But first.

He needed to see you. As the dark haired male made his way to the large office space he shared, he thought about his second-in-command. There was no doubt you were working as usual. He got the sense that relaxation was a word that was possibly completely foreign to you. Not that he could object of course. Having someone as reliable as himself made his work much easier and enjoyable...but he preferred to keep that part to himself.

"Let me guess. You have a mission?" you asked casually before turning your eyes back to your work.

"Mm." the Captain made a throaty sound of agreement, his eyes never leaving the ever serious woman.

Knowing your body language as well as he did, he could tell there was something you wished to say. That something being the fact that he had barely been recovered for a week. But in this business, there was no such thing as recovery time.

"How long will you be gone?" the (h/c) haired woman asked and although he was sure he imagined the concern in your voice, he liked the way you asked the question anyway.

"I'm not sure." he answered as nonchalantly as he could, attempting to keep as much of the professional air as he could.

"I see." were you...that was impossible. "Do you need backup?" (F/n) asked meaningfully.

You would be the perfect partner in the field. That was the first thought that entered the Captain's mind. He may not have had the opportunity to fight alongside you yet but he had seen enough of your potential to know that you would -and could- be a valuable asset to the Secret Forces. Just as that thought occurred to him...he remembered her. No. There was no way you would follow him into the field.

Leo shook his head. "The mission only calls for the six of us." he answered shortly. Not wanting you to see the internal conflict raging, the Captain hurried to his connection office.

As soon as he reached the safety of his orderly sanctuary, he paused. Placing a hand on his heavy wooden desk for support, reminding himself to breathe in and out. Moving himself to his chair he ran a hand through his hair. Every time he thought he could move on from what happened, something would remind him. 

This was not the time. He needed to get done. Pushing all of his troubling thoughts to the back of his mind, the Captain moved around his office gathering everything he would need for the time he would be away.

"You're leaving now?" you questioned as soon as you had come into his line of vision.

The dark haired male nodded. "It's fairly routine but it's urgent. We cannot wait." he answered, now feeling both exhausted and distracted.

"Of course." you responded and he noticed how your hands had paused on your work. Had you seen something?

"You don't need to be present. I know you're busy." Leo said, looking for something to fill the silence. Moreover than you being busy, the thought of having to see that he was leaving you behind, left him feeling uncomfortable and with a sea of emotions that he could neither comprehend or decipher.

Seeing the relief that passed on your face as agreement, the Captain gathered his things and walked out the door. Just as he was about to leave, he felt something compelling him to say something to you.

"When I get back, your lazy boss will take over again." Leo joked...or at least he hoped it came across as a joke. He felt as though he needed to somehow reassure you.

When your surprised laughter reached his ears, he felt a smile tug at his lips in spite of himself. Comfortable with the way he had departed, Leo leaves to find his teammates.

Two Weeks Later
Worn out to the point that the Captain could barely remember how he boarded the ship headed back to the base, he closed his eyes and leaned his head against the cool metal interior, hoping for some sort of rest.

"You've been distracted lately." Hakyeon said from beside him, lowering his voice so that the others could not hear them.

Opening his eyes to look at his friend seemed to trigger the truth behind his words. A flash of white hot pain shot through his body, reminding him of all the bruises, cuts and a deep lesion or two littering his body under his uniform.

"No reason." his quiet voice replied. 

He knew it was not true as the image of his second-in-command flashed in his mind. It astounded him at how difficult it was for him to become accustomed to not having you around. After those few weeks of seeing you almost every hour of the day he was lucid presented him with a unique obstacle. During the mission he would find himself asking you to take down the minutes of their small meetings, only to turn around and find no trace of you there. At meal times, he would find himself leaning over to steal some of your food as he was still hungry only to find he was digging into Ken or Ravi's bowls. Or even the manner in which he almost expected to hear laughter at his lame deadpans but was met with resounding silence.

"Ah isn't obvious~?" Hyuk teased, wiggling his eyebrows towards his other teammates who laughed good naturedly. "He misses (F/n)." he stated as if he were pointing out the sun was yellow or the grass was green.

"I do not." Leo answered instinctively, although even to his own ears it sounded uncertain.

"There isn't anything wrong with missing her." N piped up soothingly. "It would be strange if you didn't. I'm excited to see Chaeryong. She's more fun than you guys anyway." N teased gently,waiting for the mock outrage.

"It's especially more fun when she's cute." Ken commented, no doubt talking about his partner, "Especially when you have to spend two weeks with your all male team members." he pulled a face that made everyone laugh.

The other three members voice their agreement, sharing various stories about why they missed their partners.

Leo nodded his head slowly. "I do but I don't know why. We're not as close as the rest of you are but...it's strange not having her around." he replied, feeling bashful. He knew it was more than a case of whether or not this was professional.

"You haven't had anyone work close to you in years." Ravi said seriously, knowing that everyone knew what he was referring to.

"It's different." the Captain replied, his voice unnaturally quiet.

"I'm sure." N responded, a fond smile on his face as he looked at his friend. 

"You'll be fine." Hongbin reassured.

Leo only hoped so as he heard the distinct sound of their ship being docked.

As soon as they had exited, the six men were welcomed with deafening shrieks of delight. It was good to be back. 

N had stepped forward to give an impromptu speech about the success of the mission, all the while Leo found his eyes browsing the crowd for one specific woman.

No surprise, you were standing with the other five second-in-commands at the front. Making sure he stayed out of your line of sight, he observed you frantically scanning the crowd. Were you looking for him? The Captain felt his stomach doing strange somersaults. Maybe he was hungry.

Even so, the second N concluded his speech, his body - pain and all- moved to find the (h/l) haired woman. He could not keep the grin off of his face when he heard some of the juniors in his group address him as Dad. It was amusing to think about how that came to be.

"I'm fine." Leo said, amused, when he stood in front of you, your eyes still searching until he spoke. He pointed his hands to his body as if to prove to them both that he was in perfect health - you did not need to know that was not one hundred percent true.

When he regarded your eyes that sparkled just at the sight of him for a second, his heart skipped a beat. He felt as though your eyes were lazers as they traveled from the top of his head to the length of the floor. 

"I didn't ask." you scoffed and for some reason, Leo could not have wished for a better answer even if he tried.

Yes, he missed you alright.

Not wishing for silence as you walk back to the building, the Captain breaks it.

"You didn't have to." he said quietly, "If it makes you feel better, it's good to see you're fine too." though he said it to be conversational, Leo found he meant every word of it. His heart began to beat strangely but he ignored it.

Giving both of you time to comfortably rest in each other's silence, it is broken by the unlikely sound of your stomach growling. Were you not eating properly? When he thought about it again, he thought you looked tired. He would need to speak to the lunch ladies.

"I'm guessing you didn't have lunch?" he laughed despite his more troubling thoughts. For someone so tough...you were...cute? "Let's go to the cafeteria before everyone comes okay?" in a split second decision, he took your arm and picked up his pace.

Just because he was happy to see everyone, it did not mean that he wanted his lunch with you to be interrupted with enquiries.

A few days later, Leo sat in his office, reading through your report once, twice, three times and shaking his head in slow burning annoyance. 

This was not like you. You made mistakes that were not usual for you. More than that, you were so obviously distracted that it bothered him even more that you did not feel comfortable enough to come to him. Was not that part of being partners like this?

Frustratedly making his way to your desk he called your name. Again, it was so unlike you to be unaware of your surroundings and he wondered just what on earth was taking up your concentration.

"(L/n)!" Leo called your last name agitatedly, his patience having been worn thin.

"Yes?" he noted the glazed look that still remained in your eyes.

"Have you read this?" he asked, giving her time to own up to whatever was bothering her.

"Yes. How else was I supposed to compile the report?" you replied matter of factly.

He snapped.

"Your report is useless. The amount of mistakes you made would take too much time to correct.It needs to be redone." he knew he was being harsh but he could not control his anger.

When he looked at you again, really looked this time, he saw for the first time just how exhausted you seemed. Your hair had a wild quality to it and your face was puffy with lack of sleep. Guilt gnawed at his conscience. How had he been so neglectful? It was a wonder how your eyes were even open at this point.

He sighed, "It's not entirely your fault I suppose. You have been taking on both my work and yours without a break. I shouldn't be surprised." 

"Captain. It was irresponsible of me. I'll-" you wished to correct your actions but Leo could not let you do that.

"You'll do nothing." he said firmly, more for himself than you. "In a few days the VIXX members will be going to the city for some work. You and the other girls will come with. You can have the day off then. Right now, go back to your quarters. Take a walk around. Train, it doesn't matter what you do, I don't want to see you here for the rest of the day. Do you understand?" he implored and he watched as you disturbingly seemed to have given into the exhaustion that ravaged your body.

"Thank you." he watched you bow and the way you slowly walked, he wished to accompany you but stopped himself. 

"And (F/n)?" a thought suddenly occurred to him when she reached the door. "The only place I want to see you is at dinner." he said, staring at her case file.

Knowing you heard, he waited for you to leave to allow a smile to grace his face. He was not about to skimp out on time with you - even if you were tired.

A/N: Here have another unintented chapter! If you notice something different about the chapter name, I decided that if I ever do another chapter from Leo's P.O.V I'll switch the order around so you'll know. I guess I wanted to write this chapter, to prep some of the other ideas that are to come and maybe help you gauge how things are for our favorite shy Captain. Also this is a big thank you for all those who are enjoying and commenting on this so far! It means a lot to me. Words: 2 126