AN: No, you are not seeing things. In a freakish bout of productivity we have managed to produce a second chapter...in the same year!

Chapter 14

Lucy drove her bike up the long winding road to her destination. It was a road she had eagerly driven many times in her past, but traveling the road now made her feel anything but eager. She knew she was expected to be happy in coming back to this place because it was one where a lot of fond memories from her teen years had taken place. However, only one memory surfaced about where she was going, and it was anything but happy. It was the night she and Riley had parted ways.

Pulling up she saw the sleek, candy apple red Ferrari 250 GT. Even without seeing it close up just yet, she knew it was bound to be a sight to see when she got a good look. Only 40 of that particular model was ever made and she had missed her opportunity to own one when she couldn't make the Scottsdale auto auction in Arizona because she was away in Japan. The car had sold for over six million dollars, but she would've paid twice as much to have the car in her collection.

She dismounted her bike, pulled her helmet off and sat it atop the seat. Walking towards the car, she admired the beauty of the vintage car and the obvious meticulous restoration it had underwent. Moving closer, the car was soon forgotten and she couldn't help but noticed that it paled in comparison to the beauty that was sprawled on top of it. Her dark wavy hair danced slightly around her face in the light wind and the moon illuminated her like a goddess.

Lucy could feel her dark eyes watching her as she unzipped her jacket and walked around the car. She stopped in front of it and stared into them before her eyes fell upon the slight curl of the glossed lips. Forcing herself to look away and focus on something else other than just how good Riley looked, she turned her attention back to the car.

"Hmmm, 1958 Series 1?" Lucy stated more than she asked as she ran her hand along the hood, trying to think about anything other than what was going on in her mind.

"Yep, how can you tell?" Riley answered, but had to laugh at the look that Lucy shot her at the question. "Never mind," she backtracked, "I forgot I'm talking to a car junkie."

"Any chance this beauty is for sale?" Lucy asked with a charming smile and leaned against the car.

Riley slid slowly down the car and came to rest next to Lucy with a devilish smirk playing on her lips "You couldn't afford me," she teased.

Lucy chuckled at the answer. "You I don't have to afford, but I'm sure this car would set me back a good bit even if it is the wrong color."

"Black isn't the only color on the spectrum Lucy," Riley told her and moved closer.

This pulled another chuckle from Lucy. "That's because black isn't even on the spectrum, it's made up of all the colors that are." 'I bet Amy would know that,' she thought errantly.

"Thank you for the lecture Professor Reynolds, I'm sure that'll be handy in my next business acquisition, but F.Y.I….I knew that already smartass."

Lucy turned her head slightly to look at Riley with a grin. "Sure you did."

Riley rolled her eyes and leaned back on her hands against the car. Lucy watched as she tucked a stray strand of hair that had blown into her face behind her ear before she turned away to look straight ahead. A stretch of silence came over them both and the only sound that could be heard was the rustling of the branches in the trees overhead.

Lucy idly wondered why Riley had asked to meet her here. Actually, Lucy knew exactly why. She knew Riley was trying to rekindle their relationship. It had been more evident in the past couple of days with Riley attempting to get them to 'date'. It was something that Lucy had been able to avoid with work obligations. Despite the fact that Lucy didn't want to give Riley any more false hope, at least not any more than she had already given her by sleeping together, she really and truly had been busy.

Now here she was alone with her ex girlfriend, in a place that was once 'theirs,'. But that had been a long time ago, because right now all she could think of was how she didn't belong. She couldn't help but draw parallels at the fact that now she would have to be the one doing the heartbreaking and she was not looking forward to it. She sighed at the conversation she knew she eventually would have to have with Riley.

"You're awfully quiet tonight," Riley finally spoke, wanting to break to silence. She sat up and wrapped an arm around Lucy's shoulder while the other arm snaked its way inside of her jacket and her hand rested against the side of her neck, she kissed the shell of Lucy's ear before she laid her head against her shoulder.

Lucy was quiet for a few moments more before she finally answered. "Just wondering what we're doing here Riley, that's all."

"I thought it would be obvious why we were here. We've had a lot of good memories here," Riley explained before lifting her head and bringing her hand to the side of Lucy's face and turning it towards her own. "I was hoping we could make more," she whispered across Lucy's lips before she pressed a soft kiss against them.

It was a clearing of land shrouded by tall trees and shrubbery that Riley had found a long time ago. She had found it after her curiosity had led her to explore the lay of her family's land. She noticed the hidden entrance as she was driving along a turnoff to the main road about a mile from their main gate and saw that the dirt path was wide enough to drive through.

That property itself served no purpose except for the fact that it separated the main road from the back of the Schaffer compound. It was the one weak spot to gaining access to the Schaffer property, but there were a few hiccups along the way. Unless you were privy to other security measures of the Schaffer's, you didn't stand a chance of accessing the property.

But as luck would have it, Lucy had a penchant for getting into places she had no business being, so that coupled with her passionate relationship with Riley, she knew how to infiltrate the fortress without getting caught. That was largely due to Riley making her aware of all the pertinent info she needed to get in and steal away some time with her.

It was secluded and far enough away that Riley's father or anyone else didn't give it a second thought to visit. She had asked the groundskeeper to do upkeep on the spot because she wanted it for herself. It wasn't until she'd met Lucy that she'd ever thought of sharing her own personal place with anyone else.

They both were young, cocky and well aware of the bad blood that simmered between their families. Instead of resulting to the deadly tactics of the older generation, they fought it out on the roadway.

After several encounters, the attraction they both felt couldn't be denied. During a race, Riley had purposely gone off course hoping her nemesis would come along, and like a moth to the flame Lucy followed. They recklessly weaved through traffic on the highway until Riley took a turn that Lucy knew well. She had never visited it before, but she knew it led to where the Schaffer's resided.

Running on pure adrenaline and lust, she blindly followed Riley up to the clearing to see what the other girl was up too. That night was the start of many first times for them, so Lucy knew Riley was right about all the good memories that they had shared when they were here. It was their spot.

Lucy sighed heavily and pulled out of the embrace before she pushed herself off of the car to stand in front of it. She stood wordlessly as she shoved her hands inside of her jacket pockets and looked out at the view.

"You're pulling away from me and I don't just mean tonight, why?" Riley asked and Lucy could hear the hurt in her voice and it made her feel awful, but still she didn't respond.

After several long moments of not getting an answer, Riley began to get impatient. She scoffed and climbed down completely from the car and stood behind Lucy. "Will you please tell me what I'm doing wrong?" she demanded.

This caused Lucy to respond. She immediately turned around and with the close proximity, she cupped Riley's face is her hands. "You aren't doing anything wrong Riley, I swear it's not you….it's me," she gave as her explanation and immediately regretted her choice of words when Riley moved away and pinned her with a devastated look.

Lucy knew how the clichéd reasoning sounded, but it was true and she didn't want Riley feeling at fault for her own shortcomings and being emotionally unavailable. Her words lingered between them for a long moment before she closed the distance that Riley had put between them and carefully brought a hand to her face again and stared into her eyes.

"Riley, I promise that it's not you okay?" Lucy told her, and her words couldn't be truer because she knew deep down that it really wasn't Riley.

"Then there's someone else," Riley whispered, thinking that could be the only explanation of why Lucy could be pulling away. She knew that in the days following when Lucy had taken her that she hadn't fully committed to being with her. Now here they were, with Lucy validating what she had already suspected.

"No, there's no one else," Lucy told her with a sigh. Which was partially true, but she knew that there was no future with the road block that was keeping her from exploring what could potentially be between her and Riley.

"You're lying," Riley countered and swiped Lucy's hand away from her, "It's that blonde girl isn't it….Anna, or whatever her name is. The one that's working for you."

Lucy tensed at the accusation and refused to correct Riley is getting the name wrong, she knew that would only add fuel to the explosion she knew was about to ensue. "I just told you that there's no one else Riley, what more do you want me to tell you?"

"I want you to tell me the truth!" Riley demanded.

"And I have!" Lucy yelled. "Or are you that self-centered to believe that because I had sex with you that would automatically mean that we're back together?"

"Yes! I do, but that's only because I know you well enough to know that you don't do casual sex Lucy."

Lucy scoffed, "You don't know anything about me anymore Riley. Seven years have passed between us and that's a hell of a long time for you to believe I'm the same person as that lovesick fool I was when I was seventeen. Since I've been back we've only slept together once for god's sake!"

It was Riley's turn to scoff, "Yeah and whose fault is that?"

"Yeah well, maybe once was more than enough," Lucy countered but instantly regretted. It was a low blow and she had said it out of anger at Riley's reaction, although she should have expected it. But she was also upset that even after all this time, Riley still seemed to know her.

She didn't do casual sex and she often wondered if she was flawed in the fact that she didn't. She had women offering themselves to her all the time, but she was far from the playgirl that her reputation portrayed her to be, and only people that really knew her would know that about her. So Riley had every right to expect something more out of what happened between them.

This however didn't make her feel any better about what she had done, because essentially she had to look at it for what it was. She had used Riley, and that made her feel low. Some part of her wanted to believe that maybe she could fall back in love with the girl that at one point in her life was her whole world. Deep down though, she knew she had only taken things that far with Riley to make her forget about Amy. And now it was all backfiring. This was the reason she didn't do casual sex. She often wondered how Dom managed it.

"You're unbelievable, I don't know why I bother," Riley bit off and turned to walk away.

"Riley wait," Lucy reached out to the retreating form, grabbing her by the waist and sidling up behind her. She knew she should've just let her leave, but she couldn't, not like this.

Lucy was surprised when Riley didn't protest and actually allowed her to snake her arms around her waist. From what she remembered, when the feisty brunette didn't get her way she could be compared to a two year old having a tantrum. But she knew Riley wanted to be with her and was probably hoping for a different outcome.

Maybe things could have been different for them if a certain blonde, plaid skirt wearing agent never wormed her way into the picture. Lucy was sure that she would've entertained the idea of rekindling a relationship with Riley. Even with them being from opposing families, with them being head of their organizations, it would have been easier to have a normal relationship and not have to hide it like they had before.

But fate wasn't being kind to her now and she had to begrudgingly face the fact that she wanted Amy more even though she knew she couldn't have her. In knowing that, she knew that until she got over that fact, she couldn't fully commit herself to anyone else.

She rested her chin on Riley's shoulder and tightened the hold she had on her. She sighed heavily and her heart thudded in her chest as she felt the other girl lay her head against her own and brought her hands up to lay across her arms. 'Why can't I just love this girl again? It would be so much simpler, Lucy thought as she let out another sigh.

She knew she couldn't return the feelings Riley had, but just because she couldn't, didn't mean she wanted to hurt her. Within the time she'd been back, even though Riley broke her heart so many years ago, Lucy knew she still cared about her ex, just not in a romantic way. But she guess she should have figured it out before she slept with her. Or maybe she needed to so she could figure it out.

'Damn, why does love have to be so confusing?'

Regardless of the situation she was in now, Lucy knew she needed to make Riley understand where she was coming from without actually telling her why.

"I'm sorry Riley," Lucy whispered and let the words hang in the air.

"Why are you sorry?" Riley finally asked.

"For implying that what happened between us was a mistake."

"Do you think that it was?"

Lucy could hear the hurt tone in Riley's voice and she had to swallow the lump that had formed in her throat so that she could answer.

"I just think that it wasn't the right time, you know? I wanted you, I can't deny that, but I should've thought about that before I allowed things to go that far."

"You didn't allow anything to go that far Lucy, I was there with you remember?"

"Of course I remember, it's not something I'll soon forget," Lucy chuckled humorlessly, "but now is not a good time for us Riley. I'm not really in a good place to give you what you need right now. I hope you can understand that."

Things were quiet for a long time as they both stood in each other's embrace. It made Lucy wonder just what was going on in the other girl's head. Riley Schaffer being quiet after being basically being told 'no' was never a good thing and Lucy wasn't sure she could deal with anymore protesting from her right now.

"Okay."

Lucy heard the words and waited for more, but when nothing more came she frowned slightly and lifted her head.

"Just okay?" She asked, not expecting that to just be it.

"Yes," Riley affirmed, "just okay…now will you please let go of me?" Riley asked emotionlessly.

Lucy's frown deepened and she stood there a while before she finally released her hold on the brunette. When she did, Riley turned around cupped her face in her hands and kissed her softly. Even though she knew she shouldn't have, Lucy responded and kissed her back.

Riley pulled back but kept her hands on Lucy's face. "Whatever is going on with you, I'll give you all the time you need to work this out, okay?"

"Riley I don't think that...," Lucy started but was cut off when Riley planted a kiss on her lips.

"We'll be okay Lucy, just work out whatever it is you need and we'll figure this out later."

That left Lucy confused, and before she could come up with a response or ask Riley what she meant, Riley planted a quick kiss on her lips before turning and walking away. She got in her car and drove away leaving Lucy standing wondering just what the hell had happened because that was definitely not the way she saw that going.

Amy pulled her breathing mask off and stood back to inspect her work. It was an insurance claim collision that Mr. Phipps had brought in a couple of days ago. After he and Max had done all the bodywork it was up to her to make it look all shiny and new again. She wasn't complaining though, she was happy to keep busy and focus on something other than Lucy Diamond. Something she had failed miserably at.

The D.E.B.S had finally gotten the break they needed when Dominique had called two days ago and set up a meet for them to pick up a shipment. The thing that had bugged Amy the most was that Dominique had called Max about it. It felt like a slap in the face to her that Lucy hadn't been the one to call about it, but more importantly, that Lucy had not called her. Despite the shot to her ego, she was grateful for the fact that their covert mission hadn't taken a nose dive and they were still on the case.

Taking another look at the paint job she had done, with an approving nod, Amy walked over and shut off the air compressor. It wasn't a canvas or a sketch pad, but it would have to do to satisfy the artist in her. She began to strip down out of the baggy coveralls when she was startled by the sound of someone's voice.

"To bad I didn't bring any singles with me, I'd be inclined to throw you a few," the brunette said with a sly smirk while giving Amy a head to toe appraisal.

Amy looked over at the intruder to find amused dark eyes staring at her. "What are you doing here?" She asked harshly, not trying to hide the disdain in her tone.

"Looking for you of course."

"Well you've found me, now what do you want Riley?" Amy asked more forcefully. She really wasn't in the mood to deal with Riley Schaffer.

"Ah, you remember me…good, no need for another official introduction then, Abigail….isn't it?"

"It's Amy," the blonde corrected while quelling the need to roll her eyes.

"Oh, yes I guess it is," Riley smirked.

Both girls stood in the garage eyeing each other for a few tense moments, obviously sizing each other up. When it had gone on long enough and was becoming more awkward by the minute, Amy decided to end the staring match.

"Riley," she started, but Riley cut her off with a dismissive wave of her hand.

"You're going to paint a car for me," Riley told Amy rather than asked.

"Oh am I?" Amy asked crossly, not caring for being told what to do by a criminal, but more accurately, being told what to do by Lucy's ex. When Riley only nodded and seemingly wasn't giving her an option she sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. It was times like this that she hated being undercover and having to act civilly with criminals no matter what they threw at her. But just because she had to play the dutiful government agent, didn't mean she had to agree to what they wanted.

"Well I'm sure you can find someone else to do it, I'm rather busy and not taking on new projects at the moment."

"Of course I can find someone else, but I remember the work you did on my last car that your boyfriend brought here. It was nice solid work. Besides, all of these look finished or almost to completion and I'm sure the place could use the income from the looks of it. I'd pay double the cost of your labor, so it doesn't look like no is an option," Riley pointed out condescendingly as she moved to look around.

Amy sighed again and quelled the feeling to run over and smash Riley's head against one of the cars in the shop. If she didn't know for certainty that she'd be suspended for using deadly force without being provoked once their mission was over, she'd jump on the opportunity.

"No is always an option and I'm sure this place would thrive on without your business Riley, so you're just going to have to find someone else," Amy refused again as politely as she could manage given the situation. Not giving another thought to the matter, she stepped out of her coveralls completely and hung them in her locker.

"I'm not finding someone else, I want you to do this. Lucy seems to trust you for whatever reason and I trust her judgment since you do work for her as well, so I'm sure she'd be happy with the results." Riley decided to throw out there.

"Lucy?" Amy asked, now intrigued. "What does she have to do with this?"

"The car is for her," Riley stated and looked over to see what kind of reaction it garnered.

A frown made its way across Amy's face and a sickening feeling settled in the pit of her stomach. She did her best to mask the calamity that she felt at the thought of Riley giving Lucy a car. Deciding to play it cool she pressed on.

"If Lucy wanted me to paint a car for her, she'd come to me and ask me to do it herself."

"Well it's sort of a surprise," Riley stated cryptically.

When Riley didn't say more, Amy gave in to her need to roll her eyes at her antics and decided to fish for more information.

"Lucy has plenty of cars, why would you feel the need to give her one?"

"Well she doesn't have this one, and I know she wants it because she said as much when we were together last night. Besides, that's what couples do Angelica, they do things to make each other happy. So what better way to please my girlfriend other than to give her what she wants? Wouldn't you if you knew it would make your guy happy?" Riley asked in a sickly sweet tone.

Girlfriend? Amy blanched at Riley calling Lucy her girlfriend and that sickening feeling in her stomach began to churn more. Was this the reason Lucy had been avoiding her? She'd gone back to Riley? It all made sense now. Sonofabitch!

Amy was at a loss for words, but she was sure that if she could speak, whatever she said would likely end with her and Riley destroying the contents of the garage. And for that, she was sure to be suspended, something she was willing to risk right now. Even though she knew she shouldn't be, or that she had no right, she couldn't help the possessive feeling she had of Lucy. She was supposed to be hers right?

Well not really hers seeing as she was on an undercover op and any 'relationships' that developed whether they be friendly or in this case, a little something more, would all come to an end once the mission was accomplished. Plus there was the little fact that she had decided to look at this mission with a more businesslike point of view. So why should she care if Lucy and Riley had gotten back together?

Luckily for Amy though, she was saved from having to come up with a neutral response to the bombshell that Riley just dropped on her when Max entered the garage. Although hers and Max's relationship had been a little tense as of late, she was thankful for the distraction.

"What's going on," Max asked as she walked up beside Amy.

"She's going to paint a car for me," Riley spoke up instead. Still not giving Amy an option.

"Oh really?" The former team captain looked to her partner with an amused grin. It made Amy wonder what was up with that particular expression.

"Yes she is, we were just about to discuss when I was going to drop it off so she can get started," Riley piped in again.

"What kind of car is it?"

"It's a 58 Ferrari GT 250."

Max let out a low whistle. "Nice. Does it need any body or engine work?"

"Nope, all that was done years ago and to my satisfaction. All it needs is a new paint job so it meets the color standards of my…," Riley went to say girlfriend, but was abruptly cut off by Amy.

"Actually, I haven't agreed to do this," Amy rushed to say. She was certain that Riley was about to give Max the details on who the car was for and that was a conversation she'd rather avoid having with Max when they were alone. "In fact, I said no….I just don't have the time right now."

Riley huffed, "Well when do you think you'll have the time?"

Amy sighed and rubbed at her brow. "I honestly don't know Riley, but I do know now is not a good time okay?"

"Fine, I'll drop by next week so we can discuss when exactly be a good time," Riley stated and finally left leaving the two D.E.B.S alone.

"Wow Bradshaw, spreading yourself a little thin aren't you? First Lucy, now Riley Schaffer."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you're a regular lesbian mobster magnet aren't you? One criminal mastermind isn't enough for you it seems, now you've gone and piqued the interest of the number two. But I guess since Bobby has been thrown off the Schaffer case you can mask your little threesome to Ms. Petrie as a covert undercover operation to bring them both down. No pun intended of course." Max said smugly, seemingly pleased with herself.

"Look Max, we don't have time for this okay? Let's just get out of here so we can get ready for whatever this thing is Reynolds want us for tonight."

"Oh it's 'Reynolds' now, not Lucy," Max teased.

Amy only shook her head at her partner, refusing to entertain her any further and walked out of the garage. She now knew what the amused look Max wore when she first came in meant, and quite frankly, she was not amused. The last thing she needed was Max giving her a hard time about Riley on top of the fact that Lucy and Riley had gotten back together. She really wasn't in the mood.

Amy once again found herself in front of her closet, contemplating what to wear. Unlike the past times however she wasn't worried so much about form, as function. Max had her doubts about the mission tonight, she had made her doubts clear, numerous times, and was insisting that they go armed.

When the call had come in from Dominique a few days ago, they had been relieved. Sure Amy was still a little bit upset that Lucy hadn't called her directly, leaving her still very unsure about where they stood. Riley's impromptu visit hadn't helped alleviate her fears and now she knew exactly what part she played in Lucy's Diamonds life. She was just another deckhand for the criminal, nothing more, nothing less.

That visit had really been what set Max's alarm bell off. She had thought it was a little odd that Dom had called, seemingly out of the blue after almost a week of no contact, to call them in on an operation that was supposed to have taken place nearly a month ago. Amy conceded that with all the other business dealings that their surveillance had gathered on the Reynolds, that they were just too busy to keep all of them timely.

Max had called her naive, and of course a poor team leader to believe that Lucy didn't have an ulterior motive for calling them in on whatever they were going to do. Amy had argued that there was no reason to believe that Lucy had something up her sleeve, seeing as she didn't even know who they were. She had nothing to use to her advantage as far as they were concerned.

Whatever the reason, they needed the break in the case, and who really knew how Lucy's mind worked. In knowing the unpredictability of the criminal master mind, Amy just figured that anyone living in Lucy Diamond's world did things on her time, and at her convenience.

Amy did acknowledge, if only to herself that the timing of all this seemed a bit odd, especially coupled with the fact that the two leads in the criminal world had now seemingly joined forces, in more than one way. She wasn't sure if this mission they were being called for could possibly involve the Schaffers as well, but she really hoped that it didn't. No matter how cool she knew she had to play this, she was not sure she would be able to handle seeing Lucy and Riley together. Sure, she was a professional, but she was still only human.

Doubts and uncertainty still didn't change the fact that they needed to crack this case. They still had to go in, suspicious timing or not. Max had begrudgingly agreed, but insisted, stridently, that if they were going in, they were going in armed. No way in hell were they going to walk into this unarmed, and without back up. Amy had conceded the point, which was why she found herself in her current dilemma.

Amy knew they were going to the docks, that she and Max were being tapped for their "skills" behind the wheel, but other than that Dom had relayed very little about what they would be doing. The docks were neutral territory for the criminal world, there was no way to predict what might happen once they were there. Knowing this, she needed a gun, but she also needed to conceal the gun as she didn't want Lucy to know she was armed.

This hadn't been a problem when they'd first start visiting the functions they were invited to seeing as she and Lucy kept a bit of distance between them and she didn't worry about her touching her and finding out that she was carrying. Sighing, she grabbed a leather jacket off the hanger, it would have to do.

She couldn't exactly wear a skirt, so a thigh harness was out, and she had been forced to wear one of her shoulder holsters, the gun resting snugly against her side. The jacket, would help conceal the slight bulge of the gun, but would be useless if Lucy actually touched her. Amy frowned when she flashed back to Riley's visit earlier in the day; maybe that wouldn't be a problem after all.

"You ready?"

Amy turned to see Max standing in the doorway of her room. Like Amy, she was dressed in dark pants, jacket, and was sporting her favorite combat boots. She wondered idly where Max had managed to stash the enormous gun she preferred because she knew there was no way Max would go into this without it.

"Any word on when the car will be by?" Amy inquired before zipping her jacket and giving herself another once over to inspect the visibility of her hidden weapon.

Dom had said they would be picked up, taking them to the docs. Max was very unhappy with this little twist, she preferred to always have her own means of escape if she needed it, and being at the mercy of someone else's driving just didn't sit well with her.

"I got a text, should be here any minute, we should head downstairs."

The pair walked down the hallway in silence and into the living room, where Janet was set up on the couch. She had a laptop perched on her lap, fingers flying across the keys. She had made a token attempt to get to go, or at least trail behind them, to act as backup, but both Amy and Max had shut her down without giving it a second thought. Janet would be way too much of a liability in the field, especially if they didn't know what they were up against. She had reluctantly agreed, and instead had decided to monitor the situation as best she could from the apartment and hoped that the pair would be okay.

"Any updates?" Amy asked, not really wanting to engage with Janet, lest she start another push to be included on the operation, but feeling it was her responsibility as team leader to gather any available intel before heading out the door.

Janet nodded, not taking her eyes off the screen in front of her. "There has been chatter coming out of all the agencies today. They definitely know that something is going on, and all eyes appear to be trained on Lucy Diamond."

Max grunted at the news; she hated it when other agencies tried to horn in on her operations, they inevitably fucked it up.

"What do they know?" Amy questioned.

"Not much more than we do. Just that Diamond is getting a shipment at the port, that she is coming in personally to pick it up, and that it is all being kept hush hush. Speculation is that it must be important if she is going in herself."

Amy nodded, absorbing the news thoughtfully. "Do we know where?" All Amy and Max had been told was that they would be picked up and driven to the Port of Los Angeles, which was not terribly helpful, the port was basically the size of a small city, and was an absolute maze.

Janet shook her head. "No, at least not exactly; we have been able to narrow it down to the cargo containers.."

"Gee that's helpful," Max broke in sarcastically, "that's only like what, ninety percent of the port."

"If you would let me finish," Janet retorted sharply, finally glancing up from her screen to stare pointedly at Max. Ever since Max's demotion from team leader Janet had gotten a little more lead in her spine when dealing with the other agent. "They have narrowed it down to the cargo containers in zones 23 or 24."

Amy walked over to the table, where they had laid out a map of the docks for reference. "Are we sure about that?" The news, if accurate, was not particularly good. The vast majority of the port was situated on the mainland, with another large chunk located on Terminal Island. The target area that Janet had identified was the one part of the port that was not connected to any large land mass. It was a small stand alone island, connected to the mainland only by a narrow two lane road. It would be very easy to cut off any means of escape.

Janet nodded, once again lost in her computer screen. "As sure as we can be, Lucy has some shipping interests with ties to that sector. Unless she is bringing materials in on a competitors berth, that's where it will be."

Max was losing patience, all this talking and speculating was useless. They couldn't really plan without real facts, and those were in very short supply. "Can we hurry this along and head down to wait, the last thing we need is to be late and miss our ride," this last was said with a dismissive sneer.

Amy looked to Max and nodded. There was little else they could do here. "Janet, we will be pretty much out of communication range, but we will have our watches so we can at least be traced in case of an emergency."

"Right, I'm tracking you guys now," Janet confirmed and tapped on her monitor.

"Well it's a good thing neither of us is in any danger now if you are our only hope," Max commented snidely as she walked towards and out the door.

Amy shot a sympathetic look in Janet's direction before following her partner out.

Janet sat in silence for a moment as she looked around the empty apartment. "She'd better hope she doesn't pass out and take a dive down the stairs, see if I give her mouth to mouth," she huffed and turned on the scanner and turned her attention back to the monitor.

Lucy sat agitatedly in the car while looking out of the window as the scenery seemed to slowly pass her by. Her leg bounced while she tapped on the armrest of the car door. She had suggested that they leave early to try to get a jump start on unloading before their guest arrived so that there wouldn't be much waiting around time.

Her idea was promptly vetoed by Dominique who argued that they needed to waste as much time as possible to give Scud some leeway in the event that he ran into problems with their main mission. As much as the sandy haired man wanted to protest, he knew that no plan was fool-proof and that technology could be as inconsistent as his sister's dating habits.

She sighed heavily as she looked down at her watch to see that only a few minutes had only gone by since they'd first gotten inside of the car. Typically, Lucy wouldn't have even entertained the thought of being driven to a pick-up, but this particular one had a more personal requirement than previous ones. What this one needed was simple…four drivers for four cars. And despite Scud's pleading, she would not entertain the thought that she and Dominique weren't going to be at least two of the four.

Their choices could have easily been some of the girls in their own crew, but seeing as they were sure the D.E.B.S would provide them with a cover and a big enough distraction for law enforcement, Max and Amy were the obvious choices. She also knew that in choosing Max, Amy would surely follow, so that would put her in the driver seat as well. Even though she knew it was going to undermine everything she'd struggled to accomplish over the course of the blonde agents absence, the Reynolds' heir knew that the safety of her family and her crew were her number one priority. She simply had to put her personal feelings aside and do what was best for her organization.

Out of her peripheral view, Lucy could make out something being held out to her. Turning her head to see what it was, a scowl marred her face. "You're kidding me, right?" She asked as she looked down at the pack of cigarettes that were being offered to her.

"It'll help you relax," Dominique stated with a shrug.

"I am relaxed!" Lucy countered.

Dominique only shrugged again and tucked the pack back into her pocket. This was going to be a long night.

"Do we even know if this worked? Or is it all pointless."

Dom took a drag on her cigarette, held the smoke in her lungs for a moment, and then blew the stream of smoke out the window. "It worked."

Lucy waited, impatient for more information, and rolled her eyes when none was forthcoming. "Care to elaborate?"

Dom flicked her gaze to Lucy, deliberately slowing her response time and actions to offset the nervous hyperactivity of her companion; that, and she knew it pissed Lucy off. "Just as we suspected, once word 'got out' that Lucy Diamond had a shipment coming in, a shipment she was seeing to personally, the agencies fell into place like predictable little robots. Word on the street is that the port is the place to be tonight."

Lucy grunted, nodding her head. "Well at least something is going according to plan for a change."

Amy sat silently in her seat, staring out the window and trying to take in as much detail as possible as they made their way to their destination. The ride so far had been uneventful and mostly silent. Partly because the two partners were not really back on speaking terms, but also because there really wasn't much they could discuss with enemy ears listening in. They had just arrived at the port, and had breezed through the checkpoint, barely having to slow down. They were expected, and further, the Reynolds clearly had at least some of the Port Police in their pockets. Not that that was terribly surprising, but Max's earlier concerns were starting to rub off on Amy, and she was feeling less enthused about being led into an unknown situation.

She and Max has been in tight situations before surely, but they always did their homework and made sure they had back up plans to their backup plans; that just wasn't possible in this case and it was leaving Amy feeling exposed.

As the car proceeded past the initial gate Amy sat forward in her seat, trying to get a better vantage. Honestly everything around her looked largely the same; it was a wall to wall maze of stacked cargo containers. Amy glanced over at Max and saw that her partner was spending her time in a similar fashion, her gaze fixed out the window.

When the car made the turn onto the narrow Navy Way Amy realized that Janet's intel must have been correct and bit off a silent curse. It really was not ideal to be in a situation where they were so easily cut off and isolated, but it looked like that was the hand they had been dealt. She heard Max grumble in the seat next to her and knew her partner was thinking along the same lines.

The car finally pulled to a stop and she leaned forward, trying to see if there was anything outside the car. From her limited vantage the area seemed mostly deserted. "Anything?" she questioned her partner.

"Nope, just a wall of shipping containers."

The divider that separated the passenger compartment from the driver rolled down and Amy shifted her attention forward. "This is your stop."

Amy looked outside the window once again, at the deserted port. "Can't we wait in the car?"

The driver shook his head. "Nope. Bosses orders. Pick up and drop off only." Without further discussion he rolled up the partition.

"Charming," Amy sighed. She looked at Max and saw the other girl frowning, clearly not liking this new development either. Realizing there was little point in waiting, Amy grasped the car door handle and stepped out. She zipped her jacket higher, glad that she had decided on the leather garment, as the cool, wet breeze from the ocean made the air temperature a good ten degrees colder than further inland.

Now free of the confines of the car, Amy was better to able to take in her surroundings. As Max had indicated to her, to her right was a virtual wall of containers. It was so densely packed that she had no sense of what was on the other side. To her left were four towering gantry cranes that were responsible for unloading the massive cargo ships. There were no ships at berth presently, so she was able to gaze out over the open water. Taking a quick survey of what she was able to see of the rest of the port she put them on the western edge of the small island, not quite the furthest point from the access road, but just about.

Max exited the vehicle and the driver wasted no time in driving off, leaving the pair totally stranded. Max looked around, much as Amy had, before meeting the blondes eyes with an unhappy frown. "You see any cars?"

Amy shook her head; maybe that meant that Lucy wasn't here yet. Or that she was never planning on showing in the first place.

"I gotta say Bradshaw, this situation is still not making me feel warm and fuzzy. We get a last minute call, on an operation that we thought for sure was dead, out of the blue after a week of no contact. Instead of getting directions someone is sent to drive us, conveniently leaving us stranded if something should go sideways, and now we have been dropped at a deserted part of the port, at night. If I didn't know any better, I would say this was a trap." The question was left unspoken, Amy knew Max wouldn't risk being blatant without knowing who may be listening in; she wanted to know, again, if Amy had done anything to compromise her cover.

Amy shrugged. "I agree, this is not ideal, but what else can we do? Even if I don't know where I stand with Lucy on a 'personal' level, she clearly still values us or she wouldn't have asked us here, so we could hardly turn her down because she didn't want to give us a ton of detail. Our job is to do as we're told." The reminder was not exactly subtle, but Max needed to remember who was in charge. Amy saw that the message was received when Max's jaw muscles tightened.

Amy crossed her arms, rubbing her arms to ward off the chill. Just standing around was sapping the warmth from her. Her eyes darted around, trying to find any movement in the shadows, but she couldn't make anything out. The standing around and waiting, while totally exposed, was making her anxious, but she didn't really have much choice. They had barely arrived, and even if they did have a car at their disposal they could hardly leave so soon.

Max started to pace back and forth, obviously not handling the waiting much better than Amy, and needing to burn off some of her nervous tension. "So were just supposed to stand here and wait?"

Amy sighed. "What else are we supposed to do Max? Just try to chill out." Amy wished she could take her own advice.

After several more minutes even Amy was reaching her breaking point. "Look why don't you wait here in case Lucy shows up, I'm going to go scout the area a bit."

"What? No way Bradshaw, if you go I go, you aren't going to leave me behind like I'm Janet."

Amy sighed. "Max, someone needs to be here. So stay here." The 'that's an order' was left unsaid. Max glared angrily at the blonde, but reluctantly backed down. They were out in the field, vulnerable, now was not the time to get into a shouting match. Max could bite her tongue until they got home.

Amy started to walk towards the containers; they were closer than the gantry cranes, and they were also the most likely hiding spot, their high walls providing ample shadows to hide in, not to mention he containers themselves.

Amy walked between two rows, the darkness swallowing her almost instantly. There were scattered lights around the edge of the port, but their light didn't reach to the spaces between the containers. Reaching the end of the first container she stopped. She had three possible choices, forward, left, or right. Figuring they were all equally likely she turned left.

A hand dropped onto her shoulder and she reacted on instinct. Grasping the appendage she executed a quick defensive move and rolled her shoulders forward and down. Whoever had thought it was a good idea to grab her from behind went sailing over her shoulder and landed on their back

"Jesus!" The cry was startled, and a little breathless, but Amy immediately recognized the voice.

"Oh shit! Lucy I'm sorry," Amy apologized automatically, reaching out a hand to help the fallen woman up. Lucy accepted the proffered limb and allowed Amy to help lever her to her feet. "Why didn't you say something?" Amy demanded.

Lucy brushed her hands down her arms and legs, trying to knock some of the grime off of herself. If only she could brush off the embarrassment as easily. "Clearly I wasn't thinking."

Amy glanced around suspiciously before her eyes fell back onto Lucy. "Why are you over here lurking in the shadows anyway? Max and I thought you hadn't even arrived yet, we didn't see a car. Are you alone?" Amy rambled off.

Lucy shook her head and started to walk back the way Amy had come from. "Dom's here too." Amy noticed that Lucy failed to answer the rest of her questions but decided not to push seeing as Lucy didn't seem to notice her checking her out. Besides, if Lucy had wanted to answer her she would have, and not exactly knowing where they stood she didn't want to piss the other woman off.

The initial adrenaline of the surprise meeting wearing off, the two fall into a somewhat awkward silence. Amy knew this wasn't exactly what her reaction was supposed to be in this situation. When they left each other last week everything had seemed fine, but a week of the cold shoulder would indicate otherwise. Coupled with Riley's visit, Amy was treading in unknown waters.

They finally exited the row of stacked containers, and stepped out into the relative brightness of the exposed port. Amy could see that Dom had joined Max, and the two were smoking a cigarette. The pair didn't appear to be talking but that didn't really surprise her. She stepped forward, intending to go join the pair but stopped when she felt Lucy lightly touch her arm.

Amy turned to look at the other woman, now able to make out her features in the dim light. Lucy had her head dipped forward, eyes downcast, and a hand was rubbing the back of her neck, betraying a slight case of nerves. She was dressed similar to her and Max, all dark clothing. But for some reason Lucy Diamond dressed in dark cargo pants, a black t-shirt and black leather jacket seemed a lot sexier. Amy knew she had to reign in the ogling, now was definitely not the time, plus she was supposed to be over this and in spy mode!

"Look I know I haven't exactly been….in touch this week..and I just wanted to um, explain?" Amy was sure it was meant as a statement, but it came out more like a question. Part of her wanted to just let Lucy off the hook, and insist everything was fine. Only it wasn't fine, and Amy needed to know where they stood. Since Lucy had opened the door on this avenue of conversation, Amy felt safe and pursuing it.

"I won't lie Lucy, I was…surprised…to say the least when you decided not to answer any of my calls." Amy blushed slightly, recalling her slightly stalkerish behavior earlier in the week. "And I um..apologize for blowing up your phone. I know that must have made me seem like a crazy person, but I just didn't get it. I thought we were fine. If I did, or said, something to upset you I'm sorry, but ignoring me wasn't the answer."

Lucy glanced up, finally catching Amy's gaze. "It wasn't you. I just had some stuff I needed to work through."

Amy gazed at the other woman impassively. That was hardly an explanation, and it told her nothing of what they currently stood. "And have you worked through it?"

Lucy licked her lips, looking uncertain. "Yes…well no…partly. I think that I am getting there." Amy studied the brunette, debating about telling her about Riley's visit. She was supposed to be pretending to be falling for the other woman. If they were really embarking on a relationship, and the other woman's ex had dropped by her workplace and insinuated that there was something going on between them, would she confront her about it? Damned straight.

"Would some of what you are working through be your 'past' relationship with Riley?" Amy tried to keep her tone measured, but at the same time injecting just a touch of annoyance. She couldn't totally shut down emotionally or Lucy would surely find that suspicious, plus she really was annoyed about the Riley situation.

Lucy whipped her head up, and looked at Amy with startled eyes. "Why would you ask that?"

Amy's lips thinned; that wasn't a denial. "She came by to see me at work."

"She what!?" Lucy cried, clearly surprised by this revelation.

Amy nodded. "She wanted me to paint a car. For you. A gift." Amy watched as Lucy rubbed the bridge of her nose and once again dipped her head. This wasn't the posture and reaction of an 'innocent' person.

"Son of a bitch," Lucy grumbled. "Sorry, she shouldn't have done that."

Amy crossed her arms protectively across her chest. Despite her best efforts to remain detached she felt a pang in her chest as her suspicions were confirmed. "So it's true then, you guys are back together."

Lucy jerked her head up and met Amy's gaze. "What? No." Lucy shook her head. "It's complicated, but I can…"

Amy held up her hands, cutting the other woman off. "You don't need to explain Lucy. I get it."

"No Amy, you don't...just let me explain okay?"

Amy held up her hand again, "I said you didn't need too alright. We're here to do a job right?" When Lucy nodded, albeit hesitantly, Amy turned and walked away. "Well let's do it," she called over her shoulder.

The now silent pair walked over to join Max and Dom, who were still smoking in silence. Max took in Lucy's pensive expression, and Amy's closed off demeanor.

"So Diamond, you dragged us here, want to fill us in as to why?"

The challenging tone from Max seemed to put a bit of fight back into Lucy. She may have been hesitant and apologetic with Amy, but she didn't have any personal feelings where Max was concerned.

"As I explained a few weeks ago, I have some cargo that I need to get safely off the docs, and I figured your and Amy's skill behind the wheel would come in handy."

Max waited impatiently for more information, drumming her fingers on her arm. "And that's it?"

"That's all you need to know," Lucy replied sharply.

Dom glanced at her watch; Scud needed time to complete his operation, and they were doing their part to draw their excursion to the docs as long as possible, but there was a fine line between stretching, and just standing around wasting time. She took one last drag on her cigarette and flicked it to the ground.

"Shall we?" she directed the question at Lucy, looking for approval to proceed. Lucy simply nodded and allowed Dom to lead the way. The walk was a short one, Lucy had wanted the containers they were after in the front row. She hadn't wanted to have to hunt around in that rectangular maze. Plus cornering in the tight confines while possible, was a bitch, and she would rather avoid it.

Dominique approached the first container and pulled a key out of her pants to unlock the mechanism keeping the unit closed.

Amy looked around again, wondering not for the first time, just how they were supposed to get out of here. She supposed it was possible that Lucy and Dom had arrived by boat, but if whatever they were getting was stored in such massive containers, how was it possible going to fit, and if they were leaving by boat, why the hell would they need an expert driver. Amy shook her head, the whole situation really didn't make any sense.

The door unlocked Dominique motioned for Max to join her. "Give me a hand with this door, damn thing weighs a ton."

"Don't you have people to do grunt work like this?" Max asked annoyed.

"Yes we do, now get over here," Dominique demanded.

Max mumbled something inaudibly and begrudgingly stepped forward. Her shoulders were tense; she didn't like the idea of opening a large container containing god only knew what. The door was heavy, but after the two of them applied pressure the hinge gave a loud squeal and started to move. One side open Max peered into the gloom, but wasn't really able to make out much in the heavy shadows. Silently the pair worked to open the second door, finally opening the container completely. With both doors open enough light was finally able to get into the container and the contents were discernible.

"Are you kidding me?" Max asked, hands on her hips.

Lucy quirked an eyebrow, arms crossed over her chest. "Expecting something else?" There was an edge to her tone, one that caused Amy to look at her sharply. Just what was Lucy trying to imply?

Max seemed to catch the tone as well and she shook her head. "No I'm just surprised we went to all this cloak and dagger to pick up a what? A couple of cars?"

Lucy stepped forward. "A couple of cars? Max I'm surprised at you, I figured you would be able to appreciate what it is that is in front of you. Dom, why don't you pull it out a bit so Max can fully appreciate the view."

Dominique nodded and stepped inside and went quickly around the car, undoing all the straps that held the car locked in place for transport. That task completed, she looked up and urged them to back away from the front of the container so that she would have room to pull out.

The threesome backed away, and in a moment they heard the engine spring to life. Dominique eased the car forward, stopping once the rear of the car cleared the container. She cut the engine and the they watched as the front half of the car seemed to separate from the body and pop open. She gracefully climbed out and came around to stand next to Lucy.

"A couple of cars?" Lucy repeated in challenge. "Do you even know what you are looking at?" Max bristled at the implied slight.

"A Maserati Birdcage 75th, the 75th anniversary concept car," Amy replied before Max had a chance to answer.

Lucy swung her gaze in Amy's direction. "Got it in one go." She nodded approvingly and beamed at the fact that Amy really did seem to know her shit about cars. But then again it could've just been all the prep work she had done for the case. Whatever it was, Lucy was impressed and continued on.

"In fact all of the cars we will be retrieving this evening are concept vehicles. They're all extremely rare and extremely valuable. Except for one though, and that will be used in the Vegas race and has to be brought up to code for the U.S." Lucy paused, running her eyes lovingly over the car in her view. "You can see now why I wanted only the best behind the wheel. If anything happens to these cars I will not be amused."

"So I guess we should be flattered then?" Max questioned snidely.

Lucy nodded her head. "I know driving talent Max, and you have that. A bit of an attitude, but we can work on that," Lucy said with a smile.

"Why not just have them transported to your house on a flatbed?" Amy questioned. If the cars were so precious Amy didn't understand why they were going to risk them on the streets.

"They may be rare and valuable, but they are still cars, and cars should be driven." Lucy shrugged. "Besides, customs can be inconvenient to deal with."

"So these are undeclared," Max stated.

Lucy smiled and tilted her head. "They may be; I find that the government tends to be far too interested in what I'm up to." Amy froze, there was that tone again, that subtle sharpness, hinting at something more.

"So since there are four of us here I assume there are four cars," Amy broke in, wanting to derail Max before she pushed Lucy too far.

"You assume correctly; this container, and the one on the left. One car for each of us, you understand now why I had you picked up."

"So what's the plan? We each take a car and meet back at your place?"

Lucy nodded. "That's it, just don't scratch them, I've seen how you drive Max, so try to use a little finesse." Max opened her mouth to protest, but Lucy walked off before she could say anything.

"Amy this way," Lucy ordered as she went to the next container and was relieved when Amy actually followed her. Once in front of the container, Lucy paused for a moment and looked at Amy, she debated making another attempt at an explanation but thought better of it when she remembered how Amy had shut her down before. Her ego could only take so much.

Pulling the key out of her pocket, Lucy unlocked the container. Seeing that Amy hadn't moved, Lucy sighed. "Um...do you mind helping me open this?"

"Oh, right, I forgot we're the grunts here" Amy said and sprung into action and moved to the lefthand side of the door to help open it.

Lucy sighed again, "That's really not what Dom meant, you guys aren't grunts."

"No, just hired help I suppose," Amy bit off sarcastically. Stepping back once they opened the first side of the container.

"You're not that either," Lucy countered and stepped away from the container and walked the short distance to where Amy was. She frowned in disappointment when Amy took a step back, seemingly trying to put a bit of distance between them.

Lucy wasn't deterred though, she took another step forward and was surprised when Amy didn't move again. This was her chance. At what she didn't know, but Amy seemed to be receptive to her stepping into her space so she just went with it.

"Look Amy, I don't know what Riley implied when she came to see you, but I promise you that it's not what you're thinking," Lucy started.

"Right, because her calling you her girlfriend and wanting to give you a car leaves so much to the imagination. Really Lucy, I said you didn't have to explain it, and I meant it. So can we just please get on with this?"

"No, not until you at least hear me out."

"Lucy, the time for me to hear you out was one of the many times I tried calling you when you never answered or cared enough to call me back, so really, now is not the time for you to make explanations about your actions."

"And you're right Amy. I know that okay? But I wasn't in a good place, I….I fucked up alright? But I can't really explain why, without really explaining why," Lucy attempted to explain, but it was all coming out wrong.

"I have no idea what that means Lucy," Amy shook her head in confusion.

"Neither do I," Lucy chuckled humorlessly and stepped forward again, closing the remaining distance between her and Amy. Her hand unconsciously moved forward and found it's way to Amy's hip. She stared into her eyes and couldn't help the disappointment she felt in herself when she saw the usually smiling, bright blue eyes looking back at her with what only could be deciphered as contempt. Damn, she had caused this look and she felt a sharp pain in her chest because of it. "Look I know there was supposed to be something between us, okay?"

"Yes, 'supposed' being the operative word here, but I guess whatever that 'something' was meant nothing to you when you decided to get back together with your ex girlfriend….or should I say, current girlfriend."

"You're wrong, it did mean something...it does mean something, and Riley isn't my girlfriend. That was just a one time thing." Lucy held her hand when she saw that Amy went to make some type of protest to what she was saying and continued on. "I know how that sounds, and I know none of this is making any sense to you, but believe me when I say I had my reasons. Probably not the best, but I'm sorry and I swear to you that I never meant to hurt you." Lucy apologized, but she knew it probably didn't make much of a difference.

It was never her intention for Amy to find out about her and Riley, but the fact remained that she had found out and it was tearing her up inside. No matter how much she knew she couldn't be with Amy, she still felt the need to apologize for what she'd done.

Amy shook her head at Lucy's apology and brought her hand up to remove the one that Lucy had placed on her hip, she opened her mouth to speak, but she never got a chance to say anything because she was interrupted by a muffled clatter followed by a gunshot.

Acting purely on instinct, they grabbed each other in an attempt to shield one another from harm. This resulted in them clumsily stumbling over each other and falling to the ground. They both looked at each other, a mixture of fear and annoyance and then crawled their way to the side of the container, taking shelter behind the one door they had opened before getting distracted.

"Are you okay?" Lucy asked, her hands protectively running along Amy's torso to inspect for any wounds.

"Yeah, are you?" Amy asked doing the same.

Lucy nodded then promptly shifted her gaze to the gun that Amy held in her hand before shooting Amy a 'look'.

Amy looked down at her hand and then back up at Lucy. "What?" She asked annoyed.

Lucy shook her head. "Nothing," 'Of course she was strapped, she's a government agent you idiot'.

Lucy looked to her right and saw Dominique and Max in a similar position behind the open door of the adjacent container, both hunkered down and wielding their weapons. Seeing that they both appeared to be okay she pulled her gun out from where it was tucked in the back of her waistband and began scanning the surrounding area, looking for the possible threat.

"Do you see anything," Lucy called out. They had expected eyes on them, they hadn't expected to be drawn into a firefight. They were just picking up a couple of cars for fucks sake.

"No I can't see a damn thing, maybe it was just a…" whatever Dominique had been about to say was cut off when a bullet thunked into the container to their right. What started as a single bullet, quickly opened the floodgates, and before they could blink they were suddenly in the midst of an absolute fire storm.

"Where the hell are these guys," Lucy bit out. Everyone remained silent, all eyes searching the area, and trying to determine where the bullets were coming from. The first round had impacted the front of the container, the side facing the water, so the options were limited.

"There!" Amy cried out, pointing towards the gantry cranes. Of course. Whoever was up there had a hell of a tactical advantage. Tactical advantage or not Lucy was hardly going to just sit here while they rained lead on them from above. She drew sites on the general area Amy had pointed out and opened fire, Dominique quickly following suit.

"What are you doing!" Amy cried out.

Lucy looked at her disbelievingly. "What does it look like I'm doing? I'm firing back at the assholes that are trying to kill us and are ruining my car. What are you doing? You clearly brought a gun. Use it."

"We don't even know who it is that's up there," Amy insisted. She didn't know for sure of course, but based on Janet's intel it was almost assuredly one of the government agencies that were following Lucy's movements, and given that this was taking place at the port, odds were that at least DHS was involved. Which ultimately meant, Bobby.

"They are shooting at me. That's all I need to know." Lucy cut off further conversation by firing another salvo of bullets at the crane.

"We can't keep this up, we don't have the ammo for it," Max insisted.

Lucy pulled back, once more taking cover behind the solid steel door. As much as it pained her to admit it, Max was right. They hadn't come prepared for this, and now that it had turned into a gunfight time was not on their side. Reinforcements would surely be moving in, and it would be all too easy for them to cut off her one route of escape.

"We need cars, and unfortunately there is no way we are getting into that second container. Amy and I only managed to undo one of the doors. Dom, take Max and get in what's left of the Birdcage, I hope to god it starts. Luckily it's a mid-mount so the engine was hopefully protected from the brunt of it. Once you guys are clear we will be right behind you in the other car." Lucy instructed, taking control of the situation as she yelled over the gunfire.

"What!" Max objected hotly. "No way, you go with Dom, Amy and I will take the second car and go."

"This isn't up for debate Max! I had voice ignitions installed in all those cars, the only ones that can access them are Dom or myself. Now just go, the longer we sit here arguing, the less likely it is we are going to get out of here."

Max looked like she wanted to argue, but Amy simply nodded at her partner giving her a silent direct order. They didn't have a choice.

"Fine," Max bit out.

"Okay go, we'll cover you."

The interaction between the two didn't go unnoticed by Lucy and it kind of surprised her that Amy was the one in charge between the two of them. She always figured Max to be the head bitch in charge, she obviously had pegged that incorrectly. However, she didn't care which of them was in charge of their mission, because she was calling the shots now and with her plan in place, Lucy once again started taking pot shots at the cranes.

Amy, who had refrained from opening fire so far, reluctantly joined her. She didn't want to risk hitting a fellow agent, but they were now shooting to protect her partner, she no longer had a choice.

"Glad to see you have finally decided to fight for our side," Lucy ground out, shooting the blonde a pissed off look.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Amy insisted, never taking her eyes off her target.

"Nothing, just keep firing and try not to get yourself killed okay."

Amy nodded tersely, but the comment wasn't lost on her. Just what the hell was Lucy insinuating? Surely she didn't know who they were or why else would she have asked them here. Unless of course Max was right and this was a trap. Amy cursed silently, she hated when Max was right.

Amy was brought out of her thoughts when they heard the powerful engine of the Birdcage roar to life. It was still running, thank god. If they weren't able to clear the way there was no chance of getting the second car out, which would leave them completely and totally trapped.

"How do you want to do this?" Amy questioned? With Max and Dominique now clear, all they had to do was retrieve the car and make their own escape.

"Well in a perfect world I would have a key, and we could open the rear door of the container. Unfortunately this isn't a perfect world, and I dropped the key when they fired the first shot. So I need to draw them off our location."

"What? You can't do that, what if you get hit? I'll go instead." Amy protested, not liking the idea of Lucy having a hail of bullets raining down at her.

"No, that's not an option," Lucy countered, obviously having the same reservations about bullets being shot at Amy.

"Look Lucy, you said it yourself, the car has voice recognition, you need to go ahead and get it started. With you drawing fire and then having to make your way back to me, it will take to much unnecessary time that we do not have right now."

Shit. Amy was right, but that didn't mean Lucy was happy about it.

Her lips in a tight line, Lucy stared at Amy for a while, internally debating if she was willing to let Amy go running off out of her sight to draw fire to her. She didn't have a choice though. "Fine, you go and I'll skirt around the front of the container and hope I can get inside before they notice me and put all sorts of lovely little holes in me."

"Lucy that seems like a really bad plan," Amy insisted.

"With the way you have been reluctant to shoot at your friends up there? Tell me about it, but it doesn't look like we have a choice. It's that or sit here and wait for them to move in, or cut off our escape. So while I would rather do just about anything but this, I don't have much of a choice, so I'm trusting you to back me up." Lucy looked at Amy, dead in the eye, and Amy swallowed nervously at what she saw.

Oh shit. Lucy knew. She had to and she just wasn't saying it, at least not outright, but she had dropped one too many hints for Amy to ignore. This last was the final piece; Lucy didn't have any reason not to trust Amy. As far as she was concerned they should be in the same situation right now. Yet she doubted her, and her loyalties.

Amy now found herself on the doubting end. If they split up would Lucy even stop and pick her up? Did she have people waiting for her and Max back at the compound? Shit Max, Max who was now alone and without her partner. Her idiot partner who had allowed them to be separated after shots were fired; you were never supposed to leave your partner, but Amy had ordered Max to go.

"I have your back," Amy insisted. She reached into her jacket to grab a spare clip. Snapping it into place she became all business; this is what she was trained to do. "I am going to use the rows for cover and head about twelve containers down. Once I open fire on them and they key in on my new position they should redirect. You're window will be small, but with the majority of the attention temporarily in my direction you should get the window you need."

Lucy nodded, acknowledging the plan, but before Amy could run off she grab ahold of her hand and their eyes locked. "Be careful okay?" she said sincerely, her mood softening a little. Even though she was more than a little agitated at Amy for not wanting to fire back at assholes that were clearly disregarding her safety, her own people, she still couldn't fathom the idea of her getting hurt in all of this.

Amy nodded and without another word she slid along the side of the container, being sure to keep in cover, until she reached the back and slid off the back. Running quickly she darted down the rows. It was dark, and unless they had heat vision in place they wouldn't be able to see her. Even if they did see her they wouldn't have an angle on her, and once she opened fire on them they would have no choice but to direct to the new target. One or two would remain trained on Lucy's last known location, it was protocol.

Reaching her destination Amy once again slid along the side of the container, being sure to keep herself in cover as long as possible. She had picked this location since it put her just past the last of the four cranes. So she would only have fire coming from one possible direction. She was sure there were other agents around, but she couldn't worry about that, she had to focus on the known threat.

Reaching the front edge of the container she took aim. The bullet barrage had temporarily lessened when Lucy had stopped firing back when Amy had departed. That was all about to change. Sighting the area she had last seen agents, Amy aimed deliberately high and started firing shots at a steady pace. She needed to fire enough shots to draw their attention, but she also needed to conserve her ammo.

It didn't take long. Soon bullets were raining down on the corner of the container that she was using for cover, forcing her to back up. She couldn't retreat too far though, or she wouldn't be able to keep her line of sight on the target, which would leave Lucy vulnerable. Edging backwards slightly, Amy shifted across the narrow alley and hugged the edge of the adjacent container. God she really hoped Lucy would hurry up.

Lucy waited, tucked tightly to the container and still using the now battered door for cover. Amy had left a minute or so ago. It shouldn't take the other woman long to get in position and put their plan into action; if she was going to keep her word.

Lucy hadn't meant to let anything slip, but Amy's refusal to defend them, even in the middle of a firestorm had really pissed her off, and before she knew it she was letting snide comments about Amy's loyalty and her true identity loose. Lucy shook it off, there was no point obsessing over it, Amy would either come through, or she wouldn't. Either way, Lucy's only way out was via the car in the container. Lucy winced when she thought of the rare Aston Martin One-77 being used as little more than a bullet catcher.

The rain of bullets had slowed, no doubt they were wondering if they had Lucy beat, or if she was attempting to slip away. If Amy didn't come through, it wouldn't be long before they moved in on her on foot. Lucy was poised, ready to go as soon as was needed; she knew she wasn't going to have a lot of time.

As if on cue Lucy heard shots ring out to her right, and after three or four, she heard the return fire from above. Return fire that wasn't hitting near her, it had worked. Dashing quickly Lucy scrambled around the edge of the door and sprinted for the front of the container. She managed to get to cover, but not before the bullets started once again.

The diversion had been brief, but it had worked enough to get her inside the container. Moving quickly she worked to undo the straps anchoring the car. As she worked around the back and towards the front passenger wheel she loudly cursed and doubled over as a bullet ricochet caught her in the hand. Jerking back in reflex from the other shots that were coming in on her, she cradled the injured limb. Well fuck. It would figure that they would manage to hit her shifting hand.

Running out of time, she quelled the pain that was plaguing her and she quickly used her left hand to jerk the last strap loose. Instead of taking the more direct route across the front of the car since the bullets were pinging like popcorn kernels in a hot pan, Lucy worked her way back around the rear of the car to the driver's side. This car had a more standard entry so Lucy just had to pop the door open and climb inside.

She gave the start command and smiled in grim satisfaction when the throaty engine roared to life. She patted the dashboard consolingly. "I'm sorry for what is about to happen, but I swear I will make them pay." Gritting her teeth through the pain she reached down and gripped the shift lever. She shoved it into first and cursed when her hand slipped because of all the blood. She would just have to manage, she didn't have time to find a bandage.

Wasting no more time Lucy jammed the gas and the powerful car sprang out of the container. She turned the wheel sharply, not wanting them to have an open shot into her windshield for any longer than necessary. She briefly thought about her father and how handy it would be to have installed the mandatory bulletproof windows he enforced on all of their vehicles.

Lucy scanned her eyes quickly, trying to spot the blonde. Amy had given an approximate location but this was going to have to happen quickly. Seeing a muzzle flash she zeroed in on the location and sped toward it now that she had a target in sight.

The car ate up the short distance and Lucy was skidding to a stop before she had really even had a chance to accelerate. She scanned the area for Amy but the shadows made it impossible to see detail. Seeing a sudden flash of blonde, Lucy reached across the center console and threw the door open, every second counted, and they needed to get the fuck out of here, pronto.

Amy scrambled quickly into the car and Lucy started accelerating away before the blonde even had a chance to pull the door closed.

"Are you okay?" Lucy questioned and quickly glanced in the direction of Amy before looking back ahead of her. She downshifted sharply to swing around the sharp corner at the end of the pier. Her eyes constantly scanned the road in front of her, afraid that any moment a roadblock of government vehicles would be blocking her way.

"Fine," Amy bit out, her voice sounding strained. "You?"

Lucy smirked and motioned her head toward the now bloody gearshift. "Nothing I can't handle. Keep your eyes peeled, let me know if you see any cars moving in on us."

Lucy sped along the north side of the island, letting out a relieved breath when they encountered no further resistance. Maybe they were home free. She downshifted again, causing the powerful car to buck, and made a sharp left hand turn onto the only road that connected the small island to the mainland.

"Lucy look," Amy pointed with her left arm to the road in front of them.

Son of a bitch, she had spoken too soon, the fuckers were moving in, fast, to block the end of the causeway.

"This is going to be a tight fit. Hold on," Lucy instructed grimly. She mashed the gas, quickly forcing the car through the available gears. The engine whined in protest at the abuse and Lucy knew it was dangerously close to redlining. She didn't have the luxury of babying it though, she needed to get to the end of that road, and she needed to get there fast.

Even with all the power of the V12 engine at her disposal she knew it was going to be a tight fit. Closing in on the last few hundred meters she could see the swarm of flashing lights closing in, this was going to be damned close, and if she misjudged it, there would be no time to brake. The 750 horse powered engine may be fast, but it had never been built with safety in mind, and almost no car was going to survive a nearly 150 mph crash, nor it's passengers.

Lucy hadn't gotten to where she was on the racing circuit by luck though, she had nerves of steel when she was behind the wheel, and she certainly wasn't going to flinch now. She was not going to lose a game of chicken to a bunch of government suits.

Slamming the car into the sixth and final gear Lucy kept the gas pedal absolutely pegged and hands steady on the wheel. Two of the black SUVs pulled nose to nose, blocking the path. Lucy judged the opening. There was room, barely, but it would be like threading a needle. Committed to her course of action, she kept the car rocketing forward. If they decided to pull the cars any closer she was fucked, and this was all going to end in ball of fire.

In the last few seconds before she reached them, she saw the vehicles start to move apart. The gap widened slightly and she burst through it with mere inches to spare.

"Pussies!" she shouted out loudly. Her adrenaline was pumping and she forgot just how much she enjoyed a good close call behind the wheel.

"Did you see that, Amy?" Lucy questioned excitedly, clearing enjoying herself more than the situation that they were in called for.

Now that they were clear of the causeway it was not going to be a challenge to make an escape. Lucy turned left onto the 710 and breathed a sigh of relief when the road opened up in front of her. Even if they were able to pursue, there was no way they would be able to pin her in with this much road at her disposal.

"Amy?" she repeated frowning, realizing that Amy hadn't answered her; still no response.

Taking her eyes off the road she glanced to her right and saw that the blonde was slumped against the window. "Amy!" Lucy cried, growing alarmed. She removed her hand from the shifter and reached over to try to shake the blonde awake, all she received in response was a feeble moan.

Still seeing no signs of pursuit in the rear view she quickly pulled to the side of the road. Once the car came to a stop she leaned over toward the blonde and tried to determine the problem. The low lightning in the car made it almost impossible for her to determine what was going on with the blonde.

"Amy?" Lucy called out again and lightly smacked the blonde against the cheek trying to rouse her. When all she got was another feeble moan she checked her pulse. Weak, as she had expected but it didn't do anything to stop the panic she felt from settling in.

"Damnit Amy wake up!" Lucy cried and made an attempt to straighten her head in hopes that Amy would respond. But when she didn't, Lucy's hands immediately start to roam over Amy's body trying to find any disruption in her clothing.

She started at her legs and determined that everything was okay there. "C'mon baby, tell me where you're hit," Lucy mused as her hands continued to wander, but knowing it was futile seeing as all of her other attempts to rouse the blonde had been for naught.

Her hands quickly made their way over her sides. Nothing. She then moved upwards quickly over her chest, her hand slipping over the smooth leather from all the blood that was seeping out of her own wound. Still nothing. "Damnit," Lucy cursed silently and brought her good hand up to wipe angrily at the tears she felt forming in her eyes before she continued her assessment.

Her eyes widen when she finally found a tear in Amy's jacket. Her shoulder. Lucy quickly pulled the jacket aside and pressed her hand against the spot where she had found the break. Her hand was immediately met with the warm, wet spot that pooled around the hole. Blood. A lot of it. Much more than her small hand wound could have produced.

Lucy grimaced at the location of the wound. She could only assess that a bullet had hit Amy in the shoulder and the fact that she was now passed out meant that she had lost a lot of blood. This wasn't good. A gunshot wound to the shoulder in theory shouldn't cause this sort of reaction, so that meant it was possible something was going wrong internally with the blonde.

The most horrible thing came to Lucy's mind, and that was that the bullet actually hit Amy's clavicle, shifted downward and had actually punctured her lung. With that in mind, Lucy frantically pulled Amy forward. Another soft groan was emitted from Amy and Lucy winced at the pain she was causing her.

"I'm sorry Amy, I know it hurts, but I need to check for something okay? This won't take long, I promise," Lucy whispered. She stuck her hand down the back of Amy's shirt to check for an exit wound. In not finding one, she cursed under her breath. This really wasn't good. She carefully laid Amy back against the seat and quickly began to fumble around in her jacket pocket for her phone.

She hit a button. Voicemail. "Fuck!" She cried out and hit the button again only to come up with the same results. Voicemail. "Damnit Scud!" She cursed the man, but quickly came to the realization that Scud was in the thick of his own mission which was probably why his phone was off.

"Damnit," Lucy cursed and pulled up her contact list until she found the number she was searching for. She was thankful when the person on the other end picked up immediately. "I need you at the compound, now!" She barked down in the receiver of the phone and wiped at her eyes again as she waited for the response. "Gunshot wound to the shoulder with no exit wound."

Lucy listened for a second before she answered. "No, I don't have anything to clot the bleeding and she's lost a lot of it. She has a weak pulse and she's not responding, but yes, she is breathing but it's really shallow," Lucy explained. She listened again before she nodded briskly at what she was being told before hanging up the phone.

Looking down at the blonde, Lucy quickly and as gentle as she could, pulled the seat belt down over her and clicked it into place. She placed a brief kissed to the side of Amy's head before taking her seat back behind the wheel and secured herself into it. She glanced behind her to make sure she was clear before she put the car back into gear and pulled onto the highway. Enough time had already passed and she needed to eat up as much road in as little time as she could. This was going to be a bumpy ride.

She gave another cursory glance to the unconscious blonde at her side, "You're going to be okay Amy," Lucy promised, but deep down she wasn't so sure. She only hoped that she could get Amy the help she needed in time.