It was a quiet and slightly awkward but only on my part, trip on the elevator as we went from ground floor almost all the way up to the top floor of HQ. He had one of the fancy offices right up there where he did paper work and goodness knows what else. Probably that office golf you see in the movies. The last time I had been in his office was too many years ago to count when I was having a job interview for this place. It's hardly changed too, the exact same furniture, in the same places. It gives me the strangest sense of nostalgia. He places me down on the chair opposite his desk and bends down to get a closer look at the damage.

"So?" He asks pulling up my trouser leg very slightly and I watch as he tries not to wince, that's how I know it must be bad. I resist the urge to take a look at it myself because right now I don't know if I'm going to be able to handle it.

"So, what?" I half challenge, the pain was easing a little or I was just getting used to it now. I still wasn't about going to tell him anything just yet so I needed to play him along for as long as I can manage.

"Would you like to tell me why I asked you to leave an hour ago, Willow, but then I find you on the floor next to your car, that was swerved in the middle of the car park by the way, in the cold, with a broken ankle. Not to mention the fact Jack Myers gun sat only meters away from you." He raises an eyebrow as he finishes and he looks away from my ankle and up to me.

I pretend to still be quite in pain and shake my head in reply. Robert sighs as he heads back to his desk and pulls out a first aid kit.

"Willow. I can't have agents double crossing me. You've been one of the most loyal agents I've ever had." He begins as he starts wrapping bandages around my ankle, I wince every now and then. "But, you're keeping secrets and I don't like that."

I already know that.

He really treasures loyalty and honesty.

I slightly nod.

"This isn't just for the agency or even for my piece of mind, Willow. It's for you. Your life is practically in my hands. If a rival gang member has approached you, I need to know." He almost pleads and yet manages to be firm.

"I think I hit my head getting in the car, so I probably passed out." I start and wonder if it's really a good idea to really spew a lie. They always say once you start, you can't stop. "When I came to, I heard you and didn't want you to see me and think I stayed so I could snoop around so I started running then bamn, my ankles broken or whatever." I slightly gulp, meeting Roberts eye line but he shows nothing on his face.

" As for Jack's gun... I have no clue." I add, coming up with the best excuse I could think of. "Maybe he came while I was out." That last bit wasn't a lie, right? He had been there but Robert didn't need to know I knew that.

My stomach begins to feel very heavy and I realise I'm the worst person ever. I just lied straight to his face and what for? Some attachment I have for the guy who left me high and dry years ago?

"For an agent that was the worst excuse ever." He says really seriously but I sense a small smile in his voice. Probably amused at how bad my agent skills were getting over time, especially under stress.

"Dang it."

"Willow. Please I need to know the truth, other wise I can't help you." He pleads properly this time. He's finished with my ankle now and packs up the first aid kit, placing it back in a draw. "Jack's not a safe person anymore."

I take in a small breath. "I- I... I know." I stutter. That took a lot to say because it makes what I already was aware of... real.

"And that scares you. I can tell." He says and I don't respond because he raises his hand to my face. He leans in closer and I instinctively lean back away from him but not fast enough. His hand gently pushes a hair I hadn't noticed from my face and behind my ear. I then manage to find some strength and I push him away but not hard.

"What are you doing?" I cry out and he looks away.

"I'm sorry." Is all he mumbles as he turns away, running a hand through his thinning but dark hair.

"What do you mean? What was that?" I exclaim again but he ignores me and walks away back around his desk and takes a seat on his chair. "Being your employee and you being my boss..." I don't know where I'm going with this but he needs to know what he just did wasn't okay.

"It won't happen again." He mutters as he snatches up a pen and begins absently writing stuff so he can avoid my confused gaze.

"It better not." I almost scoff, still completely shocked. Robert had never shown attention like that to me before ever and I wasn't even sure why he did that. He surely couldn't have feeling for me. The constant throbbing I feel from my ankle reminds me that I can't just get up and leave, should I need to. "Aren't you married?"

"No. I'm divorced but I was never happy." He says finally meeting my eye and I notice a glint in his eyes that I can't place.

"And I'm sorry about that." I say understandingly when my eye is drawn to some movement in the frosted window Robert had his back to. Because the glass isn't see-through I can't tell what it is but up this high something that big can't be a bird. "But my work is the only focus I have when I'm here."

"I understand and as your boss really appreciate that." He responds genuinely. "But I'll always be here, should you ever... change your mind." I go to shake my head thinking he still hasn't got the hint that I don't return his feelings but he holds up his hands. "And this isn't waiting for you, I get you may never be interested but I don't want anyone other than the girl who lights up a room the minute she steps in."

I nod slowly, realising there was no convincing him. He's set in his way. He's managed to be so clever in what he said, not revealing my name or straight up confessing and yet I knew exactly what he meant.

What I wanted to know now was how long he had harboured these feelings without me noticing.

"Fine, but you may be waiting forever." I tell him bluntly. His feeling were on the line and telling him the truth was sparing him. "Besides," I had a low blow I was about to unleash on him but it took me a few moments to gather the courage to say it. "I have feelings for someone else."

"Myers." He says under his breath and my eyes widen in shock. "Back when he was here it wasn't the world's best kept secret." When Robert says his name it stirs a few feelings inside.

How did everyone know our secret when we were supposedly the best agents in the whole HQ? Sure, we were more than partners but we kept it better hidden than the scandals that go unnoticed among royalty. Plus we kept it strictly professional and never let it get in the way of work. Besides if knowledge of our deep attachment got into the wrong hands, we could've been exploited for it.

That's why we acted like nothing more than co workers in the months up to our wedding. Then we were planning on disappearing and taking up missions elsewhere, far away from D.A.R.E.

We we're due to be wed just two weeks after the day he went missing.

What would most people do three years after their fiance ran away before the wedding? Move on, right? And trust me, I would've have. If he hadn't given me such a strong reason to keep my hopes on and fight for a reality where we could be together again.

He had left a note on my car, the day after he disappeared. To be fair it was blinking cheek. As a couple, we were closer than tomorrow is as close to today and yet all he gave me was a piece of paper as some sort of closure.

It said: "Forget I ever existed. I'm not worth the worry." My heart still sinks to my feet when I think about it. How could anyone read a note like that from the person they planned to spend the rest of their life with and just move on?

I couldn't!

And seeing as I had already dedicated my career to catching the same gang he joined- I just increased my work ethic and willed myself to get him back one day. I knew him better than his won mother did and I knew he wouldn't stay a traitor, there had to be a good reason for staying with the bad side for so long. Because aside from the child that flared up maternal instincts in me, he was the reason I get up in the morning. The reason I lived a breathed. He was the other half of my child, how could I raise her without him?

Bu now I was finding out he really didn't care for me anymore and that hurt. It meant I didn't really have a purpose anymore. I'd never even gotten to tell him about the child I had had of his. Mae was definitely Jack's but he left before I ever got to hell him. Just then when I saw him again I was so busy being wrapped up in my selfish little world that I forgot to tell him about his daughter. His own flesh and blood. Maybe that would've changed his ways. If Jack didn't come back... I'd really have no purpose.

But I do, a little voice cried in the back of mind as I leant back in the chair and sighed. I have his child sat at home with the nanny who's always tried to get me to bond with Mae a little more. It just hurt so much to look at her and know I was a single parent, still hopelessly in love with the man that left me. It also didn't help that little Mae had her fathers mesmerising eyes.

"Just think about it Willow. Like I said, I will always be here" Robert cuts into y thoughts as he shuffles around over to me. He;s not too close this time and I make sure to lean a little forward so there's space for me to move away from him should he get close again. Than again he had given me his word that he wouldn't.

I don't respond at first. "Even as a friend?" I ask quietly. I didn't really have anyone else in my life to rely on since Jack left, I never had any time to entertain friends so they all gradually disappeared from my life.

He takes in a breath and I realise what I had asked was too much. How could he just be friends with the woman he craved to have as his own? "Even... even as a friend." He decides with a small smile. "Though it may be a little hard, I am your boss after all and it is my duty to care for you."

Any uncomfortable feelings I then previously had flew out the window and I realise that Robert only has my best interest at heart. He was even thinking of the small child I had back at home.

"Thank you." I reply a little breathlessly and he comes closer again but I resist at leaning away to begin with. Thankfully, now though, he just crouches by my ankle to double check it.

"I think I'm happy with how this looks now, you'll need to rest it as best as you can." He instructs as if he hadn't just had such a deep conversation. "Do you need a hand getting back to your car?" He asks tenderly but I shake my head. While it wasn't completely out of the ordinary, people may see us together at a time of evening like this, see my condition and wonder what happened, maybe even asking questions. I decide it'll be safer if I'm on my own, especially if Jack shows up again.

"I should be okay, but thanks again." I smile to show I'll be okay but he gives me a sceptical look as he stands back up. "I'll be careful okay?"

"Okay. See you tomorrow bright and early then." He says as he tries to stifle a yawn and fails.

"Bright and early." I promise and while I'm definitely going to try and keep that promise, I have other things on my mind now after such a thought provoking evening and a few things I need to sort before the morning comes.

The best place to begin, I decide, is with my little girl.