Chapter Text
Six months of chasing The Canary and Ava didn’t even know what she looked like. This reckless bird had her flying all over the world and for all she knew Ellen DeGeneres was The Canary. Ava had to admit she appreciated The Canaries choice in locations. Prague was beautiful and she couldn’t be too mad about spending a few weeks running around Morocco. She was currently sitting in a café going over her files. She had already been in Berlin for over a week and was starting to get antsy. As much as she enjoyed traveling she really wanted to nail The Canary.
“Here’s your espres- OH!” Gary said, stumbling and spilling both of their hot coffees all over Ava.
Ava cursed and jumped up, pulling her drenched shirt away from her skin.
“Oh my god. I am so sorry. I didn’t mean--,” Gary started, but quickly shut up as Ava glared at him. Gary tried his best, but as Ava had come to find out he was a challenging partner to have.
“Well at least you still look good covered in coffee,” Gary said with an awkward chuckle that stopped when Ava looked at him like she was wanted to pour a whole gallon of scalding coffee on him, “I’m gonna get you a fresh cup.”
As Gary ran off Ava started to try and clean up the mess. Her shirt was not only ruined, but also see through in some very unfortunate spots.
“He’s not wrong you know,” a woman said as she handed Ava more napkins, “You still look as hot as the coffee he spilled on you.”
Ava just scoffed and rolled her eyes at the, admittedly gorgeous, woman and took the napkins. She was in no mood for bad pick up lines even if they were coming from a pretty girl with an equally pretty smile. Six months of chasing a ghost and hot coffee in her cleavage can put Ava in a bit of a mood.
“I’m Sara,” the woman said, putting out a hand to shake, “I’d ask if I can buy you a cup of coffee, but maybe we should get a drink instead.”
“It’s 11 am,” Ava responded, completely ignoring Sara’s hand and trying her best to ignore her altogether. She didn’t have the time to play around with pretty girls.
“I was thinking we could meet up later. Say seven at The Timeship?” Sara said, Ava’s attitude doing little to deter her.
Ava was all ready to turn her down, but Sara cut her off, “How about I just give you my number?”
She quickly scribbled her number on one of the unused napkins and put it in Ava’s blazer pocket.
“Just in case you need it,” Sara said with a little smirk that Ava really wanted to wipe off her face.
Before Ava could object Sara turned and strutted off leaving Ava to glare after her. And she was only glaring, she definitely wasn’t checking her out. Shaking her head Ava turned back to her work. She was here to do a job, she didn’t have time to do anything else.
“Who was that?” Gary asked, setting down the coffees without incident this time.
“No one,” Ava said in a clipped tone.
“She’s cute. I think she was into you,” Gary said, burning his tongue as sipped his coffee.
“We’re here to work so focus more on your work and less on the beautiful women.”
“You think she's beautiful?”
“Shut up Gary.”
Ava didn’t end up calling Sara. She did however happen to swing by The Timeship for a drink around eight. Even spies needed to unwind sometimes and she liked to do so with a glass of good scotch. She had no intention of seeing Sara, The Timeship just happened to be close to where she was staying and she’d heard The Canary liked to drink there when she was in Berlin. Her choice of bar was purely out of convenience and in the name of catching her mark. At least that’s what she told herself as she sat at the bar and sipped her scotch.
So far she hadn’t seen anything to indicate The Canary was around. She also had yet to spot Sara, not that she was looking for her. The bar was comfortably full of lively twenty somethings drinking and dancing as usual.
Ava liked The Timeships dive bar with a hint of club aesthetic. On one side there was a pool table and on the other there was a good sized dance floor with a decent DJ. The bar ran the length of the back wall and all available space was full of tables. Ava liked how the acoustics made it so that you could either lose yourself in the music or sit in the booths running along the wall and talk with ease.
“You’re late,” Sara said, trying to look annoyed, but unable to hide the little smirk.
“Who says I’m here to see you?” Ava responded and took a sip of her drink, trying her best to convince herself what she was feeling was just the buzz from the alcohol.
“You aren’t?” Sara asked, feigning offense and disappointment.
“I’m just here for a drink,” Ava answered, looking away from Sara. As much as she wanted to blame the one drink she had had she couldn’t deny Sara was a bit distracting.
“They do make a mean overpriced scotch here,” Sara said, sitting down next to Ava.
Finding her proximity unnecessary Ava moved over a bit before responding, “Maybe I like the ambiance. Even if I have to deal with people bothering me.”
“I’m sure you’re practically beating them off with a stick,” Sara said, sipping her own scotch.
Ava just scoffed and settled into ignore Sara. Sara just grinned before taking another sip, letting the silence draw on for a few songs and another drink before speaking.
“So tell me… Uh... I never did get your name did I?” Sara asked with an embarrassed chuckle.
“Nope.”
“And I’m guessing you’re not going to give it to me now.”
“Yep.”
“I guess I’ll just have to call you beautiful then,” Sara joked. Ava was less than amused and definitely not at all happy about Sara calling her beautiful. “Or maybe I should call you grumpy. I mean do you ever smile?”
“They didn’t program me with that feature,” Ava quipped, continuing to sip her drink with an expressionless face.
Sara chuckled at that, “That’s a shame. I’m sure your smile is gorgeous.”
“Whatever,” Ava said, rolling her eyes.
Sara chuckled again, “You’re like a grumpy cat or something. It’s pretty adorable.”
“Shut up,” Ava snapped.
“Make me.”
Turning back to Sara Ava was suddenly very aware of how close they were. She swallowed hard and focused on keeping her expression and breathing level. That second scotch was really getting to her.
“Do you like to dance Ava?” Sara all but purred.
“Sometimes,” Ava said reluctantly.
“I love to dance,” Sara said, “The way I can just surrender myself to the music. Just dance and move without thinking about it. Nothing compares to that feeling of being beyond time, just free and full of life.”
Ava nodded weakly, too distracted by Sara to respond properly. The intensity of her eyes combined with the raspy softness of her voice was enough to make Ava feel much drunker than she was. Taking a sip of her latest drink Ava tried to snap out of it and focus, but even the burn of the scotch did little to clear her head. Somewhere in the back of her mind Ava knew having a third scotch around Sara was playing with fire, but at the moment she found the danger strangely inviting. She had always been one to follow the rules and never acted without thinking. Ava was deliberate and smart under pressure, but something about Sara made her want to dance with the devil.
“Would you like to dance with me?” Sara asked.
“Yes.”
Downing the rest of her glass Ava let Sara take her hand and lead her out to the dance floor. As she followed her Ava knew this was a bad idea, but she didn't care. In that moment she only had eyes for Sara, everything else was irrelevant.