Sequel to: MAU: More Than Meets the Eye

Out of the fire and into the pot.

Meeting her ‘fellow’ CIA agents was a challenging role for Jenna, but her ‘Special Agent’ status, Army background and acting experience all came together to help her pull off the deception. As expected, she was asked to re-up with the CIA, but it was Interpol’s surprise job offer at the end of the final interview that surprised her the most. Mike and Mr. Stevens looked a little nervous when the offer was made and visibly relieved when she politely refused them.

The yacht spent an extra day on the island while the crew and everyone else were given a few sessions with a grief counselor to help them with the shock. Captain Hayes wasn’t too upset with the delay because the ship also needed a few minor repairs and Interpol flew in a professional crime scene cleaning service to take care of the blood. It also helped when the pirates’ high-end, quarter of a million dollar speedboat was awarded to the ship’s crew under Europe’s ancient prize law.

As a Special Agent, her role was minimized in the official report while Mike’s role was maximized. Mike was given full credit for bringing a dangerous international criminal to justice with his beautiful and talented co-star lending him a hand with the action. The investigation was still ongoing, but Interpol expected to have things wrapped up in a month or two, tops. Kelly absolutely loved the official story and couldn’t wait until she could use Interpol’s press release to help publicize the movie.

After the legal stuff was taken care of, things on the yacht mostly returned to normal. Kelly was friendly again, but not as friendly as before. With Kim, she was the same, but for Jenna, she put up a subtle emotional barrier that saddened her a little. Mr. Stevens and John the scriptwriter went through a lot of laptop batteries working on the script; presumably to make her role even stronger or to kill her off faster. She wasn’t sure which and was too afraid to ask. The crew all treated her with the utmost respect and went out of their way to make sure she was happy.

After the big confession, Kim proved her BFF status and rallied behind Jenna. It amazed her how relieved she felt to finally have someone to confide in and not lie to outside her small group of distant friends. Still, it wasn’t easy telling Kim and she worried if she did the right thing. She focused on herself and left Sadie’s part out of the story, but more than once, she debated stopping and trying to change her story into a more plausible amnesia story to help explain her lack of female skills. However, once she starting telling the truth; it seemed to want to come out of her mouth.

Jenna figured Kim would laugh it off or even accuse her of lying before she even got halfway through because who would believe such a crazy story? Somehow, Kim believed every word and thanks to the movies, she knew who Wolverine was and what his powers were. Jenna’s own powers lined up with what Kim saw and if that hadn’t been enough proof, Jenna’s ‘magic’ ninja costume clinched it for Kim. The major surprise for Jenna was that Kim never asked to see her change into Hector, somehow still thought of Jenna as a woman and had no problems with continuing to share the cabin with her.

Jenna’s only regret was how excited Kim became about the prospect of teaching her about makeup and fashion. Kim’s I-am-woman boot camp was positively brutal for Hector’s male ego and Natalie didn’t help. While concerned about telling someone Hector’s side of the secret, Natalie thought Kim’s mission to teach Jenna was hilarious and couldn’t wait to see the results firsthand. She even insisted on talking to Kim and the pair gleefully itemized all the experiences they had growing up that Jenna missed and needed to experience. They tried to claim it would help Jenna with her role, but she didn’t buy it. It was going to be torture, pure and simple.

After a her second late night of girl boot camp, Drill Sergeant Kim was still blissfully asleep while Jenna dutifully toiled away with painting her nails. As part of the ‘girl list’, Jenna was waiting for Kim’s not-even-called-a-color, but it looked green-to-her toe nail polish to dry in preparation for the sage colored outfit Kim had picked out for her the night before. Jenna was still confused as to why women needed to have so many different words for minor variations of the primary colors. The primary colors augmented with light and dark versions of each color were the only color differentiations a man ever needed.

A polite, yet firm knock sounded at the cabin door causing Kim to mutter something in her sleep. “I’ll be right there!” Jenna softly spoke as she cringed, worried about waking Kim and hoping that the person heard her and wouldn’t knock again.

It had to be Mike, but what was he doing here? It was his normal workout time, but he hadn’t asked her to work out with him since the pirates and it was hard for her to get a good read on what he was thinking about her. Did he still want her in his movie? He was nice, but kept his distance. Jenna gingerly walked over and opened the cabin’s door. The nail polish was mostly dry, but she didn’t want to mess them up and have to re-do them.

“Are you ready for a workout?” Mike asked, taking a half-step back and nervously running his hand through his hair as she opened the door a crack and peeked out, hiding her body behind the door.

Jenna wasn’t naked, but she wasn’t about to let Mike see her panties and the rumpled tank top she had been forced to sleep in since her regular sleep shirt was now ruined. “Umm,” his offer surprised her and she wondered what she could wear, “sure? Lemme get some clothes on. Meet ya on the deck in five?”

After carefully closing the door, Jenna grabbed her workout clothes and ran into the bathroom to change. Looking in the mirror, she noticed that her bed-head hair was a disaster barely held in check by a lazy ponytail. She was pretty sure Kim would not approve of her current state of repair. Oh well, at least her nails were mostly dry and it was only a workout where it was expected of a person to get gross and sweaty.

After spending more effort on her ponytail, Jenna quickly pulled on her cleanest pair of skin tight yoga pants and an athletic tank top shirt. Despite her initial hesitation at wearing something so form fitting and feminine, she quickly learned to appreciate the built-in sports bra for the support it gave her breasts. She found the extra sweat zone under her breasts annoying, but compared to how sweaty an athletic cup ended up making Hector’s groin feel, it was a minor annoyance.

Okay, maybe a bit more than minor when she considered how short of a duration Hector had to wear a cup compared to how long she had to wear a bra in a hot and humid environment while performing strenuous physical activity. On the plus side of the argument was how comfortable, light and airy the stretchy yoga pants felt compared to men’s briefs and the relatively bulky, loose fitting shorts Hector normally wore during a workout.

Jenna chided herself for even thinking about the silly differences between men’s and women’s clothing while also worrying about her appearance, but after washing her face, giving her hair another quick and minor adjustment and brushing her teeth, she felt tons better. She considered going barefoot to give her nails more time to set, but a quick and risky test proved to her that they were dry. She tossed on her thin-soled wrestling-inspired sneakers and walked to the upper deck where she found Mike sitting in a lotus position, performing his usual morning meditation. Without saying a word, she sat down beside him and mirrored his pose.

Until she started training with Mike, meditation hadn’t been part of her normal workout regime. Following the “no pain, no gain” philosophy, Hector liked to get started on the workout and build a healthy sweat as soon as possible, but after her initial “this is dumb” skepticism wore off, she started to see some benefits. When she meditated in the morning, she found it helped reduce her stress and it was easier to concentrate for the rest of the day. With all the chaos from the past few days, it took her a few extra minutes to calm herself and find her center, but once she did, she felt tons better as the stress she didn’t realize she was carrying with her started to leave her body.

Letting out a deep, cleansing breath, Jenna opened her eyes and was surprised to find Mike standing in a relaxed pose, patiently studying her. “How long have you been waiting for me?”

Mike smirked. “Not long. Are you ready?”

Jenna smoothly rose to a ready stance as Mike responded in kind. “No stretching or warm up today?” Jenna asked, curious over the change in routine.

“There’s no time to do all that in a real fight, is there?” Mike punctuated his question with a light feint.

“No, I guess not.” Jenna snapped a kick, lightly grazing his leading leg. “Is this a real fight?”

Mike forced her to take a few steps back as she blocked a rapid flurry of light kicks and punches. “No. Do you want it to be?”

With the gauntlet thrown, Jenna responded by going on the offensive, forcing Mike to retreat a couple of steps as he blocked and counter-blocked. “Not really, but I hate losing.”

“So do I...” In a flash, Mike dropped and tried to sweep Jenna’s legs out from under her. A move that had worked for him in the past, but she easily jumped back. Mike surged up and forward, pressing his attack. “I saw the hesitation in your eyes. Why didn’t you attack?”

“Who says I hesitated? I dodged your sweep.” Jenna taunted him as she considered what Mike was trying to do. He must know or suspect that she had been holding back all this time and now he wanted her to go full out and not hold back. The problem she had with doing that was A) technique wise, he was far better than her. It was only her enhanced reflexes that allowed her to keep up with him and maybe surpass him if she chose and B) she didn’t want to accidently hurt him with her strength. It could be bad for both the movie and his ego. In addition, a few of the crew were watching and there would be too many witnesses.

“I guess that means I don’t have to go easy on you.” Mike followed his words by going full out and not holding back like he had in their past matches.

Jenna was forced to up her game, raising the stakes higher. She blocked, dodged and counter-attacked, but let a few of Mike’s hits penetrate her defenses. Not as many as she had in past matches and she made a point of landing a few more attacks of her own. She hoped that doing so would give Mike what he expected to see and not leave him with more questions about her true ability level.

Without pads, Jenna was very careful to only hit hard enough to lightly touch Mike and in turn, Mike did the same. Occasionally, a harder hit would accidently happen, but it was expected by both participants. She let a strike land and felt the blow rock her body to the side. Mike was pushing her and purposely hitting harder than he should. This impromptu match needed to end now. She blocked his next few attacks with a little more force to account for his increased power, causing him to smile with satisfaction.

Jenna saw Mike’s next sweep coming and she could’ve jumped back or even moved in, breaking his attack. Instead, she launched her own attack, letting his sweep take her down a fraction of a second before she could land her kick. She fell to the deck as Mike continued his rotation, ending with an axe kick to her throat. His kick was barely a tap, but it would’ve been a finishing blow if he hadn’t controlled himself.

“Damn, I thought I had you that time!” Jenna gasped for air. The match was less than two minutes, but it was far more intense than any of their past bouts. It was a good workout and one she would love to repeat, but Mike was on to her.

Mike propped himself up on his elbow and glanced over to her as he got respiration back under control. “You’re still holding back on me.”

“Ha!” Jenna forcefully exhaled. “I’m the one on the mat, errr, deck here.” She turned her head to him. “I might have a little CIA training, but I’m not a seventh degree black belt with tons of real fights under my belt like you.”

Mike stood and offered her a hand up. “Riiight.” He shook his head with disbelief as she accepted his help and smoothly rose to her feet. “I bought that before, but not anymore. In the past, I took your hesitation at face value, but now I know better.”

“I don’t want to further inflate your ego or anything, but I’m really not that good. You’re way better than I am.” Jenna felt pretty good about telling him the truth, but a small part of her really wanted to tell him that she didn’t want to hurt him. Just to see how he’d react to the taunt.

Mike sounded a little skeptical as he responding with a simple grunt and a dismissive wave of his hand before he walked away, leaving her to complete her exercises on her own. With the fight done, the respectful audience faded away and returned to their duties. Jenna knocked out an easy fifty pushups, slowing for the last few just to make it look like she was struggling and a hundred sit ups before performing her katas.

Mike and Mr. Stevens didn’t fire her and as she hoped and feared, instead, they substantially increased her screen time. Aside from her pay raise, the major benefit from the increased screen time was her reduced window for exercise -- specifically, sparring matches with Mike. She did everything she could to make sure their schedules didn’t line up for gym time. Her plan worked for the first few weeks, but eventually, the pair were forced together to train for their joint fight scenes.

Jenna tried to keep their fake fights, fake, but Mike pushed. Kim confided with Jenna that she thought Mike might actually be attracted to her and the mystery she presented him was only making his attraction to her worse. “You should just kick his ass and get it out of his system. The big bully might leave you alone.”

Jenna didn’t disagree with Kim, but she was too afraid that she might hurt or piss him off. It was a little late in the filming to fire her, but they could still kill Olivia off in the end like they originally planned and she was starting to get attached to her character. Additionally, their relationship seemed to leaking out in front of the camera and adding to the chemistry between their characters. Mr. Stevens and John positively ate the pair’s natural interactions up and Jenna was loath to risk messing things up.

Of course, Natalie found it hilarious and after a second sneak visit with a practically insatiable Hector, she recommended that Jenna should break out her special battery powered friend to help take some of the edge off before her next visit.

Hector shuddered at the thought of sticking something like that inside himself. “I should probably throw that thing away.”

Natalie sighed. “Babe, Jenna needs it, but Sadie will be in here in fifteen and I kind of miss seeing Jenna. Can you change back, pleeaase?” She smiled coyly, looking up Hector as she swayed slowly back and forth like a little girl asking for a piece of candy.

Hector couldn’t resist her puppy dog eyes. “I’ve got to learn how to do that…” he muttered as his resistance crumbled under the onslaught. “Well, I kind of wanted to spend as much time with you as possible, but I guess I still would be, right?”

Hector was rewarded with an excited hug and kiss from Natalie and a few minutes later, Jenna briefly wondered why Hector had considered Jenna-time and Hector-time as separate. Natalie’s loving and smoldering kiss quickly got her motor running. She quickly lost all track of time as Natalie quickly brought her right to the edge of an orgasm and kept her there until Sadie politely cleared her digital throat. “Hmmmp, hummm, ladies, we have a schedule to keep. Michelle is due any day now.”

“Wha-What?!?” Jenna gasped with frustration. “Nooo, just one more minute, please???”

Natalie mock-pouted as she disentangled herself from an increasingly distraught Jenna. “Oh darn, I guess we’ll have to wait until you get home,” she smirked mischievously, “or maybe you can take care of it yourself with you know what?”

“You’re evil.” Jenna sat up looked around for her clothes while feeling very distracted by how flushed she felt. She was just beginning to cool down when Natalie’s goodbye kiss got her juices flowing again.

She hiked the two miles back to her trailer in a slight haze. As Hector, the very recent and highly enjoyable sex with Natalie had been great, but Jenna couldn’t get the feelings Natalie caused out of her mind and it kept her body in a constant low boil. She knew Natalie did it on purpose and why, but she couldn’t stop thinking about how it felt when Natalie’s soft, sensual lips lightly kissed her throat as she moved down to give her breasts some attention.

“Oh my god…” Just thinking about it caused Jenna’s knees to weaken, forcing her to pause next to a tree a few yards from her trailer.

“Are you okay?” Mike surprised her. His sweat stained shirt and gym shorts made it clear that he was coming from the gym. Her sensitive nose picked up his strong masculine scent and instead of finding it slightly repulsive like Hector would, she felt her body betray her and become more aroused.

“No…” Jenna found her gaze dropping from the concerned look in Mike’s eyes and lingering on his gym shorts. She felt her face flush with embarrassment when she realized where she had let her gaze wander to, she hastily looked away. “I mean yes, sorry. I’m just feeling a little winded from my, umm, run and I might have twisted my ankle, or something.”

“Oh, lemme help you to your trailer.” Mike reached over and gallantly took her arm, supporting her weight.

She didn’t need his help, but to help sell her ankle story, Jenna found herself leaning against him a little more than she needed to. His thoughtful gesture and her reaction sent her mind into a panic. “I’m not gay, but why did I check out his package and why am I letting him help me? Oh my god, I’m going to kill Natalie!”

“Thanks...” Jenna muttered. Her emotions were in turmoil and she didn’t know what else to do or say as Mike gently settled her on the couch in her trailer. She knew she should have said something like, “Thanks, see you tomorrow!” or even better, “No thanks, I’m good.” when he offered to help, but she didn’t.

“Hey, not a problem Jen.” Mike sat down next to her, pulled her feet onto his lap, took her sneakers off and lightly probed her right ankle. “Was it this one?”

His touch felt wonderful. “No...” Jenna hesitantly shook her head as she considered asking him to leave. Her hesitation was rewarded with a foot massage that slowly worked its way up to her calves. Ten minutes later, Mike somehow had her down to her panties and lying on her stomach as his skilled hands expertly massaged her thighs, back and shoulders. He had given her massages in the past and that’s probably why she didn’t think to turn down his offer, but this time the experience was different because her mind was in a fog as her body was brought back up to a low boil.

The kisses started and Jenna somehow found herself on her bed, staring up at Mike’s strong, muscular shirtless chest. An increasingly small part of her knew having a man intimately touching her shouldn’t feel so good, but when he leaned over and teased her body with a kiss on her throat while one of his hands lightly played with her breast as his other hand teased an inner thigh.

“Oh my god!” Her back arched as a jolt of electricity shot through her body, vanquishing the part of her that thought having sex with a man was wrong.

Taking her reaction as signal to continue, Mike kissed his way south. Each kiss caused her body to shudder with anticipation until she felt her panties catch, trapping her knees. Realizing where things were going, she felt horrified that she was about to cheat on Natalie and, even worse, cheat by having sex with a man. Jenna sat up and pushed Mike away from her. “No!”

Mike flew off the bed and landed on his butt a couple of feet away. Jenna hastily pulled her panties back up and protectively clutched her sheets to her chest. Gasping for breath, her body wanted to have sex, but she knew how guilty she would feel about cheating on Natalie and she was freaked out about wanting to have sex with Mike. Even worse, she was worried about how having sex with Mike might mess up their on-screen relationship. “Sorry Mike, but I just can’t right now. I don’t want to take a chance that this would ruin our relationship.”

Jenna knew right away how flimsy her excuse sounded, but not less than an hour ago, she was a man and happily had sex with the love of his life and now, she almost had sex with a man. Not just any man, but Mr. Mike Powers. A man that she, as Hector, practically idolized, and what comes out of her mouth as her reason?

Their relationship?

How could she be more worried about her ‘relationship’ with Mike? The only relationship she cared about was Hector’s pending marriage to Natalie. She wanted to hate him for almost making her cheat on Natalie, but he didn’t know and couldn’t ever know that Hector was Jenna. For all Mike knew, Jenna was a single, unattached woman, but that made her feel even more confused.

How could she even think about having sex with a man? She knew Natalie purposely put her on edge and she did encourage her to experiment, but that didn’t mean it was right to cheat on her. Jenna’s subconscious use of the ‘right now’ qualification also concerned her.

Mike sighed and slowly picked himself off the floor. Instead of getting mad and yelling at her or trying to guilt her into continuing, he surprised Jenna with a shy smile as he rubbed his butt. “You’re pretty damn strong, but it’s okay. I understand and it was my fault. I should’ve known better than to take a chance with our relationship, but…” He seemed to stumble as he searched for the words. “There’s just something about you that I’ve never felt with any other woman.”

She knew Mike was a total player and that was almost the worst line she had ever heard another guy try and it was a line Hector had used in the past. It ranked right up there with, “You’re the only girl for me!”, and “Would I lie to you?”

Still clutching her sheet to her chest, Jenna stood, pulling the sheet with her as she glared at him. “¡No Manches! Yo no puedo creer que tratar esa línea conmigo!”

She realized she was yelling at him in Spanish and he didn’t understand a word. He probably got the intent though. She forced herself to take a deep, calming breath as she took a step toward him. She felt a smidge of satisfaction when he reflexively retreated a step. “Unbelievable, I bet you say that to all your freaking super-model girlfriends and one night stands!” She pointed back to the door. “Now, get out and I’ll see you tomorrow!”

Jenna couldn’t help noticing how defeated Mike looked for a second before his usual cocky attitude reasserted itself. “Yeah, sure babe. See ya mon yana!”

She wanted to throw something at him. His attitude infuriated her and worst of all; he purposely butchered “mañana”. After making sure her door was locked, she returned to her bed and lay down with a frustrated sigh. “Damn it!”

Less than a minute later, she found herself rummaging through her suitcase for the toy she had meant to throw away. Thirty minutes and four incredibly strong and satisfying orgasms later, she felt a lot better. She started her session by fantasizing about Natalie, but somehow the memory of Mike’s kisses and touch worked their way back into her sexual fantasy a couple of times. She managed to purge those distractions and focus solely on Natalie, but it took the first two orgasms to do it.

Jenna woke up the next morning feeling like a new woman and ready to face whatever Mike could throw at her. “Yep, I think I’m going to have to apologize to Nat. Mr. Happy was the best gift evah!” She couldn’t stop smiling as she brushed her teeth before getting dressed for her visit with Kim for hair and makeup.

Kim picked up on her relaxed and buoyant attitude right away. “Oh my gawd! The rumor mill can’t be right. Did you and Mike,” she mimed cocking a gun, “you know?”

“Kim!” Jenna sighed as she felt a little of her calm serenity fade. “No, Natalie was able to make a visit yesterday and well, you know...” She found herself grinning like a fool as she recalled the memory.

“What?!?! She visited? How and why didn’t you bring her by and introduce me to her?” Kim pouted and looked genuinely hurt by her exclusion.

Now she was in hot water. During Jenna’s bout of honesty, she never told Kim about Sadie or Michelle. She figured it wasn’t her secret to tell and if Kim proved herself to be untrustworthy, then her friend’s secrets would still be safe. “Umm, for the ‘How’, I can’t really tell you, but I kind of have a friend who’s a private pilot. There’s a small cove on the other side of the island and we were able to meet for a few hours. It’s a long hike and I’m sorry, but I needed some alone time with Natalie.”

“Oh…” Kim visibly deflated.

Jenna rushed to reassure her friend. “But, Natalie asked about you and she really wants to meet you. She plans on inviting you to our wedding and asked me to ask you if you would be willing to do her makeup.”

“Really?!” Kim’s mood brightened.

“Really, really and can you?” Jenna asked, hoping that her only girlfriend would say yes.

Kim pretended to think about it. “Hmmm, I’m not sure…”

“Please?” Jenna was not above begging and Natalie really wanted to meet her.

“Well, since you asked nicely.” Kim giggled and gave Jenna a hug. “Sure, I’d be happy to!” She stepped back, grabbed a hair brush and pointed it menacingly at Jenna. “Tell me about Mike. Something happened.” She started detangling Jenna’s hair. “Now, spill it.”

“Ow!” Jenna whined as Kim aggressively worked out a minor tangle. “Fine, I’ll talk. Geez, you’re worse than a real interrogator. They should hire you at Gitmo.”

Kim playfully bonked Jenna on the top of her head with the back of the hair brush. “Ve hafe vays of making people talk. Now, tell me and I’ll let you live.”

Jenna felt a lot better after she confided with Kim and neither could stop the giggles when she told her about Mike’s corny line. Kim promised to help quell the rumors by telling everyone that Jenna had twisted her ankle and Mike was only helping her when he accidently pressed too hard on her injury, causing her to yell at him.

“Wait a minute, people heard me yell at him?” Jenna asked, suddenly concerned about how loud she may have accidentally gotten during her session with Mr. Happy.

Kim laughed. “Of course silly. You know how close the trailers are.”

Jenna blushed and prayed no one overheard her during her alone time. She didn’t think she was loud, but there were a couple of times that she saw stars and Hector had a few girlfriends who could get pretty darn noisy during the moment.

“Why are you blushing?” Kim asked, suddenly suspicious.

Jenna squirmed in her seat and turned her face away from Kim. “Oh, no reason. No reason at all.”

Kim was relentless and when she finally got Jenna to talk, her only question was why it took her so long to use it and to come see her when she needed more batteries. She further shocked Jenna by giving her some recommendations for additional toys with tips on how to get the best results. Guys NEVER talked about sex toys with each other, but then again, most guys only needed their hand and they certainly weren’t ashamed to taunt their single buddies about how often they needed to resort to dating Rosy Palmer and her five sisters.

The next few days on set were a little tense between Jenna and Mike, but it worked out for the best. Mr. Stevens couldn’t get enough of the pair’s on screen fireworks caused by the sexual tension. There were many times when Jenna didn’t know whether she wanted to punch or kiss the man and the idea that she might want to kiss him only made Mr. Happy’s batteries run out sooner than she expected. Mike could be so damn infuriating and it didn’t help that some of the cast members started joking about them being married.

The final week of filming couldn’t come fast enough for Jenna. She missed the births of Sadie and Michelle’s twins and she was anxious to get back to being Hector full time. She almost prayed for the movie to be a big flop, but she doubted that would happen. She might be a little biased, but she thought it was going to be pretty good and due to the press caused by the pirates, the movie was now one of the most anticipated releases the studio ever had on its hands. Thanks to the contract she signed, even if it did flop, she would probably be forced to do at least one more movie, maybe two. She had no idea what would she would do if it turned into a blockbuster and more studios started calling her.

The final action scene called for a lot of pyrotechnics with the villain's secret underground island lair being destroyed as the pair made their escape. All made possible by Olivia realizing she loved Roger enough to betray her evil boss. Jenna thought it was kind of trite, but at least her character didn’t have to die like the lead female love interest in most action spy movies.

First, Olivia saved Roger from certain death by hacking the security camera feed and pulling him out of the standard evil villain shark tank in the nick of time. The pair kissed and tried to escape out of the secret back door, but Olivia’s evil boss anticipated her betrayal and the pair were met by the villain’s unstoppable robot warriors. Forced to surrender, the pair were disarmed and taken to the villain to be executed.

Unknown to the villain, Olivia had inserted a backdoor command code into the robots. It activated when he instructed them to open fire on Olivia causing the robots to turn on their master, killing him instead of the pair. With his death, the lair went into the much overused, in Jenna’s opinion, self-destruct mode.

Olivia and Roger fled to safety, always one step ahead of death as the lair exploded behind them. Finally, they jumped over the last obstacle to freedom, narrowly escaping a fiery death. Doing the action scenes were pretty fun, tiring and exhausting, but still fun.

For the final scene, they were in a natural cave that had been slightly modified to look like the secret backdoor exit. They hit their marks as a flame pot blew up in the background to simulate their narrow escape. As the flames died down, the main camera panned out, showing Roger holding Olivia in his arms as the pair simulated a passionate kiss. The kiss ended up being less of a simulation and more stimulating than Jenna expected.

Roger looked calm and collected while Olivia’s chest heaved as if from a long run. Her long hair was a little disheveled, her face had a couple soot marks and her costume had a couple strategically placed rips and tears augmented with faint traces of blood that looked like minor scratches. Everyone wondered if she was only acting when she appeared to slightly swoon from his kiss, but somehow, Jenna’s knees really did wobble on their own and her lips tingled when Mike kissed her.

“What’s next?” Olivia recovered and smiled at her super-spy lover while her hand suggestively traced a path down Roger’s chest, stopping at his belt.

Roger flashed his trademark smirk as his secret communicator watch interrupted her by loudly playing “God Bless America” as an alert song. “I’m not sure babe. Let’s see what our boss has to say.” He brought his wrist up to his chest and pushed the side button causing a hologram of Director Omega to materialize in mid-air between the pair.

“Welcome aboard Agent Olivia. Sorry, no rest for the wicked, but two weaponized canisters containing the deadly Sarin nerve gas have gone missing in the former Soviet Union. It’s now your job to find and prevent them from being used.”

“That’s not much to go on…” Olivia frowned after the message faded away.

Roger confidently smiled as the pair turned, hand in hand to exit the cave that hid the now demolished secret lair’s entrance. “No, but with you as my partner, anything is possible!”

“And...Cut!” Mr. Stevens yelled, causing the crew to cheer. “We may need to do some minor retakes back at the studio, but otherwise, this baby is done. Good work everyone!”

Jenna and Mike helped the film crew breakdown the equipment. Officially, they couldn’t due to union rules, but there was some heavy lifting that they were able to sneak in. An hour after Mr. Stevens yelled cut, the cave floor was mostly clear. There was only a single work light remaining when Jenna felt the earth start to shake.

The island was occasionally jolted with minor tremors and familiar with earthquakes after living most of her life in California, she wasn’t overly concerned and neither was Mike. The tremors stopped after a few seconds, but just to be safe the cave was evacuated. After ensuring everyone was out, they followed.

Jenna was a step ahead of Mike and ten to fifteen meters from the cave’s exit when she felt what had to be a tremor of at least a five on the Richter scale hit. She began to run toward the light.

“Go, go, go!” Mike unnecessarily encouraged Jenna from behind.

A few pieces of the cave’s ceiling fell, partially blocking the exit when Jenna heard a loud cracking sound from ahead. The entire floor violently shifted and she realized they weren’t going to make it. The ceiling shifted above and ahead.

“Merde!” She slammed on the brakes and stopped Mike from running past. A loud, explosive crack echoed through the passageway as the ceiling began to drop.

“Back!” Jenna yelled as she pushed Mike with all her strength, easily throwing him five or more meters back into the cave and hopefully to safety just before she felt solid rock slam into her back, crushing her to the floor.

Jenna blacked out for a few seconds. When she came to, it was pitch black, everything hurt and she couldn’t move or breathe. She discovered she could move her left arm a little, but her arm was the only part of her that wasn’t buried under what had to be tons of dirt and rock. She tried to pull herself out, but couldn’t get enough leverage. Her tomb shifted a little, but unable to breathe, her strength rapidly faded.

“Jen!” She thought she heard Mike’s muffled voice yell, but it was hard to be sure.

“Sorry Natalie. I guess not even Wolverine can survive without being able to breathe. I love you...” was her last thought before she lost consciousness.

Mike heard the ominous cracks reverberate all around him and he debated stopping, but the light from the exit was only twenty or so feet away.

Go, go, go!” He yelled as he chased behind Jenna.

He heard Jen swear in Spanish as she suddenly stopped in front of him and turn back, plant herself to stop his forward charge. It felt like he had just run into an offensive lineman.

“Back!” Jen yelled as she pushed him backwards.

His feet left the ground and he found himself flying back, into the cave. Everything seemed to slow down as he saw the ceiling smash into Jen before all the light was cut off. It seemed like he flew at least ten feet, maybe more, but at 250 pounds, he knew it was impossible for his sexy co-star to throw him more than a foot or two. He knew she was strong, but it just wasn’t possible for a woman or even a man to thrown him as far as it felt like she did.

After the earth stopped shaking and the noise stopped, Mike picked himself off the floor. He was covered in a fine layer of dirt and rock. Mercifully, one of the battery powered work lights was still in the cave and functioning even after falling over.

“Jen?” He coughed and looked around.

He had to have imagined seeing the ceiling fall on top of her, but she wasn’t where he expected her to be. Instead of his beautiful co-star and the only woman he thought he might have feelings for, there was just a wall of rock and dirt blocking the exit. She couldn’t be under all that. She had to have somehow passed him or even better, made it out because there was no way anyone could survive being buried under all that rubble.

As he looked for a sign of her, he noticed some rocks fall as the dust began to settle. Attracted by the movement, he spotted Jenna’s arm move and her hand desperately trying to grab onto something before it went limp.

“Jen!” Mike screamed as he scrambled to reach her.

More dirt and rock fell, forcing Mike to retreat. “Shit, shit, shit!” He looked around for a shovel or a pry bar, anything to help him dig her out before it was too late. He knew how to perform CPR and he also knew he had between four and seven minutes before brain damage would start. If he couldn’t get her out in ten minutes or less, there was nothing anyone could do for her.

His quick search turned up nothing he could use as a tool; he only had the one light and his hands. He quickly propped the light back up on its tripod and waded back into the cave in, using his hands to scoop away the loose dirt and rock that had covered up Jen’s arm. “Jen! I’m coming, don’t give up babe. I’ll dig you out!”

As he excavated her arm, more loose rocks fell from above, causing him to briefly hesitated, but after the initial fall, things seemed to stabilize. He got her left arm free to her shoulder, but she was lying face down with a watermelon-sized boulder pinning the top of her head.

Fearing the worst and dreading that he would find her skull crushed by the heavy rock, Mike carefully lifted and rolled it off her. The left side of her face and temple was covered in blood and he couldn’t spot any signs of breathing, but otherwise, her skull appeared to be in good shape.

He frantically worked to free the rest of her body. Once he got her right arm and shoulders free, he had enough room to try mouth to mouth respiration in an attempt to get some air into her lungs. He noticed that her lips still felt warm against his and it gave him hope. He dug a little more and freed the top of her chest to give her lungs room to expand. He tried to pull her out, but her body wouldn’t budge.

“Come on Jen, breathe!” Mike screamed at her as he tried to force another breath of air into her lungs. He ignored the fact that her lips felt cooler compared to the last time. “Damnit, I know I never told you this, but I love you and I’m not going to let you die!”

Beyond desperate and full of adrenalin, Mike dug like a man possessed. His fingers bled as he ignored the pain of his nails and fingers being torn against large and sometimes jagged rocks. His upper body was covered with many minor cuts and scrapes as he selflessly protected Jenna’s body from further injury as more debris fell under his onslaught.

He stopped digging every twenty to thirty seconds to try and perform some CPR on Jenna, hoping beyond hope for a miracle that deep down inside, he knew wouldn’t happen. Her lips and skin were cold to his touch and her eyes stared sightlessly at him each time he tried to breathe life into her rapidly cooling body.

It took him over twenty minutes before he was able to completely free her and pull her body from the rubble. She was pretty damn heavy for a woman, but he barely noticed the weight as he gently set her body down on the only clear, flat spot he could find. As he aimed the light on her body, he thought he heard her exhale, but figured it was only his imagination.

“Damn it Jenna!” Mike cried as exhausted, he dropped to his knees beside her. “Why? Why’d you have to push me instead of saving yourself?”

Jenna suddenly coughed and breathed in a large lung full of air on her own. Mike gasped with astonishment as she turned her head and smiled at him. “Because, you’d be dead ya big idiot--”

Mike couldn’t believe his eyes. It was a miracle. She was alive! Forgetting that she could have spinal or other internal injuries, he ignored her protests and hugged her, pulling her off the cave floor. “Oh my god! I thought I’d lost you!”

Jenna coughed, reminding him of her condition.

“Shit, sorry Jen…” Mike gently lowered her back down, “I thought you were dead and I didn’t know what I’d do without you!”

“Ha!” Jenna chuckled as she propped herself up on her elbows. “You’d just move on to your next super-model conquest, but hey, thanks for digging me out.”

Jenna’s sexy, black villain minion costume was dirty, cut and torn in many places with dark stains around a few of the larger costume tears. Mike was surprised that she didn’t appear to have any broken bones or actively bleeding cuts. He was even more surprised when she absently brushed away some caked on dirt and dried blood from a large cut on her right thigh because underneath was dirty, but otherwise, perfectly smooth and unblemished skin.

“What?!” Mike bent over and examined her leg closer. There was no sign of injury. “How?” He glanced back at her as she casually pulled her leg away and stood, ignoring him as she stretched her body and causing her spine to crack.

“Ahh, much better!” Jenna smiled down at him before taking a quick glance around the cave. “I’m dying of thirst. There any water in here?”

“I don’t know, but how are you...” Confused, Mike started to stand, but Jenna reached down and gave him a hand up.

Mike was afraid to let go of her hand. The physical contact was proof that he wasn’t dreaming and he was elated that she was alive, but at the same time, he was very confused. She had stopped breathing and despite his attempts, she hadn’t taken in a breath on her own for over twenty minutes. He felt pretty damn sure of that fact. After being crushed under tons of earth and twenty minutes with no visible respiration, she shouldn’t be alive, let alone standing and joking with him.

Jenna sighed with resignation. “Can’t you just let it go?” She asked softly, glancing away as if she was afraid to meet his eyes.

“Jenna,” Mike reached for her other hand and brought them both to his chest, “I thought I lost you and it was at that moment, when I felt your lips growing colder by the second that I realized-”

Jenna gasped and her eyes shot to his dirt and tear stained face. “No…” she softly whispered in protest as her eyes began to tear up.

Viewing her emotional reaction as an encouraging sign, Mike plunged forward because she had to know how he really felt about her, even if she didn’t feel the same way. “Yes, Jennifer Vasquez. I love you and I can honestly admit that you’re the only woman I’ve ever felt this way about.” He hugged her as she began to softly cry.

Mike affectionately kissed Jen on the top of her forehead. “I don’t care if you don’t love me, but the sight of you trapped, helpless and maybe dead in the rubble made me realize how I truly felt about you.”

Jenna felt herself regaining consciousness in stages. The first sense to return was hearing and she wondered who was crying. She heard Mike’s voice call her name and whine about it being her instead of him who had been trapped.

Her sense of touch returned next. Somehow, she was lying on her back and was no longer buried under tons of rocks. She also didn’t feel any pain, but wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad sign. Her vision went from black to grey to blurry blobs before finally returning to the crisp, sharp focus she was used to seeing.

“Damn it Jenna!” She heard Mike protest from her side. “Why? Why’d you have to push me instead of saving yourself?”

He was kneeling beside her covered in dirt and sweat, bleeding from minor cuts to his face and neck. His shirt was torn and blood stained and his arms and hands looked like he needed some first aid, but she thoroughly enjoyed seeing the shocked expression on his face when she coughed and drew in her first, sweet, full breath of air into her chest. She grinned at his reaction. “Because, you’d be dead ya big idiot--”

“Ack!” Jenna gasped with surprise when Mike pulled her to his chest and hugged her like she was a life vest and he was afraid to let her go.

“Oh my god! I thought I’d lost you!” Mike’s desperate hug forced some air out of her abused lungs. She coughed, causing Mike to gently lower her back down to the cave floor. “Shit, sorry Jen…I thought you were dead and I didn’t know what I’d do without you!”

“Ha!” Jenna chuckled and levered her torso up, resting on her elbows as her strength slowly returned. “You’d just move on to your next super-model conquest, but hey, thanks for digging me out.”

Glancing down to her legs, she noticed that her costume was torn pretty badly and spots were covered with caked on dirt and blood. She couldn’t let Mike see the blood. He might start asking questions. Casually, she reached down and brushed away some of the dirt to get rid of the evidence.

Mike was a little more observant than she expected. “What?!?!” He moved his body to let the light shine on her exposed leg. He glanced back to her, confusion written in his eyes. “How?”

Jenna decided to play it off, stand and stretch. A few joints in her spine cracked, sending waves of relief through her body. “Ahh, much better!” She glanced down to a still stunned Mike and grinned. He obviously wasn’t ready to let it go yet, but her mouth and throat felt like she had been stuck in the desert.

“I’m dying of thirst,” she glanced away, looking behind her and towards the area around the light, “there any water in here?”

Mike winced as he started to stand. Jenna reached down and gently helped him to his feet. Still holding and unwilling to let her hand go, he turned to her. “I don’t know, but how are you...” He asked clearly shaken by her miraculous recovery from certain death.

Jenna’s smile faded as she sighed with resignation. Why did he have to be so damn curious and why did he have to look like he really cared about her?

“Can’t you just let it go?” She asked, softly as she glanced away, ashamed to meet his eyes.

“Jenna.” Mike surprised her when he gently took her other hand and pulled her hands together against his chest. She could feel his heart beating like a drum. “I thought I lost you and it was at that moment,” he blinked as his eyes began to tear up, “when I felt your lips growing colder by the second that I realized something.”

No, the man standing here getting ready to bare his heart and soul to her can’t be the Mighty Mike Powers she loved to watch kick bad guys’ butts and admire him for his way with women both on the set and off. Jenna searched his dirty and tear-stained face and saw only pure honesty in his eyes.

“No…” she whispered as her throat caught and tears began to slowly drip from her eyes.

Mike stared earnestly into her eyes. “Yes, Jennifer Vasquez. I love you and I can honestly admit that you’re the only woman I’ve ever felt this way about.”

Jenna felt confused as conflicting emotions warred with each other. She loved Natalie with all her heart, but she felt a portion of it melt for him. With that realization, she started to cry. In response, he pulled her tight against his strong muscular chest making her feel even more confused as she realized how warm and protected his arms made her feel. Is this how Natalie feels when Hector hugs her?

Mike leaned forward and she felt his lips lightly kiss the top of her head. His chest rose and shuddered as he took a deep breath before continuing. “I don’t care if you don’t love me, but the sight of you trapped, helpless and maybe dead in the rubble made me realize how I truly felt about you.”

Jenna didn’t know what to do or what to say. This wasn’t supposed to happen to her. Mike was supposed to be an unrepentant, womanizing asshole and she, as Hector, was in love with Natalie and going to marry her. Hector wasn’t gay and there was no way he could love another man, but now, Jenna wasn’t sure because she felt something for Mike and it wasn’t just a bro-mance. Did that damn alien machine mess with her mind or did she just spend too much time as a woman? Was what she thought she might be feeling just a natural part of being a woman?

“Mike...” Jenna reluctantly pulled away from him, unable to find an answer to her questions and not sure what to tell him.

She could see the pain in his eyes when she didn’t respond to his declaration and feeling ashamed of herself for being such a coward, she turned away from him. “Umm, we should probably start trying look for a way out of here and maybe see if we can signal the others to let them know we’re okay.”

“Yeah, good idea…” Mike hollowly replied, driving an unseen dagger deeper into her heart. He chuckled, making it sound like he wasn’t hurt. “You’re right. It’s a good thing you’re a real secret agent while I just play one in the movies because I’m sure all that training of yours will come in handy in here, right?”

“Yeah, I think so…” Jenna absently nodded and wiped away her tears before she turned back to face him. CIA Special Agent Vasquez was her cover and now it was time to live up to his expectations. “I’ll go listen near the cave-in and maybe bang some rocks against the wall to signal the rescuers.”

Jenna placed her ear against the wall and heard some random muffled banging coming through the rock. It sounded like they were trying to dig them out. Hector wasn’t a miner, but as a construction worker, he had a fair understanding of geology and natural rock. There were a lot of roads where they had to blast and dig out hills to put a road through. As a result, Jenna felt fairly confident in her assessment that there was at least five or more meters of rock between them and freedom.

“Can you hear anything?” Mike whispered as he absently placed his hand against her back.

“Yep. There is someone out there, but I don’t think they are going to be able to reach us anytime soon.” Jenna grabbed a fist-sized rock and tested it by lightly tapping it against the cave wall.

“Why do you think that? Can’t they just use the tractor thing and dig us out?”

“The backhoe?” Jenna slowly shook her head. “No, at least not right away. It’s on the other side of the island and this cave is halfway up the hillside. They would need to dig out a stable platform before they even start using it to dig for us.”

“Oh…” Mike didn’t sound encouraged by the news and he didn’t argue with her over how she could know so much.

Jenna started to bang out a modified S.O.S. against the wall. Dot Dot Dot for the “S” was easy, but the Dash Dash Dash for the “O” was a little harder. She settled with a pair of rapid, double dots to try and simulate a dash, but she was hardly a morse code expert and she wasn’t even sure if anyone would hear her signal.

She beat out the signal for a minute, and then paused for a minute to listen against the wall for an acknowledgement. After ten minutes and five cycles of hearing nothing in return, she decided to try for an hour before giving up. After fifteen minutes, Mike wandered away and rummaged around in the area where they had been filming. He returned with an unopened bottle of water and at the sight of it she greedily grabbed it and gulped it down.

Her body was starving for energy and the water helped, but she knew she needed to get some food in her soon. It wasn’t until she handed the empty bottle back to Mike that she even considered his needs. “Oh crap. Please tell me you found more than just one bottle…”

Mike slowly shook his head. “No, not yet, but I can go look some more. Don’t worry about it. I’m sure you needed it more than I do.”

Thirty minutes in, she put her ear against the wall and was surprised to hear a rhythmic tapping in return. “Mike! They heard me!”

“Whoa! See, I told you your spy training would come in handy.” Mike proudly grinned at her. “What are they saying?”

Jenna didn’t have the heart to tell him that she didn’t know. S.O.S. was really the only codes she knew. “Umm, not sure yet…” She placed her ear back against the wall.

“Dot DotDot Dot - Dot Dot DotDot - DotDot DotDot DotDot - DotDot Dot DotDot” The sequence paused for a few seconds and repeated itself for another minute before stopping.

She recognized the “O”, but the rest was Greek to her. “I don’t know. It’s letter, letter, O, letter. We covered Morse code once, but I never used it so the only thing I remember is the S.O.S., sorry.” Jenna cringed, knowing she was letting Mike down.

She wished Sadie was here because she would know what the codes meant and if not, she could’ve activated her massive arm cannon and blown a hole in the side of the mountain. Why did she have to pick a hero like Wolverine and Snake Eyes with his stupid ninja costume and sword? A light saber would’ve been a better choice for swords!

Jenna replied with the SOS code sequence and prayed they would understand. A minute later, the return message was even shorter. “DotDot DotDot DotDot - DotDot Dot DotDot”

“It’s O something now.” Jenna glanced over her shoulder to Mike.

“Could it be ‘OK’?” He shrugged.

Excited that they seemed to be making some progress, Jenna jumped up and surprised Mike with an enthusiastic hug. “Yes, that’s got to be it!”

Realizing what she had done, she blushed and let him go. “Umm, sorry. Did you find any more water?”

Mike shook his head. “Not yet, but I think the guys went a little deeper and I didn’t want to move the light.”

Jenna sighed with remorse. “Sorry about that. Keep the bottle. We might be able to find some natural water deeper in the cave.”

“Good plan.” Mike grinned and saluted her with the empty bottle.

Jenna sighed. “Well, I’m going to reply with OK and see if they have any ideas.”

The next message was four characters followed by a long pause and OK. Neither of them could figure it out. Jenna replied with SOS again. The message after that was five characters followed by a long pause and OK.

Jenna and Mike thought it over and simultaneously arrived at the same conclusion. “It’s our names!”

“They’re asking if you and I are okay.” Jenna jumped back to the rock messaging device and hammered out M-I-K-E--O-K followed by J-E-N-N-A--O-K, repeated for the full minute.

They spent the next hour getting an education in Morse code by playing a game of Hang-man. As her letter vocabulary grew, they were able to pass on detailed messages about their situation and receive rescue updates. As Jenna thought, it was going to take them at least a day to get the heavy equipment here, but a U.S. Navy Seabee team specializing in tunnels and mining was on their way too. They were told to hold tight and stay safe.

Jenna suggested they use the light and explore a little. They needed water more than anything else, but finding a back door wouldn’t hurt. Mike carried the light as they worked together to expand their knowledge of the cave system. After half an hour and a lot of dead ends, they were forced to stop their exploration when they came across a vertical shaft leading deeper into the cave.

It was deep, deeper than the light could penetrate. Jenna dropped a small rock and after it clattered against the unseen cave floor a few times, she thought she heard a faint splashing sound of the rock hitting water.

“I can climb down.” Jenna sat on the edge, prepared to begin her descent when Mike stopped her.

Mike protectively held her arm. “No, it’s not safe and I’m not about to let you risk your life again.”

Jenna debated activated her Snake Eyes suit and climbing down using the built in gecko pads that Greg had built into the hands and feet of her costume, but to do so would give away her secret. No, he was right, they were going to be rescued and unless something changed, she should wait.

Feeling defeated, the pair trudged back to the cave in and sat next to each other.

After a minute or two, Mike pulled her close to him and she didn’t fight him on it. Instead, she found it somewhat comforting and his chest was far more comfortable than the hard rock wall. After thirty minutes of just sitting silently and contemplating their lives, Jenna noticed the light starting to dim. Alarmed, she pulled away from him. “Merde! We need to shut off the light when we’re not using it.”

The cave was plunged into total darkness and it took Jenna a couple of seconds to navigate by touch back to Mike’s side. Now that Mike couldn’t see, she once again debated cheating and using her Snake Eyes costume with its thermographic vision mode, but there wasn’t a strong enough reason yet.

She was still very thirsty and after digging her out, Mike had to be just as bad. She knew she could easily make the climb and they needed water sooner, rather than later, but she didn’t want Mike to worry about her. Instead, she decided to sneak away and get some water after Mike fell asleep.

The island was in the Pacific and the Japanese used caves and tunnels a lot during World War Two. Maybe there was another way out or some usable supplies left over from the war. A rope would be handy, but she wasn’t sure if she would be willing to trust a fifty plus year old rope with Mike’s life.

With her plan of action worked out, she leaned against Mike. He moved his arm and drew her body against his chest. She felt pretty comfortable and a little guilty for letting Mike bear the brunt.

His heartbeat sounded strong and reassuring to her as they both began to relax. She tried to justify her close proximity with Mike as hyperthermia prevention. The cave floor was less than body temp and prolonged exposure could reduce a person’s core body temperature, but she was forced to admit that wasn’t the reason.

Jenna sighed with unexpected contentment before bringing up the topic of survival. “This is nice, but we need water and if they can’t dig us out soon, we --meaning me, since your hands are injured and you’re the star-- might need to climb down that shaft.”

“Maybe,” Mike chuckled and gave her body a light squeeze before letting her go. He was silent for a few seconds before he sighed heavily. “So, are you going to explain to me how you managed to live after being crushed to death?”