"Fi... I answer a question, you take a bite." He said, handing me a water bottle.
I sighed. "What about Sam?"
"What about her?"
"Who is she?"
"she was my... fiancee." He sighed.
"What the fuck?"
He guided the fork to my mouth. "Sam... I told her early on in the mission that I was pretending to date a girl for a mission. She didn't care... because I did it all the time. I told her later that I had to sleep with the assett to protect my cover and she didn't believe it."
"Because she knew you were full of shit." I commented as he guided the fork to my mouth again. "You would've slept with me the first night if Sean hadn't shown up."
"Right. I didn't HAVE to have sex with you to protect the cover. I WANTED to make love to you, because... I was in love with you... from the very first night."
I nodded.
"So, I lied to her for a while. She was mad about the sex, but let it go because... what really could she do? So, I ducked her calls and texts for a month or so before that night. When we fought and I called her, she was shocked because that was my burner phone I called her from. She knew though. She had thought I think that I was calling to tell her that the mission was done, but I told her... well you heard the rest." He shrugged. "Please take another bite, Fi."
I smiled and took another bite. "You're so different."
He made a face. "How so?"
"Everything about you is different. The way you walk and talk. You're not McBride and it's... just very... it's a really surprising turn of events."
He held up a forkful of noodles again. "This is me." He shrugged a little. "You knew me. The real me. You still do. It's just... Mcbride, but older, tanner, more careful, with less of an accent."
"You're still you." I agreed.
"Mcbride better?" He asked, tasting a bite of my food.
"Not so far."
"So far?"
"McBride and I did a lot of things together, Michael. I would need to evaluate your ability to perform those tasks before making an informed decision." I insisted.
Michael looked around to see that no one was within listening distance. "Like... What?" He challenged.
My cheeks redenned at his brutal gaze. "Well... at the hotel... you were very... thorough with our reunion sex."
"Missionary position, as reunions should be." He commented without emotion.
"Right... and it was magic... perfect. However, McBride and I had quite the repertoire."
"Of what?"
I looked at him harder to see if he was challenging me or if he truly didn't know what I was saying. He looked clueless.
"You really don't remember, do you?" I asked, touching his chin with my thumb.
"Oh no. I remember all of it. I've spent many nights, remembering you... most of them ending with my hand on my dick and your name on my lips."
I raised an eyebrow. "Is that right?"
"I've now said something dirty. Now you say something dirty." He smiled.
"No. Not dirty... but, remember when we got home from blowing up the lawyers office in Belfast?"
He nodded.
"I hadn't gotten far enough away from the building before it exploded."
He looked confused.
"You were around front... I was in the alley, but I couldn't get away in time and it threw me like 10 feet to the gravel. I was knocked out in the alley for a few. When you called me to meet me in the car, is when I woke up. Before the explosion... we'd argued about how much c4 was too much c4 for that explosion. After it happened, you were so upset that I had used how much I thought to use and didn't take your advice that you didn't even realize the gravel on my clothes. And I didn't want to tell you because I didn't want to admit you were right, so I pretended I was fine."
"Fi." He reached out to touch my cheek.
"Anyway, when we got home, I tried to take a shower because my body hurt so bad and You joined me... in the shower."
"Why didn't you say something?"
"Why didn't you notice?"
That shocked him. "What?"
"I just..." I breathed. "I didn't want to turn you away because you had such a hard day before that happened."
"It doesn't matter."
"I didn't want to turn you away, so I just went with it and hoped you would notice the scrapes on my palms or my bloody knees... but you didn't."
He was quiet.
"I don't know why I brought that up, Michael. I just... felt like you were being honest with me all day today, so I figured you deserved some honestly on my part. It was really fine, but I was kinda quiet that night... thats why."
He frowned. "Thank you."
"For what?"
"Trusting me after what an unobservant jackass I'd been."
I nodded. "You're welcome."
"I'm sorry." He smiled a little.
"You're forgiven."
"Anything else?"
"There's a lot, but I'm in no hurry to hash it all out on this plane. One of us might end up throwing the other out a window."
"Well said." He agreed.
"Thank you." I sighed and put the arm rest between us up so I could lay against his chest.
"I love you, baby." He whispered against my hair.
"I love you, too."
Tom card waited for us at the landing strip. It was a private airport inside a US Marine Corps Base in Miami. I felt like I was in the witness prtection program. Maybe I was.
"Nice to meet you, Miss Glenanne." He said, shaking my hand gently.
"You too." I smiled, still looking around. "Thank you so much."
"Oh thank you." He laughed. "Leaving you might've been the worst decision we've ever made for Michael. He is officially whipped."
I smiled at Michael, talking to a group of Marines.
"What happens now?" I asked when Tom grabbed my arm and led me inside.
"We are going to have a doctor check you out before anything. Make sure you're ok. After that... we will talk about a plan to take down Mr Ruiz. Until then, you will be under Mr Westen's protective thumb."
"Can you get him, please?" I asked him as I sat on a chair in what looked like a nurses station.
"I sure can." He said, turning to the man entering through another door.
He was wearing blue colored camo and a stethescope around his neck.
Tom regarded him like an employee. "Major, this is Fiona Glenanne. She is a former CIA Assett."
The man nodded.
"I'll fetch Westen." Tom said, leaving the room and closing the door on the way out.
"Does everyone call each other by their last name?" I asked the man.
He laughed. "Pretty much." He offered his hand and I shook it. "Dr Chris Leone."
"Nice to meet you." I smiled.
"This is my right hand man, Allen."
The other man spoke while taking my blood pressure. "James Allen. Nice to meet you."
"You too." I felt nervous as they worked around me.
Michael didn't knock. "Hi baby." He said, caressing my cheek.
I could never get used to that. "Hi..." I said nervously. "Stay." I said simply.
He laughed. "Ok." The doctor offered him a stool and he sat on it. "Westen?" Chris said, looking to Michael. "Need anything? Feeling alright?"
"I'm fine as long as Fiona's fine."
I looked at Michael and tried to stay focused on him as the doctor worked.
"Don't focus on me, Fiona." James said as he readied the needle to go into my vein. "You look like you're about to hurl. Pay attention to something else. For example... look how great Westen looks in those pants. Mikeyyy... Heyyy" He tried, Laughing.
I nodded and turned back to Michael. "They do look nice."
"How do you feel about my wardrobe? Not what it was when we met, eh?" Michael asked.
"I like it." I said as James silently worked. "I never thought I would, but its nice. The white shirts look good with the tan and the pants... I don't know. I don't like it when you wear pants... but I guess they're ok."
He laughed."Cargo, though?"
"Do you not like them?"
"They're the best tactical decision."
"I think they look good. Maybe try khaki next time. The Green is weird with the white shirt. I think I'll buy you a nice eggshell shirt and that would go well with the pants. But khakis for sure. There's probably great shopping in Miami. Can we go..." I trailed off.
"We can go wherever you want."
"Miami probably has great shopping."
"We can shop if you want. I can't wait to bring you to a grocery store. It's so different from Ireland." He told me.
"Does everyone in America like yogurt as much as this weirdo?" I asked James, gesturing to Michael. "No... I mean... I don't like yogurt."
"I ate a lot of greek yogurt in Ireland." I offered.
"Ok. Americans are obsessed with Greek yogurt." James laughed.
"I don't like greek yogurt." Michael commented.
"Regular yogurt is like sour milk." I replied.
"It's so good."
"No. No."
Michael laughed. "I've been enjoying yogurt for 30 years Fiona. I'm not changing."
"Do you actually like fettucini and truffles or was that a lie too?"
James laughed with Michael. "I do. It's good." He squinted. "Not as much as you like it... but its ok. And another thing is that I've never tasted the dish from that one restaurant you said."
My eyes widened.
"Yeah. Ole Ma's. Never heard of it... but I read in a file that you loved it." He shrugged.
"You bastard." I whispered. "You are such a lying sack of shit, Michael."
James laughed, leaving the room.
"I hate you." I said.
"I worked hard to find a dvd that I deemed acceptable for you."James said. "You will be out of here as soon as the results from your blood test come back."
I smiled.
"I searched several barracks and the best I could do... Jack Taylor, Season 1."
I laughed. "It didn't have to be Irish."
"Aye. But it did. We're pretending to be in Ireland Fiona." He said in what could only be described as a bogan scottish accent.
"Aye is more Scottish than Irish... but I appreciate the sentiment."
"Aye." He smiled and left the room.
I pressed play and turned to Michael.
"Hi, baby." He said, resting his chin on my shoulder.
"Hi." I huffed.
"You're so cute."
"You're mom's so cute." I challenged jokingly.
He groaned. "Oh, God... You and my mom are gonna get along a disturbing amount."
I smiled. "yeah?"
"Yeah. She's gonna love you."
I sighed and turned to wath the TV.
"Any complaints?" Michael asked after a few moments.
I laughed. "No... I feel pretty lucky..." I shrugged.
"Fi, you're never allowed to return to Ireland and we won't let you leave this government facility until they decide. Just tell me what you want. It's the least I can do."
I sighed. "I'm cold."
"One heated blanket coming right up." He left the room for a moment and then returned, draping a fresh blanket over my other blankets. "Anything else, my queen?"
I pulled up the side of the blanket. "Join me?"
He kicked his boots off and put his weapon on the counter before climbing into bed with me.
I relaxed against his shirt, breathing in his scent and finally feeling ok again. I was finding that everytime I wasn't touching him, I felt wrong. It was manageable most of the time... but this infirmary or whatever it was was really making me feel less than at home. He rubbed circles on my back and kissed my hair softly.
"How are you?" I whispered into his shirt.
"I'm ok, baby, how are you?"
"I want you."
He chuckled. "I'm right here, Baby."
"No... I mean, I want you."
He didn't respond.
"Daddy." I bit his shirt.
"Oh, God." He laughed and took a deep breath. "Fi..."
"I know." I said. "I'm just reminding you how much I always want you."
He guided my hand down to the impressive bulge in his pants. "Feel how much I always want you?"
I rested my hand there, just holding him for the sake of holding him. Staking a claim, maybe. I loved touching him. I had spent more than a month, not being able to touch him and I felt like I needed to make up for lost time. I wanted a hand in his shirt whenever we were in public and a hand in his pants whenever we were alone.
He rested a hand on my arm and the other on my lower back and leaned his head back. "This show is weird."
"Don't talk bad about Jack Taylor. I'll break up with you." I squeezed him a little.
"Fucking tease." He commented.