Aidan felt the plane swoop lower, dropping altitude, and knew that they were close to San Francisco.

Raven sat in the chair adjacent to him, feet propped up on the seat opposite her. He could feel her gaze upon him, an almost tangible presence scanning and studying, and kept his breathing even and eyes shut.

"Enjoying the view?" he drawled, lids still lowered.

"I have always loved San Francisco at night." Raven stared pointedly out of the window, at the cluster of lights that was the city beneath them.

Aidan ran a hand through his hair, displacing already-tousled curls as he grinned knowingly. "I prefer L. A., personally, but right now I'll take any city with a decent array of clubs."

Raven slid her gaze to him, eyebrow quirked disparagingly. "You really want to party now?"

"I've been stuck inside an airplane for the past eight hours," Aidan responded with a shrug. "Who wouldn't? Plus," he added, smirking inwardly as he chose his words, "we might as well take advantage of the perfect timing."

Raven narrowed her eyes condescendingly. "There is no we. There's the agent who wants to complete her mission, and the agent who wants to party."

"Ouch," Aidan replied drolly, leaning back in his chair as the plane circled lower. "Loosen up, Raven," he drawled. "Your mission detail is to follow Samar when he leaves the headquarters tomorrow morning, not keep track of him through the night."

"A lot of fun getting close to him will be, if I'm smashed," Raven countered cuttingly.

Aidan grinned crookedly at her caustic response. "Who said anything about getting smashed? I thought that you're the woman with the small stature but the infinite alcohol tolerance? And if you're going to comment on how much the jet lag will affect us, I'm sure you've endured worse," he added, smug triumph blatant in the eyebrow he raised.

Raven narrowed her eyes once more, and Aidan knew that he'd won.

"Two hours," she said, as the plane touched down on a deserted runway.

Aidan's grin widened. "A lot can happen in two hours."

Raven rolled her eyes at the opaque innuendo crammed into the seven words of his sentence, sliding her laptop back into her knapsack. She stood as the jet rolled to a stop, slipping into the designer jacket that was draped over the back of her chair.

Aidan cast an eye over her outfit once more. "Are you planning to change?" he asked, keeping his voice carefully neutral, because he knew that the interest implied by the lack of pretense in his tone would irritate her.

"No, I'm planning to walk into a nightclub dressed like a character straight out of The Great Gatsby," Raven responded caustically.

Aidan grinned; case in point. "That's my bitch."

Raven arched an eyebrow. "Only in your nightmares," she replied sweetly.

"Damn straight," Aidan muttered under his breath, but not too low.

*

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A/N:

I'm hoping that a night out on the town sound fun to you all, because that's where Raven and Aidan are headed! But is it just me, or is this chapter jam-packed with too much cliche and not enough solid reason? Comment or PM me with your thoughts, and a Happy Valentine's Day to you all!