andrea shepherd

audroux‌:

“I am sure you are familiar with the tragedy that happened to his parents.”

The words full of restrained toxic coil around what would constitute to be his heart. For a second there he looks away from the company to try to find Miremba in this mess of a party. Away, she wasn’t even in view and that gave him a peaceful hope tied to this disaster triad spread out around him. Andrea hadn’t heeded his advice, but he couldn’t say he was surprised. Then there was Nathan making offhanded comments about how marriages don’t work. It was relevant, but he stubbornly wanted to be defiant about it.

Audric breathed in and remembered all the plans he had set into motion. Every single outcome he had thought about, but this moment that pen set in front of him looked better. He was going to die one way or another, and part of him toyed with the thought of injecting the pen through his flesh into his neck. Poisoning his blood with the ink inside the pen. He had grown incredibly quiet, unsure if he still had any cards to play in this game.

“Hm, well. I think we would have been married a long time.” He offered giving one last sign for Andy to fuck off away from him. He’s blinded in his spot now in the zone of thinking of his parents. The blindspot that was able to get just about anything out of him. A week ago, it caused him to go into a rage and burn the divorce papers. But now? It takes every inch of self-restraint to not pull out the wedding band and taunts Nathan with it.

Then there Andrea goes.

“Some things meant to be left between Husband and wife.” Fuck him with a chainsaw. She hadn’t even mentioned exes, and the one comment about his parents had him still on the verge of combust. Then came the icing on the cake. She thought that if he signed these papers he would go back to a big happy family? How fucking delusional had his wife become? Audric places a hand over the papers and pen, pulling it toward him. He clicks the end of the pen bouncing it on the table.

“You know my parents wouldn’t want me to sign this.” Audric replied honestly, as he looks around the room. “In fact, they deserve to be here tonight.” His tone surprisingly icy with the warm words. In a swoop he brings the papers in front of him and starts to rip the bundle of papers in his hand right down the center. An easy tape fix, and his eyes land on Nathan.

“Let’s change up the introductions to be truthful. Shall we?” The temper in his core had grown far more chaotic than the beginning of this party. “Andrea, is my wife. Has been for six years now. Nathan, Mr. Luter is my boss, and whom had my parents killed because I decided to marry… well, you. So both of you deserve one another in your dreams of divorce. Because there isn’t a chance in hell. I’m signing any divorce papers. So, here’s your copy.” One half of the torn documents slammed near Andy, with the pen placed on top of it. Then he stared at the half in front of him, nostrils flaring. He paints no smiles, and instead places the ring back onto his ring finger.  “And this copy…well.. this one is for family, right?” Audric’s cold eyes lift towards Nathan.  “I believe my wife asked you a question, how is your evening going?” 

@nathanluter

Nathan was pretty sure that he had caught Audric in a lie. He really thought that he had taken care of this a long time ago. But he knew that Audric was stubborn and was probably plotting his death as revenge for his parents as they discussed the diamonds. Nathan wasn’t concerned about it, because he was doing the same. Not for the revenge, but because he couldn’t stand to have some weak  fool serving under him. He sipped his drink as the two former lovers (or possibly still lovers), had their fight. The party was certainly more entertaining now, and they hadn’t even brought out the ballet dancers yet. 

He laughed when Andrea mentioned not climbing into his and his lovers bed. He was starting to see why Audric fell for her. It was probably a task just to get her into bed. He half wondered how Audric had managed it. He was sure his under boss enjoyed a challenge. When she brought out the pen, Nathan was definitely sure that the stack of papers sitting in front of the other man were divorce papers.  Nathan turned his full attention to the man sitting beside him. He wondered when he was going to admit that he had messed up.  Of course Nathan couldn’t kill him here. It would be too messy and there were cops all over the place. Of course he could always make sure that he didn’t make it home tonight. 

Nathan finished his whole glass when Audric put the wedding ring on. It was hard to find mafia members who weren’t ready to put a knife in your back. He sat his empty glass on the table and shrugged his shoulders. “Well since we’re being completely honest now, my night was boring up until this moment. Thank you, Mrs Roux, for making this night better for me.”  

He held his glass up for one of his body guards to bring him another one. “You were always weak Audric.  So tied up in your emotions. You’ll soon find out that’s not going to get you far here.” 

The reveal stole the air from her lungs. It did something more too. Things clicked into place. Grief and happiness and raw anger she'd shut out, had the privilege and peace of the last month as labeling fake, they came rushing back with the newfound weight of being real. The tickets she'd booked to Africa for the two of them so they could attend Zuri and Miriam's last rights - she remembered the quiet that that lasted weeks between her and Audric even as they crossed oceans. That had all been real. There was so much death between them - hadn’t she said yes to his proposal because she hadn’t wanted to face her mother’s wake alone? So much of their relationship was born of death.  

And really, it'd be a fucking miracle if they entered this new, enlightened chapter of their life without someone dying at this table. Andy had half a mind to lunge for Nathan's jugular. Bodyguards be damned.

Audric had lied to her. And then Audric had lied to Nathan. And his parents were most certainly six feet under because of her. Andy felt like she was swimming in a muddy ocean, a sea of secrets and ambiguity where she could only see so far ahead over. His parents...her. She felt her stomach twist with pain and guilt. She was the kind of woman who could swallow it down, it would feel like swallowing razorblades, but her job had given her the skin to do it.

She could also feel Audric’s forest fire of anger all the way from her seat here. She knew that warmth cause the same sort flowed through her all the time. And Nathan, well -

Andy had this kill list, see? And she'd done a rather okay job of crossing names off that list over the course of her life. The ink that had scribbled off her father’s name, the first on the list, had dried long ago. There were plenty on that list, Viktor Valentina near the present top. And now Nathan Luter would be joining him. Did Andy agree with Nathan? Absolutely not. Did she still want Audric behind bars? Absolutely. But while she wanted the justice system to open its maw and consume Audric whole, she wanted to burn Nathan to the ground. And Andy, whose whole job was about choosing when to shoot first and understanding when it was and wasn’t justified, knew that Audric was in a better position to do that than her.

So she did something she didn't do much: Andy talked. Bought a little more time, gave herself some time to think, and stalled for Audric in the hopes that he'd make his next move count. Because even in this divorce, in this moment, they were stronger as a partnership.

"Great. I was about to blow my brains out from boredom, so I'm always happy to liven up the evening. Let me know if you need me to throw a few punches - because I can do that."

She folded up the half of the papers Audric had slipped her way. She wondered if he could see her knuckles turn white, belying her anger as she gripped them. She considered setting them on fire the way she has with the last pictures of his parents only a week ago.

Probably the last pictures of his parents, now that she was thinking about it

And there was that guilt again...

To be clear, none of this played on her face. She was a United States Fucking Marshal, you know? She’d be shit at her job if she let these things get to her while on the field.

"Oh and I prefer Ms. Shepherd. Never been one for the patriarchal standard of taking your husband's last name. In fact, never even thought I was going to get married when I was younger. Which is why I gave myself this little number -"

She held up her left gloved hand, the one that covered her missing ring finger. Tapped the spot where her finger used to be.

"Hurt like a bitch by the way. But I got married cause my mother wanted me to. She was part Cherokee and the Cherokee have these traditional wedding vows about ‘forever growing young together.’ I think she knew death was coming from her. Cancer’s a bitch.”

She threw a glance at Audric, hoped her spiel hadn’t been for nothing.  

"Anyway, just so we’re all on the same page. He betrayed you by marrying me and so you killed his parents?"

Yes, she could lock away all the feelings that stirred in her. Andy flashed a smile that didn’t reach her eyes.

"I gotta say, I'm flattered that you think of me as such a threat. But next time, if you have a problem with Mr. Luter, I recommend you take it up with me."

Her mother was gone, she'd shot her father down, her brother had been robbed of her and her husband, well, she had no husband. Andy was a woman with nothing to lose and that made her dangerous.

"Cause you know what I call people who can't look me in the eye? Cowards. No special Native American saying for that."

And she did one more thing. Her knee shifted, so that under the table it touched Audric’s. A silent signal. Multifaceted in its meaning. There for comfort, there to ground him, and also her. A promise, 'I'm here.' And a threat 'I hate this man. I'm going to do something dramatic soon if you don't.’

She finds herself just about walking away from her latest conversation so that she can go grab another drink. She’s not one to drink on the job but - her life? A fucking mess. And it’s managed to subtly implode right here at this birthday party. Andy feels like she’s avoiding a million people and, like a needle in the haystack, she finally finds one of the few that she isn’t. And really, the list of welcome faces isn’t very long - it’s just Julian and Rowan - so the entire thing is a shot in the dark from the get go. A 50/50 chance. In this case, it happens to be the former. Andy grabs her friend and almost bullies him - in that way family members do - into having a conversation with her. She wholly intends on using him as a human shield to fend off the world. In this specific second it’s Audric, but the spotlight has been shifting throughout the night. 

She looks at the glass in Julian’s hand once she’s pulled him aside and gives him a cheers with her fresh drink.

“Alright, Hayes. Should we be worried or surprised that nothing has gone up in flames yet?”

audroux‌:

Audric still felt the internal of satisfaction of burning the divorce papers. Watching the words go up in flame, she had shown him carelessness when she snipped the last pictures of his parents. It made him make his mind up when he thought this game between them and this divorce was over. Unbeknownst to Andrea, Audric saw their marriage as being blood contracted since the blood of his parents. It’s true his plans had started soon after their death about the shadow coupe. Five years and it was almost to the fruition it needed. All it was missing was the diamonds rumored to be at this party.

He had been talking to Nathan about that subject. Tossing the boss information he’s heard here or there. Some information missing tidbits he had kept to himself, but overall nothing useful had been found. He sees Andrea coming in hard like a hurricane and all he can do is internally monologue FUCK. over and over again. There was a small sense of movement from the bodyguard nearest to him, and he made a quick hand motion.

The papers dropped sounding the alarm bells in his head. Quickly his hand went up in the air and landed flat on the papers pulling them to him. Trying to obstruct the subject from vision. One look at Nathan, before he turned to face his wife. “Andrea. Perhaps you can tell me how much you miss me another time. We’re discussing business. Excuse her, Nathan.” He stacks the papers facing him and places them face down on the table. Part of him wants to recklessly throw them towards the other part of the room so she’s forced to get out of her seat. However, he opts for the more cool response. Audric slides the stack  back to her with no lettering facing up. 

“Get out of here.”

Because, what’s cheaper than divorce? A dead spouse. Considering how his boss operated, he wouldn’t be surprised if that was one thought running through his head. He could only hope that Nathan didn’t catch what the divorce papers were, or else Andrea sitting with them was the least of his problems.

@nathanluter​

Nathan had been trying to figure out just how much information Audric had on the diamonds. He had a feeling that he was keeping things from him, but it was nothing that he couldn’t figure out on his own later. He was picking up his glass to take a drink when he saw who he assumed was Audric’s ex wife storming towards them. He gave a look to his guards, silently telling them to let her approach them. He had a feeling she wasn’t going to do anything in a room packed with people. He was surprised when she dropped a stack of papers down in front of his number two. He glanced over to see that they seemed to be legal forms. Nathan was suddenly more interested than what he had been all night. 

“Nonsense Audric,” He waved his hand. “It looks like your ex-wife has something very important to speak with you about. What ever you have to say to him, you can say in front of me. I like to think of Audric as part of my family. I am sure you are familiar with the tragedy that happened to his parents.” 

He glanced over at Audric and noticed that he looked a little bit uneasy. “It was such a shame to hear that you two couldn’t work it out. It seems like nobody stays married any more.” 

For five years of her life Andy was played and she swore she would never let herself be put in such a situation again.  And yet, here he was, trying to stay two steps ahead when it felt like the ground was made of quick sand. What was Luter saying.... ex-wife? She'd always been under the assumption that Audric had shared everything with the ( alleged ) leader, but she didn’t even need all those years of at the precinct working in homicide to know that he - Audric - was trying to hide something from Luter.  

You know what? Never mind. She was done expecting the best of her ex. This was just Luter, playing into it all, fucking with her - 

She gave the leader a sharp smile. As she did, every unofficial report on the man filtered through her mind's eye. There we go, that was the Andy she knew herself to be. The U.S. Marshal who put duty before all else. And sure she should be more worried about the line of fire she’d just put herself in, the harm he could do to her, and yet - the salt in his words might as well have been the gasoline to her fire. 

Whatever you can say to him, you can say in front of me. 

It was that though that made Andy’s lips press into a thin line, that and the talk of family. Well, she hoped Audric liked his new family. Seems like that had worked out in his favor. In many ways that's what it came down to - he'd managed to find a new family and her? Left brotherless, fatherless, mothrless and now husbandless? That was fine, she'd persevere.

Besides - over the last few months, she’d spent so much time separating fact from fiction, there had been one grey morning where she'd just gone fuck it and decided to treat everything Audric had done - every tidbit, every insight, every I love you - as false. If her heart clenched at such a thing she ignored it. Andy steeled up the space her rib cage, made herself bullet proof so that she could withstand the exact same amount of bullets she actually shot from her gun. Luter bringing up his parents was unexpected. Car crash. Had they actually died in a car crash?

Not to mention, there was something about Luter that made Andy want to skewer him with the butter knife. Audric, with all his secrecy, was at least a demon she'd accepted to take on. Her own idiocy, her own foolish heart, her own stupid sex that she'd managed to be blinded by. It was a bed she's made - a wedding bed she might have even called it, if she were a more poetic person - that Luter had no place in. Luter had no place in her and Audric’s bed. He had no place in their shit. 

Thin line turned into thin smile. 

"While I certainly appreciate the gesture, there's some things meant to be left between husband and wife don't you think? After all, I don't climb into you and your partner’s bed." 

Her hand fished through her purse, looking for a pen and when she finally found one she wondered if it was smarter to keep the item on hand so that she could trache someone with it if things escalated. She didn't, in the end. Andy let go of the pen, let it slip across the table because if her assessment of the man sitting across from her and Audric was right, there wouldn't be a death here. It'd be on the way home, in some back alley, away from all these prying eyes. 

"Like I said, this will only take a second and then I'll be gone."

She tapped the papers in front of Audric and kept her eyes on Luter. 

"Then you can go right back to being one big happy family." 

Another tap.

"Come on Audric, I'm sure you're a busy guy.... Though Mr. Luter does seem like he'd be a pleasant conversationalist." Back to Luter. Painted smile. "How's your evening going?"

Andy wasn’t the type to drink on the job and yet somehow she knew she was going to need a drink for this - if only for the option of breaking a streak. Ice clinking, tumbler in hand, she made her way over. Three bodyguards, she’d counted, from the way their stares routinely snapped over to Mr. Luter and Audric despite the rest of their discretion. Three was a little bit of overkill if you asked her, but it provided her with insight to Nathan’s paranoia that she hoped she could use to her advantage here. The men had plenty of things to defend themselves from. Herself included.  

She didn’t stop her stride as she approached the table and was almost a bit surprised when she wasn’t stopped by any of the three vulture she’d registered. The two of them - Audric and Mr. Luter - sat there at the table, like two lions sitting in the mouth of some den deep in conversation. The hope was that she’d slip in, ruffle a few feathers, and Audric would sign, just to get her out of there. Easy. She’d have what she wanted and he’d have her out of his hair. Game, set, match.

“Hello, gentleman.” How quick her voice was to turn to sharpness, but she gave in to the impulse anyway. She dropped the papers, one of the remaining two copies with the notary’s wet signature on it, on the table in front of her. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything.” 

And then Andy sat down, with no intention of leaving til she’d come for what she’d wanted. 

“Do you have a second? This won’t take long.”