Catch Me If You Can

Alex squinted at the harsh light of the morning sun seeping through the small part between the curtains, effectively pulling her out of her slumber. Pushing herself up into a sitting position, she let out a groan as a wave of nausea washed over her, taking a mental note to avoid drinking any wine with Anna, especially when she had so much going on in her mind.

After talking about what more they managed to find out and piecing together more pieces of the puzzle as to what their husbands were caught in with Phil, she had wanted to drown her worries away of having to face Tommy and keep on wondering what was going on without revealing what she and the girls have been up to, and having to face her boss for days on end without wondering if her life could be in any sort of danger by being around him. Foolishly thinking that consuming enough alcohol to the point of passing out in sleep was a better option than possibly acting weird in front of her husband when he came back home, Alex had downed glass after glass of wine, with Lara and Anna helplessly looking on.

Casting a quick glance to the other side of the bed and finding empty space, Alex heaved a sigh, thinking that she might as well start getting ready to go to work and hope that she didn't have to see Phil for longer than she found necessary. Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, she trudged her way into the bathroom, hoping that a shower could wake her up and make her feel better.

Alex tightly knotted the ties of her robe around her waist as she made her way over to the walk-in closet, shaking her head as she eyed the shoebox that once again contained the files on Phil. She busied herself with thumbing through the racks of clothing, trying to find an appropriate outfit for work when a shadow cast itself on the room. Turning her head towards the door, she found Tommy casually leant up against the entryway, his tongue darting out to wet his lips as he eyed her shapely legs.

"Good morning," she greeted softly before going back to picking out clothes. Just as she was about to pull out pieces for her outfit of choice, she found herself engulfed in his strong embrace, his warmth taking over all of her senses. "What are you doing?"

"Don't go to work today," he said simply, nuzzling his head against the side of her neck. "I don't have to be anywhere until tonight. We can just stay in and do whatever we want."

"As tempting as that sounds," she started. "I can't. I have a lot of work to do with the financial quarter coming to a close. I can't afford to slack off even just for a day."

"Phil's making you work that hard, huh?"

Alex could only be so grateful that Tommy's hands had been running all over her, easily masking her gasp of surprise at her boss' name falling from his lips as a response to his touch, his fingers deftly unravelling the knot of her robe to palm at her bare stomach. Parting the two halves, he pulled the terry cloth off her shoulders, stifling a groan as she was left in nothing but a matching set of black lace Victoria's Secret bra and panties. With his hands on her hips, he guided her to turn around and face him, quickly claiming her mouth in a fierce kiss, stealing her breath away.

She gripped onto his muscled arms for support, her body melting into his as his tongue delved between her lips, gathering her taste into his mouth. Tommy's roaming hands travelled up her back but she was quick to take hold of his wrists, stopping him from pulling her hair from its loose up-do.

"I can't," she mumbled against his lips, "As tempting as all this is, I'm going to end up late if you don't let me get dressed now."

"You sure?"

"Yes," she said, giggling as he playfully wiggled his eyebrows up and down. "Now get out."

"Why? It's not like I haven't seen it all before," he quipped. "Though I like watching you take off clothes rather than putting them on."

Alex said nothing in response; instead, she turned to her racks of clothes once again, picking out a pair of black Diane von Furstenberg Beatuck trousers with a modest boot cut, and a classic long-sleeved white button-down dress shirt from Banana Republic. She held out the garments for Tommy to take, playfully sticking out her tongue when he stared at her blankly but took hold of them nonetheless, before searching for a simple pair of black pumps and a double wrap metallic leather belt to finish off her look. Stepping out of the closet and into the main room, she laid out her clothing and started getting dressed while he sat on the edge of the bed to watch her.

"How's work going for you?" He asked after a few moments.

"I already told you," she said with a sigh. "Busy. It's always just at these particular times of the year though. I'm sure I'll be back to going crazy over Angry Birds once it passes. Then it's lather, rinse, repeat when another financial quarter nears an end. Hmm," she mused. "Maybe I should work on my time management skills."

"Do you think you'll be able to get some time off soon?"

Alex paused for a split second, surprised that not even the smallest of chuckles came from him when she had cracked a joke, then curious as to why he was asking so many questions about work. The look on her face must have given her thoughts away as Tommy quickly rushed into explaining that maybe they could take a trip, just the two of them, raising even more suspicion from her. Most wives would have been ecstatic at hearing such a suggestion from their husbands, but after what she, Anna and Lara have been uncovering, she wasn't sure what to feel.

"I could, could you?" Alex asked with one raised brow, hoping that she was able to mask her worries by turning the question on him. "What's with all the questions? You've never taken this much interest with my job before."

"Is it wrong to ask about what my wife is doing?" Tommy fired back, his tone defensive.

"Funny you should say that," she muttered under her breath, quickly regretting the words leaving her mouth when she saw the flash of anger in his eyes. "Look," she said, taking a deep breath. "I don't want to argue over whatever this is. I'm gonna be late anyway. I'll try to get off work early to maybe grab an early dinner with you before you have to go elsewhere."

Alex made the short distance to where he sat, leaning down just a tad to be able to place a quick peck to his cheek, only to be pulled into a firm kiss. "I love you," Tommy said when they parted. "Be safe."

Anna had been staring at the screen in front of her for the past two minutes, replaying the same section of tape over and over again. It was almost 8am and although she was feeling a little hung over after the cocktail party, her mind was on anything but the thumping headache that had persisted since she had woken.

She watched the interaction between Stu and Stephen once more; Stephen picking up a gun, inspecting it before handing it to Stu who put it into the waistband of his dress pants, shielded by the back of his jacket. The quality wasn't all that good, and of course there was no sound, but she knew what she had seen and couldn't offer any explanation to it.

Quickly taking the tape out of the player, she shoved it into her purse. "Stephen kicked you out?" Anna jumped, hearing Jimmy behind her.

"Of course not," she rolled her eyes, standing up and grabbing hold of her jacket.

"You're never here this early, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, I just wanted to stop by before I get some breakfast," Anna smiled as Jimmy shrugged his coat off and put the coffee on. "Can you check everything and make sure there aren't any guns missing?"

"Why would there be any missing?" Jimmy folded his arms against his chest, a glint behind his eyes.

"Please?" She knew he couldn't say no; he never could.

"Alright."

Anna slipped her coat on and kissed Jimmy on the cheek. "Thank you, I'll be back later."

Slipping her coat on and pulling her phone from her bag, Anna called up Lara, knowing she would already be awake. "Hey, I need you to meet me by the Lincoln Memorial as soon as possible."

Thankful that Lara had agreed to meet her so early; Anna got back into her car and made her way back up town towards Lincoln Park. As soon as she found a bench, she sat down and waited for her friend to arrive.

Tapping her foot impatiently against the concrete, she sighed. She was cold and hungry, and on top of that, Lara was twenty minutes late. Lincoln Park was beautiful, even as the winter months approached, but that didn't change the fact it was bitterly cold. Anna checked her phone once more and there were still no missed calls. Looking up she caught sight of a woman walking towards her pushing a buggy. Both the woman and the child in the buggy were wearing sunglasses, unusual for an overcast day.

"You have got to be kidding me." Anna mumbled under her breath, now realising it was Lara with Charlie. "What the hell are those?" She pointed at the little boy sitting comfortably in his buggy once her friend got close.

"Didn't you know they make Ray-Bans for toddlers?"

"No, take them off. They look stupid." Anna leant over, well prepared to take the sunglasses off Lara's son. She didn't account for him slapping her hand away, a fit of giggles following his actions. Her eyes were wide with shock, "He just hit me!"

"Well he likes them." Lara grinned, playfully ruffling up Charlie's hair.

"Then take yours off, I told you to be inconspicuous." Lara sighed and took her sunglasses off, putting them into her handbag.

"What's so important anyway?" Both women sat down on the bench, ready to start gossiping once more.

"Ste gave a gun to Stu last night; it was one of the ones from the range."

"Why would he do that?" Lara glanced down at her son. Before Charlie was born, she wasn't opposed to Stu having weapons. But now they had a child, she was a little more cautious. He loved to explore, and if he got his hands on anything he shouldn't, well, she didn't want to even think that far.

"I don't know," Anna was still confused, unsure why Stephen would even contemplate doing such a thing. "I'm just going to ask him."

"Are you crazy?"

"I want to know why he's taken it and if it's going to put the range in jeopardy."

"Just be careful, and don't let anything slip about you-know-what." Lara warned, concerned that if the guys were going to find out, it would be Anna's fault.

"I won't," she smiled, grateful that she had been able to talk to Lara face-to-face. "Now how about we go and get some breakfast? I feel like drowning myself in maple syrup."

"That's a good idea. I need some energy so I can finish this latest article." Lara stood up, followed by Anna who smiled, feeling immensely proud of her friends' success.

Whilst making their way back to the cars, the sun peaked out from the clouds. So the sunglasses weren't a waste of time after all.

"My treat."

"Don't you mean Stephen's treat?" Anna couldn't help but laugh along with Lara.

She grinned, knowing whose name was on the prized credit card in her purse. "I guess you're right."

Alex furrowed her brows as she listened to Anna's frustrated voice coming through the phone line. She was being told about what the blonde had seen on the CCTV footage of the shooting range her family owned, firing question after question as to why Stephen would need to take one of her brand new guns when she was sure he had hundreds of his own to choose from lying around somewhere. She was even more curious as to why he had handed the gun over to Stu when the Brit was sure to have his own armoury as well.

"Anna," she said, finally able to get a word in. "I really don't know what to tell you, and I can't really talk. I'm just about to go into my building. Someone can hear. I'll call you later."

After figuring out that it was likely Ted DiBiase who had taken the surveillance pictures of Phil, and hearing Tommy tell the younger man to keep an eye out for her, Alex didn't want to take any chances of blowing their cover of knowing more than they should. If she really was in the middle of danger, it would be best to not talk about anything unless she was comfortable with her surroundings.

Stepping out of the elevator onto her floor, Alex nearly ended up colliding with a distraught Melissa. The brunette was fixing to ask what was wrong but decided against it when she received a cold glare and an upturned nose instead. She silently watched as the secretary walked straight into the elevator, carrying what looked like a box of her personal items.

"Alexandra!"

She squeezed her eyes shut when she heard her full name being used, plastering a strained smile on her face as she turned to face her boss. "Good morning sir. Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Well, not right now," Phil said, sending her a wink. "But I'd like you to meet our new employee."

It was only when he mentioned a new employee that Alex noticed the petite redhead standing beside him. She extended her hand in welcome, introducing herself in the process. "Hello, it's nice to meet you. I'm Alexandra Kincaid, but please, call me Alex."

"Karen McAllister," she replied. "I'm looking forward to working with you."

Stopping outside Stephen's office, Anna couldn't hear anything but the sound of her heart beating hard against her chest. Her breathing faltered, even when she tried to take steady breaths. She knew she had no choice but to say something to her husband, and as she pushed her ear against the door she could hear him on the phone. Her hand lingered over the door handle, wondering whether she should wait until he had finished on the phone or not. She shook those thoughts, knowing if she didn't go in now, she never would.

As soon as she opened the door, she felt everything she had planned to say fly out of her mind. Stephen had rendered her speechless, and for once that wasn't a good thing. He looked up from his desk, eyebrows furrowed in confusion; she would never usually walk in on him when he was on the phone. Anna would usually knock on the door, only to be shouted at to come back later. Stephen pointed at the phone, his voice becoming quiet to mask what he was saying.

She didn't take the hint; instead she slammed the door behind her, the bang of the door shutting echoing through the room. Anna watched Stephen's face turn from confused to irritated in a split second, but that didn't deter her from walking straight up to his desk, eyes boring into his.

"Ah'll call yeh back," Anna heard Stephen speak into the phone, clearly agitated. He dropped the device on the table and waited, speaking up when she remained silent. "This must be important."

"Last right at the shooting range, what did you do?"

Stephen laughed, but she was well aware that it was at her expense. "Anna, is this a joke? Ah have stuff-"

"No!"Anna almost yelled, surprising herself. She took a step back when he stood up from his desk. "There's a gun missing, and you were there last night."

"So yer saying Ah took it?" Stephen moved around the desk, edging closer and closer to his wife.

"You gave it to Stu." Anna was expecting him to falter but that didn't happen.

He stopped in front of her, all two hundred and seventy pounds of solid muscle. "And how do yeh know this sweetheart?"

"CCTV," Stephen's face dropped and Anna couldn't help but smirk a little. He hadn't expected her to notice; in fact, he probably thought she did nothing at the range but sit on the computer in the back and shop.

"Now yer spying on me?"

"If something goes missing, I'm going to check."

"So first yeh start lying to me, now yeh sneaking around?" Anna shook her head, knowing she had done enough. Stephen was mad and she would only make it worse. Turning around, she made a hasty walk towards the door. As soon as her hand gripped around the handle, Stephen's hand was against the door, keeping it shut.

She turned around and he was inches away from her. "Ah'm interested in what yer goin' to do now?" Stephen ducked his head down so he could speak quietly against her ear. "But let me guess, yeh haven't thought that far forward."

Anna glanced up at Stephen, her breathing harsh and ragged as she tried to keep up with her rapidly beating heart. A million things were running through her head, but they were soon a jumbled mess when he slipped his hand to her face, gently dragging his thumb against her bottom lip.

Before she knew it, she was being pulled towards him. Her hands gripped tightly onto his arms, stopping herself from collapsing into a puddle on the floor. Stephen's other arm moved around her back, keeping her flush against his hard body so she couldn't escape. His lips were fast on hers, soft at first but soon growing with need and passion. Anna gave back as much as she got, her arms slipping around his neck, balancing herself on her tip toes so she could get closer to him. She moaned as Stephen bit onto her bottom lip then gently kissed where his teeth had sunk into her. Forgetting everything that had just happened, he gripped the back of her thighs, making her wrap her legs around his waist before slamming her against the wooden door.

The tension between them quickly flared into passion; a raw carnal passion that neither of them could escape. Anna had quickly forgotten what she was even talking to Stephen about. Her senses were in overdrive, all because of her husband and his lips now making their way down the side of her neck. She should have known better than to get involved in Stephen's business; at the end of the day he still had full control of everything, including her emotions.

"Wait a minute; let me get your out of your coat before you go running off," Lara gently grabbed Charlie just as he was about to hotfoot it into the living room. She unzipped his jacket and pulled it off him, brushing it down and placing it back on the hook in the front porch.

"Fuck!" She lifted her head upon hearing her husband curse loudly, and winced when she heard an almighty crash follow. Someone had clearly gotten out of the wrong side of the bed. She rushed to the source of the noise, finding his office door wide open with every piece of furniture upturned.

"What's going on in here?" Lara asked, watching as Stu rifled through several stacks of papers, just throwing them carelessly around the room, "Stu, what are you doing?" He stopped briefly to look at her, a stern expression on his features. She narrowed her eyes as he raised his forefinger, shunning her off.

"Lara, don't. I'm not in the mood."

"Have you gone mad? Look at this place!"

"I've lost something, alright?" He snapped, his temper once again getting the better of him. His hand reached up to rub over his face in an attempt to calm himself down, "Something very, very important."

At this point, Lara leaned casually against the doorframe with her arms crossed over her chest. Her husband had been even more on edge recently, and she could tell that part of it was her own doing.

"What is it?" She asked, only to be met with a disapproving shake of the head. Stu shoved a bunch of books off the shelf in anger, his fist swiftly connecting with the wall behind it. Finally, he turned to her, instantly changing his tone.

"You won't know where it is so there's no point."

"I'm just trying to help. I can see how frustrated you are."

"Oh, you noticed that, huh?" He questioned condescendingly. Lara sighed, and he found himself amending his frame of mind, "I'm sorry," he apologised, stepping into the centre of the room to take a quick scan of the damage. After taking a much needed deep breath, he explained with a softer manner, "It's a file. I desperately need it for a work meeting later."

"Well, what does it look like?"

"It's a thick brown folder, and it has the word 'confidential' marked on the front of it," he turned his back to her as he went through his desk drawers for the fifth time. Lara was glad he hadn't been watching out for her reaction, because he would've seen the guilt wash over her face. Her eyes widened as soon as he had described what he was looking for; the file. The file which she had taken and was now in Alex's possession. She stood upright when he slammed the top drawer shut in irritation, "You haven't seen it anywhere, have you?"

"No," she lied, beginning to feel sick at her now-frequent lies to the man she was supposed to keep nothing from.

"Are you sure?" He probed, "You haven't moved it while you were cleaning the house or anything like that?"

Maybe I could get the file back from Alex and drop it off for Stu later, she thought. Her mind was completely elsewhere, wanting to cover her tracks. She didn't even notice the hint of scepticism which had settled on his features.

Lara pursed her lips as he moved closer to her, bracing his large hands on her shoulders. It seemed like he was trying to intimidate her with his size; something which he didn't need to do at all. His cheeks were flushed with anger; if she lied for now then he wouldn't do anything stupid.

"I don't think so. I haven't been in here to clean recently, although it's now top of my priorities list after you seemed to have let a bomb off."

He studied her for a moment, searching for an ounce of truth in her words. Maybe he was acting crazy; there was no need for him to take anything out on her. He wasn't like that anyway. She swallowed hard, feeling herself grow hot under his intense stare. A hint of a smile crept onto his lips, before his expression turned stoic. He pushed his hands off her arms and mumbled to no one in particular, "Then where the fuck is it?"

"Have you looked everywhere? Maybe it's in the living room," she suggested; hearing him scoff in response ended up just agitating her even more.

"No, it's not in the living room. Why the hell would I put it there?" He argued, dramatically flinging his arms in the air. Lara let out a breath, knowing that, for now, his anger was completely misdirected.

"I don't know! Go check!"

"Fine," Stu stomped into the living room, full of attitude, with Lara hot on his tail. He began checking through the bookshelf, just in case the folder was between the various novels and biographies. She went from acknowledging her husband's thoughtless manner to taking note of Charlie. A shriek escaped her lips, causing Stu to stop what he was doing.

"Charlie! No, put that down!" She yelled, hurrying over to the coffee table and grabbing the gun he had a firm grip of. He stared up at her, his eyes wide and glassy at being scolded. Lara swallowed hard, turning to her husband, her jaw slackening. "What is this doing in here?" Stu's demeanour didn't change one bit. He decided it would be best to go into defensive mode.

"Would you calm down? It's not like it's loaded with bullets!" Yet, he thought. It was Lara's turn to scoff, the rage quickly building up inside her at her husband's idiotic behaviour.

"That's not the point, Stu! I've told you time and time again that I don't want to see guns in the house!" She paused her words, crouching down to Charlie's level and pulling his grabby hands away from the weapon, adopting a softer tone so as not to frighten him. "Sweetie, that's not a toy, okay? You're not to play with that. Why don't you go and play with your trucks in the playroom, hmm?"

Stu waited until the toddler had run off down the hallway to try and reason with his wife. He stepped closer to her, his arms folded over his broad chest.

"You're overreacting."

"No, I'm under reacting. What if that thing was loaded? What if Charlie managed to pull that trigger? What the fuck is wrong with you?" She wasn't letting up. Stu needed to know how much she disapproved of having guns in the house and around their son. He grunted, feeling his temper slide once more.

"I left it there after we got home last night. It slipped my mind to move it, for fuck sake." Lara's mouth was agape when he revealed he had a weapon on him the night of the party; she had no idea. She presumed he had taken it from the shooting range, considering the distinguishable serial number engraved on the handle, but why he had taken it, she had no idea.

"Well that slip of your mind could've cost someone their life," she chastised, trying to make him feel incredibly guilty for his misjudgement. "I can't even look at you right now. Perhaps you should go for a walk, you know, clear your head."

"Lara, I don't need to-"

"Just get out!" She shouted, completely losing her cool. Her eyes refused to meet his as she jammed the barrel of the gun into his chest, waiting for him to take it out of her shaky grasp. "And take this piece of shit with you. I don't want to see it again."

A/N – Thank you xj0j0x, ThatGirl54 and Blackhat for the great reviews, and to everyone else who has read the story so far :) Lou, Katie and Mox