^^^NAYME...❤️❤️❤️

NB Rereaders of S.I.X, I love you guys to death for loving the book, but I beg of you to stop hinting at what you know is going to happen in the comments areas. It ruins the reading experience for any new readers. I'm asking you nicely. Thanks! 😘

***

"He's in the left wing. If we move now, we'll get him," she said fiercely as she strapped a gun to her thigh.

I sighed. "Blossom, you've already killed twenty of them. Would you please leave the rest to us?"

"They shot my brother Xander. I'm going to kill all of them," she said with a glare.

"I'm in agreement with her," Jayme added as he too strapped a gun to his leg.

The two of them had gone off in the night and killed twenty BNK members, which means the BNK know that we're here to take them out.

"Do explain to me how you plan to take eighty-six people out by yourselves," I requested.

"I've seen Jay fight, and right now, he's out for blood," blossom replied.

"She's a killing machine. That's enough on its own," he added with a shrug.

"This is dangerous," I stressed.

"Then how about you stop telling us how dangerous it is and actually join us?" my lovely fiancée asked me.

"Would you please talk her out of this? You're the only one she'll listen to," I pleaded with Jayme.

"He shot Nick Xander. I can't just let it go," he said angrily.

"He? Who are you talking about?" I asked in confusion.

"Izsak; he's the one who shot Nick," he replied.

My eyes widened slightly. "What the hell? Why didn't you say anything?"

"Was it going to make any difference? You don't seem too keen to help," he replied.

"This changes everything. The two of you are going nowhere until we figure out what the hell is going on here. We need to find out why Izsak is with the BNK. I have a feeling that there's more to this than we're seeing, and if I'm right, then I refuse to send the two of you out on a suicide mission. So, the two of you had better do yourselves a favour and reign in your emotions because you're not going anywhere," I told them seriously.

"You can't stop us," blossom said defiantly.

Before they knew what was happening, I handcuffed them to each other and then to the table. "I just did."

"So you plan to just leave us here?" they both asked in a bored tone.

I don't know when the hell it is that they became so synchronized, but it's freaky as hell.

"What exactly happened?" I asked, ignoring their attitude.

"I'm assuming that you told Nick that I was already here. While everyone was getting themselves comfortable in their rooms, he came looking for me. When he found me, he started rambling on about something that I couldn't catch. Just as I was about to tell him to slow down, he clutched his chest. I scoped the area and that's when I saw Izsak. He didn't even bother hiding himself. He just told me that I need to stop looking into Sigma and Phoenix before taking off," he explained.

"And where's Nick right now?" I asked. The two of them had refused for any of us to see him.

"He's with my father," he replied.

I frowned. "Franco's here?"

"There's something that the BNK has that he wants," blossom informed me.

"Of course there is. So when were you going to tell me this?" I asked them.

Jayme shrugged. "His mission isn't a part of ours, so we didn't find it relevant to mention."

"Fair enough! I need the two of you to calm down. Can we keep to the original plan?" I asked them. They were quiet for a while.

Hell, it looked like they were silently communicating.

"Fine! But the BNK are going down," blossom warned.

"That was the plan all along Mama Sparkles. You just need to trust the plan," I said with a smile. I was relieved when she smiled too.

"Can you let me go now?" Jayme asked, seemingly irritated.

"Where are you going?" I asked after setting them free.

"The only place I should be; at Nick's side," he said before walking out.

I hugged my fiancée. "How is he?"

"It's bad D. Franco says Izsak shot him the same way he shot Jay, except Nick isn't handling it the way Jay did. He says Nick will make it, but that more tests need to be run when he gets up," she replied.

"He'll be fine blossom. This is Nick we're talking about," I tried to console.

She rolled her eyes at me. "He may be awesome, but he's still very much human."

"A very tough human. He's tougher than you're giving him credit for," I pointed out.

"I guess, but I'm just so worried about him," she said with a sigh.

"As much as I would like to let you keep worrying about him, I have to be insensitive and tell you to push your emotions aside. As an agent, you can't let your emotions rule the decisions you make," I commented.

"I'm not an agent," she played back.

I raised an eyebrow at her. "Whatever it takes to get you to sleep at night."

"Can't I just channel my worry into the mission?" she asked.

"No, but if you change the worry to anger, then that you can use," I replied.

"That can most definitely be arranged," she said with a nod.

"Good! So, we have to work out a new plan now that you and Jayme blew our cover," I told her, to which she blushed.

She laughed nervously. "Yeah, sorry about that."

"It's fine blossom. It just means that we have to push our time frame forward. They're probably panicking right now, so it's the time to hit them. However, through what you and Jayme did, I've realized that we took our eyes off of the BNK for too long," I commented.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"He means that we missed the fact that the twerps were actually growing in size," Karr said as he walked into the room.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him. He wasn't supposed to be here.

"You may as well forget about lecturing me. Nadia's been moved, so we could no longer watch her. Mordecai and I agreed that we'd be of better help here than there, especially since he's healed and all," he replied.

"Karr?" blossom asked.

"In the flesh, and my is it an honour to finally meet you Miss Solano," he said, turning the charm on.

"You must be quite the win with the ladies, but this lady is proudly taken," she said, showing him her ring.

That's my girl.

He laughed. "I like you, and better yet, I like you for him. I would never do anything to jeopardise that."

"Good! So you and Kai came together?" she asked.

He nodded. "Zuri's here too. Now that we've heard what you and Jayme did last night, it's just as well we're here. You're going to need all the help you can get now that they know we're going after them. What the hell happened?"

"Izsak shot her brother, who Jayme happens to like," I informed.

"Jayme's gay?" he asked in confusion.

I chuckled. "Came as a shock to him too, but Nick is a special human being."

"Nicholas Solano?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You know him?" blossom and I asked curiously.

"You could say so. I didn't put the pieces together about the two of you being related," he told blossom.

"We're step siblings through marriage," she informed.

"Interesting! Anyway, what's the way forward?" he asked.

"We need to get the team together," I replied.

"They're all at the safe house," he informed.

I frowned. "Without us?"

"They knew that only you could get Jayme and Noelle to stop killing the BNK, so they put their time to better use by getting together to discuss a way forward. I doubt they've gotten far though since they were still looking into other clues that have nothing to do with this particular mission," he hinted.

"Zero," blossom and I said knowingly.

"There are too many holes in this whole Zero thing. Why now? Something is brewing and I can guarantee that we're going to be blindsided one of these days," he said.

"So what do we do? Prepare to deal with being blindsided?" blossom asked.

"You can put it that way. More than anything else, we need to get Nadia the hell out wherever they have her and find a way to wake her up. The girl has information that I have a feeling we need," he added.

"From Spain?" I asked.

He nodded. "Yeah! I did some digging around and found out that she actually did wrap up her mission in Spain. Whoever took her, is not the same person she was in Spain to take down. Jayme forwarded that message from Zero and his or her sidekick to me for analysis, and while it took me a week to break down, when I finally did, I learnt that the video had been taken three weeks before it was sent to you."

"That's impossible! Kai said the building had been blown up days after they sent the video," I pointed out.

"He was wrong, and he knows it since we went through the data together. The building was falling apart yes, but it was blown up more than a couple of days later," he replied.

"Hold on! Doesn't that then mean that Zero knew where Nadia was, but didn't say anything for two weeks?" blossom asked.

I shot her a confused look. "Jayme filled me in."

Of course he did.

"That's exactly what it means, hence me saying that there's a lot that just doesn't make sense about this whole thing. Nadia is the person who I believe will give us the head start we need. We just need to wake her up," Karr said.

"You're suggesting that we kidnap her from Cypher Medics?" I asked.

"After this mission, yes," he said with a nod.

"You guys can handle that. From what I hear, I won't be her biggest fan, so it would be best I stay away. I'll stay with Jayme or the twins," blossom said.

I knew that arguing with her would be futile, so I didn't bother.

"Noelle, can I please talk to Xander alone?" Karr requested.

"Sure! I'll be at the safe house with everyone else," she said with a smile before going onto her toes to kiss me.

"I love you Papa Sparkles," she told me.

"I love you even more Mama Sparkles," I replied before kissing her again. Karr's cough broke us apart.

"What the hell is she doing with the twins?" Karr asked me once she was gone.

"Turns out they knew each other back in the day. They and Ayah knew her before she lost her memories," I replied.

He raised an eyebrow. "Ayah?"

"She's the twins' cousin. The four of them were all best friends," I elaborated.

"How the hell did we not know this?'' he asked.

"That's not even the tip of the iceberg. It turns out that they were there at the event that caused her memory loss, but get this; she's always been a part of Cypher," I said.

He scowled. "What the hell does that even mean?"

"The fire that caused her memory loss happened at a Cypher event," I elaborated.

He was about to say something, but I stopped him. "I already checked."

"Checked what?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You were about to ask me if I checked if any buildings linked to Cypher at that time had burnt down, which I did. There are no records of a fire at a Cypher event, and neither is there an event on record from the year blossom lost her memories. The closest file I recovered has restricted access," I explained.

"Why not get her to decrypt it? I thought she's some mega genius?" he asked.

"She is, but it will raise alarm bells because we all know that they're tricky with security on files like that. Also, I feel like she's hiding something from me, so if I'm going to find out the truth, then I have to do it alone," I replied.

He was silent for a while, looking at me with a look that suggested he was trying to figure me out. "For a moment I was so sure you were insinuating that you're investigating your fiancée's life without telling her about it."

"That's because I am," I said with a shrug.

"That's both stupid and dangerous," he commented.

"He wouldn't know what stupid is if it hit him in the face," Aziel said as he, Nigel and the twins walked into the room.

"What are you doing here?" I asked them.

"We bumped into Elliephant and she told us that you were here with Karr. We figured that you'd be catching him up, so we figured why not?" Malachi replied.

"And we had to leave before we killed the E's," Nigel added.

I nodded in understanding before continuing. "Look, she's hiding something from me, and I know that she won't tell me any time soon, so I need to figure things out myself."

"That makes no sense in every world. Why the hell are you choosing not to trust her? Hell, I'm trying to understand how two people can be engaged and yet you both barely trust each other," Malachi said.

"I do trust her; just not with this," I defended.

"You don't trust her with the biggest thing in your relationship?" he asked incredulously.

"To be fair, I see where they're both coming from. This is a new territory for the both of them. Different couples go through different things that lead them to trusting each other. Perhaps that's the case with them," Aziel said.

"I have this eerie feeling that she's getting herself into something that she might not come back from, and I refuse to lose her knowing that I could've done something about it," I said fiercely.

"Then talk to her about it rather than going behind her back," Malachi said, his voice raised.

"YOU THINK I HAVEN'T TRIED? Ever since she got kidnapped, things have been fucking different. We don't talk like we used to. She used to tell me that she doesn't fear me or this side of my life, but ever since her kidnapping, I see how things have changed. Her body goes rigid at the mention of anything Cypher related, and even though she accepts that this is my life, you can just tell that she's extremely uncomfortable about it. Do you have any idea what's it's like to watch her cringe when she hears things that I've done things that I would consider mild in comparison to some of my darkest secrets? It took you guys two years to forgive me. If she knew, knew the kind of person I truly am, I don't think..." I trailed off, panicked at the very thought.

"Xander she wo-"

"SHE WILL LEAVE ME!" I shouted, throwing something against the wall. I wasn't bothered enough to find out what it was.

Aziel put his hands on my shoulders. "She won't hate you, and neither will she leave you! We've already discovered that what happened wasn't your fault and-"

"Except it was!" I snapped.

"Are you suggesting that you didn't tell us the truth?" Mordecai asked in confusion.

"There's so much more to what happened in Cuba than you understand. I wanted to kill those people, and I did. I'm a monster," I said, looking away.

"Again, you were not at fault, so why are we even having this discussion?" Nigel asked.

"Because I am responsible for everything that happened in Cuba, and I stand a very high chance of losing blossom if she ever finds out," I replied.

"That isn't going to happen, and I can't believe I'm vouching for you despite your stupidity, but you're a good person and you shouldn't be judged for the one bad thing that happened in your life," Malachi said.

I raised an eyebrow. "One?"

"Ok, so maybe you've had a different life than others, but that doesn't mean that you're a bad person. Circumstances influenced some if not most of the decisions you've made, and you've survived through a whole lot of shit. I may love Elliephant, but if she can't see that, then she doesn't deserve you," he replied strongly.

He actually put me before her.

"I'm still not telling her that I'm looking into her past," I told him.

He shrugged. "It's still a stupid idea, but at this point in time, it's your stupid idea to make."

"Are you confident that she's hiding something from you though?" Aziel asked me.

"The fact that I'm the one engaged to her, and yet Jayme knows more than I do, is enough evidence," I replied.

"Maybe she just doesn't know how to approach you with this," Nigel commented.

"Or maybe she just doesn't want to add onto your worries," Mordecai added.

"I have no worries," I said in confusion.

"And she clearly knows you just as well as we do, because we can all clearly see that you are worried, and about multiple things at that. She probably thinks that she'll be adding onto your worries if she talks to you about this as it's clearly an even bigger issue than what we're dealing with," he explained.

"So what I'm hearing is that I should talk to her?" I questioned.

Malachi rolled his eyes. "Because I didn't fucking preach that already."

"When do I talk to her?" I asked.

"I know you're probably looking for a perfect opening, but I can assure you that such a thing does not exist, especially for the two of you. You just need to come out and talk to her about it before it becomes the thing that ruined your relationship. You may not lose her after she finds out about Cuba, but you will lose her for sure with the way you're going about this whole thing," Aziel advised.

"Fine! I'll talk to her," I replied.

"Good! Now let's go back because I have a feeling Elle has a shorter tolerance for the E's than we do, especially Tee," Nigel joked.

Except we had no idea just how right he was.

"Blossom, put him down," I said softly. We'd just walked into the room to find Tee pinned to the wall with blossom having him in a chokehold.

"I will if he takes back his words," she replied, putting more pressure on his neck.

"Fine! I give," he barely managed to say before she let him go.

"What exactly is it that got you so fired up?" Malachi asked her.

"Tee suggested that Six is going to leave her for Two when Two wakes up because Two is better than her in everything and is actually on the same level with Six," Zuri was the one to explain.

"What the hell did you do to me? How are you that strong?" Tee asked my fiancée.

"I guess she's on my level huh?" I said cheekily, earning myself a glare in return from him.

"Are you ready to work with us on our mission?" Nigel asked the E's.

"Shouldn't we compromise?" Gee asked.

"Tell us where Cee is and we might think about it," Mordecai told them.

"We already told you that we don't know where my sister is!" Zee snapped.

"Wait, what's going on?" I asked.

"According to Cypher records, Cee was reinstated after the whole Cuba incident, except we didn't even know that she's back, and now your team members are accusing us of hiding her away from you," Vee explained.

I frowned. "What do you mean you don't know where she is?"

"Exactly that! We just found out from you people that she's back, let alone alive," Zee replied.

"Have any of you actually seen her?" Gee asked us in doubt.

"She came to see me," I said with a nod.

"And I've met up with her a couple of times, so unless if this isn't her, then I don't know," blossom said as she showed them pictures of her and Kenya.

"Why would she not say anything?" Zee asked lowly.

I was wondering the same thing.

"Maybe she needs time?" blossom offered. I could already tell that while she was irritated by the E's, she had a soft spot for Zee because of who she is to Kenya.

"Wait! So you really have no idea where she is?" Nigel asked, failing to hide his panic.

Tee scoffed. "Don't sound so worried. We all know that you hate us."

"You know nothing actually," Malachi said to throw them off of Nigel's panic.

"We're not having this argument again," Vee said.

"You're right, we're not. We're moving forward with this mission, and you're going to play by our rules. It's our mission, so we're running it. If you're not on board, you can head back to HQ for all we care," Mordecai told them.

"Fine! We'll play along. I assume you're taking her off," Gee said, referring to blossom.

"Why would you think so?" I asked.

"She and Jayme are clearly liabilities to this mission. If we take them with, we may as well be signing away our lives," he pointed out.

I was about to argue, but she beat me to it. "As much as it pains me to, I agree with him. Jayme and I have compromised this mission enough. We'll stay with Nick for now."

"We need you though," Karr told her.

"Jayme and I will run comms and Zuri can take my place. I believe in you guys, and the E's are extra help, so you'll be covered," she replied.

"Are you sure about this?" I asked her.

"One hundred percent," she said, nodding.

I didn't ask questions after that and instead let the whole thing go. We got to planning, with her in charge since that part hadn't changed according to Karr. There was a lot of shuffling and disagreements, but we eventually reached an agreement on a solid plan.

She didn't come to our room from mission planning, and I knew she was at her brother's side. I could already tell that while she wanted to help us, her worry for Nick was greater, and so I let her be. I could imagine that she hadn't told her parents about the whole thing.

She wouldn't know where to begin.

"Can't sleep?"

I turned to the door and Zuri was standing there. "I'm just thinking."

"What about?" she asked, walking into the room.

"Too many things, but mostly about Nick. I'm worried about him," I admitted.

"I wish I could lie and say that he's looking good, but I can't. He's very touch and go right now," she informed.

"Did you see him?" I asked in confusion.

"I helped Franco when he operated on him. We lost him for about a minute and I swear I've never seen Jayme look so furious. He stormed out of the room and that's when Nick's pulse came back," she explained.

"He really does care about Nick, doesn't he?" I asked.

"He may have wanted to make Nick work for his attention, but I'm pretty sure that jumped out of the window the moment Nick was shot," she said in agreement.

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" I asked.

"We may as well start waving Nayme banners," she joked.

I chuckled. "I guess a life and death situation will make you see things from a new perspective."

"Yes it will. Speaking of life and death situations, how's Elle?" she asked.

"I can't say I know. Her words say one thing, but her emotions and actions say another," I said in frustration.

"You actually can't figure her out," she said with an awed look of surprise on her face. I shook my head.

"For as long as I've known you, your ability of reading and understanding people is one of the only things I've known will never let you down and now you're telling me that you can't read the most important person in your life?" she asked.

"Now you can understand why I'm so..." I trailed off.

"Irritable," she said knowingly, to which I nodded to.

"The guys call it many things, but irritable and angry is what I am. I should be able to read her better than anyone. I mean, I know she's the only person I want to be with for the rest of my life, but I'm shit scared of the fact that I don't know her as well as I'd like," I explained.

"You don't like the unpredictability of the situation," she said knowingly.

"Does that make me a bad person?" I asked.

"It doesn't, but tell me one thing, have you told her everything about you? Can you honestly tell me that you've been transparent with her too?" she countered.

"My situation is different. There are things I can't tell her," I defended.

"And that's where you're wrong. You picked her, knowing that she's a civilian. As much as she accepts that you're an agent, you're supposed to let her in, especially now that you want her to also be an agent. If anything, by asking her to join Cypher, you killed that very defence you just used with me. Now you have to open up to her because she'll be on the same level as you," she pointed out.

I sighed. "She's going to leave me if she finds out just half of the things I've done, let alone all of them."

"I think it's only fair that that become my choice to make."

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