David and Colby entered the office and sat down at their desks with Megan leaning on Colby's desk. They had all just gotten into the office and were waiting for Don who was in the director's office. It was just before lunch, they were working a simple string of robberies and the urgency wasn't there, so they all hoped they were going to get a break to eat.
Colby had tuned out while David and Megan talked about suspect profiles, his interest peaked when a young woman walked into the bullpen. Her blue dress shirt was splayed over a pair of dress pants where an FBI badge sat clipped slightly covered by the un-tucked shirt, her blond curly hair hanging around her shoulders she stood out in the mess of suits it seemed to be FBI policy to wear a suit. Colby followed her, as she looked around the office in no particular pattern. She was lost and looking incredibly intimidated. Colby stood up and walked towards her. He wasn't contributing to David and Megan's conversation so he decided to help her find what she was looking for. She did not seem to notice his approach due to the fact that her back was turned. "Can I help you?" he asked while her back was still turned.
There was no response from her until she turned around and made eye contact with him but did not say anything.
"Can I help you?" he asked again.
The woman focussed on Colby's face for a moment and then nodded her head yes. She paused for a moment and then held up a PDA. Across the screen it read 'Special Agent Don Eppes'.
Colby found it very strange but saw Don coming out of the director's office. "Yes, he's right over there," Colby said pointing across the office.
The girl held up the PDA again it said 'Thank-you' across the screen and then headed off in Don's direction. Colby watched her head off across the office. As soon as she caught Don's attention Colby noticed the expression on Don's face change. David and Megan also noticed the interaction between Don and the girl and picked their heads up.
Don smiled and walked quickly across the room. When they reached each other he enveloped her in a hug lifting her up off the ground. "Ella what are you doing here?" Don asked while also moving his hands in odd directions. The girl didn't respond she just continued moving her hands in front of her body motioning mostly towards Don. "No, no it's good to see you. This is a great surprise," Don said like he was responding to something Ella was saying without her speech. Ella's hands continued to move and Don continued to respond. "I'm a little busy but yeah, we could get lunch. Hold on there are some people I want you to meet." Don put his hand around Ella's waist leading her over to where Megan, David and Colby were; he stood beside them and across from Ella. "This is M-E-G-A-N, D-A-V-I-D, and C-O-L-B-Y," Don said moving his hands. "Guys this is my sister, Ella, she just transferred from Washington."
Don's team looked shocked but responded with polite 'hello's' and 'nice to meet you's' went all around.
"Nice to meet you, Don has told me a lot about you," Ella said her speech slightly off the norm.
Don paused for a minute allowing his introduction to sink in. "The director is pushing this off to the robbery division so we're actually going to get lunch today. I'll see you back here at one."
Don's team smiled, got up and headed to the elevator. Once sealed inside the elevator Colby spoke up. "I didn't know Don had a sister."
"I don't think anyone did," Megan said pushing the 'G' button.
"You saw that right, with the hands," Colby replied as the elevator descended.
"Well Don doesn't talk much about his personal life. We probably wouldn't even know Charlie if he didn't do so much consulting for the bureau," David added stepping out of the elevator.
After they returned from lunch they saw that Don and Ella hadn't moved from the break room. Don didn't miss a beat with the movement of his hands, he talked as well as signed, and Ella signed slower allowing Don to follow. Megan walked in to grab a bottle of water she smiled not wanting to disrupt them. "Okay sweetie, I've got to get back to work. Call me when you're finished getting briefed by Brooks." Don smiled at Megan and headed out into the bullpen. "David, Colby I need you to head out to Charlie's office." Don handed then a file. "Also can you do me a favour and take Ella down to the forth floor, " Don didn't want to seem like he was big brothering his little sister by taking her down himself.
"Sure no problem," Colby said with a nod. "David why don't you grab the car I'll take her down."
Don rubbed his hand under his chin pensively as he watched Colby lead his sister away. He'd seen the look Colby had given Ella before with over women. He had also seen Ella bite her lip when she was nervous in front of a cute boy. The whole thing made him more nervous than the fact that his little sister worked for the FBI. However both he and Ella were both very independent and he knew that he didn't like to be protected and neither did she.
"I'm sorry I answered you on my PDA earlier, I get nervous talking," Ella said once she and Colby got into elevator and the doors closed.
"It's okay. So you're…" Colby didn't want to make any assumptions.
"Deaf," Ella said with a smile. "I read lips."
"And you're FBI?"
"Surveillance Specialist," Ella said as the elevator doors opened on the fourth floor.
"She sure is," Special Agent Jeff Brooks said meeting Colby and Ella at the elevator. "It's taken me three years to pull her away from Washington. Don called down and said you were on your way," Jeff smiled and began signing. "It is great to have you Ella."
"Thank-you." Ella said with the corresponding sign. "Thanks Colby."
"Very nice to meet you," Colby said before getting back on the elevator and headed down to the parking garage. He quickly jumped into the car where David was waiting.
"So you get her number?" David asked pulling out of the garage.
Colby looked at his partner shocked. "Okay that is just an unfair generalization."
"You don't think she's cute?" David asked taking a left hand turn.
"She's Don's sister."
"Yeah, strange we've never heard of her especially since she works for the Bureau," David said. "What department does she work for?"
"Surveillance, she reads lips. She's deaf."
"Ah so that was what she and Don were up to with the hand signal, I wondered about that." David pulled the car onto the freeway. "Is that why you didn't asked for her number?" David and Colby were very close otherwise he wouldn't have asked such a pointed question.
"No," Colby shot back. "Listen I've dated enough people's sister's to know that I don't want to be caught up with my boss's. Now can we just drop it?"
"Sure," David replied. The rest of the following car ride was carried out in silence; Colby didn't want to admit to his partner that he was instantly attracted to Ella the moment she walked out of the elevator. This attraction was quickly crushed upon finding out she was the littlest Eppes. However he was finding it hard to shake her smile from his memory. David parked the car at Cal Sci and the two made their way to Charlie's office. "Hey Charlie Don sent us over with this data we were wondering if you could take a look at it for us," David said as he handed the founder over once they reached Charlie's office.
"Yeah Don called a head, let me take a look." Charlie said grabbing the file.
"So what's the deal with Ella?" Colby asked taking the darts off the board to play with.
"Yeah Don mentioned she got transferred," Charlie said looking through the file.
"Who's Ella?" Amita who was sitting at Charlie's desk asked.
Charlie took a deep breath and sighed. "Ella is my… sister," he said.
"Sister!?" Amita stood up and looked angry. "How did you not tell me you had a sister?"
Charlie looked down. "Ella and I don't really get along very well." Charlie was not proud of the relationship, or lack of relationship he had with his younger sister. "Ella's deaf and we were kids, and I was well I was me. My family learned sign language and I…well I did math," he said while still looking at the file. "Ella's a little stubborn and she never liked that I didn't learn."
"But she reads lips and speaks," Colby observed coming from the limited contact he had with her.
"Yes, but Ella prefers not to speak. She learned to because she can read lips but she can't hear herself and she knows she sounds different," Charlie paused and looked up from the file. "The last time we talked she said that I should have enough respect for her to learn sign." Charlie looked tense and uncomfortable now that he had divulged so much information. "Listen guys this is going to take a while, so I'll call you when I have something."
"Okay, thanks Charlie," David said before he and Colby exited the office. Both could feel the tension Amita was giving off over the whole Ella thing and were happy to escape.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you I had a sister," Charlie said sitting on the edge of the desk next to Amita who was refusing to make eye contact. "Ella is very vocal with her rage whereas Don is not. Ella got really angry with me when our mom was sick. After that she took a job in Washington and we haven't talked since. Please you have to understand that I was not intentionally keeping this from you."
Amita finally looked up and made eye contact with Charlie. "I think we should learn American Sign."
"We?" Charlie asked.
"Together," Amita said. "For your sister."
Megan and Don got onto the elevator to head back up to the office. On their way up the elevator stopped at the fourth floor, the door opened revealing Ella. Ella stepped onto the elevator and signed to Don. "I should be done at eight," Don replied looking at his watch. "Oh, it is eight. Your meeting took that long?" Don spoke but he also signed, he felt a little bad for Megan who seemed left out. Ella continued to sign but also made the effort to smile at Megan. "Okay well give me an hour and then we'll call it a night," Don replied. "Ella is moving in with me," Don said to Megan but signed for Ella's benefit.
"Really?" Megan was fascinated by Don and Ella's relationship. "You think you can put up with him Ella?" she asked.
Ella laughed and signed to Don. "Haha, you are both sooo funny. She says she's that if you can do it she can."
Megan smiled, "I like you."
"I'm glad," Ella responded out loud as they walked into the office. "David, Colby nice to see you again." Ella said with a nod as she approached the desk area.
"All right El why don't you grab a coffee and I'll grab you when we're done," Don said pointing to the break room. Ella nodded and headed off. "Okay so what do we have?"
"Apartment was leased to an alias, paid cash," Colby said dropping a file down.
"We talked to the neighbours they all say the same average white guy, quiet," David added flipping through his notebook. "Charlie called, said he would have something by tomorrow."
"Well I say that's where we start as well," Don said picking up a case folder. "I'll go brief the director, you guys go home and get some sleep I'll meet you back here in the morning." Don left his team and disappeared into the back office.
"Well boys, goodnight," Megan said quickly gathering her coat and purse. It was rare to finish work at a decent hour and she was going to take full advantage.
"You want to grab a beer?" David asked Colby.
"No I've got some paper work to finish up, then I'm hitting the hay," Colby said with a smile. "Thanks for the offer, I'll see you tomorrow."
"Alright man, see ya," David said before heading out.
Colby smiled and walked into the break room to grab a cup of coffee. Ella was sitting on the couch with an Ipod touch and a notebook; she looked up when the door clicked sending a vibration through the floor. "Would you like some coffee?" Colby said holding up the pot.
Ella shook her head 'no', her hair was now tied up in a messy bun.
"What are you up to?" Colby asked sitting down next to her making sure that he turned towards her.
"Working," Ella replied closing her notebook. "Stopping now." Ella found it very difficult to do two things at once.
"The Bureau pay for that?" Colby asked pointing to the Ipod.
"My boss in Washington gave it to me before I left… so I can still work for him," Ella explained.
"So are you the youngest?" Colby asked. He was procrastinating his backlog of paperwork was not enticing.
Ella nodded. "Five years under Charlie, ten under Don." Ella signed while she talked it was a force of habit.
"Wow!" Colby wasn't a genius like Charlie but he did the math in his head coming to the conclusion that Ella was much younger than he was. Not that it mattered, they were just talking, "You and Don get along?"
"Better than Charlie and I," Ella said rolling her eyes. "Growing up it was all about Charlie," she explained. "Don and I fended for ourselves…Don took care of me."
"Yeah and I still do," Don said walking in giving Colby a look. "You ready to go?" he asked his hands flying along.
Ella nodded. "Goodnight Colby," she said before they left.
"Now don't go dating my agents there sis," Don said as he and Ella walked to the elevator making sure he was far out of anyone who could hear ears shot. Ella's hands flew into a frenzy when the elevator doors closed and didn't stop till they opened on the ground floor. "Well I was just kidding about the dating thing but now… I'm a little worried." Don pointed to over where the car was. "I called dad, told him I had a surprise for him tonight."
Ella stopped short and looked down at her feet.
"Ella…" Don said lifting Ella's chin so that he would look her in the eye. "How is dad going to feel when I'm the first person you come to see?"
Ella shrugged.
"For me?" he asked while remotely unlocking his SUV. Ella rolled her eyes before getting into the passenger's side. "For mom?" Ella's eyes focused sharply on her brother's face as she signed 'please repeat.' "For mom," Don said again signing this time as well.
"Cheap shot," Ella said aloud playfully punching Don in the arm. "Okay." Once her mother died Ella had stopped thinking of the house as her family home. It reminded her too much of her mom's last days, when she would curl up with Don on her parents bed with her mom, just to be there with her. Once they reached the house Ella stood still on the walkway, the house looked much bigger than she remembered. Don gave her a little shove with his shoulder and gestured to the door. "Fine!" Ella yelled throwing her hands into the air.
Don laughed putting his key into the door. He wrapped his arm around Ella's shoulder while opening the door. "Hey Dad! It smells great!" Don yelled kicking his shoes off and hanging up his jacket.
"Donny! Just in time the chicken is almost ready and I just pulled the corn off the…" Allan stopped dead when he reached the foyer where his eldest and youngest stood side-by-side. Without a word wrapped his arms around Ella and enveloped her in a hug. "This is a wonderful surprise," Allan said while signing. "What are you doing here?"
Ella sprang into a long explanation with her hands caught up in all her nervous energy.
"Eleanor, honey, too fast," Allan laughed over the excitement of not having to converse with his daughter over email or video conference.
Ella smiled. "I've been transfer to L.A. from Washington," Ella said aloud. After living alone in Washington she learned not to be as self-conscious about her speech. She was a little intimidated starting her new job, but around her family she was attempting something new.
"With the FBI?" Allan asked.
"Yes," Ella nodded while she slipped her shoes off. "Washington is stressful, plus I miss the beach."
Allan found himself overwhelmed with emotion as he hugged his daughter again. "Okay, come in, come in. I've got tons of food. Charlie, Larry and Amita should be here any minute now."
Don had heard what Allan had said but his back was turned as he headed back into the kitchen. He hadn't turned away from Ella on purpose, it was a habit formed from not having her around as much. Don signed to Ella as they followed their father into the kitchen, he would remind him about it later.
Allan pulled plates out of the cupboard and handed them to Don who disappeared into dining room. "What can I do to help?" Ella asked.
"You can put the peas on the table…and meet your brother at the door," Allan said when he heard the door open.
Ella headed out of the kitchen, placed the bowl of peas on the table and then headed back out into the main foyer to find Charlie, Larry, and a women whom Ella assumed was Amita. "Charlie!" Ella said jumping into her brother's arms, a very uncharacteristic move for Ella. "Larry, good to see you again. You must be Amita, you're all I hear about in Charlie's emails talk about."
"It's good to finally meet you," Amita responded. She was caught slightly off guard by Ella, she wasn't really sure what to expect but she presumed it would be different then it was.
"Okay the food is getting cold!" Allan called from the kitchen. Charlie turned Ella around and put his fingers to his mouth, showing her that it was time for dinner.
Don made sure that he sat across from Ella. He barely had a chance to eat because he spent most of the meal signing to Ella so she could follow along while everyone talked. When there were more than two people talking Ella had trouble reading lips because she couldn't follow the auditory conversation cue. Don didn't want Ella to get overwhelmed on her first night but at the same time had troubled signing Charlie, Larry and Amita's 'math' talk. When it came up Don signed 'math' and tried to eat his dinner.
Ella spoke answering the questioned passed to her but spent most of the night following Don's hands and was very thankful for it.
"Okay," Don said after the table was cleared much later in the evening. "Ella and I've got work tomorrow so we should probably get going." Ella nodded agreeing with her brother's statement.
"You're staying with Don?" Charlie asked.
"She's taking my spare bedroom," Don said putting his jacket on.
"You know you are always welcome to stay here," Charlie offered to his sister.
"I know…but I think living with Don will be better…someone has to watch out for him." Ella didn't want to admit that she didn't even think she could walk upstairs without having a total break down over their mother's death. She was surprised she had stayed composed up to this point.
"Okay, good to see you, don't be a stranger," Charlie said while hugging Ella.
"Drive safe," Allan said before they headed out.
Don drove the way home in silence. Part of the reason he and Ella got along so well was their understanding of the importance and liking of silence. "I need a beer," Don announced shifting a box out of his way so he could kick off his shoes. Ella had shipped most of her belongings prior to her arrival and still hadn't gotten unpacked. Ella collapsed on the couch and gratefully accepted the beer her brother passed her. "Cheers," Don said sitting down next to her, and turned on the TV. After about an hour Ella stood up, kissed Don on the side of the cheek and went into her room.
Don awoke to the smell of coffee early in the morning. He wasn't used to the sound of another person in his apartment. He stumbled sleepily down the hall into the kitchen where Ella was sitting on the counter eating cereal. She laughed running her hand through Don's messy hair and then poured him a cup of coffee. She was fully dress in black pleated pants and a pink collared shirt. "You look nice," Don said pulling a bowl out of the cupboard.
"I know," Ella said jumping down off the counter. "I've got to go."
"Wait…I can give you a ride," Don offered. Ella signed to her brother while he searched for a clean spoon. "Well I know you have your own car."
"Plus you're a work-a-holic, if I go with you I may never leave," Ella added.
"Okay, have a good day sweetie."
Ella waved goodbye and headed down to the parking garage. Ella loved being back in L.A. Washington roods were horrible to navigate. Whereas before it took her an hour to get to work now it was half that and much more relaxing. Also the L.A. FBI bureau had more parking. Ella locked her car and headed for the elevator. The doors began to close and Ella ran to catch it, she wouldn't have made it a suited arm hadn't stuck out to hold the door.
"Thanks…Colby, Hi!" Ella was surprised to run into Colby knowing Don would leave the apartment for at least another ten minutes. "You're in early. Don was still half asleep when I left."
"Yeah, usually it takes me longer to get in from my house I got lucky with the traffic today," Colby said pressing button '9' and then '4' for Ella.
"Colby… you have to look at me when you talk," Ella responded touching Colby's arm so he turned towards her. She saw his lips moving from the side for a brief moment but then he turned fully away and she hardly caught any of what he was saying.
Colby felt embarrassed. "I'm sorry. I was saying that traffic was in my favour today."
"Much better, thank-you." Ella held tightly on to purse and travel-mug resisting the urge to sign. It was a habit, put Ella was determined not to be labelled her that 'deaf chick' as it unfortunately happened in Washington. For once she was attempting normal, normal with a little flirting. "Well this is my floor," Ella said as the doors opened. "Have a great day."
"You too," Colby replied making sure to look right at Ella while he said it. Once the doors of the elevator closed he banged his head on them. "Don's sister, Don's sister," he repeated to himself till he reached the ninth floor.
"You bring your own coffee?" Special Agent Jeff Brooks said sitting down at his desk across from Ella. "I make the coffee here and I have to say I'm a little offended."
"Sorry boss," Ella laughed taking a sip from her cup. Jeff Brooks had worked with Ella in Washington when she first moved out there. He was a great FBI agent and excelled in surveillance techniques, he and Ella hit it off from the start. Ella had even begun teaching him to read lips before he got transferred to LA. Once he had become established he began working on getting Ella transferred as well. In this time he had also picked up a book on American Sign and began teaching himself. He tried not to pull it out when the office was full of people but it was helpful in giving instructions to Ella from a distance, surveillance agents were sneaky like that.
"You got anything off that tape?" Brooks asked referring to the conversation Ella had up on her laptop.
"I've transcribed the conversation. They use a lot of code words." Ella tossed a USB drive to her boss.
Brooks immediately popped the drive into his computer. "So you settling in okay?" Jeff Brooks had grown up on a farm in Montana with two younger sisters both of whom now lived outside of the United States. Before he learned that Ella was moving in with her FBI Agent brother he had offered to let her stay with him and his wife.
"Yes," Ella rolled her eyes slightly. "You're almost as bad as my brother."
"Yeah. Why didn't you mention your brother when we worked together in Washington?" Brooks sent off Ella's notes to the code department via email."
"As you may have recalled I didn't talk to anyone when we worked together in Washington," Ella replied pulling up yet another video file she had to look at that day.
"You talked to me." Brooks laughed, he remember the day fondly when Ella became so frustrated with him constantly talking she opened her mouth and told him to 'shut up'.
"I'm getting back to work now sir," Ella said turning back to her computer. Ella didn't want to talk about Washington; she was trying to make a fresh start.
Ella finished her day out in silence getting work done fast. At five she informed Brooks, to his surprise she had finished everything he had given her for the week, and that she was leaving. She didn't go straight home, Don had no food in his house so she stopped off at the grocery store and loaded up on food. Once she got home, it seemed strange to call Don's apartment 'home', she unloaded the groceries into the fridge and the cupboard and then went on to unpacking her boxes.
Don managed to drag himself out of the office at ten. When he got home he was surprised to see that all of Ella's boxes were out of the living room and a big bowl of fruit on the counter. He was about to call out to Ella but stopped himself reminding himself that she was not Charlie, instead he poked his head inside of her bedroom. He stomped his foot on the floor to alert Ella he was there. When she turned around he spoke, "There is food in my kitchen. There is never food in my kitchen."
"You're not going to kick me out for buying groceries, are you?"
"No. It's great." Don looked around Ella's room, it was weird to see the empty room full of his sister's stuff. There were lot of pictures, her surfboard, and her bicycle hooked against the wall. "How was work?"
"Good. You?"
"About the same." Don paused and sat down on Ella's bed. "Can I ask you a question?"
"Sure thing," Ella said sitting down across from Don. "Ask me anything." Ella felt like she and Don had grown apart. The age gap made it difficult to be close in the first place and living on opposite ends of the country hadn't helped matters.
"You don't sign anymore," Don stated point blank.
Ella looked down slightly ashamed at the implication of Don's question.
"I just remember my little sister who never spoke a word. I'm wondering what's changed." Don took a seat on the edge of Ella's bed.
"Don…" Ella didn't know how to start. "I spent my whole life either at LA school of the deaf or at the house and when mom died and I moved to Washington I learned the world wasn't as forgiving." Ella sat down next to Don on her bed. "I love ASL mostly within the deaf community. Outside I just want to be normal. Do you understand?"
"As the one that is considered to be the 'normal' one in the family I think I do." Don paused and formed his words carefully. "You have your life in and out of the deaf community."
"Yeah," Ella nodded. "You just sort of fit in the middle."
Don smiled. Another mystery solved by Special Agent Don Eppes. "Speaking of your life…" Don began. "What are you up to tonight looking all fancy?" Ella raised her eyebrow. She placed her left hand in her right hand and then pulled it out making the sign for 'out'. "Oh so now you're signing."
Ella smiled. "Don't wait up," she said grabbing her purse and keys.
"Have fun. Not too much fun." Don said but Ella was already out the door.
Don grabbed a beer from the fridge and what looked to be leftover stir-fry and plopped down on the couch turning on the hockey game. After a long day it didn't take him long to start nodding off, once he finished his beer he managed to get just comfortable enough to fall asleep.
The short buzz followed by a shrill ring caused Don to wake shortly after 1am. "Eppes," he answered rubbing his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. I'll be right there." Don took a peak into Ella's room, she wasn't there so he locked the door and headed out. He reached the Bureau in record time and headed up to the office. "Okay what do we have?" Don asked. The bullpen was a furry of excitement and nervous energy.
"Hostage situation at a club downtown," Megan said passing Don a file. "The surveillance team has fed the video from the club into the conference room. There is no sound, Ella is looking at it right now."
Don rubbed his eyes. "Ella is here?"
"Yeah, got here before you did, looking fancy." Megan smiled and passed Don a cup of coffee. "David and Colby are on the scene along with a surveillance tech and SWAT. The club is dark, no windows so they can't get a shot, but there is are numerous entrances and exits."
"How many?" Don asked guzzling the lukewarm coffee Megan had given him.
"Lets go see what Ella has," Megan said leading the way to the conference room.
Ella was sitting at her computer with the video feed on the plasma. She had tossed an FBI sweater over her low-cut top so she wouldn't attract any unwanted attention while she worked but there was nothing she could do to cover her tight jeans. She was fast-forward and rewinding the tape completely oblivious to the action behind her. Don stepped into her line of vision getting her attention. "What do you have?"
"Three guys, semiautomatic weapons," Ella began. She brought up the faces of the three in ski masks, the assailants had made it much easier to read their lips by wearing the black masks however it didn't help much when it came to identifying them. Ella pulled the pictures up one at a time. "This is Ryan, he swears a lot, and he is also the one calling the shots. Kirk, he has accent, and he said the work trousers so I think he is British. Which brings me to nervous guy, no one has said his name but he's really twitchy and has already shot one of the bouncers." Ella paused and brought up what looked like the beginning of the situation. "They start off normal: Get on the ground…nobody move…shut up…Cell phones, watches, wallets. They separate the men from the women and plastic cuff the bouncers, one resisted, nervous guy popped him in the arm but I think he'll be okay."
"Have they said what they wanted?" Don asked.
Ella took a minute to look at the live feed just to make sure she wasn't missing anything, when this was determined she turned back to her brother. "They are talking about elves," Ella bit down on her lip.
"Elves?" Don asked not wanting to question his sister's ability outright.
"The club was been reserved for the birthday of an oil tycoon's daughter. If I had to make a guess I think they are the Earth Liberation Front. They are ranting about the destruction of the planet, SUV use, Hummers. Ryan is yelling that they should exterminate them like they do the rain forest. They are on the FBI's domestic terrorist list."
"Okay, good job. Megan… suggestion?" Don asked.
"Eco-terrorist tend to like publicity but they also have a non-violent history, mainly they like to burn down housing developments and car dealerships. Offer them news coverage for their surrender. I'll try and do some more digging."
"Good, I'm going to head out to the scene." Don waved his hand in front of Ella to get her attention. "You get anything and you tell Megan." Ella nodded and Don was gone in a flash.
Megan looked at her watch, it was approaching 5am, and little progress had been made. Ella continued to watch the feed but that only led to confirmation of what they already knew, that they were a rouge part of ELF. Outside the club Don had managed to get a phone line into the captures and talked briefly to Ryan, enough to know that it was going to take a while. Ryan demanded that the United States government stop all its importation of foreign oil, taking the crazy approach where there wasn't much even a skilled negotiator could do. Megan took notice when Ella walked right up to the plasma and stood very close to it for more than a minute.
Ella turned around quickly and without thinking began frantically signing towards Megan. When she saw the blank and confused look on Megan's face she stopped immediately. "Sorry."
"What is it?" Megan asked knowing that Ella's show wasn't for no good reason.
"They are going to kill the tycoon's daughter."
Megan stood up and walked over to where Ella was standing. "Are you sure?"
Ella nodded. "Ryan tells Kirk he wants to go down in a hail of bullets and he is going to take the 'princess' with him."
Megan dialled number one on her speed dial, Don, "They are going to start shooting, it's time to hit it." Megan and Ella watched in the conference room as SWAT went into the club. They both held their breath until it was over; it took less than four minutes. Only one of the hostage takers was killed in the scuffle no one else was hurt.
Don returned to the FBI with David and Colby in tow. "Megan did you talk to Homeland?" he asked before he sat down.
"Yes, the Bureau is passing the case off, they are rounding up anyone associated with ELF for questioning and picking up the two we have in custody" Megan replied passing Don yet another file.
Don rubbed his eyes wearily and looked at his watch; 6:30am. "Okay everyone reports and then get out of here, I'll see you tomorrow morning." The one thing about the FBI was the hours tended to suck even with the little nap he had Don was still beat which gave him an approximation on how his sister was feeling as she typed her report at a nearby desk. "Is that my sweater?" he asked leaning against the desk in front of her.
"I figured you wouldn't mind," Ella said with a smile. "You okay?"
"Yeah." Don was not a man of many words but to Ella his eyes spoke volumes.
Ella smiled and nodded knowing that Don wasn't but really didn't want to talk about it right then and there. "I need a ride home," she announced.
"I've got to debrief the director and then we are out of here."
Don's team and Ella all got in the elevator together to head down to the parking garage. "Your not tired?" Don asked his sister stemming from a question she asked before the others had joined them.
"Yes but I'm still going to go," Ella announced with a shrug. "You should come too."
"It's not my thing El," Don asserted. "Sleeping, now there is an activity."
"Okay then can I borrow your truck? My surf board doesn't really fit in my car."
"No." David, Colby and Megan were standing in the back of the elevator enjoying the sibling show being presented to them in the elevator. "You only want to use my truck so you don't get your car full of sand."
The elevator door opened up and everyone exited into the garage. "If you come with me we can take my car," Ella offered.
David passed Colby a little glance and winked before he ran ahead and got Ella's attention. "You know Colby has been trying to learn how to surf."
Ella turned around to Colby. "Want to come?" she asked raising an eyebrow. The question just popped out of her mouth, she asked mainly because she really didn't want to go alone, but also because she knew it would drive Don slightly up the wall.
Colby lived close to the Bureau and went to sleep as soon as he had gotten there the previous night so he was feeling pretty well rested and still fully alert from the excitement. However Colby didn't know how to respond to the question. He played basketball with Don and David and occasionally went running with Megan, but he wasn't attracted to any of them.
Don noticed Colby's pause and spoke up. "You know you can't get a better teacher than Ella. She pretty much moved back to LA to surf," he said. Don was seeing many different sides of his sister and the branching out was a very different side that he'd figured he'd encourage it. Colby was a decent guy and he trusted him.
"Sounds fun," Colby responded.
"Great. Manhattan Beach in an hour?" Ella asked with a smile.
Colby nodded. "I'll see you there."
"Don's sister, Don's sister," Colby repeated his mantra as he walked down the beach towards Ella in his wetsuit.
"You made it," Ella smiled as she zipped up her own suit.
"I have to warn you I really suck," Colby said. He tried his best not to focus on the tightness of Ella's suit and how it hugged her frame perfectly. He lifted his board in front of him. "So you really are a California girl. I think you are the first person I've met from here who actually surfs."
Colby looked up at Ella to a confused look. "Colby…" she started moving his surf board out of the way. "You have to look at me when you speak."
Colby hit his hand to his forehead. "I'm sorry. I keep forgetting." Colby was nervous and had reverted to not looking the pretty girl in the eye, which usually worked but today it was a huge barrier.
"It's okay." Ella breathed in the air and looked out to the ocean waves almost loosing herself.
After an hour and a half of really good surfing Ella began to feel the effects of her early morning at the FBI and the fact that she had been without sleep for over twenty-four hours. Because of this her surfing began to suffer and she began getting tossed around by the waves as much as Colby was. Ella had given Colby a quick rundown on the beach and then explained that she never knew when to raise her voice to make herself heard over the rushing
sound of water, so the rest of the lesson was done through demonstration something Ella excelled at. She was unsure if she was getting worse or Colby was getting better when she watch Colby ride out a wave when she fell. They both headed into the beach shortly after because it was beginning to become more crowded as the day began for those who hadn't been at work at 2am.
"This was fun," Colby said grabbing his towel.
"It was," Ella smiled. "You've got…" Ella picked a piece of seaweed off the back of Colby's neck.
"Thanks," Colby laughed, which was then followed by a very awkward silence. "Um, I'd really like to do this again sometime soon," Colby said making sure that he made eye contact.
"Well I plan to be out here every Tuesday and Thursday morning before work," Ella explained unzipping her wetsuit. "Usually from six to seven."
Colby tried not to yet his jaw drop due to the fact that Ella was now standing in front of him in a sports bikini. "That works. I'm determined to get the hang of this." 'God she's beautiful,' he thought to himself. "But I'm beat. See you around the office?"
"Or on the beach," Ella responded grabbing her board and walking off to her car. She looked back once to see that Colby was looking back at her. "He works with Don, he works with Don she repeated in her head as she put her board into her car and headed out.
Ella got back to the apartment to find Don in the kitchen making a sandwich. "How was it?" he asked tossing her a water bottle from the fridge.
Ella raised both her palms and pushed them towards the ceiling a few times, the sign for fantastic. "Did you get any sleep?"
"Nah," Don shook his head. "I went out for a run."
Ella yawned. "I think I'm going to sleep till one and then go over to the house to pull home stuff out of storage."
"Sounds good," Don replied. "I'm going to sleep soon too, then I've got a meeting with my shrink." Don had previously told Ella he was seeing a therapist which she encouraged knowing all to well the stress of his job. "Hey good work today kiddo."
"Don't call me kiddo."
Charlie returned home to find his father doing the crossword puzzle in the living room. He was startled from a loud bang that came from the garage and confused as to why his father wasn't altered by the noise. "Didn't you hear that?" Charlie asked.
"Oh," Allan looked up from his puzzle. "That's your sister. She's looking for some boxes she left when she moved to Washington. Maybe you could give her a hand."
Charlie nodded and headed out to the garage where he found Ella standing on a ladder trying to get into the rafters where there were a few boxes. She looked down briefly to see Charlie looking up at her. "Hey," she said sitting herself on the rafter above.
"What are you looking for?" Charlie asked. He had rearranged the garage so many times he knew how to find anything.
"It's embarrassing," Ella said.
As soon as Ella said that Charlie knew exactly what she was looking for. "He's upstairs El. I found him in a box a while back and really didn't think he belonged there."
Ella smiled before getting out of the rafters and following Charlie upstairs to his room. It had been ages since she had been up there and tried to not look down the hall to her parents' bedroom, 'baby steps' she thought to herself. She found Charlie's room about the same as she remembered. He had gotten a bigger bed, most likely because of Amita, but everything else was as she recalled. On a chair sitting by the closet was an old green stuffed elephant with a purple ribbon around his neck. Ella smiled and picked him up. "I know it's dumb but I missed having him around."
"It's not dumb," Charlie said sitting on his bed. "Ella…" Charlie didn't know how to start. "When I found your elephant in the garage I realized that I didn't even know what you called it." Charlie paused again, stood up and walked across the room sitting on the windowsill. "And then I started thinking; I don't know your favourite colour, food, what you like to read and I can barely sign my own name. I can't even finger spell. You're my sister and I really know nothing about you." Charlie was always emotional and his little rant almost had him in tears.
Ella went and sat down next to him and took his left hand in hers. She curved her right hand and held it to her nose and then moved it slowly down bumping slightly as she went. "That's the sign for elephant, he really doesn't have a name. And I put up a lot of those barriers when I refused to talk to you even though I could."
"I wish we were closer," Charlie admitted.
"Pink."
"Excuse me?" Charlie asked.
"My favourite colour is pink," Ella said. She put her thumb and middle finger together with her index pointing up and brought the connected fingers to her lips and pulled it down. "That is the sign for pink. I could eat raspberries for the rest of my life, I like to read biographies and I wish we were closer too. I think it's just a matter of us trying harder. You and Don are so much better than you used to be."
Charlie felt so much better he could hardly contain himself and it came out as a large hug. "Are you going to stay for dinner?"
"Sure," Ella said picking up her elephant. "Charlie you would happen to have a bag I could put him in and kind of don't want to carry him around like I did when I was five. I like to think I've matured a little since then."
"Sure thing." Charlie pulled out a canvas bag he used to use for laundry allowing Ella to stuff her elephant into it. "Your favourite colour is pink?" he questioned, not believing.
"Yeah, what's yours?"
"Red, blue." Charlie shrugged he didn't really tend to focus on his inner workings, just his math. "Want to go play air hockey?"
Ella nodded and ran off downstairs.
Allan was startled when Ella came bolting down the stairs with Charlie running down behind her. He did a double take to make sure he hadn't gone back in time twenty years. At one point if you had told him that Charlie and his siblings would eventually have a normal relationship he wouldn't have believed it and the only thing he wished was that his wife could be around to witness what amazing people their children had become.
Ella walked into the apartment with the canvas bag in hand. Don looked up from the hockey game and looked at the clock on the wall. "That took a while."
"I stayed for dinner." Ella sat down on the other side of the couch turning her attention to the game.
At the end of the second period Don poked Ella with his foot. "You want a beer?"
Ella nodded.
Don lugged himself into the kitchen and returned with two beers. "So it looks like you've got a little crush on my agent," he said passing her a beer.
Ella looked confused and signed please repeat.
"Don't give me that, you know what I said." Don sat back down next to his sister.
"Well David is pretty cute," Ella said taking a sip.
Don prodded with his foot. He knew he was being juvenile but he had always felt younger when his sister was around. "Wow if Colby heard that he might be really..." Ella put down her beer and placed her hand over Don's mouth raising an eyebrow threateningly. Don opened his mouth and licked Ella's hand. When she retracted her hand in disgust Don used the distraction to get close enough to tickle her. "This is why I'm a 'special' agent," he announced when he let her go.
"I can think of a couple other reasons." Ella caught her breath then lay down with her head in Don's lap. "Hey Don?" Ella asked looking up at her big brother.
"Yeah?"
"Thanks for letting me move in with you." Ella enjoyed having someone to come home and talk to at the end of the day, and she liked it even more that it was her big brother.
"You are most welcome."
Ella watched on Thursday morning as a wave tossed Colby face first onto his surf board. She cringed when she saw the red streaming down his face. She pointed towards the beach to which Colby nodded. Ella made it there first and grabbed a towel. She walked over to Colby who was dragging his board and placed the towel beside his eye where he had taken off a layer of skin on the rough surface of his board. "Nice job cowboy," she said slowly taking the towel off so she could take a look. "I think you're going to have a shiner."
Colby took over holding the towel feeling slightly embarrassed. "I'll never hear the end of this at work."
"Come on," Ella said picking up her board. "I've got a first-aid kit in my car," Ella opened up her car, jammed her board in, and pulled out a red bag. "Sit," she ordered pointing to the bumper while shaking an instant cold pack. "Here." Ella took the towel from Colby and handed the ice pack to him. "I did the same thing the morning of my high school graduation photos."
Ella took a disinfectant wipe and carefully took in towards Colby's face. "Ouch!"
"Your okay," Ella said continuing to clean the cut. "You getting dizzy, seeing double or getting really tired? My brother will give me serious flack if I kill one of his agents." Ella took a piece of gauze and carefully put it on his face.
"No the only thing that's injured is my pride, well that and my face."
Ella looked at her watch. "Well I've fixed you up, but I better run so I can shower," Ella said packing up the first aid kit.
Colby stood up off Ella's bumper. "Thanks." Colby made a quick trip home to shower and throw on a suit. He did his best to make his face look okay but a dark ring was already forming under so he gave up a drove off to the bureau.
"What happened to you Granger?" Megan asked when he walked into the break room to get a cup of coffee.
"I fell on my board surfing this morning," he explained.
"With Ella?" Megan asked passing Colby a cup. Megan sat down across from Colby when he nodded 'yes' to her question. "That's the second time this week."
"Yes." Colby knew exactly where Megan was going with her line of questioning.
"You ask her out yet?"
"She's just teaching me how to surf," he explained trying to convince himself more than Megan who could see right past his defence. Megan raised an eyebrow and took a sip of her tea. Colby plopped down in a chair across from her. "Is it obvious to everyone?"
"People have started a betting pool."
Colby placed his head on the table. "What am I going to do?" Colby never liked to ask for help but if he was going to Megan was the person to ask.
"Do you like her?"
"She's Don's sister."
"That's not the question." Megan said with a smile. "Oh man, Granger you got it bad," she laughed.
"What does Granger have?" Don asked walking in with the purpose of getting a cup of coffee.
"A black eye," Megan responded without missing a beat.
Don took a quick glance at Colby's face. He had seen the same type of injury many times before in his own fruitless attempts to learn how to surf. "Surfing with Ella?"
Colby nodded.
Don didn't verbally respond and took a sip of his coffee. "Conference room in ten," he said before walking out.
"He's going to shoot me," Colby said bluntly. "What should I do?"
Megan raised an eyebrow. "Shoot him first?"
"Saddle up kid I've got a surveillance van with your name on it," Brooks said passing Ella a file. "We've got a video feed on some high level drug dealers. They have jamming devices that are sub-par and only manage to block out the audio."
"It's okay to admit you need me." Ella smiled as she got into the elevator with her boss.
"So I heard a rumour you're dating one of your brother's agents. It hasn't even been a week and you've already got a boy on the line?"
Ella's eyes looked like they could shoot fire. "That's not true! Who told you that?!"
Brooks pressed the 'G' button and laughed. "Touchy... that means you like the guy. It has to be Granger, his got the ruggedly handsome thing working for him."
Ella turned her back to her boss her universal signal for I don't want to read your lips. She exited the elevator to have a gun pointed into her face by a guy in a Nixon face mask.
"Get out of the elevator and on the ground!" he yelled. The mask covered his whole face so Ella was unaware that he had said anything. Brooks stepped forward to make sure Ella followed the man's directions but was stopped. "No, not you!" the man continued. "You go back up stairs and tell your director that the Earth Liberation Front wants the FBI to release the members of our organization that they have taken as political prisoners."
"Listen," Brooks said trying to reason, noticing that there were two other Nixon's in the main foyer with about ten other people sitting against the wall with a pile of guns and cell phones in the centre of the room. "Send her back up. You want me as a hostage, she's just a secretary."
"Don't tell me what I want," the man grabbed Ella and kicked Brooks back into the elevator so hard he hit his head making it impossible to stop the doors from closing him in. Brooks went straight up to the ninth floor where he was greeted with a mass of people rushing around, obviously news of the hostage situation had spread through the building.
Don was in the centre of it all barking orders. "I want SWAT to come in through the parking garage. No one is to enter the building or used the elevators. LAPD is going to lock off the street. I want security camera feeding into the conference room and I want to know what these guys want and I want to know five minutes ago!"
"It's ELF," Brooks said as soon as he waded through the people to Don. "They are demanding you release the guys from the club hostage situation." Brooks held the back of his head. When he was forcibly put back into the elevator he hit his head on the railing and was now bleeding."
Don pulled a chair out from a desk and made Brooks sit down before he passed out from what looked like a very serious head wound.
"They jumped us when we were coming out of the elevator. They took her and told me to come up here to give demands. I... tried to get them to take me instead... Don I tried."
Don's heart stopped beating. He grabbed the desk and braced himself.
"I'm sorry... they've got Ella."
Don raced into the conference room where Megan had the video feed up to see Ella standing alone in the middle of the room being circled by a large man in a Nixon mask holding an assault rifle. He felt sick to his stomach. "She can't read his lips," Don announced as he tried to regain his composure, he didn't want to be removed just because his sister was involved.
Megan looked at Don waiting for him to speak again or to throw up.
"Someone needs to take Brooks to the hospital I think he has a concussion. I need to know everything he saw and heard," Don said.
"I'm on it." Megan walked out of the room leaving Don with the video feed. She found Colby and David sitting with Brooks. "Jeff I'm going to take you to the hos..."
"No. I'm not leaving when Ella is down there," Brooks said before Megan could finish her sentence.
"David, Colby, go see what Don is thinking," Megan ordered, being the next agent in charge. "Brooks the sooner we go to the hospital the sooner we'll be back. Nothing is going to happen to Ella."
Brooks reluctantly nodded, he head was pounding in his ears. Megan helped him up and the two headed for the stair well.
David and Colby met Don who was exiting the conference room. "David I want you to watch the video feed. Colby get Homeland on the phone and find out where they are keeping the ELF guys."
"Don Homeland isn't going to let us turn these guys over," Colby said knowing that someone had to tell Don what he didn't want to hear.
"I know." Don rubbed his hand across his face. "David find someone familiar in the hostages and get their cell phone number. We've got to start talking to these guys." Don began putting on the tactical vests that someone had pulled out.
David walked into the conference room in time to see one of the Nixon's smash Ella's head with the butt of his rifle. Ella crumpled into a heap on the ground unable to resist as the blindfolded her and used plastic cuffs to tie her hands behind her back and positioned her face down on the floor away from all the other hostages. David was please at least that Don had not been around to witness what has happened. In the crowd he noticed Paul Craiger who worked in child crimes and went to work finding his cell phone number in the FBI directory.
"Homeland won't confirm where they are holding the ELF guys. The could be half way to Gitmo by now," Colby announced walking in to see what David was looking at.
"You got a phone number David?" Don asked walking into the room with tactical vest for both of his agents.
"Craiger's phone 555-3498," David said putting on his vest.
"Good, this is agent Smith he'll be leading SWAT if we choose to assault." Don tried not to look up at the screen to see what was going on, he wanted this to be any other hostage situation.
"My snipers have a shot at the two that are securing the hostages, just not on this third guy," Smith said pointing on the screen. "The women there is an agent?"
Colby, Don and David all nodded in unison.
"Good, do we know her safe word? We need her to roll away when we assault."
Don sighed and put his head in his hands in distress. Colby spoke up for him, "She's deaf."
"That is a problem," Smith replied. "With a fast breach we can still be pretty sure..."
"NO!" Don shouted loudly. "We are going to be one hundred percent before we so much as breath on these guys." He stormed out of conference room so he could go and update the director.
Smith gave a questioning look to David and Colby once Don was out of sight.
"The girl in the middle of the room is his sister," Colby said while zipping up his tactical vest.
"Damn," Smith muddled. "You think he's too close to this?" David and Colby both had the same question running through their minds but they both nodded 'no'. "Okay well you tell me when he is."
Don returned. "The director has authorized me to open communication. Colby I want you wherever Smith is." Like the good little FBI agent Colby was he nodded and followed Smith out of the room. Once they left Don turned his back to the video feed. "David, you've worked for me the longest and I trust your judgement," Don said with a slight tremor in his voice. "Am I too close to this? Am I going to get my little sister killed?"
David gave his boss a sympathetic smile. "You know if it was Charlie I'd probably say yes," David started. "But from what little I've seen of you and Ella I know that you two are very similar people and that no one knows what she is thinking better than you do. So right now Don I think you are the best person for the job and that close is just where you want to be."
Don nodded. "Will you tell me if I start to risk anyone's safety?"
"Sure thing." David nodded.
Ella opened her eyes to see nothing, pure black. She rolled onto her side in an attempt to figure out what was going on. For this action she was kicked hard in the ribs twice so she rolled back into stomach. Slowly she remember what had happened and stayed calm. Ella never minded being deaf, it was a part of who she was but she always had a fear of the dark. She had never told anyone about it but at this point she wished she had at least told Don. Making another attempt to move she was kicked again and blacked out.