Holley stared at her phone screen, waiting for a reply from Finn. She was sitting outside Leland's room in a little plastic chair, just waiting. It had been a weird day for her, and it was only morning. Her phone lit up with a text.

On my way

Holley sighed. She had never known Leland, and seeing him like this was still hard for her. She couldn't imagine how Finn felt.

There was one chilling factor that Finn didn't have to deal with however -this was her. She was Finn's new field partner. She hadn't even joined MI6 as a field agent, she was originally just working analytics in Tokyo. She had been quite literally thrust into the high-stakes world of espionage, and the unconscious figure lying in bed was a warning to her of what she would become if she slipped up. It hadn't really hit her before, even after getting captured and tied up inside Big Bentley -maybe because then, her adrenaline was pumping. This was just on a regular day, where Holley had the luxury of being able to sit there and realize that now that she was seeing action, she could end up just like poor Leland Turbo. Or worse -the American agent who had rescued Leland was the one who was supposed to rendezvous in Tokyo with Finn and her. He was missing and presumed dead.

With this in mind, she re-entered the room and gently sat down in the chair next to Leland's bed, deciding to watch him until Finn arrived. The noisy life support machines didn't drown out her anxious thoughts, however. What if this last mission's success was just a fluke? What if she turned out to be terrible at this? What if she ended up like this way earlier in her career before Leland had in his? She looked at his face. He must have healed up a little since his rescue, as her aunt Patrice had described him as unrecognizable when they brought him in, while now, his face was just a little bit swollen and bruised. They'd taken away the bandages that had originally obscured his scalp and face, and looking closely at him, Holley realized he was quite good-looking. Finn was older-looking and rather pretty -Leland looked younger... and downright handsome. She blushed a little, thinking about how inappropriate of a time this was to be sizing him up, but she had just broken up with an American she'd met during her first field mission, and...

She gave him a little tiny kiss on the cheek. There was something really charming about him, even while he was battered and intubated.

"Women always did find him irresistible." A voice piped up from behind, and Holley turned to face a woman around Leland's age, slightly heavyset with dyed blonde hair.

"Who -Who are you?" The woman smiled at Holley.

"I'm Stella, Leland's ex-fiance." Holley blushed further.

"I am so sorry, I let myself get carried away, I-"

"It's alright, love, I made me peace with Leland a long time ago." She had a thick regional accent -Scouse, Holley realized. The younger woman's face was still glowing pink from embarrassment.

"No, I am so sorry, I really am-" Stella chuckled.

"It doesn't matter if you kiss him, dear, he's gay." Holley's eyebrows raised. She thought that Stella had been implying Leland was unfaithful.

"He is?"

"It's why he left me. We were going to get married, and he told me he couldn't go through with it, 'cos he was gay. But he kept me as his emergency contact, so even though I've long moved on with me life, got married to a straight man an' had a couple kids, they called me when he got hurt."

"You came down here all the way from Liverpool?" Stella shook her head.

"I've been living in London the past ten years, even met up with Leland to catch up a few times. I didn't ever think this would happen to him." Holley's phone vibrated.

I'm almost there

Holley looked back up at Stella.

"Leland's partner is here. I'm sorry, but I think you're going to have to leave. I'm sure you know that his job is heavily... classified." Stella was giving Holley a playful smirk.

"Alright, I'll go. For security reasons. Have a nice day, love..." She left the room, closing the door behind her. Holley stared at the door, waiting for Finn.

Finn drove as fast as he could through London traffic, intent on getting to Leland as fast as possible. He had been so convinced that Leland was dead... he'd left him behind. He had looked so terrible, Finn was certain he had died. Zündapp seemed to think he was dead. So did the thugs who had brutalized him. The image of Leland's broken body was still burned into Finn's mind, but now it shared space with the photo Holley had sent Finn, the one of Leland on life support in a hospital. At least his face was recognizable, because on the oil rig, he had been so badly beaten that it had left his "corpse" disfigured. His face... you could barely tell it was a man, much less Leland.

It had burned him inside, the American mechanic that had accompanied Finn rather on accident calling Holley his girlfriend over and over. To lie awake every night, thinking about the love of his life tortured to death, only to hear some redneck throw around the word "girlfriend" over and over the next day was almost torture itself. When Holley had broken up with him just a few days later, Finn had to stifle a smirk.

He'd lost a part of himself with Leland. It was Leland who had sort-of brought Finn to life in the first place. Finn had been so insecure when he was first recruited. His confidence, the suave air about him... that was all Leland. Leland brought out everything good in Finn. Finn thought all of that had retreated back inside when Leland was killed. He had been so numb recently.

The knighting ceremony for the American had been brutal. Finn wanted to shoot himself, not watch someone celebrate. Especially since he did, actually, feel guilty about his animosity towards the man. After all, it was Finn himself who had roped the poor bloke into this. Distracted by his grieving, he had mistook the American for an agent, unwilling to accept the man's pleas that he was, in fact, just a mechanic. But to watch someone get up to such ridiculous antics when his boyfriend had been thrown into a trash compactor and crushed alive was agonizing. So he had rationalized it as being some fantastic act by a veteran agent. Kept it to himself. No one had realized what a wreck Finn was.

Secrets were a part of the job, after all.

How he missed Leland sorely, though. Leland was more fun than anyone Finn had ever met. They were the perfect couple. Finn looked forward to field missions, getting shipped off somewhere exotic with the man he would have married in a heartbeat if he could. With Leland, Finn felt emotions he never had before...

Whenever Finn could spend time with Leland outside of MI6, it was amazing. They had once taken a trip to America together, in 1999 for New Year's. They had gone to Times Square and kissed as the new millennium began.

Finn started to get lost his thoughts, only to get brought back sharply to reality by a car honking at him. He continued driving with a certain intent the average commuter lacked, but at a red light, he stopped to text Holley.

I'm almost there

Holley had zoned out a little, staring blankly at the door instead of Leland. Such a weird encounter... Stella must have been notified as soon as Leland was brought back to the UK. She turned back around to face him, still embarrassed from kissing him. So he was gay... and still had his ex-fiance as his emergency contact? An ex-fiance who seemed convinced Leland had a boyfriend? That didn't sit right with Holley. Where was the boyfriend? She wished she would have pressed Stella for some information instead of kicking her out, but she had been so embarrassed, and MI6 probably wouldn't want Stella to meet Finn anyways.

But still... she was burning with curiosity. Perhaps Finn could shine some light on this -after all, he had been Leland's field partner for ages. She turned back to the unconscious figure in bed, only to turn back around at the sound of someone entering the room. It was Finn, like she'd never seen him before. His gray hair was messy, his sharkskin suit replaced with baggy, dark-colored street clothes, and he wore round wire-framed glasses instead of the contacts she'd seen him put in on their last mission. Like this, he looked older... and sadder.

"How is he, Holley?" Finn sounded nervous. Holley said nothing, still in shock at his transformation over the last couple weeks -or rather, degradation. She hadn't seen Finn in person since Mater, the American, was knighted. He kept shutting himself in his office or calling in sick. She wasn't able to see how upset he was during the mission, but now... it was obvious.

"He's sedated, Finn. But it looks like he's recovering nicely... at least, to me it does..." Holley's voice trailed off. Finn took off the black ski jacket he was wearing and placed it on a table as he walked over to Leland.

"Did they tell you anything else? You're the only person who's so far told me anything, Holley."

"No, but I took a look at his chart, and-"

"Good thinking, Holley." His voice was flat and tired-sounding. Holley had heard a little bit of that in his voice during the mission, but she had chalked it up to the mission being so stressful. Finn picked up the chart, and she watched helplessly as his already pale face went whiter. She knew exactly what it was. Leland was a double amputee.

"Finn?" He didn't respond.

"Finn, I'm sorry. They told me not to tell you that over the phone-"

"It's okay, Holley..." He sighed, continuing to look through the chart. His face fell even further.

"It's a miracle he's alive..." Holley nodded. They sat in silence for a moment before Holley spoke.

"Finn, there was this woman in here... she was Leland's ex-fiance from back in the day." Finn suddenly looked up at her.

"Stella? What was she doing here?"

"She was Leland's emergency contact..."

"After all these years?" Holley nodded. Finn looked down and sighed. He had always thought he was Leland's emergency contact, as stupid as that was. Maybe he had just made himself believe that because he wanted it, as impractical as it would be. It made perfect sense for Leland to have a civilian instead of Finn, but... Finn had thought that Leland, knowing Leland, would have put him down instead of Stella.

Maybe having her down instead was Finn rubbing off on Leland, that sort of practical-mindedness. Finn looked back up at Holley.

"Leland stopped having relationships after his career took off. He was too busy. He probably wrote her name down years and years ago and never found anyone to replace it." Holley looked straight at him.

"She told me he was gay." This conversation was making Finn tense, or at least more tense than he already was.

"Oh, really? I had always wondered -as field partners, we generally don't talk about one another's personal lives." He was hinting at Holley to lay off him, but she wouldn't. She was too inquisitive.

"Stella seemed to think he actually had found someone else."

"Well I wouldn't know anything about it!" Finn snapped, shutting Holley down.

"I don't know what you think you're getting at by pressing me with these questions! We were field partners, coworkers!" Holley knew now. Finn wouldn't get defensive like this for no reason.

Leland and Finn had been having a relationship behind MI6's back. She didn't say anything else, just nodded.

"I'm... I'm sorry, Finn." He sighed.

"I'd like to be alone with him, Holley. This is very painful for me to see, and I just... I need to be alone with him." She smiled and nodded once more, getting up and grabbing her purse.

"I'll see you later, Finn."

"Goodbye, Holley." She exited, her block-heeled boots making a clicking noise. Finn turned back to Leland once the door closed. Leland... looked like himself again. His hair was still the same, long on the top with cropped sides like Finn's. His face looked alright except for the bruising, which was almost healed up anyways. His nose was a little bit crooked, but nothing horribly disfiguring.

But there had been something on the chart besides the amputations that worried Finn. Leland had sustained a bad head injury, and that's why he had been placed in a medically induced coma. Amputations... you knew what the prognosis was for that. It was final. Leland had lost his legs and survived it. But brain damage? So much more uncertainty. What if Leland never woke up? What if he was never the same? What if Finn had lost him regardless if he was technically alive or not? There was nothing he could do but wait and see. He sat down in the chair next to Leland's bed where Holley had been sitting.

Holley. He realized he had given himself away. Holley knew. That's why she had laid off, because he had told her all she needed to know. He'd admit it... as a field partner, she made a pretty good replacement for Leland. She was a brilliant young woman, cunning and in the prime of her life. But no one could replace Leland outside of work for Finn. This was the only man he could ever see himself with. There was simply no one else at this point, after all these decades with him. Finn reached out and took Leland by the hand. Unable to hold it in anymore, and with Holley gone, he broke down in tears.

A/N: i'm not entirely happy with the ending of this chapter but honestly i've been struggling a lot to get this one published so i feel like it's better to just keep moving with this story than to get stuck on one paragraph and abandon it for months, so here you guys go :)