Spies and Liars: Twisted Perception

[Breen Dearborn]

Breen felt sick when she heard him behind her, his voice os gruff and strained as the rain hit the ground hard. She closed her eyes and tried to realize that it wasn't her mind playing games with her. He had left her after such an incredible thing and made her think that not only had he left...but he had disappeared from her lifeforever. Breen lowered her head and took a puff on the cigarette and glanced around seeing the hover craft nearby. What now? She wondered. Was she to be mad? Sad? Happy? Thankful? She blew out the line of smoke and nodded.

"Sure." She said lowly, not giving him a second glance for she wasn't sure she was quite ready to do it yet. She walked towards the car and quickly got in out of the heavy rain that was sudden and dark. She continued to smoke as she heard him get into the car. Who was going to say something about this first? Should she? She finally gave him a sideways glance and still her heart thudded lively how beautiful he was, even more so wet. She clenched her jaw and looked away. She was so infatuated with him, she was in love with the most enigmatic man she ever knew.

[Rosario Benitez]

Rosario climbed into the hover craft, water dripping off of everything. A drop slid off of his nose as he started the hover car and looked out of the windsheild to make sure it was clear before he pulled up into traffic.

When he did and he had gotten in the right lane, he turned his attention to the way ahead of him. He stayed silent. He felt terrible for everything, and he didn't know what to say to her. Nothing would make it better. Nothing could ever make that kind of hurt better. Even though he had shown up, it wouldn't heal the hurt he had caused by simply making her think that he was going to leave her behind. That was a scar he would probably never be able to erase.

He welcomed a scolding, if that was what she wanted to give to him. Though silence would do it too, and at the moment that was thier chosen form of communication; he leaned back in the seat, driving quietly, she looking out of the window, smoking silently. He was too guilty to speak, she most likely to angry to speak.

He did not know who would break the silence first.

[Breen Dearborn]

"Do you normally do that?" She said hissingly as she kept smoking her cigarette, looking out the window not wanting to quite look at him for it made things harder for her. Harder to dislike him at this moment. She was hurt, but she just wanted to know why he did and, even more, why he had came back? Had he even left? Was she freaking out over something? No, he had to have left for he would have gotten her if he wanted her to leave with him.

"Not a good way to get a second date. Maybe that is why you are still single." Breen was good at stating things, good at making things worse, but she couldn't stand being mad at him couldn't stand saying things like that. So she stopped. Breen sighed out and looked out the window and watched the rain hit the window loudly, making the silence worse.

Breen looked at Rosario again and bit her lower lip. What was he thinking? Was he going to say anything? Was he going to explain why he did what he did for she seriously didn't want to ask.

[Rosario Benitez]

"I haven't had a first date in nearly sixteen years...I'm afraid I am a little out of practice," he said quietly, more to the window than to Breen. He settled back a little more in his seat. He closed his mouth and continued to drive. Her words may have not have been very cutting, he had been expecting something a little more feirce--"hell hath no fury like a woman scorned"--but her words still hurt. Probably more than they would have hurt a seasoned pro at loving and leaving. But Rosario didn't this a habit and never planned to do it again. He had already caused enough damage with it. He had hurt her. That was enough.

He didn't look over at her, he knew he'd be unable to look away if he did. Then he would get them wrecked. That was the last thing they needed this morning. Instead, he kept his eyes on the traffic, heavy at even this very early hour. Coruscant never slept. Rosario was blinded breifly by someone with thier lights up too high to be coming the opposite way and blinked a few times to get his vision back. When he did, he dared to glance at the opposite end of the windsheild. He saw Breen's reflection and immediately looked away. His guilt was too much. He would have to look at her eventually, but on the road was not the time.

[Breen Dearborn]

Breen bit her lower lip to bite back the grin. How dare she actually find that comment amusing! This man was supposed to be someone she disliked right now, he had left her and was apparently expecting to leave her to fend for herself! So why was she okay with him whenever he made a good quip?

She understood that perhaps he got scared, cold feet, but for some reason the silence they shared made her unsure of anything. Why did they go "all the way" last night? Was it because they might not have another opportunity? Was it because of the horrible things that had happened? Was it because they both just needed a good romp? God, she hated thinking that. Was he just another notch on his belt? Was she one of many 'no strings attached' girls that he had sacked? Breen looked at him, longer than she probably should have. No. he didn't seem like that kind of man to love 'em and leave 'em. No. He wasn't Nicolao.

So...what was Rosario? That, Breen sadly admitted, was something she hadn't figured out yet.

[Rosario Benitez]

Rosario did not hear her say anything and chewed his lip slightly. Was there something she wanted him to say?

Apologize, stupid. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see who was wrong in this situation, said a voice in the back of his mind. The voice sounding like Nicolao. How many times had his cousin said that to him? A hundred? A thousand, maybe. How many times has his cousin given him advice like that? How many times had Rosario followed his best friend blindly? No more, Rosario decided. He wanted nothing more to do with his cousin. They were estranged, and Rosario would never think of him again.

The man looked over at Breen for a moment before being obligated to look back ahead of him into traffic. An apology was, in fact necessary. He just had to think of one.

One that would show her how truly sorry he was.

[Breen Dearborn]

Breen felt him look, but she kept herself from looking back. What was he doing? Was he waiting for her to say something else? She had a lot to say, oh did she ever, but she knew that it wouldn't do anyone any justice if she spit hatreds towards him when she knew it'd all be redundant and absolutely false in the long run. Well, proving that there even was a long run to run! Breen bit her lower lip and sank back into the cushion of the hover craft and waited. Waited for what, she wasn't really sure, she was just going to wait till something happened. Whether she break down and say something or until he broke down and said something. Sadly, Breen wasn't very patient when the answers needed were her own.

"Why did you leave?" She wasn't angry anymore, now she was just...needing information. Breen needed to know where he stood. After this, after she was dropped off...what then? Was it over? Surely not, there was still a lot to be done with them and involving this never ending circle of trouble. But between them...possibly.

[Rosario Benitez]

Rosario heard her words and they shattered the silence like a crystal goblet is shattered by an opera singer's voice. The peices flew to the ground and crashed and only he and Breen would be able to hear the peices settle. Rosario took a right and didn't say anything for a long moment. Then he sighed quietly.

"The main reason?" he said, then glanced out his window, before taking a left. "I felt guilty. Like I had taken something from you I didn't deserve, something you weren't ready or willing to give away to me. The sub reasons are many, and most I can't even name myself. The other biggest reason is that..." he paused swallowing and glancing out of his rear view mirror. "I love you, Breen. I know after all of this that is the last thing you want to hear, but it doesn't make it any less true. I thought that if I wasn't there anymore...there'd be a chance for you. I don't know...I can't say for sure what will happen if we stay together. And I don't like the feeling of not knowing what will happen to a woman I care so much about..."

[Breen Dearborn]

Breen wasn't truly expecting this kind of answer. Nor was she expecting the words I, love, and you to be combined when normally she felt it would be right for her to say. Either way it made her happy to hear, but sad to accept. She wasn't a cryer, not really, sure she had a good cry every so often, but now she was ready to cry her eyes out! It was interesting how hard one s body and emotions could be pusehd until they finally had to break down and become human. Breen looked over at him and wondered what to do, what to say. Was she going to do anything? She sure did, she looked down at her lap and blinked the tears away and looked back up after a moment and watched the rain fall and hit the windshield, at times causing her to flinch. Breen shook a few curls away from her eyes and took in a deep breath and looked back over at him.

"You love a girl and you leave her in a hotel room? That is quite interesting. Do you know how scared I was?" Breen didn't want to make him feel any worse than he already did, but she just wanted to let him know what is going on and how she feelt. "You know...I always took care of myself I always have been a big girl. Independent." Breen grinned and shook her head and glanced around before finding his face.

"But since I've met you...I don't know...after you left today I think I realized I can't be without you. For the first time I actually felt lost."

[Rosario Benitez]

Rosario's heart stopped at the words. She felt lost? Without him? It was the first time anyone had said that to him. Not even his wife had said anything like that, even in the beginning when Rosario knew she had loved him. Never had Marie told him that she needed him, and when he was gone that she felt lost. Never had she hinted that she couldn't live without him. In retrospect, Rosario wondered if it was because Nicolao was there for her. But in the beginning when he had first asked her if she wanted to eat dinner with him sometime, she never would have considered needing him. She was much too self-sufficient.

Yet somehow, though Rosario had always thought it was a blessing that he wouldn't have to worry about her when he was gone for long periods of time, having Breen say that she couldn't be without him...he felt, for the first time, like he was needed. Breen just didn't know how much he needed her in return. How much he could never be able to be without her as well. How frightened he was of a life without her after seeing how wonderful it could be with her.

He didn't say anything for a long time, he never very good at expressing such feelings. He was a little frightened to admit. A little frightened of everything right at this moment. Then he shook his head.

"It doesn't make sense, Breen. I know...I don't make sense," he shook his head again. "I'm not asking you to forgive me. I know that I can't make up for what I did. I know what it feels like to be abdonded by someone you care for, and it isn't a nice feeling and...I don't know why I would have done that to you...I suppose I have learned from the best..." he said with long blink and a fall in his voice. He would never be able to put into words how he felt, how disgusted he was with himself after all of this. Maybe Breen was better without him. He certainly wasn't bringing her any joy.

Because the only thing Rosario knew how to do, was run away.

[Breen Dearborn]

Breen looked at him and felt the slight turbulence of the hover craft. It bounced slightly and she felt curls hit her face, curls that he had wrapped his fingers around last night, curls that still smelled of him, even after trying to wash him, literally, out of her hair. Slowly, almost unwillingly, she smiled. He had hit that one right on the head she really didn't know Rosario and understand him quote yet, but she knew she loved him, loved how he helped her, how he allowed her to help him, and how how they needed each other. Well, at least she hoped he needed her. She looked away almost satisfied that this had all happened because it left nothing to guess.

There was another long pause what was to happen now? That was the only thing left to guess. How were they going to fix this mess that would not stop? Untangle the web that had been weaved around them. How were they to get untangled and back on the right track. But first she had to understand that even though what he had done hurt her in such a way that she wasn't able to comprehend she would get over it. She had to get over it. She could fuss at him later when this was all over with, she just needed to keep things in the right mind set and stay focused and motivated.

"Rosario..." Breen stopped as if what she was going to say would be romantic or heartfelt, but she pushed her sudden love for this man aside. "last night, before...while I was on the computer after getting into the network Nicolao was on I was able to get a few things, not much considering his child was a good watch dog." Breen sighed and cleared her throat as if this were sheer business, but how hard it was to not want to go back into the love spell and do it all over again. "Morelo, Nicolao's son, he is a soldier. He is a soldier deprived of love and fathering and I know why. Nicolao has bred him into the perfect soldier to do nothing but do as he says. Your cousin has something up his sleeve and judging by the way Morelo acted, Nicolao has taught him well."

[Rosario Benitez]

Rosario nodded and he saw the sun peeking over the city ahead of them. It was probably around five thirty by now. He didn't exert the effort to look at the clock. Instead, he mulled over what she had just said and nodded a little.

"Nicolao does everything best. If that boy has been trained by him, then he'll be hard to get rid of," Rosario said, thinking it through. Then he shook his head. "And I am sure that he does have something up his sleeve. Nicolao will be watching our every move, one way or another. I am sure we are being followed."

The thought was a little strange, but Rosario knew his cousin well enough to know he didn't do a sloppy job of anything. If Nicolao wanted to know where and what he and Breen were doing, he would be able to find out one way or another. And he would do it carefully. They would be lucky if they even saw and attack on thier lives coming. Rosario wasn't betting on an assassin being that obvious--especially an assassin that worked with Nicolao. He glanced over at Breen.

"Did you find anything out about the relationship between Nicolao and Svatie? I don't think that Nicolao was giving us the truth when he said Svatie was attacking our homes. Not without his consent. I think they are working together."

[Breen Dearborn]

Breen looked at the sun rise and for a moment it hurt her eyes, but she looked away to find something more appeasing. She looked at Rosario and listened to him speak knowing he was probably right.

"No connection between the two, just yet anyways. Whether or not they are watching our homes I cannot be so sure, but I am not willing to take the chance that they are. We need to get to the bottom of what is going on, figure out why this whole thing started and to figure out what we can do to stop it." She bit her lower lip in anticipation, as if the answer were somewhere out there on the horizon she now blindly stared at. Why did they want Rosario dead? Why had his cousin gotten involved?

"Rosario, what did Nicolao say to you in the study? Why did we leave in such a hurry? Was it about your...your wife?" She paused. How she didn't want to bring up a sore subject, how she wanted everything about his deceased wife to go away.

[Rosario Benitez]

Rosario's heart panged slightly as he remembered the conversation that he had had with his cousin the evening previous. Rosario looked in his rear view mirror and then nodded.

"Yes. He wanted to give me the gruesome details and hang in front of me. I shouldn't have gone...I just...wanted to closure..." then he chuckled grimly. "I wanted some remorse from him, some semblence of the man I used to know."

Rosario smiled bitterly as he took another left. No. Nicolao was not the man he used to know, nor would he ever be. Rosario had been looking for something he had known he wouldn't find. It made him angry. He glanced over at Breen and sighed, looking back out of the window to look where he was going as the sun rose a little higher and glinted off the water that still clung to the hover cars from the rainwater. Rosario looked out and up into the sky. It had stopped raining, and only clouds remained.

"Nicolao wanted me to know how deeply sorry he felt about my losing my child and wife in the same night, and he wanted me to know that my wife hadn't had an affair with him because she didn't love me," Rosario expounded, glancing at Breen again. Rosario shook his head. "I hate him."

[Breen Dearborn]

Breen's stomach sank. Lost a child? Something wasn't right. Breen frowned and looked over at Rosario and slit her eyes. She moved her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. She was astounded, stunned, and confused. She looked away for a moment then looked back at Rosario.

"Did...was Nicolao, by any chance, married to anyone?"

[Rosario Benitez]

Rosario's brow furrowed. That was a jump of subjects. He thought a moment, running through his mind all of Nicolao's girlfriends from when they had been younger. He could certainly remember women Nicolao had claimed was the perfect woman and that he would marry, but he couldn't remember any marriage invitations. No, Nicolao was too...unsettling for that. No woman could stand him longer than a week or two.

He glanced over at Breen then shook his head.

"Not that I know of. He had plenty of girlfriends, no wife though..." he said. Then his brow furrowed again. "Why do you ask?"

[Breen Dearborn]

Breen frowned, perhaps she was incorrect for it suddenly hit her. Morelo's mother died in childbirth, wasn't that the same way Rosario's wife died? It was an odd coincidence, sure, but in their given situation she doubted it was coincidental. Morelo was attractive and she had stared at him long enough knowing that something about him looked strikingly familiar. His eyes had been dark and seductive, just as....she looked at Rosario and frowned.

"I don't...I might be..." She laughed lightly and shook her head. "Lack of sleep, I dunno, but there is something that just doesn't sit well with me. When Morelo and I were talking I asked to see Nicolao's wife. Morelo said his mother died during childbirth. Your wife died during childbirth as well, correct?" She bit her lip and looked ahead to gather more thoughts. Where she was heading was a stretch and it was assuming something very big. Sure, Nicolao could have knocked Rosario's wife up and it could have been his...but what if it wasn't?

"How is it that Nicolao's son would be the same age as your own? You shared the same....female...it could have been either one of yours child. But you were told he had died as well, right?"

[Rosario Benitez]

Rosario's wheels had begun working as she talked. Somehow what she was saying made sense. His stomach lurched at the thought that his son could have been alive and that Nicolao had brought him up so foully. Rosario's brow furrowed slightly as he thought. He looked over at Breen for a moment.

"I was told he had died...Nicolao...he was there...he wouldn't let me see it..." Rosario couldn't believe it. As if his heart could take anymore, now this. Then again, it was only a hunch...neither of them knew for sure...but it certainly sounded like something Nicolao would do. Rosario shook his head and looked at Breen.

"No..." he said. "You don't think...I can't believe he would be that heartless. Deprive me of my wife and my child!" Now Rosario was angry. Pure hatred caused little white splotches in his vision. He couldn't beleive that his cousin could do something like that...after everything else that he had done...he would take Rosario's child away from him. Then again, as Breen had said, it could have been Nicolao's. But Rosario did not think his cousin would have been sloppy enough to get his wife pregnant when he did not know Rosario's and Marie's sexual habits. There was a possiblity that he would have been found out.

"God help me...I'll kill him myself..." he muttered.

[Breen Dearborn]

Breen sighed out she was mad that her mind had even thought of it, but it did make sense! She shook her heard trying to di herself of the thought, try to rid Rosario of more hurt but this wasn't proven yet, it was just something her mind conjured up. Breen glanced at Rosario and touched his arm.

"Now I am not sure that this is true, it is just a hypothesis! But...I do find it a bid odd. I've seen a lot of weird happenings in my day, but I don't think this could be one of them. It fits together too well! It makes sense." Breen looked away from him a moment. How were they to prove this? How were they to find out whether or not Morelo was Rosario's child?

"We've got to get a hold of files of your wifes death, certification that both she and your son passed on. God knows we can't ask Nicolao or Morelo."

[Rosario Benitez]

Rosario shook his head and then shook his shoulders a little. He needed to learn to just forget about things that weren't proven yet. But the prospect of that was too horrid for him to forget. What if it was true? Breen was right, it did fit perfectly, and that seemed out of place. But then again, if he thought about it in any great detail, it all fit together. Some things didn't because they didn't have the whole story. But Rosario knew that once they had all the peices, it would make sense.

Maybe this was just another peice for them to fit in.

Rosario took a sharp right as it had sneaked up on him and he had seen it in the early morning light. He straightened the car out and thought for a moment. Then he nodded.

"I know how to get those. I am sure I have a copy of Marie's somewhere in my house," then he paused. "But I don't want to risk going there, in case either Nicolao or Svatie have it staked out." He glanced over at Breen. "What're you thinking?"

[Breen Dearborn]

Breen was thrown sideways at the sudden turn, apparently not only was he thinking a lot about what she had just but he was probably taking some unvented anger out on a car! She straightened up and let out a sigh, what were they going to do if they couldn't go anywhere else? She glanced over at him as he asked a question that sent a shiver down her spine. They had probably broken a thousand laws already and she was almost positive that one more wouldn't hurt anything.

"Well...we can break into the files of the hospital where your wife went the night she was giving birth. They keep deaths and births on file. Access is supposed to be free to anyone, relative or otherwise, but I doubt those files would be at our immediate disposal if it has been covered up." She tried to think. They could sneak into the basement where they held old files, she was sure that is where they'd be anyhow.

"Care to make a stop at a hospital?"

[Rosario Benitez]

---
Rosario had not been to this hospital since his wife had been there every so often to get the baby checked. It looked the same as it had sixteen years ago. He remembered how happy Marie had been when she found out the baby was a boy.

Let's name it something Portuguese! she had said, even though her background was Mexican. Inigo is such a pretty name, Rosario, don't you think? Let's name him Inigo Amaro Benitez. Isn't that a nice name?

She had been overjoyed about the baby. She hadn't known that the night she had it she would die. She would never be able to see that baby's face.

Rosario shook his head as he got out of the hover car and looked up at the hospital. He glanced at his watch; six o'clock. Day shift wouldn't be in for another two hours. But nighttime security was always more alert than daytime. Rosario glanced over as Breen got out of the hover vehicle and looked up at the hospital with him. He sighed out is nose.

"Are you wanting to do this the legal way first? I can tell them I'm the husband we can see what we get that way. Or we can go all out and just take what we want," Rosario said, looking over at her.

[Breen Dearborn]

Breen licked her lips as she stared up at the tall hospital. It was much larger than she had anticipated since she never went there. All Government workers were sent to a more smaller, private, smarter hospital. She looked over at Rosario and wondered if perhaps had he been lucky enough to have been able to go to one of her hospitals, perhaps his wife would have lived? Breen frowned, that was interesting she was empathetic towards he and his wife, even though she knew what had happened between her and his cousin. But she knew that she couldn't change it now and there was no way of healing the damage that had been done, but she still wished it hadn't happened like this.

"Illegal is always best." She joked, but yet it was the truth. If anyone knew that he had been snooping around in those files it was untelling what could happen she was more happy doing things illegally in case these people were somehow working with Nicolao, in case this would happen. "We can go in through the basement undetected. Nobody would think personal patient records would be stolen, after all they are for the public to view." She grinned and shrugged. "Then again most of the public isn't being hunted after by the Government in some sick way." She pointed her head to the back way around the hospital. It was the only way they'd be able to find out if this hunch was just a figment of an overactive mind or actually truth.

"I know where they keep them. I've delivered a few personal files to those who were no longer lucky to work for the government and was sent here."

[Rosario Benitez]

Rosario followed her as they moved around the building and slid into a tight alleyway. It was true, sneaking in would be easier since security would be geared more towards protecting the medicine, and syringes and things street dwellers might actually want to steal. Rosario thought a moment about what they might find here.

He feared what they would find. Who knew what kind of secrets could be hidden. Then again, if these files were for public consumption, Nicolao may have wiped out any records of what really went on, so no one would have access to them. They would have to get in and find out. It was also possible there other people down there, innocently partaking of the files' information. He just hoped none of them would see them sneaking in.

Rosario glanced behind them as they moved farther down the alley. If someone had told him a month ago he would be breaking every law ever set down, he would have laughed in thier faces. Now, it wasn't so hard to believe.

[Breen Dearborn]

Breen listened carefully for anyone nearby, but all she heard was hover vehicles and Rosario right behidn her. She kept her senses heightened in case they needed to bail quickly without getting caught. She saw the tiny ledge ahead that led down to the basement. It was the back entrance and was protected by a large metal door and a deadbolt behind it. Luckily, as they walked down the tiny concrete steps to the door, right beside it was a window large enough for her to fit through.

She jumped down into the stairway and kicked the concrete that had been falling apart throughout the years. She smiled when she knocked loose a nice sized piece to bash through the window. She looked up at Rosario and smiled. She bit her lower lip as if she were some mischevious child breaking all the rules her parents laid out for her. Before she knew it she was breaking the window, pushing aside shards of glass and crawling through. She smelled the age of the basement and knew that they had changed nothing. It was a distinct smell of mold, mildew, and old files that had never been converted to computer. The great thing about technology was that they always needed a back up file, which is why they never threw away old files. Hopefully, nobody had destroyed any records either.

Breen felt the cold hard ground when she landed on her side inside the dark building, the only light being shined through the broken window and the metal door with the hatched window that led into the hall towards the records. She looked around, praying the noise wasn't too loud, but she knew hardly anyone dallied around this area. But, of course, someone could be filing something away. Breen didn't care.

She stood up, shook of the little pain, and brushed away some glass particles and walked over to the door and unlocked it, seeing Rosario waiting impatiently for her. She waved him in and quickly shut and bolted the door. "The information is just a few feet away!"