A/N so this is a long one. Tried to cover a lot at once. Hope it isn't too confusing! Reviews are always welcome! Major updates as of 4/3/18.

Ian sat down across from Don. "She's a force of nature. You almost feel sorry for the scum the Agency unleashes her on."

"You make her sound like a weapon" Don interjected.

"She is" replied Ian. "She was young to be recruited. But she tested off the charts. When the Agency realized what they had, they moved her into a specialized program. Taught her skills not normally taught to recruits. Knife fighting, how to be a …"

"Sniper" Don cut in.

"Who's telling this story Eppes? But yes. She chewed up and spit out every sniper instructor the agency had. She was verging on being one of the best the Agency could have, but she was young, cocky, impatient, and most of all, impulsive."

"Hailey," Don's head snapped up at finally getting the woman's name, "was amazing to watch. She was ruthlessly efficient. But she wasn't one to just wait around. She didn't see the upside of having her target come to her or waiting for them to step into her crosshairs. She didn't mind the risk of getting up close, but the agency preferred she stay alive as long as someone in her position could. Hence them wanting her to master sniper training."

Ian stared off into the lockers before continuing. "The problem with the other instructors is that they wanted to control her. To tell her everything she was doing wrong. They did a lot of talking and not a lot of showing. So Hailey showed them up every time. She needed someone to show her why taking a snipers approach could be better in some situations, how it helped hone every other sense in her body, proved how it made her better. She also needed to see it as a challenge. Something to best. That's where I came in."

"Wait, you were her instructor?" Don couldn't suppress his grin. "Why you sly dog."

Ian rolled his eyes, and was starting to question his judgment at bringing Eppes into this. He could be such a teenager sometimes. Ian gave Eppes credit for pulling it together though.

"Well, from what I saw on that mountain, I guess she took to it pretty well" Don said calmly.

Ian smirked. "Yeah, you could say that." Ian stared off again, memories whipping into view. He was struggling with where to go next with this story. What was there to say?

"So when did it become more?" Don asked.

Oh that, Ian thought. Of course Don would be interested in that. "We were training up in the mountains in Virginia. Decided to get her off campus for a couple days, see what she had learned. We ended up getting stuck in a freak downpour. Chopper couldn't land to get us out. There were mudslides, flooding. It was a fucked up mess so we had to take shelter. I was pissed, Hailey was gripping, and I found a way to shut her up. I was expecting to get punched, not kissed back."

Don chuckled.

A hell of a lot more than kissing took place on that mountain, but this wasn't a slumber party and he and Don weren't 15 year old girls. Had they been, the story would have made Don blush.

"Makes sense I guess" Don chimed in. "Sounds like she needed someone to challenge her, keep up with her, you could do that."

"The truth though Eppes is I didn't realize how much I needed it too. Someone that understood the lifestyle, someone that could keep up. Hell, she was addicting." Ian knew he had to cut this off. He and Don were about to start making friendship bracelets any minute now. "The trouble with addiction though is you can end up crashing."

"I didn't realize you worked for the Agency that much. So how long did this thing with Hailey go on? With how you reacted up there had to be somewhat serious. What happened?"

"I get loaned out occasionally. And as to the other questions, too long and I ended up walking away. I tried to hold on too tight I guess, but she wasn't mine to hold on to."

Don raised his eyes questioningly.

"Story for another day Don." And with that he turned and finally walked out of the locker room. It was on the drive back to the hotel that his cell phone started going off.

"Agent Edgerton." There was a pause at the other end and then a feminine voice broke through the silence.

"Well that was fun."

Ian pulled into the hotel and turned off the SUV. "What do you want Hailey?" He asked as he slung his riffle and pack over his shoulder and made his way into the hotel room. He should have known better than to think seeing her on the mountain after 5 years was going to be the end of it. Swinging the door open Ian's hand instinctively went for his sidearm as he caught sight of a figure perched on the edge of the windowsill.

Hailey snapped her phone shut. Her blue eyes met his, her brown hair as wild as ever.

"Can't a girl stop in and say hello?"

xxxx-xxxx

Ian paused for the length of a heartbeat, though it felt like it was going to fly out of his chest. "Didn't anyone ever tell you it's not a good idea to go surprising FBI agents in their rooms" Ian sighed.

"There was a time you wouldn't have minded" Hailey retorted.

"That was years ago Hailey." Ian threw his belongings onto the bed.

"Yeah, that's why you stepped in front of the other agent's gun. Because you couldn't stand the sight of me?"

Ian knew he'd get called out on that. "Never said I wanted you dead kid."

"Hmmm good to know." Hailey never took her eyes off of him as he moved his belongings about, as though she wasn't quite sure how he was going to react. The two were sizing each other up, careful.

Ian couldn't tell what she was thinking. Her emptions were usually all over her face. But she had clearly become more disciplined in the passing years. Why was she here? The last time they had spent any real time together it didn't end well. He had turned and walked out, with her shouting his name. She could be here for closure. Or was it simply to knock his lights out?

Ian was good at his job, and for a spit second he caught it. She didn't know why she was here either and she was now second-guessing her decision to come.

"This is ridiculous Hailey" Ian huffed and indicated she should sit. Preferable somewhere other than on the ledge eyeing him. Hailey reluctantly unfurled herself from her perch and moved to sit in the arm chair opposite the bed where Ian had decided to sit, arms folded across his chest. Neither of them spoke.

Ian's voice finally pierced the silence. "You're the one that broke into my hotel room." His voice urging her to speak her peace.

"You're the one that walked out after calling me a well trained attack dog." Hailey spit back, her anger beginning to flair.

Ian winced at the memory. He had said it in anger, trying to make a point. But it had come across wrong. Like so many things that night. So many things had needed to be said but nothing came out right or there were simply no words that could have conveyed everything that he had been feeling.

"After 5 years you want to dredge this up?"

"YES I want to dredge this up IAN." Hailey was on her feet and in his face. This was the tornado he remembered. "YOU LEFT." After everything you turned and walked out. Over one fucking op you LEFT."

Ian raised himself to his full height, easily towering over Hailey. He had intended to remain calm, but he wasn't going to sit there and take it either. "You think I left because of the Madrid Op? Honestly, if you think that then we were in worse trouble than I thought."

Hailey looked briefly confused by his statement but it didn't last long. "What the hell was I supposed to think Ian? You didn't exactly talk to me and when you finally did you made it sound like I was some animal that needed to be put down. It's not my fault if you have the emotional range of a two year old."

Ian moved quickly toward her, forcing her to back up against the wall but she stared at him defiantly, as if daring him to question her version of events. Well he was never one to deny her. His voice dropped into a low hiss. "You think I was going to stay and watch you get yourself killed? Every op you pushed the envelope further. Every crazy stunt you managed to survive only lead you to chase an even bigger high and the agency let you do it. You wouldn't let me pull you back from the ledge, hell, I don't think you even realized you were standing on one. Madrid was just the icing on the cake."

He turned away only to have two hands on his back shove him forward. If he thought she was mad before, she was livid now. "How dare you" she seethed. "Go ahead, make yourself out to be the hero of the story. The poor in over her head adrenaline junkie. No Ian, I was the best, HELL, I am the best the company has. I take the risk, I finish the mission. If I was a man instead of the former student you were screwing when convenient, you would be giving me an 'atta boy' instead of this 'you're taking too many risks' bull crap."

Ian's relatively calm demeanor fell apart. "Yeah, sure that's right. But then again they wouldn't have been the ones I was in love with now would they?" His words flew out like knives. Ian ran his hands through his hair and slumped down on the bed, choosing to rest his head in his hands for a minute. "Jesus Christ Hailey." His voice sounding more his normal level. For the first time in a long time he felt his age. "I respected the hell out of you. But there is a difference between calculated risk and a suicide mission, call me selfish but did you think maybe I just wanted you to survive? I wasn't trying to change you. I wanted something else for you, there's a difference. That life was going to catch up with you quick Hailey. It was catching up to me and I couldn't do it anymore. And maybe I had no right to ask it of you, to leave the Agency, but I didn't just walk out. I asked you to come with me. Be my partner at the Bureau. Do you have any idea what it would have been like to lose you?"

Not getting a response, Ian liked up and was suddenly concerned. Sophia was leaning against the wall, trying to catch a breath as though she had the wind knocked out of her. "You son of a bitch. After all this time. You day that to me?"

"What are you talking about?" What part had she taken offense with this time?

"You love me?" She spat out. Ian's head snapped up. The pain in her eyes was evident.

"What?" He asked, not sure if he had heard her right.

"Why would you tell me this now?"

Ian was shocked. This conversation had taken the turn he least expected. The agent part of his brain was telling him this was some kind of a ruse, something to get him to put his guard down so she could take advantage and hit hard. But the confusion on her face, the hint of water beginning to line her eyes, he knew that wasn't fake.

"Hailey, you had to have known." His voice was cautious, not sure what was quite going on.

"How was I supposed to know Ian?" She spat. "Not like you ever told me or anything."

"Of course I did." Ian stopped when she shook her head violently, forcefully wiping the tears that threatened to fall. She was desperately trying to keep herself in check, slowly loosing control of the situation. Could he really not have said it?

"Hailey, I..." And for the uptight time today, Ian was at a loss. "I must not have thought I needed to."

"Must not have thought?" came the strangled reply. "I was 23 when you left. I...I was good at so many things but this," she gestured between the two of them. "But..God I didn't know what we had. I didn't know what to make of it. I knew I loved you but I wasn't going to make more out of it if you weren't. I wasn't going to be 'that girl.' I decided I was fine having you in my life whatever we were, someone that understood me. I wasn't going to jeopardize it. But then you went and threw a damn grenade in."

She pushed off the wall and grabbed her bag. "It would have been nice to know. That's all."

She made to the door as Ian stood replaying this entire evening in his head. He suddenly found his legs again and grabbed her arm, pinning her against the wall and crashed his lips against hers. She pushed back against his chest and Ian felt the dampness on her cheek. He held her face in his hands, brushing the tears away. "I thought you knew."

"You're an idiot." And with that she wrapped her hands around his neck, pulling him down against her lips once more.