#nik sabatino

[bullet-prooflove]

3 Times Sabatino Thought About Proposing and the 1 Time He Did - Part Four: Cake - Vostanik Sabatino x Reader (feat: Nina Barnes)

Tagging: @kmc1989 @words-and-seeds @novamariestark @whateversomethingbruh @trublu2u @stelacole @@elixae

Part One: Adjustment Period - Nik decides it's time to propose.

Part Two: Sassy - Nik's plans to propose are thwarted by your sister Sassy.

Part Three: Love Language - Nik loses the ring during a footchase.

Sabatino decides to call it quits on the proposal. It’s clear to him at this point that it’s not the right time, that the universe keeps throwing up obstacles for a reason. All he wants is for it to be special for you, but he keeps just fucking it up. The pressure is stressing him out and it’s starting to affect the relationship. You can tell he’s hiding something from you and the fact he refuses to discuss it creates an issue. There’s always been things he hasn’t been able to tell you, you accept that, but this is different.

The pause will hopefully give him a little breathing room.

Things go back to normal; he lives in the present instead of being preoccupied with the future. He starts to have fun again, exist in the moment. The two of you spend the weekend taking some time to reacquaint with each other. His job’s been a little manic and you’ve been working a case with the FBI, you’ve barely existed in the same space over the past couple of weeks. He spends Saturday morning in bed with you, his hands chasing over your skin as he makes love to you in freshly laundered sheets. After dinner you go for a walk on the beach because you’re craving sweet and he’s thinking ice cream.

He lives for moments like this, strolling down the boardwalk, his fingers entwined with yours. There weren’t many of them when he was working for the CIA, now he treasures every single one.

The sun is setting when you come across Nina’s cupcake truck. Your eyes light up, and ice cream is completely forgotten because he knows how much you love her Red Velvet cupcakes and she only has one left. He leaves you sitting on a bench, watching the ocean roll up on the shore. He knows you find it soothing, the crash of the waves, the motion of the water.

“A little bird tells me you’re planning on locking that down.” Nina says, gesturing towards you when he orders the cupcakes.

“I was.” Sabatino tells her as he hands over the cash. “But the universe had other plans, so here we are.”

“You got in your own head.” Nina says knowingly as she opens up two individual cake boxes.

“There’s a lot of pressure to get it right you know?” He explains, his palm running over the nape of his neck. "It was causing a few issues between the two of us, so I shut it down."

Nina rests her elbows on the counter before leaning forward.

“Maybe it’s for the best.” She says with a shrug before picking up an icing bag and tilting the red velvet cupcake towards her. “I mean you’re already falling down at the first hurdle.”

“First hurdle?” He repeats with a bitter laugh. “Trust me, there have been plenty of hurdles and we’ve cleared every single one of them.”

“Uh huh.” She says as she surveys her work on the cupcake. “Then this little one should be no problem.”

She shows him the cupcake and his gaze flickers up to her in disbelief when he reads the words ‘Marry Me.”

“Are you serious?” He asks her, his hands on his hips.

“It’s cute right?” She says before putting it away into its own box. “And it’s perfect for her. She’s low maintenance and this is something a little bit special. Not too showy but personalised. Even you can’t fuck it up.”

He hates to say it but she’s right. He couldn’t have chosen a more perfect moment. The tide is coming in, the waves creeping up the shore and the light is just sublime, that cascade of colours illuminating the beach.

“What do I owe you?” He asks her, taking the box begrudgingly.

“I get to make the cake for your wedding.” She barters with him.

He gives her a look before he crosses his arms over his chest and sighs.

“Fine, if she says yes, then you get to make the cake.” He agrees before pointing his finger at her. “But if she says no, I get free cupcakes for life.”

“Yea that’s not happening.” She tells him, shaking her head. “If she says no, you get a pity cupcake, this one time and that’s it.”

“Deal.” He agrees before turning his back on Nina and focusing his attention on more important things.

You rise to your feet when he appears alongside of you, the individual cupcake box in his hand. You smile as you take it from him. That smile, it lights up his entire world and he knows that this is it, this is his moment.

He has the ring in his hand when you open the box, he watches as you study the writing before you tilt your head towards him.

“Nik…”

He doesn’t get down on one knee. It’s not your dynamic. Your partnership has always been based on mutual respect, meeting your challenges face to face and that’s how he intends to do this. He takes your hand in his, the ring clasped tightly between his fingers.

“Alana, I have loved you since that day you showed up in Afghanistan and every day, I loved you more. I want to grow old with you, start a family with you, I want…” He pauses for a moment, his voice rough as he struggles to find the words. “I want you to be my wife. So, I’m just a boy standing in front of a girl with a cupcake, asking her to marry me.”

You laugh and it’s such a rich, beautiful sound. He hopes he gets to spend the rest of his life hearing it.

“Yes Nik.” You say as he slips the ring onto your finger. “Of course, I’ll be your wife.”

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#erik palladino #sabatino x reader #sabatino x you #ncis la #sabatino #Vostanik Sabatino #Vostanik Sabatino x reader #Vostanik Sabatino x you #nik sabatino #nik sabatino x reader #nik sabatino x you

[thiashazzywriting]

"If you were my partner, I'd end up falling for you. Hard. Then what would I do? Good partners are hard to find. I need someone I can trust to have my back. I wouldn't want to lose that. On the other hand, you'd also be the person I cared about more than anyone else in the world. And I'd never want to see you in jeopardy. So you couldn't possibly be my partner. It's a dilemma." Vostanik Sabatino to Kensi Blye (NCIS Los Angeles)

After that scene I ended up falling for him. I should never start watching NCIS Los Angeles: S04E17 'Wanted'.

#vostanik sabatino #nik sabatino #sabatino #ncis los angeles #ncis la #erik palladino

[ao3feed-ncislosangeles]

First Date

by Bulletproof_love NIk doesn't expect to fall in love. Words: 1277, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English Series: Part 1 of Stolen Moments Fandoms: NCIS: Los Angeles Rating: General Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Categories: F/M Characters: Vostanik Sabatino Relationships: Vostanik Sabatino/Original Character Additional Tags: First Dates, Stakeout, First Kiss, Separations, Falling In Love via https://ift.tt/P0cXHxO

#ncis la

[shotgunhoney]

Hearts by Nik Korpon

Hearts by Nik Korpon

“I understand, officer. I don’t want to be standing out here either when it’s colder than a well-digger’s ass, especially when the missus and I should be chowing down on some gnocchis at Sabatino’s instead. But, you ask me, the real problem isn’t the submachine gun I’m holding right now. “You guess right. The real problem is Big Dick. “You know we haven’t had the most neighborly relationship,…

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#nik korpon

[bullet-prooflove]

Hi. This is an ask for Vostanik Sabatino ❤️ again. The prompt is: 65. You taught me some lessons, those are my blessings. Thank you so much.

References to future series: The 3 Times Sabatino Tried to Propose and the 1 Time He Did

Nik had never realised how closed off he’d been. Not until he met you. He’d put on a good front, the Sabatino persona you’d call it, but he hadn’t let anyone get to know him on any in-depth level.

Not until the evening he found himself sitting in a car with you during a stakeout shooting the shit. He’d never told anyone about his fascination with true crime podcasts, the fact he got hooked after Serial and then tumbled down a rabbit hole. He liked investigating along with the narrator, hearing the story unfold.

That’s the night he remembers how to laugh again, how to share a part of himself with someone else. His job has made him guarded, mistrustful. He has no family left; his friends fell away because he was barely in the country and his colleagues…

The less they know about him the better.

It isn’t until he’s in his hotel room in Washington after Synder’s death that he realises just how disappointed he is to miss that second date with you. When he reflects on the past few years, and he realises just how lonely his existence has become.

It’s in Afghanistan that he learns to love again. You teach him that he’s worthy of affection, that he deserves to be looked after, cared for. With you he becomes Nik again, the man that enjoys singing rock music when he cooks and books that challenge his thinking. It’s during those months that he learns that there’s room for more than just Sabatino, there’s space for Nik too.

Now as he sits in Deek’s bar, sipping a beer and watching your fingers play along the buttons of the jukebox he can’t believe just how far he’s come. These days he has a job he loves on US soil, friends that he trusts with his life. He’s singing again, playing gigs in Hollywood, recording with his band. He’s built a life that he never would have dreamed of and he knows that it’s because of you.

@kmc1989 @thiashazzywriting @words-and-seeds

#ncis los angeles #vostanik sabatino #vostanik sabatino x reader #vostanik sabatino x you #nik sabatino #erik palladino #nik sabatino x you #nik sabatino x reader #sabatino x you #sabatino x reader #ncis la #sabatino

[bullet-prooflove]

3 Times Sabatino Thought About Proposing and the 1 Time He Did - Part Two: Sassy - Vostanik Sabatino x Reader

Tagging: @kmc1989 @words-and-seeds @novamariestark @thiashazzywriting @whateversomethingbruh @trublu2u @stelacole

3 Times Sabatino Thought About Proposing and the 1 Time He Did:

Part One: Adjustment Period - Nik decides it's time to propose.

Sabatino’s going to propose tonight.

He’s ready, he thinks you’re ready.

You’ve been happier since he quit the CIA. He thought the transition period would be a little more awkward, that you’d fight over stuff like emptying the dishwasher, but you don’t. That’s all-petty shit compared to what the two of you have been through.

You’d been ecstatic when he suggested dinner at Elixir, it’s been on your radar since you saw the reviews in the LA Times a couple of months ago. It had been impossible to get a reservation, until Fatima had pulled some strings. She’d made arrangements with the manager for some private time on the rooftop terrace, they’re going to set up some champagne, add a few touches to make it special. Sabatino owes that woman big time.

It feels like the stars have aligned, because everything is going perfectly. The weather is balmy, the sky is clear. Somehow the two of you are both home at a reasonable hour which almost never happens in your line of work, giving you plenty of time to get ready.

He’s pulled out his best suit for the occasion, it’s blue with tailored fit, he wears a crisp white shirt underneath. He doesn’t get much opportunity to wear a suit anymore now that he’s with the US Marshalls, he’s missed it. He catches a glance of himself in the mirror in the living room, smoothing his palm over his hair once more. He’s feeling good about tonight, he looks good. His hand drifts to his left interior pocket, checking for the ring. It’s the millionth time he’s done this in the past hour, and it still resides in the same place.

When you step out of the bedroom, he thinks he could just marry you there and then. You’re wearing a black, off the shoulder dress that clings to your form like it was made for you. You’ve always been beautiful but this, this is next level.

“You’re stunning,” He tells you, the edges of his mouth twitching up into a smile. His hands come to rest on your hips, his thumbs chasing over the line of your panties through the fabric as his lips brush over the curve of your jaw. “So gorgeous, I’m not sure we’re gonna make it out of the house.”

You laugh as your fingers lace at the back of his neck. The scent of your perfume floods him, it’s new something a little darker, a little sexier. You really are pulling out all the stops tonight.

“Wait until you see what I’m wearing underneath.” You whisper, your breath ghosting in his ear. It sends a thrill chasing through his nerve endings. It’s an exhilarating feeling to be desired by you and he treasures that sensation.  

“How about a sneak peek?” He asks you, his voice husky before he holds up his fingers to indicate the measurement. “Just a little one.”

“Nik…”

He fucking loves the way you say his name, when you get back home, he’s going to spend the entire night making you say it.

When the doorbell rings he wants to ignore it but then there’s the knocking. The rapid, incessive raps that he knows can only belong to one person.

No, he pleads, not tonight.

Any other time, just not tonight.

As soon as you open the door, he knows his night is over.

Your younger sister Sassy stands on the doorstep with a Louis Vuitton overnight bag slung over her shoulder and mascara running down her cheeks. Your sister is an adult version of a Valley Girl, selfish and over the top. It’s going to be one of those nights he can tell.  

The thing about Sassy, she’s a hot mess. She hasn’t met a wellness craze or a man who earns more than six figures she doesn’t like. She switches careers more than she hops fiancés, which by his reckoning must be coming up to double figures soon. The other thing is she’s also the only family you have in this world so when she’s in ‘crisis’ you drop everything.

Sabatino sighs before stripping off his suit jacket and folding it over the back of the couch. He undoes the cuffs of his shirt before rolling his sleeves up towards his elbows. He knows you’re not making that reservation; he also knows you skipped lunch in anticipation of tonight, so he busies himself in the kitchen. He makes linguini alfredo while he listens with half an ear to Sassy as she tells a story he’s heard a thousand times before.

She was engaged to Anton, who caught her in an intimate embrace with Tobias, now he’s broken off the engagement and she’s realised he was the only man she ever loved. She’d said the exact same thing about David and Juan before him. He gives it a week until she finds some other rich, young thing to torture.

It’s when you disappear into the bedroom to get changed out of your dress that something in his chest just sinks. He glances at the clock and sighs because that special moment he’d planned, it’s passed. Dinner and a rooftop proposal at Elixir was a one-time thing and now it’s been wasted.

“You’re usually a lot more vocal.” Sassy says as she picks up the half empty bottle of red wine and tops up her glass.

It’s the good wine of course, the one you usually buy for special occasions. She’d taken it out of the wine rack the second she’d step foot in the kitchen, helping herself.

“You don’t want my input.” He warns her as he takes two plates out of the cupboard and sets them down on the counter.

“That’s never stopped you before.” She points out before gesturing at the space between his brows. “You’re in a mood, you have that little crease you always get when you’re trying to bite your tongue.”

Despite the fact Sassy is a complete disaster in every aspect of her life, she’s emotionally intelligent. She reads body language like a pro, it’s the reason she’s managed to ensnare so many affluent men.

“We had plans tonight.” He says, tilting his head up to meet her gaze. “And as usual you bulldoze your way in here with your melodrama and theatrics. You don’t care about this guy, just like the fact you won’t care about the next one. You just like being the centre of attention and when you’re not getting it from them, you come running back here to get it to your sister. It’s the same thing everytime.”

“Oh Vostanik.” She tuts, his full name rolling off her lips harshly. “You haven’t been around long enough to judge the relationship I have with my sister.”

“Almost five years.” He informs her, his mouth setting into a grim line. “That’s how long I’ve been with Alana.”

“You were barely in her life for four of them.” She reminds him, swilling the wine glass in her hand. “She’s the girl you fucked when you came to LA, I’m sure you had one in every port, you private security guys always do.”

Private security was the cover story you both used to explain his absence in your life. He was away in foreign countries ‘consulting’. Sassy thought he’d been living it up with sheiks in Dubai instead of evading capture in Iran. She’s accused him before of fucking his way through continents. He’s denied it of course, but when that woman gets something in her head there’s no telling her otherwise.

“You do know the only reason she’s with you is out of obligation.” She tells him as she takes a sip from the wine glass. “My sister is extremely loyal, and I think if you hadn’t taken that bullet for her in Afghanistan then we wouldn’t even be here. She’d be happily married to a man who deserves her, instead of stagnating in a relationship that’s going nowhere.”

It's a slap in the face, one that hits him hard because he’s always had this doubt, this tiny insecurity that the reason you’re with him is because you feel indebted to him on some level. Sassy’s picked up on that, he realises. That’s what your sister does. She finds the weak spot and she pushes it and pushes it until it gives.

Every single part of him wants to kick her out, to tell her he’s sick of all the drama, that she needs to grow the fuck up and take a long, hard look at her life choices. The only reason he doesn’t is because the only person it’ll be hurting is you and he would do anything to prevent that.

You step out of the bedroom just as he snatches up his jacket from the coat hooks. You’ve changed into one of his old band t-shirts and leggings, a pair of his socks are pulled up over the calves. His heart warms at the sight of you because no matter what Sassy says, it’s these moments that mean the world to him.

“I’ve made dinner.” He tells you, tipping your chin up so you can look into his eyes. He hopes you see the love there, that he’s not running from you right now but from the situation because he knows if he sticks around, he’s going to say something he regrets. “I’m gonna go out for a while, catch up with Deeks, give the two of you a little space.”

He sees the slight furrow in your brow, you know that something’s happened, but he can’t bring himself to explain it, not with Sassy still sitting there watching the exchange over the rim of her wine glass.

“I love you.” He says as his lips brushing over yours tenderly. He’s not ashamed to say it or to show it. He doesn’t give a shit if Sassy believes him or not, all that matters is that you do. You smile as he pulls away and he knows he has nothing to worry about, that Sassy’s just yanking his chain the same way as always. “I’ll see you in a bit.”

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#ncis la #sabatino x reader #erik palladino #sabatino x you #sabatino #ncis los angeles #Vostanik Sabatino #Vostanik Sabatino x reader #Vostanik Sabatino x you #nik sabatino #nik sabatino x you #nik sabatino x reader

[bullet-prooflove]

Hiya 🫣 I have an ask for Nik Sabatino ❤️ The prompt is: #16 “Well we know I’m going away And how I wish - I wish it weren’t so.” Thank you so much.

Companion piece to Burn and Calling Card

References to upcoming Choices!Series

Nik hates this. He hates the fact you’ve been sleeping in the Boatshed, that you’re living out of shopping bags, that everything you own can be packed into the leather brown satchel you were carrying when the house exploded.

The two of you are sitting on the pier outside watching the sun rise in the distance. Your legs hang over the edge of the wooden ledge as you listen to the waves crash against the stilts below. Nik’s arm is wrapped around your shoulders, his face buried in your hair as he clasps you close. The scent of smoke still clings to your skin despite the fact you’ve showered and changed your clothes. It’s a reminder of how close he came to losing you tonight, how his actions had impacted your life as well as his.

“Nik…” You say and he knows what’s coming.

The reason you’re sitting on the dock is because Sam is on his way with the boat. He’s going to take you up the coast under the radar, all the way to Portland. A Navy SEAL friend of his has a cabin off the grid. Sam’s going to stay with you, protect you if it comes down it. Nik just hopes that it’s enough. Ferris is known for being relentless when he’s in pursuit of a target, it’s one of the things that made him such a good operative. The same could be said about Nik.

He thought he was done being Sabatino but he was wrong. He needs that version of himself, the ruthlessness of the persona, the ferocity. He’s going to hunt Ferris down like a fucking dog and then he’s going to kill him.

“Nik, I don’t want to go.” You tell him, tipping your chin up towards him. “I don’t want to leave you here, dealing with this alone…”

“I know.” He whispers, his thumb chasing along the line of your jaw. “But Alana, I need you to do this for me ok? I need to know you’re safe.”

“Nik…” You begin again but he shushes you, cradling your face between both of his hands as he looks into your eyes.

“Alana.” He says firmly. “You are the most precious thing in the world to me. If anything happened to you I would never be able to forgive myself…”

If you disappeared from this world, he wouldn’t be far behind. He’d stick around long enough to wreak havoc on the people responsible but a life without you…

It wouldn’t be worth living.

“The last thing I want is to be away from you, especially after so much time apart.” He tells you, his gravelly voice lowering an octave as he guides your palm to where his heart beats in his chest.  “I need you to promise me that when that boat comes you’re going to get on it and go with Sam. Promise me alright? Promise that you’ll do this for me.”

“Nik…” You implore.

He hears your voice break and something inside of him cracks. He’d spent six months living in purgatory, training his replacement. He’d had no contact with you throughout that time, no phone calls, no texts, just the belief he held in his heart that he was working towards a brighter future, one filled with love, happiness. He’d promised you a life when he left the CIA, one where the two of you could be together and now he’s driving you apart. Again.

“Alana, please…” He begs, his voice rough with emotion. “I can’t lose you. I just can’t…”

His forehead comes to rest upon yours, his eyes stinging as his lips brush over the corner of your mouth. There’s an agony in his chest, every breath feels like he’s being stabbed in the heart, the jagged blade ripping through the intricate vessels until he bleeds out into the depths of his chest.

You see it, he knows you do. He’s never been able to hide anything from you, no matter how much he may try. He hears your exhale of resignation, feels the fight ebb out of your body and he knows he’s won.

“Alright Nik.” You say softly, your fingertips trailing over his cheek. “Alright, I’ll go.”

@kmc1989 @words-and-seeds @novamariestark @whateversomethingbruh

#vostanik sabatino x reader #ncis los angeles #vostanik sabatino x you #vostanik sabatino #erik palladino #nik sabatino #nik sabatino x reader #nik sabatino x you #sabatino #sabatino x reader #sabatino x you

[bullet-prooflove]

🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

Because it's you I will give you two!

Nik doesn’t know about the letters from Kessler, not until he accidently opens one of them because he’s been up most of the night, chasing a fugitive up and down the country and he’s dog tired.

At first he thinks its from an old boyfriend.

My angel, it reads, you have no idea how much I think about you.

He rubs his palm across his mouth as he reads the words written in another man’s hand. It’s a love letter, he thinks, something twisting in his chest. He’s reading a fucking love letter.

A Little Too Late - Vostanik Sabatino x Reader - Out 26th March

“We don’t have to talk about it.” Scott says quietly as he studies the skyline. “We can just sit here together until you’re ready to leave.”

He means the interview with Simon, the man you’ve been seeing over the last four months, the one who’d seduced you to gather intelligence. You’d watched through the window of the interrogation room as he’d told Scott all of the gory details. What you liked, how you liked it.

“It had been a long time for her, I could tell.” Simon had told him as he leaned over the table almost conspiratory, as if he was just having a conversation, one man to another. “There was a look in her eyes when she came, a release. She told me afterwards about her husband but I already knew, it was the reason I picked her.”

The First Man - Scott Forrester x Reader - Out 17th March

#scott forrester #scott forrester x reader #scott forrester x you #fbi international #vostanik sabatino #vostanik sabatino x reader #vostanik sabatino x you #nik sabatino #nik sabatino x reader #nik sabatino x you #sabatino #sabatino x reader #sabatino x you

[bullet-prooflove]

3500 Follower Celebration: A Little Too Late - Vostanik Sabatino x Reader

Tagging: @thiashazzywriting @words-and-seeds @novamariestark @whateversomethingbruh @a-noni-love @reneejett4 @trublu2u @stelacole

Nik doesn’t know about the letters from Kessler, not until he accidently opens one of them because he’s been up most of the night, chasing a fugitive up and down the country and he’s dog tired.

At first he thinks its from an old boyfriend.

My angel, it reads, you have no idea how much I think about you.

He rubs his palm across his mouth as he reads the words written in another man’s hand. It’s a love letter, he thinks, something twisting in his chest. He’s reading a fucking love letter.

You don’t understand how disappointed I am that you married him.

Vostanik Sabatino…

Do you say his full name when he makes you come or do you call him Nik?

It’s only as he continues that the tone shifts. He feels his jaw clenching, the paper crumpling between his fingers as the words sink into his brain.

I am going to fuck you Alana. I’m going to hunt you down and I’m going to make him watch every filthy thing I do to you before I kill him.

It gets worse from there, he goes into detail, so much detail that Nik can see it playing out in his head like he’s watching a video. It makes his stomach churn and bile climbs up the back of his throat as he forces himself to continue.

It’s when he makes reference to the other letters, that Nik realises that you’ve been keeping secrets. This isn’t the first one Kessler has sent you, it’s just the first one Nik knows about.

He’s waiting for you when you come home, the rest of those letters spread out across the kitchen table. He’d found them tucked away in a shoebox stashed at the bottom the closet, they were wrapped in an elastic band, sorted in date order. He’s spent hours reading them, going over each and every awful thing that Kessler has written and the only thing that’s stopping him from heading upstate and murdering the other man is knowing that his incarceration is about to become a lot more uncomfortable. Nik’s made sure of that.

“You should have told me what going on.” He says, his voice rough as he pushes the latest depiction of Kessler’s nauseating fantasies towards you. “I would have put a stop to it the second I heard about it."

“That’s why I didn’t.” You tell him, your gaze coming to rest upon the letter. “I don’t want you to stop it, you saw what he wrote at the end about the girls, he’s giving me another lead…”

“Alana, he is lying to you.” Nik snaps, jabbing his finger at the letters. “He’s been manipulating you since this whole thing started.”

“Nik, if there is a chance…”

He can hear the desperation in your voice and he knows that’s what this all stems from. Kessler had been trafficking minors for years before you’d caught him, selling them on the darknet. That last shipment, you’d missed it by barely a couple of hours. Three tender age girls sold to men who would brutalise them the same way that Kessler had. That’s what this psychopath is holding over your head, the possibility of finding them, of rescuing them from their misery.

“Alana.” Nik says, his tone softening as he meets your gaze. “Those girls are gone, they were gone the minute Kessler delivered them. All of this is just a way of torturing you and you’re letting him…”

Nik’s voice breaks because this, this has been going on for months. He suddenly understands what the nightmares are about, the restlessness. He thought it would settle now that Kessler was in prison but now he knows you’ve been trading little pieces of yourself to a monster, feeding him, sustaining him.

“You need to let this go.” He tells you, swallowing hard against the ache in his chest. “He’s killing you Alana and you don’t even see it.”

“You can’t tell me what to do Nik.” You say quietly, your eyes lowering to the letters laid out across the table before you use your fingertips to shift them back into order.

“No, but I can hope you make the right decision, that you chose yourself over him.” He says as he picks up his jacket from the back of the chair and pulls it on over his shoulders. “I’m going to give you some time, take a beat,  but those letters, they need to be gone by the time I get back or I swear to God I will burn them myself. I won’t have him in our home Alana, he doesn’t get to have that.”

***

It’s a couple of hours later that Nik returns, he lets himself in quietly, toeing off his boots by the door before he hangs his jacket up on the coatrack. He’d gone to the studio tonight, taken up one of the private booths. His throat is raw from the singing, his fingertips tender from playing guitar.

You’re standing in front of the sink when he steps into the kitchen, the scent of smoke fills his nostrils and he watches as you ignite the final letter with the lighter you use for candles before dropping it into the basin.

“You were right.” You tell him as you watch it burn amongst the ashes of all the others. “He got in my head, he’s been living there rent free ever since the first one came and I let him…”

“It’s more complicated than that.” Nik whispers as he comes to stand beside you. His lips brush over your temple as his palm comes to rest on the nape of your neck, his thumb rubbing soothing circles that tense spot. “He weaponised your guilt.”

“I failed them.” You say and he can hear the agony in your voice, the devastation.

You’re crying when he wraps his arms around you, tears leaking down your cheeks. They soak through his shirt as he cradles you close.

“No.” Nik says resolutely. “You didn’t fail them, you did everything you could. Sometimes, sometimes we just get there a little too late.”

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Choices!Series Part Two: Compromise - Vostanik Sabatino x Reader

Tagging: @kmc1989 @novamariestark @words-and-seeds @thiashazzywriting @whateversomethingbruh @a-noni-love @reneejett4

Choices!Series

Part One: Diamonds - An undercover op makes Nik ask a question.

You’ve forgotten how good Sabatino is at playing a role. Tonight he's the rich, doting husband. Possessive over his woman, willing to give her whatever she desires. His thumb chases across your lower back, tracing over your bare skin and it sends a flush of heat chasing through your body. It’s an intimate gesture, one that makes it very clear to everyone else in the room exactly who you belong to.

You lose him in the raid, one minute he’s beside you, securing the suspect and the next both him and the painting have vanished. You wish you could have expected something different. It’s not the first time he’s pulled something like this. You guess the painting will go back into circulation; GPS tagged so they can track the next round of terrorist funding.  

When you return to the office you find the matching wedding band that he was wearing, sitting upon your desk.

You know you won’t be seeing him tonight, that he needs the space to lick his wounds.

As you study the platinum ring between your fingers you wonder if this is the choice that Sam was talking about.

“There comes a time when you just can’t bend any further, there’s no more flexibility. You and Sabatino are going to get to that point and when you do one of you will have to make a decision. It’ll be make or break.”

You’re there right now, you can feel it in your heart. Marriage is the one thing that you can’t compromise on and now he knows it.

***

Sabatino goes back to his hotel room that night, the one the CIA hire out for him whenever he’s in LA. He hasn’t told them that the two of you are living together, they don’t even know that he’s in a relationship because if they did, you’d be seen as leverage.

He lies down on the bed, still clad in his suit and he thinks about that moment, the one when he slipped the ring onto your finger. He didn’t realise how much he wanted it until then, how much it meant to him.

If he does this, if he choses a future with you then he has to be done with the CIA and that comes with stipulations, ones that he has to fulfil if he wants them to cut him loose.

“I think your job allows you to have one foot out the door.” You had told him.

He understands that’s what it must look like to you, that he’d not entirely invested, that he’s always ready to leave but the truth is he’s scared. He knows his value as an operative, that The Agency won’t want to release him. He’s terrified of what they might do if they find out that you’re the reason he’s putting in his papers.

His thumb plays over the empty space on his ring finger, the one where up until a few hours ago a platinum wedding band resided. He’d liked the feel of it, of belonging to you, of other people knowing that. You were right when you said there’s a security in being married.

The problem is the stability. He wants to be around more, to be involved in your life but his job prevents that. You can go months at a time without seeing each other, barely communicating if he’s in deep cover.

He wants to be there in your day to day, to hold your hand on the way to brunch, to get up at crazy o’clock to go running, to cuddle up on the couch scaring yourselves silly on the latest Netflix documentary. He wants a life with you, a whole one, not the one he’s been living for the past four years.

There’s only one person who knows what he’s going through, who can shed some light on his next steps and that’s Michelle Hanna. He resolves to visit her the next morning.

Maybe between the two of them they can figure something out.

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Walk The Line: Vostanik Sabatino x Reader

Tagging: @thiashazzywriting @words-and-seeds @novamariestark @whateversomethingbruh @a-noni-love @reneejett4 @trublu2u @stelacole @kmc1989

There’s a line that Nik walks, between being both disposable and indispensable to The Agency.

The CIA, they can’t let him go. He does too much, knows too much however if he were to die in another country whilst on the job they wouldn’t spare a second thought. They’d simply leave his body to rot. There would be no funeral, no notifications, he would simply just disappear.

He thinks about that as he lies beside you, listening to the sound of your breathing in the dark. He’d had a close call back in Syria, he’s still trying to heal from it. He knows now what an electrical burn looks like, how it still stays singed and black even after it transforms into a scar. It’s just another mark on the landscape of his body, one that you’ve kissed when you undressed him tonight. He hasn’t told you what happened but you know it was bad, you could tell from his demeanour.

It had occurred to him as they increased the voltage, that he was going to die in that cave and the worst part of that isn’t the agony, Nik can cope with that, it’s the thought that you would never know. He wonders in that moment how long it would take for you to realise. The two of you can go for months without contact, it’s the nature of the job, the relationship. Would it take a year, maybe two?

It's that thought that leads him to make the video.

It’s one of the hardest things he’s ever had to do.

He tells you that he loves you, that he’s always going to love you and that he’s sorry he couldn’t find his way back to you. At the end he tells you to move on, that you deserve to be happy, he doesn’t want you clinging to his memory.

He makes another video after that, this time just for Deeks.

“Please Deeks,” He says, his voice uncharacteristically rough. “Please man, just take care of her.”

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Hi. This is an ask for Vostanik Sabatino ❤️ again. The prompt is: 75. I play my enemies like a game of chess. Thank you so much.

Companion piece to Burn

References to upcoming fic 'Fair'

Nik knows that it was Ferris that tried to kill you, he finds his calling card tucked under the windscreen wiper of your car in the aftermath of the explosion.

 A black scythe on a cream background.

You took my queen, he’s written in block in capitals. So I took yours.

It’s a reference to that last mission in Iran, the one where Ferris and Foster had snatched him off the street and shoved him onto a plane. He’d heard the rumours about Ferris long before working with him. He wasn’t right in the head, he enjoyed the killing a little too much. Then there was the girls, the ones that disappeared. They were usually local, from the region, their bodies turning up a few days later, violated and ravaged.

He hadn’t believed it until he’d seen it with his own eyes. Ferris had disappeared when he was supposed to be on surveillance, Nik thought he’d been made, tried to help. He will never forget what he stumbled on in that alley, the terrified look in that girl’s eyes. She couldn’t have been more then twelve and Ferris had a knife to her throat, his pants down by his ankles. Nik had intervened, it had gotten bloody, messy.

Ferris had managed to get away but Nik had burned his life to the fucking ground in the aftermath. There’d been an internal investigation, Ferris had been terminated with prejudice, he’d gone on the run, leading the CIA’s finest agents on a merry dance across the globe.

Now he’s in LA. Nik thanks Christ that he paid out for that additional security system before he’s shipped out because he knows that’s the only thing that’s stopped Ferris getting into the house while he was away. That man had a very specific method of punishment when it came to women and Nik has no doubt that that’s what he wanted Nik to find when he got home tonight. You’d fucked everything up when you decided to go out for that bottle of champagne. Ferris had had to fall back onto Plan B, Nik guessed that burning you alive was the next best thing.

Ferris won’t stop after this, not when he learns you’ve survived. Nik’s done the very thing he promised himself he wouldn’t, he’s put a target on your back and now somewhere out there on the streets of LA there’s a sadist waiting to collect.

@kmc1989 @words-and-seeds @novamariestark @whateversomethingbruh

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Choices!Series Part One: Diamonds Vostanik Sabatino x Reader

Tagging: @kmc1989 @novamariestark @words-and-seeds @thiashazzywriting @whateversomethingbruh

It’s the undercover op that makes Sabatino ask the question. He’s back in LA on the trail of a stolen painting that’s being used as currency in exchange for nukes. It ties into a terrorist organisation he’s been hunting in Syria. NCIS have been working the case from the other end. It seems these days that your working lives seem to converge more often than not. He isn’t complaining, it means that he can be around a little more.

It becomes a joint op, the painting is being sold as part of an underground auction, you have connections to that world through an alias way back. The cover story you’d used to explain getting out of the game was that you’d gotten married, moved to New York.

It’s realistic enough. Sabatino has the accent and the attitude to pull it off. At heart he’s still a boy from Yonkers. The perfect man to play your husband.

It’s in wardrobe that he puts the rings on your finger. A platinum wedding band, and an engagement ring with a diamond the size of a moonrock. You’re playing the role of extravagant art dealer, everything about the two of you has to scream rich. It’s gaudy as fuck, he sees the face you pull, and he finds himself smiling. He knows you prefer silver, more meaningful pieces. Sapphires instead of diamonds.

“Would you do me the honour of being my fake wife?” He teases, clasping the delicate jewellery between his fingertips as he takes your hand. “We can share bullets, a pair of handcuffs.”

“When you put it like that how can I refuse?” You smile as he slides the ring onto your finger.

It’s when he looks up, his dark eyes meeting yours that he feels something shift. He has a glimpse into his future, the one he wants with you. He envisions marrying you, somewhere intimate, surrounded by the people that love you as much as he does.

“Do you…” He trails off looking down at the platanium wedding band, his thumb chasing over it lovingly. “Do you ever think about doing this for real?”

“Yea.” You say quietly and he detects the sadness in your voice.

His eyebrows furrow into a frown as he tilts his head up to meet your gaze, a questioning look in his eyes.

“Marriage takes commitment…” You tell him and it feels like you’ve punched him in the chest.

“You don’t think I’m committed to this?” He asks you, his voice lowering an octave, becoming more rough, more gravelly. “To us?”

“I think your job allows you to have one foot out the door. It’s been working for us the last few years but marriage…” You swallow hard against the ache in your chest as you force the words out. “For me it represents security, stability.”

“And you need that.” He says resolutely, pursing his lips together grimly before he pulls away, your hand slipping from his. He picks up the matching suit jacket from the hanger before he pulls it on over his shoulders. “I gotta go update my people.”

“Nik…” You say and he holds his hand up to wave you off.

“Don’t worry about it.” He tells you as he starts to walk away. “We had to get it out in the open at some point right?”

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Always: Vostanik Sabatino x Reader

Tagging: @thiashazzywriting @words-and-seeds @novamariestark @whateversomethingbruh @reneejett4 @trublu2u @stelacole @kmc1989

You love Nik Sabatino, you have since the moment he kissed you in a stakeout car on a dark LA night but your lover, he’s an asshole. You know it, he knows it. He teases you, telling you it’s part of the appeal and you don’t think he’s wrong. He’s the only man that’s ever been able to keep up with you, that’s given you a run for your money.

He’s fucked with your cases, disappeared on multiple occasions leaving nothing more than a set of handcuffs in his wake, his methods are beyond questionable. You find him absolutely infuriating. He’s also the most loyal, compassionate man you’ve ever met. He gives money to homeless vets he sees sitting on the streets. He cooks up a storm when he knows he’s going away, storing meals in the freezer because he wants to take care of you while he’s not there and that’s the only way he knows how.

That man of yours, he’s both maddening and exhilarating all at the same time

“What are you thinking about?” He asks you as he sets a mug of tea down on the patio table in front of you. He makes note of the weathering on the wrought iron and resolves to repaint it tomorrow.

“How much of an asshole you are.”

He throws back his head and laughs a before taking up residence on the bench alongside you. His firm body presses up against yours, his arm slung over your shoulders as he sips from his own mug staring out across the small yard. He’s spent most of the day redeveloping your garden, potting succulents, arranging them just so. The last time he was here, you’d mentioned putting a little more greenery out here, making it more of a sanctuary. It’s something you hadn’t managed to get around to in his absence so while you were at work, he’d undertaken the task.

The look on your face when you’d stepped outside had been worth the hours of hard labour. You had shown your appreciation in the shower, ruining him completely as the heated water soothed the ache from his muscles.

“Are we talking in general?” He teases you. “Or something more specific?”

“In general.” You inform him, hiding your smile as you sip your tea.

His fingertips trail along the line of your jaw, tilting your head so that he can capture your gaze. There’s so much love in him, you feel it everytime he looks at you. Everything else just falls away and there’s just this, a man who cares for his woman more than life itself.

“But you still love me right?”

He worries sometimes, that you’ll get tire of the antics, the games, the role he has to play. You’ll get sick of Sabatino and give up on Nik.

“Always.” You promise him, your thumb ghosting over the apple of his cheek. “I’ll aways love you Nik.”

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Hi 👋🏻 It’s me and I have an ask for Vostanik Sabatino 😉 The prompt is: #32. This is agony. But it’s still a thrill for me. Thank you so much. I hope that's okay because I know you have a lot to do lately.

It’s agony for Nik, seeing you with another man. The way he leans in close, his fingertips brushing a stand of hair back behind your ear as he lingers in your proximity. When he tips your chin up to meet his gaze, Nik knows that he’s going to kiss you and he can’t stand to watch.

It's just a sting, he tells himself, you don't really care for the man who has his hands on you.

“This is killing you, isn’t it?” Sam says as they sit alongside each other in the Hellcat watching the scene in front of them unfold.

“You have no idea.” Nik murmurs, his palm rubbing across his jaw in agitation.

���How do you think it feels for her?” Sam reminds him, leaning back in his seat. “We both know the CIA encourages its operatives to gather intel by any means possible and we both know that includes sleeping with their mark.”

“I don’t do that anymore.” Nik says quietly as he watches the man you’re hunting, whisper something into your ear. “I haven’t since we started. I just can’t.”

He remembers the moment he realised that it was a problem. He was in a hotel room in Tel Aviv. He's well versed in the art of seduction. He’s charismatic, he plays to his strengths, he knows how to make someone feel good, how to cultivate a relationship.

It’s his first time with a woman since Afghanistan, since he’d met you, fallen in love. It had felt wrong from the onset, the trail of her fingers over his skin as she removed his shirt, the press of her lips to the hollow of his throat. It’s when she touches him for the first time that he stops her because the truth is he can’t stand it. You’ve ruined him for anybody else.

He calls you that night. It’s a risk but he just needs to hear the sound of your voice.

“I don’t want to do this anymore.” He tells you, his throat raw with emotion. “I can’t give myself to anyone else.”

You can hear the distress in his voice over the miles between you and it kills you deep inside because you know for him it’s not a choice, it’s a job requirement.

He gets creative after that, utilises sedatives, becomes the master of setting a scene. When they wake up, he’s usually pulling on his clothes after an alleged night of debauchery.

“We had a lot of fun last night.” He tells them with that sinful smile of his. “We’ll have to do it again the next time I’m in town.”

He’s quiet on the journey home after the sting, there’s a tension that practically vibrates through his nerve endings as he clutches the steering wheel so hard his knuckles turn white. It’s when you step into the house that his resolve breaks and all of that emotion rushes to the surface.

He’s on you in an instant, his lips brushing over yours as his thumb chases over the line of your jaw. His firm body pins you to wall, his hips thrusting urgently against yours as you moan into his mouth. His hands are already tangled in the fabric of the dress, gripping it so tightly he feels it start to fray. He wants to destroy it, rip it, tear it at apart at the seams.

“Tell me that you’re mine.” He says, his voice rough as your fingers tug at his belt. “Tell me that every part of you belongs to me.”

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@kmc1989 @words-and-seeds

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Covert Affairs: Vostanik Sabatino x Reader (feat: G. Callen)

Tagging: @kmc1989 @novamariestark @words-and-seeds @thiashazzywriting @whateversomethingbruh

You’ve been with Sabatino almost two years when your relationship gets thrust into the spotlight. It’s a litany of stolen moments whenever he arrives back in LA. Whirlwind dinner dates and nights spent ruining you in the sheets of his hotel room. You hit your favourite brunch spots, ranking them with detailed notes you keep on your phone for the next time he’s in town. He gives you a tour of Hollywood, the places he used to haunt back in the day when he was playing with his band. You catch a couple of shows over pitchers of beer in a dive bar or two.

“Do you ever think about doing it again?” You ask him as you watch the band from a spot near the bar. Your back comes to rest against his chest, his arm looped around your waist, holding you close.

“Maybe one day, when I finally put down some roots.” He murmurs into your ear as he nuzzles the curve of your throat. “I miss making music.”

He fucks you in the bathroom of the bar, the pulse of the music vibrating through the walls as he goes down on you to a God-awful rendition of ‘Killer Queen’. Whenever you hear that song in the aftermath, you think of that night. His mouth on you, tongue thrust deep inside when you come for him just as Freddy hits the high note.

Sam’s away in Somalia when Nell and Eric identify a problem. Someone has been downloading classified data from the NCIS server and selling it on the black market. An investigation is opened into everyone who was working at a computer terminal during the download, and you happen to be one of them. You’d stayed late to catch up on the after-action reports after losing a bet to Callen at the shooting rage.

It’s ridiculous that a tickle in your nose just as you’re about to pull the trigger is the reason your whole life blows up.

Part of the investigation includes cloning the personal phones of the people under suspicion so they can deep dive into their lives. You make it relatively easy, leaving yours in the top drawer of your desk when you hit the gym with Kensi. Nobody really believes it’s you, you’ve been with them six years. You’ve shed blood, cried tears, saved their lives, fought their battles. For Nell and Eric, it’s simply a process of elimination, that is until they find a wealth of incriminating data.

Calls from multiple international sources they can’t verify.

An encrypted message app, hidden under the calculator icon.

A secret cache of files that are password protected.

It’s all high-level security, something you don’t need on your personal device, almost NSA level shit. Even with their tech savvy it would take hours to break into the phone and they don’t have that kind of time because you’ve just received a text from a burner cell telling you to meet at The Majestic Hotel, Room 216, later this evening.

You must be meeting the buyer.

They can’t take the risk of that information falling into the wrong hands, so it becomes an op with you as the target. It’s hastily put together, there’s no time to run prior surveillance because it’s going down just as they pull up to the hotel. They catch a glimpse of you stepping into the room before the door closes quietly behind you.

Callen, Deeks and Kensi take up residence just outside the door, allowing a few minutes for the exchange to take place before they use the keycard to gain entry.

When they burst into the room guns drawn, it’s not what anyone expected.

The first thing they see is Sabatino. He’s in a state of undress. His white button up shirt hangs open, revealing his bare chest including that messy scar etched into his flesh. There’s lipstick marks trailing down the hollow of his throat, staining his skin. It’s fire engine red, the shade you were wearing. He holds his hands up in a gesture of surrender, his body shielding you from what he perceives to be a threat.

For Callen it's an echo back to that day in Afghanistan, the one when Sabatino put himself between you and the bullet that would have ended your life.

When you step out from behind him, you’re in a similar state of disarray. Your lipstick is smeared across your mouth, your hands tugging the fabric of the black wrap dress around your body covering up the lingerie that you’re wearing.

You’re both arrested and taken to separate interrogation rooms in the Boatshed. You’re silent in the face of the accusation but Sabatino, he will not stop talking. He’s pissed on your behalf, that your team won’t give you the benefit of the doubt, that you’re being treated like a criminal. Him, he’s used to this shit, but you deserve better.

You don’t blame them for suspecting you, you know how it looks. You’d be doing the same thing in their shoes; in fact, you have.

They sweat you for a while, leave you spinning your wheels. It’s standard procedure in a case like this, let the suspect get in their own head, make them eager to talk. You know what’ll happen in that time, they’ll find evidence of your relationship with Sabatino. It’s not that that bothers you, it’s the intimate items you’d brought with you to the hotel room sitting in your overnight bag. The one that someone is now going to have to search through. It’s humiliating.

It's Callen that comes to interrogate you, you didn’t expect anything different, he is your superior after all. You know that your conversation is about to get a lot more personal because Callen has to consider the possibility that Sabatino’s been using you for intel, he wouldn’t be doing his due diligence if he didn’t.

“Your relationship with Sabatino, take me through it.”

So, you do, from that first kiss in the car to the last time he was in town. As you detail your relationship, things start to make sense to Callen, pieces he hasn’t put together until now. Sabatino’s reaction back in Afghanistan when you were taken, the fact he’d undertaken the prisoner walk instead of a member of your team. He had known that bullet was coming, that the Taliban couldn’t afford to let you go. He’d been prepared to die for you that day.

Callen thinks about earlier in the hotel room, Sabatino’s first instinct had been to get between you and whatever was coming through that door. He understands that urge, it’s reactive and primal, like a wolf protecting his mate.

There’s other things he’s noticed. Sabatino’s smile when you’re around, it brighter, more genuine. The look he gives you, there’s always a warmth in it despite the fact he’s being a smartass. The last time they’d arrested him, he’d been reserved but this time he’s irate and Callen knows that it comes from a place of love. That he’s infuriated on your behalf.

At the end of your story, you give him the passwords for your phone. Everything you need to prove the existence of your relationship resides on that device.

“See for yourself.” You tell him and he does.

Those files you’d encrypted?

Selfies.

The two of you eating ice cream on the boulevard, the sun setting in the background. Sabatino kissing your cheek as you smile into the camera at a bar in Hollywood. Him playing a guitar on the couch in your living room, a book of chords laid out in front of him. There’s more of them, documenting your relationship over the past two years. For anyone else these would be normal Instagram images but for someone who’s a covert agent they’re a death sentence.

The hidden chat app?

It’s full of voice notes filled with private, intimate things that no one else should ever be privy to.

When I look up at the sky tonight it reminds me of Afghanistan, the first night I spent with you.

You looked too beautiful to wake up this morning, I’m sorry I had to leave.

The sun’s just rising here, and all I can think about is how I wish I was waking up next to you.

The international calls?

Callen realises it’s Sabatino checking in, letting you know he’s still alive.

By all accounts he’s looking at a couple in love, one that’s been forced to keep their relationship a secret due the nature of Sabatino’s career. Callen’s worked for the CIA; he knows the risks. He also knows that this man would set the entire world on fire if anything happened to you.

“Come for a drink tonight.” Callen suggests when it’s all said and done. “I wanna get to know Sabatino a little better, you know, just in case he ends up joining the family.”

You roll your eyes as you stand in the main room of the Boatshed, gathering the few personal items that had been transported with you.

“Our very fucked up little family.” You retort.

“Neither less he’s important to you, so he’s important to us too.” Callen tells you.

You can hear the sincerity in voice. Callen doesn’t say things he doesn’t mean, not to you. You’ve been lied to too many times in the past before you’d transferred to LA. Your old partner back San Diego had been corrupt, it had been a severe blow to your psyche. You’d been transferred to LA because you were deemed a problem child. Callen got that, he’d understood it. He’d made you a deal.

“If you’re upfront with me, I’ll be upfront with you, it’s a two-way street.”  

That’s the way the two of you operated and it had worked consistently over the past six years.

“Even after all of this.” You say gesturing at the monitors that oversee the interrogation rooms.

You’re talking about the fact that you’ve spent two years hiding your life with a man, he has a kinda love/hate relationship with. Out of everyone you work with Callen has the most trust issues, this should be a problem for him, but the thing is, it’s not. He understands it on both levels. You’re protecting the man you love, and Sabatino, he’s protecting you too.

“Especially after all of this.” He says firmly before he places his palms on the surface of the wooden table and tilting his head up to meet your gaze. “Look I’m not going to pretend I understand what you see in the guy, but he cares about you, hell he almost died for you, and I can’t fault him for that. Trust me I want to, but I can’t.”

There’s an edge of humour to his voice because his interactions with Sabatino have always fluctuated between irritation and respect. The man is an excellent operative, and the problem is he knows it. You find yourself smiling despite yourself, your fingertips tapping lightly on the table.

“Alright.” You agree because this how you step into the light, how the two of you move forward into the future. “But the drinks are on you guys tonight.”

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