This story contains Marlene/Skipper, implied secret Hans/Skipper, and some mentions of Julien/Rico as this is a continuation/part of my humanized Park Avenue verse. Although you really don't need to have read my other tpom stuff to understand this one.

Chapter 1

"You won't ever have to talk about it

You'll never wanna talk about it"

Sleep Token - Granite

"So?" Marlene prompted Skipper as they left the movie theater.

"I suppose it wasn't all that bad," Skipper replied, purposely playing down how much he had enjoyed the movie, "for a sappy chick-flick." Although he already knew that Marlene wasn't buying it based on the smirk she was wearing.

"If you're really going to try to play the macho card," Marlene teased, "then you can be a gentleman and pay for dinner."

"As if I don't always pay," Skipper rolled his eyes as he pulled his phone from his pocket. He'd gotten the strangest urge to check it during the movie, but had chalked it up to the usual shenanigans that would unfold whenever he was away. Yet, that gnawing gut instinct that had never let him down before was at it again. "Let me just make sure that there aren't any catastrophes that need to be I'm yours the rest of the night, dollface."

"Do you really think the guys can't handle things without you for a night?" There was an edge of disappointment in Marlene's voice. Even if she'd somewhat grown accustomed to Skipper's general paranoia it didn't make date nights any easier.

"They can handle just about everything that you could throw at them, but it doesn't mean that I don't like to check in. Just in case Kowalski created another monster." Skipper frowned at his phone screen and hoped he hadn't jinxed the entire evening.

One voicemail from Private and two texts, one from Rico and one from Kowalski. While that didn't mean the end of the world, it didn't sit right with him that all three had tried to reach him within such a short time.

"I recognize that look," Marlene's voice was soft and filled with concern. "Something happened and it's not good, is it?"

"Give me a minute, I'm sure it's nothing serious, but let me find out what's going on." Skipper felt sheepish as he pulled up the voicemail and put his phone up to his ear to listen.

Skipper, I'm sorry to interrupt your date, but we have a bit of a situation. Kowalski's voice rose in the background but Skipper couldn't make out what was said as Private continued to talk, voice panicked and urgent. Nothing we can't handle, but I don't want you to be caught off guard when you get back. Again I really don't mean to ruin your night and please don't feel like you have to rush back—there was another influx of voices in the background and this time he heard Rico snap at Private. I'm getting there! Sorry, it's Hans. He showed up at the door but he's hurt pretty badly. Lost a fair bit of blood and he's out of it, maybe a concussion but Kowalski's working on getting the bleeding stopped for now. There was shouting from both Kowalski and Rico this time in the background, but what was shouted was lost again. Alright, I'm coming! I'll try to update you later, Skippa.

The message ended and Skipper let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. He lowered his phone and checked the texts that had been sent.

KOWALSKI: Our impromptu patient is resting and should make full recovery. I will continue to monitor the situation and log the incident.

Next came Rico's text and as a man of few words he had a photo attachment. The picture showed Hans' small form taking up their couch in the living room. He'd been covered with a blanket and the man's face was partially obscured by the angle, his face turned towards the back of the couch, but it was still clearly swollen and mottled with dark bruises. More bruises stood out on the man's arm where it laid over his stomach on top of the blanket and Skipper could only imagine what the stark white bandages that started at Hans wrist and went down to envelop each finger were hiding.

Skipper forced himself to look at the message under the photo.

RICO: Kowalski's working on the report, but injuries are consistent with torture. Putting HQ into a soft lockdown in case he was followed. Private's on first watch tonight.

"Shit," Skipper muttered to himself as he stared at the messages. His eyes kept going back to the picture at a Hans that looked far too small and far too still with no cocky smirk playing on his lips. The longer he looked, the more he noticed and the tighter his stomach clenched. At least Rico had expressed the thought that he had forced his mind to smother at first. Torture. And if anyone on the team understood the injuries that came with torture better than the rest it was certainly Rico who had experience on both sides of the metaphorical and often literal knife.

"If you need to go we can always plan for dinner another night," Marlene suggested as worry began to chew away at her insides at Skipper's lackluster response. She could see the conflict that was building over whatever news he had received. In all honesty, it made her nervous whenever Skipper became rattled even if he did well to hide it around her. It could be any number of things from a new mission being dropped on them to a direct threat against them.

Skipper hesitated as he looked at the texts again and considered his opinions. Clearly his team had it covered with each of them splitting up responsibilities as they followed protocol even without him present. Something he wished he could feel more proud about given the last time he had had to let Kowalski take the reins while he was pulled for a solo mission. In all reality, he could stay out just a little bit longer and enjoy time with Marlene since they had hardly spent time together the last few weeks between their jobs. Well, more her job than his unless they were on an active mission.

Yet, it was Hans in a state that Skipper had never seen before. Clearly there was a threat somewhere and Hans may have brought it to his door. Which raised more questions and even more fears given his double agent status.

"Skipper?" Marlene asked again and placed a hand on his arm not bothering to disguise the fear that had leaked into her voice. The look of worry in his eyes, the tightness of his lips, and the stiffness of his shoulders told her that something was very wrong. "Is everyone okay? Nothing happened to them right?"

"They're fine, but we might have had a big problem show up at our door." Skipper couldn't put this off even if he hadn't wanted to cut date night short. Especially when Marlene had been looking forward to an uninterrupted night for the two of them since his last impromptu mission had nearly gone sideways. "It's probably best if we do a raincheck on dinner tonight."

Relief flooded Marlene's system, but it was quickly replaced with confusion. She couldn't imagine anything else being able to shake Skipper as much as something happening to his team. And that was considering she'd only heard the stories of what it was like when they thought that Private had been killed on a mission in his early days on the team. "If they're okay, why can't they handle it? What happened? "

"I'm not sure," he said finally, his voice barely above a whisper suddenly aware that they were still out in the open. "But one of the agents we work with on occasion showed up and was bleeding out. That's handled for now, but I need to find out what actually happened and if we've been compromised in any way." He knew honesty was the best policy, but also that honesty could get you killed in his line of work. If Hans had let anything slip or if whoever had gotten a hold of him was still looking for him, then Marlene could become a target by association.

"And that's probably more information than you should have given me," Marlene responded unsure of how to feel at the moment. She knew that Skipper's duty came first and that it was dangerous, but it wasn't until moments like this that it struck her how dangerous and how little Skipper could give her when something went wrong.

"That's all the information I have," Skipper half-lied with ease, not wanting to inadvertently paint a target onto Marlene's back. "I'm sorry, Marlene. I know this isn't how you were wanting this night to go- it's not how I wanted it to go either. We'll have to do dinner another night, but I think I can take the time to walk you home at least."

"It's okay. I knew what I was signing up for," she replied before offering a soft smile as she took Skipper's arm and they began to walk toward her apartment building. That had been a sticking point early on when they first started to would be times where he'd have to disappear and she wouldn't know if he was alive or dead for days if not weeks. That, of course, came with the knowledge that there were some things that Skipper couldn't tell her, but she had also had to accept that even if it was something he could tell her that some things he never would.

Skipper felt lighter at least for a moment. It was hard to find someone who was willing to try to understand the life he had or even put up with it for as long as Marlene had,"I really don't know what I did to deserve you."