Warning: Sexual content contained within.

Chapter 27

Angie threw her head back, the burning in her legs was entirely too pleasant as she partook in her morning exercises. She kept up the steady motion, slightly lifting herself with her protesting thigh muscles and then lowering herself once more. Hands that were not her own kept running themselves up and down her thighs nor were the decidedly masculine grunts and moans that rose from beneath her. Angie raised her own hands, running them up the side of her neck and up into her hair.

"Faster." A strained command rose from beneath her.

She opened her eyes and smiled. She playfully smacked Derek's perfectly toned chest. It had always been her favorite of his many, exquisitely masculine features. The former aid to the undersecretary of defense had been in swim trunks the first time she'd seen him in the flesh. That had been nearly six years ago. It left quite the impression back then and still had the same mouth watering effects today.

"I'm the one doing all the work here." She breathily teased but complied anyway. She leaned over and kissed him, resting one elbow on said beautiful chest, her other hand slid into his hair. His hands slid back to her buttocks and aided her in their shared pursuit of sexual bliss. Suddenly he wrapped an arm around her lower back and flipped them over, silently declaring that her exhausted legs were no longer cutting it.

"Oh God!" Angie moaned out as his un-depleted stamina pushed them both over the edge. They stayed connected for a minute, enjoying the afterglow before he pulled away from her and rolled over to lie next to her.

"That was fun." He said with a smile, resting his head on his hands in an entirely too relaxed looking position. He sighed and closed his eyes.

"Agreed." She couldn't help but look over at him. She envied him right then. He didn't have to do today what she did. Finally, she closed her eyes and tried to hold onto the lazy morning feeling for just a little bit longer. They remained in companionable silence, neither wishing to leave the comfort of their bed just yet. Derek was the first to disturb their quiet.

"You got another status request last night but you seemed like you were exhausted." He informed her.

"You should have told me." She wasn't upset though and the admonishment was half hearted.

"I know." He paused before turning his head to look at her. "So how is the work going exactly?" Angie didn't return his look. Instead she turned her head away from him and glanced out the window that was just starting to brighten with the coming dawn.

"I should have killed her the moment she stepped out of that car." She sighed. There was nothing but reproach in her words.

"Why didn't you?"

"I don't know." She turned to him now, rising up on one elbow, her brow furrowed. "I…" She stopped, trying to come up with the right words that would express just how she felt. Derek waited patiently. "She's special somehow. Ever since Jackson took her, especially after reading the reports from the Keefe job that concerned her directly, I was fascinated by her in a way." She rubbed small circles on the sheets in the small space between Derek and her. "I guess I just like her. I want to un-fuck all of the mistakes Jackson has made since taking her on as a project."

"You don't like how he did it?"

"Not at all. Don't get me wrong, that guy has his areas of genius but this just isn't one of them. I don't now if he didn't realize it or if he was just arrogant enough to think he could but tactics like he's been using won't work long term on someone like that woman. Everything she did on that plane should have made that obvious to him. She's just… too good of a damn person. It's a shame she ever had to be involved." Derek just seemed to consider her words for a moment.

"So if you think she's hopeless, why are you dragging this out?" Angie fell back to the bed and stared up at the ceiling. Then she shrugged.

"I don't think it's hopeless per se. I just think Jackson's methods are hopeless. She'd forever be a threat to the company if he got to do things his way."

"So what are you going to do?"

"The only thing that I think will work. Make Lisa his equal." Derek didn't hide the skepticism in his voice.

"Will he go for it?"

"He'll have to if he wants to keep her." She looked over at her own bird. Could she have done it? Could she have kept Alex? It's a question she'd asked herself a thousand times since Jackson stole Lisa. She'd always found the concept of birds to be repulsive. She wasn't an advocate of human slavery and would leave the Company, risking her very existence, if they ever delved into the dark world of human trafficking. Luckily she knew several of the higher ups held the same sentiment. It hadn't been until she'd met Alex, as a mark for a job, that she'd changed her mind. It wasn't that she was overcome with a sick desire to own him, make him hers but because it made her sad to think that once the job was done, he'd be killed. She knew she was a hypocritical bitch but in the end it was her compassion to save him that made her act. But after everything, she knew it had been in vain. Alex died after all. The man she'd wanted to save didn't exist anymore. All that had remained was the shell. Everything that made Alex, Alex; his memories, the connections he'd formed with other people all his life, his very soul was taken away and discarded.

Angie leaned over and kissed the man that was now Derek. She'd grown to love him. It had taken years but the man that replaced Alex was warm, cared about her unconditionally and gave her something to hold onto when it seemed like the path her life had taken was nothing but darkness. She did like her job but sometimes, someone came along that she just didn't want to kill. Alex had been one of those people and now Lisa was another.

When she finally pulled away from the kiss, Derek asked her yet another question. Despite the many jobs of this nature she'd done in the past, he knew that this time things were different.

"So you aren't going to tell him?" Angie leaned her forehead against his. At first she just slightly shook her head.

"It has to be real. Jackson's a good actor but he's too conceited to keep an act up for the rest of his life just for the sake of another person. Also, I don't think Lisa would fall for it. I need to push the two of them to their limits. I just hope I can do it. I've never done anything like this before."

"You really want to though, don't you? Save her, that is."

"There are very few things in this life that I've wanted more." She answered honestly before kissing him once more. "I want you again. Do you think you could?"

"I'm not a machine." He smiled. "You'll have to convince me." He said as he slid a rough hand up her side.

Angie spent the next hour 'convincing' him in every talented way she could conceive. He came around eventually.

XxX

AN: Uh oh. I've gone and done it. A chapter without Jackson or Lisa even in it, these OC's are getting thoroughly out of control.

The idea for birds is purely a contrivance of my mind. Caged birds just seemed like a good fit. They are usually pretty things that serve more of a decorative aspect for their owners lives than actual companion (exceptions to this rule exist though as they seem to in the story as well). It's a more solid form of ownership, in my opinion, than say a cat or a dog where those animals usually have far more freedom and even free will (especially those darn felines). Also, birds fit the bill more so than say fish (similarly kept animals for beauty with similar solid ownership connotations) but birds tend to be fairly smart, like parrots for example, so the psychological idea fits better. I hope that made sense. The concept just seemed to fit the idea for the story and summing it up in one simple word was convenient. If it is a term used for highly nefarious organizations, then it is purely coincidental. :) One more thing of note, as of posting this chapter, this story has received 100,000 hits. That boggles my mind (wish I got a dollar for every hit, jk jk jk). Thanks everyone who helped make that happen.