Ok, so, I was trying to write a Secret Agent Man Charlie story, because I love Secret Agent Man Charlie. But it didn't exactly come out as a story. It's more like a collection of one shots centered around the spy-group Charlie's a part of. They're various ratings for various reasons. This one's pretty tame. Some others aren't. Charlie's in most, but not all by a long shot.
Charlie sat at his desk for once, calmly grading papers, his headphones blocking out most, if not all, of the sound coming from the students outside his window. Any minute now, he expected, Don would walk through the door with a glib explanation for why he'd stood Charlie up for dinner; one that would amount, as always, to Don's throwing himself headlong into danger, again. He didn't even look up when the door opened and authoritative footsteps moved to stop beside him, his ingrained awareness of his surroundings the only reason he even noticed with his sound-blocking headset.
He was therefore understandably startled when he felt the cold steel of a blade against the back of his neck. He stiffened, his eyes scanning the room as much as he could without lifting his head and pressing the razor-sharp metal into his skin, but he couldn't see the person holding the knife. They had to be standing directly behind him for him to not be able to see them at all. He suddenly regretted not putting any mirrors in his office, but his reflection moving around distracted him from his work. And anyway, people would make fun of him for 'vanity' if he put up mirrors, even if they didn't know the true purpose behind them. Especially if they didn't know the real reason. And he couldn't tell them. He wasn't supposed to be defense minded like that. He was just supposed to be an absent-minded mathematics professor, who occasionally did some consulting for various government agencies.
He felt a light touch against his cheek and forcefully restrained himself from flinching; as hard as the blade was pressing against him, flinching would get him sliced open, though the blade hadn't yet broken his skin. The fingers pulled his headphones away from his head slowly- ominously even, if ominous could be used to describe such an action. Charlie swallowed heavily as they clattered against his desk before falling off the edge to land on the floor next to his feet. He didn't know what the unknown person was going to say, but given his history and the current situation, it probably wouldn't be anything good. He froze in shock again when he heard the throaty, purring female voice, one that he'd thought he'd never hear again. She'd been presumed dead years ago, after all, after she'd disappeared trying to get to him from the other side of a heated battle-zone. One moment they'd been getting ready for her arrival, and the next she was just gone, her faithful second and lover with her.
"So sloppy, Charlie. Has this soft life really made you so careless?"