Colette was stroking Virginie's hair, waiting for her to come to, when the phone rang. She sprinted, grabbing it with extreme urgency. "Yes, hello?"

"This is the front desk, we have a young man by the name of Corey Hall saying that he's here to see you," Louie said. "He seems like he's in a hurry."

"I've been expecting him. Send him up, please."

"Right away, miss."

Not too long after, she heard a knock on the door. Before Corey could get the chance to knock a second time, Colette burst the door open.

There stood Corey, her long-time best friend. He was well built with sparkling eyes that reminded Colette of the fresh basil that she liked to use in her pesto. He had tousled dirty blonde hair and the perfect amount stubble. His angled eyebrows complimented his heart shaped face. He often had a big goofy grin on his face. He stood before her wearing a thick overcoat, red baseball tee, light blue skinny jeans, and tan construction boots. In his hand, he held a large duffel bag, which held the supplies needed to stitch up Virginie.

Colette wrapped her arms around him, thankful that he came so quickly.

Corey hugged her back, enveloping her in his warm arms. "I wanted to wait until we got in bed for you to jump on me, but this is fine too, babe."

"Shut up, dick," Colette muttered against his chest. "I'm grateful that you're here. Don't ruin it."

Corey chuckled as Colette pulled away from him. "Where's our patient?" he asked, looking around the spacious apartment.

"She's over there," Colette stated, pointing to the couch. "I already cleaned the wounded area but it looks like she did most of the work for us. There was a tourniquet but I don't know when it was put on so the blood loss could still be substantial. She's still out of it so maybe you won't have to give her any sedatives?" She looked up at him with hopeful eyes but he just shook his head.

"I know you're worried about her, but from what I've heard she's had a busy day," Corey smiled, starting to unpack his bag. "I'm gonna give her a little bit so she won't be in even more pain as I clean and stitch up the wound."

Colette nodded but didn't say anything. She agreed with Corey's assessment but she knew Virginie wasn't going to understand. Colette was only acting in Virginie's best interest like she always did.

Corey stood over Virginie, assessing her wound. Virginie stirred as he began to remove the bandages.

"Don't. Fucking. Touch. Me." She seethed through clenched teeth, slapping him across the face. Corey stumbled backwards, stunned by the force of her slap. He understood why she had done it but that didn't take away from the stinging pain in his cheek. Virginie attempted to stand up but fell back onto the couch, her body not strong enough to follow with her resolve.

"Why would you do that me?" Corey whined. "It's Corey, I've come to take care of you."

With her eyes barely open, Virginie mustered a weak smile. "Sorry, Corey. I thought you were..."

"Yeah, yeah," Corey teased. She didn't need to explain herself to him. "An enemy or whatever. You couldn't tell that it was me when you were half conscious? You're losing your touch."

"Fuck you."

"You wish."

"Where's Colette?"

"I'm right here," Colette interjected, clasping her hand. "I'm gonna watch over him."

"Remember, no drugs...I have shit to do..." Virginie requested half-heartedly.

Corey and Colette shared a knowing look. "Just go back to sleep, okay? You need your rest for tonight." Colette assured.

Virginie nodded in response as her body went limp once again and Corey took a deep sigh of relief. "Wow, that woman is strong."

Colette sniffed. "Wouldn't you know it?"

Corey started prepping the anesthesia. He pulled out a small bottle filled with clear liquid from his bag. He placed a syringe in it, carefully taking the amount that he needed. He usually would've used a local anesthetic for a simple procedure like this but Virginie needed her sleep and she had lost a lot of blood. She needed time to recover or else she would burn out. He knew if he did not put her to sleep, she would wake up soon and try to do more work. That's the type of person she was.

Colette noticed that he had placed a needle, scalpel, and suture on the coffee table. "Did you sterilize those?"

Corey rolled his eyes. "No, they're coated in blood and pus. I want to infect the wound so that Virginie's shoulder becomes the size of a giant jawbreaker."

Colette clicked her tongue but said nothing.

After finding a good vein, he placed the syringe in her arm, injecting the liquid. Virginie stirred once again, beginning to move around but those movements slowed and eventually ceased as the anesthesia took take effect.

"There we go," Corey declared, able to remove the bandages. With his gloves, he examined her shoulder and saw that the wound was deep but not life threatening. There was, however, the jagged skin around the open wound that he would need to cut to have a clean stitch but other than that, she seemed to be fine.

"Did you bring any blood with you?" Colette asked, remembering that she never asked him to bring any.

"Yup," Corey replied, not looking up as he began cutting away at the torn flesh. "As long as you have an IV, we'll be good to go after I stitch her up."

Colette beamed. "You're the best."

"You know it, babe."

She ignored the term of endearment as she saw him put dressing around the wound, meaning that he was going to start any second now.

"By the way, who the fuck was Virginie saving when she got this wound?" Corey liked to talk while he did procedures like this. It made him and the people involved a lot more comfortable.

"Some lawyer named Alex something," Colette replied, watching his every move. She didn't particularly care. She was more focused on the movements he was making.

Corey's eyes flashed with recognition for a quick second but returned to their usual aloofness. "She must've made quite the impression. His brother called the Agency not too long after the assault, asking for her protection specifically. Although he didn't know her name, everyone knew who he was talking about." He smiled to himself. The brother had also noted that Alex was interested in her in other ways, but Colette was overprotective just like Virginie but didn't like to admit it. She would overreact and want an entire file on his life if she found out.

"Did he really?"

"Yes."

"What did you tell him?"

Corey hesitated. Colette hated protective detail. She thought it wasn't making the best use of the skills people learned in the Agency. He knew that Virginie would have no problem with it, however. She enjoyed dealing with people who actually deserved her time and expertise. She would just have to modify her story with the hedge fund manager a bit to squeeze in this job as well. "I wasn't the one who took the call, I just heard about it."

"You know the contents of the conversation or else you wouldn't have brought it up. Now spill."

Corey laughed before continuing. "He was put on hold for a short period of time because the person who was taking the call had to talk to the boss. You know everything that she does has to go through him."

Colette nodded. The boss had a strange protectiveness when it came to Virginie, one that not even Virginie had explained to her yet. The way he looked at Virginie reminded Colette of the way lions stared down gazelles before pouncing on them. Colette knew that it made Virginie uncomfortable but she didn't say anything because being the boss's favorite came with some perks. Colette often wanted to cut his arm off when he would hold her hand for too long or linger by her neck after whispering something in her ear.

Virginie loved to pretend that predatory men didn't bother her, but Colette knew her better than that. Colette had been around Virginie long enough to notice her sweaty sheets and hear her muffled screams at night when Virginie thought Colette was sleeping. Virginie's breathless sobs never ceased to shake her to her very core. The cries for her unknown attackers to stop pierced the midnight air with a force that Colette could not shake. Her nightmare induced pleads could make Stephen King's hair stand on end. Colette pretended that she didn't hear or see any of it but it pained her that she could not take away any of Virginie's obvious anguish. The worst part was that she couldn't even talk to her about it. She knew Virginie would dismiss her before she would even be able to get a word in.

"He thought it was an okay idea and told Alex's brother Virginie's location for tonight. It seems that they are going to be attending the same gala this evening. He told everyone not to tell her. He wants it to be a surprise."

Colette stared at Corey for a second, filled with confusion. "I don't understand why he would want not to..."

Corey shook his head, now stitching up the wound. The small pieces of jagged flesh lay on a sterile tissue on the coffee table. "I don't understand his reasoning but it's best if we go along with it. She can handle herself. She's been doing that all her life."

There was a small window of silence before Colette spoke. "Do you know why they were trying to kill him? The lawyer, I mean."

Corey's eyes flashed with the same look from before but it disappeared once again. Colette wanted to press him on it but said nothing. What is he hiding? "I'm not certain. Virginie didn't tell anyone anything about this. The only reason why we know why it happened at the Agency is because of Alex's brother's call. I'm sure with Virginie's skillset we will find out soon enough though." He finished the suture with a knot to tie it all together. "There, I'm all done. Go and get the IV while I get the blood out of the bag."

Colette went down the hall to their supplies closet which was filled with things that they used on assignments. The apartment featured three walk-in closets and they used one of them to hold all of their Agency items. She walked through the packed room, arriving at the area where they kept all of their health supplies.

She rolled the IV out from the closet and saw Corey taking a couple pints of blood out of the duffle bag. She was glad he was so resourceful. She took one of the bags from his hands, her delicate fingers brushing against his, making her blush.

"So when are you gonna let me take you out to dinner?"

"Shut the fuck up, Corey."

Hurt filled his usual joyous eyes and Colette immediately regretted snapping back at him. She liked Corey so she didn't know what she was so afraid of. He was a good guy. He cared about her. Why wouldn't she give him a chance?

Their eyes bore into one another's and for a quick second, Colette almost gave in.

The sharp ring of the home phone startled the two of them and grateful for the distraction, Colette quickly crossed the floor to pick up the phone. "Hello?"

"Yes, this is Robert Chavez. Can I speak to Virginie?" the deep voice said.

Colette stopped herself from gritting her teeth. She hated this man with a passion. He was seemingly obsessed with Virginie. She was somewhere along the lines of his girlfriend but he had not officially asked her yet. After looking through his file and seeing all the bad things that he had done, Colette wanted to vomit every time that she saw his face. She couldn't believe she nearly had to take this assignment. She would have had to, if Virginie hadn't volunteered.

"She's sleeping right now, can I take a message?" Colette replied, trying to keep her voice in high spirits. She obviously couldn't tell him the truth without blowing their cover.

Robert groaned. "Ugh, I guess. Please tell her to be on the lookout for a dress. I sent her one to wear at the gala this evening. I will be sending a car for her at 8:30 pm sharp. Tell her not to dilly daddle."

Colette wondered what grown man in the 21st century used the phrase "dilly daddle" but didn't say anything. "Yes, I will do that."

"Thank you." He hung up, not even saying goodbye.

Colette put the phone back on the receiver angrily and sat back on the couch. Corey looked at her with an eyebrow raised in curiosity.

"I can't wait until we can kill him."

He leaned closer to her with a smug grin. "I love it when you talk about killing people. It is such a turn on. Say it again."

Colette pushed him away by his forehead, trying to ignore the heat building in the pit of her belly. "Shut up, Corey. Do your fucking job for once and help me put this IV in."