"Turn it down."

"..."

"Turn it down, goddammit woman!"

My head snapped to my side at the man as I glared daggers into his eyeballs. Liam tested my patience as he glared back with one eye open, a scowl on his face. I could feel his fist— mere inches from mine— ball up into a fist.

He had changed into new clothes underneath his suit by simply unzipping the back, with no help from me as I was driving for the past few minutes.

"I shall, and I will, listen to Disney songs, if I want to! Don't talk to me, dumbhead!"

"Lord help me," He mumbled extra loud so that my brows twitched as I came to a stop at a broken stoplight extra fast. The both of us jolted forward a bit before slamming our backs back onto the front car seats.

"You just want to listen to Elsa sing, is that it? She your style? Sorry to break it to you but I like lions singing better."

"Shut up," Liam scoffed, closing his eyes and rubbing his temple with his free hand, "I get to listen to another round of 'Hakuna Matata.'"

"'Simba, you have forgotten me. You have forgotten who you are and so forgotten me. Look inside your self Simba, you are more than what you have become, you must take your place in the circle of life. Remember who you are... remember...'"

That got him to laugh. I chuckled and quieted down, listening to him have a breather.

"You just quoted Lion King?" He asked with amusement hinting in his tone as he smirked, closing his eyes again to rest. Little did he know that I quoted it for the situation as well.

"Watched it all the time when I was a kid," I responded instead, ending with a good note before grim thoughts could come.

"So what about them now, Lennon, your parents?"

"Now?" I was caught off guard as I glanced at the side of his face before peering back to the front. "They uh, um I... they're..." I began quietly.

How did my younger self respond to this?

Mother's missing, father's missing, something like that, huh? Well, how ironic that the same question came up again and I actually know the whereabouts of all of my family now, or at least that they exist.

Realizing that I had stayed quiet for a while, I smiled and quirked, "They've been doing their own thing. I've lost touch with all of them. Probably off in Egypt taking pictures with mummies for all I know."

I bit my lips gently as the lights finally turned green and I began driving once more, glancing at the GPS for where to go. "How about you?" I proceeded with the conversation cautiously, careful just to get him to talk about himself little by little. Even with the Liam before I couldn't say that I knew him at all either.

Liam stayed silent for a moment before he shifted to the right and leaned more towards the window of the car. "I don't remember," he finally answered gently, "I don't... know."

I let out an inaudible sigh as my lips pressed together in a thin line, eyes on the road. "What has... the R.U. told you on your matter? How did you start here? Pardon the questions by the way, I just haven't seen you around for years due to being missing for missions."

"So formal, drop the formalities," he lectured, "Just ask comfortably. I don't mind. Seems like everyone knows about me better than I knew myself when I came to and realized I was completely lost. Weird right? Worked for the R.U. my whole life and for some reason I just couldn't remember my earlier years, Jay told me it might be a serious side effect of being hurt from one of my mission. There was apparently a woman that gifted me a watch so that I could ensure my safety better. Never knew she could back-stab."

Wendy. What a big misunderstanding you have placed on yourself for being involved.

I couldn't defend her since it didn't make since for a person gifting someone not to know how their gift worked. But in my head I knew Charles and Raelyn have done more damaged than I would have liked.

"Hey Carter," I started.

"..."

"Carter."

"Oh.. forgot that was what you called me. Weirdo. What is it?"

"You're nice company when you SHUT UP."

"WOMAN," Liam growled, "DON'T EVEN START AGAIN I WILL SMACK YOUR FACE WITH A FILLET."

"WHERE YOU GONNA FIND ONE, HUH?"

"YOU THE TYPE THAT ONLY BRING WEAPONS-TO-GO?" he scoffed, a smug smile playing on his lips, "THIS MAN HAS EVERY TYPE OF FISH IN THE MARKET."

"That's it," I confirmed, turning off the music, "We're watching Nemo after this."

"What?" He croaked, coughing, "You don't make sense."

"SO THAT YOU GET IT IN YOUR HEAD THAT FISH ARE FRIENDS, NOT FOOD."

It took two seconds before he understood that I was continuing our tantrum.

"Did I ever say you would EAT it? Pretty sure I said 'smack'-ed Lennon."

I rolled my eyes. "Never mind give me the fish I'll eat it."

Liam looked up in disbelief and then let out a sigh. "Hypocrite."

"Big dirty germ-attracting sweaty skin-shedding five-fingered idiot."

His eyes fluttered open and he snapped his head towards my direction, raising his eyebrows.

"Clever," he eyed me curiously.

"Always wanted to say that," I celebrated in a hushed voice to myself, grinning.

"'Always'?" he emphasized, suddenly getting confused.

I bit my lips closed. "I meant... I always wanted to say it to a certain someone. But that's in the past now. Don't worry about it."

"What's his name?"

"I love how you automatically assume it was a male," I smiled teasingly at him as I tilted my head to him and gazed at the man.

He rolled his eyes upon our eyes meeting and waited for me to reply, semi-serious.

"... I forgot his name," I broke the silence.

"So it was a male," he mocked accused me, turning his head towards me in emphasis of him being right.

"Give me a break, Carter," I huffed as I frown at him staring at me, "It's been three years. School's in the past. I didn't even like the people there."

"Hmm," he thought to himself for a second, "Bet you were a nerd."

"Huh?" I frowned, fingers tightening around the stirring wheel. What was he saying?

"The nerds become future hackers," he recited slowly, "The quiet become undercover agents."

I resisted the urge to gasp. "How'd you-"

As I glanced to the side, my eyes widened as I realized he was breathing slowly, head silently tilted out of place.

"Bruh," I let out quietly, eyes scanning his sudden silent form before looking away, "You're not sleeping again? How does one fall asleep so quick?"

But he was done for the night. I was certain after five minutes of total silence besides his faint, steady breathing as his chest slightly rose and fell in rhythm.

After a few more minutes in silence, I came nearer to our destination and began slowing down as I turned to a lively, grand restaurant in the part of the city seemed inviting for trouble. Parking the car, I turned off the vehicle and sat in silence for a moment or two, staring at the place we were to enter in confusion.

"Please," I let out quietly to myself, suddenly looking at the man to my right and down at our locked wrists, "Let this be it. Let this be the last mission we encounter together. Let this man find his memories and go back to his people. Let this man decide his life before he realized it was used against him. Let him understand that it was Agent W that went back to save him, not Jamie. Jamie... would have never looked back."

I stared at his grown, strong built face and jaws as he laid there in peace, unaware of anything at the moment.

"Let him remember," I whispered under my breath, "That he was Liam Carter. The assassin sent to hinder my mission. The man that sent a bomb to my room. The man that tried shooting me in my sleep. The man that went to the party that one night and turned the wheels to the story."

"What are you mumbling..." My ears picked up Liam's faint, grungy sleep-voice as he shifted and sighed out slowly, his state tired and worn out.

My heart stopped and I held my breath as I realized it was time to shut up.

"I just said," I spoke up again, looking out the window at the restaurant ahead, "... We're here. It's time to wake up, Carter. We're a few minutes late for our date, aren't we? I've waited long, let's go."

"Sorry..." he let out in his half-asleep state, "I just... wanted to go... there... -fun... how about we go there next... then..."

Huh?

I raised my eyebrows and silently snapped my head to look at him trying to wake up. "Go where, Carter?" I asked softly, eyeing him like a worried mother.

"... Ferris... Wheel."

Oh lord, he was... he couldn't be...

"... Wake up, Carter," I began panicking all of a sudden, nudging him harder than I had planned, "We're here. Hurry up!"

He groaned quietly as his eyes tightened in distraction, his head tilting in different angles as he struggled with thoughts and reality. I felt his fists tense up next to mine before his eyes fluttered open, heaving low, quiet breaths out.

"Lennon?" he croaked out, turning his head to me as he squinted his eyes and held his head.

"That's... me," I responded carefully, unsure if he had snapped out of his dreams yet.

"We're here?"

"Yeah, Carter," I sighed out in relief when I realized he was awake, "Let's go Sleeping Beauty."

"Stop Disney quoting me."

"Ugh you are literally a turtle," I teased as he opened the side door and climbed out slowly so that I could climb over my seat and to his side of the seat to leave too, "Mufasa, Carter, Mufasa."

-

We walked in, side-by-side, as the waiter accepted our entrance and began showing us to where the other party was seated.

That confirmed my suspicion alright. I knew it couldn't be that easy.

"The date wasn't ours?" I smirked last minute to the man as the other party came into view from a distant table.

Liam glanced to meet my eyes and quickly smiled, "Another time, Lennon."

No worries, I thought to myself as the man began picking up his pace so that he was slightly walking in front, his body standing protectively in front of mine once we were noticed by the other party, we've been on a date before.

The woman across from us wore a blood red, long hugging dress, and beautified herself with the same hue of colors for lipstick and high heels. Pearl accessories lined her figure so that her ears, wrists, and throat sparkled in rich wealth. A display purse sat to the side of her hips as she crossed her legs upon seeing Liam and smiled her seducing smile. Her hair was let down, curled at the ends so that they bounced lightly whenever she turned or made a movement.

A young woman looking for trouble, was all I could think of looking at her appearance.

The man next to the woman created a scene, and probably was the sole source of why Liam felt the need to stand protectively in front of me.

He dressed up nicely, in match with Carter almost, and seemed the elegant man. However, his eyes dripped with lust and underneath the table, who knows what he was doing that made the woman squirm so often, and cause him to lick his lips in response.

This was... repulsive.

"Carter..." I stressed to him quietly from behind, unsure of where this was going. I was already feeling a bit uncomfortable in the pits of my stomach.

Because he couldn't turn around, the man moved his left hand behind him so our two locked hands found each other, and he slowly intertwined his fingers with mine, giving my hands a reassuring squeeze. "Everything that comes next..." he tried forming the words so that the two before us couldn't see, "Play along."

I frowned a bit as I focused on us holding hands, a scene no one else could see besides us. Finally, I let my mind rest and trust the man. Play along? Good grief, I've signed myself up for trouble.

"Babe," the woman's eyes lit up hungrily as she leaned forward and made movement against her chair and the table, lunging for him.

Liam's face changed and I could tell from now on, it would be hard to have a conversation with the real Liam for the rest of the mission. I followed his lead and took a seat opposite of the pair before us.

"Why did you make me wait?" her tone dropped five octaves as I realized that her personality was unstable, and her mood was unpredictable.

"Found a lovely lady to attend with me," I heard Liam respond, taking a sip of his drink, "Thought we'd even out the numbers."

"She looks like a motherfucking whore that was dumped and left homeless, nasty piece of shit," the woman growled all of a sudden, scrutinizing me. I felt naked at the moment with four foreign eyes upon me. "I'm obviously better, Jason."

I sucked up the urges to do horrible things to her face that instant. Oh, how perfect would a bruise on the left eye and a scratch across the cheeks be right now? My jaws tensed a bit as my hands underneath the table cloth hovered next to the gun in my pocket.

Liam felt the movement and re-grabbed my dominant hand carefully, restraining me from doing something stupid.

"And you look lovely," I praised her, putting on a sweet smile as I softly punched Liam's side out of their sight.

"Bitch," she rolled her eyes, "She's okay. Nothing special. Could do with more bust, god she's a disgrace to mankind, but you know, not everyone is lucky like me."

Remind me to stab her eyeballs out when she's dozing off at 3 in the morning, which perfectly coincides with me unpacking my weapons-to-go.

The man next to her growled and his lips parted in a smirk as he only had eyes for her body, eyes glinting with hunger.

I glanced at him with a blank expression, but in my mind I felt the need to look back at Liam once in a while to remind myself that not all men were like that. I had bad experiences with both genders, but the male species had always given me unwanted trouble.

"As punishment," the woman sweet-talked as she raised her glass towards Liam, making him pay attention to her words. The waitress came to take our order and I could tell she was about to hear something unpleasant before she could get her order down.

"Take me to my room tonight," she cooed and smirked at Liam, moving her hands forward to stroke his right arm resting on the table, "Just us."

"Rosella," Liam spoke up as he faked a sigh, startling me a bit.

The woman narrowed her eyes as she dug her nails into his flesh. "You've never once slept with me. You said it was because Ben would be pitiful." She turned to her wingman and turned him on with a few seductive gazes. "But now you've brought..?"

"Anne," Liam came in with a name in my place. He probably picked it up hearing Sammy.

"Anne," Rosella finished, smiling at me with fake affection as she shooed the waitress away, "She can keep Ben company. It'll be a wondrous night! Won't you cater to my needs?"

I sat there and listened on in disbelief as I was being dragged in to... do what? Be a toy for someone to play with? Liam's next words snapped me out of my thoughts as he proceeded with the topic.

"Your daughter..." he began carefully, putting on an amused smile for the act, "Where is the dumpling? Sleeping okay? We don't want to wake her up with our plays at night do we?"

His words were innocent, but the message behind it was something more serious, I figured listening to him. At that Ben turned to Liam and narrowed his eyes, still caressing Rosella's legs.

"She's doing fine," he spat out in a low tone.

"That piece of shit?" Rosella quirked up at the topic she loved, "Ay, she was misbehaving a bit today, Jason. I hope you don't mind me breaking a few promises, babe. The wretch interrupted my session with Ben this afternoon, complaining about her stomach. That ungrateful, selfish bitch."

Um, what?

Liam's body seemed to tense next to mine, and only I could recognize that something was ticking him off.

"Where is the small lady now?" Liam posed, making it seem like an unimportant question and just a casual conversation to get Rosella to warm up to him being late.

"Somewhere in the ground behind our house."

My heart stopped and I felt the need to re-evaluate what I just heard.

"Oh! That does remind me, we should probably clean the shovel early tomorrow, Ben," Rosella turned to her man and stroked his hair, giving into his desires as she licked his lips and bit him passionately right there in the restaurant.

While the two were distracted, I felt the need to glance at Liam, and to my surprise Liam had closed his eyes in frustration as he balled up his fists before relaxing and keeping his cool.

He turned his head to me and looked at my eyes gently, making sure I was okay. I stared back at him with a frown of disbelief at the new strangers, gaining an honest, quick smile from the man who expressed his emotions through his eyes for the first time that night, before he turned back to the couple and waited.

I couldn't believe my ears. I soon forced my attention back to the two and eyed them with venom and high disgust.

Daughter. Ground. Shovel.

They fucking buried a child alive.

-