He had been travelling for close to twelve hours. Exhaustion showed on his face, in the set of his body. Abandoning the car across the drive he stumbled towards the house. No lights shone in the windows, the dark night seemed to enclose around him.

The heat was stifling, hot and humid, moisture beading on his skin, his hair flattened to his head, shirt glued to his back.

It was times like this he longed for the sharp iciness of St. Petersburg.

He stumbled up the path, towards the garden, where he knew he could find shelter in the cool greenness. Tiny niches, lush trailing vines, it was a sanctuary against the airless night.

As he stalked through the narrow paths, he felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise.

'Who's there?' he hissed into the night.

'Who do you think?'

Dark eyes peered out from a small sheltered alcove.

'You're still here?' he snarled.

'No. I'm just a figment of your imagination.'

Ashleigh stepped from the darkness.

She had been there for three days. Three, long, frustrating days. Sheer stubbornness had refused to let her leave, despite the increasing dents to her pride. She had waited for him to come back, and why? To scream and shout at him? To take another swing at him?

'One more night,' she hissed. 'One more night and I wouldn't have been here.'

'Don't let me stand in your way of leaving.'

'I won't.'

'Then go. Just walk away. Like you should have done in the beginning.'

'And miss out on an opportunity like this? I quite enjoyed my few days of sun, sea and relaxation. A perfect break before I run back to England with my tail between my legs.'

He stood in the shadows, refusing to speak, refusing to answer her.

'I know when I'm not wanted, Alec. I'll be on a flight first thing in the morning.'

'If that's what you want.'

She stepped forward from the shadows. With a practised eye, Alec saw the dark circles under her eyes, her skin pale from lack of sleep. Anger tensed her body, her eyes were narrowed in a stubborn stare. Her bruised eye was a riot of colours, vivid greens and yellows fighting for precedence with the fading purples.

'You look like hell.'

'You're not so...' the insult trailed off as she finally saw his face. 'What happened to you? Who did this to you?'

If Ashleigh's face looked bad, then Alec's looked a thousand times worse. Bruising travelled from his temple to his jaw, a gash ran across the bridge of his nose, another travelled up and under his hairline.

From the way his shoulder was held, she had a horrible suspicion that it might be broken. Or at the least, cracked.

'It doesn't matter.' He tried to shrug, but the gesture caused a wince of pain to flicker across his face.

The anger left Ashleigh, carefully she ran her hand down his face, checking for swelling, and then her hands moved to his jacket. He swallowed a groan, but let her help him to remove it.

Blood had soaked through his shirt.

'You went to kill him.' It was a statement, not a question, quietly spoken.

He nodded. 'It was the final part of the assignment. His organisation was growing too dangerous, his ideas too radical. It wasn't easy. But it's over now.'

'M's pet assassin,' Ashleigh murmured bitterly.

The way he looked away made Ashleigh think she had hit close to the mark.

'We all have to kill sometimes. Even you.'

His green eyes were cold, and seemed to bore into her. 'And I hate doing it,' she hissed back, her fingers clenching involuntarily onto his shoulder.

'You killed Elliot and Deronda.'

'I had no choice,' she looked away. 'Lucinda would have killed me; it was kill, or die.' Her hand involuntarily clenched around her upper arm.

Gently he pried it away. He had noticed the scar before. 'She did this to you?'

'No one told me your ex lover liked playing with sharp knives.'

'But you killed her?'

'Knife to the throat.' She shuddered at the memory. 'There was so much blood.'

'Blood washes off.'

'But the memories stay.'

She had been almost clinically detached at the time, but she knew that the memories would always be there. In some small way, she was glad, it showed that she was at least human, she felt guilt when she killed, regretted the lives she had taken, and knew that she would pay for them at some point. Lucinda Elliot and Caleb Deronda had been willing to kill for their own advancement, for their own ambitions.

She hoped to God that Alec wasn't like that. That somewhere, deep within him, there was remorse.

'You're bleeding again,' she muttered, seeing the fresh blood sparkle in the dim light.

'I'll live.' He grabbed her hand. 'Why did you kill Elliot?'

'I told you, because I had to.'

'And Deronda?'

'James did. But I made sure he was dead.'

'Why?'

'Because you asked me to. Because I'd do anything for you.'

Her voice was barely above a whisper fading into the still air.

'Anything?'

It took all her courage, but she dragged her eyes up until they met his. There was hope deep within them. 'Anything.'

'Go home.'

'Home?'

'Back to England. You'll never be safe with me. You'll never truly know me. Your life will always be at risk as long as you are associated with me.'

'No.'

'Do as I say,' he snapped. 'I don't want you here.'

She blanched, but stood her ground. 'So I just forget you?'

'Yes.'

'And what will you do?'

'That's none of your business.'

The scorn chilled her voice. 'Of course not. How silly of me. I was rather under the impression that there was something between us, that something had happened in Russia. Of course, I could be mistaken, I did spend an awful lot of that time unconscious.'

He was silent once more.

'I didn't come here to be humiliated, Alec. I was rather under the impression that I was wanted.'

'You weren't meant to get hurt,' he sighed, ignoring her.

'Small comfort.'

He ran a finger down her arm, tracing the line of the scar, feeling the faint bumps where the stitches had held it closed, the tissue still healing two months on. She shivered, and pressed closer, realising what he was doing he snatched his hand away.

He wanted to take her in his arms.

He wanted to push her far away.

'We're a cliché, Ash. The ultimate cliché in our world. The master criminal, Janus, and the spy that loved him. You know what I did. You know that I would have stopped at nothing to succeed. I would have killed James. And if you had been there, I would have killed you. Without hesitation.'

'We all make mistakes.'

'A mistake? Hardly. A failure. If Goldeneye had succeeded I would have been the most powerful man in the world. In the end, it almost destroyed me.'

The anger was there, so close to the surface, ready to break into violence. She stepped back, wary of what might happen, but also watching carefully, taking everything. He had never spoken of the incident before, and she wanted to know more.

'You're Janus,' she said, touching each side of his face, the smooth, and the scarred. One face looking to the past, the other to the future. You have two sides, I've seen them both, and still I'm standing here. You proved that not even death can destroy you.'

'What a delightful sentiment,' he was cold and distant again. 'You wouldn't be the first woman to try and heal me, so please don't bother trying.'

'I wouldn't be so arrogant as to think I could heal someone like you,' Ashleigh spat, her own temper rising. This was getting beyond the point of ridiculous, the night was getting darker, they would probably still be standing there when the sun rose. 'I wouldn't fly half way around the world to deal with someone else's psychological issues.'

'Then why are you here? I won't be a father figure to you, Ash.'

The attack worked as well as if he'd hit her. She swore softly under her breath and jerked away.

Her father had always called her Ash, Alec had always known her as such whenever David had mentioned his daughter. It was habit to call her by her shortened name, but he used it now as a weapon, reminding her of the person he had once been, of his relationship with her father.

'Believe what you want,' she snapped, 'but this has nothing to do with my father.'

Viciously she snapped a leaf off a nearby vine, shredding it between shaking fingers.

The pain was increasing with every second that passed, but Alec refused to back down. His shoulder felt like it was on fire, his head ached, but still he stood here fighting with her.

'If you stay,' he said brusquely, 'You're in danger. You understand that, don't you?'

She bit back a sarcastic retort. 'Yes.'

He gestured to his jacket. 'For you.'

She raised an eyebrow quizzically, but fumbled with the jacket all the same. Inside she found a blood stained battered envelope.

'Assets, and documents,' Alec winced as he explored his damaged shoulders.

She flicked through the paperwork, a frown deepening as she read on.

'No.'

'No?' he looked up in surprise.

'What the hell is this? Is this what you think I want?' she flushed with anger.

'Call it life insurance,' Alec snapped. 'Too many people want me dead. If anything happens to me, then you'll be secure.'

'I don't want this,' she threw the envelope down.

'What do you want?' he was close to losing his temper.

'Assurance.' Ashleigh's tone was business like. 'I need to know that there isn't a bullet out there with my name on it.

'I can't guarantee that.'

'Try.'

She stared him down, her brown eyes unblinking, her face set with determination. Alec had a sudden feeling that he had bitten off more than he could chew with her.

'Fine.'

She blinked, surprised that he had backed down so easily. Suspiciously, she watched him.

It wouldn't be easy, it wouldn't be a bed of roses, but she was there, and he was there, and she relaxed at last, slumping back onto the wall.

'You had better let me look at that shoulder,' she finally said.

His skin was warm as she probed the damaged area, using the skills she had learnt at MI6 to diagnose the problem. 'What happened?'

'You don't want to know,' he leant in closer to her, letting himself rest gently on her, feeling her hair brush against his jaw, the scent of her perfume mingling with the smell of the night. Reluctantly he admitted to himself that he had missed her.

He wouldn't admit it to her though. He was already in way over his head, and knowing he was about to go even further, he slid his working arm around her, pain forgotten, and pressed his mouth to hers.

She wrapped herself around him, and feeling secure for the first time in her life, she let herself lose control.