Never in a Million Years |N.R|

|40| You know me?

I woke up to someone lightly shaking my arm and calling out my name over and over. As my eyes peeled open I was forced to wince away from the sun light that seeped in through the car windows.

"We're here" Nat whispered, giving my arm one final squeeze in comfort before stepping away from the opened car door. The air that quickly seeped in upon her absence was cold and damp. Dewy.

It was definitely early in the morning.

With a crooked neck and aching legs I carefully rose to a sit in the backseat, stretching out my cramped muscles with a yawn. I couldn't wait for the next time I got to sleep in a bed for hours on end with no worry about staying alert or keeping an ear out for trouble.

Wishful thinking, but that didn't stop me. Dreaming about the near impossible was the only thing getting me through the long and turbulent days. That, and having Nat by my side.

I was happy to go anywhere and do anything so long as she was with me.

"Come on sleepy head" Yelena urged me.

I shot her a glare, one that she couldn't help but laugh at in reply. Not the response I was hoping for or expecting.

With a huff I conceded, "coming."

My face was stuck in a frown as I hopped from the car and slammed the door behind me, quickly tucking my hands in my armpits away from the bitter cold.

Every breath created a cloud around me and yet Yelena was more than happy to walk around bare armed with just her vest and tank top on. The Russian in her meant that she was used to much harsher temperatures, and I was suddenly jealous at the fact I'd become so acclimatised to the warmer temperatures of America.

As I traipsed along behind them rubbing the sleep from my eyes, we eventually emerged from a wooded area into a wide open field. A field that was now marred by a rusting helicopter that looked one gust of wind away from falling into a heap of metal parts.

"I said we needed a jet" Nat was quick to jab as she took in the less than impressive sight.

Just as she finished speaking Mason emerged from the rickety structure. "Yeah, you know what you didn't give me? Time. Or money. I'm not made of jets."

"I thought you were supposed to be the best. Like a real pro." I mentally patted Yelena on the back for joining in on the teasing. She'd inadvertently taken my side when it came to the man. He was an enemy from the moment he let his eyes linger on Nat's behind the first time they'd met. I wasn't all that in the know about his past with Yelena, but I don't think they'd had a lot of interaction in person. She had only just found out in the car that her and Nat had the same fixer.

The man really didn't take kindly to people picking on him, which was fair. Sensitive, but fair. "Oh, I beg your pardon, tsarina. Was the free flat and lifetime supply of Kissel not to your liking?"

Yelena stopped in her tracks to shoot him a bored look, along with a very forced "ha!"

I hid my snicker behind a cough.

"Don't let her wind you up" Nat interjected, busy checking out the helicopter. Probably determining whether the thing could actually get off of the ground when the time came.

But Mason wasn't quite ready to drop it. "No, I take exception to impugning my professionalism."

"Well, you did set us up with a generator that crapped out after six hours." He seemed a little shocked at Nat somewhat joining in, but softened when he saw the amusement in her features.

I, on the other hand, was not amused at all. I was too busy biting my tongue to stop myself from adding the fact that his crappy generator nearly got Nat killed. Some may say that such a conclusion was far fetched, but if Nat hadn't have had to go and get fuel then she would've been by my side when that person staged their attack. She wouldn't have had to fight for her life all alone, or pull her broken body from that freezing water and practically crawl home.