Red paced the greenhouse and tried to calm her nerves.

She heard footsteps approaching and picked up a trowel to give her a cover, just in case it wasn't him.

The door opened and he entered and smiled at her with that adoring look in his eyes.

It made her melt, just a little, but it also pissed her off. Yes, they were alone right now. But it didn't seem to matter. He'd been looking at her all day with that same smitten look in his eyes, regardless of who was around. She pointed the trowel at him. "That right there. That is how Norma knows…"

He looked confused and a little deflated by her greeting. "Excuse me?"

"That moony, love-struck look in your eyes. You look at me like that in public again, and the whole prison will know how you feel about me within five minutes. And this," she waved the trowel between them, "will be over before it starts. That smile you gave me in front of Caputo? That's all it takes for us to be in some serious shit."

He swallowed hard. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean…"

"You wouldn't last ten seconds on this side of the bars, wearing your heart on your sleeve like that," she said, dropping the trowel and approaching him. "But you'll be wearing your own pair of khakis if anyone finds out about this. And as for me? There's nowhere left for me to go but all the way down to the bottom."

"I'm sorry," he said again. He was searching her face, practically caressing her with his eyes. And it was having a strangely powerful effect on her. "You're right and I'm sorry. I would never want to compromise you. I just…" He sighed. "Look, I promise to do better."

She swallowed hard. The puppy dog eyes were starting to weaken her resolve. "Yeah, well. You're going to need a lot of help. Lucky for you, you happen to know a pro." She crossed her arms. "So. Tell me two truths and a lie. And make me believe all of them."

He shifted his feet and frowned at her. "You want me to lie to you?"

"Yes."

"Right now?"

"Yes. Two truths, one lie. Don't let me know which is which. If this is happening," she gestured between them, "You are going to have to get used to lying. This is practice. Go."

He exhaled, looking totally perplexed. "Okay. Um. Okay...One." He thought for a moment. "Katya left me a message. She found a place and she's moving out on Saturday."

God he really was bad at this. That was so obviously true. And also…very welcome news, she realized. She fought to keep her expression stern and unchanging. "Ok. Two."

"Uh, two." He shrugged and cleared his throat. "Well, two is…that I've thought about you every minute that I've been away from you."

He stepped closer to her and her heart pounded. She rolled her eyes and sniffed but couldn't hold back a small smile.

"And, three. Three is that I..I don't want to take you in my arms and kiss you senseless right now," he said, looking at her as if he wanted to devour her. Jesus, was he even trying?

Fine. If he wasn't going to take this seriously she would bring out the big guns. She leaned closer to him. "Well that's good," she said and lowered her voice to a menacing tone, full of ice. "Because you disgust me. And if you ever lay a hand on me again I'll make sure that badge isn't the only thing you lose forever."

He stumbled back, his face as shocked as if she had slapped him. His eyes were stricken and in a flash she felt as if she could read all of the hurtful words that had assaulted him in his lifetime. She'd been trying to make an impact, trying to teach him a lesson and for Red a good lesson always came with a punch to the gut. But she thought of the hatched lines across the heart line on his palm, of all of trauma they indicated, and suddenly she knew she had gone too far…

She grabbed his shirt in both hands and pulled him against her and looked up at him. She was on the verge of tears, but for once she didn't care, and she let everything she was feeling shine through her eyes. "That is how you tell a lie, lyubov moya,"" she whispered against his lips.

He froze for a moment, breathing hard against her mouth, then suddenly tangled one hand in her hair, gripped her hip with the other and crushed her to him. He kissed her fiercely, and her mouth opened under his and she let go of his shirt and twined her arms around his neck pressing even closer against him. A spark of electricity traveled down the base of her spine and then spread all throughout her, as he walked her backwards and she bumped up against the table. He tore away from her mouth and kissed his way to the back of to her neck and…god, how did he know that spot was her weakness?

She couldn't stop the moan that escaped when his teeth scraped a path from behind her ear to her collarbone. Her only rational thought was that they weren't close enough. As if reading her mind, he hoisted her up onto the table and stepped between her legs and it felt so good and so, so right. She noticed through the haze of lust that his hand supported her lower back in the exact place that gave her pain, and for some reason this gentleness in the midst of passion made her feel like crying. He cupped her jaw with his free hand and kissed her again. She pulled at his lower lip with her teeth and he groaned and slid his hand down her neck, over her breast and around her hip. She whimpered against his mouth and he pulled back and looked at her. "Galina," he whispered. "Jesus, look at you. How do you expect me to be able to look at you like I don't want you, like I don't love…"

She kissed him before he said anything else. It was one thing to know it. It was an entirely different thing to speak it out loud.

His hand was on her thigh, inches and miles away from where she really wanted it to be, and yet the lazy circle he was making with his thumb was driving her crazy. She arched her back and the pain stabbed through her, screaming in her ears like the whistle of a freight train, knocking her sideways.

When the spasm eased off she opened her eyes to see him looking at her with surprised, worried eyes.

"Your back?"

"My back…" she gritted out, and tried to move off the table but was stopped in her tracks by another spasm.

"Jesus, I'm so sorry Red. How can I help?"

"I need to lie down on this table," she answered, feeling foolish and embarrassed and old.

Very gently he swung her legs up and maneuvered her so her back was flat. Then he stroked her hair out of her eyes. "What else?"

"Nothing else," she answered. "When it gets like this, I just have to wait."

"I wasn't thinking…that table…"

"It wasn't your fault. I moved…wrong," she said, eyes downcast. This was humiliating.

"I wasn't thinking..." he repeated.

"Neither was I," she chuckled dryly. "Here we are, going at it in the greenhouse like teenagers after my big speech on being careful."

"Yeah, probably not the best place to…to…"

"Definitely not. Anyone could…"she stopped and winced through another spasm. "Anyone could come in here at any time. I only asked you to meet me here because I didn't want Caputo to see me anywhere near your office again today."

"In a way it's probably good that your back stopped it…"

She raised an eyebrow and gave him a dry look. "You're glad I threw out my back? Gee. Thanks."

"No, of course I don't mean…I hate seeing you in pain, I just…"

"Relax," she murmured. "I'm kidding."

"I just meant that I don't really want it to be like this…on a table in the green house."

"Oh, really, and what do you have planned? Are you taking me to a five star hotel in the city?"

He shrugged his shoulders and looked at her seriously. "Someday, I hope. But until that's possible, I just think you deserve better than…this."

She frowned at him. "I can't decide if you're romantic or crazy."

"Maybe both?" he asked.

"Definitely both," she smiled.

"Well I'm definitely crazy for you."

"Please," she winced. "Are you trying to give me a toothache to match the pain in my back?"

He laughed, then ran a finger down the side of her face. "Isn't there anything I can do to help?"

"Well…you could try to massage it. But it's tricky. It needs just the right pressure."

"Okay," he said. "Walk me through it."

"I don't want to move. But if you can slip your hand under my back and feel the knot…"

He leaned across her to reach her back. "Here?" he asked, finding it instantly.

"How did you…"

He smiled. "I've been watching you grab your back right in this spot for years," he answered. "I could find it blind folded." He pressed gently and started to rub. "Is this ok?"

"Yes," she said as he massaged the bunched muscle with gentle but strong fingers. She reached up and touched his cheek, and smiled softly at him. "Yes, that's perfect."