Vanessa & Bishop | Friday morning

[x-copycat.livejournal.com]

Vanessa runs into Bishop at her favorite cafe, jokingly poses an offer and finds herself with a prospective PI for her agency.

People developed routines and habits. All of Vanessa's routines and habits in the city had developed while she'd been working for Snow Valley. It was hard to find any real desire to go out and find new cafes or bookstores or bars that she liked even though the old ones were all convenient to the brownstone. They weren't so convenient to the penthouse. Despite the inconvenience her favorite coffee place was still her favorite coffee place and she went well out of her way to get there. It was probably a good thing she was generally an early riser.

The pent up restlessness from having been injured lately saw Vanessa on a bit of an adrenaline high every time she went out running these days. She was settled in line before she narrowed her eyes at the back of the bald head in front of her which was a good half foot higher than her own. Just when he was about to move off to the side Vanessa placed a hand on his waist. Her chin perched on his shoulder and she whispered, "Hey, sweet thing, you for sale?" in her best phone sex voice.

Bishop turned his head to face her, not bothered by being awkwardly close. "Is that how long it takes you to wake up every day?" He stepped to the side so he didn't block the line after a moment. "You might need to look into finding coffee delivery."

"You weren't attacking me so you didn't warrant my attention," she told him with a wave of her blue hand. After she'd ordered her own coffee and paid Vanessa shuffled off to the side as well. Quickly thereafter she appropriated Bishop as a pillar and leaned up against his side casually. "Mornings are auto-pilot, love. Wake up, go running, get caffeine, go running some more, eventually find a shower."

"Doctors say ten minutes of sex is worth running a mile." Bishop said offhandedly, his eyes still scanning the room. It appeared to either be an attempt at small talk or an effort to derail the current topic so he could avoid small talk.

Vanessa quirked an eyebrow up at the tall man. "I'll keep that in mind on the nights Lex stays over." She noticed his gaze and where it was. He kept looking over the entire interior of the coffee shop. "Old habits die hard or have you got a reason for that level of preventative measure lately," she asked much more quietly.

"I was the first, and so far only, mutant NYPD officer. I stand out and all the wrong people know me." Bishop's scanning was fairly casual, considering the level of attention he gave everything. "Good and bad thing."

"You'd think if they knew you then they'd know they shouldn't be picking fights with you." People, though, they weren't always all that bright. The girl at the counter called Bishop's name and then Vanessa's fake name, labeled cups appearing with each announcement. Vanessa grabbed her own cup and headed for the cream on a different counter.

Bishop picked up his own cup, not moving to put anything in it. "If they could get over themselves that much then they wouldn't know me to begin with." He walked alongside Morgan as she moved.

"Valid point." She gave a small shrug. "You ever miss catching the bad guys the way you used to?" She'd spent a lot of time thinking about what she wanted to do with herself since she'd left Snow Valley. She'd spent a lot of time considering going back to mercenary work until someone had hired a crew to take out all of Mag Ealga, including herself.

"It's not as glamorous as movies make it look." He did miss it sometimes but Bishop wasn't one to reminisce and certainly not sober and in public.

"Who said anything about glamor?" The question she'd asked wasn't answered by his response, but she figured that was just Bishop half the time, wasn't it?

"Why do you run twice a day?" Openly changing the topic often spoke volumes and Bishop used it to his advantage when he wanted to.

"I like running and I have too much energy for my own good." It also woke her up and helped her stay in shape. You never knew when you'd need to run after someone, or away from someone for that matter. "Not a runner?"

"Not like that." Bishop did his cardio but he didn't care to run more than a couple times a week unless he could fit in swimming or biking.

"Like what then? Chasing harlots your only running motivation?" She gave him a good-natured grin.

Bishop moved for the door, nudging Morgan so she moved with him. "I'm good with sprints, acceptable with miles. I preferred when I was a detective and I could focus on a single case. I felt like I could help more." He stepped out of the coffee shop with her, not caring for the audience or the number of people to watch. "And run less." He smiled back a bit more.

"Ah, so you're lazy," she replied with a smirk and a playful poke to his ribs with her elbow. "Or maybe you just suck at multitasking. They say that's the failure of the male brain, no good with multitasking." Vanessa followed him out the door and out onto the sidewalk. She was content to let Bishop lead because cabs could be found everywhere if she wasn't willing to walk the miles back to the penthouse.

"Not lazy, experienced." Bishop slowly guided her to one of the small diners he often had breakfast at. "Running is what people have subordinates for. Detective was good because by the time I got there everything had been roped off, everyone had been run down, and I had pictures of and initial reports for everything."

"Right, lazy," she confirmed for herself with a nod. Clearly Vanessa was kidding and if there was any doubt the small smile she wore said that for her. "If only I went into a life of clean living and police work," she muttered mostly to herself with a small sigh.

"You'd have to spend years running things down for people like me." Bishop led her in to a table, sitting across from her. "It's not as exciting as what we do now or what you've done before."

Vanessa sipped at her coffee and made a face at it for reasons completely unrelated to the beverage. "Actually, I was thinking more what to do in the future. There was this idea of sort of opening a PI agency in District X. Y'know, look into stuff, offer protection services to the mutants there to make sure people don't fuck with them and the like. But New York says I need to have worked for a PI or been a cop so it's a no go far as I can tell." With the upward quirk of one corner of her mouth she offhandedly said, "Unless you feel like getting a PI license and being on the books as my boss."

Charles' offer opened a lot of doors for her. The set up he had offered would let her do a lot of what she wanted to do, but it wouldn't let her do all of it. Only a real private investigator license would.

Bishop laughed "On the books? You think I'd put my name on something and then leave you up to your own devices? And while using my name?" He grinned. "If you're going to pitch this you're certainly going to be calling me boss."

The reaction was an immediate, amused but clearly dry, snort. "They've been lacing your coffee with something if you think I'd bring you into something I'm doing the legwork to put together and then call you boss. Takes more than a license to be the boss."

"Takes experience. I think that's why you need me in the first place, isn't it?" Bishop's response was just a smirk.

"Only if I feel like doing it that way." She hadn't actually intended to try to drag him into it, but if she found someone who could legitimately hold a license she'd have more leverage to get what she wanted done. She'd be able to do a better job and have what she did hold up to law enforcement. "And you forget, I've got plenty of experience to do what I want to do. New York state won't give me a license, that doesn't mean I'm not capable." Plus, Bishop was being a damn cocky bastard. There was no room for that in the sort of crew she wanted to find herself in.

"Being a detective is a little different then anything else. I think it would suit you, though." Seeing her aggravation, Bishop relaxed on teasing her. "Looking to build a crew or do it by yourself?"

When he relaxed her irritation faded. "I don't think I could do it all by myself. Maybe a core group of a couple people and other people who could get called in when I needed skills they've got specifically. I don't know who I'd ask yet. People I trust to have my back to the point where I don't ever have to worry about it or question it. I want the sort of small group dynamic I have with the guys. Y'know, people who are like family and who you'll protect like family. And who you aren't afraid to call out on shit if it needs doing. You know, no real hierarchy, more like roles people need to fill and people who fill them because that role fits them and their experience or skills." Obviously she'd been thinking about this a bit.

"So you don't really want a silent partner. Why put it to me like that? Afraid I wouldn't be in or think I wouldn't have your back?" Bishop was curious now.

"I didn't mean it seriously. You've got a job and you can only do so many things at once. I didn't figure you on actually being interested." And until he'd made that last comment she hadn't thought he was. Now Vanessa wasn't so sure.

"You'd need to be legitimate and you'd need me for that." Bishop said like it was clearly the answer to both the problem of him having a job and his interest.

There was no outward reaction, just a very simple question. "Why do you want to do it?"

"It's too international where I am now. I like local. And killing as a last resort instead of a convenient one." Bishop took another sip from his coffee. "And just about every woman there has tried to sleep with me. It's a little awkward."

Vanessa raised a hand. "I haven't tried to sleep with you. Of course, I don't work there anymore either. Maybe that's really why. I had to leave because I wouldn't drink the Kool Aid that made me want in your pants." She gave him a small half-grin. Serious thought was given to what he said, though. Killing tended to be her first resort but she'd done pretty well with not leaving a string of bodies behind her in India. She'd given Xavier her word and stuck to it. It was strange, but sort of interesting to leave people bested.

"If you're serious then, well, get your license and we'll set up shop. Xavier will back us financially, help us get set up and, well, make sure I stay more morally light than morally dark. And he'll be a source of jobs." Snow Valley did nothing to lighten her moral shade, which was fine but it wouldn't fly for what she wanted to do now. Maybe the leather brigade had rubbed off on her. How did that happen?

"I'm not huge on giving up my spot between law enforcement and mutants but I haven't done much of that in the past couple of years. Maybe I could do more as a PI." Bishop devolved into thought, watching the diner as much as looking at Vanessa. "I don't know Xavier or the people over there much. I hope we wouldn't be burning all our bridges."

"I can't possibly burn any more bridges than are burnt by doing this," she told him honestly. Vanessa still wasn't sure Amanda would ever be okay with her again after the way she quit or why. "I don't see why you'd be burning bridges but, hey, think about it. If you want in the offer is on the table and if it's not worth it for whatever fall out you might get handed then don't take the offer and there won't be any hard feelings, aye?"

Bishop thought for a moment longer in silence before speaking. "I should be able to get that license pretty quickly. What are we going to do for an office?"

"I'm going to look around District X, see if there's something half decent I can find. Or at least something that'll be decent once we fix it up if need be." If the point was to help and become a resource for people in District X then Vanessa wanted to be in the middle of it all. She wanted them to be easy for people to get to and God help anyone stupid enough to fuck with them.

"Then we'll need a name." With the amount of thought Vanessa had already put into this, Bishop anticipated she had already decided on a name and other people she wanted to work with. He was just going to lead her into his questions. It was more entertaining than asking.

"Bishop's Angels Investigations?" She gave him a cheeky grin. "I figure Jean-Paul can be Farrah."

Bishop only shook his head at the joke. "Who else has an invite?"

"No one has an invite yet, but Jean-Paul would be dead useful." And she trusted him implicitly. "So could Lex, for that matter. Haven't really talked to either of them about it so for now it's you and me, Charlie."

"We should find the building first to see how much room we'd have." Bishop looked more at Vanessa's eyes than he had before. "And you should consider working with a boyfriend as a possible disaster before extending him that invitation."

She could have argued that she could keep her personal and professional lives separate, but he was right that she consider it. "Fair enough." There was a definite work versus not-work switch that got flipped for her, but she'd never had to worry about what it would do to a relationship before. And she certainly didn't know if Lex could handle it.