Mr & Mrs Holland

Two and a half Hours

We both unpacked and changed into fresh clothes. I just changed into my pyjamas which were just some silk, black shorts with frills on them and a matching top.

I put on my sliders and a black, oversized cardigan. I shoved my wet hair up into a bun and I left my room. I walked down the stairs and a waft of cooked bacon swept my way. I walked into the kitchen and 01 was standing shirtless with sports shorts on, cooking over the hob.

"Uh...what's this?" I asked hesitantly.

"I'm making...a warm salad." He stated proudly.

"A warm salad?" I asked, scrunching my face. "What do you just make a salad then stick it in the microwave?"

He laughed, "No. It's a salad with meat in it. I chose bacon."

"Oh...right." I smiled.
"Don't we have a housekeeper and chef?" I asked, trying not to sound rude.

"Yeah we do. Our chef actually made it, I'm just taking credit." He laughed.

"So you're just cooking bacon to make it seem like you did something." I held back a smile.

He nodded, "Yes." I burst out laughing and so did he.

"You are something else, 01."

"Oh I know." He winked and I rolled my eyes.

"Do you wanna sit inside or outside?" He asked.

"Outside."

"Yes, ma'am." He smiled.

He served up the food and it actually looked really good. We carried our plates out to the huge dining table and we sat across from each other.

"Want a beer?" 01 asked, opening one for himself.

"No thanks. I don't drink." I smiled as I lathered the salad with mayonnaise.

"You don't drink? Why?" He asked.

I laughed, "Because I don't want to." I shrugged.

"Have you ever had alcohol before?"

"Yes of course I've had alcohol before." I shook my head and poured some water into my wine glass.

"So you just...don't like alcohol." He raised an eyebrow.

I sighed as I stabbed some lettuce and cucumber with my fork, "My Dad was an alcoholic." I admitted.

Silence.
Why did I say that? We said to share nothing personal and we were here for 2 hours and I already had.

"Shit. I'm sorry, that must have been rough." He said genuinely, giving me eye contact which I wasn't used to.

"Yeah...he wasn't a nice man." I kept looking at my food, not wanting to see the probable awkward and sympathising facial expression that he would have.

"How come?" He asked. My head shot up and I looked at him. He didn't look awkward. He looked interested and...soft? Like he cared. Which was new.

"Uh...he was abusive to me and my brother." "Wow. How did you overcome that? Did you beat his ass and send him to jail?" He asked with a smile.

I laughed lightly, "No. Though I wish I did. My mum divorced him and then we moved." I shrugged. "Simple."

"So he didn't go to jail?" He sat his fork down. "No...he didn't. My mum wasn't rich and he was. He already gave up my brother and I so if we went to trial he would win." I sighed.

"That's horrible."

"Yeah well...it happened years ago so..." I looked back up at him and shrugged a little. "Can we change the subject?" I asked with a smile.

He nodded, "Sure."

"My mum hates me doing this job." 01 said.
We had finished dinner and we moved to the poolside. We both had our feet dipped into the infinity pool as we chatted about our jobs and looked out over the Santorini beach.

"It must have been hard for her when you were hiding out." I said, kicking my feet a little, causing ripples in the water.

"Yeah. It was hard for all of my family." He looked at his feet.

"I had a girlfriend when I got injured. And I had a girlfriend when I came back to London to say goodbye...and I thought I had a girlfriend when I came back." He didn't look up. He clenched his jaw and stared at the water.

"Oof. I'm sorry." I bit my lip, not sure what to say.

"She went off with my best friend."

"Ohh...oh fuck that's bad." I held my hand over my mouth.

"Yeah..." He took a drink of his beer, finishing it off.

"Do you want another drink or?" He turned to me.

"What time is it?" I asked. He extended his arm, looking at his watch and his eyes widened.

"We sat down for dinner at 7 and it's now 9:30." He smiled.

"Oof...we just talked about work for 2 and a half hours." I laughed. 01 stood up and held his hand out for me to take.

"Thanks." I grunted as he lifted me up with ease. We both walked over to the table and took our empty plates and glasses and brought them inside.

"I'll wash." I smiled and took his plate off of him. I put them in the sink and ran the water and put some soap in. 01 picked up a towel and stood next to me.

"So you can be nice." He smiled as I handed him the first plate.

"Only when I want to be." I chuckled and he nodded.

We finished washing and drying the dishes and neither of us knew what to do.

"So...what happened the last time you were here?" 01 asked and sat himself down on the couch. I sat on one opposite him.

"We had the first night free basically. Then the second day we got a letter telling us where to go which was a base in Athens that was disguised as a fortune telling place but it's where all the hackers and analysts worked behind the scenes. They told us what to do and where the mob was and we just did that every day." I explained.

"Oh...so do you think we'll get a letter?"

"Yeah. I think we will." I smiled.

"Hmm." We sat in silence for a moment. "Well...I'm going to bed so, goodnight." I got up from the couch.

"Goodnight 99." He called through the villa as I started going up the stairs.

I got up to my room and went into the en-suite bathroom. I took out my toothbrush and toothpaste and started brushing my teeth. Once I finished, I went to the toilet then closed my door and got into bed.

I looked at my phone and stared at my lockscreen for a while like I usually did. I felt like I was betraying him. Like I shouldn't be here with another man. It was for work. I wasn't going to fall madly in love with him. I couldn't. Because if I did...it would put both our lives in danger.