Insanity

Chapter 11

Song: Secret Love Song, Pt. II by Little Mix

☆☆☆

"Why can't I say that
I'm in love? I wanna
shout it from the
rooftops."

☆☆☆

One week later. . .

"When's your next mission going to be?" James asked, biting into the apple placed on the dinner tray Natalia had brought up to him. The juice dribbled down his chin, dripping onto his shirt, and he hastily wiped it away.

Natalia shrugged. "Not sure," she said almost inaudibly, due to her mouth being full. "Karpov said they're trying to lay low or something, since 9/11." Every day she seemed to be sent out for small, minor tasks. An interrogation here, some information gathering there.

"He told me the same thing. At least it gives us some downtime," James suggested, setting the remainder of the apple on his tray.

Natalia raised an amused eyebrow at him. "Speaking of downtime, when are you going to cut that hair?" she asked, grabbing a strand of James's long, brown hair and giving it a slight tug. "It's getting. . . long."

"It's been long," James laughed, jerking his head away. "And what, you don't like it?" he asked, putting on a pout and crossing his arms.

Natalia wrinkled her nose. "Nah, not really. Let me cut it," she started, grasping for his hair as he leaned his head back, just out of her reach. "Please," she begged as he stood so he was farther out of reach, "I think you'd look good with short hair."

James cocked his head to the side, curious. "Really?" he asked, considering the idea. He hadn't kept his hair short since. . . Well, since as long as he could remember. He couldn't even imagine himself with anything but the jaw length brown locks he always sported on the daily.

Natalia nodded firmly. "Really. Please?" she asked again.

James sighed, unable to not give in to the pleading look on her face. "Fine. But what are you going to cut it with?"

"Aren't there scissors where you take your showers?" she asked.

James frowned. "Yeah, but you can't just go in there. Maybe there aren't any cameras in here but there probably are in there."

"Why? So Hydra can spy on you showering? I doubt it, though I wouldn't blame them if they did," she said with a wink, waving her hand flippantly. "But if it's too much trouble for me to go in, couldn't you bring them out?"

James laughed, shaking his head. "Trust me, it would be easier to get you in than to take anything out. They've got security devices on everything in there so that only what goes in can come out."

Natalia bounced off of the cot, landing silently on her feet. "Well that settles it, then," she said, turning and heading for the door.

Before she could leave, however, James grabbed hold of her wrist. "Wait, Natalia - if we get caught, we could be in serious trouble. Hell, we're lucky we haven't been caught sneaking up to each other's rooms every night."

A playful smirk lit up Natalia's face. "Oh please, James. We're trained to be able to sneak around without getting caught. It's practically in our DNA now, we'll be fine."

He supposed he couldn't argue with that logic, and he dropped her hand. "You got me there. Let's go. And what's our alibi if we do get caught?"

Natalia shrugged. "We were going for a late night training session." She threw the door open, stepping out into the hallway.