Later that night, Hermione tossed and turned in the berth that Phil had assigned to her after she agreed to stay for a few days, so she could determine if there were any more wayward thestrals or any other unusual magical creature activity in the area. However, her restlessness was not because her bed was uncomfortable…or anything else like that. It was just that her thoughts would not allow her to rest. That was not really a new situation for her, though. Ever since that year on the run during the war, she had trouble with insomnia. She was quite used to it by now, in fact, and had learned how to make do with very little sleep. The thoughts that bothered her now, though, were new and confusing ones. She was thinking of the man…Robbie Reyes…whom she had met earlier in the evening.

From the moment she had entered the base with Phil and May, she had felt his presence. All of the hair on her arms and on the back of her neck had stood up, and goosebumps had even appeared. However, it was not a bad feeling…not at all. In fact, it was as if someone was breathing gently against her skin and tickling it lightly. It was like a lover's touch…and that was what surprised her the most…simply because it had been such a very long time since she had been with anyone in such a way. Therefore, when she finally met the eyes of the good-looking man in the leather jacket, she was surprised at the immediate attraction and familiarity that she felt as she looked at him. It was a feeling that only intensified when they had touched, and it became obvious that he was much more than he seemed. She did not think that he was a wizard, but there was definitely something different about him.

However, before she could figure out what it was, he had turned away from her and left without ever having spoken a word. She did not know what to think about that – especially when he did not turn up for dinner, either. She wondered if she had offended him in some way, but Phil, May, and Daisy had just shrugged his strange behavior off while Fitz Simmons looked at each other thoughtfully. Nobody seemed worried, though, because Robbie was apparently known for being moody. Nevertheless, Hermione could not help but to feel that there was much more to it than that.

She finally sighed as she relinquished any hopes that sleep would come to her. Instead, she decided to go in search of something to drink - perhaps some tea, if she was lucky. Surely, Fitz Simmons kept some stashed away somewhere in the kitchen. She smiled at the thought of that adorable couple from the UK as she quietly walked down the corridor towards the kitchen/canteen area and then wondered with a sigh if she would ever find her other half the way that the two of them obviously had. Then, as it often did, her mind drifted back to the man she had not-quite-met that night that her side-apparation with Luna had somehow gone astray. Her friend, who had a knack for knowing impossible things, had assured her that she would see him again. However, as time went on, that meeting seemed to be more and more unlikely. Therefore, Hermione just sighed again as she pushed open the door and entered the room. However, that sigh turned into a gasp as she felt that pleasant prickle across her skin again as she realized that she was not alone.

She was then only slightly surprised to see that Robbie was there, too, propped against the galley island with one booted foot crossed over the other. In his hands he nursed a cup of what her nose immediately told her was strong coffee. He stiffened as soon as she walked into the room, though, and she suddenly realized that her presence had an effect on him, as well. Now that's interesting! she thought as their eyes met again. If only I could figure out why! However, after the seemingly inevitable jolt that the otherwise innocent action caused, silence reigned for a long moment. Hermione finally broke it by saying lightly, "Not planning to go to sleep anytime soon, I guess." She indicated his cup. When he held her gaze intently, but did not respond, she purposely looked away to try to calm her suddenly rapidly pounding heart. Why does this man affect me so strongly? After all, according to Luna, he is not my s… She purposely cut off that disappointing thought immediately as she turned to see the half empty coffeepot. "And that's not your first, I see," she continued her attempt to talk in a normal manner in order to cover up the awkward silence. "I was in the mood for tea…but this will do. Care if I join you?" At his noncommittal shrug (which was belied by the tension in his shoulders and the fierce way that he gripped his cup), she found a clean mug with the old SHIELD logo on it and smiled as she filled it since she was convinced that it must belong to Phil. That man was predictably nostalgic about the old days. At the same time, she could not help but to notice that Robbie's mug had a monkey, of all things, on it and the smile turned into a full-fledged grin, albeit a brief one, as she realized that one must belong to Fitz. The man drinking out of it did not seem to realize that, however, so she did not mention it. She just thoughtfully topped off the liquid inside for him, instead.

Determined to break the silence, she then decided to ask one of the questions that had been on her mind since they met. "I take it that you are not an official agent, Mr. Reyes. Are you a consultant, then…like me?"

He met her eyes again, and they both felt yet another jolt from the action. "Depends on what you mean by a consultant," he finally answered vaguely as he spoke to her for the very first time since she had met him on the base - even while his eyes reflected his confusion at his strange reactions to her. She certainly could sympathize with that feeling – especially since she felt it, too.

She found that she liked the sound of his Hispanic-accented voice, however, and realized that it also stirred a bit of a déjà vu style memory inside of her. She could not quite place what it was, though, so she just propped herself up on the counter next to him and forged ahead with her explanation. "Well…I guess what I mean is…Do you help the team out when they have a problem that they can't handle on their own? Do you have a particular skill set or area of expertise that they do not?"

A small ironic smile flitted briefly across the man's face. "Yeah…I guess you could say that."

The silence then descended again for a few minutes and they both wondered about the tension that continued to thicken between them. Finally, however, the man had enough of it. He slammed his cup down and blurted out, "Are you an Inhuman? Are you causing…this…whatever it is?" he asked almost angrily as he gestured between them and the heightened nervous awareness of each other only increased.

Hermione gaped at him for a moment before she answered quietly. "I was just wondering the same thing about you," she answered honestly. "The answer on my part, however, is no. I have not experienced Terragenesis…like Daisy…if that is what you are asking."

He breathed a sigh of relief, suddenly grateful that she was not purposely driving him crazy with her proximity. "I haven't either," he answered truthfully. After another moment or so of quiet, he found that he desperately needed to know something else – even though he had not planned to bring that particular subject up. "Do you remember me at all?" he asked urgently, however, and his tone finally brought to her mind the oft-remembered man in the shadows that night in the strange city urging her to, "Run!"

She gasped in surprise and immediately set her cup down in order to reach out and pull him under one of the bright overhead lights in such a way that the light was shining from behind him and his face was in the shadows…just like it had been that night a couple of years ago.

"You're the one who warned me in time to save Luna that night in the city," she whispered wonderingly while feelings of both relief and nervousness bombarded her when she also thought about what else Luna had told her about the man…and what he would personally mean to her. "I never really saw your face, you know," she explained as she reached up to touch his cheek lightly. It was a simple action, but it caused a sort of pleasant fire underneath his skin...and the feeling continued – even after she removed her hand and used it to nervously trace the rim of her cup, instead. "There is so much that I want to say to you," she continued while looking down at her cup rather than at him. "First of all, I am very sorry. I didn't mean to leave you there alone, but I had to think about Luna." Hermione paused then before speaking even more softly about the painful subject. "She had been…attacked...before – at a bad time in both of our lives. It almost killed her spirit then, and I couldn't let it happen again. Therefore, I got her out of there as quickly as I could. After we left, I wanted to return to see if you were alright, and to help you fight, but I just couldn't find my way back. I didn't know where we had landed in the first place since neither of us had been there before. It was like something had blown us purposely off course to get us there, but then would not let us return. Nothing like that had ever happened to me before…or in the two years since, either." Hermione paused again as she finally looked back up and met the man's eyes. "I'm so glad to see you now, though! I have wondered about you so much since that night…and I am so grateful that I can now thank you from the bottom of my heart."

She then wrapped her arms around Robbie and hugged him tightly. At first, he just stood there in a bit of shock – especially since he did not understand a lot of what she had just said, but it was clear that she did remember him, at any rate, and that she had often thought of him since. With that happy thought, he found himself returning her embrace…and something thrummed between them at the close contact. When she pulled away slightly to look up at him, their eyes met, and that almost electric feeling passed between them again. Their skin tingled and, almost without thinking, Hermione placed both hands on the sides of his face and pulled him down to give him a gentle kiss. That kiss quickly increased in intensity until she realized what was happening and went to pull away from him a little in her surprise at the boldness of her actions. Robbie, however, decided that he did not want to let her go so he pulled her back close to him and continued to hungrily explore her mouth with his own until they were both breathless.

"You really feel it, too? Our connection?" she asked in amazement as they pulled apart to breathe. She noted the goosebumps that covered the bare skin that was still left exposed by his snug fitting black tshirt. He really is the one! she thought as her excitement continued to build… after all, she had only had Luna's word before this. Finally having physical confirmation of the bond was exhilarating and she found that she just wanted to touch him as much as possible.

Robbie glanced down to see what she was looking at and realized that for once, he wasn't wearing his leather jacket. In fact, he remembered that he had left it slung across his bed before he had slunk down the hall and into the kitchen with a preoccupied mind whose thoughts swirled around the strange visitor in their midst – the woman whom he now held in his arms!

Hell yeah, I feel it! he wanted to tell her. However, he got distracted when she lightly stroked the goosebumps on his muscular forearms. At that moment, whatever had his nerves on a fire-tipped edge around her suddenly spread further down to his crotch and he found himself almost painfully aroused by her touch and closeness. After that, without conscious thought, he lifted her petite form up easily and set her gently on the counter before he moved to stand between her knees. Then she reached for him and pulled him close to her core in order to kiss him deeply again. In this position, the site of his persistent problem was now below the countertop where she was sitting. However, he found that he was still able to press closely up against her, his stomach against her core, and he could feel the heat that emanated from there. The thought that he was causing that heat, combined with his already large erection, and the reaction that the rest of his body and mind was having to her, made him realize that he had never…ever…felt this way before…about anybody. It overwhelmed him and caused him to suddenly tear his lips away from hers in order to gasp out. "What the hell is going on here? Are you some kind of witch or something? Have you put a spell on me?"

He felt her grow deadly still against him, and the Rider could feel her increased heartbeat and sudden uneasiness at the question.

"I promise that I did not perform any kind of spell on you, Robbie," she answered soberly as she searched his eyes for a hint as to how he felt before she could tell him the rest of the truth. She did not get a chance to do so, though, because while her denial did relieve his mind, he could not help but to notice what she did not contradict.

"Shit! You really are a witch, aren't you?" He automatically pushed away from her and his eyes suddenly flamed as the Rider surfaced and searched for signs of evil in the woman in front of him. After all, she had just basically admitted to being a witch, of all things!

For her part, Hermione felt a moment of crushing disappointment as he pulled away from her - right before that feeling changed to amazement as she watched Robbie's fiery transformation into the Rider. She then felt a familiar tingling in her mind that gave her just a second of warning before the Rider's particular brand of Legilimency slammed into her. She summoned all of the Occulmency skill that she possessed in order to shove him out forcefully. Both she and Robbie received a stab of pain for her efforts, however, the action had not been necessary. The Rider had seen at once that even though some of her actions had been morally questionable and that she had indeed caused death in the past, it was all done in defense of herself and others. There was no real evil present in the woman. Therefore, the Spirit of Vengeance withdrew immediately and Robbie's eyes quickly returned to their normal dark brown.

He did not know exactly what had happened, only that the Rider had judged Hermione, but she had not been found wanting. That had never happened before, so he did not know what to do next – especially since she had seen the Rider with her own eyes and lived. Consequently, he was extremely surprised when she simply slipped off of the counter in order to stand in front of him, instead of screaming and running away as far as possible in the opposite direction. However, that was nothing compared to the shock that he felt when she suddenly giggled lightly.

"Oh my goodness! You're the host to a Spirit of Vengeance!" she exclaimed. "I've never met one before, but I am so relieved! That explains things so much better than if you were just an ordinary Muggle! In fact, from my wanton behavior earlier, I was afraid for a moment that you were some kind of Incubus…instead of my…" she paused. "At any rate, I may be good, but I'm not sure that I can defeat one of them – especially since it has been…well…a while…" She paused and looked a bit sheepish before she regained her usual control. She then looked straight into Robbie's eyes, but somehow he knew without a doubt that she was not speaking to him when she started to scold. "Well…that was quite rude! Just because I'm a witch doesn't mean that I'm evil and I know very well that you can tell that I am a Witch of the Light just by being in my presence. It was completely unnecessary for you to go into my head. Now, I know that you think you were just doing your job, but don't let it happen again. Just a warning, I know…and have had cause to use…some pretty badass demon-repellent spells!"

Hermione then stepped back to look at the man, instead of the Rider. He just gaped uncomprehendingly at her while his mind raced. Not only had this woman seen, recognized, and talked to his Rider…and was still completely unafraid of it…but she had even threatened it, too!

"Um…" he started to say, but he could not seem to gather his thoughts enough to put together a coherent sentence.

Hermione looked at him sympathetically since she completely understood his confusion. After all, her thoughts were all over the place, too – and she knew what was going on! Therefore, she spoke to him gently, "Robbie, I can tell that you don't understand, so I am guessing that you have never met a witch or wizard before." At his slow and shocked negative head shake, she continued. "Therefore, I'm sure that you have questions, and so we should probably talk," she pointed out.

"Yeah! Questions! You could say that," he croaked out once he found his voice again. Hermione nodded, patted his hand reassuringly, and tried to repress the tingling feeling that such a simple touch caused as she went to make a fresh pot of coffee. She had a feeling that they were going to need all of the help that they could get.