Blaine Sinclaire had been gone for over two months. At least it had been that long since the last date they had gone on. The date where he’d told her he was being sent on a mission, one that he wasn’t sure how long he would be gone for. And she was sure that he hadn’t come back yet because he had not yet called Isabella for another date. If she knew Blaine as well as she thought she did, Zoe was sure that he would be calling for a date as soon as he could.

But even though she had been warned that their last date would be the last one for quite a while, it still felt weird to Zoe. In the five years that she had been seeing Blaine, they had never once gone this long without a date. Unless he was away on a mission, and he never told her much other than the fact that he was gone, Blaine called her monthly almost like clockwork. Sure, Isabella had had some clients over the years that she saw more frequently than she saw Blaine, but those typically didn’t last long; those tended to either get bored and move on or get caught by their wives within a year, sooner the more frequently she saw them. And she had a client who she had been seeing longer than Blaine, almost for as long as she had been doing this, but that man she only saw a few times a year. Seeing Blaine had almost become a sign that another month had passed.

She had known for a while that there was something special about Blaine. Maybe it was the way he focused on her in bed. Maybe it was how they sometimes spent the entire date simply talking before she’d leave him in the hotel room to go to sleep while she headed home. Or maybe it was because he was one of only a handful of people in the entire world who knew that she was a mutant. Whatever the reason, or maybe a combination of everything, he was one of her favourite clients. He’d have to be for her to cancel dates with others so that she could see him.

But Zoe had never anticipated how much she would actually miss the man.

And then one day, two and a half months after she had last seen him, she got a call. ”Isabella, if you've got an opening, I need a date.” They were the same words that he’d used the last time, and just like then, she told him that she was free that night despite the fact that she had another date on the books. And just like the last time, once she got off the phone, Isabella went about rescheduling the date she was supposed to have been going on that night.

Once that was done, Zoe just sat there on her couch. The restaurant Blaine had told her was not their normal Italian place. In fact, it was a restaurant that they had never been to before, one she hadn’t been to with anyone. The places that Blaine typically took her for dinner were expensive, but they didn’t even hold a candle to the place they would be sitting in a few hours from then.

Zoe couldn’t help but wonder why Blaine was going to such lengths for their date.

Still, Zoe was smiling as she got ready, putting Blaine’s favourite dress on, the same blue dress she had worn on their last date. This was kind of a special occasion, after all, a much fancier restaurant than they normally went to, after having not seeing each other for over two months. Though she put more effort into pinning her hair up than she had the last time. And did her make up, though that didn’t take long at all. Blaine preferred her to wear no makeup, or if she did barely anything. So all she put on was a touch of light brown eyeshadow, some mascara, and lip gloss.

Once she was ready, Zoe called down to the front desk, asking the doorman to have a cab waiting for her. Then, taking a breath and closing her eyes for a moment, she left Zoe at home as Isabella went to meet Blaine for dinner.

Zoe had only just gotten home from her date with Blaine. At 11 in the morning. The date had started off normal enough, even if it had been at a much fancier restaurant than they had ever gone to. Or that she had ever gone to in her life. But the food had been good, Blaine had chosen a nice bottle of wine for them to share, and the conversation had been enjoyable.

And that is where the normal part of the night had ended. Because after they got back to the hotel room, that part was the same, he’d booked the room at the usual hotel, everything had changed. It had changed because Blaine told her that he was retiring and that this was the last time he was going to be able to see her.

The thing is, that knowledge shouldn’t have changed things, and yet it had. Isabella had had clients over the years tell her that they wouldn’t be seeing her anymore, and they just continued on with the night; that was what she was getting paid for, after all. And she had had even more clients simply just not call for another date. Life went on, it was the nature of the business.

But like she had broken one of her rules, for the first time ever, on their previous date, when Blaine had told her that he was being sent away on a mission and didn’t know when he’d be back…That date when Isabella had spent the entire night with Blaine in the hotel room, she had broken that rule again. As well as every other rule she had made for herself regarding her job.

Her rules made sense, and she’d never had problems following any of them. Go, have fun, then go home to sleep - by yourself. Zoe stays at home, Isabella goes on the dates, and as such no one learns anything about Zoe, or who she actually is. Not even her name. And, most importantly, no feelings.

But the previous night, once she got to the hotel room with Blaine and he dropped that bombshell, each and every one of those rules ended up broken.

She had already known that Blaine knew more about who she actually was than anyone else, possibly even more so than her actual friends, just because of how some of their long, in depth conversations had gone over the years. Not much, really, but some of the deeper topics, like life philosophies and beliefs, as well as her thoughts about leaving school, and the idea of going back one day, those they had talked about and were harder to pretend to be Isabella for because she had never imagined needing to know that for her persona.

And so she had ended up telling Blaine who she was, who she actually was, because the thought that she’d never see him again and he wouldn’t know hurt. There were a lot more feelings than she would have ever thought had developed.

Though, maybe it was a good thing Blaine wouldn’t be calling for any more dates, Zoe couldn’t help but think as she walked into her apartment after spending more than 12 hours with the man. Having feelings like this would never end well with the job.

It had been a week since her last date with Blaine Sinclaire. The last date with him, he’d said. And for the most part, her life had gone back to normal, following the typical flow and ebb of the days. Typically slow mornings and early afternoons where Zoe would grab coffee, maybe go out for lunch or to the gym, then depending on what time her date was at that night, she would start getting ready. Sure, some of her dates had definitely been far more enjoyable than others, but that had always been the case.

Everything had gone back to normal except for the fact that she found herself thinking about Blaine far more often than she ever had thought about a guy she wasn’t currently with. He’d said he was going to retire, but Zoe couldn’t help but wonder what he’d do with himself. He was still young for true retirement, and from everything he had told her over the years, she knew that he loved his job enough that Zoe honestly wasn’t sure he would be able to do anything else.

And she wouldn’t even be able to find out if Blaine did figure that out. Well, she did have the number he generally called from, but for all she knew that was just a burner phone that he no longer had. Plus, if she wanted to even be able to pretend to herself that she could still be professional, she could not call him.

That day had so far been pretty typical as well. She’d gone to a mid-morning yoga class (the early morning ones were just out of the question with her hours), then after a shower and changing into dark blue jeans and a blue blouse, Zoe sat on the couch debating heading out for lunch.

At least the day had been typical until there was a knock on the door. Zoe frowned. No one knocked on her door unless she had ordered food; men didn’t know who she was, nevermind where she lived, deliveries were left downstairs, her family simply didn’t visit, and when she saw her friends she went to their places more often than not. There was no reason for anyone to be knocking on her door.

Yet, another louder knock came when she didn’t answer soon enough. The frown still on her face, Zoe crossed the room and cautiously opened the door to see a man and woman, dressed in suits that almost looked more like uniforms, standing on the other side. ”Can I help you?”

”Zoe Olsen?” the man asked. Once she gave a nod, he continued. ”Could we come in to talk?”

”I think I’d prefer to talk right here,” Zoe replied, still thrown off by the fact that there was someone at her door.

The man looked like he was going to argue, but the woman started speaking first. ”It’s about Sergeant Blaine Sinclaire. I regret to have to tell you, but Sergeant Sinclaire has been killed.”

~~~~~~

Two hours later found Zoe sitting on her couch, arms wrapped around her legs, dried tears on her cheeks. The two soldiers, agents, Zoe wasn’t entirely sure what they were, had left just a short time earlier. They hadn’t been able to tell her much, that wasn’t surprising when it came to Blaine, but what they had been able to say had both devastated her and blown her mind. Apparently their date the previous week had just been a quick visit home; he’d then returned to that last mission he hadn’t really been able to tell her about and been killed.

But the mind blowing part was that he had listed her as his next of kin. Zoe had known that Blaine wasn’t really close to anyone, not even his family, but as far as she knew his parents were still alive even if they didn’t talk. Why would he have listed her? And he had to have done it pretty much right after their last date, because she had only told him her real name a week earlier.

Zoe’s brain was still trying to make sense of everything, from the simple fact that Blaine had named her of all people as his next of kin, to trying to comprehend everything the two had said about benefits and arrangements. At least they had left a file with most of that information in it on the table in front of her when they’d finally left.

What she needed was a drink. Or five. Drown her emotions, or wallow in them depending on what her drunken self chose to do, and hopefully she’d be able to deal with all of this better tomorrow.

Taking a deep breath, Zoe pushed herself to her feet. Before she could do anything, she’d need to fix her makeup.