Page 8 of Stand By Me

"You knew—" Martinez started, but Clay cleared his throat loudly. He hadn't come here to see them debate their issues. He wanted to see the tech.

"I'm sorry." Eddie turned his chair to face him. "What can I do for you?"

"Martinez here," Clay said with a wave towards the man, "told me our comm links are the best of the best. I wanted to see them, if I could."

Eddie grinned. He even offered Martinez a warm look, probably for the compliment on the equipment.

"Of course." He nodded. "None of my teams is in the field right now, so give me a minute to log out and I'll show you everything."

Clay barely resisted bouncing on his feet. He'd become more and more interested in communications technology in the last few years, so if he could work with a team againandhave some cool gadgets, this just might end being the best job ever.

One could hope.

* * *

With all the excitement about the comm links and other devices, Clay almost forgot they were heading to the Smithsonian later on to meet with Mario again.

Almost.

"So," Martinez started as they left the car and headed towards the entrance, "we have a job to do in there today, but afterwards, when we're done, I can slip out if you want to make your move."

Clay barely avoided stumbling on the curb. "What?"

Martinez gave him a look that clearly told Clay playing stupid wouldn't get him very far, here.

"I saw what was going on yesterday. Onbothsides," Martinez added with emphasis. "And you know each other already, so why not make a move?"

"Because knowing somebody doesn't make it any easier sometimes," Clay said before he could stop himself.

Damn it. What was he doing?

Then again, Martinez was the one who broached the topic.

"Oh, I know, trust me," he now offered dryly. "But do you have any morbid history together?"

"Morbid? No. He's… He's my brother's best friend. I've known him since he was a kid."

"Well, we both saw him yesterday. He's definitely not a kid anymore." Martinez laughed at Clay's glare. "Easy there, I'm not after him, I'm just saying."

Clay shook his head. "Why are we even talking about this?"

"Because I wanted to play a matchmaker?" Martinez shrugged. "To be honest, I thought you might be keeping your distance because you assumed I'd disapprove since we're on the job."

"Well, that might have been one of the reasons," Clay admitted. He wanted to make a good impression on his first assignment, after all.

"He's not even a client," Martinez pointed out. "And even if he was, who am I to throw stones? How else do you think I'd manage to score a Supreme Court Justice for a partner?" He gave Clay a rueful smile. "Keep it to after hours, and there's no issue. Not with me, at least."

A Supreme Court Justice?

"That's where I know you from!" Clay said, when the missing piece suddenly slotted into place and he remembered the news of the attack on Judge Krasinsky. Martinez had been on his protection detail and got shot while saving his life. "Even in Switzerland, I followed the story of Krasinsky's road to confirmation. With a happy ending, nonetheless," he added with a smirk.

"Yeah, yeah, I've heard every possibleBodyguardjoke already, so save it, please. Apparently, even being compared to Kevin Costner gets tiring after a while."

Clay raised his hands in a "I'm innocent" gesture as they paused by the entrance.

"No jokes. Congrats, though. From what I saw, he seems like a good guy."

Martinez's smile turned soft for a moment, but he quickly covered it up with a smirk.

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