Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Dean Redding, Micheal Townsed, and Sloane Tavish are now offically FBI agents. If you had told Dean at age twelve that he would one day be an FBI agent, he wouldn't have believed you. He also wouldn't believe that he had a girlfriend, but that's a slightly different matter. Now however, he was just happy to be home and hold Cassie in his arms. Just for now, they didn't have to solve any cases. They could just be together, unbothered.

Well, mostly unbothered anyways. After all, their home was the Naturals headquarters, therefore, their fellow Naturals were also roaming about. While Sloane and Celine were most likely enjoying being together once more like Cassie and Dean, Micheal and Lia had also been reunited, which meant chaos would soon ensue, likely in some sort of party game, like truth or dare, in which everyone else would be forced to particapate. To be completely honest though, Dean wasn't sure he would actually mind. Though he had still been around Sloane and Micheal, he did still miss the others, not just Cassie. Dean was almost sure that it would be worth the headache that was sure to come after. It would be fun, the six of them playing party games together again. As loathe as he was to admit that to Lia and Micheal.

Cassie looked up at him, and smiled, "It's nice to have you back," she whispered to Dean, while standing on her tiptoes, to press a kiss on his cheek. Dean smiled back, titled up her chin, and kissed her.

"I think you missed your target," Dean whispered back. Cassie smiled even more. But of course this beautiful, peaceful, and romantic moment had to be interrupted.

"Knock knock," Lia called out instead of knocking,"While I hate to interupt you two,"Which judging by the smirk on her face and knowing Lia, she really wasn't sorry to interupt them,"But we're gathering in the living room, and no this is not a request, and yes this will include some sort of game." With that Lia left, not even bothering looking back to make sure they were following.

"Well, we should probably get going then, huh?" Cassie asked. Dean just nodded in reply. Surely Lia and Micheal could have waited a little longer before insisting on playing games together.

Two hours of Truth or Dare latter, Dean was very glad that the game was interrupted by Agent Sterrling calling. Agent Sterrling had assured all of them many times that they could call her Veronica, as long as it wasn't in a public work setting. Not even Micheal or Lia has taken to calling her by her first name.

Dean picked up the phone hoping this wasn't a work call, but just in case answered with, "What can I do for you Agent Sterrling?"

As it turned out, it was a work call. In fact it was their very own case. For all six Naturals. Granted it was a cold case, but still a case none the less.

"Their is a ninety six percent chance that we all just got assigned a case," Sloane said, not looking up from the notebook she was writing in.

Instead of responding to Sloane, who was correct as usual, Dean just asked, "Does anyone here know anything about Sheiffield Grayson?"

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Grayson Hawthorne prided himself on almost always keeping things under control. He was very much under the impression that he handled the situation involving the FBI and his father's family. After a call from both Savannah and Gigi, he learned that he hadn't completely handled the situation. That different FBI agents had come to their home, investigating the dissapearance of Sheffield Grayson. Savannah, of course did not know what had actually happened to their father. If the FBI was investigating again, Grayson had two very important calls to make.

So Grayson made his first call, to one of the Hawthorne lawyers. Normally he would call Alisa about this, but she was currently very busy taking a much needed vacation. After a somewhat successful call to the lawyer, Grayson then called Avery. The phone rang for a minute before it was answered.

"Hello?",a voice too deep to be Avery's said. That doesn't mean that Grayson didn't recognize the voice, however.

"Jamie,"Grayson acknowledged, "May I speak to Avery?"

"Wow, calling your own brother just to speak to someone else, I'm wounded Gray."

"Well maybe you shouldn't be answering someone else's phone calls then."

"This is Avery's phone isn't it?"

"Correct. I'm positive I don't want to know why you have seemed to have gotten your phone mixed up, so please don't inform me."

Jameson muttered a few things under his breath and Grayson was almost sure he heard the distinct rustling of sheets. A few seconds later Avery was on the phone with him.
"Hey, what's up?", Avery asked.
"The FBI isn't done investigating yet. Be careful," Grayson said, in lieu of greeting.
"Understood. Also on a different topic, Nash and Libby are hoping the have a family dinner soon."
There wasn't anything else the two needed to say, so they hung up. So he went about reserving a hotel room. Unlike last time however, Grayson messaged Gigi to let her know that he was coming. The FBI isn't going to know what hit them, if they kept messing with his family.

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Cassie was under the impression that Sloane was the last person in the world that should have coffee. Now she wasn't so sure. Because here was a young woman three or so years younger than them, actually vibrating at the door.

Not slightly shaking but literally vibrating. And bouncing. Cassie at this moment wishes to be dealing with a over caffeinated Sloane, than the young woman she's currently supposed to be questioning. The thought was that the other twin would be more comfortable dealing with agents then Cassie and Lia. Lia however had the cushy job of watching the interviews to see any slip ups from the twin sisters. Not that they looked much alike mind you. While the older twin, Savannah was serious, calm, and a little intimidating, this twin Juliette, or Gigi as she had been insisted on being referred to, was positively cheerful and well, sunshiny for lack of a better term. Of course there were the physical differences too.

Cassie didn't need to be in the room to know how Savannah would respond to the questioning. Brief answers in a professional tone. Then Savannah would make some veiled threats, and follow with questions of her own. Cassie didn't quite know how Gigi would respond however. While cheerful and seemingly cooperative, she hadn't really said anything useful to the case. What most people wouldn't figure out, is that Gigi was being unhelpful on purpose. She was certainly stalling. For what, Cassie still couldn't figure out.

Cassie had stepped out for a few minutes to answer a call from Laurel, who wanted to know when they would be home. Cassie assured her little sister that it would only be a day or so longer, because this case surely couldn't take that long. Now faced with a vibrating Gigi, she wasn't so sure. What she was sure of however, was that leaving Gigi alone with the coffee was a terrible mistake.

Literal seconds after Cassie stepped back in, she was called back out again. This time however, Cassie was sure to snag the coffee pot. No one needed to find out what would happen if the young woman had any more caffeine.

Other than facing a call, Cassie turned to face a very rich man, around her own age of she had to guess. He looked rather familiar in a way she just couldn't place.

"You'll want to let go the two young woman who you are questioning." The man said.

Cassie just titled her head a little, her mind already fast away at profiling him. While her mind was racing with observations, she simply responded,"I'm sorry, but I don't have the authority to release them, if they were being held that is. But since they're not being held I can certainly ask is they wish to leave with you." With a shutter Cassie realized that she had slipped into her customer service voice, something she hadn't done in a while.

Then she realized, that this was who Gigi was stalling for. This man who seemed used to assuming that he was always in control, and always the most important person. Cassie couldn't help but want to roll her eyes, as he glared in a way that he seemed to believe intimidated her. In stead of succuring off to do what he commanded, she simply took out her phone and texted the Naturals group chat to bring the sisters out here. She had a suspicion on who this man was to the girls. As well as many others.

"I would be happy to lead you to your sisters sir, however you don't have clearance to go back there. Don't worry though, my colleagues are leading them to us right now." Cassie said to the man, who was still glaring at her. She would have to see how he reacted to her guess on his and the girls relation on the security footage later. Or more accurately have Michael take a look. While Cassie excelled at profiling, and could usually see people's reactions, she couldn't with this man. So it's a good thing that Michael was a Natural emotions reader, and would be able to tell them all how this man had reacted. Of course Celine would also be able to tell if Cassie's guess was right, as soon as she got out here. One thing was for sure though, this cold case had just got a lot more interesting.

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Gigi Grayson is what most would consider a ball of sunshine, incapable of doing anything sinister. Most people would be wrong. Because right at this very moment Gigi was keeping a terrible, gigantic, life changing, illegal secret from her very own twin sister. A secret that the FBI was investigating once again. It was weird though. The Agents and the ‘consultants’(there was no way those two ladies were just consultants.) weren't that much older than her and Savannah. In fact if Gigi had to guess, they were somewhere around Grayson's age. Grayson, her recently discovered older brother who told her the terrible, gigantic, life changing, illegal secret. The secret she told him to keep from her twin sister. And now they've been questioned by the FBI. Which Gigi could now cross off her bucket list.

Meaning that Gigi Grayson was now keeping a secret from the FBI.

Grayson had dropped her and Savannah off home just three hours ago. While Savannah didn't seem too upset, Gigi knew better. Her sister had been on the basketball court since they got home, meaning she needed to feel in control.

Gigi had also decided to take refuge in her favorite place to think. Which just so happened to be the roof. Which might or might not be the safest place for a highly caffeinated very nervous Gigi to be. But there she sat anyways wondering how much longer before the terrible, gigantic, life changing, illegal secret got out, and everything got worse.

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Celine was certain of three things the moment she and the twins stepped into the reception area where Cassie was. A.) The man with her, who came for the twins Grayson Hawthorne, B.) he was very much the twins older brother. and C.) This case was going to cause her girlfriend to spiral.

That night when they were in the hotel Celine considered the fact that Grayson Hawthorne might have recognized her. Now she was certainly no stranger to rich people's affairs and half siblings. She, herself was a product of an affair, making her Michael's olde sister. She knew the shock that came with that. What surprised her, however was the fact that Grayson Hawthorne's father was Sheffield Grayson. She wasn't aware that the families even interacted. Granted her and Michael's families were aquatinted with the Hawthorne's, the Grayson's weren't that kind of influential.

Celine's Natural abilities may not lie in the emotional spectrum like most of the others, but that didn't mean that she didn't know her girlfriend. Unsurprisingly she was right. Sloane hadn't stopped pacing. Half siblings fathers who didn't acknowledge their affair child. Fathers with the name Grayson. Half siblings who didn't grow up with each other but became important in each others lives. All of that hit much to close to Sloane. And everybody knew it.

Usually when Sloane was upset like this, she sought comfort from the others. Today wasn't one of those days. In a few minutes Celine would join Sloane. But not before departing some information that would be helpful to the others.

"We're going to want to question the Hawthorne's. If one of them is involved, their all involved. Rest up, and stay patient. That family might be known for their games, but have no doubt, they are dangerous."

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Nash Hawthorne just wanted one semi normal family dinner with his Brothers, Aunt, Great Grandmother, Wife, and Sister in Law. Was that really to much to ask? Given six of them had the last name Hawthorne, apparently it was.

Granted the trouble didn't find the Hawthorne's directly this time.

No this time it found Gray's little sisters. Which was equally unacceptable. Nash had met the twins a handful of times and knew how much Gray cared about them. An issue for any branch of the family was taken care of by one of them anyways, and usually they all joined in to help. Granted Nash was starting to get a little concerned about how much the FBI was becoming an issue for the Graysons.

Granted Gray probably was under the idea that he was keeping the FBI part a secret from his brothers. Which Nash found ridiculously amusing. Avery would never keep a serious secret from Jamie and Xander had his ways of knowing things. All it took for Avery to confide to Nash about this newest FBI problem was a raised eyebrow.

Nash knew within reason what happened to Gray's father. He also knew what that man tried to do to Avery. Both times. So there was no part of him that regretted what happened to Sheffield Grayson. However when that started to threaten his family, again mind you, he was damn sure going to do something about it.

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Lia Zhang is an artist at what she does if she does say so herself. She has mastered lying in every way shape and form and was extraordinarily gifted at detecting lies.

And there was one particular lie that she couldn't get out of her head from the interview. The shocking thing was that both twins said it. While Lia was no stranger to the seemingly magic that certain brains could come up with, she was fairly certain that twin telepathy was just a myth. Hopefully.

She would say something about it, but for all she knew it had absolutely no relevance to the case and could derail the investigation by having them go down the rabbit hole of that lie. She wanted to be sure it was significant first. After all if the Hawthornes and Co. said the same lie, well, then it was relevant. Because after all at that age, what kids actually think that their father is a good man?

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Avery Grambs was getting annoyed by the FBI. Alright she knows that a lot of what she's done has been shady and maybe on the wrong side of the law, but still if the FBI wanted to put some one behind bars that was connected to the Hawthorne family they should look into Skye. She tried to kill Avery that one time! And was a horrible mother. Okay maybe that part wasn't illegal but still. The FBI shouldn't be looking for a dead man, even if he wasn't a good man. And tried to kill her. Twice. And had killed many of Oren's men.

That doesn't mean that Avery doesn't regret that whole situation. Of course she did. It was messy and complicated and kept coming back to bite her.

She wants to stop it. To help protect the Hawthornes the way they had for her. They were officially family now. Sort of, due to Libby and Nash's marriage. Not that it really changes anything, but still.

It was her fault that they were in this mess and she was going to fix it.

Two hours and countless calls later, Avery had a solution. Sort of. And maybe the solution wasn't the best, or the most ethical, but still. She now knew who was investigating. And to fix the mess she was in she would find out more.

These Naturals had no clue who they were messing with. Alright maybe they did, but still. She didn't want to hurt them, but if they kept looking for Sheffield Grayson, someone was going to get hurt, and Avery would be damned if was the people who protected her from it in the first place.

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It wasn't every day that people got invited to the infamous Avery Grambs office. But given that the Naturals were currently investigating a case involving the Hawthornes it was extremely suspicious. And clearly a bad idea, which is why Special Agent Michael Townsend was so very excited at the prospect. Avery Grambs is something of a legend at poker, so clearly she would be a challenge to read. Dean on the other hand didn't think they should be meeting with Avery Grambs at all. Though he voiced that multiple times, he really didn't have to. Micheal could see it written all over his face.

"This is a bad idea," Dean grumbled, just as he'd been doing the whole ride here and the day before hand.

"Which means it's a great idea! After all, who are we if not experts of bad ideas?! Come on Special Agent Man Purse, this will be fun! Besides Cassie thought it was a good idea too, didn't she?"

"Which only makes me more certain that it's a bad idea. Just because I love my girlfriend doesn't mean I'm as convinced as she is that this is a good idea."

"Well it's too late to back out now, unless you want to let me go in alone! Wait actually that's a great idea, let's do that!"

"There is no way in hell I'm letting you go in alone, with a possible suspect in our case, who is almost certainly dangerous."

"Aww, Dean, you do care!"

"No, I just don't want to deal with an angry Lia and Celine."

"Nah, you totally care! Anyways it's too late for you to back out, we're already here!"

They were, infact at the doors of the conference room where they were supposed to meet The Avery Grambs. Micheal hadn't looked too close at the surroundings of the building they were in, because decor didn't tell you anything about people's emotions. Dean probably had taken note of everything about their surroundings, including the exact shade of paint used.

Just then, the conference room door swung open and the infamous Avery Grambs stepped out. While she was smiling in a way most people would assume was friendly Michael saw past that. That wasn't a friendly smile, it was a smile of victory, a warning to him and Dean, and anyone else who dared to go against her. Her eyes were sharp and calculating, making Michael wonder what sort of life the Hawthorne Heiress led before she inherited the vast fortune. He could practically see her running different numbers in her head, as if she was calculating every possible outcome, making Michael wonder if she was also a Natural.

"You must be Agents Redding and Townsend, please come in!" The media acclaimed 'Modern Day Cinderella', said with such fake excitement, but very real authority.

Micheal met Dean's eyes when she turned her back to re-enter the room. Dean's eyes were narrowed as if she was proving hard to profile. Instead of letting Dean brood about that, Michael grabbed his arm and pulled him into the conference room.

When the two entered she was already seated at one end of the table, legs crossed and false politeness dropped. Micheal knew instinctively

"Let's cut to the chase, shall we?", the Hawthorne Heiress asked, "The two of you are investigating something, that, frankly should remain uninvestigated. I know bribes won't work on either of you, which means I have two options to turn to. I could blackmail you both by telling you that if you don't stop investigating, I'll tell the whole world about the Naturals program, and it will be shut down, and who knows what other consequences that could lead to. Or I could threaten you both, and say that I will find every person you care about and make their lives hell. But we all know that doesn't need to happen, because you'll drop the case, won't you Agents?"