Wunderkind

1.09-Chisel

*This chapter deserves a note, since it deviates almost completely from the original! I didn't think there was any way Mac, after the events of 107 and 108, was going to be sent on a field mission that landed him in a Latvian embassy under siege. So I came up with this instead! It keeps some elements of the original mission, but it's pretty much a new episode, so I hope you enjoy it as much as the others...*

PHOENIX REC ROOM

MORE THAN ONE FRIENDSHIP HAS BEEN LOST OVER PING-PONG

Cage's eyes are cold and determined when they meet Riley's over the top of the net. "You're going down." She tosses the ball into the air and then smacks it with her signature spin serve, the one Riley's spent literal months trying to figure out how to return.

And I thought playing with Jack was bad. Riley at least gets the paddle on the ball this time. Still, it goes wild.

"Six-one," Sam says triumphantly, whipping her ponytail out of her face as she catches the ball Riley throws back and prepares for another death serve.

It's times like this I can actually believe she was some cold-blooded assassin . It's not Cage's competitiveness or even her obvious skill at seemingly whatever she does. It's the way using her mind games to win seems to come naturally to her. Sam is making an effort to play for fun. Riley can see that psyching out her opponent, playing to win, is second nature. Sam has to work to relax that cold calculation.

Sam smashes over the next serve, but by some stroke of sheer luck Riley's able to return it properly. This time she's able to land the ball just out of Cage's reach. It's the first point she's made since Sam let her start with the serve.

"Ha. Prepare to meet the famous Davis backhand," Riley grins evilly. Jack swears whatever she does must break the known laws of physics. He's threatened to have Mac come down and watch them and explain how Riley manages her particular brand of float serve. "Like he'd ever help you beat me," was the only comeback Riley had to that.

She'll be glad to see Mac around the Phoenix again. He's due to come back on Monday, he had the three weeks of paid sick leave to recover from Bishop, and he insisted on coming back when that was up. She worried at first, but it will probably actually be a good thing for him to go back to work and get his mind off the past. Bozer decided to spend the whole week with his sister, since apparently she was pissed this is the first time she's seen him since last Christmas. Mac's been staying with Jack all week, and the two of them are going on a camping trip this weekend. Jack's not getting signal, she knows because she tried to text him this morning.

Sam's attempt at returning Riley's serve sends the ball off the tip of her paddle into the corner of the room. Riley grins. "You were saying?"

Cage narrows her eyes. "It's not fun to win by a slaughter. I'm just letting you feel good about yourself so you don't decide to play another prank on me."

"Oh come on. I was just testing your field skills." Riley will admit that shaking copious amounts of pepper into Sam's jar of overnight oatmeal was a bit juvenile. But she started it, hiding everything from my half of the bathroom cabinet on top of the fridge. She'll admit, she appreciates Sam's efforts to cheer her up and get the old Riley back. Nothing's the same after Bishop. "You smelled it before you even opened the lid."

"And had to eat your disgusting fruit pebbles for breakfast. Seriously, how can you even eat something that sweet?" Sam smashes Riley's next serve back faster than she can even follow. I knew I went too high.

"You're one to talk about weird food, you make fairy bread all the time."

"I don't eat it for breakfast!" Riley's not sure she'll ever get used to seeing Sam butter slices of bread and cover it in her Christmas cookie sprinkles. There won't be any of them left by the time I start making cookies to decorate. Although, now that she thinks about it, there are only a few weeks left until Christmas. She's been too preoccupied to think about something happy like that. Maybe I should start baking. She's got both happy and sad memories of the holiday, but all the recent ones are good, and she's more than hoping for more this year. Our little family just doubled. She's got to think of some way to make this Christmas really special. It will be Mac's first in two years that he hasn't been in prison.