Carter Hall was jealous and he hated it.

He had no reason to be jealous he and Kendra were not even together but still he was jealous of Ray Palmer.

He had listened as Rip outlined the details of their next mission and he understood why Kendra needed to go undercover with Ray as his wife; it all made perfect sense, Ray's cover was a scientist – a married one, and Sara couldn't go as the wife, she and Snart and Rory had other work to do. Kendra and Ray going undercover as man and was the perfect way to play it, truth be told it was the only way.

And he hated it.

They had been making great strides in their relationship, Kendra and him, she had stopped going out of her to avoid him and they was getting to know each other. He was always careful not to bring up their past lives unless Kendra asked him a direct question and he had thought that they were getting to a place where they could actually move towards becoming what they had always been… friends and lovers.

Until this.

The thing that bothered him most was how happy Kendra and Ray had been both when they'd been given the assignment. They had shared a glance and then smiled widely at each other. He had wanted to shout at them, tell them that it was only a job and that they were actually not married to each other.

000

Kendra left the armoury and made her way to Carter's room. She hadn't seen him since Rip had given them the assignment. Sara, Mick and Len had already left the ship and she and Ray were due to leave in about an hour. Martin, Jax, Carter and Rip were going to be doing some other work, they hadn't yet been told exactly what, it seemed it depended upon the success of Sara, Mick and Len's assignment, and if it all went well they'd all be back on the Wave Rider in two days' time.

She hoped it would go as planned.

She walked quickly down the corridor and when she got to Carter's room, she took a deep breath before knocking and entering.

"Hey," she told him.

He had been lying on his bed staring at the ceiling, but now he sat up.

"Hey," he said, "I thought you had left already."

"No," she forced a smile, "we have about an hour until we leave."

"Okay," he nodded. He wondered why she was in his room.

"Okay," she said.

They stared at each other in silence, each willing the other to speak first. Finally Carter shook his head slightly and asked, "you got everything ready?"

"Yeah," she replied, "I don't really need much."

"You were never one for carrying luggage that you didn't need."

"I guess," she forced a laugh.

"Kendra, why are you here?" Carter asked her quietly.

"I just…" she shrugged, "I wanted to talk to you."

"Talk about what?"

"I don't know," she replied, "just talking." She looked at his bed and saw one of Aldus's books. Carter occasionally went through the books that they had got from Aldus. "Didn't you already read that book?"

"Yes," he said, "I just wanted to go through it again; maybe I'll find something that I missed."

"He was a really detailed researcher," Kendra said.

"He was," Carter agreed. "I wish we had known him longer."

"Me too." She sat down next to him. "Has Rip told you what you're going to do yet?"

"No."

"I can't wait to leave Wave Rider," she said.

"In less than an hour you'll be out of here," Carter reminded her.

Kendra wanted to tell him that she wished that they were going together but instead she kept quiet.

"I'm sure it will be a lot of fun," Carter said.

"Me too," Kendra replied, "a lot of fun."

They stared at each other.

"I guess I'll see you when we get back," Kendra stood up and made her way to the door.

"See you when you get back," he replied.

He watched the door close behind her and smiled, happier than he'd been all day.

000

Kendra leant against the wall just outside Carter's room. She wasn't sure what she'd been looking for when she'd gone to see him but she had just needed to spend some time alone with him before going on the assignment; okay that wasn't true, the truth was and she could admit it, she wanted to kiss Carter Hall. She really, really, wanted to kiss him, that was why she'd gone to his room but she was a coward.

Why couldn't he just try to kiss her like he had all those times?

000