HIS HANDS GENTLY TRACED down my jaw, neck, chest— until they slid down the curve of my sides and rested firmly on my lower back. It was constantly shifting and stroking the fabric of my cropped tank. The bedcovers twisted tightly around my loose sweatpants when he lowered me down on the mattress in his arm.

In filed a deep, entranced silence. All I could hear was the rhythmic beat in my chest— his chest— and our gentle breaths mixing with each other. I had one hand placed behind his head, lacing it through his soft hair. He'd slow down every time my fingers fell to his back, would shut his eyes and take in my scent, as I tilted my head away to catch my breath.

It'd been the third time I tried pulling away just for a moment of air. But he would enclose me back into his kiss once more, and it was this constant cycle of loving and hating how difficult it was to breathe when you were both so lost in each other.

We started off slow and I had followed his pace hesitantly. Eventually we reversed, and he landed securely on his back against the bed. I pulled away before he could take control again. With hair swept to one shoulder, I gazed down at him in the dark.

Pierce's chest was rising and falling more rapidly than I had expected, considering how calm he was when he lured me into all of this. I leaned in— angled my head just perfectly— and came mere millimeters from his lips. My eyes refocused when I saw the ends of his lips raise into a cheeky, proud grin, like he was anticipating my kiss.

The breath in my chest hitched to a stop like I'd just swallowed a door nail, and I stared wide-eyes into a daze. What was I doing? His eyes. His hands. His lips. They were all trained on me— waiting. What were we doing?

I overloaded. It only took his mocking grin to make my face flush a deep rose. I instantly backed away and covered my mouth, mentally thanking the lords for the lights being turned off. Otherwise, he would've seen my face, and the last thing I wanted to do at the moment was to sacrifice my pride.

Pierce leaned in and placed his lips on the back of my hand, then proceeded to remind me of all the reasons why I couldn't shy away from any of this. Whether it be his hands starting up their circle of strokes again against my bare skin, or his eyes boring into my avoidant ones, it was quite clear who was in control.

"How about..." He began in a warm, tempting tone. "We give that a second try?"

"I can't," I felt my whole chest sink a level as I attempted to push his arms away from my waist. "I'm not like you, this is too... and we just..." Pierce brushed a stray strand of hair behind my ears before it moved over to my chin, and then his thumbs were grazing over my lips, quieting me down.

"Hey, Risa!" Cody's explosive voice boomed throughout the hallways, waking up my dead ancestors along with it. "Is someone in there with you? Are you okay?"

Oh god. I forgot about them.

While my head sprung to the bedroom door like it was magnetically attached, Pierce threw his back with a deep sigh.

"I'm... I'm uh— no, sto.. Pierce.." My body suddenly crumbled inside as I took a steady breath in. My lower half was filled with butterflies that evolved from the small patterns he was writing on my back out of boredom. Pierce found his smirk again. Seeing that I was still faced away from him, he leaned forward and draped his arm around my shoulder and waist— hinting something at a mischief-filled back hug.

I wasn't going to give in. I tilted my head to the side— well aware that we both knew my breathing was accelerating— and whispered through clenched teeth, "What do you think you're doing? I can barely function as it is."

"Teasing." He murmured, expertly sending hot shivers down my spine as his mouth moved against my shoulder blade. Warm lips were now pressed against the nape of my neck while he rested his head snugly in its crook. His steady breath hit my skin every few seconds. "It's getting a little hot right here, thought I'd let you know." A minute grin played on his lips while his hands clasped securely around my smaller frame, trapping me in his hold.

I was on literal fire. I didn't know what burned more— my embarrassment or my skin. A shaky breath escaped my lips as Kenya's voice replaced Cody's.

"Risa? Just wanted to make sure you're okay... but um, why are Pierce's shoes here?"

He remembered to lock the door but couldn't even cover up the evidence of him being here with his shoes?

"He visited once," My eyes flew shut in response to Pierce's teasing smile stretching over my skin while he took on the role of an oblivious onlooker. "They're old pairs."

"He doesn't happen to be in there with you, is he?" Kenya's tone forced me to reconsider my naive response. It was calculative and conspiring, and I was afraid of what it all meant and what it'd continue to mean if I had blurted out a yes.

A big, bright, cherry low-note 'nope' rang throughout the walls that resonated from the Commander. I didn't think human eyes could just naturally pop out of their sockets, but I guess he was about to prove me wrong.

Blood rose profusely to my cheeks. I can't believe he just spoke out loud and gave himself up like that. We're doomed. Partners in crime my ass. I'm going solo to jail.

But what boggled my mind instead was the fact that my best friend, strange creature he was, blatantly announced, "Y'all heard him. He's not there. Can we go back to sleep now, please? My eye bags look deader than Bloody Mary's." I stayed frozen as the others murmured a bit, rattled the doorknob once more, and then decided to confront the matter in the morning.

Even though their footsteps filed back evenly throughout the apartment, I kept my eyes glued on the door. "What the hell." I blurted out, coughing once I heard my projected voice. Pierce threw his head back with an amused laugh. When I finally mustered up the courage to look him in the eyes again, he met mine with a coy grin. "He always falls for it, that one."

I frowned and grabbed his lower jaw, pulling his face closer to mine. "You are not helping." My eyes narrowed as I placed a hand over my neck where his kisses still lingered. The settling silence gave me ample time to calm down beside him. Pierce studied me with his head leaning on his arm, propped up on his knee. His eyes traveled down from my dark hair to my eyes.

"I'm leaving tomorrow," He started all of a sudden. "Are you sure you don't want me to hold you one last time?" The atmosphere changed again with the bitter reminder.

"Are you leaving early?"

"Yeah."

"Can't you ask K2 to leave a bit later?"

Pierce leaned his head back against the wall and let out a tired exhale. "I did. The old man said he'd tell me the details tomorrow, but it seemed urgent that I leave with him as soon as possible."

I felt the emptiness already settling into the small room, and I knew he sensed my thoughts while I tried to decide what it was that I could— wanted— to do, before it was too late.

Pierce shut his eyes for a moment with a small frown etched on his face. My eyes softened. This man. I couldn't figure him out. One moment, I would be completely infuriated with him, yet the next, I wanted to be completely lost in him. How do we stop time?

How do I slow it down?

I slowly lifted my hand and reached to brush his hair out of his face. Pierce's eyes fluttered open with the same expression as when I flipped us on bed— a mixture of awe and surprise. He tried to assess what I was trying to do, tried to decode what it meant for me to touch him without visibly dying.

It was in that instant that I leaned in and met his lips with the softest touch, and the last thing I saw was his eyes widening. He immediately shut them as I took control and conveyed to him what I was feeling without saying them in words. One day, when we're older, I'll find the right words.

We eventually broke off, and I buried my head into his beating chest. Pierce kept a hand on the back of my head as he whispered down, "You didn't dissociate... I'm glad."

I shut my eyes and fell into a doze. It was a while before I answered. "Because I don't want her to experience this."

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

I was looking into the mirror with my hands locked in front of me on the edge of the sink countertop. The door to the bathroom was opened after I had finished tying my hair up in a cuckoo's nest.

"Tell me why I wake up to see myself wearing the most unladylike outfit ever?" I glanced to the side of the big mirror and Pierce, who was sitting at my study desk with my laptop open, turned his head to me with a blatant smirk.

He leaned back into the desk chair and drooped his head back. "I wouldn't have kissed you any more if you had."

My fingers curled into a fist as I shot him a frown. "Morning to you too."

Pierce closed his mouth with a curious spark in his eyes. "I see you have your mind straight now."

"They're going to kill us," I emphasized for the fifth time this morning since we woke up. "You gave us away. Did you think distracting me would work?"

He rolled his eyes. "Yet it did. You couldn't make it any less obvious where your sweet spot was."

I glowered at him, unconsciously placing my hand back over my neck as I leaned away. "That's unfair."

"What's unfair, Sunny?"

"Everything!" I threw my hands up in the air and spun around to face him eye to eye now, no longer talking through the mirror.

Pierce smiled and cocked his head. "Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed."

"Says the person who kicked me off on that side. Did you spaz?"

"You kicked yourself off!"

"How?" I enlarged my eyes sarcastically. "Where would I have launched off from?" I waved my hand exasperatedly at his lower half, making him put in the awkward effort of slowly moving his hands to that region to shield it. "Pierce junior?"

He coughed into his fist. "Alright, I kicked you. But to be fair, I didn't think you'd go flying. The mattress doesn't even bounce like that."

"Remind me to never sleep with you again." I grumbled, rubbing my bosom out of his view.

"It was a mistake! I was trying to kick the covers off. How was I supposed to know you MIGRATE while you sleep?"

I gasped. "Well excuse me then. It's migration season. The geese are relocating, and so do I."

He gave me a pointed look. "Are you drunk?"

I rubbed my neck silently as I retreat my words, avoiding his eyes. "I may have... taken a few sips last night before you came."

Pierce scowled, standing up. "I saw a teacup in the kitchen when I came. A TEAcup. Where was the alcohol?"

"... in the cupboard behind Betty. You really think I'd drink alcohol in a shot glass when the others were here?" I shot back, unconsciously adding the last part. "Especially Osias?"

"No wonder why I tasted a little fizzy raspberry," Pierce stuck his tongue out. "I was right to kick you."

"What do you have against raspberry?" I exclaimed defensively, folding my arms over my chest.

He stayed silent for a bit and then leaned forward in the chair with his hands folded. My brows arched when I saw him also avoiding my eyes while his face turned uncomfortable.

"K2 uses that same fragrant of shampoo. How did you not notice when we were cramped in that helicopter?" He shuddered and then wrapped his arm around himself.

I blinked. Then blinked again, only this time, it finally hit me what he really meant. I let out a ghastly wheeze before doubling over with laughter, forgetting that I was enraged at him for sending my ass off the mattress, and tears formed in my eyes.

Pierce glanced back at me with an altruistic glare. "You look hideous, stop it."

"Sure, and you look redder than Santa's butt shorts. Should I tell our director you thought of him last night while we were...?" The mere words coming out of my mouth made my lips stretch into the biggest smile I've made since birth.

Pierce crossed his arms over his chest with thinned lips. "Give me your ring. We're over." While I knew he meant that he needed Anastasie's ring to analyze— which he had been doing to Nicolas' since he woke up— I still played along.

"But that's low," I whined, angling my hand from his view. "I still love you."

He raised his eyebrows with a light scoff. "Sure you do. Take back what you said earlier, then I'll reconsider."

"I'll take you back." I winked, and then I immediately regretted it when the fuckleton of a devil marched forward and pulled my body away from the door and back on the bed.

I winced a bit when my head hit the mattress before I opened my eyes and groaned at my misfortune. Pierce had his arms pinned down on the bed on either side of me, eyes drilling out my skull. "Do I always have to bottom?" I made a face, to which he responded back with one of his own. "It's harder to avenge myself when I'm underneath."

"You're the only person who would say th—" He didn't even finish his sentence before he pushed me down and my upper half fell backwards on the bed. As the man walked over to my desk, I braced myself back on my arms with a roll of my eyes.

"Wait, I was going to ask... what are we now?"

"Divorced." He answered without turning around.

I found my smirk. "You petty jerk. Your family's dwindling, Commander. First you put your father up for adoption and now you're a widower."

"Being a widower means you died. Who killed you though?"

"Did you forget I have an overprotective best friend who's waiting to kill me downstairs?" I rolled my eyes as he turned around with brows raised. "Why do you think I'm stalling up here with you?"

"You sly buttcrack. We're going downstairs." As soon as he rose from my computer chair, I lifted my whole body up from my bed and desperately held my hands out to stop him.

"Wait, but seriously though," I fought back a laugh as he settled back down with a cautious look at me. "What's our status?"

"You don't know?" Pierce cocked his head to the side. "Or are you testing me?"

"Testing you?" I played innocent as I shuffled around the bedsheet rolls. "For what? If your pregnancy test came out positive?"

The man shut his eyes and immediately started mumbling words under his breath in Russian. Probably something along the lines of, Dear God, take her early.

When all the side remarks died down, he opened his eyes and met mine sincerely. "I was going to say girlfriend, however..." And at that, I gradually straightened up with a soft smile, ears trained on what he was about to say.

"I have a feeling something about that doesn't suit you."

There. He couldn't have said it more perfectly. Pierce warily looked at me again, as if cautious whether or not that's what I actually feel, but his eyes relaxed when he saw my justified guise. A faint smile played on my lips as I locked eyes with him. "You're right. There's something about that title that makes me a little uneasy. I worried about it all night."

He watched me carefully and added, "After all this time, it's starting to become easier to understand what you prefer and what makes you uncomfortable. I just had a lucky guess that our relationship wouldn't be that simple."

I nodded slowly. "It could be. Just not yet. I have a lot I want to do, and you're leaving, and neither of us know when we're coming back as a team again. I thought it would be cruel to bind someone like that, especially when we both hate being confined. I had enough of that from Casey."

And speaking of Casey, the moment that I woke up and realized that my phone's mysterious background picture of the plane ride to Spain was the ash-shit's subtle way of reminding me that we were once a couple, I deleted it out of my phone's memory for good and had to wake Pierce up to explain.

Now, his eyes said it all. It told me that while a part of him followed the norm and wanted us together, he also respected my decision. Pierce ran a hand through his hair and met my eyes once more. "How about this? I want you to stay out of trouble when I'm gone. And that especially means no killing anyone, no throwing Betty, no catapulting Angelica."

I arched my brows and folded my arms before me. "Easier said than done. You may be taking Casey away, but Jeremy still exists here."

The man exposed a proud smirk, but then he shook his head. "You have to. I'm not kissing you in jail, Risa."

"Low-key hot though," I matched his expression, making him grin. "That way, I can show my new boyfriend off in front of my cellmates."

Pierce gazed at me for a while, in pure and warm silence, before he voiced his final thought. "Then, we could make us official when I come back."

I fought back an evident smile, silently wrapping my arms around myself at his proposal. He took my smile for a yes.

"Honestly, I hope no other couple has to go through this. You're a devil."

"Do you have to nitpick everything that I do?"

"Well why are you so difficult?"

"Commander, did you think I was going to be easy?"

I bit back a smile when he sent me a glare. Cracking his knuckles, he rolled his eyes visibly as I watched the edge of his lips curl up. "You're right. Why did I even think for a split second that it'd be a breeze. You're Risa."

"Yeah," I smirked with my whole chest as I slipped off my ring and tossed it to the man who'd been waiting for it for several minutes now. "I am."

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

As expected, the others freaked out. Cody ran his mouth at me like the tiger mom he wasn't, and Osias and Kenya were boiling Pierce down with the I can't believe's and how dare you's. It was amidst the chaos that K2 swung by with his lifetime supply of jets, busted open the door, and caught bits and pieces of the words 'bed,' 'kiss,' and 'Pierce' being thrown around.

Asao had to close the door after him because the older man went straight for the team leader's throat, pulling up his neck collar before Pierce stunned his body accidentally.

That's why you don't try to attack a world-class agent when he has his back turned, kids. He'll wack whatever and whomever. Your girl still has to sign her divorce papers, to put it into context.

After everyone settled down and Pierce managed to drag all seven asses to the living room to sit, K2 brought out a journal underneath his coat.

"Risa, I believe this is yours." He stated, handing it across the living room table. Osias took it and passed it over to me. They were all waiting patiently for me to inspect the journal, so I did just that. But after reading the first few lines, my face etched into a curious frown.

I looked up at my team's confused expressions before I flipped the notebook over to reveal lines and lines of days recorded down. "This isn't my system's journal, which makes more sense since I don't think we communicated in the past either. It's Asao's diary."

"Then why was it in your possession," K2 furrowed his brows in thought.

I smirked. "I'll let it slide since you didn't read the journal, but if you had, you'd understand why past-me would want to keep the journal away from you all."

"And why is that?" Kenya interjected.

"Day 12... X spat at Osias. Day 22... X shaved off part of K2's hair. Day 37... X drenched Kenya's dressed with gasoline and burned the penthouse. Day 82... X drugged the team and escaped... should I continue?" I watched all of their eyes widening and then directing at Pierce, who stared at me bemusedly.

"That water fountain did WHAT to me?" Osias growled, pointing a finger at our Commander.

Cody had his hands clawed in his hair in horror. "He burned the... the beautiful penthouse and he just... he BURNED IT?"

"You drugged a child?" Kenya fumed, giving the Commander a hard look as if he would remember doing any of this.

I read the next few pages with itching fingers. "That's not all he did," I muttered under my breath, suddenly sensing malicious signal waves from the man sitting across from me. Pierce loosened his non-existent collar and turned his head to K2. "I think it's time we go. Alston's still outside, I should check up on him."

"Slow down son, I haven't explained the details to your team yet," K2 raised his eyebrows. "So settle your behind down and receive the death glares that you deserve."

"Fucking old bastard." Pierce mumbled, sitting back down with a heavy sigh.

"That's what you get for shaving my hair off, fool," K2 sneered pettily through gritted teeth. "I ought to shave off your arm." The director cleared his throat obnoxiously loud. When everyone had at least taken a stab at Pierce for what he did four years ago, he started explaining the next stages of our work.

"Congratulations team on completing Project Pleiades. You've recovered your team and acquired the necessary evidence for me to kick your organization's asses, well done." He nodded at us with a satisfied smile before he continued. "Fortunately, that alleviates some trouble from us so we can return to our old routine until we're disturbed again. Unfortunately... that's where we say goodbye today."

A sentimental silence spread across the apartment. K2 turned to Osias. "Blake, you haven't forgotten your schedule that we were on before all of this, have you?"

We all turned to Osias, who shut his eyes and nodded. "Of course not. You're saying it's time to go back?"

"I am. Miss Augustee, will you join us? The program with him takes place in a few weeks from now. We can prep early if you come." K2 directed at the woman.

Kenya nodded slowly before she looked up at him. "I don't see why not. I'll get ready."

K2 nodded. "Asao, your next flight is tonight. If we don't make it, you'll miss a good portion of your class material. Can you get ready to leave?"

We didn't realize the young boy had been crying. His head was buried in Cody's chest as the man wrapped his hand comfortingly over his smaller frame. We all glanced at each other, and the weight of leaving so suddenly came crashing down on all of us. It was way too soon, and way too sudden. And no one was ready to leave when everything was finally coming together.

"I'm all the way across the world," Asao managed, and we heard his voice slightly crack. "I don't want to go back."

I sighed out unsteadily and gave K2 a careful side-glance. "You really couldn't make it a little later?"

The old man gave me a sincere smile, a sad one, filled with a harsh truth. "I didn't want to tell you. I wanted you guys to focus on the assignment. Then I got a call from Pierce's old agency." The director looked at Pierce as the man raised his head to receive the update. "Got the news that Agent W was retiring. Seems like something bad happened back there for her to make that decision. Wasn't she working with you when we first met?"

I watched the two silently, surrounded by the crestfallen sniffles coming from Asao, and was surprised when Pierce turned to me for a split second before he angled back to the director with a frown.

"We're going back there to erase my files as X. Whatever W does, I can't stop her."

"I'm aware. It wouldn't hurt to ask what happened, though."

Pierce was deep in thought as he nodded reluctantly. "Of course. For old time's sake. I am curious on one thing. How long will we be away?"

When I heard the exact time frame, I immediately stood up and excused myself from the living room, my throat tightening beyond repair.

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

In the afternoon, we all made it outside for a good portion of our team's departure. K2's men and women were waiting besides their separate jets. One would carry K2, Osias, and Kenya. The other would hold Pierce, Asao, and Casey.

Casey stood towards the sidelines while we said our goodbyes, his head tilted away from the group. A devilish smile was engraved in the corner of his crooked mouth. No one understood what he was grinning to himself for. He could have possibly been faking his weak facade the entire time at Serenity, which would've made sense, because somewhere in the deepest parts of my body, I knew it all concluded way too easily.

But Pierce will watch him. Pierce is there. I exhaled with a firm sigh before I wrapped my arms underneath the man, feeling him place a long kiss on the top of my head.

"Wait for me," he murmured against my hair, and I pulled away with a tender smile. K2 watched from behind with grim eyes as we pulled Asao into a tight hug, wishing him the best in school.

I went to bid Kenya and Osias well, joked a bit that they shouldn't forget Cody and I back here, and I regretted it immediately because she pulled me into a tear-jerking hug as well. I was going to miss her. She was the first woman I considered a friend, and now she was leaving. We didn't even get to fulfill the compromise that she had with Pierce in the studio room.

K2 pulled me aside and saved me just in time from breaking out in tears. He watched the others for a moment before saying, "I called someone I know around here that will examine you. I'll send the details in a few days. You can trust him, he's done a few operations on Pierce whenever he got hurt. An all-rounded doctor. But, I'm sorry that I can't be there with you, Risa."

I shook my head and gave the old man a reassuring pat on the arm. "You've done your part. Thank you."

"I'll be there when she goes to see him," Cody suddenly came in, walking up beside us. "Don't worry."

K2 patted Cody firmly on the shoulders, as if he was transferring the whole team's trust on him to make sure I was okay. "Then I wish you two the best. Don't look at me like that, Risa. We'll be back. Four years will pass by quickly, believe me. It did once before."

Another four years. Four years until Asao finishes junior high in Japan. Until Cody and I graduate from college. Until Osias and Kenya finish their projects. Until Pierce can deal with the aftermath of our case and his past.

They all began to file into the jets. As Casey passed where I stood, I shot him a disdainful glare, and was further ignited when he tried to stroke my cheeks. Cody had kicked him down to the gravel, and K2's guards had to drag the smiling man away.

Pierce watched with disgust as Casey filed in after Asao. He was the last to board the aircrafts. The Commander turned back to Cody and shouted above the roaring of the planes, "Take care of her, Ryder."

Cody scoffed as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders supportively. "I've done this for years now. I can handle shit you haven't even seen yet."

Pierce smirked, then turned to me and smiled gently as he mouthed, "Я люблю тебя, Risa." Then he was on the flight, and the doors locked shut for good.

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

Cody came upstairs to stay in my room with me as we sat in bitter silence. He was on my bed, criss-crossed, reading Asao's old diary while giving me time to calm down.

I sat down where Pierce had been sitting just a few hours ago, and I leaned my head back in the backrest with my eyes shut. When I opened them, the corners of my vision caught something reflective behind the laptop lid. I immediately leaned forward to close it, and was confused to find Anastasie's ring remain on my desk.

I picked it up and examined it with a small frown, afraid that Pierce had forgotten the hard-drive, and afraid that there was no way to get it to him now because he was long gone in a place that I didn't even know the location of. There was a single sticky note on the lid of my laptop that once belonged to my stack of school supplies around my table.

It fits you. Keep it on for me, Sunny.

I read the words over once more, eyes glazing over to imagine the man himself say those words, before I slowly slipped the ring back onto my ring finger.

So he's using them as promise rings now.

Cody noticed me smiling to myself and he cracked his own careful grin. "Something good happen? You were quiet ever since they left."

I turned to my best friend. "So were you."

"Yeah, well."

I shook my head and dropped my hand from the ring, trying not to think about earlier today anymore. I stood up firmly and placed my hands on either sides of my hip with set eyes.

"Let's go finish what we should have done a while ago," I flashed the man a nod as I went to go pick up my coat.

Cody closed the diary and looked up with a confused look. "And what is that?"

"Did you forget about our smoothie date?"

"In this weather?"

"It'll be a nice change for some fresh air. And we're going to be inside, you idiot. I won't let you freeze to death, so calm down."

"There's air in here too."

"Oh goddammit," I threw my hands in the air, startling the poor boy. "Come on. Before we go back to campus tomorrow, let me be happy. Now can we go, or am I going to go out drinking by myself?"

Cody smirked and slid off the bed, already making his way out of the room. "Just like old times, huh? Fine, I promised him anyway. We're going for a long drive though, the one all the way downtown, so grab a big coat." I followed him outside with a budding smile as I shut my bedroom door.

"You sure you don't want like, coffee instead?" He asked carefully when we were downstairs. The man grabbed his keys and finished up buttoning his own jacket.

"I have that at home." I sighed.

"Not anymore you don't."

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

K2: Why don't you two chug down some of that raspberry shot now that Pierce's erotic mind is out the house?

Beta: You know exactly what you're saying, you nasty berry-ashy legs.

L01, Venus: We'll pass.

Minna: I'm starting to think this story's coming to serve as Agent W's unofficial stand-alone sequel... or maybe it's just a cross-over that fits really well. Any-who, it'll be even more apparent in the next chapter.