A/N: Thank you for my reviews! Loved them!

Disclaimer: I don't own V.A!

I tugged at my bonds trying to find a weakness, I couldn't. I knew if I kept at it for several hours I could get it. But I also knew Kierov wouldn't give me that long a break. It wasn't the sort of thing he'd do. And then he walked back in confirming my suspicions. The next few hours were miserable. Kierov would come in, torture the two of us, mainly me and then give us extremely short breaks. The breaks were spent in silence, we had to conserve our strength and neither one of us had anything encouraging to say. Kierov walked in, he was holding a blowtorch. If he was going to use that on flesh it was…actually kind of gross, for him. But then he pulled out his necklace and took off the pendant. He was going to heat up the pendant like he had before. I started shaking again and the hot sticky sweat turned cold. Ice cold. I watched him heat it up. I tugged harder at my bonds, not that it was any use. I mean, they were starting to give, but not enough. And even if I got out, what could I do in the state I was in? And then Kierov walked over to Belikov and I honestly thought I was going to be sick.

It was my job to protect him, to keep my team safe. As well as make sure they got the job done. And right now, I was doing a very shoddy job of both. Ashford was dead, Belikov was being tortured, and my team wasin pieces. And there I was, tied up and not doing a single thing to help; not that there was very much I could do.

But I had forgotten something. Belikov was very, very good. While I'd been moping; he'd taken matters into his own hands. He was stronger than me, enough so that he'd managed to loosen his bonds enough to get out. It was a bit too fast for me to work out exactly what happened. But somehow or another, Kierov ended up throwing the pendant to get his hands free. And then of course, the pendant grazed me. Then, somehow or another Kierov was out cold on the floor and Belikov had untied me.

I swayed as soon as I hit the floor. Luckily Belikov was on hand to catch me before I fell.

"Are you all right?" he asked gently getting me to stand up right.

"I'm alive," I shrugged.

He smiled a little and started to help me out the room.

"I can walk," I muttered.

"Yes. But I'd rather you didn't fall on the floor while attempting it."

I almost laughed but didn't want to risk it, in case it hurt my injury. It was just on the side of my stomach and was really only a minor burn, but it hurt like hell. There were three guards outside the room. Belikov took care of them. He obviously wasn't sure where he was going but in the end we made it out of the building, knocking several people unconscious.

Outside, it appeared we'd been in a warehouse of some kind, but I'd have guessed that just from the inside of the building. Belikov managed to get a van open and hotwire it. It sounded easy, in fact; it was easy. Once you were taught it, it was a piece of cake.

Eventually we hit a main road with signposts. We were just outside of L.A. and it would take half an hour to get to base at the least. Belikov stopped off at a pharmacy.

"You need something for your burns," he said.

"And how are you planning on getting that something? You have no money."

"I'll improvise." He kissed me and then got out of the van.

The pain was easing a little. Not much, but enough for me to keep my eyes open. After what seemed like forever Belikov came back with some stuff. I didn't really care about what it was. He lifted up my shirt and smeared some cream over it. It stung.

"Shit!" I shouted.

"Easy, if I don't do this it might heal funny," he said bandaging it up. I leant back into my chair still feeling light headed. He lightly touched my forehead with his hand. My head was throbbing, well, pounding.

"No," I said sarcastically, "I wouldn't have guessed."

"Take these." He handed me some painkillers and a bottle of water. I took them. The water was nice against my parched throat. Once I had had some I gave it back to him. He drank a bit but gave it back to me.

"You need it more than I do," he said.

"All right," I drank the rest, "That was too easy," I said when I had finished the bottle.

"What do you mean?" Belikov sighed; I don't think he really wanted to know.

"It was almost as if he didn't care whether we left or not."

"You worry too much." He ran his fingers slowly down my cheek.

"Maybe, but this damn headache isn't helping." I closed my eyes against the light.

"What's actually wrong with you?" He handed me another bottle of water.

"I have a headache and I feel really hot and dizzy." I drank some of the water.

"I don't know what's wrong. I only had a bit of medical training and I almost dropped out."

"Davis would know." I said studying his slightly bruised eye.

"I'll ring him," He picked a phone out of his pocket.

"You stole a phone too?" I asked, my voice raising a couple of pitches.

"Yes. We probably need it more than them, now what's his number?"

I told him. Once he'd dialled it, I passed out.

I woke up in my room in the L.A. base. I felt a sharp pain in my arm.

"Ow!"

"Sorry," Davis wiped a bit of blood off my arm; he was holding a syringe, "Kierov gave you a virus. Probably why he didn't mind you going; he hoped you would give him information in exchange for the antidote. He had coated his blade in it when he cut into your neck. Your temperature might go up and down as our antidote works. Belikov's giving his report to the Captain; they'll come up later. When you feel ready you can be up and about."

It took a couple of seconds for me to work out what he'd said. He'd given me too much information at once and the world was still spinning.

"Thanks," I said quietly.

Davis smiled and left the room.

The Captain and Belikov walked in. Belikov had a faint black eye, but it wasn't as bad as I had expected it to be when I'd first seen it.

"Hathaway, I want your report on my desk for tomorrow morning and I want you and your team out of here tomorrow afternoon." The Captain knew I dind't want sympathy; it wasn't something I ever accepted. It annoyed me.

"Yes sir."

"Get some rest, both of you; you look awful." The Captain left.

Belikov wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me into him.

"How're you doing?" I asked before he could ask me.

"Better, Davis is amazing."

"Yes, he is." I sighed and stood up "I have to do my report. Which means you have to leave."

He chuckled, "You really want to kick me out? Besides, Captains orders; we can't be apart." He whispered in my ear.

"Yeah, 'cos we did so well before."

Belikov spun me round and wrapped his arms around my waist, "We're alive aren't we? We didn't talk and we escaped, it may not be winning but we certainly didn't lose."

I nodded slowly. "Maybe. But the Captain'll still count it as screwing up. That's what he did with Russia, even when I escaped with valuable information." I looked down to the ground.

He sighed and rested his forehead on mine. "You worry too much. You need to loosen up a little; it's not good for you."

"And you have to stop acting like a psychiatrist." I pulled away and switched on the computer.

I started to type up my report. Belikov read it over my shoulder, I should have told him not to but I actually wasn't interested.

"Your writing's very English," he said in my ear. I shivered as his lips brushed my skin.

"I am English...well I was brought up there so...I'll edit it at the end. The Captain knows what I'm talking about, and yet if I use one word that isn't commonly used in America he insists on getting me to rewrite the whole damn thing." I said sighing.

"I can imagine him doing that." Belikov sat back on the bed.

I finished my report and then I heard a faint knock on the door. Sighing I opened it. It was Adrian.

"Dinner is ready," he announced rather dramatically.

"We'll be there in a few minutes." I shut the door.

"We will?" Belikov raised an eyebrow. I smiled and he kissed me.

"Yes, we will," I said when he eventually let me breathe.

"Well, it might be a few hours before I even think about letting you go anywhere, and then I have to actually put it into practice so...I think we shouldn't go." He let his lips slide down my neck.

"Belikov..." I started to say.

"Mmm?"

I kissed him, "I'm sorry, but I really have to eat." I stood up.

He laughed and we left the room.

Dinner was…quiet. I wasn't up for anything and the boys were all a little subdued. We left before dessert; I wouldn't have managed anything sweet. In fact, I was surprised I'd managed to eat anything at all.

It was still too easy. Even with the virus Kierov had given me. He knew how good the EDA were. It seemed more like it had been to send a message. But not to me, I knew what he was like and so did the Captain. I glanced at Belikov, had he been the main target? After all it could be thought he was the weak link. Show him what he could do to me and perhaps Kierov thought he'd be more careful, even go on his side to protect someone. I couldn't honestly think of him doing it to protect me because he knew I'd never allow that, but Belikov had a family; even if he couldn't see them again. Those ties were still fresh. If he'd seen how powerful Kierov was, and then Kierov threatened his family, who knows what Belikov would do?

A/N: I'm not convinced it was my best chapter...but I'm sure it was al right.

Thank you to my Beta Mal15 for making it make a lot more sense than it did!

Please review guys!

Chocorose x