Rena's phone woke her. Ketch pulled her tighter from behind.

"Don't answer it."

"Tempting, but I have to."

"Says who?"

Rena checked the caller ID. "It's Dean. I don't want them to worry."

"Put it on speaker."

"Why?"

"Just do it."

Rena answered the call on speaker.

"Where the hell are you?" Dean asked.

"Hello to you, too."

"Your car is in a store parking lot and you're not there."

"We're worried about you, Rena," Sam said.

"I'm fine, guys. I rode with my friend."

"Yeah," Dean said, "who is this friend?"

"No one you guys know. But I'm fine. Seriously. I'll be back in a couple of days."

"We're leaving town on a case," Sam said. "That's how we saw your car."

"Then I'll see you when you get back to the bunker."

"Seriously, Rena," Sam said. "You're ok?"

"You're not in some funky town, are you?" Dean asked.

"No. I'm fine. Really, guys."

"All right," Sam said. "We'll see you in a few days."

"Bye, guys."

Rena disconnected the call and Ketch was on top of her.

"They sound concerned," he said.

"They are. They worry about me. It's what friends do."

"I've never been that concerned over a friend. Have you slept with them, too?"

"Excuse me?"

"It would make sense. You live with them. You've hunted with them. Perhaps you celebrate with them the same way you do with me, hmm?"

"Are you jealous?"

"Are you deflecting?"

"Are you?"

Ketch grinned. "Why would I be jealous?"

"I don't know, Arthur. It seemed to me that we moved past bed buddies."

"You still haven't answered my question."

"And you haven't answered mine."

"I asked you first."

"No, I haven't slept with either of them. I have a rule about not sleeping with people I work with."

Ketch laughed. "Then what do you call this?" He rolled his hips against hers.

"Initially, I would have called it a mistake."

"And now?"

"You still haven't answered my question."

"Fine. Perhaps I felt a small surge of jealousy at their concern for you."

"But why?"

"The way they worry over you seems so... intimate, as you like to put it."

"It is intimate, but not in the same way. It's personal, between friends."

"And this thing between us? This mistake? What would you call it now?"

Rena stared at him. What could she possibly say that wouldn't sound mushy as hell?

"I would call it... opportunity."

"Opportunity?"

"For something more."

Ketch grinned and ran his nose alongside hers before he kissed her.

"Are you hungry, love?"

"Very."

Ketch got out of bed and pulled on a robe. "Take a peek at the menu and I'll order breakfast."

"Room service?"

"Of course. I told you, money is not an issue." He leaned over and kissed her. "With me, you'll live the high life."

"I don't care about that."

"What do you care about?"

"If I am, in fact, with you... I care about getting to know you."

"You know all you need to know."

"I only know that you're a British Man of Letters, an excellent hunter, and an amazing lover."

He lay next to her on top of the covers. "What else is there to know?"

"You cared for someone once."

Ketch sighed. "This again?"

"What happened?"

"Let it go, Rena."

"I won't let it go."

"Why does that not surprise me?"

She smiled. "Was it a friend?"

"She was... more than a friend."

"Will you tell me about her?"

"Why do you want to know about some woman from my past?"

"Because I think it will help me learn more about you. You're a mystery, Mr. Ketch."

"I'm quite simple, actually. Eat, sleep, kill, repeat."

"Tell me about her."

Ketch sighed and propped himself against the headboard. Rena sat up next to him and he put his arm around her.

"We were schoolmates. Grew up together, really. The older we got, the more I realized I wanted to be more than friends. So, one day I kissed her."

"And she didn't kiss you back?"

"No, she did. She kissed me back, and sealed her fate."

"What do you mean?"

"The very next day, I got called to a special training session. Inside the next room were three people I had formed bonds with. I was to kill each of them."

Rena felt weak. "You didn't."

"I had no idea who was in the room. They had no idea what was going to happen. When I walked in, I looked around at the faces, and... she was there."

Rena tried to pull away, but Ketch gripped her shoulder and pulled her back.

"You wanted to hear this. You're going to hear it all."

"Ketch-"

"So, it's Ketch again? No, you're going to listen. I walked straight to her and whispered, 'move and you die.' She didn't move. I pulled my gun and aimed just past her head, pulled the trigger, and she fell to the floor, unharmed. I killed the others. But she made a fatal mistake. She tried to make eye contact with me. I still don't know why. Maybe she was trying to let me know she was all right. Maybe she was scared and not thinking. Or maybe she was just stupid. She had her eyes opened when they came in to check my work, and they killed her. You see, in their eyes, I'd passed the test, even if she was able to dodge my shot, or so they thought."

"You tried to save her."

"Trying doesn't count for anything."

"But you killed the other two?"

"Following orders."

Rena pulled away. "That's sick."

"I learned from a young age to detach myself. It was the only way to survive."

"And if you're ordered to kill me? Will you detach yourself?"

Ketch moved closer to her as he wrapped his arm around her waist, and thread his fingers into her hair.

"You're like her. I would protect you as much as I could. It's why I cut off contact. It's why I've taken precautions."

"You're saying that you-"

"I care about you, Rena. I want to keep you safe."

"Then maybe we should call this off."

"That will have to be your decision. You see, I'm also quite selfish. I don't want to give you up."

"So, when you talked in your sleep... 'Move and you die'..."

"I was reliving what happened, except... she was you. The moment I started having more than a physical attraction toward you, I began thinking of her. They're not above putting me through that test again, and your life will be over."

"What if you just refuse?"

Ketch scoffed. "Then my life will be over, and they will kill you anyway, out of spite."

Rena shook her head as Ketch pulled away. He left the room, and Rena followed him after pulling on her robe.

"You really are a killer," she said.

"I've told you from the start, love." He sat on the sofa. "And you knew. You accused me of killing innocents, remember?"

"I meant in the heat of battle, as a means to an end. What you've done is..."

"Cold-blooded murder."

"And you're okay with that?"

"I'm okay with having survived. I've seen you in action. You would have done the same in my shoes."

Rena shook her head. "No way."

"Oh, please. Bottom line: every order I was given was a test. If I failed, I died. It's that simple. I survived. I've learned to live with my actions. The question is, can you?"