A/N: I would like to wish all of you a very Happy New Year! I hope you have great and prosperous year ahead, and stay blessed always. I really apologize for the delay but I hope the length of this chapter makes up for it. And last but not the least, I am grateful to all the readers and reviewers, mlivingston1432, KenLalaLaura, hodhod2011danger and Tha-Fry-Man, for your support and encouragement. I wish that you keep reading and enjoying my stories in 2016 as well.

Chapter 14

(Kate's POV)

I felt kind of nervous and anxious for various reasons, as I sat on the side seat of Leon's car. It was the first time we were going out together, the first time I was sitting next to him in the car and I was a little apprehensive about meeting the people at his work. After he called and informed his superiors that I agreed to help them, they wanted to meet me to make sure I was the right person and that I was reliable enough to do this job. So, he was currently driving me to his work to meet those people. I just hoped that I don't make things worse for Leon.

"We are here!", Leon said and I looked out of the car window to see the tall building, where Leon worked. It looked pretty normal from outside.
"Nice place", I just said, as Leon took his car to the parking.

We both got out of the car and Leon led the way to the elevator. We didn't talk to each other, as we walked to it. Leon pushed the button for the 21st floor and leaned back against the elevator wall, next to me. As the elevator ascended up the shaft, my tension just multiplied and I could feel my heart beating like crazy. I just stared blankly at the display that read out the floor number. It was when Leon waved his hand in front of me, I turned my head to look at him, and he gave me smile.

"You scared?", Leon asked, continuing to smile charmingly at me.
"Yes", I told him the truth with a dry throat.
"Don't be, I'll be with you", he said with an assuring look, which restored my confidence.
"I know", I said with a smile.

The elevator doors parted and again Leon led the way. The workspace was divided into cubicles and people were busy with their work. However there were people, who looked up and greeted Leon, as he walked past them. I tried to figure out which desk belongs to him, but I really couldn't guess it. He led me straight to a cabin, possibly his superior's, and pushed it open without even knocking, maybe they were close for such formalities. I stood a little back, as some of my nervousness returned. I gulped an imaginary lump in my throat, when Leon beckoned me to follow, and I followed him inside the cabin.

Once I stepped inside the cabin, I realized it was empty and then it didn't take me much time to figure it out that it was probably Leon's cabin; at least, that explains why he didn't knock. I looked around his workspace; it was a really nice office and it seemed like he was someone really important or maybe one of the top government agents, at least. But from the way Leon behaves, I would have never guessed that he had such an important status at work.

"You just wait here", Leon spoke, grabbing my attention, "I'll go inform them."

I gave him a nod and he left me alone in his office. I again looked around his lavish office, not really knowing what to do. I moved to his desk and out of habit organized the files that were lying haphazardly on it. I couldn't help but notice that his desk lacked any sort of personalization. There was no calendar or scheduler or something that showed what he liked or what was he interested in; he didn't even have pictures of his family or friends. Well he didn't even have it at his home; I don't know what made me think he'd have it at work.

I moved to the large and only window in the room, thinking about Leon's family. He had told me that his parents were dead and that he didn't have any siblings, when I asked him about it, and Claire also never mentioned his family. So, does that mean he's been all alone now and if that's true then for how long? I shook my head tossing out that thought and took in the scenery from Leon's office. I turned my head, as the door opened and Leon stepped back in his cabin.

"I see you've worked your magic here too", Leon said noticing that I had cleaned his desk.
"Force of habit!", I responded with shrug.
"You could be my assistant", he said with a smile, standing next to me.
"I am happy being your housekeeper", I told him with a smile.
"I thought it must be troublesome being my housekeeper but I am glad you don't hate, if not like, working for me", Leon said gratefully.

"So what did they say?", I asked Leon referring to his bosses and changing the topic.
"Well the agent, who is heading the case, is running a little late, so they asked us to wait a little", He replied in a professional tone.
"Oh you're not heading the case?", I asked him, a little surprised.
"No, I am not", he answered, shaking his head, "I, somewhat, have experience with such cases so I am only assisting."
"Oh", I said in realization, looking back at the window. The information that Leon wasn't really involved with the case made me feel uneasy, but I couldn't really back out now, so I just concentrated on the scenery before my eyes.

"What are you thinking?", Leon startled me a little with the question and I looked at him.
"Nothing", I shook my head with the reply, "I was just looking at the view from your office window", I again turned my head in the window's direction, "It's kind of beautiful."
"Hmm… I never noticed", Leon said from my side and I turned to look at him smiling, as he looked over the city from his workplace, "Can't believe I have been missing something like this for so long."
"Yeah it's surprising, since it was right next to you", I said with a laugh, as we both enjoyed the view together.
"I hope I am not missing anything else", Leon said to me and his tone was somewhat sarcastic.

Before I could ask what he was talking about, somebody knocked at his cabin door making both of us look in that direction. The man opened the door and let himself in the cabin, "I heard you have a woman in here", it was John, "So I came to check", and then he noticed me, "Oh it's Kate!", he got happy to see me.
"Hi John!", I greeted him with a smile.
"It's so long since I last saw you", John said in a tone mixed with surprise and excitement.
"Yeah we met each other like day before yesterday", I played along with him, since it was a really good stress buster.

John laughed heartily, "What are you doing here?", he asked me.
"She will help us with Tony Mathews' case, if the chief allows it", Leon told him in his usual monotonous tone.
"Oh really?!", John said in a genuinely surprised tone, looking at me, and I gave him a nod, "So David is not in his cabin, yet?", John asked Leon.
"Well he is waiting for Gray", Leon told him and then his phone rang, "I guess he's here", he answered his phone and listened to it, "Okay I'll bring her over now", with that he disconnected, "C'mon they're finally ready to meet you."
"Lead the way then", I couldn't help but say with a shrug.

The three of us walked out of Leon's cabin together. John moved back to his desk and Leon led me to his chief's cabin. Even though it was just a few steps away I felt it took really long to get there. Leon didn't knock and held the door open for me. I walked past him entering the cabin first and he followed. There were two men in the cabin, the chief was supposedly seated at his desk and he was younger than what I had imagined him to be. He just seemed to be a man in his early 40s. I guess he must have proved his worth, to be at such a high position at such a young age. He looked at us more welcomingly than the other man, who seemed to be surveying me with his gaze. He seemed to be around John's age maybe.

"This is Kathleen", Leon introduced me to the two men, "And this is agency's chief David Trapp."
"Nice to meet you", the chief said giving me his hand.
"It's a pleasure to meet you too", I said taking his hand slightly shaking it.
"And this is Robert Gray, the guy who is leading the investigative team", Leon introduced the other man.
"Nice to meet you", I said feeling a little nervous about his gaze.
"The same", he spoke professionally, shaking hands with me.

"So will she be okay?", Mr. Trapp asked Mr. Gray.
"I highly doubt it, she doesn't really look the type who could help us", Gray expressed his views on the matter to the chief, "She'd likely drag me and my agents down."
"She might be able to get him to talk", Leon said it more to the chief than to Gray.
"Well Mr. Trapp here told me that it's just a minor possibility", Gray said to Leon, "I don't want to waste my time."
"Well you'd be wasting time anyways, so it's better to bet on her as of now", Leon said to him confidently.

Gray looked at Leon in disagreement but before he could speak, the chief clapped his hands and both of the arguing men looked at him, "I guess it's decided then", he said with a smile, "She's going to help us. We don't have time, Rob", he added to him, as he was about to contest this decision. "Allow Kathleen to help you out this time. You can always revert back to your original plan, if this plan doesn't work out."
"Yes, sir", he agreed to it.
"And Leon", the chief turned to address Leon, "I'd like you to work together with Robert on this case."
"What?!", Gray said in surprise, "That's really unnecessary, David."
"You'll still head the case, Robert", Mr. Trapp said in an assuring tone, "Leon has more expertise on the subject, so let him help from the sidelines, plus…", he looked at me, "Miss Kathleen will be more comfortable with someone she knows, am I right?", and I gave him a nod, "So, that's settled then, I suppose. You all can now leave."

Both the men nodded and turned to head out. I followed Leon out, who seemed to be deep in his thoughts. On the other hand, Robert Gray didn't look that happy with their chief's decision. I thought I would be much calmer after meeting the chief, since I had been very anxious about it since the morning, but now I was much more nervous than before. I was secretly hoping that he won't agree to Leon's plan and almost rejoiced at Gray's comment about me just being in the way, but now that the chief saw me more than fit to assist, it just got my nerves a little more tensed. But well at least Leon will be there to ease me out.

"You debrief her about the situation", Gray said to Leon, "I'll just go inform the team about the development and all the changes in my plan."
"Understood", Leon spoke in a very professional monotone and gave him a nod.
He and I started towards his cabin, when Gray called his name, "Kennedy, don't forget I am leading this case."

Leon didn't respond and gestured me to follow him back to his cabin. I couldn't help but notice that Leon was a very different person here with his workmates. He was very professional, as if he needed to be more than what he was normally. He lacked even those few expressions that he showed back at home and around friends. I smiled inwardly, as I looked at his pensive face, feeling a little bit glad to know him a little bit more.

It was then somebody bumped into me, that too really hard, that I almost lost my balance, "I am sorry", one of the female agents apologized to me but she didn't really seem regretful.
"Kate, are you alright?", Leon asked me in somewhat concerned tone and the female agent turned to look at him, but Leon didn't look at her.
"I am fine", I told him not really feeling offensive towards the woman, who bumped into me on purpose, and probably to get Leon's attention.
"C'mon hurry up then", he beckoned me.
"Yeah", I replied, "Excuse me", I added to female agent politely, moving past her to be next to Leon.

Leon again led me to his office and he didn't bring up this incident, and I don't know why I even expected that. He walked to his desk and I followed. He sat on his chair and gestured me to take a seat in front of his desk. As I took a seat, he opened the file that he was working on yesterday.

"Look most of it is confidential, so I can't really tell you much", Leon started to speak.
"I understand", I said being considerate of the situation.
"Thanks!", he said with a smile; his expressions were back to normal, "So, you already know the guy. Gray's team got the lead on him that he's been hiding…", Leon struggled for words, "…something that might be dangerous", he took a pause again, "His research, as he tells everyone, is about something related to slowing down the degeneration of cells."
"But that is good, right?", I asked looking at him in confusion, "It would increase human life."

Leon sighed and leaned in his chair, "It would", he agreed with me but his expressions were a little conflicting, "That's where our problem starts", he leaned forward, "We don't know what exactly he's trying to slow down that degeneration with and we just want to make sure it's not dangerous."
"But some part of such experiments are always dangerous", I told him the truth.
"Yeah and we need you to find out how dangerous that is", Leon spoke very seriously.
"What do I have to do?", I asked him feeling a knot in my stomach.
"You have to make him talk about what he's doing exactly to slow down that process", Leon replied looking straight in my eyes, "And this is how you can do it."

Leon spent next few hours telling me all about the plan, repeating it over and over again till I had the clear picture of everything. And he was being considerate enough to explain things more clearly to me, if I had any doubts in their plan. I really didn't know how the government really dealt with such issues, but I could say that Leon was being really patient with me. Although, he didn't really go in details of their investigation but he took his time, explaining me the plan of how I am suppose to help them out.

The plan was simple, there was supposed to be some sort of international convention, where researchers like Tony Mathews meet and discuss their research, so they could get investors to raise funds for their researches. The government suspected that even though Mathews already had a wealthy fund raiser, but still he would show up to this convention to keep appearances. I was just simply supposed to bump into him in the closing party and see if he wants to talk to me, if he didn't then my role ended there and then. On the other hand, if he did then Leon had a number of precautionary instructions for me.

"So do you understand?", Leon asked me one final time.
"Yes!", I said closing the file.
"Good", Leon said with a pleasant smile.
"I think I am hungry", I told him on a totally unrelated note.

Leon looked at his watch, "Let's go grab some lunch", he said rising from the chair.
"Your treat?", I asked as a joke, following him.
"My treat", he agreed without any argument.

We exited his office and I walked by his side, and we talked on some trivial matter, as we headed for the elevator. He pushed the down button and I felt as if someone was looking at me. I turned my head instinctively in the direction from where I felt that vibe, and spotted a couple of female agents huddled over talking among themselves, but none of them seemed to be looking at me or Leon. Thinking it was just my imagination I looked at the display that showed the elevator position, when I again had the same sensation.

I rapidly turned my head in the direction of women, who were a little startled from getting caught red handed, but then they didn't bother to keep back their looks anymore, now that they were exposed. I really didn't know what I did to deserve this hostile treatment, maybe they didn't really like a civilian like me getting a preference over them, on this work or something. I looked away trying to ignore their curious gazes and let out a sigh.

"What happened?", Leon asked from my side.
"Nothing", I again looked at the display; the elevator was just a few floors away.
"It seemed like a sigh of distress", he said to me and I let out a sigh of distress.
"Why are they looking at me like that", I jerked my head in the direction of his female colleagues.
Leon raised his head to them and gave an expression that was equivalent to rolling his eyes, "Don't mind them", he just said.
"Easy for you to say", I muttered to myself.

"Hey you two heading out for lunch?", John asked, joining us.
"Yeah, are you free to join? Leon's treating…", I told him with a smile.
"Oh no, no, no… I don't want to crash your date", John said the last word out a little louder than the rest of the sentence.
"It's not funny", I said to him as seriously as I could and the elevator arrived, carrying a few people from the upper floor.
Leon walked in and I followed him, "You coming or not?", he asked holding the doors open for John, who hadn't entered the elevator.
"Yeah I guess I'll come", he said and walked in and stood next to me.

Leon pushed the button for basement parking, as the elevator doors began to close. It was almost completely closed when someone asked us to wait and as if John knew it would happen, he literally lunged to hold them open. A couple of women from the group that were eyeing us earlier entered the elevator. They briefly smiled at us and I smiled back out of courtesy. I looked to the men on my either side, one couldn't stop smiling and other had a pretty bland expression on his face.

The moments in the elevator were plain awkward, the women were murmuring among themselves. John and Leon didn't speak at least not verbally. John hit Leon's arm and Leon gave him a really bored look, shaking his head a little. John shrugged and seemed pretty amused. I wish Claire was here to translate those non-verbal signals, but she had been pretty busy after moving to DC. I let out a sigh and the elevator door opened. I looked up to see if it was our floor, but it wasn't, and more people entered the elevator.

We moved a little bit to make space for those men; the elevator really seemed a little cramped and slightly suffocating. I looked at the display it was another 16-17 floors before we could reach the ground. It was then that I felt something slightly brush against my backside and even before I could react to that I felt an arm around my waist. Leon had effortlessly moved me to safest corner by his side. I looked up at him in appreciation but he still wore his expressionless face.

"Thanks!", I mumbled to him gratefully.
"Don't mention it", Leon said looking down at me.

I stopped myself from raising myself on my toes and kiss him. I could only smile and look away, but this proximity was making my heart race and ache at the same time. I reminded myself that he held no such feelings for me. My heart calmed down and I wished my feelings were as easily calmed down as a fast beating heart, but obviously they couldn't really be controlled. They just grew more and more intense with each passing day, making things more and more worse for me. I let out a discreet sigh, telling myself that it's just a phase and it would pass.

I looked up at the ding sound, as the elevator stopped at the basement parking. My eyes met with one of the woman that had joined us earlier and up close I realized the looks she was shooting at me weren't curious, but it was something like death glares. It made me really uncomfortable but I tried to ignore it, thinking my mind was just making things up, after all I was on my nerves with everything.

We walked to Leon's car and before I could take the back seat, John beat me to it. So, I had no option but to take the side seat, after all Leon was not our driver. I opened the side door and couldn't help but look at the group of women, who were getting in the car. There was this particular woman whose reactions were more intense towards me; it was the same one, who had bumped into me earlier.

"Kate?!", Leon called me and I got in the car, "Something wrong?", he asked, as I put on the seatbelt.
"I don't know but I guess that woman is shooting death glares at me for some reason", I said looking back and John followed my gaze.
"Oh she's jealous of you", John replied in a casual tone, "Since you're hanging out with Leon."
"Now I know what Claire meant", I said remembering what she told me earlier, "I am just his friend and I am already getting death glares. I don't even want to imagine how it must be for his girlfriends."
"Oh but they think that you are his girlfriend", John broke it out to me and my mouth hung open wide.

"That's ridiculous!", I exclaimed looking at Leon, who seemed to be aware of this little detail.
"Oh believe me I know, all those women have been talking about it the whole day and are trying to figure out, who you really are to Leon, and what are you doing with him in his cabin alone", John told me, smiling widely.
"Oh my god!", I responded and a lot of things seemed to be making sense all of a sudden.
"But you know what, just enjoy being in Lauren's shoes for now", John said letting out a laugh, as Leon pulled up his car in front of an outdoor Café.

(Leon's POV)

"I don't want to be in her shoes!", Kate snapped at John and before we could respond, she got out and hurried away.
"Kate!", I called out, unbuckling my seat belt and couldn't help but give John a serious look.
"What did I say?", John asked me dumbly.
"That was a really inappropriate thing to say. She's already tensed about helping us and you are not making things easier for her", I scolded him a little, as we both exited the car.
"It's probably you, who's making things difficult for her", John muttered audibly and I realized he wasn't entirely wrong.

I was somehow at the core of her troubles. It was me who asked her for help, and it was because of me that those female agents were being hostile to her. We spotted her sitting on one of the outside tables and her head was buried in the menu. We took our seat on the table, feeling a little awkward. We both really didn't know how to make it up to Kate. I signaled John to apologize to her and he cleared his throat to get her attention, but she avoided him even more. I shook my head at that pitiful attempt and just then John's phone rang, and he skedaddled out of the situation.

I let out a sigh, now it was only me who was left to deal with the situation, "Are you upset?", I asked the unnecessary question.
"No", Kate replied from behind the menu, but her voice told me otherwise.
"Kate?", I said pulling the menu away from her face and a tear rolled down her cheek.

I was surprised, well almost shocked to know Kate was crying. I thought she might be slightly annoyed, but she was actually hurt and seeing her like that made me forget what I was about to say, because it totally caught me off guard. She quickly raised her hand to wipe her tears, obviously she didn't want me to see her vulnerable like this, and seemed embarrassed. I looked in her eyes and felt really bad to put her in a situation like this. Kate looked to the side, maybe in attempts to hold back her tears or not wanting to look at me anymore, but whatever the reason it didn't make me feel good.

"I am sorry", I apologized and she looked at me with tears brimming in her eyes, "I didn't intend to make you cry", I offered her my handkerchief. She looked at it but didn't take it, so I kept it in front of her on the table.
"I am not crying", Kate tried to lie but she could only disguise her words and not her voice, "It's just that something went in my eyes", she added getting rid of her tears again.
"Hmph… yeah right!", I stated sarcastically not buying her lame excuse.
"It's….", she was cut between her sentence, when she spotted something over my shoulder.

I looked back to spot what she was looking at and spotted my colleagues from the work. They really seemed to be following us and not really being inconspicuous about it. Well it was lunch time and they had freedom to eat anywhere was the best excuse for them, so they really didn't need to be discreet. I looked back at Kate; she seemed to have lost all color and was very uncomfortable now. She started to get up but I grabbed her hand before she could actually move.

"You don't have to leave because that woman feels insecure of you", I said to Kate, looking in her eyes.
"Are they your exes?", Kate questioned me.
I wasn't really liable to answer but still I replied, "The woman in yellow shirt, the one that bumped into you earlier, is my ex and the rest of them are her workmates."
"What do they got against you that they'd go so far as investigate your relationship with a woman you're just hanging out with?", Kate asked me innocently, again looking over at the women. I let out a sigh, "I am sorry, I shouldn't have asked this. I understand it's personal."

I was really amazed the way Kate read me and that made me want to trust her more, and tell her, "Susan, my ex, is a little obsessive. She never thought I could get over her and move on to another girl, but today when she saw you with me I guess it just triggered her insecurity."
"Doesn't she know about Lauren?", Kate asked me again.
"I am sure she does, but people believe what they want to believe", I stated a universal fact, "Besides she thinks, well more of, believes that I am man, who has multiple girlfriends."
"And that's why you split?", she asked me a very unexpected question.

"Well all of my girlfriends think that", I replied, remembering all the girlfriends throwing that on me at some point in our relationship. I let out an ironic laugh, "We
usually split because my girlfriends cheated on me", I just felt like telling her that. I usually avoid talking about my personal life, but I don't know why I opened up to Kate.

"The way you're talking about your breakups and the way you're smiling, seems like you really enjoy it", Kate said, raising her eyebrows.
"Well they don't call me a playboy for nothing", I told her with a smile.
"And we both know it's not true", she shook her head slightly, looking at me warmly, "It must be painful going through breakups and being cheated on."
I was really taken aback by her seeing through it, "I am used to it", I told her the truth.
"Being used to pain doesn't mean you can't feel it anymore", Kate said looking at me kindly, "How can you smile like that?", she asked me once again and for a moment I thought she could feel my pain.

"A beautiful woman is sitting in front of me, how can I not smile", I said with a smile, talking to her made me feel a little lighter. We really had become very good friends.
Kate smiled beautifully at me, "You smiling at me would burn your ex even more", she said continuing to smile.
"I see you managed to make her smile", John said joining us back on the table, "Oh did I miss something?", he asked looking down on the table.
I was still holding on to Kate's hand and she pulled it away immediately, "It was just an accident", Kate said nervously.
"Oh was it now?", John said not believing her and smiling at her.
"Well I just stopped her from leaving when they showed up", I told him the truth pointing at my ex and her friends.
"Ah aren't they taking it a little too seriously", John said looking over at them.
"Let's just order something to eat", Kate said opening up the menu and my phone rang.

(Kate's POV)

"It's Lauren", Leon said taking the call, and John and I got busy deciding what we want, "Hello? Lauren?", Leon spoke in the phone and we looked up at him, "Excuse me", he added and left the table to talk to his girlfriend.
"Excused", John said getting back to the menu.

I looked at Leon's back for a while, feeling a little unsettled and empty, but I shook off that feeling and concentrated on the menu. Leon joined us a little bit later and the three of us ordered our meals. The lunch was usual, with us chatting about trivial stuff, John pulling on his jokes and us missing Claire's company very much. It would have been a really perfect lunch if she could join us, but unfortunately she was busy with her new responsibilities at work, to be here with us.

After lunch the three of us headed to Leon's office building. Although, I really wanted to head back home, since Shadow was alone and I had tons of work at home as well, but Leon wanted me to meet the people working on the case. And so I met those people and coincidentally Leon's ex, Susan, was on the team as well. She was pretty cool about me helping them, as cool as ice perhaps, but it didn't bug me. I could understand her hostility. She was, more or less, like Lauren that worked at Leon's office and the one he wasn't dating anymore.

Once I was introduced to the team, I was free to leave, but Leon pressed on the fact that he would take me home. So, I had to wait, while he did some paper work and it was really amusing to see him work. It was like watching a kid doing his homework, and I barely contained myself from laughing at him. I didn't want to disturb his work, so I told him that I was leaving for home earlier so he can take his time with paper work, to which he told me if I leave with him he can excuse himself off of work earlier than usual because he has to bring me home. And suddenly he didn't seem like a workaholic anymore, but that image was short lived since he just wanted to escape paper work and not actual work. At 4:00 PM in the evening, Leon pushed aside his paper work happily, and we headed for home.

A/N: Thanks a bunch for your time, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I am regretful if any typos and grammatical mistakes caused some inconvenience in understanding the context. Please feel free to leave your comment, I really enjoy hearing your opinions about the story and it helps me to improve my writing. See you all next week!