Aflame

Part One

Based on the movie, The Bodyguard. Kara McKenzie, pop-country music star has a stalker so her manager hires her a bodyguard. Enter Alex Danvers, Personal Protection Consultant. Fun ensues.

A/N: So I did another thing. This one is also finished, and I'll be posting it in 6 parts. Enjoy!

Alex Danvers leaned on top of the grand piano sitting center stage as she watched her client speaking animatedly with her lead guitarist. Mac had stopped everything mid-rehearsal to collaborate with her band on a small change to their show. The bodyguard was beginning to realize that she did that quite regularly, not caring a bit if she was disrupting the sound or lighting tests going on around her. The tall, gorgeous blonde with stunning blue eyes was a perfectionist when it came to her music and wanted everything just so.

"No!" she heard the woman snap. "That's not right…" But Mac suddenly stopped and took a deep breath in and out. "I'm sorry, Winn," she said contritely, looking down at her own guitar and tapping her fingers against the neck.

"It's ok," the man replied with a smile. "I get it. You want it to sound right. How about we compromise on this." He played a few chords and then lifted an eyebrow at her in question.

"Yeah, nice," Mac grinned. "That'll work." She clapped her friend on the back and nodded. Then her eyes strayed to Alex who met the suddenly cool blue with a professional nod. Mac rolled her eyes and went back to rehearsal.

Alex Danvers, personal protective services consultant, and Kara McKenzie, pop-country music star affectionately called "Mac" by her fans, had met only a week prior, after Mac's manager had insisted on hiring Alex as her personal bodyguard. The singer had received a number of threats to her managed public email address and social media accounts and then suddenly to her personal email address, which no one was supposed to have outside of her inner circle. Harry was understandably worried. Mac had an honest-to-God stalker.

Alex had taken the job gladly as a favor to Harry, whom she'd known a while, but unfortunately, Mac had an issue with being followed around by a woman she didn't know. There had been… words… but at Harry's urging, Mac had finally given in, telling her new bodyguard in no uncertain terms not to get in her way. Alex had merely inclined her head graciously. She knew that, deep down, the singer was scared and that she was trying to hide it with bravado.

So, over the last few days, Alex had reviewed the security at Mac's ranch home with the estate's security manager, John McLeesh, and they'd made some changes together that made Alex feel better about her client's safety.

Alex was looking around the arena, identifying potential points of security failure when a yell caught her attention. "Alex!" Mac said annoyedly, holding her hands up. "Lunch?!"

The bodyguard straightened and nodded as she made her way across the stage, stepping over cables and avoiding guitar stands. "You sounded great," she commented as the singer set her guitar on her stand.

"Didn't think you were listening," Mac replied sarcastically. "Thought you were too busy daydreaming over there."

Alex chuckled, ignoring the woman's tone. "There's a difference between daydreaming and mental planning, Miss McKenzie. I'm always paying attention to you."

Mac pushed her long, blonde hair back behind her ears, defined biceps on full display courtesy of the muscle t-shirt she was wearing tucked into tight, faded jeans. She was about to say something else when she suddenly stopped and regarded Alex with a critical eye. "You look like Secret Service and I don't think that's the message Mac needs to send. Can you dress more casually please?"

Alex looked down at her pantsuit and then back up at her client. "If that's what you want." She mentally cataloged the casual clothes in her suitcase and realized she'd have to go shopping the next downtime she got.

"It is. Now let's get to lunch. I have some errands I need to run this afternoon before the show starts at seven."

"I don't have errands on the schedule for today," Alex immediately answered but the blonde just grinned over her shoulder as she started walking.

"Gotta keep up, Alex," she replied. "Mac's a busy woman."

Without comment, Alex caught up, stepping not-so-politely in front of her as she reached the venue's exit. The singer almost walked into her back but stopped just in time with a deep scowl and waited. Alex stepped through the doors and looked carefully around before she opened the rear door of the black SUV that would be carrying Mac and her band to lunch.

"Ok," she said, stepping back to let her charge enter the vehicle. The rest of the band piled in along with her and, after one more look around, Alex got into the front passenger seat and nodded to the driver. "Let's go." Then she settled back and tried to tune out the raucous noise behind her as the band excitedly discussed the show.

Xx

"She's totally doing this on purpose," Alex muttered as Mac led her down yet another aisle of sex toys. Alex had been protecting the star for two months now and, still actively trying to annoy her bodyguard, the openly lesbian singer had insisted on a stop at an adult store after they'd dropped the band back to the hotel. The concert that evening had gone great and the singer was still on a high.

"What the hell is this for?" Mac asked as she picked up a dubious looking contraption and held it up for Alex to inspect.

"I wouldn't know, Miss McKenzie" Alex replied, her tone calm and professional.

The blonde rolled her eyes, finally hitting her fill of the tension between them. "Seriously?" she said in hissed exasperation. "Alex, if you're going to follow me around, I expect you to at least take part in the conversation. Or is that stick shoved so far up your ass that you can't even be human? And for God's sake, stop with the Miss McKenzie shit and call me Kara."

"Ok, ok, truce." The bodyguard replied, holding up her hands in surrender as she capitulated and moved closer to take a look. She tilted her head and frowned. "I'm not sure," she replied after a moment. "But I'm pretty sure it's for a woman to wear."

"Really? Where would this…" Alex took the toy and turned it for Kara to look at from another angle. "Oh." The singer chuckled with a sheepish grin. "Riiiiiight."

They shared a smile then and Alex suddenly saw a different side to the often-prickly singer. "So, what are we here for?" she asked. "Just browsing or do you have something specific in mind."

Kara shrugged a little. "Browsing, I guess. Do you have any of this stuff?"

"Uh…" Alex tried to be diplomatic. "I don't really frequent adult stores."

Kara laughed. "You totally dodged the question. Impressive."

"Training," the bodyguard replied but her tone was warm. She took a step closer to her charge, keeping her voice low. "Look, Kara, I know this situation isn't ideal and I know I'm an intrusion into your life, but I really am just here to make sure no one hurts you. We don't have to be friends and you don't even have to talk to me at all if you don't want to."

Kara nodded slowly as she thought about that. "Thing is," she replied. "I do want to talk to you, but I don't know where the boundaries are. Can we even be friends, Alex? I've seen the Bodyguard and Frank made it clear to Rachel that they couldn't be friends."

Alex chuckled. "Well, if you've seen that, you've also seen how well the no-friends-rule turned out for them. We're humans. We can be friends, Kara, with the understanding that I'll do whatever is necessary to keep you safe. I need you to do what I say exactly when I say it. No questions. Deal?"

Kara held out her hand and Alex shook it. "Deal." Then she looked around. They were drawing a crowd of curious, whispering onlookers and she sucked in a breath as she realized she was in danger of being identified any second, despite the baseball cap hanging low over her face and the black-framed glasses she'd donned after taking out her contact lenses. "Alex, get me out of here please?" she said quietly.

The bodyguard laughed softly and shook her head. "You don't want to buy a vibrator?" she whispered conspiratorially.

But the singer winked saucily. "Oh, I have enough of those already," she whispered back. "Let's just get out of here."

Alex nodded and, to Kara's surprise, she wrapped her arm around the singer's neck, helping to obscure her face as she drew her in to kiss her temple. "Come on, Zoe," she said, putting on her best local accent and speaking at normal volume. "Let's get home. I'm tired after all the dancin'. Mac was really great, wasn't she?"

"She was," Kara replied, pulling off a reasonable approximation of a Georgia lilt as she held Alex around the waist. "Wish I could have met her though."

"We'll save up and buy a meet and greet next time, I promise, Baby," Alex added, noting that people were losing interest in them and wandering away.

"Told you it wasn't her," a nearby woman said. "Mac is taller."

They ambled out of the store, hips bumping together as they walked but Alex stopped them as they stepped outside, looking around carefully before moving them quickly to the SUV. She opened the rear door and waited for Kara to get in before sliding in beside her. The driver immediately pulled out of the parking lot and onto the quiet streets back toward the hotel.

"Thank you," Kara said quietly as the bodyguard pulled out her cell phone to check for traffic disruptions. Late as it was though, there were none. "Although I think I'm a little insulted by the Mac is taller comment."

"Don't mention it," Alex replied as she tucked her phone away and leaned her head back against the headrest. "And, in fairness, you're tall but you do look taller on TV."

Kara covered her mouth with her hand as she yawned widely. "Where are we going tomorrow?" she asked.

"Home," Alex replied. "You have a few days before your next show."

"I've been ignoring Harry's calls," the singer admitted. "He's been trying to talk me into liking you, but I didn't want to hear it. I wanted to decide for myself. You've been patient and professional, and I like you, Alex. I promise I'll cooperate with whatever you say."

"I haven't been ignoring Harry's calls," Alex replied as she ran her fingers through her chin-length, dark hair. "He knows what's been going on and I told him that everything would be ok."

"How did you know?" the singer asked curiously.

"Because you're a good person, Kara, and you have a huge heart. I knew you'd open up to me when you were ready."

Their eyes met and held for a long moment before Kara's fluttered shut tiredly. "Maybe you're giving me too much credit."

"On the contrary, based on tonight, I'm giving you just the right amount of credit."

Kara just smiled.

Xx

Alex was relaxing in the seating area in the corner of her large bedroom, a book clasped in her hands. She had the windows ajar, letting the cool spring breeze drift through the room and lightly ruffle her hair. Then she smiled as piano music drifted to her along with Kara's beautiful voice. The singer was in her studio down the hallway, no doubt working on a new song.

Kara was always working in some capacity or other. After an hour-long workout every morning, she did various TV shows, attended meetings and managed to get breakfast in there somewhere.

After lunch, she'd have interviews, publicity or photoshoots, which normally took most of the afternoon or she'd visit kids at a local hospital in whichever city she was in if she didn't have to go to a sound check. Then in the early evenings, she'd sit in front of her portable keyboard to write or just come up with melodies, to which she'd write lyrics later. She also used this time to warm up her voice if she had a show that night.

When she was at home, Kara could be found every evening in her studio, sitting at her piano and surrounded by a base, electric and acoustic guitar. She played all of the instruments professionally and had been known to perform a drum set or two over the course of her career. Kara's schedule was nothing but efficient and Alex liked that a lot. It made the star's life almost predictable but not boring, since they were somewhere different almost every day.

The bodyguard was suddenly jerked out of her musings by the sound of a yell and the slamming of hands down on piano keys. She was up, gun drawn and down the corridor in a split second and burst into the studio, taking in the scene with a well-trained eye as her heart thudded in her chest. After a moment to catch her breath, she holstered her weapon and slowly crossed the room.

Kara was sitting on the floor with her back against the wall, blue eyes red-rimmed and wet. "Sorry," she sighed and looked down at her bare feet, wiggling her toes a little. "I didn't mean to scare you."

Alex slid down the wall and sat next to the blonde, resting her arms on her upraised knees. "What happened?" she asked softly.

"I lost my temper," the singer replied with a little shrug. "I've been having a hard time writing since… her."

Despite Mac's reputation for being somewhat of a womanizer, Alex had only seen Kara date one person over the four months she'd been protecting her. Kara had really liked Felicity, but it had ended badly with the gold-digger suing the singer for something stupid. Kara's lawyers had settled on her behalf, but it had been a blow and Mac had been lying low for the last couple of weeks while the media coverage died down and Kara nursed a bruised heart.

For a moment, Alex's thoughts drifted to how strange it was that even SHE had come to think of Kara and Mac as two different personas. Mac was a rambunctious, loud and gritty performer, while Kara was smart, kind, thoughtful and extremely talented. She liked them both. "What can I do to help?" the bodyguard asked gently.

"I… I don't know…" Kara replied. "Alex, I just feel so betrayed. I thought Felicity wanted to be with me, but she was just like the rest. She just wanted the perks of being with Mac. And then there's the threat of the stalker…"

Alex sidled closer to her charge and wrapped her arm around her. "Look, maybe getting away from all the bullshit would help you feel better. You have a week-long break coming up. Why don't we get Eve to book you somewhere warm and beachy?"

"Us," Kara replied, sniffling.

"Hmmm?"

"Us," the singer repeated. "Can it just be us? I want to be alone, but I'll only feel safe if you're there too, Alex."

The bodyguard nodded seriously. She hadn't discussed it with Kara but the campaign against Mac had stepped up and Alex had put all of the security staff on high alert. She also hadn't told Kara that a box containing a dog's head had been delivered to the house along with several bouquets of dead flowers and a poisoned box of heart-shaped chocolates. She knew it would only upset the singer and Kara really didn't need to know about it right now. Getting away from it all sounded like a good idea.

"Or course, us," the dark-haired woman replied. "I'll keep you safe."

Kara smiled then and bumped Alex's shoulder gently with her own. "We both need to have some fun. I know things have been stressful for you lately, with all the special packages arriving." At Alex's raised eyebrow, Kara chuckled. "There isn't a lot that happens around here that I don't know about."

"I just didn't want…"

But the singer held up a hand and smiled. "I get it." She got herself up off the floor and offered a hand to her bodyguard to haul her to her feet. "I'll get Eve to book an island getaway of some sort."

"I won't say no to some rest and relaxation," Alex admitted with a little shrug.

"Oooohhh bikini shopping!" Kara exclaimed, visibly brightening as she sized up her bodyguard. "I bet you look hot in red."

Alex just rolled her eyes and smiled indulgently.