*thank you so much for 3k :)*
*also because of the recent hurricane that passed I was out of power, explaining why it took me a while to post this*
*hope all who were affected with the hurricane are safe as well as the people in Lebanon.*
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LUCAS POV
H.E.X.A wanted to steal our identity.
They slowly but surely broke apart Natalie's personal life in hopes to steal her identity, which would help steal BlackLights identity.
My mind races at the thought of them hurting Natalie more than they already have, and I grip the steering wheel with just the thought of it.
No more.
We are protecting BlackLight with our lives.
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April 5
School
Jayden and I were walking towards our lockers, quietly conversing when I see Sarah and Valerie pass us.
"They still talking to you guys?", I nod to them.
Jayden shakes his head. "The basics, but they distanced from us. To be honest I don't blame them, it looks bad to them of course."
He shakes the thought off and closes his locker.
"What about you? Have you been able to hang with Natalie lately?"
I shrug. "We were training last night."
Jayden scoffs. "Nah bro, I mean actually hang. Talk and be in each other's presence. You two need it."
I take in words.
"Yeah, but we have no time with school and the agency."
"Then make time. You two really need to be in each other's presence. It'll do you two good."
I smirk at him. "Since when are you a love doctor?"
I push his shoulders playfully to which he rolls his eyes.
"Since Jasmine got smitten with your cousin."
I raise a brow. "Joshua? They made it official?"
"Noo, I won't let her. Something's up about that guy. He's sketchy", he says accusingly.
I laugh. "He's my cousin, I assure you he isn't. You sure it's not the protective brother speaking?"
"No", he says quickly, face clearly showing otherwise.
I laugh and shake my head.
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2:30
Jayden and I start heading to my car, as school ended and Jasmine follows, nose in her phone.
Playfully I take her phone out of her grasp to which she flails to get it.
"Lucas! That's my phone- gimme!"
"Started dating my cousin and never told me, hm?"
Her face turns red to which I laugh. "We aren't dating and don't forget you-" She jumps again. "are the one who left to China with no contact."
She continues to reach her phone until she becomes annoyed.
"Lucas give me my phone before I kick you in the balls."
Jayden then bursts info fits of laughter as I feel the phone leave my grasp from behind me.
I turn around to see my home carry Jasmine's phone.
"Give the poor girl her phone before you become immobile", Natalie says, giving Jasmine her phone not before taking a quick peek at her texts, which all of us laugh at.
"Thank you", Jasmine huffs.
I don't know what happens next to be honest because all my attention attaches to Natalie.
I skim over her features, tan skin, light brown curly hair into a side ponytail with pieces fraying out against green eyes.
She wears a sunflower yellow top with jeans that hit every bit of her hourglass figure.
The jeans make me think of how it would feel to touch the curves of her skin, and kiss her.
Kiss her numb.
"Lucas?" Jasmine's voice takes me out of my thoughts and I look at her.
"Jayden, Joshua and I are going to start training, but we need two people tailing on H.E.X.A. You and Natalie want to do it?"
I look at Natalie who shrugs.
"Yeah sure."
"Great, we'll see y'all later."
Jasmine and Jayden leave, Jayden bickering about Joshua and her scolding him.
"Ready to go?", Natalie asks.
"Want to work at my apartment?"
Her eyes go wide for a second.
"Yeah we can do that. I have my car though so I'll just follow you."
I wanted to say to leave the car and come with me, but I keep my thoughts to myself as I make my way to the apartment, her white Range Rover behind me.
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Apartment
I open the door to the apartment, Natalie trailing behind me as we both put our bags on the black leather couch, and head to the kitchen.
My kitchen was an island, a stove and countertop set behind it, with black high chairs all in white and black tiles.
I immediately head into my fridge, pulling out a pitcher of cold water and a glass, downing it all under a minute. My eyes head to Natalie who's staring at me.
I clear my throat. "Sorry, water? Juice?"
She laughs and shakes her head. "No, it's fine."
The way she looked at me in humor made my heart jump, her eyes glittering.
"What?", I say softly.
"Nothing, you just downed half a pitcher like you've been stranded at a desert."
My face goes slightly red. "I just get thirsty."
She starts laughing, and the sound of her laugh makes me smile as well.
"You're really beautiful."
The compliment blurts out of my mouth, to which she smiles and looks down to her feet.
"You're stunningly handsome."
My lips twitch into a small smile, but when I see her smile, it grows.
And we just stare into each others eyes like we do, my mind racing with thoughts of her.
We then start setting up our laptops, and get into business.
"When did Russo call you?", I ask, wondering what happened.
"The day you came back. As I said she was warning me to be prepared which I already stationed guards everywhere."
"You think her threat was empty?"
She shakes her head. "I don't know, but I know I want to be prepared because I know she will do something or the other."
We hack through their security, which the tech team mostly helped us with, and watch for any suspicious acts.
We do this until 9pm, on and off while working on homework when I hear her yawn.
My eyes brows crinkle. "Tired?"
"It's okay", she says sweetly.
I notice her green eyes a little more droopy.
Her phone lights up with a message and she checks it.
"They're done with training."
She then laughs at her phone.
"Jasmine went off with Joshua and now Jayden's lonely."
I laugh. "Invite him here"
Her eyes light up. "Yeah, okay."
She sends the message and we get up from our positions while she puts her hair in a bun and yawns.
"Natalie?"
"Hmm?", she responds.
"Go take a quick nap until Jayden comes."
"No, it's fi-"
"Natalie." She looks up at me. "Take a nap."
She seems conflicted, but I lead her to my room which is the closest and turn on the light.
She halts when she realizes it's my room.
"You don't have a guest room?"
"Yeah, I do but it's filled with boxes and items so it's not much of a bed and more of a room."
"Oh", she replies.
"Just a nap."
She nods , yawning as I exit the room and give her space.
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9:15pm
Jayden enters my apartment, taking his jacket off a loosening his tee, yawning and free falling into my black leather couch.
Faux Leather, of course.
"Where's Nati?", he says tiredly.
"She's taking a nap, she was really tired"
His eyes lift up. "Did you cuddle with her?"
"What? No, I closed the door and let her sleep."
He gives me a dramatic sigh of frustration. "No Lucas, you need to break in the door and cuddle her. It's common knowledge."
I furrow my brows. "I'm not cuddling her, she needs her rest."
I watch as Jayden smacks his hand on his forehead.
"How the actual hell are you number one in the agency when you have no idea about wooing girls."
I throw a potato chip at him, and then one of my rings.
"Ow! What was that for?", he yelps, eye closing when my ring hit his.
"Flirting has nothing to do with rank."
He rubs his eyes. "Yes it does. You need to befriend women on missions sometimes."
"Yeah but that's easy. You just need to flex your muscles or do something and they fall into your lap."
He raises his brows telling me to go on.
I sigh. "Natalie isn't a girl that I'm trying to woo on my mission. My approach would be different to her."
"Yes", he points his finger at me. "But you haven't approached her at all."
"Yes I have. I kissed her at the Winter Formal, and on missions before, she's the one who resists. "
"Lucas that was months ago. Sis probably forgot now. Make a move, you two adore each other and aren't doing anything about it."
"She's going to reject me again", I say quietly.
He settles the bowl of chips down on the table.
"If she does, you two will be together some other day. It could be right person wrong time, but it's right person for sure."
My eyes meet his as his words sink in.
Right person.
Right person for sure.
Kissing her does feel right.
Heck, it feels amazing, euphoric.
I nod.
"I'll think about it."
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3:00am
I wake up to a muffled voice, still asleep.
It still goes on.
I shift, hoping the voice fades out but it doesn't.
I open my eyes which open my ears, and the voice tugs at my chest.
I sit up immediately from the couch.
Natalie.
I open the door of my bedroom to see her form breathing heavily.
Shit.
"Natalie", I lightly push at her but it doesn't work.
I try a few more times, and instead I sit down next to her and pour water over her forehead, to which she gets up immediately gasping.
Every fiber of my body wanted to pull her close, but I knew after a nightmare like that she needed space to get her surroundings in.
She breaths heavily, spy instincts kicking in as I thought. She looks around the room and her breathing calms a bit, still panting.
"Natalie", I say.
Her eyes meet mine, and even in the dark I can see the pain in her eyes.
That does it for me and I inch towards her and caress the hair covering her face.
She closes her eyes.
"Water? Anything?"
She shakes her head, and I slowly move her curls away from her face.
Her eyebrows wrinkle. "Did you pour water on me?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"It's a mechanism. Your body thinks you're drowning and so it wakes you up from the nightmare. It doesn't work for everyone but for us it would", I shrug.
A few beats later she sighs, burrowing her face in her hands.
"What are your nightmares about?", I ask curiously.
"To be honest, I don't know. It's very foggy."
I shift over to her on the bed.
"What do you remember?"
"A few words. The same basically."
"Try writing them down."
She lifts her face up. "I did, and it's the same things over and over."
My brows furrow.
"What do you think it's about?"
She takes a few silent moments. "My parents maybe."
My eyes head to hers.
Her parents left when she was little, like mine.
"The same words are don't take her, leave, and someone screaming my name."
I take a deep breath and tell her my story.
"I used to get nightmares too."
Her eyes meet mine.
"They were about my parents. They left when I was 6, so that affected my consciousness."
"Why did they leave?"
"They were spies as well, Natalie. We were all in Madrid at the time, because my dad was from there. I went under the care of my dads sister. From there, we moved to New York and I stayed with them."
"Is Joshua your aunt's-"
"Yes. We grew up together."
She bites her lip in thought and my eyes move to her lips, wanting to kiss her.
"Mine left too. They were spies of BlackLight here in Boston. They left for a mission and never came back."
We stay quiet for a few beats.
"Do you still get your nightmares, Lucas?"
"No, not really. They mostly subsided but the feeling lingers sometimes."
She angles her body towards me. "How did you stop them?"
"I took medication. But after a while they stopped without medication. "
"No wonder why you can keep sleeping everywhere now", she murmurs.
I laugh and she does too, and I pull her close as her head nestles on my shoulder.
We stay silent, infatuated with each other's presence.
"Grace would be worried I didn't text her."
"It's okay, I texted her and she said okay."
I shift my tone. "Natalie, could these nightmares help the mission? It's about your parents."
"Maybe, I always thought it could be my parents calling me", she says softly.
I kiss her forehead. "That's a good start. Learning the root of the nightmares help with relieving them completely."
"Yeah", she says tiredly. "There are many days I wish for a simple good rest."
"You go through a lot, Natalie. I wish you told me more about them."
"Lucas, you left. And I don't tell people much that's just who I am."
"But I'm here for you Natalie. Always."
She sighs and nuzzles into me, my hand around her curving. "Thanks, me too."
I smile against her forehead, relishing at how right this feels.
Like when you answer a question on a test and just know you did 100% correctly.
"Thank goodness it's Friday tomorrow", she says.
"Why?", I ask.
"The weekend", she says happily which emitts a low chuckle from me. "I'm always busy everyday but the weekend still allows me a minute to breathe."
"We have a lot of meetings tomorrow."
She sighs. "Like always."
I get the urge to kiss her curls on her forehead, and I do, moving her hair.
"Get some sleep, Natalie."
I shift to leave but she holds her hand to catch mine.
I look back at her in the dark, arm tingling from her touch.
"Can I have some water first? And a hug?"
I laugh, exiting the room to get her a chilled water bottle. She grabs it and I immediately wrap my arms around her.
She was upright on the bed, my form standing and I hug her close as her form nuzzles onto my chest.
"Any more nightmares and you tell me okay?"
She laughs. "I won't, goodnight."
Despite her nightmare, it was a good night.
Because she was by me.
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Authors Note: don't we love Jayden? Yes we do.
I changed Jasmine's "irl" picture so here ig@babychellyy
Her with brown eyes basically
JAYDEN^ I think they look like siblings.