Desiree St. Aurieux

> *"Oh, no! I'd love to just climb into your big black van with the tinted windows, scary old woman I've never met before. Thing is, I'm not sure how my parole officer would feel about this."*
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> *"I'll get you a new one."*
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> *"You can do that?! Why didn't you start the conversation with* that *offer? We could be out of the state by now!"*
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> *- Desiree & Irene Frederic*
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**Desiree Irene Saint Aurieux** is a former criminal recruited for Warehouse 13 at age 22. Haunted by trouble for over two decades, she was still on parole when Mrs. Frederic hired her. While the offer seemed odd to her, Dez figured the only way she could go was up, so she accepted.

Her tasks on the team, balancing field missions and tech support, somewhat resemble the ones of Claudia Donovan before her disappearance. Her usual partner for missions is Alexander Brandt. She's also become a mother figure to Alex's daughter, Cathy.

## Desiree's Family

> *"I don't really have any family. I mean, none that I talk to anyway. None that cares what happens to me anymore."*
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Dez and her older half-brother, Ignace, were raised by their mother alone for many years. She took care of them as well as the circumstances allowed, and loved to teach them about their Creole roots. They didn't have much money, and their vacations never went further than New Orleans, but when she came home from work at 10 pm she always stopped by the kids' room to sing a lullaby or read a bedtime story to them.

The relationship between Desiree and her brother was much more difficult. For young Ignace, the situation was clear: Dez was the reason their Mom had to work even more, was home even less. She was the child of a man that wasn't his father, which made it difficult for him to even accept her as his sister. He slowly realized that he was blaming her for things she couldn't possibly have affected as he grew up, but they never quite became best friends.

Ignace had just turned 22 when their mother died. Desiree, on the other hand, was barely 14 years old, and so she was sent to live with her father. While he had known about his daughter's existence for quite a while, he never showed any interest in becoming a part of her life. With that in mind, Dez was far from thrilled about getting dropped off with him. She quickly realized that the one thing she inherited from the man was her admirable IQ, but he used it in a way she really didn't understand or approve of. Most of his wealth (which he never bothered to share with her mother, further breeding Desiree's bitterness) emerged from the weapons industry, and every time a bomb went off on the news, she couldn't help wondering if her emotionally stinted genius father built it.

## Past

> *"I'm not a saint by any means. Ironic, I know, but seriously. I'm a liar and a thief and so much more... I guess some people might even call me a murderer."*
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> *"And do you happen to be one of those people?"*
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> *"Some days, definitely. Other days... I'm not sure."*
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Dez was never a perfect child, although she really did try her best for her Mom. She got into trouble at school for showing up late to classes or without homework, or for saying things that weren't considered appropriate. A few times, the other kids even managed to tease her enough for her to get physical, but it was never anything too serious. She always bit her tongue until the principal was done with his speech, and then she apologized nicely, no matter if she started the trouble or not. She just didn't want to cause her mother any problems.

It was after her Mom's death, during the first weeks she lived with her father, that she crossed the line she'd previously drawn for herself. She wasn't particularly fond of him, so she didn't care if he got visits from the police or uncomfortable questions from the press. In fact, it felt a bit like revenge, as most of her first little crimes had to do with his business. She snatched little things from his lab, messed with his equations and hacked his systems just to annoy him with it and remind him she hated what he did for a living. He always came up with something new to try and keep her out, and she'd always get through anyway. Eventually, he even pointed out that she could help him with her talents, but that only fed her rage and rebellion.

At age 16, Desiree hacked her father's back account on the Cayman Islands and played Robin Hood with it. She sent much of his "blood money" to hospitals, orphanages and animal shelters, and some of it even traveled oversees into war zones he'd designed weapons for. Unsurprisingly, her father didn't show much understanding or sympathy for her actions. He figured six months in juvenile detention might "correct her path".

After she was released, however, Dez refused to return to his house in Florida. Instead, she lived on the streets for a few months, stealing and lying to survive. Anything to stay under the radar. However, money soon became an issue. Since she technically never finished high school and was practically homeless, getting a job was very difficult.

On one of her darkest days, Dez walked down a barely lit alley in Alabama when she heard a sound she recognized all too well. Gunfire. One shot, one scream. She ran towards the noise on auto pilot. At first, she saw the man. Two heads taller than herself, a gun in his right hand. Then the woman. A petite blonde, curled up on the dirty ground, both hands pressed against her abdomen. Desiree acted before she could truly think. She started towards the woman, and when the man grabbed her by the arm to stop her, she aimed a forceful punch at his nose and kicked his shin. (After all, it wasn't the first time she'd had to defend herself.)

She reached the young woman and tried to assess the damage, but ultimately decided only a real doctor could help her. And only if it happened soon. Of course, the attacker wouldn't just let them leave. He grabbed Desiree from behind, but adrenaline can do a lot for a girl. She elbowed him in the groin as hard as she could, and then swiftly turned around to kick him backwards. He fell, and she jumped into action. Hugging the blonde to her side, she ran as fast as the circumstances allowed.

They did make it to a doctor in the end, and the woman survived. As it turned out, her name was June, and she was incredibly grateful. She even let Dez move into her small apartment in downtown, as a "temporary solution, but please stay as long as you like".

June also got her a job with the escort service she worked for. It wasn't exactly Desiree's dream job, and it wasn't the safest in the world either, but it paid the bills and helped the girls survive day by day. After a few months, Dez already had regular customers. One of them was Ryan, the son of a senator. He seemed nice, though she was always cautious. Sometimes he came across a little too kind, a little too eager. He even tricked her into meeting his parents at a political event. After that night, Desiree went to her boss to tell her she would rather not go to Ryan again. Luckily, her employer was a woman with experience who generally treated her girls well. She knew what could go wrong, and protected them as much as she could. That's one of the reasons why Dez agreed to work for her in the first place, because June thought very highly of her.

Of course, once Ryan realized what happened, he wasn't happy at all. He'd grown attached to her, obsessed even. The following weeks he followed her almost everywhere she went, and it didn't take long for her to notice. She confided in Juni and their boss, Carmen. The latter was very much worried about her safety, and June's as the girls still lived together. She insisted on giving Dez a gun, telling her to always keep it on her so she could protect herself. Desiree took it eventually, but very much hoped she'd never have to use it. Her father's work had left her with a rather strong opinion on weapons.

But of course, wishing and hoping never got her anywhere.

In the end, Ryan found Desiree and June on their way home one night. In a wicked moment of déjà-vu, Dez stepped in front of her roommate and found herself facing a weapon. A knife this time, with a long silver blade pointing in the general direction of her heart. She told June to run five times before the blonde caved and did as she was told, leaving Dez alone with Ryan. He yelled accusations at her, the hand holding the knife shaking slightly. Desiree hoped Juni would call help and they'd arrive before the situation got out of hand, but she didn't have that much luck. She couldn't talk him down, and once he started swinging the knife in her direction, she could only avoid the blade so long. It crossed her mind multiple times that she should just run, but what good would that do? He'd follow her, he'd find them again. Maybe he'd even hurt June. So she stayed and held onto hope as long as she possibly could. Then, it happened. An unexpected move on his part, a slightly too slow reaction on hers. The knife caught her in the side, leaving a heavily bleeding cut behind. Her chances to survive were nearing zero. He was coming at her again with the sharp blade, and she made a quick decision. She got the gun out of her messenger bag and pulled the trigger. Once, twice, three times. Between her father and her boss, she'd had no choice but to learn how to handle a weapon like that, so they all hit. One just above the knee, another brushed his neck, the last went through his abdomen.

The police and ambulance both arrived within the next ten minutes. Desiree was brought straight into surgery. She survived, and was released after a month. Ryan died on his way to the hospital.

Dez never quite stopped questioning her choices of that day. She just couldn't help wondering if they both could've survived somehow. She also couldn't help wondering why the police let her off the hook so quickly, leaving her on parole rather than in jail. Sure, June had given them a statement to support her claims, but they weren't very high on the social ladder, and Ryan definitely was. She killed a senator's son and she wasn't locked up for it, and it didn't make any sense to her. Or to anyone who knew the society they lived in.

Little did she know that someone made sure she'd be free and ready when she was needed.

Desiree returned home then, back to Louisiana, where she'd lived as a child. She reconnected with her "uncle" Gustave Trévigne, an old friend of her mother's who had a Creole themed restaurant there. He offered her a job as waitress, and helped her with the first rents for her new apartment. A few months later, Dez also got a job at a local tech store.

When Dez was 19, she met college student Blaire Chamberlain. She came to the store one day, rambling about how she somehow broke her laptop and she needed it to function so she could finish an assignment for a class. Meanwhile, Desiree thanked the heavens that she could do a repair job like that on auto pilot within ten minutes, because she found herself rather distracted. She couldn't quite place it, but there was something about the other woman that kept drawing her in. Her complaints were nothing Dez didn't hear daily at the store, and usually she tuned out after a minute or two, but that one time she couldn't help listening.

When Blaire left, Desiree read the name on the bill out loud twice, before she decided to try and get her off her mind in order to focus on her job again. That, however, turned out to be a little more difficult than expected. For twelve days, Dez was haunted by memories of her eyes and her gracious smile. She even wrote down her name, and afterwards asked herself why she did that for almost an hour.

It was the thirteenth day after they met when Blaire walked into Gus' restaurant just past 7 pm. Desiree's heart skipped a beat in her chest, and then suddenly felt heavy. She'd come with a young brunette, likely her girlfriend. Dez tried to ignore them, but she couldn't help sneaking a glance every now and then. Especially once she realized they were arguing. She couldn't understand much, but after roughly fifteen minutes, the unknown girl jumped up from her seat and rushed out the door. Desiree contemplated what to do for another sixty seconds before she gave in and walked over to Blaire to ask what happened. As it turned out, the night was supposed to be a "last ditch attempt to save a wrecked relationship". Dez listened to Blaire until 9 pm, and in the end, the latter suggested they should have "a real date, that's actually meant for us" sometime soon.

Desiree was careful to match Blaire's pace, as she'd just gotten her heart broken, but she was falling faster than she could think. It was unexpected, and made quite a mess in her already chaotic mind.

TBC

## Cathy & Alex

> *"You've been talking about these two a lot."*
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> *"I guess so. They... June, they mean the world to me."*
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> *"Does it make you happy?"*
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> *"Yeah, I think so. I mean, I love Cathy. I never thought I could have something like this."*
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> *"And what about him?"*
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> *"He's... That's a little more complicated."*
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> *"Is it really?"*
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> *June & Desiree*
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When Dez first met Agent Brandt and his daughter, she wasn't sure what to think. She didn't understand why a father would accept a job as dangerous as theirs, and drag his daughter along. It seemed irresponsable, and she was starting to worry about parallels between her partner and her own father.

However, her concerns faded rather quickly. She began to understand why he brought her along, especially once she knew more about their situation. He cared about his child and only wanted the best for her. Cathy was always his top priority, and it didn't take long before she became Desiree's too.

Although she doesn't feel like she's the right role model for the girl (for several reasons, most lying in her troubled past), Desiree has grown to love Cathy as if she was her own. She's made it her personal mission to protect and support the child every chance she gets, to make sure she'd always know she's loved and cherished.

In the meantime, Dez also got closer to the kid's father. She learned to trust him, to a degree she hasn't experienced in a long time. He always has her back and never underestimates her, whether they're currently on a case or not. Dez has always been particularly amazed by the faith he has in her when it comes to Cathy. He trusts her to take care of and look after his precious daughter, despite all the things he knows about her past.

With all of the above in mind, she figured mentioning that "silly crush" she's had on him since day one would only endanger what the three of them had already. The unwanted feelings would fade soon enough, she was sure. And for a while, it seemed like she was right. She happily settled into the role of Cathy's pseudo mother, and Alex's best friend and coworker. She even grew fond of Alex's mother, Cassandra, and silently accepted her as a new mother figure for herself.

It took longer than she could be proud of for her to realize that she might've liked it all a little too much.

TBC