ELEVEN
Marta awakes the following morning to the sounds of the shower running and the TV on with the volume so low she cannot make out anything being said. She rolls over to face the empty mattress beside her, wishing that she had woken up the same way she had fallen asleep: with Aaron's body curled around hers from behind. It's quickly becoming her favorite way to sleep.
Since there is no point in delaying the inevitable, Marta gets out of bed and pours herself a cup of coffee from the pot that Aaron started before hopping in the shower. She turns the volume up and watches CNN for a few minutes, only half-paying attention to the reports. Jason Bourne is still missing finding the fugitive was top priority. There was still war in the Middle East and genocide in Africa and celebrities were still going to rehab. Basically, everything was bad news and a sad sort of status quo. Marta turns her head in the direction of the bathroom when she hears the water shut off.
Moments later, the door opens and a rush of steam and damp air ushers Aaron into the room. Marta's eyes skim over his damp chest and down to the towel around his waist. Licking her lips Marta swallows and forces her eyes upward to actually study his face. His eyes are troubled and there are dark thumbprint sized bruises beneath his eyes. Marta's brow knits in concern and she cannot seem to keep the doctor out of her voice as she says, "You look exhausted. Did you sleep?"
Aaron shakes his head as he admits, "I was keeping watch."
She knows he is worried about Jason leading the wolf pack right to their door and he would forego sleep as long as possible without putting them at risk. He'd done it before, she knew that but now it was different. "Aaron," she murmured, cupping his still stubble coarse cheek.
"Consider it a training exercise, Doc." He nipped at her thumb when she stroked it over his beautiful lips.
"You should have woken me," Marta chides, handing him her half-drunk mug of coffee. "I could have kept you company." She gives him a coy grin and lets her fingers scratch his whiskers.
"One of us deserved to get some rest." Aaron takes the mug gratefully and drinks almost purring as she pets his cheek.
"I wish we had a lab," she murmurs with a frown and she explains when she feels him stiffen. "We never had the chance to check your body's reactions to the last viral-dose. When you were taken off greens there were some inconsistencies in your blood work. Six—," Marta closed her eyes and let her hand fall from Aaron's face as she realized that the man known as Six was most likely dead and she could not even use his name as a small remembrance. Sighing and pushing the guilt away she continued. "Six experienced some renal issues when he was viriled-off greens."
"You think I might have problems, Doc?" He watches as her eyes go to the cup in his hand and then she meets his gaze again.
"No, you seem fine, but if you start mainlining caffeine it might put a strain on your body." Marta steps closer to him, slipping her arms around his waist, careful not to dislodge the towel. Though, if that did happen, she would be the last one to complain. "Just promise me you will try to rest after you shave."
"Shave," he laughs, "Is that a hint?"
"Yes," she says, tilting her head as she brings her lips close to his. "I don't mind the goatee, but you are starting to look like Grizzly Adams."
"Oh, love the man not his beard is that it?" He asks her playfully as he puts the cup on the night stand and works his hands beneath her shirt. Sliding his hands along her spine pulling her closer and burying his bearded cheeks in her neck making her shriek at the ticklish sensation.
"Stop," she pants, and he smiles against skin before licking at her throat and planting a tiny kiss on her pulse. "Oh, god, it definitely has to go now." She shivers and contemplates hooking her fingers into his towel and letting it fall, fuzzy cheeks be-damned. The way his lips and teeth are creating such wonderful bolts of electricity skitter down her spine. "You are lethal."
Marta gasps as one of Aaron's hands slips around her side and finds her unrestrained breast at the same moment his mouth moves swiftly to take hers. He tastes like coffee and toothpaste and incredible male and she wants more. Marta places her hands on his chest and lets them skim over his hard muscles. She smiles when his stomach muscles quiver at her touch. As soon as she wraps her fingers in the damp terry cloth towel and starts to loosen it Aaron catches her hands and moves them back to rest safely on his chest.
"Not, yet," he murmurs as he eases his lips from hers and meets her eyes.
"You don't have to coddle me," she sighs and presses her face into his chest. "You know that right?"
She can feel Aaron's lips quirk upward in a smile, brushing against her hair. "Maybe I like coddling you." He tightens his hold on her and whispers in her ear.
"I'm not that fragile," Marta points out. She wants him to kiss her now, but his lips still feel too far away. "I'm not going to break. I can take it."
Aaron gives her a wolfish grin. "I know, Doc." Somehow, Marta thinks those words sound like a promise.
"Then why," she asks tilting her head so that they are once again looking into each other's eyes.
Their lips meet and it is gentle and soft but it is not enough. Marta wants more, she wants the hunger and the passion and the ferocity she sees in Aaron's eyes every day. She wants him to take her and touch her like he isn't worried he is going to damage her. The way that she knows he wanted to do when she was just his doctor and he was just a number. She wants him to make her forget everything, even Gemma. She doesn't want to think at all; Aaron can give her that.
Marta can feel Aaron's body tense under her hands and she thinks maybe she pushed him too far, but when she looks into his eyes she can see the man being replaced by the solider. He pulls away from her abruptly, his eyes flashing, turning his head toward the door. "There's someone outside."
"It could be housekeeping," Marta points out.
Aaron already feels too far away and a small part of her is annoyed that she keeps shoving her fantasies on to the backburner. But she knows that Aaron wouldn't get worked up over housekeeping. She has learned that if he senses danger, it is usually a good idea to duck and cover.
Aaron is stepping away from her, grabbing his discarded clothes off the floor and quickly pulling on his jeans. He doesn't bother with his boxers and that alone gives Marta another fantasy to add to the roiling pot that is already boiling on the eye after those wonderful kisses.
"Here," he murmurs in quiet command, without glancing in her direction, as he hands her the .38 and then turns her to face the bathroom. "Get into the bathroom and hide."
His eyes are busy scanning the room for potential weapons and Marta starts to turn around and protest but he snaps, "Now!" and she quickly does as she was told.
Marta closes the door behind her as quietly as she can and steps into the still wet shower for lack of a better place to hide. She pulls the curtain around herself and holds her breath, trying to listen for sounds coming from outside the room. She hears the door bang open against the wall and the mumble of a man's voice. She recognizes Jason's voice and exhales the breath she was holding in. Marta slips out of the tub and opens the bathroom door in time to see Aaron grab Jason and slam him against the wall, his forearm pressed against the other man's throat.
"Son of a bitch," Aaron growls, his face centimeters away from Jason's, "Are you completely incapable of doing anything under the radar? You are going to get us all killed."
Jason tries to push Aaron back just enough to give himself some breathing room but Aaron's channeling his inner Pit-bull and doesn't seem inclined to let up. "I'm clean," Jason manages to grunt around his windpipe being smashed, "They have no idea…where I am."
"They should have no idea you are anywhere near here," Aaron reminds him, "But there is fucking eyewitness video confirming you are alive and well and vacationing in D.C." Aaron continues to stare at the man, who meets his gaze head-on.
Finally, Aaron steps back, taking his hands off Jason, who draws in a deep breath and tries to look like being choked in a hotel room is old hat for him. Which, it is sad to say it just might be.
"I know what I am doing," Jason adds, "We weren't followed…We are safe."
"For now," Aaron snaps, glancing at the dark haired woman leaning against the wall a few feet away and Marta is surprised that she did not notice her before. "But now everyone and their fucking grandmother know we are here. You might as well text them the address."
"Everyone knows I'm here," Jason replies, "If the boys in blue manage to connect me to you from two minutes of cell phone footage then I might actually be impressed." Jason points out.
Aaron narrows his eyes. "It doesn't matter whether they know if we are working together or not. They know you're here and that means increased security and people who are actually going to be interested in doing their jobs for once." He shakes his head. "How could you be so reckless? How am I supposed to trust you when you pull shit like this?"
"I never asked you to trust me." Jason points out. "You made that decision all on your own. I'm just along for the ride."
"I can still shoot you." Aaron says evenly.
Jason arches an eyebrow. "Sounds like a threat," he flicks his eyes toward Marta. "Don't forget what happens if—," and Aaron doesn't bother to wait for him to complete his threat before he has his weapon trained on the wide-eyed woman to their left but his eyes never leave Jason's.
"I wonder," he murmured coldly, and Marta has never heard him sound so cold before. "How far you'll go to keep her safe?" Jason's eyes flick toward Marta, still standing in the bathroom doorway. Almost lightning fast Jason has his sidearm out and aimed.
"As far as I have to," Jason affirmed. Marta had heard of the term stand-off before but she had never really seen it demonstrated; both men were staring each other down and their weapons were unwavering. She wanted to stop this foolishness, but she was afraid if she spoke something terrible would happen.
The woman on the other end of Aaron's weapon did not have the same compunction. She sighed heavily and muttered, "Jason," her eyes soulful as she let them leave the man holding her at gun point. "You need to put the gun down."
"Nick," he growled.
"Please," she murmured, gently commanding.
The tension once broken released Marta from its grip and she was able to speak too, "Aaron."
"No, Doc," he growled. "He keeps threatening you…Not me…You!"
"And you have your gun pointed at an innocent woman's head," she whispered, and she watched as her arrow struck to the heart of him. His gun arm wobbled and his eyes left Jason and found hers. Every line in his face spoke of his fear of this situation but Marta knew he was trying hard to fight trusting the man against the wall. It was a relief to her when both men visibly relaxed, almost as one and the guns were lowered, not holstered, but they were no longer in play.
"I have half a mind to call up Eric Byer and tell him exactly where you are," Aaron muttered when he looked at Jason this time.
Jason shrugged, "That would fit in with the rest of your suicidal schemes."
"Enough," Both Marta and the woman say at once interrupting before Aaron can form retort or punch Jason in the face.
"This is helping us how," the new woman asks.
"It doesn't," Marta answers, "Them knowing Jason Bourne is in town is just something else we'll have to work around. But we'll figure it out, we always do." Marta steps into the room and crosses to the woman standing with her back against the door; she looks exhausted and wane, her clothes and hair rumpled. She seems to only have eyes for Jason Bourne, but when she notices Marta she lifts her hand in a half-hearted wave. "I'm Nicky Parsons." She tries to force a smile on her face but doesn't have the energy.
Marta looks at the woman, her brow knitting slightly, "Nicky," She repeats, trying to remember why that name is tickling her memory and her eyes move to Jason and she remembers. "Oh." His brief comment in the hotel room back in Bangladesh, the quick moment when he let his armor slip, "You know her."
Jason frowns, as though he doesn't like the fact that his secret has been discovered. He glances over to find Aaron watching him closely and he looks away before the man can get a read on him. "Yes, I know her. We were part of Treadstone together."
Marta sees something flicker across Nicky's face and she knows that there's more to the story than that. Not that that's surprising. She's starting to get the feeling that that's always the case.
Jason and Nicky left shortly after, seeking the refuge of the hotel room booked under yet another fake name and intended for Jason. If he has any feelings about sharing it, he has not let them slip. The room is on the floor just above theirs; even though the idea of both of them being in the same hotel was not ideal for either Aaron or Jason, they agreed it was the best choice. They need to be able to plan and stay in touch at all times. Besides, they aren't planning on staying long.
With Jason and Nicky gone, Aaron starts to relax but Marta can tell that he is still upset. She hopes that he and Jason will be able to put it all behind them when Jason returns within the hour to get started on the espionage portion of the day's program.
"It's okay." Marta assures him. She sits next to him on the bed and rests her head on his shoulder. "We'll be okay."
Aaron sighs and shakes his head slightly. He takes her hand and slips their fingers together. "He is a loose cannon. I'm not sure trusting him is a good idea." Actually, he knows it's not a good idea.
Marta is silent for a moment pondering the look on Nicky's face and the vibes she felt from the pair. Granted she was the last person to claim any special people reading skills, but she was starting to come out of her science induced shell and actually take in the people around her. "If I were in danger, you would do whatever it took to keep me safe, wouldn't you?"
Aaron gives her a look that says she has offended him and she remembers the way he coolly and calculatingly aimed his handgun on a woman because Jason uttered a verbal threat. She gently cups Aaron's still unshaven cheek and murmurs, "I think he was just doing the same thing."
"I don't think Jason Bourne knows what human emotion is," Aaron argues. "I think they fixed that when he went into the program."
Marta gives him a faint glare and a soft smile, "There's always an exception," she points out.
Aaron smiles at her but she can tell he is still not convinced. As long as they can all work together to achieve their goals, namely saving her sister, Marta doesn't care whether Aaron trusts Jason or not. Just as long as he waits to shoot him until after they have Gemma.
Aaron kisses her softly. "You're my exception." He says against her lips.
"I know." Marta kisses him again thinking even if she knows it is still nice to hear him admit his feelings. Letting her fingers tangle in beard on his face she nips his lower lip and murmurs, "Now go shave." Her order is playful and he kisses her again before rubbing his whiskers along her neck once more for good measure, making her laugh.
She watches him enter the bathroom and all she can think as she watches him lather his face is that he has the most amazing eyes when he smiles.
"You should try and rest," Jason says without preamble as he and Nicky step into their hotel room, "your body is probably still exhausted from the trauma of yesterday." He doesn't look at her while he talks, just goes through the routines of investigating the room and ensuring that nothing is amiss.
Nicky watches him as he moves around her. "Don't you think I should talk to Dr. Shearing about her sister? Don't you think that's information she would like to have," She arches an eyebrow when Jason glances over his shoulder at her. "Just a crazy thought."
Jason seems to think about her words and see her logic. "I'll send her up when I go back to their room. You two can talk while Aaron and I —"
"Do manly things and talk about killing and spying." Nicky interrupts and Jason rolls his eyes. "While us women sit around and gossip? Do you think Dr. Shearing would let me paint her nails too?"
Shaking his head, Jason scoffs softly. "I'm not trying to imply anything, Nicky." He opens the mini-bar and pulls out two bottles of water. He hands one to Nicky and opens the other for himself. "You just need to rest. You were held hostage in a government facility, drugged and almost drowned. I think you've earned it."
"So, why are you suddenly concerned with my well-being," Nicky questions. She is watching him closely as he drinks. He has a tell. No one else would be able to see it. In fact, she knew that even the most diligent watcher, working for the Treadstone program, would have missed Jason's tell. She can still remember the night she discovered his most telling behavior. His father was being transferred and they would be leaving in a few short months. Nicky had been heart broken. They had been nearly inseparable for the last three years and she could not even imagine not seeing him again.
"David," she whispered as she slid off the window sill and onto the cool linoleum floor. "You awake?"
"Yes," he murmured studying the model plains hanging from his bedroom ceiling.
"I heard your momma talking to mine," she tells him plainly as she settles at the foot of his bed. "She said you were moving, come January."
"That's right," she counted the seconds waiting for him to say something else. Reaching one hundred with not another word made her sigh.
"Will you write," she asked, tears already dripping from her eyes.
"Of course I will," he scoffed as if it was a stupid question but he would not look at her. It was plain as day. He had not looked at her, not once, since she climbed through his window. At first glance he did not care, but Nicky knew better in her heart of hearts. He cared, but he was turning fifteen his father had told him often enough that real men don't cry. He couldn't show it but she could.
"Oh, Davie," she cried, softly and launched herself onto the bed at his side. He wrapped his arms around her and held her all night, but he never once looked at her.
Jason lowers his water bottle and stares at it considering her questions for a beat before shrugging. "You know Treadstone and Blackbriar you are useful."
"Well, that's a relief." She murmurs as she opens her bottle of water and takes a small sip. "I thought you might actually care whether I lived or died or something." Nicky teases with a forced smile. She doesn't know why she still does this to herself, why she keeps letting herself think that there might still be something there between them, like he's just going to remember her and their history like flicking on a light switch. Being around Jason is far more exhausting than being held hostage and nearly killed.
Jason glances at her and gives her a familiar half smile. She can hear that it is that boy from Port Hueneme that mutters, "Oh, that's not it at all." Nicky presses her hand to her heart as the boy peeks out of the man's eyes and she knows in that instant that Jason Bourne knows David Webb, but he won't let it show.
Jason heads to the door, obviously satisfied that they have a temporary sanctuary in the hotel room, assuring Nicky that he will send Marta up so they can paint each other's nails. Nicky thinks about playfully shoving his shoulder after that jibe but she keeps her hands to herself.
The sooner he gets this tactical meeting with Aaron out the way, the sooner he can relax. Well, as much as he possibly can relax. Aaron doesn't exactly bring out the best in her childhood friend and former lover and unlike when they were children Jason does not play well with others.
Nicky finds her voice just as he opens the door and he pauses with his hand on the door knob. "I knew you would come for me." She says softly, her words almost inaudible.
"Yes." He says simply, not looking at her. But what she hears him say is always.
Once the door closes behind him Nicky slumps into a hard chair and stares at it seeing the smirk that had played over Jason's features as he left. "Oh, Davie," she sighed, and buried her head in her hands. She cried silently, a skill learned as a small girl. She thought it could not hurt any more than being forgotten, but having him remember and choose to treat her as just a useful tool cut deep.
Marta knocked on the door only minutes after Jason left and Nicky finds she is actually glad the other woman is here. Her eyes are red-rimmed and puffy, but she figures she can blame the impromptu swim in the sludge filled river the day before.
Nicky opens the door and peeks out before opening it wider. "Did you bring the nail polish and the latest gossip rag," she asks in a long suffering tone. The doctor rolls her eyes as if to say men are idiots and enters the room with a pair of sweats and a tee shirt in her hands. "No," she says with a warm smile and Nicky thinks she might kiss the woman when she hands the clothes to her, "I had the feeling you could use these."
Nicky can't keep from grinning as she clutches the clothes to her chest like a life raft. "Oh my God, you have no idea. I was dying for a shower but couldn't stand the thought of having to put these clothes on again."
Marta glances around nervously and then gestures to the bathroom. "Well, don't let me stop you. I know exactly how you feel."
The fact that she has spent a few nights in a dirty cell and was then doused in a river makes Nicky take Marta up on her offer. She feels human again once she's clean and wearing clothes that aren't still damp and stinking of polluted water. Coming out of the bathroom, she finds Marta sitting on the edge of the bed, watching CNN with an impatient look on her face.
"Hoping to see something about your sister?" Nicky questions, sitting down in the desk chair across from the bed.
Marta's brow knits, "How did you know about that?" Jason didn't strike her as the type to engage in unnecessary conversation.
"Vosen put me in a cell with her," Nicky explains.
Marta's eyes go wide and Nicky can see a part of her come alive. "You talked to her? She's okay?" Marta can't help the way that her eyes become watery as she thinks about Nicky's words. Gemma is alive; she knows this for sure now. It was an idea that Marta had not allowed herself to consider: the fact that Gemma might be dead after all. Now that she knows without a doubt that her sister is still alive and in the hands of those bastards, it just makes her heart hurt even more. All she wants is to help her big sister.
"As okay as you can be in that situation, I guess." Nicky says with a shrug. "She's tough."
Marta smiles slightly, nodding. "Yeah, I know." She wants to know everything about Nicky's interaction with Gemma, what they talked about and how her sister looked and every little detail. "Did she…does she know what's really going on?"
Nicky scoffs, "What's really going on; of course not. They told her you were a terrorist and killed a whole bunch of people." She shrugs. "I set her straight. She knows who the real bad guys are."
Marta is silent for a moment and Nicky thinks she is probably imagining Gemma in some deep, dark hole, desperate and confused her head swimming with lies and half-truths. "Don't worry," Nicky's voice brings her back to the present. "Jason might not come off as the…friendliest of people but he has a good heart, underneath everything. He knows how to get the job done. And if yours is anything like mi—uh—Jason, then I'd say we're in pretty good shape."
Marta can't help but smile. She likes the idea of Aaron being hers. It makes everything slightly better. "Yeah, I'd say we are."
Jason could tell that Marta did not like being dismissed anymore than Nicky had. He can also tell that Marta does not like him but that is hardly on the list of his concerns. He doesn't care about being liked, especially not by one of the doctors in the program. But Marta leaves anyway and Jason has the feeling it is more because she is curious about Nicky and eager to get the chance to talk to her.
Once Marta is gone, a thick and uncomfortable silence settles in the room. Both men are unwilling to relax and Jason can see that Aaron is still pissed at him for the whole highly-publicized bridge rescue, but he is not in the habit of apologizing and he isn't about to start now.
"So, are you going to tell me what to do or just stare at me?" Jason questions finally, crossing his arms over his chest.
Aaron cocks an eyebrow, "I am not sure yet; it seems like everything I ask you not to do you do and anything I want you to do…You don't."
Jason narrows his eyes at him, "What was I supposed to do; just let them kill her? Sorry to break it to you, Cross, but you and Marta mean nothing to me. I'm not here because I want to help you on your crusade or save the doctor's sister. Nicky is someone I do know and I wasn't just going to leave her to die so we could get to your girl's sister." That is more than Jason would have liked to admit, but his brain did not seem to be filtering his thoughts and keeping them off his tongue.
For a minute, Aaron just stares at him and Jason can see his training at work, he can see the man reading him. For once, he doesn't mind. "Fine, are there any more damsels that you plan on rescuing," Aaron asks, but Jason just gives him a look instead of an answer. "Okay. Well, I think it goes without saying that we now have a very small window of opportunity to get the files we need and get Gemma out. They're going to be on high-alert, we can't wait any longer."
"I know where they're keeping Gemma," Jason says and Aaron gives him a surprised look. "They had Nicky in the same place. The National Research Assay Group's downtown building. Assuming they don't move her."
Aaron purses his lips in thought, "They won't," he shakes his head, "They want us to come for her." He says softly, almost as though he's thinking out loud.
"Which begs the question…why would you do it?" Jason rolls his eyes. "Is walking into traps something they taught the Outcome agents?"
Aaron smirks and replies, "It is hardly a trap if you know it's there."
"Why are we going for the files we need first," Jason asks ignoring Aaron's witty comeback, "If you know where the sister is, why not just go in and get her? Why waste time getting the files?"
"I'd like to avoid walking right into the building where there are hundreds of people who want to kill us." Aaron replies and Jason gives him a 'huh, what a concept' look. "If we have the files, we have something to barter with. With the Congressional Hearings, they're not going to want those files just floating around."
Aaron is aware that he is testing him and it makes Jason smile. Aaron for all his annoying habits and cocky attitude is really very smart. He has made sure they will be covering their asses on the way out the door and that is enough to forestall Jason's instinct to butt heads with the other asset.
"So what's the plan? Get the files and knock on this Byer guy's door and have a little sit-down with him?" Jason questions snidely.
Aaron smirks. "Exactly."