Cassidy woke up, feeling like something was wrong. Things came back to her quickly. 'Oh God.' She scooted away from the warm figure next to her.


Garrett woke as the heat from her body left him. "Morning."


"Morning."


He wrapped his arms back around her. "Come back here, I miss you."


She complied, trying to collect her thoughts and knowing it'd provide him a distraction.


"What's going on in that beautiful head of yours?"


"Not much. Waking up."


He kissed her forehead softly.


She closed her eyes, remembering how much she'd admitted to him. She never, never should have done that. She never should have even asked him to stay.


"Do you know how good it felt to sleep with you in my arms?" Garrett asked softly.


"Just to sleep."


"I know just to sleep."


Which had been strange in and of itself. "Not too many people care enough just to sleep anymore. At least not in my social circles."


"You are the only one I care enough about to just sleep."


Krit, Cass mused, Krit was the sort of guy you could just sleep next to and he wouldn't expect other things. And Garrett - Spencer! - might be like that now, but for how long? "You do get around, don't you?"


"No more than you do." He replied, knowing it was true, and knowing she couldn't say anything against him for it.


Cass grinned a bit at that. "My reputation travels even farther than I previously thought."


"Not that far, I've just kept an eye on you."


"Ah-hah. And what have you found?"


"That you...are popular."


"Quite."


"Yes."


"You must have heard about the others, then, there are only two men in my unit."


"Yes."


She decided to not bring up that she'd run through them both. He already knew, after all.


"Were they better than me?"


"Who?"


"Any of the men."


"It's been a long time since I've had you, Garrett."


"And yet I remember every detail." He said, standing up.


"You have to go?" It was almost wistful. 'Stop it! Stop! You implied that you want him and now you're asking him to stay again...'


"No. Not if you want me to stay."


"I do."


"Then I'll stay."

"Thank you."


He sat down next to her again. "Are you hungry?"


"A little bit, actually."


"What would you like?"


"Doesn't really matter." Cass was sitting up in bed.


"Pick something."


"I really don't care. Just food."


"Pick something." He repeated.


"I sense this is going to go around in circles for ten or fifteen minutes."


"Yes."


"Let's cut it short, and whatever you're eating for breakfast, get another one."


Garrett did so and smiled a little. "You’re stubborn."


"A little euphemistic this morning, aren't we?"


"Just a bit."


"Still in a good mood, then."


"I want to kiss you."


"And is that *all* you had in mind?" She raised an eyebrow, trying to pull the agent role back into place. Too much had slipped the night before.


"For now, yes."


"Well now I know you're full of shit."


"I'm serious."


She turned to face him, pulling her robe closer around her. "I doubt it."


Garrett looked her dead in the eye. "Cassidy.  I promise you."


"The fact that I didn't smack you across the face for saying it should have told you something."


Garrett kissed her gently.


Cassidy let him, but didn't respond.


"Cass..." He whispered over her lips.


"Yeah, that's me."


"Why won't you kiss me?"


"I don't trust you, and I realize I'm a whore and all, but I'm really getting into that friends first thing," she told him, poker-faced.


"You love me."


"That doesn't mean I trust you, and... I admitted a lot of things I shouldn't have, I was feeling sentimental..." she wasn't sure who she was justifying it to.


"Kiss me Cass..."


"So you can get up and leave to go about your fucking and murdering and whatever else you do with a smile on your face?"


"No.”


"I shouldn't have said that either."


He kissed her again.


It took her by surprise - that wasn't what she was expecting after she'd basically called him a mobster (but then, he *was*) - and her reflexes kicked in, making her kiss back.


He pulled her as close as he could. "I love you..." He whispered.


She kissed him, encouraged at that. "Garrett..."


"Say it..." He begged.


"I love you," she said softly. "But if you break me again, nevermind the IMF, I'll track you down and kill you. Because I won't do it again."


"I won't."


She leaned against him, sitting in his lap.


"You okay?"


"Yes."


"Good."


"I hope you mean it."


"I do. I really do."


She kissed him softly. "Keep meaning it."


"Forever."


She seemed content to sit quietly in his lap for a bit.


Breakfast arrived.


~*~


Grace knocked on Aidan's door. "Sir? I have information..."


"Come in."


Grace entered. "Spencer seems to have a base in Prague, I was actually able to trace coordinates. There's been activity there recently, which means if Cassidy's still alive, she might be there..."


"How'd you get them?"


"A lot of research, sir, and a few contacts. They'd prefer to be anonymous, if that's alright."


"No. It's not."


"I'll make up a list for you, I have information." She handed him the coordinates. "While I’m doing that, this will probably be of interest."


"I need to know so that I can know whether to trust this or not."


"I vouch for it, sir."


"I don't trust you."


"Well you don't know my people, so you won't trust them either. They're mostly minor cohorts of Spencer himself."


"How do you know them?"


"I introduced myself to them when you told me to gather intel."


"And they just told you?"


"Over time. I expressed an interest in joining."


"I don’t buy it."


"You wanna know how I know it? Because I, like my sister before me, slept my way up the chain of command."


"So you're fucking Spencer?"


"I did. Slept, as in past tense."


"When'd you stop?"


"What is this, an AA meeting??"


"Answer."


"Couple weeks."


"Why'd you stop?"


"I found out what we needed to know."


"Did you know him before coming to me?"


"No."


"Fine."


"If she's alive, she's there, Aidan."


"I'll run some recon."


"Thank you, sir."


"You're dismissed. Send Cal in here."


She did so.


"Yes sir?" Cal said, sitting down.


"I need you to find out more about James Walker."


"How? We don't even know what he looks like..."


"I know we don't, but I trust you and I know you can use your brain and your imagination," Aidan said. So it wasn't true. Didn't matter.  Besides, she did seem to be improving.


"How long will I be gone?"


"Hopefully not too long." And that was true.


She walked over to him, kissing him. "I'll miss you."


"I'll miss you," he echoed, kissing her. "But you'll be great."


"Yeah right."


"You will."

 

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