Saying goodbye
by Gail (gem225@hotmail.com)
JAG
Clayton Webb/Page Martinez (original character)
Rating: adult
Clayton Webb makes sure Page Martinez will be safe on her mission.
Prequel to A dish best served cold
Disclaimer: Clayton Webb belongs to Mareen and Isilzha. Oh, all right, he belongs to CBS and Belisarius Productions. Page Martinez is my own character, for sure, but not me. I could never be that assertive, especially with Clayton Webb. I'd swoon and let him do whatever he wanted with me. *g*
Please do not archive this story without asking me first. It's more than likely that I'll agree, but I want to know where my stories are.
This was for Alexandra, who said during one of our talks about A dish best served cold that she would love to see her Webb in bed with Page. :-)
Bren, Tinnean, Alexandra, and Mandy read this and said happy things about it, and I thank them for that.
*****
"Martinez is the only reasonable choice for the Chandler case, since it has to be a woman who goes undercover," Clayton heard, and felt his face crease in a frown. He smoothed it away before anyone else noticed, he hoped. "She's free?"
The question was addressed to the man next to Clayton, who nodded, then spoke. "She's even in the building today."
"Good." The first man was brisk. "I'll brief her. That's all, gentlemen." He stood, as did the rest of the men in the room, and the meeting was over.
Clayton walked down the corridor, holding in a sigh. Page, off again. They'd barely had any time together, between his schedule and hers, and he was getting tired of it. His mouth set in a grim line as soon as he was in his office. He wasn't going to let her go off on another mission without a proper goodbye. He glanced at the phone, then remembered that right about now she'd be talking with Richardson about her new assignment. He'd call her later.
*****
"Hey, Webb." The cheerful greeting jerked him away from the monitor. Page was standing there, the grin on her face contrasting with the tailored jacket and skirt she was wearing. She belonged in jeans, he thought once again. Or a bathing suit. Or nothing at all. "You going to work all night?"
"It's four in the afternoon," he protested mildly, then smiled as she came in, walking with free strides, her arms swinging. Her red hair blazed as it captured the light.
"That late?" Her grin widened. "Come on, I'm starving."
"You can't just come in here and drag me away," he tried, but she was shaking her head.
"I've got an assignment. I leave tomorrow. You want to spend some time together or not?"
Clayton sighed. It always came down to this with Page: her way or no way at all. "Did you do all your research?"
"I'm not fresh out of training, Clay," she snapped. "Of course I did."
"Go do some more. This could be a tough one."
"I should have known you'd know about it." Page sat down in the chair in front of his desk without an invitation, another thing that didn't surprise him at all. "I can handle it."
"You always say that."
"I'm always right. All right, it's going to be hard, but I can do it. You know I'm good."
"I know you're excellent. I also know that I'd feel better if you put in another hour or so researching your subject."
"There's nothing else to research," she said blithely. "Very little information on this guy. Just that he's a Defense Security Division agent." Clayton frowned, and she grimaced. "Come on, Clay, you know that I'm better than any of them."
Clayton gave her a long look. "Then go research the DSD." She scowled at him. "Page. They've got a reputation for being good. I'm sure that you're better, but it can't hurt to learn what you can."
She stood. "All right. God, you'd think I couldn't think to save my life."
"I'll bet that'll be your cover," he offered, a half-smile on his face now. "You'll do the bubblehead thing."
"You sound so professional, Mr. Webb," she drawled. "All right. You win. Research instead of fun."
"You can have fun when you're there." And later with me, he thought, but didn't say it. He knew she'd get that on her own.
"With a DSD guy?" She moaned. "The pictures look cute, granted, but he's probably boring as all hell."
"Probably," he agreed, the half-smile still there. "Remember to pinch yourself to stay awake." She laughed at that. "I'll come get you when I'm free, then I'll feed you."
"That's a good offer. I'm already packed." She winked, then turned around and headed out.
Clayton watched her go, then let himself grin as he picked up the phone to make a dinner reservation. Page had come to him, and he'd managed to win a discussion for once without invoking his rank. Things were looking up.
*****
"That was fun. I love Creole food." Page was taking off her coat with an impatient shrug as she came in the door, and Clayton caught it before it hit the floor. "Thanks." She sat down on the couch and patted it. "Come over here and let me thank you."
He hung up her coat, then his, then went over to sit next to her. "I've been looking forward to this all night," he murmured and pressed a kiss to her neck.
"Now, that's nice to hear." She arched her head back. "Umm, yeah, like that."
He kept kissing her skin, working his way to the hollow of her throat, as she made small sounds of pleasure, then abruptly took his lips away and slid his arms around her, pulling her against him.
"Going caveman again." Her voice had a laugh in it. "Do women really fall for that?"
"You do," he murmured and kissed her mouth this time. Soon they were kissing deep and hot and long, tongues playing in each other's mouths, until Page broke away.
"What?" Clayton gave her an impatient look, but she just smiled.
"Thought I'd take some of these clothes off." She pulled her blouse out of her skirt. "If that's all right with you."
"Fine." He settled back against the couch to watch Page undress. She got out of her blouse and bra in a few quick motions, then undid and slid her skirt down her legs, pulling her nylons off with it.
"What about you?" She sat back down on the couch and curled up next to him. "I stripped; you going to?"
"I thought I'd have you undress me. You seem to be so good at it," he retorted, a gleam in his eyes.
He liked being with Page. She was so relaxed and natural about everything, no games, no pretenses, no worries about her changing her mind halfway through. That was one of the reasons they'd managed to keep their affair going for as long as they had, even with the strain of both of them being subject to the whims of the CIA.
She laughed and crossed her arms over her breasts and shook her head. "Not going to happen."
"I'm not stripping in my living room," he said firmly and stood.
She stood as well. "But you will in your bedroom?"
"Yes."
"Then let's get there." She scooped up her clothes with total disregard for anything but getting them into her arms and headed for his bedroom.
He laughed to himself and followed. Yes, Page was very direct. It was hard to believe sometimes that she was one of the Company's most successful field operatives, but he knew that she was. She got to the point, one way or another, and while she preferred to ask, she also knew how to insinuate, suggest, draw out, and generally manipulate people into giving her the information she wanted. He took it as the compliment it was that Page didn't try any of her tricks on him. She said things right out loud.
"Webb, come on!"
Her voice rose, and that and the fact that she used his last name alerted him to the fact that she was getting annoyed. He didn't want that. He wanted this to be good for them both. This wasn't going to be a long mission for Page, but he'd more than likely be gone when she got back, so there was no telling when they'd get the chance to be together again.
He stepped through the doorway. "Impatient?" He smiled as he took in where she was, which was in bed and under the covers. "Very impatient."
"Very, very impatient," she agreed. "If we get going now, we'll have time to run through it a time or two more. Out of the clothes, Clay."
"Yes, ma'am," he teased and started loosening his tie. "Right away, ma'am."
"Now that's more like it," she teased back and threw back the covers. "But I'm sure some incentive won't hurt."
His eyes gleamed. "Not at all." He got out of his suit and had it hung up quickly.
"Couldn't you once just throw the damned thing on a chair?" She gestured to her clothes, which were. Nothing new there. At least this time she'd taken a minute and folded them. Must have done it on the way.
Clayton laughed and got into bed beside her. "I'm here now," he whispered and kissed her neck. "Isn't that good enough for you?"
She gasped. "Yeah, it'll do," she got out, then turned to face him.
"Just do? Page, it has definitely been too long," he told her and took her mouth with his.
She moaned into it, then started running her hands over his back. He pressed closer to her and kept kissing her, letting his hands move over her body as well. It had been too damned long, and he wished for a brief moment that there was some way that he could put off her trip, but he pushed that out of his mind. There was no way to do that, and thinking about it now would spoil the time that they did have.
She broke the kiss by pulling her head back. "Want you to kiss me all over," she breathed, a smile on her face. "Kiss me safe."
He smiled as well. It was a tradition between them. When one was going off, the other gave the other kisses of protection. It had started as a game, and still was, but he knew that he always felt better when he sent Page off with her kisses, and he knew that he felt safer going off with hers. "Everywhere?"
"Everywhere." She nodded for more emphasis. "You wouldn't want anything to happen because you missed a spot, would you?"
"I'll do my best." He took his arms away and watched as she settled herself on her back. "Ready?"
"Ready." The smile on her face was contented.
He knew that they'd get to the sex, and he was looking forward to it, but Page wanted her kisses now, and he wasn't going to deny her them. He might even do a second pass later, if he got inspired. For now he concentrated on covering every bit of her with soft kisses. Some places, like her nipples, got sucking ones that made her moan, but mostly he just pressed his lips to her skin gently, thinking about her being safe. About her coming home to him. About someday not having to let her go.
That thought surprised him. Never letting Page go? Page wasn't the type to settle down. Hell, *he* wasn't the type to settle down. When had he started caring this damned much about her? He didn't know. He moved down her body, seeing that she had her legs spread in invitation, then she tugged on his hair, and he lifted his head and saw her smile.
"That's enough." He gave her a quizzical look and stayed where he was. "For god's sake, Clay, I'm going to a resort. What can happen to me there?"
"If that's your attitude, I'm going to call Richardson and protest you being sent at all," he said seriously.
She sighed. "All right, all right. Anything could happen to me there. So keep kissing me. Just in case I don't come back."
"You are coming back," he insisted.
"I'm coming back. All right. Keep going. Make sure I do."
"You'd better do the same for me." He started on her legs as she let out a low laugh.
"All right, Clay. I will."
He didn't answer, just nipped at the skin of her inner thigh to make her gasp, then went back to kissing. When he reached her feet, he urged her on to her front and started his way back up again.
In time, he finished his kisses, and Page was lying still under him. That worried him. Page was very seldom still in bed, unless she was asleep.
"Page?" He kissed her hair. "You awake?"
"I'm awake," her muffled voice came. "Just thinking."
"Through yet?"
"Probably." She rolled back over and held out her arms to him. "It's not good for me. I can't do anything about this now. I'm going."
"You can still turn it down." He hugged her briefly, then pulled back enough to see her troubled face. "You know that."
"And fuck up my career, yeah," she said bitterly. "No, Clay, I'm going to the Bahamas and seduce this DSD guy."
"You're planning to fuck him?" The question burst out of him, and he cursed himself. Nice timing.
She sat up, an angry look on her face. "Isn't that what I do, Clay? Fuck guys for information? It's a little different from getting money for it, but not much. Yes, of course I'll fuck him if that's what it takes. I don't know yet. It might be smarter to keep him hanging. Are you going to get stupid about it?"
"No. I'm not going to get stupid. I know he won't mean anything to you." He was pretty sure of that. Page was a professional.
"He won't," she said firmly. "He could be the greatest fuck in the world and it wouldn't matter. This is an assignment. It has nothing to do with my real life."
He reached over to touch her cheek. "You love it, though."
"I love getting the information. I don't always love what I have to do to get it." She pulled away from his touch. "Why are we having this conversation now?"
"Because I need to know that you're going to be all right. That you're coming back. That this won't be the time when you forget all you've learned and put yourself in danger. I should know better."
"You should. Come on, I don't want to think about this now. Help me stop thinking. You used to be good at that."
"I still am good."
He started kissing her, and soon she was moaning again. Good. He felt her thrust up against him in an insistent demand, and pulled away just long enough to get a condom and roll it on, then let himself be sucked into her. Strong Page. Beautiful Page. Definite, wonderful, impossible, necessary Page. He kept his strokes regular until she snarled at him and her nails dug into his back.
"You could just ask," he gasped and started thrusting more strongly. Her head was jerking against the pillow, and the sounds coming out of her open mouth were harsh. He hoped he was the only one who made her sound like this. No one else should see her so open. No one else was good enough for her.
He held on as long as he could, but then the continued clenching of her muscles made it impossible for him to keep from coming. He cried out, seeing Page's face as the satisfaction that she'd made him come crossed it, then made himself pull out of her.
There was a smile on her face. "Yeah, you are good at this." She yawned. "But how about we go through it again, after a nap?"
Clayton laughed and deposited the condom in the wastebasket. "You never used to need a nap," he teased.
"I'm getting old, I guess." There was a moment of quiet before she spoke again. "Want you to hold me. Come on, Clay. I'll give you all you want and more later."
He was struck by how vulnerable she looked and sounded. Damn. How was it he was saying all the wrong things?
"You're giving me all I want now," he whispered and gathered her to him. She let him with a sigh, and they got comfortable, ending up with him on his back and her with her head in the hollow of his shoulder. "You always do."
"Do I?" Her tone was resigned. "You want... I don't know what you want. Sex? Someone to fuck when you feel like it? Someone you don't have to lie to?"
"Isn't that what you want?" he probed. "You're the one who keeps telling me you're going to see whomever you like." Not that that thrilled him that much, but he knew Page well enough to understand she was going to do what she said, and that if he wanted to stay in her life, he'd damned well better go along with it. No one had stayed, and he'd kept track.
She was silent, and her fingers moved to rest on his chest. "I don't know what I want, Clay. Sometimes I want more."
"We could talk about living together," he said cautiously, not wanting to scare her. This was more than he'd really thought he'd hear Page say.
She laughed suddenly. "This is insane. I'm going on a mission, you've probably got one in your future, I'm going to fuck some guy I don't even know, and we're talking future? Forget it, Clay. I'm an idiot."
"You're not an idiot. I want more, too. When you get back, we'll talk. I promise. We can find a way if we want one."
She sat up. "Listen, Clay, I may not feel this way later. All right? So let's just see what happens."
"When you get back," he said firmly, "we'll talk about our future. That's not open to negotiation, Ms. Martinez."
"Oh, really?" There was a smile in her voice, and he knew that this time he'd said the right thing. "I think that I could persuade you otherwise."
"Do you? You can try, but I doubt it. We'll work something out. You do what you need to do, and so will I."
He was already trying to figure out if they'd need a new place if they moved in together, and reminding himself that Page might just decide she'd said too much and tell him he was full of shit. But he would remember what he'd heard now, and when she was ready, they'd talk. He wasn't going anywhere.
He urged her back down. "Get some rest. You know you won't sleep long."
She was yawning. "Yeah, whatever. Thanks for dinner again."
Clayton smiled at her addition. Of course she would think of that. He kept his arm around her, protecting her and keeping safe, as he let himself relax. He wasn't going to sleep. He'd do that when she was gone. And she'd be back. He could count on that.
The End
Posted 12/14/01
To read about Page's mission and the results, go to A dish best served cold, but please read the warnings.
