"Lazarey’s dead?" Weiss was waiting at the door when Lauren walked into the safehouse.

She nodded tiredly, pulling her hair free and letting it fall loose. "Another loose end tied up."

He took her coat and hung it up. "I talked to Nikita."

"And?"

"The official word from Centre is stick with it. We’ve had more success in the last six months than we’ve had in two years. It seems Section’s stock couldn’t get any higher when it comes to the Covenant. We’re delivering solid gold." He grinned faintly for a split second. The grin faded when he saw the tired look on her face. "You look like you need a drink."

"What I need is a new assignment." Dropping down onto the over-stuffed sofa, Lauren rubbed her temples. "I don’t know how Michael did it all those years. Playing the devoted spouse...all the while following Section’s every order...and actually thriving at it."

"The man was more automaton than man." Her partner shrugged, holding out a glass. "And in the end...he didn’t. He made the choice to run didn’t he?"

Lauren’s lips curved up into a smile. "Shh..we’re not supposed to know about that, remember?" She scolded with restrained amusement. "Nikita..."

"Trusts us." He reminded. "Quite implicitly I would say, given the fact we’re the ones that landed this assignment."

"True." She allowed, nodding. "It was quite a risk...all things considered."

The all things being Eric’s ability to deal with the fact his lover had been assigned to get close to another man. An assignment which had led to her marrying that man. The very man that Eric’s own assignment had led him to befriend. It was, by far, the most difficult assignment either had faced in their careers since being recruited by Section.

She sighed, swirling her drink about in its glass. "Honestly, Eric, I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up."

He gave her a sympathetic look and moved forward, sitting on the footstool and pulling her feet into his lap.

Lauren opened one eye, watching him warily, closing it again when he began slowly massaging one foot. She let out a quiet moan and settled back. "Thank you."

"You’ve earned it, kiddo." He teased a little, grinning at the disapproving nose crinkle the appellation got him. "You definitely got the short end on this op."

"I don’t know about that." She sat up, moving forward and sliding her hands into his. "I think I’d go insane if we were to switch places. I don’t know how you handle that...watching Vaughn and I."

"It’s not easy." He admitted honestly. "But it’s the job and..." he pushed her hair away from her face, smiling, "we have this place...whenever I think I can’t handle it for another second...we always seem to end up here with no Section assignments, no Rambaldi problems, no Covenant..."

"Just us." She finished quietly.

"Just us." He rubbed her hands between his. "The op won’t last forever, Lauren. Before you know it, we’ll be back in good old comfortable Section with Nikita breathing down our necks and sending us off to deal with normal, insane terrorist organizations. You know the kind. The ones who just want to blow up stuff rather than bring forth the unholy seed of some dead scientist with a Nostradamus complex."

Lauren laughed and kissed him. "You’re crazy."

"I am." He nodded. "Didn’t I tell you? I got recruited into Section after I killed the cable guy with his own tool belt because he was late. Very messy. Did wait for him to hook up the cable though. Crazy. Not stupid."

Still laughing, she kissed him again. "No, not stupid in the least."

When they parted, he lifted a brow. "When do we have to be out of here?"

"Not for a while." She responded, smiling.

"Good." He moved to sit on the sofa with her, pulling her into his arms, letting Lauren relax into them.

She rested her head on his chest, closing her eyes. "Very good." Sighing, she cuddled closer. "Very, very good."

TBC? Possibly?

 

Alias, not mine.

 

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