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Mid-October 2007

Mia had a meeting with Jenn and the Boys. She drove to The Firm’s management office building in downtown Los Angeles. As soon as she got there, she buzzed for the receptionist at the door.

“Hello this is Tracy, how may I help you?” the chirpy voice of the receptionist crackled through the intercom.

“It’s Mia Blade. I’m here for the meeting with the Backstreet Boys at 9.”

It took a full minute for Tracy to respond.

“Oh hello, Ms. Blade,” Tracy replied with an added snippy tone in her voice when Tracy realized it was Mia. Tracy pined for Nick ever since she was hired at The Firm and was jealous of the fact that Mia’s now dating him.

Mia walked in through the door. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Tracy glowering at her. Mia gave Tracy a sticky sweet smile as she headed to the meeting room down the hall.

Mia entered the room and was greeted by Nick, Brian, AJ, Howie, Jenn and the Boys’ tour manager, Dave. She went and sat down on an empty chair next to Nick.

Jenn and Dave had just begun to discuss the Boys’ promo and world tour schedule. “Glad you could make it, Ms. Blade,” they said and continued their discussion.

Nick leaned toward Mia and whispered, “Hi, did you get home okay?” he asked quietly so that the others didn’t hear him.

“Yeah, thanks so much for dinner and I’m really sorry I had to leave you so early,” Mia apologized. She really felt bad for leaving him so quickly.

“It’s…okay. How’s your friend doing by the way?” he asked.

Mia was about to reply when a there was a knock on the door and Tracy stuck her head in the doorway.

“I’m sorry for interrupting the meeting but someone is waiting on line one. He insisted on speaking with…” Her eyes darted toward Mia. “Ms. Blade,” she finished. Six pairs of eyes were now on Mia.

Mia got up and excused herself from the meeting. On her way out, she noticed Tracy flash Nick a flirtatious smile. Something inside Mia wanted to slap that bitch but she restrained herself. She followed Tracy down to the front desk to take the call.

She noticed that Tracy was trying to eavesdrop on the call so she took the call into her office instead. She picked up the extension in her office and made sure she blocked Tracy’s phone line.

“This is Mia,” she said into the phone when she was sure Tracy wasn’t listening.

“Mia, it’s Ken. We have another situation. It’s Agent Davenport. He’s missing. I went into his medical unit and he wasn’t there and the weapon is also gone,” he said urgently.

“What do you mean? He just left and walked out with the disk?” Mia asked incredulously. Way to thank us, Agent Davenport she thought.

“Yes. The vault is pretty damaged. We’re looking into it. We already told CIA about it. They’re looking into it too. And still no word yet on Agent Rochester’s whereabouts.”

“Alright…do you need me to come in?” she asked.

“No, we don’t really need you right now. I just thought I’d keep you updated. I need you to stay there, just in case.”

“Thanks. Will do, Boss.” She hung up the phone and made her way back to the meeting room and apologized for the delay and interruption. She sat back down next to Nick.
Nick slid Mia a copy of their itinerary as Jenn and Dave reiterated it. She looked it over.

“The release of the album will be on Tuesday, October 30th and you guys will do promo in New York. You guys will arrive Saturday night around nine o’clock and check into the Hilton in Manhattan. On Sunday, you will drop by Z100 around seven and then the TRL studios in the afternoon around three. You’ll fly back to LA on Monday morning around five and then celebrate the release of your album Tuesday,” Jenn informed, “if you guys don’t have any questions, this concludes our meeting for today. Thanks guys and we’ll see you in a couple of weeks!”

The guys got up and headed out the room. AJ, Brian and Howie discussed their plans for the rest of the afternoon with Jenn and their tour manager as they all left the meeting room.

Nick followed the rest of the guys but saw that Mia was still in the meeting room reading the itinerary.

She looked up and noticed Nick was waiting for her at the door.

“You comin’?” he asked.

“Oh yeah, I was just studying the itinerary.” She laughed sheepishly and stood up and followed him out.

“You wanna have lunch with me?” he asked then added, “…if you’re not doing anything after this.”

She knew she had to keep this dating thing casual but it was hard for her to resist. There was something about Nick that she had never seen in a guy before. He was different…but she knew their relationship could never go any further than casual dating, even if she wanted it to. It would put both of them in danger, especially since Nick is in the spotlight all the time.

He kept staring at her with his eyebrows raised when Mia finally blinked and laughed sheepishly.

“Sure,” she said, giving in. You just couldn’t say no, could you? she scolded herself.

“Sorry. I’m a little out of it today. Where are we eating for lunch?” she asked as Nick flashed the grin she was beginning to love.

Nick decided to take Mia for lunch at The Ivy Restaurant.

“Okay, what is your most prized possession?” Nick asked sipping on his drink, once they were seated and waiting on their orders.

On the other side of the street, Mia could see flashbulbs going off as a small group of paparazzi flocked to take their picture through the large window they were seated by.

Nick noticed Mia shifting uncomfortably in her seat and also noticed she was trying to avoid facing the cameras as if she didn’t want her picture taken. He found that a little odd but thought that the paparazzi just made her feel uncomfortable.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized seeing her reaction. “I could try to get us a better table.” He was about to call the hostess when Mia stopped him.

“No, it’s okay. I just don’t like getting my picture taken. I’ll be fine,” she lied.

Great. Now APO, and probably the CIA, will know I’m dating Nick. Dammit, why did I have to give in to him?
Nick studied her. “Alright,” he said digging his fork into his pasta.

They ate silently for a minute. Mia still tried to avoid facing the cameras. Luckily, the wait staff at the restaurant pulled curtains and covered the windows to avoid the blinding flashes of the cameras. Apparently, they were used to having celebrities dine in their restaurant so they were prepared for shielding them from the paparazzi.

“My Japanese fans,” Mia said all of a sudden.

Nick looked up from his pasta in confusion. “What?” he asked.

“My most prized possession is my Japanese fans,” she explained and smiled. What she didn’t tell him was that those Japanese fans were her weapons she often used in her missions.

Nick laughed. He had almost forgotten he had asked her that.

When Nick and Mia finally finished lunch and ducked the paparazzi, Nick took Mia to a secluded place near the beach.

Mia got out of the car and followed Nick to the edge of a cliff that overlooked the ocean.

“Beautiful isn’t it?” Nick asked as he gazed out at the view of the Pacific.

Mia followed his gaze. She had been to so many exotic places in the world but she never got the chance to really see them. It had been a while since Mia did this. Ever since she got involved with APO, she never got the chance to live a normal life.

She watched the families and their children playing in the sand and wished she could feel like that again. She wished she could feel free and not have to worry about her next mission.

“What are you thinking about?” Nick asked her. Mia looked at him and took a minute before answering.

“I miss this,” she said.

“What do you mean?” he asked. She noticed his face was just inches away from hers.

“I miss doing this,” she said. “I’ve been so busy with work…I don’t have time to go to the beach anymore.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean.” Nick sighed and looked back out to the ocean when he turned back and noticed Mia staring at him.

Slowly, he bent down and dipped his head and brushed his lips against Mia’s softly. She opened her mouth inviting his tongue in as she deepened the kiss. They continued making out, which lasted almost a minute. They finally pulled apart and started breathing again. The feeling of Nick’s lips still lingered on Mia’s.

They were about to go for round two when Mia’s cell phone rang. Mia inwardly grumbled and pulled out her cell phone from her pocket. She checked her caller ID but to her relief and irritation, she didn’t recognize the number displayed on the screen so she ignored the call.

“Wrong number,” she muttered and put her phone away.

Nick leaned forward to kiss her again but Mia placed a hand gently on his chest to stop him. Their scorching kiss made her lose control, and she never let herself lose control over any situation before. No matter how much she wanted to deny it, she was falling for Nick, which she knew was a mistake…

“We should get going. I gotta get home soon,” she said, softly. It took a minute for Nick to let her go.

Nick was on the way to the Civic Center station to drop off Mia.

“So where do you live?” he asked curiously.

“Westwood,” Mia lied. She didn’t want to tell him that she actually lived just outside of Bel Air, which was a place only “rich people” lived.

“I didn’t even know there were any subways leading to Westwood,” Nick said confused. “You don’t have to take the subway, you know. I can drive you home myself.”

“I don’t want you to waste gas,” Mia said.

Nick gave her a perplexed look at her lame excuse.

“Are you hiding something from me?” he asked with a serious tone.

“No,” Mia said rather quickly. She stayed quiet since she had trouble giving him an explanation.

“It sounds like you’re hiding something,” he continued suspiciously.

“I’m not,” she insisted, but she knew she didn’t sound convincing at that moment.

“Are you embarrassed about me seeing your house or something?” he finally asked.

“I hadn’t had a chance to clean it…” she said. At least this time, she didn’t have to lie completely.

Nick looked at her for a minute still suspicious of Mia’s residence. He pulled in the front of the station and looked back over at Mia. He waited as she unbuckled her seatbelt and opened her door.

“Thanks for the ride and for lunch. I had a great time,” Mia said, kissing his cheek as she got out of his car.
She waved at Nick lastly and stepped back and waited for him to pull away from the curb.