"I don't see how you enjoy this," Cap said as I approached the long table at HQ the next morning, having had to stay at the RUG's base camp until the wee hours of the morning, answering all these prodding questions about my skill set. "That Sergeant is so rude."

"They're okay, I guess." I sat beside him with a sigh, grateful when he pushed half a grapefruit and a spoon my way. I wanted to eat it, but everyone was looking at me so expectantly. I cleared my throat, clasping my hands. "So.... what do you want to know?" I asked calmly. There was a split second of silence before I was bombarded with overlapping questions from the advisers.

Cap but both his hands up to silence them. "Alright, alright! One at a time now, she can't hear you!"

They quieted at once, and he pointed to Stocky short man to give the first question. "Larson?"

"I'd like to know what kind of technology we're dealing with here," the man wheezed, taking a sip of water. I wanted to say what I saw didn't really impress me, but Cap's intense gaze kept me from doing so. He was expecting a certain level of professionalism. "Well, they've only got one computer, for starters. I know they've got some pretty technical firearms, but... other than that... a microwave?"

They all exchanged glances and a few whispers. "You mean... they don't have any automated defense systems? GPS, to know the exact location of enemies?"

"They might, it would have to be inside of their computer. They come off as a bit rag-tag to me, there were only six men down in their base when I was there. I think they have more men, they must... or else their organization would fall apart, you know?"

"And this... Sergeant is in charge of it all?" I nodded, "But we already knew that. He's rude... and cold, but his men respect him. Sometimes I wonder if he even feels, because he looks so... I mean, I've spent several eight-hour periods with him, it's not like I know everything, but he's unfeeling, you know what I mean? Weirdly attractive, in a weird way-"

"God, Callie." Cap gave me a piercing glare, and I shut my mouth immediately. Did I just say... 'attractive'? That had to be a lie, because every part of his barbaric personality was a complete turn-off. So where the hell did that come from? I shoved my mouth full of grapefruit, chewing slowly. "Sorry."

I answered a few more questions, before Cap came around to the fact that I'd mentioned him inadvertently. "He asked you to 'finish your story,'" Cap pointed out, watching as I devoured the grapefruit's tart flesh with gusto. "Yeah, I figured I shouldn't," I said after swallowing. Talking with your mouth full is extremely unladylike, Cap says.

"No, you should, try and knock down that barrier of his. Tell him everything he wants to hear, excluding my choice of work." Using my spoon I dug shapes into the empty peel of my grapefruit, shrugging. "I don't think he wants to hear anything else, Cap." He simply snapped at me to stop playing with my food, and stood.

"Go home, sleep. I'm sure they'll want you back tonight, perhaps we'll learn enough to piece together their plan." I wanted to just ask them what it was, but Cap said that might seem suspicious. I took his word for it and went up to the car waiting for me out front.

Upon arriving home I stripped down immediately, leaving my clothes in a heap near my door for the maid to take. I rewarded myself with a long steam shower, a nice shampoo and plenty of lotion.

I knew my clothes wouldn't be done by the time I had to leave that night, and I was in a quandary over how to go about that. There was no way I could wear any of my normal clothing, they had Bergdorf's written all over them. I bundled myself in a bathrobe and wandered to the elevator. I was sure Cap had to have something, at least a white t-shirt.

Cap's floor was tasteful, even more so than my own. With cherry wood heated flooring, grey paint and huge glass windows, many would covet an apartment floor like his. There were famous paintings, classy white furniture, a completely stainless steel kitchen area augmented with granite counter tops. Most importantly, there wasn't a speck of filth anywhere.

His bedroom was extremely similar, larger than my own. He had a Jacuzzi bath right next to a mantel fireplace, all beneath a very large television that was considerably more modern than my own. I didn't look into his bathroom, instead I went to his bureau and pulled open the top drawer. I rummaged around the socks and underclothes, grinning when I extracted a simple black undershirt. It was thin and short-sleeved, but suited my needs well.

Before I closed the drawer, I caught sight of something bright colored- Pink, and bright colored. It was some sort of bag, with the words 'Victoria's Secret' printed largely on the front of it. I wondered what it was, but didn't touch it.

I put everything back in it's place before hurrying back to my apartment floor, shutting my bedroom door tightly as if someone was following me. I searched my drawers for the most informal bottoms I owned, and the best option turned out to be a ruffled black skirt that came up past my waist when I put it on. I groaned, pulling the t-shirt over my head and tucking it loosely into the skirt's elastic band. Looking back now, it probably looked a little more punk-rock than I would've liked, but I kept it anyways.

I found some more money, and decided I'd go out early, maybe find somewhere to get more informal clothes. I thought first of asking Nina where she goes for hers, but I wasn't quite ready to tell her about everything that was going on, not until something truly interesting happened.

It was barely five o'clock when I left, wandering the streets nervously and hugging myself tightly. Plenty of people passed me by, some seemed completely oblivious to my existence which I wasn't exactly opposed to. Others fought to make eye-contact with me, which I avoided. Keeping my head down I searched the store fronts until I reached a place called 'Spencer's.'

I won't describe in detail what happened, I just remember clapping a hand over my mouth to prevent myself from screaming when I saw the things that place had to offer. I didn't know what they were for the most part, I just know they scared me.

Luckily I spotted the clothing section before I could give in to the urge to flee the place, walking over slowly. Most of the shirts had short and nippy little phrases that I also didn't understand, I was lacking social experience I guess. I found a few with some band logos on them, glancing over my shoulder at the other patrons.

They looked like the people outside the arena at Rock-stock, with the hair and the piercings. Quickly I tore some shirts off of their hangers, as well as a few pairs of jeans. The more people that flooded into the store, the more I just wanted to go home. Soon I was sweating and gasping, rushing toward the desk thing in the front of the store.

There was a man behind the counter, with kind eyes and a smile. Unfortunately-being the scared little doe I was- that smile came off as sinister and frightening. I threw a handful of twenties at him and left the store, never once looking back over my shoulder. I couldn't help it, I went straight back home, scrambling up the drainpipe with the clothes under my arm.

I sat on the foot of my bed for a little while, trying to catch my breath. After I'd calmed down I gave myself a bit of a hard time for being such a baby, and went to the dresser where I'd dumped the clothing. I was pleased with my choices, and took a little cap nap before it was time to go.

****

It was all I could do to take a big breath before climbing into the Sergeant's passenger seat for the second night in a row. He watched me as I did it, wearing this neutral expression that didn't do much to help my nerves. I shut the door firmly after myself, and settled in quietly. He was still staring at me, which practically super-glued my eyes to my lap. My heart rate was through the roof.

"I'll shut up this time, you don't have to worry." He grunted to acknowledge that I spoke and then started rummaging through the space around him. He produced a flat piece of rectangular plastic. I gazed at it with a puzzled expression as he slid it into the corresponding slot on the dashboard, and waited for it to load.

"It's pathetic," he stated, staring at the dashboard display. I sighed, "What did I do now? Is not talking as annoying to you as my voice?" He scowled at me for a few seconds. "No, chill." I didn't know how to 'chill' or exactly what that meant, so I just sat back in my seat quietly.

"If you would have let me finish... It's pathetic for anyone not to know what N.W.A is." I raised an eyebrow, and a few seconds later some explosively loud music begin to blast from the stereo system. I was cringing repeatedly but the corners of the Sergeant's mouth were turned up. "This one is called 'Express yourself.'"

Pleasure bloomed in those green eyes of his. It made them seem a lot more attractive, and they stood out against his red mane.

I heard nothing deep or personal, instead I heard a whole bunch of swearing and other profanity. "Rap music, is that called? Cap says it's completely inappropriate for ladies to listen to this music, if he found out I liked rock music he'd be angry." He turned a dial on the dashboard, and the volume of the music decreased substantially.

"Now you're going to tell me who the hell he is." I looked back at him for as long as I could stand to before I had to look away, and gave a nonchalant shrug. I knew that Cap said I could, but I was still reluctant. "Tell me," he snapped, leaving me wondering why the heck he wanted to know so bad.

"Um... just... the person who I live with?" His gaze intensified. "Your boyfriend?" "No!"

He was oddly relieved.

"So... your father?" I rubbed the back of my neck, and shook my head no. "Not exactly that, either. He's not related to me, he's British actually. He just... buys everything I own, and feeds me, and clothes me, and all that... for the last ten years?"

He chuckled genuinely for the first time since I met him, "That explains why you talk so weirdly. I thought I was making it up, but it's like... some words you say are normal but others sound like you're straight outta London."

"Well.. he's the only person I talk to."

"That's pathetic, what are you? Some kinda loser?" A bit bruised by his words I shied away, staring out the window. "I guess, to someone of your caliber."

"See, there you go again! You're way too sensitive, didn't your parents teach you to play with other kids when you were young?" I faced him, drawing a breath to say, 'No, I only played with you,' but instead I kept my mouth shut. "I guess it wasn't substantial enough, was it?"

"So you don't know what half the world is, you have this creepy British guy controlling your life, you sound like him, and you're softer than jello. Your life sounds like complete shit, you should tell 'Cap,' to shove his predisposed prejudice up his ass, and let you live a little. You could be a lot better if he did."

He was trying to hurt me, and I knew it, but I didn't let him. I just laughed, and laughed some more, and soon enough I was having a hysterical fit all over his leather upholstery. He stared at me weirdly before he joined in, shaking his head at me. I watched him too, and I watched his facial features come alive. He looked like a person, even if it was just for a split second, he was experiencing actual emotion.

"You're right! You're so right, because... I'm seventeen years old, and I've never even been to a real school! I've never had a boyfriend, I've never done... anything except hack before, until now I guess." Just as I desired, he laughed even more, before stopping abruptly. I was grinning at him, and he noticed. All at once his face was stone again, and all the happy was sucked out of the area.

"So basically... you live under a fucking rock?"

I cocked my head to the side, gazing at him. "How is that physically possible?" He sighed, examining closely a split end nestled among his other glossy red strands of hair. "It's a figure of speech, Calliope." I felt ashamed for the fiftieth time in the last week, and studying my pink fingernails. "Oh."

I could feel him looking at me, I don't know whether he felt bad or amused. I doubted he could ever feel bad for anyone, so I assumed the latter. "So... if you don't go anywhere, talk to anyone, or... what do you do?"

I determined whether or not the question was sincere, and when I decided it was I cleared my throat. "I just... watch movies, and stuff. Have you seen 'Dirty Dancing'? It's amazing!" I gushed, just as he launched right back into another laughing fit. I was slightly confused this time, staring at him as he clutched his stomach. "What?"

"You're such a fucking chick!" He called out, shaking his head over and over. "It figures, that movie is gay as shit."

"How could a movie be homosexual?"

He stopped laughing finally, and narrowed his eyes on me. "Another figure of speech."

"And I don't know why you're hating on that movie, it's almost as good as 'Sixteen Candles.'" He laughed even harder that time, but I wasn't so opposed to it. I liked watching him let loose a little bit, it made me feel slightly more comfortable when previously I felt like I was walking on eggshells. "Oh god! You need some serious help, someone needs to teach you about the world! There is so much more out there than corny chick-flicks and Patrick Swayze."

"Chick... flicks?"

He groaned, and rested his forehead against the steering wheel in frustration. "Calliope." He simply said.

"A... figure of speech?" "You're like a preschooler." "I am not!"

"But you are, though," he contradicted, wearing an awkward expression I didn't have the prior knowledge to understand. "I think it makes me... unique." He rolled his eyes dramatically, gripping the steering wheel loosely. "You sure are, Calliope." I smiled but then drew back the happiness as fast as I could, in case he was being sarcastic again.

"But... I'm book smart. I spent all the time in the world studying."

He didn't respond, and suddenly the eggshells were back. I kept stealing glances at him, pondering, waiting, before I put myself on the line and opened my mouth. "What about you? Who are you, Sergeant? You know everything there is to know about me." And then he was sneering at me again, just as he usually did.

"I'm no one, mind your own damned business." He left he car right after this, leaving me alone to brew in my overly-sensitive feelings. I sighed, knowing that the brief time he spent not blatantly hating me was too good to last for long. I slipped out of the car and ran to catch up with him, silently using the keypad to let us in. I wanted to tell him that it might be dangerous to go in since Duff hadn't yet radioed to tell us we were clear, but I was afraid of being reprimanded again.

****

Cap's facial expression described everything I feared he would think, given the fact that he could hear every word I said, along with most of what the other guys said. I forgot sometimes, I was having too much of a good time.

It was strange, so complete taboo to me. When I thought of the RUG I thought of war-hardened machines, and thus far the Sergeant was the only one who'd lived up to the legacy. The others? They warmed up to me quickly, and it didn't take long for me to learn that they were the standard for normal men their age, as far as their personalities and mannerisms went.

Some were more composed than others, mainly The Godfather and Duff, since they had actual jobs. Steven was the best to talk to if you wanted to laugh, Izzy being a close second. He was infatuated with my hair, and Izzy with... other parts of me. The Sergeant was no nonsense most of the time, unless we were alone.

"I have to do weird things when I'm in the field, Cap," I tried to explain, walking through HQ with him. "It's how I'm getting them to trust me."

"They're teaching you improper things," he squinted at me. I wondered if he was referring to Steven's lesson on narcotics or Izzy's on alcohol. He couldn't be talking about Duff, the only thing he tried to teach me about was medicine.

"You've been a 'field agent' all of three weeks, Callie. You don't know everything." I wanted to tell him that I didn't imply that I knew everything, but Cap says that talking back is rude, and good ladies are always polite.

Again I told the advisers everything I'd found out in those five days, hacking with the Sergeant. I refrained from giving my personal opinion on him that time, and Cap seemed oddly satisfied.

****

"Why 'Sixteen Candles'?"

My body jolted in surprise. We'd been sitting there in silence for the longest time, waiting. The whole city was on high alert, all of the remaining Judiciary buildings were armed with twice the amount of men. There was only so much Duff and the others could do to draw them away, and we were late that night since Rock-stock ran long.

I looked over at the Sergeant in the dark, furrowing my eyebrows deeply. "What?"

"Why 'Sixteen Candles'? What do you like about it?" We hadn't spoken formally since the N.W.A experience, and I was shocked and sort of flattered that he remembered a single word I'd said.

I sighed, hoping that the guards fifty feet down the hall wouldn't hear us. "I don't know, it's the... whole 'coming-of-age' quality. In 'Dirty Dancing'... Baby arrives in the Catskills some meek and tiny little daddy's girl, and leaves an experienced dancer who's had several... 'experiences' with Johnny Castle."

"Sex, you mean?" I couldn't see his face in the dark, but I could imagine what it looked like. "Um..."

"So you like it for the romance, then? You could've just said that." "But! I never said that, you did."

He rested his head back against the wall. "Romance is for the weak, just like puppies, pet names and lemonade." I giggled into my palm, grinning at him in the blackness. "I love lemonade."

"Of course you do, Calliope. Do you even know what sex is?"

There was a long pause. "Yes?" It was such an obvious lie, he didn't even bother to call me on it.

"Whatever. Wake me whenever the guards are gone." I sat up straight, protesting. "No, don't go to sleep! You can't leave me here like that!" He didn't move. "Shut up, Calliope. Keep watch." His voice was already thick with drowsiness, just like that. Men.

Groaning, I sat back against the wall, peering around the corner every so often to watch the guards. They stood tall in front of the office door, showing no signs of moving.

I don't know how much time passed. With the Sergeant softly snoring beside me, it was increasingly difficult to keep my own eyes open. The vibrating sound emanating from him was kinda cute, as much as I didn't wanna admit it to myself.

I didn't realize I was falling asleep until I felt something plop against my shoulder, and gasping a little I looked over. My heart rate shot up as I realized it was the Sergeant, resting against me soundly. I didn't know what to do, I'd seen this situation somehow in some movie, but I was too scared to let it fly. I moved my shoulder back, hoping he'd straighten up and lean the other way, but instead it backfired.

His head was in my lap before I knew it, and I was sitting there, my eyes darting back and forth as if someone was seeing this. They weren't. I didn't want to move his head and risk waking him, he seemed very peaceful.

He... was peaceful His facial features were relaxed, and his perpetual scowl had vanished. His hair was scattered over my legs, and I couldn't help but be infatuated by it. It caught the light even in the dark. Staring at his face, I reached for the ends of his fiery mane, gently stroking them. They were soft, and I think they smelled good, I was too excited to really register.

He didn't wake up, and the longer he remained sleeping the more audacious I became. The second my fingers brushed against the bangs falling over the top of his bandanna his eyes popped open, and I gasped. Caught red handed, I didn't bother to remove my fingers.

But he didn't scowl at me, or swat my hands away. For the split second that his green eyes were peering at me, they seemed genuine. They weren't hard, they weren't icy. His facial features remained relaxed. Then they closed again, and he went back to sleep. He didn't remove himself from my lap.

And in that moment, I realized that the Sergeant was one of the most attractive people I'd ever seen. I don't know why I hadn't noticed before, I suppose his 'personality'-if you could even call it that- had masked his sharply defined cheekbones and jaw. When he wasn't scowling he carried this certain softness that melted me in scary ways. I wanted to touch more than just his hair, I wondered what his skin felt like.

****

The next day I was lying in bed, after I'd returned home from CIA HQ, after I showered, after I took off the t-shirt and the ruffled skirt. I didn't think about what the next hack would be like, I didn't think about Cap, I didn't even think about Jess.

Lying there I said out loud every feeling I'd had since I met the Sergeant. I told myself that I was somehow accepting of the way he talked to me, only when we were alone. I was even okay with the fact that he had a problem with every single thing I liked, because he cared to know about them. I told myself I liked his eyes, only when they weren't cruel. I liked the smell of his hair, and the feel. I liked his face.

I was thoroughly enamored with the Sergeant, it became painstakingly obvious once everything was hanging in the open.

I tossed and turned, unable to find sleep. His smile was what I saw when my eyes closed, I couldn't ignore the night before. He looked right at me, he must have felt me touching him, yet he did not move. It had to mean something, right? At the very least, he didn't hate me as badly as I thought he did... right?

I was wide awake. I took another shower, I dressed myself, and I went to the elevator. I wasn't sneaking out that time, there was no need to.

"Miss Callie?" Two guards stood before the doors leading to the outside world, the sole reason my drainage pipe was becoming more familiar to me than my bed was. They stood several inches taller than me, wearing their scary black clothing and completely opaque sunglasses. "You should go back upstairs, Miss. The Captain said you shouldn't be out until the night."

"Well, you should tell him that my business is urgent." I attempted to walk past them, but one of them blocked my path with an unnaturally thick arm. "Miss, you should go back upstairs."

"What if I told Cap that you obstructed my path, and kept me from being where I needed to be at the right time? What if I told him that you two were the sole reason that the mission was compromised, because I was prevented from leaving? What of your jobs then?" I was beside myself, but the words just tumbled out without warning.

They exchanged a glance and moved aside. I walked by with a hand over my mouth, blinking several times.

Cap says having a manipulative note in the symphony of one's personality could ruin the whole orchestra. It definitely wasn't something a lady should possess.

But the Sergeant says you do what must be done to finish the mission, always.

~fin~