DISCLAIMER:  UC:  Undercover and its cast of characters belong to the writers, creators, NBC, yadda yadda yadda.  However, the author would like to borrow several cast members [the author promises to give them back, well, maybe not ALL of them] for a few pages!  There is absolutely NO infringement intended.  All other characters belong solely to the author.

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PROLOGUE

A young woman sat comfortable and secure in her small room.  There wasn't much light, just a small lamp at her tiny desk.  It was enough for her purpose.  She made it a habit to read the newspaper every day, even though it could be incredibly depressing.  The serious news stories never failed to haunt her.  Yet, she found happiness in the depths of the thick paper.  Almost every day, she found herself turning the pages to the entertainment section.  Often, she perused the society pages, and she never missed the wedding announcements.  The wedding announcements were like her escape from reality.  She fantasized about being married and having a huge wedding with hundreds of guests.  As she gazed around her room, she knew that would never be possible.

*  *  *

Years ago when she was someone else, she had lived with a man she had really and truly loved.  She would have died for him if he had requested that of her.  At the time, he was quite young and ambitious.  She had met him in college at the library.  Being such a conscientious student, she spent a lot of time in the library.  When she was there, it seemed that this particular young man was there at the same time.  She figured that he was a serious student, since he spent most of his time with his nose stuck in a book.  Back then, he struck a handsome figure; he was everything she had ever wanted in a man.  She couldn't recall how many days she had sat and stared at him before making her move.

She wasn't bold enough to simply walk up and introduce herself, but she had other ways of meeting handsome strangers.  She moved away from her quiet table in the corner, and walked around to where he sat taking notes from one of a dozen books beside him.  Accidentally on purpose, she dropped a book almost perfectly beside his foot.  SLAP.  He had been so absorbed in his work that he literally jumped.  He turned toward her and fixed a beautiful pair of eyes on her face.  She had seen her fair share of gorgeous eyes, but his overshadowed them all.  She remembered giggling with embarrassment and trying to fumble though an awkward apology.  He stood up fully before her, tall and lean.  Oh wow, she thought, I've never seen someone so damn gorgeous as he.  He smiled at her [his smile could have melted an iceberg] and told her with a silky voice that it wasn't necessary for her to apologize.  He then kneeled down and picked up her book.  When she took it from his large hand, her fingers brushed against his, and she thought she might die.

As he stood again, she awkwardly introduced herself, and he did the same.  She knew she would either have to ask him out or simply forget the whole deal.  She had three exams the next day and needed to get back to her studying.  Before she could speak one word, he asked her to accompany him to a coffee shop a few blocks from campus.  With her heart pounding hard in her chest, she quickly forgot about her exams and accepted his invitation without a moment's hesitation.

They stayed at the coffee shop for a good three hours, and by the time they finally left, she was convinced he was the man she was destined to marry.  After that first night, they met at the coffee shop regularly, not even aware that what they were doing was 'dating.'  After a couple of weeks, she took her first bold step and asked him over for dinner at her place.  He accepted readily enough.  He hadn't exactly said so, but he was quite infatuated with her.  Not normally attracted to timid girls, he found himself unable to get her out of his mind.  She was easy to talk to and had actually helped occupy his mind with something besides his studies.  He wasn't exactly the celibate sort, but he hadn't dated anyone steadily in a few months.  Her company was a welcome break from his regular routine.  Plus, he was lonely, but hadn't realized it until they had begun meeting for coffee.

The two of them had dinner, and he had totally let his guard down with her.  They talked for hours, hardly touching their food, but they drank copious amounts of wine.  By dawn, he was a little drunk, and she wouldn't let him leave.  He was relieved, because he was in no condition to drive back to his apartment.  Eventually, one thing led to another, and they ended up in bed.  He wasn't one to let himself go like that, but he had no regrets.  From that night on, they became quite the 'item' on campus. 

His mistake was asking her to move in with him.  She was ecstatic, of course.  She had fallen very deeply in love with him, and figured the next step would be a walk down the aisle.  After moving her things into his apartment, she began buying bridal magazines.  Of course, he had seen them, but didn't necessarily attach any significance to it.  His stubborn stupidity to see the 'real' her had been a move worse than asking her to move in.  At first, he had been perfectly happy.  However, within a few weeks, his infatuation grew to annoyance.  His live-in love had begun to cling to him.  She wanted to know his every move, to go with him wherever he went [including the bathroom].  He hardly had one moment to himself, even to study.  It seemed as if she had become obsessed with him.  She had thought that she was giving him exactly what he wanted.  When he tried to talk to her about it, she would cry, and he would relent, allowing her to slip back into her obsessive need to please him.  He didn't have the guts to put a stop to it.

The breaking point occurred when his grades began to slip.  His education was an aspect of his life that could not suffer.  Finally working up his courage, he sat down with her under the guise of 'needing to talk.'  When she heard those words, she was certain he was about to propose.  Of course, his 'talk' had little to do with marriage.  He wanted her to move out, to 'cool down' their relationship so he could regain control over his life again.  His requests were simple, rational, and well thought out.  Of course, she didn't take it exactly as he expected.  He wasn't a total bastard and he expected her to be hurt.  Hell, he was hurt, but there was no other way to go about it.  She didn't say much.  Instead, she quietly went to the bedroom and began to pack up her things.  Without a word, she walked out the door and left the apartment building behind.  He watched from his window as she made her way down the sidewalk and around the corner.  He felt like a bastard and was depressed enough to get falling down standing up drunk.

She didn't have anywhere to go, so she checked into a nearby hotel.  She had loved this man heart and soul.  She couldn't stand the thought of not being in his life any longer.  As she sat in her sparsely furnished hotel room, she gazed down at a picture of him taken when he still wanted her around.  He was smiling his sexy smile.  She couldn't believe it was over, couldn't understand what had gone wrong.  She had given him everything he wanted, and he apparently hadn't appreciated anything she did.  He had probably found another girl, one prettier or better in bed.  The man she had loved so dearly was one she now hated more than life itself.  She tore the picture into tiny pieces.  She took the pieces and threw them into an ashtray.  With her lighter, she lit the pieces aflame.  Smiling, she watched the pieces burn until they became nothing more than ash.  From then on, she decided she would never have any use for men, especially those similar in body type and coloring as her former lover.

Something broke inside her, some fine little branch of sanity had snapped.  Two days later, she had tried to kill him.  It was a simple plan, one that she hadn't thought out well, but one that would end this bastard's life, and perhaps end her suffering at the same time.  He did not deserve to live, especially not after dumping her when she had given him her heart and soul.  She rented a car and drove it to campus.  She knew his routine, knew his schedule better than her own.  She glanced at her watch and noticed that it was right at nine in the morning.  At any moment, he would stride across campus for his next class.  She waited patiently for her chance.  Suddenly, she saw him dart out of a building.  She pressed her foot down on the accelerator and drove right up on the sidewalk.  Dozens of students began screaming and running for cover.  The noise broke his concentration, and he stopped and turned toward the oncoming car.  It was headed straight for him.  He saw the figure of his ex-lover behind the wheel.  He dove behind a nearby statue.  Crazily, she followed right along and slammed the car into the gigantic likeness of the college's founder.

The seatbelt was the only thing that kept her alive, because the car was destroyed all around her.  He immediately came from out behind the statue and walked cautiously over to the car.  Her forehead was bleeding and she appeared to be unconscious.  As he heard the wails of sirens behind him, he went over to the destroyed wreck that had once been an automobile.  Clutched in her left hand was a page torn out of a bridal magazine.  His face was taped onto the 'groom,' and hers on the 'bride.' 

When the ambulance arrived, he was granted permission to accompany her to the hospital.  She was clearly disturbed, and the police weren't even sure if they would arrest her or take her for a psychological evaluation.  Regardless of that, he decided to visit her as soon as she was placed in a room.  It was around two in the morning before she was taken from the ER and admitted into the hospital.  Feeling more than responsible for what she had done, he entered her room with a heavy heart.  The moment she laid eyes on him, she began to scream and spit, clawing at her face and eyes, digging bloody furrows.  He was immediately shuttled out of the room.  He was not allowed to return again, and he was never told what happened to her after she left the hospital.  In his present life, he thought of her in passing, and a part of him would forever feel guilty for what she had suffered, for what he had put her through.

*  *  *

She began to read through the society page and quickly moved onto her favorite part of the paper.  Her eyes caught sight of her former lover's name.  She couldn't believe it.  He had married someone else.  Throughout it all, she maintained her obsessive love for him, but had never heard another word about him since she last saw him.  Today, right in front of her face, she was looking at his name, reading about his marriage, a wedding that should have been hers.  Somehow, some way, she would make them both suffer as she had.  They did not deserve to have the happiness that should have been hers.  This man was one she had loved, was one that should have married her.  She had always had a taste for exacting revenge, but right now, right at this moment, she was hell-bent to find a way to make him pay, to make them both pay.  She didn't care what it took or how many people had to die; this 'happily married' couple would know only pain and suffering.