"This elevator ride is so long," Sidney complained as she and Han went up to his apartment. "Why do you have to live on the top floor?"

"Well, a long elevator ride just means you have time to do things."

"Like what?" Sidney said, smirking over at him.

Han smiled back at her. "Like this." He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her. She laughed, the sound a pleasant vibration on his lips. Before they knew it, the elevator gave a ding, and the doors began to slide open. They broke apart, still hand in hand, and walked out to the vestibule. It was then that Han saw Rand, leaning back against his door with her hands in her pockets. 

She jumped up upon seeing them, looking a little startled. "Hey," she greeted with a small smile.

"Hey," Han said, drawing out the word as he was unsure of what to say next. "Um, Sidney, this is his friend Rand. Rand, this is Sidney." Introductions seemed as good a thing to do as anything else. He felt an odd sense of his worlds colliding, and maybe not in the best way.

"Hey," Sidney said with a wave. "Nice to meet you."

"You, too," Rand said with a nod. There was a moment of tense silence, then she turned to Han. "I was wondering if we could talk for a minute."

Han looked down at Sidney. "Would you mind waiting for a bit?" Han fished in his pocket for the keys to his apartment and handed them to her.

"Yeah, sure. I'll see you," she said to Rand as she passed her to get to the door. She let herself in.

Rand rounded on Han as soon as the door was closed. "So... is making out with her part of the mission?" she whispered, raising an eyebrow.

"You don't get to lecture me about this."

There was more tension, more silence. Han wanted to make a joke, say something, do something. He didn't want it to be like this but he also didn't know what to say.

"So, what are you doing here?" he asked instead.

"Orion told me about your theory."

"Of course he did."

Rand took a breath, clearly fighting back irritation. "I think I found something about the weapon."

Han perked up. "From the prophecy?"

"I'm working on getting approval to do some more digging. Literally. In South America."

"Like excavation?"

Rand nodded. "It's a long story but there were some cave drawings in a book and that led to another book and so on. You get it. Point being, I think Los Malos did find some ancient weapon. And I think they did give it to Orsini. And there's this mountain in South America... well, suffice it to say, I think we can find something if we do some more digging, more research. Maybe figure out what on earth the weapon was, and what it could be used for."

"So why not just go? What approval are we waiting on?"

Rand sighed, her shoulders slumping slightly. "The territory we're looking at might be exactly where the hub for Los Malos is. It's all a bit unknown, but the last thing we want to do is stir them up to more trouble. There are villages surrounding the mountains, people that could get hurt."

Han nodded his understanding. The Collective's mission, first and foremost, was to protect the innocent. 

"But this is good," Han said. "We're getting somewhere." They could figure this out, maybe before Orsini enacted whatever evil plan he had.

Rand nodded, and they both went silent. Just like that, things were awkward again. 

"Look, Han," Rand said finally, throwing up her hands in exasperation. "I didn't tell you about Orion because I didn't want him to get in any trouble for kissing me. So I just kept it a secret. Okay? That's all there is to it. Can we please be done with this? I don't like fighting with you. What do you want from me?"

Han looked down at Rand, her frustration written all over her furrowed face. What did he want from her? To be with her? Is that really why he was upset? He was heartbroken?

That's what he thought it was. But now, watching her, her deep brown eyes glaring into his, he was only thinking about Sidney, waiting for him inside his apartment. 

"I'm sorry," Han found himself saying. "I've been an ass."

Rand's eyes widened, and she took a step back, surprised. "Really?"

"I guess I thought maybe... I don't know, that you and I would...." Han trailed off, his cheeks warming with embarrassment. 

"End up together?" Rand said, her eyes going even wider.

"Yeah. It was stupid. Just a really dumb, childish assumption. And that's not your fault. I just... I think I needed some time to make peace with it. To know that, we're friends. And, that's all we should be. Right?"

Rand gave a nod. "You're my best friend," she said quietly. "I would never want anything to change that."

"Me neither," Han said. "I realize that now." And he did. He knew, in his heart, that he didn't actually want to be with Rand. It was easy to think, maybe even at one point to hope, that the two of them would be together. But how he felt about Rand wasn't anything like how he felt about Sidney.

Which was a terrifying thought.

"So, we're good then?"

"Yeah, we're good."

Rand threw her arms around him and gave him a tight squeeze. "I love you, you know."

"Yeah, I know."

They broke apart and Han moved to his door.

"Wait," Rand said before Han even touched the door knob. "I know that you said I have no place in telling you this, but I'm going to anyway." She lowered her voice a little, even though they both knew from her scent that Sidney was far enough away not to hear them. "What are you thinking getting involved with her like that?"

"It's just part of the mission. I have to get her to trust me, to open up to me."

"Right, so it's written in your job contract that you have to date her?"

"It's working."

Rand put a hand on her hip and tilted her head to the side, obviously not fooled. "Han, she could be dangerous."

"Come on, they wouldn't have put me on this mission if they thought she was any real threat."

"They don't know what she's capable of, or what she knows! That's why you're doing this."

"She's not a threat, okay?" Han insisted stubbornly. "I know she isn't."

Rand shook her head. "You're getting in over your head."

Which was exactly what Lani said. "I know what I'm doing. I've got it all under control." Before, with Lani, Han had actually thought that might be true. Now, he knew it was a blatant lie. He couldn't deny his attraction to Sidney anymore. He liked her. Way more than he should. Han just felt so at peace when he was with her, it was almost addictive.

"Well, just be careful," Rand said. "This is bound to have a messy ending if you're not cautious."

"Yeah, I will be. Thanks."

Han went into the apartment, leaving Rand to catch the elevator down. Sidney was waiting in the living room, sitting on the couch and watching TV. Seeing her was like receiving a burst of energy. How could he have ever thought that what he felt for Rand was like this?

Han went and sat down next to her. She reached over and grabbed his hand. "How'd it go?"

"It went okay. We made up, for the most part."

"Good. I'm glad. She should've stayed. It would have been nice to get to know her. What school does she go to?"

"Oh, she graduated already. She's a year older than us." How easily the lies left his lips.

"Oh, okay. You ready to study?"

Han gave a nod, only half-present, and the two of them got their books out.

***

"Free at last," Han said dramatically when he walked out of the doctor's office to find Orion waiting. He flexed his now cast-free hand. "Good as new."

"Glad to hear it," Orion said. "Come on, the Lieutenant is waiting."

They were off now to meet with Lieutenant Marcus, the one who had assigned Sidney's mission to Orion. He wanted a debrief. 

"It's been almost a month," Orion said as he walked with Han up the stairs to the fourth floor, where they'd meet with the Lieutenant in one of the many conference rooms. 

To Han, it seemed so much shorter than that, but yet somehow longer. Had he really only met Sidney a few weeks ago? A few weeks with this cast?  A few weeks exploring this mystery?

"Now with your cast off the higher ups are going to want you back in the field."

Han knew this, but he hated leaving this mystery unfinished. He was onto something. 

"I want to see this through," he insisted as they headed towards Conference Room 8. 

"We'll see what the Lieutenant says."

The conference room was just as unwelcoming as most places at headquarters often were. Han thought they should really get a decorator, liven the place up a bit. It had a single long table with ten chairs surrounding it. There were no windows in the room, and no other furniture. Han and Orion took two seats, leaving one in between them.

Lieutenant Marcus burst into the room at exactly 3pm, the time the meeting was to start. And he really did burst, the door flung wide open and he charged to the table, promptly taking a seat before Han and Orion had barely had time to stand and salute.

"We thought this mission would be done by now," he said, wasting no time with pleasantries. His hair was perfectly parted, smoothed back without a strand out of place. He had a long beak of a nose, as if his entire no-nonsense persona wasn't intimidating enough.

"It's proved more of a mystery than I initially expected," Hand said diplomatically. "I think I'm getting somewhere, though."

The Lieutenant flipped through a binder of information, so quick that Han was certain he couldn't actually be looking at any of the information on the pages. "This seems like a fruitless waste of time for one of our best agents. We may need to scrap the mission altogether." 

"No!" Han said quickly, and too loudly, earning him a look from Orion. "I'm close to something. I can feel it. Please, just give me a little more time." He knew he could crack this. It wasn't just about Sidney.

"Special Agent Han, you've had ample time and opportunity to get to the bottom of things. This is a waste on so many levels."

"It's not! There's something big here. Orsini might have his hands in it, too." Han knew that would pique their interest if nothing else would. "If we lose this opportunity to get ahead of him on something, we're going to regret it."

Lieutenant Marcus looked up from the binder and stared at Han, right in the eye. "You have one more week. That's it. And now that you are back to full health, you'll be expected to continue your regular duties."

Han would take what he could get. "Sure, yeah. I promise I'll have something substantial by then."

"Alright. Good luck. And use your time wisely."

"I will, Sir. Thank you."

Just as quickly as he had entered, the Lieutenant whisked away, leaving Orion and Han in his wake.

"Guess he has more important places to be," Han said.

Orion shook his head. "Please, he has nothing better to do, he just likes to make himself seem important."

"Wow. That's the most unforgiving speech I've ever heard you say about a fellow member of the Collective."

Orion almost blushed, his cheeks turning just the slightest bit. "We don't have the best history, me and Marcus."

"Beat you out for a job, did he?" Han asked.

"Actually, the other way around. He wanted this job, leading you guys. Never did forgive me for getting it over him. Been a pain in my ass ever since."

"I'm glad it was you," Han said, and meant it. He felt badly now for being so sharp with Orion earlier. It wasn't Orion's fault that Han was being a brat about Rand.

As they left the Collective, Han was consumed with thought. He had one week. One week to solve this mystery and try and figure out what the hell was going on.

One week of time left to spend with Sidney.

Then Han would have to let her go. How would he do it? Would he play the asshole and tell her it was all a lie? Would he tell her he was moving away? Would he just up and disappear without a word? 

Han didn't even know if he'd be able to get through a goodbye. How would she react? How would he react? Han didn't want to think about any of it.

Only a few weeks since he had met Sidney, and yet, now he couldn't think about her not being in his life. Lani and Rand were right. He was in over his head.