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“These people don't know how to give up, even in death they’re an annoyance.” Tasha’s breath catches in her throat, she turns her head. “Keep the arrests under wraps for now, I wanna control the narrative on this,” Madeline sighs and hangs up. “Whose dead?” Tasha can’t help but ask, dread filling her stomach. She can’t lose anyone else. Madeline turns to face her with a smirk but doesn’t answer.“Whose dead?” She repeats. Tasha wants to hit that slimey grin off her face. “It seems that your lab friend couldn’t get out of there fast enough.”
No
“Patterson?”“She was always too smart for her own good.”Tasha couldn’t breathe. “You’re lying,” she whispers. It’s all she could get out. There’s not enough air in the world that could fill her lungs again.“Tasha dear,” Madeline says. “Why would I lie to you about something like this?”It couldn’t be true, she was the best of them. There’s no way she could be gone. Tasha hasn’t had the chance to make it up to her yet. Sure, she and Patterson had gotten close again in the past few months in the bunker, but definitely not what they used to be. She’d almost thought they were moving towards being more than friends before the opportunity had been lost when the dragonfly tattoo was solved. Tasha was filled with sadness but also rage when she realized she couldn’t fix their relationship and tell Patterson how she really felt.“You bitch!” Tasha yelled, tears filling her eyes. It was all Madeline’s fault. None of them would’ve been in this position if it weren’t for her. “Natasha—““Why are you doing this to us?” Tasha was seething. “You are ruining people's lives, our lives, killing the people we love. Don’t you see that?”“Now Tasha, I didn’t do anything to Patterson,” Madeline replied coolly. “Patterson got herself killed.”Tasha lunged for Madeline but was held back by the guard and was forced to the ground. Tasha felt the fight leave and the sobs started racking her body. “Get her up,” Madeline ordered. “We need to get her and the rest back stateside.”Tasha allowed the Dabbur Zann man to haul her up and take her to the car. —
She’s forced into the chair, handcuffs clicked on immediately. Her eyes set straight forward with anger coursing through her body. She hates the way they were paraded through SIOC like it was a fucking show. She thinks about the looks on Kurt and Jane’s face when they were reunited. They are just as devastated as she is. They’ve been a family for how long now? Over a decade? And it just keeps getting smaller. They told her how Rich was with her when she died and how he was taken. Rich couldn’t face Tasha. He and Tasha spent a lot of time together in the bunker over the last few months talking about their fears of what happens next. He was the friend she never knew she needed, and she was so grateful for him. She also spent a lot of time telling him how much she felt for Patterson and how she wanted to make it up to her and tell her how she felt after all of this was over. She imagines he feels a sort of guilt knowing that Tasha couldn’t do that now. But Tasha knows how much Rich cared for her too. They were best friends even though Patterson would pretend they weren’t. She wishes she could talk to Rich right now. Hell she wishes she could talk to Patterson. But she can’t. Because she’s gone. Tasha thinks about the last time she saw her when she was leaving for Malta. And how it felt like the old times.
Tasha is playing with the little toy as she walks towards the lift.
“It’s a- a virtual pet, you push the buttons to keep it alive. Left button gives it water and you tap its nose to give it affection” Patterson said after Tasha teased her.
Tasha faces Patterson with a smile and boops her on the nose. Patterson gave her the brightest smile and Tasha could feel the love in it.
“Bye Patterson”
“Bye”
God she wishes she could see her smile like that again. Tasha wished she’d told her she loved her, or hugged her at least. Now she’ll never get the chance.
—The door to the interrogation room slides open and Tasha sees Madeline walk through. Tasha can only look her in the eyes and wish she could spontaneously combust. Madeline sits before she starts speaking“Tasha, I have a deal for you.” She says nothing and Madeline continues. “The offer is simple. You give me a full on-camera confession.”“And I’m sure you're writing it,” Tasha spits at her. “Prepared by me, spoken by you,” Madeline replies. “You think you’ve got this under control, but I can’t wait to see this blow up in your face.”“Defiant to the end. I’d expect nothing less from you Tasha,” Madeline grins. “Confess and you go to a black-site, or don’t and your friends go instead, while you live out the rest of your days in the relative comfort of maximum security, thinking about what you did to them.” Tasha couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Did Madeline really believe that Tasha would trust her and take the deal? Or that the other three would? Tasha stayed silent. “Do you want to talk before someone else does?” “Go fuck yourself!” Tasha will never do anything for Madeline again. “It’s not gonna happen.”“Oh it will, or you’ll be thrown in a hole so deep, you’ll never climb out,” Madeline tries. “We’d rather go through that than give you what you want.” Tasha would rather be put in a black-site or die rather than do that to her family.“Undoubtedly, but this isn’t just about you four. There are other people to consider.” Tasha couldn’t think of who was out there. She just knows the only person who could get them out of this is gone. “Say, how is your friend Boston?” Fuck. Tasha thinks. “I wonder how Rich would feel about that,” Madeline says with faux confusion. “Ah, having love in one’s life. There’s nothing more painful or more powerful.”“As if you’d know anything about that,” Tasha growls. “Jane and Kurt certainly do. Can you imagine the torture they’d experience, each knowing the other was in a secret facility somewhere, shut off from the rest of the world.”Tasha knows Madeline is trying to guilt her into getting a confession and it’s definitely working, but she would never give Madeline what she wants. “I mean you’ve recently suffered,”Tasha’s blood ran cold. “-a heartbreaking tragedy with the passing of Patterson.”Tasha wants to rip her throat out.“Do you really want to deliver that kind of suffering to the two of them? That’s a lot of responsibility, that bond of friendship and loyalty,” Madeline continued. “I know you would never want Patterson to suffer like that.”Tasha tries lunging for Madeline, but is restricted by the handcuffs. She can’t help but love the way Madeline flinches. “Go to hell!” Tasha answers. She knows she’ll probably meet her there one day. “You have until the end of the day to save your friends,” she says before she walks out.
God, we are so fucked.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“Okay okay, come on…”The timer blinks on. “Yes!” Patterson hears Rich knock at the door.“Come on, let’s make a move” Rich whispers.“Hang on just setting the timer” Patterson replies.Rich looks around to make sure no one is coming, “Come on!”The final wire is connected and the timer starts.“Come on!” he whispers again.“Okay go, let’s go!” Patterson turns around and follows Rich, and as she looks up, the door is pushed open and two men walk through armed. The first of Madeleine's guys hits Rich over the head with his gun and grabs him. Patterson has no choice but to back up and run back to the server room as the second man walks into the hallway and starts firing at her, she ducks and hides around the corner. Shots keep firing off as she looks over to the timer. 18…17… The gunfire doesn’t stop and some of it comes particularly close to her head and she has to duck away again. She looks back to the timer. 10…9…8…7…6… Her breath catches in her throat as she starts to panic. She flinches away from the sparks as the bullets hit the metal surfaces, but her focus doesn’t move from the timer.
This is very not good
4…3… She’s got nowhere to go. She’ll die if she walks out of that room. She’ll die if she stays. 1…0 When the timer ends, the door starts to swing shut and Patterson tries to catch it, but she’s too late. The door locks and she can see Rich through the little window on the door. “Patterson!” she faintly heard him yell. She’s trapped here.Patterson steps away from the door as she hears the thermite ignite. And like a domino effect she sees a wall of molten lava raining from the ceiling.She looks back to Rich and sees him struggling against the strong grip.“No!” She can’t hear him anymore, but she can read his lips.“I’m sorry,” she says with tears in her eyes, hoping he can do the same.“Patterson!”His face is the last thing she sees before the wall of lava falls in front of her and blocks the door.“What am I gonna do?” Patterson says to herself as she spins in a circle trying to find a way out.
The miners' tunnels.
“Okay okay, in we go”
—
It takes a while to reach the surface. She climbs out of the tunnel, covered in dirt and whatever else was in those tunnels, hoping there's no bugs in her hair. Especially spiders, she hates spiders. Patterson is lucky enough that the exit is far enough away from the bunker entrance that she couldn’t be noticed by any lingering Dabbur Zann. She managed to convince Ice Cream to let her use his jet as it was a life or death situation. She had to get back to back to New York and save her family and clear their names.
How am I gonna do this?
Patterson knows this will be close to an impossible task to do on her own. She needs to be able to find someone who she can trust. Someone who’s crazy enough to do this with her.
Boston
Patterson, after some deep digging, was able to locate where he lived, and after landing, she made her way to Boston’s apartment building. As she arrives, from across the street she sees two figures dressed in all black entering, and she knows it’s Madeline’s men. Just in time she thinks as she follows them in. She slowly climbs up the stairs when sees Boston’s door open at the end of the hall. She can just hear Boston’s nasally voice trying to delay his death.“If I’d known you were coming, I’d have made snacks.” Patterson continues quietly down the hall.“There’s actually some Gruyere in the fridge if you don’t mind waiting.” She hears the clicks of the gun safety as she charges into the room and grabs a narwhal statue that sits on a table near the doorway. She hits the man closest to her over the back of the head and takes him out. The second turns to her and takes a swing. Patterson is able to dodge and swing the narwhal upwards, hitting him near the temple, knocking him out. Breathing heavily, she looks up to see Boston with his hands up and eyes closed. He slowly opens his eyes and she sees the surprise of recognition on his face.“Patterson?!“ He says. “I thought you were dead!”“Yeah and I thought you had taste,” she sighs as she throws the narwhal on the ground. “Come on, we gotta save the team.“How are you here? What happened?” Boston asked.“We don’t have time, it’s a long story.” “So give me the short one,” he countered. With a long sigh she gives him the brief version of what went down with her and Rich and how she escaped. She takes a second, and realizes that her escape gives the team a much greater chance of getting out of this mess. If she had been captured it would’ve been game over. It'd have been even worse if she died. Boston tells her how it’s been plastered all over the news of the team's capture, of her death, and her heart breaks a little.
They think I’m dead. The team, Tasha, my parents.
Patterson doesn't think she can imagine how they are feeling right now. Believing that she will see her parents again is what keeps her going. Her feelings for Tasha and the hope that maybe one day she can be with her best friend drives her to keep fighting. If it was the other way around and she thought Tasha was dead, she doesn’t know if she could. She doesn’t want them to feel that any longer. “Okay. We need to prove the team is innocent, and we don’t have much time,” Patterson says. The biggest advantage she has is Ice Cream’s device that back doors the Beaconer app. “So we have a device that can hack into an encrypted messaging app, reveal Madeline’s ties to terrorism, and prove our innocence?” Boston questions. “Yeah, but there’s a problem,” Patterson returns. “To prove Madeline‘s guilt, we need to get into her phone beginning direct access to an FBI server.”“In person? How are we supposed to do that? Going into that building is suicide.”“Then it’s a good thing I’m already dead.“ —
There’s a very good chance that they will get caught, but they don’t have another choice. They need a disguise of some sort but Patterson knows the facial recognition of the FBI security system would pick them up immediately. Unless they swapped genders. Patterson settled for the dark hair, dark eyes nerdy computer guy with khakis. She helped Boston with his makeup and wardrobe also, thankful for her friends in Silicon Valley that taught her how to style better than she used to. All they had to do now was to find a way for them to get in. Afreen has always been there for her and the team. There’s no way she would switch sides now. She knew Afreen didn’t drive to work, she took public transportation. If she sent a notice email about new parking restrictions, plus adding in her coding that only the two of them used, it should raise a flag and Afreen can get them ID’s. Whether Afreen knew it was her or not, she gave Patterson their new ID’s to get in. Boston and Patterson made it through security and she doesn’t think she’s ever been this anxious in her whole life. They continued through the building and made their way to the locker room where she told Afreen to meet them. Patterson opened the door to find Afreen and a surprising Matthew Weitz. Is he still on their side too? The pair seemed confused as she and Boston approached. Were our disguises that good? Maybe not, but the fact that she is ‘dead’ probably throws them off a bit. Once they realized it was actually them, Patterson told them about the device. In true Weitz fashion, he was going to leave it to them to figure out, but unfortunately for him they needed access to the server room. As they made it to the server room, Patterson and Boston got to work on decrypting the device. It’s a timely task that needs to get done fast. “Dammit this is from Agent Woods,” Weitz says after his phone buzzes. “They’ve got Jane in a conference room, she’s about to confess.”Patterson panics, “She’s trying to take the fall for the others. She doesn’t know we’re here trying to rescue everybody” Boston was able to pull up a live feed from the conference room where they were able to see Jane at the table with Madeline, her lawyer, and Ivy. There is no way Jane trusts them, but she probably doesn’t think she has another choice. They need to let her know they are here to help.“Does Jane know Morse code?” Boston asks and Patterson can’t believe those words came out of his mouth. Boston was able to connect to the camera and use the blinking red light to send the message. As Jane kept reading the confession they feared she might not see it, but not a second later, they see her hesitate and she stops, they sigh with relief.After a minute Afreen asks, “So what do we do next?”There are a bunch of options running through Patterson‘s mind, but she knows they need more help on their side. “We gotta get them out.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Tasha isn’t sure who she hates more, Madeline or her lawyer. Listening to Shirley’s southern shrill makes her want to stick pencils in her ears so she couldn’t ever hear him again. And to think he could come in here and convince her to read a confession. She knows her team well enough that none of them would ever fall for this “deal.” It’s a while before someone comes to see her again. She waits for the door to roll open to see that it’s Weitz with one of Madeline’s men. “Listen, I got a few questions for the suspect, and a couple of them are above your pay grade, so—“The man cuts Weitz off, “I’m gonna have to call this in.” He grabs his phone and begins to dial a number when he is suddenly cut off by a taser. Tasha watches as he hits the ground and sees a short man with dark hair holding the weapon, “What are you doing?” Weitz begins to unlock her handcuffs. “T-They can see everything!” she tries, a little panicked now. The other man steps closer, “No I looped the camera.” Tasha hears his voice whipping her head up to look at him, confusion on her face. She knows that voice. “They can’t see us.” No. How can it be her? “Tasha” Patterson breathes and it’s all Tasha needs to know it’s her. She’s always loved the way Patterson said her name. “Patterson!” She says with excitement, but also thick with emotion. “Hey” Patterson says as they pull each other into a hug.Being in each other’s arms feels like coming home and they haven’t felt like this in a long time. Tasha can’t stop the tears that spill over and she pulls back to look at Patterson again. Her hands holding Patterson’s shoulders, then caressing her face.“Hey”“Hey” they both say again. Tasha doesn’t think she could ever take her eyes off of Patterson again. Her now brown eyes still look as beautiful as ever. The square glasses framing her face reminded Tasha of the girls nights they used to have together. After long tiring days, Patterson would put her glasses on, a rare sight, but one of her favorites. “You are the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen,” Tasha laughs. God Tasha is so happy to see her again. She pulled Patterson back in with a watery laugh. They could’ve stayed in each other's arms forever.
-
Patterson, Tasha and Boston headed back down to the server room with Weitz to keep searching for a way to get out of this, Rich went to get Weller. As soon as they get there, Patterson begins to start cracking Madeline’s messages with Ice Cream’s device. She hates when people question what she's doing and unfortunately for her, Weitz won’t shut up. As she’s working, the group hears loud alarms with flashing messages across the computers. They’ve started the lockdown protocols. They know she’s here. She has no choice but to keep working, Madeline doesn’t know where they are. Not long after she’s able to crack open the conversations, but they don’t show anything good. Madeline has framed Weitz. For all of it. She’s been setting him up for months. She can’t make any promises, but she can try to untangle him from this mess and find the real unaltered messages and make Madeline guilty again. “Yes, Yes! Come on do that. Double time. Let’s go” “I’m going to pretend that you are not ordering me around right now.” Patterson’s not sure she can keep her cool with him anymore. “Like I said, I’m not making any promises-“ and before she can even finish he leaves the room. After being able to untangle the message, they need to get out, but there is still Dabbur Zann everywhere and at every exit because of the lockdown. Patterson can only think of one way to get out, but it would lead Ivy straight to them in the server room. She needs to send out an evacuation alert. - After the alert was sent they needed to move quickly. They made it close to the exit before seeing a few men leave the stairwell. “Ready?” Tasha asks Patterson and Boston. “Yeah.” When they turn the corner another door opens up with more Dabbur Zann. “Freeze! Stop where you are!” They have no choice but to put their hands up. “Turn around.” The three turn around and are forced to walk towards SIOC. When they get there they see that Weller and Rich have also been found. But not long after, Weitz comes through the door. “Oh, thanks guys for finding them, but I can take it from here,” Weitz says. The Dabbur Zann men look skeptical. “Madeline asked me to take them off your hands.”“And why should we listen to you? You're just one guy.” The team deflates, there’s no way they would be given up. Without hesitation Weitz says, “See that’s where you're wrong,” and the team can hear heavy footfalls filling into SIOC. They see many of their colleagues storming through the doors with guns ready pointed at the Dabbur Zann. Tasha can feel the relief flowing through her body and as she looks at Patterson, she knows she’s feeling the same. “So if it’s not too much trouble maybe you can all lay down your weapons and surrender. Cool?” There’s a deafening silence that follows in anticipation for what happens next. A breath, two. The man responds, “Yeah I don’t think so.” As he moves to pull the trigger Weller jumps at him pushing his gun and shots ring out. There’s lots of gunfire from both sides, Patterson and Tasha duck behind desks as do Boston, Rich and Weitz. There isn't much to do being unarmed, but Patterson is able to grab one of the Dabbur Zann and wrestle for the gun. She receives a few elbows but gives them back before ultimately the gun goes off and the man falls. Tasha slides out from behind the desk and takes down one of them. She grabs his gun and fires at him and fires off a couple more shots to take out another. “They’re down!” Patterson yells“Everyone good?” Weller responds. They all take a second to take a look at each other, Tasha keeping her eyes locked on Pattersons for a little more than necessary, but she doesn’t care. Tasha hears Weller call her to get Jane when Weitz interrupts.“Hey guys, this is bad, right?” and they look down to see blood painted on his shirt. “This seems bad.” Everyone looks at him, too stunned to move. They want to help him but he convinces Weller to go get Jane. Patterson glances at Tasha who is already looking at her and gives her a nod. After they run off Weitz takes a step and collapses. Patterson is there to catch him, but she knows it doesn't look good.“We need an ambulance now!” she orders as she puts pressure on his wound.“Okay. It’s okay” She tried reassuring him. He was losing blood fast and there is no way help would be here in time. She was listening to him and Rich apologizing to each other when Afreen comes in. She asks him why he didn’t leave. Patterson realizes that he could’ve left, but he came back to save them and it might cost him his life. “But that’s the price you pay for doing the right thing I guess.” Weitz says. And doesn’t Patterson know it. She feels like she’s lost a lot of herself over the past couple of years, they all have. All they’ve tried to do is what they thought was right. And it’s cost them so much. “Don’t screw this up,” he pants. “You take her ass down.” Patterson can’t help but nod. It’s what they need to do. She holds his hand as he takes his last breath. Of course the last thing he says is about how they shouldn’t use the picture he hates of himself because his hair looks greasy for his funeral. It wouldn’t be true Matthew Weitz fashion if he didn’t make a narcissistic comment.Patterson feels another wave of sadness hitting her again. Patterson wasn’t the biggest fan of his, but knowing another person that was on their side was lost while trying to help them is what hurts.
- Patterson is back in her lab when she hears Jane call her name. “I'm so glad you're alive!” Jane says and Patterson agrees.Jane gives her a tight hug before Patterson has to deliver the news about Weitz. She feels the sadness fill the room again, but they need to take down Madeline. No one knows who is in charge now that Weitz is gone and Madeline is in the wind, but like Weller said: they started it and now they have to finish it. They brief over what they know and what they need to do and it feels like before, though Reade is missing. He was always a voice of reason when they needed it, even when sometimes it was extremely annoying and frustrating. Agent Rose comes in with a recording with information on where Madeline is and they leave to catch her before her plane takes off. They reach the tarmac and pull up next to her plane. Tasha is the first one out and makes her way into the plane. She takes her gun out and walks through the curtain to the cabin where she sees Madeline sitting there. “Congratulations. You got me,” she says with a laugh. Tasha asks her where the ZIP bombs are but Madeline wouldn’t say. Tasha tells her she’s out of moves and she’s so relieved she can finally say that. “Are you gonna arrest me? You're not FBI anymore. I took that from you, remember? And then some.” That part hits Tasha hard. Madeline took Reade from her. Her best friend. She took away their jobs, their whole lives. They’ll never get back to what it used to be.Tasha can only tell her that she’s lost, but Madeline tells her that all she ever wanted was to destroy the FBI and she got more than what she ever imagined.“I will make you tell me. Where are the bombs?”“I’d love to stick around and chat, Tasha, but I can’t stay.” Madeline replies as she drinks the rest of her champagne. She pulls out a vial and by her reaction, Tasha can tell she poisoned herself. And now Madeline is dead.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
After the new FBI director had been appointed, the last thing Patterson expected was getting fired. They’d stopped Madeline from causing anymore harm while exposing her and the Dabbur Zann as well as stopping Ivy from using the ZIP bombs. And they get rewarded by getting fired. They got their immunity, which is all they were hoping for, but to be thrown away after what they’ve been through. This job is their lives, her life and Tasha’s. So what now? Tasha watches Patterson storm out of the conference room before anyone has a chance to say anything. She looks to her friends seeing how they are already looking towards her expectantly. Tasha tells them that she’s got her and follows in that direction. She stops in the locker room first and calls her name, but nothing. She stops in Patterson’s lab only seeing Afreen and the other techs. She wasn’t sure where else to look until she remembered the Room of Requirement. She had never been there but she remembers Rich telling her about it. She sees the door is open and knows Patterson is in there. The lights are dim and she finds Patterson sitting against the wall, knees tucked into her chest. Her eyes staring forward with tears, her chest is rising and falling too quickly, and her hands are quickly rubbing up and down her legs. Tasha realizes she’s having a panic attack. “Hey, Patterson, I'm here,” Tasha starts but Patterson doesn’t notice until Tasha moves in front of her. “It’s okay, I’m here.”“Tash—”“Shh. It’s okay. I’m right here. Is it okay if I touch you?” she asks and waits for Patterson to nod. She grabs both of Patterson's hands and places them on her chest. “It’s okay, just breathe. Breathe with me okay?” Patterson nods. It’s not before long Patterson’s breathing is back to normal and she’s calmed down. Tasha moves to sit next to her and wraps her arm around her shoulders. She waits for Patterson to speak. “Tasha, what are we gonna do?” “I don’t know,” she answers honestly. She nudges Patterson so she can look at her “But whatever happens, we can figure it out together, okay?”“Yeah. Okay.” Patterson said. They stare at each other for what seems like a while. Tasha can’t help but look at all of her best friends' features, from her perfect eyebrows and her sharp nose, to her soft lips. When she looks back up, she can see Patterson gaze on her own. It’s only then Tasha sees that their faces have moved closer, only inches apart.“Patterson I-” but they’re interrupted by both of their phones going off. Both of them reluctantly move away to see the message they’ve gotten. “That doesn’t sound good,” Patterson says. “No it doesn’t. We should go.” Tasha sighs as she gets up holding her hand out for her best friend. Once she’s up she pulls Patterson into a hug. “We’ll be okay. I promise.”.
They get news of a bomb. One big scrappy ZIP bomb that can wipe out almost all of the city, maybe even more. If they can’t find it, nothing would ever be the same again. The new director allows the team to take on this last job. They’d been doing it for years, so why stop now? Weller calls on Tasha to find Ivy while he and Jane search for the bomb. Patterson and Rich need to stay in the lab to do what they do best. It’s when they're leaving the lab that Patterson realizes what could happen. She knows it might actually be it for her, for all of them. “Tasha wait!” Tasha turns around and Patterson jogs to catch up to her. “Patterson…” Tasha breaths as she sees Patterson approaching. It’s before Tasha can say anything that she feels Patterson’s hands on her face, pulling her closer. They both hesitate inches apart, sharing a breath, but Tasha knows she’s waiting to make sure it’s okay. When she looks into Patterson’s eyes, she can see all of her emotions, her sadness, her fear, her love. She could always read Patterson by her eyes and she closes the gap between them. Tasha’s hands find Patterson’s hips to pull her impossibly closer. Neither of them have ever felt something so right. The other’s lips on their own is what they've wanted, needed, for a while now and it feels like their hearts might explode out of their chests. Patterson unwillingly pulls away. And after a breath she starts. “Look, there’s something I’ve always wanted to tell you, and in case we don’t ever get to see each other again-“Tasha cuts her off,“No, we will see each other again, and after this is all over you can tell me. Okay?”“Okay.” Patterson agrees after a moment, but pulls Tasha in for a hug. “I’ll be back.” .
It’s bittersweet stepping off the elevator into SIOC. It’s like coming back home, only to leave. But there’s relief. They aren’t on the run anymore. There’s no Madeline or Ivy trying to ruin their lives or the country. No more chasing Roman’s drives or tattoos. They’re done. The next world ending issue is no longer theirs. Patterson and Tasha find themselves with Rich looking at the photos of Mayfair and Reade. A strong emotion falls over Patterson. “It’s been rough these last five years. Harder than it should’ve been. So many ups, so many downs.” She can’t stop the tears that fall from her eyes, “I wouldn’t have survived if it wasn’t for you two.” And it’s true. Tasha has been her best friend since the day she started. And when Tasha couldn’t be there anymore, Rich was there. And whether she’d like to admit it or not, he had become such an important part of her life. Tasha agrees with her, “same.” “I would’ve been okay,” Rich says and they laugh, thankful for the relief. “What? I’m being real man, I’m a survivor.”“I love you guys,” Patterson says and she means it. Whether she and Tasha are something or not she still loves her so much. And Rich has come a long way from when they first met. She couldn’t imagine being without him through all of this. “I love you too,” Tasha says and Patterson’s heart jumps a little. “And… you, somehow,” she directs at Rich.“Wow, way to ruin a really nice moment.”“Oh, wow, look who’s talking,” Patterson jokes back. It takes a few seconds but he finally says with emotion, “I love you both very much.”“To family,” Tasha says, raising her mug to which they reply, “to family.” .
Patterson spent a while in her lab even though there wasn’t much to clean up. She’s been in this lab for what, a decade? And it’s been hers for almost the same amount. It was nice to get away from it all during her sabbatical, but coming back to it, she always knew this is where she belonged. To have it taken from her now is different, because she knows she will never have something like this again. Carrying her box, she walks to the locker room to clear out anything she has left in there. Tasha is sitting on the bench with her head in her hands when she walks in. Patterson sets her box down and sits close to her. She leans and nudges Tasha’s shoulder with her own. “Hey,” Patterson starts. Tasha runs her hands down her face, “hey.”“What’s up?” She asks, clearly seeing the distress in the other woman. “I-'' she starts before taking a long breath. “I have nowhere to go,” she whispers. “What happened to your apartment?” “I haven’t had it in a while,” she replies after a short laugh, looking at the floor. Patterson hums in response, not knowing what to say. “Why don’t you come with me?” Patterson whispers and Tasha turns to her and furrows her brow in confusion. “I’m going to DC to see my parents.”“And you want me to come with you?” Patterson hasn’t seen her parents in a very long time. Tasha isn’t even sure if they know she's alive or not. Why would Patterson want her to intrude on that time? “Of course I want you to come with me Tash.” Patterson grabs Tasha’s hand and laces their fingers together. “In case you haven’t noticed, I care about you so much, and I want to go everywhere with you.” Tasha can help but let her shy smile go. She leans forward to rest her forehead against Patterson’s, “Okay.”“Okay as in…”“Okay as in yes,” she smiles. “I’ll go with you.” Patterson smiles back.“But only because I have nowhere else to go,” she teases.“Oh, okay,” Patterson plays back. “That’s it?” Patterson brushes her lips to Tasha’s.Tasha hums to think about it for a moment and goggles, “Yeah that’s it,” and closes the gap between them. It’s a chaste kiss, but it feels amazing nonetheless. Patterson never wants to get used to this feeling.