V asks Troy to take some time off, just to enjoy himself for a bit. What she doesn't expect is that he'll take her up on it. Takes place between SR2 and SR3.

Take a half-day.

An extended lunch break.

One super-long smoke break.

A raid on the office supply cabinet. Area. Whatever.

That morning she'd written the string of texts expecting to be shot down quickly. Spinning around in her office chair, she waited, expecting to get one back not too long after the smoke break, but the first reply came after the supply cabinet crack.

You're not helping, V.

She imagined the exasperated sigh that came with it, and tapped her nails on the desk before typing out her response. Like I'm the type to be encouraging any kind of responsible behavior. I mean, I could always see about dropping off a report, but that wouldn't be the same as stealing you away.

That's your goal?

One of many. I could go through the rest here, but I'd rather have your ear for that. Graphic detail's all fine and dandy in print, but you could always call…?

Her attention went straight to the door of her office when she heard Pierce and Shaundi's voices, then dropped to the papers in front of her. Any moment now, Pierce would come in and ask if she had any questions about the deal she had yet to finalize, and she'd only made it through the third page before switching gears.

Feeling her nerves prickle, she nearly dropped the phone on her scramble to get back on task. Her phone stayed in her pocket, as she waited for that familiar notification, but it didn't come. She kept on working, focusing intently, and found herself listening for it long after Pierce had entered the room and joined her.

The ding finally came when they were getting into the finer details of the clothing line being proposed, and V stopped the anxious clicking of her pen long enough to check her phone.

It wasn't from Troy. The new message was from Johnny. She blinked at it, and opened it up.

Busy?

Pursing her lips, she typed out a quick response and put her phone away. Yes. Doing bossly things. Can't talk much.

It buzzed again, and this time when she took it out she could feel Pierce's eyes on her.

Real important shit? Like flicking pencils at the ceiling again? Good luck reaching ten.

She'd beaned a pencil off of her head this morning trying it, and felt her face burn at the lucky guess. No, you ass, she typed, jabbing at the keys. Business-type shit.

The reply came fast. Fine. I'll give you five.

You got something important to say? Come here and share.

She stashed her phone, knowing damn well that Pierce was watching too. Whistling something that wasn't even on-key, she gestured for him to continue, and paid no mind to the buzzing in her pocket. Not even a little, as she snagged a nearby pen and started clicking it.

Her teeth went right into her lip when it started ringing however, and her eyes slowly slid towards Pierce when she didn't move to answer it.

"…Boss?"

"Yeah?"

"You planning on getting that, or…?"

"Or?"

"Not that you'd wait for my permission any, but it could be important."

Raising her eyebrow at the innocent look Pierce was aiming at her, V did her best not to fidget in her seat, and failed. Miserably. The tone kept on going, and a part of her wished she'd stuck to her old habit of picking out tones. It'd be blaring Push It to the Limit, or…

"Fuck," she cursed. She wouldn't know if it was Gat or Troy until she got to see the screen. There was the option of letting it go straight to voicemail. Hell, she was supposed to be working, but it was a fifty-fifty shot. Decent odds, in spite of it being an even split. Digging it out, she sighed deeply and checked the number.

Johnny. Relief washed over her as she pursed her lips, and she raised her phone to her ear as she answered the call. "Hey, my memory's not that great at times, but I thought I told you to get your ass over here."

"If it was important," he replied, and yawned. "I've got something, but I figured you didn't want me beating your door down if you were…busy."

"I am. And calling in the middle of this's better? What do you think, Pierce?" Pierce rolled his eyes and her lips curved into a wicked grin. "Oh, he's not having any of that. I think you'd better apologize." Johnny chuckled, and the rough edge to the sound made her wonder if he really had been sleeping before calling her. "I'm not fooling around, here."

"Oh, I know. Just wondering how you're going to go about making me, boss. Not so easy when you're off spinning in some office chair."

She sat there –part-way though deciding to pivot the chair again - and wished like hell he'd slip out of that tone. Because with his voice low in her ear like this, she was tempted to keep on enjoying it. "I can be creative."

"How so?" he asked, going lower.

Her teeth continued to tease at her lip, and she rolled her eyes. "Do I really need to go over the last time you tried to ask me that? Took me a grand total of five minutes to-" Pierce cleared his throat, and V sat up straight, letting go of the strand of hair she'd been twirling. "Anyway, you do have news, right?"

"…Some. So?"

Her phone beeped, and when she scanned the number that left the message, her heart skipped a beat. "So, maybe I'll have just the thing to pry it out of you later. You feel up to that, call. If not, you'll just have to be patient. Til then, bye-bye, Gat."

"Did he say anything about where he was?" Pierce asked the moment she hung up.

"No, why?" Her attention was on Pierce, but she scanned the screen fast as she pulled the unopened message from Troy up.

Can't call right now. Meeting soon.

"Cause he's been acting like I've had the plague for the last day and a half. He can keep on pulling that shit, but it's not going to make it go away. Work's work."

"Ain't it so, eh?" That was the first message, and she kept her face as neutral as she could manage when she looked at the second one from him.

But maybe you're right. A half-day couldn't hurt.

She snorted, and her grin grew fast. "But what do you say I give you a hand with that later tomorrow? Double your odds once we can corner him?"

"You serious?"

"Yeah," she said, and her grin shifted into a smirk. "I'll snag my best net, and we'll give it a go. Shaundi too, if she wants in. What'll it hurt?"

The first strike in her plan to keep things under the radar failed the moment Pierce's eyebrows went up at her excuse to leave. The second came when she nearly tripped over Shaundi in her rush to hit the elevator.

Act casual. That's what they always said whenever you were on a mission and couldn't share all the finer details. What they didn't tell you was that rambling this to yourself in the hopes that it'd take mid-conversation, wasn't a guarantee it was going to work. Shaundi would be back to get her to spill later, because giving her a garbled response to a simple "What's the rush, boss?" didn't cut it. But that was later, and V could deal with that.

Once she was in the clear, all that was needed was a subtle outfit and some wheels, and she whipped up both in no time flat. The jeans and cap weren't anywhere near as fun as the secretary getup – one that she'd have to revisit soon – but they were comfortable, and completely devoid of red and purple. Two facts that she needed to make sure she had down.

Wearing either would've been an automatic strike three, and with two under her belt, she was hoping to avoid the other entirely. The caution that came with every action involving Troy was something she was used to by now – even if it often went hand in hand with a giddy high that came from every close call – and it kept her fingers tapping against her thigh as she waited close to their meetup point for him.

Soon enough, she spotted a familiar blue cap and well-worn jacket, and when Troy made his approach, she didn't hide any of her attempts to eye him up. "Hey, stranger," she said, once he'd slipped into her car. "Going my way?"

His lips were pressed into a thin line, but once his attention shifted to the way she was waggling her eyebrows at him, he relaxed. "You tell me."

"Well, I was thinking of hitting the diner down the road first thing. Good old burger and fries, not too, too crowded. Or maybe a movie? Some silly thing with too many explosions and not enough one-liners? We could steal the back row, and see how far we get before we say fuck it and cut out."

"Too many?" he said, pulling out a crumpled pack of cigarettes. He offered it to her after she'd moved the car back onto the street, and caught her eye in the rearview mirror. "Those are the kind of things you go to the movies for, and hope they don't skimp on."

"True."

"And the woman I know lives for them, so going for anything less's a damn shame."

She watched Troy light his cigarette before parking her eyes back on the road. Bad enough that her fingers were already itching to touch him, but watching him for too long was guaranteeing a quick detour to an empty alley. And judging from the way he was looking at her, she doubted he'd have objected.

"Guess you'll have to set me straight, Chief."

"Me?"

V watched his eyebrows fly up in the rearview mirror, and slipped the cigarette between her lips. "Yep. Someone's gotta."

Close to two hours later, she was glad he didn't.

The movie itself hadn't shortchanged itself on explosions while being gloriously absurd, and she'd have been content to have it go on forever, if it meant hearing more of Troy's muffled laughter. She wasn't as lucky, especially in the face of dialogue like that, and parroted choice lines back to him just when she was sure he was done holding it back. The straight face he tried to maintain cracked fast, and she couldn't have been prouder.

Soon enough, however, it came to an end, and they slipped out of the exit in the back of the auditorium.

"So, tell me something," V said, lacing her fingers with Troy's as they wandered down the back-alley. "Or rather, stop me if this seems like a bad idea."

"All right. Shoot."

"We've already hit most of the typical elements of a date. A movie, snacks, walking hand-in-hand while making eyes at each other. What do you say we top it off with a little fun?"

"Fun?"

"Like, 'drag you off back to my place, so I can have my wicked way with you' fun."

He came to a stop, but didn't quite return her coy smile. "You've got quite a few places. Not sure if I'd be welcome at any of them, though."

"Well, it wouldn't be any of the more popular spots, but…the place I've got in mind's better suited for these kinds of things."

"You mean your old apartment?"

"Yeah."

His eyes cut away from her for a few seconds, but not in time for her to miss the hesitation. "Been a while since we've been there, huh?"

It being a popular spot for her and Johnny should've been enough of a reason for her to shoot it down, but seeing that familiar look in Troy's eyes for even a second made that old ache return. She thought she'd chased it off for good, but even here with Troy now it was tough to forget the feeling that lingered that night. How good it'd felt to have him there, to touch and feel again after so long, even if she knew she – they - shouldn't have.

It made her pause when she wanted to do anything but that, and she smashed the feeling down before it was able to take root. "A bit. I…I've been thinking about it. A lot, actually. Taking you back there after days like this. Late nights, when you're wired, and I'm shuffling around too much to get any sleep."

"Just to work some of that tension off?"

He tried to keep his tone light, but the playfulness there didn't extend to the look he was aiming at her. "Yeah. I mean, it's no swanky hotel, but there's more than enough room for two." V squeezed his hand, and felt her teeth dig into her lip. "Always was. Then, and now, even if our timing was shit, and my judgment even more so."

"Yours and mine," he said, staring her down. "You weren't the one that thought it was better to leave than stay to talk shit out, remember?"

"Oh, I do." The regret was there before she even bothered to open her mouth, but what she saw after that made her want to look at the cracks in the pavement instead. "Kinda hard to forget things like that."

"I'm sorry." He raised his hand to her cheek, but didn't touch her. Just hovered close until he returned it to his side. "For all the fucking good it is to say it now. After all of it."

"You're still saying it."

"It's not-" Troy let the sentence drop, and pressed his lips into a thin line. "It doesn't make it okay, V. Still, are you sure?"

"Wouldn't have asked if I wasn't. And maybe I don't want that to be the only memory I have of you there." Her grip on his hand was tight, and she loosened it. "I want to keep on building new memories, you know? Sure it's not one of our safe areas, but…it's my home. And I'd have it be yours too if things were different."

He held her stare as his thumb brushed against the back of her hand, moving in a gentle arc. "Different, eh?"

"Yeah." Her throat was going dry, but she got the word out. "No sneaking or hiding. All I'd have to do is get you inside."

Something crossed his face for a moment, but the look faded, and the corner of his mouth quirked up. "That easy, eh? Just gotta lead the way?"

"Well, it is a pretty easy walk from here," she started, "but between you and me, I'd rather cut down on the travel time as much as possible. Save that time for other things, you know?"

She squeezed his hand again, and this time he returned it.

"Sheet stealer."

Half-sprawled on top of him, V gave the thin sheet a small tug, and it didn't budge at all. The warm, comfortable feeling settling over her left her inclined to stay right where she was, and the soft circles Troy was tracing on her back only made the choice that much easier to make.

"You know, I seem to recall waking up most nights to it being the other way around." He snorted when she opened her mouth to object. "Nope. You wrap yourself up like a cocoon if I'm not careful."

Humming against him, she let go to trail her nails over his chest. "…Okay, fine. So I might burrito it up a little, but I'm not right now. What's one extra inch?"

"A mile," he replied, and V gave his shoulder a flick.

"So you want me to be a leech then? All right. It's on." She burrowed against him, and kissed his shoulder when she heard him laugh. "What? Your fault, Chief. You brought this on yourself."

"Guess so. I don't know how I'll be able to cope. After being lured in like this-"

"Lured in?" She popped her head up, and Troy couldn't hide the way his lips kept inching up. "I did no such thing!"

"No?"

"Uh-uh, pal."

"Okay, maybe not. But you have been thinking about this a lot." A slow smile spread out across his face, and V pressed her face into his shoulder again. "Too late to be bashful now."

"Shut up. I can be as damn bashful as I please," she said against his skin. She batted her lashes as she raised her chin, and didn't avoid eye contact with him this time. "Whether it's about intentions or actual deeds, I have every right. So don't test me."

Pushing the sheet aside, she raised herself up, and shifted so she could straddle him. Her hips didn't align with Troy's, but she felt him arch upward, and pursed her lips as his smile came dangerously close to a smirk. "Wouldn't dream of it."

"I don't know if I buy that, Chief."

She hovered close; close enough for her to hear his small inhale, and close enough to see how his attention remained fixed on her mouth. "No?"

"No, not one bit. Should work on your persuasion." His hands moved to rest on her hips, applying just enough pressure to bring them into contact. She watched his eyelids flutter, and sucked in a quick breath. "Better."

"Almost?" He rolled his hips again, and she bit down on the sound in the back of her throat. "How about that?"

He wasn't completely hard again, but he didn't have to be. Not with the friction building between them. Dragging her nails along his sides, she leaned down and barely dodged his lips. Her mouth went straight for his throat, and didn't stop until she heard him groan.

"Yeah, that's something," Troy rasped.

"I thought we were working on getting out of here?" Her tongue traced over his skin, and his grip on her tightened.

"Yeah. Me too."

"So…"

He cracked open his eyes to look at her, and she raised her head high enough for him to see her pout. "Someone's going to have to call a raincheck on this?"

"Kinda. I'd really prefer not to."

"So, don't."

V blinked at him, and laughed. "Seriously, Troy-"

"I'm in no hurry. Besides, it wouldn't be the first time I've had to slip out, and keep my head low once the sun's down."

He raised his hand to brush his fingertips along her jaw, and she leaned right into it. "It'd be the first for…" Her teeth went into her lip, and she drew back. "It's not your kind of risky, Chief. No need to tempt fate any further."

Crawling off of him, she detangled herself from the sheets and narrowly avoided rolling off of the bed. Troy's eyes tracked her as she brushed her fingers through her hair, but she didn't look his way. Not until she'd gotten up, and righted herself.

He sighed. "Never thought you'd turn that on me."

Neither did I. A small smile slid onto her face, and she was glad to see him return it. "Eh, it was going to happen at some point. Rubbing off on me with all your talk of being a right proper citizen. A good example, and all that jazz. Something was going to take."

She stretched both arms over her head, just far enough to draw a sigh when she released them, and let them fall. They weren't able to sit idle for long, however, and she reached for the closet doors. Sifting through the shirts in front of her, she frowned when her fingers brushed against one of Johnny's.

"Goddammit."

"Everything okay?"

"My tendency to toss shit around's starting to come back and bite me in the ass. That and my friends' tendency to do the same damn thing." Gat was almost as bad an offender as her, considering how often they used to drink themselves stupid on the same bed that Troy was lying on, but V bit her tongue before the statement could slip out. She dropped the shirt and nearly laughed when she stumbled onto one of Shaundi's. "I don't always think when I grab stuff, so clothes get mixed up pretty often."

Troy eyed her curiously until she held it up to show him. "Ah. Course it wouldn't be yours."

"Why do you say that?" she asked, glancing at him over her shoulder.

He raised himself up on his elbows and grinned. "Too much purple."

"Hush. You pulled off more than enough purple not too long ago."

The lazy grin remained as he thought it over, and chuckled softly. "Guess I did. Wouldn't mind more, but any less red and I'd start to miss it."

V ducked her eyes away before he could spot the way her cheeks tinted. "Good, cause that's still not changing, even if you beg me." The large shirt she yanked out wasn't red or purple, but that didn't matter. Covering herself up enough to avoid a chill did. "You want a drink? I think I want a drink. Can go simple, or fancy, though I'd have to ask you to skip any and all umbrellas. Fresh out of those."

Troy shrugged, and she watched his tongue flick out to wet his lips. "Surprise me."

"Roger that, Chief," she replied, flashing him a small salute on her way out.

She wandered out into the kitchen, whistling as she went, and headed straight for the fridge. The pleasant tingle moving from head to toe almost made her skip over to it, but she couldn't rein in her giddy smile as she poked her head into the fridge to check for any leftover beers.

That's when she heard the knocks. Loud and high, and her heart leapt into her throat. "No, no, no, no, no."

She propped herself up by the peephole to do one last check and that's when Johnny's voice called out, "Yo, you home?"

"Oh, no," she breathed. Darting right to the entrance to her bedroom, she skidded to a stop and could only give Troy a helpless look, before her voice decided to work. "Johnny. It's Johnny."

Troy's eyes went wide and he scrambled to get up. "Fuck. What's he doing here? You two meeting today?"

"No. Er, yes. Maybe?" Wincing, she noticed Troy's shift in expression, and waved her hands around before grabbing for his clothes on the floor. "He hinted at something earlier, but wasn't upfront about any of it. He was supposed to call ahead first. You'd think I'd hear my own damn phone ringing, right?" That's when it clicked. Placing her head in her hands, she let out a strangled noise.

Troy went straight to her and touched her shoulder. "What? What's wrong?"

"Shit. The movie." Guilt settled in her gut as she looked up at him. "Right when we went in, I put the damn cell on silent and didn't get back to it."

"Okay, so he's here to hunt you down. So, uh," he started, his eyes moving back towards the door, "what now? You got a plan?"

"No. Nothing that's really coming together, but…" Gat knocked again, this time a hair louder, and she traded one last glance with Troy before they started grabbing for his things. "Okay, don't budge an inch from this room. I'll see what he wants, and then we can figure out what to do from there. Sound good?"

"It's something," Troy muttered, dragging his shirt on.

She quickly slammed her bedroom door shut, only to hear the key turning in the lock to the front.

"Hey!" she yelled. "Hey, hold on for a hot fucking minute! Trying to get decent here!"

The sound stopped, and she took one last anxious look at her room before cracking open the door. Gat stood there, spinning the key ring around his index finger, and shoved the keys into his pocket before straightening his posture. "The fuck you've been? Kept on calling, but everything kept on going to voicemail."

"It's called being busy, you ass. I forgot to check my phone, because I assumed you wouldn't be blowing it up right this minute. Or my door." She placed her hand on her hip and stared him down. "What the hell, man? Planning on raiding my place and stealing my booze?"

"No." His frown grew as she narrowed her eyes, and he rubbed the back of his neck. "Now I am, but when you didn't pick up I called Shaundi, and she pointed me here. Said you might be hiding out, so I figured I'd stop by and crack open something even if I couldn't find you."

"…She did, huh?" V said, feeling her stomach drop.

"Yeah, and you've got good shit hiding here. If I don't need to buy something, I won't." Annoyance started to creep into his tone, but the moment he really got a good look at her, he whistled. "Guess you were busy after all. No car's out front, though. You pick 'em up?"

Everything jumped to attention, and both of her hands flew up in front of her. "Whoa, way to jump to conclusions already!"

"You don't even have fucking pants on, come on, V. You want me to go for your hair next?" Her hand went right to it to pat it down, and Johnny tried peeking around her. He didn't get to see much past her, but that didn't do much to stop him, and she closed the door further. "Shit, are they still here?"

"No! No, can you just cool it for a sec?" Panic rose in her throat, but with Troy stashed in her room, there was nothing for Gat to catch. Just her, and whatever was left of her modesty. She tugged at her T-shirt, but the motion drew his eye and she wished like hell she'd at least thrown on a pair of shorts before booking it to the door. "There's no one here, Gat."

He'd angled his head to let her know that his eyes were on her legs now, and Johnny's smirk grew even more pronounced. "Sure, boss."

Oh, Jesus. "I didn't exactly say I had company, Gat. Just that I was busy. Like, you know," she said, babbling quick before her nerves made her chicken out. "Busy. And you've got a key, so do I really need you walking in on me when I'm…you know?"

He raised his chin, and when he caught the motion she was making, she caught something she rarely saw. Surprise. "Oh." It didn't take him long to recover, however, and the subtle smile he wore now made her blush burn ten times hotter. "Well, that's different."

"I..." She choked on the rest of her sentence, but cleared her throat and tried to power through it. Because sure, she could wish she were in a pit somewhere, but that wasn't going to help her any right now. Not with Gat staring her down, and her bravado deflating fast. "Seriously, though," she cut in, her heart doing double-time, "is it something big? Like 'go grab pants so we can fucking tackle it' big, because we can go on like this, but I'm starting to feel a draft."

"Could be something with the ties set up."

"Big, big?"

"Yeah. Might even net you bonus points with the bigwigs you're set on showing off for."

V frowned, but there wasn't anything off to Johnny's tone. Only pure amusement as he kept on watching her. "So?"

He waved a hand at her as he leaned his shoulder against the door, and grinned. "So go grab pants so we can fucking tackle it. Unless you wanna go without. Either's cool with me."

Yep. One deep, dark pit. "Yeah, I think option one's a winner."

She stepped back and shut the door right in his face. "Oh, come on!" he yelled, and V took in a deep breath before shuffling towards her room.

"Option one doesn't require you to help me pick a pair out, Gat!" she shot back over her shoulder, and she whipped the baggy T-shirt off. "Go on ahead, I'll be there!"

Sighing deeply, V spotted her jacket on the couch – left exactly where Troy had all but tossed it – and pulled her phone out. Four missed calls. That was a new record for Gat, and she switched out of the mode before letting it fall back onto the couch. She ran a hand through her hair, and came to a dead stop after she threw the door to her room open.

Troy's hand was on the sleeve of Johnny's shirt, and the moment he saw her he let it fall. "You, uh, handle it?"

"Kind of." There was the roar of an engine, and once the sound faded, V found it a lot easier to give Troy a crooked smile. "He didn't barge in at any rate, so I'd call that a success. Oh, and I don't think you'll find much that fits there, Chief. And you're already dressed, so…"

The expression that crossed his face wasn't easy to read at all, and when she walked over to the closet to start pulling clothes out he gave her plenty of space. "Gat need you?"

"Yeah," she replied, working hard to get rid of the nervous feeling settling in her gut. "Apparently he's got something in mind that even Ultor might be happy with handling, so he couldn't push it to tomorrow. Had to be now. And if it's good for the bigwigs, maybe it'll be good for the boys in blue too." She hopped as she pulled her jeans on, and grabbed for her bra. "Think if I keep my fingers crossed it'll be mostly legal?"

He watched her fiddle with the clasp for a few seconds, his eyebrows drawn together, but the expression eased. "Maybe." He gestured for her to turn around. It took him only a second to fasten the clasp, but the warm touch lingered as his hands moved up to her shoulders. "Though with you two, one can only hope, right?"

"Too true. 'Sides, I'll try to keep it to a page three article even if it does go south." The tension lingered, even as his fingers worked to rub every trace of it away, and she tried not to bite her tongue. She turned her head so she could get a good look at him, and gave him an apologetic glance. Though, I'd…

The tinny notes of her ringtone cut through the silence, and V groaned. Covering her face, she felt Troy press a quick kiss to the side of her neck before backing off. "Duty calls."

"Troy."

"Can't keep him waiting too long. He'll think you shook him on purpose, and that won't help you at all."

V kept on chewing on her lip as Troy aimed an expectant look at her, and she went right for the drawer to her nightstand. She fished around in it for a few seconds before finding what she was looking for, and made her way back to him. "Here. You'll need this."

He eyed the key warily, and a pang of nostalgia hit. She hadn't furrowed her brows as much when he'd first offered a key of his own, but the sentiment was too familiar. "You want me to hide it under the mat or something once I'm out?"

That response, not so much. "What?" she asked, blinking at him. "No! Of course not. I want you to lock up and keep it. I was kinda hoping this could be a repeat experience? Hopefully one with less interruptions, and sneaking, and…" Her hands were moving awkwardly in front of her, and she shut her mouth when Troy's expression shifted. "Um, yeah. I'm sorry, I really should've-"

He kissed her again, and she raised herself up onto her toes to hold it. "I know," he said softly. "Call me once it's all set and done, though?"

"Once I'm sure I won't be rocking the back of a patrol car?" Troy gave her a look, and V tried not to grin. "Nah, I'm just messing with you. I'll call." She gave him a peck, and let her eyes run over him before pulling her shirt on. "Wouldn't miss out on a chance to hear your voice again before bed, Chief. You want to take my car too? You can leave it close to your place, and I'll come by later to pick it up."

"Nah, I'll walk. Been a while since I've had the chance."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure."

She gave him one last kiss, before forcing herself back on task. Snagging the last of her things, she did her best not to trip over the scattered clothes on the floor. Her phone stopped ringing by the time she grabbed it off of the couch, but she didn't bother to call Johnny back. She'd be with him soon enough.