Lunch in Finsbury Park

Lee did rather like England. He had friends here. A great many of them. If he needed to travel somewhere, this was the place that was almost always on the top of his short list. But he wasn't here for leisure this time. His friend had disappeared. His friend's beloved homeland was in trouble. And that made it Lee's business.

Lee had an operative here. He needed to reassign her slightly, so he had come two days earlier to do his own legwork and then he's sent for her. An autumn lunch in Finsbury Park. It was crisp and not a typical place for a lunch this time of year. In fact, it was rather abandoned, and that suited Lee just fine.

He had gone gourmet. It was, after all, going on the expense account, and he knew Claire didn't get 5 star business lunches that often. And a brownbag 5 star one was even more rare. Deluxe Paninis--his favorite fillings for him, hers for her. Two containers of the best butternut squash soup on the planet, piping hot, of course, some amazing Tiramisu cookie bars, and the best Pumpkin Spice tea he'd ever tasted in his life.

It had been packaged carefully all in disposeable Styrofoam and placed carefully in brown paper bags with all disposeable flatware and paper napkins. Lee found a park bench in a little clutch of trees that were starting to turn color already. The smell of fall was one of those things Lee loved. He put the bags on the ground, knowing Claire was efficient and wouldn't be late if she could help it.

He scouted around him, and saw no one. Nothing. Nothing larger than the occasional squirrel or chipmunk. He pulled his black leather butcher coat a bit closer to shut out the nip of the wind, pulled a muggle looking cell phone, and proceeded to continue working on a crossword puzzle while he waited.

Claire had sullenly settled in, missing her best friend with every fiber of her being. How supportive Elsie would have been with the prospect of seeing Robin Ivanov, Claire could not tell. Elsie had adopted an air or superiority in regards to the handsome boy they had grown up with, since the fall out after graduation. Elsie would have probably made Claire feel all the worse about having to investigate him. But the youngest Bishop would have liked a friend. She felt wholly outnumbered in the UK, without a friend in the world. There was Mira, but she had ties to Robin, and that was much too worrisome to tempt Claire into delving into that mess. Not yet anyway.

She was somewhat relieved to be summoned by Lee, as that gave her something to fill up her time before she had to begin work in the strange new Ministry. She had arrived in the wake of chaos. It was easy for her to secure a higher-ranking job, as they seemed to be open and waiting for anyone to capture them. Not only that, but it seemed she was being asked to marry a stranger. She would ask Lee what she was to do about the situation, but if she had to marry, she could deal. It was just business, anyway. What did she care?

She arrived seven minutes early to the park. She was seven minutes early everywhere, as it seemed to be the perfect buffer period, if she needed the time for anything. She spotted Lee immediately and approached him. She was dressed casually - in red pants, a white and black sweater, and her hair caught into an intricate braid that draped around her neck and rested upon her right shoulder. She looked absolutely lovely in the crisp air, looking very unlike a spy.

That was the point though, wasn't it?

She arrived and nodded. "Lee." She allowed a small smile - she had worked extensively with him after all. He was her boss, but he was also an incredibly familiar face, and that was enough to lift her spirits a bit. "It's great to see you." She sat, ready to get started immediately.

"Hello, Claire," Lee smiled, putting the cell phone away.  "Beautiful as always. England suits you. Despite the cesspool they're in now. Anyway, a working lunch, shall we?"  He dug into the bag,  set a large Styrofoam cup of tea on the ground at her feet. "It's actually very good Pumpkin Spice tea.  I won't bother to tell you how many cups of this flavor I've had.  Its addicting--very autumnal.  You know how I love the Fall."  He drew out the sandwiches and the soup.  He laid the foil wrapped cookie bars on the bench between them.  

"Panini," he said. "One Mediterrean Vegetarian with pesto on Ciabatta.  One fairly decent British attempt at a New Orleans lobster po'boy on sourdough. Your choice. Also the best butternut squash soup on the planet, and some rather amazing Tiramisu cookie bars. You need to try them. They're almost actually worth dying for. Plasticware and napkins in the bag, tab is on Uncle Sam. Enjoy.  It at least makes us look a tad less conspicuous."  He didn't mind 5 star in a paper bag. Hell, he didn't mind 5 star anytime, especially if he wasn't picking up the tab.

He opened his tea, savoring the smell for a moment before taking a sip. It made him smile.  He sipped at the tea, and took in a breath of the smell of the leaves. The park was so deceptively calm all around them, and he had to steer the conversation into dark waters.  That just somehow didn't seem right to drag Claire into this one.  This one felt like his little personal slice of momentary hell--but he needed an agent he could trust.

"I have a new assignment for you, but then you must have guessed that," he said, staring out into the trees that were starting to display all sorts of artistically warm hues.  "You'll be working with a new contact this time--me."  He looked at her to see if that would bother her. She usually worked alone or with a local contact.  This time, he was assigning himself to be her local contact.  Highly unusual, he knew.  

"I presume you've been reading the papers.  And of course, the backstory isn't in it.  England needs their Minister back before they destroy themselves. Evidently some git or gits believe they know better. Here's part of what isn't in the papers. Robert Lupin is my friend.  My good friend.  He's not missing. He's in hiding. And I know where he is." He chose his soup first and opened the container and opted to drink it right from the paper bowl.  The warmth drove away the nip in the air and felt comforting.

"And as in all good stories, there's a backstory to the backstory. I've been at this job a long time. I've seen Ministers all over the world come and go. Its just part of it. So when Lupin got the post here, I didn't think much about it.  Until I actually met him. He's a good man, Claire.  A family man. And one dedicated to preserving our alliance and in believing that maybe, just perhaps, the world can be a better place. I've learned a lot from him, and we've become close friends. He's probably, honestly, one of the closest friends I have.  His family feels like my family--or what I would want it to feel like if I had one.

"The newspapers speculate that there was some sort of emergency here. And there was.  Someone attempted to outright assassinate the Minister.  He nearly died. His condition is still very serious.  His family would like to keep from widespread panic.  But he knows I'm here. I've seen him--briefly--earlier today.  . He's not going to be very helpful at the moment. Perhaps a wee bit, depending on what it is we need to know.  His daughter might be considerably helpful, however, and they have friends that would die to support them. They will be helpful to us.  And in your new position, you have a ready made in to the family--his son in law, Brian Quinn. He's one of your supervisees in your new post.  You'll find Quinn to be a driven man, a fighter, hand groomed by Robert since Quinn was a small boy, although I don't entirely know what for."  Lee drew out the cellphone and opened up a dossier on Brian Quinn and passed it to Claire.

"This is the information you wont' have in your ministry files.  Quinn grew up in Robert's home when his parents were killed in a car accident when Brian was 8.  Robert wanted to adopt the boy, but Brian was an angry defiant child, and wouldn't have any of it. It took Robert and, at that time, Remus, a long time to reel that sort of rage and abandonment in and give him a sense of home.  But Quinn has been dedicated to him ever since. After Hogwarts, he went to work on some sort of special project of Robert's until about three years ago when he came back to England. There are a few other details in there that might help you.

"There's more, though. Someone has made repeated attempts on Robert's daughter. So far, she's alright.  She has a tendency to get rather reticent about it and just forge ahead as if it were simply about as normal as fetching the morning paper.  That part of her is a bit annoying, really, I find.  I don't know if the attack on her father and the ones on her are related, though. The list of that family's enemies is almost bigger than we have cyberspace for. As well liked as they are, a list of their allies is a much shorter list than their enemies.  And, I would like to not see either of them killed. Neither would my superiors, if you get my drift.

"I want you to find out who attempted to assassinate the Minister and do your level best to find out who their enemy is. I'm figuring that at least one has to be within the Ministry.  Robert's strength is in strategy. He only keeps close to him the people he can trust--at least as best as he can determine. Either someone he trusts has betrayed him--or its a new player that I don't know about--and there are a lot of those, it seems.

"I'd be lying if I said this wasn't, in part, personal for me. I can get a lot of doors open for you and get you into contact with a lot of people for information. But, as for myself, I need to lay low because I will be recognized if I am not careful. The bottom line is that we're in an alliance with England, and someone is trying to undermine and destroy our best ally.  We need it stopped before the hub of the wizarding world truly is no more."

He looked at her. "Are you up for it?"

Claire tipped her head, offering a gentle smile. She didn't want England to suit her, but she would accept it because she was not one to argue with her superiors, especially one she esteemed as much as she esteemed Lee. She would rather look out of place in England than look as though she belonged. The sooner she left England, the sooner she returned - back to her home, back to Elsie, back to her job, her desk, her apartment, everything that meant something. And the sooner she left, the sooner she was able to leave behind those she had tried to leave behind so long ago...

"Sounds lovely," she said, reaching out to help him set out the trappings of the meal. She took a small drink of the team and hummed in pleasure, before reaching out for the vegetarian sandwich, keen to stay away from any British interpretations of the food she loved - call it spite, but she called it good sense. She took a tentative bite, found that it was good (healthy too) and she thoroughly chewed it, before reaching to sample the soup.

Lee spoke then and she nodded. "I did put that together," she said, light in her tone, to avoid the suspicion of joggers and grandparents in the park. His next bit of news did surprise her - he rarely got more involved than pointing her in the right direction and giving her a deadline. For him to be her contact implied that she had just gone up a few ranks in importance in the American Ministry.

Cool.

She quietly listened, eating her panini while keeping her eyes patiently trained on her Minister, soaking everything in with the mind of someone naturally adjusted to, as well as well trained in, retaining large bits of important information in short periods of time. Her mind was carefully cataloging and filing away the puzzle pieces that would shortly (if all went according to plan) fit together so she could act, get the job done, and move on. Though she was beginning to sense that this temporary mission had just become a whole lot more permanent.

She put down her food and reached for the file, scooting back to set it on her lap and look through its contents briefly, her eyes scanning the pages, latching on to keywords and phrases. She slowly closed it and brought her eyes back up to Lee, listening keenly. Things had gotten much more serious between her initial assignment to the country and her arrival here.

She paused. "I can do this. For our Ministry, our alliance, and for your own peace of mind." She paused, considering her next words, considering her need for reassurance on one subject. "I only hope that, once this is all done, I will have a spot waiting for me back home. And that I will be encouraged to cut all ties here." She pulled out a small scroll from her pocket and held it aloft. "I received my summons today. It seems I will have to be married to assimilate here."

He thought a moment, staring straight ahead. He knew Claire’s desire for a personal life. Lee didn’t have a personal life, not as such, but Claire did and he admired her for it. It was something that felt more or less unreachable for him.  He had married his job long ago.
 
“As I said,” he told her, “the stakes are high this time, and I would not trust the Minister of Magic, his daughter, or his grandkids to ingénues.  I wanted my first string, and so far as I’m concerned, you are the first of my first string. It’s your case, Claire. You’ve earned it. You take the lead. I’ll support you as best I can. ”

He glanced down at the scroll. That wasn’t entirely unexpected.  He was surprised the idiots hadn’t sent him one, but then again, he was privileged with diplomatic immunity.  Claire wasn’t.  He took the scroll and opened it and read it, paying attention to the names who signed the scroll.

“Utter lunacy,” Lee said, reading it.  “I mentioned it to Robert when I saw him. He wasn’t happy.  He and I know he could overturn it easily enough—if he were well enough to do it.  There is a secondary issue, though, and it is rather obvious. If he does that, the corruption has to go deeper underground, and he needs to oust the rat or rats. I am as concerned as he is that anyone would get that deep into the Ministry with something so twisted.
 
“So, the question that comes up for me first is which one of the two—Krum or Levski—wears the pants in that relationship?  Levski has a rather extensive file in Bulgaria. Krum’s file is more about his father and Viktor’s money and his inability to stop procreating.  Robert’s choice in naming him as Deputy Minister is odd even to me. I need to ask him about that, but as near as I can figure, he needed someone he felt he could trust after Thaor Elldir went postal in Diagon Alley awhile back.  Maybe choosing Krum was more of a protection strategy on his part.

“Krum is young, though, and relatively inexperienced. Levski is, according to her dossier, the more politically saavy of the pair.  It’s worth looking at whether Krum dreamt up this weirdness all by himself or if Levski did.  I find it hard to simply chalk up to youthful stupidity, not when it would be coming from a pureblood. This plot has the potential to provide the world with more witches and wizards but at the cost of diluting the pureblood line. I don’t know if I see Krum offering up that plan. Levski? I don’t know. There’s something that feels not-so-right about her. Robert can’t have anyone arrested on my mere gut instincts, and so far, even if it is Levski, its all completely legal. Not even remotely ethical, but still legal.”

What he was asking of her wasn’t’ even remotely fair.  The marriage law alone didn’t fix the problem it said it intended to create. The only thing that made sense to Lee was that there was a Part Two coming to the new law. Something that sounded far more disgusting in Lee’s own dark thoughts, and he didn’t want to burden it onto Claire if it hadn’t occurred to her.

“Claire,” he said slowly. “I won’t ask you to jump in to the marriage pool with them to maintain your cover.  I don’t honestly care what I need to do to protect you. However, what I can tell you is that, if you decide to play this out, I will get you out when the mission is over, marriage included, if that’s still what you want when the time comes. I will get you home.”

He paused for a moment, and then a sly grin passed over his face. Lee Shepherd had a backup plan, if he needed it, to protect Claire Bishop. It made him laugh, completely amused.
 
“You know what? If they want to play, let’s play,” he grinned at her.

((I'm so sorry I left this! My muse is totally gone - we can assume, though, that Claire jumped on board to whatever he planned. Want to continue on from there with the next phase?))

yes. good idea. um...I have a couple of ideas.

first, Claire might want to get to know brian. he will have lots of info she will need.

or--she could have a very direct run in with james. at this moment, lee has Khaat's 3 yr old daughter, abbey and is hiding her. (long story. lol.) but, since lee is a bachelor and not all that proficient with 3 yr olds, it might create an opportunity for Claire to have a reason to come face to face with james.

thoughts?

OOC : Why would Lee having Abbey that give her a reason to come face to face with James? Just to clarify.