Christophe just blinked at the Englishman. "I 'ave no idea what you are talkeeng about."

Gregory sighed. If this were an action novel, that would have been so anticlimatic. "They found the body of a young English boy this morning. We need to check this out."

Christophe's face did not lose its confused appearance. "...Quoi?"

The Brit's jaw clenched. "Go wash your face. You're of no use to anyone if you're tired today. You do want to show me up as a Frenchman, right?" He smirked and walked away, most likely downstairs to flirt a while with that girl. Christophe did not want to dwell on the fact that his chest constricted painfully with the thought of Gregory being interested in someone, so he dragged himself into the bathroom to get ready for the day.

He finally took the lift downstairs and was greeted with the sight of Gregory and that girl talking. Again they looked at Christophe as if not excepting him to arrive as early as he did.

"Ah Christophe," Gregory cleared his throat, blushing in a way that suggested he had been caught with his clothes off. "You remember Marie?"

" 'Ow could I forgeet? I see 'er everytime I step foot een ze lobby."

Both blonds coughed at the steely tone he used.

"Yes, well...." Gregory realised he left his voice recorder in the room. Knowing he would not do his part of the investigation well without it, he quickly excused himself and it was not long before Christophe was left alone with the one girl he wished would die a slow, painful death...well, besides Wendy girl.

Marie and Christophe were engaged in another glaring match when Gregory came out of the lift.

"Come on Christophe, we gave business to take care of." Christophe narrowed his eyes at the blonde girl one last time before heading out of the hotel doors with Gregory, relishing the hurt look she gave that she was not the one spending time with the cocky Brit.

~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~

Gregory peered at Christophe sideways as he drove them toward the British agency. The brunette still looked sour from whatever happened between him and Marie, so the blond decided not to make conversation. Christophe, however, saw no problem in talking.

"Tell me again why we are goeeng to ze agency eenstead of eenvestigateeng?" He asked bitterly. Gregory swallowed inaudibly before answering.

"We are going to see how Pirrip wants us to carry out the investigation."

Silence and then, "So you and Marie seem to get along." Christophe actually seemed calmer about this, but Gregory found the tone hard to trust.

"Yeah...we are. She's really nice." Gregory glanced at him again and was uneasy to see the Frenchman's blank expression had slipped its way back to his face.

"She's a 'ore 'oo loves to see me angry."

Gregory chose not to say anything, but Christophe took it as an answer.

"So you do not mind zat fact een ze least?"

The Brit started to get a little angry. "No, actually I don't because I know not a word you said is true." He stopped the car as they pulled into their destination's parking lot.

"Ah," Christophe giggled a little as he stepped out of car. He probably meant to sound indifferent or amused, but Gregory knew the brunette was far from either. He knew he was going to be in big trouble the moment they got back inside the vehicle. Walking inside, they were greeted by Pirrip's lovely secretary.

"Do you have an appointment?" She asked with obvious boredom. Her indifferent face only changed when the pair tried to get past her without answering.

"Hey! Do you have an appointment or not?"

Gregory turned back to the woman, looking almost as if he had forgotten she was even a part of the agency. However, he did not need to say a word as she gasped at the recognition.

"G-Gregory," she whispered. "I didn't realise...go on in...."

Gregory grinned and blew her a kiss. She blushed and Christophe tried to glare swords into her soul, but before he could succeed, his partner pulled him up the stairs and toward the conference room.

When they reached the room, they both seated themselves at the same moment, Christophe with a cold indifference and Gregory with a weary expression. Pip and Damien both wondered what had happened between the two before they stepped foot into the room. Pip cleared his throat.

"Okay, now that everyone's here, we need to get down to business. I would have liked to do this with only my agency, but we'll have to make to with the new arrangements." He glanced at Damien, while Christophe and Gregory glanced at each other.

He clapped his hands together, bringing back everyone's attention. "Sharpe, Delaterre, you have to work together on this one, considering all your experience. Do you think you can handle that?" They both opened their mouths to respond, but Pip held up a hand to silence them. "I don't want an answer just yet. I want you to think it over thoroughly and then give me an honest answer. Even if it's one that sends Delaterre home."

Now he looked at Damien.

"I'm still angry with you for not giving me a fair warning before practically invading my home country...!" He took a moment to gather himself again. "However, we have to work together just like I was telling Sharpe and Delaterre. I want a full report of your," Pip looked back to the pair of agents, "progress every evening, sometimes more often if you find out anything new. I want the person responsible found at all costs."

Christophe and Gregory nodded to show they understood. Damien, however, was trying to comprehend the fact that Pip took charge so easily. It was a turn-on sure, but it was a far cry from the Pip he knew as a child. It almost made him feel like he was not needed anymore....

"What if it's more than one person?" Damien asked suddenly, wanting Pip to think positively of him again, and not that he was a nuisance.

"Excuse me?" Pip said with surprise.

"Well if every popular European country like Germany, Spain, and France, " Christophe felt sick at the mention of his beloved country, "have seven murders spring up within a short time, maybe it's not the work of one person. I mean, why does it have to be limited to one person?"

Gregory rolled his eyes. "Nobody said anything about it being one person. Pirrip always says 'the person responsible' for the sake of simplicity. Don't be so quick to distrust him."

Christophe groaned despite himself. "Oh please Gregory, do not make eet seem like we are ze bad guys."

"Well, you did come into our country to investigate something that we should have been able to handle on our own." Gregory's silky voice had an underlying tone of malice to it, but this did not have any effect on Christophe besides causing him to leave the room.

The "Frenchie" stood up and stormed out before anyone could protest. He stomped down the hall back toward the stairs, but since he was looking down at the floor, he slammed into another person.

"Je suis vraiment desole." He mumbled. He did not mean the muttered apology, but he knew Thorne would not hesitate to send him back to America if he screwed up here.

"De pas problem."

Christophe, who had taken to glaring at the poor wooden planks, looked up sharply. A redheaded man with a dazzling smile met the brunette's confused gaze.

"S-Salut..." Christophe greeted, breathless. He was so taken off guard he had not realised he was still speaking in his native language.

"Salut. Comment tappelles-tu?"

"Christophe Delaterre...."

"Christophe." His warm smile grew and the Frenchman found himself nearly melting into the floor. "Comment allez-vous, Christophe?"

"Bien...maintenant...." Christophe responded, annoyed with himself. Why was he blushing so hard? "E-et toi?"

The man's smile softened at Christophe's near shyness. "Bien. Parlez-vous anglais?"

"Er, mais oui." Christophe answered. "Sorry eef I made you zeenk ozerwise."

"Not at all, I'm sure."

Christophe almost smacked his own forehead for his rudeness. "I am so sorry, but I 'ave not received ze pleasure of knoweeng your name."

The man looked surprised at the turn of events, but soon let out an easy laugh. "My goodness, I never told you? Well aren't we quite a pair?" If that had been Gregory's line, Christophe would have been extremely annoyed by the comparison, but he now found himself giggling at this man's analysis.

"My name's Herbert Pocket. Delighted to make your acquaintance."

"Enchante."

"Christophe, Pirrip wants us to get out there as soon as-" Gregory came out of the room to hear Christophe's voice still in the adjacent hallway. However, when he reached his French partner, he found another person he was not quite familiar with. "Hello," he cut his earlier sentence off and stopped just short of the pair before him. "Who's this?"

Christophe stopped giggling immediately and looked at Gregory with some alarm. If people thought the French man could get jealous....The blond man's mouth set into a hard line and his line of vision enveloped Christophe again.

"Delaterre, let's go." He growled. Christophe shivered as he remembered how possessive Gregory had gotten on the previous mission they had with each other. The sexual tension could be cut with a knife and Christophe found he did not particularly like being attracted to two different men. He did not like it at all.

So he followed Gregory down the hall and later the stairs, pausing slightly to turn back and give Herbert (ah, Herbert) an apologetic wave goodbye.

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~

A/N: And the plot thickens! Whoo! Please review and the memory of the last mission will be in the next chapter, I promise! XD

~theflawintheplan