A/N: This story is set right after my story "Snow Day." I've felt for a while now that Rachel and Jacob needed to have a conversation about how their relationship would impact their work lives. Then in my story "The Hospital" Rachel casually mentioned a 'stunt' Jacob had pulled in Sacramento. And I thought that story would be fun to tell. Somehow or another the two stories merged in my mind and this is the result. The title of this story is a tribute to a Willie Nelson song.

Disclaimers: Done for fun, not for profit. So WB, JB, and Steven Gallagher have nothing to worry about from me.

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Jacob Hood stared at Rachel Young. His face was blank, but his eyes were pained.

"Fine, but I wish, Agent Young, you had informed me about your change of heart a little earlier. I could have easily arranged for your transfer while you were on vacation. It would have been…less… painful that way."

Jacob turned quickly and vanished through the connecting door to his own room, closing it behind him.

Rachel stared at the closed door, a shocked expression on her face. 'Shit, he thought I meant…?' Shaking her head Rachel flopped down on her bed cursing the case that has brought them to Sacramento, the world at large, and one Dr. Jacob Hood. 'How could someone who's supposed to be so smart be so damned stupid?' She closed her eyes, reviewing recent events.

It had been two weeks since she and Jacob had become lovers. Her lips involuntarily curved into a smile as she remembered that weekend. They had been snowed in together in his DC apartment. Growing up in Arizona, she had always hated the cold and snow, but now she had a new appreciation for it.

That weekend had been perfect. Finding out that Jacob loved her as much as she loved him. Realizing that he had no problem in keeping their relationship from the Bureau. The snow had left them totally isolated and they hadn't left the apartment for two days. They had spent the time talking, watching old movies, and making love. Rachel purred appreciatively as she remembered their love-making.

She had been pleasantly surprised to find that Jacob was so passionate in bed. He had always seemed a bit embarrassed whenever the subject of sex had come up during their cases. Then there was the way he seemed so uncomfortable when women flirted with him, expressed their admiration for him. She had imagined that he would be a gentle, somewhat tentative lover. But Jacob had exhibited in bed the same intense concentration and attention to detail that he brought to his work.

Then there was the talking. Rachel smiled; she had become used to Jacob's need to talk, to explain, to teach. It never occurred to her that Jacob would have the same compulsion to explain what he wanted to do to her in bed. She had been a little shocked, but very turned on, by the explicit, erotic things he whispered as he touched her, made love to her.

Even better was what happened when he finally stopped talking. When his attention had been claimed by her body and he concentrated on skillfully using his hands, his mouth and his cock to bring her to climax again and again. Rachel has once wondered what it would be like, to be the center of that laser-like focus; she shivered pleasurably as she remembered their all too brief time together.

That was the root of their current problem. Their time together had been too brief. Due to circumstances, they had been virtually forced to go their separate ways as soon as the storm had abated. The Director had summoned Jacob to his office the moment they arrived at the Hoover Building that Monday morning. Congress still had not recessed for the year, and the Director made it clear that he was depending on his Special Science Advisor for assistance in lobbying for the proposed funding for all of the FBI's scientific programs.

Since Jacob was spending all of his time with the Director, she had been relegated to doing paperwork in the lab with Felix. When, at the end of the first day she had reported to the Director's office, to escort Dr. Hood home, she found the office empty save for the Director's PA who was packing up. The woman slapped her forehead when she saw Rachel.

"Oh my god," she wailed. "I totally forgot to call you. Dr. Hood and the Director are having dinner with Senator Webb. I was supposed to let you know that you weren't needed tonight."

This had set the pattern for the week. The Director would pick Jacob up in the morning for a breakfast meeting and deliver him home again after some lobbying event. During the day they would see each other only in passing and always with others around. Felix reveled in their unexpected down time. He used the opportunity to sneak out to finish his Christmas shopping.

She found the experience incredibly frustrating. Rachel had been horrified with herself when she realized she had been scanning the news looking for a public health crisis or maybe even a small disaster for them to investigate.

Then, just as Congress headed out of town on Christmas Eve, so did she. Rachel smiled ruefully as she recalled how she had been looking forward to her vacation. She had arranged months ago for the week between Christmas and New Years off. She and her three college roommates had decided to forgo strained holidays with their respective families and spend the week in the Caribbean. She was getting on a plane for Aruba when Jacob finally finished with the Director. She hadn't even been able to say goodbye to him.

Damn, we really should have talked about this when we had the chance. Rachel shook her head. During their weekend, she and Jacob had talked, a lot. But they had talked about themselves, sharing their thoughts, their dreams, their hopes. They had both been reluctant to talk about how they would handle their relationship. The snowstorm had cut them off, stranded them in a world in which they were the only inhabitants. They didn't want the real world intruding on their idyll. They had tacitly assumed that they would work things out as they went along. That they would have the time, and the privacy, to discuss issues as they arose.

It was during her vacation that Rachel realized that keeping their relationship from the ears of the Bureau might not be as easy as they thought. She had been relaxing on the beach with her friends when her cell buzzed, signaling an incoming text message.

Her friend Maria had made a moue of distaste. "I thought we had agreed that this was going to be a real vacation, no calls, no checking emails, no internet access." She reached over and snatched the phone from Rachel's hand. "I knew it! It's from that Dr. Hood of yours. Christ, you keep telling us he's a genius, can't he figure out what a vacation is?"

Rachel tried to grab her cell back; but Maria had already pushed the view message button. Luckily, Jacob had only texted 'call me.'

"Call me, my ass." Maria snorted. She had quickly texted back 'on vacation.' Rachel had protested, which caused her friends to raise their eyebrows. They wondered why he would be calling her. She had to endure their questions about Jacob for the rest of the day.

Later that night she had called him. They agreed that Rachel would initiate all contact, texting first to let him know when it would be safe to call. And that had been the pattern of their communications for the rest of the week. Brief phone calls and text messages at odd hours when they could count on not being disturbed.

Weather had delayed her flight home by a day. She had arrived in DC in mid-afternoon, dumped her things at her apartment and rushed to the Hoover Building. She had no sooner joined Felix and Jacob in the lab, when they received a call from the Director. They were urgently needed on a case in Sacramento. The call had come from a former student of Hood's via the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Livestock Behavioral Research Unit.

The woman was now a professor of Molecular Biology at the California State University at Sacramento. She had been working on producing a genetically altered alfalfa. But the cows fed the alfalfa had died and it looked as if her alfalfa was to blame. She wasn't so sure and the USDA was willing to humor her. They agreed to her request to have Dr. Hood take a look at things.

So she, Felix and Jacob had scrambled to board the next flight to California. She and Jacob didn't even have a chance to talk during the flight. Due to the post-holiday crush, the three shared a row. Rachel was squashed into the middle seat between Felix and Jacob. By the time they reached their hotel it was late and Rachel had been in transit for almost 36 hours. She was exhausted, grubby, and more than a little upset by her inability to talk privately with Jacob.

Felix had settled into the room across the hall. Rachel quickly cleared Jacob's room and unlocked the connecting door. She then grabbed her suitcase and went to her own room. Dropping her things on her bed, she opened the connecting door. Jacob was waiting on the other side and he had immediately swept her into a kiss.

For a moment they stood, pressed together. Then Jacob broke off the kiss to bury his face in her neck. "I've missed you so much," he murmured. He began kissing and nipping her neck, his hands roaming over her body. "You feel so good. I've dreamed about fucking you, being inside you again." His hands quickly slid down to her ass, pressing her up against him. "I need to feel you under me, around me." Just as he began walking her backward into her room, Rachel had pushed against his chest.

"Wait, no, we can't do this." Breaking away from his embrace, she had pushed him gently away from her. "We can't be together like this. It isn't a good idea Hood. We…."

"Rachel, why? My god, I've missed you, wanted you so much…" Jacob had reached for her and then froze; a look of pained realization crossed his face as her words registered. "Fine, but I wish, Agent Young, you had informed me about your change of heart a little earlier. I could have easily arranged for your transfer while you were on vacation. It would have been…less… painful that way."

Jacob had then turned quickly and vanished through the connecting door to his own room closing it behind him.

Rachel reluctantly opened her eyes. She was so damned tired, but she had to deal with this issue with Jacob right away. They needed to talk. It was long overdue and it really couldn't wait until morning. She rose from the bed and went to the connecting door.

"Hood, we need to talk," Rachel called out as she pushed on the door. To her surprise, it was locked on his side. Rachel's mouth dropped open. 'Damn him! He's thinks he can lock me out?' Rachel rapped on the door sharply. "Open the door, we need to talk." She was meant with a resounding silence. 'Ok, be like that.'

Grabbing the keycard from her desk, Rachel marched down the hall to Hood's door. She quickly slid the keycard through the lock and was relieved, and slightly pissed, when the lock glowed green. Relieved she could get into the room. Pissed that Hood had forgotten, once again, to secure the door after she left.

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Jacob sat on the bed, leaning against the headboard, his legs drawn up, his hands loosely resting on his knees. He took a sip of the cheap scotch from the minibar and grimaced. It wasn't the best, but it would get the job done. He took pleasure in the fact that in addition to providing him with some much needed anesthesia, it would piss off Rachel, no he corrected himself, it would piss off Agent Young, that he had once again raided the minibar.

He bleakly stared at the amber liquid in his glass, ignoring Rach, Agent Young's knocks on the connecting door. He wondered how he could have been so stupid. To believe that she could really love him, care for him. To believe all the things she had told him. He shrugged, maybe she did mean them then, maybe it was when she was away from him that the reality of what they were doing hit her. How being with him meant that she would eventually have to give up her career. A career that obviously meant more to her than he did.

Jacob closed his eyes wearily. He would have to come up with a plausible reason to get rid of her. They had been together so long; Frank would be suspicious if he demanded a new handler out of the blue. 'Maybe I should tell him the truth – Hey Frank, I finally fucked my handler, like they all thought I did months ago. It didn't work out, so can I get rid of her?' Even as he thought it, Jacob knew he couldn't do that to her. It would destroy her and even hurting as badly as he was, he didn't want that. She would have to request a transfer. That would probably be best.

The worst part would be telling Alex. Alex had overhead him on the phone with her. She had questioned him about his feelings for Rachel. He had admitted that, yes, the relationship had changed. He had stupidly told Alex that they were in love. She had been happy for him, for them. Now he had to let her know that, once again, his heart was broken.

He didn't bother to open his eyes when he heard her at the door. He figured that she wouldn't let a little thing like a locked door keep her out. But it didn't mean he had to pay attention to her. And it certainly didn't mean he had to listen to her tell him what a mistake she had made by sleeping with him.

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Closing the door behind her, Rachel automatically flipped the deadbolt. She moved over toward the bed and stood, arms crossed and surveyed Hood. He was sitting on the bed, eyes closed and his head thrown back against the headboard. His hands were resting on his drawn up knees and they loosely held a glass half filled with what she assumed was scotch.

"Well," she began, "I don't know what pisses me off more."

"Get out." Jacob's eyes remained closed. "Get the hell out of my room. I don't think it's a good idea for you to be in here Agent Young."

"We need to talk, and I'm not leaving until that happens."

"Fine, then I'm leaving." Jacob slammed his glass on the nightstand and stood to push past her.

Rachel let him get a half step beyond her. She reached out and snagged the back of his belt. She swung Hood slightly to one side and kicked his legs out from underneath him. Using his momentum as he sprawled backward onto the bed, she went down with him. One of her knees was on the bed, the other firmly planted on his stomach, her weight pinning him down. Her left hand was beside his head, her right hand around his throat. To keep him from moving, from trying to buck her off, his head was forced back.

Jacob looked up at her, his eyes wide with shock. "Rachel?"

"So, we need to talk, 'kay?"

Jacob swallowed nervously and nodded. Rachel shifted to one side and he sat up, once again leaning against the headboard. He rubbed his throat. "What do you want to talk about?"

"Mostly about how pissed off I am with you."

"You're pissed off?" Jacob was outraged. "You calmly tell me that you think our being together is a bad idea and you're pissed off?"

Rachel sat crossed-legged on the bed facing him. "Yes, I'm pissed." She held up a hand to stop his interruption. "I'm pissed that you tried to lock me out. I'm pissed that you forgot again to secure your door. I'm doubly pissed that you not only got into the minibar but that you're drinking on the job."

She reached out and took his hands in hers. "But I am mostly pissed that you jumped to conclusions about my feeling for you. That you didn't let me explain."

Jacob tried to pull his hands away, but Rachel tightened her grip. "You said we were a bad idea. I think that's pretty self-explanatory."

"No, I didn't."

"Damn it; don't tell me I'm imagining things Rachel. I know what I heard."

"I said that we can't be together…"

"And that we were a bad idea. Trust me; I remember your words all too clearly." Jacob stared down at their clasped hands.

Rachel tipped Jacob's face up. "You're jumping to conclusions again. I did not say that we were a bad idea. Do you happen to recall what you were doing when I said that we couldn't be together?"

"I was kissing you."

Rachel sniffed. "You were doing a hell of a lot more than that Dr. Hood." Her lips quirked in a half smile. "You were doing your damnedest to get me into bed."

"And you said that we couldn't, that it would be a bad idea. And you called me Hood." Jacob looked at Rachel sadly. "You stopped calling me Hood when you told me you loved me. What other conclusion could I, should I draw from what you said?"

Rachel melted at the look on his face. "Oh, Jacob, baby, it's nothing like that." She leaned forward and took his face in her hands and kissed him hard. She broke off the kiss to lean her forehead against his, caressing his cheeks with her thumbs. "No, baby, it's nothing like that."

Jacob sighed with relief. "Then what did you mean?" He attempted to pull Rachel into his lap.

Rachel resisted. "This is what we can't do Jacob."

"What?"

"We can't be together, can't sleep together when we're in the field."

"Why not?" Jacob frowned. "I thought that was why we agreed to keep our relationship from the Bureau, so that we could be together."

Rachel looked at him unhappily. "I think we were a little naïve. I know we agreed that we would keep our relationship from the Bureau, but we didn't talk about how we were going to, well, handle, explain, things. It didn't occur to me, until I went on vacation, how hard it would be. That it's not just the Bureau we have to worry about. It's other people as well."

"How could our relationship come up when you were on vacation? I wasn't there!"

"Yes, you were." Rachel leaned over and touched Jacob lightly on the head. "You were with me here." She moved her hand to his chest. "And here. I thought about you constantly, missed you, wished you were with me."

"And that was a problem?"

"Well, I wasn't behaving the way my friends expected. They wanted to know why."

Jacob's brow creased. "What are you talking about?" His eyes narrowed. "Exactly what kind of vacation did you have planned? I thought you said you were going on a 'girl's beach week'?"

"I did. A girl's beach week at a single's resort in Aruba. My friends couldn't understand my, uh…" A smile tugged at Rachel's lips. "…commitment to celibacy. I mean, I couldn't exactly tell them why I suddenly had no interest in any available man."

"What did you tell them?"

"Mostly the truth. I never told them how serious it was when I got shot last spring. That I almost died. How badly my leg was injured; how tough the rehab was. I told them I was tired and just wanted to chill."

Rachel shrugged. "It didn't hurt when they saw how some guys around the pool reacted to my scar. They could understand that I wouldn't want to deal with that."

Jacob frowned. "I suppose you're right, we do need to talk about how we deal with people. But what does that have to do with us not sleeping together when we're in the field? With you calling me Hood?"

He reached out and gently ran a finger down her face. "To be honest, that hurt as much as you saying we were a bad idea."

"It's all part of dealing with people. I've always called you Hood. If I started calling you Jacob, Felix, other people might wonder why."

"Yes, I can see where you'd call me that in public. But we're alone. Surely those rules don't apply now. Why can't we just forget about the Bureau and Felix and all the rest of it until morning?" He reached for her again. "I want you so damned bad it hurts Rachel."

Rachel batted his hands away. "Do you think I like this any more than you do? I missed you too. It felt good to be in your arms, to be kissing you again. Don't you think that I'd like to make love to you all night long? But we can't."

"Why not? We both want this and we're finally alone."

Rachel sighed and reached out to touch Jacob's face. "It wouldn't be practical. Too many things could go wrong." She shook her head stubbornly. "No, I have to think of you as Hood when we're working. I have to keep treating you as I've always done. I have to keep Hood my assignment separate from Jacob my lover. Otherwise, I might slip. Besides, we're never really alone when we're working, in the field. That's why we can't sleep together."

"I hate to be the one to point this out, but we're alone right now." Jacob smiled and reached out to pull Rachel into his arms. "We have been for some time."

"We're not really alone." Rachel argued. "We could be interrupted at any time. You know that. Felix could come to the door, the local LEO's or the local field office could decide they needed to check in, we could be called out to a crime scene."

Jacob began to protest, but as if on cue, there was a knock at the door.

"Doc? Agent Young? I was wondering if you two wanted to get something to eat," called out Felix.

Rachel began to laugh at the look on Jacob's face.

"Did you plan this?" He whispered.

Shaking her head Rachel went to open the door to Felix. He sauntered into the room with several sheets of paper in hand.

"Hey, Doc, ma'am," he greeted them. "I know it's late, but I gotta say, I'm starved. You two interested in some dinner?"

Rachel scrunched up her nose. "I am hungry," she admitted. "But I'm so damned tired I don't want to go out. Would you mind bringing us something back?"

"No need to go anywhere," Felix assured her. "This place doesn't run to room service, but I checked with the kid at the desk. He gave me menus from a coupla of places close by that deliver." He held up one menu, "says that this place has the best pizza in the area."

"Good job, Felix." Rachel looked at Jacob inquiringly. He shrugged negligently.

"Yeah, sounds ok to me."

"Why don't you order us a couple of pizzas while I take a shower," Rachel told him. "I don't care what you order, anything is fine with me."

"Sure thing, ma'am." Felix winked at her. "How about I get one with anchovies?" They both laughed at Jacob's expression of distaste. "Or maybe not."

Rachel made her way into her own room. "Don't forget to order some sodas with the pizza, we don't need any raids on the minibar." she called out over her shoulder.

Felix, already on the phone, scrunched up his face and shook his head. As if he would forget to do that. Agent Young had made the minibar rule more than clear when he joined the team. The order placed, Felix flipped his phone closed and proceeded to make himself comfortable.

"So Doc, what's the deal…." Felix broke off with a frown. He glanced at Jacob disapprovingly. "Is that whiskey in that glass? Have you been into the minibar? And drinking? Geez, are you trying to make Agent Young go nuclear on your ass or what?"

Jacob looked at Felix impatiently. "Technically, it's scotch. For which I will happily reimburse the Bureau. It was a long and tiring trip. If I want to have a drink…"

Felix held up his hands. "Just trying to give a friendly warning Doc. You might want to get rid of the evidence before she notices."

Jacob's lips twitched. "She already noticed and reamed me out. But I have to admit, her heart didn't seem to be in it. I guess she really is tired."

Felix's eyebrows rose. "Yeah, she did say she was tired. That's kind of strange. I mean, why would Agent Young be…"

"Why would I be what?" Rachel asked. She was dressed in flannel pants and a t-shirt; her damp hair hung around her shoulders. She was in the process of tucking her weapon into the waistband at the small of her back.

"So tired. I mean, you're coming back from a week off. That must have been a hell of a vacation," Felix teased.

"The vacation was fine." Rachel said. "It was getting back from Aruba that was hell. Everything that could go wrong did. I should have been back in DC yesterday afternoon; instead, I only got back an hour or so before I met up with you two at the Hoover Building."

"Ohhh, Aruba," Felix smirked. "So you had a week of fun in the sun…." He broke off at a knock on the door. He and Rachel exchanged looks. "That can't be our pizzas already."

"Oh for heaven's sake." Jacob took a step toward the door. "You two are over-reacting."

Drawing her weapon, Rachel blocked Jacob's path. "Hood, floor," she spat out quietly. Jacob's protest died at the look on her face. Sighing, he obediently sank to the floor, the bed between him and the door.

She nodded toward Felix, indicating that he should approach the door. Felix nodded back in acknowledgement and drawing his weapon he quietly made his way across the room. Just as he put his hand on the knob, the knock sounded again. He crouched to look out the peephole in the door.

"Unknown woman, has her hand in her coat pocket, might be armed," he reported quietly.

Felix glanced back at Rachel. She was standing with her weapon level. She would have a clear shot at whoever was on the other side of that door. He gave her a questioning look and she nodded to indicate that she was ready. Felix threw open the door and pointed his weapon directly in the face of the person standing there.

"FBI!" he bellowed. "Show me your hands!"

The object of Felix's attention was a short young woman with wispy brown hair and a worried expression. At the sight, and sound, of Felix and his gun, she promptly fainted at his feet.

Felix looked down at the woman stunned. Carefully keeping his weapon trained upon her, he stooped to check her vitals. He looked up at Rachel. "Uh, ma'am? She's out cold." He hastily re-holstered his weapon.

Sliding her gun back into her waistband Rachel joined Felix at the door. Looking down at the woman she frowned. "Huh, wonder who she is?"

Peering over Rachel's shoulder, Jacob let out a sigh. "She's Dr. Gina Dawkins, she's the reason we're here."