Val tucked the phone beneath her ear as she scribbled down some notes. “Alright…so, the Mayor wishes to come speak to you at noon tomorrow, if that’s okay with you? Sure. Of course. Oh, and I will be coming to take notes.” She smiled faintly as Jason made a joke about not having seen her for years. “I know it has been a while. Of course. It will be good. But, it’s work.”

She frowned a little when he brought up her husband. “Matt’s fine.” She shook her head even though the male couldn’t see her. “No. Everything’s good with him.” Which wasn’t entirely true, but she didn’t feel right telling Jason any more after what Matthew had gone through, and she still felt bad about going behind his back to his former 2IC.

After several more minutes of organising a meeting with the new T-One, she hung up and turned back to the papers spread out in front of her. The reports on Elliott’s campaign were half finished and she needed to gather the notes she had taken during his first speech to compile in the first report.

“Val?”

She glanced up just as Elliott returned from another meeting. “Hey, how was the meeting?”

“Tedious,” the elder male sighed as he settled in a chair next to her. “Hopefully the next one will be more…stimulating.”

Val smiled. “We’re seeing the TaskerOne tomorrow at noon.”

The Mayor’s lips twisted slightly at that. “Great. That will be a good meeting. Have some suggestions for The Creed.” Val raised her eyebrows at him; he just smiled and reached over to squeeze her shoulder gently. “Your husband did a good job, but times are changing and they need a bit of a revamp.”

She remained silent at the mention of Matthew. As with Jason, the same with the Mayor, it just didn’t feel right to her to be talking about her husband. He’d done his job and now he was out. Better any criticisms come from the Mayor or from Jason, she couldn’t be disloyal to her husband.

“Anyway, that’s tomorrow. You can finish up now, if you want. Been a long day,” Elliott said with a lazy smile. Val nodded as she gathered her documents together. She paused before stuffing the reports’ file into her bag; she’d go over them at home if she had the time.

“Don’t stay too late, sir.” Because Elliott often was still there as she was leaving, and she knew of one or two times where he had not even bothered to go home. Elliott just chuckled at her suggestion and waved her out of the office.

* * * * *

“Val! Valary!”

Val lowered her book at the sound of her husband’s voice followed by the front door slamming. She called out to him.

“In the living room!” Then she frowned as he stalked in and flopped down on the recliner opposite her. “What is it?”

Matthew grunted in acknowledgement as he dragged a hand through his hair. “Un-fucking-believable…just…fuck.” He leaned his face in his hands and groaned out loud. Val frowned even more, a little shocked by the tone of his voice.

“Matt, what is it?” she repeated, sharply. He looked at her through his fingers then sighed, lowering his hands to his sides.

He shook his head then spoke, roughly. “I went and saw Eskino.”

“Oh? About your job?” Worry crossed Val’s face. “You’re not thinking of trying to get back into The Creed?”

Matthew laughed as he answered, “No. No chance of that, hun. No…it’s something else.” He paused, as he was evidently trying to figure out how to answer her question. “Damn it… Val. He was in a band when he was younger.” His voice was flat, hard with disbelief.

Val stared at her husband in shock. “Excuse me?” She blinked several times and shook her own head hard. “You have to be shitting me?”

Matthew rolled his eyes. “Nope. Not shitting you. He told me that was the case. Zack and Jimmy were there too.” He sat back against his seat as Val just continued to stare at him, attempting to process what he had just revealed.

“Wow,” Val said after several minutes had passed. “Wow…” She cleared her throat. “Was this…before the ban?”

Matthew folded his arms and nodded. “Yeah. Of course.”

Val shifted on her seat uncomfortably, setting her book down on the coffee table. Her husband tilted his head to the side eyes fixed on her quizzically. She smiled faintly at him as she pulled her feet under her bottom and moved into a more comfortable position.

Then her lips twisted into a frown again. “Do you know what band? Or was it just a garage band?”

Matthew shook his head, lips twisted into a grim smile. “It was Rebel Assassin.”

* * * * *

Later that night they lay in bed; Val was cuddled into Matthew’s big body one arm placed lightly across his hard torso. He had one hand gently tangled in her hair as he just listened to her quiet breaths. They had been laying there for a quite a long time, not speaking just settled in each other’s company. Every now and again, Matthew would nuzzle into her hair and run a hand from her head down her side then back again, absently twirling strands of her hair around his long fingers. Val just remained quiet, making no comment, comfortable and deep in her thoughts.

She was mostly still in shock at Matthew’s revelation concerning the General – he was Assassin’s original drummer before he had joined the armed forces and was forced to drop out.

The implications of what her husband had told her were too hard to even fathom. It was no wonder Eskino had left Jason in charge at The Creed. Conflict of interest...big time that was. It almost made him a hypocrite for him to even be the General. That she couldn’t understand. And Matthew hadn’t been able to shed any light on that matter.

Not that she wanted to know or think about it, really. Other thoughts started to come to mind. She needed a break for one and that made her wonder whether maybe she needed to say something about that.

“Matt?”

“Hmmm?” Matthew nuzzled gently into her hair for what seemed the hundredth time.

Val paused, uncertain whether she should ask what had come to her mind, or not. But, finally she came to a decision and asked softly, “What do you think about going away for the weekend?”

“Going away?” he sounded surprised; it was obviously not what he expected to hear.

Valary shifted so she could look up into his eyes. “Yes. Out of town. Just you and me? I’m free this weekend.”

Matthew’s nostrils flared slightly as he stared back at her; for a moment he looked perplexed but then his expression softened as he pressed his lips to her forehead in a gentle gesture.

“Sounds like a great idea,” he said finally as he stroked her cheek. All things considered her suggestion was actually a good one. The campaign and his plans could wait, especially since his friends all thought he should spend more time with his wife, anyway. “Where’d you want to go?”

Val nuzzled into his chest. “My parents have a cabin in the Forest.”

Matthew lifted an eyebrow. “There’s no one else for miles round there.” Val gave a soft giggle. He laughed feeling her breath tickle his skin. “That’s the idea, is it? Get me alone to yourself?”

“Well, it’s hard here in town…” she murmured. “What with your friends hogging you.”

“True,” Matthew smiled and stroked her hair from her face, tracing a thumb across her cheek. Val leaned into his touch and closed her eyes. He smiled more, observing as her facial features softened the day’s worries disappearing for a moment in time.

He buried his face in her hair and murmured, “We can go and forget all the shit for a while…”

Val giggled again and cuddled closer feeling more content than she had in a long time. And relieved. Relieved that she had spoken up and hadn’t resorted to the default of not telling Matt what she was thinking. Relieved that he hadn’t baulked at the suggestion. Relieved that they were together…and were finally going to have time to themselves as a married couple. Sure, she had the meeting with the Mayor and Jason the next day, but that would be over with quickly and then she would have the weekend to look forward to.

Valary curled up as Matthew wrapped his big body around her and they eventually fell asleep like that, pressed together, warm and happy for once in their lives.