Undercover (Ben)

[~ ADMIN]

New intel was hard to come by these days. The crew still only had their suspicions that the terrorists, the group R4, were behind all these attacks that had been occurring. They still weren't sure exactly how, the science was unfamiliar to them, and they hadn't been able to find a lead which would get them anywhere close to discovering where they group was based, and what technology they were using.

Finally though, they had something. A prisoner in a detention center had come forward with evidence that he hoped would grant him his freedom. It certainly earned him points, but it wasn't enough to get him out. He gave them a name of a senator, Sean Kelly, who he knew was one of the major financeers behind the R4 group.

So, with the Captain's permission, Anna hatched a plan. She and Ben, a ready volunteer, were to attend Senator Kelly's 10th Anniversary party undercover, and when the guests were busy with the toasts, they could sneak upstairs and hack into Kelly's private computer, where they would hopefully find the information they needed to get a warrant for his arrest, then they could question him.

Anna was sitting in the hangar bay, an envelope in her hand, leaning against the shuttle that would take Ben and herself to the party. She was wearing a rather provocative dress, it was incredibly form fitting, and showed a fair amount of flesh. For the moment, she felt self conscious, but as soon as they were at the party, that wouldn't be a problem any more. She'd be playing her role and she would be fine. She also dyed her flame red hair a soft brown, so that she was less recognisable, and wouldn't attract as much attention. It helped with the disguise in her mind as well.

Ben approached, and once again, he looked incredibly handsome in a tux, walking with a slight swagger which made her smirk. She trailed her fingers across her lips as she stood to her full height. "Zip it," she told him, before he could make a remark about the way she was dressed. It was completely out of character for her. "And read." Not that it would stop him from commenting anyway, but she handed the envelope over to him, it was the final extra details of their cover.

[karen2]

The fact that the crew had gotten more evidence against the terrorist group, or as they were known, R4, was incredible. That the captain was letting Ben and Anna go undercover to see if they could pin this Senator Kelly guy for funding the terrorists was even more so. The only downside was that Ben had to wear a tux again--but if he had to dress up, then so did Anna, and he was looking forward to seeing her in another dress. She wore them so well.

It took him a moment to realize that the beautiful brunette woman in a very... revealing dress that was leaning against the shuttle was Anna. She looked different without her trade-mark red hair, which threw him for a moment, and before he was able to collect himself enough to think of something to say, she told him to stay quiet.

He smirked a little as she handed him an envelope, slipping it open easily and flipping briefly through it's contents, reading them over. As he pulled out one of the pieces of paper, something small and hard fell out and he bent down to retrieve it. It was a ring. After a blink he hastily unfolded the paper and read it, an even larger smirk spreading across his face.

Had she seen this? Surely she knew already. He put the papers back in the envelope, hiding it in an inside pocket of his jacket, before strolling up on her right side and snatching her hand to slide the ring onto her finger.

"Oh look, it's a perfect fit, too," he said smugly, watching her face to see how she'd react. She probably already knew, so it most likely wouldn't be that bad of a reaction, but he was curious to see it all the same. He was fond of discovering all her different expressions, after all.

[~ ADMIN]

"That's a first," she said as she watched him open the envelope, "you actually did what I told you." When it was direct orders on a mission, he followed through, he was good from that respect. But when it came to teasing her, he usually couldn't help himself. She figured seeing her in a dress like this (where she felt almost naked apart from the stretch of black cotton across her body) would be too much temptation, but he composed his face into a smirk and began to read. Huh.

The look on his face when he realised what had fallen out of the envelope made her want to laugh, but the other part of her wanted her to gasp and tell him to be more careful. It was a beautiful ring. "I should hope so," she told him, "it was my Grandmother's." The only thing she had inherited from her Grandmother upon the woman's death, much to her mother's chagrin - she had wanted the ring. Her grandmother had a similar build to Anna, and the same fiery red hair.

"So, fiancee of mine," she said, wiggling her ring finger at him, "are you ready for this? Any last words before you have to pretend to be madly in love with me for an evening?" She grinned, enjoying this already. Since their kiss at the award ceremony, they'd been teasing each other like fury, snatching kisses whenever they could away from the prying eyes of the rest of the crew. She hadn't ever imagined falling into a 'relationship' with such passion. They weren't a couple, neither of them had said so anyway, but they'd been having a lot of fun, and it always got Anna's heart racing.

[karen2]

"Oh, believe me, I had to die a little inside to do so," Ben teased, reaching out playfully to run his fingers across the bare expanse of her waist. Her skin was so smooth... he quickly brought his thoughts round to their mission again. There would be a time and a place for that.

Anna seemed to grimace a little when the ring fell to the floor, clearly hoping it hadn't come to any harm, and after he'd put it on her finger he explained why.

"Oh," was his genius response. So the ring had been her grandmothers. That explained why it looked so intricate and official. It was because it was. He shook his head a little when she spoke again, wiggling her hand in front of his face. He gave a playful scowl and pushed her hand away, rolling his eyes at her.

"Yes, I'd just love to pour my heart out," he mocked, putting a hand over his heart and pulling a puppy-dog face at her. "After all, this marks the end of my bachelor days. Oh, how will I ever go on?"

In truth, it probably wouldn't be all that hard to pretend that he and Anna were engaged, if a little strange. They'd been teasing one another almost every chance they got, stealing kisses when no one was watching. And then there'd been that one make-out session in the supply-closet... good times. All in all, he could think of far worse aliases than "fiancee". Besides, it would explain their somewhat giddy and flirtatious relationship.

Speaking of aliases... "Are we going to be going by different names?" he asked, pulling the envelope back out to flip through it again. He didn't remember seeing anything in there, but maybe he'd just missed it.

[~ ADMIN]

Anna laughed, she'd figured as much. "Poor baby," she cooed, before his fingers traced across the smooth skin at her waist. It tickled, and she wrinkled her nose, trying not to squirm or giggle. It wasn't like his fingers hadn't been at her waist before, just not upon her bare skin.

She straightened up next to him, as tall as him in the heels she was wearing, soothing the clean shaven skin across his jaw with her hand, an alluring smile on her face. The smile turned into a smirk as she tugged his ear lobe and gently slapped his cheek. "Cheeky."

"I'm sure you would," she retorted, "I'm sure you'll live, especially if you get to shack up for the rest of your life with me. What's to complain about?" She smirked, "after all, I am beautiful, a great kisser, intelligent, and I know how to tie a tie," she said, repeating his words from the first night they'd kissed, "what more could you want?"

Not that she had admitted it out loud, but that night had probably been the best night of her life, shortly followed by the supply closet incident. It had got very steamy, their kisses punctuated with giggles and shushes as things went clattering to the floor.

When he asked her about the names, he was probably expecting a serious answer, "how about I call you pumpkin, and you can call me sweetheart?" she suggested, a grin on her face. "If you don't fancy that, the names assigned were Jacob Hunter and Eve Masterson," she added, as they would need them for their cover. Their real names always stood the chance of being recognised, and they didn't need to tip anyone off. If this went how Anna planned, they'd be in and out with no hiccups, having a little bit of fun on the way.

[karen2]

"Ticklish, are we?" Ben asked, lifting an eyebrow coyly and running his fingers across her skin again, lighter this time. "Should have guessed." After all, she had such a quirky and playful attitude about most things, and somehow the fact that she was ticklish just seemed to blend in with that which was Anna.

She stood up to her full height, patting his cheek gently before tugging his ear once, which made him grin a little and he was tempted to ruffle her hair. In fact, if it didn't look like it had taken her so long to prepare it, he might have. Her next comment pushed the thought from his mind and made him snort. "I guess you've got a point there, love," he joked, "You're so much cheaper than those silly clip-on ties."

At Anna's response to his question about names, Ben rolled his eyes and chortled. "Right then, sweetheart," he teased, "I'll get right on calling you that." Now that she'd gotten her joke in, she told him the name he'd been assigned. "Jacob Hunter, eh? I look like a Jacob to you?" he asked, pulling his best Blue Steel and then breaking into laughter before she could answer.

"So, Eve Masterson, are you looking forward to becoming Eve Hunter? Tell me the date of the wedding again, sweetheart? You know how terrible we men are at remembering such trivial things as dates."

Ben knew he was being a smart-ass about it, but it would be good if they had their background story solidified. Sure, he'd read it on the paper, that much he had seen, but they'd have to go over it so they remembered the same facts. If one of them went around saying they were "getting married" on Earth in Hawaii or something in two months while the other said they were heading for somewhere on Beta Cygni in three, they'd look mighty suspicious.

[~ ADMIN]

"Not at all," she lied, shuddering as he did it for the second time. Before he could retract his hand all the way, she grabbed it with one of her own, tugging herself close to him so that her waist was off limits, looking at him. "Maybe someday you'll know me just as well as I know you," she said, her face oh so close to his now they were at the same level.

Anna let out a snort of laughter, "cheap? It monetary terms maybe," she said, "I wouldn't underestimate how much I'm worth in other aspects." She titled her head to the side and let a sly smile cross her face. He had a devious look in his eye, one that wasn't acted upon. Good, he wasn't going to have his revenge for the tug and slap.

"Don't ask me, pumpkin," she said, "I used a name randomiser I found on the ship's system," she grinned, laughing when he did his Blue Steel impression. "Aww, aren't you adorable?" she said in a patronising manner. "At least the name wasn't something like Beef Bubcus. I could have just looked in the fridge to see what food I had left and made a name out of that. Sal Sadip. Hugh Mous. They just reek class, don't they?"

"Aww hun," Anna spoke with an American accent, "I know how hard it is for you to admit something like that, your poor pride." She rubbed his arm, "we're getting married in December, remember? That church in your home town, in Maine. I remember you telling me how perfect it would be if we had a 'white wedding', snow and all." Anna's face spread in a grin, and she reverted back to her real accent, "that sound about right to you?"

The pilot of the shuttle waved them on board and Anna removed herself from the close proximity to Ben, giving him the 'come hither' finger and a smile as she walked onto the shuttle. Being on the shuttle would be the last real chance they had to go over stuff before they reached the party and they had to fall into character. She'd done stuff like this before, but not with a partner like Ben. All her previous partners and group members on missions had been big military guys, pretending to be her Uncle or something.

[karen2]

While Anna denied that his fingers on her skin bothered her, she shivered, and he knew she was lying. He opened his mouth to make a smart remark, but before he could make a sound Anna had snatched his hand and pulled herself into him. His eyebrows rose a little, and he could feel her breath against his mouth as she spoke.

"And how well do you know me, really, love?" he asked lightly, leaning his face an infinitesimal amount closer to hers. Their noses were practically brushing. She snorted then, and he backed off on the whole "wanna-be-mysterious" bit. It had never really worked for him, and he had no reason to try and flatter Anna. Well, at the moment, anyway. "Now did say you were cheap in that way?" he pointed out, shaking his head a little. "Such faith you have in your fiancee and his undying love for you."

Amusement stole over Ben as she explained how he'd ended up with his alias, and then began listing other names he could have ended up with. "Hmm, suddenly I'm quite partial to Jacob," he said, giving her a crooked grin. "Not so classy."

He blinked when she spoke again, a slightly stupefied expression appearing on his face as she slipped into an American accent. "First you become a brunette, and then an American girl?" he asked. Smirking, he added cheekily, "Is there anything you can't do?"

The pilot waved them over then, and Ben tried to recall the words she'd actually said instead of just the accent she'd used as they climbed into the back of the ship. "So December, in Maine, at that lovely little church on the edge of town," he repeated, throwing in his own little flourish. "Good to know. We can get snowmen and elf and ginger-bread men costumed for the waiters."

[~ ADMIN]

Anna knew a fair amount. Of course, she'd read his file from cover to cover, so she knew all the technical stuff, where he'd lived, gone to school, etc. She knew that he had a sister, but no living parents, it didn't list how they'd died - and she didn't expect it to, that was a personal matter. Birthday, hobbies, all that sort of stuff. Then there were things she'd observed. He didn't know it, but she'd actually seen him playing the guitar once when he thought no one was watching. He was good. But this wasn't a discussion for now, it might 'cause tension which they didn't need. "Well enough," she said.

"You said I was cheaper that a clip-on tie," she said, "way to make someone feel loved. Especially your betrothed." His sentence about faith seemed highly ironic considering this was a fake engagement.

"I knew you'd like it," she grinned, managing to convince him that Jacob was actually a pretty decent name in comparison to the other ones that had passed through her mind at the time of it's concoction. "Jacob can be shortened down into nicknames as well," she said with a smirk, "cute names which I'm sure I'll come out with later." Eve couldn't really be shortened. It could be lengthened to Evie, she supposed, but nothing too terrible.

Anna pretended to think about his incredulous question, "hmmm," she looked to the ceiling thoughtfully, "I'm sure there must be something," she said, winding him up a little. Hey, there had to be a reason she was chosen as the ship's Chief Tactical Officer. It wasn't because there was no one left, she hoped it was because there was no one better. That flattered her ego nicely.

"That would be both hilarious and amazing," she said with a laugh, "we'd have to make sure the kids didn't try and eat the gingerbread man though." Anna took her seat and looked round at him, "I was thinking about the Maldives for the honeymoon," she said, "scuba diving, private beach, lots of you know what." She smiled widely at him, "what do you think?"

[karen2]

Ben narrowed his eyes a little at Anna's response, but said nothing. She may know what was in his file, but there were some things she had yet to learn. At least, he hoped. If not, then any conversations they'd have would be pretty one-sided, and that wouldn't be much fun. When she pointed out in insult in his words, he grinned at her apologetically.

"Now, my dear lady, would I ever intentionally insult you?" A slight pause. "Don't answer that." She seemed pleased that he approved of the name Jacob--if grudgingly--and mentioned that she could, and would, come up with nicknames. "Fine, but if you start calling me 'Jakey-Wakey' or something, I'm drawing the line."

Anna took far too long considering what she might not be able to do, and Ben snorted. He could tell that she was soaking all this in, so what was the harm of knocking her back just a small notch? "Obviously, the list must be long if you can't think of just one thing to say." No doubt he'd just asked for it, but it was too much fun getting her annoyed.

"Somehow I don't think styrofoam would agree with their young stomachs," he pointed out, choking back a laugh, "Unless of course you planned on creating their costumes out of actual gingerbread, in which case I'd love to watch. It would be quite the interesting process. Especially the baking part."

Since Anna was sitting down, Ben felt it appropriate to do the same and hastily claimed the seat next to her. When she brought up the "honeymoon" he spluttered a little but managed to collect himself fairly quickly. In truth, he'd never made love with a woman before, though he'd never admit it. The thought of a honeymoon was... well... a little awkward. How would he explain himself without sounding like a total prude?

In spite of that, he managed to return her smile, trying to slip back into his previously coy manner. "What do I think? Well I think that sounds perfectly lovely, sweetheart." Hopefully that sounded like something he'd usually say.

[~ ADMIN]

There was a lot about Anna that the crew on the Venia didn't know, one big thing in particular that she'd been keeping a secret for many, many years. The topic was an awkward one, and there were many reasons why she didn't bring it up, the shame, and the fact that she feared people wouldn't believe her. But, now, she had to have her mind on the mission, stay focused.

Anna had opened her mouth to reply when he told her not to answer the question, and she smirked. He knew that she had been going to say yes. Of course he would, all the bantering and the pranks he'd pulled, she had no doubt of the matter. However, she could dish it straight back, and he knew that too. "Damn," Anna said about the nickname, "that was first on my list."

Ooh, Ben was being testing today. Not that he wasn't every day, but that was cutting. She had to react, of course. "And your list, my dear, is so long that you couldn't even begin to fathom it."

"Jacob, honey, in this day and age, what makes you think that the men can't do the baking, hmm?" she said with a smile, "then I can experience the joy of sitting back and watching you make the gingerbread costume. I wouldn't like to think that you think women should do all the housework, otherwise I don't think this is going to work out." She patted him on the shoulder with a smirk before she took her seat.

Anna saw him splutter when she mentioned the honey moon and raised her eyebrows. It had been in jest, but the way he'd reacted about something she'd said, it seemed serious. Seeing as he had no problem joking about the wedding, maybe it was something to do with what happens on a honeymoon. To be honest, she could only really joke about a subject like that, thinking about making love made her stomach churn - she was so nervous about the memories that would arise, and the pain it had caused when... damn it, why did she keep coming back to this now?

"Um, yes, good," she said, brushing some of her hair out of her face, realising that what she had been thinking about must have been playing on her face too. Composing herself, she took the envelope off him as they began to take off, going over the details again as they set off.

Anna was quiet all the way to the Senator's house, just reading, occasionally letting Ben reach over for stuff to read. They would find the banter again once they got off the ship. The shuttle touched down and the pilot wished them luck. Anna rose from her chair and offered Ben her hand, "here we go."

[karen2]

Anna's jest about the length of his list of non-doable things made Ben chuckle. "Even if that's so, I have no problem admitting it," he prodded, smirking a little. "For example, I can own up to not being able to use different accents very convincingly or speak any languages but English and French, and little bits of Latin."

Though he could certainly have taken another few languages as electives, he only really bothered with Latin, and even that had only been for one year before he dove more fully into tactical learnings. As for the French, it was still the secondary language in Canada, and so he'd learned it in elementary and high-school.

He'd also never bothered with baking, though he had helped his mom occasionally as a kid. "Well, I could certainly try, though I think the gingerbread might turn out a little black by the time I was through."

The two of them were almost always reliable for a laugh, but after the honeymoon joke they both fell into silence, Anna swiping the envelope from his jacket and leafing through it. When the quiet started to get to him, Ben reached over and snatched a piece of paper as well, sharpening his focus for the mission by reading over it again.

It wasn't too long after that when they reached their destination, and once they'd landed the pilot offered them a quick encouragement. Anna was on her feet almost immediately, and she offered him a hand up. He lifted an eyebrow at her, ignoring her hand as he got up but then offering her his arm. He had to act like he was Jacob Hunter, and--just his luck--that probably included acting like a gentleman.

"Shall we head inside, sweetheart?" Ben asked in an almost overly-polite voice, which secretly creeped him out a little.

[~ ADMIN]

"In that case," Anna said, "you have one up on me, I have no clue about Latin." Apart from "veni vidi vici", which she'd read once in a history book, it meant 'I came, I saw, I conquered'. She wasn't entirely sure when knowing bits of Latin would ever come in handy, but then, you never knew. All the accents and languages, she'd picked up off other people over the past three years on missions. The UGAP allowed people from all over the World apply for it's military unit, and it was great hearing all the different accents and languages, cultures etc.

Mmmm, nasty. "Charred gingerbread... maybe we should keep you away from the oven." Anna wasn't much of a cook either. The microwave was her friend, as was any food she didn't have to cook, sandwiches, celery sticks and houmous, anything really. If push came to shove, she'd just look up the recipe on the net, but she barely had time to cook anyway.

Anna hadn't meant for him to take her hand to help him up, but he had ignored it anyway, offering her his arm. Being civil with each other was going to interesting, especially if he was going to play the gentleman - very unusual for him. Taking his arm, she said, "let's," giving him a sweet smile as they headed towards the house. This was it.

The house was a grand one, very modern, made of an assortment of wood, glass, metal, and concrete. It began to drizzle lightly as they reached the front door, and they were ushered inside into the dry, where they checked off on the guest list, and allowed to mingle. Anna could see heads turn as she and Ben entered, men and women alike.

"This house is amazing," Anna commented in her cover accent, which attracted the attention of a passer by. "I'm glad you think so," came the voice. Anna and Ben both turned to find that the voice had come from Sean Kelly, the senator they were supposed to be acquiring information from. He gave them a charming smile. "I don't believe we've met before," he said, offering a hand to Ben first, "Sean Kelly."

[karen2]

When Anna took his arm, Ben returned her smile and together they made their way towards the front doors of the rather exquisite house before them. They were rushed inside just as rain began to fall, and quickly checked themselves off of the guest list before entering the main room to consort with the others guests.

Eyes followed them as they wandered through the room, but Ben paid little attention to the other women. Instead he almost glared at the men who stared at Anna as they passed, feeling oddly smug when their faces fell after seeing the ring on her finger. Ha, that's right, you can't have her! This surprised him a little. Who would have thought he'd be the type to get territorial?

The accent he wasn't used to colouring Anna's voice spoke again, and he turned back to her just as another voice answered her statement. Well, finding Senator Kelly hadn't been hard. When Kelly stuck his hand out, Ben took it appropriately, smiling winningly at him. Hey, he could act when the occasion called for it.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mister Kelly," he said lightly, shaking his hand. "I'm Jacob Hunter, and this here is my fiancee, Eve Masterson." Kelly's attention was averted to Anna, and he grinned at her, taking one of her hands and raising it to his lips briefly. "Charmed."

Ben allowed Anna to do the talking here, instead glancing around to do a quick scope the building. There were a few security cameras, but seeing as security would be mostly focused on this room, hopefully they wouldn't be too hard to slip by. He thought back to the directions they'd been given to find the computer room, and tried to lay out a rough map in his head while Anna kept the Senator busy.

[~ ADMIN]

Anna had tried not to focus on all the gorgeous women, engaged or otherwise, as they turned their heads in Ben's direction. She was supposed to be being loving, not possessive. She could have sworn one of the women was eyeing her up instead, which made her smirk. Kelly had never mentioned anything in any of his speeches about freedom and sexuality, which meant he didn't want to get himself into trouble for speaking the truth. It made Anna wonder if he knew someone of that inclination was wandering round his party. She didn't mind the looking, but she was here with Ben, obviously.

She wouldn't have noticed the men staring as much if Ben hadn't subconsciously tightened his grip on her arm. Was he jealous?

"Ooh," Anna said with a giggle as Kelly brushed his lips against her hand, "aren't you a charmer." Ben's line of sight began to wander around the room, and Anna addressed the Senator in conversation, flipping her hair softly. "I'd love to have a house like this someday," she told him, "it's just so beautifully made, the architecture, stunning." "Like I said, I'd glad you think so," Kelly replied, "I had it custom made to my own specifications. The glass makes the house feel open and bright." "I bet it does!" Anna smiled, "we've only got a small place right now, but maybe someday, y'know. It would be a dream house for sure."

The conversation continued in an inane fashion while Ben scoped the place out. Once he turned his attention back to her, she said to Kelly. "Because this house is just so gorgeous, do you mind if we have a nosy around? Just a little peak at some of the upstairs rooms?" Evidently wanting to keep up his charming appearance, and probably hoping Anna would come back later so he could glance at her cleavage some more, Kelly nodded, "of course," he said, "but don't stay away from the party too long. You'll miss all the fun." "Thank you, Mr. Kelly, you're the best. Definitely getting my vote!"

They laughed as they ended the conversation, and Anna tugged Ben gently away towards the staircase, softly kissing his cheek before whispering in his ear, "ready?"