I went ahead and added the end of Broken Locks to the beginning of Unlocked, but I was sure to put a noticeable page break for those of you who would want to skip what you already read.

I present to you the first chapter of Unlocked. I hope you enjoy.

Anna quickly ran a brush through her hair as she glanced at the time. He was going to be late, she could already tell and her father was going to have a fit. He dear husband was really going to have to start getting places on time, at least the important things.

She picked up her phone and called him again. It went straight to voicemail. "I'm not kidding, if you're not there at three o'clock, you will not only be on the couch, but not even Rogue will be brave enough to sleep with you. This is my little sister we're talking about. I'm not missing her birthday party and neither are you!"

She hung up the phone and stuffed it in her pocket. Nate and Sophie had partially retired from Leverage, but not fully. Anna had taken over Sophie's job as the mother of the team, even though most of the members were older than her. She was there to make sure everyone was alright. She was the moral balance for the rest of the team, just as her mother taught her to be.

It was 2:45 and she was done waiting on him. Grabbing her car keys and whistling for her dog, she headed for the car. Rogue was a Alaskan Malamute that Eliot bought her shortly after her first anniversary. She obviously missed Phantom, but she could take him away from the rest of the family. Rogue was even bigger than Phantom, but she loved her dearly.

The house she and Quinn purchased wasn't far from her parents (it was one of the conditions she put in place, because Anna would always be a home body), but far enough away they had a few minutes to prepare for her parents when they decided to come over.

The moment she pulled up in the driveway, she noticed that she was the last one to arrive. Her mother was waiting at the door with a knowing smile on her face.

Rogue hopped out of the back seat as she grabbed the large box of presents. "You spoil her," Sophie warned her oldest daughter. "Your father will have a fit."

"I have to spoil my baby sister," she replied with an easy smile. "It's my job."

As soon as she walked through the door she was bombarded with hugs from Rosalie and Leo. Every time she walked through the door it was the same. They acted like they hadn't seen her in weeks when they normally saw her at least every other day. Leo was jabbering about the new boat Nate had taken him on while Rosalie talked about how hard she' be working on piano since Anna had been giving her lessons.

Aimee was the next to greet her. She glowed with the radiance of being six months pregnant. Eliot was already over the moon and obsessing with baby proofing everything. Parker and Hardison had already privately agreed they would not being having children anytime soon or getting married.

A big smile spread over Anna's face as her eyes fell on her father.

"Hey Iron Man," she called to him, going to him and putting her arms around his neck.

"Hey Wonder Woman," he replied pecking her cheek.

"Me-me!"

Anna took a step back and looked at her youngest sister, a mess of Nate's curls on her head with the dark eyes of her mother. She definitely mixed right along with the other two Ford daughters.

"And my favorite little Charlie!" Anna said scooping up the little girl and tickling her sides. "I heard someone turns two today. Do you know who that would be?"

Charlotte Lara Ford, born in June the year after the Christmas Quinn had proposed was a definite blessing to the whole family. Anna stood by her mother's side the entire time, this time their was less stress and the pregnancy went fine. She was the guest of honor at Anna and Quinn's wedding, being only three weeks old.

"Me, Nana!"

And the beloved nickname lived on.

"Where's your husband?" Sophie called as she scooped up her son and finally received the hug from her oldest daughter she had been searching for.

Anna rolled her eyes. "He said he had something important to deal with this morning and I told him he can't miss Charlie's birthday. When he gets here, he'll have to deal with me."

The married couples chuckled as Anna looked around. "Where's Maggie and Sterling? Olivia texted me and said she'd be late."

"Here we are!" Maggie called, appearing from the kitchen, wearing an apron. "You look good Anna!"

Anna smirked and struck a pose, showing off her well in shape body that she had worked on after doing a modeling con last month. "Thank you! So do you."

Sterling wrapped his arms around her. "I know," he commented earning a swat from her.

Libby appeared from the steps with her newest boyfriend (which Anna actually liked) just beside her.

"Good to see ya, girl," she said with a smirk. Libby, the everlasting proof that anyone can grow up.

"You too." Just then Anna's phone rang and she pulled it out of her pocket. The caller ID said Him and she shook her head as she answered. "You're in trouble, Mister Quinn."

The voice on the other side was not her husband. "You have no idea, Mrs. Quinn."

***Continued***

Sophie could see her daughter's eyes narrow as she put down her little sister and headed into the kitchen. She glanced at Eliot, catching his eye to follow her and then Hardison.

Nate's laptop was on the counter and she wasted no time pulling it open and pushing it over to Hardison. She tapped her phone and he understood immediately. The team had grown to an extend even speaking was unnecessary sometimes, which definitely was hand in times of emergency.

"Who do I have the pleasure of talking to?" she said coolly, even politely. Her voice sounded a lot like Sophie's when she conned. Level, collect, even a bit seductive when she was edging for the control.

Eliot watched her expression, but noticed she did not turn the phone on speaker like she would have any other time. She was very protective of her family and she wanted to keep her siblings safe. She wasn't willing to let them be collateral damage to anything and they came before everything, including her own life.

"Ah, Mrs. Quinn, you are truly as collected as the stories tell. You husband is fine, and will be returned to you shortly. Delivery to your parents' home? I heard it was your little sister's birthday. Tell Charlie happy birthday for me."

She swallowed hard and took a deep breath. "And who can I say sends their regards?"

The smile was evident in his voice as she looked over Hardison's shoulder to see how the trace was going. He look frustrated. Whoever this person was, he was smart.

"You can call me Jeremy, and I know you have the black book."

"You are one of many," Anna said easily glancing behind her to see her parents standing in the doorway looking at Anna with extreme concern. "But you don't sound like someone who wants it, maybe someone who wants part of it gone?"

"You are a smart girl."

"I've been told as much."

"But let me make this very clear. I know more about you than you know about me," he said easily. "I'm hoping we can be friends. I know how close you keep those."

"Talk quickly before I lose my patience," she hissed. People who threatened her family were not tolerated. She usually made a point to find and deal with them first and that was not always pretty.

Parker may have graduated to Mastermind, but Anna was now the voice of Leverage. She picked the cases and she dealt with the clients. She did the things Parker was not as good at. Dealing with threats was one of those things.

"I know a few things on that black box that you don't. Things that are more time sensitive than others. One of them being a drug company that your father may know. Ask your father if he knows the name Gruenberg Pharmaceuticals."

Anna's eyes widened and narrowed in an instant. "I don't need to ask."

There was a light chuckle on the other end that made Anna squirm. "So the obsession with Sam Ford's death has passed on to the next generation. Now I give you a reason to hold someone responsible. I will give you the routing number to the case in the black box if you do me one favor, Mrs. Quinn."

She glanced at her father. If he would have known what this man was saying he would have been pulling the phone away from her knowing it's a trick, but Anna wanted to make sure. "How do I know you're not lying?"

"The ever protective Anna speaks again. I'm not lying because we hold a common interest. We both want things from the black book taken care of. I just want you to do them in my order."

Her mind flashed back to Latimer. "You plan to profit from other companies falls?"

"Not in the way you think, Mrs. Quinn. I want you to do what my people can't. Then I want you to be one of my people." Whoever this Jeremy guy was, he really thought he had something to be desired.

"And who are your people?"

"I employ certain individuals who may or may not work for the United States government."

She rolled her eyes. "And the CIA is interested in helping me out?"

"The CIA is interested in you, Mrs. Quinn. We know what you're capable over and we usually like people of your ability on our side."

Nate and Sophie exchanged nervous looks. Working as they had for years, they were well acquainted to CIA types. The look on Eliot's face said he was more than just acquainted and no one was liking where this was going. But they trusted Anna, she knew what she was doing. She was the best in the business at what she did now, since Sophie retired, and they had to have some faith.

"Access number and I will think on it Mr. Jeremy," she said coolly, picking up a pen from the cup beside the fridge.

"Number 896175238." Jeremy hesitated on the other end of the line as Anna wrote down the number and slid it over to Hardison who still was unable to put a trace on the call. "You husband will arrive shortly. No harm, no foul."

"I'll be the judge of that."

But the line was dead already. Hardison had given up his search on the call and was instead typing in the access code Anna had slid him.

She glanced back at Nate and Sophie as they walked closer to her and looked over Hardison's other shoulder, but Anna suddenly reached out and closed the computer before anything could be pulled up. "That's enough work for right now," she said with a surprisingly easy smile for her husband about to be dropped off at her little sister's birthday party by the CIA, but she couldn't let her parents worry right now. It would ruin Charlie's birthday and no one wanted that for her. It would make Nate on edge and Sophie worried because Nate was still Nate. He would still go off the deep end when it came to his kids, Sam included.

"Anna," Eliot began but she met his worried gaze with an easy look.

"It's nothing that we can't deal with tomorrow. I'm sure Quinn will be here any minute."

Her calmness struck him as odd. She usually seemed as ready to ring her husband's neck as to kiss him. That's what happened when you married young, Eliot supposed, you get so comfortable with each other you consider killing them. Then again, he was sure Aimee felt the same way about him and he had witnessed Sophie's wrath against Nate.

She easily walked back toward the living room and the people remaining in the kitchen exchanged looks.

"She's hiding something from us," Eliot said slowly, not liking the fact Anna was doing his job of protecting the family.

"She's not hiding from you," Sophie corrected. "She's hiding it from us."

Hardison opened the laptop up again. "We can always see what it-" His face fell as he felt the screen remained black and he felt the back of the computer. "Damn it, she's good. Took the battery and I didn't even notice!"

Nate and Sophie exchanged proud smirks, but Nate found himself wondering where his little girl was anymore.

Sophie walked out of the dressing room and immediately went to Nate who was holding Charlie. Her eyes were first on the baby, but then slowly met her husband's with a certain level of pain that could only be from letting go of her older daughter.

"I want to say she's too young for this," Sophie sighed looking back down at Charlie. Nate knew she was one the verge of tears and if Anna saw her cry, Anna wouldn't be able to stop crying long enough to say her vows.

"She's not though. She may be young, but she's ready for this," he said firmly, surprising himself by how sure he sounded. His daughter was getting married. She was getting married and they had just had a baby a few weeks ago. Time was flying in every direction and he was suddenly pleading that someone slowed it down so he had time with his younger children before they were walking down the aisle or going away to school.

"Nate," Sophie choked, rolling her eyes to the ceiling in an attempt not to cry and completely ruin her makeup.

He gave his wife a small laugh as he pulled her closer and kissed her lips. "It's time for me to have a few words with my daughter before I have to walk her down the aisle. Where's the other kids?"

Sophie nodded to Maggie and Aimee trying to wrangle the four year old and seventeen month old while also trying not to ruin their attire. "I may need to help them," she said softly, taking the sleeping baby into her arms. She stopped him before he could move past her. "Tell her again that I love her," Sophie told her husband, her voice cracking and tears finally rolling.

"She knows, Sophie, but I'll tell her again," he promised, squeezing his wife's hand.

As he opened the door, he saw his daughter sitting on the floor like a child, her elegant and white dress in a pool of fabric around her legs. Her hair had grown out significantly and he had a feeling she wasn't going to put a pair of scissors to it until it was at least the length it was when she first joined the team.

"I'm terrified," she muttered, absently picking that bouquet in her hands. White roses with yellow lilies. Both her favorites.

"You think your mother and I weren't terrified when we got married?" Nate asked as he sat down on the floor beside her, nudging her gently with his shoulder. "Moments like these are suppose to be terrifying. As long as the love outweighs the fear, you're doing something right."

A watery smile appeared on his daughter's face as she looked up at him. "It does, Daddy."

Nate could feel his own tears building as he offered her a smile as well. "Then you shouldn't really have to worry at all."

Her eyes fell back to her flowers and Nate took a moment to really take in how much she looked like Sophie, even though they were not blood in any way. The years of love and support had made their little girl grow and become the daughter they had. There had been a lot of road blocks along the way, but here they were. His daughter was now an adult and he was about to watch her marry the man of her dreams.

"Your mother and I love you so much," he told her, his voice cracking as he cleared his throat. "No matter what, we will always be there."

She nodded a little, never taking her eyes off her flowers. "I know, Daddy."

"And I will kill him if he ever does anything to hurt you." Nate wasn't joking and he made sure that his voice showed it.

But Anna smiled a little anyway and nodded again. "I know, Daddy."

"In a few minutes, you're not going to be my little girl anymore. You're going to be a married woman." Nate put his hand over his mouth as his own tears started to roll. He had teased his wife for her emotional state and she held it together longer than he was doing.

Big brown eyes met his blue ones and she shook her head firmly. Tears were already making their way down her cheeks as he swallowed hard. "You're wrong. No matter what, I will always be your little girl. I will always want and need my daddy."

Nate couldn't help himself as he pulled his daughter into a tight hug and started sobbing.

Her getting married and moving in with her husband didn't change the way she felt about her parents, but it changed the way she respected them. She was old enough now to know the depths and levels of parental love, and already knowing what could happen when that was taken away, she would do anything from allowing her siblings to experience that.

But Nate could see the uneasiness in Anna's stance as she watched out the window for Quinn. Even as she played with her little siblings, she was always in view of the driveway. He knew Quinn had arrived the moment Anna's shoulders released the tension and her lips twitched into a soft smile.

She met him at the door and immediately kissed his lips before pulling him into the dining room, away from the ruckus of the rest of the house.

"What happened?" she demand, her hand still in his as she let the first hint of fear appear in her eyes.

He let out a breath. "It was nothing, Anna. I got a call from an old friend this morning and I discovered the call was a little more than I was prepared for."

"So the CIA calls me and tells me that I need to help them?" she said sarcastically not understanding why Quinn was choosing now to be vague.

Quinn's eyes narrowed. "He called you?"

She raised a warning eyebrow as she leaned back to make sure the rest of the family was at least a room away. "So you have a meeting with someone in the CIA and you don't think to maybe give your wife a heads up?"

He rolled his eyes. "What was I suppose to say?"

"How about Hey honey, I know it's your sister's birthday and all, but a highly classified government buddy of mine needs a favor." Her dark eyes were flaming with anger and Quinn knew very well he was in deep shit. "At least that way I could have prepared myself for the shady phone call and over knowledge about my life! He even used your phone number."

Quinn turned away and rubbed his face. "So he pitched you the deal."

"Yeah. And I'm about to tell him where I plan to pitch my own," she snapped.

"Anna," he began, using that tone that was meant to calm her but it only made her more furious.

"Quinn." He flinched at her calm tone, knowing that this was a game she would win. So he definitely screwed up.

Slowly he turned around and offered his wife a pleading look that was met with a glare. Gradually the glare began to soften and she rolled her eyes. "This will be a very serious discussion tomorrow. For now, I'm sure Leo will be very excited to see you."

Quinn pecked his wife's lips and smiled in a way she always returned. He was going to be the death of her, but she loved him just the way he was. As he walked away, she slyly pulled his phone from his pocket and looked at the last calls made in and out.

Jeremy Herring.

She slid the phone back into her pocket.

"I learned a long time ago to trust my husband."

The sound of her mother's voice made her jump as she spun around to see Sophie standing there with her arms crossed and a smirk on her lips.

"Mom!" Anna said with a start, placing a hand over her heart and shaking her head.

"You know, Anna, you may be twenty-one, but I can still ready you like you're sixteen," Sophie commented, putting her arm around her daughter's waist and walking a little further into the house. "So tell me, sweetie, what's so bad that you don't want your dad or I involved?"

Anna looked at her mother for a long moment, knowing better than to lie to her and also knowing that when her mother asked her a direct question she better answer it. "Gruenberg Pharmaceuticals."

That was enough, Sophie's face fell and she pulled her daughter even further away from the room her husband was in. "The pharmaceutical company that supplied Sam's treatment?" Anna barely nodded. "Why?"

Anna rubbed her face and then her hands together. "They're in the black book, Mom, and you know what that means."

Sophie looked away from her daughter and squeezed her eyes closed. "That means they're responsible for a lot of deaths, including your brother's."

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