Lillian looked through Riley's report as the Agent waited for her judgement on the assignment. 'Hmm, well we can't prove that the CIA had any intention of operating on you, Agent Neal. I've questioned whether Tetazoo should have signed off on the investigation into Xcon Robotics without my being informed and my cleansing operation had approval from the highest authority. So the CIA will have received a caution for overstepping their mandate but I doubt very much more will be said about it.'
Riley sighed. 'Well I can't prove anything but I don't feel comfortable working on any assignment led by Amelia Vaughn,' she raised her eyebrows to emphasise the point.
The Director laughed. 'I don't think that Amelia's likely to ask for your help again apparently your partner on the assignment has raised a complaint against you for shooting him in the leg.' Lillian quelled a smile. 'I've asked for that to be removed from your record on the basis that you were incorrectly profiled for the operation. Director Vaughn has also pointed out that you broke cover on a number of occasions which makes you highly unsuitable for their kind of work.'
'True, I'm no Amelia Vaughn,' Riley agreed with little regret. 'What now? Do I go back to protecting Gabriel? Or is the Jameson thing working out?' Riley waited patiently for the Director's answer.
'Chris and Gabriel don't really partner that well. Gabriel ignores anything Agent Jameson asks him to do and Chris finds that understandably frustrating; so they don't jell, but then I don't think Gabriel would find it easy to work with another agent. He's Delta Force and therefore believes that he's more than capable of looking after himself.'
'Yes, that can be hard to work around. He's occasionally reckless though so that needs to be tempered; and also he hates the thought a girl might get hurt saving his ass so that makes him more careful.' Riley smiled. 'I play on that a lot.'
'I think you know how to deal with Gabriel very well,' Lillian agreed. 'He has a difficult time ahead of him as I believe he's about to ask Amelia for a divorce, so we'll see how that plays out. Agent Jameson will be observing your movements Riley because if your suspicions are correct you may be in danger from Gabriel's wife. It's best to take precautions just in case Amelia Vaughn decides to take any pre-emptive action against you. Amelia plays by her own rules so your termination wouldn't bother her too much or cause her any loss of sleep. I think she's comfortable with the concept of collateral damage.'
'Thank you, I believe I prefer Delta Force's approach,' Riley responded calmly. She didn't like being watched because that meant any time she spent with Gabriel would be monitored but then with Lillian you never really knew whether you were being observed or not.
Meanwhile Gabriel had scheduled a meeting with his wife and had arranged to meet her in a local bar. He bought her a drink and observed her as she sipped it her gaze meeting his calmly with no hint of guilt or awareness of wrongdoing.
'I needed to see you Amelia, I've been thinking about the last seven years and what that's meant in terms of our relationship. At one time my only hope was to get you back safely and prove that you hadn't been a traitor to your country. I thought naively that we could get back to what we once had or what I thought we once had… His expression became rather bleak at this point, 'it's unusual for me to second guess myself but I think I misread out situation or perhaps there was a moment when I should have agreed with you and told you to leave the job but that moment passed.' He sighed heavily. 'I think we should legally address our separation Amelia and I want a divorce.'
'I thought you would give me more time to readjust, to find my way back to you,' Amelia whispered her face tortured with sadness. 'I know it's been difficult Gabriel but you were my compass and I did find my way home… It came home to her suddenly that she was going to lose Gabriel and that thought had never entered her mind. Riley's recent failure as an undercover agent had made her worthless in Amelia's view; how could her husband admire such a failure?
'I'm glad you've returned and that you're safe Amelia,' Gabriel's voice was low with emotion. 'It's just that your devotion to your job doesn't leave any room to be more than the job, and that means it doesn't leave any room for me. I think you showed me that and perhaps I was too stupid to see it at first. I'm sorry but my mind's made up and the papers will be with you shortly.' He got up to leave and stopped when she grabbed his arm.
'Please sit down Gabriel; I think we owe our marriage more than this don't you? I've been back a few months and you're ready to give up on me? What about the promises we made each other…
'Promises,' he repeated in a sibilant whisper. 'You lived as another man's wife for years; you didn't contact me in all that time Amelia and if Agent Neal hadn't pushed me out of that window I might be in a thousand pieces by now because somehow I don't think you were willing to give up the Lashkar for me. To your credit you did try and save the people in the hospital and you did contact me for that.' The last part was added with bitterness.
'I wanted to see you; it might have been the last time,' her dark eyes begged him for understanding. 'I was still in that role; I was still that person but I was desperate to see you; I told you it was just geography; I thought you'd understand that.' Tears welled in her eyes as he gently removed her hand from his arm.
'I'm sorry Amelia; I don't believe in our love anymore; I've got this damned chip in my head that's probably going to mean I'll get retired to some military arsenal somewhere off the grid when the time comes; and I feel like an idiot for volunteering because I did that for you and what I thought we were.' Gabriel walked out of the bar; he felt traumatised by the meeting but he was glad to have addressed the issue.
Riley checked her watch for the nth time and wondered where her partner could be. Jameson had lost him outside some bar in the centre of town and had been scouring the area ever since. She'd come back to Gabriel's apartment to wait for him there. Riley sat on his couch until the sun set and the light died in the sky and eventually she must have dropped off to sleep because she woke up suddenly when she heard the door open. Checking her watch she was surprised to see it was the early hours of the next morning.
'Hey,' Gabriel greeted her in a drained voice. He was slightly unsteady as he'd had a few drinks but nothing he couldn't handle. He put his keys in the bowl on the dresser and rubbed a hand over his forehead. 'It's late,' he observed as she got up from the couch.
'It is late; where the hell have you been,' she touched the com on her watch. 'Stand down Agent Jameson, Gabriel's returned to the apartment,' she switched off the com after the other agent acknowledged her message.
'Just taking some personal time,' he growled as he headed to the bathroom. He locked the door on his ball and chain and splashed water on his face and viewed himself as he dried it with a towel. He looked pretty normal which was weird. He had a chip in his head and he'd just split with his wife and he looked fucking normal. Amazing! He brushed his teeth to get rid of the taste of whisky and then shed his clothes and showered the sweat and the smoke off his skin. Wrapping a towel around his hips he returned to the lounge on his way to the bedroom, and when he spied the bed he sighed, ditched the towel and got between the sheets.
Riley looked at him from the doorway and then followed him picking up his clothes and the damp towel. She threw the clothes in the laundry basket and returned the towel to the bathroom. It wasn't the time to harangue him she could tell that from his body language as soon as he walked through the door. She was content that he was back and safely under her protection. She locked up the apartment and picked up a blanket from a chest in the spare room and made herself comfortable on the couch and settled in for the night.
When Gabriel woke up the next morning he found coffee and pain killers on the nightstand both of which he was grateful for. He drank the coffee and swallowed the tablets feeling slightly better as the caffeine and drugs kicked in. Once he felt more normal he realised he needed to take a leak so he dragged on some old jeans and headed for the bathroom. Riley was working on something in the kitchen area and he suspected she was treating him with kid gloves as he'd got off lightly the evening before; he knew both Chris and Riley would have been concerned at his absence and it would have been more than professional concern because they were his friends when you came down to it.
He showered and brushed his teeth before he returned to the lounge and then walked over to the open plan kitchen and leaned against the wall as he watched Riley attempt to make pancakes. 'Want me to do it,' he came up behind her and observed the rather glutinous mixture; Riley didn't have a light hand with batter.
'It seems to be a bit thicker than I'd expected,' she observed with disfavour. 'Gloopy even, I didn't get many lessons as a kid, I bet your Mom made awesome pancakes,' she handed him the skillet.
'She did make awesome pancakes, the trick is not to try and make one giant pancake Agent Neal because that can be tough to get through,' he dropped the skillet's contents into the bin and spent some more time on the mixture and then ladled a modest amount into the skillet and then a plateful of light and delicate pancakes appeared with little effort.
'I bet you cheated and rendered a file on how to make pancakes like your Mom,' Riley took the pancakes over to the table which had already been laid for breakfast and took out the bacon that she'd grilled and had been kept warm in the oven. 'More coffee,' she enquired pleasantly.
'Bring it on,' he sat down bare chested and quite relaxed to have her buzz around his kitchen. A tee shirt was placed over his shoulder and he smirked. 'What's the matter are you getting all hot and bothered by the sight of my manly chest?'
'Naturally, I'm only a poor, weak woman when you come down to it. It might be nice if you'd buckle your belt too; I'm not big on morning etiquette but I'm pretty certain I'm not expected to get an eyeful of your meat whilst I eat my pancakes, bacon and syrup.'
'You can't see anything,' he buckled up and pulled on the tee shirt and eyed her with humour. 'Is that what passes for dirty talking in the Riley Neal handbook of female wiles because I think with a bit of coaching you could do better?' He drank some coffee and watched her as she delicately cut up a pancake. 'I've noticed that when you try and cheer me up it's usually by going on the offensive.
'Do you need cheering up,' her blue eyes questioned him. Gabriel had that look on him that said he wasn't about to share. 'You said you needed some personal time so I'm not going to interrogate you about last night other than to say both Jameson and I could have our careers impacted if anything happened to you when you go off the grid.'
'Duly noted,' he responded in an even tone as he poured syrup over his pancakes and added some bacon to his plate. 'You're back to babysitting me then,' he poured more coffee and his blue gaze nailed hers. 'I would have thought Lillian might have left Jameson on point for a while.' He was concerned that Amelia might react badly to the divorce papers and this could have an impact on Riley.
'Well you weren't very nice to Agent Jameson and he didn't enjoy babysitting you at all,' Riley licked the syrup off her fork and felt a wave of heat as Gabriel seemed fascinated by the sight of her doing that. 'You're staring again,' she muttered her skin flushing.
'Well you're very attractive Agent Neal and I can't be the only guy that's ever been caught checking you out,' he responded his gaze warm as it swept over her. 'The pony tail is a bit severe though; I prefer your hair down. You have pretty hair,' he smiled in a self-deprecating fashion as she gave him a knowing look. 'You know me well enough to know when I feel like talking and when I don't Riley,' he forked up some bacon and ate it and then looked across at her. 'I want you to stay here for the next couple of days; you can take the spare room.'
'I don't think that's entirely wise,' Riley protested. She saw the determined jut of his chin and groaned inwardly. 'I can take care of myself,' she added defiantly.
'We're partners, we're at our best when we look after each other,' he responded in a matter of fact tone.
'Lillian's already got Jameson monitoring my movements and if I stay here Chris will be monitoring that, call me old fashioned but I don't want to be the subject of gossip at work.'
'If you think they don't gossip about us you're delusional,' Gabriel drank some more coffee. 'The geek squad get off on fantasies about bad boys like me and dominant females like you,' he tried to suppress a smile but failed. 'Probably think we have hot animal sex in between the bullets and explosions.'
'Gabriel shut up,' Riley smiled at him with mock sweetness and fluttered her eyelashes at him.
'I'll make up the bed,' he responded his blue gaze holding hers. 'You either stay here or I'll come over to you or I'll get Lillian to provide a safe house, your choice.' He got up and cleared the dishes and monitored her glowering expression. 'Who knows maybe I'll teach you to make decent pancakes. No ring on that finger have you ever thought it could be down to the kitchen performance?'
'Are you trying to be provocative,' Riley asked her eyes narrowing with suspicion. 'I'm beginning to feel like a goat chained to a stake,' she looked over at him. 'It might be easier to just go along with our professional relationship for a while and let things settle.' Riley knew they were deliberately avoiding the elephant in the room which was Amelia. Privately she thought that if Gabriel had finished their relationship then perhaps his wife needed time to adjust; Riley virtually moving in could drive behaviours that might be better avoided.
'If that's what you want we can play it that way,' Gabriel sounded quite remote, cold even. If there was to be a threat to his partner he wanted to flush it out. He knew Amelia's modus operandi and she could certainly dig in and wait her moment; it made him worried for Riley.
'Yes that's what I want,' Riley responded her gaze concerned as it met his. 'Let things settle down; I don't want to be boxing at shadows.'
'Your call,' Gabriel responded but it was obvious he'd withdrawn from the conversation to the point of shutting his partner out.
Riley swallowed hard and felt upset at his attitude but couldn't help thinking that if anyone had to take out Amelia Vaughn it would be better if it was her or Chris Jameson than if it were her husband, Gabriel.
