He was given 10 minutes with her.

10 minutes until he would never see his wife, his one true love again.

10 minutes until the life he had loved, the one which he had planned to live since he could imagine such a life would be ripped from his grasp.

"Edward". It was a whisper but he heard it the moment it left her mouth. He had to bite his lip in order to not say the words eager to spill from his lips. His eyes were closed, the strength he felt just seconds before, leaving him in the same period of time. He couldn't do it. He couldn't see the woman his wife had become. He couldn't taint his memory of her.

"I-" There was nothing to say. He began to walk away from the situation. He. Couldn't . Do. It. Jade, had with no doubt noticed his receding footsteps and would have understood what it meant.

"Edward please." Her voice cracked on that last word, the desperation she had hid for so many years seeping through for the only person she would willing show her vulnerability to. He stopped walking. The emotions her voice could bring up were overwhelming him; it had been years, but at that moment, her control over him was equal to the beginning of their relationship. "I need to see you. To feel you… I need to know you're real." She was whispering once more, having given up on his return. The only sound heard was her sobs echoing through the prison. She was clinging to the bars as if for dear life, her legs losing all their strength at his decision, making her unable to stand, her head down, losing all strength and pride at this rejection.

But then she felt it. That warm, calloused finger brushing away her tears, the hand caressing her face, soothing her fears.

Her breath got caught in her chest. She looked up at him.

As a trained spy, he had been taught how to read people. And her eyes… they were broken, oh so terribly broken. They showed her fear to hope after all these years, her love for him, her pain.

He couldn't NOT do this.

"Baby doll, oh my baby." And they were back at the beginning. He had never disappeared; she had never betrayed the country. They were simply Edward and Jade, two crazily in love adults, who were so driven by passion that they were willing to risk everything when it came to the other.

The kiss, was the exact same.

Pure instinct is what lead him to kiss her, regardless of the security cameras, the guards he knew were there.

Regardless that they were on opposite sides of the prison bars.

He pressed forward, the bars agonizingly pushing into his face, but he needed it. He needed her.

And she was the same.

No handcuffs were on her; the chance of escape after the collapse of SKUL was zero. And these free hands manoeuvred themselves instinctively around his waist, pulling him towards her. They both knew of the scarcity of time that would have together, and they both made an equal effort to re familiarize themselves with the other.

They settled on floor, the previous days finally catching up on their emotionally exhausted souls. But even in that moment they refused to let go of each other, interlocking fingers between the bars that separated more than just their physical bodies.

"Well this just sucks," he sighed in exasperation.

"What sucks darling?" She was smirking at his choice of words, trying to ignore the stab of pain in her heart knowing where –who was influencing his language. Knowing that he wouldn't want to see his mother.

"That you're in there. And not here. With me. In my arms." The look she gave him made him feel all the more worse. The love radiating from her was almost tangible, but he wanted more. He wanted her. And he couldn't get her.

"Why don't you just enter?"

"I can't. I don't know the code." She scoffed at his excuse and told him a certain pattern. Deciding to amuse her he typed it in and deciding to hide his emotions, he didn't show the shock and wonder of her knowing it. He knew he should be concerned that the "security" of the MI9 prison had been breached, but there was a time and a place for everything.

As soon as he entered she pounced.

But this time there were no bars to stop her.

She assaulted his lips, claiming them once more, sighing as he did the same. The bars were uncomfortable, pressing into her back hard enough to leave bruises. But it was the man who was pressing her against the bars, the man in front of her that made all of them worth it.

They pulled away breathless. She was still amazed that he was real, that he was here… that he still cared. He knew better than anyone else how it felt to love someone the way she did and not have them. He knew the crippling pain felt, but he also knew that unbelievable bliss felt when they were finally reunited.

-EDH. JDH-

"Wow." A childish grin that spread across his face. He moved to her bed, sitting on it and pulling Jade –not to gently mind you- into his lap. Not that she had any complaints. "Why- why didn't you do that before? Why didn't you just escape- you could take all the guards easily." This was not the concern, this was his curiosity.

"There was nothing to escape to." Her voice was emotionless. Dead. He couldn't help but wonder what else had died in her, what else had occurred to make her like this. And they remained like that for a few moments, simply basking in their love for each other. There was so much that needed to be said, so much that remain unspoken. Both didn't know how to bring it up, but both were content in their moment together. It was Jade who ultimately broke the serene moment surrounding them.

"So what happened to you? How did you escape Africa?" It was almost a childlike eagerness and innocence present in her face. She wanted to know how her Prince Charming was able to come back and sweep her off her feet as he had done years ago.

"Oh it was an interesting situation. A lot of the people over there were starving" he hesitated before continuing "so when you're a captive, the food provided isn't very plentiful." He felt her tense up; he felt her cling to him tighter, as if he may disappear back there by the mere mention of the place. "I was there for 9 years. I… the things they did to me Jade, it wasn't good. I only got through it because I knew you would be waiting for me, because I promised you I would never leave you again and I wanted to apologise." He could feel the tears begging to be released by he held them in. He wanted to remain strong for her.

"How- how did you escape then?" Her voice shook, unable to hide the shock of what she had heard and the fear of what she didn't know.

"A rival gang had found me and the rest of the prisoners. They- they killed them all, but they spared me." He could feel her eyes bearing into him, looking straight into his soul. "They knew I was MI9 and thought that if I got back I would be able to report it all to the UK authorities. Once the gang would be brought down my rescuers would have no threat in their province." He bit his lip, contemplating whether he should continue or not. He knew she would be curious- he knew she should know. But the consequences for his actions may be too much at this time. But he had to tell her. Tell her everything. "When I got into England, I was already going by a different name. I was dirty, poor… a perfect SKUL operative. They thought that I could be swayed by a few amenities and so they took me under their wings. And I've spent all this time planning their demise."

"You were undercover all these years?" The heart break and betrayal were interlaced with every word. "At SKUL? And you never contacted me to say you were alive?"

"I couldn't." It was a weak excuse and he knew it. He contacted no one throughout his self-appointed vendetta mission. Aiming to destroy the organisation that successfully corrupted his wife and ruined his family.

"And why not? I was a high ranking official, heck I was second in command. I knew all their secrets, I could have helped you, I would have been there by your side. Just like before… just like I promised." She may have started off a steam engine, running off the rage but that energy quickly died.

"I... I didn't know if I could trust you." She recoiled immediately. She was closing herself off, he noticed. He found it amazing that even after all this time he still knew what she was doing in a mere glance in her direction. "No, Jade. Don't do that. Talk to me." He was met with silence.

"Please baby doll. We don't have that long together now." He reached out to her, pulling her back to his side without any resistance. "Please, just tell me why?" It was a loaded question and he knew it. The answer was something he was fairly certain he didn't want to hear. But he had to know, he had to be able to understand.

"What are you referring to?"

"Why did you do it? Why did you betray MI9?" Her reaction was not what was expected; shame and guilt maybe, but not the consuming rage that seemed to take over.

"BETRAYAL?! Darling, you don't seem to know the definition. This SYSTEM defines the word. Do you know what I had to go through? What they did?!" The anger was astounding to say the least. Jade –the Jade he knew and married- never rose her voice to anyone.

"Well, what did they do?" He was met with silence. He anticipated it, after all- to accuse Jade of all people to be untrustworthy would warrant such a reaction from her. But she was still in his embrace, and he would be content with that.

"They sent no one to Africa to find you." He wasn't expecting a response, but now he had one he was listening intently, wanting to do nothing that might make her close off once more. He ignored the feeling of spite bubbling in him, although it was justifiable, he would just need to handle it later on. "You were their greatest agent, you weren't even supposed to be on that mission, but you did it. For them. And they left you for dead. Not a single agent was sent – and I hated them for that." It was true, both him and Jade and stopped taking an active role in fieldwork after Oscar. There was much more at stake than their individual lives. But the head had pleaded, begged that he accept the mission. The other half of the deadly duo wasn't required in the mission and so, he concluded, it wouldn't be that dangerous. He would make it back in time for Oscar's birthday. He was wrong.

"But Jade-" She cut him off before he could continue.

"And you know how the chances of finding someone are statistically higher in the first month. Well, I had 3 months of paid leave that I had collected. And I decided that if they were not going to send someone than I would go myself. Christie owed me a favour and well…" she drifted off into silence getting lost in the memories that had been haunting her for close to a decade. "She was to take care of Oscar. I did all the legal documents so, if I was to disappear too, she would take him in."

"And, what happened over there?" He was rubbing her arms gently, relaxing her as he had done when she was pregnant with Oscar and her hormones playing up.

"That's the thing," a caustic laugh escaping her lips at the memory. "I wasn't allowed to go. I mean, had they said that I would have been too emotionally involved I would have accepted it. But the head wouldn't even let Stark take over. He had just as much leave and was more than willing to go over. But they wouldn't let anyone. They didn't want to 'risk it.' You risked your life for them year after year and they wouldn't even let us use our own holiday to look for you." She looked at him, pleading with her eyes for him to understand what happened to her. "They sent a notice to every person on the Interpol listings that, in no uncertain terms, looking for you would result in severe consequences. They black-listed Morocco, no mission was taken over there for over a year." He could feel his heart breaking all over again. He knew the pain he felt when he found out that Jade –his Jade- had started working for SKUL. But to imagine the pain that she must have felt to not even have the certainty that he was either alive or dead, and to know that the answers were so tantalisingly close but was stopped by the people responsible for the entire situation was impossible.

And to be reminded of that fact every single moment she looked at Oscar or went to work.

Every time she lay in their bed, with no one to hold her as her worst nightmares plagued her reality and fantasy.

"They took away my leave, knowing I would somehow end up in Morocco. They couldn't get their best agents to tail me because… well we were it." A small burst of pride welled up in his chest with the knowledge that they were the top. "And they refused to let me quit." She took a small glance at his face and snorted at the shock written all across it. "I lost you and I would be damned if I lost Oscar as well. Or... or if he lost me." And lost is just how Jade seemed. "I wanted to raise Oscar, I wouldn't let him become like me, with nobody to rely on. With nobody at all." He knew how much family meant to her. After being orphaned by the age of six, going through more foster homes than there were in the entire nation of Australia, after being abused in more than a dozen of them, he knew Jade would hate doing that to her own son. "But they wouldn't let me. I was one of their greatest agents and they would not let me go at such a young age. After all, who could I possibly complain to?" She sniffed, had he known her any less he would have thought she was sick or cold. But he knew she was physically fighting back her tears.

"But-but baby doll, why did you stay with SKUL?"

"You don't get it! They almost killed you and they didn't even have the decency to send a search party to bring you back home. To your family. Then- then they have the audacity to ban anyone for even searching for you… The day you were declared missing… you weren't the only one that was gone." The sobs that racked her body were causing Edward physical pain. And then there was her next statement. The statement that caused his blood to freeze, his heart to stop, his eyes to see red.

The statement that, in addition to everything he had heard so far, made him completely understand what Jade felt.

"They wanted to take away Oscar from me too." He blinked repeatedly as the statement hit him.

"Wh-what?"

"They wanted me to start working full time and so they wanted to take him away again. My baby, our baby, my last reminder of you, my only family left, the only person alive I cared about… my child damn it! They wanted to take him away and send him…" Somehow, hearing it again didn't make him feel any better. Especially hearing her voice crack on her last word, unable to finish yet another sentence. So overcome by emotion because of something that occurred a decade ago.

"I was going to escape the country but they got him. They took my son away from me." And once again he saw the broken woman that replaced his wife. She had gone through so much as a child, as an adolescent, as an adult. But it took less than a year to break her. Her hollow voice spoke one last time. "I had nothing and no one, and all I wanted to see was MI9 suffer."

The emotions were running high at that moment. He was trying to calm Jade down knowing that she needed to do the same thing for him.

He understood. And he felt her hatred.

They may blame her, but they did this to her.

She didn't leave – she was pushed into it.

"You have me now baby doll. You have me and I am not going to leave you again. Scout's honour." She raised an eyebrow at the statement, as if mocking him.

"You were never a scout when you were younger. You were rejected remember?"

"I'm ignoring that jab. Speaking of being young, it seems our son has grown up. I think he has a girlfriend now." He chuckled when remembering his sons shocked expression when Rose flung herself at him.

"The geeky one? Wow, I thought they would have been together ages ago." She didn't need to see his face to know that there was a look of absolute shock plastered on it. "What? They went on a mission to… rescue me. Oscar was untrusting, as usual, and his little girlfriend struggled to make it out of the sewers on time." She smiled slightly at the recollection. "He gave me a look that would kill, and he rushed into there so fast. The look of relief when he saw her alive, the love that he had…" she struggled to continue, every time she thought of that moment she was transported 20 years in the past. And it was no longer Oscar and Rose, but herself and Edward. "It reminded me of the day you proposed."

The plan was perfect.

The past three years had been the best years of his life. All because of her.

And he planned on making that a permanent lifestyle.

This was a routine mission, the two of them deep in the Amazon jungle, hunting down a group of drug smugglers sending fake illicit drugs into Great Britain, these counterfeit drugs having more damage than the real things. It would only last a week, before they caught the people and stopped the shippings worth millions of dollar from entering the nation. The Head would walk up to them and ask if Agent Dixon-Halliday would write up the report, to which he would reply "which one?" He could already predict the look of confusion on Jade's face, his unsuspecting angel not putting the clues together until he would bend down in one knee and pull out the ring.

Cue romantic speech, water works and lots of love. And the avoidance of paperwork.

The plan was perfect- except for one thing.

Jade had to come out alive from the mission.

And the longer she remained in the cave, the unstable, crumbling down, dangerous cave, the less likely it was that she would come out. And that was bad.

And Edward couldn't handle the wait any longer. Ignoring the warning and string of insults shouted by the guide in Portuguese, he ran into the cave.

"Jade? Jade!" He knew he shouldn't shout, the vibrations could easily set off the collapse of the cave, but he didn't care. All he could imagine was his baby doll lying there under a boulder, bleeding at unnatural rates, looking for him where he would not be found, disappointed and heartbroken at his actions. "Jade, oh goodness, answer me baby doll."

And that's when he saw her.

She was fine, of course.

Walking normally, a look of relief flooded her face as she saw him.

"Thank goodness you found me. I thought I was going to be lost in this labyrinth forever." She smiled as if there was nothing wrong with what she said. As if the cave wasn't going to collapse in T minus 3 minutes. As if every shudder of the natural wonder couldn't easily end their lives.

"Jade!" No matter what her reactions were, he couldn't stop running to her, pressing his mouth against hers, amazed that she was real. And she was his. When he pulled away, unable to stop himself caressing her face, she smiled.

T minus 2.3 minutes. And he took 4 to find her.

"Jade?" He knew what he had to do. The chances of their escape were approaching zero and he knew there was no way he planned on dying without knowing the answer to his prayers.

"Hmmm?" she giggled softly to herself, still seemingly drunk off his spontaneous act of romance.

"I know this isn't exactly what you what you expect. And I had this all planned out but we may not make it out alive… we, in all probability, can't make it out alive. But there is one thing I've got to know…" And so he went down on one knee and pulled out the ring. She sobered immediately. "If I die, the only regret I would have is not knowing whether you would agree to being my wife. And I refuse to leave until you answer. I've risked it so many damn times and I'm not making the same mistake a-" He got cut off by her lips pressing themselves earnestly against his. Her vocal chords seemed to stop momentarily and so she answered the question the only way she could. But, before he could respond, she pulled away and started running in the direction he had arrived. He stood there momentarily confused, but when he noticed she wasn't slowing down he sprinted after her.

"You took your time." She struggled to get that sentence out, with all her energy directed towards exiting the cave before its untimely demise.

"W- we aren't going to make it."

"Oh yes we are." She had to grunt out that response, not wanting for a second for him to give up. "There is no way I plan on letting us die, especially now I have something to live for."

They were found after a few hours, their guide having left and contacted the national police force. They were found a few metres in the cave's entrance. She escaped with a few fractured ribs, he suffered a severe concussion which left him in an unconscious state.

For 5 months.

And when he awoke, his baby doll was the first thing that he saw. And somewhere, in the back of his mind, he wished that there would be many years to come where that would occur.

Except for the tears, Edward decided that he wouldn't survive a week if those tears were present. Jade, with all her years training and fieldwork experience, didn't notice that he had awoken. Although, even if her eyes were open at the time, the tears that had been continuously flowing for all those months did hinder her ability to see clearly. But the moment that his fingers reached her face, wiping away the tears that were slowly making their way down her face she knew. And he knew she knew. Her breath hitched and she quickly tried to wipe away the tears that were still streaming down her face.

"E-Edward? Please let this not be another dream." He knew he should have been consoling her, alleviating her of all the fears, but he was distracted by something.

A big something.

.

.

.

She was wearing his mother's ring. On her engagement finger.

.

.

.

And then all his memories came flooding back.

"Jade?" And with that she flung herself at him. It didn't hurt as much as he expected, after all the 5 months of healing did do some good, but his muscles were still sore all the same. But he loved her and that more than made up for this temporary physical suffering. "You're... you're wearing the ring." The shock in his voice melted her heart just that little bit more.

"Of course I am."

"So… so we're engaged? We're gonna get married? You're gonna be my wife?" The smile that spread across his face as he asked the barrage of questioned almost doubled when he felt her nuzzle into the crook of his neck. Her cinnamon scent wafted into his nostrils, calming him in a way only she could. "We're going to have a family?" It was a mere whisper but she heard it. She would always hear everything he had to say.

"Only on one condition." She shifted herself –still wary of his injuries, although his body did heal quite well when he was unconscious- so that she could look him in the eyes. The love that was radiating from them, a love that she knew was reflected in her own, was overpowering. She almost didn't continue, losing herself in him and the future that they would spend together. Almost- had the teasing smirk not been on his face. She stuck her tongue out at him before resuming her original position, curled into his side. For a while she didn't respond, teasing him mercilessly in anticipation. He knew that whatever the condition was he would do it for as long as he was alive.

"Well?" It was a soft whisper, but she caught it.

"You never, ever, ever leave me like that."

And he knew that he would not struggle with that condition at all.

It was then he heard the footsteps.

His time was up.

Jade seemed to have sense it as well, because she got up from next to him and typed in the code almost robotically. He got out but took his place before, next to the bars. As close to her as he possibly could.

-EDH. JDH-

"I'll sign the papers." Those simple words that seemed almost poisonous to even utter for Jade just brought a wave of confusion to Edward.

"What? What papers are you referring to?" The ominous footsteps that were coming closer with each passing step just heightened the anxiety he was feeling.

"You deserve to be able to live your life. You're still young, good looking- any lady would be stupid not to want you..." She was rambling now, looking downward, almost ashamed to even face her husband at the moment.

"What? Jade, you're not making any sense."

"… You can still have a happy life with Oscar." It was then that she decided to look him in the eyes, and that look still was able to take away his breath. He would always forget just how expressive her eyes were, how they could convey so much emotion in a simple glance. He could physically feel the heartache she was going through, the pain of saying the words, the indecision she was facing. "Just, please, tell him that no matter how much his other mother may love him, I will always love him more."

And then he understood everything.

"WHAT?! Jade, I am not going to divorce you. Why would you even think that?" She looked away yet again, biting her lip, contemplating whether to continue or not. But he was not going to stand for it. His actions may have been rough, but he would not let this conversation continue, especially with the way it was going. "I made you a promise on our wedding day. A promise to stand by you in thick and thin. A promise to be there through it all." His hand found her face and tilted it toward him, trying to force her to look him in the eyes.

"I made you promises too Eddie. But guess what – I cannot fulfil them in here. I'm pretty sure that makes our contact null and void." He saw the tears, the tears that she had been fighting since the beginning were re-emerging. "I can't be the wife you wanted, the lover you desired, to mother to our only child. I cannot be any of that you because you are there and I am here. I'll never be free and I cannot let you be chained to someone like that." The footsteps were rounding the corner; he had less than a minute to spend with his wife.

And he did not plan on spending it talking about that.

"Baby doll, I am not leaving. I would never consider it. I lasted this long without someone else- my memory of you got me this far,"

"You say that now…" She left the rest of the hanging, they both knew how it would end.

He needed to shut her up. And so he did.

It was a bittersweet moment, really. He could taste the saltiness of her tears that were rolling down her face. The lingering smell of her cinnamon perfume still was able to bring the almost teenage lack of control from within him. It was passionate, all their embraces were, but this passion also fuelled his pain. This would be the last time for a long, long time.

The guards had the respect to silently stand there while Edward gave his final kiss to the traitor. To his loyal wife. To Jade.

He pulled away slightly, smiling at the whimper that escaped her lips when the contact ended. Her eyelids were still too heavy to lift, but with the feeling of his breath sending all her nerves in a frenzy, with his lips accidentally brushing against hers when he spoke- Jade was content. "I love you my baby doll. Always have, always will. And I will find a way to get you out of here." The look on her face presented one of disbelief, but he wasn't just saying it. He was promising it. "Give me two years and you'll be moving in with me in a cottage in countryside. Just like you always wanted."

And with a fake smile at the guards, he walked away.

.

.

.

After all, he was planning an impromptu meeting with the head of MI9.

Thank goodness this thing is done. It's been irritating me for a while. It was actually supposed to be a small part of another fic. I wanted to write but, I liked this one more. This is due to me being an Evil Regal (long live the Evil Queen) and well… I couldn't help but applying the logic to M. I. High.

So, the additional back-story to this: Stark was their best friend before Morocco (oh yeah, Edward was declared missing in Morocco), but when he refused to go against the Head's orders it severed all ties with Jade. His spying ability also went downhill because he lost his two best friends (it's also why he trusted Jade so extensively when she supposedly 'returned') but it is the reason he got promoted.
Both Jade and Edward are orphans; that's why Oscar went to other people instead of being raised by his family.

...

So, tell me what you think, whether I captured Jade's emotions properly (because I was starting to hate MI9 after writing this) .Or whether I should actually write the original fic. (It is a Rose/Oscar story because, hello, I love a Roscar Romance ;D)

...

By the way – what is with the influx of the new season's stories? Where is my Oscar and my Rose? Frank and Carrie? Stark? Some people don't want spoilers :(