AN- Apologies about the deley everyone, with Covid being a nightmare and a new job in a new city things have been a bit crazy resently, and with my hours increasing drastically my writing has had to take a back seat much to my sadness. Please know that this stroy will be finished if it kills me - and it just might at this point - but it will be finished. I cant say when or how quickly but please know that this story will never be abandoned. So thanks for sticking with it and with me, i really appreciate it.
AN2- As usual nothing belongs to me and i make absolutly zero profit from this.
Chapter 24
Promptly at 8 am Harry's alarm went off pulling him from his sleep far too early than he would like, but it was later than normal and Sophia's plane would be touching down in 2 ½ hours. Sliding out of bed – because even if he sees her in a matter of hours and he had managed an extra hour of sleep and his alarm normally went off very early – he wasn't a morning person. His dad would attest to that, having dealt with Harry in the mornings for many years he was very well trained for when his siblings arrived and followed the family traditions of being definite night owls.
Dressing in his work out gear he quickly made his way down to the gym and powered through his workout in record time, before hitting the showers. A quick shower, shave, and a call down to the front desk to request breakfast and a car for 9:30, he sat down at his computer to fill out another request form for Stark to play with. The world-renowned playboy was not what he expected and he imagined that if what he had managed to put together of his biological father was true Harry imagined that Stark would be pretty close. Bit of a bad boy exterior with an honest and loyal interior. He could only imagine the mayhem that his dad and Stark could get up to given the right opportunity.
Quickly going to the door to retrieve his breakfast Harry returned to his computer and began pulling up the next forms he sent off all the relevant developments to Romanov and relayed the scientific translations he needed to Dr. Banner, while he consumed his breakfast. Finishing quickly, he dressed in dark jeans and a pale green shirt before checking his watch, he had 10 minutes before he had to leave so he quickly grabbed his phone and selected the phone number, it took a couple of rings before it was picked up, "Yes?"
"Dad, it's me." Harry responded.
He could hear the quiet sigh of relief from his father through the phone "Good to hear from you sport, I'm at the location and have been eyes on since midnight, no unusual activity and I've got eyes on his second in command." That wasn't surprising Harry thought, Konya was Baclovitch's right-hand man, him being in the main fortress that was Baclovitch's home was to be expected.
"Nikolay Konya, right? I got his intel packet yesterday morning, I thought he might be at the poker game but he wasn't." That however had been surprising and it was raising all sorts of questions as to why he had been decidedly absent when all intelligence indicated that he frequented the bar almost as much as Baclovitch himself.
"Yeah, didn't see him leave but the came in around 5 this morning even though The Snake arrived at around half 3." Again, more knowledge that added the growing list of questions that were developing in Harry's mind, he was going to need much more information than this if he was going to figure any of this out.
"Hmm, keep a close eye on him, Baclovitch can't go anywhere without fanfare so knowing where he is shouldn't be too difficult but this guy might have the answers we're looking for, I'm going to put in another information packet, wait no," Harry paused for a minute. If the leak was inside MI6 like his gut was telling him then the intel request would be common knowledge and even the higher-ups on this would be keeping a close eye on the information going in and out and requesting another packet on him would raise too many flags and that was a risk he couldn't take, "I'll get more info on him myself, just keep your eye on him okay?"
"Sure. What about you? I'm supposed to be able to have your back son, not spend all my time watching this guy." Now that has a dad that Harry was familiar with, the protective streak was very strong in his family and it had been his dad after all that taught him that you do anything for your family.
His dad needed reassurance that he was still protecting him and that was something Harry could do for him, "Watching him keeps one more threat off my back, and I'll have Soph. I'll be fine dad." Hopefully, that would prevent the worst of the anxiety that he knew his dad must be having by now.
"Alright fine, I'll check in with you via text at 2200 tonight okay?" While he didn't sound completely okay with - it Harry was pleased that his dad was giving him the benefit of the doubt that he hadn't earlier in the week.
"Roger that, look sharp and watch your back old man, I'll be waiting for your message." With that, the call ended and Harry headed down to the lobby and his awaiting car.
Sabiha Gokcen International Airport
Waiting for the plane to begin disembarking, Soph was fidgeting ever so slightly in her seat. Not that she would ever admit that to anyone and as an MI6 agent not being able to sit still was a little embarrassing especially considering that she was only having a bad case of nerves.
It had been four days since she and Harry had last seen each other – and kissed – though she was desperately trying not to think about that so she could focus, it was decidedly difficult. He was a spectacularly good kisser. Just as she was drifting into thoughts of deep conversations and toe-curling kisses, a voice over the loudspeaker announced they could begin to make their way off the plane.
Traveling business class had many benefits, one of which is that she didn't have to wait around very long before a hostess informed her that – unlike the majority of the plane that had to wait for the front to exit first. As such luggage reclaim wasn't very crowded at all and she quickly located her luggage and a willing porter to take her luggage for her, her cover identity was, after all, a young and successful businesswoman. With the porter and luggage in tow, she made her way to the arrivals gate, eyes quickly scanning the crowd for that signature head of messy black hair.
Their eyes quickly met once she had remembered that M had sent him to get a hair cut before the op and as much his 'messy' hair was not to such extremes as it had been before. Slightly long on top but cropped neatly on the sides Sophia had to admit that she was a great fan of this particular look on him.
Walking over to him she was slightly nervous for a few seconds as to what to do, should she kiss him? Her cover was that of his fiancé and kissing would kind of be expected but they had only recently just kissed for real what if…
Harry seemed to have decided for her as he happily took her in his arms and kissed her, gently but conveying every feeling of want and need and dare she say love that they had both evidently been feeling. Smiling happily, she returned the kiss content to stay there for an eternity. Eventually, however reality and biology both kicked in and the need for air ended their kiss, the smiles, however, staying on both their faces.
"I missed you." Harry said, she was ever so slightly glad, she had missed him too.
"So did I. How've things been so far handsome, how did your business go?" She gently took his hand as she walked with him out of the airport toward the waiting town car.
"It went well the deal has gone through and I've made a few new contacts who should prove to be very lucrative, to say the least." Harry smiled even if they were pretending to be other people right now, the nature of the cover identities relationship allowed for a lot of the natural behavior to be acceptable in their current situation. Harry knew M was crafty but this was a whole new level even for her – he was still going to send her a bottle of scotch though when he returned, "How about you? You had a very important contract negotiation did you not?"
She smiled at him quickly before indicating the porter which car was theirs and watched as the driver and porter quickly and efficiently took care of the luggage, "It went very well, yes. They tried to weasel their way out of a few things but I quickly took care of that." Harry smiled.
"When are these people going to learn that just because you are a woman doesn't mean you won't kick him in the balls – physically and verbally – I might add." Harry bemoaned, the exact situation had never happened obviously but he had witnessed her taking many men and even the occasional woman down a notch or two.
Quickly handing the young porter a hefty tip for his services, he opened the door for Sophia and climbed in after her, and without a word, the car took off to begin the journey to the hotel once more.
Pulling Sophia into his side he gently took her hand, "How are things, really?" nudging his head toward the soundproof divider between the driver and them Sophia got the message.
"To be honest it's a bit weird, I mean the whole team is walking around on eggshells because of what happened to Josh and now you've gone undercover and I've followed you here. Everyone is just a bit nervous. Then there's the fact that the original avengers are just casually strolling around the base everyone feels like there's going to be some big bang of a finale to all this." Sighing deeply, she collapses ever so slightly further into his embrace as she lets out some of the worries that had been eating at her recently.
"Well in that case I think we should go back to the hotel and I'll see if the spa can sneak us in for a massage and then we can see about a late lunch how does that sound?"
Unknown Location
Nikolay Konya liked to think that he was a patient man but sitting in Baclovitch's office breathing in the constant waft of cigar smoke waiting for him to say something when he had an appointment to keep was testing the limits of his well-defined patients.
Finally, however, he turned to him and began speaking "A fiancé, you say. Interesting." That was not the number of words he was looking for, to be honest, all he was looking for was a dismissal to go about his business, it was not his lucky day, however, "Why was this not discovered when we ran a background check on him?"
Konya didn't know how to answer that, so instead, he kept quiet, Baclovitch noticed, "Awfully quiet today Minik*, something on your mind?"
Konya shifted slightly, "The person with which the information was obtained has already been dealt with and as such, I fail to see how this detracts from our – your – plans, no?" Konya replied hoping to end the conversation before this all became his fault.
Baclovitch was unconvinced however he sensed that the conversation would not go much further and so released the man, "Very well, if it has been dealt with already then you are dismissed. Ensure, however, that oversights like this do not occur again do you hear me."
A quick nod of acceptance saw Konya retiring from the office and making his way to the car and leaving the estate.
*Minik (ME-NICK) – In the dictionary, it means small. However, it is ironically used for large guys like Konya who is 6ft and heavily built with a lot of muscle.