A/N — sorry for dropping off the face of the earth. Work has been insane. I'm trying to get back in the swing of things and will respond to comments soon — I promise! xoxo — kals

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Chapter 16

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Wolf Taylor considered himself a fairly even-keeled guy. Sure, he had been a bit of a hot head when he was younger before he found martial arts, but it had been years since he felt the kind of rage that he was feeling right now as he stared through the window of the official SUV. He watched the high-priority passenger that he and Eric had been sent to collect and bring to the White House walk towards them and fought the urge to hit reverse and head home, leaving his passenger stranded.

Unfortunately, even the rage-filled portion of Wolf's brain understood that none of this was really her fault. Or Eric's, who was sitting next to him in the SUV, gazing at Wolf in clear concern. "You okay, Wolfman? You need me to drive?"

"Nah, you get the bags," Wolf replied through gritted teeth. He watched their passenger approach the SUV as Eric left to collect the luggage, her sunglasses hiding half of her face. Wolf thought he saw a trace of surprise cross Jesse's face as their gaze locked, just enough to confirm to him that this hadn't been her idea. Then Eric was heading back, dragging only a single suitcase, suggesting either a short visit or lack of personal belongings. Given Jesse's profession, Wolf guessed the latter. He recalled her laughing about that when someone asked if she needed a change of clothing.

Easy come, easy go.

Still, she wasn't the one he was angry with. No, if Jesse was here, it was because someone was pulling her strings. And by someone, he meant Sasha. Taking several calming breaths, Wolf tried to pinpoint the source of his rage. Ah, there it was. He felt betrayed. He had opened up, telling Sasha how he felt about Jesse, and asked her not to interfere. A request, apparently, that Sasha promptly ignored.

Jesse's face was perfectly composed when she climbed into the rear passenger seat of the SUV. "Wolf."

"Jesse." He waited until they were exiting the airport, the turn signal clicking. "I thought you planned to stay in China."

There was a short pause, and Jesse's voice was controlled when she responded. "There were things I needed to do. Now they're done." Before Wolf could respond she turned her gaze out the window. "I've never been to St. Louis. Tell me about the bugs."

The comment was so random, yet so like Jesse, that Wolf found himself smiling. His rage eased as Eric began a rambling, long-winded discussion about the type of bugs common in St. Louis. Wolf cut him off. "They're quite ordinary, no different from home."

Eric paused, his forehead furrowed, before returning to his discussion of how terrible the bugs actually were in St. Louis. But Wolf's goal had been accomplished, the slight tilt of Jesse's lips obvious even in the rear-view mirror. Almost too quickly, they were at the White House gate, who was checking his list. "Thank you, Senior Chief Taylor. Captain Slattery asked that you proceed directly to his office with Ms. Smith."

Caught off guard by the direction — Wolf was still certain that Sasha was behind Jesse's appearance — it took him a minute to register what the guard had just said. Parking, he turned to look at her directly for the first time. "Ms. Smith?"

"Makes it harder for them to track me," Jesse replied, her eyes then moving to the building before them. "This place must be a pain in the ass to clean."

Laughing, Wolf swung his door open, waiting for Jesse to join him, ratty backpack still sitting on one shoulder, before leading his way to Mike's office. The man looked up, and Wolf thought he saw relief cross Mike's face as Jesse appeared. Mike stood. "Ms. Smith..."

"Just Jesse," she interrupted.

"Jesse, then," Mike said, starting over. Wolf was tempted to stay and listen to the verbal wrangling, but he had other fish to fry at the moment. Walking down the hallway, Wolf located Sasha's office, opening the door without knocking. Sasha glanced up, then back down, her attention focused on the stack of paperwork in front of her. "Did you need something, Wolf?"

He leaned over her desk, palms flat. "I told you to stay out of it."

"Stay out of what?" Sasha looked blank and Wolf almost believed her. But this was Sasha, the woman who lied to Peng's face and got away with it, so Wolf knew better than to trust his own eyes.

"I told you not to ask Jesse to come back," he said between gritted teeth.

"Jesse's here?" Sasha's delight was obvious, as she dropped her pen, standing up. "Is she with Mike? I've been trying to convince her to join us for months. With Maddie pregnant our pilot situation went from terrible to non-existent. I'm hoping that Jesse can take over some of the regular runs, freeing up Sunshine to do training. Jesse's a terrible teacher."

Wolf wasn't fooled by the chatter. Sasha only chattered when she didn't want to talk about something. "Coops. I told you not to invite her here."

Sasha turned, then sighed. "Are you telling me that I shouldn't have recruited one of the best pilots that I know when we're desperate for pilots because you don't want to see her? Really?"

Put like that, Wolf felt like a five-year-old boy being scolded for refusing to wash behind his ears.

Sasha sniffed. "I thought so." She sailed past him towards the door, then paused. "If you don't want to see her, then don't. But you may want to consider the fact that Jesse came here knowing that she would see you. I have to think that means something, but it's up to you to find out."

As Sasha disappeared, Wolf cursed. Trust Sasha Cooper to turn his entire life upside down.

And they weren't even dating.