missmara13

The 3rd Gift this year is from my Mercy!Verse, which is the one where after a horrific year in Juvie, Ryan ended up being adopted by Officer John Cooper (from Southland), and it has crossed over with other crime related fandoms, such as Ryan having been on the CSI:NY team, and now being on the NCIS:New Orleans team.

I'll admit, I did NOT like or trust Tammy Gregorio when she first appeared on NCIS:NO, but since then I have come to love her. Her friendship with Sebastion is so cute! And considering the obvious Brooklyn accent, it's gotta be assumed that Gregorio is originally from/spent a good deal of time in New York.I'm going with both: she was born and raised in Brooklyn, then assigned there with the FBI for several years.

This would take place a little while after the previous one in this verse with Gregorio (Ryan challenged her to profile him, and Sarah got mentioned and Ryan had a bit of a mini breakdown). Ryan has returned from his leave of absence to deal with his grief, and is settling back in.

"That smells like Hallie's signature blend," Gregorio said as she walked into the office and spotted Ryan with a still steaming cup of coffee. "How did you get that in New Orleans?"

"I had a friend buy me a bag and express ship it," Ryan said. "There's a whole pot of it over there," he added, gesturing.

"You are my new favorite person," Gregorio said.

"What the big deal? Sure it smells good, but... it's just coffee," LaSalle said.

"Hallie's is this little cafe in Manhattan, tiny little place, but it just feels like..." Gregorio began turning to Ryan for help.

"Home," Ryan supplied. "Radio playing in the background, bookshelves living the walls, a shelf of puzzles and board games... someone is always building a card tower... there's a table of Legos that a whole bunch of people were building an old west town, bit by bit on it."

"I worked on the saloon," Gregorio said, shrugging.

"Sheriff's office," Ryan said with a grin.

"Are you the one that 'arrested' the guys fighting in the saloon?" Gregorio asked.

"Yup," Ryan said, laughing, then paused. "You staged the prison break didn't you?"

Gregorio nodded. "Sure did."

"Wait, don't you two both mock me for my legos?" LaSalle said.

"That's different. This is a work enviroment, suppose to be professional," Gregorio said. "That was a fun 'not working, just kicking back with some really good coffee' enviroment. I was waging an old west war with Ryan without even knowing him."

"Percy was right, LaSalle, Gregorio is the enemy," Ryan teased.

"Sonja called me the enemy?"

"It was right after you joined, just before the profiling gone horribly wrong," Ryan clarified. "You worked for Isler, who was out to get Pride, so... But anyway, I can get some extra of the coffee sent for you next time," he added.

"New. Favorite. Person," Gregorio said firmly. "I can't believe we never ran into each other."

"I usually made it in right before closing or right after they opened," Ryan said. "Third shift, you know?"

"I was there mid-afternoons to early evenings," Gregorio said, nodding. "Still, makes me glad I decided against lynching the sheriff. I'd feel kinda bad about that now."

Ryan laughed. "Hey, I'd begun construction on a gallows, planned to just get rid of the saloon troublemakers," he said. "But then I... Left New York."

"That explains why suddenly crime was running amuck," Gregorio said, grinning. "No sheriff to keep them safe."

End

I have some plans for this 'verse and wanted to establish the Ryan and Gregorio friendship...