1993- Fort Lewis

Emily was lying in her bed, watching someone try and find their shirt.

"I was so sure I left it down here." He murmured, more to himself than to her. It was two am, it was dark and he had woken her up after turning a small torch on to find what he was looking for.

"Try the bathroom." She told him, propping herself up on her pillows. He stepped into the small bathroom and came out successfully holding something.

"Thanks." She could hear the appreciation in his steady voice.

"Why can't you stay again?"

He looked up from concentrating on buttoning up his shirt. "I have drills this morning. Those boys know when I've come from your house."

"John…"

"What?"

"Is there a problem with you staying here?"

He knelt on the bed, "No, there isn't. I just can't stay today."

"You really need to get better at sneaking around." She yawned.

"Sure, I'll go practice between drills and lunch." He chuckled as he gave her a kiss on the forehead. "I'll see you at lunch today, right?" he walked out of the room.

"Sure!" she called out indignantly in response.

()()()()

2008

Sitting at the table, Emily was waiting for 4.30 to come around. It did, and the sound of a car pulling into the driveway and leaving again meant that her daughter was home.

"Hey mum, guess what?!" a teenager waltzed on into the dining room excitedly, but stopped when she saw her mother's face. "Mum… what's wrong?"

Emily told her daughter to sit, but she refused. Stubbornness was not a trait she got from her.

"Theodora Gianna Coates, sit down." Emily ordered. Theodora did as she was told, scared that her mother used her full name. "I went to Madigan today." Madigan Army Medical Centre was in Fort Lewis, the Army base Emily had been living on for years, even before her daughter came. "Honey they had some news for me." Theodora couldn't see if there was anything wrong, but continued to listen anyway. "They told me I had cancer."

"What? How?" Theodora started to cry.

"It's one of those things we can't control Thea. You know that." Thea was Theodora's nickname and the name she usually went by with her friends.

"No! Go get retested or whatever! You're healthy! You don't have cancer!" She demanded. Emily put her hand up to stop her and watched the self-destruction of a teenager. "I don't have anyone else mum! You can't!" Watching her daughter stand up and storm off in tears, Emily knew she had to get her affairs in order.

()()()()

2012- Now

Theodora Coates was driving through Watertown, New York state. She was recently sent to Fort Drum, but wanted to live in town instead of on base, so that she had some freedom. Coming to her house, she saw a black car parked across the road. Pulling in and still being suspicious of the car, Theodora went to go into the house but was stopped by a young guy.

"Uh, hi, sorry, I'm a little lost. Do you know where the public square is?"

This took her by surprise. "Uh, yeah, you go down that end of the street, turn left and follow it up. It goes straight to the square."

He smiled. "Thanks."

She unlocked her door and went in, but then… it was darkness.

1234321

Awakening, Theodora knew she wasn't in her car, or in Watertown. There were cars zipping past everywhere and the sound of car horns were always going off.

"Where's the drop point?"

"Down by the river."

Hearing this made her want to freak out. She knew she was in the boot of a car. Most boots had some sort of pop mechanism in case there was an accident. Feeling a pull lever, she did and the booth popped open. They were at a stop light so all the cars behind her were stopped. Jumping out and scaring the living daylights out of the man in the car behind the one she was getting out of, she sprinted down a busy retail street. Stopping at a small, unknowing coffee store, she knew she still had money on her.

"Thank god for bras." She pulled a note out surreptitiously and sat down. A woman came over and she asked for a coffee. As it came, she thought about what had happened. She had been abducted from her house, knocked out, drugged and she woke up in a car boot in New York City. Now she sat, with a coffee and a paper in front of her. She was shaking a little, but so much to alert anyone. Reading the paper, she noticed a man enter the diner. He wore a suit and a trench coat over the top. He was sort of tan, naturally. He looked ex-military, but she couldn't be sure. He looked at the menu overhead before making his way past Theodora's table, causing her to go rather statue like and frozen with fear he was one of them. He slipped her a note as he walked by and sat in the booth behind her.

Stay calm. Was all it said. She didn't know if he was with them or not, but she took a deep breath anyway.

"Good." She heard him murmur. "There are two men sitting at a booth at the door. They came in moments after I did, but you didn't notice. You were too busy staring at me."

She saw them eating burgers, not caring for what she was doing. "Who are you? Who are they? What is going on?" she whispered desperately back.

"My name is John. They're trying to kill you. Focus." He kept using the same level voice. She stopped asking questions and waited. "You're going to pay for your coffee and you're going to leave. If they notice and follow you out, walk into the alleyway beside this diner."

"Alleyway? Not the…"

He cut her off. "Your safety is more important than that of the safety of an alleyway. Do you understand." She nodded, not knowing if he knew she was nodding. "Good. Go."

Walking off and paying, she went out the door. Just like the guy said, the other two followed her out. Finding the alleyway, she slipped into it, feeling the men still following her. Turning and seeing them advance; she punched the first one in the face and made him topple over, moaning in pain as blood streamed down his face. The second went to hit her back, but was then hit in the back. As he folded over, John the mystery man stood behind him.

She stood there for a moment until John looked behind his shoulder. A car was parked neatly at the entrance, as if it was covering the incident from passers-by.

"What now?" she asked, wondering if reinforcements were coming.

"You should come with me until my associate and I can figure out how to stop these people." He led her to the car.

"Do you even know who I am?"

He gave a slight huff of amusement. "No. My associate does though."

Don't own a thing =D