Fic: Time Well Wasted (Almost Human, Kennex/Stahl)

[helsinkibaby]

Title: Time Well Wasted
Author: helsinkibaby
Fandom: Almost Human
Pairing: John Kennex/Valerie Stahl
Rating: G
Word Count: 272
Summary: John watches Valerie during an interrogation
Notes: For Day 10 of August Rush - John and Valerie interrogating Mendel Academy students.




John's not going to lie - the whole time that he and Valerie are questioning students at Mendel Academy, he spends just as much time observing her as he does observing them.

Part of it is the novelty - he's used to working with Dorian now, with MXs before that. Close as Dorian can be to human at times, there are certain nuances that he still doesn't get that Valerie understands perfectly.

Part of it is trying to get the measure of her. Valerie joined the precinct while he was on sick leave, and while she's a detective like him, she's a relatively new one. John's old school in that he likes to know who he's working with, so that he knows who has his back and more importantly, who doesn't - his dad had taught him that.

And part of it - the biggest part, he's willing to admit that - is Valerie herself. She's beautiful, no mistaking that. But what John's long since come to realise, what he realises anew here, is that she's also, among other things, smart and competent. She knows what questions to ask; more importantly, she knows what to do with the answers. Seniority and experience be damned, she's his equal in this room and when she glances at him, when he gives a tilt of his head to indicate he'll defer to her, follow her lead, the gleam of acknowledgment in her eyes makes it all worth it.

In the end, they don't get much from the students at Mendel to help their case.

On a personal level, however, John considers it time well wasted.