Jeeeez where did time go! Again I'm sorry for the long wait; I just haven't had the time to sit down and write something that isn't assignment related for so long. I won't promise to keep updating regularly because as you can see it doesn't always happen, but I will do my best. Thank you to everyone who reviewed, I really appreciate the feedback =).

Chapter 7 – Caught Red Handed

Jill had asked Leon to stay for dinner; to my dismay, as a thank you for helping Chris with my room. Thankfully he wasn't trying to work an answer out of me, the last thing I needed was Chris and Jill catching wind of my little crush. As we all sat at the island eating our parmesans; which had turned out superbly might I add, I glanced between the three agents sat around me. Chris was sat opposite me and was eating his meal as if it was his last supper, Jill was to my left, looking up nervously at Chris between mouthfuls and Leon was to my right, also looking at Chris and Jill. Leon was the first to break the silence.

"So, what do you wanna do for your birthday, Amy? Twenty one is a big birthday so we should do something special."

I dipped my head to the side confused. "It's not til next month; we don't have to plan anything yet." I replied.

"What date is it exactly?" Chris asked.

"The seventh of September."

"You do realise that's only two weeks away, Amy?" Jill chirped in.

I paused for a moment thinking, I never realised how close it actually was.

"Yeah, I guess you're right then." I said smiling.

Leon started talking again. "So, what do you wanna do?"

Suddenly an idea popped into my head and I grinned inwardly.

"We could go for a meal, you know the four of us?" I suggested with an innocent smile on my face.

Chris and Jill looked at each other, then at Leon and shrugged.

"Yeah, if that's what you want?" Chris said.

"It is." I replied, still smiling.

As Chris and Jill went back to eating their meals I looked at Leon and winked; this was gonna be the perfect opportunity to set them up.

Later that evening we decided to watch a soccer game, again it was between two teams I wasn't familiar with but I was happy to watch it anyway.

"Aw come on, what was that! Is this ref blind or something!" Chris yelled at the T.V from his spot at the end of the couch. Jill who was laid out on the floor in front of the couch just rolled her eyes at him and Leon who was sat in between me and Chris was too transfixed on the game to even acknowledge his sudden outburst.

I laughed at Chris as I stood up and headed to the kitchen about to go get more drinks when we were submerged into darkness. As usual whenever a power cut occurred, I panicked. I hate the dark.

"Uhh guys, w-what's happened?" I stammered. I could hear my heartbeat pounding loudly in my ears as the dread set in.

"It isn't a power cut; the neighbours' lights are still on. There must be something wrong with the circuit breaker." Chris spoke near the window; I could see his silhouette from the street lights outside. "Jill, fetch me the flashlight from the kitchen drawer would ya? I'll go check the circuit breaker box in the basement."

Jill slowly edged along the walls, feeling her way to the kitchen when there was a loud thump. I gasped and clenched my eyes shut, holding onto the doorframe between the kitchen and living area in a vice like grip. Why was I such a baby when it came to the dark? I blamed it on all the horror stories my older brother used to tell me when I was younger and suddenly I felt kind of sad AND scared, thinking of my brother right now definitely wasn't helping me at all.

"OW! Son of a bitch! I stubbed my toe on the coffee table, who put that there anyway?" Jill huffed.

I breathed a sigh of relief and mentally slapped myself for being such an idiot.

"Jill, you put that table there." Chris kindly informed her; completely unaware that he was just exacerbating the situation.

Jill mumbled something incoherent and carried on feeling her way across the room before finally reaching me in the doorway and putting a gentle hand on my arm, she must have sensed I wasn't too comfortable in the dark.

"Don't worry we'll have the lights on in a jiffy." She spoke gently.

I smiled gratefully to her then it hit me that we were in the dark and she wouldn't see it, duhh, so I said my thanks and she went on her way to find the flashlight. Not a minute later and Jill was brushing past me and back to feeling her way across the room towards Chris, bumping into objects and cursing like a sailor again. She handed Chris the flashlight and he tried to turn it on but it wouldn't work.

"It's not working, Jill." Chris stated the obvious.

"No shit, Sherlock, the batteries are dead and there wasn't any more in the drawer. You used the last of them for your stupid Xbox controller last week." She replied in a pissy manner.

"We'll have some more in the storage boxes in the basement, we'll have to do without for now and try to find them when we're down there." Chris shrugged.

"'We'?" Jill stated incredulously. "Who said anything about 'we'? You're the one who forgot to bring more batteries upstairs and I'm not chancing going down there in the dark, I've already stubbed my toe once."

I saw Jill's silhouette fold her arms across her chest and turn away from Chris in a childlike manner. There was certainly never a dull moment with these two around.

"Aww come on, Jill? Pleeeease?...What if I fall and you aren't there to help me? I need your help to find the batteries." Chris begged.

"What if you fall and you take me down with you? One of us injured is better than both of us." She retorted.

Leon and I just stood in silence listening to the conversation between the two, before he spoke up.

"Should we just go down there and check the circuit breaker box whilst they fight this out? Something tells me they're gonna be there a while."

I could hear the smirk in Leon's voice and couldn't help but smile myself. For some crazy reason I agreed so Leon took my hand in his and guided me towards the basement door next to the bottom of the stairs. I don't even think Chris and Jill had realised we'd left the room because I could still hear Chris begging Jill to come down into the basement with him, and Jill flat out refusing because he's a big boy and should be able to go on his own. I chuckled to myself as walked carefully down the creaky, wooden stairs into the pitch black behind Leon, still firmly gripping his hand. As we reached the bottom it hit me what a silly decision it was to agree to this and I stopped dead in my tracks, Leon was abruptly yanked back towards me and he stood to face me…at least I think he did, I couldn't tell for the dark.

"What's wrong?"

I could hear the concern in his voice.

"I know this might be a stupid time to tell you but…I'm afraid of the dark." I mumbled quietly.

I was expecting Leon to be mad at me for not telling him before now but I was surprised when he gently took my other hand into his free hand and moved closer to me.

"It's alright, I'll keep you safe."

His reassuring, firm but gentle voice was mere centimetres from my ear and I could feel his hot breath on my cheek. All I could focus on was his warm hands and the close proximity in which we were stood. Thank god for the dark because I'm sure I flushed a very deep shade of crimson right then. I whispered my thanks and cleared my throat to speak.

"We should get the lights working again and find those batteries whilst we're at it." I suggested. I was desperate for a change of subject to calm myself down.

Leon straightened up and agreed, letting go of one hand and guiding me with the other again. As he led me across the basement towards the circuit breaker box I could still hear Chris and Jill arguing so I saw this as the perfect opportunity to let Leon in on my ''.

"So, I was thinking we could all go for a meal for my birthday and I could pull a sicky half way through and you could take me home, that leaves Chris and Jill alone and it won't look suspicious because we'll all be arriving together."

I could hear Leon fiddling with the switches in the box with his free hand whilst I was talking.

"Yeah, that sounds pretty valid, I also think I'm at work the next day too so there's another excuse for me to leave early to back your excuse up."

I was just about to answer Leon when the lights flickered back on.

"Guess that was the right switch." Leon grinned.

I heard it all go quiet upstairs; barring the cheers emanating from the speakers of the television which had come back to life, and then two heads peered round the basement door towards us.

"When did you two sneak down here?" Jill said with a confused look on her face.

"And when did you two start holding hands?" Chris asked accusingly.

Leon and I snatched our hands away quickly and I started stuttering.

"I was…uhh…afraid and-"

"I was just…guiding her to the circuit box with me…so she wasn't on her own!" Leon said quickly.

I could feel Chris's eyes burning through us both and I instantly felt like a naughty child after being caught doing something I shouldn't. He must have accepted our answer because he simply frowned and hummed to himself before his head disappeared back into the house. Jill moved to the top of the stairs smiling at us and shaking her head.

"I'll find the batteries, you two go back up and finish watching the game." She gestured towards the living area whilst speaking and walking down the steps.

Leon and I didn't argue and quickly strode across the room and up the stairs desperate to escape the awkward atmosphere, only to walk into an even more awkward atmosphere in the lounge with Chris sat right in the middle of the large couch where Leon was sat previously, leaving only the spaces either side of him to sit. Leon and I glanced at each other before taking a deep breath and taking our seats beside him, Chris's subtle hint at not wanting Leon and I to sit together wasn't very subtle but neither of us said anything. This was gonna be a long game…