She wiped the back of her hand across her sweaty brow and blew a stray bang of hair from her eyes. The circuitry in front of her wasn't exactly complicated. The bomb could be easily disarmed …

… if the wiring wasn't so poorly – and dangerously – put together.

"Has this place been completely evacuated?" she asked her colleague, a brown-haired and boyishly handsome young man in his late 20's.

He tilted his head to his shoulder to speak into his walkie-talkie microphone. "We clear or what, Sarge?"

There was a crackled response from the head of the divisional bomb squad unit stationed outside. "Yeah, kids. But that ain't no green card for you to play Boom Crash Opera in there. This subway is the life of this city. We want it in one-piece when you're done."

Princess chuckled quietly in time with her partner Damien's groan. "D'ya ever get the feeling that the man don't have faith?"

She dropped her gaze to her hip pouch as she searched for a small pair of pliers. "That might have something to do with you destroying half the lab, Damien."

"Hey," he smirked in self-defense, "he told me to test the strength of that new explosive."

She smiled as she returned to the dodgy wiring. "But did you have to test so much in one explosion?"

"Uh, yeah-h-h." He purred as he recalled the explosion. "It was pretty though, even you have to admit that."

She held on to two wires carefully as she formulated which would be the best to cut. "Very."

He leaned over her shoulder to survey the mass of coloured wires in his partner's hand. "How's it looking anyway, Cass?"

She sighed high and deep. "How good are you at the 100 meter sprint?"

He frowned at the implication things were looking bad. "14 flat, you?"

"9."

He choked. "You're shittin' me."

She raised her eyes. The look had a mischief glint in it. "Need me to prove it?"

He shook his head. "Is it really that bad, Cass?"

She shrugged and screwed up her face. "Do you need a head start before I cut this?"

"Seriously, Cass. Can you do it?"

She shrugged and gave him a faux defeated stare. "The only thing that scares me more than dealing with an expert serial bomber's kit is trying to disarm an amateur's bomb."

He sucked in a small click or air through the side of his mouth. "Tell me you're not playing 'eenie, meenie, miney, moe' with this."

"I don't want to lie to you, Damien …" She let the absence of anything further linger between them.

He sighed and blew upward to shift a stray bang of hair from his eyes. "Fuck…"

"Language," she chided on a whisper as she sucked her bottom lip in between her teeth and let the wire cutters decide the pair's fate.

~O-O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-O-O~

It had long been Lisa's mission to finally put an end to Jason's filthy habit. Even before she met the mighty Condor she'd been slightly off-put by the white stick hanging off his lip. She'd tried most of the usual tactics to convince him smoking was an evil habit that could even be termed a suicidal act. Everything up to and including withholding sex had been tried, but to no avail …

… Jason was as bull-headed as she was.

He countered her every argument and move with ones of his own.

Of course she didn't let it bother her too much. She was certain she had a habit or two that drove him insane.

Jason could sense her thoughts as she sat on the floor in front of the seat he was sitting in. His legs were set either side of her as she thumbed through an explosives manual on the coffee table in front of her.

"Lisa, forget it. Nothing you can do will make me give up my only vice."

She grunted and flicked over another page. "It's hardly your only vice, Jase."

"It's the only one that seems to piss anyone off, though."

She let out a giggle, "which explains why do it."

"Exactly." He leaned forward and let his arms slide down over her shoulders to peer at her manual. His lip clicked as the edges twitched in a smile. "I remember Princess pouring over that thing night after night after her first failed attempt at disarming a Spectran bomb back in the early days."

"Was she a perfectionist?" she asked softly in a mild subject change as she drew her fingertip along a line of text to concentrate on it more.

He set his chin on her shoulder and nodded his head. "Yeah, but not through personality. She did it because she constantly thought she had to prove herself."

"To Mark?"

"She never needed to prove anything to him." His cheek rubbed against hers as she tried to give him a questioning glance. The move urged him to continue to explain. "For years she tried to get his attention, and with Mark being all duty-bound, she figured the best way to get him to notice her was on the battlefield."

Her brows rose in surprise. "That is probably the first time I have ever heard of her being less than brilliant."

His body rose quickly, ready to defend her. "Lisa …"

She quickly turned her upper body to expand on her statement. "Now, now, Jason … I didn't mean that to come out quite like it did. I … uh …" she pursed her lips and rubbed at her chin as she tried to think of the best way to voice her thoughts with as few words as possible – the more words used, the better chance of misinterpretation.

"I mean that only in a …"

"Uhuh?" Jason urged with a fold of his arms.

"Look. Mark is a duty bound boy scout who … Uh." She ran a hand through her hair. "Ahh, shit. She should have known that when they were out in the thick of things Mark isn't thinking anything but the mission. She could have gone in to battle butt-naked and he wouldn't have noticed it."

Jason's brow rose in a gesture that both accepted her comments and indicated he was picturing the image she'd offered. "Mm-hmm-mm."

She slapped his arm. "Hey. Remember. Girlfriend. Here."

His eyes fell to hers.

"So stop thinking about her in that way." She turned back to the manual. "At least when I'm present."

"Then don't give me images like that to work on."

She smiled as his body leaned down to hers again. "Then how about me, in wings and a G-string?"

The low, throaty chuckle that escaped his throat expressed his approval and intention of dragging her by the hair to their room. "You in a …." He was halted by the arrival of his Commander, whose nose was buried in a black manila folder of reports from their last mission. "Hey, Mark," he sighed in greeting.

Mark's eyes rose from the file and looked dull as he pulled out a solitary piece of paper and let it dangle from his thumb and middle finger. "Is this what constitutes a report these days, Jason?"

Lisa couldn't help but chuckle as Jason groaned and flopped backwards into the armchair. "I don't do reports, okay?"

"Really?" he responded flatly as he tucked the report back into the folder. "Then why did the Federation pay nearly $6000 for a brand-new, top of the line MAC?"

Jason shrugged, "porn downloads?"

Mark wished he could honestly be irritated and miffed as Jason for his flippant attitude towards his work, but he couldn't. Lately even he couldn't find the energy to be totally committed to the project himself. "Have you tried 'boredhornyhousewives dot com' yet?"

Lisa and Jason's brows rose at the question, but it was Jason who answered. "No, have you?"

Lisa commented a nanosecond before Mark could speak with a huffed: "Men."

Mark dropped his eyes to his female teammate and shrugged a shoulder as he flopped into the couch in front of them and flicked the folder onto the coffee table. "Don't go putting us all in the same category there, Lisa. I didn't say I'd visited the site."

"You didn't have to."

He picked up the TV remote and smiled as he aimed it at the plasma screen. "The only website I have bookmarked on my browser is the Official fansite for the Swan."

"Obsessed much?"

His eyes narrowed at the comment. "It's been on my browser since it first came online five years ago." He looked back at the TV and tilted his head as he flicked through the stations. "And, yes. I miss her and occasionally have a look to see if there have been any … sightings."

Jason snorted in response. "If she doesn't want to be found, Mark. She's not gonna be."

"I know."

"Let her go, Man."

"I can't." His shoulders slumped as he tuned in to a news station. "Not until I know she understands just how damn sorry I am."

"I think she knows."

"I just keep looking at that door, you know," he continued as if Jason hadn't even spoken. "I keep waiting for her to breeze in here like nothing ever happened."

Lisa, who for the most part felt really uncomfortable being present for this particular conversation, finally let out a huff. "God, Mark. You're talking about her like she's dead."

He swung his head to look at her. "No I'm not."

Surprised that his eyes were not full of anger as she expected at such a comment, she continued. "Then go find her. Stop sitting here on your ass feeling sorry for yourself, and go out there and find her."

"Huh?"

She groaned and pressed her hands into the coffee table to push herself to a stand. "We have access to the most expensive and extensive forensics and locating facilities known to man. We have three of the most brilliant tactical minds on this planet in this very room …" she let the comments linger a while in the silence among them and lowered her face in a devious and challenging manner. "Let's utilize this shit and track her skinny little ass down."

Jason purred low and Mark gasped at her suggestion that they go against the project mandate of using base equipment for personal vendettas. Jason pulled her into his chest and growled low into her face. "God, I love it when you talk dirty."

Mark tilted his head in indecision. "We really cant. That's not fair to her."

Lisa threaded her arms around Jason's hips and shrugged a shoulder. "And you think this whining and pining is fair to any of us?"

Jason chuckled in agreement. "Yeah, I'm with her."

Mark folded his arms against his chest and curled a brattish lip. "The Chief will kick all our asses if we go through with this."

"But you might end up winning her back, Skipper. Isn't that worth a kick in the ass?"

Mark considered the question for a moment. Finally his eyes relaxed and a smile graced his mouth. "Let's give it a shot."

He tossed the remote onto the couch and flicked his hand over his shoulder in an order for the two of them to follow.

The TV slowly flicked behind them as they jogged through the doorway to announce a breaking news story.

"We interrupt this program with a breaking news alert from the Bloor subway station, where the bomb squad unit has been frantically working to diffuse an explosives device on the track. Officers: Damien Knight and Cassandra Anderson of the Central division Bomb unit, seen here leaving the Bloor Subway entrance, successfully disarmed the bomb about 45 minutes ago. Inside sources suggest…"

~O-O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-O-O~

Celebrity and exposure were things that Princess felt she could definitely do without. As the Swan she was loathe to attend press functions and photoshoots. If not for the opportunity to be beside Mark, she'd have fought the entire process vehemently.

She didn't need it.

She didn't want it.

And now, as a civilian, she didn't command or deserve it.

So why, then, were there a thousand flashing bulbs and reporters hovering at the entrance to the subway station when she and Damien walked out dangling a now defunct bomb at their sides?

She, unlike her cheering and bowing partner, hung her head low and shy. There were more reasons for her to want to stay out of the camera's lens than just her fear she wasn't very photogenic. She groaned painfully as they made their way through the reporters to the squad truck.

"Damn," Damien grinned as he turned to wave the bomb to the camera's in a photo op. "I feel like the f'kn Eagle right now."

Princess raised her eyes to her partner and rolled them as she tugged at his black sleeve to drag him into the back of the truck. "Come on, then, Commander."

"Yup," he purred as he made a big show of her pulling him away. "I am the Eagle, and you're my pretty Swan."

She coughed.

"Oh come now, Cass. I'm just having some fun. How often do we actually get any recognition these days with G-Force being the heroes all the time."

The Squad Commander's voice boomed from over both their heads from a seat on a level set about 3 feet from the base of the truck. "Are you about done playing pretty boy, Knight?"

"Jealous?"

Princess groaned and flicked her hand as she pulled an elastic band from her hair to free it from the pony-tail. "Ignore him, Sir. He doesn't get out much."

"But we will tonight, right Cass?"

She smiled. "Too short notice for a sitter, Damien, sorry."

He groaned and swept his hand in the air to indicate the whole unit. "Cass. We disarmed a pretty ugly explosive today, we deserve to celebrate." He looked to the other members of the team. "Am I right, guys?"

His question was met with cheers of the affirmative, which caused Princess to slouch in a defeated pose. "I can't …" she whined.

"Yeah, babe. You can."

She let her eyes search the crowd of burly men and tomboy women for a moment. With a long sigh she nodded. "Because any day could be our last we've got to celebrate even the small victories." It was a chant she heard from the Commander of the unit after every assignment.

Damien slapped her on the shoulder and let out a cheer to the rest of the unit. "O'Malley's at 7, guys. Cassie's got the first round."

~O-O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-O-O~

The main investigations sector of the base was empty at this time of day. At fifteen minutes after 5:00pm, the official end of day for most base employees, the wing could very well have been considered abandoned – had it not been for the lone janitor quietly emptying the trash bins whilst listening to his iPod.

Mark, Jason and Lisa skidded sideways on the polished linoleum floor, one by one, as they rushed into the main forensics center of the wing. They were all excitement and grins as they each surveyed which computer system they were going to hijack for the mission.

Mark pointed first at Jason and then to the GPS mapping system, and then nodded to Lisa for her to take her pick of computers.

When each bird had taken a set and cracked their knuckles in preparation for an evening, silence suddenly filled the room.

Mark chewed on his cheek and looked to his second and sixth for assistance. "So … Where do we begin?"

Jason peered at him over the top of the monitor and shrugged. "I figured you had the plan."

Marked looked at Lisa. "Well this was your idea, Lisa, where do we start?"

She pursed her lips. "You're the tactical leader, Mark. I only come up with the suggestion, not the plan."

All three groaned simultaneously…

…they had no idea where to begin.

Jason was the first to fracture the silence with a grunt as he set his hand on top of the monitor and rose to his feet.

"I tend to think we're approaching all of this wrong."

Mark definitely agreed with that observation, but felt the need to question his Lieutenant Commander. "What do you mean?"

He shrugged in response and slowly walked in to the center of the room, where Lisa had begun to migrate. "Well, we're rushing into this like we have hints and clues and she's in Spectran hands."

Mark pursed his lips in agreement. He sighed and nodded. "We have nothing to go on, not even a list of possibles we've managed to come up with over a coffee in the strategy rooms."

Lisa tapped the ball of her foot on the floor and tilted her head questioningly at the two men in front of her. "Well, what do you suggest we do, then?"

"Take our time," Mark offered. "She's not in peril. Her life won't end because we don't get to her in time."

"Let's do this right," Jason continued for his Commander. "If we take our time; think about it; then we'll have a better plan behind us."

The three agreed silently with each other and awkwardly shuffled their feet on the floor.

It was Mark who decided to make the first tactical decision for their newest, and most important, mission.

"How about we discuss our plan of action over a beer at O'Malley's tonight?"

Jason's mouth stretched into a tight smile. He folded his arms across his chest and dropped his head to Lisa. "See, I told you he can be a brilliant decision maker when he wants to be …"

~O-O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-O-O~

"Here's to the best damn bomb squad unit in the galaxy," Squad Leader Dave Barron bellowed with his glass of whiskey held high over his head.

Mingling grunts of "Damn straight" sputtered from those surrounding him.

He looked down at Damien and Princess and lowered his glass to them respectfully. "And here's to the two best damned explosives technicians I've ever worked with – even if the two of you are a little TNT happy with city property."

Princess blushed, and Damien grinned at the reminder of his blowing up half the ballistics lab a little over two months ago. He winked and threw his head back to drain his glass of beer. When done, he slammed the bottom of the glass on the table and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"G-Force eat your heart out."

Princess frowned and shook her head. "Must you always compare yourself to them, Damien?"

He smirked and flicked his hand at the waitress for another round of drinks. "Hey, for too long they took all our glory. Now that Swannie left and took away their explosives genius, we can step back in and be the heroes."

She let out a sigh. "Come on, it wasn't that bad."

Barron reached out a hand in front of her to take a sauce-covered chicken wing off the platter. "Yeah it was. We became pretty non-existent there for a while."

Damien nodded in agreement. "Talk about boring. All we were good for was a little investigation here and there and handling cherry bomb attacks in school lavatories."

Princess' eyes widened in surprise. "But investigation is our job."

Damien bit on the rim of a fresh glass of beer in an evil grin. "But you have to admit. Getting out there and feeling adrenaline and fear for your life is pretty f'kn exhilarating."

"Exhilarating," Barron echoed with a laugh. "What, that's your word for the week, Knight?"

Damien flipped the bird at him in response.

"Looks like the desk calendar vocab builder was a pretty decent Christmas gift."

Princess chuckled at the two of them, then groaned and looked at her watch. "That's it for me, guys."

"Oh no," Damien warned as he pointed at a fresh glass of tequila and Sprite in front of her. "You've got a full one there, Cass."

She shook her head and drew herself to a stand. "I'm driving, hon, and I've got a little person waiting for her mommy to come home."

Damien opened his mouth to protest further, but was halted by his squad leader raising his hand in a "stop" motion. "It's called responsibility, Knight. When you knock up the girl you've shacked up with and she pops out your spawn, you'll understand."

"Won't happen for a while, Skip. She kicked me out."

Princess' eyes widened. "Again?"

He shrugged. "Says she feels threatened by the raven haired, green eyed beauty I spend every day with."

She reddened. "Oh, gosh."

Barron sniffed. "Ignore him, Cassandra. You go home to that kid of yours. Celebrate her, Kiddo. You survived another day."

She gave him a wink and passed along her thanks to her assembled team. "Great job today, guys. See you tomorrow."

Damien took a good, long look at her rear as she pulled on a jacket and walked to the exit.

Barron noticed the look and cleared his throat in disapproval. "Don't even think about it, Knight. You know the rules, she's off limits."

His eyes slid back to his Commander. "Hey, there's no rule against looking."

~O-O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-O-O~

The trio of G-Forcers stood with little patience at the host's stand at the entrance to the bar. Thursday nights were typically the quiet before the storm, and never before had they had to wait for someone to take them to a table.

Jason was rather less than enthusiastic about having a quiet drink inside a bar that was obviously rowdy with celebration, but this bar was one of Lisa's favourites, and after having abandoned Jill's diner after Princess had left, this had become a regular haunt for the team. By now they were known quite well by all the staff members.

Cindy, the blonde hostess with legs that traveled up far above what could be considered completely human, greeted them with a sympathetic smile.

"I'm so sorry, guys. The bar has been taken over by the local enforcement teams tonight, and it's industry only." She shrugged a shoulder and looked apologetic. "I should post signs. I've been turning people away all night."

"Damn," Mark sighed with a pout. "I really needed a drink tonight."

Cindy chewed on her cheek for a moment and looked around. With a sigh and a sudden smile, she dropped her ear toward her shoulder and pointed at an empty table toward the front of the complex. "Well technically you're industry." She waited for at least one of them to smile and picked up a handful of menus. "I'd be silly to deny G-Force a decent meal and drink."

"We really don't want to impose, Cindy," Mark offered with a smile. "We understand."

She smiled in response. "No imposition, Commander. As long as the noise doesn't bother you, I'm sure they'd appreciate your presence."

They all shrugged and followed behind as she led them to a table in the most excited section of the entire bar. Lisa was the one to question the occasion.

"So what is the celebration all about?"

Cindy set the menus on the table and lifted her head to indicate a table only a handful of feet away from them. "The Bomb unit. They managed to save the subway system and about 500 passengers this afternoon without getting killed in the process. The entire department decided to celebrate."

Lisa's eyes widened appreciatively. "Wow. Perhaps we should offer our congrats."

Jason's eyes rose to look through his brows at the table in question. There were definitely self-congratulations going on amongst a group of seven. Their ages ranged from mid-twenties to early fifties, but there seemed to me little or no generation gap nonsense among the group. Each seemed to congratulate and talk amongst each other with equal respect and commendation.

One member stood out to him more than the others. He could only see her by the top of her raven-feathered head. But there was something about the colour and glint that caught his eye. As she slowly stood and appeared to say her good-byes, his breath caught in his throat.

No. It couldn't be…

That smile was unmistakable.

Those green eyes and naturally tinted rose-coloured lips couldn't possibly exist on any other person.

Princess.

Jason could feel his heart hammer in his chest. All at once he darkened with a sense of anger and irritation at the young woman smiling at the other people seated at her table.

How dare she?

How dare she leave them all in a miserable mess and end up looking so radiant and happy.

His lip curled at the young man she was seated beside as he saw the fixated glare on Princess' ass. Only one man in this world was allowed to openly gawk at her like that, and he was sitting at the table in front of him.

Speaking of, why wasn't Mark leaping to his feet to run after Princess?

He dropped his eyes to question his Commander and demand the guy go after her only to discover he was nose-deep in the menu discussing potential meals with Lisa.

"Mark," he said harshly in an attempt to immediately garner his attention.

Mark did as he wanted and raised his head to his second. "Yeah?"

Jason's eyes shot back up to seek out Princess again, but was disappointed to see she'd vanished. His mouth opened a couple of times in confusion. Only short bursts or air escaped.

Mark's brow raised high on his forehead. "Everything okay, Jason?"

Lisa joined in on Mark's query, except she looked into the crowd to follow Jason's sweeping search. "You look like you saw a ghost or something, Jay. Everything okay?"

"I thought." He stammered as his face fell into a confused scowl. "I thought I saw …"

Mark turned to scan the crowd also, and ended up turning in to Lisa. "Probably one of those ex-girlfriends," he muttered with a grin. "One of those ones who want to give him one for being a dick."

Lisa chuckled. Jason turned a scowl on Mark. "I'm a good boyfriend, Skipper. Unlike others I can mention, I don't pull it out for …"

"Finish that sentence, Jason, and I'll kick your ass across this room."

Jason smirked dangerously. "A bar brawl, in a room full of cops? I dare you to."

"Don't tempt me, Jason."

Lisa flicked her eyes between the two men, unsure if they were serious or just playing one of their macho little games. "Uh …"

Jason sneered in challenge. "I missed training this morning, I could do with a quick round."

Mark coughed a single laugh and let his eyes fall back to the menu. "That's what you have a girlfriend for."

Lisa grunted and raised both her hands. "Hey, keep me out of this one, guys."

Mark and Jason shared a glance and both offered the civilian falcon teasing grins.

"Ahh Lisa," Jason purred as his arm slipped around her shoulder. "You'll get used to it soon enough."

She pouted. "I just want to know how to know when you two are playing or being serious."

Mark snorted. "Oh, you'll know when it's serious, Lisa. I wouldn't worry too much about that."

Jason nodded in agreement. "Yeah, usually it begins with him being thrown across the room."

Mark laughed, "yeah, you wish."

Jason grinned in preparation of snarling out a highly deserving rebuttal comment, but was interrupted by an excited, and perhaps slightly drunken, voice booming: "No. Fucking. Way!"

The three G-Forcers gasped and looked toward the voice, half preparing to jump up and break up a fight. They were surprised to see a beaming young officer leaping over the table top toward them.

"I can't f'kn believe it! G-Force!"

Jason groaned, Mark rubbed tiredly at his brow, and Lisa gave a beaming grin as Damien rushed the table and took her hand in both of his to give it a shake.

"This is so cool!" He kept hold of her hand and turned back to his table. "Look, guys. G-Force!" He turned back to Lisa with a grin. "Damn! It's good to finally meet you guys."

The table was rushed with eager officers clamouring to meet the G-Forcers, and for a moment, the entire bar melded into a mash of indecipherable yells, cheers, and exclamations.

Mark and Jason, as appreciative as they were to the admiration of the city's finest, both tiredly looked at each other in a manner to suggest that both of them were going to lynch the PR department for shattering their private identities.

Mark's glance at his second was interrupted by Damien's head emerging in between them.

"The Eagle. Damn, man. I so wish I was you sometimes!"

Mark let a single brow rise on his forehead and gave the young man a one-sided smirk. "Then let's trade-off for a day. You'll find it's really pretty boring."

"Hardly," he smirked as he plomped himself on a vacant chair beside Jason. "I live for adrenaline, man. I'd love it."

Jason smirked. "Adrenaline Junkie, eh?"

He nodded drunkenly. "Yeah, Cassie's always on my ass for my recklessness around explosive material. If it wasn't for her, shit, I'd be in about a million pieces."

Mark tilted his head with a smile. "Cassie? Your wife?"

He laughed and shook his head. "Nah, I've got far too much love and respect for the girl to do that to her."

"Girlfriend?"

Again he shook his head. "Nah, she's my partner." His eyes narrowed playfully and he waggled his brows at the G-Force Commander. "And single. You got yourself a woman yet?"

Mark choked on his glass of Whiskey. "Uh …"

Jason leaned back in his chair, folded his arms against his chest and chuckled a low laugh. "Trying to set the man up with a blind date … uh, what's your name?"

Damien extended his hand in greeting. "Knight. Damien Knight. Bomb technician with the city. Me and Cass disarmed the ugly beast in the subway this afternoon. Damn the girl's good, Condor. You guys should consider using her as a replacement for Swannie."

Lisa cleared her throat. "Uh, that would be me."

Mark grunted. "Princess wasn't replaced. You aren't a replacement, Lisa. You're a new team member." He looked back at the young officer. "And we aren't looking for anyone new at the moment."

Damien shrugged. "Yeah, well, we wouldn't let you have her, anyway." He stuttered in shock as he felt the heavy hand of his squad leader squeeze at his shoulder. "Uh, hey Sarge."

"You done with gloating about you and Anderson playing hero this afternoon?"

Jason blinked at the officer.

Anderson.

Cassie.

Yup, that confirmed it. He wasn't imagining things.

He leaned forward. "I'd like to meet your partner," he said low, ignoring the sudden glare from his girlfriend.

Damien shrugged. "Ahh, too bad. She left about ten minutes ago. She's gotto get back to the kid, ya know."

Kid?

He tilted his head sideways. "She's a mom?"

"Yeah, cute little spawnling. A girl … Uh, shit. What's her name?"

Barron sighed heavy. "Real attentive partner the poor girl has. Ignore him, he's had a little too much." He hauled Damien out of the seat. "C'mon, Knight. Get your sorry, drunken ass out of here."

Damien let out a laugh. "Amanda. That's it. Amanda."

Barron hauled the young man up over his shoulder before he could continue to embarrass the entire squad. "Excuse us, Gentlemen … Ma'am. Looks like it's time for him to go to bed."

Jason was speechless as he watched the only source of information on Princess being dragged away from them. He looked back down at his girlfriend and best friend and blinked slowly at their accusing stares. "What?"

"You feeling okay, Jase?" Mark asked slowly.

"Yeah, why shouldn't I be?"

Lisa responded on behalf of her commander. "Well. You seemed actually interested. Almost friendly."

He shrugged a shoulder. "They're on the same side as us, why shouldn't I be?"

"Cause you aren't normally."

He slipped an arm over her shoulder and flicked his eyes at the partying Bomb Squad unit. "Love changes a man, I guess."

For the second time that evening, Mark coughed on his drink. "What did you just say?"

"Hmm?"

"Did you just admit to us you're in love?"

He smiled lazily and glanced down at a smiling Lisa. "Maybe …" After a moment of silence, Jason let out a sigh. "You know, Lisa. I was thinking. If you really want to get to know explosives on a much more intimate level there's really only one place you should go."

She and Mark glanced over at the Bomb Squad. Surprising even himself, Mark found himself agreeing.

"He's right, Lisa. Noone knows them better than those guys."