While Javíer was making his move on Gilberto Rodriguez in Cali, Eve was sitting at her desk in Bogotá trying to keep herself from chewing on her nails. Magically, no one had noticed how jumpy and anxious she had been ever since she had rushed in that morning. Her wrinkled summer dress and untamed bedhead should have been their first clue.

Eve hadn't been in any mood to plan an outfit that morning. Grabbing the first thing out of her closet and hoping that she had a hair tie in her bag. But unfortunately, sometimes Eve proved to be her mother's daughter. Fearing that she wouldn't look professional enough, Eve doubled back into her apartment and grabbed a black lightweight cardigan. Even combing her hair with her fingers as she rushed into work.

Eve had been raised to always look the part, no matter the circumstances, and old habits were hard to break. Even when her boyfriend was putting his life on the line to arrest the head of a huge criminal organization.

Now her leg was nervously bouncing under her desk as she continued to scan the office, looking for any signs of new developments. Even though Eve had been watching over the whole office like a hawk for hours, no one had caught on yet. Maybe she was a better actor than she had originally thought. Since every phone call that came in through Stoddard's line made her heart jump into her throat.

But for the time being, no one around her seemed to be aware of what was going on in Cali. The morning had droned on as it usually did and she tried to remind herself that it was still too soon to get any kind of answers. But what she wouldn't give to wish Javíer luck just one more time.

Javí was going out on a limb and Eve wanted to hear his voice and tell him one more time that she believed in him. He was taking all of the risk and would probably never get the credit if the arrest was successful. She just wanted him to know that she was on side.

But that had always been the plan. It was important that the Colombian National Police got all of the credit. Javíer, Feistl, and Van Ness were mainly working with them under the nose of both the Colombian and American authorities. Eve understood their reasoning. American help didn't need to be publicized.

This current operation might be under the radar, but the embassy had to eventually become aware of the results; whether successful or otherwise. For these people, news of Gilberto Rodriguez being arrested and brought in to stand trial would be a hell of a thing to try and hide. This would end up being the most exciting thing people in this office had seen in a very long time. 

Eve had been working with these people for months now. None of them had a poker face worth a shit. The idea that they would be telling their grandkids about the day Gilberto Rodriguez was arrested, would have them giddy as hell. Even if they hadn't lifted a finger to make it happen.

At first, Eve had considered running to Stoddard's desk to demand an update first thing that morning. Then she kept reconsidering it just about once every hour after that. Eve was becoming more and more desperate to know if anything had happened in the middle of the night that she hadn't been aware of. It was scary how ready she was to offer that ambitious little asshole anything that he wanted. Eve needed something. Some kind of clue as to what was going on or she was going to lose her mind.

But in the end, Eve reconsidered. Besides, there was a good chance that Javíer hadn't even kept Stoddard in the loop on this. So Eve decided to play it safe in case she accidentally blew Javíer's cover. She'd just have to be patient. Unfortunately patience wasn't one of Eve's strong suits. Waiting for news just left her with a lot of free time to stress herself out.

It was a little depressing, but Eve had a feeling that she'd be the last person to be informed of her boyfriend's fate. She wasn't Javíer's next of kin. Hell, no one really knew that they were dating. Even though Javí had quickly become the most important person in the world, it was horrifying to realize that he could die out there in the field and it could take hours or days for the news to hit her desk. 

Eve had found herself a nobody for the first time in her life. Ironically, she'd been craving that feeling for as long as she could remember. But the timing felt like a punch in the gut, because not knowing Javíer's status was a special kind of torture.

It was so tempting to slip into her past professional persona and call in some favors. Damn the consequences. The longer Eve thought about the situation, the more she considered making any deal that she had to; sell her soul even; just to know that Javíer was still breathing. What was the point of having the last name Capshaw if she couldn't use it when it actually mattered to her.

Funny how she had originally been looking forward to a change of pace in Colombia after spending the majority of her adult life fixing problems for powerful people. Before she quit her old public relations job, Eve had earned herself the kind of respect and connections that most people could only dream of. Rarely calling in any of those favours for personal reasons.

But now, for the first time in years, Eve wasn't a highly valued consultant with a seat at the table. Even though Eve hated feeling entitled or elitist, she wasn't used to being 'just a secretary.' Eve didn't want anonymity at the moment, she wanted answers. But unfortunately, answers were in short supply. It was a hard pill to swallow, especially when she had everything on the line. Her last name and all of her professional experience meant next to nothing to these people if she messed up their coffee order.

Why didn't she just take the state department position her Uncle Artie had first offered her? She would have been set up with credentials that could open doors at the embassy that a personal secretary never could.

It also didn't help that if she asked too many questions it could not only blow Javíer's cover, but surely give away their relationship to the wrong people. All of the reasons that Eve had in the past for never fucking any of her old bosses, still rang true. This was a perfect example of the grief that it could cause.

Eve was driving herself crazy. Even sneaking into Javíer's office and taking a generous shot of whiskey at 10am to calm her nerves. But all that did was remind her of what Javíer tasted like when he kissed her.

Eve took a deep breath as she leaned back in his chair. Puffing out a soft laugh at the organized chaos spread out on his desk. For the first time it was a nice consolation prize to know that Javíer was worth the grief. No other man had ever been worth this kind of headache. She'd just have to get used to her loss of power and keep her eyes peeled for any new information. It could be well into the night before she got any answers.

But the last thing that Eve had expected was for her new satellite phone to ring an hour and a half after Colleen had insisted on taking her out for lunch.

"Eve Capshaw," Eve answered slowly as she looked around the office. Spinning around in her chair to give her a sense of privacy. If Stoddard was calling her to place his lunch order, Eve was going to feed the plant on his desk her cold coffee.

"We got 'em, Capshaw!" Chris grinned with pride on the other end of the phone.

"You're kidding!" Eve squealed as she quickly snuck back into Javíer's empty office and closed the door behind her. Her head was spinning as she listened to him and Danny laugh and congratulate themselves. She was so relieved, almost as giddy as she thought all of those stuffy suits were going to be. But Eve looked over her shoulder and scanned the office, expecting to see everyone else celebrating, but the tone of the whole office was as boring as always. "What happens now? Does anyone else know?"

"Not yet. The boss wanted us to give you a call and let you know first thing. He thought you'd be losing your mind in Bogotá." Chris informed her as he gave her all of Javíer's incoming travel information. "Things must be getting serious if...if, you know, if he's making sure that you're in the loop like this. Someones the teacher's pet..."

Eve could practically hear Feistl's boyish grin through the phone as her friend chuckled out his statement as if he wasn't trying to confirm his suspicions about them.

"Is the media going to be there? Are they allowing photographs or questions?" Eve asked as she skillfully avoided the topic. At this point, it was silly for her to keep lying to Chris about her and Javíer, especially when Dan had already figured it out. But protecting Javí and what they had together felt like second nature at this point.

"Uh, yeah. I think so." Chris stammered, confused by the question.

"I mean, Jesus, is he even in any shape to be photographed?" Eve fretted. "The godfather of Cali is about to be on every front page in the world. We want the story to be about justice being served, not how violent or unfair the take down was. I hope they know not to put the cuffs behind his back. It photographs better when they're in the shot."

"You are really good at this whole PR thing, huh?" Chris chuckled, impressed by his friend. "Look, we took him down without throwing a punch or firing a shot. Even when Peña found him in his caleta; Rodriguez already had his fucking gun on him. I'm still surprised that the boss didn't fire - I sure as hell would have. Old man doesn't have a scratch on him, lucky son of a bitch."

"Rodriguez had his gun on him?" Eve blinked as tried to make sense of what Chris had just so flippantly recounted now that the danger had passed.

Feistl had said something to try and clarify, but Eve couldn't hear him. It felt as though she were underwater listening to Charlie Brown's teacher. Eve couldn't process anything for a moment.

"Umm, sorry. Okay. I'll handle our media source from here." Eve cleared her throat and tried to ignore how tight her chest felt and how she could practically hear her pulse in her ears. But all her efforts fell flat. Nothing she did could shake how shocked she felt as looked out Javíer's office window, blinking away the tears brimming her eyes.

It didn't help that Javíer's office practically smelled like him and that she was surrounded by his things and the memories of the two of them in there. Even though she knew that he was safe, she had come so close to losing everything in a blink of an eye and it shook her to her core.

"Hey," Chris soothed with a pained expression. He had accidentally hit a nerve and regretted revealing so much in such an insensitive way. The adrenaline was still pumping and it was so easy for Chris to treat her like one of the guys. But it didn't take him long to realize that Eve must have real feelings for Peña and that he had fucked up.

He should have known better. His wife, Emily, had slapped his old partner across the face when he got drunk and joked about the amount of close calls he'd had in the past. Callously mocking that Chris was at the end of his nine lives and asking her if their life insurance was up to date. No one involved with a cop needs to hear shit like that.

"He's okay, Eve. I swear." Chris tried to soothe her. "We all are. All in all, the take down was pretty easy. You know, Peña was really great out there. I really think I'm going to learn a lot from him."

"Agent Peña has an honest media source that's been good to us...I.. I mean, she's been good to Agent Peña. She deserves to be there when they take the godfather off the plane." Eve explained through the hard lump in her throat. "I'm sure that's why he wanted you to call me. I'll make sure that she's there and gets her scoop. Good work, Feistl." Eve tried to sound normal, but her strained and whiney voice betrayed her.

"Eve." Chris sighed as he rubbed his jaw. "That's not why he asked me to call you, and you know it. He was pretty serious about keeping you informed. That's a good sign, right? Peña's a good guy. I was just messing with you with all of that stuff before. You can date whoever you want to date. You're both adults...one more adult than the other... but that's not really the point." Chris laughed. "But I do think you could do a lot worse. For what it's worth, you have my blessing. But I wouldn't expect any double dates in the future."

"Chris, you don't have to..." Eve sniffed, before she shook her head and puffed out a laugh at his way of bringing up her and Javíer's ten year age difference. With all of the red flags and potential problems that existed between them, their age difference was the least of her worries and it made her laugh. "I mean... fuck! Thanks for your blessing. I really hate lying. No double dates and Danny said I could do a lot worse, too."

"'Dan, you knew about Capshaw and Peña?'" Chris admonished his friend with a playful shove. "Well, you're pretty fucking terrible at lying. I knew something was going on." Chris added with laughter in his voice. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. Besides, Emily is convinced that you're dating some analyst upstairs."

"Thank you." Eve deeply sighed with a giggle. "But the cat is pretty much out of the bag at this point. I'll tell her eventually."

Even though Eve found herself smiling, she still wasn't breathing any easier. Javíer was safe. The plan that he had hatched with Colonel Martinez had been successful. So why couldn't she finally relax? It wasn't because Chris and Emily had finally found out about her and Javí. Eve trusted them and had always figured that they would find out eventually. But she still couldn't shake the dread spreading across her chest.

"Give Molly a big hug for me, okay." Chris grinned. He was such a proud dad, Eve couldn't help but smile.

"Big hugs are a Molly Feistl speciality." Eve teased. "I mean it, though. I'm so happy that this worked out for you guys. Only three more godfathers to go, right?"

Eve heard some commotion behind her and whipped around in time to see her Uncle Artie strolling towards Javíer's office. Causing all kinds of activity in his wake. Everyone was jumping to attention and either pretended to be working or scrambling to greet him in the hopes of earning some brownie points. Both of her parents had that very same effect on people whenever they walked into a room. Ambassador Crosby had always been in the same league.

"I gotta go. Crosby just showed up." Eve whispered into the phone. It was extremely rare for the ambassador to visit their floor. Even Eve had to blink and try to understand what she was seeing as the whole tone of the office changed. But soon their eyes met through the glass doors and her godfather's stern professional demeanour cracked a little bit only for her.

"At the office? Fuck, I didn't even know he knew how to use the elevator. I doubt he knows about the arrest yet." Chris groaned.

"Do you want me to tell him?" Eve offered without considering the consequences. Crosby was still shaking hands with people like a celebrity. But he was clearly there to see her since hadn't really taken his eyes away from her in Javíer's office. 

As far as the Cali surrender deal was concerned, Eve had to assume that her godfather was on the same page as her mother. They wanted the cartels to be out of the picture to solidify American interests in the country and (to them) the surrender deal was the most efficient way of having that happen. But Javíer had pretty much blown that up. Eve had disappointed a lot of people in her life recently and wasn't looking forward to adding her Uncle Artie to that list. This was a situation that she would have avoided at all costs. But Eve was learning that being in love made her susceptible to making all kind of exceptions.

"I don't know if you're incredibly brave or incredibly dumb." Chris sang out through his laughter. "You really must have it bad if you're so willing to throw yourself into the lion's den like that."

Feistl wasn't wrong. So much time and effort had gone into crafting a peaceful surrender and now her boyfriend had gone behind Crosby's back and accomplished the impossible. Eve really didn't like being in the middle of the two men. Throughout her life, her Uncle Artie had been good to her when others had forgotten she existed. There was a chance that he might take the news better from her and if she could help Javíer, then it was worth a shot.

But Eve had managed to stay pretty clear of her uncle in a professional sense so these were uncharted waters and she didn't have a lot of time to prepare. Arthur Crosby was smart, loyal, brave, and Eve had never envied those that had tried to go up against him in the past. Eve was well aware of his reputation for being a very formidable and competent member of the state department. But even though Arthur Crosby didn't have as much political power as her father, he was more likely to take her calls and had always had an open door policy wherever her and her brothers were concerned. Even though she sided with Javí, she wasn't looking forward to his reaction.

"Just who I was looking for." Crosby announced as he let himself into Javí's office. Leaving his aides to wait for him on the other side of the door.

"Catch ya later, I gotta go." Eve quietly muttered into the phone. Chris quickly wished her luck before she hung up and placed her satellite phone on Javí's desk. "Uncle Artie!" Eve beamed with a bright smile that she hoped he couldn't tell was fake. The pressure was on and she started to sweat. "What brings you down here?"

"What are the chances that I can take my favourite goddaughter out for late lunch, huh?" Crosby grinned as he kissed Eve's cheek. "Hungry?"

"Ummm, Your odds aren't that great, I'm afraid." Eve stammered as she rolled her weight from the balls of her feet to her heels and chewed on her thumbnail. Even though she had barely touched her food with Colleen, Eve knew that her uncle was about to become too busy to take her anywhere.

Suddenly, Eve felt like a little kid dragged into the principal's office. She felt ridiculous. After all, Eve had dealt with members of congress and CEOs of fortune five hundred corporations without breaking a sweat. But now she found herself stuck between a rock and a hard place. Not wanting to disappoint Javíer or her godfather. Maybe she was going about this all wrong. Uncle Artie wasn't a client; he was family.

"What's wrong?" Crosby asked, his eyes scanning hers for any signs that he should be concerned. "You look pale, jelly bean. Tell me. Is it that Holden kid again?"

"No." Eve shook her head. Touching his arm to reassure him when his posture became more protective of her. "It's not that."

"I know that I should have reached out to you sooner." Crosby sighed. "I was just giving you some time to settle in here before I put a hit out on the kid."

"Uncle Artie." Eve playfully chided him for suggesting such a thing.

"Don't think that I've forgotten about that boy." Crosby stated as he crossed his arms. "I met him once in Washington with his father. He was always out of your league, jelly bean. All of this