salute [h.s]

the one with the christmas movies

"Oh look," she said in an extra loud voice so Harry didn't have a chance to voice the question she could see about to burst from his lips, "they're talking about dumping sites. Do you know what dumping sites are Harry? They're a place where people who steal credit card information can sell them online to buyers. Did you know about them?" Piper glanced over and nearly shrunk down at the blazing inquiry in Harry's green eyes. It didn't look like he was going to drop the issue any time soon and this was the last thing she wanted to be talking about. "Shh," she said as she turned up the volume, even though Harry hadn't said a word, "they've got a former hacker who works for the FBI now. Isn't that fascinating?"

"- most of the sellers even offer a money back guarantee if the card is frozen or reported in an attempt to lure in reluctant buyers."

Piper's eyes shot to the screen, widening until it almost hurt. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. Sitting across the table from Bill Whitaker was someone she recognized very well. Adam. Her first boyfriend. The guy she lost her virginity with. The guy who dumped her because she wouldn't help him hack the university servers to adjust his mark.

She'd like to say that he didn't look any better, that he'd gotten ugly and fat and had a receding hairline. In fact, he looked amazing - his hair was still that same dirty blond and he had those warm brown eyes. He'd grown into some of his stronger features and now, nearing 30, he'd reached his peak.

That bastard.

"Let's change the channel," she said hurriedly because she was so uncomfortable it was unbearable and she just never wanted to see that idiot's face ever again.

"It's just getting interesting," Harry interjected with a shake of his head, taking the remote back from her. He was frowning up at the screen, wearing his thinking face as he processed the information being shared about bank insurance and recovery funds. "This guy seems to know what he's talking about," Harry muttered as he pointed up at the screen, Adam's stupid face taking up the space. "Hey, didn't you have a boyfriend named Adam? Wouldn't it be funny if it was him, working for the FBI after graduating while you're working at MI6? That would be a crazy coincidence. He might be a bit too old to be your ex though."

"Ex-boyfriend," Piper said a little too loudly with a shake of her head. "Crazy! Wouldn't that be just crazy!" She began to laugh, forcing it out of her so of course it sounded like she'd finally lost it. Harry scrunched his face up in her direction as if he was trying to figure out what the hell was wrong with her and was failing miserably. His eyes widened all of a sudden and then his mouth dropped open.

"He is your ex-boyfriend, isn't he?" His eyes drifted to the screen and then narrowed, as he scrutinized the man. "I don't like him. Seems shifty."

"You just said a moment ago that you thought he knew what he was talking about," Piper reminded Harry. "You don't have to hate him just because he was my ex."

Harry was quiet for a long moment while Piper waited nervously, ready to combust because she was so nervous of what he was going to say. Eventually he looked back at her and there was a softness to his eyes even as he frowned. "He was the one who treated you like shit, right?"

That set her back a bit. Piper gulped hard around the lump in her throat and then nodded. Adam had treated her like shit, stringing her along and making her get attached and then dropping her when she wouldn't help him break the law. She'd been into some pretty shady stuff back in the day but that had been a risk to her placement at MIT and school was one thing that she never fucked around with. It was the one thing that was most important to her. When Adam realized he wasn't her first priority, he had tossed her to the curb and sabotaged her graduate thesis work. She'd never forgiven him for that.