#camluca

“He said no because he doesn’t want to help me destroy myself or something,” she said, waving it off, “But that’s not what I’m doing. I just need to know and you’re my best option.”

“If the Captain said no, then I have to believe there was a valid reason,” Jenna said. Maria tilted her head back and groaned. Jenna took a deep breath and took a needed sip of her whiskey.

“C’mon, please? You don’t even have to help, just let me be your date for the Veteran’s banquet and I’ll do all the snooping,” Maria promised.

“What exactly are you trying to do?” she asked. Maria clearly noticed her window and a smile covered her face as she leaned forward. Was she always that cute?

“Okay, so I’ve been trying to find someone who knew my grandmother whenever she was younger. She was taken from an orphanage when she was a little girl by Caulfield and they did experiments on her and I’ve been trying to find one of the other kids that were taken to see if they know anything. The problem is so many of them have died or have severe late stage dementia, so I can’t talk to them. Except this one man, he grew up and joined the Army. His name is Sargent Benjamin Harlowe and I haven’t been able to find out his address or his phone number anywhere and he has no social media, but then I saw that he was going to be at that banquet in one of Alex’s e-mails. I need to talk to him,” Maria rambled, doing her best to give big, persuasive eyes.

Jenna stared at her over her glass, taking in her obvious desperation. She knew what it was like to not have this information that was so crucial to knowing about someone you loved. She sighed and put her drink down.

“Okay, fine,” she agreed. A smile lit up Maria’s face and she leaned over the counter to hug her.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

Jenna just hoped she wasn’t going to regret this.

-

There were definitely regrettable things happening.

Sargent Harlowe was a large man, standing at least 6′5″ and still walking with an unmatched air of authority. He’d been a drill sargent before he retired and while Jenna had never worked with him directly, she knew his name. He was ruthless and was determined to garner respect no matter how old he got. He wasn’t very social and he rarely came to events. And, knowing that he’d been apart of something heinous as a child, it made more sense.

But leave it to Maria DeLuca to think she could charm him.

“Stop,” Jenna said, grabbing her arm and keeping her close. From the moment Maria had walked out of her apartment looking like a goddamn goddess, Jenna had chosen to shut down any thought process that didn’t involve trying to talk to a respected Sargent about his childhood trauma. “You can’t just go up to him. People will eventually offer to introduce us, just wait it out.”

“I am. And I’m going to be respectful, I know, I’ve practice, like, a million times,” she promised, smiling. Sometimes Jenna considered that maybe she actually could charm him.

“Good,” Jenna sighed, “Let’s find the bar first.”

Jenna didn’t usually go to these banquets unless she had to and never had she gone with a date. She avoided dates most of the time in general--casual hookups went a long way if you chose right. But, here she was, with a date in a public setting. And not just any date. A date who was social and engaged with people and asked questions and made old men who had told the same four stories for the last 30 years feel heard again.

“Let me go this time, you got the drinks last time,” Maria said, still smiling in that unfairly charming way as she took ahold of her champagne flute. Jenna found it hard to avoid watching her walk over to the bar, twisting through the crowd of people and somehow not getting lost due to the fact she stood out. Jenna hadn’t quite figured out what about her made her stand out and she was slightly terrified to figure it out.

“Cameron,” Major Simons said. It was the first thing that managed to take her attention off Maria and she turned towards the man who had been her superior at one point. The fact that they’d both ended up in this county felt weird.

“Yes, Sir?”

“That woman you got there,” he said, gesturing vaguely to the direction Maria had walked, “First time I’ve ever seen you look interested in something that wasn’t a firearm.”

“Is it?”

“Yeah, trust me, all those boys back at that base overseas wanted your attention and you never gave them the time of day. I guess I see why now,” he said, a proud and knowing smile on his face. She didn’t comment that she had much more important things on her mind than boys back when she was overseas and that it made her life a lot easier to not give them any kind of non-work related attention, but that was besides the point.

“It’s nothing too serious,” she said. Because it wasn’t anything at all.

“Oh, well, I don’t know about that.”

Jenna took a deep breath and turned her eyes back to the direction Maria had disappeared. She was heading back already, the two glasses in her hands held up high as she slipped through the crowd so she wouldn’t spill them. Jenna took one of the glasses and immediately tilted it back, downing half of it.

“Oh, okay, guess we’re taking an Uber tonight,” Maria laughed. Jenna didn’t care as long as she didn’t have to continue whatever this was sober.

More small talk, more letting Maria charm through officers as they introduced her to each other. Jenna watched her and watched them, regularly having to remind herself that this was because they were going to talk to Sargent Harlowe about Caulfield. After awhile, Jenna chose to view this as a mission all together. It kept her on guard as she made sure no one was becoming suspicious of them.

Eventually, after an absurd amount of small talk, they finally got what they were waiting for.

“Have you met Sargent Harlowe? You haven’t? Oh, come on, maybe you can help him warm up to the party.”

Maria looked at Jenna as they started to follow Lt. Mayfield towards Sargent Harlowe and she winked. It was unfair.

“Sargent Harlowe, this is Lt. Cameron and her date for the night,” Lt. Mayfield introduced. Sargent Harlowe seemed even bigger in person and he looked over their heads, avoiding eye contact as he nodded his greeting.

“Harlowe?” Maria said, “Harlowe, that sounds familiar, what’s your first name?”

Sargent Harlowe breathed in a slow breath, still looking over them instead of at them. “Benjamin.”

“Benjamin Harlowe...” Maria said thoughtfully, pretending to go through her mind to find out where she knew his name from, “Oh, you know what, I think you might’ve known my grandmother! She talked about some big, strong guy named Ben Harlowe before. Her name was Patricia DeLuca, Patty. And her maiden name was--”

“Patty DeLuca?” Harlowe said. On first glance, it didn’t seem he had much recognition, but Jenna caught the way his eyes widened slightly and the way his arms tensed.

“Yes, Sir, did you know her?”

Silence took over them as his jaw set and he took a few heavy breaths. Jenna watched him closely for any signs that he might get a little too angry with her for bringing up whatever memories Jenna couldn’t imagine. However, he kept himself calm, probably a product of years and years of self-discipline and therapy, and nodded.

“When we were children,” he said. Emphasis on children. They were children when they were taken and experimented on. Children. “You said she spoke about me?”

“Yes, Sir,” Maria said, bubbly as ever to keep the mood light, “Said you were her best friend.”

That was bullshit. From what Jenna understood, Maria’s grandmother was never coherent enough to tell her stories about that. All she knew was what was in those files and the things her mother had told her when she was little. And, yet, she passed it off like she knew what she was doing.

“I... I wouldn’t say best friend,” Sargent Harlowe said, speaking slow and controlled, “But she was a friend. Very kind. She sang little songs whenever the other children got upset. She never liked seeing people cry.”

“Sounds like Grandma Patty,” Maria said fondly. 

Jenna watched silently as they spoke, both of them dancing around the elephant in the room and refusing to be the one to acknowledge it. Sargent Harlowe spoke in circles often, never wanting to offer too much detail, but Maria never pushed. Instead, by the time people started to filter out, they agreed to go for lunch and talk a little bit more.

“Do you want me to come to that to make sure it goes well?” Jenna offered as they walked to the car. Maria had apparently only been drinking non-alcoholic drinks all night, wanting to keep her wits about her, and it saved Jenna the annoyance of having to fetch an Uber. 

“I think it’ll be okay. If you want to wait a few tables over or something though, you totally can. I think it might be cathartic for him to finally talk about it to someone who won’t judge. But I think our team can be disbanded,” Maria decided, a playful tone in her voice. 

Jenna nodded and didn’t show any emotion. She knew this was just Maria needed a reason to go to this banquet. That didn’t mean they were... whatever. She couldn’t have feelings about it.

The car ride to Jenna’s place was shorter than expected and she fiddled with the lock a little as she stared at the apartment complex. It felt weird to spend all night with Maria on her arm and then going home to an empty bed. The whole idea of it was lonely.

“Jenna,” Maria said as she went to open the door. Jenna looked over at her and waited for whatever she had to say. Maria just smiled and leaned across the center console of her truck, pressing a kiss to her cheek that lingered while her hand cupped her jaw. She whispered a soft, “Thank you,” and let her on her way.