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[igotacrossbow]

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you know the drill

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[thecatinahat]

"Make sure you don't get caught," is what he says, voice riddled with worry. The last thing he needs is to set all this up only for it to come back and bite them when someone comes to hurt her and he has to kill them. He lets his gaze fall to her fingers and even though he knows they don't have to put on the act, he wants to.

No, not the act. He just wants to comfort her. He slides his fingers along the table, sneaking under the napkin. From there, he gently rubs his thumb against the pads of her fingers, trying to be hopeful when he knows he's just facing a stretch of nightmares and nothing better than that. It's why he feels weak enough to lean his chair around to hers, sharing space where they can also speak more quietly. "Are you okay?"

[infucation]

She frowns at him, affronted. As if she'd ever get caught, please.

Cougar reaches out to take her hand again, rubbing his thumb over her fingertips with the kind of gentleness that most people wouldn't expect from a man whose whole career consists of shooting people from far away and getting the fuck out of there before anyone knows where he is.

"No," she whispers, miserable. He scoots his chair closer, leaning into her, and she doesn't stop herself from leaning into him in turn, pressing her shoulder to his and sighing. "I'm not okay. I'm so far from okay I don't even know what okay is any more." She sighs, slumping in her chair so she can rest her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes for a moment, glad for the sunglasses that hide her eyes from the outside world. "But none of us are okay, are we? I can't let myself wallow."

[thecatinahat]

He knows that he's not okay, but it's not something he wants to talk about. It's the kind of thing he wants to ignore and let fester away, which is why it breaks through in ridiculous nightmares that leave him screaming and terrified. His head bowed down, he watches the way his fingers look over her skin, dark and tan against the pale. That won't last long, in the Bolivia heat, but for now, it's like she's untouched.

"No, no one is okay," he agrees, a pinched look on his face. Maybe that's why he wants to dive into this lie so readily. It's still a part of him, but it's the part of him that only gets to exist if neither of them are still in the army.

[infucation]

She shifts to curl her hand more firmly around his, lacing their fingers together and holding on to him.

"I'm sorry," she breathes, clutching at his hand. "I'll be better, okay? I just. I need to adjust." She can make her performance flawless. She can do it. It helps that it's no hardship to pretend to be married to Cougar, not when he holds her hand and lets her lean her head on his shoulder, supporting her the way he's always done.

The waiter comes back with their coffee and doesn't seem to be surprised to see their new seating arrangement; she quickly shifts so that she's cuddled up to Cougar a little more sweetly, smiling at the waiter like he's just interrupted a tender moment between them. "Gracias."

[thecatinahat]

He tries not to wince at the accent, not sure if that's also for show or if that's just Jensen rearing her head. He pours them both coffee, drinking half of his back in one go because he prefers it black, but when he's through, he's giving her all of his attention again.

"Is there anything else we need? For our story?" He's only pretended to be married the once before and that had been with Jensen, too.

[infucation]

Jake, on the other hand, dumps multiple sugar packets into her coffee, because she has a sweet tooth to rival Hansel and Gretel's.

"Jesus, I don't know," she mutters, stirring her coffee long after all the sugar has dissolved. Last time, everything was provided more or less for them, and they'd only been on the hook for a night. "I figure if we just leave out the explosions, most of our stories will be fine. What do you think?"

[thecatinahat]

He's never been married or even engaged to get close enough to know. Cougar's longest relationship had been two weeks before this. If he's counting his time in the unit with Jake, they've been together years. It strikes him, then, as he's stroking her hair, that if they ever were to get together, they really would have years of a base to work with.

"Don't know anything about being married. Or with someone," he admits.

[infucation]

She laughs, more of a snort, and shakes her head.

"Me neither," she confesses, still fiddling with her spoon. "Nobody can put up with me for more than a night or two."

[thecatinahat]

Maybe they can figure this out together. Or maybe they're doomed to spectacularly crash and burn because neither of them know how to do this. He lifts her hand and busies himself pressing kisses to her knuckles, sighing as he tries to think of what they need to do. "Can you fake the papers? Online?"

[infucation]

Oh, he has to stop doing that. It's distracting as hell, and she nearly spills her coffee as he kisses across her knuckles, but she doesn't try to pull her hand away or anything. It feels nice. Really nice.

She snorts again. "Please. Who are you talking to?" She shakes her head at him, mock-disapproving. "I can fix the papers, don't you worry."

[thecatinahat]

He gives her a look that says it doesn't have to perfect, just has to be good enough to fool the people they're trying to evade. "I don't know what else," he admits. "Jackie and Carlito Martinez," he reminds her of the names. "We need a wedding day," he realizes, suddenly.

[infucation]

"Carlito? Not Carlos?" She supposes people could name their children diminutives of other names, a la Jackie, but it just doesn't sound right. Carlito should be a name that's used sparingly, on purpose. It's special.

Absently pushing her ring around her finger with the tip of her thumb, she thinks. "Not recently. We had to save up for our honeymoon. What about...early April? I always fancied a spring wedding."

[thecatinahat]

"Carlos," he agrees, even though he doesn't want his real name anywhere near this. Then again, it's not like anyone knows him as Carlos Alvarez anyway, so Carlos Martinez will suit just fine. "May 2nd," he says, decisively, which is the day that they'd first met in the unit.

It serves as good a date as any, because it has meaning.

[infucation]

"That's not April, Cougar," she points out with a smile, though honestly, May is as good as April in her book. "May 2nd it is."

She's already compiling information in her head, getting everything in order so that she won't have to spend long doing what she needs to do online, minimizing the time she's connected to the serves she's going to be sneaking into.

[thecatinahat]

"No, more important date," he agrees, giving her a calm look. He sips at the rest of his coffee, draining it before he reaches for the food that comes next, sliding a napkin into his lap as he eats one-handed, unwilling to take his hands away from Jensen.

[infucation]

Eating enchiladas with only one hand available, especially her non-dominant hand, to do so is not easy. She's not going to try and pull her hand out of Cougar's though. So she awkwardly hacks at her breakfast with her spoon before shoveling it into her mouth, forgetting in her hunger that she's supposed to be dainty now that she's Jackie.

[thecatinahat]

Cougar leans over to press a kiss to her temple when it seems like she's a little unnerved. He lets go, only because it seems like she's struggling, and refills his coffee, adding some sugar because he needs it sweet now that he's awake.

"You will have to learn Spanish," he says evenly, staring at the table. "For safety."

[infucation]

She's a little disappointed when Cougar lets go of her hand, but it does make it easier for her to eat. She decides to cut her meal up into little pieces, though, like she's getting brunch with her sister and niece, making bite-sized bits that she can eat with one hand so that she can drop her hand down to rest on his leg, just above his knee.

"Who better to teach me than my loving husband?" she teases, tapping her thumb against his knee.

[thecatinahat]

When he smiles, it's real. He gives her a fond look and a shake of his head, thinking that there is nothing more surprising than this woman. He gives her a curious look, wanting to ask something but knowing there's only one way about it. "No other men, that's okay?"

[infucation]

Jake is too busy shoveling food in her mouth to pay too much attention to the way Cougar keeps staring at her — not to mention, she's used to the feeling of his eyes on her, the weight of his stare making the hair on the back of her neck stand up. It's comforting now.

His question has her pausing, her fork frozen halfway up to her mouth. "Cougs, I haven't gotten laid in like...two and a half years, at least." Even when she's home on leave, she hasn't felt like going out and trying to score. And when she does want to, she's usually cockblocked by someone starting a fight or scaring away whatever local boy she's set her eyes on. "What's another few months?"

[thecatinahat]

He knows why she hasn't. It's his own fault, when he's around, because he doesn't like the thought of her with any other man. He doesn't like thinking of her falling for anyone, doesn't like to imagine her settling with anyone that might make her leave the team. Because then she'll be gone and then she'll be someone else's.

"Months," he echoes, giving her a curious look. "Not weeks?"

[infucation]

Cougar is the most at fault for why she hasn't managed to pick anyone up in years, but he's not the only one. She's had Roque actually growl at people she's been flirting with, had Pooch slide up beside her and flash his wedding ring pointedly, and even, memorably, had Clay put a paternalistic hand on her shoulder and give the idiot she'd been talking to a strong lecture about treating his daughter right.

Suffice to say, she'd nearly been written up for striking a superior officer at the end of that night.

She shrugs. "If you think I'm going to want to, or have the energy to go out and pick up some clueless civilian after all this is done, you don't know me half as well as you should." She can't imagine going to a bar once she gets home and falling into the bed of someone who has literally no idea what she's capable of or what she's been through. "Besides, I'm over six foot in heels. There's really only one type of guy who likes Amazonian women, and I'm not going to have the energy for that bullshit when this is all over."

[thecatinahat]

He raises his eyebrow and gives her a long look. "What type of guy?" he asks, keeping his voice even and calm instead of letting his jealousy show, because he wants to know what sort of man has been hitting on Jake and that she's been considering, before all this.

[infucation]

"Well, two types of guys," she amends.

She sets down her fork so she can tick them off on her fingers. "Either they want to break me, prove how manly they are by making me small and weak, or they want me to mother them and pamper them and treat them like little boys."

She shrugs like it's no big deal, but she can't lie and say it doesn't bother her. Being a woman in the Army makes having relationships with civilians difficult. Hell, even relationships with other soldiers. She's more or less resigned herself to being single forever.

"But hell, at least I have the Losers."

[thecatinahat]

He's not sure what to make of the fact that he doesn't fit into either one of her categories, which makes him wonder if she's ever looked at him and seen anything other than a brother-like figure or a teammate. He tries not to let it sting as he sips at his coffee, not very hungry for food, his eyes low on the table. "When we are done with all this, we will find you the right guy."

Because even if she doesn't want him, he wants to see Jake happy.