Hush

Five

Paige Miller;

Ashton doesn't knock, he just walks right in. "Please, this is not the time." I sigh, trying to keep my cool. "What happened?" He asks shutting the door slowly.

I shake my head, "Nothing.. I'm good." I lie, a little sarcasm in my voice. He catches it, "No, Paige, you aren't. I need to know what happened in there."

I stare at him and look away, "I just overwhelmed myself. I thought I could do it, but turns out I couldn't.. I failed like everything else." I sit down at my desk, my chin resting in my hand as my elbow is on the arm rest.

"Don't talk like that." Ashton says walking over. He sits on the side edge of my desk, "You haven't failed. If you failed, you know you wouldn't be here right now. You made it through all the shit that was in your life. As a child, teenager, and now. You are an FBI agent, Paige. You are one of the best."

I roll my eyes, finding that kinda hard to believe. "You're just saying that." I mumble leaning back into my chair. He shakes his head, "Paige, you went a year without having someone back you up. That takes guts."

I shake my head looking down, "It's my job, I had to do it. Even if I was scared as hell or not., it's my job. I had to." He chuckles, "You didn't have to. You could have quit when you wanted to, and yet you didn't."

I glance over at the window. Harry is standing there with Liam. "You keep most of us calm because you know how to handle us when were pisses. You calmed Harry down tonight right?"

I nod, "It wasn't easy.. But yeah, eventually." He smiles slightly, "Exactly. You have that thing about you that people really appreciate."

I snort, "People never appreciated me." I say, my voice cracking slightly. "Well now you do, and if you need anything, you can contact me, or anyone here." He tilts my chin up, "Now smile. You can't be sad, your a badass FBI agent."

I smile, which leads to a slight laugh. "Thanks, Ash." I say standing up. "Anytime, love." He says walking to the door. I look at the scattered papers on my desk.

"Whoa, what happened here?" Harry asks causing me to jump slightly. He chuckles and walks over to the other side of my desk. "Help?" He asks looking at me. I shrug, nodding as I do so.

He helps put the papers in neat piles. "I'll go through these and separate them in what they need to be separated into."

"I'll stand and help if you want." He offers. I could really use the help, but he needs more sleep than I do. "No, go home, I'll be fine." I sit at my desk and pull myself closer to it.

"Paige." He says pulling up a chair to the front of my desk. "I'm helping you. Now what piles do you want?" I don't want to argue. A little help can't hurt, right? "Three piles. Open cases, closed cases, pending to be approved cases."

He nods, looking through the papers, laying them down in three separate piles. "Tell Liam he doesn't have to stand out there." I say keeping focus on the papers.

"Okay," He stands and walks to the office. "C'mon mate." I smirk and continue working with the papers. I look up to see Liam looking down at me, "You're not going to bite my head off now are you?"

I roll my eyes and shake my head. "She's cool now." Harry states sitting back down. I laugh slightly, "So you think.." I mumble setting the papers down. I put my hands over my face and lay my head on the desk.

"You alright?" Liam asks worridly. I nod, well try to nod, "Yeah.." I mumble into my hands. "Paige. You can do this tomorrow morning." Harry says, obviously knowing I won't do that.

I look up at him with a seriously look. He shrugs, "Just thought I'd tell you.." I look at Liam, "What?" He shakes his head, "Nothing. Are you guys hungry? I'll go get food."

I smile, "Aren't you sweet, and yes I'm starving." He looks at Harry, "No thanks, I'm good." I turn my head towards Harry, "You need to eat." He shakes his head. I nod. He shakes his head and makes a weird face.

I lean back and cross my arms, "You would tell me the same thing, Styles." Liam chuckles, "She's right, mate." Harry sighs, "Fine." I smile and look at Liam, "You know what to get right?"

"The usual," he chuckles and nods. "I'll be back." He leaves and I look at Harry. "What?" He asks confused. I shrug and go back to sorting papers.

"You sure you're alright?" He asks leaning down to look at me. I raise my eye brows and nod. "Yeah." I say looking at him. "Just checking." He says looking over the papers in his hands. "Harry.." I say looking straight ahead. "Hmm?" I look over at him, which he isn't looking at me. I laugh slightly, "Nothing." I look down, my slight smile slowly turning into a frown.

"Something's up. Now tell me." He says dropping the papers from his hands. I shake my head, "I forgot." I lie, resting my head on my hand. "Paige." He says touching my shoulder. I lean away looking at him, "Its nothing. I forget, no big deal, now focus on these papers." He sighs and looks down at the paper filled desk.

I look away and as said before, I don't cry in front of people and I'm not letting that change now.