| "Apples and Oranges" | ||
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Safehouse 1 Weapons Ready Room 2020 hours "Paige," Jordan gained her attention from her serious conversation with Baz. "Do you have a spare hair elastic?" "Nope," Paige shook her head. "Sorry Jordy, the only one I got is in my hair." "Okay, thanks anyway...perhaps there's one in my bag." Paige watched Jordan leave, a comical confused expression on the young Agent's face, before returning back to Baz. "Alright, so there has GOT to be something else." She was very intent on getting to the bottom of the question at hand. She had brought it up, simple in nature, but the way Baz reacted made her press him for answers. "I dunno, it's not like he ever alluded to be anything more than what he is." Baz said quietly as he inspected his weapon. Paige stared at him intently her voice low and serious. "It can't be that simple...these things just aren't made to be that simple. There's got to be something else, something we didn't catch..." "You're just always waiting for the bomb to drop," he said shaking his head slightly. "C'mon," she rolled her eyes, "you mean to tell me that you are willing to simply stand there and accept HIM for just...himself? Just like that?" "Well," Baz shrugged, "maybe there isn't anything else...maybe he's just a normal guy with a little weirdness." "Normal? A little weirdness? Are you kidding me? Do you see what he wears?" Paige stared incredulously at Baz. "Okay, I'll give you that. But I don't care even if he IS just what he presents himself to be...I still like him. I think he's cool." "I'm not questioning his coolness...I just think that Aquaman has GOT to have more powers than just breathing under water and calling some fish!" "Dude, breathing under the water is MAD cool � no other Superfriends do that." "Superman doesn't have to." "Superman's an ass clown." Paige gasped. "Tell me, I just did not hear you say that!" "F-ing pansy in his little blue and red tights, with his little red cape," Baz snorted, "puh-lease, he sucks ass." "I have never been so offended in my life." "Get over it, the Superfriends are so...old." He said the last word as if just saying it was an effort in itself. "Oh, but Digimon is cool?" "Spongebob Squarepants � that's where the money is," he said rolling his eyes. "What? Are you kidding me? He looks a fucking piece of CHEESE living in the ocean - and why is there a squirrel living under there? What kind of warped shit are we showing the younger generations?" "What? And Superfriends made sense? Ok � how did Wonderwoman find her jet if it was INVISIBLE? What is that showing the kids?" Paige shook her head, "it is impossible to have a mature, adult conversation with you." "Because you know I'm right." "You are so not right..." Paige spied Saf at the entrance to the weapons ready room and gesture her over. "Hey Saf, what did he want?" "Just to make sure that I keep an eye out for Simon and Gray," Saf smiled. "Not that I wouldn't have done that anyway, but I kinda got the feeling he felt he needed to ask." Needed to ask? Isn't Joshua better at just ordering? "He looked at you during his briefing, I wondered if it were to do with that." "No, like I said, he wanted me to watch out for my team," she replied. "Paige if you will excuse me, I need to talk to Eric, I need to go over ingress details before we leave." "Ok, that was weird," Baz said nudging Paige slightly. "Yeah," Paige answered absently as she watched Saf talk to Eric. That was just weird in itself as well, them two talking. She shivered and turned to Baz. "Did you score any food?" "Yeah, fruit basket...Rebecca's office," Baz replied furtively. "Get out," Paige grinned and hit him in his chest, "you're gonna steal from the bitch?" Baz shrugged, "maybe I'll just get her to...you know...give it to me." Paige giggled, "you better hope that's all she gives to you." Baz smiled proudly raising his eyebrows, "see the way she was looking at me? It must be the hair." He pulled his hand through the long red and orange locks of his as Paige giggled even more. "Yeah, I'm sure that's exactly what it is." She handed him a small black waist bag. "I emptied this out, get what you can." "Isn't this a first aid pack?" he asked turning the black bag over in his hand. "Yeah, and?" "Well, is using it to carry food perhaps not the best plan in the world?" "Relax, I got another kit, besides there's one in the chopper and if you get hurt that bad that you need more than what I'm bringing? You ain't gonna make it back anyway." "That's encouraging," Baz rolled his eyes. "Be gone with you Robin Hood, steal from the rich so that the poor may be fed...and hurry because we're running out of time." "You're an ass...go find Joshua and keep him occupied. And don't piss him off, he's in a good mood for a change." "No problem." Baz shook his head, "give me like ten, and I'll meet you back here." Paige nodded her head then took off to the locker rooms knowing Joshua had to be somewhere in there. When she found him, she just got a glance of his muscular back as his head popped through the black hole of his shirt. "Hey," she said sharply. The desired effect brought a grin to her face as Joshua flinched and whirled towards her startled. "Fuck, Paige � don't do that," he said catching a breath in his throat. Her grin widened, "Sorry." She leaned against one of the lockers, one eyebrow arched, the grin still on her face as she watched him finish dressing. "Do you mind?" he gestured to his mission pants that he had yet to put on, standing there only in his tshirt and boxer briefs. "Not at all," she shook her head and crossed her arms over her chest. He rolled his eyes and shook his head but continued to get dressed in silence as she watched. He was in a good mood, which was kind of unusual considering the weight of the mission coming up. But she would take it. Like she took whatever he offered to her. When he finally sat down to lace up his boots, she straddled the bench in front of him. He merely glanced up her. "I noticed you put Baz and myself on a team with you," she said quietly. "Uh huh," he nodded pulling on his laces. "I worked with Baz a little bit in Edison. Besides I like him, I trust him. Out of the rest, I've only worked with two of you. Yourself and Eric...who by the way snapped and killed the leader of the most covert anti-terrorist group on the face of the planet in cold blood. Sooooo, when you think about it," he put the finished foot down and lifted the other boot on the bench, pulling at the laces, "since I don't know most, and I don't want to be getting dead if some particular someone goes unstable and starts hunting the people in charge - it really wasn't that difficult of a choice." He finished with the laces. "Besides," he shrugged looking at her seriously, "you would do nothing but bitch and whine until you were put on a team with me anyway." She scoffed at him, "is that so?" "Yes, it is so," he said with a blank face. She studied him for a moment, "and just what makes you think that?" "Because I'm so irresistible," he said matter of factly, as if it were the most logical explanation in the world. She shook her head slowly at him as an amusing smile spread across her face. "You are too much," she said to him. "You weren't saying that the other day," he said softly as he moved closer to her. They were both straddling the bench now, facing each other, and now with him moving, their knees were touching. He had a mischievous glint to his eyes. "In fact, I believe you were saying I could never be too much." She grinned at him, "I believe I may have actually screamed that...amongst other things." "Yes, you did have quite a mouth on you that day," he smiled at her tracing his fingers over her wrists. "These ok?" She nodded, "yeah, hardly bruised." "And your shoulders? They were a bit roughed up." "They're fine, a little more bruised but," she shrugged, "whatever." He smiled, "I need you to do good tonight, this is a big deal." "I know," she whispered. He studied her for awhile, his fingers still tracing invisible lines over her wrists. He leaned into her, pulling on her hands at the same time drawing her closer to him. "You look so damn hot in your mission gear," he said quietly to her. "I've always loved the look on you...so...tempting...anyone in here do you know?" She grinned, "you better keep your mind out of the gutter." "C'mon, just a couple minutes, some cheap feels, get the blood circulating a little before the mission." "Don't you have someone to boss around or something?" "Not if I'm getting changed," he leaned in to kiss her cheek slightly, making her squirm. Why couldn't she ever just pull away? Why couldn't she just say no to him? "You're already changed," she said quietly shivering under his lips. "You can reverse that easily enough..." "J? You in here?" She stifled a giggle as Joshua groaned. "Yeah, back here," he yelled back to the familiar voice of Baz and gestured for her to turn around. She complied and he started rubbing her shoulders. Just an innocent tension breaker moment, nothing unusual, no signs that these two were about to jump each other's bones. Baz grinned when he got back to them, "me too," he muttered sitting in front of Paige with his back to her. She raised her hands to rub his shoulders. "I was just telling Paige," Joshua spoke quietly, "because of the weather we have to be very careful dropping out of the choppers. The pilots will look for some open area but I didn't see all that much on the sat pics." "I kind of figured that would be a problem, but no big deal, lucky it's just the 2 of us...2 and a half counting Paige." She swatted the back of his head earning a yelp from him. "I am not a half," she snorted at him. "Depends on who you're comparing yourself to. If its to us? J and me? You're a halfer." She swatted him again, this time harder as Joshua stifled laughter behind her. She then snaked her arm around his neck, pulling him into her and locking the hold. He struggled but not too much as she didn't put a lot of pressure on it. "Listen you dyed hair little freak � you're lucky if you weigh a buck sixty, soaking wet, and holding a crate of melons!" "What if I held your melons?" he quipped and his face twisted up as she squeezed his neck. She twisted her arms and pushed at the same time sending him sprawling on the floor. "There will be no melon holding of any kind stickboy," she replied easily to him as he gathered himself. Joshua continued to rub her shoulders though he did not hold in his laughter in anymore. Baz nodded towards him whilst holding the back of his neck, "think that's funny, J, huh?" "Yeah, I do...you just got your ass kicked by a halfer." Then they both burst out in laughter as Paige got up, punching Joshua in his arm for the comment. "Men," she muttered stalking away from them. She wasn't really mad, it was all quite amusing, and a necessary form of bonding between the three that would have to rely on each other the most when they ventured into the unknown. And it was a good segway for her to get out of there away from Joshua. She had just wanted to find out why she and Baz were rostered with him, surely there were others more qualified for the job. Surely Eric was the best recon man, especially in the woods. But it was not the case, and she could only guess that Eric's performance that fateful night had irked Joshua more than he cared to admit. Either way, she was still under the same scrutiny. What had been sought out for only an answer had turned, out of her control again, from a simple inquiry to...how did he put it...a couple cheap feels? He could be so crude sometimes, so tasteless. But he still managed to get her breathing going, her heart rate up, her mind working, god, that man was the definition of seduction. If temptation had a name...it would be Joshua. She shivered pulling herself mentally together, she had to get away from Joshua anyway, and more than likely Baz had come looking for them both. She checked her watch, they would be leaving soon. She made her way to where the rest of her gear was stowed. She pulled on her jacket over her black tank top and adjusted her shoulder pack over that. She slung her small medic bag over her shoulder, later it would be clipped around her waist, but that would be mighty uncomfortable in the chopper and made her way to the weapons ready room. Everyone was there as Simon and Gray looked at her curiously. "Where's Joshua and Sebastian?" Gray asked cautiously. "Coming," she said absently though she had no idea if they were exactly coming or not. Baz had never said what he wanted, not in her presence anyway. Not to disappoint, Baz and Joshua showed up seconds later. "Everyone," Gray gained everyone's attention, "the status of the mission is going to change minute by minute, so stay sharp and be prepared for anything." "I have a weather report out of Toronto," Simon said earning more interested faces his way, "not too much better there, probably going to get worse before it gets better." "We'll keep you updated as we can. We're just waiting final confirmation from the pilots. I don't think any of you have been up there before but the 14th floor is the staging area for roof maneuvers, so we'll be heading up there until confirmation is received. We don't expect it to be more than a few more minutes." Paige waited for her team to get to her then fell in step with Baz behind Joshua. It was just easier this way as Joshua seemed to be getting in a worse mood by the minute, though she had no idea why. Once in the lift, the stifling lift, she noted, the tension seemed to increase tenfold with every floor. Just what the hell was the problem? She nudged Baz and questioned him with her eyes. He shook his head a little then nudged her back, nodding towards the hulking figure in front of them. She furrowed her brow shrugging her shoulders. He nudged her again, almost making her bump into Joshua, and she glared at Baz giving him an elbow to his ribs. He was just about to hit her back when Joshua turned giving them a furious look that stated very clearly: cut the shit. Baz and Paige ducked their heads avoiding the worst of the angry glare from him. Probably not a good way to start off the mission, but a two hour chopper ride in bumpy weather was stressful for everyone, Paige and Baz just chose to vent their stress. Unlike Joshua who preferred brooding and sulking and glaring at everyone. Maybe he was just mean. Mean? Her mind laughed. Mean was an understatement. Joshua was as close to the devil as you could get without being the devil himself. He was like Russian Roulette...risk and chance. You never knew what to expect from him and every moment was another moment to chance a bullet in your head. She nudged Baz one more time before taking a step next to Joshua, putting his body between them. Joshua didn't acknowledge her moving but she knew he knew. There wasn't much that escaped Joshua's attention...not much at all. Return |
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