Chapter Text
As of right now, Ryland Grace and Eva Stratt had not actually spoken a word with each other in over two weeks.
Their fight had been brutal, the silence that had followed had somehow managed to be even worse. And given how they had just been unceremoniously dropped off by some car at an otherwise completely deserted parking bay beside a road that disappeared somewhere into the trees of a random German forest, Grace doubted that the absence of an audience would make much of a difference. They had silently been standing next to each other for the better part of an hour, without exchanging even a single word since being left here, and knowing Stratt, there really was no reason to assume the next several hours would look any different.
Some might call him a pessimist for thinking like this but he preferred to think of it as a hard earned expertise. After all, somewhere during the last few years he had become the leading expert on all things Eva Stratt, so he simply knew better.
However, he eventually found himself growing increasingly fed up with being unable to do anything but stand around, so he turned towards her, having finally accepted that he once again, he would have to be the one to bite the bullet first. But before he even had the chance to do as much as open his mouth a sound reached them first, the unmistakable growl of a large engine announcing a vehicle long before it even came into view. A large black pickup truck rounded the corner, a trailer swaying gently behind it. The truck pulled into one of the parking spots a few spaces away from where they stood, with practiced ease, gravel crunching beneath the big tires until they rolled to a smooth stop. The vehicle rocked gently as the trailer settled behind it while the diesel engine continued to idle for another second, its familiar growl gradually fading into silence. The stillness of the forest settled over them once more, now disturbed only by the rustling of leaves and the occasional car rushing past on the nearby road.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Grace cast a brief glance toward Stratt, only to find her entire attention fixed on the truck. The driver’s door swings open, and a tall man climbs out, his boots hitting the gravel beneath with a dull crunch before he turns to look in their direction. Sunlight filtered through the crowns of the trees overhead, scattering across the dark lenses of his Aviator Sunglasses and concealing his eyes behind shifting reflections. It made it impossible to tell where exactly his gaze had settled.
“Leo!” Ryland’s head snapped toward the woman standing beside him. Objectively he knew that the voice could only belong to her, but the soft and almost gleeful delight woven into it felt so foreign that, for a moment, he genuinely questioned whether he had started having auditory hallucinations. Quite frankly, he was even beginning to question his own sanity, because Eva Stratt did not sound like that.
Not willingly, not ever.
Stratt was many things, gleeful was not one of them.
He had seen her amused before sure, had witnessed the occasional almost-smile or the rare spark of entertainment, if the circumstances were perfect and the stars aligned for it to happen.
Even he had managed to coax that reaction out of her once or twice.
But that was nothing compared to this, nothing compared to the sheer, unfiltered happiness on her face. It was so far outside his understanding of Eva Stratt that he briefly wondered if he had perhaps stepped into an alternate reality.
His gaze unhelpfully zeroed in on the small crinkles at the corners of her smile, how it stretched wider than he had ever managed to make it. Tiny lines formed around her eyes, showcasing a happiness so effortless and unguarded that he couldn’t remember ever even seeing it on her before, let alone imagine it was even capable of forming there.
Something uncomfortable twisted in his chest and he immediately refused to examine it too closely, mostly because he had a terrible suspicion he already knew exactly what color it was, green.
He had never seen her smile like this before, because he had never managed to make her smile like that, and that was the entire problem.
Grace watched, completely stunned, as Stratt abandoned every ounce of her usual composure and practically bolted toward the man now casually leaning against the open door of his pickup.
What was even more strange, was that the man seemed completely unfazed by the sight. The moment he saw her running toward him, he simply straightened from where he had been leaning against the door, letting go of it and opening his arms without a trace of hesitation, like he had done this a thousand times before.
He caught her with a sickeningly familiar ease and a second later, Eva Stratt, the woman who could bring world leaders to heel with a single look, had practically disappeared into his embrace. His broad frame nearly swallowed her whole as he wrapped his arms around her in the kind of embrace Grace had never even once thought she’d accept, let alone seek out.
And at that exact moment, Grace was absolutely certain his earlier hypothesis had been correct. He had somehow fallen into an alternate reality, there was no other explanation for this.
Eva Stratt willingly throwing herself into the arms of a man?
Eva Stratt?!
Yeah, no.
Alternate Reality was much more plausible.
He tore his gaze away from the scene unfolding in front of him and forced himself to look elsewhere. He kind of needed to, before the sheer obscenity of what was currently happening before his eyes made him do something stupid.
Like repeatedly introducing his skull to one of the nearby trees until he woke up safely in his bed back on the aircraft carrier, where reality still made sense.
His eyes eventually drifted upward, settling on the vast canopy formed by the tall trees surrounding them. Their massive trunks stood like silent sentinels, rising from the earth as their branches stretched high above and intertwined overhead, filtering the sunlight into scattered patches that danced across the ground. A gentle breeze moved lazily through the treetops, stirring the leaves into a soft whisper that filled the air with a constant, soothing murmur.
Still, even though the earthy scent of the forest was pleasant enough, it did little to mask the harsh smell of rubber, asphalt, and gasoline that seemed to linger all around.
Grace scrunched up his nose, he missed the sea.
Despite his best efforts to pretend he wasn’t interested or even there really, curiosity inevitably won out. His gaze slowly wandered back toward the trailer attached to the black pickup.
What was even in that thing?
“Dr. Grace”
Stratt’s voice pulled him out of his thoughts.
Oh wow, he stood corrected, she did remember how to actually talk to him after all. His bitterness was unfortunately only intensified as he realised that the deeply unsettling happiness that he had been trying to process for the last several minutes, was still laced in her voice as she addressed him. He felt his fists involuntarily curl tightly inside the pockets of his cardigan as he rocked back on his heels before he finally turned his attention back toward the two people in front of him.
Well, at least they had chosen to stand apart now, no longer presenting themselves as a single, seemingly inseparable unit. He considered that a small victory, even if the thought carried a distinctly bitter edge.
So what?
“This is Leonard Kaiser, an old friend of mine”
Despite himself, Grace found himself studying the man.
He was tall, annoyingly tall.
Short dark brown curls fell in casual disarray around his sunglasses, a few strands falling over his forehead as the thicker ones caught the scattered sunlight filtering through the trees and curled against the thin silver frames.
All in an effortlessness that others spent far too much time trying to achieve, but on him almost seemed to happen entirely accidental. Like he had run a hand through his hair and somehow ended up looking better for it.
And if that wasn’t already enough, as if his hair alone hadn’t already been irritating enough, the rest of him wasn’t much better. Sharp cheekbones caught the shifting sunlight, a strong jaw framed by the faintest shadow of stubble, and a straight nose that gave his profile an almost sculpted quality. His naturally tanned skin spoke of long days spent outdoors, and yet the relaxed smile on his face somehow managed to soften it all.
Whatever.
The fitted black shirt stretched across his broad chest, did little to disguise the strength of the frame beneath it. It clung to his broad shoulders before giving way to the tanned, muscular arms, which were currently folded comfortably across his chest as he regarded Grace with an almost amused tilt of his head from behind his sunglasses.
Everything about him suggested a life spent moving, the man looked like he had spent considerably more time outdoors than anywhere near fluorescent lights and certainly more time actually fixing things than just studying them in a laboratory all day.
Of course.
Of course Stratt’s mysterious old friend would look like someone who belonged on the cover of an outdoors magazine.
Grace decided that he hated him almost immediately.
Reluctantly, Grace finally walked over to them.
And If he dragged his feet ever so slightly, that was nobody’s business but his own, he had never once claimed to have moved on from who he was when he had been kicked out of academia. Besides, that was hardly the issue here, the issue was that Stratt was still standing far too close to that guy.
As Grace approached, Kaiser reached up and with one fluid movement, slipped his sunglasses off and hooked them into the collar of his shirt. Without them, his face somehow became even more irritating, because now that there was nothing left obscuring it, Grace finally got a proper look at him.
Dark green eyes met his, bright and unmistakably amused, the faintest hint of laughter lingering in them, it was an infuriatingly warm expression.
Because apparently, on top of everything else, Kaiser’s eyes just had to have the absolute audacity of being gentle, despite that fact that he was very clearly entertained by Grace’s annoyance.
The look Kaiser gave him, suggested he already knew exactly what was going through Graces head and judging by the amusement in his eyes, he evidently found it absolutely hilarious.
Asshole.
Somehow, that single thought immediately snapped Grace out of whatever strange spiral he had fallen into. Objectively speaking, Kaiser had done absolutely nothing to deserve his dislike. In fact, all he had done was get out of his truck and hug Stratt.
But despite knowing how irrational it was, Grace found that he disliked him anyway. Maybe it was because Kaiser had hugged her so easily, as if holding Eva Stratt in one’s arms was the most natural thing in the world.
Maybe it was because Kaiser had managed to draw a smile from her so effortlessly, as if Grace hadn’t spent years trying to earn even a mildly amused look.
Maybe it was because he had, in one singular moment,shown Grace an entire version of her he hadn’t even known existed in such a capacity. A version that laughed easily, that softened quickly and apparently allowed herself to be cared for.
Kaiser held out his hand, the casual smile still tugging at the corners of his mouth, easy and entirely unbothered.
“Leo is enough. Never been much of a last name person.”
Of course he wasn’t.
His accent was even thicker than Stratt’s, though somehow it carried a completely different quality. Where Stratt’s words often came out sharp and precise, Kaiser’s carried an odd warmth that made every word sound more relaxed and somehow, it made him seem far more approachable than Grace would have liked.
It annoyed him more than it should have.
He begrudgingly accepted the handshake, adding just enough extra pressure to make his point, whatever that point was supposed to be. It lasted all of a second before Kaiser’s only reaction was to raise a mildly amused eyebrow.
Clearly the attempt had failed, obviously.
Fantastic.
Somehow, this whole situation just kept getting better and better for him didn’t it?
“Grace” he replied, with what he hoped came across as a smooth tone that would make him seem unbothered, rather than have him look like someone who had just spent the last several minutes mentally declaring war on the man in front of him.
He steadfastly ignored Stratt’s disbelieving expression, even if he caught it from the corner of his eye. Instead, he continued to focus on the man in front of him, Kaiser only nodded, that infuriatingly easy smile still plastered on his face, as he released Grace’s hand and turned back toward Stratt.
“Last name man, eh?”
She merely shrugged, throwing Grace another strange look before walking away, leaving him to deal with the fact that apparently both of them had decided he was the strange one.
“Which one did you pick?” she called from where she ha disappeared behind the trailer, her tone carrying a sudden interest that Grace immediately recognised. It was the same one she usually only reserved for high-profile politicians who had the potential means to throw millions into their project. Which frankly, was a deeply concerning comparison to make about whatever was currently inside the trailer.
“The one you hate” Kaiser immediately shot back.
Grace barely had time to process the fact that someone had just casually admitted to not only knowing exactly which things Stratt hated, but apparently actively choosing them because of it, before the man in front of him moved.
Not to follow her, surprisingly, instead he shifted his position until he was standing beside Grace rather than across from him, crossing his arms as they both looked toward where Stratt had disappeared.
Only a second later, Stratt’s head appeared from behind the trailer.
The withering glare of pure disapproval she directed at Kaiser, was the same one Grace had personally witnessed making world leaders reconsider all their life choices more than once.
Somehow, it made Kaiser merely burst out into laughter immediately. A deep, genuine sound that seemed entirely out of place given who he was laughing at.
Grace decided there an then that the man was either incredibly brave or deeply stupid, possibly both.
“Easy, Evie. I’m only joking.”
Kaiser lifted his hands in surrender, palms out, the gesture exaggerated enough to border on theatrical. The fact that he seemingly remained entirely unbothered by Stratt’s glare was frankly impressive. If anything, the grin on his face even suggested that he was enjoying himself far too much to be sorry.
“Picked up the one you told me to” that seemed to be the answer Stratt had been waiting for. The tension in her expression eased and was replaced by a small, satisfied nod before she vanished back behind the trailer, a reaction Grace was still finding deeply unsettling to witness.
But somehow, he found the fact that this Leonard Kaiser knew exactly how to handle Eva Stratt almost even more unsettling than the fact that he could seemingly make her laugh easily.
So Grace, who had apparently managed to become a third wheel in a conversation that was literally being held in his language for his benefit, simply stood there.
It was a remarkable achievement, really. To be actively included and still somehow feel entirely left out, required a very specific set of skills.
It wasn’t even the first time this happened to him.
Maybe that was what made it so much worse, the familiarity of it all, the quiet, uncomfortable certainty of knowing exactly what it was like to stand right there and still feel like an outsider. Except somewhere along the way, being around Stratt so constantly had made him kind of forget that feeling. He was always with her after all, close enough that, at some point, he had apparently made the rather embarrassing mistake of believing constant proximity meant the same as truly knowing someone.
Obviously he had been wrong.
What was he even doing here?
Sure, accompanying Stratt on one of her trips was hardly unusual for him, even when they were fighting. He had done it countless times before and had spent enough time following her around in general, that it had almost become routine by now.
But after this big fight almost two weeks ago, he had spent a considerable amount of time silently waiting for Stratt to decide she had finally reached her limit with him. He had dreaded every conversation with Stratt, waiting for the moment she would ultimately tell him that he was no longer needed, that he was done, that he was out.
It wouldn’t even have been surprising, not for her.
And standing here now, watching someone else effortlessly step into a space beside her that Grace had always assumed would and had only ever belonged to him, was just…weird.
Yeah, weird was probably actually the understatement of the century.
Getting dragged out of his lab with barely any explanation, shoved onto one of the jets, only to then be led to a car that had driven them for hours through some random German cities, a location he had only figured out by reading the street signs that passed by during the journey. All of that just to eventually stop at a small, secluded parking bay in the middle of nowhere.
Every attempt he had made to draw Stratt into a conversation had only been met with her apparent newfound preferred method of communication these days: absolute silence, punctuated only by the quiet tapping of fingers against her trusted tablet.
Honestly, the black pickup with tinted windows hauling a massive trailer that had pulled up and conveniently revealed a supposed old friend of Stratt’s was just the missing cherry on top. If he didn’t know better, he’d assume he was about to get kidnapped. Though, technically speaking, he had already been kidnapped. So what exactly would be the point of a second kidnapping?
More importantly, could you even be kidnapped while already technically being kidnapped?
Wait.
Where was Kaiser?
He looked around the secluded parking bay, confusion slowly giving way to the uncomfortable realization that he had absolutely no idea what was happening.
The longer he stood there, the more the quiet isolation of the place began to bother him. He tried to dismiss the unease creeping in, refusing to acknowledge that he was perhaps far more on edge than he would ever admit out loud.
Before he could dwell on it any longer though, a sound from the trailer caught his attention.
Grace slowly moved toward it, curiosity getting the better of him.
He had barely taken a few steps when Kaiser suddenly reappeared from the inside of the trailer, dropping down from the wooden ledge with a practiced ease. A metal ramp rested beneath one of his arm as if it weighed nothing, and naturally, the moment he noticed Grace watching him, that infuriating grin spread across his face again.
“You excited, Gracie?”
Grace blinked at the nickname, his brows furrowing before he could stop himself. They had known each other for approximately five minutes, and somehow Kaiser had evidently already decided he was entitled to a nickname. There was something deeply irritating about the ease with which he had just adopted a familiarity that should have taken considerably longer to earn.
And yet, it was infuriatingly perfectly in line with everything else about the man.
Of course it was.
He resisted the urge to cross his arms and sulk, a reaction he had witnessed countless times from his kids, whenever he assigned extra homework after a particularly chaotic lesson. Unfortunately, he was an adult and had at least some semblance of a reputation to maintain.
“He doesn’t know” Stratt’s voice came from inside the trailer.
Kaiser’s gaze shifted from Grace to inside the trailer and back again.
A quite realization seemed to settle across his face and instead of twisting it into a picture of surprise, it only made his smile grow wider.
“Oh”
Yeah, Grace really didn’t like him.
He was done with this, all of it.
Done with the secrecy, done with being left in the dark constantly, done with being dragged from one place to another with no explanation, like he was just some sort of particularly cooperative piece of luggage.
And he was especially done with being ignored by the woman he-
Respected.
Professionally.
As a colleague.
He shook his head, refusing to examine that particular thought any further and walked toward the back of the trailer. Whatever was inside there, he had decided that he deserved to know.
Grace pointedly moved around Kaiser as the other man finished lowering the metal ramp, creating a narrow bridge between the trailer and the ground.
Kaiser straightened back up and leaned slightly forward, putting a hand against the metal framework of the trailer as he looked into the trailer, his expression shifting with unmistakable anticipation. When Grace came to a stop beside him, he found himself simply following the man’s gaze.
What the fuck?
Why on Earth was Eva Stratt standing next to two motorcycles that very much looked like they had been designed to break every speed limit in existence?
Those death machines belonged on a racetrack, not in the back of a trailer currently standing in a secluded parking bay in the middle of some German forest.
And definitely absolutely nowhere near his Stratt.