How Tidingly Doth the Season Go (Monica)

[Matthew Gregory]

Matt looked at the phone considering on how much he would relate. The line was clear and he had survived but there would be repercussions. So his goal was to not worry her. Over the last year strangely enough the distance between them made them closer. He wasn’t there and his gift for picking up on secrets, lies and half-truths was all but mastered. He still had not been able to employ it offensively. But as a passive ever present ability it was nice knowing where his hunches and leaps of logic were coming from. He’d even been able to hide the tics and clues that he developed.



So he dialed Monica, immediately speaking “Hey Stranger…”

[Monica Davis-banks walker]

She was home having returned from Hawaii the month before the babies having finally been cleared for flight. Currently, the twin were sleeping and as such, she was napping as well but a light sleeper for obvious reason. Her slightly sleepy voice greeted him back" I keep telling you I'm not strange just eccentric"

Looking at the clock she checked to see how long she would have until it was feeding and changing time. they had been on a schedule of every four hours or so and her chest was massive now and she groaned looking at how full she was right now. She sat up " so what's new with you my friend?"

[Matthew Gregory]

“Just missing the rotten apple and a friendly voice really.” He said picking up in her sleep ladened voice. Looking at the clock he went on. “ A stakeout?” He asked as to why she was clearly sleeping at what should have been midshift. It wasn’t quite the ‘oh my god are you okay why are you resting?’ But for them it might as well have been.

Monica was one of the most active people he knew. Course he was sure the cushy Marshals position would have it rolls on her. He though couldn’t make those jokes as officially he was no longer a civil servant if the law. He was a privatized detective with far too much leeway. It all came down to not being caught in the act of any malfeasance. Allegations meant nothing just facts. As such he’d managed to snooker nearly the whole Miami Dade department.

He cowboys things up so often now he wasn’t sure that even if he wanted to go back to a force that’d he’d know how. It didn’t hurt that Naida was while not the cleanest of cops she was willing to back most of his plays so long as they targeted the Mistress of the city or her operations. And there was a veritable cornucopia if businesses she ran under the table. She was literally the queen pin of crime with a wall of secrecy so high and thick it was an open fact. She really did run her city. There generations of families so enthralled and enmeshed they had no clue how or when it began merely that it was a given they owed. And kept accruing a bill. In short they would never be free of the tinterhooks embedded in their family tree.

[Monica Davis-banks walker]

Same old Matt she smirked knowing good and darn well what he was getting at and she wasnt ready to share Emme and Van with him yet. Samuel would have to okay that conversation first. So she would answer him truthfully but not fully which was the best path in this case" I only just got back in the state a while ago, had to handle some important situations on the other coast So took a bit of a break while I could"

There all of that was true but vauge, Eva Marie and Micheal Evan Banks-Walker were now her entire world mostly even Samuel took a side seat to those two precious bundles. Already their slight differences in personality were apparent. Eva who also was known as Emme was curious and animated albeit a bit dramatic when she was upset about something you knew and better fix it tut suite. Micheal or Van as his father was fond of calling him was introspective and patient. He watched the world taking it all in and you knew without a doubt he was forming some opinion of how things were. He only seemed to cry if Emme got going to hard or if he was truly distressed.

Peeking into their Nursery on the way past to go get juice she was happy they were both still out cuddled together in the dual swaddle she had been taught. It had been fairly clear early on that they didn't at current enjoy sleeping apart. Where one went the other had to go. So a shared bassinette in between both cribs it was. She was looking forward to their first Christmas even though they would not remember it. they had only been a day old on Holloween so they had got orange and black blankets but no costumes for them.

Sipping her juice she leaned on the counter" so how has it been down there? I know you mentioned the missing feds sister is a cop of none to great moral.. hows that working out?"

[Matthew Gregory]

Chuckling to mask her movements. He didn’t want to accidentally trigger those cop slash girlfriend ears and piece together what was in her background. “Actually,” He said taking a beat collecting his thoughts. “She is a lot cleaner than I thought.” Pausing as that sounded even to his ears like an excuse.

“She’s ex-Interpol. And good police. Definitely working an angle and blending in on the force on purpose. “ He smirked at his appraisal as in absolute truth so was he. Working an angle. And his goal was potentially more far reaching. He was aiming to find a way to expose the vampiric pogroms that ranged from harmless shepherding to outright breeding to insure results of their designs.

In the process he hoped and planned to bring Violante down. Get an order of execution on her and insure the world saw those who dabbled in such pogroms as the real monsters they were.

But this call wasn’t about this. It was a mini vacation of sorts and running a few theories past her. She reminded him a lot of Naida in the way she thought. Moving from toeing the line to coloring all outside of it. At least Monica’s cowboying was just romantic. Nadia’s was something else and in the time down here he hadn’t cracked the nut of it. There was definitely something there even beyond what he could prove.

“But enough about my partner in crime. I was actually just checking in and seeing if your mind had gotten lazy with all that cushy Marshal paperwork.”

[Monica Davis-banks walker]

She moved around her kitchen unworried opening cabinets closing them. Running water to rinse bottles even tho they were steam cleaned after washing. She was a bit overprotective so sue her. As she listened she replied with thoughtful noises or disbelief at the all of a sudden change when he seemed to want to oust her before.

Setting up her pump so that she could bottle feed and give her tender places a break, Monica took the rig to the couch where she sat. Then attaching them with deft hands that now knew this routine. The switch was flipped and the whisper quiet motor pack went to work freeing her hands again.

Feeling a slight twinge when he said partner referring to this other person and catching herself before she retorted venomously."oh well hopefully she is ok with how you smell after three hours in a car on stakeout after arbys. That would make her a saint"

Smirking tho he couldn't see it. His comment about marshal paper work made her roll her eyes." Yeah lots of paper work but much cooler guns and who doesn't love pissing off the locals when they take over a scene? Its a blast"

[Matthew Gregory]

Laughing softly as she mentioned pissing off the locals. “Don’t even trip; you know I aint got no skin in that game anymore. Not to mention I do fine pissing off the locals my self. Speaking of which. I’m working a pipeline case. Could use your brain power on.”



He gave it a beat listening to her trying to gauge whether she found the idea interesting. Moni being interested would mean several things to him. But it had to come naturally. Nothing could be forced. If she found merit in the pursuit he’d drop the particulars. Well as much as he could. She was connected in all sorts of ways and he needed to protect the client long enough to get the girlfriend out of the jam they were in. Either way he attacked it from how he saw things was a surefire way of it going sideways and messy like a Pollock painting tumbling end over end down a hill.

[Monica Davis-banks walker]

Having been the cop the feds brushed off at one point ment she couldnt totally unsympathise. Tho now that she was on the other side it made her realize some of the reasons why things happened. It was like peeking behind the curtian at a play so to speak." yeah i know but you know im a soft touch at times"

Checking her progress the bottles were already half full and she felt a fair bit better already. Hearing his pitch she thought" sure what you got so far I can't help offically I guess but more just as a extra brain or something. Pipeline for what?"

aware of the time still and knowing that she didnt have to much longer before she would hear the whimmper and wail start.

[Matthew Gregory]

He ordered his thoughts and just went for the ask without painting it too close. It was clear the divergence of his ask caught her attention.

" Yeah you are most times. Though you kicking ass is more the constant. Remember when you dressed down the LT over him backing the FOOP over us with the mandatory on call day. It’s a trafficking case. The loved one of my client got vacuumed up in a transport scam and is in pretty deep. Transpo from here to Atlanta and back. The vics are usually wiped superficially but they are all part of a rotating blood freak pool used as party fodder for the Kiss there and their guests."

He purpeusfully left off the deep rolling and who he hoed was responsible as it was fairly clear. Outside of his uncle Moni was the only person who knew why he was in Miami to begin with and the only person who knew he had an insiders understanding of the vampires eugenics pogroms. In truth his uncle though it was solely familial obligations. But he was aiming for the whole kit and kaboodle to bring the whole thing down. Sadly, the veil was so thick and deep not even ever vampire understood or had knowledge of such pogroms existing.

[Monica Davis-banks walker]

She filled the bottles and turned off the pumps releasing them and then putting the special nipples that were shaped more like hers on top. Setting them to the side in the mini warmer to keep them body temp. Listening as she cleaned up and recovered up." hm well whoever gets caught in this will have a warrant for death near automatically issued due to mental tampering. Are the victims of legal age and originally consenting or were they snatched and made into goods? It will help with how the case can be prosecuted"

Thinking harder what else she could tell him" you also need to tell your..client that if they can claim entrapment or cohercement provably against the vampires in charge that they will get immunity most likely but only if they cooperate with authorities. Is it possible to get the transporter fitted with some sort of tracking or listening device not on their person but in the vehicle?"

She knew they also might have to do it without the person knowing because vampires might ask them under bespelling and know if they were lying. She knew Matt would know that as well. " if we can set something up the transpo can be snagged in a speeding or some other traffic stop and the victims freed and them flipped or fallowed as back up until reaching the destination? Maybe thats to big until you have enough proof but just giving angles here"

She stood and stretched" send me whatever basics you want over secure channels and I will see what i can do to make some connects for you that you can trust if you want.. but I do need to get a move on I have a lunch date"

[Matthew Gregory]

He stood stretched and did the math. It was a real humdinger. There was still a lot of legwork yet to do and if he wasn’t careful there would be strings left to be pulled that could lead back. He needed to not leave any but make things official. Monica was right there needed official oversight. He knew however despite his burgeoning trust of officer Templeton he couldn’t directly involve her in any way. He trusted her but not in that way. She was whip smart and working an angle he hoped was for what she saw as the better good but for this to work she need to be isolated out of the equation just like all of her brothers in blue. They were compromised and he wouldn’t risk the blowback. While the Gym was a protected from vampires and the like bullets had no problems violating the sanctity of the threshold.



" Most of them are at least eighteen. I’m running down the age of a few more that are questionable but I have to be real circumspect. Can’t tip anyone off. Its even harder with them being so deeply rolled that they don’t even have a clue outside of some missing time.” Consent he wouldn’t touch. It was an argument that had ended in a hung jury the one mind-rape case that made it to court. Most cops just considered it a moot point once mental tricks were involved. There was no way to prove it one way or another. In truth it was not his concern so long as it could result in the WOE, Warrant of Execution for Violante and her entire Kiss. Though in truth he would gladly settle for Violante staked and beheaded.



“No can do as for the client shes a real lowlife sort. Completely unreliable witness. Working on scaring up someone else.” He wouldn’t belabor how hard he was working towards his goal of bringing the Master of the city down. They’d had a text convo about seven months back that left him infinitely aware that she would rather him find a replacement before he would make the final move if it opened itself.



In truth he should but to do so would show his hand after all there was no vampire he could trust to not betray him. Or worse. So the cities preternatural leadership would have to become a vacuum so be it. "Shes plugged into some of the bikers they trailed them once but the only thing that’s definitive is that the vehicles are always rotated on both ends. They had an honest to goodness party bus once." Sighing, he sat back down. “You are always thinking I always loved that about you Moni. What connections can you scrounge up in the MC’s in the area?”

[Monica Davis-banks walker]

Listening to his situation and nodding noticing he either ignored her lunch date comment or didn't hear her.She was hoping it wasn't the first, biting her lip " yeah sure I know some one who knows someone. I'll have you talk to them but other than that just send me what you can. Remember del? His sister is in the mc chapter in los Angeles but i checked into her she was in mami for a bit so probably knows the locals see if del will connect you to her"

She shifted again" but I really do have to go matt so call me tommorow or I'll call you?"

[Matthew Gregory]

He'd gotten the hint but it hadn't registered somehow. The idea of maybe closing the case out sooner versus later had him chomping at the bit internally and as she reiterated her need to go he nodded.  Following it with "Yeah sure thing. Don't mean to keep you." His mind went to Lieutenant Vincent and the last time he was in New Orleans. He'd heard form Templeton that the situation had been used in a few classes she had the pleasure of sitting in on during her re-certs. He hadn't bothered to tell her he was there and there was no way anyone should ever be in such a scene.

"Tomorrow Moni..." He said ending the call so she could get back to preparing for her date. he bit his lip fighting that old monster that reared its head. She was happy involved and there was a bit of jealousy as well as misplaced emotions. It was complicated in his head but just barely.

[Monica Davis-banks walker]

She felt a little bad she'd brushed him off and could hear the moment it hit him. She would make it up to him with help on this case but the feeling was short lived when less than five seconds after she put her cell phone down the slow whimper to a full wail Emme let out filling the space. That was relief that he hadn't kept her any longer because she knew she couldn't lie to him about that very clear sound. Anyone else she could say she was babysitting but Matt would know it was a lie.

So bottles snagged she took the babies their lunch and fed them to tight bellies and sleepiness. Diapers changed air burped and back curled around each other she had a little time to her self to send Del a message that Matt would be making contact.

[Samuel Banks-Walker]

Samuel was a difficult man for most to read. Purposefully so. Abel however had all but mastered his craft with the man. As such it was as plain as day to him. He wished nothing more than to be home with his children and their mother. He went through the motions and even with his mind split as it were he as a better man than most. On the surface where any could notice he was all business.

There were images to maintain and Samuel kept them maintained.  But as lunch arrived Abel slipped a missive to Samuel. there was a flight he needed to catch. Moving to the helipad Abel leaned in close enough that only Samuel could hear. "The flight will take you into Jersey and then back to...them." 

It was a circuitous route yes but far safer for Samuels family. A midday drive would alert all manner of beings across the city that the lion had a weakness and that was never good for business. Flying into jersey meant that someone would be disappearing which was always good for business.