If there was one thing Hensley hated, it was her job. Not her job with Emmett, that was actually enjoyable, especially when the shop guys could pick on each other. Watching the production manager, Brett, and one of the guys, Jim, bicker was the highlight of her shift. Brett was a funny guy by nature and got along easily with everyone which made his interactions genuinely funny instead of leaving them feeling awkward. She could work there full time and have no complaints.

Her agency job…that was hell.

Hensley often wondered what the point of her being there was. She was up for release next year and they had moved her out of the overly secret stuff the year prior. At this point, she was just biding her time.

Anderson was up for release at the end of July, a fact that left her with mixed feelings. On one hand, she was very excited for him. He had wanted out since Davidson took over as Lieutenant Colonel. On the other, she was going to miss him…and not just because he kept Kaufmann at bay. Well, Anderson didn't keep Kaufmann at bay, per se. Anderson was the one tagging along on Kaufmann's journeys. But without him there, who would be drug along?

Hensley hoped it was the new person they would have joining them. Though she wasn't excited about a newcomer, especially not when she had stuck with the same three boys for the last few years, she did hope whoever it was could take that hit.

She supposed that was the benefit of her own release coming up. She wouldn't have to try and make friends with a newcomer or worry about whether she could trust them to have her back. All she had to do was live with them for the next few months. That was more than doable.

A sharp smack pricked her shoulder. It wasn't hard enough to hurt – it never was – but damn if it wasn't annoying. Only one person did that to her. Apparently briefly thinking of the Devil brought him around too.

"Eyes up, Hensley." Davidson scolded her and she resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She was on watch again and, just like last time, was simply posted at the front door of the main communications building. People had to scan their ID to get in anyway, so really her being there was a complete waste of time. And it wasn't like she couldn't see someone entering if she was looking at the ground ahead of her….

Still, Davidson was in charge here and she had to respond, "Yes, Sir." Even if she really wanted to respond with a punch to his square jaw.

"You know, Hensley, I've been meaning to talk to you." He turned on her then. And just when she thought she could at least be blessed enough for him to walk away.

"Sir?"

"I've noticed you're spending an awful lot of time off base. Moreso here than you have any other place you've been located. Care to explain more about that?" Davidson's grey eyes scrutinized her face. She wasn't worried. Though he commanded her group…the special section of the military, he wasn't special like they were. He was just human. A fragile little human.

Hensley wanted to shrug but knew that would earn her another smack with his little conductor's stick. Why he had that damn thing she would never understand. "I've made a few friends at school, Sir. Just spending some time with them. Or working. I have a job in the city and-"

"Colins said you brought a boy over late one night."

Hensley would strangle Colins. She swore it. "That was months ago, Sir. And he helped me in the city. My friend and I were attacked by three men, and he made sure I got back safely. Should send him a thank you card."

Davidson feigned surprise at this information, "I didn't think you needed assistance in that, Hensley. Perhaps some more training time is called for?"

"Of course, I don't. But what, Sir, would you suggest I tell him next time? Don't bother helping me I'm half-vam-" Another smack but not on the shoulder and not with the stick.

He was close to her face then. Close enough that she could smell the stale coffee on his warm breath, and it made her wish to be sick. "Watch yourself, Hensley. I know you're up soon, but you're still under my command until that day comes."

Hensley swallowed hard, meeting Davidson's hardened gaze with one of her own. She didn't say anything, not until he added a 'do I make myself clear?' Then she had to respond, a curt, "Yes, Sir."

"When you're ready to be more respectable, we'll also talk about your missed shift last March. You're lucky Kaufmann covered that for you."

Hensley shook her head as he walked away. What the hell made him so interested in her lately? And why the hell was he bringing up things that happened months ago? If he kept it up, maybe living there wouldn't be more than doable.

The downside to being shitty with Davidson was that Hensley actually needed him for something. Peter and Charlotte, Jasper's friends who had visited earlier in the year, were coming back to Forks to visit and officially meet Hensley. In addition to that, the Denali coven, the Cullen's 'cousins' were coming to visit.

Hensley had wanted to take the week off to spend time with everyone, but Davidson would never approve the request without a serious interrogation session. She could've tried going above him to Rooney, though the odds Rooney told her it needed to go through Davidson were pretty high. And then Davidson was sure to know she tried to bypass him and that would not lead to any lesser conflict. As much as she hated it, her best option was to suck it up and work.

"What the hell is up with Davidson?" Hensley asked Red when her shift was over. He was the only one home, oddly enough. It was rare that three of them weren't available at the same time.

Red shrugged from over the stove, stirring something that smelled delicious. Some kind of sauce Hensley thought from a glance. "I don't know. He was on Anderson's ass the other day."

"Where is Anderson?" Hensley made her way to the bedroom to change, knowing Red could still hear her.

"Solitary."

"What?" That made Hensley pause. She knew Anderson. Anderson would never do anything bad enough to get him locked in Solitary.

Solitary was like a time-out box. It was a separate building on base, full of single rooms with no windows and one door. The only time you got to leave that room was to work. Twelve-hour shifts were completed every day inside and it was rough. The work was manual, often stupidly so. Things where they had machinery to do it, like loading canisters into cargo boxes, but they made you do it by hand for punishment.

Two other soldiers escorted you to and from work each day and brought meals. They weren't allowed to speak to you, hardly allowed to look at you, as they did so. Act disorderly to them and…well, it wasn't good.

Kaufmann had gotten solitary more than once, usually for his antics, and usually for his antics involving women. He had been sentenced for a full week once for messing around with Captain Morales's daughter. That had been an interesting time.

"What did he do to get there? How long is he in for?" She left the room to go back into the kitchen to question Red. It was pointless really. Red could hear her just fine from inside the bedroom, even if she had closed the door. Though she felt better facing him.

"I dunno. Two days I think." That was a standard minimum sentence.

She wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer to next question, but felt obligated to ask, "Where's Kaufmann?"

"Working. He'll be done at five." Hensley glanced at the clock, immediately questioning why she did that. It was three hours from now and she knew that based on when her shift ended. She wanted to wait for Kaufmann to get home. Red had the second-best hearing out of them, though it was Kaufmann who knew all the ins and outs of the bases. At the same time, she wanted to leave. Three hours spent at home was three hours less with Jasper.

"Do you know why Davidson was asking Colins about me?" Hensley decided to pick Red's brain while she made a decision on Kaufmann.

He shook his head, cursing lightly when he spilled some pasta in the sink, "No. Sounds weird though. When did he do that?"

"Not sure. Davidson told me about it today. Colins told him about Jasper coming over that night a few months ago. You were on overnight but came home and could smell him in the apartment." Hensley gave far more detail than Red probably needed in order to help him remember.

"Why's he asking about it now?" Red frowned at Hensley. He poured pasta and sauce into two bowls, offering her one. She refused it at first, until Red muttered a sharp, "Don't be stupid, Hensley." Sometimes if Red narrowed his eyes enough, it looked like his entire eye was missing since the color of them was so dark brown that they may as well have been black. It freaked Hensley out.

She stirred her food together so the sauce, pesto, Red's favorite and the best thing he made, was evenly coating the noodles. "I'm not sure. That's why I wasn't sure what was up with him."

"Strange. I'll keep an ear out. Know they're talking about relocating us yet again this year."

Hensley's fork stopped mid-assent. "They are?" If he was going to say things that stopped her heart, she needed to quit talking to him. She didn't want to be relocated. She couldn't be relocated. It wasn't enough time. She still had…forever until she was released and if she was relocated now then that meant she had to spend the whole time without Jasper or her family and she couldn't do that because she would miss them too much and she couldn't live without seeing Jasper for that long and what if he couldn't move with her?

"Are you good?" He rose an eyebrow at her from the table.

No. No, she was most definitely not good. Her life was ending or over or already done. She hadn't realized she had stopped breathing until the feeling of her chest caving in overpowered her senses. Breathing did not help that feeling go away. Her phone buzzed in her pocket.

"When?" She whispered, ignoring Red's question.

He shrugged. "A few months? Before year end, at least."

Hensley nodded, putting the fork of noodles in her mouth. They tasted like nothing.

~.~

"What the hell are we going to do? What if we can't go with you? What if you move someplace sunny? What if they know we're following you? What if they don't let you leave the base or come after us? What-"

"Jasper." Carlisle interrupted his son, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Relax. It's going to be alright."

"Easy for you to say. Your life isn't ending."

"Really, your whole life?" Cooper questioned from behind him, earning a steady glare and a 'shut up, Cooper.' Hensley was inclined to agree with Jasper.

She shook her head, staring at the same spot on the floor she had been staring at since she arrived and sat down. "I'm not out until January. January 13. I mean, what…what are we going to do if I get relocated in the next month and then we have to spend-" A stabbing pain right in her chest. She gasped, holding the spot. Jasper replaced his arms around her, pulling her into his lap so he could gently kiss the side of her face.

Rosalie looked upon the couple skeptically, "They can't really make her move, can they? She doesn't even know for sure that she'll have to and they're already a mess. What do you think will happen if she actually moves? She'll be no use to them."

"We know that, but they don't." Carlisle told her. He knew she was right. There was just no way to make the agency see that without making the situation worse.

"So we let them suffer?" Cooper's tone clearly indicated how he felt about that plan; cheerful, but with a heavy sarcastic bite. "Good thinking."

"That's not what I said." Carlisle cast a sharp eye to the oldest Whitlock. "We'll come up with a plan. Maybe Eleazar will have an idea on how to help them. Maybe he's seen this before."

"Did you get the week off?" Jasper asked against her temple.

Hensley scoffed. "No."

"They wouldn't let you?" Carlisle seemed surprised at that, but he hadn't met Davidson.

"I didn't ask. Davidson, the new Lieutenant Colonel, he's an ass. He cornered me today about why I missed work back in March – when we had to go to Arizona to get away from James. He knows something is up. He was asking why I spend so much time off base and why I had brought Jasper to base the night the nomads picked up our scent. He's asking about things that happened months ago and I can't figure out why he cares so much right now. If I ask him for the week off though, he'll be even more suspicious and then what? He forces me to stay on base?"

Carlisle shook his head, sighing as he got lost in his own thoughts, "No. It's best you don't. Has Rooney said anything? Is he still a reasonable man?"

"The only one there." Hensley muttered. She had so many regrets about Rooney getting promoted. Not that she had anything to do with it.

"Does he know how bad this Davidson is?" That was a good question, one Hensley couldn't answer. She wasn't sure how involved Rooney was with the inner workings of everyone below him. Even if he wasn't very engaged, he had to see the reports, right? More people in Solitary, more people not renewing, more people complaining. Unless, of course, they were like Hensley and didn't complain. But the other two things were statistics that didn't involve people coming forward.

Whether or not more people were in Solitary or leaving was something Hensley wasn't very aware of. She knew Anderson was leaving because of Davidson. She also knew she was leaving because…well, she wasn't leaving because of Davidson. She was leaving because she was tired of the work and had wanted to find her father. Apparently, she didn't need to leave to fix one of those.

Either way, if Anderson was leaving because of Davidson, he couldn't have been the only one who was coming to that conclusion.

"I don't know. The last time I spoke to Rooney was at the hospital in March and we certainly didn't talk about Davidson."

"I think we should play it safe for a while." Carlisle told her, watching Hensley and Jasper's reaction to the news. "Maybe you just come over on the weekends for a-"

"No." Jasper was quick to refute, pulling the girl as close as he could get her.

Carlisle sighed. He had expected pushback. "Jasper, a little time lost now may save us a lot of time lost later. If Davidson is suspicious of her activities, cutting back may save her from being relocated before she's released."

Logically Jasper knew that was the right thing to do. Physically he couldn't do it. He wanted her close, he wanted her with him. He wanted Lexi. He wanted to-…. Venom pooled in his mouth as he felt an urge he hadn't experienced since fighting James. Jasper tried to swallow it, pushing this new animalistic desire down.

It was strange. There was no reason for Jasper to feel this need. What purpose did it serve? None, he presumed. Biting a vampire left nothing but a scar. Jasper knew that. He had known that very well.

Lexi was not a full vampire though and biting her…they weren't sure what it would do. At worst it would…Jasper pushed the thought away as quickly as it came. He wasn't fast enough, Lexi still glanced over at him to ensure he was alright. When the flash dissipated, she returned to the conversation with an easy smile that made Jasper's world light up.

At best it would leave nothing more than a scar. And damn did Jasper like the thought of that. A warm sensation filled his chest and stomach as he tried to imagine her with a bite scar. Not just any bite though, his bite. It was downright sinful, the feeling that filled him up. It was addicting, full of ecstasy and sheer desire. Without even having a reason to, Jasper wanted to bring those thoughts to reality. How alluring, how captivating, how-…

No.

He couldn't though. He couldn't take that risk.

He would sit and suffer with his own desire for the rest of his life if it meant keeping her safe. Nothing was more important than that.

Even if he had a sneaking suspicion that everything would be better if he did it anyway.