They met like any normal person would, but she felt like it was a fairy tale. Who would have thought bumping into someone at the bookstore would actually lead to something more, to romance even? Caroline had been jaded for so long about love that she'd become acquainted with having no lasting relationships, just rendezvous and liaisons. But he was different. The air around him made her feel lighter and the innocence was refreshing.
"I'm so sorry," he apologized, quickly getting to his knees to pick up her fallen books.
She let out a light laugh and crouched down to help pick up the thick hardbacks that had thumped to the carpeted ground. "It's no problem."
His eyes that hid behind a thick pair of glasses shined with a little bit of embarrassment as he glanced up at her, giving a double take when he noticed her beauty.
That was usually the first thing people noticed about her which usually irritated her, but honestly, it was the first thing she noticed about him along with the panty melting English accent.
They stood, her holding onto the two paperbacks she'd wanted to read for the summer at the beach and him juggling the five thick books. She wondered for a second if he was trying to read the encyclopedia.
"I wasn't looking," he said, his eyes bright and open as he pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose.
She glanced down coyly before meeting his eyes again. "Maybe you can make it up to me," she spoke boldly.
The dimples on his cheeks were deep as he smiled down at her. "How can I acquit myself?"
From there started a whirlwind romance she'd only ever read about. He was a novelist who would furiously type away at his laptop as she lounged in bed, usually wearing one of his button downs at his studio apartment. He would tell her she was his muse and they would talk for hours on end about their hopes and dreams. One day he told her that she'd become his hope and dream and she couldn't stop smiling for the rest of the day.
She was in wonder that someone as kind could ever love her. She was still so guarded around him, a topic that caused many arguments. She just couldn't help herself, it came from 25 years of it being ingrained into her system. The only other time she'd let down her guard was when she was fifteen and met a young girl Elena. They'd became best friends fast, but just as quickly her friend had betrayed her. Elena had been a ploy, a honey pot, to get to her family. She'd sworn all those years ago that she'd never care again, but she'd broken that promise to herself the day she'd met Klaus.
Sometimes she felt like a teenager again with him. He'd take her on dates and when things would seem to start going south he'd make the best out of a bad situation. For instance, like the one time they'd decided to make a picnic in the park spur of the moment. Everything had been perfect. They lounged on the blanket she'd brought, the basket of goodies forgotten as they watched the ducks swimming in the nearby lake. The sky went from a beautiful blue to dark and gloomy within seconds. They tried to snatch up their belongings before the rain came, but they didn't get the chance to save their supplies. The rain came down in fat droplets and they were soaked within seconds. She started to run for the car, but he pulled her into an embrace. The rain was chilly against her skin, but she was heated instantly when his lips came down on hers. She'd never kissed anyone in the rain before and always thought it was silly when she saw it in a movie, but oh was she wrong. For some reason he made every corny romantic gesture gloriously romantic. She remembered watching him change into fresh clothes later, wondering how she'd be able to live without him someday or if she could.
She started getting into the habit of having a normal relationship. They would plan for future trips to the beach, they'd cook dinners together which usually ended up in ordering take out because they were both terrible cooks. It all felt so natural with him. She loved the moments when he'd sneak up behind her and wrap his arms around her, kissing the side of her neck as if he couldn't help himself. Sometimes she would fleetingly think of the neglect of her own apartment, but his was cozy and felt a little like home to the point that she was practically living there. She didn't want to let this go, but sometimes real life had to rear its ugly head in the form of a text message.
ooOoo
His naked chest rose and fell peacefully as she slipped out of his apartment before the sun had time to rise. It was something she hated, but work always called. The family business afforded her all the luxuries in the world, but since she'd met Klaus it became a dreaded part of her life.
She casually walked into the foreboding Gothic styled stone building, nodding her head to the heavily armed men that stood on either side of the door.
"About time you showed up," a snarky voice sounded from the dimly lit main room.
She made a detour into the large living room and noted the fire in the fireplace just starting to kindle as her brother Damon stoked the logs with a long iron poker.
"It's four o'clock in the morning," she stated, crossing her arms as he turned, his crystal eyes slit in annoyance.
"I meant it's about time you came back from wherever you've been holed up the past couple of months."
"Did you miss me?" she asked sarcastically. Her and Damon hadn't had a great relationship ever since he'd used her in a job as a distraction, resulting in multiple contusions and a concussion.
"I missed you," a deep voice said from behind her.
She turned just in time to be swallowed up in a bear hug by her father.
"Daddy!" she squealed excitedly, hugging him with all her strength. "When did you get back from Bulgaria?"
He gave her an admonishing look. "If you'd stopped home occasionally instead of taking so much time off you'd know I've been back for almost a month. Haven't you been getting Damon's emails?"
She set a glare on her brother who just gave her a smirk in return. "So, how was your trip?"
"Fruitful," he answered, sitting himself on the deep velvet covered armchair that was fit for the king he was. "I met with Aleksander and with a few threats on the side I got our shipment straightened out." His eyes turned hard as he turned to Caroline. "I'm thinking the inadequate firearms he sent will never happen again."
"Did you speak with Ana while you were there?" she asked, her demeanor going from spoiled daddy's girl to cold hearted in a second.
Her father shook his head, his silver hairs shining against the overhead lighting. "I didn't want to blow her cover and before you ask, there's nothing new on Katerina."
Caroline's mouth set in a thin line. The brunette she'd been chasing for years was holed up with the Dragomir's of Bulgaria, the biggest mob syndicate and the Forbes's greatest enemy. "She has to show her face eventually."
"She's probably sunk her teeth into Nikola by now," Damon mentioned offhandedly as he walked to the bar and poured himself a few fingers of Tennessee Whiskey.
Katerina, or Katherine as Caroline had known her, was bloodthirsty and manipulative wrapped up in a pretty little package. Not only had she caused a rift between her brothers, trying to get closer to the head of the household, but she'd also gotten her brother Stefan killed.
For a reason Caroline could never discern, she wanted to be a part of their family, a part of the scary underworld that people were always warned about. Gun slingers weren't a thing of the past in Caroline's life. Being a part of the business of dealing black market guns and ammunition was a dangerous job. Not only could a customer, looking to get the firearms for free, turn on you, but the competition was always bloody. Katherine not only made the mistake of trying to seduce her way in, but she betrayed them when the Bulgarian's offered her a deal. She didn't know how Katherine had earned a seat at the Bulgarian table, but she was looking forward to vacating that seat one day. If she ever saw the piece of trash again she'd kill her, no hesitation.
"I could always make time to take a short trip there," Caroline casually offered as she took a seat on her favorite lounger.
Her father smiled, but shook his head. "I won't risk my baby girl."
Damon scoffed in the background.
"Maybe you'll be able to get out of this one day," her father continued. "You could lead a normal life. You could have a career and a real boyfriend. You could lead a normal life."
"I have a career and besides, normal people are overrated."
"I see how you expertly glossed over the boyfriend thing. What's his name?" Damon baited, and she took it as usual.
The glare she sent him usually sent others running for the hills, but her brother just smirked. "His name is Klaus and he's smart and funny and he just happens to be a writer."
Damon snorted a laugh into his tumbler. "Aren't they always."
"Damon," their father admonished before the inevitable fight could escalate. "If you insist on learning the business as you have, there is a drop tonight that one of you needs to be at. Last time I sent one of the boys things didn't go so well."
Didn't go so well, Caroline thought. The transaction had turned into a bloodbath before any money could be exchanged. One of their handlers had a beef with one of the buyers and threats became actions. They didn't end up selling those goods and it had taken time and energy for their other customers to not be so spooked. They'd lost countless dollars because someone couldn't keep their emotions and tempers in check.
Caroline bit her lip, contemplating either meeting with some creeps in a musty warehouse or snuggling in bed with Klaus tonight. The choice was a no brainer, but the way Damon was looking at her, a smirk plastered on that arrogant face made her choose differently. "Just tell me when."
ooOoo
"Where'd you go?"
She jumped as she quietly closed the door behind her after entering the apartment. Turning to meet Klaus's shuttered eyes. "I went to see my dad."
His smile was sarcastic. "I'm sure," he said as he made his way toward the kitchen to start the coffee. "If you don't want to be with me than tell me. Don't sneak around, it's below you."
"Klaus, I'm not cheating on you." She moved to his side, wrapping her arms around his T-shirt clad middle. She sighed, wishing she could tell him about her family, but not daring. He was her escape from the life and she cared too much about him than to get him wrapped up in this mess. If she could keep her life from her family separate, she could keep him and oh God did she want to keep him. The way he made her feel, she couldn't describe it. "I know you've been hurt in the past, but I'm not like that. I would never cheat on someone I love."
His eyes smiled at her, but his frown stayed in place while his arms held her closer. "Say it again."
Her smile widened. She'd never said the words before unless they were to a family member. "I love you. More than anything."
His lips landed on hers with passion and she was pretty sure the coffee he'd been holding spilled all over the tiny kitchen floor as he walked her back toward his bed, both shedding clothes as they went. She knew he was not only happy that she'd finally said the words, but he was also marking her. In the back of his mind she was sure he had some doubts, because who wouldn't if their girlfriend snuck out of an apartment early in the morning. He was ingraining himself on her more than he already had.
The thin sheet kept their bodies covered from any prying eyes from his uncovered windows, something that always made her nervous. They laid together, admiring their intertwining fingers as they caught their breath. Her fingers were so pale next to his skin that wasn't quite olive toned, but there was definitely a difference. Maybe he was part Greek, she mused, compared to her Swedish ancestry, the ancestors that came over and started the family business. She frowned.
"These months have been amazing," he said quietly, bringing her palm to his lips. "I keep wondering when real life will break through this bubble we've erected."
She twisted herself until she straddled his waist, her fingers playing with the hair on his chest as his eyes raked her body. "I hope it doesn't," she admitted sadly, knowing it would come to an end. Going to the drop point later that night was making reality seep into her awareness again.
ooOoo
Her heels tapped impatiently on the cement floor of the vacant warehouse where she was supposed to meet the potential buyers. She sighed and was about to snap at the guard nearest to her to pack the pine wood crates they'd brought with the firearms inside, when three men walked into the large barren room. If she hadn't grown up around mobsters all her life she'd probably picture this guy as the quintessential badass mob boss.
Each of them had their black hair slicked back with gel, but Caroline honestly thought it looked more greasy than crunchy. She almost laughed when she glanced them over, wondering if they had an official uniform. If they did, it was a dark leather jacket and black pants, two of them wearing their uniform well while the leader was wearing clothes that were too small for his pudgy build.
"Forbes," the leader acknowledged in a husky voice with a small tilt of his head.
She nodded slightly and turned to the crates, ordering one of her guards to crack them open.
The men moved forward once the tops were removed with a crowbar and all that was left was rows of pristine pistols, automatics and semiautomatics.
The cocky pudgy man hummed as he looked them over under the watchful glares of her men that were scattered around the room. She watched him just as closely.
"William has agreed to my price?" he asked, glancing back and forth between the weapons and his two men.
"He's agreed to the price that was set upon. Not a dollar less."
He let out a low chuckle. "I was told to watch out for you. Not just a pretty face they said."
"Smart people," she deadpanned, annoyed with how long this transaction was taking. "Do we have a deal or not?"
His chuckle bounced off the walls. "Where are the .22's?"
Her forehead crinkled. "I didn't think you were into child's play," she snarked, the sound of her steps getting louder as she neared the man. "I even labeled them for you," she added, gesturing toward the three large crates. "You have one hundred .357 handguns in this one, fifty semiautomatic AK's and some select fire military grade AK's. All the guns have been washed and are untraceable, just as both parties agreed upon."
"Thank you, dear," he said politely before stepping back toward his men and the door.
Her frown deepened and the answer to her internal questions were answered seconds later when the two men pulled their handguns and men and women wearing FBI vests swarmed the commercial building.
Her hands automatically went up in surrender as she watched each one of her men reluctantly drop their weapons in the chaos that was going on around her. All she could think about was she was going to be late getting back to Klaus, but a moment later she knew he'd know exactly where she would be when a pair of familiar blue eyes met hers.
The glasses he usually wore were absent as he held his gun at the ready at one of her men, but it faltered when he glanced over and saw her.
She was grabbed forcefully and hauled away by she didn't know who, her brain was too occupied trying to register Klaus's presence.
ooOoo
When the metal door slammed shut behind the latest agent to question her, her smile turned smug. Granted she was exhausted of playing dumb and even more exhausted of having her hands locked behind her back. If they thought she could take on people trained in combat, they were crazy. Her brothers they would have to be worried about, but Caroline always used her brains to get out of sticky situations or when the time called for it, her sexuality. Fighting had never been her strong point.
The door reopened and she rolled her eyes, but sat frozen an instant later when she realized the agent that they sent next was Klaus. She sat up straight and fixed her expression into something like neutral. It was a challenging task when she wanted so badly to smack the hell out of him and kiss him at the same time. His expression, however, bordered on conflicted and anger.
He walked around the table to her and in the next moment a click sounded and her wrists were free.
"It wasn't supposed to be you," he mumbled quietly before coming back around the table.
She only answered with an equally quiet sigh in thanks as she rubbed her sore wrists.
"We want your father, Caroline. Give me something-" The metal chair across from her screeched across the plain linoleum as he sat.
"And you'll what? Get me off?" She leaned forward with a sly smile. "You've already done that." His neck turned a slight shade of pink before glancing toward the one-way mirror. Her smile widened even though she was crying inside. "Do they not know?"
He ignored her. "I could get you a deal," he replied, his eyes wide and urgent.
"But do your FBI friends know how you used to-"
"Caroline!" His hand smacked the table, startling her backwards in her chair. "This is serious."
She became contemplative. "Why was I the mark?"
He let out what seemed to be a calming breath, reining in his frustration. "Your brother was originally my target."
Her surprise made her passive mask slip. "Damon?" At his affirmation she continued with her line of questioning. "Then why did we meet?"
His frown deepened. "He's a hard person to get close to."
They stared at each other for a moment before he looked away. "You're hiding something," she declared and he sighed. "Even though we were together briefly doesn't mean I don't know when you're hiding something."
He leaned forward, the playful smile she so loved on his face. "Ditto, Sweetheart."
For just a moment she forgot where they were and a small smile graced her lips, remembering where that smile usually had them end up. She was brought back to the present when he cleared his throat and his smile dropped like a deflated balloon.
"Give me information and I'll do something for you," he added quietly, "I'll pull strings, anything."
"You never once asked to meet my family. If you were trying to get to Damon through me, you did a terrible job."
He sat back in his chair and she could see the conflict. The resolve came quickly and she wanted to take back her words once he answered because she knew he was telling the truth.
"We've had you on surveillance for a while now." He cleared his throat again. "You were determined the easier of the two. You were deemed sad and lonely, easily susceptible to any kind of affection and they thought you'd be more likely to slip up if-"
"Stop," she croaked. Her throat was starting to constrict and her eyes started to water, so she looked to the white tiled ceiling. She didn't want him to see how much his words affected her, but it was hard to miss as her eyes became glossy with the unshed tears. Her heart that had been hurt so many times before broke even more.
"Caroline."
She felt his touch on her clasped hands that sat on the table, but she pulled away as if burned.
"It was all me." Her voice came out as a broken whisper.
"Don't say that."
Her eyes met his with determination. Her father always said the weak would never survive in this world and she had to protect her family.
"The Forbes name is famous because of me. I order the weapons and I make the deals with the buyers. Everything that you have on my father is all me." She shrugged like it wasn't a big deal. "His name is just something I hide behind. Who would buy firearms from a woman named Caroline when they could do their business with the great William Forbes?"
"You really want me to believe that you've orchestrated the entire syndicate?"
She shrugged again, swiping quickly at the lone tear that fell. She knew he saw the tear as his eyes seemed to soften for a moment and she could see the guilt plain as day. He may have been a good actor, but his eyes never seemed to lie. She berated herself for not noticing or looking past so much before.
"You want me to believe that you orchestrated everything, even in the 80's when you were a baby?"
She spoke quietly, looking away from him. She couldn't stand to look at him anymore. It only set in stone that every touch, whisper in her ear and kiss were lies. "You don't have to believe me."
ooOoo
"Nice work, Mikaelson."
Klaus turned to see the speaker had been Tyler, a fellow agent he'd never gotten along with, but tolerated in the field because he was a good agent.
"Thanks," he answered before turning and making his way toward the desk he hadn't seen in almost a year. He was exhausted from his debrief and interview with Caroline. The latter being the most tiring of the two. He had to keep reminding himself she was a job and nothing more. She was part of a crime family and had done some terrible things herself, but he found himself justifying her actions. She was brought up around crime, it was expected of her to join the ranks one day and it was all she knew. Not everyone who does terrible things are terrible people. The saying was a litany in his mind.
He stood in front of his desk, blankly staring at the paperwork that sat in his bin and the computer with its black idling screen. He didn't really need anything, so why did he automatically stop in? He had to gather his things at the apartment and head to his actual home, but he couldn't move. He couldn't stop replaying the sight of Caroline being hauled from her seat, hands re-cuffed behind her back. Her eyes had watched him and he could see the heartbreak in them. The guilt that had set in was something new to him. He'd done a lot of undercover work in the past, but he'd gotten too close this time. His emotions drove him more than his responsibility to the job.
A clap on his shoulder brought him back to the present. It was Tyler again.
"No, I'm serious you did what you had to do." The man gave him a smug smile. "I heard you let it get personal, but who could blame you. She's a nice piece of as-"
Before his brain registered what he was doing, his fist was already connecting with Tyler's face. Blood ran down the man's nose and when he spoke again Klaus noticed even his teeth were stained red.
"What the hell, man!"
Klaus stumbled back and shook his head, shocked that he'd lashed out like that, but his blood had boiled when Tyler disrespected Caroline. "Sorry," he mumbled as Tyler stood in front of him, checking the condition of his nose.
"You need to check yourself, Mikelson. Get your head straight and out of your ass," he yelled before stalking off toward the bathroom.
Agents around him stared at him as if he were mad and maybe he was. Did he finally let a job get too close? Would he lose his career and get assigned to a desk because of it? He'd be deemed unfit. If you got close once it could happen again.
ooOoo
Caroline sat in a different room with her lawyer. It was more grey than the stark white of the interrogation room and was dingier with bad lighting. She was barely paying attention to what the older distinguished man was saying that her father kept on retainer and what the attorney for the feds said. They'd been arguing for the better part of an hour as she sat, getting stir crazy.
"Agent Mikelson should be fired and by the time we're done with him he won't be able to get a job at Dairy Queen."
Her ears perked up at Klaus's name, also surprised he had given her his true name to begin with.
"Oh please. He was doing his job as an agent and questioning her. He didn't lead your client on in anyway to confess to her part in the selling of illegal firearms. That was all her."
"And you thought it smart to put her in a room alone with a man who sexually assaulted her?"
The federal attorney was stunned into silence and she was as well. She may be angry, livid even, with Klaus, but she'd never let anyone construe the relationship they had with rape. It may have been fake on his side, but it was real for her. If anything, she probably took advantage of him.
"Stop," she ordered in a deadly voice, the look in her eyes enough to have her attorney's mouth floundering. "I gave no information to Agent Mikelson besides what I did in the interrogation room you had me locked up in for eight hours."
"Miss Forbes-" her attorney, she thought his name was Robert, cut in.
"I admitted to my part in all this, Robby." She turned to the fed. "This should be an open and shut case. Get me in front of a judge already."
"It's Richard," she heard her lawyer mumble and she rolled her eyes. Who really cared at this point?
"Sounds good to me," the federal attorney said, a smug smile lighting his face. "We have your client at the drop location, on tape going over the merchandise that we found she actually did label for the customer in her own handwriting. And on top of that, if that's not enough, we have her confession. Like your client said, it really is an open and shut case."
She almost laughed at her lawyer's disgruntled expression as he stood, smoothing out his pristine designer suit, turning his eyes down at the other man. "We'll see about that during discovery. Now, I believe we've extradited a bail hearing that should be starting soon."
ooOoo
"Bail is set at two million dollars," the middle-aged judge declared, slamming his gavel down with a finality that had the federal attorney jumping on the spot.
"Your Honor," he pleaded as Caroline watched the scene unfold before her, standing resolutely next to her arrogant attorney. "Not only does Miss Forbes own a yacht, but she owns her own fleet of private jets."
"They are family owned planes, I remind you," Richard corrected with a little smile that had the other attorney bristling.
"She has direct access to a private plane, yacht and who knows what else. We ask that her passport be taken and she be held without bail. She leads-"
"Allegedly leads," Richard corrected again.
"Allegedly leads the United State's largest crime syndicate with unlimited-."
"Let me stop you right there," the judge cut in, leaning forward in his chair to glare down at the federal attorney. "This is my ruling. If you don't like it than convince me in the court room for discovery. So denied," he ended and tapped the gavel again, leaving the other attorney red in the face.
ooOoo
With a duffle bag of his clothes slung over his shoulder Klaus unlocked the door to his stale smelling apartment. He'd asked his sister to stop by once in a while, but apparently that request had fell on deaf ears.
The door smacked shut and he stood frozen as he watched a familiar blond casually thumb through a random book and turn over a snow globe in her hand before glancing up at him. She acted as she hadn't a care in the world, he thought as he stepped closer, his bag dropping to the ground with a light thump.
"What are you doing here?" he asked, subtly looking her over for any weapons, but all he saw was a lithe but muscular body encased in a thin light blue summer dress. She didn't smile, but she walked closer, enough that he could smell the perfume he'd once given her. He wondered if she wore it on purpose or if it had become a habit to put it on. "How did you know where I really lived?" She sighed watching him and he wondered when the blow to the back of the head would come. At least she'd be his last sight. "Caroline," he prompted.
"I came to say goodbye." Her voice didn't hold any anger, perhaps a little indifference, but no anger that he could detect.
"You're leaving? Where?"
She made a face that suggested it was senseless to ask. "I wanted to see the real you," she explained, gesturing around the tiny one room apartment that wasn't much different from the one the FBI had him stay in.
The encounter was meant to be short, but he couldn't help himself as she walked passed to grasp her hand and gently pull her toward him. Her blue eyes met his and he almost forgot what he wanted to say under her stare.
"Not all of it was a lie," he begged her to believe.
Their faces moved closer until she was but a hairs breadth away and he was practically pleading with his eyes to make a move.
"Come with me," she breathed and he looked down to her pink lips.
"If I did would you ever be able to trust me?" he whispered in the quiet of his apartment.
She took a step back that gave him all the answer he needed. Her smile was sad, but resolute. "I'll see you, Klaus."
"Not unless I find you first."
Her smile was real this time and it made the dimples in his cheeks stand out when he smiled back. "What makes you think that would ever happen?" she teased.
The breathy laugh that left him and the glance down at his feet was all the time she needed to disappear from his life...and with a snow globe souvenir.
ooOoo
The summertime afternoon sun made the day in Bulgaria practically unbearable. Even as Klaus gulped down an iced coffee in the local café he could feel the sweat running down his back. He wished for once his mark would do something where he could watch from an air conditioned spot, but Katrina Patrova was a busy woman. She flitted from one store to another, spending her fiancé's unlimited funds. He could tell from just watching her how manipulative she was and she must have sunk her claws in deep to the Dragomir prince, set to inherit the empire from his ailing father.
He felt his phone buzz in his pocket just as he finished off the rest of the iced beverage, but ignored it. His boss at the bureau and handler were both adamantly pushing for him to make contact with Katerina, but he didn't know what the angle would be quite yet. His handler had suggested perhaps he take the same strategy as he did with the Forbes case, but he was quick to reject the idea.
Even as he thought about the last year and a half, the hoops the agency went through after they found out Caroline had escaped without a trace, all their efforts and thousands of dollars had been for nothing. Klaus had smiled and laughed to himself the day he was told Caroline never showed for her hearing. The FBI even tried to prosecute the judge who'd been paid off by the family, but the money that was sent couldn't be traced back. The director was foaming at the mouth by the time he'd gotten the call from MI6 about the Dragomir family in Bulgaria. The agency had spent decades building a case against the Forbes's competitors and wanted input on how to bring them down. Klaus didn't really understand why they'd want help when they'd just completed a failed mission, but he wasn't paid to understand. He'd been drafted against some people's wishes, but he did what he was told and now he sat at a uniquely decorated café on the coast of Bulgaria, watching Katarina flit from one boutique to another.
He remembered watching Caroline before meeting her, but she didn't spend half as much time being so vain. She'd had a routine that he knew by heart. She would usually leave her apartment, if you could call an entire floor of a high rise an apartment, around 5AM to go to a yoga class. She'd usually stop at the coffee place down the street from the small gym on her way home. The woman had walked everywhere. Klaus didn't think he'd ever need to go to the gym again if he followed her around. She'd go back to her apartment and then he'd lose her, knowing she went to the walled fortress her father owned. A couple of hours there and then back to her home. Sometimes she'd deviate and window shop, taking extra long looks at the puppies and kittens that you could see in the windows of the pet stores. Nights were usually boring for him. She usually stayed in unless she was convinced to leave and go out with friends. Those were exciting nights and he could never stop smiling when watching her dance at the clubs. She was a terrible dancer and she gave maximum effort to trying to dance sexy, but it was always just limbs twisting at odd angles. He'd thought about meeting her out at the club but thought better of it. She'd been a homebody and at the time he'd had to play to that. After they did meet however, all he wanted to do was stay in with her too.
Some of his fondest memories were of them laying in bed talking. She was smart he found out, incredibly so, more so than anyone knew. Her files classified her as the dumb blond type, but she was anything but that. She had passion. Whether she was arguing with him or talking politics or debating which of the Harry Potter books was the best it was always with passion. Her heart always seemed to be in the right place and she was playful. He thought her favorite game was figuring out how to best distract him from his 'work' which she usually won fairly quickly. His favorite part of her that she found to be embarrassing was when she laughed, really laughed at something, she'd let out a tiny snort and then would laugh at herself for snorting. He couldn't count how many times after the mission had been finished that he imagined just her laugh.
He didn't know when the mission had stopped being a mission at all. His check ins gave less and less information each time, prompting messages sent by the mission leader. He had found it strange he'd been asked to go along on the sting operation to catch Damon, but he had been thinking he had to get his head back in the game anyway and dismissed any other ideas. He couldn't concentrate on an absolutely beguiling woman while he was trying to do a job.
It had caught him by complete surprise when it had been Caroline in the warehouse that night. It had been supposed to be Damon there that night. He'd told his superiors Damon was the bigger fish, but they thought to get to Damon they'd go through his baby sister. They'd been so wrong about the family bond and how far the family's control extended. Any of the family members caught would have given themselves up, leaving the rest of the family out of harms way. They'd been stupid when planning the mission. Safeguards had been put in place for decades to protect the family along with the motto of 'family comes first' being ingrained into the children.
"Another iced coffee," a barista announced, startling him from his reverie as she set down a to go cup.
"I didn't order this," he told her, pushing the drink away and setting his eyes back to the store Katerina disappeared into.
"A blond woman sent it over."
The chair he was sitting in almost knocked over as he turned and frantically searched the café, forgetting his task in an instant. Blond hair, he was looking for her blond hair. She could be wearing it curly or straight, he thought. He didn't see her. Did she flee? Was it a joke?
"She gave me this too," the young teen informed him, holding out a small piece of paper, the edges jagged as if ripped from a notebook. In blue ink, in the bubbly handwriting he remembered so well read: Sevastopol.
He glanced in the direction where Katerina still browsed and then back at the paper. If he stayed he had his job, but if he met Caroline at this specific garden that was just down the road he could, maybe, if he was lucky, have her. It took him less than thirty seconds to head for the sidewalk. Agents went missing all the time.