20

Ainsley was high on both life and morphine.

The doctor had left some in the infirmary with a drip for her in case the pain started to be too much. She refused it at first, claiming that she could handle the pain. But Colton came into the infirmary last night and caught Ainsleys face scrunched up in pain. He immediately went to work hooking up the drip line to her IV. When he finished he patted her twice on the shoulder. "You'll thank me later," he told her.

He was right. Ainsley had needed to push the button enough to ease the pain that eventually she felt her head begin to swim and suddenly she found the way that her jello jiggled in the bowl hysterical. But she had to suppress the laughter to keep her wound from throbbing in response.

The doors opened and Ainsley half-expected Carmen to walk in given that she'd only left Ainsleys side 10 minutes ago to shower. Instead, Clayton entered the room. She could sense his hesitation before the door even closed behind him.

"Hey, stranger." She waved at him with her spoon.

Clayton hadn't been down to the infirmary to actually visit Ainsley one on one like everyone else had. Deep down, she knew why, and she had been anticipating this conversation.

He cleared his throat. "How do you feel?"

"I feel." Ainsley threw back her head and grinned. "Amazing."

Despite the circumstances, Clayton wanted to smile at her. "Morphine?"

"Yep." She nodded.

"You know." Clayton approached her bedside. "When that wears off, you're gonna be pissed off all over again that you're banned from missions and training for six weeks."

Ainsley waved her hand at him. "Dude, I can't even think about that right now. I'm just... here." Her smile never faded once and part of it put Clayton at ease internally.

But it didn't stop him from glancing down to the floor and his face slacking. "Ainsley. I fucked up, that's why you're here right now. That's why you got shot."

Ainsleys smile fell and she shook her head. "Clayton, I'm fine. It's not the first time i've gotten hurt on a mission. Probably won't be the last either."

"Yeah, but it's the first time that you got hurt because of me."

"Hey," Ainsley started, "shit happens, alright?"

He finally met her eyes. "Not this shit, Ainsley. I'm the leader, I'm supposed to do better. It's expected of me."

Ainsley rolled her eyes. "You and I both know that if I blamed you for this then I would've kicked your ass when I woke up." She shrugged. "But I didn't."

When Clayton failed to show any sign of agreeing with her or processing her words, she continued, "Look, in a few weeks I'll be as good as new but this time I'll have a badass scar to brag about."

"I know. It just reminded me of..." His words drifted when he saw the look on Ainsley's face.

Ainsley physically felt that blow to her heart.

Morphine high was officially gone.

"Clayton," her voice lowered. "You can not do that to yourself. It's not healthy."

He remained quiet so Ainsley reached out and extended her hand. To anyone else, it looked as if she were offering to shake his hand. When he looked down at it, he couldn't help but smile.

He took his opposite hand and extended it as well, they clapped their palms together and then both folded their hands into fists. Ainsley lifted her hand and tapped the bottom of her fist against the top of Claytons. At this point, they were both smiling. A handshake, one that they'd created while bored on a mission months ago. They rarely did it anymore, but Ainsley wanted to remind Clayton that he would never lose her loyalty and she would always have his back.

"You're my partner," she said. "You know I've got you, and you know I don't blame you."

Finally, he seceded and nodded. "Partners," he replied.

Clayton was the first person that Ainsley told the truth of her backstory to, with the exception of Kendra, he was the only one who knew her true darknesses and sins. But deep down, Ainsley didn't feel that they were sins. At least, they didn't feel that way when she was committing them.

After losing Payton, Clayton didn't want another partner. He was fine being on his own at that point. But Kendra wouldn't allow it, she forced him and Ainsley to start training together. If it weren't for that extra push, the pair may not be as close as they were now.

The infirmary doors flew open and Luke came in, running a hand through his dripping blonde hair that was as wet as the clothes he wore. His other hand was occupied by a smoothie.

Clayton smirked when he saw him. "Why are you soaked?"

Luke drew closer to them and suddenly shook out his hair, causing water droplets to fling in Claytons face. Clayton laughed loudly and shoved him backwards.

"It's pouring outside," Luke responded as he held out the smoothie towards Ainsley. "They only had mango left."

Ainsley smiled, suddenly experiencing the euphoria once more. But this time, it wasn't due to the morphine. She took the smoothie from him. "Thanks."

Ainsley scooted over, allowing Luke to sit beside her while he continued to push back his hair out of his eyes.

"So," Luke started. "You and Carmen are good now?"

Ainsley took a sip and nodded. "We're probably gonna have to have some more conversations in the future about her adjusting here. But, for the most part, yeah. Things are gonna be fine."

"Good." Luke nodded and looked to Clayton. "And you?"

Clayton shrugged and leaned against the cabinet where the medications were locked and stored. "What about me?"

"Are you and Carmen good?"

Clayton shoved his hands into his pockets. "Why would we be good?"

Luke stared at him almost expectantly. "When Ainsley went down you kind of, I don't know, comforted her? I figured that meant you two weren't trying to rip each other's throats out anymore."

"That wasn't because I suddenly wanted to become her friend."

"Then what was it?" Ainsley asked, intrigued in the conversation.

Clayton shrugged as he dug around his brain for the correct answer. "It was," he trailed off, failing to find the words and shook his head.

Luke leaned in closer and pointed to his ear, playfully indicating that he was waiting on an answer. "What was that? Sorry." He grinned. "I didn't catch that."

Clayton swatted at his hand. "Knock it off."

Luke chuckled and Ainsley spoke, "You know, it's not going to go against your moral compass to see at least some good in my sister."

"It's a little difficult to get past all the horrid shit that your sister is responsible for, Ainsley," Clayton said defensively.

The infirmary door creaked and the three of them looked over to see Carmen standing in the doorway. Her dark hair was as wet as Luke's and her cheeks were red with embarrassment at the conversation she stumbled into.

Clayton instantly felt guilt hit him in the gut at the look at her face - and feeling that pissed him off even more.

Carmen locked her eyes on his own. "Got anymore that you need to get out of your system? If so, let me know so that I can leave you to it."

"No," Ainsley started when she saw Claytons mouth open in preparation for retaliation. "No, Carmen. He's said enough. Thanks for stopping by, Clayton."

Clayton heard all he needed to know in that tone. He pissed off Ainsley by getting to Carmen. He looked back to Ainsley. "I'm glad you're okay," he said sincerely.

Luke stood up and let his hand fall on his shoulder. "Come on, let's go annoy my sister."

This brought out a smile in Clayton and he ignored Carmens glare as he and Luke exited the room to leave the two girls be.

**

Sophie never really was sure if she enjoyed the rain.

As a child, she would sit in the bay window of the bedroom that her and Santana shared when it would rain with a book in her lap. She was relieved when it would rain, only because it gave her a valid reason to skip out on training with Santana and her fathers second-in-command, Antonio Narváez.

Sophie would try to find any reason in the book that she could in order to avoid training. But, her father caught on over time. Even though he was understanding with Sophie's lack of interest in fighting or violence, he knew that it was a skill she would need due to the family she was apart of. Sophie and Santana were born into the world with enemies they had never even encountered, and it was all because of who their father was. He wouldn't risk his daughters being unprepared in the case that those enemies were to come for them. And eventually, they did.

Sophie frowned when she stared out the back door of The Compound as the rain drops bounced off the pavement of the steps and bled into the dirt that led to the garden. She wouldn't be spending a day outside today like she had planned.

She closed the door and held the book to her chest as she made her way back up to her room. When she threw the door open, she saw her twin sister lying flat on her bed with her eyes closed and a smile on her face. "I hate that I didn't pick out a heated mattress like you did."

Sophie shut the door behind her and went over to her bookcase to slip the novel back into its correct spot. "Never too late to get one."

Santana grinned. "But why would I waste money on one, when I can just come use yours?"

With a roll of her eyes, Sophie flopped onto the mattress and laid beside Santana, feeling the warmth against her back and sighed happily at the sensation.

"You been down to see Ainsley?" Santana asked.

"Yeah," Sophie replied, pushing her glasses up on her nose. "She looks like she's doing okay so far."

She looked to her right to see that Santana's eyes were still closed but her smile had disappeared.

"What's on your mind?"

Santana exhaled slowly and her eyes slowly opened as she kept her eyes trained on the ceiling. "Do you think that Carmen's read our files yet?"

Sophie bit her bottom lip. She also had been thinking hard about this recently. "If she has, she hasn't said anything or asked about it yet."

"I just wonder what if she ends up wanting the whole story."

"We don't owe anyone a single explanation about our lives, Santana."

"Everyone else here pretty much knows what happened, we told them because we're supposed to be a team. Carmen's on our team too now." Santana shrugged. "I'm just saying that Carmen seems like a curious person, so once she sees the dropped charges, I have a feeling she's gonna want to ask about it."

This was something Sophie couldn't deny. "I'm not ready to tell Carmen about that stuff. Not yet. It's still hard to talk about."

Santana instantly looked over at her sister and nodded. "Okay. Then, we'll wait to tell her." Santana sat up. "It's not like she really has a place to have an opinion on our dropped charges when she has accomplice to domestic terrorism on hers."

Sophie scowled at her sister. "That's not fair," she retorted. "You don't know for sure what she's been through."

"Oh my god." Santana groaned with a laugh. "Alexas optimism is rubbing off on you."

The mention of Sophie's girlfriend made her body warm further and a comforting feeling fill her chest. "Or maybe you're just too judgmental."

Sophie's door opened and Alexa stepped in. The minute her eyes landed on the sisters laying on the bed her eyes lit up. "No one invited me to come hang out." She hurried to the bed and hopped up between them, Sophie instinctively threw an arm over her waist and Alexa ran her finger tips down Sophies forearm.

Alexa laid back. "What are we talking about?"

"Carmen," Santana answered.

"Good things I hope."

Santana smirked. "Depends on who you ask."

Alexa looked over at Santana, a serious expression falling on her face. "You guys are judging her too hard. I've gotten to know her and she's really not that bad, she's just been through a lot. Besides, you can't expect her to try and be a part of the team when you talk about her behind her back." Alexa turned her head back to the ceiling. "Plus, Luke told me that her and Ainsley are cool now. So, Ainsley probably won't like it either."

"Alright, alright." Santana gave in. "I guess you're right. But, she still has to prove herself in my book, but, I'll be nice to her."

Sophie looked over at her sister. "Oh. Is that Alexas optimism rubbing off on you?"

Santana stood from the bed and offered her sister the middle finger as Alexa laughed. "My what?"

Santana waved her off. "Nothing. I'm gonna go find Colton, see ya."

The couple waved as Santana threw open Sophie's door and left. Sophie grinned at Alexa who wore a satisfied look on her face. "You have a bad habit of getting what you want."

Alexa laughed, bringing music to Sophie's ears, and turned on her side to face her girlfriend. "I know."

Sophie turned to match her and folded their hands together between them. She felt her finger graze Alexas ring finger and found her mind occupied on the thought that it shouldn't be bare. There should be a band of metal wrapped around that finger to show the world that Sophie will love Alexa until the end of her days. Sophie was ready to scream it from every rooftop.

"Do you ever think about life after we leave the Twin Operative?" Alexa suddenly asked.

Sophie's gaze went to Alexas blue eyes and nodded. "Yeah, all the time. Why?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. Where do you see us ten years down the road?"

Sophie took a deep breath. "Well, for starters, I don't think we'd be spies anymore. I see us married, maybe we already used IVF and now have at least one kid. I'm not really sure where we would live, though."

Alexa smiled at the thought of having a child with Sophie. This was something they'd talked about several times. Before Alexa had her bottom surgery, she requested to have sperm frozen so that she could contribute to having kids when the time was right. Her and Sophie both wanted kids in the future, though they rarely truly discussed it.

"We could always go to Cuba," Alexa suggested.

Sophie offered a sad smile. "I don't know about that. Santana and I are still technically wanted in Cuba. The only reason Kendra could take us in is because there's no extradition treaty with Cuba and the U.S."

"We'll figure it out," Alexa reassured her.

A knocking sounded from the door, Sophie turned her head a bit. "Who is it?"

"Housekeeping," Luke said from the other side.

Sophie rolled her eyes.

"Well, we're coming in so I hope you guys aren't naked or anything," Luke said before turning the doorknob and entering. He made a show to do a dramatic peek around the door at the two girls lying on the bed before he whispered over his shoulder, "Coast is clear."

He stepped inside and Clayton followed.

Alexa sat up. "What do you want?"

Clayton walked over to the lounging chair that Sophie had in the corner of her room and slumped down into it. "We're bored."

Luke walked over to Sophie's bookshelf and plucked a random book from its spot.

"So that means that you come to us because...?"

"Oh god!" Luke exclaimed as he stared at the pages of the open book in his hands. "Sophie, what kind of books are you reading?"

Sophie smiled. "Smut."

Luke grimaced and put the book back. "I feel like I need bleach for my eyes."

"That's what you get for snooping," she replied.

Clayton was tinkering with a paperweight that he'd snatched off one of Sophie's shelves and inspected it closely. "Do you not enjoy our company?"

She rolled her eyes. "It's not that I don't relish in your ill-timed visits, but Alexa and I were actually talking about something really important."

Clayton stopped twirling the item and arched an eyebrow. "Talking?"

"Yes." Alexa nodded.

Clayton smiled widely. "Oh. I get it." He lifted his hands to use air quotes. "Talking. AKA not doing a whole lot of talking and doing a whole lot of something else."

"Dude!" Luke threw out his arms. "I don't need to hear that!"

Alexa began laughing and Sophie reached for a pillow from behind her and turned to launch one right at Claytons face. He deflected it with his arm and dropped the paperweight into the chair before rising from it.

Sophie reached for another, and Clayton bolted for her bedroom door, his smile never leaving his face. She got up quickly and grabbed a few more for ammo and proceeded to chase him out of the room, pulling her arm back as she prepared for her next shot.

The sound of their laughter filled the corridor.

**

"You have two weeks until you two are going to be sent on the mission. I'd say it's time for your briefing," Kendra informed Clayton and Carmen.

Colton wanted to come in with them, but Kendra denied him access. In her words, the sooner that Carmen and Clayton work on things together without outside influences, the better the chances of them fixing the bad blood between them. So, he stood outside the screening room while his mother, brother and Carmen were inside.

Carmen leaned back against the computer desk and awaited for Kendra to continue.

The trio were now staring at the massive screen that made up the wall as Kendra used the small clicking device in her hand to coordinate the images that appeared onto it.

The first two pictures to come up were of two different mug shots of men who looked to be older than Clayton. They had dark hair and dark eyes but pale skin. One of them had a scar running from his hairline down the right side of his face and to his jaw. Carmen cringed trying to imagine how a scar like that came to be.

"These are the Sovetsky brothers," Kendra said.

"Russian?" Clayton asked.

Kendra nodded. "They've been arrested for misdemeanors before, nothing super serious but we've been tipped off that they've been hacking some of the Department of Defenses databases. They've managed to retrieve some important information and we need to get it back. However, they also run a distribution center here in New York. It's where they are located most of the time. We were able to trace the software that hacked the departments database back to that building. I was able to get a pair of eyes in their last week, to get a proper scope of the place, and I was told that there's a highly protected security room where this specific information is being kept. Another issue we've run into is that this place is under constant surveillance by the brothers, the last thing we want is to let them know you'd be inside."

She moved onto the next photo, the mugshots disappeared instantly to now show a picture of a massive building with loading trucks parked before it. A sign located on the front of the building read: Sovetsky Distribution Center. Carmen observed the picture. "So, where do we come in?"

Kendra took a seat at the nearest desk and propped her elbows onto the table. "We know that you've made tech that can bypass any electronic lock. We're gonna need that to get into this room so that you can hack that computer and retrieve the information they stole before you wipe the entire system."

"And what about the cameras?" Clayton shrugged.

Kendra watched Carmen, hopeful, and leaned forward in her seat a bit. "I want you to invent something that can dismantle the security cameras throughout the entire building. Their entire power source is run back to a building right off their property. If we get you in, do you think that you'd be able to get the cameras down?"

Carmen notably did the math in her head, already working out what she would need to make, the wiring and so on. She nodded. "I can do that, the lock bypass should be easy to make. There's enough in that workshop in the bottom level that I can work with. Making something to dismantle the cameras would take a bit of time, a few days at the most but I can do it. But with that being said, if you want me to make a bunch of this tech for you, I'll need better material and a lot more than what you have downstairs."

This had Kendra drumming her fingers against her arm as she thought hard before finally nodding. "Okay, I'll see what we can do. We can get into more details throughout the week as more planning goes into it." She rose from the chair and stood before the pair. "But the first thing you will be doing is taking down the cameras. Then, you need to sneak into the building without getting seen. Once you're in, you will need to get to the security room, bypass the palm scanner they have there, and then hack the computer. Grab the info, and wipe the entire system. That's the plan. So, no funny business and for the love of god, please try to work together as partners would."

Clayton didn't mean to glance at Carmen, it was his body's own forced reaction. But when he did, Carmen looked back at him and now he had to acknowledge her. "I'll behave if you do."

Carmen smiled sweetly. "Cooperation is my middle name."

"Yeah." Clayton scoffed and pushed off the table. "Says the girl who took us for a high speed chase the night we met her."

The laugh left Carmens mouth before she could stop it and it took everyone in the room by surprise.

Kendra gave a suspicious glance between the two before turning off the screen. "I'll get you two blueprints of the center tonight and you two can coordinate. From this moment forward you train together, communicate and help each other. Understood?"

"Yes, mom," Clayton agreed.

"Good." Kendra placed the clicker on the table and left the room to leave the pair alone.

Carmen turned to Clayton. "You sure you can handle this?"

He shot her a surprised look. "I've been doing this my entire life. This is nothing but another Tuesday to me."

"Yeah, well, I need to make sure your head's in it. We need to actually work together on this. Think you can manage that?" she asked.

"I think I can tolerate you for a week or two," he stated, fighting back a look of pride. "But anything more than that might be pushing it."

"Wow." Carmen rolled her eyes and headed for the door. "What a comedian."

-

chapters 18-20 published 6/3

happy pride month!! <3