In the car on the way home from the airport, I concluded a call with my boss. "Yes, Neil, I'm certain that she doesn't suspect anything. But she's been acting oddly for a couple of months - maybe since she shot that woman in self-defense. Yes, I've been taking her to therapy separate from her appointments through the Department; no, she doesn't want to talk to me about what she says there. Get somebody else on that part if it's so important."

Spotting the last turn before getting back to the townhouse in Chicago's Park West neighborhood that I'd occupied for the six years since starting this job, I added quickly, "I'm almost back; gotta go. I'll check in at the office tomorrow."

Time to switch gears, I thought.

Moments later, I grabbed my carry-on from the trunk and finished paying the Uber driver before heading up the stairs to the flat at a near-charge. Key in the door, click, wheel the bag to the side before closing the door and heading toward the bedroom. "Claire?" No answer. "Claire?"

I can hear her moving inside the walk-in closet, hangars sliding, and there's an oversized duffel on the bed. "Claire? How'd it go?" She had an administrative hearing today, suspended last month ago after a security clearance had lapsed when somebody elsewhere in the chain of command hadn't cleared paperwork in time.

She looked over at me. "Mark? I thought you weren't getting home until tomorrow."

"Had to come see you. How'd it go?"

"I panicked. I.... kind of threw up on them." she answered.

"Are you OK?" I asked.

She nodded, eyes a little wet. "At least, I will be," she replied.

I stepped in closer to her. Something was different, that I couldn't quite put my finger on. "What did you do to your hair?"

"Uh.... nothing. I got it cut."

"It's longer," I pointed out as I let a finger twirl out through one end.

"It's just wet," she answered.

"Something's different," I insisted.

She flexed her ankle to close the inch or two gap in our heights and proceeded to kiss me to within an inch of my life, with a kind of vigor I hadn't been able to remember for months.....

Claire had a secret that I knew, though she didn't know that I knew - because I'd been planted in her life to be able to report back on it. But something changed a couple months ago, and things have been tense between us since.

OOC: What's Claire's new secret? Well, in the thing that inspired this, there are two secrets: first, that the original Claire was one of a number of identical human clones who were being raised in society as a test of whether the technology was ready. Second, that while I was away on this business trip, the original Claire committed suicide but was coincidentally found by another clone, who has stepped into her life.

Where do we go from here? Well, my job means I have to figure out what's happened, and her survival might require her to keep the secret from me. So I see lots of slow burns and film noir/spy kinds of intrigue coupled with plenty of seduction & smut.

Bonus points if you recognize the source scene without looking it up.