Quick little oneshot. I'm not too thrilled about it but I wanted some happy(-ish) Salex!

I do like the end though :P

Dedicated to nicolebetkhoodu, because you wanted some Salex!

"Watch out!"

Sean yanked Alex behind the wall to protect her from the bullets flying all around. Did she think she was invincible? If you are outnumbered twelve to two, the former having submachine guns and the latter armed only with two guns and a few spare mags, there are a few rules. Number one: don't, under any circumstance, leave your cover. Number two: don't run up to your enemies and try to take them out using hand-to-hand combat. That stupid heiress had been about to break both, likely getting herself killed in the process. What the hell was she thinking?

His strong arms held her, making sure she stayed in the relative safety behind him, while his chocolate brown eyes were looking into hers, searching for a sign of pain or fear. They found none. He breathed a silent sigh of relief and closed his eyes, before noticing that her body was still flush against his.

Oh, yeah. He was supposed to hate her.

He had though, once upon a time. When she walked into Division for the first time, as confident as if she owned the place, he had thought nothing could ever be as infuriating as the Russian girl had been at that moment. Alexandra Udinov, heir to Zetrov. Also known as the richest, bitchiest assassin in the world.

And then, somewhere along the line, things changed. Perhaps when they were rescuing that little girl, what was her name again, together? He didn't even remember that girl's name. Talia, or some such thing, he thought. The seven-year-old was related to Percy's informants. She was the guy's niece or something. Amanda wanted that informant to turn against Percy, so what better to use than some emotional blackmailing? She had kidnapped the girl and threatened to torture her if the informant didn't turn himself in. When Sean had found out, despite Amanda's attempts to keep the mission off the charts, he had stalked out of Ops fuming, but he was nowhere near as mad as Alex once he'd told her of Amanda's little side project. Once he had told her about the mission, she had been even madder than he had expected. And with the withering glare Alex had shot at Amanda, it wouldn't have surprised Sean if the manipulative bitch had turned into a smothering heap of ash.

"I'm going to save that girl," was the only thing the heiress spat as she stomped off, and Sean had, despite hating and distrusting her, decided to follow her. She was right.

Long story short, they'd saved the girl, and while Sean and Alex were running away from the burning building, the girl in Alex's arms, he had made the mistake of glancing at her face. The look in Alex's eyes as she hugged the tiny blonde to herself had invaded Sean's dreams for days. He couldn't quite figure out why. After all, for all intents and purposes he hated her like he hated no one else.

Or did he?

At that moment, a gun went off right beside Sean's head and he was jolted back into reality. The gun that he thought had killed him and yet had not, was Alex's. Apparently, she had broken free from his hold and was now busy saving both their lives. She was awesome like that. Then again, maybe he was just too much of a dreamer to be an effective Black Ops-agent. Whichever the case, he got out his own gun and started popping off the rest of the money launderer's guns-for-hire. As soon as all of them were down, Alex shot to her feet and practically ran forward. Sean stayed put, watching her as she kicked away guns and checked pulses, firing the occasional bullet between a survivor's eyes. How did she pull it off to look beautiful even when firing a bullet between a guy's eyes to finish him off?

Whatever.

He still hated her.

Hope you like it, please leave me your thoughts, good or bad!