Derek was glad to be back home. Going back to the CIA wasn’t what he thought it would be. A few months in he was promoted, and he was still riding the desk. At least he hadn’t been taken to train the rookies. One of his duties was investigating the death of his boss. No one had bothered to tell him Noah Grayson had been murdered in his office when Derek was out. But why would they? As far as everyone knew he wasn’t coming back. He had known the same despite his denial. In fact, he knew he wouldn’t have gotten the call if his friend Juan hadn’t told their superiors that Derek was familiar with the killing style. His excitement lasted five minutes until the moment he saw the pictures of his boss laid out on his desk with a knife handle sticking out at the base of his neck. Twice someone in the building had been killed in the same way, and he knew very well who did it. It surprised him that no one else had made the connection. So instead of finding Grayson’s murderer, he was looking for the reason Katarina had killed him and just a day before she came to his apartment, and they’d made love.
The memories of that night filled his body with heat. It was one hell of a goodbye. And the next morning, he broke things off with Gwen for good. The fact that he didn’t feel guilty about sleeping with another woman while she was in the next room and instead felt guilty about her being in the apartment while Katarina was there recuperating was a big neon sign that he needed to break things off with Gwen. It didn’t go down well. She scream and bitched, even punched him to Katarina’s amusement. Derek was just glad she was gone for good after that.
Now here he was, in the middle of the night standing outside her door waiting for his balls to drop just to ring her doorbell. He was here under the pretense of finding out why she killed his superior. What he wanted was to see her again, to hold her, to kiss her, to make love to her and to get that final push he needed. Whatever lust he had with his job, as much as he tried to fight, it died a quick death. He kept thinking about his cousins and how happy they were with their families and their slow paced careers, and it was like the final nail in the coffin. He hadn’t been out in the field since he went back to the CIA, and though he hated office work, he’d learned he was pretty good at mapping out ops and making huge decisions. He could do that closer to home and at Quantico in the terror unit. He’d spoken to his father, and the spot was still open. He was still on the fence until that very moment when he was standing at Katarina’s door and all these what ifs thought flooded his mind. His father, despite Derek’s request had kept him up to date about his daughter Katya. That shame that had been eating him up since he left was the other reason he was here. It scared him, but he wanted to be her father. Spending time with his cousins and their kids had done something to him, needling in how lonely he was and how much he wanted a family of his own. His mother would be ecstatic with his change of heart. It would be a plus to be back on her good side again.
Derek let out a heavy breath, it’s now or never, and then rang the doorbell.
He could hear his frantic heartbeat as he waited, holding his breath, hoping his reception wouldn’t begin with blood shed. He wouldn’t put it past Katarina to shoot him out of spite.
When the door swung open, disappointment settled in his gut, “Dale, what are you doing here?”
Dale took a step back, “Why are you shouting? I’m standing right in front of you.”
Derek blew out a breath and ran his hand over his face, “Sorry about that. So what are you doing here?”
“We are just trying to clean up the space some before more stuff arrives in the morning.” His eyes narrowed, “What are you doing here?”
“Is Ka—Elaine here?” he asked impatiently.
“No. She went out with the girls. I expect them back,” he raised his wrist to look at his watch, “In another hour or so. Do you want to come in, and wait for her?”
Derek nodded as he stepped into the house, “Yeah sure.”
“Dale, who is that?” Damien walked into the entryway then smiled when he spotted him, “Dude, what the hell, are you doing here? I thought you were busy playing spook!”
“Good to see you too, Damien,” he responded blandly as he looked around the house. Every foot space was filled with boxes, “You said there was more stuff coming tomorrow?”
Damien shook his head grumpily, “Wait till you see the upstairs. I told Dale we should just hire someone to come do this and spare our backs.”
“And after moving that last box, I fully support that idea. Come on, we can sit on the couch and catch up.”
Derek followed Dale and Damien into the living room. They had set up the flat screen TV and placed the couches in some order. They both fell horizontally on the couches each picking up a bowl of popcorn and settling them on their stomachs. Derek was left with the single cushioned seat facing the TV. There was a small coffee table in the middle littered with junk food including a two empty—he was sure—boxes of pizza. It was like being in their college apartment. He took off his jacket and tossed it on a stacked box.
“Is this how she wanted the room done?” he asked dropping into the seat.
“Nope. We did this so that we can watch all the games we missed this week,” Damien answered before he stuffed his mouth full of popcorn.
“You want something to eat? There is still some pizza in the box if you are hungry. The microwave is hooked up behind you.” Dale offered.
Derek turned around, and he laughed when he spotted it plugged into the wall sitting on two stacked boxes. They were treating this place like a college dorm room.
“Katarina will kill you guys—” he stopped short when he realized what he said. He hoped…
“Katarina, ha?”
Damn! He winced. Damien always had a sharp ear. He turned slowly back around and found both his cousins staring at him inquisitively.
“I keep forgetting she goes by Elaine now.”
“Yeah, I caught that the first time. Kat-Elaine? Though I wonder, exactly how long you’ve known each other?” Dale asked.
Damien sat up and faced him fully, “I’ve been wondering the same thing. The date of Katya’s birth does imply you’ve known each other longer than two years, way before your supposed first meeting at the hospital after Tasha’s surgery.”
Derek stared keenly at both his cousins, “Why ask now?”
Dale sat up, “We’ve learned not to ask Katarina questions but wait until the information is volunteered.”
“That’s why we are now asking you. What’s really going on with you and Elaine?”
Derek rubbed his face with both his hands. His cousins never asked him about his job and through the years he had been grateful. And even though they were close and more like brothers, whenever he’d needed to unload he’d always gone to his dad because he’d lived the job. But now that he was seriously considering quitting his job and joining them at Quantico, maybe it was time to open up a little. It couldn’t hurt.
“Her name is Katarina Pajari, we officially met over five years ago, but we’d been crossing each other’s paths long before that.”
Damien moved to the edge of the couch, his eyes wide “You knew Tasha?”
“I knew of Ellsa then saw her twice, both times with Katarina. They were partners, which was very unlike the Black Widows Co-operative, but I found out why not long after that. Katarina was keeping an eye on Ellsa because of the experimentation,” when he said that he caught Damien’s clenched jaw and angry eyes. He was never going to get over what Vladimir did to his wife.
“Are they both dangerous?” Dale always asked the hard questions.
“Dale!” Damien hissed.
“Yes they were and still are,” Derek responded staring hard at Damien, “Just because she doesn’t remember who she used to be doesn’t mean all the training they beat into her is gone. I’m sure you know that. Her subconscious will always kick in when she needs it to. Her instincts will never change, you should be glad for that.” He turned to Dale then, “And Katarina wants a normal life. She’s done with it all and I’m sure she’s doing her darn hardest to be like every other Jane.”
Dale nodded though reluctantly, “She’s spending a lot of time with the moms’ too. Ellie says she’s learning to be a mother and a caregiver from them. They like it, and she seems to love it.”
Damien chuckled, “She actually smiles more than once a day. Quite a joker too and a lot more relaxed.”
Derek was glad, “You know, I never knew why they were both always around especially when my ass needed saving. Until I found out about Damien and DJ. I guess I got a little cocky knowing I had Black Widow’s finest watching my back.”
Damien smiled proudly, “That why you’re back home? You’ve got no one to watch your back?”
Derek snorted, “Not even close.” Well, maybe it factored in a little, but he wasn’t going to tell the ass-hat that.
“I bet she hooked Dale and Ellie up because of me too.” Damien boasted.
Dale’s brow shot up condescendingly, “What do you want? A monument raised in your honor with our complete gratitude and adoration.”
Damien sat up, his chin arrogantly raise, “As a matter of fact, yes I would like that.”
Dale grabbed a handful of popcorn and tossed it at him the same moment Damien’s phone rang. He answered laughing, “Hey what’s up?” he frowned, his brows dipping in a V, “I thought Ellie was the designated driver?” Derek’s heart beat a little faster. Were they back? “Okay, we’re coming.” He hung up and stood, “Come and carry your drunk wife out of the car Dale.”
Dale stood, “What? I thought she was supposed to drive back?”
“Yup, but Elaine had to. Daniel drove behind them just in case. I wonder if he’s still sniffing around Ellie.”
“Damien!” Dale growled punching his shoulder.
Damien pulled away rubbing the abused spot, “What? It’s a valid question. Derek, you coming?”
Derek shook his head, “No, I’ll just wait for Elaine here.”
He waited for the door to close behind them before he moved to the window and peeked outside. They ran to where Katarina and Daniel stood by the Jeep. His jaw clenched hard. What was she doing letting Daniel hold her hand?
It was comical the way Damien fell on his back with Tasha sprawled on top of him, but Derek wasn’t in the mood with Katarina’s hand still in Daniel’s with each passing minute. His blood boiled when he saw them walk to Daniel’s car and only got worse when the guy leaned against his car and drew Katarina against him. The fucker was asking to get shot.
“Don’t you fucking dare Katarina!” he hissed, “Fuck!” he punched the wall when she slide into Daniel’s car and drove off with him. He didn’t need to be a genius to know where they were going and what they were going to do.
His cousins, both on their feet with their wives in their arms stared directly at him from across the street. He was in no mood to be pitied. He grabbed his jacket and left the house quickly walking to his car around the corner. He was tempted to follow them and ruin their night. But he knew if he did, as angry as he was, he would make a big mistake. Not that breaking Daniel’s neck wasn’t appealing. He was going to go back to his apartment, probably call Gwen to help distract him. He was losing his shit imaging Daniel’s hands touching Katarina the way Derek used to, and it filled his stomach with bile.
****