Hi,

This chapter is waaay shorter than originally intended, that's because it's been split into two parts. There are a couple of reasons, first of all, I haven't posted in like, forever. Second this chapter is pretty much all fluff/humour, I didn't think anybody could stand to read about 12k+ words of pure fluff.

Second part of this to follow as soon as I finish it, a few days hopefully. Enjoy.

Tugging his hat off with a weary sigh, Quinn stepped through the glass doors, or rather, barged through them shoulder first. He was used to running around at night and leaving all kinds of hell in his wake, but not in an overly bright office building at six in the morning. "You really didn't have to bother yourself, I think I can handle a few bloody poindexters."

"Oh, I insist," Vasquez replied, stepping through the doors altogether more gracefully a beat behind him. The man was nothing if not neat and tidy, and despite the awful hour, he looked fresh as a daisy, and just as clean cut as ever, in contrast to his hired mercenary, who looked like he'd just rolled out of the nearest bar after a hard night's drinking. "I want to know how you're planning on…obtaining our prize, and it's costing me a small fortune."

"You want quality, you gotta be willing to pay for it, boss." Quinn shook his head, hadn't he already made that point a few days ago? "We're not snatching a wallet here you know."

"No, we're not…although we could use a few after this expense you're signing over to my company." Alejandro shook his head and started walking towards the R&D department, his destination for the morning, "I sincerely hope this plan of yours works."

"Why all the doubt?" Quinn asked with a casual shrug, "I've got professionals on the payroll, a solid plan, and I've even tried to keep it in your budget. A little appreciation here, mate."

"As I've informed you before, I can't have you running around attracting unwanted attention," He sighed impatiently, the Australian grating on him in a way he never thought would happen, "You haven't done much to earn my appreciation so far."

"What attention? I bloodied a few casino workers, it's not like I robbed the place." Quinn smirked, although Vasquez never saw it, "Got a date out of it too."

"I'm soooo happy for you," With a roll of his eyes and a shake of his head, Vasquez picked up his pace. "Show me this thing that is eating through my budget please, Mr. Quinn."

Releasing a long sigh, Quinn breathed a silent 'Jackass' before opening the door to the research department, flashing a tired smile at his overly peppy and bubbly assistant hurrying over to him clutching a clipboard to her chest, "Mornin' Love, tell me you have good news for me."

"Good morning Mr. Quinn," Erin quickly brushed a few stray hairs back behind her ear, self consciously smoothing down the front of her blouse at the same time, "Um, yes. The guys think they've made progress. I'll escort you down there." With that, she took off at a brisk pace towards one of the corridors leading off from the main reception area.

Quinn sauntered along a few steps behind the woman, openly admiring the way her ass moved in her skirt, trying to ignore Vasquez right alongside him, "So, no new problems?"

"Uh, not that I know of sir, they seemed pretty optimistic." She flashed a winning smile over her shoulder at her new boss, her heels clicking away on the tile floor beneath her, "You uh…you look very handsome this morning."

"Why thank you, Love," He flashed her a smile of his own. In truth, he looked like shit, but he wasn't about to dampen her enthusiasm, he especially made sure to ignore the scoff from his boss beside him. "Not bad yourself. Doing something different with your hair?"

Giggling softly, Erin fluffed her long red hair with a flourish, flicking it over her shoulder playfully, "You noticed huh? Yeah, it's a new conditioner…I curled it this morning too." She'd also sprung for a manicure and a spray tan, but she wasn't about to mention that now was she?

Erin pushed open a door in front of her and held it open for the two gentlemen behind her, smiling up at Mr. Quinn the entire time as he stepped through, a delightful blush that almost matched the shade of her hair colouring her cheeks as he brushed past. She was knocked from her daze when Vasquez pushed past a moment later, ignoring her completely. "So, what have you been burning my money on Mr. Quinn?"

Rolling his eyes with a barely restrained snippy remark, Quinn waved his arm out in front of him, "On securing your little science project. We've already got a plan to separate it from the others, now we just have to worry about containing the fucker. Your little ice cube idea was…quaint, but I think this will be far more effective, not to mention less clumsy."

Trying his level best not to reveal his curiosity and eagerness, Vasquez let out an exaggerated sigh, "Fine, impress me."

Erin pushed open another door in front of the group and stepped through, again holding the door open for them, smiling shyly when Quinn flashed her another of his winning smiles.

"Freezing it is only a temporary measure, but electromagnets, that will keep it in check as long as you need to. We can capture it, transport it, and contain it all with one device."

Vasquez warily stepped through the door when Quinn raised his arm with a smug smirk. He was greeted by a pretty normal looking room, white walls, linoleum floor, and two guys at the far end of the room in jeans and white lab coats, quickly talking to each other and frantically flicking through piles of paper. "Electromagnets?" He tried to keep the curiosity out of his voice, but he failed miserably.

"Magnets are great, but run a little juice through them, and they're real bloody wonders. I got the idea from those cranes they use to pick up cars at the junk yard."

"So…where is it?" Vasquez asked, looking around, expecting some giant monstrosity of a machine that looked as wonderful and as powerful as he was being lead to believe.

Smirking, Quinn sauntered further into the room, "That's the point, boss. It's hidden under the floor, thus the trap part. It's bloody unlikely a machine would just march willingly in front of a giant fucking magnet."

Taking a couple of steps forward, Vasquez tentatively prodded the ground with his foot, "I don't feel anything different." He looked up at Quinn with a small shrug and watched as he nodded to his assistant, who then proceeded to scurry away.

"Then your techs are doing their jobs." Without another word, Quinn took off his watch, putting it along with his sidearm, cell phone and keys in to the pocket of his coat and set it on a bench off to the side of the room.

Vasquez couldn't fight off the sudden urge to step back away from the middle of the room on instinct, "So does it work or not?"

"That's what we're here to find out boss." Quinn walked in the direction Erin scampered off in, holding his arm out in an 'after you' gesture, "We'd better get clear before they fire it up. Unless you want the fillings yanked out of your head, that is."

Vasquez made his way out of the room, glancing back over his shoulder in time to see Quinn fire off a nod towards the techs, who then proceeded to hurry about the room, pressing buttons and doing final prep work. He had to hand it to the mercenary, he may be abrasive and downright irritating, but when he had a plan, he made sure it came together.

"Even if we get our hands on this thing, I don't know how you plan to study it," Quinn idly mentioned while walking up the small staircase to the observation room. "It'll get out eventually, you can be sure of it, and it's gonna be pissed off."

Vasquez actually chuckled at that, an evil smile slowly spreading across his face, "You leave that to me. I've been working on this a lot longer than you."

"Any new intel on the family I should know about?" Quinn asked with a quirked brow, stepping onto the small raised booth where Erin was waiting for them, "Or are you using all your little spies to follow me around?"

"Oh I only need a few spies to hear what you've been up to." Vasquez clasped his hands behind his back with a triumphant smirk, leaning forward to look out of the observation window at the front of the booth. "But no, no new intel besides what you already know…although the Uncle's…relationship, is progressing further."

Quinn sighed, rubbing his face tiredly, why were obstacles always put in his path? "That's going to complicate things. It might not be possible to keep the girl out of the fighting if she's around."

Vasquez flashed him a sideways warning look, "That is unacceptable Mr. Quinn. You know how…you know who she is."

"I do, but she's made her choice, hasn't she? She's already involved, and in danger. The uncle is practically living at her apartment. Unless we remove him as a target, she'll likely be there when we hit him."

"Then don't hit him," Vasquez ground out impatiently…mercenaries. "I'm not interested in some scumbag who just happened to get involved with Miss Grey. I'm only interested in the other ones."

"Fair enough," Finally catching a break, Quinn turned towards Erin with a smile, "Are we ready for the test?"

Glancing down out of the window, Erin received a thumbs up and a smile from one of the techs, "Yes sir."

"Fire it up." Quinn ordered confidently as Erin signalled the techs, fighting the instinctive desire to step back. He really hoped there wouldn't be another overload and yet another fire.

Catching Quinn flinching out of the corner of his eyes, Vasquez fought the urge to question the usually unflappable mercenary. Instead he turned his attention to the jacket Quinn had set aside earlier. At first nothing happened, he was about to say something when one of the techs reached down and pressed a button on a control panel. The next thing her knew, the jacket flew across the room, landing and sticking in the exact spot he was prodding with his foot moments earlier.

"Is it strong enough to hold her?" He asked without looking away from the jacket.

"Remember when I mentioned those cranes?" Quinn asked with a triumphant smirk, "Well this one could pick up a bloody battleship."

"Impressive…" Losing his carefully cultivated air of non-interest, Vasquez gawked through the window for a moment longer before heading back downstairs, "Come with me, leave the girl."

Quinn nodded after catching the pissy look on Erin's face. Some people just had no class, "Why don't you pick up some breakfast for us, Love? Oh, and coffee, I'm half asleep."

"Yes Mr. Quinn, sir." Erin scuttled off with her clipboard hugged to her chest, smiling over her shoulder. Quinn watched her go with an approving leer before joining Vasquez in the main room, watching him talking to the two techs on the far side, picking up a snippet of the conversation.

"So how difficult is it to use this thing in the field?" He glanced at the complicated looking control panel beside him, "Can anybody use it?"

Shoving his glasses up his nose with a firm finger, the tech tried to hide the nervousness he usually displayed around his boss, "Of Course Mr. Vasquez. We designed it to be mobile, as long as it has sufficient power, all you have to do is flip the switch. Adjustments to magnetic output are made by these simple dials." He waved a hand in the general direction of the control panel.

"Is there a setting for maximum?" Vasquez asked with a chuckle, glancing over his shoulder as Quinn approached, "I have a feeling that's all we'll need."

"Ummmm…yes sir." The second tech squinted behind his glasses, "But I wouldn't recommend it. Mr. Quinn was rather vague about what this was to be used for, but that much force could crumple a car like a soda can."

"Perfect!" Vasquez clapped the young man on the shoulder with a bright smile, "Turn it up and leave it up, then pack it for transport."

"Yes sir!" The techs then scurried off happily, milling about the room, changing settings and dismantling pieces of equipment.

Quinn sighed, folding his arms over his chest, "What now, boss?"

Vasquez stepped back over towards him, taking up a position at his side before firing off a short, sharp nod.

Walking over to the centre of the room, Quinn retrieved his jacket and slipped it on, calmly putting his watch back on and pulling his sidearm out of the pocket. Hollering over at the techs, he tried to sound irritated, "Hey, your bloody science project mangled my piece!"

One of the techs turned to him with a flustered look, carefully stepping closer, "Um, it did? I did warn you that this thing was powerful."

"Yeah!" Quinn shot off a glare at the two of them, "The barrel looks warped, the magazine is sticking, just look at it!"

They both stepped closer, out of sheer curiosity more than anything, and eyed the gun as he held it out. Both of their minds worked overtime on how they could possibly get out of this with their jobs and paychecks intact.

"I doubt this thing would fire even if I tried to use it!"

Shaking his head, he flicked the safety off and levelled it at the two men. Without a beat of hesitation he fired four shots, one through the heart, the other through the head of each man, pausing only after they hit the ground to quirk a brow, "Hmmm. Looks like I was wrong. Sorry about that, guys. Seems to be working fine."

Vasquez merely stared at his mercenary as he casually stepped up beside him. His stance hadn't changed the whole time, and he'd barely flinched at hearing the shots, "What was that?"

"What you ordered me to do." Quinn turned to face his employer, looking more than a little irritated, "No loose ends, right?"

"Did I ever say that to you?"

"No…but you nodded." He shrugged, "What else would that mean?"

"It meant, 'I'm happy with your work, good job, let's get breakfast'…" He turned away to look at the two techs, the majority of their brains splattered across what was otherwise a spotlessly clean room, "It wasn't a 'shoot these two geniuses in their heads' nod."

"Well maybe in the future you should actually use words then!" Sighing dramatically, Quinn held his hands out, "Normally a nod means 'I'm done with these guys'!"

"Just what type of person has been nodding at you in the past?" Vasquez turned on a heel and started slowly making his way over to the door, "Don't you know unexpected deaths are bad for business? Not to mention somebody is going to have to clean up your mess."

"Cleanup isn't my job, boss, just making the mess." Tucking his sidearm into his holster, he followed a step behind, "I really don't see why this is such a big deal for you. You weren't related to either of them, were you?"

"No," Vasquez glanced sidelong at him as he stepped through the door, "Those two were bordering on genius level, just out of MIT. It'll take me a long time to replace those two valuable employees, Mr. Quinn."

Quinn merely shrugged, plastering on a smile, "My bad. I'll make sure to ask next time…" He waited a beat before chuckling loudly, "I still can't believe you gave me a bloody assistant!"

Oh, my, God…is that a damn wrinkle?

Shoving her face closer to the bathroom mirror, Jessica confirmed that the wrinkle was in fact a stray hair, then proceeded to breathe a huge sigh of relief. Shaking her head, she finished her inspection and stepped into the bedroom. She was actually rather proud of herself, she was awake before Derek, on a Saturday, and she'd already accomplished more in two hours than she usually did in a week.

Stepping closer to the bed with an indulgent smirk, she loudly clapped her hands together, "Up and at 'em soldier!"

"Whaaaa?" Derek groaned in to the pillow, cracking open his eyes just a little. Usually at hearing a noise that loud, he'd have been up and scrambling for his pants where his sidearm spent the night, but for some odd reason, he seemed to relax as soon as he nestled in Jessica's soft sheets, next to her impossibly soft body.

"Come on baby, it's noon, don't you think it's about time you crawled out of bed?" She resisted the urge to reach out and swat his bare ass through the covers, "Even I don't sleep in this late on a Saturday…usually."

Screwing his eyes shut with contempt for the day ahead, Derek snuggled further in to Jessica's pillow with a groan, "You haven't just spent the last week hiking around the middle of nowhere with John. I'm tired, I wanna sleep some more."

"I was tired too," Jessica complained momentarily, before her lips formed in to an evil smirk, "I still let you keep me up most of the night Mr."

"I'm not gonna apologise for that," He mumbled into the pillow before rolling over, "All the more reason to stay here and sleep!"

Peeking his eyes open, very wary of the midday sun streaming in through the windows, he noticed her fully dressed, made up and obviously prepared for something, "Why are you up anyway? Meeting your dad today or something?"

"If I was having lunch with Daddy I'd let you sleep in, baby." Waltzing over to the bed, she flopped down beside him with a grin, "We're gonna go surprise your family today!"

Hesitating for just a moment to make sure he'd heard that one correctly, Derek let his head flop back down to the pillow, "You're kidding, right?"

"Of course not," Using the craft and guile only a woman possessed, Jessica pulled out the pouty face she knew usually had the desired effect on her man, "I promised Amy and Cameron I'd swing by soon, and you haven't seen your family in a week!"

"You said yourself you'd come over as soon as you dropped John off, and while you know I appreciate seeing my scruffy puppy, they're gonna think I'm stealing you away!"

"Cameron wants to see you?" Derek was so intrigued he rolled over to face her, "Wow, she usually only wants to spend time with...her brother."

"We had a nice talk the other day." Grinning, she leaned over to drop a soft, teasing kiss on his lips, "She's a nice girl, once you get past the scary. Now, come on!"

Grinning like an idiot from the feeling of her lips on his, Derek's eyes stayed closed as he whined in a childish voice, "But I don't wanna go, stay here with me!" He then proceeded to grope blindly in the spot he knew she was laying.

Jessica slapped his hand away with a smirk, rolling off the bed in one deft manoeuvre, "Come on! My bag is already packed."

"Bag?" Derek rolled onto his back, cracking open his eyes and looking up at the ceiling, bringing his hands up to try and rub some life into his body, starting with his cheeks and eyes. "What bag?"

Jessica blushed noticeably, clearly embarrassed, "Um, yeah. Sarah thinks I'm stuck up or something, you saw the way she was eyeing my dress at dinner. I just thought maybe we could sleep in your room tonight."

Suddenly wide awake, Derek sat up in bed, groaning a little from a couple of lucky shots John managed to get in on his ribs, not to mention from the hundred pound girl bouncing around on him most of the night. Despite his best efforts not to, he shot her with a 'really?' look, "You want to sleep over there? Why?"

"We always stay over here." She pointed out, shuffling her feet, embarrassment giving way to a touch of hurt, "Are you like...embarrassed of me?"

"What makes you say that?" Derek asked with a quick shake of his head, really not wanting nor needing this right after waking up, he'd much rather it if she were curled up beside him, not coming up with crazy suggestions. "If anything I'm embarrassed of them, babe."

"You never let me in, Derek." She sighed sadly, pout returning, "We talked about this. I haven't even seen your room over there!"

Derek couldn't help the ungentlemanly scoff that escaped his lips, "There's not much to see, Amy won the big room, but I'll bet hers is really pretty."

Leaning forward slowly, propping one knee up on the bed, Jessica only stopped when her face was about an inch from his, trailing a delicate hand slowly over his chest, "I want to be part of your life. All of it, Derek."

"But why?" Derek chuckled exasperatedly, trying to ignore the feeling of her slightly cool fingers over his skin, "Is your life so messed up that you think mine might be a step up?"

"Because it's your life," She sighed, slapping his chest impatiently, almost as if she begrudged him for what she was about to say, "And for some totally messed up reason, I love you."

Flopping back on to the pillow and barely suppressing a groan, Derek took a moment to think about it. The glance he took at her adorable pout pretty much broke his resolve though, "Fine, we can stay over. Just...don't get upset if everything doesn't go perfectly."

With a smile that would've reduced even the hardest man to his knees, Jessica rolled out of bed, practically bubbling over with energy, "Awesome! Now come on, I bought you some nice clothes to wear!"

"Ugh," Derek flopped back down again with a groan, again sounding more like a child than a hardened combat veteran, "Nice? Like, polo shirt and a sweater nice?"

Despite the fact she'd checked herself only two minutes ago in the mirror above her visor, Jessica found time for another cursory inspection in the reflection of the window beside the door of the Connor's house, you know, just in case her lipstick and eyeliner had managed to smudge in the time it took to walk from the truck to the house and ring the doorbell.

Satisfied nothing was out of place, she found herself sucking in a deep breath and slowly exhaling before glancing back over her shoulder, "Just go ahead and carry that around back, babe! I'll tell Sarah what's what."

Not through lack of trying, Derek failed to stifle the scoff, he did manage however, to keep his mumbled reply to himself, "Yeah, you do that, babe…good luck."

Turning back to the door, Jessica cradled her gift to Sarah in her hands while rocking back and forth on her heels impatiently, barely managing to suppress the urge to whistle.

To her eternal surprise and delight, Amy answered the door with a flourish. Before she'd even had a chance to open her mouth, the little girl had flung herself at Jessica, squealing like a banshee, "Aunt Jessica!"

"How's my girl?" Careful to avoid crushing Sarah's gift, Jessica leaned down and dropped a kiss on top of Amy's head, squeezing her tightly, "I missed you!"

"I missed you too!" Pulling back a little, Amy's eyes lit up at the bag Jessica was carrying. Paying no thought to any consequences, she reached out and tugged at the top of the bag, "Is that for me?"

"Oh, no sweetie!" Smiling sweetly, she pulled the brown paper bag out of the little girl's reach, "This is for your mom. But I did bring you something, it's in the bags your Uncie Derek is carrying around back."

Tearing away towards Derek like he held the key to every candy store in the world, Amy left Jessica alone again. Swivelling her head around, she was startled to say the least upon finding Sarah standing in the doorway, arms folded across her chest, eyeing the girl with a wary eye, "Jessica," She gave the girl a curt nod, nothing more.

"Good afternoon Sarah," Jessica flashed a perfect smile, reached into the bag in her hands and pulled out a bottle of Patron, "Um…Derek said you liked tequila, so I figured I'd treat."

Sarah stared openly, first at the bottle, then at Jessica's nervous face…and then back to the bottle. Taken aback by her generosity, she gingerly reached out and took it, scanning the label quickly, confirming for herself that it was in fact a bottle of liquor worth about one hundred dollars…and this was the good stuff. "Thank you. Um…come in."

"Derek's running the cooler around back," Stepping into the house, Jessica glanced around, a little disappointed she didn't see Cameron or John anywhere, "He was gone all last week, and I promised the girls I'd stop by, so we figured we'd have a little barbecue."

"Um, we're not really the barbecue type," Sarah replied after a few moments of frantically racking her brains for a reason not to say yes…and then a thought struck her as odd, "Wait, Cameron wanted you to swing by?"

Jessica couldn't prevent her left eyebrow creeping up her forehead, "Why is everyone so surprised by that? We had a good time!"

"You did huh? Well…that's good!" Sarah replied, slipping into 'mom' mode for the sake of their cover, "Uh, we don't really have anything in to cook. Like I said, not really a barbecue family."

"Oh, that's not a problem." Practically beaming with her own forethought, not to mention the effort she'd put in before Derek had woken up, Jessica bounced on her feet excitedly, "Derek and I brought over a cooler with the works. Steak, burgers, chicken, and beer!"

Smiling genuinely for the first time, Sarah tucked the bottle under her arm and quickly covered her smile. She wasn't sure why she didn't like this girl on her doorstep. Even through Sarah's admittedly biased eyes, she was sweet, nice, kind, and seemed to adore her 'family'. Although that was probably more to do with her being in love with Derek more than anything.

Could that have been what was bothering her, that Derek was smitten with her, that he wouldn't be focusing on herself and John? Dismissing that thought as ludicrous, Sarah stepped aside, allowing the young woman to enter her home, "And tequila. Alright, then I guess we're having a barbecue. I'll just go get…the kids."

"Awesome!" Jessica clapped her hands together in barely restrained glee, "I'll head out back to make sure Amy doesn't kill your brother in law!"

With a shake of her head, Sarah watched her go, silently wishing she'd stop screeching, she was even more annoying than Amy could be. Deciding upon the lesser of two evils, she headed upstairs, lost in her own world until she reached John's door…and then remembered who would be inside.

Composing herself, she knocked gently on the door, hoping she wouldn't have to listen to any squeaks or moans…especially after what she heard the night before. "John, Cameron?"

John groaned sleepily in to his pillow…or Cameron's chest, he really was too tired, sore and beaten to tell the difference at that point, "Whhhhazzzzzzaattt?"

"Your mother," Cameron answered, her voice gentle as she trailed a few fingers through his short cropped hair, "I believe Jessica is here."

John quirked a brow at just how happy Cameron sounded about that, "I thought you didn't like her?"

Cameron did her best to shrug, buffeting a sleepy John just a little, "I misread her."

"Ugh…" With a sigh, John pulled the blankets over himself and his girlfriend, making sure to cover up her bare chest before rolling slightly to the side. "Come on in."

"John, Jessica's here and…" Sarah paused mid sentence, door partially open. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't stop her eyes from bulging at the sight of her quite obviously naked son curled up with his equally naked cyborg girlfriend. Fighting down the impulsive urge to heave her guts up on the bedroom floor, she bit down her reaction at seeing them so…intimate, for the first time, "Uh, I mean uh, yeah, she wants a barbecue."

John let out a long yawn, scratching at the stubble on his cheek while tilting his head up to get a better look at Cameron, "You up for a little barbecue?"

Looking down lovingly at her John, mostly ignoring the gawking Sarah, Cameron smiled just a little, just enough to make John grin wide, "Just to confirm, is this the practice of cooking meat on an open grill, voiding established food preparation standards of hygiene and safety?"

"It's the practice of man using fire to make beefy goodness," John answered through a grin, fighting off a chuckle at her description…so Cameron. Craning his neck, and ignoring the painful crack it caused, he dropped a quick kiss on her lips, "I thought you liked steak?"

Smiling, Cameron gently traced the outline of his jaw with one of her metal fingers, "I do. I believe it's customary for the men to do the cooking?"

"Sure is, why?" Grinning like an idiot as memories of the night before rushed through his mind, John had pretty much forgotten his mother was standing in the room as he slid a hand to lay flat on Cameron's smooth belly under the sheets.

Sarah meanwhile stood and tried not to squirm, biting her tongue so hard it would probably result in a loss of feeling if she kept going.

Seemingly oblivious, Cameron smiled down at her man, "If you cook it, then I'll eat it."

"Sounds good, Princess." Dropping one last kiss on her lips, John came to his senses as he started to disentangle himself from her, "Uh, give us five to get dressed?"

Snapping back to the present, Sarah put her eyes back in her head and released her grip on her tongue, "Uh, yeah, sure."

Silently leaving the room and closing the door behind her, she honestly tried her best to ignore the very obvious sounds of a swat coming in to contact with what was probably a bare backside. Shuddering, she quickly made her way downstairs a little paler than she was earlier…and just what was with the two hand sized holes in the headboard?

Again, apologies for the length, but it's hopefully enough to keep you happy until I can post the rest.

As always, thanks to Dekardkain who has been an absolute trooper lately!