Scarlett Mccarthy's Story

Walking down the endless, exclusive hallway alone, left only the clicking of Scarlett’s own heels for her mind to dwell on. Not that she needed a distraction. That would imply that she was nervous, and Scarlett was never nervous; at least, that’s what she always told herself. Scarlett’s hair was in loose curls and reached down to her middle back. Her face was made flawless with makeup, as well as her shape complimented perfectly with a beige dress, which fell just above her knees. On either side of her lined door, after door, after door, after door..., leading to who knew where. It was exactly 5:30 in the evening, and, due to the fact that she was given an extra beauty technician, Scarlett was arriving to the conference room half an hour early. This was where each of the four agents would finally meet their new partner for this mission. A faint migraine began to settle at the back of Scarlett’s head, and not too long from now, they would be rereading a vast amount of files and papers; vital information for the future. What was even worse? They were flying. Not in a private jet, but through a very public airport. It would be like standing at the edge of a dock in an ice cold lake and being shoved into the water, rather than slowly easing yourself into it, allowing your body to get used to the numbing temperature. It was no doubt, a risky mission.

Within the next few moments of walking down the remainder of the hallway, Scarlett allowed herself to recall the moments from earlier that day:

Touching, tugging, and snipping. That’s what Scarlett’s day had consisted of, so far. Who knew it was going to take seven hours to be fixed into perfection, and taught how to maintain it? Scarlett sure didn’t, but apparently, that’s what it would take. As soon as a plump woman pulled out a miniature waxing kit, Scarlett began to regret the mission. Only once had she ever tried waxing, and that experience left her with a large burn at the side of her calf. Well, that was probably due to the fact that she had attempted doing it herself. Bracing herself, Scarlett awaited the pain that would come from having several hairs pulled out of her arm.

“Aye-yeee!” The same woman shrieked, immediately glaring at Scarlett who had her nails deep into the arm of the woman that peeled off the wax strip. “Sorry,” Scarlett said, giving an apologetic smile.

A few hours later and Scarlett was a new person- well, more like a better improved person. She stilled looked like Scarlett Mccarthy, but now more like Olivia Cross. “And you’re done!” A thin woman with purple eye shadow said. “Goodluck!”

“And now I’m cursed...” Scarlett mumbled as she left the room into the hallway.

Before she knew it, Scarlett was letting herself into a small square room with an L shaped couch, a television, and a second door right next to it. It was obvious no one had arrived yet, including Madison, her usual partner. She wondered how Madison had taken the ‘seven hour makeover.’

Picking up the stack of folders on the table, Scarlett began to look through them, finding nothing unfamiliar. But at the bottom of the pile were two unsealed envelopes. Scarlett dumped her and Roman’s envelope's contents onto the table, revealing a handful of pictures that were obviously 'photoshopped,' considering that this was their first meeting: one was taken at a beach, both laughing while Scarlett’s arms were wrapped around Roman’s neck and her legs encircling his waist in a piggyback. Another one, dressed to the nines, dancing with each other. It suggested they hadn't known the photo was being taken, bodies pressed close together, eyes fixed on each other, small smiles on their faces that suggested they were sharing a joke. Love. They looked like they were in love. It was scary, the intricate lives they were living. It was a character- it was a person- a person you had to become without losing yourself. Now, that in itself was even more dangerous than being unarmed.

Scarlett continued to examine each picture as she waited for the arrival of the others. To say she was perfectly patient would be a lie.

Roman surveyed himself in the bathroom mirror, fixing his navy blue tie and rubbing his freshly shaved chin between his thumb and forefinger. One thing that he despised about the business was the required attire. He hated wearing suits, preferring to be suited in his training clothes, but he was fully aware that today wasn't the day for sweatpants. He let out a small sigh before giving himself, yet another once over and finally exiting the men's room with his files in hand. His head was held high and his tall stature was straight and expressed pride. No fear. Roman was a man of pure pride and that was exactly what he wanted to convey during today's briefing. His black shiny shoes clicked against the marble floors as he made his way to the conference room. During this venture, his mind drifted to what he read earlier that day. The pictures of him with Scarlett flashed in his mind. It was strange, seeing himself with a woman that he never even spoke to before, but he knew that he was going to have to get use to it.

As soon as he received the files, Roman took it upon himself to memorize every detail of Scarlett's background from her height to her history. He could recite everything on that paper without looking. It was a gift, his memory. He wasn't looking forward to living with a person that he didn't even know. What if she was a bitch? What if she was irresponsible? He couldn't afford a liability, but he had to have faith in the institute. They knew best. Yet, Roman couldn't help but feel a sliver of doubt. He shook off the negative thoughts with the knowledge that there was no room for doubt. He had to be sure of this...because doubt could get you killed.

It didn't take him a long time to reach the conference room. He took a deep breath, erasing all of the negativity from his chiseled features. Roman opened the door and entered the room. His green eyes landed on the chestnut haired woman before him. He immediately recognized her as Scarlett Mccarthy, his new partner. Here goes nothing, he thought as he gave her a small nod of acknowledgment, followed by an equally small wave of his large palm.

"Hi," he said, his voice deep and booming. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Miss. Mccarthy."

"Oh... my... God."

"I know, right?" The stylist beamed, obviously proud of her work as she fondly patted Madison's head. "You look great. I knew perming your hair would do the trick! It's low maintenance, too, so you can do anything with it and it'll still look great."

"What?" Madison looked up from her computer screen, a blank expression on her face. "No, I was talking about my tablet. Battery's dying," she explained, completely missing the look of annoyance that flashed across the stylist's face.

"Honey, look at yourself! I just spent nine hours--that's two more than I was was supposed to, y'know--on you, and you can't even appreciate it? Look!" She grabbed Madison's face and turned it over to the mirror so the agent could finally check out her new look. Gone were the unruly locks and thick framed glasses of the computer specialist Madison Young; Elizabeth Bennet was looking back at her now, glamorous with porcelain perfect skin, auburn curls and very pretty eyes courtesy of a pair of contact lenses.

"Oh... my... God," Madison repeated her earlier statement, stunned. The stylist looked quite satisfied at having finally rendered her client speechless; unfortunately for her, Madison wasn't shocked by her appearance so much as she was by the time on the digital clock hanging above the vanity.

"See? I told you. Now, all you have to remember is to cleanse, tone and moisturize twice a day--"

"I'm late!" Madison yelled, interrupting the poor woman as she vaulted out of her chair. She scrambled about the room, shoving her tablet and phone into the brand new Gucci satchel she'd just bought earlier that week (having been ordered to replace her Bluenotes wardrobe with something more sophisticated), completely forgetting about the price tag that still hung from the shoulder strap. "Oh my God, oh my God, Scarlett is going to eat me alive!"

The stylist looked nonplussed as she watched the young agent hop on one foot, trying to slip on her Jimmy Choos.

"Shit, shit, shit," she repeated, grabbing her coat and purse and pecking the stylist on the cheek as a thank-you before rushing out of the parlor, rummaging through her pockets for her car keys. "I should've been out of here an hour ago. I'm gonna be late!"

As the knob of the door rattled, Scarlett shifted her gaze to it, waiting to see who would finally break the silence. The resistance of the door finally broke free, leaving a rather tall, suited man in its wake. For a quarter of a second, recognition didn't flare- it must have been the numerous cups of coffee that left her mind buzzed- but then she realized that it was Roman Oliver Atkins, a name she only knew through paper, who stood before her.

“Well, it’s about time someone arrived,” she said, looking down at the rose gold watch that was picked out to match her dress. It was as if she had been waiting for hours on end, when in reality it was only 6:02. “And, likewise...” Scarlett stood up, emotionless, and held out her hand, gesturing for the man to shake it. She was tempted to peak out the door before it closed, hoping to find Madison arriving, as well. She was a little annoyed of having to wait here for, what felt like, a long, boring half an hour.

After this, Scarlett wasn't exactly sure what to say. They basically knew all the basics about each other, but there was still a long list of things to learn. She took her seat once again, reminding herself of the things she would get out of this: The chance to stay in a beautiful, multi-million dollar home; a completely new wardrobe and car, although she wasn't exactly looking forward to having to dress like this every day; and, not to mention, the reward they would each receive at the end of this, providing the mission was a success. And at least she would have Madison a few houses down.

Scarlett finally patted the spot on the couch next to her, "We do have quite a bit to go over, quickly." She said, glancing at her watch again. Only fifty eight minutes remaining.

Roman couldn't help but feel the urge to scoff and roll his eyes at the snottiness in Scarlett's tone. He was worried that she would be a bit hard to handle, but he was willing to suck it up and put up with her for the sake of the mission. He shook her hand, keeping the business-like facade plastered on his face. Roman watched her, using the power of observation to conclude her impatient personality by the way she constantly looked at her watch. She seemed rather professional, for which he was thankful, but he wasn't quite sure what living with her would be like.

He sat down beside Scarlett on the L shaped couch, sitting up straight and resting his chin on his knuckles while his elbow resided on the arm of the couch. "I agree," he stated with a nod. "First, if it's all the same to you, I believe we should be clear on a few things regarding living arrangements. We'll be able to work on one accord if we're not stepping on each other's toes." He shifted in his seat due to his discomfort in his suit. Sweatpants were looking better and better by the second. "If you have any questions or suggestions, don't hesitate to tell me." He was proud of himself, he wasn't usually the best at compromise or talking, for that matter unless it was with Jason. He was actually relieved when he was told that Jason would be on this case, despite the fact that he would be under a different roof. Roman was just pleased that he'd have someone to fall back on if things went south. "So, if there is anything that I need to know that was not in your file, I think you should tell me now."

Roman rubbed his chin out of habit and absentmindedly licked his lips. He honestly wanted to get this over with, but again he understood that his comfort level was not important, the mission was.

Madison was, unfortunately for anyone sharing the road, a very reckless driver. She accelerated at the amber light and sped through the intersection, ignoring an indignant yell from a car that was preparing to take a left just before she cut him off. Madison muttered an apology under her breath and glanced at the digital clock on her dashboard, wincing as it turned to 6:03 pm. She was still about thirteen minutes away if she didn't hit a red light--twenty at most. Scarlett wasn't going to be pleased.

Driving in heels was bad enough, but this brand new Lincoln handled differently from her previous car so she was already having a bit of trouble with the turns; the MKT hugged the road and swerved tightly, but Madison nearly crawled onto the sidewalk by accident when she turned the steering wheel too far, having been accustomed to her old Lexus's stiffer wheeling. "Holy shit," Madison yelped, narrowly avoiding an intimate encounter with a street sign as she slammed the brakes, catching herself before she ran over a pedestrian. It was an old woman too, the kind with a walker-aid that took ages to cross the street.

Madison fidgeted impatiently as she waited, flipping her visor down to glance at the mirror behind it. Now that she was out of the parlor and had time to actually look at herself, she was pleased to see that the stylist hadn't steered her wrong. Scarlet would definitely be surprised to see her in dress and heels for a change; this Chanel number with a belt cinched tight around her slim waist was drastically different than her normal jeans-and-sweater combo with Keds. Now, only to keep this up for the rest of the month--or longer, possibly...

Scarlett had always known of her unpleasant side, but certain times, like now, she just couldn’t seem to contain it; which definitely wasn’t good, considering this hour of conversation was supposed to give the two of them a chance to gain each other’s trust, even though for Scarlett, it took longer than that. Stiff as a rock, Scarlett crossed her right leg over her left knee. This was getting ridiculous. “Hm,” Scarlett thought to herself for a moment, “Keep the toilet seats down, “she began to list, “Keep apples away from me, I’m allergic; do not leave empty boxes or cartons in the cupboards or fridge. I allowed a friend of mine to stay with me for a week. He had me convinced that he never ate anything, that is, until I found that all the things I thought I had, were completely empty. That drove me mad.” Scarlett tucked her hair behind her ear as she finished off her rant. “As long as you don’t leave your shit lying around, I’ll be happy.” With a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes, Scarlett stood, walking towards the television and grabbing a bottle of water that sat next to it before returning to her seat.

“I find that these files are a poor representation of who we actually are. I assume you understand that just as much as I. But I’m perfectly sane, if that’s what you were implying.” Formality returned to Scarlett’s demeanor, although the friendly Scarlett didn't quite seem to get the memo. Knowing that the agency would disapprove of her current attitude, Scarlett cleared her throat. Reaching across the table, Scarlett grabbed a third envelope- one that she hadn't noticed before. Inside it were four plane tickets and instructions on where to find the car that would pick them up, and their luggage, and take them to the airport.

"Right," Scarlett said, placing the envelope back onto the table, "Now, is there anything that I should know?" She said, looking to the door at the sound of footsteps coming down the hall.

Jason walked through the few corridors leading him to the hallway in which the conference room where the team was to gather would be located. His briefcase swung a little by his side at the same pace as his shoes sounded against the floor.
"It would seem my sense of planning isn't the best after all." Jason thought, looking at his watch and realising he was a few minutes late.

He slowed down as he took the last turn into the corridor, getting close to this room and stopped a couple of meters away from the door he was to enter through, taping the same smile he had given to the woman in the elevator half an hour ago onto his face. He felt a single drop of sweat rolling down his forehead, most likely because of the nervousity and slight stress slowly building up inside of him.
"Well at least Roman will be there. It'll be good to have someone share complaints with, if things get difficult." Jason thought, wiping the one drop of sweat from his face and turning the handle to the door between him and the person he was going to play husband and wife with for the next few months.

Or so he thought. When he stepped inside however, it turned out Madison Young had yet to arrive, in the sofa sat the man and friend he recognized as Roman Atkins, next to him a woman. This was obviously Scarlett Mccarthy, her eyes fixed at the door the moment he entered the room, probably because of hearing his footsteps approach the room with the L-shaped couch and a TV, in which he was now standing. Sensing the atmosphere of this very room, and judging by the faces of the two people sitting down, there was more of a serious ambience to the meeting than he had imagined, and the grin glued to his face was morphed into a more appropriate smile, showing respect rather than amusement or happiness.

He immediately walked up to Scarlett to shake her hand and introduce himself, whereupon he was to do the same to the tall man, but without the introduction, obviously.

Roman's Bitch-radar was off the charts. He suppressed the urge to roll his green eyes and retaliate with an equally nasty tone. He, obviously, managed to keep the formal facade up. His lip twitched, however, which was the only give away to his frustration. He stiffened in his seat and regarded Scarlett coolly. He opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the sound of the door knob turning. He wanted to sigh in relief when Jason walked through the door. Saved by Oakland yet again Roman thought as he shook the other man's hand.

"I'll let you know later," he said to Scarlett with a quick nod. He then turned his attention to his usual partner in crime. "It's nice to see you again, Mr. Oakland," he said, but he knew that if they were alone, he'd wouldn't be so formal. He sent a knowing look towards Jason, letting him know that later on he would get an earful of the hell that was to come for him.

Roman rested his head on his palm as he looked around the room in boredom. He furrowed his brow then let his eyes rest on Jason's face. "It's there suppose to be one more person coming here?" He raised a bronze eyebrow, searching through his memory for the missing party's name. "Madison Young, is it not?"

Someone up there was smiling down on her with mercy, because Madison didn't hit a single red light as she sped through the city en route to her meeting. She did, however, make a brief detour to pick up a dozen cupcakes from a bakery as a peace offering, calling ahead with her order and quickly forking over the cash at the door to save time in the purchase. She'd made sure to get something Scarlett liked to placate her, and hoped things were going well at the meeting so that she wouldn't have to deal with too much grief.

The clock read 6:12 by the time Madison reached the parking lot. The guard on duty, familiar with Madison's lack of punctuality, barely batted an eyelash as she juggled her purse, laptop case, and the baker's dozen plus and flashed her ID card all at the same time. "Good luck!" He called out at her retreating back. Madison waved at him over her shoulder and ducked into the elevator just before the steel doors closed.

6:13. Aw, daaaaaamn. "I really should've written a will," Madison mused as she waited impatiently for the elevator to reach the appropriate floor. "Scarlett is going to kill me, and and who will feed my fish after I'm gone?"

Wasn't talking to yourself the first sign of insanity?

Thankfully the elevator dinged open a moment later, revealing a large, polished hallway that seemed to stretch on forever. Green potted plants dotted the doorways at regular intervals, not that Madison really noticed. Her nerves had finally woken up at the prospect of meeting her fellow undercover agents for the first time and her stomach was suddenly queasy. This was her first active assignment, and it was a big one; usually Madison served as Scarlett's back up in these situations but had never operated on her own before. Well, there was only one way to deal with this...

Taking a deep, reassuring breath, Madison threw open the door and breezed in cheerfully. "Sorry I'm late!" She spotted Scarlett and, grinned at her, but knowing how annoyed she probably was, immediately held out the box of cupcakes as a peace offering. "Just remember that I'm your favorite partner and you can't kill me because I'm too useful, okay?" She tossed her purse on the floor, once again missing the $1200 price tag still attached to the strap, and dumped her laptop on the couch beside her friend before turning to the two strangers in the room. Alright. She could do this.

"Hi guys, I'm Madison. Sorry I'm late."

After introducing himself to Scarlett Mccarthy in a formal manner, Jason moved his concentration over to the man he knew significantly better, and shook his hand as well. The two years younger of the two men was greeted in a manner at least as formal as the one he had just greeted the woman in. With this greeting he was also given a look by this friend of his implying he had a lot to say about the meeting so far, and about this woman currently sitting next to him in the couch. Jason answered Roman with a "It is very nice to see you too, Mr. Atkins." whereupon he took a step back ending up between the small table and the door he had come through.

Jason inspected the room he just arrived in, there was one more door, leading to a room he did not know, but he assumed it was a bathroom of some sort. He decided to take a seat in the armchair placed next to the couch in which the two other present members of the team sat. Before that however, he was asked by the very man who he had spoken to not more than a minute ago if there weren't supposed to be another girl there as well. "Madison Young, is it not?" Roman's question was ended with.

"Yes, that is correct, she seems to be a little late though," he begun, still maintaining part of the more or less serious attitude, and without eradicating the smile on his often earnest face. "well, I guess I'm not really one to talk." he then ended his response with a moment later, the corner of his mouth slightly twitching upwards a little.

Right as Jason sat down in the armchair however, quick footsteps were heard, shortly after this the door was thrown open and into the room flew the fourth member, somehow bringing a brighter and livelier feeling to the room, Jason guessed it was due to her sudden appearance. This was no doubt Madison, he remembered her clearly from the pictures, multiple pictures altered to make it look like the two of them were happily married. It had certainly felt odd seeing himself in places he had never been, with a woman he had never met, not that it had been all that bad, it was very proffessional work indeed, by whoever had edited these images, and Madison was attractive, he gave her that, on top of this, he thought the choice of tuxedo used when taking one of the "wedding photos" had been a pretty good one as well. This didn't change the fact that he knew nothing of her personality though, and the smiling girl that had entered could be "wearing a mask" so to speak, like the ones he often found himself behind.

Revealing a box of cupcakes Madison apologized for being late to Scarlett and introduced herself to the two men sitting down with what appeared to be a cheerful attitude. Jason was surprised at the events that had transpired in the short time she had been in the room. But he was relieved to see that she hadn't arrived later than she did, as he would need some time to "study" her, and find out what kind of person he was dealing with in this short meeting they all would share.
Jason rose up from where he had recently seated himself, moving over to this woman, and reaching his hand out for the third time that day, putting the slightly amused and happier expression back on his face.
"Hi Madison, I'm Jason, but you probably already knew that. And welcome." he said. After welcoming her he stepped backwards, now positioned in front of the armchair he had claimed as his seat not much earlier.

Roman could sense Scarlett's distaste. Good, I'm not kissing her ass anytime soon. I bet no one has ever put her on hold before. he mused in his mind. He gave Madison a small smile when she introduced herself. "My name is Roman Atkins," he said, standing up to his full height and adjusting his jacket. "Glad you could make it, Miss. Young." He made his way to the table that held their passports, plane tickets, and information about the case. He skimmed the papers and for the tenth time, looked at the pictures of him and Scarlett. Before, it was strange seeing them because he didn't know her, but now they just seemed even more fake than before. He wanted to groan, which of course, he didn't do. This is going to be a long mission he inwardly sighed.

Roman tried to imagine Scarlett and him 'playing house'. He winced a bit, already seeing the upcoming arguments, sneers, insults, etc...Hell. He was now imagining her with claws, scales and a tail with horns poking out of her hair. He shivered a bit and immediately closed the files, shaking the hag from hell images from his mind. He turned around and faced the group. His eyes were on Scarlett, observing her as she ate her cupcake. For a second, when he saw her smile, he thought she looked very...pretty. What are you doing! She's your new partner. This is an act, Roman. Stick to the plan! Strictly business! his mind scowled. He immediately averted his eyes from Scarlett and settled them on the file in his hand, pulling it out and pretending to examine its content. He stole one more glance then tried his best to ignore her completely.

"Hey, Ally boy?" Roman looked up from the files in his hands, letting his gaze land on Scarlett. He furrowed his eyebrows with a look of confusion etched onto his face. "Ally boy?" He said deadpan. He didn't get it at first, but then he remembered his cover name and it all made sense. Alex...of all the names in the world, the agency wanted to name him Alex. He remembered living with a foster brother named Alex. He was a nightmare; getting him in trouble, arguing with him and even managing to beat him up. He loathed the name. He was so caught up in his revere that he barely noticed that Scarlett was out of her seat and by his side.

He almost jumped out of his skin when he felt her slender hand against his large one. His head immediately snapped to stare at her. With his eyebrow raised, Roman contemplated whether or not Scarlett was bipolar. He was tempted to ask her, but quickly dismissed the idea. Instead, he played along. If he was going to be Alex for God knows how long, then he was going to start practicing today.

"Neither can I," he smiled, letting his finger caress her chin lovingly. He pushed a strand of hair from her face and allowed his green orbs to regard her with admiration. "You know," he smirked as charmingly as he could. "I love it when you call me Ally boy, Honey." In his mind, he was rolling his eyes at the ridiculousness of this conversation. After his inward laughing, Roman let his facade fade and Roman was back, kicking Alex to the curb. He dropped the smile, giving Scarlett his usual serious face. "I'll give you one thing, Scarlett," he semi-grinned. "Your acting skills are impressive. For a minute, I believed that you were not a bi-...not you, I mean."

Standing in front of the brownish beige armchair, Jason simply observed the rest of the people in the room for a while. Suddenly Scarlett's tone had changed, and with an innocent smile she started speaking as if she was an entirely different person. She sounded a lot "sweeter" than earlier and Jason took it she had gone into character, when she spoke to Roman he responded fondly, showing that he had done the same.

"Well I guess I should go with the flow then." Jason thought to himself and as he prepared Gregory's reportoire in his head, he decided to look at his watch. It showed that the four agents were running out of time for small talk and standing around, which is why he straightened his posture and walked, with a calmer and more noble sort of movement than the one he had earlier carried himself with, over to table on which the files were laying, pretending to skim through a paragraph on the assignment, a text he had already read a number of times. At the same time Roman dropped his act, perhaps only for the duration of the sentence he followed up with, perhaps for longer, but Jason, no Gregory, was going to keep his up. He did not know how much research this Madison Young had done on him, but how much or little she knew about him and his "mood issues" and sleeping problems, was unimportant right now, at least to him. He however, needed to know more of this woman, as he didn't know anything else than what was provided in the files he had been sent prior to the mission.

Scarlett dropped Roman’s hand and her expression returned to default just as Roman’s had. “Well, isn’t that ironic considering you really know nothing about me,” She said, mimicking her new partner’s grin, before turning her attention to what Madison was informing Jason about. When she realized that she barely understood a word that was said, she turned toward the main door, “I’ll be right back,” she muttered before leaving into the long hallway in search for a bathroom. She had already determined that the other door in the conference room was only a closet.

While walking back down the hallway, Scarlett tried to open every door that passed, though every one of them seemed to be locked. She hummed softly to herself until she finally ran into one of her previous stylists. “Bathr-“

“Right down the hall,” the woman said in a monotone voice before she could even finish. She apparently wasn’t the biggest fan of Scarlett, either.

Scarlett followed the woman’s finger down another hall until she reached a brightly lit room that smelled of bleach and artificial oranges.

After reapplying the creamy lip gloss that apparently looked great with her skin tone for the third time, she then just stared into the mirror, hoping to stall as much time as possible. She was already confident that she would be able to play as Olivia, but perhaps it was the overconfidence that could ruin it for them.

Roman held back a scoff as Scarlett wheeled around and left. "I only know what you've showed me and so far you don't seem like a fucking teddy bear." He muttered under his breath when the door closed. He sighed and slumped onto the swirling chair by the table. He was already stressing and they haven't even gotten on the plane yet. He glanced at the wall clock, watching the seconds tick by in slow motion. Time wasn't on his side. He wanted to go to the airport, settle into the large house and get this damn mission over with.

To say that Roman was annoyed was an understatement. To say that he didn't feel the urge to get up and go back to the comfort of his apartment would be a lie. Misery was definitely in his future. He looked up at the ceiling, staring at the tiles with a no emotion on his handsome face.

"Miss. Young," he said, his deep voice expressing his dismay slightly. "When are we boarding the plane?" Roman already knew, seeing as his memory was one of his weapons, but he had to hear someone else say it. Maybe if someone said then time would move faster. God, please give me strength.

Roman glanced at the clock, deeming it time to leave. To his relief, he was calmer than before, so he was ready to endure Scarlett's crap. He stood up from his chair and exited the room behind Scarlett. He took long strides to the entrance of the building, feeling a light breeze caress his chiseled cheeks. He breathed in the fresh air, letting it fill his lungs fully. He liked being outside and hoped that their new home would be near a park, so that he could have his morning jog. He entered the vehicle, sliding into the seat beside Scarlett.

There was a long suffocating moment of silence as the car began to move through the traffic. Roman sighed, if they were going to work together then they were going to have to communicate...no matter how unpleasant it may be. After clearing his throat, Roman finally spoke. "I have OCD," he stated, continuing their conversation from earlier. "I hate when my things aren't where I've left them. I tend to wake up at 6:10 am on the dot and I can't sleep without taking my pills, due to my insomnia. Those are just a few things that you should know." He kept his gaze out of the window as he spoke, but waited for her to say something. He prepared himself mentally for an insult or even stranger...a complement.

Scarlett rested her head against the window, letting the vibration of the car distract her from the tension between her and Roman; though soon, a sudden voice seemed to shatter her empty thought bubbles. Scarlett looked at Roman, whose eyes were glued to the scenery playing through the window. “Well, lucky for you, I’m a heavy sleeper, so you won’t have to worry about the fact that I’m not much of an early morning person,” she said, not giving any pity, when in fact she knew how inconvenient it would be to have an affliction such as that.

Scarlett fought the urge to rub her eyes and smear her eye makeup. She was used to wearing makeup- just not this much. “I don’t know what you have to mope about, you’re not the one who has to keep this up,’ she said plainly, staring into a small compact mirror at the false eyelashes that tickled her skin every time she blinked. Not only was she talking about the makeup, but about the dresses, the heels, the endless smiling… Acting the part would be easy, but it sure wouldn’t be fun.

When the car finally slowed at the airport’s main entrance, and then stopped, Scarlett muttered in encouragement, mostly to herself “Here goes nothing,” before exiting the car and giving the driver a friendly nod in response to opening her door. The driver quickly went around back to the popped trunk to unload the luggage.

Fancy, Scarlett thought as the man rested down a Louis Vuitton duffle bag and a matching suitcase.

No, but I do have to put up with you Roman thought, but he said nothing and just gave her a blank look instead. He kept his face stony to hide the distaste that he had within him. He didn't want to start an argument. He was relieved when they reached the airport, he exited the vehicle, slipping into character. He was no longer Roman Atkins, but Alex Cross. He allowed his lips to pull into a warm smile. He wasn't really use to smiling, but he was going to have to. He grabbed Scarlett's petite hand nonchalantly then squeezed it gently. He flashed her a smile that would fool anyone, but her of course. He grabbed their luggage then offered her his arm, "Shall we?" He grinned lightheartedly.

Jason took a seat next to Madison in the taxi and noticed her sudden change in demeanor, it seemed she had now turned into Elizabeth, leaving the IT enthusiast Madison, behind.

As the car started moving he felt he had actually been pretty lucky with the partner that had been chosen for him, she seemed like the kind of person that wouldn't make too big a fuss over the little things and not create too much drama, and as long as the two of them did their jobs and gave each other enough space, Jason thought this would probably work out fine. Of course, he wasn't exactly flawless, what with his bipolarity, but he knew how to handle it, and he believed he would be able to care of his mood swings.

"Wonder how Rome's taking this, he had a pretty painful look on his face earlier..." he thought while stretching his limbs as best he could in the limited space of his car seat. "Why would the Agency match a woman like her with a man like him anyways?"

To Jason it seemed pretty dumb that they would put two people with such different personalities together as partners. Though he knew agents were expected to succeed with whatever mission they were given, and usually did so too, it seemed like bad decisionmaking on the institute's side.

The trip to the airport was mostly quiet, and when the taxi which they travelled in stopped outside, Jason, who was now Gregory, only sent a quick smile towards Elizabeth before exiting through the door on his side and walking around the vehicle to open the one on his "wife's" side.