Chapter 24: Strange Feelings

Tia was enjoying every minute of college so far. She found the subjects she had taken interesting (especially photography) and she had made a few friends at her college. She was also in the top class with most of her classes and at the moment was trying to remain at the top by finishing off a report she needed to hand in tomorrow but was contently distracted by the sex god sitting behind her; kissing every inch if her body that he could get his smouldering lips on. Sighing deeply to herself, Tia closed the lap top and leant back against Rockets chest, joining her lips with his. If Rocket had his way, he would have had her stripped out of her clothes in seconds but knew that she had work to do so just settle for this small intermit more he shared with the woman he loved.

"Would you like to come to my parent's house for dinner this weekend?" He gasped between breaks. Waiting for a response, he could feel Tia mouth turn into a smirk as she continued to kiss him down his neck.

"Oh we're getting serious now." Tia teased, moving her hands slowly along his muscles, making Rocket let out a silent moan. Deciding she had been torturing him enough, Tia stopped what she was doing and began stroking her lovers face gently. "I would love to go." She smiled, earning a small kiss from Rocket. They continued enjoying each other company until Rocket phone started buzzing wildly. An annoyed groan from Rocket escaped his mouth as he checked is phone. Tia stomach dropped when she saw the depressed look drop on Rockets face.

"Sorry Tia I have to go. Work." He moaned as they both got off the floor. Tia wasn't happy that he had to leave either but she understood that he wouldn't leave if he didn't have to.

"I understand, maybe I'll be able to get my work done." She tried to joke which seemed to work a little bit since a small smile spread across his face. Taking his hand in hers, they stayed together until they reached his car where they were forced to separate.

"So, I'll pick you up at three this weekend." Rocket wolf grinned as he leant out of the car window. The hot energy flying between them made Tia go weak in the knees and she would have collapsed if Rocket didn't have his firm hands under her chin and pulled her into a deep kiss. She allowed herself to mould her mouth with his as she enjoy a few more moments of pleasure with him. Sadly, she had to let him go and watched as he drove away. Might as well get some work done? Tia thought to herself as she made her way back into the house, hoping she could distract herself for a little while.

If Rocket was being honest at the moment he would have said he had no idea what he was doing at this place late at night. The whole place was surrounded by crime scene tape, police officers and journalist trying to get the story on what had happened. As soon as he had arrived at the scene, Rocket was surrounded by writers trying to ask him questions such as, what was an army intelligence officer doing here? Did it have something to do with the government? Is this link to the war? He had to tear his way through the crowd to reach the detective in charge of the investigation and if he was being perfectly honest the investigator didn't look happy to see him either.

"As if I need some government operative working on my soil." Rocket heard the detective mutter coldly under his breath, just enough for Rocket to hear. Being in this job for almost four years Rocket was used to this type of behaviour so was not frazzled by it. The leader of the investigation led Rocket into the apartment building and up the elevator, nearly to the top floor. The police officer explained to Rocket what they knew so far. The neighbour next door had heard some kind of scream when she got home early from work and when she had gone upstairs to investigate she had heard a man's voice that she didn't recognise screaming at her neighbour. That's when she had called the police but despite the woman's best interest she had been too late. What Rocket saw when he entered the room shocked him to the core? The body that lay in front of him was a man Rocket had only known from a few office meetings and had a few more years of experience then him in the field. From what he could see this work colleague had been brutally torture, but for what? Rocket guessed he was called there to find out. "I don't know what you guys keep hidden..." The inspector began, taking a cigar out of his pocket and inhaled it deeply. "But it's got to be something pretty big." Rocket only nodded in agreement as he began to examine the room, checking for some kind of enemy entry point. He finally found it in the bathroom where the window had been smashed open. A sigh of relief accepted his throat. If the intruder had to forced himself into the apartment that meant less of a chance that the intruder was someone the victim knew; which also meant that it was less likely the murderer was someone inside intelligence. Examining the rest of the apartment he checked to see anything had been disturbed. Had the intruder been another spy and was looking for some kind of information and if so why publicly display his actions; none of it made any sense. As he made his way to the main room he saw the detective talking to a forensics.

"Any news?" Rocket asked, making his way over to the two men. The old law informant looked up at him quickly to see who had arrived, before his face turned into a frown. After a few moments of tension between them, the detective handed Rocket a crumpled up photo.

"This was found in the victim's mouth, it's always a woman." The old man cursed. Taking the piece of paper from the man, Rocket only had to take one look at it and his whole body to turn cold. His hand shock with rage as he almost crumpled up the paper again. It was a clear sign towards him and everyone else that had swore to protected her. It was a picture of Tia in her wedding dress with a blood smeared message; she is mine!

For some reason Tia was having some problem sleeping that night. She didn't know why, she had gone through everything through her head. It wasn't her project, she had finished that ages ago (triple check it and everything) she had done her chores around the house –Mary said she didn't need to but Tia insisted- plus, she had even for a jog around the block with Sonny to burn off the negative energy but still she couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. Frustrated, she kicked the bed sheets off her and made her way to Sonny's office. She knew he would still be up since she heard Mary complaining about not getting some alone time with her husband in her own bed. Tia had tried not to make the situation worse by holding back her laughter when she saw the evil glares Mary was sending her husband, she knew it was just an act to make Sonny feel guilty and make him come to bed that night. Thinking of Sonny and Mary relationship made Tia think if she could have a relationship like they had. It was scary how they brought out the worst in each other and the best, her thoughts slowly turned to Rocket and wondered if their relationship would evolve into something like that. She was in such deep thought that she almost walked by the office door but the light in the door blinded her and made her stop. Gently, knocking on the door, she waited until she heard Sonny welcome her in.

"Tia! What are you doing up this late?" Sonny question partly surprised. Tia smiled sweetly, as she sat on the couch on the other side of the room that faced the book self-which she guessed hid more secret weapons.

"Just couldn't sleep, I have this strange feeling that there's something wrong." Tia answered, as she snuggled into the couch.

"I knew we shouldn't have watched that Star Wars movie." Sonny joked, earning a pillow to be snatched from the couch and aimed at his head. "I was only pointing out a fact." Sonny pleaded, holding his hands up in surrender. Tia just giggled at Sonny childish antics.

"So, what are you doing?" Tia asked, catching the pillow that Sonny threw back at her and cuddling into it. Her uncle just sighed and learnt back in his office chair, looking at a file that looked familiar to her somehow.

"Trying to make sense of this file, I can't understand a single word its saying." Sonny cursed, throwing the folder on to the desk as he rubbed his tired eyes. In his moment of distraction, Sonny had not notice Tia approach the desk and had began flipping through the pages.

"Weaknesses are in the front of the tank in the lower sector... I don't see what's so hard to understand about that." Tia listed, as she continued to read through the pages. She now recognised where the file came from, it was the file she had stolen from Jonathan's desk. Cold shivers ran across her skin at the thought of her husband; well, ex husband now. Looking back up, Tia was surprised to find Sonny staring back at her with a shocked expression on his face. "What?" Tia questioned, not sure if she had just said something totally stupid or incredibly intelligent.

"You can translate that!" Sonny asked, pointing at the folder in her hands. The words that came out of Sonny's mouth confused her a bit until she figured it out. The wasn't written in Akillian it was written in Ancient Shadow, something she was forced to learn (being a diplomatic daughter) along with every other langue that was known in the galaxy. Honestly, her tutors –mum and dad- had done a good job since she was able to read any book in the galaxy without needing it translated; in fact it had become second nature to her, so she had not realised at the time she was reading an entirely different langue.

"Yeah, my parents pretty much drilled this stuff into me ever since I was born, why?" Tia enquired, not sure saw why Sonny was so shocked by her speaking ability. Surely he must have known that with coming from a diplomatic family and into another one. But, then again, Tia tried to keep the idea of the subject of her family to a minimise amount.

"Tia! Do you realise what this means?" Sonny asked her but seeing the dumbfound expression on her face; he could see that she had no clue. "Tia, you and Brim Simbra are the only people who know had to speak different langues fluently, this puts you in even more danger."

The last words that Sonny said haunted the back of Tia's mind for the rest of the week. In more danger... how could I possibly be in anymore danger? Tia thought angrily to herself, as she got herself ready to meet Rockets parents- as he official girlfriend now. Sonny had made her promise... no! Swear on Rocket's life that she would never reveal what she could do to anyone, which Tia didn't understand. If it was true then she could reliable to the resistance and translate secret messages, plus, she didn't understand why there weren't any people to do that job in the first place. There must be some people out there that could translate coded files like the one she had down last night. In the end she couldn't figure it out and decided to question Mei about it later. What made everything worse was that Rocket was acting strange as well? Lately, he had been spending more time at work and when he were together his thoughts seemed to be preoccupied or shot worried glances when he thought she wasn't looking from time to time. She had tried everything thing to try and get him to open up to her; hell! She has even tried to seduce him. Sadly, Rocket was not one of the Allies top intelligence operatives for nothing and had been able to turn some of her own bed tricks against her. It frustrated her to no end and it made her want to grab something and beat it to oblivion. Her lovely day dream was distracted when she heard Mary shout up to her to say Rocket was there. He's here already! Tia thought, checking her clock. She had been so busy with her thoughts that she hadn't had the opportunity to blow dry her hair and now it had gone all wavy. Sighing heavily to herself, she decided that it didn't look that bad and grabbed her bag and hurried down stairs. She would been lying if her heart didn't skip a beat when she saw him leaning against the door frame, with his usual loose white shirt and casual jeans, but it didn't stop her wanting to beat him with a stick either. At the moment, he was talking to Sonny about something in hush tones but when they heard her approach they both looked up. Her eyes were now fast enough to catch the small quick breath Rocket made when his eyes landed on her (making her inwardly smile) before the neutral expression replaced it. Since they day was hot, she picked out a white dress that just flowed above her knees with a low cut to show a bit of cleavage and a brown belt around the middle.

"Hi." Rocket smiled sweetly at her. Unable to find any other words at that moment. Since she was not sure if she should be in love with him right now or mad at him, Tia remained silent, only placing a kiss on his cheek. She guessed the two men had noticed her silent behaviour, since they both gave each other a quick funny look. Now, Tia wasn't sure if going to her boyfriend's parent's house to meet the family as his girlfriend for the first time was not the greatest idea after all.