I tried my best to keep characters authentic and convey the special soulmate-like connection Nate and Elena have without making it cheesy.

This chapter and chapter 2 happen right before Nate goes to Italy with Sam and Sully.

The Malaysia Job

Part 1

"Looks like I'm gonna take the Malaysia job after all." Nate said into the phone and swallowed a lump in his throat.

Elena sounded surprised and…disappointed. He could hear she was trying hard to mask the initial emotions with fake excitement.

"Well, I'll see you home. Have fun with them papers." Elena said and the sass in her voice made him smile despite the situation.

Sam raised an eyebrow and Nate shrugged it off.

"Love you honey, have fun with them chores." he joked back and flipped the phone closed. He felt the guilt. So much of it.

"So…," Sam said walking away from the rail and lighting a cigarette, "You good to go?"

"Yeah" Nate said. The realization of what he just did punched him in the gut. He looked away and shook his head in dismay.

"Malaysia, huh?" Sam frowned "I thought you'd just tell her everything the way it is. From all the stories you told me she makes the impression she can handle it."

Nate signed "Maybe. Or maybe she'll dump my sorry ass."

Sam gave him a puzzled look.

"We've got ehm…quite a history with me running off seeking adventure and leaving her behind," Nate explained, "The last time was her last straw I think. I don't think there are any more straws left".

"Well, isn't it kind of the same thing you're doing now?" – asked Sam. He sat back down on the bench and Nate plopped down next to him with a sigh.

"I just know that if I tell her the truth she would want to come along."

Sam looked as if he wanted to say something, but stopped himself in his tracks. His eyes got fixed on the water sparkling in the morning sun.

"Well" he finally said, "It's none of my business anyway." He blew out the cigarette smoke staring into the distance.

"It's just…" Nate took a second trying his best to put his thoughts into words "I just…I can't risk her life. Not again. And what if she just loses it if I tell her what I'm getting into" he said.

"Hmmm" Sam responded with a blank look on his face.

"So…last time, when we got back together, we had this conversation – we promised we were done with that kind of life" Nate scratched his forehead in a defeated gesture, "She said she will walk away for good if I ever do this to her again. That being going back to that life" he explained.

…And that's really why you don't want to tell her anything – an annoying voice in his head continued for him.

Sam nodded in understanding but didn't say anything. For a while they just sat there both staring at the water and the seagulls.

Nate tried to stop overthinking. Maybe she won't even know. Maybe everything will go smoothly and he'll be back in short two weeks and she won't ever have to know about anything. He'll tell her about Sam casually someday. Bring him over for dinner and slowly make him part of their life. The thought of Sam and Elena in one room warmed his heart.

Yes. He would tell her the truth about this secret trip someday. Maybe when they are old and grey and can laugh about it.

Yes. Everything WILL go smoothly and she won't know about this lie.

…with his luck it seemed hard to believe.

Oh well, c'mon Nate, stop being so pessimistic.

He looked at Sam. The expression on his face was serene and unreadable.

He doubted Sam fully understood the amount of sacrifice he just made for him. Of course it wasn't Sam's fault he lied to Elena, but he sure didn't see any other way out of this situation. Would she really understand if he told her the truth? What if she wouldn't? He couldn't risk it.

"I'm sorry brother," Sam stood up and finally looked at him "I don't know what to say about it, truly," he frowned, "but I do appreciate you going with me".

Other employees were coming in to work and it was starting to get busy.

Sam shuffled his foot, then looked up at him "So, should I buy tickets?"

"I don't know how else I can go with you other than pawning my kidney" Nate chuckled darkly "We've got shared bank accounts and everything", truly that's what he was just pondering himself - the logistics of this trip seemed tricky.

"Don't worry. Alcazar will pay for it," Sam said and smiled "You afraid she'll track you down?"

"Oh, you've got no idea" Nate said with a nervous look on his face "No idea…"


The rest of the day was a whirlwind. Nate had to break it to Jameson about his unplanned time off, which didn't make the man happy to say the least. Then he had to catch up with the paperwork he planned to finish today AND the paperwork he was trying to procrastinate on, but couldn't anymore. Nate felt as if he was sleeping – Sam's sudden resurrection made everything feel strangely surreal. Like one of Marlow's drugged mirages.

By the end of the day his head was starting to bother him and he also realized he forgot to have his lunch. He sighed and looked at the clock. It was four p.m. - time to go home. Nate closed the folder and put it back in the filing cabinet. See you in two weeks, he thought. Hopefully…

He opened the mini fridge, took out a container with his lunch and threw it in a plastic bag.

"Ready to go?" Jameson looked at him over his glasses.

"Yeah," Nate said "I really appreciate you letting me go on such short notice."

"No problem, tell Elena I said hi."

"Will do" Nate smiled at Jameson and turned to open the door. He was ready to leave, but stopped and slowly turned around.

Jameson took his eyes off his papers and looked at him expectedly.

"So…speaking of Elena" Nate rubbed the back of his neck, "If she asks you, could you tell her I'm off on a job in Malaysia?"

Jameson frowned and put his papers on the table.

"Lying is bad for marriage, Nate," he said and shook his head "Believe me, I've been married for 30 years."

"Yeah, I know" Nate said "But I've got this. I just really need you to have my back this time. It's hard to explain. You know me, I wouldn't do this if I had a choice"

Jameson granted and grimaced. After a second he shrugged and looked at Nate.

"I've got your back. Take care of yourself. Whatever you're getting yourself into."


Sam was able to find them a flight and they were supposed to leave tomorrow night.

Nate pulled into the driveway and parked his truck next to Elena's car. She's home. Good.

While on his evening commute he was carefully planning what he could and what he couldn't tell Elena when he sees her. She was for sure to be full of questions, expecting to hear details about the trip.

She was thorough. He loved many things about her, but this one trait was annoying at times. Nate was interviewing himself in his head trying to have answers for any question she could come up with. He knew her pretty well, so he was hoping he was properly prepared.

The hedges look overgrown – he noted to himself. He'd have to take care of it before he leaves so that she didn't have to.

Nate opened the front door and the house welcomed him with the smell of pumpkin and cinnamon.

"Burning one of your candles again?" he asked hanging his jacket on a hanger in the closet.

"Yeah, fall is gonna be over soon, gotta use them!" he heard Elena's voice coming from the kitchen.

Nate shook his shoes off and put them on a rack. His eyes caught the recycle container by the door. He took it out this morning but forgot to put the container back on its place. He grabbed it and headed for the kitchen.

Elena was cutting vegetables on the island counter. He saw grocery bags sprawled around the kitchen and she still had sunglasses on her head. Must have just come back from the grocery store and hassled to get dinner started. Two steaks were sitting on a counter nearby waiting to be cooked.

Elena was wearing jeans and a white knit sweater, her hair was pulled up in her usual messy bun. Several strands came loose and framed her face as she was leaning over the cutting board. She looked up at Nate and smiled.

"Hey" she said and went back to cutting a big squash she was struggling to balance on the cutting board, "How was your day?"

Nate slid the recycle container on its place in the trashcan, took his lunch out of the bag and put it back in the fridge.

"Busy" He stretched himself with a big sigh. He felt his muscles contract and it was extremely satisfying after a long day of desk work. It would be nice to have a more active lifestyle for a change, he admitted to himself, but felt ashamed of the hidden anticipation he had for this trip with Sam, "Just boring paperwork. How was yours?"

"Well," Elena said "I finally folded and put away laundry…"

"Yeah"

"…I vacuumed and mopped"

"Aha" Nate started coming over closer as she continued.

"I sorted out the mail"

"Nice" Nate said coming behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist "Looks like you had a pretty busy day yourself. Aaaand you did grocery shopping, aaaand dinner." he placed his chin on her shoulder and his stubble lightly scratched her cheek.

"Well" Elena lowered her voice and tilted her head his way "I thought I might give you a feeling of wanting to come home sooner. Make you look forward to it."

Nate felt the gut wrenching feeling again. He was not betraying her, he told himself. But it sure felt like it.

"You know I don't need any of that to want to come home" he said quietly.

"Yeah…well" Elena started, but Nate gently turned her around and kissed her before she could finish. She slid the knife down on the counter and fully gave in to his sudden impulse. He felt her melt in his arms and smile against his lips. These last couple of years has been a pure marital bliss. The bliss he never knew they could have. They had little squabbles like any other couple, but that was nothing compared to what was before. No dramatic breakups. No sudden departures. No cold tensions. They were just…happy. Maybe even too happy.

Damn you Sam, he thought to himself.

Elena broke away from their kiss and squeezed him in a tight hug instead.

"Hmmm…I'm gonna miss you so much" she growled into his shirt squeezing his ribs.

"I'll miss you too" Nate said softly tracing his fingers up and down her back "It's my turn to go on a trip this time though, huh?" he said playfully trying to diffuse his own contradicting emotions.

Elena drew back and looked up at him.

"What? Is that a payback?" she raised her brow "For all my trips without you? Really?"

"Yeah, and what, did you think you'd just get away with all your lavish trips with, with… bellboys, staying in five star hotels while I'm sitting here eating boxed dinners?" he played along and she grinned and rolled her eyes.

"Bellboys? Really?"

"Yeah. Bellboys! While I'm here wasting my youth waiting on you to come back."

"WHAT? Wasting YOUR youth? Waiting on me?" she opened her eyes wide in pretend shock.

"Yeah, you know, there's a lot of ladies out there who'd gladly console a poor abandoned man like me. Mrs. Atkinson for one."

"Oh no, not Mrs. Atkinson again" Elena face palmed.

Mrs. Atkinson was their middle aged neighbor from across the street. She was married like four times and always seemed to be extra interested in checking her mailbox whenever Nate was doing something outside. And she always happened to have some kind of problem. Like a broken faucet. Or a broken sprinkler. Or a leaky pipe. Elena even wondered once if Mrs. Atkinson was purposefully breaking all those things to have Nate come look at them. Being inquisitive by nature, one time Elena even went as far as asking Mrs. Atkinson if Elena herself could come over and look at her smoke alarm that wouldn't stop chirping. The lady lost her words for a second and then in a purely southern way proceeded to tell Elena that she shouldn't worry her pretty little head about the things she knows nothing about. That confirmed Elena's theory and she always referred to Mrs. Atkinson as none other than Nate's girlfriend ever since. It stroke his ego. At first. After a while her attention felt more annoying than anything else and helping Mrs. Atkinson was a full time job. He even started checking if the street was clear before attempting to leave the house.

Anyway. It was a leverage on his side of conversation right now.

"Well, you know. Me topless. My body glistening with sweat. Muscles flexing under my skin. Mrs. Atkinson is not the only one who'd be tempted" he taunted her.

"Well I commend your willpower to keep sitting here eating your boxed dinners waiting on me, while there are so many temptations out there like Mrs. Atkinson," she chuckled in response.

They were both smiling while looking at each other.

His stomach rumbled in this inopportune moment and Elena raised her brow.

"Skipped lunch again?"

"Keeps me toned" he shrugged.

"Well, let's get dinner ready then, I'm getting pretty hungry myself." She said turning around and grabbing the knife.

"Need any help?" Nate asked starting to take groceries out of the bags.

"Yeah, the grill is hot outside. I thought I had more time before you're home, but since you're here – would you do the honors?" she motioned the knife at the steaks "yours are way better than mine" she added.

"What can I say…," Nate smirked "It just comes naturally" he grabbed the plate with steaks and headed for the backdoor.

"Like your modesty?" Elena taunted.

"And my looks" he confirmed. She chuckled at his arrogance.

"By the way, you can keep that food of my food," he looked with contempt at vegetables she was cutting and she rolled her eyes.

"They are good for you," she playfully insisted. They had this conversation back and forth many times over and it brought a sense of security to him.

Nate stepped outside and regretted he took his jacket off. The morning was rather warm, but now the sky was covered in clouds and brisk cold wind blew right through his henley shirt. To add insult to injury he was starving. The quick breakfast he ate in his truck on the way to work seemed centuries ago. Raw steaks on the plate looked appealing just the way they were and that was saying something.

He opened the grill, quickly put the steaks in and closed it before the wind sparked the coals into flames again. Now for the jacket. He opened the door and headed for the coat closet.

"I see why you pushed the steaks on me now," he told Elena as he was passing by "its freezing!"

"Not glistening with sweat now, are we?" she countered with a sly expression.

She got him this time. Nate slid the backdoor closed behind him.

Jacket – check! Now for Sully. He took his phone out and flipped it open.

Sully was surprised to hear his voice. It's been several years since they saw each other. He was even more surprised when Nate explained to him the reason for his call. To his credit he didn't need much persuading. Nate was pacing the far end of the backyard as he tried to fill Sully in before Elena got curious and before the steaks got overcooked.