The troublesome trio

"Call us if anything comes up." cassian said. Cristina saw az give a nod. He entered the car and off they went. As they went, cristina wondered if they would really be able to complete this mission. Four months was a long time, but given their situation, it definitely didn't feel that way. She wondered what all the girls who were captured were enduring right now. It made her sick to know that her government didn't wish to do anything about it. Bloody bastards. She sighed.

"You're sad."

She looked over at az, he looked striking as usual. A lock of his black hair fell on to his forehead, also as usual.

"You're staring"

She looked away, embarrassed. "Sorry"

He grinned. "Don't be. I like it when women stare at me, especially you."

She rolled her eyes

"I bet you say that to every women you meet."

He chuckled "Not at all. I didn't say that to the demoness or to helen."

She laughed. "Of course you didn't. You probably would've been dead if you did."

Suddenly a thought occurred to her. "Are there any love stories in your gang?"

He raised a brow "That's a random question."

"Well?"

He sighed. "Rose and I dated for a couple of weeks, though I don't know if you could even call that dating. It was more like a casual hook up actually." he shrugged "It didn't work out that well"

"Why" she asked, a bit curious. "She's beautiful--"

"She dumped me" he said flatly. She was silent for a beat before bursting out laughing.

"I assumed you ended it, what with you being a shameless flirt and all" he glared at her.

"Well, I'm nothing compared to rose. I can't even remember the last time she was in a serious relationship with someone."

Cristina's lips twitched. "She sounds fun."

"Yeah" he said, his voice a little odd. "Everything is fun with rose, until you start falling for her. She's going to walk all over your heart with her 5 inch pointed heels."

Suspicion rose. "Do you--"

"What? Love her? " she nodded "Gods, no. I'm not really the one sided lover type."

"Then?"

"Nothing." he said, shaking his head. "I'm just saying. Rose is not really the type to fall in love. She despises serious relationships."

She suspected there's something more, but she didn't press. It's not her place to do that. So she instead she asked

"The others?"

"None" he said. She rolled her eyes.

"Do you really expect me to believe that?"

He looked at her sideways, "I'm serious."

"No other crushes? No heartbreaks?" he laughed.

"You sound awfully disappointed"

She shrugged. "A group with such good looking people, I can't believe there are no love stories. "

He chuckled. "Sorry to disappoint. When I first started working with them, cassian was already in a relationship I think, I don't exactly remember her name, cause we only met a couple of times. But it ended a long time ago and I don't think he dated anyone else after that."

She nodded thoughtfully. "Sam?"

He shook his head. "None as far as I know" he paused and grinned "Weirdly so, I thought the demoness and cass are gonna end up together. "

"Cassian and her? Not zayne?" she asked, a little surprised. After seeing zayne and celeana in the meeting, she thought maybe they both have something going on. Zayne only ever looked to her for opinions, and she looked a little less cold talking to him.

Az looked at her like she lost her mind. "How in the world did you end up with that conclusion?"

"Well, they seemed pretty comfortable with each other."

"You mean, they are not snarling at each other as often as they do with others?"

She laughed. "Yeah"

"In our team, zayne and celeana are the strategists. It did take some time for both of them to put aside their ego and agree with each other, if you know what I mean."

She nodded. He went on, " But that's it really. I'm sure they don't see each other in that way. "

"And cassian and celeana do?"

He shook his head. "Honestly? I don't know. Cass and celeana are always at each other's throats, always taunting each other, always baring their teeth, but cassian cares about her an awful lot. "

She nodded saying, "Like in the airport, when she.."

"Yeah" az interrupted her. "At times like that, it comes out you know. Usually rose and cassian are the first to react when something happens to her. But it has been like that since years and still nothing happened between them. So, I guess they are just friends."

She nodded, looking out the window. They are almost there.

"So they are the troublesome trio of your gang?" she asked.

He shook his head. "Only cassian and rose are the troublemakers. How do I say it? See, usually when we go out to pubs and stuff, zayne and sam would stay home, because zayne hates pubs and sam hates noise. So, it's always mostly me, the demoness, cass and rose."

"But me?, I go solely because of girls." he said without a hint of shame that she had to laugh. He went on, grinning "Cass and rose, they go for trouble. Like they pick a man or woman and bet against each other about who would seduce them first or they pick a drink, and they'd bet about who can drink more than each other or if they are feeling itchy they'd pick a fight with the owner."

"And celeana? " she asked, smiling because she knew the answer.

" She's their guardian of course. Dragging them home if they are too drunk, breaking up their fights before it escalates. Celeana never really does anything. She's always their either because of cass or rose."

She laughed." Sounds like a full time job."

"It is." he said, smiling fondly.

They are such a closely knit group, she thought looking at him.

"So, enough about us. Tell me about you and helen." he said, flashing her a mercilessly beautiful grin.

"Maybe later" she said looking away. Because they finally arrived.