Author: bansidhe and mrstrentreznor

Title: A Foreign Affair

Rating:M for sex, language and themes

Fandom: A Man Apart

Pairing: Sean Vetter and OC

Archive: Only at FanFic.

Feedback: please and thankyou

Author's Notes: a collaboration that got truly verbose bansidhe: had been thinking about doing something other than Big Evil for a while, got to talking and well... this is what happened.

Disclaimer: All recognisable characters from A Man Apart belong to the big damn movie studio that made the movie - duh

Summary: Set two years after the events portrayed in AMA; Sean still has his badge, but only just. He is given one last chance to toe the line. He has to co-operate with their new, Australian liaison agent.

A Foreign Affair

Love changes a man. Revenge tears him apart. His new partner makes him insane.

Jo Buckle

Jo Buckle was an Australian Federal Police agent. She caught a plane to Los Angeles to participate in a combined DEA assignment. She stood 5ft 3 in her bare feet. Her hair was blond, her eyes were blue and she was small statured. She had worked hard to get where she was. She could play 'one of the boys' but she had never dressed like one.

The flight time of 15 hours and 30 minutes from Sydney to Los Angeles was a killer for anyone.

It felt worse because she was going back in time and she almost arrived before she technically left. Sydney is 17 hours ahead. She would have to program that into her i-phone or something. She was unlikely to forget. Actually she was more worried about her mother forgetting and phoning her in the middle of the night. When the phone rings that late; there are only two options: disaster or forgetfulness.

It was her first international flight in a while and she had forgotten just how irritating airport security checks were now.

She understood better than anyone that these kinds of checks were necessary. What people probably don't understand is that they can't search everyone as well as they would like. So they have a target of the day; today it is young men aged 19 to 24. They will all be pulled out and searched.

Another day it might be old women, Asians or people of Middle Eastern appearance or whatever. It adds to your travel time and it is irritating to have to take your shoes off at three different gates, but the rules protect everyone.

Jo likes rules; they help you to know where you stand. She likes them so much she joined the police force. Truthfully, it is all she had ever wanted to be. Her father told the hilarious story at her cadet graduation lunch about her driving around in her little red peddle car 'booking' other toddlers. She must have been three years old.

She does not know who the first police officer was that she saw, that inspired this level of devotion to the force, but whoever it was, they had a lifelong influence on her. And they weren't called policeman anymore; it was 'officers' to avoid sexism.

It wasn't called the force any more either; too confrontational. It was the 'service' now. She collected her bags from the luggage carousel. She only had three suitcases now; the rest would be shipped later if the job worked out.

She had been appointed as the Australian federal police liaison to the Los Angeles DEA. It was a huge opportunity. She wasn't quite sure why no one else had wanted this job.

Whatever.

She was going to make it hers; she was good at that. Making sure things went the way she wanted. Even the other three year olds who had tried to stop her booking them had discovered that the hard way. Nobody got in the way of Federal Agent Buckle and her ambition. No one.

She checked her watch that she had reset on the plane to the correct time. She felt a little drained but decided she had better go to the meeting at the DEA office first. She could find her hotel later. Her bags would have to come with her.

She was not in uniform right now; it was easier to travel in mufti. (plain clothes)

Jo spent all her spare money on fashion. And as a good Sydney girl, there were lots of shops to spend it in. Her luggage was a matching set of Spencer Rutherford. The name of the style was Cosmic Express and she loved the pink accents. It was kind of frivolous. But she could allow herself to be a little frivolous on occasion. Especially when it came to fashion. Her father always argued that the luggage just looked like she had something in them worth stealing.

Her ID allowed her special treatment. She didn't think that was outside the rules.

On the plane she woke at breakfast and washed up in one of the toilets. She had even got changed. She now wore a bright pink satin suit with a black blouse. With a sensible pair of black pumps. She matched her luggage. She was so excited to be in LA; fashion city here she comes.

She had an appointment with Special Agent in Charge Ty Frost. He would be her supervising officer.

She really hoped her new partner would be a good fit for her. She sat in the back of the cab and watched the buildings of downtown Los Angeles as they moved past her window. She desperately needed a coffee. Maybe they would have some at the office?

Sean Vetter

Sean got up early, showered and even shaved for a change. He had to see the Cap this morning... something about a new assignment... a last chance. He sighed; he had so fucked up this last year. Even D was getting tired of putting up with him, told him he had to snap out of his funk.

Memo was dead, the cartel's pipeline broken, the bastard that had shot his wife was gone; it was time to move on. That's what the department shrinks said. He needed to put the anger behind him; grieve, yes, but in a constructive, non-violent way. What the hell did that mean, anyway?

He dressed, not really looking at what he threw on, a t-shirt and jeans, light jacket and his boots. Gun in the shoulder holster, back-up on his right ankle. Wallet in the back pocket, and his badge hooked on the side of his belt. Under the jacket, where it wasn't obvious. The same way he'd been dressing for years, ever since he'd joined the DEA's elite anti-drug task force.

He walked outside, locking the house, not bothering to straighten up, what for? Jumped into the truck, lit his first of the day and burned down the street. He stopped for coffee on the way to the office, his usual breakfast. He was never hungry anymore anyway. Not until he'd been out of the house for a while and things distracted him. He rarely ate there.

Figuring it couldn't hurt, he'd stopped at a Starbuck's for the coffee and picked up a couple extras; one for D and one for the Cap. And a half dozen sweet things... donuts, scones, muffins, whatever. They weren't for him.

The big agent slouched into the building and rode up twenty floors to his desk. He put one cup on D's desk, wondering where his partner was. Demetrius always beat him in. Dropped the bag of carbs there, too.

Still a couple minutes early, he headed down the hall to Frost's office and tapped on the door frame. It was open as usual, Frost behind the desk. "Come in, Sean." The SAC looked up and his brows rose for a moment. Vetter had actually cleaned up; had he heard something?

"Sit down, son." When Sean handed him the coffee, he smiled. "Bribing the old man, are we? Thanks." Sean just twitched his head to the side and slumped in the opposite seat, sipping his own hot beverage.

"So what's goin' on, Cap? The message said something new?" His rough gravel-growl reverbed through the room. Sean looked around as if expecting someone to come through the door.

Frost sighed to himself. This wasn't going to be easy. He only hoped the boy would accept this and not explode. He really didn't want to pull his badge... again. Because he wouldn't get it back this time.