by Sydnie MacElroy & Jeff Uribe
NRPG:
As the subject line says, here's part 2 of Jeff's and my collaboration. Still no NC-17 stuff. (yet) ;) Looks like there's gonna be at least one more post in this little series. :)
RPG:
[Leo's apartment, 5:00AM]
>... only to open them to turn off his alarm. All of a sudden, his nerves >were on high alert. His eyes opened wide as he took in his surroundings. >He was at his apartment... in his bed... nude. Confusion flooded his mind >since he never slept nude, at least.... not alone. That fact was confirmed >as he saw a female arm draped over his neck and saw the telltale tattoo >that ringed its left ring finger.
>Leo's stomach and heart switched places as he heard Zenya's voice say from >behind him, "Hey sailor, are you up yet?" The only thought that flew >through Leo's mind was, "Oh god... what have I done?"
Zenya's first completely conscious thought upon waking had been not altogether different from Leo's, but with one major difference. She knew exactly what had - and what hadn't - happened the previous evening, and she was well aware of the fact that Leo didn't. Not that she had any intention of letting him off the hook for a while. He'd earned himself a little psychological torture, even if he hadn't exactly been himself at the time.
When she felt the muscles of his back go tight, she was fairly certain that the real Leo was back with her, and she snuggled against him, nuzzling against his neck, partly because he was warm and she was freezing, but mostly out of a tentative, cautious feeling of relief.
"Good morning," Leo managed to say. Zenya was impressed. He managed to keep his voice fairly even.
"How about some breakfast, big boy? You worked up quite an appetite last night."
Leo turned toward her a little too suddenly, with something not unlike panic in his eyes. "Zenya... Breakfast. Breakfast would be good." He touched her cheek lightly and kissed her - if it was possible to kiss without actually touching, then this was as close to it as anyone could get.
Zenya put on a disappointed expression. "Leo, kiss me again like you did last night," she muttered, moving closer again. She wasn't looking at his face - couldn't or she knew what would happen and it wasn't what Leo was probably thinking - but she imagined that his eyes were either wide open in shock or squeezed shut trying to dispel the last of the nightmare.
"Not until I've had a chance to brush my teeth," he said. And figure out what the hell happened here, he was thinking.
"Okay, but hurry up."
*****
Leo rushed into the bathroom as quickly as he could and looked at himself in the mirror hanging above the sink.
"Ok, Leo. Calm down." Leo muttered under his breath, as he splashed some cold water on his face. "Something happened last night during your date with Zenya. The blackout happened once again, and you can't remember anything from the time you danced till now."
As he took his time brushing his teeth, Leo wracked his brains trying to catch a glimpse in that black hole of a memory to what could have possibly happened last night. Nothing came to him, nothing at all. As hard as he tried to get anything..... nothing. As he rinsed, only one name emerged from the depths of his mind, but it made no sense to Leo since that name hadn't been used in over 4... no, 5 years, back during his covert activity in Black Ops... "Burnett"
At that, Leo was thrown into total confusion. Richard Burnett was a codename he used when a mission would take a month or more and he'd have to interact with his target for an extended period of time. He hadn't used that alias in years, but that was the only bubble that emerged from the murky waters of his memory. What would he have to do with anything?
Before he left the bathroom, he remembered... clothes. This raised a whole new wave of panic in Leo. As he got dressed, he was thinking of just what he and Zenya might have done last night, and for a moment, Leo almost convinced himself that if anything did happen, he just hoped that he performed up to par. Trouble is... when he woke up, he reeked of alcohol. That did not bode well for Mr. Leo Jones.
"Doesn't matter." Leo muttered once again. Summoning up all of his courage, Leo stepped out of the bathroom and went into his kitchen.
*****
Zenya had breakfast ready - and well on the way to getting cold - by the time Leo came out of the bathroom. There hadn't been much to work with, since he hadn't been in this apartment long enough to acquire anything but the most basic kitchen staples, but she'd found enough to make French toast and scrambled eggs.
Leo came up behind her and slipped an arm around her waist. It sent a shudder, one that should have been pleasant but wasn't, through her body. Too much like...
"So that's what happened to my robe," he said.
"I grabbed it off the hook in the bedroom," she said quickly. "Say my name."
"What?"
"Just do it. Please?"
"Zenya..." He turned her toward him and pulled her close. Zenya let him.
"What's the last thing you remember," she asked with her face buried against the collar of the pajamas he'd put on.
"I... You know?"
Zenya nodded. She'd planned to let him squirm a while longer - truth be told, she was kind of enjoying it - but she needed to talk to him while she had him here. "Sit down, have your breakfast, and I'll tell you what happened. Do you remember dancing?" Leo nodded. "Do you remember kissing me while we were dancing?"
"No. I don't."
*****
[9:30PM, the previous night]
The change was subtle. She probably wouldn't have noticed immediately, except for the kiss. Leo and Zenya had kissed twice before, both times had been woefully brief, but it was enough that when he kissed her this time, or more precisely, when he kissed her *like that* she knew something was wrong. This wasn't Leo.
She pulled away from him and looked into his eyes. That look was there again, that same look of coldness she'd seen many times before, but this time she didn't feel the little thrill of excitement. She wasn't afraid, exactly. Leo was still in there somewhere, and she could never be afraid of him. But... There was nothing but the coldness, nothing balancing it, and that was the difference.
It couldn't have been more than a couple of second before he grabbed her again and spun her across the dance floor. There was another difference. Leo would have noticed that something was wrong. The other episodes he'd told her about had only lasted ten minutes. She could wait that out, she told herself, and then as soon as he was back, they would talk about what was happening and figure out what to do about it.
But when he led her from the dance floor - Zenya felt like they'd been out there forever, but it couldn't have been more than half an hour - it was still this.. this Anti-Leo.
"Having fun, babe," he asked. His hand was on the back of her neck. It felt cold, but that was probably just Zenya's imagination. Babe? Not that she would object too strenuously if Leo called her that. He was the only person who could get away with it. But this isn't Leo, a little voice in her mind yelled again and again.
"Of course," Zenya said, and forced a smile. When he kissed her again, she was prepared for it. She didn't pull away this time, but that little voice cranked up the volume a couple of decibels.
"Wha'd'ya say we get out here?"
*****
Zenya was well aware of what he had in mind. She might at times and in some ways be na�ve, but she wasn't stupid. But she was still trying to convince herself that Leo would resurface at any moment. And if he didn't? How far was she going to take this charade? That answer was simple enough. What would she have done the night they got back from Boston if she hadn't gotten that call from Rebecca Cross? Given the way she was feeling that night, she probably would have stayed with him given the slightest encouragement, and it would have been meaningless, would have ruined everything. And if this were Leo rather than some drug-induced other personality inhabiting his body? Tonight, the answer would have been no, because by now she cared about him too much to take the chance without a solid foundation. But the entire point was moot, because the real Leo wouldn't suggest such a thing.
Are you sure, the little voice asked. The ride was almost half over now and Zenya hadn't been able to think of a single thing to say to this man sitting beside her. It was perhaps the first time in her life she truly understood the concept of an uncomfortable silence. Very sure, she told that voice. Really?
Great. Now her own subconscious was trying to plant doubts. Well, she wasn't going to listen to it. But if Leo didn't resurface by the time they got to his apartment, which she was now absolutely certain was where they were heading, what then? She certainly wasn't going to leave him alone, at least not until she'd had a chance to talk to Leo about the situation.
Zenya leaned her head against the back of the seat and closed her eyes. She stayed that way until she felt his hand on her thigh, caressing. When she looked up at him, he was smiling at her.
"Why don't you slide over here a little closer..."
*****
"Natasha!?"
Zenya had already cleared the breakfast dishes, which had remained mostly untouched and now they were sitting on the couch, hand in hand. "Apparently, that other... personality doesn't know my name."
"But Natasha?"
"As in Rocky and Bullwinkle. Ve must find moose and squirrel."
"I get it. But... I didn't say that, did I?"
Zenya grinned at the memory. It was funny for the first time. "Worse actually, but that was later. Shall I continue?"
"Hold on...." Leo said, trying to process this other person he seemed to have been that Zenya was describing. "Did the name Richard Burnett ever come up at all last night?"
Zenya thought back...
*****
"Why don't you slide over here a little closer..."
Zenya looked over at .... Leo? No, this definitely was NOT the Leo she knew. She gave off a little smile at this Anti-Leo and was about to scoot over, much to the dismay of that little voice inside that was screaming for her to get out right NOW, when Leo's cell phone began to ring.
Leo pulled out the phone in disgust and answered it. "Burnett here..... no, I think you have the wrong number. Leo Jones doesn't exist here."
*****
"Who's Richard Burnett, Leo?" Zenya asked as she opened her eyes after recalling that part of the drive home.
Leo closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose with his left hand. "He was my alter-ego back in Black Ops. If there was a mission that meant that I had to interact with my target, Richard would be the alias I would use."
"Was I in any danger last night?" Zenya asked as she looked Leo in the eye.
"No." Leo said as he shook his head. "Richard would never kill unless he had a target."
Zenya nodded, seeing the look of worry that crossed Leo's eyes when she asked him that. He's not sure anymore, that little voice piped up from the back of Zenya's mind. "Do you want me to continue?" Zenya asked as she took Leo's hand in hers.
Leo wasn't at all certain that he wanted to hear any more, but he motioned for her to continue.
"Well, I was still holding out hope that you would reappear at any moment, so I figured the best thing to do would be to play along until then. As it turned out..."
*****
When they got back to Leo's apartment, Leo still wasn't there, although that nagging little voice was getting louder and louder, challenging Zenya to prove it. Sooner or later, she was going to have to, or that voice would get so loud she wouldn't be able to ignore it anymore.
"Get you a drink," he asked once they were inside. Even in her mind, Zenya couldn't bring herself to call this person Leo. He might look like Leo, but he acted more like... She clamped down on that thought before she could even finish thinking it.
"Anything," she said. 'as long as it's at least a hundred proof,' her mind finished. Wasn't that what she'd said the first time she'd been to Leo's apartment. Different apartment, though. And in a way, it felt like a different lifetime.
He disappeared into the kitchen and Zenya stood in the living room. That the whole scene seemed so strangely familiar and so very different in the same instant made her extremely uncomfortable. But at least the picture - the one of Leo with Jenn and Andrea - was still there, just as it was supposed to be. If it hadn't been, Zenya might have had the irrational thought that tonight was reality and everything else had just been some kind of dream. Comparing Leo in the picture with the man who was at present in the kitchen, the difference was even more pronounced. She would never be able to miss it again, of that she was sure. Well, fairly sure.
She hadn't really been conscious of picking up the photograph, but it was in her hand when he slipped up behind her and put his arm around her waist. She looked up at his face as he slipped the photograph out of her hands and handed her the drink. There was recognition there, but no significance. When he kissed her once again, mere seconds later, and more forcefully than ever, a wave of revulsion hit Zenya.
*****
"Oh, God, Zenya... I..."
Zenya put a finger on Leo's lips and rested her head on his shoulder. "First of all, nothing happened last night, Leo. I got you drunk enough that you just fell asleep. I stayed with you because I was concerned about you. Second, none of it is your fault, so there's no reason to feel guilty. This is something that was done to... to you." She had almost said 'to us'. In a way, that felt even more accurate, but she didn't quite want to give voice to that thought. Yet.
"We don't know that, Zenya. It could be..."
Zenya sighed. "Yes, we do know that, Leo. There's something I haven't had a chance to tell you." She slipped away from him, found her purse behind one of the cushions of the couch and took the vial out of it. She passed it to Leo.
"What's this?"
"Another long story."