Lucy sat up and pulled the blankets up to her chest, gaping at the friend she hadn't seen for two years like she'd just sprouted a second head.

"Rebecca..." said Lucy, half-grinning. "Rebecca, when did you get here?"

Rebecca said nothing. She merely stared, her eyes returning to their regular size.

"Rebecca?"

It took a few more seconds and a shake of the head on Rebecca's part before she could answer. And when she did, it was with a sharp, "When did you get here?"

Lucy looked slightly taken aback. But nonetheless, she managed a smile. "Uh... Just last night..."

"Didn't take you long to get to the point, it seems."

Though he'd never really shown her, Desmond was definitely rolling his eyes internally. He and Rebecca had always been somewhat strained. When he'd first come to the Assassins, he thought he and Rebecca would be good friends. They shared so many interests and got along so well. But even after Lucy hooked up with Gary, Rebecca was still cold to Desmond. She ignored him, she glared at him from across the room, she conveniently "forgot" to invite him to go places with the rest of the group, and she'd take subtle (or so she seemed to have thought) cracks at him whenever the opportunity presented itself. Desmond had even asked his dad not to tell her where he was moving to, but because of his exposure to the Animus, William had insisted that the alternative was to move back in with his parents until they were sure he was safe. As much as Desmond had seriously been tempted for a while, he'd chosen to go with Rebecca knowing where he lived, instead.

And now he was seriously regretting it. If he'd taken his father's offer, at least it would've saved Lucy that whole ordeal with the bus trip and the walk through the rain to get back to him. It might have prevented the sex, though... And that would've been a big drawback.

The rest of the visit with Rebecca didn't go well, but at least it didn't last long. Her treatment of Desmond had gone from unpleasant to outright hostile. And she wasn't exactly kind to Lucy, either.

After the war had ended, Rebecca's controlling side had really come out. If there was one thing Desmond hadn't been jealous of about Lucy's relationship with Gary, it was how involved Rebecca kept trying to get with it.

It first became apparent to Desmond when Lucy had come in one dreary Monday morning to do some paperwork – regarding the Animus for the Assassins' records – with such a bright smile on her face, and Rebecca had pressed like a pressure cooker to find out what had Lucy so happy. But even when she'd finally gotten what she wanted, she still wasn't satisfied. It then became her goal to find out every last detail of the encounter, up to the point that she convinced Lucy to bring Gary to meet everyone the next day.

Desmond always glared whenever he remembered it...

It was a very bright Tuesday morning, and for once, Desmond was in a good mood as he sauntered down into the Animus Team's main room. Even as he walked in and greeted Rebecca (only to receive a forced, obligatory wave back), it didn't break his stride. He jumped right on the stool in front of the computer and logged into his email with a hum on his lips.

William noticed. "Everything alright, Desmond?"

"Definitely."

William waited for something further, but when nothing else was forthcoming, he patted his hand on Desmond's shoulder twice and took something of a stride in his own step as he swept from the room in his typically-arrogant fashion.

Desmond blinked twice as he watched the door swing closed behind his dad. He shook his head and went back to the laptop. At least until the sound of very bright laughter came to his ears... He'd recognize that sound anywhere.

Lucy... Lucy's laughter... He spun around on his stool to greet her as the door opened... and stopped short when he caught sight of the man she was laughing into the shoulder of.

All he could do was watch as she threw herself into her chair, giggling.

"Where the hell did you grow up?"she asked the man.

"I told you that already," he replied, taking her hand and seating himself on the edge of her desk.

Desmond briefly remembered the bitching-out he'd gotten from her when he'd done that. It set his teeth on edge to watch someone else do it now, without a comment from her. A male someone, no less...

She leaned forward on her palms, resting her elbows in front of her keyboard. "Yeah, but I know other people from Idaho and they weren't this much fun."

She looked away from him and her eyes fell on Desmond. She smiled, but then shook her head as if she'd just remembered she was supposed to be introducing the mystery man to everyone.

"Everyone..." she began, "this is Gary."

"Hi, there," added Gary with a bright (and, in Desmond's opinion, pretentious) smile.

Rebecca immediately leapt up and went to go shake his hand. "Hi, Gary! I'm Rebecca Crane!"

Shaun followed, somewhat more hesitantly. "Shaun Hastings."

"Hi, Shaun," answered Gary with a nod. "And... you must be Desmond?"

He'd turned to look at Desmond then, but Desmond didn't hop up.

"Hi, I'm Gary," he said, stepping forward with his hand out.

Desmond regarded it for about half a second, but his gut reaction when he looked to Lucy was to shake it. "Uh... Desmond. Miles, I mean. Desmond Miles."

"I heard a lot about you," said Gary. He looked back over his shoulder as he released Desmond's hand and went to go stand over by Lucy. "Lucy told me..."

Desmond managed a slight smile. "That's... awfully nice of her." He turned to give Lucy a slightly-wider smile.

If she recognized the message hidden in that gesture, though, she certainly didn't show it. She just giggled again and wrapped her arms around Gary's torso. "Sorry, but it's kind of exciting." She shrugged. "We're alive because of you."

Desmond blushed slightly and looked at his feet for a moment...

But only for a moment. He looked back up and nodded once to her before spinning his stool around back to the computer screen. He thought he saw a confused expression come to her face just beforehand.

He knew he saw Rebecca's look of smug triumph. He wasted no time in returning it with a short, two-worded email. One that was returned with a smiley face...

As the door closed behind Rebecca, Desmond raised his eyebrows and took a drink from his bottle of water. He stood to face Lucy...

"Lucy?"

She didn't reply, merely slumping against the door with a deep breath.

Desmond approached her cautiously, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Lucy?"

She looked up. "Yes?"

Her already-bright eyes were shining even more. With a sigh of his own, he pulled her up against his chest.

"I'm sorry, Lucy."

"It's not your fault," she answered. Her voice had broken slightly. "I really hoped Rebecca would understand."

Desmond shrugged. "Not in her nature, I guess. Certainly not as much as it seemed."

"Maybe... Or maybe she just got fed up with it all after almost eight years as an Assassin."

"We all got fed up, Lucy," said Desmond, pressing his lips to the top of her head in an attempt to hide his annoyance at her consistent defense of Rebecca's obvious bullshit. "And she never hesitated to remind us all of our situation."

She wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned the side of her face against his chest. "I know. I remember. She could be almost as bad as your father."

"Now THAT I can't argue with," said Desmond, with a chuckle.

And he knew he really couldn't.