink in. “However what?” Reed prompted.“With Mal’s support, I was able to convince him to let me stay here. As it turns out, he had been looking for someone to act as a liaison between the FBI and this Precinct for a while, and, after talking with me yesterday, he came to the conclusion that I would be perfect for the job”.She pulled out the letter, unfolding it and laying it on Mal’s desk so that everyone could read it. “This letter arrived from the Bureau earlier today and officially confirmed it. I’m officially the liaison between this Precinct and the FBI now”.“So, what does that mean?” Amy queried.“It means that while I’ll still have to check in with the Director in Quantico every once in a while, by either email or phone call, I’m free to stay here in San Francisco for as long as I want to and continue to solve murders with the rest of you”As their friends digested this news, Natara turned to Mal, giving him a questioning look. Knowing what she needed immediately, without her even having to ask, he moved to her side, slipping an arm around her side as she burrowed her head into the crook of his neck. “I’m so amazingly proud of you, Natara. You did what you had to do, and you got out of it the exact result you were hoping for. You just continue to amaze me” he whispered quietly.She smiled, lifting her head to look into his eyes, and pressed her lips to his briefly. “I have all I could ever need right here in San Francisco, why would I ever want to go anywhere else?”I can think of one very good reason. Actually, make that two very good reasons Mal thought wistfully, though refrained from voicing such thoughts out loud. He had waited years for someone like Natara to come into his life, he could afford to wait a little longer. And when he couldn’t wait any more… well, he’d be sure to get it absolutely perfect. Because perfection was exactly what Natara Williams deserved.