Intersection (10 page)

“It’s safe.” Alex said, finally beginning to relax a bit herself. Alex opened the back door and Cassidy moved in to unbuckle Dylan but her hands were shaking so hard she couldn’t keep a grasp on the buckle. She felt a strong hand cover hers,
lingering for a moment and then unclipping the buckle. She stood back up straight and looked at Alex. She couldn’t even cry. “I’ll get him,” the agent said. Cassidy didn’t argue. Alex handed her the backpack and pulled Dylan up into her arms. Cassidy shut the car door and Alex followed her to the porch. The smaller woman froze as she started to enter and saw the photo. “Cassidy,” the agent gently called from right behind her. “Don’t. Let’s just get Dylan upstairs.” Cassidy took a deep breath and kept moving. Alex followed and carried the boy up to his room, lying him in his bed so that Cassidy could get him settled. “I’ll be right back,” Alex said.

The agent went to her room and retrieved a pair of gloves and an evidence bag from her things. She went back to the door and carefully removed the photo, placing it in the bag. She reached for her cell phone, pressed a number and waited. “Toles?” The voice asked.

“Fallon… listen things are progressing faster than we hoped…. I don’t want to get into the details now. Is the congressman all right?”

“Yeah…why?” He asked in confusion.

“Okay. Do me a favor. Check the perimeter of the apartment.”

“Now?” He responded.

“Yes…now.”

“Okay I’ll…”

Alex interrupted her partner in frustration. “No, while I am on the phone.”

Fallon complied and the phone was silent for a few moments, “What am I looking for, Toles?”

“I don’t know… it’s just a feeling.”

“Another ‘feeling’? Christ, Toles…. wait…..wait…shit….”

“What is it?”

“What the hell is this?” Fallon began.

“What?”

“Christ, Toles….. There’s a photo on the back door….”

“Of what?” She asked.

“Me…. Me and the congressman.”

Alex huffed. “Jigs up, Fallon… someone knows who we are.”

“What?”

“Same thing here…. Anything written on yours?”

“No…”

“All right…. Bag it.” She paused and looked up the stairs, her thoughts suddenly turning to the woman she had left there moments ago. “Fallon?”

“Yeah?”

“Will you call Tate?”

“Sure….you don’t…”

“I have to finish some things here,” Alex explained.

Brian Fallon pulled the phone away from his ear and looked at it. There was something in his partner’s voice that he had never heard before. Alex was always focused. He knew when she thought there was danger by the tone in her voice, but this was different. She was worried, maybe even afraid. “You okay, Toles?”

“Yeah…just…”

He finished her thought, “a feeling….I know….all right. I’ve got Tate covered. I’ll call you when I get back to D.C.”

“Okay.” She stood at the bottom of the stairs for a moment and swallowed hard. She felt sick and she had to face Cassidy now. For the first time in the agent’s career she was truly afraid, not that there was imminent danger in the moment, but that one look at the woman who waited up the stairs and all of her secrets would be instantly revealed. She tried to force herself forward, her thoughts racing. Days didn’t matter, facts, places; none of it mattered. Alex felt something for this woman and she wasn’t certain she’d change that even if she could. When Alex reached Dylan’s room Cassidy was standing over his bed, stroking his hair while he slept. The agent couldn’t separate one emotion from another. “Cassidy?” The teacher turned to look at the agent who was moving toward her now. Cassidy’s eyes silently confessed her fears and Alex
held her gaze, attempting to convey her own understanding. When Alex finally reached the woman across the room, Cassidy’s feelings completely consumed her. Her tears began to fall and her knees gave way. Alex grabbed hold of her and pulled her close, holding her while Cassidy wept. “It’s okay,” Alex said gently. “It’s going to be okay.” The agent looked over the woman’s shoulder at the sleeping boy and closed her eyes, feeling Cassidy in her arms and wanting only to take her pain away.

Cassidy tried to calm herself, but feeling Alex’s arms around her brought on a whole new flood of sensations and emotions. She didn’t want the agent to let her go. It was such a wonderful sensation and it terrified her almost as much as what had just transpired. Alex held her tightly and spoke softly, trying to tame her own heartbeat. “Cassidy…I promise you…..I promise…I am not going to let anyone hurt you or Dylan.” Without thinking she kissed the top of Cassidy’s head. When she realized her own action she felt a burst of fear expecting Cassidy to pull away, but instead Cassidy instinctively clasped the agent’s waist and held on.

“I know you won’t.” Alex closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She had no idea what was next, but she knew one thing, even if it was impossible for her to fathom. ‘I think I love you, Cassidy O’Brien,’ she silently admitted to herself.

Cassidy was reluctant to leave Dylan’s room. Once she had managed to let go of the agent she turned back to her sleeping son. “Alex…how am I?” She couldn’t finish her thought, overwhelmed by the array of emotions coursing through her. Why was this happening to them? All she wanted was for the agent to hold her and never let go. She tried to breathe but Alex could see that she was struggling to process things. The agent felt more helpless than ever before in her life. She wanted to take Cassidy back into her arms and tell her what she felt; that she would sooner die herself than to see this woman in any pain.

Alex spoke softly and placed her hand on the woman’s shoulder. “I know you don’t want to leave but you need to get some rest, Cassidy.”

“How can I leave him…even here?”

“You can’t stand here all night.”

“I can’t leave him.” Cassidy’s tears began to fall again as she stroked his head. Alex sighed and looked upward. She moved past the woman in front of her and lifted the boy into her arms. “What are you doing?” Cassidy asked.

“I’m putting him in your room so you can sleep…or at least rest.” The agent walked out of the room and down the hallway.

Cassidy stood still, watching the woman leave the room. She cupped her face in her hands and tried to process everything she was feeling. “Deep breath,” she said to herself and headed down the hallway. Alex was covering Dylan with a blanket when Cassidy reached the doorway. She stopped for a moment and forgot everything that had just happened. Alex had a concerned smile on her face as she slowly pulled the blanket over the boy. She was looking at him with such compassion and, ‘love’, Cassidy thought. Alex took a deep breath and moved to face Cassidy, both finding it difficult to move. Finally Cassidy smiled and walked to the far side of the bed.

The agent bit her bottom lip gently and forced a smile. “Get some rest,” she said beginning to head for the door. Before she could make her exit, she felt a hand on her arm.

“Alex…” Cassidy’s voice was barely a whisper. The agent closed her eyes and struggled to compose herself before facing the woman. Slowly she turned and took in the sight before her; green eyes pleading for some type of comfort. “I,” Cassidy fumbled her words. “Can you just stay here….for a while?”

The agent thought that her heart had stopped beating momentarily. Cassidy looked at the floor and Alex inhaled as much air as she could handle. Emotions filled her so deeply that she felt as if there was not enough room inside of her body for even air to breathe. Cassidy kept her gaze down until
the agent tenderly prompted her chin to rise with her finger. “Come on.” The agent slowly led the woman to the bed and turned down the covers. Cassidy just looked at her. She knew that this was no time to be having the thoughts that seemed to be filling her head. They were thoughts she had never had before. She looked at the agent, afraid that her heart and mind were written across her face. Alex gently coaxed the woman’s jacket off her shoulders. She patted the pillow, “go on,” she instructed quietly. Cassidy climbed in, still in her clothes and too emotional and exhausted to care. Alex pulled the covers up over the woman. “I’ll be right here,” she assured. She grabbed the large chair from the other side of the room, pulled it next to the bed and draped the jacket over it. Cassidy watched as the agent sprawled in the chair and gave her a smile. “Sleep now,” Alex said sweetly.

Alex watched as Cassidy drifted off slowly. She could not sleep, only watch. Cassidy had captured her heart and Alex was sure now it had been from the moment she saw her. The teacher’s jacket hung behind the agent’s head, and as she shifted in the chair the scent of Cassidy’s perfume was unmistakable. Alex closed her eyes as her heart raced. If she had worried that her heart had stopped beating earlier, there was no doubt now that she was very much alive. She wondered as she began to fight her own exhaustion how she would handle this. She had a job to do; maybe she should recuse herself. No. She didn’t want to leave and she didn’t trust anyone else to keep Cassidy safe. Somehow she would fight the urge to confess her feelings, somehow.

Cassidy struggled to open her eyes. She rubbed them and sighed in relief when she felt Dylan pressed up against her. She gently maneuvered away from the sleeping boy and looked over to see the agent in the chair, asleep. Alex had Cassidy’s
jacket under her head like a pillow. Cassidy rolled to face the agent’s position and studied her. In spite of her discombobulated position in the chair, her hair falling slightly in her eyes, Alexis Toles was stunning, even as she slept. Cassidy felt an incredible sense of happiness penetrate her as she finally rose to her feet. Alex was in a ball in the corner of the chair. Cassidy stood in front of her for a long moment. She grabbed a blanket off the bottom of the bed and carefully put it over Alex, making every effort not to disturb the sleeping woman. As she bent over the agent and the blanket reached her chest, she contemplated the face before her. Unconsciously, her hand moved to brush the hair aside from Alex’s eyes. Lost in her emotions, she forced herself to step back and gather her thoughts.

In the few days they had been together, the agent was always up before the sun. Cassidy would hear Alex as she left out of the front door for her morning run, just as Cassidy was about to rise. She was pleased that Alex was asleep now. The agent had done so much for her in just a couple of days. Cassidy thought the least that she could do now was head downstairs and make certain everyone had a nice breakfast. There was nothing she could do about the picture or the letters and she trusted Alex implicitly. As she reached for the bag of coffee in the cabinet she pictured Alex handing her a mug just a couple of days ago. She was beginning to realize that, whatever she felt for this woman, it was powerful and as much as it surprised her; she had no desire to escape it.

Alex stirred in the chair. The room was still fairly dark with the blinds closed and she squinted to bring everything into focus. Dylan was sprawled across the bed, but Cassidy was gone. Her heart stopped. She was so panicked that she failed to notice Cassidy had covered her up. She sprang to her feet and headed
swiftly into the hallway. When she reached the stairs the familiar smell of coffee brewing was apparent. She slowed her pace slightly and made her way into the kitchen. Cassidy was at the counter. The teacher was in jogging pants and a tee shirt and her hair was wet from the shower. Alex instinctively closed her eyes in relief and put her hands over them. When Cassidy turned, Alex still had her face in her hands. Immediately, the teacher realized that Alex had been alarmed by her absence in the room. “Alex,” she said very gently. Alex opened her eyes and Cassidy was amazed at what she saw there. The strong and assertive agent had tears in her eyes. The teacher set down the knife in her hand and walked directly to the agent. “I’m okay.”

Alex looked at the woman before her. She had no control of her feelings. There was no logic to be had. Cassidy looked up at the woman as Alex stuttered, taking Cassidy’s face in her hands, “I thought…”

Cassidy stood contemplating the blue eyes before her. They seemed endless and her heart seemed to be telling her what her mind was not yet ready to process. Alex loved her, and perhaps that was exactly what she was feeling for the agent. “I’m sorry,” she said, never breaking their gaze. Her breath left her as Alex began to lean toward her and she anticipated her kiss.