Bell had returned to the safe house after a late night mission. The time read approx. 2 am and she was utterly stumped from the long mission.
Figuring everyone was already in bed, Bell trudged over to the long, blue table in front of Lazar's whiteboard. She pulled the strap from her shoulder, lifting the bag from her body and resting it onto the table. Bell left out a really deep sigh of relief. She was finally "home" (well, a makeshift home inside of a safe house that had to be home to her for a few months) and grew excited thinking of crawling into bed. Then she heard a door close.
Bell was already on edge. Grabbing her suppressed .50 GS, she whipped around and spun on her feet until she pointed towards her target. Shit.
It was Adler.
Bell let out a really, really shaky sigh and placed the gun aside. "Sorry, I didn't expect you to be awake."
She leaned against the table as Adler chuckled and walked over to her. "No worries, kid. I'd figured you'd be up." Lighting up a cigarette, Adler took a lengthy inhale from the dreaded thing and let it out slowly but surely. He now stood beside the younger girl, leaning against the table with his feet crossed.
"How'd the mission go?" Adler spoke quietly as he glanced down at Bell. His heart performed a small flutter just glancing at her. He never really knew why the girl made him feel this way, but it's always been there, ever since the beginning of the MK-Ultra program. Too bad she had absolutely no idea.
"It was fine. Breaching agencies aren't a big deal when guards are mostly focused on either resting or sleeping on the job." They both let out a chuckle of relief and sighed it out.
"Got some intel." Bell reached inside of her bag and handed the older man a file including multiple documents inside, Russian letters splattered across the front in print.
Adler glanced down at the documents and smirked. "So close to busting out that fucker Perseus."
Perseus.. Perseus.
The name echoed repeatedly in Bell's head, causing her ears to ring so intense that it almost knocked her over, Adler quickly catching onto her.
"Bell? Hey Bell, what's going on?" He spoke frantically as she leaned into his hold, her words fumbled but intelligible.
"Just.. Just.. Hold me. Don't.. Not.. Don't let go."
Adler instantly realized and pieced together that some mentions of Perseus occasionally would trigger her former memory bank.
The poor girl was so tired. This mission had completely taken a toll on her, and it almost made Adler feel even more sympathetic. (A rarity, one must say.)
Walking her over to the couch, Adler simply just held Bell in his arms, letting her calm down from that awful episode of memory triggering. Pulling a blanket over on top of her, she was completely passed out. Adler snuggled a pillow carefully beneath her head and even caressed her soft locks a little. He couldn't resist. The woman was just so beautiful. Damn him for picking such a thing. He gazed down upon her in such solemness, his heart hurting in such a way that he couldn't even explain himself.
Leaning down carefully after several moments of observation, to make sure if she was alright, Adler slowly but surely pressed his rough lips against her soft temple, and made a silent oath to himself never to speak of this forbidden action again, and made his way off to bed with Bell vividly on his mind.
