Our cover story

"Hey you look vaguely familiar" her voice was soft, low, sweeter than he had ever heard.

It was the first sound he concentrated on once he suddenly woke up from his sleep, he had dreamt about Iraq again. He wasn't actually dreaming about it, they were more like some sort of random nightmares that had been hunting him since he came back years before. They were less common now, he was getting slightly better with time, but still he knew he wasn't over them.

"I get that a lot, could be the beard" he smiled at her, turning around to have a better look at her face.

"Yeah, mind if I sit down?" she asked softly.

"Please do" he answered immediately.

She looked different, more relaxed maybe? Her look had definitely changed over the past year but the scarf she was wearing around her neck was way out of her style, he guessed she put it on to make herself look different.

"Did you get our cabins?" he asked.

They had booked two tickets at the last minute, they were in a rush. They hoped there would have still been some free cabins to spend the night in, otherwise they had to sleep on their seats.

"I got a cabin, with bunk beds, it was all that was left" she answered.

Unfortunately there was just a cabin left, but luckily there were two beds in it. She had thought about it for a while, she couldn't deny it, but then she understood that they both needed some good sleep and she was sure that if they had just one bed he would have given it to her. She couldn't leave Cal on his seat while she slept in a bed, he was her partner, they had been through hell and back in Moldova, sleeping in the same room in two separate beds wouldn't have been the end of the world.

"Oh... who's on top?" it was meant to be a normal question, but it came out of his mouth in a much dirtier way than it should have.

"I think the answer is pretty clear" she answered back, raising an eyebrow at him.

He could spot something in her eyes, something different. It was like she got the double meaning behind his sentence and answered to only that. He couldn't deny he was a little nervous knowing he had to share the room with her. He had started to see Emily as something more than just a partner at work, as something more than just a simple friend. He hadn't slept in the same room as a woman he liked since, well, his last relationship, which ended before he even joined the navy. He had had women after he came back, but nothing serious.

He suggested her to drink some wine since they had to eat something for dinner, acting as normal as they could and she accepted. They soon understood that if they had to act normal they needed a cover just in case someone would have asked. The easiest thing that came to their mind was going undercover as a couple, he suggested a newly engaged one, having a trip around Europe to celebrate. It looked real, maybe they were a bit too serious to be a couple but for once he could at least act normal, not trying to hide his feelings for her.

She was falling so hard for him it was embarrassing... she hoped he hadn't noticed the flush on her cheeks as he kept explaining their cover and how he found it so perfect. She couldn't deny it was a good cover, probably the best one since no one could prove otherwise, but just thinking about it made her heart skip a beat.

They started talking about random stuff when a waiter asked Cal to follow him to get his information written down for the room. She had already talked to that guy as she booked their room and he had told her he needed also her partner's informations but to go give them after dinner since there was no rush, plus it was just a formality and it would have taken a minute to get it done.