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I bit my bottom lip as the man lead me into the room and shut the door. My stomach was in knots as he motioned for me to sit in the chair across from his desk. Rubbing my palms on my jeans, I drew in a shaky breath.

“Don’t be nervous, Mr. Carter. This isn’t something you can fail,” he smiled widely as he took a seat in his large leather office chair.

“Right,” I nodded. Not like his words helped any. He had NO idea the reasons I had for being nervous.

“This might take a little longer than the others because you have been dealing with it a lot longer. I want you to start by telling me about your experiences while in the Witness Protection Program.”

“Um,” my voice was a bit shaky and my eyes darted around the room, not wanting to meet his gaze. That’s when I noticed a picture on top of his filing cabinet, in the corner. It looked like it was a few years old, but it was of him, Kyle, Jordan, and, who I figured to be, their other siblings. A smile crept up as I turned back to the man across the desk. “It was interesting, I guess. A bit stressful at first.”

“Not exactly the answer I was looking for…” he trailed off, thumbing through some papers. “It looks like the majority of your time was spent as Jonathan Reeve Oviado up in Michigan.”

“Yes, sir,” I looked down at my hands. I was slouching in the chair, like I usually do. I was startled by a soft knock at the door.

“Come in.”

“Hey,” Jordan’s head poked in the door, causing me to sit up straighter. “I brought lunch. I got your favorite, Sammy, the baked spaghetti from that place down the street.” She handed him a small tin, take out container. “As for you,” she turned to me with a smile, “Pizza?”

“Extra cheese?” I questioned, with a knowing smile. I stood up and took a hold of the personal size pizza box that she was holding out to me.

“You know it,” she rolled her eyes. “as if I could forget, with all the cheese pizzas that we have shared.”

“You’re the best, Steph…” I shook my head and corrected myself, “…Jordan.” Her shoulders shook with laughter as she scrunched her nose at me.

“You’re welcome, JR…I mean Nick.” I watched her, absentmindedly, lick her lips. I swallowed the lump in my throat and smiled back at her. “OH! I almost forgot your drinks.” She handed her brother a coffee and then held out a Coke for me.

“Thanks,” I leaned down and softly kissed her cheek. She smiled, in return.

“Well, I better let you two get back to it. I am going to take Brian and AJ up to the office lounge,” she explained, looking at her brother. I couldn’t tear my eyes off her, big surprise. I just couldn’t get over the way she looked in that suit. I had never seen her more dressed up than a nice casual outfit, but it suited her well, she looked very professional. “NICK!”

“Huh?” I snapped back to reality after she called my name loudly. Shit, she probably caught me staring at her…smooth, Nick, real fucking smooth!

“I asked if you think you could find your way back up to my office.” Her head tilted to the side and her eyes held a bit of concern.

“Um…yeah…sure,” I nodded like an idiot. “I think I can.”

“Okay, when you are done with Sam, you can just head right on up to my office, okay?”

“Okay.”

“See you guys later, then.” She exited the room, leaving me standing in the same spot. I stared at the door for a few moments before sitting back down. I gave Sam a quick, weak smile and turned all my concentration to the pizza, picking at the cheese.

“Nick,” he leaned his elbows on the desk, locking his fingers together and resting his chin on them.

“Huh?” I looked up from the pizza, I had yet to start eating.

“Do you know what color Jordan’s eyes are?” he looked at me as if he were really trying to figure out the answer to this question.

“Brown, why?” I answered him without hesitation.

“Hmm, they didn’t look brown,” he arched an eyebrow at me.

“Oh that’s because she is wearing the green color contacts I gave her. She wore them as part of her disguise…although I’m not exactly sure why she is wearing them now…” I trailed off and furrowed my eyebrows. Why was she wearing them?

“Hmm, interesting. Back to being Jonathan Oviado, from Michigan. Tell me about it.”

“Okay,” I had finally taken a large bite of the pizza. I quickly swallowed it down and continued, “I lived in a little cabin and worked in a grocery store with your sister. It was a completely different lifestyle than what I had been used to.”

“I see and how did you feel about it?”

“Oh, I loved working with your sister,” I nodded as I picked at the cheese on my pizza. “She’s really nice, you know, and she really made me feel comfortable there.”

“I meant, how did you feel about the difference in lifestyle?” He was arching an eyebrow with a goofy, lopsided grin.

“Oh, that. It took a lot of adjusting. I’m not used to being in that cold, at least, not for long periods of time. St…Jordan always harassed me because I wore so many layers and I walked like a penguin.”

“Mhmm,” the man had a funny smirk on his face as he finished up his lunch. I shoved the last bite of pizza in my mouth and threw away the trash. I tipped up the bottle and took a swig as I returned to my slouched position. “So tell me about your social life as Jonathan.”

“I didn’t have much of one. I chatted with the girls during our shifts and had lunch with Jordan, sometimes. Oh and they took me to a club, once. That’s when she told me that she knew who I was.”

“She, who?”

“She, Jordan. She told me that she wanted to be there to support me and stuff. Then, we went back in and danced. She’s a good dancer, by the way.”

“Yes, I know,” he chuckled. “So, you said you chatted with the girls but you only named Jordan…”

“Oh, Dani was the other. She was okay, I guess, a lot more blunt than Jordan. Not as polite, either. Although, I have seen a lot less polite side of Jordan lately.” I took a brief moment to ponder this point before continuing. “Dani wasn’t as tasteful as Jordan, when it came to clothes and stuff. Dani is a bit more…out there.”

“I see,” he continued to scribble notes as he listened to me. “On to the most recent experiences, dealing with the gang, the sneaking in, fighting, guns, saving your friends, all that stuff.”

“I was scared shitless,” I admitted with a laugh.

“Of…?”

“The whole thing, really. I didn’t think too much about my own life. I was striving towards the goal of helping to save my friends, but was mainly scared, out of my mind, because Jordan kept pulling these crazy stunts and shit. There was a couple times that I really thought she was going to get killed or badly injured. Do you have any idea what she pulled in there?!?”

“No. Please, inform me,” he leaned forward again and looked at me with a mixture of concern and…something else, I’m not sure what it was.

“She was punching people, left and right! They pull guns and she tells them to suck her non-existent dick.” My voice rose a bit in volume as I started to get worked up about the whole thing. Talking about it was bringing back all the fear and concern that I had felt that night. My hands cut through the air as I used them to help illustrate the situation. “She beat the hell outta some dude with a lead pipe…a LEAD PIPE! Then she snaps a guys neck,” I was ranting and, now, pacing back and forth as I heatedly told him all the psychotic things his sister pulled.

“Mmhmm, go on,” he nodded with a funny smirk on his face. I took a deep breath before continuing on.

“Can you believe she was getting mouthy with these guys? Tell them to screw themselves, calling them ‘dirty apes’ and ‘monkey boy’, she said one of them was revolting! She purposely got herself ‘kidnapped’ just to get into where they had AJ. Talk about giving a guy a damn heart attack and turning around to give him a fucking stroke, five minutes later! She was fucking nuts! Do you have ANY idea how many times I thought it was some staged action movie?!? I couldn’t even keep up with the woman…it was like Kill Bill meets Charlie’s Angels, or something.” I looked down at him from where I paused in the middle of the room. He looked amused…AMUSED! How in the hell could he be amused?

“Is there…” he started but I cut him off when another memory came to mind.

“OH! And THEN, she comes running out of the building as it explodes. Which I am sure, mind you, that she is the one who caused it to blow up. But, she comes running out, after the other guys, and she’s screaming ‘yippie ciyay motherfuckers’ like the whole scenario is nothing but sunshine and fucking rainbows! Can you believe it? She could have been KILLED but she’s all smiley, and like woo freaking hoo!” I collapsed back into the chair with a huff. Shaking my head, I rolled my eyes in annoyance as I relived the whole thing in my mind.

“Sounds like Jordan. She watches too many movies,” he laughed heartily. I wasn’t amused at all and, quite frankly, I was rather irritated that he was taking it so lightly.

“I’ve noticed. I’m just glad she isn’t always a field based Operations Officer. It would drive me crazy.”

“Well, I think we are about done here. Let’s head up to her office.”

“Alright,” I sighed, trying to calm myself. The short journey, back to Jordan’s office, was silent. I was trying to regain my composure and he just had the weirdest smirk on his face. What was his problem?

“Hey, guys,” Jordan greeted, looking up from her work. “How’d it go?”

“Fairly well,” Sam answered. I just shrugged my shoulders and sat in a chair that was off in one corner. “Brian and AJ are mentally sound. I’m not worried about either one of them. As for Nick,” he sighed heavily.

“What about Nick?” she came around the side of the desk and looked from him to me and back to him. I looked up at him, as well, waiting for an answer.

“Mentally, he’s fine. Emotionally,” he looked back at me and winked. Why, the fuck, is he winking at me?!? I have no idea what is going on, here.

“Emotionally, what?” she furrowed her eyebrows and walked over to my side. She rested a hand on my shoulder as she squatted next to me.

“He’s got a serious emotional issue,” Sam answered simply.

“Well? What about a medication or counseling? How bad is it?” she pressed on for more information as she moved her hand from my shoulder to my own hand. My heart skipped as she squeezed my hand…I love being so close to her.

“There’s no existing drug or amount of counseling that will help him, Jordan. And, he’s got it really bad. There is definitely no turning back,” he shook his head and exited the room. I immediately hopped up and followed him.

“What are you talking about? What emotional issue, are you talking about? Just tell me!” I demanded answers as I turned him around, by the shoulder.

“It’s not a matter of me telling you, Nick. It’s a matter of you telling her.” My jaw hit the floor as I just stared at him.

“Wha…wha…I don’t…”

“You’re obviously in love with my baby sister, Nick. Love is the biggest emotional issue a man can encounter and you’re not very good at hiding it,” he smiled widely. So THAT was why he kept getting that goofy grin on his face…he had figured me out. “Just go tell her. I have an inclination that her feelings for you might not be so different than yours for her.”

“I…um…thanks?” I didn’t know what to say. What would one say to something like that?

“No, thank you. It’s about damn time a decent guy came along to replace Dane in her heart,” he tossed his head back and laughed as he headed towards the elevator.

“Wait,” I caught up to him, quickly. “How did you…I mean…”

“First of all, the way you act around her, it a bit of a clue. Then I asked you her eye color. That was a big one.”

“Why? I knew the eye color of past girlfriends and stuff.”

“Ah, but you had just been staring at her green eyes and you answered me with brown. Most men would have answered green because that’s what they were just looking at and the fact that you didn’t even stop or hesitate to think about it…I could go on for a while with all the signs that tipped me off, Nick. I wouldn’t even be encouraging you if I didn’t think that you were real and sincere. I know you love her and I know it’s not a passing love of the moment, but a true one.” He finally pushed the arrow button for the elevator. Smiling widely, he patted my shoulder.

“Well, now I guess I have to explain to her my ‘emotional issue’ huh?”

“She looked worried,” he nodded. The elevator doors opened and he stepped on, motioning for me to go back to her office.

Nice. Now he has her thinking that there is something wrong with me. Sure, it made sense…being in love IS a serious emotional issue, but how was I going to tell her about this?