Author's Note: So sorry for the late update! It's still Friday where I'm at, though!

Lisa: Nicky and Marta will get their chance to be strong. But, right now, Marta needed Aaron around. :) So glad you're enjoying the story!

Hope everyone enjoys the chapter! ~lg

oOo

Marta spent three days at Aaron's. The first morning, she slept until ten, amazed at how tired she felt. Though it shouldn't have surprised her. Here, she had Aaron to watch her back and keep her safe.

When she did make her way downstairs, she found him in his office, going over business accounts and talking on the phone with someone named Manuel. Most of his conversation revolved around what he needed to have accomplished in the next week. He glanced up and saw her, waving her into the room with a smile. Instead, she paused at the door, watching with an answering smile playing around her lips and finding herself inordinately proud of him. He sounded just like a business owner should: authoritative and knowledgeable.

After ending the call, he stood and headed for her. "Good morning."

Marta rolled her eyes and nodded toward the desk. "Sorry to keep you from work."

He put his hands on her shoulders, staring intently at her. "You're more important," he said softly.

She nodded and refused to argue. Instead, she let him pull her into a hug and sighed as she laid her head on his shoulder. "I feel silly," she confessed. "It's not like anyone was attacking me."

"No, they were just watching you from somewhere." His dry tone was almost as dangerous as it had been the first time they ever argued. In that moment, Marta had no doubt that he'd track down the person watching her and either kill or incapacitate him or her. Thankfully, Aaron didn't give her a chance to dwell too long on what her science had done to him. "How are you with your self-defense? Still keeping up what I taught you?"

She lifted her head, her train of thought officially derailed as she realized just how lax she'd been in her exercise. Her expression was apparently answer enough because he nodded. "Eat," he said as he nudged her toward the kitchen. "We'll work on it later."

Two hours later, Marta found herself in Aaron's back yard, going through training that she'd neglected for months. She had gotten lazy, keeping up on her exercise but letting the self-defense go to waste. All their time on the run, and she had forgotten Aaron's primary lesson: Be ready for anything. Now, she realized just how slow her reactions were and what she'd done. Aaron didn't chastise her, though. He just patiently kept at her until she was ready to collapse. Then, he offered her a bottle of water and said he would make dinner. As if it were all in a day's work. Given his former life and what had kept them alive, it shouldn't have surprised her.

Jason and Nicky returned shortly after Marta finished showering from her workout with Aaron. Their expressions startled her. Nicky looked heartbroken, and Jason had closed down more than normal. Marta watched them slam into separate areas of the house and sent a questioning look to Aaron. He shrugged back, just as flummoxed as she was and shaking his head with an exasperated expression.

Dinner was a tense affair with Nicky going upstairs afterward and Jason asking to speak with Aaron. That left Marta at loose ends, and she slipped onto the back porch to think.

Her work had, yet again, driven her from her home. This time, she knew what it meant and what she might face. Which made it worse. Before, she just had Aaron pushing her to keep moving, to not look back, and to survive. She didn't know the depths their enemy would go to get what he wanted. She hadn't understood that leaving was taking her life into her own hands and throwing it in the face of her enemy.

Now, she did. She'd had nearly nine wonderful months of living in freedom she hadn't realized she'd possessed until it was taken from her last time. But she'd started taking that for granted. She still kept an eye on her surroundings, but she'd never thought she would be put back in this situation.

Jason slipped out of the house and to the guest house, interrupting Marta's thoughts. He glanced her way but didn't say anything. Aaron followed, walking to where Marta had dragged one of the chaise lounges under the back porch. She'd hugged her knees into her chest, leaving plenty of room for him to settle. He looked a bit more annoyed than before. She straightened. "What's going on?"

Aaron shook his head, rolling his eyes. "The two of them had a falling out of some sort. Jason said he's remembering things but she's refusing to explain them."

"Still want to lock them in a room together?"

Aaron raised an eyebrow at her. "Until they either kill each other or. . .? Yes."

Marta found it in herself to laugh at that. The amusement faded quickly, however, prompting Aaron to face her. She saw the questions on his face and sighed. "Just thinking about what this means."

Aaron reached out and took her hand. "You'll get through this." He rubbed his thumb over her knuckles. "I promise."

Marta smiled at that and drew as much comfort as she could from the contact. She wished she could let him wrap her in his arms all night while she slept, but that was dangerous territory. She and Aaron had crossed those lines while on that fishing barge after Manila, and she had often wondered what their relationship would have been like if they'd waited a little while. Now that they were rebuilding what they had, she didn't want to fall into bed with him until she knew for a fact that this was a life-long thing. She wasn't certain what would indicate it, whether it was him proposing or some other event, but she hadn't had the indication yet.

Aaron stood and tugged on her hand. "Come on. You need sleep."

Marta allowed him to escort her upstairs, hugging him again when she said goodnight. She entered her room, seeing him standing in the hallway and smiling at her while she closed her door. The memory of that smile helped her relax, and she lay in bed until she finally fell asleep sometime after midnight. She could get through this, as long as Aaron stayed at her side. Without him, she knew she'd fall apart. She never wanted to know what that felt like.

oOo

Two days at Aaron's were almost more than Nicky could take. She appreciated the place to stay while she and Jason got Marta's apartment "bug-proofed," but the tension worked on her until she wanted to scream. When at Marta's, Jason was aloof and demanding, not speaking except to ask for a tool or her opinion on the tech. When at Aaron's, he retreated to that guest house and spent every spare minute there. She just wished he'd talk to her. Then she shook her head. Talking wasn't exactly Jason Bourne's strong suit.

And then there was Marta and Aaron. Nicky wasn't really annoyed with them so much as she just wanted the two of them to admit they were head-over-heels and get on with life. The in-limbo was frustrating when she wasn't the one experiencing it. Marta was running scared, as well, and Aaron did his best to be supportive and push her into survival mode, something Nicky actually did appreciate. It made her job—watching Marta's back and keeping an eye on the tech—a bit easier.

Finally, she needed to figure herself out. For the first time in years, she found herself in conflict that had nothing to do with her work. This was personal, and she hated it. Every time she looked at Jason, her heart did a little flip, but her emotions took off in a wildly different direction. She just wanted to cry, especially when he blinked at her for snapping at him. It pushed her away from everyone she called a friend in Chicago and kept her in the room that even smelled like him. She knew he was trying to give her space, and she appreciated it. But she wished he'd just treat her like he had.

And that was the problem. Nicky didn't want Jason to treat her as he had since he lost his memory. She wanted what they had before, back in Paris. But he didn't remember any of it except for a few dreams. She didn't know whether to be happy he was dreaming about her—even if they were memories returning—or to be upset. And it left her unable to be objective about the whole thing.

Now, on the third day since finding the bugs in Marta's home, she watched Jason stand at the window and tuck a spotting scope to his eye. The small piece of equipment allowed him to scan nearby buildings for any sign of surveillance. It was necessary, but it took a great deal of time and patience. Jason hadn't moved in the last fifteen minutes, leaving Nicky with nothing to do but dust the house now that they'd finished making their mess.

The apartment was as bug-proof as possible. She knew for a fact they'd found every piece of surveillance equipment there. Jason had even spent several hours checking the ducts and rigging them with laser alarms, and she had ensured that RF detectors covered the entire house. Most would say they were being paranoid, and maybe they were. But Nicky, Aaron, Marta, and Jason had all been surveilled or nearly killed enough times that none of them took chances with their safety.

"Nicky." Jason's quiet voice startled her out of her thoughts. She turned to him, her face blank, as he stood at the window. He'd changed position, moving so quietly that she hadn't heard him at all, and had lifted the spotting scope back to his eye, closing the other so he could see. He barely moved as he spoke. "I need you to obviously leave the apartment and drive somewhere."

She hesitated, and the set of his shoulders changed. "You found something?"

"Maybe."

She knew she shouldn't have questioned him, but it had slipped out before she could stop it. This Jason, while so close to the one she'd known and loved, was an unknown. But she gathered up her personal belongings, draped her bag over her shoulder, and left the apartment. Jason never moved, a lonely silhouette beside the window that was rock solid and utterly irritating.

Why was she so frustrated with him? The question rolled around in her mind as she walked to her car and made a show of leaving the apartment. She normally didn't react so badly over disappointments, her time in Treadstone having inured her to life's problems. But Jason's insistence that she tell him what they were to one another had shattered her illusions that they could stay friends. The other day, when she'd kissed him, she hadn't thought about the consequences. That one angry kiss, though, had awakened desires in her that kept her up at night and haunted her into her dreams. She hadn't slept well in three nights, thanks to Jason's little stunt.

But could she truly fault him for pushing when he'd been dreaming things that he wasn't certain were fact or fantasy? She had no idea what he truly felt, partially because he didn't talk to anyone save, maybe, Aaron. The frustration on his face when he admitted to the dreams wasn't in any way intended to make her uncomfortable. It was the frustration of a man trying to find his place in the world. Why, then, did she wish she'd known about those dreams before kissing him? Was it because she would have reacted differently? Or was it because she would have latched onto them and hoped that they would rekindle their relationship?

Nicky sighed as she pulled into the drive-thru at the coffee shop where she worked. She'd been so lost in thought that she hadn't paid attention to the rearview mirror. Behind her, a tan sedan entered the parking lot and took a space near her position. She rolled down her window and ordered, making certain to lean out a little further than normal. The guy behind the wheel seemed enthralled with his phone, but she didn't take it as fact that he was just checking his messages before going inside to order. She hadn't seen him around before, and it worried her.

After receiving the completely unnecessary drink, Nicky left the coffee shop and blended back into traffic. The tan sedan followed her. She reached for her phone and dialed without looking. "Jason? I've got a tail. Looks like we drew him out."

oOo

Jason smiled when he heard Nicky's voice. "Keep him busy. I need to get into his apartment." He hung up a few moments later.

Leaving Marta's apartment, he leisurely made his way into the building he'd identified. Finding a sniper's nest was next-to-impossible if one didn't know what to look for, but he'd been a sniper for Treadstone. It had taken quite some time, scrutinizing each apartment window in several buildings for several days, mentally marking where he'd left off. But this was work he knew. It frustrated Nicky for him to be so silent and still for long lengths of time, but he needed to get into that nest and figure out what—if anything—this guy had.

Was this the tail that Aaron had noticed and warned Marta about? He hoped so. Six foot, blond, and built like a linebacker. That had been Aaron's description, and this person certainly fit the bill. Jason had watched through the window as the sniper stepped around a rifle and his own spotting scope to check something on the computer. When the guy glanced toward the window, he quickly retreated and moved, making certain he wasn't backlit. He found the guy already at his own scope. That's when he asked Nicky to draw the man out.

It had worked. The apartment was empty, and Jason had managed to get an approximate location. Now, he wandered the halls of the appropriate floor and picked the lock on the apartment he had deduced would be his sniper's nest. He was right.

The place was empty save for a bed, a few toiletries and clothes, and the surveillance equipment. That included an infrared scanner as well as a parabolic mic, rifle, scope, computer, and several other toys. The computer showed an innocuous wallpaper, but a few quick keystrokes brought up the hours of video this guy had filmed of Marta and Nicky's apartment. Jason pulled a flash drive from his computer and watched it transfer, the anger in him surprising given that he knew this would happen. The idea that this guy had watched Marta and Nicky go about their lives. . . .He swallowed the curse that wanted to escape and set about studying the place.

This was a well-planned surveillance operation. Jason had done numerous missions like this, his mind filling in blanks and seeing the training. The problem he came across wasn't whether this guy had anything or not. He wanted to know who had ordered the surveillance. Was Blondie a merc, or did he work for some shadowy government organization that had pulled the wool over the CIA's eyes? Jason looked for identification, but he found none.

After going through the apartment and taking care to not leave a trace of his presence while still leaving some of the guy's own equipment behind, he slipped back out, locked the door, and hurried back to Marta's place. A quick text to Nicky, and he settled in to wait for her arrival. She showed up thirty minutes later, staying silent as she drove him back to Aaron's house in Arlington Heights. Jason didn't push his luck, figuring two arguments in a week was enough. Instead, he tapped his fingers on his knee as he forced his mind away from the irritated woman beside him and onto the sniper.

At Aaron's, he let Nicky go inside while heading to the guest house. In the interest of putting space between himself and his former girlfriend, he'd begun the work. But he needed Aaron's help now. He knew relatively little about plumbing, and the bathroom needed to have a lot of it done. Heaving a sigh, he returned to the main house and quietly asked for Aaron's input.

The Outcome agent followed him into the guest house and looked around. The two of them had already decided that Jason would have free reign with the design, and he'd been putting his ideas together in his mind. But he had another reason for asking Aaron to join him. Pulling the flash drive from his pocket, he handed it over. "Found the sniper's nest," he said, seeing Aaron's head snap up at that. "He's been watching them for a few weeks."

"Since Le Colonial." Aaron shook his head. "I knew that guy was a problem."

"What do you want me to do?"

Aaron clenched his jaw as he thought. "Nothing," he finally stated. "Not with this guy. We need more information on who he is and who he's working for."

"I left a couple of his bugs that weren't destroyed there." Jason pulled a computer out of his bag. "It's not much, but I have an angle on the computer and rifle."

Aaron studied the screen, seeing the blond linebacker drifting in and out of the frame. "Good. You're sure this won't be detected?"

"Not one hundred percent, but fairly sure."

Aaron nodded, seemingly debating his words before straightening. "What happened between you and Nicky?"

Jason blinked at the question. He hadn't expected it, and having it just thrown out so casually caught him off guard. "Why?"

Aaron glared. "You two have been slamming around my house for days, and, frankly, it's getting on my nerves. Not to mention that Marta's already upset at being watched. She doesn't need the two of you not talking and acting like children." He turned toward the door. "Work it out," he said with a slight growl in his voice. "Then get over it." He left Jason staring at the door as it closed behind him.

oOo

Aaron sighed as he shut the guest house door and shook his head. There was no good time or way to bring up Nicky and whatever had happened the other night to a man like Jason Bourne. It just needed to be tossed out there and the fallout handled. He hoped it didn't alienate Jason, but he also wanted to get the man to think beyond the initial moment. Jason had lost a lot more than Aaron, but that didn't mean he needed to make everyone else's lives miserable.

Inside, Aaron found Marta washing dishes by hand while Nicky took a shower. With two tankless water heaters in the house, it made such feats possible. Aaron watched for a long moment, seeing the tension in Marta's shoulders and how she fought with her emotions. The last few days had been difficult for her, and the drama wasn't helping. Tonight, when neither Jason nor Nicky showed up for the meal she'd cooked, she'd almost fallen apart.

Moving across the room, Aaron slipped an arm around Marta's waist. "You know, I have a dishwasher for this purpose."

She tried to smile at him. "I don't mind."

Aaron watched her hands move across the dishes, scrubbing them with an almost obsessive need to have every bit of dirt removed. He reached over and stilled them, taking the plate from her and dropping it back into the scalding water. "What's going on?"

Marta shrugged, drying her hands with the towel he offered and leaning her backside against the counter. "I just don't know what to do." When he blinked, she clarified, "About everything. I want to go home and get back to life, but I don't think I can live with being watched all the time. And with this whole thing with Jason and Nicky. . . ." Her voice trailed off as she waved a hand toward the stairs.

Aaron moved to her side, leaning against the counter and letting their shoulders touch but not trying to comfort her. She needed to get this out, to vent the emotion before he sent her back to the city.

She swiped a hand across her face, an indication of just how close to a breakdown she really was. "I thought I was done with all of this," she admitted quietly. "I knew having Nicky around would be tough, but I thought I could handle it. I thought I was stronger than this, that I could put up with the idea that my life wasn't so simple anymore."

Aaron eyed her and, when she didn't continue, he prompted, "Now?"

"I don't know!" She pushed away from the counter and began finding lids for the leftovers. As she put them in the fridge, she continued straightening the kitchen out of a need to do something. "I don't. . . ." She turned to face him. "I don't want to go back."

"You don't have to."

"Yes I do." She met his eyes. "Aaron, as nice as it is to be here, I can't go on like this forever. Something needs to happen."

He understood. It felt like all of them were waiting on the edge of a cliff, just anticipating a shove that would take them through the next phase of their lives.

Then, like he'd seen her do so many times in the course of their lives, he watched Marta pull herself together. She straightened and moved back to the sink, now washing the dishes with calm movements. "Did you talk to him?"

Aaron shouldn't have been surprised by the question, but he was. Marta was perceptive to people, though it had been buried under layers of scientific study when he first met her. "Told him to work it out."

"Think he will?"

Aaron glanced at the ceiling as the water shut off upstairs. "He'd better." He shook his head again. "If I ever get that way. . . ."

She rolled her eyes. "Aaron, you get that way all the time. You just have the courtesy of telling me what I've done wrong."

Because she said it in such a dry tone, he didn't take exception to her words. When they'd first met, he did have a habit of being blunt. Still did, but he'd learned to tone it down after several arguments in Johannesburg. Until then, they'd been in survival mode and hadn't taken the time to fuss at each other.

"Give them time," he said softly. "Jason's still settling into life, and Nicky's not sure about it either. Both of them have been hunted for so long they don't quite know what to do with themselves."

Marta nodded and finished the dishes. She rolled her head around on her shoulders. "I should go home."

The subject changes were really starting to give him whiplash. Aaron smiled. "Not tonight." When she gave him a sharp glance, he shrugged. "We'll watch a movie, then I'll take you home in the morning."

She stared at him for a long moment and then nodded. "A movie sounds good."

They spent the rest of the evening on the couch in his office, watching a romantic comedy that had nothing to do with fighting or action.

oOo

The small ranch near Rodeo, New Mexico, was perfect for their work. Ric Byer stepped out of the dusty car and looked around. Most of the out buildings had been torn down, leaving the squat adobe alone in the middle of nowhere. The door opened, and Vendel, his contingency plan, stepped outside. Neither man spoke, but Byer didn't think it necessary. Vendel had served his purpose and would continue to do so until he needed the asset buried in him.

Inside the adobe, Byer nodded in approval. It wasn't the crisis suite he'd used so many times in the past, but it would suffice. For now. Vendel had done an admirable job of organizing a makeshift crisis suite complete with televisions on the walls, an interactive map, and numerous techs bouncing around. They all eyed Byer with curiosity, but he ignored them. His focus narrowed onto the large flatscreen on his left and the two images there. Outcome 5 and Marta Shearing: the reason NRAG fell in the first place.

Deliberately turning his back to the images that seemed to taunt him, he met Vendel's gaze. "Where are we?"

Vendel nodded toward another wall, one that showed video of curtained windows and shadows moving about inside. A second screen next to it displayed the same view through an infrared signature. "We have real-time surveillance on Dr. Shearing's apartment, including her guest. We've also managed to locate Outcome 5, but getting surveillance on him is next to impossible."

Byer waved a hand. "We don't need surveillance on Outcome 5. This will work." He walked forward to the screen, seeing Marta Shearing appear through a small crack, talking on the phone. "Who is her guest?"

Vendel hesitated until Byer gave him a pointed glance. "Nicky Parsons of Treadstone."

To his credit, Byer barely reacted. Much like the moment he learned that Shearing and Cross had flown to Manila, he simply raised his eyebrows and inclined his head a touch.

So, Jason Bourne had come out of hiding. Byer knew that Parsons and Bourne had been close, if not intimate, and he doubted Bourne would leave Parsons exposed if he knew she'd retaken her real name.

Over the next week, Byer seamlessly integrated himself into the current operations of the newly formed National Recovery of Assets Group. Byer insisted on the name change since their focus was no longer on research. Instead, this group would exist for the sole purpose of finding and eliminating the threat to the American public. And men like Aaron Cross and Jason Bourne were threats to the sovereignty of the United States. Never mind that Byer had helped create Cross. That was in the past now that the idiot had gone and found his freedom.

Finally, Byer was ready. He'd spent the week going over the video the asset in Chicago had acquired, reports, and Vendel's own work. He knew everything he needed. He stood in the center of the adobe and glared at the image of Marta Shearing. "Activate the asset. Bring her in."

~TBC