Look out for the <>!

"We should go to club," Toby said as soon as we walked out of the CIA building.

I frowned at him. He was normally the responsible one. "We're here on work," I said trying not to make any more rumors about myself. I need to act in a way that Grandma would be proud of.

He smiled at me, like this was the best idea he had come up with. "Come on, it'll be fun. Think about it, when will we be here in NYC? Together?" he grabbed a hold of my hand and intertwined his fingers with mine.

He did have a point, he always had a way of convincing me. Maybe it was the fact that I couldn't tell him no. His eyes always convinced me to cave to his way. But Toby wasn't the only person that had that ability, I was a people pleaser at heart and I said yes more times to more people then I should have. "Alright, sure," I said and sighed.

"Cool! I need to shower, change then we can go. I already texted Fabien, he told me he would be here soon," he said with excitement then kissed me happily.

I nodded with a smile, enjoying this sudden change in attitude with him. Ever since we landed in New York, I felt like once again, I was the only thing that mattered to him. It made me wonder what brought this change in emotion over him. But instead of asking about it, I stayed silent, worried that I might jinx it.

We didn't wait longer then a minute for Fabien to come pick us up.

"Not a minute late," Toby said to Fabien as we got into the car.

"Yes; I pride myself on being on time every time. I'm never late to the CIA building, even in rush hour.  I know the ins and outs of this town like the back of my hand. Only been late once because some big time movie was being filmed and I couldn't get around it," he said with a pout as he drove quickly through the streets of New York City.

Within a short drive we found ourselves in front of a large well known hotel. In silence he parked the car underneath a covered awning and turned around to face us. He quickly handed us key cards and explained, "Annalise is room 205 and Toby, yours is 319," Fabien said.

"Thanks," I said, took the keycard and got out of the cab, not wanting to waste any time. If we were going out, I needed to get ready quickly. I sped walked to the front door of the hotel but as I wrapped my hand around the brass handle, I realized that Toby was not by my side. I looked around quickly, wondering where he went off to but stopped when I saw that he was still talking to Fabien. "Toby? Are you coming?"

He looked at me with a tired face then smiled. "I'll be there I just need a few words with Fabien," Toby said, shooing me off.

I nodded at him, although a part of me wanted to wait for him where I stood. I didn't understand why he wanted to talk to Fabien. Usually we didn't talk to drivers. We stuck to our job and left.

Once again fearing that I would jinx what we had currently going for, I shook my head to clear the worry. Then with that, I walked into the lavish hotel lobby and went straight to the elevator.

As I waited for the large mirrored doors to open, I couldn't hold back the curiosity that I had about Toby. Normally I avoided all work talk at all costs, but this was different. I wanted to know exactly what Toby was doing.

Breaking my from my thoughts was Toby as he ran up to me as the elevator doors opened. "Hold it please!" Toby said as I walked into the elevator.

Obediently, I held my hand in front of the door as Toby came running in. As the doors closed behind him, I turned to face him with a frown. I was waiting for him to say something to me but as he looked at his phone, I realized that he wasn't going to bring it up. So I was. "Why were you talking to Fabien?"

He shrugged as if the answer was simple. "He was just saying when he was going to pick us up tomorrow," he said coolly as he placed his phone back into his pocket.

I nodded as I eyed him carefully. I would be the first to admit that I had trust issues, but Toby, I trusted him. He had never lied to me before so I didn't have reason to believe he would now. But that seemed like a long conversation just to talk about pick up times.

It made me wonder if my grandmother was giving him another job on this assignment. Of course she would trust him to do more assignments. After all, she thought he was better then me in every way. Suddenly I felt jealous as I stuffed my hands in the pockets of my dress pants. "Ok," I huffed then walked out of the elevator onto my floor.

Not seeing my frustration Toby smiled at me effortlessly. "I'll come by when I'm ready," Toby said as the elevator doors closed.

"Sure," I mumbled then walked to my hotel room with my head held down. I felt myself swim in a lake of disappointment as I unlocked my room. I did everything to make my grandmother proud. I wanted her to give me the extra cases. I wanted her to talk about me like she talked about Toby.

But yet again, she was reminding me that I wasn't the perfect granddaughter that she wanted. That was why she wanted me to date Toby, at least maybe then people wouldn't notice me if Toby was the shining star. But I wanted to be a star too. I tried so hard for that, but I felt like I came up flat.

My eyes well up with frustrated tears and I quickly blinked them away. This was why I needed something to set me apart. I was going to figure out why those computers were bugged at the office today. I was going to make myself into a shining star then Grandmother would give me all the cases.

A new desire replaced my disappointment and not dwelling on my sad thoughts any longer, I switched my thoughts into what I would be wearing tonight. No mater how much of a disappointment my grandmother thought I was, at least Toby still wanted to be with me. There wasn't many of those people in my life and I should be grateful for him and what I had.

I got ready all too quickly and sat on my bed with a frown. I looked at the time on my phone and wondered when Toby would come to see me. I waited a minute in silence. I sighed loudly when that minute passed. I didn't want to wait any longer, so I decided that I would go to him. At least with Toby, I didn't have to be alone with my dread thoughts.

Within a short walk, I was in front of Toby's hotel room. I smiled as put my hand on his door, ready to make my presences known, until I heard Toby's voice from the other side.

"No,no...no I don't need help, it's fine. I'm handling it. The complications will not slow me down," Toby's muffled voice said.

There was silence and I worried that maybe something happened.

"....I have to go, I'll call you back," he said as I heard footsteps coming closer to the door.

Panic filled me, if he caught me snooping, he would report me to my grandmother and that was the last thing I needed. Quickly deciding to cover my motives, I knocked on the door.

Seconds later, Toby opened it with a tired smile. His freshly showered hair was shining in the light and slacks were the only thing he was wearing. His defined chest made me blush and for a second I forgot what I wanted to say to him.

"I thought I said I would pick you up," he said, slightly irritated.

I frowned at him. He had to be on another assignment from my grandmother and he wasn't allow to talk about it. He didn't want me to know probably to save face with me. I looked at the ground as I felt disappointment in myself again. I was the embarrassment and I had to change. "I thought you were taking a while and I didn't want to wait any longer. Sorry. I thought you wouldn't mind."

He nodded and stepped aside so I could walk into the room. "It's ok, come in," he said with a sigh. He walked to his bag and pulled out a shirt. He slipped it over his head and turned back to me. "I had to take a call."

I nodded slowly at him. "Ok. If you want to talk about it, I'm here."

Toby took some socks out of his bag and threw them across the room in frustration. "Damn it. As if you know how this feels, Annalise," he fired off, "you've never been alone, in the dark, assessing it on your own."

I frowned, I hit a nerve that I didn't mean to hit. But he hit my nerve. Of course I knew how it felt to be alone. My parents died, leaving me alone with a tough detached grandmother. She kicked me out of her house right before I turned 18 because I was an adult. He knew all of this, yet it seemed like he didn't remember. "I do know how it feels. You can't just throw that in my face and think I didn't get it. My parents died. Did you forget that?" I said, raising my voice slightly.

His tense body loosened as he sat down on his bed. He rubbed his hands through his hair in frustration. He knew he couldn't take back what he said and he knew he over stepped. I could see sorrow in his eyes as he looked at his bare feet.

I sighed and sat next to him, ready to forgive him quickly. I never liked fighting. And if he couldn't talk about the other case for any reason, I should be ok with that. Lies and secrets was what our jobs were made up. I should expected that he couldn't share. In silence, I put my hand over his.

He shook his hand off mine and stood up. He paced around the room. There was something eating him up on the inside that looked like it was more then he could bear.

I frowned as I stood up from the bed. I could feel my heart breaking slightly. Why wouldn't he tell me at least some of the things he was thinking about? I was his girlfriend, he should trust me but I felt like I was talking to a brick wall. I didn't say anything. There was nothing I could say to talk him down from this mood he was in.

He ran his hands across his face with a heavy sigh. "Annalise," he sighed. "I'm sorry. Let me finish getting ready then we can leave."

After this fight, a part of me didn't want to go with him to the club. Toby and I had fights before but this one seemed different, there was more tension. There was something going through his head and what hurt was that he wasn't going to talk about it with me. All this lack of communication and secrets, wasn't healthy for either of us.

It made me wonder how my parents made their relationship work. They feel in love as they worked in the same department. I tried to remember a time when they fought about work and could only remember a few times. Were they just comfortable with the secrets? Because I couldn't be comfortable with it.

As Toby and I rode in the taxi, we let the silence eat into us. Neither of us wanted to address the fight but none of us wanted it to pretend it didn't exist. Finally, Toby turned to me and said, "I'm sorry that I yelled at you. I'm under a lot of stress and it's getting to me."

I nodded, understanding how that felt. "It's ok, I forgive you," I said. Suddenly, the tension in the air dissipated. He laced his hand with mine and smiled lightly. .

He sighed and kissed my hand. "You deserve more than I can give, Annalise," he said honestly with a frown as if he wasn't good enough.

I looked at him in silence, I didn't know what to say to that. Of course we were hitting a rough patch recently, but we could work at it. I was willing to work at it. But the way he said those words, it was as if he was trying to push me away.

Saving me from the conversation, the cab stopped suddenly and I got out instantly, saving myself from the conversation. Thank you cab driver.

Toby paid the driver, then walked to the front of the line to enter a large building. I could feel the cement vibrating from the music inside the club. Toby said something to the guard and just like that, we passed the line of people into the building. I had no idea how to he did it, but I have seen him do this before. Somehow he was good at getting into places were he didn't belong.

<>

We walked into the building of the club to see it full of people and colored flashing lights. The music inside was almost deafening. "Come on let's dance!" he yelled over the music  and grabbed my hand as he led me to the dance floor.

We danced for it seemed like hours, in silence, letting the music be our communication.  But after a while we decided to take a break and sat down on the side.

"This place is amazing, Toby. How did you find it?" I asked as sat down in another side room where the music wasn't as loud.

He smiled as if remembering found memories. "I've been here before and loved it, thought you would like it too," he said and held up a finger to call one lady that had drinks on a platter. He handed her money then took two drinks off her tray, giving one to me.

I took it and took a sip. What ever was in the drink was strong. I felt it burn slightly as it made it's way down my throat. "I do like it," I said with a smile. "What time is it?"

Toby took a drink then pulled got out his phone. He frowned, not liking what he saw on the screen. "Midnight."

I frowned as I drank the rest of what was in the cup. "We probably should get back," I said with a sigh, I didn't want to leave. When I was dancing it seemed like all of my worries were gone and things between us were normal.

He shrugged, "so did anything happen today at work?" he asked.

As the alcohol took it's hold on me and suddenly felt like sharing. "Every computer was bugged."

He frowned as he handed me another drink. "How?" he asked intently.

I looked out at the sea of people dancing. "I don't know."

"Did you find out where the bugs came from?"

I shook my head with a frown. "But I will."

He smiled at me. "I am sure you will. Let me know what you find out."

"Why?" I asked, getting defensive. I was sure he would steal my thunder and tell gram before I had a chance, stealing my moment to shine. I had to guard this information with my life.

He shrugged. "Just curious, that's all."