"All right, I'll meet you at the jet in an hour," Sasha said with a nod. "I need Truman to look over a few of these old mission reports, and I can get his approval for us to follow up on this lead while I'm there."

Milla smiled. "Just don't lose track of time like last week. It's very rude to keep a girl waiting, you know." She tossed a wink over her shoulder at him and floated down the hall on her way before he could respond.

He shook his head and took a sip of his coffee to hide his smile, then tucked the reports under his arm to prepare to head up to the Grand Head's office.

He felt an uncomfortable prickling at the back of his neck and turned around sharply, just in time to see a woman across the room who was staring at him with a serious expression quickly duck her head and look away.

Sasha frowned. He recognized her as a fellow agent but one who worked in a different department and he couldn't put a name to. Yet, this wasn't the first odd interaction he'd had with her.

"Morning, Sasha. You on your way up to see the boss, too?"

Sasha turned. This agent - Thomas - he did recognize. "Good morning," he replied. "Yes, that's where I'm heading."

Thomas gestured toward the elevators, and Sasha fell into step beside him.

"Do you know that woman? Sitting over in the corner by the ficus?" Sasha asked him.

"Who, Sherri? Yeah, her office is down the hall from mine. Why?"

"Have I done something to offend her? We've hardly ever spoken, but I've seen her glowering at me from across the lobby several times recently."

Thomas laughed. "Nah, you haven't done anything. She's just been trying for months to work out if you and Milla are sleeping together."

Sasha's foot caught on a jutting table leg, and all psychic recovery abilities were temporarily forgotten as he flailing threw his hands out to catch himself. "She what?" he half-shouted as he regained his footing.

Thomas was thankfully quick enough with his telekinesis to snag Sasha's coffee cup and mission files out of the air before their inevitable disastrous collision, and he handed them back with a sheepish grin. "Sorry about that. But you really didn't know? Sherri likes to gab about her theories to anyone who'll listen, so I figured you would have overheard something by now."

The idea that most of headquarters was apparently aware of this topic of discussion was not as comforting to Sasha as Thomas seemed to think it would be. "But...why?"

Thomas shrugged. "Well, you can't say it comes out of nowhere. You two are really close, even for a partnered team. You even show up to work in the same car most days…"

"Her route goes directly past my home. It's an efficient use of gasoline."

"Hey, you don't have to explain anything to me. It's none of my business," Thomas said, holding up his hands in surrender. "Besides, I haven't got any money in the betting pool either way."

"...The betting pool?"


Milla was already waiting by the jet when he made it out of the building, and she happily hopped up and took hold of his arm when he approached.

"There you are, darling! What took so long? Truman didn't give you any trouble, did he?"

Sasha shook his head distractedly, acutely aware of her warmth against his shoulder in a way he usually wasn't. "No, he gave his approval for the trip without issue," he said, glancing away.

There weren't many other agents outside, but this year's crop of interns were all gathered nearby, skipping stones across the flooded quarry basin under the pretense of practicing their telekinesis. A few of the older ones had turned to watch them with mild interest. Sasha suddenly wondered if any of them were in on the bet.

"Is something wrong?" Milla asked, frowning at him in concern.

He could ask her to stop any of it, and he knew she would without question. But he found himself imagining her puzzled, maybe even hurt, look as she slowly pulled away. He imagined losing the pleasant touch of her hand on his arm as they walked through headquarters together, losing her comforting chatter as he sat half-awake in the passenger's seat next to her each morning, losing any number of little things he'd grown accustomed to from her presence in his life.

"No, it's nothing," Sasha said. He put his hand in his pocket to crook his elbow, and Milla smiled and looped her arm through his. He nodded toward the jet. "Shall we?"