Chapter 4: Beautiful

It was Wilt's turn to babysit me. It took him less than 3 hours to start on me. "So where did your dad move you after he caught you with Mac?" He said, sitting down on the sofa across from me and raising his eyebrows, as though I owed him this information. "Germany." I said shortly.

"Where?"

"Why?" I retorted, glaring at him.

"Because, look at this. There's four agents circling your house and me on the inside to help."

"I can take care of myself."

"Yeah we know, you have a weird talent for violence." He said, his flat tone mimicking mine. "Mac cares about you Lola, probably too much." For the first time in years I wasn't actually sure what to say. "I know." I came out with. The reply itself however was quiet and withdrawn, which gave Wilt an in.

"I just wanna know that you won't hurt him."

"That's not all you want." I scoffed, shaking my head. "You want to know how I feel about him."

"… Yeah. I do."

"Wilt …" I began. But I wasn't sure how to say this. I couldn't tell him everything. I couldn't tell him most things. So I resigned myself to basics, as were I to tell the whole truth, none of them would ever trust me again. "I care about Angus." I nodded. "I will protect him with my life."

"Good. Cause I think he'd do the same."

"I know." I said, absent again and I thought about what I was doing. How I had uprooted the lives of these people, and how I only saw pathways in which it could get worse.

It has been a week since Riley found the contract on Angus's life, and there is officially no one else to take a shift. I have to see him. I took Riley to my training room this afternoon and showed her some ways to work with a knife safely. It was 4pm when Angus showed up, perfectly on the hour. Riley let him in, and they exchanged glances at me, before looking at the double detail outside. Angus was in more danger than I, and because of this I was glad to have him with me. I meant what I told him in the hospital, whether he had heard me or not. I would keep him safe. We walked through the house in silence, and in passing the kitchen I asked if he wanted a drink. "Uh, water's fine." He said, gesturing towards the fridge. I nodded, bringing him a bottle of Fiji water. "Your place is nice." He said, trying to make small talk.

"Thank you. Tesla pays well." I nodded.

"Yeah, what is it you actually do there?" He laughed lightly, his mood changing a little as he felt we had something to talk about.

"I liaise with the design department. I'm VP of Purchasing, so whatever they want, I find. It's why I don't spend much time in the office, mostly just meetings."

"So you reach out to external companies to find the materials you need?"

"Pretty much, yes."

"How'd you get that job?"

"Well, I started when I was in England. I worked my way up through Purchasing at Jaguar Land Rover, until I was head of their SVO department."

"Special Ops?"
"Special Vehicle Operations, yes." I nodded as we went out onto the terrace and looked over the valley. "It was mostly private commissions, diplomats and such who wanted luxury armoured vehicles. I was headhunted by Tesla about 5 years ago. As they moved me up the ranks, I tried my best to stay in Europe but they are based in Palo Alto, I couldn't avoid the states with this promotion."

"Were you that afraid to see me?" He joked.

"Yes." I nodded.

"Then why'd you move to Los Angeles rather than Palo Alto?" He laughed.

"Have you seen Palo Alto? I'm not living there. When I have to go in for meetings I take the Tesla plane, but there are more companies here, it actually works out easier."

"So it really had nothing to do with me."

"… I knew you were here, if that's what you're asking."

"Right." He frowned.
"I looked you up over the years. My father has worked for 'think tanks' in the past. I knew you'd know if I came back, and it would only be a matter of time before we'd see each other. 8 months ago, the job came, and I knew I had to come." That was actually true. Almost proud of myself.

"I'm glad you came." He said, looking up at me from his cautious lean on the glass. "Honestly, I always thought you'd go into politics, like your dad." I couldn't help but laugh at that, and I turned, leaning down to meet his eye. "I knew my father was grooming me for that. The languages, the social engagements, the years of training. But I never wanted that for myself. I saw what politics did to him, what public opinion could do, what investors could do. I didn't want the fate of innocent people resting on my shoulders, as it did his."

"… Your dad didn't work the for the embassy did he?" Angus asked.

"… He worked for the British government." I said, shrugging and standing up straight, going to the round chairs on the other side of the pool. Angus followed me, and sat down on the edge of the ottoman across from me. "He was a little more than an ambassador though." I said, not meeting his eye.

"Did you know? When we were kids?"
"I think a part of me did. The business trips to exotic places, the secrecy, the training. He had me learn how to blend into 6 different cultures, speak 9 different languages fluently. Don't get me wrong, it has come in extremely handy. That man groomed me for work I didn't understand. I tried to go straight instead, take a real job, hove a real house, make real friends."

"Well, you have Bozer, and me. And it looks like Riley is warming up to you too?" I laughed lightly.

"She grilled me for a while, they all did. Well, actually Matty didn't, she hardly said a word to me."

"She's the stoic type, don't take it personally. It's either that or she just hands you straight sass." He laughed. I couldn't help but laugh with him; it was so genuine and natural. "I think I prefer the stoicism." I grinned. "You know um, High Noon is on TV tonight, if you wanna watch?"

"Seriously? God I haven't seen that in like a million years. I'm in." He smiled.

"Great."

As the weeks passed, Angus and his team began to take missions again. I was allowed to go back to work; everything seemed to go back to normal. For a while it was like there wasn't a threat to Angus's life. It wasn't good enough though. They had their own problems to deal with, but I had time on my hands. I used my own skills with computers, and started my own little project. I wanted to know who put the hit on Angus's life. I wanted to know, because I wanted to kill them.

There was one thing that didn't change however. The team invited me to Wilt and Angus's place. When they would get back from a mission it would be nice to see them. We would sit outside in the heat and have a bonfire, and when it would approach midnight Angus would insist on driving me home. By the time we got there it would be so late that I would convince him to stay. He has taken up regular residence in my guest room. Tonight however, Angus knocked on my door. He walked inside, and smiled at me. "Oh, I'm judging you so hard for watching Family Guy." He snickered. I laughed and patted the other side of the bed.

"You know you want to." I smiled. He exhaled and cross the room, climbing onto the bed beside me. "Don't judge Family Guy, I fall asleep to it, it's calming." I smiled.

"You're a crazy person." He nodded. "… Are you sure this is ok?" He asked after a minute.

"Angus, we're adults. Stop acting like my dad is gonna walk in on us." I joked, my gaze unwavering from the TV screen.

"Right. Sorry." We said nothing more on the subject, but as the episodes passed, Angus and I got more and more tired, until we simply fell asleep there. Together.