Conspiracies Ch. 10

After the drive from another wild night at Crystals, Oliver brought AJ home. He did not however bring her up to the sidewalk. Instead he parked in the back lot, escorting AJ into the apartment complex.

She was tired, but he looked exhausted. She winced as they walked into the lobby, the fluorescent lighting and white walls made it look unnaturally bright at all times. As they made it to her floor, walking down the clean hallway, AJ was anxiously wondering why he was following her.

He didn't seem like a threat though. She doubted he would try much with his apparent lack of energy.

Oliver closed the door behind them as AJ went to the kitchen. While filling up a glass of water she waited for him to say or do something. He wasn't nice enough to do something as polite as walking her home without ulterior motives.

But as she walked out of the small kitchen, she saw Oliver slouched on the couch, rubbing his eyes.

"Um, do you need something?" AJ asked, suspicion in her voice.

Oliver kicked off his shoes and asked, "Do you have any Stark Trek?"

AJ shrugged. "Yeah, some."

"Put on Trouble with Tribbles. It's my favorite," he said through a yawn.

AJ nodded her head, relieved this was the activity he had in mind. She went to her neatly stacked pile of VHS tapes and found her Star Trek collection. Unfortunately she didn't have all of them, but she did have the episode Oliver wanted.

She turned on the TV and popped the tape into the player. Oliver patted the cushion next to him, gesturing for her to sit. She turned off the lights and joined him. Since he had something specific he wanted to watch, chances are he wouldn't bother her.

And he didn't, watching the show with half-closed eyes. AJ's glass of water tipped while she was drinking it as Oliver started to lean against her. This was the sort of physical contact she could be okay with. Much better in comparison to anything else he did to her at least.

But then the pressure got stronger. His leaning turned into crushing as he went out of consciousness. AJ tried to push him upright, but he was too heavy. She did manage to get him to fall on her lap instead of squishing her into the couch.

AJ leaned back to further herself away from him, but she was stuck. He started to snore quietly, laying across on her lap. AJ wasn't quite sure what to do.

He had been taking a lot of her time, if not most. Not that she was missing out on anything, but when she originally was blackmailed, they made it sound as if Oliver was just going to simply use her, not take her to deranged parties and road trips. He knew she had nothing but time, and he was taking full advantage of it.

As Captain Kirk and his crew tried to rid themselves of the dastardly tribbles, AJ noticed the cowlick that had been standing on his head. Using just a feather-like touch she tried to pat it down, but his messy hair was stubborn. She tried to comb it down with her fingers, but nothing worked.

For how disheveled it always looked, his hair was surprisingly soft. Her hair was thick and coarse, but his almost felt like silk. She didn't notice how much she had been playing with it until he woke up, groaning and stretching on her lap.

He got up from the couch and stumbled to her bedroom, pulling his tie off and unbuttoning his shirt as he made it to her bed, leaving a trail of clothing on the floor. AJ sighed and turned the TV off, following him to her room.

He hadn't waited to crawl into her bed, laying on his side with eyes already shut. He didn't acknowledge her when she came in. He was dead to the world.

AJ undressed and went to the other side, carefully getting under the blankets without disturbing him. It didn't take long until she was passed out in a deep sleep as well.

When the sunlight broke through the curtains, AJ shot out of bed. She rubbed her eyes and looked the digital clock on her nightstand. "Fuck," she groaned, kicking the blankets off. She had almost forgotten Oliver had slept over until she felt his long arm reach around her waist and pull her close to him.

"We're late, I have to go to work," she whined, trying to wiggle from his grip. He was holding so tightly she thought he might crush her ribcage.

"No," Oliver said, eyes still closed.

"What? No, we have to go to work," she said, trying to breathe through his tight grip.

"I don't want to," he replied stubbornly.

AJ was taken aback. She didn't take him as someone who could be lazy like this, like a kid trying to play hooky. But she had things to do. "But, but I have to go."

"No, you're not going," he said, sliding his other arm underneath her waist to hold her closer.

"Okay, well I need money, you know, to live. So I have to go," she said impatiently.

Oliver growled and replied, "I'm paying your rent."

AJ scoffed, becoming increasingly frustrated. "I don't want you to pay my rent, that's not the point."

"Fine, what else do you want? Just tell me and I'll buy you whatever you want. You can take my credit card, I don't care. You're staying with me, fuck work."

AJ struggled to turn in his grip but managed to roll around to face him. "I don't want your money. I need my own money, that I earn by myself."

Oliver opened his eyes and looked into hers, then released her, turning on his back. AJ nearly gasped for air from being freed from his tight embrace. "So you want a raise or something?"

AJ shook her head. "No, I didn't say that. I just want to work for my own money."

Oliver snorted, now frustrated himself. No one ever denied taking money from him, especially women. Now he knew how Sauer felt when dealing with him. He almost felt like he lost a little bit of control. He couldn't manipulate her so easily. Money always worked.

He always had money, that was no problem. But she didn't, and neither did her estranged family. From the knowledge he collected, her one room apartment was the best she had ever done. Not that she was in complete poverty, but she definitely missed out on a lot of things because of her and her family's lack of income.

So why would this one girl, completely supporting herself on a shit salary, deny free fucking money? She didn't even have cable, just the pile of old tapes. If he hadn't done any investigating, he would never have known with the way she presented herself.

"Fine," he said, communicating his annoyance in the tone of his voice. "Go to work. I'll see you later."

AJ scurried out of bed without a word and started her morning routine. When she was showered, presentable, and sufficiently filled with coffee, she shuffled through her closet for her clothes. As she put on her long sleeve blouse, Oliver turned to face her, still sprawled amongst the tangled sheets on the bed.

"Don't you have something else to wear?" he said, watching her slip into one of her dark plaid pleated skirts.

AJ looked down at herself, now insecure and wondering if something was wrong.

"You wear the same thing every day," he said.

AJ opened her closet and pointed to her hung up clothes. "No I don't, I always wear something different."

Oliver propped himself up on his forearms and raised an eyebrow. "And all of it looks the same. You're not a cartoon character. Can we just get you some new clothes for God's sake?"

AJ buttoned the top button on the waist of her skirt, shooting him a dirty glare. Oliver rolled his eyes and said, "Alright, well, go and I'll lock up when I leave." He pointed to the doorway of her room, leading to the kitchen. "There's five hundred dollars in my wallet. Go do something with it."

"Like what?"

"Get some new clothes. Or buy five hundred cups of coffee, I don't care."

AJ replied with a nod of her head and quickly left the apartment.

Oliver took his time getting up. He took a shower, unlike AJ he was fond of walk-in showers. He got dressed, trying to lay his hair flat. "Damnit," he cursed, the cowlick stubbornly starting to stand straight as it dried.

After getting dressed and retrieving his shoes from the living room, he went to his wallet he had left on the kitchen counter. He smiled and opened it up, but his face dropped when he saw nothing was taken. All of his money was there.

Why wouldn't she just take the money? He didn't ask, he ordered, and she still disobeyed him. This should be easier. Even the richest of the rich would take free money. He nearly threw his wallet at the wall, more frustrated than he had been in a while. Failed experiment.

He'd always assumed he could control her with that if it came to it. Apparently, she was the only person he couldn't buy. It didn't really matter, he had her already, but still. He pulled out the bills, counting them to make sure he wasn't crazy. Amongst the clean bills was an extra forty dollars, crumpled and had obviously been folded multiple times.

That bitch. Not only did she not take his money, she put her own money in his wallet. It was practically nothing, but she was making a point. It was one thing to not take his money, but to sneak her own money in his wallet had to mean she was mocking him.

He put his wallet in his pocket and left her apartment, locking the door behind him and stewing angrily by AJ's defiant act. He wanted to reprimand her, or teach her some sort of lesson, but this was a situation he hadn't been prepared for.

He put his fingers to his temples and sighed. "God fucking damnit."

AJ had practically sprinted to work, coming in almost an hour late. By the time she was at her desk she was nearly panting and sweating. Kevin was already at his desk next to her, fiddling with a pen that had squirted ink on one the keyboard of his boxy laptop.

He looked up at her and swiveled in his chair to face her. "You're late."

AJ's face scrunched. "It's not my fault."

"Well don't get in trouble," he said, tossing the pen in the trash.

AJ brushed the comment off, starting on a pile of paperwork that had been dumped on her desk. Not even an hour later her phone rang. But to her surprise it wasn't Oliver, it was Sauer. She had barely been getting any work from him lately.

"Come to my office," he said through the phone, hanging up before she could reply. She looked to Kevin, holding the phone in her hand with a nervous expression.

Kevin shrugged and said, "Good luck."

AJ winced, now feeling dread in the pit of her stomach. She was wondering if she was in trouble. But she couldn't think of anything she had done wrong. Oliver had been with her almost constantly, what could she have done? She wasn't that late to work.

She marched down the hall to see the elevator had finally been fixed. She sighed and debated taking it, but now she had been accustomed to all of the walking. It gave her extra moments of peace and silence.

When she made it to his floor she peaked into her old office. The pipe was fixed, but the carpet was still destroyed. She longed for the privacy but being directly next to Sauer now seemed like nothing but trouble.

She knocked, waiting for a response before entering. When he told her to come in, she uneasily stepped into his office. He was sitting at his desk, thin-framed glasses hung on his jacket pocket.

Normally he barely acknowledged her, even when giving her work tasks, but he gave her an icy stare and starting to approach her. AJ took a step back, quickly filling with fear the closer he got.

Sauer shoved her against the wall and wrapped his hand around her throat, squeezing tightly. She reached for his hand, trying to pry it off, but he slammed her back, lifting her high enough that her feet barely touched the ground.

She gasped and clawed at his hand, but he only tightened his grip. "You're becoming a problem."

She wheezed, going limp in his grip. She struggled to protest, but his hold on her was too strong. She could breathe, but just barely. "You're becoming a distraction. I can't afford to have Oliver distracted."

AJ managed to squeeze out, "I'm not," in a raspy voice.

Sauer pressed her harder against the wall, lifting her a few inches higher. Her feet dangled above the ground helplessly. "You're a toy, a thing, an object. That's all you are. But you're starting to get in the way. I wouldn't have given you to Oliver if I knew you would be screwing with his head."

"I don't," AJ choked, still trying to pry his fingers from her throat.

"If you knew what he does, what he can do, you'd take this more seriously. Now you're going to stop fucking distracting him, be a good fucking girl and don't get in his way. Because if you do, you're getting in my way. Do you understand?"

AJ managed to nod her head, trembling in his grip. He released his hand from her and she fell to the floor on her knees.

Sauer leaned down, wearing the most intimidating expression she had ever seen. "So you're going to get out of my way?"

AJ nodded, shakily standing between him and the wall.

"Good. Because if you don't, the consequences will be worse than you can imagine."

AJ nodded again as he walked back to desk, sitting down in the leather chair and putting his glasses on. She wanted to break them. Without looking at her he said, "Say a word to Oliver about this and you'll face those consequences."

AJ didn't hesitate to leave, rushing out into the hall and not slowing down until she made it to a bathroom. She locked the door behind her and turned on the sink. Her chest heaved as she started hyperventilating, tears welling up in her eyes.

For the first time in what felt like eons, she started to cry. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she felt where his fingers had started to leave bruises. She managed to hide them with her long hair, but her skin was sore and stung.

She sniffled and splashed cold water on her face, trying to stop herself from breaking down. She never wanted any of this. All she did was try and figure out a way to get out, get away from both of them. How could Sauer possibly blame her for that?

She was completely helpless. How could she get out of their way if they dragged her in in the first place? She wasn't with Oliver by choice. She wished she could run to him and tell him what Sauer told her, tell him he needed to leave her alone, but she feared what Sauer would consider worse than his original threat of jail.

He'd made that threat before, and the only thing that she could think of worse than jail was death. She wondered what could be in between the two the possibilities.

She cleared her throat and wiped the tears away, trying to appear as if nothing had happened. She had to pull herself together. There was no way out of this one. There's no saying no to Oliver, he always takes what he wants no matter what. There is no way she would be able to convince him to leave her alone.

She shook herself and left the bathroom back to her desk. Kevin was gone, making her feel uneasy. Not that she trusted him, but he did say he was there to help. But now she was all alone, in a crowded noisy floor.

When Kevin came back AJ's forehead was rested on her desk. No matter what she could not figure out a way around this. Kevin nudged her and she sat straight, looking to him, but he didn't say anything. He just pointed behind her.

She turned to see Oliver juggling two tall cups of coffee while carefully walking past the other agents, employees and female secretaries. It seemed sort of sexist now that she thought about it. She wondered if any of them were in a similar position as her. He dropped one on AJ's desk and leaned over it, giving a friendly smile. But only she knew the evil behind it.

"Hey you two," he said, greeting both Kevin and AJ.

"Where's my coffee?" Kevin said, tapping a new pen against his desk.

Oliver snorted and replied, "I've told you this. When you start working for me then I'll bring you coffee."

AJ's ears perked. From how Kevin was speaking the previous day it seemed like he very much wanted to work for Oliver. She didn't want to assume his sexuality, but she was pretty sure he was gay.

Oliver took the crumpled forty dollars from his wallet and put them on her desk. "Don't do that again."

Kevin didn't acknowledge it, but AJ felt as if he were advertising it to the world, speaking so boldly to her in public. Though to others it might seem innocent enough or silly, but it made her feel as if everyone knew her secret.

She did however enjoy his reaction, and that he noticed the money. She could have really used that forty dollars, but it was the principal of the thing. She worked hard for everything she had, and she was proud of herself for it. No one else helped her to get where she was, and she wanted to keep it that way.

"Come to my office after lunch please. Also you got schmutz," he said, reaching out for the side of her neck. When he saw it was not dirt or ink he backed away. "Oh. Never mind."

Without a goodbye he turned and left, leaving her with the coffee. She pulled her hair over her shoulders again, making sure the sides of her neck weren't seen. Kevin looked at her and shrugged, confused himself by Oliver's sharp turn.

After lunch AJ went to the fourth floor, making it to his office. She knocked, but no one answered. The door was locked. Maybe when he said 'never mind' he was referring to visiting him after lunch.

She huffed and went back to her desk, chatting with Kevin every once in a while, and listening to his silly quips. Neither Sauer nor Oliver bothered her. By the end of the day she hadn't received a call or a text, which to her was a ticket to freedom for the night. But something felt weird.

When she was back at her apartment she immediately put on her most comfortable clothes and curled up on her couch, her phone sitting on the table next to her. As she smoked, trying to give Farscape another chance, she anxiously waited for her phone to buzz. But it never happened.

She felt stupid for wasting her time thinking about Oliver when she could have been paying more attention to her favorite Stargate actors in this new series.

Henry had ignored her since she was back from Christmas. Her landlady adored Henry as she was almost blind as well, and she could always count on her to take care of him when she was gone. Plus she had a key to her apartment, so it was convenient.

Only when she was in bed did he come and lay down with her, curling up on one of her pillows. Her anxiety started to melt away as she fell into a deep sleep.

The next morning she managed to actually get up on time, even a little bit early. After yesterday she didn't ever want to be late to work again.

But she made it on time, going about her day as normal. She was becoming accustomed to Kevin and his sly jokes. She never thought she would have company at work she actually enjoyed.

The clock ticked away, and time seemed to move slower with each minute, the anticipation of what Oliver would do today becoming stronger. But nothing happened. No call from her work or cell phone. No text, no visit from Oliver.

AJ wanted to be happy, but this was weird. If it happened before Sauer's threat maybe she would be happy. But something was going on.

She filed away at her desk, organizing papers and fiddling with her hair anxiously. Without Sauer or Oliver giving her any work to do, she was getting bored. But like hell was she going to approach either of them if she didn't have to.

She decided to leave the building for lunch, get some fresh air and a good cup of coffee. While walking through the ground level lobby she saw Oliver walking towards her and looking at an open paperback book in his hands.

She slowed, thinking he would stop and say something or acknowledge her, but all he did was look up for a moment with an empty expression as if he didn't even know her. The eye contact lasted all but one second as he fixed his gaze back to the book and walked right past her.