Logan

190. Just Drop It

*Jack's POV*

Natalie's flushed as she quickly places the two Styrofoam clamshells in front of me.

"Lunch of burgers , curly fries, pasta, salad, shakes, and a coke." She looks at me strangely, "Are you prepping for a marathon?"

I shake my head, "Thank you," and I point to the seat beside me. "Come eat this with me."

Natalie looks at me in surprise, "Jack, I already took my lunch."

My grunted laugh comes out louder than I thought, "No, you did not." I look up at her again and point to the seat again, "Come on now."

"How do you know I didn't just grab a sandwich from the cafeteria?" Natalie snarks, looking at the pasta with a yearning glance. 

"Your hands are shaking, and you're breathing harder than usual." I say, pushing the chair beside me out a little more. "Come on now. Sit." I reach for her hand and it's cool beneath mine. She tries to jerk away but my grip is stronger, and I pull her carefully around the desk to sit beside me.

"I'm fine." Natalie says, sitting down. She's angry with me.

I scoff, ripping the plastic off the cutlery and place a fork in her hand, "Saul can run this place however he wants, but anyone under my team will be nourished and hydrated. You cannot pour from an empty cup." I put a napkin on her lap, and mutter in Spanish, "eat now." I watch her glare at me before grabbing a few noodles off the plate and slowly putting them in her mouth. She chews slowly, almost deliberating before finally swallowing and taking another forkful.

"Is it warm enough?" I ask, and she nods.

"I wasn't sure about the texture, but it's really good." She says, and I finally feel like I can relax, once I've watched her take more than one bite of food.

My phone rings and she quickly reaches over to answer it, "Special Agent Medeira's line, how can I help you?" she pauses then mouths words I don't want to deal with, 'Mateo?'

I shake my head and she clears her throat, "He's busy right now Mateo, can I take a message?" She scribbles something on a post it note, "Okay, and your number?" and she scribbles that down too. "Okay, thank you. I will relay this message to him, yep," and then she raises her eyebrows and she murmurs something in Spanish under her breath, 'well fuck you too' as she slams the phone on the receiver. She starts to hand the paper to me and I shake my head.

"You can throw that in the trash." I say.

She looks at it and back at me, "You don't even want to read it?"

"No." I say, my answer coming out more forceful than I intended.

"Who is he? His name sounds familiar." She asks.

"Mateo is my brother." I sigh.

Natalie smiles, "You have a brother too? Oldest or youngest?"

I know what she's doing, but I sigh, "I'm the oldest."

Natalie seems confused, "Why are you ignoring him? What if something's wrong?"

"There's always something wrong with him," I say, waving her off. "I'm done dealing with his messes. If he calls again just tell him I'm out of the office."

Natalie's face contorts into a scowl, "He's your brother, you have a responsibility to him."

"He has to be responsible to himself, he's done too much already. Can you just drop it?" I say, a little curt.

Natalie's quiet now, and I pull her chair closer to me.

"Someone could come in," she says. She looks up at me, and I look at her lips. I could close the gap, just a few extra inches.

I can hear her breath quicken, and she pulls away, "My food's getting cold and I haven't eaten all day, we can talk about it later, Jack."

Three minutes later, we're still eating when she looks over at me. We share a look, a knowing glance and I don't realize I'm getting closer until she moves away.

"Stop looking at me like that," she smirks, taking another bite of food.

"Like what?" I ask, playing coy.

"Like I'm something you want to eat. If anyone finds out about us, it'll hurt you more than it'll hurt me. I'll go work at a cafe or receptionist again, you'll get reassigned and whatever you came here for will be naught."

I take a sip of soda, backing away, "You're right, I'm sorry." I try to change the subject, "What about your friend? Are they doing okay?"

Natalie stiffens, thinking for a moment, "I think so. Time will tell, things have been...weird."

I could see we both had things we didn't want to talk about so I let her eat in peace, replying to emails and sitting in the comfort of her company.