Standing behind Alex, Clara kept one hand on the back of his seat while the other rested on her hip, cocking it to the side. She had her eyes closed and her head bowed, sleep slowly taking over. It was almost two in the morning and Alex was still working on trying to get into the sniper's phone and find out who had sent him. He had his glasses on the end of his nose, his eyes focused on the screen before he turned his head over his shoulder to look to Clara.

Her hair dangled in her face as her eyes remained shut, her head bowed. Moving from the chair, Alex slipped an arm around her, startling her awake. She looked around, mouth agape before she let her eyes settle on him. Moving his other arm around her, he let her move her hands to his shoulders as her forehead went to rest on one just beneath his neck.

"Come on," Alex whispered in a small voice to her. "Everyone else has gone to bed. Don't torture yourself."

"I can stay," Clara muttered as he felt her weight increase against him.

A deep chuckle left his lips as he arched a brow, shaking his head back and forth as he watched her. It took another moment before he ran a hand up and down her back as she yawned, her warm breath hitting his bare skin.

"Go to bed," Alex repeated once more. "I'll be there soon. I just need to finish this off."

"Can you not bring it upstairs?" she wondered from him. "At least then you can nap while the programme is running."

The thought did sound quite tempting and before Alex knew it he had bundled the laptop and phone into his arms and was following Clara up the staircase to the landing. Moving to their room, Clara held the door open for him. Alex settled down on the bed, the laptop on his lap as he went back to work, kicking his shoes off and letting them fall on the floor.

Clara went about changing into her pyjamas, brushing her teeth and then finishing off washing her face. Climbing into the bed, she pulled the duvet to her chin as she closed her eyes and moved closer to Alex. Feeling his arm move out to the side, Clara burrowed against his side, one hand coming to rest on top of his torso as he kept his eyes fixed on the screen.

"Now will you go to sleep?" he asked and she chuckled at hearing him.

"I think I can manage that," she whispered against his side.

Alex looked down to her, bending down slightly so that he could kiss the top of her head. Sighing once, he let his eyes move between her and the screen. Closing his eyes for a few brief moments, he felt himself drift off, unable to stop himself as the day's events caught up with him and he felt himself fall to sleep.

…

Clara watched on as she moved down the staircase, looking to the men in the kitchen who were hovering over the laptop. Alex had changed into a clean shirt and trousers, his suit jacket on his shoulders while one hand held a cup of coffee. Clara was still dressed in her pyjamas, her hair askew over the top of her head while her pyjama bottoms hung low on her hips.

"Morning," Lincoln greeted her.

"Morning," she muttered back, going to take the seat next to Alex at the breakfast bar. "What did I miss?"

"Krantz called," Self said. "Apparently he's pissed that we killed the sniper."

"Forget about him," Clara mumbled but Lincoln sighed while T-Bag hovered in the kitchen, one hand on his chin as the other went across his body.

"It isn't that simple," Lincoln said to her. "He asked if we knew who had Scylla. I had to lie to him."

"So?" Clara wondered as Alex passed her his cup of coffee and she sipped on it, the warmth pooling in her stomach.

"So," Bagwell drawled out as he finally came to stand in the group, "we're lying to the man who has our family in the way of danger to protect his mother."

"No," Alex said with a shake of his head. "We're in danger if he finds out that Christina has Scylla. If he knows that then what is to stop him from getting rid of all of us and sending his own people after her? We're just the middlemen. He can't know about her."

"Yeah," Self agreed, looking pointedly to Bagwell. "So keep your mouth shut, got it?"

"Still doesn't mean we're not in danger," Bagwell responded. "Who's to say that he won't find out what we're doing soon enough? You know him. He isn't exactly a man who likes secrets."

"But no one is going to tell him," Clara continued, her protests entering Bagwell's ears as she turned her head over her shoulder to look to him, brow arching as she watched him with intensity. "Unless you intend to turn us in?"

"I may be many things, little miss pretty, but I'm not a snitch."

Self scoffed at that, rolling his eyes as Lincoln ground his teeth together.

"Good," Lincoln said. "Because if we get a whiff of you even betraying us then it will be the last thing you do. You got it?"

"Now, now, Linc," Self said, his tone patronising as he watched Bagwell. "I'm sure he knows not to betray us, don't you, Bagwell?"

Taking a gulp, Bagwell nodded and then wandered off, leaving the four of them in the kitchen. Taking another sip of Alex's coffee, Clara closed her eyes for a moment, still adjusting to the morning brightness as Alex let his eyes move to the side to look to her, a wry smile playing on his lips.

"You alright?" he checked and she nodded her head.

"Fine," she said to him. "What did you find out?"

"Nothing useful," Alex responded. "He's been calling a hell of a lot of blocked numbers. The Company are looking into it as we speak. They're tracing the calls. Hopefully that will give us some leads."

Nodding, Clara agreed with him silently. "I'm going to go and change. Tell me if anything happens."

"Got it," Alex said, watching her slip down the stool, grabbing hold of his coffee. "That's mine." He pointed out to her and she sauntered off, turning her head over her shoulder to shoot him one final look before manoeuvring up the steps and back into the bedroom.

Lincoln watched her go, chuckling at the wry expression on her face as she looked back to Alex. He let his gaze wander back to the former FBI Agent before taking the seat that Clara had left. Alex still had his gaze fixed on her as she wandered along the landing, sipping once more on the drink before disappearing through the door to the bedroom.

"How's she holding up?" Lincoln wondered once Alex was facing the front once more, looking to the computer.

Self went off to find Bagwell, probably to make sure he wasn't going to do anything stupid.

"Well enough," Alex shrugged to Lincoln. "She just wants it all to be over with. You know how it is."

"I know how it is," Lincoln echoed, nodding his head in confirmation before Alex stood up and went to find himself another cup of coffee. "Listen, Alex, I know we haven't always seen eye to eye and there's a reason for that."

"Yeah," Alex agreed with a deep chuckle.

"But she...I know her. She's like Michael. She always wants to do the right thing," Lincoln continued, tugging at the large collar of his white shirt.

Pouring himself a coffee into the white mug, Alex looked at Lincoln over the rim of it as he took a quick gulp. "What you getting at?"

"I want to know if she is planning something for Scylla," Lincoln quickly spoke and Alex shook his head, pretending to look annoyed as he did his best not to let his face give him away. "She would never willingly hand it over to Krantz. I know that."

"Yeah," Alex agreed with him, "but that was before her uncle sent her a photo of me. She doesn't like this, but she's accepting it."

"Really?" Lincoln wondered, not sounding entirely convinced.

"You doubting me, Lincoln?" Alex wondered and Lincoln shook his head.

"For some reason, no," he told Alex. "I'm not doubting you. I know you want this over with as much as I do, but I also know that you and her are close. You'd never betray her trust."

"Then why did you ask me the question in the first place?" Alex wondered from him.

"Because, if she is planning something, then you're the only one she will listen to," Lincoln said.

Alex scoffed again, drinking his coffee. "You don't know Clara very well then," he said. "You see, once she has her mind set on something then she does it. I can't reason with her. I can only talk to her and tell her what I think, but I can't force her to do anything."

"Listen," Lincoln said, tired of being cryptic, "if you know something then you need to tell me, Alex."

"I don't," Alex said, placing his mug down before holding his hands up defensively. "I don't know anything, Linc. I just know that Clara wants this over with. We all do."

Lincoln didn't entirely believe Alex, but he didn't push him any further. Instead he watched him grab hold of his phone and move up the staircase to the bedroom. Alex raked a hand through his hair as he opened the door to the bedroom, but nothing prepared him for the sight he witnessed.

"Alex!" she shrieked loudly as soon as she saw him enter the room.

Moving his hands to cover his eyes, he backed out of the doorway, the image of her in nothing but her underwear still scorched into his brain as he bit down on his tongue. She had moved her hands to grab hold of her dress quickly as soon as he had entered, but by then it had been too late. She didn't know why she was so embarrassed. She was a middle-aged woman, for heaven's sake.

But the idea of Alex seeing her nearly naked frightened her. It had been a long time since anyone had seen her in such a state. Tom hadn't touched her since Theresa had died, mainly because she hadn't let him. It was like she was immune to the feeling of pleasure. It was almost as if she didn't want to be attracted to anyone. That was until Alex came along. Everything changed then and it frightened Clara. It frightened her more than she cared to admit.

Keeping quiet, she let out a long breath before slipping into her dress and pulling her tights onto her legs. Only then did she open the door and let Alex back in. He was still slightly red as he scratched the back of his neck and saw her head on over to the dressing table, perching on the edge of the stool and tugging at her hair.

"Sorry about that," Alex muttered.

"It's fine," Clara responded, trying to act nonchalant.

"I mean…I should have knocked…I…"

"Don't worry about it," Clara continued to protest. "So, what's going on?"

"Lincoln thinks you're working against him," Alex responded, perching on the edge of the bed behind where she sat on the stool. "Well, not working against him, but he suspects that you're not entirely on his side with everything going on."

Her eyes widened and she nodded once, pulling her hair into one hand and searching for the black band on the table to tie it back.

"He has got clever," Clara muttered and Alex felt his lips quirk upwards at hearing her.

"Yeah, he seems to think that I can talk you out of whatever you're planning," Alex responded.

"Does he?" she muttered back, voice coy as she pushed herself to her feet, tightening the bobble in her hair as Alex stood in front of her too, looking her in the eye as she moved her hands to his shoulders. "So he thinks that I will listen to you? Why? Because I care about you?"

"Something like that," Alex mumbled, too focused on the way she was gripping his shoulders.

"And what did you say?" Clara wondered and Alex couldn't help but think that she wasn't taking this very seriously. He gulped once, looking down to her as he felt her move to kiss him on the cheek, her lips lingering on his skin.

"What do you think I said?" he challenged back.

Pulling away, she looked him dead in the eye. "I think that you told him there was nothing going on," she deadpanned as Alex remained slightly amused. "And I think that, if there was anything going on, which there isn't, then you would have told him that nothing changes my mind."

He chuckled again. "How do you know me so well?" he wondered.

"Simple," Clara responded, "because if you had told him that you could change my mind then that would mean you didn't know me very well. Evidentially, you do."

"Evidentially," he echoed as she moved quickly to peck him on the lips.

"And speaking of keeping secrets," she began, pulling away and moving to grab hold of her bag, flinging it onto her shoulder before tugging at the short dress she wore, the red material clinging to her body. "Michael sent me a message. He wants to meet us at the marina. Apparently he tried to convince Lincoln to meet him there, but he refused."

"What does he want?" Alex asked of her.

"To know what we know," she said. "So we need to sneak out of here without anyone suspecting anything, which might be difficult now that Lincoln seems to think we're plotting against him."

"True," Alex said. "But if we move quickly then we might be able to get out."

"Let's do it."

…

Standing on the marina, Clara looked up and down for any sign of Michael and Sara. They weren't difficult to spot as they made their way towards them. Clara moved with haste, unsure of what took over her as she wrapped her arms around Michael quickly, hugging him before moving to Sara.

"Thank God you're both okay," she whispered, pulling back as Michael looked to her, offering her a small smile before glancing to Alex.

"Last we heard you were arrested," Michael commented to Alex.

"Yeah, well, I should have been, but I had other ideas," he responded. "So what's the plan? Do you have one?"

Michael and Sara exchanged a hesitant look between each other before speaking.

"And how do we know that we can trust you?" Sara wondered of Alex.

"For Goodness sake," Clara complained in a low tone. "He is on our team. Alex wants to help. I know that he hasn't always-"

"-He doesn't have the best track record," Sara interrupted.

"I'm not the same FBI Agent who was tasked with killing you," Alex answered honestly. "Things have changed. I helped you to get Scylla, Michael. You trusted me then. I am only with your brother because Clara is there and because Krantz has Pam…and…and Clara to use against me. I don't want to see him get his hands on Scylla."

"Neither of us do," Clara answered, voice harsh and honest as she nodded her head in Michael's direction and he took a deep breath before nodding his head.

"Christina is plotting something," Michael said.

"We know," Clara responded with a firm nod of her head. "We know she intends to be at the energy conference in two days time. She sent a sniper to take Lincoln out. Why would she do that?"

Michael looked away, almost as though he was pained to hear such a thing from her. Dropping his hands to his hips, he let out a sigh as Sara shook her head, a part of her hoping that Christina could be trusted. But that didn't seem like that was the plan.

"I don't know," Michael said, hand moving to his forehead.

"Neither do we," Alex responded, "but I bet it is to do with her and Scylla."

"So what?" Sara wondered. "She takes over The Company and then what?"

"Who knows?" Clara shrugged. "But whatever she intends to do isn't going to be good. The sniper she sent dropped his phone and Alex has The Company tracing back his numbers."

"We can't trust her," Michael offered. "Listen, she…Krantz…whoever…someone sent a man after us. We found this on his body."

Pulling out a piece of paper, he handed it over to them and Clara frowned.

"We managed to decipher most of it," Michael informed them with a slim nod as Alex hovered behind Clara's shoulder, looking down with wonder. "We think that this means 48 Rockwell and that's a car park."

Alex nodded, looking to the next numbers. "So B23 is the section you need? And 16:30 is military timing. So what does VS mean?"

"That's what we're going to find out," Michael said with a nod of his head in their direction. "I don't know where it is going to take us to, but I'm hoping it lets us in on what Christina plans to do at this energy conference she's going to."

Nodding, Alex watched as Michael folded the paper back up and placed it into his pocket. Alex tugged on the suit jacket he wore before moving a hand to the small of Clara's back, letting it rest there as she spoke, arms folded over her chest.

"So what do we do?" Clara wondered. "Because if Krantz finds out we've even met with you then we're both dead."

"Go back," Michael said. "Keep digging on Christina and we'll do the same. Just make sure that no one suspects you both."

Clara scoffed and Alex chuckled, his free hand going to scratch the back of his neck.

"That might be difficult," Alex admitted to Michael. "Your brother seems to suspect that Clara has other plans for Scylla that don't include handing it over to Krantz."

"And he'd be correct," Clara nodded her head. "Of course, he cannot know that."

"But Lincoln isn't foolish," Sara said. "He's suspicious of everyone. How long do you guys think you can keep on tricking him?"

"As long as necessary," Alex said, his voice determined. "We're close to the end of this. We have to be. Christina is the end goal, but the problem is who we give Scylla to once we have it. Who can we trust to exonerate us?"

Michael sighed. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," he responded. "For now, we need to get going to Rockwell. Keep in contact with anything you find out."

"Of course," Clara answered.

"Let's go," Alex said, offering a firm nod over to Michael and Sara before taking hold of Clara by the hand.

He led her away, letting her walk a step behind him before she saw the sight she had feared seeing. Her grip on Alex's hand went tight as the former agent let out a low moan. Stood at the end of the marina was Lincoln, hands on his hips as he arched his brows towards them.

"Michael asked me to meet him here," Lincoln said.

"I know," Clara responded. "He said you had no intention of showing."

"So what?" Lincoln demanded from her. "You run off to Michael and divulge all of our plans?"

"No," Clara said with a shake of her head. "Namely because we don't have a plan right now. But Michael is trying to find Christina."

"And what did he tell you?" Lincoln demanded from her, taking a step closer as Alex saw her move closer, her hand pulled from his as she let herself glower up to Lincoln, her eyes wide and her gaze challenging as she completed the motion.

"Nothing," she said, the word a pop from her lips.

Lincoln shook his head. "I don't believe you."

"I don't care," Clara replied.

"And you?" Lincoln asked, looking over to Alex who held his hands up in defence. "Whose side are you on?"

"The side that keeps Pam alive," Alex answered honestly. "But she's telling the truth. Michael didn't tell us anything. He thinks we'd just use the information for our own gain. He doesn't trust us."

Nodding, Lincoln seemed to believe Alex.

"I don't have time to waste following you around," he looked back to Clara. "From now on, you're out."

"Excuse me?" Clara snapped at him. "I am trying to help you, Lincoln."

"No," Lincoln replied with a finger pointed in her direction. "You are trying to do what you think is the right thing. I am trying to keep my family alive, just like everyone else in that apartment. So you're out. You're staying in the apartment until all of this is done."

"You cannot force me," Clara said with a shake of her head.

"No?" Lincoln demanded. "Did you forget the photos your uncle sent? What do you think he would do to Alex if he found out you'd been going behind his back?"

Clara went silent, lips tightly pursed as Lincoln rolled his eyes, tiring of the conversation they were having. Instead he held his hands up in defeat, looking between Alex and Clara before speaking.

"You're a liability to us," he informed Clara. "You're too much like Michael."

"Then that's not a bad thing," Clara responded.

"She's not coming with us again," Lincoln said, this time speaking to Alex. "And if I find out that you're with her and against us-"

"-I'm not," Alex interrupted. "I know what Krantz has. Pam's safety means more to me than Scylla…just like Clara's does. I'm with you on this."

Clara moved to stand in front of Alex then, glowering at him. But he shot her a harsh stare, hoping that he was silently able to communicate what he hoped to her. There was no use in both of them being ostracised from the group. That would achieve nothing.

She seemed to understand, offering him a small wink before speaking loudly. "So that's it?" she demanded from him. "You're going along with them in there?"

"What do you want me to do?" Alex demanded from her, voice low and harsh. "They have Pam, Clara. They have you. Lincoln is right…we're doing this for our families. Just accept that and wait until it is over. We can go our separate ways then."

"And Krantz gets what he wants," Clara concluded, flapping her arms by her side.

"And if he found out you were speaking this way then he'd kill you himself," Lincoln continued. "Listen, I'm going back to the loft. If you're both not there in ten minutes then we're going without you."

"Where to?" Clara wondered and Lincoln shot her a look that said 'as if I'd tell you.' She went silent as Lincoln wandered off, exhaling a deep breath.

"One of us needs to stay on side, I guess," Clara admitted once he was away from listening into their conversations. "Just don't do anything foolish, got it? And promise to tell me everything that's going on."

"Anything else?" Alex asked, an amused tone to his voice as Clara let out a small laugh and nudged him in the stomach as he chuckled at the motion and she moved to loop her arm into his.

"No," she responded. "But I hope you were right about this nearly being over."

"Me too," Alex whispered. "Me too."