Rajveer walked down the halls of the headquarters with the painting in hand. Something very odd was going on. He just couldn't pinpoint.

"Rajveer" called Ananya. "Here is the case report you wanted. what's up ? why are you so tensed"

"Kuch nahi, Ananya...yeh painting kisine school mein submit kiya Naveen ke liye. Pata nahi kisne."

"Meine" said a voice from behind

"Gunny" asked Rajveer in surprise. Gunny was severely injured in the blast that killed Naina.  Both of them were at the base camp on a mission when somebody dropped a bomb on the site.

"Haan. Hospital se bas thode hi din pehele discharge hua hoon. Apne locker se saaman nikaal raha tha aur Naina kekuch cheeze reh gaye the waha, toh wo bhi le aaya. Mujhe pata tha ki Naina ne woh painting apne beta ko jitaane ke liye kiya. Isilye jaldi school mein submit kar diya."

"Ohh...I see..Thanks Gunny. Waise..This is Capt Ananya Kashyap. She is a part of my team and a good friend."

"Nice to meet you,Captain."

"Nice to meet you too" said Ananya and left from there.

"So, Rajveer..How are you doing ? How is Naveen ?" said Gunny, walking with Raj.

"We are ok..surviving" said Rajveer.

"Raj...she gave up her life for her country...like a true soldier...we should remember her with pride..not tears"

Rajveer nodded. " Waise, it is very surprising...that you remembered my son's school project deadline."

Gunny stopped walking. Rajveer turned to look at him.

"Yes..I did...because Naina talked too much about it. She really wanted Naveen to go on that trip." said Gunny firmly. " See you around."

Rajveer watched Gunny's retreating figure and his mind was once again not at ease.

**********

"Rajveer " said Ananya. " meine thoda kuch pata kar to liya...but are you sure tum sunna chahte ho ye sab."

"Haan. Bilkul. Lekin pehele ye batau, tumne pata lagaya kaise."

"Well, it involved me flirting with a lieutenant and posing as a courier agent, so that I could open the box containing the files."

Rajveer smiled. " I am impressed."

"Ok, so...bohotkuch hai, but Gunny ke report ke hisaab se, woh aur Naina kisi Eagle666 ka peecha kar rahe the, jo humare army ka hissa hoke, code key information dusre countries ko pass kar rahe the."

"Taaki, woh army ke andar, humare sare coded communication ko crack kar sake ? That would be disastrous."

"Exactly. Apparently, Gunny aur Naina kaafi information nikaal chuke the,  but they have lost it all in the blast. Now they don't even have enough information to start another investigation. So, they are officially closing it."

Rajveer stood up and leaned against the wall. Ananya came to him and put his hand on his shoulder.

"Rajveer...I understand why you are doing this. You have no closure. If they would have found her body, you would have been able to accept that she is no more, but now..Rajveer, this is very normal with loss. Our mind comes up with odd things to cope with the grief."

"I know..Ananya...May be you are right. But, I still wish I could do something. Naina gave up her life for this mission, I just want to make sure, that her sacrifice was not futile. May be I can pull some strings and get it reopened ?"

"If you want to..we can give it a try..I 'll try to get something."

"Thanks Ananya. I don't know what I would do without you."

Ananya looked into his eyes and smiled.

******

Rajveer put Naveen to sleep and went back to his room. He was tempted to drink, but he pushed that thought down. It has been so many months, but he couldn't get Naina out of his mind for a second.

He saw a few envelopes on his desk so he picked them up and began sorting them. He opened one of them and it turned out to be a medical bill. Naina's last medical bill before she went to the base camp. It was a huge amount and not from the army hospital, but a private one.

Rajveer called the hospital, to find out what the bill was really about. 

"Sir...Yes...Mrs Naina Singh Shikhawat...she was in the hospital on the 9 th of June, visiting our Gynecologist. I 'm sorry sir, I can't give you the exact details until you come here and show us her death certificate and your id."

Rajveer hung up the phone. Why would Naina go to private hospital ? May be she just wanted a second opinion on something or..

Flashback

"Naina" he wispered hugging her from the back and kissing her bare shoulder." Aise surprises aur diya karo...I missed you."

"I missed you too, isiliye to chali aayi...aapke cantonment mein...man na padega..view kamal ka hai"

"It is" he said looking at her with a heated, sexy glare.

She turned and hugged him. Rajveer kissed and nibbled her neck. He got on top of her and was about to enter..

"Rajveer.." she moaned " Protection mat bhulna."

 Rajveer gave her a confused look. 

"Rajveer, aapke paas nahi hai ?"

"Mere paas kyun hoga Naina...yaha mein kiske saath kya karunga ?"

"Rajveer, mein bhi toh nahi leke aayi..yeh sochke ki......acha jayiye, leke ayiye..."

"Abhi kaha, Naina ? Bahar kitni thand hai...aur meri aisi halat nahi ki mein bahar jaa sakta hu.."

"Infirmary se le ayiye naa.."

"Haan..kyu nahi ?" asked Rajveer sarcastically. "Mein jaake keh deta hu..ki meine sar dard ka bahana banake, half- day leke...bhari dopehar mein aisa kuch kar raha hoon jiske liye....Naina.."

"Toh..ab kya ?"

"Kya kya ? Shaadi shuda hoke itna kya darna ? waise bhi hum kab se dusre bache ki plan kab se postpone kar rahe hai...aaj anjaam de hi dete hai.." said Rajveer running his hand up and down her side.

"Whoa...Rajveer...slow down..abhi hum dono ape apne missions mein busy hai..yeh time nahi hai...aap jab tak apna mission khatam kar denge..I will also be done with mine...we'll plan then. Abhi hato."

Rajveer made a face like a child who has been denied chocolate. Naina sighed.

" Fine..let's do it..I' ll take a pill tomorrow."

May be that was it. May be she went to the hospital to get pills. But then, why would they send such a big bill for a couple of pills ?