She hadn't spoken in hours, curled on her side tucked beneath the bed, the earbuds stuck firmly into her ears. Eyes wide open, features slack, Ginny resembled a wax statue more than a woman of flesh and blood. Ji spent a long while on the floor nearby, smoking, his head resting on the wall behind him. The positive pregnancy tests had given her a heavy shock, despite her previous insistence on her condition, triggering a deep depression.

Although not involved in the creative process, he couldn't help but feel responsible. Who was the father? Her boyfriend? One of his douchebag friends? Or one of the dead Colombians that had kidnapped her.

Not knowing bothered him more than he thought it would, but ultimately, it didn't matter. Keeping her safe, getting her healthy, that's what mattered. When she finally moved, he turned his head to look, watching as she did an army crawl maneuver out from under the bed frame.

Dark circles were beneath her eyes, cropped hair skewed and sticking out in various directions, still too thin to be truly pretty, but Ji couldn't look away. He could spend the rest of his life just watching her breathe. Blowing the last of his smoke toward the ceiling, he crushed the cigarette butt in his fingers before setting it aside.

"Hey," he offered softly as she folded her legs, sitting cross-legged across from him.

"It stopped," slowly tugging the headphones loose, she held the mp3 player out, which he obligingly took, checking the battery before plugging it in to charge. When he looked back, she was taking off her gloves. Shyly tucking her hands on her lap, palms down, her expression was hopeful. "Do you still want to see?"

"Hold on," twisting around, he reached for the nearby lamp twisting the knob as golden light flicked on. Ginny's eyes went to the carved roll of muscle revealed beneath his shirt from the awkward movement. A bit of his tattoo showed through.

"Hey," stern but teasing, his tone snapped her gaze back to his. "Eyes up top, Mouse. Now, show 'em,"

Compliantly putting her hands in his, she waited for his reaction, intently watching his features. Ji stared for long minutes in utter silence, then gently lifted her hands closer, turning them this way and that to see better before looking up.

"Ginny..."

"Don't you like them?"

"Why... I don't understand why you... what made you choose that?"

"I wanted to be like you,"

His laugh was breathless with disbelief but his grip on her hands hadn't let go. The green tips perfectly matched his snake tattoo, elegant black lines generating scales that created depth and movement to the design. Her thumbnails were snakeheads, ruby eyes glittery, black mouth and white curved fangs startlingly realistic. What struck him hardest were the two pink orchids on her ring fingers, the flowers seeming to float above the green scales.

"It's perfect, Ginny. Absolutely perfect."

"Thank you," neither acknowledged the big, fat elephant in the room, deciding to skirt the topic of her pregnancy for now. Rubbing her knuckles with the pad of his thumb, Ji smiled.

"Feel up to doing anything?"

"Isn't it late?"

"Three a.m.," he admitted with a careless shrug. "So?"

"A shower, I guess," rubbing her eyes, Ginny yawned then laughed. "Sorry,"

"Been a long day."

"Yeah," she avoided his gaze, fidgeting as she pushed to her knees. "It was a lot, with everything..."

He waited until she was on her feet, moving toward the bathroom and then stood, fingers clenched into fists.

"I'm an orphan." It stopped Ginny in her tracks, and he watched her shoulders stiffen. "I killed my father when I was seven. My mom killed herself three years later." Taking a few steps toward her, Ji rubbed a hand across the back of his neck. "At fourteen I ran away from the foster home I was in, lived on the streets stealing what I could, hitchhiked north then got into a gang. I thought you should know, because, I have no idea what a good parent is like. I have no reference, nothing to copy, so... you should... you should know that."

"Does," slowly facing him, trying but failing to keep hope from her expression, Ginny bit the inside of her cheek. "Does this mean you'll be the father?"

Ji's nod was subtle but Ginny threw herself into his arms with a delighted squeal, holding on tight. Part of her withdrawal earlier was the feeling she was going to have to do this alone, and not having a clue how. With everything happening so fast, the reality of it was overwhelming and she'd been trying not to lose her sanity. Warm, powerful arms circled her back and shoulders, his nose buried against the soft skin of her neck as she clung to him.

"You'll have to be patient with me, Mouse. I'm going to screw up. Probably a lot." Her nod came with sniffles, and he grinned despite the emotion roiling in his gut. "Do you have any idea how you make me feel?"

"No,"

"Alive," kissing her neck, slowly moving up the tendon to her ear, he smiled as her head tilted to one side for him. Her delicate skin rippled with goosebumps under his breath. "You make me feel alive."

Eyes closed, lips pressed together to keep them from quivering, she managed a shaky smile.

"I can breathe when I'm around you," His murmur was low, a vibration against her ribcage as his mouth moved along her jaw. "I feel human, even though I know it's not true, that it will go away, but when we're together, I don't care."

"Ji," his words were piercing through all the layers of stone and fog circling her heart, ripping down years of protective barriers created by trauma and abuse. "Ji, I-"

She didn't continue, head tipping back as a blaze of scorching fire trailed down her neck to her collarbone, soft flicks of moisture turning her knees to jelly. Gripping his shoulders for stability, Ginny struggled to breathe steadily, burning heat coursing her veins. When he tugged off the shoulders of her dress, pulling them out of the way, a snap of alarm pulsed through her. Not strong enough to make her push away, but enough to open her eyes.

"Ji, stop..." he yanked back so fast she almost fell over, caught only by his quick reflexes, strong hands gentle on her arms, holding her at a distance. "I need... I have to tell you, first,"

"No, you don't." Turquoise flames stared into hers as he shook his head, golden hair glowing in the lamplight. "I didn't tell you about my childhood to force you into any confessions."

"I need you to understand," taking his hands in hers, peering into his face, searching for the courage to say it out loud, she swallowed hard. "I'm not... right. I'm... When I was taken from home, they, they put me on drugs to make me stop fighting," voice breaking into a thick whisper, she gripped his hands tighter.

"I was on drugs for a really long time. Alcohol too. I was raped so many times I... I felt, that is, I started to think it was some kind of jacked-up normal. He- he made me do things, lots of things. With men and women. Things that I didn't want to, but I was... I was so high that it felt... I felt... like-" staring pleadingly at him, she shook her head mutely, unable to keep going. Ji's frown had grown darker with each word but when he gathered her into his arms, the embrace was tender. 

"I get it," was all he said. Ginny shivered in response, holding onto him so tight it felt like she was trying to push herself beneath his skin. Resting his cheek in her hair, he told himself the future he'd chosen was going to be the hardest thing he'd ever done. Screw the Agency. Or anyone else for that matter. Ginny had just become the only important thing in his messed-up life.

"Please don't leave me," she whispered into his shirt, soaking the fabric with silent tears. "Please... I didn't want to be like that. I promise I didn't,"

He stopped her with a kiss, gripping both sides of her face between his hands, tilting her mouth to his. For a stiff moment, Ginny didn't move as their gazes locked. Then her hands slid up his chest, wrapping around his shoulders as her eyes slipped closed.

Mouth opening, she let him taste her, feeling a hot shiver race up the back of her legs. Of their many kisses, this one was different. Both felt it, but in the typical fashion of self-preservation, they indulged in the feeling rather than acknowledging its source. Bodies pressed close, limbs tangled, they clung greedily to each other until the need for air forced them apart, panting hard, foreheads touching.

As their eyes met again, they both smiled. Then she kissed him. A tantalizingly sweet brush of lips, the taste of her sliding over his tongue like smooth cherry syrup, permeating every fiber, soaking into his blood like a drug. Nails dragging over the muscle beneath his shirt, her body heat melted like hot butter against him. Ji went rigid as his internal engine roared to life, catapulting his warning meter from zero to three.

Before he could grab the thought, Ginny nipped the edge of his bottom lip. A hot spark of pain sizzled through every vein, awakening desires that had been dormant for years.

"Stop," his rasp was urgent as she kissed his neck, her nails lightly raking over the rippled muscles of his hips. "Tell me to stop, Ginny... we need to stop now,"

About to protest, the words on her tongue to assure him she was okay with going this far, Ginny abruptly recognized the panic on his face, terrified desperation carved into glassy eyes. Pulling back, she hastily adjusted her dress to cover the skin he'd exposed, a pink flush on her cheeks, the butterflies in her stomach swirling madly.

"Sorry... I wasn't thinking. I'm sorry,"

"Thanks," shaking, eyes burning with hot flames, his voice husky from desire, Ji forced himself to move away from her. "I couldn't- I wouldn't have been able... we can't go there, Ginny. We can't."

Licking her lips, tasting him on her skin, she turned away so he wouldn't see the craving in her eyes. How delicious he'd been in her mouth, how much she'd wanted that moment to last- but this was as much about him as it was about her, and she had to remember that. He had his demons too.

"We won't," keeping her voice even, Ginny straightened her shoulders. "We won't, I promise."

"It's not that I don't want-"

Whipping around, her smile was beautifully understanding.

"Really, Ji, it's okay. If we... never, you know, go all the way together, I'd- That isn't something I... react well to. I like kissing you. I like being close to you, but, I don't want... more."

"So we're on the same page," expression partially pained, partially relieved, his shoulders relaxed as he studied her face. Ginny nodded. "Well, there goes that."

"What?"

"A man likes to have hope."

"Are you teasing me?"

"Absolutely." Ji's eyes darkened, the muscles at the edge of his mouth ticking slightly. "But I need you to understand why I-"

"You don't have to-"

His direct look silenced her as the confession stalled on the tip of his tongue. Taking a steadying breath, he wondered where the need to purge his soul was coming from.

"My life is messed up, Ginny. Real messed up. When I was a teenager, the only thing that made it all seem bearable... was sex. I had it as often as I could until I was functional only after the high that came with it. At the time I didn't think anything of it.

"Everyone hooked up, so no big deal. That's what I told myself. Then I started sleeping with my boss's wife. Not long after that, things started going wrong.

"My craving for the high, my need for it, started to become more important than anything else. I stopped caring who I was with, or how I got the high, as long as I had it." Features twisting into a scowl, he stared at the floor, absently rubbing the toe of his shoe on the worn carpet. "It was a drug. Poisonous. Toxic.

"So I promised myself to stop. I walked away, and never once in all the years since have I given a single thought to getting back on that ride. Until I met you. And it scares the bejesus out of me."

"...why?"

"Because," moisture glinted in his eyes as he faced her, posture slumped. Ashamed. Guilty. "I don't ever want to look at you, or touch you, or feel anything for you but what's real. I'm terrified that I'll end up, just..."

"...using me..." her whisper finished the thought, and Ji nodded mutely. She began to tremble, stomach churning at the confession and what it meant. He had feelings for her, feelings that meant something- abruptly clapping a hand across her mouth, she fled to the bathroom, barely making it in time to vomit in the toilet. Suddenly there, Ji's fingers stroked her hair from her face, rubbing her back as she retched. Neither of them said it, but they were grateful for the gross interruption.

Neither was prepared for what genuine feelings might mean.

Marseille, France

"Well, well," smug, curious, but distinctly cold, Darche was circling the metal chair Dallas was tied to, inspecting his newly arrived prize. "An Agency operative. Rémy is trying to buy time."

Not bothering to answer, Dallas' hazel eyes tracked the mobster's movements, knowing things were about to get much, much worse.

"First, I discover an Agency snitch in my inner circle, then my precious Genevieve disappears, and now you are sent to occupy me in the interim of her absence. I admit, my patience is running thin with this steady influx of failure."

"Sounds like a personnel problem."

Chilling brown orbs flashed to him, full of malice.

"I will make you an offer most people don't get from me. Cooperate, and I will go easier on you. Resist, and you will die slowly, and suffer greatly."

"What's behind door number three?" Snarky, working up the nerve to handle the torture he was certain was coming, Dallas managed to look apathetic. "Your first two offers seem a little predictable."

"I see you prefer to do things the hard way." Snapping his fingers, Darche smiled as another man stepped into sight, a black leather apron tied around him, hands double-gloved with black latex. A pair of shiny pliers were in one hand as he leaned over Dallas. Writhing did no good as his jaw was forced open, the steel edge clamping over one of his back molars. Telling himself not to scream, Dallas almost passed out as the tooth was pulled from the bone, metallic thickness filling his mouth.

"That was merely a demonstration," Gabriel was studying his clipped fingernails. "Will you be sensible now?"

Spitting out a glob of clotting blood, Dallas glared at him, dizzy with pain, cold sweat coating his skin.

"I can't tell you anything. Not about your personnel problem, not about your missing girl, nothing."

Darche didn't believe him, watery brown eyes narrowed.

"Pull another one." He couldn't keep quiet this time, raw screams echoing against concrete walls before Darche stood over him, leering. "How long must we continue this way? What I want from you is really quite simple. I'll ask a question, and you tell me the truth. If you don't know the truth, you'll tell me everything you can. Doesn't that sound better than screaming?"

Dallas shrugged as well as he could bound, his heartbeat throbbing behind his eyes, pulsing from the two places where his teeth had been.

"I've never been keen on oral hygiene anyway, so really you're doing me a favor."

"So foolish, but as you wish." Moving back, Darche watched without pity as his victim's hoarse screams started up again. They continued for a long time, then suddenly stopped.

With a bloody tooth in the jaws of the pliers, the torturer glanced at his boss.

"He passed out."

"Wake him up."

"Cold water, or a shot of adrenaline?"

"Why not both?" Chuckling under his breath, Gabriel realized he was enjoying himself. How long had it been since he'd gotten his claws into an Agency operative? Not since Léo had been found out to be a mole, and he'd rushed that. No, this time, he would take he would be patient.

Dallas came to with a gasp, his heart jackhammering in his chest, clothes sticking to his body from the ice water thrown at him. A tray of syringes was off to one side, the man in the black apron tossing an empty one in a trash bin. Darche clucked his tongue, swinging Dallas' attention toward him.

"Pure adrenaline. Enough to keep you awake for days. It cost a lot of money, but I consider it a well-spent investment." Approaching, he crossed his arms, staring down at Dallas. "Shall we pick up where we left off?"

"What do you want to know?"

"Ah, a glimmer of hope for you. Very well, as I will hold up my end of the arrangement... tell me where my little Geneviève has got to."

"I haven't seen her- hold on!" Lurching backward in the metal chair, Dallas tried in vain to distance himself from the gleaming pliers uncomfortably close to his mouth. "I don't know for sure, but I think... Argentina."

"Not Colombia?"

"Not unless she's grown wings. Argentina."

"Can you do better than that? Argentina is a big place, full of people."

"Start in Buenos Aires. That's the best I can tell you."

"Very well," stroking his chin, Darche studied Dallas' features intently for a moment. "Tell me how she's managed by herself. My little one should not have been able to escape so easily. Someone must be helping her. Who is it?"

All his training flashed through his mind, knowing he couldn't betray Agency business. If he did, he was dead regardless if Darche let him go or not.

"I can't tell you."

"Surely you have some idea."

"Sorry."

"It is your choice." Gabriel sighed, shaking his head as the pliers opened. "We will try again after you've had some time to think about it."