Nancy sat facing the bar, the mirror, nursing a ginger ale in a highball glass. The man behind her couldn't have cared less about where she was, which was good, because every five minutes her stomach knotted up again.
She was almost positive she had seen Ned. Which was almost impossible, because she was in New York City and he was in Chicago, convinced that she had stood him up for their first date two days before.
So she watched every figure cross the lobby, keeping half an eye on the man in the brown leather trenchcoat, waiting for him to make his move. If it was Ned, he had been in sweats, which was bad enough because she was surrounded by tourists and half of them were dressed the same way. At least this isn't like last time, with the nightclub and the bouncer and the key that stopped working at the last minute.
"Still got him?"
Nancy raised her hand and pressed two fingers against her ear. "Yeah," she mumbled.
"We finally got into the computer. I'm sending Jason up to the room."
"So I'm off the hook?" Nancy mumbled the last into her drink, then took a swallow.
"For now. But if he makes a move tonight..."
"I know." Nancy threw a few bills onto the bar, then turned and walked briskly through the lobby. "I'm coming out there."
Once she was in the van, she pulled out her earpiece and took a long breath. "If you're in the system already... Kev, mind doing me a favor?"
Kevin could pull up Ned's entire genealogy, credit history, and college sports statistics at the push of a button, but she didn't need any of that. Just a room number and a master keycard and a rough approximation of a maid's uniform, which, judging by the selection in the van, ranged more toward French slut than strict utilitarian. Nancy made do with a pair of khakis, a collared polo shirt, and a hint of mascara.
Only when she reached his door did she turn off the transmitter on her earpiece and take a deep breath. She kept her face turned down, so that only her scalp would show if he tried to look through the door, and knocked three times, but he didn't answer.
Maybe he hasn't made it back yet.
She swiped the keycard quickly, before she could lose her nerve, which was ridiculous; they had been tracking their target for two days, he was planning to kill at least ten people, if he caught them there would be hell to pay, but even their search for him hadn't made her feel like this. The door was just swinging shut behind her when she heard the shower running.
She froze for a second. Even so, force of habit led her to stop the door with her palm and lead it slowly into the frame, so that he wouldn't hear it. She crossed the room and sat down at the desk, cradling her forehead in her hand.
He walked out of the bathroom a few minutes later, making a startled noise. "What--"
She turned to him, and stared at a point over his shoulder, blushing a little. "I'm sorry," she said softly.
"Nancy?"
She let her eyes drift down to his face, once she could see the white blur of a towel around his waist in her peripheral vision, and raised her hand in a little wave. "Hi."
"How did you-- what are you doing in my room?"
"It's... complicated."
"Well," Ned said, rubbing his wet hair with another towel before he tossed it back into the bathroom. "Give me a second, and then you can uncomplicate it for me."
While Ned hastily dressed in the other room, Nancy listened to the distant chatter over her earpiece. "Okay, great, the cameras are coming through fine," Kevin reported. "So now we get to stakeout for the rest of the night. Drew?"
She switched her transmitter back on. "Yeah?" she whispered.
"You gonna be around?"
"Can you guys make do without me for the night?"
"If you must. Keep in touch, though."
"Sure," she said, and switched it back off when Ned came out of the bathroom. She smiled, and he just gave her a long, steady look before he found his shoes and socks and put those on.
"So what brings you to New York?"
"Major client," Ned replied. "I thought we were going to get everything wrapped up earlier, but... yeah. Now I get to meet him for brunch tomorrow morning and it'll all be taken care of... so why, exactly, are you in my hotel room? Shall we start over?"
"I was around, I thought I saw you, and," she shrugged. "And I decided to apologize in person, because I... I really wish I could have gone out with you Saturday night. It killed me to leave."
He looked away from her, his jaw set. "Then... why did you," he said.
She walked over to Ned and sat down next to him, tilted her head over to find his gaze, and stayed there until he returned it. "You remember when I told you about my work."
She could see the muscle in his jaw working, but when he began to turn away from her, she reached up and forced his gaze back to hers.
"Ned, I work for the government," she said softly. "I'm a spy."
His breath hitched softly, the corners of his eyes creased, and his head turned until her fingers were tracing over his lips. "Nancy, look, if you didn't want to go out with me, all you had to do was say so."
"Do you honestly think that anything but the security and safety of the American people could have made me miss having dinner with you?"
He laughed a little at that, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. "It just seemed... too convenient. That you'd get cold feet and then make up some excuse about work just to save my feelings."
She shook her head. "If I ever get cold feet, I'll tell you; I won't make up some excuse. Trust me."
"So you followed me here just to tell me that?"
"Not quite," she admitted. "We're doing... something here tonight. Don't repeat that to anyone."
"Is this going to be like in the movies? I'll have to leave immediately, all our lives are in danger, men in black masks and...?"
She shook her head. "I'd feel safer, for you, if you weren't here, but it's nothing like that. With any luck no one else here will even know there was anything wrong."
"But you're gonna stay here."
She nodded. "They might need me, and I'd like to be around until we get this... taken care of. But I think I owe you dinner."
The corner of his mouth lifted in a smile. "What did you have in mind?"
She studied him, then glanced at her watch. "Meet me at the restaurant on the corner in ten minutes."
He tilted his head without answering. "Why ten minutes?"
"Because you deserve more than khakis and a polo shirt, considering the dress I was wearing when I had to leave Saturday night. It would be a damn shame to go like this."
"You know, if we really are doing this... I couldn't care less about what you're going to wear."
"Oh, we're doing this," she replied. "If you don't hate me. Ten minutes, okay?"
He gazed at her for a long moment, then sighed. "Ten minutes," he agreed. "And I don't know why I'm doing this."
"Because you're a doll," she said, and gave him a kiss on the jaw.
"Because I'm a fool," he returned, but she could see the slight smile on his face. "Now go, work your magic. I'll grab a table."
Once she was back in the van, while she half-listened to Kevin and Michael coordinate strategy, she dug through the outfits, bypassing the French maid costume. The dress she had been wearing was hanging up safely at the back, under a full tuxedo; in the tiny enclosed space she wriggled into it, then hastily made up her face, slipped into a pair of platinum heels, and tried to make it unobtrusively past Michael.
He grabbed her arm and whistled under his breath. "Isn't that what you were wearing when we hustled you into the car Saturday night?"
"Yeah, and I'm trying to undo the damage you guys did when you whisked me away," she returned, then twirled in front of him. "Think this'll do it?"
"I'd forgive you anything," Kevin said, holding his hand over his headset's microphone before he turned back to his screens. "Jason, how you holding up?"
Nancy twisted her hair up and pinned it, sliding her fingertips over her ears to make sure the receiver was out of sight. "All right, I'm down the block, don't do anything that'll require my coming back here unless you two want to get your asses kicked."
"Keep your earpiece on," Kevin sang just before Nancy slammed the van door behind her.
She was two seconds late and he didn't see her when she came in, so she approached him unobserved and watched him for the moment before he saw her. He hadn't shaved; she could see the faint line of stubble over his lip, had felt it tracing his jaw when she had kissed it earlier. The expression on his face was wary, almost vulnerable. He had one elbow on the table, as though prepared to bolt and vanish into the night, once he had given up on her impassioned plea.
"Hey."
He turned to her quickly, and his gaze traced over her figure more slowly. "Hey," he replied, standing up, coming around the table to pull her chair out for her. "That was what you were going to wear?"
"This is what I was wearing," she told him, taking her seat and letting him push it in. She was in blue silk, thin straps over her bare shoulders, the hem just above her knees. "It's my favorite dress."
"Is it lucky? Wear it on all your first dates?"
"Haven't had that many first dates," she reminded him, unwrapping her silverware and draping the cloth napkin over her lap. "I guess I'll find out how lucky it is, tonight."
"You look gorgeous," he said, just as the waiter approached them again, giving them both glasses of iced water before he placed a thin vase in the center of the table and exchanged a nod with Ned.
"What was that?" Nancy asked, amused, after the waiter was out of earshot. "And thank you for the compliment."
"Well, if this is a do-over, you should have a dozen red roses," he told her. "But you didn't give me quite enough time for that, so you have to settle for this one."
Nancy took the white rose out of the vase and held it lightly between her fingers. "It's beautiful," she told him. "Man, I'm sorry I missed that."
"I'm sure Bess is really loving it, though."
"Bess does love a bouquet," Nancy confirmed, then slipped the flower reluctantly back into the vase. "Don't let me forget it."
"I won't," he said, his voice low and rich, and his gaze was almost too much to bear, so she glanced away. "I didn't know that-- people in your line of work, ever got time off."
"We kind of don't," she confirmed. "We have slow times... it just so happened that our first date had terrible timing."
"So how'd you get into it?"
"A... friend," she said, taking a sip of her water, and from the look on his face she knew that he understood who she meant. "I hold a degree in journalism, but... this... seemed like a good way to make money while I was in school. Then it escalated. And here we are." She gave a little shrug, a smile, and then met his eyes.
He chuckled. "You know, just when I think I've never met anyone like you... every time I talk to you, I'm convinced yet again that there isn't anyone like you."
"I get that a lot," she said. "Now do you understand why I said that I thought... any other relationship would be difficult."
He nodded, slowly. "I can see how a long-distance relationship would have its advantages," he said. "Although now it shocks the hell out of me that you two were ever able to see each other, at all."
"There's... a difference between us," she said. "I can tell them that I need some time off, that I need to take a break for a little while. He... never did. Doesn't. I love what I do, but there's more to me than my job, and I don't think he can separate his from who he is, not anymore. There was a time when that wasn't true." She looked down at the table, then forced a smile. "All right, and that is the last time we're going to talk about that tonight," she said.
He shrugged. "Gives me a good idea of what not to do," he said, smiling. "How many times have you been to New York?"
"Oh, I've lost count," she said. "My Aunt Eloise lives in the Hamptons, so I've probably been there more than I've been in the city. Have you been here a lot?"
"Only for the major clients," he told her. "And that, only within the last year. Before, it was... oh, once while I was in college."
"Do you like the city?"
He took a deep breath. "I love being here, while I'm here," he replied. "And then I go back home and love Chicago just a little bit more."
She laughed, and nodded. "Yeah. I've been to some gorgeous places, and I love to travel, but at the end of the day, it's being where my friends are... having a place to actually call home."
"Doesn't much seem worth it, without that," he agreed, propping his chin on his hand, gazing at her. "You seem so exotic, Nancy... I was just convinced that you'd finally figured out how boring I actually was, and had moved on to the next guy."
She propped her own chin on her hand, studying him from the other side of the table, a grin on her face. "I know Bess might tell you that I'm quite the man-eater, but Ned... if you were boring, I wouldn't be sitting here with you right now, I guarantee you that."
"I'm flattered."
"You should be," she told him. "I have met a lot of interesting people. But... no, this would sound incredibly egotistical..."
"What?"
She sighed. "I feel like you and I are on equal footing," she said. "Like I can talk to you without holding myself back. Like if I suggested that our next date be skydiving, you wouldn't immediately wuss out."
He shrugged. "Well, I've never been, but I'd love to try."
She laughed. "See? You're too perfect. Let me guess, you kill your ex-girlfriends."
"If I did, there would have been five people at the reunion."
They had just finished an excellent dinner, and Nancy was considering the dessert menu just so she would know what she'd had the willpower to refuse, when she heard shouting through her earpiece. "Drew! Get to the lobby now, let me know when you're there."
Nancy clicked on her transmitter while she dug through her purse. "On my way," she said, making a few mental calculations, then threw a few bills on the table. She pushed back her chair and looked at Ned, who was just staring at her.
I'm talking to thin air. Of course he's surprised. "I have to go," she said, her voice apologetic.
"Where? Or... can you even tell me."
"Back to the hotel. Right now. You can stay, get a coffee or something, dinner's taken care of, but I..."
"I'm coming with you."
Her forehead furrowed, but she didn't have time to argue. "Do exactly as I tell you, stay close to me. I mean it."
He nodded. "Haven't seen this side of you before," he said, nodding to the hostess as they made their way out the door. She broke into a run and he followed, catching up to her easily. "So... dominant. I think I like it."
Nancy made a derisive noise. "Almost there. What am I looking for in the lobby?" she said, pushing on the earpiece.
"Curzenow's blond bodyguard. Disable him and then head up to the roof."
"On it," she replied, then glanced at Ned.
"Hey," he shrugged, "I haven't had this much excitement... since the last time I saw you. Can I do anything?"
She paused for a second at the door, then shoved it open. "Wait here," she told him. "If I don't give you any kind of signal in the next minute, take the elevator up to your room and stay there until I come by."
"Fair enough."
Nancy sauntered into the lobby, her hips swinging, eyes low-lidded and sparkling dangerously, her entire demeanor changed. She walked up to a guy sporting a blond ponytail and black leather jacket, and whispered something to him, then produced a pack of cigarettes out of nowhere and waited for him to provide a light. She took a few drags and then suggested something, something which immediately grabbed his attention, especially when she hooked her index finger through his belt loop and tugged him by his hips toward a dimly lit corridor. A moment later she walked back out again, neither the cigarette nor the bodyguard in sight.
"Do I even want to know what just happened?" Ned whispered, once they were alone on the elevator.
"Probably not," Nancy mouthed, pressing on her earpiece. "Headed for the roof," she reported.
"Will all our dates end this way?"
She met his steady gaze for a moment, then bit her lip. "I hope not," she said, reaching up to rest her palm against his shoulder. "Besides, this date's not over."
He leaned down, until their foreheads were almost touching. "It is if you have to go save the world."
She smiled and shook her head. "Just a little corner of it," she whispered, wondering if he was going to kiss her... but the doors opened to reveal a family of eager tourists and Ned stepped off, twirling her white rose in his fingertips.
Nancy heard a throat clear in her ear. "Well, Miss Drew, if you're finished with all the sappy love talk..."
Nancy smiled and waited until the family stepped off the elevator to answer. "I believe I promised an ass kicking."
"Hey, bring it. As soon as you help Jason set up the security feed loop and have that online, I'm sending Michael in, and this little non-vacation is finished."
"If nothing goes wrong," she mumbled.
"Nothing's going wrong," Michael replied, his voice carrying over Kevin's. "You could do this with your hands tied behind your back."
"Probably have," she said wryly. "All right."
Jason was waiting on the roof in a black cap with a circuit board cradled in his hands. "'Bout time you got here."
"Hey, I had a hot date," Nancy protested. "And this is the second time you guys have interrupted it."
Jason chuckled. "If he's gonna date you, girl, he's gonna have to get used to that. Come here, hold this steady for me."
Nancy sighed and tapped her foot after she obeyed. "And you couldn't have just put it on the ledge over there."
Jason tugged gently on a few wires looped to the board and leading to the box. "Nope. Sorry."
After he was finished, after the feed was looped and she was given the all clear for the night, Nancy took a deep breath and knocked on Ned's door. Then she heard Kevin's voice in her ear.
"Have a good night, Drew. Just be at the airport at midnight."
"Thanks," she muttered, as Ned pulled open the door and leaned against the frame with one shoulder, giving her a soft smile.
"All right, we have a few hours," she told him, reaching up to trace her fingertips down his cheek. "Any ideas?"
He reached up and slid his fingertips down her cheek, then curled his fingers around her ear, nudging the earpiece. "This how you talk to them? You're heading back with them tonight?"
"Yeah, midnight," she murmured, aware that the entire team could hear them.
Ned pulled the piece out of her ear, grinning, and fitted it into his own. "Hey," he said, even as Nancy shoved her way into the room, pummeling his chest with her fists, demanding for him to return it. "Can you guys do me a favor?"
"Ned, give that back to me right now."
The door swung shut behind them and he twirled away from her, laughing. On the other end of the conversation, the overlapping male laughter resolved itself into one voice. "Depends on what it is, Nickerson."
"Oh ho ho," Ned cried out, looking at Nancy, whose face was flushed with mock fury. "Have you told everyone you know about me?"
She pushed up on her tiptoes to snatch at his hand. "Give that back," she hissed.
"Can you..." He twirled away from her again, laughing. "Can you, magic voice, book Nancy on a flight out of New York tomorrow, around noon... in fact, if you guys are such wizards, just book her on my flight tomorrow. Adjoining seats, if you can manage that."
"Caught us just in time," the voice replied, over a hail of keystrokes. "All right, Nickerson, you're good. Sorry we interrupted your date."
"Oh, I think we're even now." Nancy lunged one more time, and Ned let her snatch the earpiece out of his hand.
"I'm..." She glanced up at Ned. "Actually, I think we're good now. You got me booked?" He laughed when she grinned. "All right, see you guys after lunch."
She clicked off the transmitter and tossed the earpiece onto the other bed in his room. "Now what?"
He picked up the white rose and handed it to her, then reached down and laced his fingers between hers. "Now," he murmured, "we finish our date."
She twirled the stem in her fingers, meeting and holding his gaze as he leaned close to her. "I can't wait."