Corrupted Constructs

Chapter 2

Clarke looks around her empty apartment. She moved in two days ago and she hadn't had the time to bring in any of her personal stuff. The only things in her new one-bedroom apartment were the basic furniture and cooking utensils that the FBI had brought in before she moved, a tv and a laptop, and an unpacked mid-sized suitcase worth of clothes.

The apartment was small, but nice enough and located only a twenty-minute train ride from Trikru Inc.'s headquarters.

The two nights she had spent here thus far had been a bit weird. She wasn't used to the inner-city traffic sounds nor to sleeping alone seeing as her and Finn had been living together for six or so months.

Clarke and Finn had first met very briefly while they were both in college. Finn was a year ahead of her, but they had a similar circle of friends, so they would regularly end up at the same parties. And truth be told, Clarke had found him obnoxious and plainly insufferable at first. However, when they had met again while Clarke was completing her training to join the FBI, Finn had finally won her over and they had started dating.

Although Finn joined the FBI a year before her, they had ended up working together as partners and they were on the same track for promotion. But then, Clarke's dad had died suddenly, so Clarke was forced to take some time off work and while she was on leave, Finn had been promoted.

Usually, relationships between agents, and especially between agents and their supervisors were strictly forbidden, but after filing the necessary HR paperwork, they were allowed to keep working together as well as continue their relationship since they had known each other since before they joined the FBI.

Now, Finn is sitting at her kitchen table, nursing a cup of coffee between his hands. He had knocked on her door a little while ago, a coffee machine in hand, to wish her luck and debrief one last time before her interview.

And Clarke was incredibly nervous despite Finn's encouragement. Which, even to Clarke, seemed silly. Why was she nervous for a rigged interview that she was almost guaranteed to excel at? From what she had been told, she was quite literally the only competent applicant, so they wouldn't have a choice but to hire her.

Shaking herself from her thoughts, Clarke asks, "Are you sure you are okay with all of this? You will hardly be able to see me for who knows how long and if everything goes according to plan, I will be touched by someone else."

Finn gets up from his chair and stands in front of Clarke, placing both of his hands on her shoulders.

"I'll be fine, babe. It's only temporary and it's not like I won't be able to see you at all. Or touch you," Finn steps a little closer and runs his hands down Clarke's arms, taking ahold of her hands. "Besides, she's just a woman, it's totally fine as long as you tell me all about it afterwards."

Finn winks at Clarke, then plants one hand on Clarke's lower back and the other on her cheek, pulling their bodies together before kissing her.

It takes Clarke a split second to react and answer his kiss, being thrown off by his earlier words, but when she places her hands on his biceps, Finn tries deepening the kiss.

Clarke pulls her head away, unable to step back from him and out of his hold.

"I have to go, Finn. I can't be late for my interview," Clarke explains as Finn looks at her with his expectant puppy eyes.

He releases his hold on her and runs his hand through his dark brown, shaggy hair before he grins his crooked grin at her.

"Okay, good luck babe. Text me when you are done. Maybe we can get dinner tonight?" He speaks.

Clarke pushes him out the door and locks the door behind them both before tossing the keys in her purse and making her way down to the train station near her place.