He notices how breathless I become before continuing and realises how serious what I'm about to say is. He leans in a little as if I'm keeping him in suspense but I just end up becoming a little side tracked by his blue eyes. I force myself to look away from him.

"Willow, what is it? I kind of need to go."

Of course. His precious gang was still much more important to him. But that makes me wonder something. Was it really the right thing to do? Sure, he had the right to know but was this the best thing for my little girl? Would she be same with a gang member hanging around her, father or not. I feel my heart beat speeding up as I have an inner conflict, knowing he can probably sense my struggle. He, like Robert, knows me too well. Although Jack knows me better. I can feel his eyes bore further and further into me but before I can even begin to explain, something sends my stomach down to pool beneath my feet.

A knock at my office door.

Jack tenses and I feel my body begin to paralyse. The grip Jack has on my becomes vice like but it's protective just like back when we used to worked together. My agent instincts, however, take over and I'm kicked into action, leaving Jack alone by the dark window. I dive behind the desk with the grace of a feather and curl up behind the chair. I hope that whoever is out there hadn't been able to see anything through the small window in the door seeing as where Jack and I had been standing was very poorly lit.

It dawns on me that just my lamp being on was enough to cause suspicion. It was obvious someone was in here, hence why the stranger knocked. If they come in to snoop and then find me, I was going to be in an awkward position. Well, more of one. I wonder if they'll believe me if I say that I took a fall because of the ankle and passed out?

Not likely.

Besides, I don't want to have to lie again. I suppose twisting the truth was something I was going to have to become accustomed to with this new lifestyle Jack had forced me into however.

Jack. His face pops into my head and I immediately begin to search for him but his presence in the room is no more. I assume he jumped out the window at first chance. My office isn't far from ground floor and from all the tracking I had done on previous assignments, I knew D.A.R.E had the tech to scale buildings. It was no wonder he'd broken in here so easy.

I silently hope he's okay but deep down I know for definite that he is. He was still alive after working inside the most dangerous gang on earth and it seemed he was pretty high ranked there too.

I have bigger things to worry about however with the person outside the door and with the way a small shadow was being made in the office from the light in the hallway, the person was still out there. I use any reflective surfaces I can find to see who it is and I finally catch a glimpse of them in a large framed picture when he looks directly in.

It's Robert.

Again.

I internally groan and wonder what to do. He must have assumed I was still here, I mean he had only left like twenty minutes ago.

As if I don't have enough to worry about at this moment, I suddenly hear a whisper from the window Jack had come from. I can't see him but I know it's Jack whispering. "Meet me at your car tomorrow at 6, Wil. Trust no one." And just like that I was surrounded by silence again after he very slowly closed the window. My heart swells with relief knowing I'll get to see him again, goodness knows why seeing as he had broken my heart so many times but this gave me another chance to tell him about his little girl.

I hear Robert clear his throat out in the hall way and that relieved feeling disintegrates. Panic settles back in as I weigh up outcomes.

There are two options as I see it. One, I remain hidden and sincerely hope that Robert goes away. Two, I have a store cupboard in here for the many files they make me file and I could pretend to be coming from inside there, should he come in.

I decide it would be a good place to seek refuge regardless and so I slide across the floor with flexibility I had forgot I even had and make it to the cupboard. The trip to it is concealed in the darkness and so I'm unseen, or at least I hope, by Robert. It felt like centuries since he had knocked and stood there but it had only been about ten seconds and so when he knocks again I choose to grab the first file I see and walk out to him.

I push back a few hairs from my face and try to put on a smile as I open the door up to see his emotionless face.

"Sir?"

"I'm sorry, I know I said I'd go but uh, well it's a short story." He mumbles. I open up the door to my office so he can step in. We both take seats on the chairs in the room and I conceal a gulp hoping that Jack hadn't left behind any evidence of his presence. I also became hyper aware of the fact there was a high possibility that he was listening in to this conversation now because he had no way of knowing if I was in danger or not.

I just silently hope Robert doesn't say anything stupid.

"My daughter cancelled on me the minute I got back to my car." He says quietly with a small but sad smile. "Seeing as there's nothing back at my flat, I thought I'd come back to help out." His eyes fall to the file in my hands. I try not to look at it like I'm analysing it because I needed to act like I picked it up purposefully. "I cannot believe you're still working, Willow. Take a break, will you?"

"Sorry, I get the whole, empty home thing. It's why I linger here." I tell him honestly. It's not the reason I'm here late today but every other night up to today, that really was the reason.

The corners of his mouth twitch upwards. "Kindred spirits?"

"In a way." I nod but then I clear my throat a little awkwardly. "So, why'd you come here of all places."

"I think you know why," he begins and I curse myself for asking the question. If this got back onto the topic of earlier, I was doomed. Jack was listening in for sure and I can't think of anything worse than him hearing this. "I wondered if you wanted to talk about anything."

That wasn't what I was expecting.

"As I've already hinted, you've acted stranger today, so different from your usual demeanour." He also partially clears his throat. "I wondered if-"

"No." I cut over him.

"Huh?"

"No, I don't want to talk about it." I say firmly. I didn't want to talk about it because I knew I would accidentally let something slip for sure. Not only that but so much had happened that I needed to go home and really think about anything before I allowed my life to continue, let alone spill everything to someone who could make or break everything in my life. "I'm sorry your daughter cancelled." I decide to change the subject before it gets bad again.

"It's fine, it happens quite a lot. She had to do something with a few friends." He explains with some limp hand gestures. "I'd feel rather useless if I didn't do something productive this evening and I couldn't get the image of you limping around on that leg out of my mind."

My stupid ankle was causing him to think about me. I groaned at myself again internally. "Oh, but it already feels much better..."

"I know you're lying, Willow." He interrupts with a shake of the head. "Just allow me this one deed. There's no way you were going to be able to drive home with that anyways." He gestures to my leg.

I nod in agreement. I hadn't really thought about it but he was right.

"Fine."

"But- Wait. Really?" He seems shocked at my response. He leans in his chair and fiddle with his tie. "Okay then. Good."

Robert helps me up from my chair shortly after as we head down to his car. I can't help but glance to the window one last time before we leave.

The journey back to my place is only short and even though he'd never been there before, Robert seems to know the way without directional help. I put it down to the fact he needs to know everything about each employer instead of worrying too much.

Upon approaching my door, Robert stands close as if to keep watch and to protect me and I chose to ignore that action as well. After I unlock the door I'm faced with the many stairs up the central hall way knowing it was a long walk up to my flat at the top. I sigh and look down to my ankle, shaking my head at it. I go to turn to Robert but when I do he's no longer stood where I last saw him and is in fact suddenly very close.

"What are you doing?" I enquire but he doesn't reply straight away. Instead he bends down close to the ground and puts out his hands until my feet are swept from the floor and I'm horizontal with the floor. "Robert!" I squeal but the relief of not having any weight on my ankle is stronger than my surprise and so I revel in it.

"Which flat are you?" He asks as we enter the building and I tell him and pure bliss is evident in my voice. When we reach my door my heart sinks as I realise I'm going to have to stand again but Robert takes the door key from my hands and unlocks it for me, carrying me in.

He places me on the couch in my centre room and I wince as he gently puts my foot down to the ground. "Thanks Robert." I mumble with tiredness.

"No problem. Don't worry about transport for a while, I can drive you to and from work." He says, his voice very soothing a quiet. I'm too tired to really reply and he seems to understand that so he shows himself to the door. "See you tomorrow."

"Bright and early." I mumble again trying to be loud so he hears me but I'm too exhausted to listen out for a reply.