Disclaimer: I do not own City Homicide or its characters.

3.

Jen and Nick sat in the car in the dark, parked outside the modest suburban house.

They looked at each other and he grabbed hold of her hand. "You ready for this?"

She swallowed and nodded slowly. "Yes, I'm ready. Wesley."

"Okay. Trish. We'll be fine. Everything's okay. Stay by me."

They got out of the car and walked hand in hand up to the front door of Abdul Supomo's home. They could hear music, voices, the sounds of people enjoying themselves. Nick rang the bell, and they heard it echo loudly inside the house.

The front door was opened by Abdul, who greeted them warmly with a smile, his arms outstretched in welcoming. "Wesley, Trish. So happy that you could come to my home! Please, please, come in." He stepped aside and ushered them in, Nick still with a firm grasp on Jen's hand.

"Please..can I get you a drink? Trish?"

Jen smiled warmly at him. "Yes, thank you. A wine would be lovely."

Nick put his arm around Jen's shoulder. "Just a beer for me, thanks mate."

Abdul strode off to get the drinks, leaving Nick and Jen to survey their surroundings. There were about 15 others there, it was obviously quite a small gathering. Food was laid out on a side table, the lights were dimmed, and Indonesian music played softly in the background.

They spied Hartono standing alone in a corner of the room. He looked over at them, nodding in acknowledgement. Nick tightened his arm around Jen's shoulder, and leaned in to kiss her on the cheek, at the same time whispering in her ear. "Remember. Stick with me. We're okay".

Abdul returned with the drinks. "So, Abdul. Where are your family?" Jen glanced over to see Hartono making his way towards them.

"My wife and children are in Indonesia. They went back to visit my wife's family."

"Oh, what a shame. I would have loved to have met them" Jen said with sincerity. She sipped her wine and glanced at Nick, who smiled at her warmly.

"Mr Claybourne, Mrs Claybourne." Hartono took Jen's hand in his, kissing it lightly.

"Mr Hartono" Nick extended his hand to the man. "Nice to see you again."

"And you, Mr Claybourne. I trust we can discuss business at some stage this evening?"

"Of course."

There was a brief moment of uncomfortable silence as Hartono stared at Jen, and then gave her a slight, tight lipped smile. "Mrs Claybourne. You have been married for how long?"
Jen smiled and put her arm around Nick's waist. "Nearly two years. It's our second wedding anniversary next month." She leaned in to kiss Nick gently on the lips. Make it look good, make it look real.

"Two years. Still newlyweds. You surprise me. You should be concentrating on having a family. Instead you are shipping weapons. Why?"

Jen felt the anxiety begin to build within her. She worried that Hartono was suspicious of their motives, that their cover was under threat.

Nick interjected. "Well, we want to build up our business, have something solid to hand over to our children one day. Financially, we want to be on our feet and have some security, before we have a family. Don't we darling?" He turned to look at Jen. Follow my lead.

She smiled and touched his face lovingly. "That's right. But I don't think children will be too far away, Mr Hartono."

Hartono smiled at her. "Ah, good to hear. Family is very important. Very important for women to be taking care of family business. Mr Claybourne? I will talk later to you about business. Yes?"

"Certainly." Nick gave his widest smile, trying to exude as much confidence as possible.

Later that night, they sat in the loungeroom of the house that SIS had rented for them.

Nick handed Jen a steaming mug of tea. She took it from him gratefully, and curled her legs beneath her on the couch.

"You okay?" he asked, seating himself next to her.

"Yeah. Just. That was nerve wracking. Hartono is just so cold and calculating. It's like he's always scheming. He's always summing us up, I don't trust him. I was sure that our cover was blown."

Nick sipped his tea. "Yeah. This is not easy, is it?"

"No, it's not."

"I think we're okay Jen. I think he just has very traditional views of women and family. I think that was all that was about. He was testing the water, trying to see whether or not we share the same family values. Maybe we need to work on that a bit. I think he wants to deal primarily with me, man to man. Maybe we should talk more, in our social circle, about trying for a family. Make the right noises."

Jen put down her tea and sighed. "And how is that going to work? Depending upon how long we're going to be doing this – well, I can hardly get pregnant, can I?"

Nick blushed. That is not what he had meant, although he had to admit that he had thought about sleeping with Jennifer, wondered what it would be like. "That's not what I'm saying, Jen. But we need to make this look as kosher as possible. If this goes on for any length of time, we'll at least have to tell people that we're trying to have a family."

Jen got up and walked over to the window. She pulled the curtain back slightly, looking out into the street. It was quiet, deserted. She suddenly felt very alone, and wanted to go home. She wanted this to be over. She swiped angrily at a tear that had started at the corner of her eye.

She felt Nick behind her. He placed his hands on her shoulders and pulled her gently back against him.

She was suddenly conscious of the feel of him, his strong arms on her, his body pulsating warmly behind her. She felt the stirrings of arousal, and despite the fact that she wanted to stay moulded against him, she pulled away.

He reached out to her and touched her face lightly, his fingers tracing a line down her cheek.

She shook her head slightly. "Don't" she whispered. "We can't. This isn't real, Nick."

Yes, it was. This was real. They had been thrown together in a surreal situation, having to pretend, to make believe. But this wasn't pretend. The way that he felt about her was very real, and he could feel himself falling deeper and deeper every day, powerless to stop his descent into love.