Oh my dearest ducklings! Reading this might mean you came from one chapter to the next, for others you waited months for something new and here it is! Asked for and finally delivered!

(It is tied to Carter and The Boy chapter - in Open Case File)

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Carter had to wonder just how bad was murder. Yes, on the baseline level, it was the worst thing a person could do to another human being. But taking a step back it had to be viewed critically. Take for instance The Greats, the Avengers, the world's mightiest defenders, they killed all the time without even thinking about it. Murder in their eyes was a normal Tuesday.

Granted their actions were against people trying to enslave the world and cause complete chaos so that did seem to justify it. With that logic, though it meant that murder in some ways was justified, especially if it was for the bettering of humanity.

That meant that she might possibly be justified in her actions if she murdered-

"What are you thinking?" Mason asked, swiveling back and forth in his chair.

Mason. Killing Mason would mean world peace, therefore the price would be worth it, right? The jury would see it the way she did, she knew they would.

"Ah, you're thinking about murdering me," Mason said.

"Was it that obvious?"

"No, actually it's unnerving how you can look completely calm while thinking such violent thoughts."

"And yet you knew."

"Well yeah, it's like 90% of your thoughts."

Carter cocked an eyebrow. "And the other 10%?"

"Donovan."

"Nothing specific, just Donovan?"

"Yeah, there's no way I'm exploring the depth and in what ways you think about him." Mason raised his hands as if in fear. "I do not need nightmares."

"Which is shocking to me that you don't already have them from looking in the mirror all the time."

"I'm not visible in mirrors, haven't you heard?" Mason said.

"I thought vampires sparkled nowadays or are you that old of a vampire that you're one of those who don't appear in mirrors?"

Mason narrowed his eyes at Carter as a slow smile overtook his face. The grin was unnerving enough that she would easily believe the only way to end him was a stake through the heart.

"Carter Owens," Mason said, mockingly. "You've read Twilight?"

The question poked at a very old life when she was just a normal teen who read overhyped romances thinking it was realistic. She could remember the shared giggles between her and her friends when they'd read together. They'd barely been thirteen and the moody, aggressive nature of Edward had been alluring rather than disturbing. Something Captain pointed out when he read it to know what she was reading.

"I was a kid once," Carter said.

"Were you? I imagined the science lab just produced you as an obnoxious fourteen-year-old sent to destroy my life and any sense of peace I had."

Leaning back in her chair, Carter crossed her arms. "I was created for you?"

"Weren't you? After all, I didn't know you existed before we met, seems a little suspicious to me that you just suddenly appeared."

"And the life I had before I met you...?"

"Fictitious. There was no school before Hamilton. I looked into it, your backstory is flimsy, weak, easily dismantled."

Carter said nothing, scrutinizing Mason with a piercing stare that he was in no way affected by.

"Your ego mania has reached new levels," she said.

"Thanks, but I still feel like there are levels to reach."

"You would."

"Owens, Douglas."

Both Carter and Mason snapped to attention as Special Agent Ford strode towards them, stopping between their two desks.

"Are you done with that assignment yet?" he asked, his tone saying he was not going to be happy if they weren't.

Mason relaxed, placing his laced fingers on his head. "Yup, sent them onto Agent Richardson ten minutes ago."

"Since we weren't given instructions past the assignment we were waiting to hear back from Richardson on if there was more he needed," Carter said.

Ford looked uncertain as if he'd been prepared to find them slacking but they'd stolen his thunder. He opened his mouth, cleared his throat, then nodded once. Carter fought her smile, the only blessing to come out of having to do projects with Mason all through high school was that they knew how to handle a task efficiently. Mason had no qualms about smiling at Ford's surprise and did so. The smile brought Ford back to himself and he frowned.

"You are dismissed for the day," Ford said. Then spun on his heel and strode off.

"Thank you, sir. Have a good evening," Mason called.

Carter smiled then, Mason's ability to balance sincerity and mockery was a true art form that he seemed to be the only one who had mastered.

After shutting down her computer for the night, she stood and stretched, the hours of boring paperwork making her whole body feel tight. What she needed for the night was a hot shower, good food, and the voice of her boyfriend. Or maybe he'd be able to FaceTime this time. The case he was helping on had taken him out of state and they'd had to find snatches of time to talk to each other.

At the elevator, Carter realized Mason had kept pace and waited with her. Without a word to him, she climbed on when the doors dinged open. Mason pressed the garage button and Carter reached over to hit the lobby.

"Where are we going for dinner?" he asked.

"I don't know where you are going but I'm getting Mexican food."

"Sounds good, I haven't had that in a long time."

"What makes you think you are invited to come with me?"

"The fact that there's nothing you can do to stop me from following you."

"Actually there's a lot of things I can do to you to make you not follow me."

"But all of them are illegal."

Carter shot Mason a vicious grin. "Oh, they are legal, I'd just get charged with assault. A charge I'm sure Link could get me off of."

"Yes, my brother will side with you when you assaulted me. Not a chance."

"He knows you better than I do, I definitely think there's a chance."

Mason looked more insulted at this than anything Carter had said up to that point. Still glaring at her, he tugged out his phone.

"I am going to prove you wrong," Mason said.

He opened his phone and held it up as it rang, still staring at Carter like she was an idiot.

"Hey!" Link said, his cheery voice making Carter wonder how the two were actually related. "What's up?"

"Link, as my brother," Mason said. "As someone who I have come to love as a brother, would you get Carter off a charge of assault if it was against me?"

There was a pause and Carter smirked.

"What did you do to piss her off?" Link asked.

"Nothing, this is a theoretical question."

"Oh," Link said. "I guess it would depend on what you did?"

Carter started laughing and Mason frowned at her and then at the phone.

"Told you there was a chance," Carter said.

"From this point on I sever all ties of relation that we have," Mason said to the phone.

"Yeah, that's not the first time you said that. I have to go. I love you."

But the line didn't end and Mason rolled his eyes.

"I'm waiting," Link said.

Mason looked like he was tempted to end the call and make good on his claim.

"Masey?" Link said.

"Yeah yeah, I love you too and whatever. I despise you."

Mason hung up and the doors opened. Carter sauntered off with as much smugness as she could. It was gratifying to know that despite Link's unending love for his brother he still loved her as well. Enough to question if he would represent her or not against Mason. However, the point was moot since he was only in his first year of law school.

Despite knowing there was a chance Carter could get away with her actions towards Mason, he still followed her as she left the FBI building. As they walked along the sidewalk, Mason took the outside position, closest to traffic. Carter glanced at the oncoming cars, to Mason who met her gaze, and then she looked back to the rushing vehicles. Quickly, Mason backtracked a step and took her other side.

"So close," Carter said. "So close to utter peace."

"I don't think there's peace in prison."

"No, but humanity would have peace for the first millennia."

Mason cocked his head and Carter wondered how Mason didn't instantly snap back with an equal insult. Instead, he nodded once with a quiet smirk.

"You're saying my impact is global, I'll take it," he said.

Carter shook her head in exasperation. "The way your ego is able to twist things for your own benefit should be studied-"

"Thank you."

"-by psychiatrists while you are locked away in a psych ward."

"That's a bad idea-"

"Because they'd keep you permanently?" Carter cut in.

"-I look too good in white, almost like an angel-"

"Yeah, a fallen one."

"-The people there are likely to fall in love with me and set me free. The study would never be finished."

"You overestimate how well you look in white."

"No," Mason said. "You simply underestimate it."

Since knowing any answer would somehow be twisted by his insane sense of self-importance, Carter decided no answer was the best answer. Even though it galled her not to have a response.

Cutting away from the sidewalk, Carter opened the door to Donovan's favorite Mexican food restaurant, which became hers on the nights in college when he was away and she missed him. The savory smell of the interior was tangled with Donovan's laughter, smile, and teasing eyes.

"Woah, that's strong," Mason said.

Carter spun on him. "I'm going to throw you through a window now."

Mason backed up, which helped make up for Carter not having a response before. Smiling to herself at Mason's reaction, Carter walked up to the counter. She ordered and took a spot on the wall to wait. Blessed silence passed between ordering and receiving the order. Carter hoped it would last as she took her food and claimed a table, or better yet Mason would leave. But to his own torture and hers as well, Mason took the seat adjacent to her.

Deciding for the safety of herself, and to avoid property damage, the best course of action was to ignore Mason. But as Carter gazed around the restaurant, all thoughts of Mason retreated to the back of her mind as she met the gaze of three different sets of eyes, all familiar to her. She froze, memories she'd buried long ago, with who she'd used to be, surging to the surface of her mind.

"Who are they?" Mason asked.

"Who?" Carter asked, quietly as she still stared at the trio.

"The group of women you're weirdly staring at that if you keep it up it will board on harassment."

Before Carter could scramble for an answer or tear her gaze away, the trio stood and crossed over to their table.

"Carter Owens?" Eva asked.

Eva Ortiz. Basketball, softball, straight As, and a love of gummy worms. The facts flashed in Carter's mind, a blast from the past as she looked at her former best friend freshman year of high school. The high school she left when her mother did.

"It is you," Jaya said. "I knew it! I would know that walk anywhere. It was always like you were going to conquer the world and you wanted the world to know it too."

Jaya Patel. Yearbook, photographer, always to update with gossip, and obsessed with bright hair clips.

"That's a strangely accurate description of her walk," Mason said.

"Oh my gosh! You're Mason Douglas!" Courtney said.

Courtney Wilson. Volleyball, freshman student council, quick to smile, and still slept with a stuffed panda from when she was little.

"You know I get that a lot," Mason said. "Mainly because it's the truth."

The trio shared in soft laughter, though all focused on Carter.

Carter looked back at the girls who were constants in her life from elementary school to freshman year of high school. Until her world fell apart and she shut all the doors on her old life, hoping it shut down the pain of her mother's abandonment.

Yet despite how she'd closed them off, they all stood in front of her with warm looks on her face. Girls she'd known in their unsure teen years were now self-assured women in their early twenties.

"Uh..." The guilt of how she'd abandoned her friends surged from the back of her heart. "Hi."

"Carter Owens without a quick remark," Jaya teased. "You have changed."

"This is actually a momentous occasion," Mason said. "I think I'm going to make it in my calendar."

Mason's mocking voice snapped Carter out of her memories and back into the present.

"Only you would see a girl not talking as a moment to make a deal about."

Mason motioned to Carter while looking at the trio. "And there she is."

"Can we sit?" Eva asked.

"Yes, of course, please do," Carter said.

"Oh, an 'of course' and 'a' please do'," Courtney said, taking a seat. "Does this mean you're in a generous mood and you'll give us the story of how you two got together?"

"Oh yes! I want this story," Jaya said.

"Me too!" Eva jumped in.

Instantly Carter and Mason locked eyes, made disgusted faces, and faced the trio, talking at once.

"We are not together," they said together.

"I'd rather be flayed alive," Mason said as Carter said. "Brutal unending torture would be preferable to being with Mason."

Before the girls could respond, they looked at each other, skeptical.

"Flayed alive?" Carter asked. "Really?"

"Endless torture? Seriously?" Mason countered.

"Do you know what it's like to constantly be annoyed by your presence?" Carter asked.

"You mean gifted? Yes. It's a gift."

"Yes, like the ugly present your grandmother gives for Christmas and you hide in the back of your closet."

"Wow! You're rejecting your grandmother's love. That's cold."

"You've bypassed the insult I was giving to you."

"No, only choosing to see your heartless nature."

Carter rolled her eyes, only to catch how the trio was taking in their back and forth. Before Carter could cut off the thoughts she saw spinning in their heads, Jaya leaned forward, resting her chin on her hand.

"So this is like an enemies-to-lovers type of situation then?" she asked.

"I think I'm going to vomit now," Mason said.

"Not even close," Carter said.

"Are you sure?" Eva said, pointedly throwing Mason glances and sending Carter eyes that said it would be a good ending.

To cut off the disturbing train of thought, Carter pulled out her phone.

"We are nothing," Carter said. "Because this is my boyfriend."

She showed them her phone. The photo was one she'd snuck of Donovan one day. He wore all-black, black cargo pants, fitted black t-shirt, and a thigh holster. He stood with his hands in his pockets, face serious. It was a moment she'd wanted to capture because to her it summed up him perfectly with casual confidence and capability. It also didn't hurt that he looked extremely attractive as well.

"Oh wow!" Eva said.

Jaya made a choking sound and Courtney's eyes widened to plate size.

Though Carter never liked random women eying Donovan, it was gratifying to have a man so handsome.

Mason leaned forward to peer at the screen. "It's nauseating how attractive that man is."

All four girls looked at him and he shrugged.

"I'm not blind. And besides, do you know what year it is? Man can acknowledge another man's attractiveness without it being weird." Mason sat back. "Worst part about him..."

"Yes?" Eva asked.

"He's like annoyingly perfect. Smart, which is disgusting. Who is good-looking and smart and has a good personality. I hate this man."

Carter smiled and tucked her phone away.

Courtney looked at where the phone had disappeared. "I get it. First Son or not, what you have is better."

"Hey!" Mason said.

Courtney lifted one shoulder in half an apology. "Even you admitted."

Mason opened his mouth but closed it. "Fair."

"Okay now I want this story," Jaya said. "How you meet tall, dark and handsome."

"Did you pull the same trick with him that you did with Tyler Hayes?"

"Oh yes!" Courtney said, perking up. "Did you? Because that was still one of the most amazing things I've seen anyone do."

The name and the whole situation rushed back to Carter. The recluse boy and her tactic to draw him out felt like another life. And it was. She was a different girl who wanted to gain the attention of the boy who noticed no one.

But with Donovan...

"No, I didn't," she said, smiling.

"Ohhhh," all the girls said at once.

"We see that smile."

"This will be good."

"I'm going to hurl," Mason said, standing. "There's only so much Donovan praising that I can take and I've already reached my limit. I'm leaving." He bowed his head to the trio. "Ladies, it's been a pleasure."

"No, it hasn't," Carter said.

Mason shot her a look. "I wasn't talking to you."

With a parting glare at Carter but a smile for the trio, Mason left the restaurant. Carter watched as all three heads followed his departure. When they focused back on her, she could read what all of them were thinking, though their thoughts varied just as much as they did. It felt strange to Carter that despite that she hadn't talked to them in years, she still knew them. Eva was wondering the story behind Carter and Mason's relationship. Jaya wanted all the details of who Mason was to Carter and if there was gossip to go with it. Courtney wanted to know more about Mason.

"Dibs," Courtney said.

"Wouldn't recommend it," Carter said. "Broken with no chance of fixing."

Courtney deflated at that. "Ah. Oh well, I don't need another project."

"You have to tell us," Jaya said. "How in the world did you end up being... whatever you are with the First Son."

"Former First Son," Carter corrected.

Jaya waved away this minor detail, her eyes wide as if she could absorb the story like a movie. When both Eva and Courtney leaned in as well, Carter knew there was no way she could slip away from telling them.

"We met at Hamilton Prep," she started. "The school I transferred to when... when I left Lincoln High. When I left you."

At the acknowledgment of the elephant in the room, the table sobered. The three girls all glanced at each and Carter could see the hours they'd spent talking to each other about what Carter had done. She could see the flicker of remaining hurt mixed with the want to know why.

"I want to apologize," she said. "I left you without a reason, I ignored your calls, messages, everything... I really hurt you and I'm so sorry I did. You see... my mom-"

"Left you," Jaya said. "We know."

"You knew?"

"Yeah," Jaya said.

"How?"

"Well, you remember Anthony Santos? His parents worked with Andrea Marshall's, who were really close friends to Maria Averado's dad, who worked with your mom. That's how we found out that your mom had taken a job in New York. But it was spread around that she moved and not with you or your father. So... yeah."

Jaya trailed off and Carter again saw the gossip sessions followed by deeper moments of wondering where Carter had vanished to written in their faces.

"We..." Courtney hesitated. "We didn't understand why you didn't tell us, why you didn't...talk to us."

Though it hurt to even revisit that time in her life, Carter pulled out the memories. The open doorway letting in the freezing air. Her mother dressed to go out while her father still wore his pajamas. The burning cold of the icy stairs on her bare feet and the red taillights melting into the darkness.

Though the pain was in the past, Carter had history with these three girls. They had seen her at so many stupid, awkward phases of her life and never judged her. Even when they had every right to hate her for how she'd abandoned them, they didn't.

They deserved more than an apology, they deserved to have their unanswered questions satisfied.

Carter looked down at the table, unable to share her pain, and met their gazes. She picked at the straw paper, knotting it on itself.

"It felt like someone had ripped my heart from my chest," she said to the table, but felt the girls riveted to her. "I felt like I walked around with my heart in my hand and if anyone talked to me it would start bleeding again. I wanted the pain to go away. I wanted everything in my life to stop making me feel like I had been knifed over and over again. I wanted my mind erased. I wanted all to be gone. It hurt...so...much."

Taking a slow breath, Carter raised her head and saw tears glistening in Jaya's big brown eyes.

"You could have called a million times," Carter said. "It wouldn't have mattered. It felt like my old life had been destroyed and any reminder of what it had been would make life unbearable. That's why I cut you out. You would want to talk and I never wanted to talk. I wanted to find some way to stop feeling completely. You never did anything wrong, it was all on me."

She met each set of eyes. "And I'm truly sorry that I never called you back, never let you know what was happening. I'm sorry abandoned you. I know it's so late but I hope you can forgive me."

Before any of them could say anything, Courtney leapt up and rounded the table, bending over to hug Carter. Quickly, Jaya and Eva joined in.

"I don't still don't like hugs," Carter said.

"Sucks!" Courtney said. "You're taking our hugs and forgiveness."

Carter couldn't help but laugh at how adamant Courtney was and so hugged them back, which ended up holding onto one of Courtney's arms and Eva's shoulder.

"Okay," Eva breaking them apart. "Sentimental moment is over. Let's get to our catch-up time."

"For that," Carter said. "I think we should go somewhere more comfortable."

The three girls raised their hands as if to say not it.

"We all live on campus in dorm rooms," Jaya said.

Packing up her food, Carter stood. "Then my place it is."

When Carter unlocked her door and stepped inside, she quickly scanned the one room studio apartment, searching for the worst messes. Luckily, even with Donovan gone, her main reason to stay neat, the apartment wasn't in too bad of a shape. A few clothes occupied one dining chair and the sink held a couple of dishes.

Carter slid out of her shoes and the girls followed as they gazed around the small space. As Carter took a spot on her bed, turned makeshift couch for the daytime, the girls made a thorough inspection of the place. They took in each photo and the nicknack memories. Though there wasn't much each was special.

"I always liked your dad," Jaya said. "What was your nickname for him? Commander or something like that, right?"

"Captain and it still is," Carter said.

Jaya smiled and nodded as she went back to studying the oldest photo Carter had hanging up. Maggie had taken it in a moment neither Carter nor Captain had noticed. They had been in the midst of some sort of argument and for some reason, Carter had jumped onto Captain's back. The photo captured Carter's mischievous grin as she clung to her father's back and his laughing smile.

When the girls had finished their inspection, they all claimed spots, settling in for what Carter figured would be a long night. After all, there were years to catch up on and she wanted to know what their lives had held after she disappeared from them.

"So," she said. "I want to hear everything that-"

"Nope, no no no," Jaya said waving Carter off. "Not a chance you are getting a single story out of us before you tell us how you managed to snag that hunk of a man."

Carter laughed. "He's not a piece of meat, Jay."

"No, he is a beautiful specimen of a man and we need details. Which you were about to give us before you got all mushy and emotional at the restaurant."

"Yes, my apology, I'm sorry for letting that distract me from the important things."

Jaya gestured graciously for Carter to continue as if her extreme mistake was forgiven. Eva shook her head at Jaya's dramatics and Courtney bounced once in anticipation, clearly just as eager as Jaya for the story. Carter sank back on her pillows trying to find the right moment to start the story. Of course, it started with Link and the way Donovan looked at her the first interaction. She felt her lips curl up at the memory as she remembered how it hadn't been sexual but studying like he was trying to figure out how much of a threat she was. Looking back he was.

"This is going to be so good if you're already smiling like that," Eva said.

With the three girls looking at her excitedly, all piled onto her bed like they had so long ago, Carter couldn't help her laugh, they felt so familiar. They felt like a part of her past she could reclaim, a part of her past she wanted in her present.

And so Carter told them the story of how she went from a broken girl afraid to accept friendship to someone who found it easier to accept and give love.

In return the girls shared their lives with her, minute by minute bringing her back into the fold of friendship she thought she'd lost forever.

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Oh you cutie patootie, you!

I love you to bits and pieces and all your nuts and bolts!

It feels like it's been ages so if you feel like telling me your thoughts, I'd love to hear (see/read) them! I miss your voice...comments... haha I miss you! 💬💭🗯️

I want to say that your comments are the sparks of ideas that help me keep getting through the darkness of creative burn out and back into love of writing. Because someone commented the other day how they wanted to see Carter meet up with her old friends.

Yes, a lot of you wanted this ages ago, but seeing someone say it again help light the little flame of my creative candle. It took me longer than any one shot ever has but I got back into this world and it made me happy!

Naturally I had to start with Mason and Carter for me to be able to find my way back. They are my light house always guiding me into shenanigans and whatnot!

I hope it made you smile, maybe even chuckle to yourself!

For old time sake vote, comment, follow!

And because I've been wanting to share this with you... I AM TAKING KICKBOXING! I am slowly becoming as cool as my characters! Haha not really but a writer can dream!