Chapter Text
It all started on a Sunday morning in May. Sunday was ceasefire day, and the battlements were quiet as both teams busied themselves with other tasks. And usually, Dell Conagher, AKA Engie, would be the busiest of them all, laboring away in his workshop.
But today is a tad different. Turns out, all those Sundays spent working were starting to pile up, as proven yesterday when Engie collapsed right in the middle of the locker room from exhaustion.
In response, the other mercenaries were ordered to guard his workshop and deny Engie entry for the next couple days, or else face a pay cut. Engie may be wolverine-mean, but he’s smart enough to know nothing gets between a merc and their money. So he threw up his hands, grabbed the keys to his truck, and headed into town.
Having parked nearby, Engie was walking to the diner for a bit of lunch, because there’s nothing better than food you didn’t have to cook yourself. He was strolling along, humming a little country tune, when he took notice of something.
The old building at the end of the main street in town was no longer sporting a faded ‘FOR SALE’ sign. In fact, the whole thing looked unrecognizable. Every rotten plank had been replaced and the once dusty windows were practically sparkling in the sunshine, showcasing bouquets of fresh flowers inside. In pretty purple writing, the sign hanging over the entrance said ‘Teufort Flora’.
This perplexed Engie. Who opens a flower shop in the middle of a desert whose most notable trait was the ongoing land war happening nearby? Around here, it was more stuff like Mann Co and…well, it’s really just Mann Co now that Engie thinks about it. Guns, clothing, supplies, food, it was all shipped from Saxton Hale’s juggernaut company. Only a few mom-and-pop shops and restaurants remained in Teufort. But that’s neither here nor there.
The point is, if there was anything Engie truly hated (besides spies and their damn sappers), it was being perplexed. Lunch could wait a second, he had to know what a flower shop of all things was doing in a place like this.
But just as Engie moved to open the front door…
*SMACK!*
It swung open and hit him right in the face, causing him to stumble back and land flat on his ass.
“Oh goodness, I’m so sorry! Are you okay?”
As he blinked away the stars in his vision, Engie took stock just who ran into him. It was a woman in a pure white sundress and sandals, her hand already reaching out to help him up.
“It’s alright ma’am, ah’m fine.” He taps the side of his hard hat with a charming grin. “Glad ah’m wearin’ this though.” Taking her hand, Engie hoists himself to his feet.
The woman smiles. “I guess so. Strange, I don’t recall seeing any construction sites around here.”
Engie chuckles as he rubs his non-gloved hand on the back of his neck. “Well, ah’m a construction worker in a sense, ah suppose.” No need to get into the gory details of his actual job. “Uh, ma’am?”
“Yes?”
“Yer still holdin’ mah hand.”
She looks down and realizes that she indeed still has his gloved “hand” in hers. She drops it like it burned her. “Ah! I-I’m sorry! Gosh, what’s wrong with me today…?”
Now that he thinks about it, Engie doesn’t recognize her face. “Pardon me, but ah don’t think ah’ve seen you ‘round here before.”
“Well actually, I just moved here a little while ago. Figured it was high time I struck out on my own, y’know?”
Engie raises an eyebrow in amusement. “And ya figured the best place to do it was the middle of nowhere?”
She crosses her arms with a huff. “Hey! It was the bus with the cheapest ticket! Besides, you’re out here too.”
“Well, ya do make a fine point, miss…?”
“Just _____ is fine.”
“Awful nice to meetcha, Miss _____. Most folks call me the Engineer, or Engie fer short.” It was then he remembered what had him curious in the first place. “This wouldn’t happen to be yer shop, would it?”
Any questions she may have had about his name disappear as her eyes begin to sparkle. “It is! Grew all the flowers and arranged them myself, too. It’s hard work, but I love what I do.” She pauses and adds with a giggle “Even if I’ve only been doing it for a few days.”
Engie nods. “Now ah can certainly respect that. Nothin’ worth doing is ever easy.” Then his brows furrow. “Wait a minute, how’d you grow everythin’? Ain’t the most hospitable climate in these parts.”
_____’s gaze dropped to the side as she fiddled with her hands rather nervously. “W-Well, I could tell you all about it inside? Over some iced tea, maybe?”
And that is how Engie found himself sat at a table in a small kitchen above the flower shop, looking around as _____ finished preparing the drinks. Trying to make polite conversation, he asks “So what kinda tea are we havin’?”
She turns back and shoots him a smile. “Oh, you’ll love it. My great-uncle taught me how to brew tea from just about any kind of plant, and one day I tried it with this kind of lavender I bred myself. I’ve been hooked ever since! I’ve had to start growing dozens of them just to fuel the habit.” She turns back to the kitchen counter. “It’s always been a little secret recipe of mine, but I kind of owe you after hitting you with the door and all.”
Engie chuckles once again, rich and deep. “Well, ah’m honored you’d share it with little ol’ me.” Of course, with _____ being turned around, he doesn’t see the slight blush on her face in response.
The room falls back into silence, until _____ joins Engie at the table, two glasses filled with purplish tea and ice clinking together. She slides one in front of him. “Like I said, I’m very sorry about the whole thing. Hope this makes up for it somehow.”
“And like ah said, it’s perfectly alright, it was just an accident. But ah appreciate the gesture nonetheless.” Taking the glass and giving a little ‘cheers’, Engie takes a sip. His eyebrows rise in appreciation. “Well now, you weren’t kiddin’ about it bein’ good.”
_____ beams with pride. “I’m so glad to hear that! I’ve been thinking about selling the blend in my shop, but I wasn’t sure if anyone would really like it.”
“If nothin’ else, ya got one satisfied customer here.” Engie drinks a little more of the sweet tea before setting the glass down. “Now, ah’m mighty curious ‘bout how you grow these flowers in the desert. What’s yer secret?”
_____ swirls her glass. “That great-uncle I mentioned? He was this insanely smart botanist, and he came up with a fertilizer that works like magic on normally inhospitable soil. It has its limits, sure, but it can make just about any kind of dirt able to support life.” Her eyes turn downcast. “He…passed away last month. I was the only one in the family who shared his love of plants, so he left me everything he owned. His money, his car, and all his botany research notes. That’s where I found out how to make the fertilizer, and decided to make my dream of being a florist a reality.”
Engie’s face turns sympathetic. “Aw, ah’m sorry to hear that darlin’. Ain’t nothing worse than losin’ a loved one.”
“Did you just…call me darling?”
“Hm?...Ah suppose ah did. It’s a Southerner thing, didn’t mean nothin’ by it. Ah can stop if ya want me to.”
“Oh no, it’s fine. It’s…nice.” She clears her throat. “Anyway, my family wasn’t too pleased with me after I inherited everything, so they kicked me out. Next thing I knew, I was on the next bus bound for New Mexico.”
“Huh, never woulda guessed,” Engie says with a shake of his head. “Goes to show everyone’s got a story to them.”
_____ smiles. “Oh really? And just what is your story, Mr. Engineer?”
“Well, there ain’t much to tell darlin’. I’ll spare ya the details.”
“Aw c’mon.” She leans over the table a little and bats her eyelashes. “Pretty please?”
Engie laughs. “Alright, alright, just quit it with the puppy dog eyes. Well, let’s see…”
By the time Engie’s glass was empty, he had spun a story that was more or less the truth. He grew up in Texas, became extremely educated, and he works nearby detonating old, abandoned buildings with his team. Admittedly, he left out quite a bit of important information, but it’s probably better for _____’s safety if she didn’t know.
“…and ah suppose that about does it,” he concludes. “Told ya it was nothin’ special.”
_____ sputters. “Nothing special?! You have ELEVEN PHDs! You’ve got to admit that’s more than a little out there!”
Engie shrugs. “Ah got a cousin who’s receivin’ their seventeenth next week.”
“Holy…wow, being smart must run in your family, I guess.” _____ traces the rim of her glass with her finger.
“Believe me, it ain’t all fun and games. Reunions are a nightmare. Everyone’s tryin’ ta one up each other all the damn time.”
She shakes her head. “I’ll admit, I’m very glad I’m not getting an invite to any family meetups anymore. Always ‘do you have a boyfriend yet’ this, and ‘when are you giving us grandkids’ that.”
Engie bangs on the table in appreciation. “Exactly! It ain’t nobody’s business but yer own!”
_____ lifts an eyebrow. “You’ve faced these kind of questions too? I always figured it was more of a, well, lady thing.”
“Nope, I’ve been nagged and prodded by the best of ‘em. Granted, it has stopped since…” Engie trails off, not sure he should bring this up.
“Since what?” _____ asks, tilting her head slightly, curiosity making her eyes sparkle once again.
Aw hell, he’s already in this deep. Might as well get it off his chest. “…Ah got divorced last year.”
Her face falls. “Oh, Engie…”
“It ain’t worth makin’ a fuss over. She didn’t like being back in Texas while ah worked here. Just how relationships go sometimes.”
“I guess…I wouldn’t really know though. I’ve never had a serious relationship with anyone.”
“Now that’s a surprise. No one’s ever caught yer eye?”
“It’s not that. I can’t tell you how many times I worked up the courage to ask someone out, only for them to either let me down gently or straight up laugh at me.”
Engie barks a laugh. “Sounds to me they weren’t worth yer time anyhow. They’re right fools for letting someone like yerself go.”
_____ blinks owlishly. “Really?”
“Course! Yer a hard worker, smart, and to top it off, yer as sweet as they come.” Engie leans across the table and covers _____’s hand with his gloved one. “One day, someone’s gonna see what ah see, ah guarantee it.”
_____ was left speechless, the blush on her cheeks having spread with his every word. Her gaze drops to the side, as she whispers with a shy smile “You’re too kind, Mr. Engineer.”
“Ah didn’t say nothing ah didn’t mean, darlin’. Just the facts.”
One more glass of homemade lavender iced tea later, Engie’s leaving Teufort Flora with a pep in his step and a promise to meet up again sometime soon. Once _____ opened up a little, she blossomed into an incredibly vibrant woman with much to say. They ended up talking so much, it was already time to head back to base to start supper. Lord knows what would happen if dinner’s even a few minutes late.