Hello there, this is just a little something that jumped into my head and I just ran with it. Thanks to Lailea (candy8496 on deviantart) for reading it over for me, and I hope you guys like it.
Abe Baxter practically collapsed through his front door, expecting to hear the sound of his little girl welcoming him home and the smell of his wife's cooking, after all, it was her turn to be domestic. However, that was not what he came home to. Instead, he could hear Grace on the phone in the other room.
"Rachel, are you sure she hasn't contacted you? Yes I know that she's smart but…Rachel, she's five and I can't find her." At this, Abe transformed from an exhausted spy overprotective father in a matter of milliseconds.
"Grace, where's Bex?" The look on his wife's face when she heard him say those words was enough to break the heart of the father living inside Abe Baxter, but his inner spy took control. "Missing?" There was a nod, followed by a deep breath. "Okay then, let's think. Grace, but Rachel on speaker." Grace followed her husband's orders, knowing the fresh-off-the-job instincts were going to be one of their best allies in that situation.
"Abe, she hasn't contacted me or Matt. We haven't heard anything" Rachel's calm voice rang out throughout the Baxter's living room.
"She can't have gone far at least, I looked away for a minute, max." Abe had never seen his wife so shaken, and they had met in the middle of a terrorist plot in Sudan.
"Honey, worrying isn't going to help and you know that. We have to stay calm and collected; now we can narrow down her location, how far?
Grace took a deep breath.
"Five minute radius." Even Rachel, an ocean away, could sense the shake in her friend's voice.
"She'll be fine, we'll find her." You could practically hear the switch between Rachel and Agent Morgan.
"But what if we don't!" Grace was very near hysterics. "We're trained to assess every situation, and every situation is going through my head right now. What if she's been run over, what if she's been taken, what if she's…I've seen these things happen Rachel, and now…Abe?" The worrying was changing into confusion as the two mothers present began to question why Abe Baxter was laughing.
"I know where she is." And without another word, the Baxters had run out of the house and jumped straight into their car. It took mere seconds before the two spies were speeding down the main road, towards a field where they could hear loud music and children laughing.
"Of course." The muttered sentence wasn't noticed, and neither was Grace mentally kicking herself. It was so obvious. Of course Bex would have come here.
It took them less than two minutes to locate the five year old, entranced by the bright colours of the town's local fair.
"Bex?" Abe kneeled down next to his daughter and gave her the biggest hug he could conjure.
"Daddy!" Bex returned the hug almost immediately. "Mommy said I couldn't come to the fair, but I wanted to go!"
"I know sweetheart." He laughed at his stubborn little girl, half at her antics, half in relief.
"Then you had to go and today's the last day of the fair and I'd never get to come if I didn't come today." Bex took a deep breath, savouring the dramatics. "Don't tell mommy, okay?"
"It's a bit late for that." Abe finally let go of Bex, and Grace walked up to her daughter.
"Mommy?" Bex looked up at her mother, expecting to be told off, expecting to be forced to go home. What she wasn't expecting was for her mom to collapse onto her knees and hug Bex as tight as possible. The five year old squeezed her mother right back.
"You're getting strong." Grace commented, surprised that Bex was able to squeeze that tightly.
"Mommy?" The two Baxter girls looked each other in the eye, and Grace couldn't help but notice that Bex looked almost ready to cry.
"Yes sweetie?"
"Can I have some candyfloss?" Abe laughed from where he was standing just behind his family, he could see Grace trying to say no but he knew, as the youngest Baxter did, that she could not say no to an almost crying Bex.
"Of course."
Later that night, when all security measures on Bex's bedroom had been put in place, Grace fell onto the sofa in the living room next to her husband.
"You do realise she was manipulating you into getting her candyfloss?" Abe grinned.
"I am aware. The thing is, she knows what she's doing and I still can't say no."
"That's the mother in you, just ask anyone." He couldn't help but smile at the thought of his daughter using such tactics, extremely proud of the little girl sleeping upstairs.
Grace sighed and leaned against her husband's chest "I can't believe I panicked like that earlier. It was unprofessional."
"It doesn't matter." Abe wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "We found her."
"I was thinking," Grace started, dragging the pause out for as long as possible, "we should start teaching her self defence." Abe raised an eyebrow. "I'm serious, if we teach her how to protect herself she'll be much more safe when she sneaks out."
"Not denying that it's going to happen again?"
"There's no point, she's your daughter after all."
"I would get offended if it weren't so true."
Soon enough, the Baxters were laughing at their little adventure. Now that Bex was safe upstairs, the whole situation seemed funny instead of scary.
"She's not coming on missions with us though." Grace firmly told her husband, putting on her no-discussions-about-this face. Abe smiled, knowing all too well that she wasn't going to be impressed with the truthfulness in his answer.
"No arguments from me, but just prepare for the arguments from her."