"WHAT THE fuck, Astra?" Phoenix Carter had half the mind to yell, but kept the fact that an FBI agent with a loaded gun was in the room next door in mind, as he whispered his words with as much malice as he could muster. 

Her hands clumsily grabbed at the kitchen knife on her counter-top, pointing it at Phoenix's abdomen. "Do you know how fucking difficult you made my life yesterday? I had to smash my head against a table because of you assholes." She seethed, pointing with her free hand at the bandage wrapped countless times around her head, concealing the gash she'd inflicted.

"Hey don't shoot — well, stab, I guess — the messenger. You think I make the calls with what happens and when?" His attempt to diffuse the tension with a little jest hadn't worked quite as well as it would have in the past. 

"No, but you're the one that edited Enzo over Kai. Why else would it have been so pixilated, huh?" She questioned, the knife edging closer with every word, until it was only mere centimetres away from impaling him. Surely she wouldn't do it, he thought. But Dylan's words rang like blaring sirens in his mind. Had she told the BAU the truth? Was she sleeping with the agent?

He was quickly able to brush his doubts away after looking at her fully-clothed figure. If Astra had slept with him, it would've been obvious. It always was.  "Well I'm glad you remember what I'm good for," he quipped. "But I'm here to warn you, not have a friendly catch up." Sure, she was pointing a knife at him, but he had changed. The Phoenix Carter she knew would've done everything he could to make sure she didn't hold any resentment towards him. What had happened when she had been gone?

The blonde girl let out an unamused scoff. "Warn me about what? Another dead old man coming my way?"

"Astra, you're got abysmal aim, so put down the knife. We only have so much time to talk until that agent of yours wakes up." The mention of Derek forced the girl to regain her composure. He was right, what would happen if he walked in on that scene? He'd surely shoot Phoenix, or her. Who knew?

"That's right, so say what you want and then fuck off." Astra wasn't quite sure why she was being so hostile, but she'd just woken up and was yet to have her morning coffee, so she'd figured that explained her bitchy attitude ( she was a bitch all the time, but more so in that moment than most ) "look, I'm still half-asleep. You couldn't have chosen a better time to do this?"

There was a faint hint of a smile on Phoenix's face, he'd finally allowed himself to take note of how he'd missed her snarky attitude, "yeah but my schedule is pretty packed. . ."

"Are you having withdrawal symptoms from the heists? Can't put your skills to good use?" She teased, moving closer to her friend, the knife now aimed at the ground.

"You know me too well," he played along, god how he wanted to spend the day sitting in that room, talking to her for hours on end about nothing and everything at the same time. But he had a job to do and a gun in his jeans, so it would be best if he got out of there before she figured the latter out.

"So tell me then, why the fuck are you here?" She questioned, noticing his demeanour change as his mind swelled with thoughts of the day ahead of him.

"You're not about to like what I'm going to say." He sighed, quite relieved that her hold on the knife had become limp, because she'd surely waste no time in stabbing him when she heard what we was about to say. "We're going to kidnap you, at some point."

Astra couldn't help but laugh, Phoenix's brows knit together, had she gone crazy in the brief time they'd been apart? Well, it certainly wouldn't surprise him. She was a rather unpredictable girl, after all. "You're going to what me?"

"Kidnap you, frame it on Enzo and then it'll all be over." He too, had to admit that the plan sounded rather unconventional, but hell, he just did what Kai Walker told him to remain bullet-free for as long as possible. "Enzo won't actually kidnap you. It'll be me, you'll be safe. Don't worry." He reassured, though there wasn't a hint of worry on her face, not at all. She looked positively serene for someone who was just told to be in a constant state of unease for the next few weeks.

"Tell me," she started, a mischievous grin on her face, "did you miss me that much that you want to kidnap me?"

God had he missed hearing her laugh. The Black Wolves had been rather. . . Depressing, since Astra had left. The gaping whole where her sarcastic comments and witty jokes once were only grew as the weeks passed. He needed her back, with all deliberate speed.

"You caught me." He played along, but his voice was too gentle for Astra to continue the joke. She found herself growing used to his company, wanting him around for just a little longer. Wasn't it strange how people fell back into their old ways so fast? "But keep a watch out. I don't know when it'll happen. Kai wanted you to know, though. Make sure you didn't have a heart attack when the moment came."

"I appreciate the warning, Carter." She had to admit, it was nice having someone around again who knew who she really was. No matter how much she enjoyed the normal company of the BAU, having to hide crucial parts of herself was tiring, at times.

"Always, Astra." His voice wavered slightly with an impending sigh. He had sorely missed the company of a ( relatively speaking ) sane person. "I better get going before your agent wakes up."

She said nothing but nodded silently. As he crawled up to the window, careful to avoid any CCTV cameras, she all of a sudden thought, "you could've just sent a note with all this on."

But then Kai wouldn't know if you were straying from the plan. "But then I wouldn't have been able to see your beautiful face." He chose to say, instead. A strangely cold smile was the last thing Astra Hart saw of Phoenix Carter before he disappeared with just as much stealth as he had arrived.

She went back to her morning task like nothing had ever happened at all. But her mind kept drifting to the man sleeping in the room next door. Did she really want to go back to a life of murder and restraint? Did she want Derek Morgan to resent her until the day he died?

As she thought over every possible scenario of how things would inevitably end, she hadn't noticed a presence creeping behind her. "Making breakfast, are you?"

His hands were on her shoulders, but she refused to turn around. The tears brimming in her eyes threatened to spill if she so much as moved. "I think I'll miss this." Her voice was hushed.

"So will I." He admitted when she turned to face him. They both knew their companionship would come to an end. A sweet, bitter end. But where Astra could look back on him with a fondness one could only feel for one or two people in their entire lives, Derek Morgan was sure to live out the rest of his days hunting her down, wanting her to pay for the deceitful lies she'd ambushed the BAU with.

The batter was surely burning in the pan, ignoring the harsh sizzling, Morgan's body edged closer to Astra's as his hands rested on the counter behind her, closing the space between them until they were inches apart. His eyes bore into hers and she only just noticed how harmonious his face really was. The way his iris's carried a hidden gentleness to them that no one in the world could parallel. She'd always thought he had a cockiness to the way he carried himself, but perhaps she'd been to harsh in her judgement. Because truly, who else would be standing in the flat of an ex-getaway driver, cracking jokes with their faces mere centimetres apart?

Astra Hart was starting to think she had a tendency to make stupid, really idiotic, spur of the moment decisions. "Don't hate me for what I'm about to do." She whispered, so faintly that she wasn't sure he'd heard. 

"I could never hate you."

That wasn't true. "Even if I fuck everything up?"

Absentmindedly, his thumb gently brushed across her lower lip. "I'm sure you'd have your reasons."

And with that, she closed the little space left between them, capturing his lips in hers, savouring the last few moments of serenity they'd ever have again. It was inevitable that Derek Morgan would end up loathing the very ground Astra Hart walked on. She knew that much. But as selfish and utterly cruel as it was, she willed for him to like her, if only for a little while, before she tore his entire world down.

authors note.
end of part two !!