"How're you feeling?" Skye looked over at Leo in concern. He was ashen-faced and his knuckles were white on the bouquet of flowers.

"Fine," Leo gritted out between clenched teeth.

Skye sighed. Men. "I can tell you're nervous. That's okay." She was trying to be reassuring but it didn't seem to be doing much.

"I'm not nervous," he claimed immediately. However, his grip on the flowers didn't relax. "I just think that tonight is going to be an absolute disaster and that the mission will be ruined and then you will…"
"Leo," Skye laughed at his nervous babbling, trying to get him to see that he was overreacting. "Everything's going to be fine. We practiced, remember?"

"I'm not a field agent, Skye," he said seriously. "There's a reason for that. I panic under pressure."

Skye opened the car door and stepped out into the warm air, breathing in the sweet scent of flowers. Leo didn't follow suit.

Poking her head down and into the car, she smiled charmingly at him. "It's just dinner. Come on."

His grumblings were obscured by the sound of the car door opening and shutting as he got out.

"Ready?" Skye held out her hand to him, smiling brightly to disguise the butterflies in her own stomach. This was their first real test as a couple and probably would also be the most important of the mission.

Their target and Leo's boss, Dean Ryder, was the suspected leader of the weapons operation. His invitation to dinner was the perfect opportunity to cement their cover stories and convince him that Leo wouldn't be a threat. Hopefully, if they did their job well enough, Ryder would try to involve Leo in their operation and then it would be a simple matter to take him down. However, all that was contingent on them selling their fake relationship. Normally, Skye wouldn't have worried about it, but based on Leo's current level of nerves, it might be more difficult than she had anticipated.

Hands entwined, they walked up to the front door. Ryder lived in a mansion with three floors and perfectly-manicured grounds, making Skye's temporary suburban home seem tiny and rundown in comparison. She pressed the doorbell with her free hand and whispered to Leo, "If you panic, nudge me somehow and I'll cover for you, okay?"

He nodded quickly just as the door was opened by a dark-haired lady in her mid-forties.

"Welcome to our home." The woman smiled warmly as she ushered them in. "My name is Linda; I'm Dean's wife." She glanced behind her to a large hardwood staircase. "My husband is just finishing up a bit of work and will be down momentarily."

"There's no hurry." Skye grinned and offered Linda her hand. She liked the woman's open manner. "I'm Skye, Leo's wife."

"It's a pleasure." They shook, Linda's grip pleasantly firm. Then the woman turned to Leo with another easy smile. "And Leo Smith. I've heard good things about you from my husband."

"I'm glad." He shifted the flowers so that he could shake her hand as well.

"Leo, honey, the flowers," Skye reminded him.

"Oh, right. These are for you," he rushed to say, proffering the flowers.

She took them and inhaled deeply. "You two are too kind. If you'll follow me to the kitchen, I'll get these into some water before they start to wilt."

The followed her into the kitchen, Skye taking Leo's hand as they walked, hoping that the small gesture would offer some type of moral support.

Linda kept chattering on as they waited for Dean, telling them about the city and how happy they were to have moved into this house and to have started the engineering school.

Finally, Dean Ryder came into the kitchen. He was a big man with a hawkish nose and hard blue eyes. The hair at his temples was starting to go grey, but aside from that, he looked like a man in his prime. Definitely a dangerous man, if things were to go badly later.

For now, he smiled and introduced himself politely and invited them to sit down at the heavily-laden dining room table for dinner.

…

"...and so he followed me back from Scotland, and things kind of progressed from there." Skye smiled and took a sip of her water as their hosts laughed politely at the story.

"So, how long have you two been married?" Linda asked from across the table.

Skye froze. They hadn't discussed that. "Almost a year," she replied after a moment's hesitation.

"Just a few months." Leo said at exactly the same time.

Dean's eyes darkened and his brows narrowed. "You don't know how long you have been married for?" It was an innocent enough question, but Skye could feel his intense scrutiny.

"No, no, we do," Leo gulped shooting Skye a concerned look and nudging her elbow with his.

"Of course we do," she said firmly. "It will be one year next month - the 15th."

Under the table, she kicked Leo sharply. "Oww...I mean, wow," he recovered. "Time flies when you're so happy and have such a beautiful wife with such strong legs." He took a bite of his chicken so he wouldn't have to keep talking.

"So," Skye leaned forward. "Leo has told me a little bit about your school, but I was hoping you could tell me a bit about your higher level students. It all sounds so fascinating." She batted her eyes vacantly, trying to look like she was just making polite conversation.

Dean wiped his mouth with a napkin. "Unfortunately, there isn't much I can tell you," he replied. "The advanced students are involved in a number of extremely complicated projects - the explanations would bore you, I'm sure."

"What type of projects?" Leo jumped in, sounding interested. "And of what difficulty?"

Ryder smiled coldly. "That varies student to student. However, I can assure you that the higher level classes are sufficiently challenging. Rigorous, even."

Linda obviously sensed that the atmosphere in the dining room had become tense, because she picked that moment to ask, "Anyone for dessert?"

The rest of the evening passed without incident, but also without information.

…

"I don't feel like we're getting anywhere," Leo complained as he unlocked the front door. "We still just have suspicions and nothing to back them up."

"Something's up with Ryder, though," Skye replied, following him inside. "I'm thinking that he could be involved in some pretty serious stuff."

"But until we get proof…"

"We keep searching." Acting on impulse, Skye turned to Leo and hugged him.

"There's no one watching," he muttered into her shoulder. "We don't have to keep up the act." Despite his protests, his arms came up to encircle her waist.

"I know." Although she had hugged Leo before, this time felt different. More personal, or maybe intimate was a better word. Either way, she liked the feeling.

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