Disclaimer: I do not own 'Threshold' or any of the characters or related concepts

AN: Appreciate any feedback given and hope to continue this story on for many more chapters

Her life wasn't all that interesting. She worked full time for the government, had her dog, Monster, and lived in her home in Washington by herself. She hadn't dated anyone in several years and had a handful of friends who had slowly drifted apart over the years, all starting families and moving to different states. She considered herself a workaholic, using this as an excuse to not think about all the other stuff. The stuff her family always brought up whenever she visited them. She had an older brother and a younger sister, both of whom were married and had a handful of children themselves. They were a close family; however, their father wasn't around anymore. He'd disappeared without a trace when Molly and her siblings were all in their teens.

Everything changed that fateful night when she was approached by Sean Cavennaugh, a tall, handsome federal agent, regarding one of her most extensive contingency plans, one she thought would not be implemented any time soon, let alone in her lifetime. She heard the helicopter from a while away but thought nothing of it as Monster sniffed around the grassy oval.

"Okay, Monster, pick a spot" She said, waiting for the dog to do its business.

The sound grew louder and louder until she saw it lowering down close to her. Cavennaugh jumped out and made his way over to her and reached out to shake her hand.

"Molly Anne Caffrey? Name's Cavennaugh. Federal agent. One of your plans has just been activated. You're needed in Washington" He informed her.

"Which plan?" She asked.

"Threshold. You've just become the most important person on the planet." She stared at him in shock while Monster hid behind her, frightened by the noise of the helicopter.

"Will I have time to grab a few things? I live right over there." She pointed to her house.

"No time. We have to go now. Bring the dog with you." He reached out and softly touched her shoulder to guide her. She complied.

Threshold was a big deal. A contingency plan to resolve an Alien invasion and save all of humanity. Who would've thought that she would be the one to come up with such a plan? Well, her past certainly had some involvement in her career choice. She picked up Monster and they climbed into the helicopter.

Before she knew it, they were in the air and on their way to the Threshold building. Cavennaugh watched her closely. He was deep in thought. Many things were racing through his mind. He now had to protect this woman at all costs. He'd taken the job after reading through her protocols. He had always felt like he was meant for a larger purpose in life. By becoming the head of security at Threshold, he felt that purpose and importance. He would protect Molly Caffrey at all costs.

She caught him staring.

"What?" She asked. She knew nothing about this man but something about him already intrigued her. He didn't know what to say, so many things running through his mind.

"Nothing. Shouldn't be too much longer until we land." He looked out the window.

"Okay." She smiled, stroking Monster by her side to keep him calm.

They got to the building not too long afterward. J.T Baylock met them in the underground carpark and guided them upstairs to the meeting room where she advised a roomful of people, including her friend Andrea, who was the national security advisor.

She had skimmed over Threshold at times so she was still familiar enough with the plan that she didn't need to go over any details before the meeting began. She got right into it, explaining the situation regarding the mysterious object over the naval ship, the initial and first stages of the plan to assess the situation at hand and quarantine the area. Cavennaugh was impressed at how confident and knowledgeable she was and the fact that she just jumped straight into it.

After the meeting, Cavennaugh and Molly made their way to a smaller meeting room a few floors down to meet the red team.

Cavennaugh ran through each team member whilst they were walking.

First up, they had Nigel Fenway, microbiologist with a background in pathology. Next was Lucas Pegg, Astronautical Engineer, and last but not least, Arthur Ramsay, expert in linguistics and applied mathematics.

"If our ET needs to phone home, he'll translate the call," Molly mentioned. She was satisfied with her choices of initial phase red team members.

"Yeah, well he's also got a gambling, booze and a stripper problem."

"We all have our vices." She said.

"Really? What are yours, Dr. Caffrey?" He tested her.

"I only reveal those on a need to know basis, Mr. Cavennaugh." She smirked.

They came to the outside of the room and stopped.

"Not exactly Charlie's angels, are they?" Cavennaugh commented, seeing the three men sitting behind the glass doors, accompanied by J.T Baylock.

The next few hours were intense. Molly explained the plan in detail to the red team, outlining their job titles, explaining the safety of their families and themselves as well as the seriousness of the situation in which they were now involved. The world depended on them.

Ramsay panicked but soon came to after Cavennaugh cornered him for a 'chat'. It wasn't long before they were again in the air on the way to the big horn ship taking their first look at what was left after the mysterious object in the sky.

Again, Molly caught Cavennaugh looking at her. This time he spoke first. "That your father's watch?"

She looked up at him. "What makes you ask that?"

"Tag Heuer Monaco. Steve McQueen wore one. If you were a guy back in the 70's, that was a must have item" He replied. She was impressed. She had worn that watch almost every day since the disappearance of her father.

"My dad thought so, too." She looked away. He could see a flash of pain reflecting in her eyes.

"He still around?" He asked.

"I don't know." He didn't want to push it. After all, they'd only know each other less than 12 hours.

The helicopter landed on the ship. Canvennaugh and his men checked the ship before allowing the others to leave the aircraft. Once containing Gunneson, the only crewman who appeared to have survived so far, they made their way onto the ship and down to the room where he was being held.

Gunneson was alive and in shock. He began explaining the events as they occurred. Lucas and Ramsay both shared worried looks. The events he was describing about the object in the sky sounded bizarre. While Fenway checked him over, Cavennaugh followed Lucas and Molly to the break room where the video tape was located. They watched as the tape started off with the crewmen joking around, having a good time, but then quickly changed to them being outside looking up to the sky where the object emitted a loud piercing noise. Their ears began to painfully ring. Molly could feel the intense pressure building up in her head.

"What's it doing? What's that sound?" Cavennaugh asked, concern showing all over his face.

"Agh!" Molly winced, noticing blood coming from Lucas's nose as he keeled over in pain.

Cavennaugh quickly grabbed his gun and shot at the video player. Their hearts were beating fast and their breathing was laboured.

"ARE YOU GUYS ALRIGHT?" Cavennaugh asked.

"Yeah…" Molly wiped the blood from her nose.

"Congratulations, gentlemen. We've just accomplished the first task of Threshold. Confirmation of extraterrestrial intelligence" She couldn't believe what she had seen. The sounds and shapes that object was forming in the sky. It was out of this world.

She noticed Lucas's panicked look. "Are you okay?"

He shook his head, wiping his nose.

"Come on, let's get cleaned up and get back to the others." She helped Lucas off the ground, keeping her hand on his back to comfort him. The poor guy looked absolutely shaken from the whole thing. Cavennaugh guided them back through the ship to safe zones.

Everyone continued on with their tasks. Lucas was sifting through data, Ramsay was busy working on the computer systems. Fenway was busy collecting samples and keeping an eye on Gunneson. Molly decided to step outside for some fresh air. She still had a slight headache from the videotape but it wasn't anything she couldn't handle. She was leaning on the rail on one of the decks when she heard footsteps.

"Any luck?" Cavennaugh approached. She had a feeling it was him. He seemed to be keeping a very close eye on her the whole time, not that she minded. It was somewhat comforting knowing he was always nearby, especially in their new circumstances.

"I've asked our naval escorts to do another sonar sweep but…so far, nothing." She sighed.

"So that thing on tape wasn't tracked leaving by air, not underwater…then where the hell did it go?"

"You nervous?"

"You really thrive on this crisis stuff, don't you?" He found it intriguing to see such a young woman so passionate about this kind of job.

She chuckled. "Is it that obvious?"

"Worst case scenarios…what kind of a person…picks that for a job description?" Surely there was more to it than just 'an obsession with her job', he thought to himself.

She looked up at him. "The kind of person who's lived through one." She turned and walked away. She barely knew this man and wasn't yet close to ready to share her past with anyone.

Cavennaugh watched her walk away. He wasn't really expecting her to share her past with him. He had skimmed over her file, as he suspected they all did about one another, but there wasn't much detail in there, just that her father disappeared without a trace when she was in her teens. There was mention of difficult circumstances for Molly, her siblings and their mother for several years after that.

Something about Molly really drew him in from the start. He wanted to find out about her past, to learn more about this woman, but he would be sure to be patient and supportive to her, whatever she decided to share with him in time.

The team began gathering their things. They didn't have much time left to gather what they could salvage before they blew up the ship. Molly wasn't happy about it but knew they couldn't have anyone else finding out about this. Whilst making their way back to the top deck, they had a run in with Gunneson. Cavennaugh fought but wasn't strong enough. He was knocked to the ground, leaving Molly helpless.

"Gunneson! Stay back!" She yelled, firing her weapon at him. Bullet after bullet. He was barely budging. Fear filled her insides. Then suddenly he turned and ran toward the side of the boat, jumping into the freezing cold water and disappearing. She looked over the edge for him but saw nothing. She quickly turned back around to where Cavennaugh was. She gently touched his shoulder.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes" He wiped the blood from his lip.

The ship was blown to pieces once they were in the air and far enough away.

The next few hours were debriefing and going over what they had discovered on the ship. Once done, Molly, Lucas and Cavennaugh were each checked over by Dr. Fenway.

Cavennaugh sat on the edge of the bed as he pulled on his shirt.

"Why don't you come back tomorrow afternoon and we'll run another round of tests' Fenway said, as Cavennaugh pulled the electrodes off his skin 'So what is that...a battlefield scar?"

Cavennaugh looked up at him, "Somethin like that"

"Whoever stitched you up should be making shoes for a living. Hey let me ask you something. I understand what I'm doing here, other's. What exactly is your job title...I mean who...who cuts your cheques? Fenway asked.

"I'm freelance. I do contract work" Cavennaugh replied cooly. He continued buttoning up his shirt, then began gathering his things. He could tell Fenway was trying to push his buttons however he had excellent self control and wouldn't give in to it.

"Oh….so you're a ghost. You're the guy they call in when they can't acknowledge they've sent someone in"

At that moment Molly walked up to the room, over hearing the last comment. Fenway and her didn't see eye to eye either however she would of course make an effort to be civil with him as he was a very important part of the team. She looked over at Cavennaugh to gauge his response but saw he maintained a straight face. He didn't look bothered by Fenway's comment at all. She smiled.

She decided to interrupt, curious to find out what Fenway had discovered.

"Should we be worried?" Both men turned around and saw her standing there. Blood rushed to Fenway's cheeks as he inwardly admitted to himself he had taken that a bit far.

"No I uh...haven't found any cellular damage or mutations"

"So we're clean?" Cavennaugh asked.

"Sort of,' Fenway moved over to the computer screens as they followed behind him, 'I picked up some sort of unusual activity in the mid to lower frontal lobes, both of you, Lucas too."

"Are you saying we're sick?" Cavennaugh said.

"No, no, no. We're talking brain wave activity. See these,' pointing to his screen 'these are theta waves. You're all generating far more than the average cognitive model"

"You're saying the video tape changed the way we think?" Molly asked.

"Maybe" Fenway said.

Molly looked over at Cavenaugh. He was staring at the screen.

"Anyway...uh...I can't see any reason to keep you here now. My advice, get some rest. Even ghosts need sleep right?" Cavennaugh didn't react once again.

Cavennaugh grabbed his jacket and walked out of the room. Molly followed right behind. He slowed down hearing her following behind him.

"Don't listen to Fenway...he's just…finding it hard to adjust" He slowed and smiled, turning to look at her.

"Don't worry…I've met plenty of guy's like him…old, lonely and angry at the world' She chuckled 'Anyway, I'm going to head home now. I'll see you in the morning" He squeezed her shoulder.

She stayed another hour, going through some notes on her computer before making her way home. She could barely keep her eyes open. As soon as she hit her bed, she was fast asleep.

The room suddenly felt dark, she knew this was a nightmare but she was trapped and couldn't escape. She suddenly saw glass everywhere, glass trees, a glass forest. A black, alien looking creature lurked in the darkness. Her heart raced as she looked around for an escape. There was no escape.

*Ring Ring*

The phone woke her from her sleep. She was covered completely in sweat and her heart was still racing. Her eyes even slightly filled with tears from the realness of the nightmare.

It was Cavennaugh. He'd had the same nightmare, he sounded just as shaken up as she was. As soon as he was off the phone she made her way to the kitchen. This was when the real nightmare began.