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Jaz quickly discerned that, out of everyone on the team, Amir was the least annoying. Not that she'd tell anyone else that. She was well aware that they were just trying to take care of her, and that they were all dealing with their own level of trauma regarding her capture. But it was exhausting, nonetheless, dealing with therapy and rehab and also with McGuire and Preach and, worst of all, Dalton breathing down her neck at every possible opportunity.
It took a level of pleading that she wasn't entirely comfortable with to convince the boys to go to Mersin for the day and take a damn break from hovering. It was only with the shrink's support that she managed. They agreed to leave her with Amir for the day. That, she could live with.
"Sorry," she muttered once they'd gone.
"You think you needed a break from them?" Amir asked, chuckling. "You weren't the only one. Trust me."
"They are kind of insufferable these days." Jaz sat on the edge of the pool table, her body only protesting the move a little bit.
"They're worried about you. They're worried about themselves. It'll pass. Settle," he offered.
She watched him rummage in the pantry and quirked her brow. "Something's different."
"Different how?" To his credit, Amir didn't flinch, or hesitate, or give any other indication at all that she'd made him. But Jaz knew.
"I don't know, Amir,you tell me. Something happen in Colombia?"
"Yes, several things. We took out a terrorist, saved a plane full of people, disarmed a bomb...Can I make you lunch? You can't subsist entirely on strawberry poptarts." He glanced disdainfully at the box on the counter.
"You leave my poptarts alone. We're talking about you here," Jaz said.
Amir stayed quiet for a few seconds and Jaz just stared at his back, waiting.
"Okay, I'll make you a deal," he said finally. "I'll tell you what you want to know if you let me make you something to eat. And you actually eat it."
Jaz considered the offer and nodded. "Okay. Deal. You gonna make me wait til your food is done before you talk?"
"I'll take you at your word. I trust you."
Still, he made her wait for at least another minute before he said anything.
"It was Hannah."
"Hannah," Jaz echoed, brow arched. "Rivera? The analyst? You...Oh, you slept with her!" She gasped dramatically, chuckling.
"Guilty as charged." He turned and handed her a slice of orange and she swore he was blushing.
"So, was it just the sex? I mean, we've all felt that post-mission high." She'd indulged in it herself a time or two.
"You know as well as I do,our line of work doesn't lend itself well to relationships," Amir replied,diplomatic as ever.
"I know that a relationship with someone who gets it is about the only way it'd work out. Not that I'd fault you for blowing off steam." Jaz bit into the orange, groaning softly as the juice flooded her mouth. Amir smiled knowingly at her reaction.
"It was...more than blowing off steam," he admitted.
"That good, huh?" Jaz smirked.
"A man doesn't kiss and tell..."
Jaz snorted. "Tell that to McG."
Amir laughed. "Yeah, that good," he murmured finally. "Better."
Now Jaz was positive he was blushing.
"You dog," she teased. Patton lifted his head in response. "No, not you. Go back to sleep. So, does Hannah know? That it was more?"
"I think she might, yeah."
Jaz groaned and buried her face in her hands, hair spilling over her shoulders. "You think so."
"Are you really going to harp on me about communication right now?" Amir laughed.
"I'm really going to do something." Jaz tossed her peel across the room, managing to get it into the sink.
"For your information, I may have had an ulterior motive for staying back today. One that had absolutely nothing to do with bargaining with you to eat something that isn't purely sugar and chemicals," Amir supplied.
"Oh-ho, got a hot Skype date?" Jaz asked.
"Something like that."
"I promise to only eavesdrop a little bit."
Amir rolled his eyes. "I appreciate that, Jaz, really."
"I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Lighten up already. I have no interest in cockblocking you." She slid off the pool table and moved to the couch instead. She was still too aware of stillness, of sitting in one place for too long.
"There's nothing to...cockblock," Amir objected, totally ignoring her restlessness. "It's just a phone call."
"Yeah, a phone call about the amazing sex you had,"Jaz replied,which earned her an exasperated sigh.
"Okay, you're absolutely right. I'm planning to seduce her, right here."
Jaz cackled."That's the spirit."
"You're a sick woman. Has anyone ever told you that?" Amir held out a bowl. "Come get your food."
Jaz crossed the room to take the bowl, shocked by the contents. "Macaroni and cheese?"
"Real cheese, and I mixed in a few vegetables so it's not entirely junk," Amir explained. "But who am I to deny you comfort food."
"I think I love you."
"Jaz,I'm flattered, but I'm a little taken at the moment..." he teased.
"Shh, I was talking to my lunch."
"Ah, sorry, my mistake." He chuckled and dug into his own bowl.
Amir said nothing when Jaz spent the duration of her meal pacing. It didn't seem to bother him. She'd found very little that did, and she was starting to think it wasn't an act. Somehow, that was enormously comforting.
"Thanks for lunch. And for talking," Jaz said, setting her bowl in the sink next to her orange peel. She'd clean up before everyone got back. "Hannah calling soon?"
She watched Amir check the time like he hadn't had his eye on it all day. "Any minute."
"I'm gonna go for a walk," Jaz decided. "I'll stay on base, don't worry."
"I'm not worried. I trust you, remember?"
She was pretty sure he wasn't even lying, and she felt pretty damn good about that.
**
Jaz had every intention of staying outside until Amir was finished with his call. Privacy was virtually a nonentity, living in such close quarters, and she wanted him to have this one small thing.
She managed for about half an hour, Patton following after her,circling dutifully time and again, herding her along some invisible path, but she still wasn't fully recovered and moving around so much still took its toll (especially when she hadn't exactly been eating well). There wasn't really a reasonable way for her to sneak back into her room without going through the main living area, so she decided to go for it, hoping Amir wouldn't resent her too much.
"Sorry,I think I'm gonna go take a nap," she announced, pausing when she realized Amir was simply reading something aloud. He paused when she spoke.
"It's no trouble," he assured her."Say hi."
"Hi Jaz." Hannah's voice came through the sat phone and Jaz rounded the table to appear on camera. It felt a little strange once she realized Hannah wasn't at the DIA but presumably home. And in bed.
"Hey. I really didn't mean to interrupt...Just warmer out today than I realized," Jaz explained. Now that she'd gotten over the surprise of seeing Hannah so casually after always seeing her working, Jaz couldn't help but realize the girl looked a little tense.
"It's fine," Hannah promised. "Amir was just reading me a bedtime story." She laughed softly and Jaz quirked her brow, glancing at the book next to the console. A dogeared copy of The Great Gatsby.
"Can't sleep?" Jaz didn't know much about Hannah at all. She was a name and a face and a voice. A tactical mind. Not much more. But Jaz liked to think she was decent at reading people. Maybe not as good as Dalton, but she tried.
"Something like that," Amir said, before Hannah could reply.
"I'll leave you to it, then. It's a good choice," Jaz said, glancing at Amir before smiling at Hannah. "The story and the reader."
"Yeah." Some of the tension eased out of Hannah and Jaz's smile widened.
"Hope you get some sleep. Goodnight, Hannah." Jaz squeezed Amir's shoulder before slipping away, through the kitchen,in the direction of her room.
Even with the door closed, she could hear Amir. She couldn't make out his words, but the steady, even tone of his voice was incredibly calming. Jaz stretched out on her bed,Patton beside her, and drifted off dreaming of home.