The first time Elena Flores saw Celina Juarez, she was lying face-first in a ditch, with a camera the size of her head.
Not injured.
Not hiding particularly well.
Just... in a ditch.
Elena stood beside Nyla Harper in the surveillance van, arms crossed as the FBI and LAPD wrapped up the undercover opp. The drug trafficking case had been tense from beginning to end, with the undercover officers, smugglers, and more than one close call.
And then there was Celina Juarez.
Covered in dirt.
Trying, and failing—to pull herself out of a shallow trench.
"Oh my God," Lucy laughed from beside the vehicle. "You were supposed to be observing."
"I was observing," Celina protested, brushing dust from her uniform. "The ground just... disappeared."
"The ground disappeared?" Nyla repeated.
"It was dark!"
At that point even Celina started laughing at herself, the entire scene should have been ridiculous.
It was ridiculous.
Yet Elena couldn't stop watching her.
Most officers would've been embarrassed. Some would've gotten defensive.
Celina just laughed, accepted the teasing, and kept going. There was something strangely refreshing about that.
As the others continued joking, Celina finally noticed Elena standing nearby.
The FBI agent looked away a second too late.
Their eyes met.
For a moment, the noise around them seemed to fade.
Then Celina grinned.
A wide, warm grin.
" It's okay," she whisper in to the girls ear. "You can laugh too, everyone else is."
Elena felt herself flush before she could stop it.
"Trust me," she replied with a grin. "I'm trying very hard to stay professional." And that was enough to earn another laugh from Celina.
