Early on in the FBI and again my happy place! Also I had to explain how the chapter Stuck Together made sense with all the previous chapters we've read.

That's all super vague but I hope it makes sense afterwards.

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"Owens."

Carter raised her head from the report she was reading and spotted Special Agent McKinney striding towards her. She stood up.

"What can I do for you, sir?" she asked.

"I was supposed to meet one of our newest recruits but something's come up and I need to be in a meeting," McKinney said. "He'll be here in a minute. You'll meet him at the elevators and I want you to give him a tour. I should be finished with my meeting by the time you're done and I'll take it from there."

Giving a new recruit a tour was something Carter had done before. After all, she was still new enough to be on the lowest end of the spectrum. But McKinney giving a tour made no sense. He was a senior agent after all.

"All right. Is there anything I should know about him?" she asked.

McKinney gave a short laugh. "Yeah, he's connected so don't piss him off."

"Understood."

McKinney checked his watch and hurried away. Carter closed the report she was reading and walked to the elevators. She wasn't the best tour guide, she knew this. She pointed out where everything was but didn't elaborate more than that. Still, she did enough she knew the new recruits wouldn't be confused about where to go.

Carter was organizing the right route for the tour when the elevator doors opened and she froze.

This had to be a joke.

"What the hell are you doing here?" she asked.

Mason poked his head out of the elevator and looked around.

"Sorry, I was supposed to be meeting a perky blonde to give me a tour. Must be on the wrong floor."

Carter crossed her arms, trying to reign in her shock and irritation. She'd already spent four years with Mason, she did not want to think about having to work in the same building as him.

"What are you doing here?" Carter asked again.

"Still wondering where the blonde tour-guide is," Mason said, finally stepping out of the elevator.

"I'm here to give you the tour."

Mason looked her up and down. "How disappointing."

"Mason. What. Are. You. Doing. Here?"

Casually sliding his hands into his pockets, Mason cocked his head at Carter like she was a little dim.

"I thought you were smarter than that, Owens," he said. "I'm here because I work here now."

"You work? Here?"

"Yes, I believe it's what common people call a job."

Carter shook her head. "I'm surprised you know what it's called. I imagined you spending the rest of your days living off your family's money."

Mason shrugged carelessly. "That had been the plan but then the house was getting remodeled so I decided to go to college for computer coding, graduate early, and join the FBI until it was done."

All the same, it was all the same as high school and yet not at all. This was her life now. Her world. Mason Douglas was the irritating First Son that she enjoyed pissing off in school. He was not someone she wanted around her when she needed to focus. Even now, her annoyance at him was distracting her from what she'd been sent to do.

"This can't be happening," Carter said.

"I know. I'm really disappointed about the lack of the blonde still. Also, you're not even trying to be perky so that's another letdown."

"I might just kill you."

"Slightly terrifying since I now know you own a weapon. I'm going to hope that fact that it's against the law and you're surrounded by agents who would take you down will reign in your violent tendencies."

Good heavens she wanted to strangle him and it had only been five minutes. She needed to get away from him. The only way to do that was to get this over with.

"Let's start the tour," Carter said. "Keep up and listen. I won't repeat myself."

Carter took off and Mason jogged a few steps to catch up.

"Why in the world did they send you to be a tour guide? You're as welcoming as an IRS agent."

"This is the Pit," Carter said, wishing that ignoring him meant he wouldn't talk. But history told her it wouldn't. Mason was too in love with the sound of his own voice.

She gestured to a large open room filled with desks and agents bent over their work.

"This is where the lower agents work."

"Which means you. How does it feel to be on the low end? Like high school all over again?"

Carter started walking again, wanting to put her back to Mason's smirk. Man, she wanted to punch it off his face. At college, being Mason free had made her forget how annoying he was. How had she managed not to hit him in high school?

She continued to walk, pointing out the break room, cafeteria, the Special Agents' offices, conference rooms, file rooms. He'd made comments through it all. Comments Carter ignored with all her strength.

Finally, she ended at the computer room. Knowing if she stayed in Mason's presence much longer he'd be in a body bag and she'd go to jail.

"This is the computer room. This is where you will work. Someplace I don't work and so I'm hoping I never have to run into you again."

"Probably will," Mason said, glancing inside at the room with dozens of desks crammed with multiple computer screens. "I have a general magnetism that makes it hard for people to resist."

"Goodbye, Mason," Carter said, spinning away from him.

She didn't get far before Mason called out to her.

"Just like old times, huh."

Not like old times. Old times she could stand Mason because he was easy to piss off. But when he'd taunted Link, made his life hard, something had shifted. Mason was no longer the boy who she enjoyed poking with a stick. Instead, he became the bully who was hurting her friend. Carter wasn't sure she'd ever forgive him for that. Not when Link had to spend his days in the same school as his half-brother, living in the shadow of the life he could have had.

Carter faced him.

"Why the FBI, Mason?" she asked. "You could have done anything but you came here. Why?"

She wanted to know.

"Didn't think I would be smart enough to be hired?" Mason asked.

Carter said nothing, only stared at him, waiting.

Mason's normally smug face sobered.

"Because I spent a lot of my life watching others protect my family, people that they didn't really know. I watched how they put someone's life before their own. I'm never going to be that. But I have a talent I thought might make it possible to help the people who do try to help others."

The answer wasn't what Carter was expecting. It was honest and sincere. It made her want to like Mason. But that was difficult since she'd decided early to never like him.

"I still don't like you," she said.

"Works," he said. "I never liked you."

"Well then let's hope we never have to work together."

"Here's hoping."

Before Carter could leave, McKinney appeared down the hallway. He straightened when he saw Mason.

"Mason," he said, stretching out his hand. "I'm happy you're joining the team."

Mason accepted the handshake, transforming into the well-liked President's son.

"I'm glad to be here."

"I hope Owens gave you a good tour," McKinney asked, glancing at Carter.

Mason smiled at her. "There's no one like Carter Owens to make someone feel special."

Carter fought an eye roll at Mason's gracious answer.

"I'm happy to hear it. Let's get lunch and I can answer any questions you might have." They started to walk off together. "Did I tell you I had the pleasure of meeting your father?"

"Really? When was that?" Mason asked.

Carter shook her head. This was a cruel joke having Mason here. Needing someone to vent to, she went to find Donovan. Luckily, he was free to grab lunch with her. They bought food and claimed a table in the back of the cafeteria.

"Mason Douglas was just hired to the FBI," Carter said, jumping right in.

"You are serious?" Donovan asked.

She nodded. She understood his surprise. Donovan talked to Link more often than Carter did. If Link was going to have shared this information he would have shared it with Donovan. But that must have meant Link didn't know.

"I had to give him a tour," Carter said. She sat back in her chair, arms crossed, no thought for food in her mind. "I seriously almost punched him so many times. It's like high school all over again."

Donovan said nothing, watching her. There was a calculating glint in his eyes.

"What?" Carter asked.

"You've never talked about what was between you and Mason in high school."

"That's because all there was were verbal sparring and arguments that landed us both in detention." She shook her head as if she could make it all a bad dream. "We were two of the smartest kids so we were always grouped together on projects. He was a smug, self-important First Son and I was the outcast that pissed him off as often as I could."

Donovan nodded as he absorbed this. He seemed calm but Carter noticed the small furrow in his brows.

"What is it?" Carter asked.

"Did you ever like him? Like, have a crush on him?"

"Oh jeez no! I wanted to kill him half the time."

"So there's no reason I should be worried about Mason being here?"

Carter stared at Donovan, baffled. "Why would you be worried?"

"You talk about him in a different way than you talk about other guys who annoyed you in high school. You're more...passionate about how you talk about Mason. I just wanted to know if there was anything I should be aware of."

For a second, all Carter did was blink. Then she burst out laughing. Her like Mason! The thought! She reached across to Donovan and cupped his cheek.

"It's cute how you think I would ever leave you for Mason. If that ever happens, you have my permission to take me out back and shoot me. Because clearly, I will have gone completely insane."

Donovan chuckled and relaxed. "Well, that's reassuring. But let's face it, I would never be able to shoot you. I would make Brock do it."

Carter laughed again and opened the lid of her salad having her appetite back.

"And besides," she said. "It's a big Bureau, I'm not likely to ever work with Mason. So it will all work out."

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Put it there! 👊

(I have no what that means but I think it means you have to give me a fist bump 🤷‍♀️)

You love Mason, I know you do, so don't deny it and share it here! 💭🗯💬

Now! The Mason Saga!
(Grab a walking stick, we're going on an epic journey)

In A Secret Service Mason was a stereotypical entitled jerk and I didn't see any reason for him to be more than that. After all he was a minor side character who served only one purpose, to hint at to who Link was. That was all.

But that changed when I wrote After The Attack, the scene where Mason and Link finally meet while knowing they are half-brothers.  In that scene I saw a new and softer side of Mason.

Then Graduation happened and we saw Mason inviting Link to visit, being nervous, being real. He also mentioned going to college to study computer coding.

He was the only one who could talk to Link on Link's wedding day, talking him down from running away. Yet still, he did it in his jerkish fashion but I don't mind at all.

He then appeared as a voice in Carter's ear as she was on a mission in The Unstoppable Couple. There I saw his wit, his sarcastic humor, his lovable irritation and I fell in love with him!

He forced his way into High School Reunion, unchanged but in someways someone I love for it!

From there I realized I needed to understand how he could go from the jerk Carter hated in high school to a jerk that she tolerated. That's where Stuck Together came into play, a scene where they found even footing. 

From there he inserted himself more and more into the story until the point that history was changed because he was Carter's frienemy in high school, not some jerk she disliked, but someone who knew her.

BUT! Because history was changed I realized there wouldn't be animosity to be settled in Stuck Together. But I liked that chapter, I didn't want to take it out. So this chapter came to bridge the gap.

The friendly quips and banter Carter and Mason shared in high school stopped when Mason mistreated Link, someone she felt protective of. That's why they needed to find a new standing again, that's why Stuck Together could still exist.

And as you can see Mason has become a part of this world and is not going anywhere.

*collapses* Oh jeez that was a long journey. I hope it all made sense!

Vote, comment, follow if you're still here and if you love Mason as much as I do!

Here's our lovable jerk!