Benji sat at his desk and stared blankly at the centre monitor out of the three in front of him. He wasn't entirely sure why he had shown up for work. He'd thought it was maybe a good idea to get out of his apartment where everything reminded him of Skye. The mad thing was, everything reminded him of her around here as well. At home he would at least have had the Chinese take-away that had grown cold the other day once he had spotted that she'd left her keys. That had done it. That one little thing had triggered thinking of all of the other little things. He should have known that Skye wouldn't just go back to work in extractions, especially not for Hunley and the CIA. But what was he supposed to have done? He should have told her, that's what. If anyone could be trusted to be on their side, it was her. But he'd blown it. He had stupidly hoped that he would be enough to hold her here. And now she was gone. He'd never again wake up in that cosy little flat of hers that always smelled of fresh bread. He'd never hear her sing AC/DC in the shower any more. He'd never watch Firefly again after one of them had woken from a nightmare and neither wanted to go back to sleep. He'd never hear her laugh at one of his jokes again which miraculously enough charmed that beautiful smile on her face. Never again he would -

"Mr. Dunn?"

He looked up at the dark-haired woman standing in front of his desk.

"Director Hunley would like to see you in the conference room. Right away."

/\/\/\/\/\/\

Before he knew it, Benji was set up for a polygraph for no apparent reason. He hadn't had the strength to ask what the hell this was about more than once, and the woman who had brought him here and subsequently connected him to her laptop did not seem to have much of a mind for answering his question. What did he care anyway. As far as he was concerned, they could do to him whatever they wanted.

Director Hunley strode in, and somewhere far away in Benji a certain rage was stirred. That man had some part in taking Skye away from him. But really, he just wanted to be somewhere else, alone, preferably in the dark, with lots of Mars bars – oh god, Mars bars. Shit. Everything reminded him of Skye. With clenched teeth, he swallowed his tears.

"You'll be asked a series of control questions that you will answer truthfully," the woman explained. "After that I will ask you to lie intentionally."

"Why?" Benji asked weakly.

"In order to see if the -"

"If you value your current position, Agent Dunn, you will comply." Hunley remained standing.

Benji didn't value very much right now. Still, what was the point. What was the point in anything, really. He was just through the questions, when Brandt stormed into the conference room. When the analyst saw that Hunley was already present, he straightened, and nodded curtly at the director. "Sir."

Hunley nodded back without looking at Brandt, therefore missing the worried glance the analyst threw Benji when he approached.

"Where is Ethan Hunt?" Hunley began without preamble.

Not that he had expected anything, but it certainly hadn't been this.

"I beg your pardon?"

The woman's eyes remained fixed on the computer screen with Benji's vitals.

"You understood me well enough. We're almost sure he has a contact within our rows, so I'm going to ask you again: Where is Ethan Hunt?"

Something inside of Benji snapped. Ethan. Not Hunley. This was all Ethan's fault. If he hadn't decided to track this stupid underground network or whatever the hell it was he'd gotten himself into this time, and if he hadn't dragged him and Brandt into this, deciding to keep it all this giant bloody secret, then Skye would still be here. Then none of this would have happened. Suddenly, he got mad.

"What are you asking me for?"

"You've worked with him in the past."

"So have a lot of other people. I have no idea where he is, and frankly I don't want to know."

"We have reason to believe-"

"You have reason to believe, what, exactly? That I am helping the one man who could clear up all of this mess, risking my job in the process? If it wasn't for Ethan Hunt, then a lot of things around here would go much easier, so I have no intention whatsoever of feeling in any way obliged to help him."

He had gotten increasingly louder, and while Hunley managed to keep his face mostly clear of his surprise, Brandt couldn't help looking a bit taken aback by Benji's drastic reaction.

"Now if you'd be so kind to let me get back to my work, for if I may – if it wasn't for me the whole department wouldn't meet its monthly quotas. However the hell they managed that before you salvaged me."

The woman, slightly startled, simply nodded when Hunley looked at her, confirming the steady green line on the screen.

"You're free to go, Agent Dunn."

/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Okay, what was that?" Brandt asked when he had caught up with Benji in the corridor where the coast was clear. He'd tried to warn his friend as soon as he'd heard about the scheduled polygraph, and had secretly been convinced that everything would come to light now, hence the way Benji had handled it had more than surprised him.

The Brit didn't stop. "She's gone."

Brandt wasn't sure he'd gotten that right, when Benji did jerk to a halt. "She left, Brandt. Yesterday."

"Skye left you?" He instantly regretted his words when his friend winced slightly, but nodded. "Shit," he said, and then, when the full extent of this dawned on him, he repeated it. "Shit."

Benji nodded again. Slowly they continued down the hallway.

"She went with Luther. He's offered her to come with him. I didn't listen to her, Brandt. I didn't realise how serious this was for her, not being in the field anymore. I mean, I knew it, because of... but I didn't – realise just how important-" he broke off, realising that he was rambling, and rubbed a hand over his face.

"Did you try to call her?"

"Of course I tried," he said exasperatedly. "Her phone's turned off, and ever since this whole CIA mess happened Luther is virtually unreachable. If he doesn't want to be found there's nothing I can do. I tried her at home, but she wasn't there. For all I know she could be halfway to Cuba already." Benji's voice trailed off.

"Cuba?"

The techie shrugged. "Or wherever else in the Caribbean. I don't even know where they're headed."

Brandt put a hand on his shoulder. Secretly he thought this was incredible luck, because how else should Benji have mastered that unexpected questioning, but instantly he hated himself for the thought alone. This was horrible. And part of it was most likely his fault by not wanting to let Skye in on this.

"I should have told her," Benji whispered as if he had read the analyst's thoughts. "She left her keys."

"Shit," he said again, because he couldn't think of a more adequate response. "I'm sorry, man."

"I'm gonna go home," Benji said quietly after a bit of a pause.