Rogue Nation: Meet the IMF

Chapter 10: Red Box

Brandt sighed before he tugged Kat closer and she let him, too numb to fight him.

"I didn't mean to say it like that." He murmured and Kat's eyes focused on his once more as she swallowed.

"You shouldn't have said it at all." Kat said a little numbly, and Brandt sighed again.

"Maybe that was true... before." He replied quietly. "But, it looks like you're being dragged into our mess regardless. It isn't just about me, or even us, anymore." He admitted. "I thought... if it meant you could be safe and happy... I thought I could deal with never seeing you again. As long as you were safe. But when we found you in London..."

He trailed off, rubbing his face with his hand. Kat just stared at him mutely as he dropped his hand and admitted: "It was like my fears coming to life. And yet, still, I thought it would be safer for you away from all this."

He gestured around him vaguely. "So I tried to keep my distance, hoping Hunley would let you go." He exhaled sharply. "But then you disappeared in Vienna."

Kat swallowed, while Brandt sighed: "I thought I was going to have a heart-attack. And then it got worse, when you didn't resurface and Hunley ordered-"

He broke off as Kat blinked slowly.

"And I realized... it wasn't worth it." Brandt sighed. "Staying away, trying to protect you by keeping you at bay, none of it was working. And it was just making me miserable, having you right here but not able to touch you, or kiss you, or tell you that I love you."

He finished at last, his voice dropping as he made his confession. Kat just continued to watch him silently, and Brandt waited, trying to gauge her reaction as she just stood there, without saying a word.

"Kat?" He pleaded. "Say something."

"I hate you." She said flatly, making him frown, before she leant up and kissed him, hard. Brandt blinked in surprise as she pressed against him, before he regained himself and kissed her back. Kat wrapped her arms around his neck as Brandt moved his hands towards her thighs, gripping her tightly. She understood and jumped up to wrap her legs around his waist as he picked her up and sat her on the sink so that she wouldn't have to reach quite as high.

His hands slid up her back, one moving to cup her face while the other wrapped itself in her hair. Things were starting to get a little heated as Kat pressed close to him, and Brandt groaned while his hand tugged on her hair... and Kat winced.

"Ow." She mumbled as their kiss ended abruptly, Brandt letting go of her hair immediately and a look of alarm crossing his face as he checked her quickly.

"Sorry." He apologized, wanting to kick himself for forgetting about her many, many bruises, and Kat giggled a little breathlessly.

"That was anticlimactic... and unromantic." She joked and Brant cracked a smile, showing a hint of the boyish charm Kat loved.

"It wasn't how I planned it to go." He agreed, making Kat laugh lightly again before she gazed at him with warm green eyes while he placed his hands back, carefully, on her waist.

"That seems to sum us up." Kat murmured as Brandt leaned in again, gently placing his forehead against hers as they just stared at each other with bright eyes. "And if you were going to give up, it would've been easier to just tell me before all this."

He chuckled lightly as he replied: "Well, I'm telling you now."

"What are we going to do?" Kat murmured and he shrugged as he answered: "Well, it's in your hands now. I don't want to let you go, but if you-"