Maya intimidated him.
This was not something Jane had expected and it was, on reflection, one of the most satisfying things she had ever witnessed.
She had worried that it would go the other way — that Dimitri would deploy the cold, controlled authority he wore like armour and Maya would be cowed. She had underestimated Maya, who was, beneath the curls and the caffeine dependency and the monologues, a person of considerable and focused intelligence who had been best friends with Jane Williams since they were eighteen and took that responsibility seriously.
Maya asked questions. Specific ones, without apology. She asked about the kidnapping, about the logistics, about what Dimitri had understood himself to be doing and what he understood now. She asked about his intentions and his understanding of harm and what steps he was taking to ensure Jane was safe going forward.
She asked these questions with the pleasantness of someone discussing weather.
Dimitri answered them. All of them. Without deflecting, without the armour, with a directness that Jane watched with fascination — because she had seen him deploy honesty before, but usually it cost him something visibly, and this time it was different. This time he sat across from Jane's best friend and accounted for himself.
"He's terrifying," Maya said, when Dimitri went to the bar. "And I say that as someone who doesn't terrify easily. He's also—" She looked at Jane. "He looks at you like you're a problem he's been trying to solve his whole life and you're the solution and he's not sure what to do with that information."
Jane stared at her coffee.
"I'm not saying it's simple," Maya said. "I'm saying it's real. And real is worth something." She paused. "Also, he's very tall, which seems useful."
"Maya."
"Just an observation."
Dimitri returned with drinks. Maya accepted hers with the smile of a woman who had completed a satisfactory assessment.
"Dimitri," she said pleasantly. "Tell me something embarrassing about yourself."
Jane pressed her hand to her mouth.
Dimitri looked at Maya for a moment. Then: "I once spent forty minutes in a grocery store because I didn't know where the pasta was and I was too — unwilling to ask."
Maya stared at him. "You're actually human," she said, sounding genuinely surprised.
"Generally," he said.
Maya looked at Jane. Jane looked back.
"Fine," Maya said. "I approve. Conditionally."
"Conditionally," Dimitri said, with the tone of a man unaccustomed to conditional approval and finding it deeply interesting.
"Don't push it," Maya said sweetly, which was the exact thing Jane had said to him on the embankment.
Dimitri caught Jane's eye. The corner of his mouth moved.
She shook her head at him. He looked almost fond.