* * *
December Continued
Kirkland rushed to the keypad and punched in the deactivation code. "Damn it. I could swear I didn't set that thing." He walked over to Alyx who was just removing her hands from her ears. "Sorry about that. And now the phone will ring." Right on cue it did so, he picked it up and began to explain to the security on the other end that everything was fine while Alyx looked over the place.
*Darien, that was not nice.* Alyx admonished with amusement and got a head full of laughter in return. *And stop grinning.*
She had to admit that for a prank it was a fairly harmless one and kind of funny. The place was huge. formal dining room off the kitchen that was partially visible through the built in glass wall with pass-through. Formal sunken living with the mandatory leather furniture and precisely placed lamps and tables. The outside wall, which was floor to ceiling windows currently hidden behind curtains, was raised up with an almost balcony effect. The entire half wall of the sitting area filled with shelves holding books and various pieces of artwork. Moving to the short flight of stairs she strode across the hardwood floor to one of the windows and opened the curtains to gaze out upon the illuminated city of San Diego. It was a sight she was slowly growing used to seeing.
She felt Kirkland behind her long before his reflection appeared in the glass. He set a hand on her shoulder and met her eyes in the glass.
"I still haven't gotten used to the sight. Looks so very different from LA." Alyx commented softly as she continued to look out the window.
"Yes, I imagine it does. Dinner will be complete shortly." He set his hands on her waist and leaned in until his lips were brushing along the side of her neck. "I was thinking an appetizer might be in order."
Alyx sighed and tipped her head slightly to the side. "And what were you thinking of, caviar perhaps?"
"Mmmm, no." One hand slipped lower to rest on her hip and the other higher. With a small amount of pressure he got her to turn about and meet his eyes directly. "I was thinking you."
"Me?" She got out at a distracted mumble. The man was obscenely talented with both his hands and his mouth and she just went with it, hoping like hell that the guys would get the info they needed before this went too far. She really didn't want to have to manufacture a disagreement with Geofferies in order to keep what was left of her virtue intact.
No matter how nice a man he seemed to be, there was still no way in hell she was going to sleep with him. "Figured you be saving me for dessert. To go with the creme brulee I smell."
He went perfectly still, his teeth grazing the tendons on her neck. The hand that had been on her hip slipped around behind to gently cup her rear, causing her to moan softly. "I was always a big fan of having dessert first."
She chuckled softly. Darien had said something very similar a little over a week ago, only the timer going off had kept him from having more than just a small nibble of that dessert.
"You making fun of me?" Kirkland asked with a soft chuckle, one hand wandering up to cup her chin.
"Not for a second." Her eyes met his, noting they were this amazing shade of blue that very nearly had hints of violet in them they were so very vivid. "Maybe a bit curious as to whether you often have dessert first."
Kirkland gave her a light lingering kiss and then pulled away. "No, Maddy, I do not often have dessert first. I do not often meet someone I want to invite to my home after only a few days. And I most definitely do not find myself this ... hungry after so short a time." He pulled her close and lowered his mouth to her ear. "I think I could enjoy dessert for a very long time and never once miss not having the main course."
That was huge bucket of ice water poured on her psyche. Kirkland far more than just liked Maddy, he was half way into being in love with her. And Alyx felt an incredible guilt wash through her, making the moment suddenly awkward. "Kirk..." He lifted his head up to meet her eyes. "Where are your glasses?" she blurted out unexpectedly.
Kirkland blinked twice and then began to laugh at her sudden non-sequitor. "You just now notice? All that effort gone to waste." He shook his head. "I can't wear the contacts at work when we're playing with chemicals. Too corrosive. And, yes, this is my natural eye color." Making it plain it had been asked before.
"Well, they are quite lovely. Shame to hide them behind glass." She went up on tiptoe and kissed him, her arms going about his neck. "Now, since you have indeed had your appetizer, would you care to show me around a bit? I know I like what I've seen so far and I'd like to see more." Her voice dropped on the last few words, with the desired reaction from him.
"The grand tour?" She nodded. "Of course milady." He gestured with a hand and with one arm draped over her shoulders he led her towards a set of shelves holding an interesting collection of items he'd acquired over the years.
"Come on, Eberts, you got anything yet?" Darien asked in irritation for the fourth or fifth time. He did not like the idea of leaving her alone with Geofferies for very long since it was damn obvious to him that the guy fully planned on capping that romantic dinner of his with Alyx for dessert.
"I am working as fast as I can." Eberts glanced over at Darien, his fingers still flying over the keys of his laptop. "And would be able to work with more efficiency if I was not being asked to hurry up every forty-five seconds." His head snapped back to the computer when it emitted a series of beeps. He clapped his hands together and rubbed them with glee. "Yes. I got you now."
Darien grumbled under his breath and turned his attention to Hobbes who was watching the street warily. "Hobbes..."
"Fawkes, drop it." Hobbes ordered in exasperation without even turning to look at his partner. "Let Eberts finish so's we can get the job done."
"I'm more worried about him getting the job done before us." Darien muttered.
Hobbes did turn and look at Darien then, his eyebrows heading upwards. "The kid is perfectly capable of spinning a tale to get her out of spending the night with him. If that's what she wants. She's good Fawkes, better'n I thought possible. Trust her to do the right thing."
"Oh I trust Alyx." Darien snapped out. "Its Geofferies I don't."
Hobbes chuckled and shook his head.
"Robert, I believe I have found what we require to pick up Mr. Geofferies." Eberts spun the laptop about so both Darien and Hobbes could see. "This a private e-mail exchange that suggests that he did indeed know about the impending explosion at the lab nearly a week before it occurred."
Hobbes read over the series of e-mail exchanges Geofferies had saved and then pulled out his cell-phone. "Chief. We got what we need. Send the backup teams. Sir? All right, we'll be here." He put the phone away with a sigh. "We have three teams on the way, but it'll be about an hour before we can move."
Darien ground his teeth for a moment, wanting to get this over with now. "I'll give Alyx the heads up."
Hobbes set a hand on his arm. "Don't. No warning her. It needs to look real. She's already on shaky ground."
"Huh? Not warn her? What's I miss this time?" Darien looked just about as confused as he felt.
"There were inquiries into her background last night and this morning, which held up just fine, though a deeper probe might reveal she is not Madigan Dorchester." Eberts explained as he continued to decrypt the files and look through them for more information.
"The guys from the lunch?" Darien asked of Hobbes.
"Or their bosses. The requests came through the DoD, near as Eberts here could tell." Hobbes frowned slightly and tapped his knee with one finger. "There is something going on out at that lab. Something big, as the kid would say, and this Geofferies is mixed up in it up to his neck. I'm just surprised it took em that long to check her out."
Darien growled softly at Hobbes' choice of words. He knew it was the job, knew she was providing the needed distraction to get the intel they needed, knew she was keeping him busy till they could charge in and bust his ass ... But he didn't like it for one second.
Alyx sighed deeply as she set down her spoon after eating the last bite of the magnificent creme brulee he had created. Taking a sip of the coffee she eyed him over the rim of the cup. He was watching her with eyes gone dark with amusement. So perhaps she'd been a little vocal while enjoying the dessert, but it had been fantastic. "Let me guess, you spent a year training at the Cordon Bleu before Cal-Tech?"
He chuckled. "No, my mother is a chef and made sure I knew how to cook before I headed out on my own. You have no idea how many times I've ruined that very confection over the years." He pushed himself to his feet and walked over to her, offering a hand to help her up.
"You want some help cleaning up?" she offered as he removed the cup from her hand and set it upon the table.
"No." His voice was rough with the restrained desire that was coming off him in waves. "I'm ready for the real dessert." He led her over to the couch and captured her lips for a searing kiss that left her gasping for air by the time he had released her. "Maddy, I'd like you to stay tonight."
Alyx wasn't sure how to answer that. Geofferies' emotional state was definitely influencing her reactions to a degree, though she was thankful she was only picking up his emotions and not broadcasting her own like she sometimes did with Darien. Thinking of him sent her on a mental quest to try and find out what was going on, only to have her careful inquiries ignored and she couldn't find out why. She was on her own with the situation and would have to figure out how to deal with it. Maybe they just needed some more time with the disks, time they needed her to stall for.
"Hmmm, too soon again?" Geofferies asked at a soft rumble, his voice vibrating through her it was so low and rough.
"Maybe." Alyx responded as his hands went wandering to places only Darien had tentatively explored in recent weeks, causing her to gasp and arch in reaction. A reaction that was far more surprise than desire, though Geofferies of course assumed it was the latter and responded to it that way.
"Ah, Maddy, you are a sweet little thing. Let me find out how sweet." His mouth was pressed against the hollow under her ear, the blood pounding through the artery lying just beneath his lips. With a smooth movement he had her lying beneath him on the rich buttery leather of the couch. Somewhere along the way several buttons of her shirt had come undone and he swiftly sought out this new flesh to explore with his tongue and teeth.
Groaning she tipped her head back and muttered, "Is that a test tube in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?"
Kirkland lifted his head and gazed at her for a moment as if disbelieving she had actually said that. Then he began to laugh. "See, I knew you were different from the ladies I usually meet at that club." He brushed his lips across hers, still smiling. "Don't change."
"Not even into something more comfortable?" Alyx tossed out without really thinking about the consequences of those words.
Geofferies growled deep in his chest and shifted his hips so that she knew exactly how her statement affected him. "Oh, I plan on getting very comfortable, indeed." He returned to exploring newly exposed sections skin as her clothing became more and more open, but she had succeeding in changing the mood somewhat, becoming far more playful and less serious. Reducing his hurry, his sudden seeming desperate need to possess her in that most intimate of ways.
In fact, it took very little time for him to discover she was not only very sensitive to touch, but very, very ticklish. Once he realized this she saw the mischief that invaded his eyes and she knew she was in deep trouble. Over the course of the next fifteen minutes he alternately teased and tormented her with hands and mouth until she lay beneath him panting and exhausted and begging him to stop.
"And what will you do to get me to stop?" he asked even as his hands went after a particularly sensitive spot high up on her ribs.
"Anything." she squealed, just barely keeping herself from tossing him off her with her mind. "Anything you want." Damn,' she cursed mentally at herself. Who knew tickling would do me in.'
His hands stilled, the curled fingers stretching out and becoming a caress that she couldn't stop herself from responding to. The firm touch a relief from the nearly painful tickling. "Anything?"
Alyx couldn't back down now since she was the one who swung this door wide open. Ignoring the feeling of dread that invaded she answered with as much feigned resignation as she could, making sure he knew this was a complete surrender. "Yes, you horrid man, anything." She pulled his shirttail out of his slacks with an easy movement; it had nearly worked itself out during their play, and slid her hands underneath and along his back, her fingernails biting in with just enough force to make him groan in reaction.
"Ah, damn." he muttered, his eyes slipping shut and she took her turn exploring the contours of his upper body much to his obvious pleasure.
It wasn't too hard to figure out what he liked or wanted, though if he started broadcasting any louder Hobbes would hear it down in the van. So she made sure to take it slow and he followed her lead. Drawing out the moment and going at such a relaxed pace that he was able to maintain that necessary edge of control that kept them both clothed for far longer than would normally have occurred.
Still he was quickly building to the point where the activity would have to progress beyond long, deep kisses and caresses impeded by layers of clothing. Alyx was finding herself caught to a degree, his physical nearness and mental openness, drawing her along no matter how hard she tried to keep him out. Without the connection her ardor would die quickly as she was using his to fuel her own reactions.
It was plain he was unwilling to wait much longer just by the sudden change of tenor in his mind and in his caresses. He got her shirt completely open and was working his way down to her pants when his front door was slammed open and shouts drew his focus away from her and to the black-suited, gun-waving maniacs that had invaded his privacy.
"Aw come on, man, it's been like two hours now. Are we gonna do this or not?" Darien whined. He had tried to be good, had done nothing more than look pointedly at his watch roughly every fifteen minutes since the original hour deadline had come and gone without so much as a phone call to explain where the backup was.
"Agent Fawkes," Eberts went into the standard placation spiel in his most overbearing tone possible, thoroughly annoyed at his point by all the distractions that were keeping him from accessing the data a quickly as he would have liked. "The Official needs to obtain the necessary..."
"Shut up, Eberts." Darien muttered quietly, not even bothering to put any force behind the words. Even done with such a lack of enthusiasm they were still effective, causing Eberts shut his mouth and huff in discontent, going back to his laptop and the bits of information he was tickling from it.
Darien was working on a mild headache mostly due to being cooped up with the snark twins for the last two hours of his life. That was about one hour and fifty-nine minutes too long. Though even he would admit that Alyx being up there doing god knew what with Geofferies didn't help all that much.
"Keep yer pants on, Fawkes." Hobbes caught the dagger-like glare shot at him, but ignored it. Fawkes had been touchy about this dinner ever since it had been suggested and Hobbes didn't see his partner's mood improving any time in the near future. "They should be here any ... Ah, here they are now."
Three piece-of-crap Agency vehicles pulled into available empty spots along the street in front of the van. Hobbes promptly hopped out and headed to meet those emerging from the cars to coordinate whatever move they were going to make to bring in Geofferies. The discussion was short and Hobbes was back minutes later pulling open the passenger side door and waving for Darien to get out.
"Let's move it, partner. Just follow my lead." Hobbes slammed the door shut. "Behave, Eberts." he shouted as they crossed the street with six agents all wearing suits, ear pieces and dark glasses.
Darien had to admit they knew what they were doing; two separated from the main group and secured the lobby, keeping both the doorman and the security at the desk from doing more than emitting squeaks of protest before hands went up and they were secured.
"Hobbes, I gotta give Alyx a heads up." Darien hissed as they rode the elevator skyward.
"No. We're going in and treating her like any other unknown." He saw the frown cross Fawkes' features and decided to explain. "We don't dare blow her cover yet. These guys will go easy on her, they know her, but she's gotta be surprised." He turned to Darien who was ready to protest. "Trust me on this."
Darien wanted to argue, but the arrival of the elevator at the designated floor made the point moot anyway. With Alyx there was a good chance she'd know they were coming anyway. The group stood outside the door and waited for Hobbes' signal, which came quickly, as they had no real reason to wait and plenty to hustle through this before one of the neighbors noticed something going on.
The door was slammed open by the shoulders of two of the heftier agents and they burst into the apartment. Darien wasn't quite sure what he was expecting to find, but the sight of Geofferies sprawled across Alyx, her shirt unbuttoned, skin flushed, and Geofferies in much the same state caused his vision to turn suddenly red.
Within seconds both Geofferies and Alyx were on the floor with hands behind their heads and orders being barked by Hobbes or one of the others. Darien stood frozen in place as Geofferies was dragged upright and cuffs snapped onto his wrists. He screamed, he begged, he protested, and was completely ignored.
"Deal with the chick, Fawkes" Hobbes barked, breaking Darien out of his shocked stupor.
"Yeah. Sounds like a good idea to me." Darien stalked over to where she was slowly getting to her feet, one hand holding her shirt closed. He grabbed her by her free hand and dragged her out of the living room and slammed her into the nearest wall. Anger and jealously had taken over and he had all but forgotten the job at hand. "Well, you been enjoying yourself ... Maddy?" he snarled in a low voice.
Alyx froze.