No Regrets

Chapter One

Russ was shaking his head as he strode into the office. "Oscar's on his way up, but he said if there's anyone waiting with funny hats and confetti, he'll turn around and go home."

Jaime laughed, jiggling Jenna in her arms. "No funny hats here – just coffee and donuts."

Steve nodded. "And a box of his favorite, imported cigars -"

"Which you gentlemen won't be lighting until after I take Jenna home for her nap," Jaime said with a stern look at her husband.

"Yes, Dear," Steve sighed. Their daughter was almost two weeks old, and the whole Austin family had turned out to welcome Oscar on his first official day back on the job.

Russ was also especially glad 'The Big Guy' was back. When Oscar had been badly injured in a building collapse, Russ had done a heroic job of re-coordinating OSI-Los Angeles after the earthquake and then returning to DC to fill the boss's shoes. He was now very eager to give those shoes of authority back to their rightful owner.

"Here he comes," Jaime announced, able to hear the whirring of the elevator's motor as it reached the top floor.

Once the elevator's doors opened, they all heard him immediately. The front desk receptionist in the lobby could probably hear him, too. "Rudy, get that thing away from me!" he thundered, in rare form, even for Oscar Goldman. "I don't need it, I don't want it and I'm sure as hell not going to use it!" His voice dropped several hundred decibels as he passed his secretary's desk. "Good morning, Leslie," he said pleasantly before turning toward his patient companion. "I mean it, Rudy; just get rid of it! Nothing has changed; I'm the same person I always was."

"Even four or five hours is a long time to be here, when you're not used to it anymore," Rudy said, quietly extending the hated cane toward his patient. "By the end of the day, you might be happy to have it."

Oscar's legs had been crushed in the building collapse, and after several months spent recovering his strength and exploring every available option, he'd consented to Rudy's proposed plan and was fitted with legs that were 'semi-bionic'. They were much closer to normal strength than Steve and Jaime's legs, but in many ways, his adjustments would be the same ones they had once endured. Rudy tactfully set the cane against the wall, just inside the inner office door.

Oscar's voice (and face) softened once again when he saw his friends. "Well, hello," he said, almost meekly. He bent down to make very un-Oscar-like googly eyes at the baby. "Hi there, Jenna. I'm sure glad your Mommy brought you here to see Uncle Oscar." As he reclaimed his chair behind the big, oak desk, Jaime grinned at him.

"No funny hats," she told Oscar lightly. "We come bearing coffee and donuts. But if you ever need to talk...you know...about...things, well, we're the ones to turn to, and we know exactly what you're going through. I hope you'll let us help."

Oscar smiled, still unable to stop making faces at Jenna. "Thank you; I appreciate that. Might even take you up on it sometime, but right now I'm ok. Really."

Steve and Jaime exchanged a very quick but knowing glance. That one single comment on his way into the office – that he was the same as always - told them Oscar needed more help than he realized or was ready to admit. In more ways than they could have explained all at once, bionics changed everything.

- - - - - -

Jaime was singing 'Teddy Bears Picnic' on the drive home, while Jenna wiggled her toes and seemed to be listening to every note. "Daddy and Uncle Oscar can have their smelly old cigars," she told her daughter happily, "because we'll be having your bottle, my cup of tea and a nice nap; so much better." She pulled into the driveway and carried Jenna into the house, babbling nonsense rhymes at her with a huge smile and her own version of 'googly eyes', and never noticed the car with darkened windows that sat, silently waiting, at the end of the block.

The car was gone when Steve turned in to the driveway a few hours later. He drove very slowly up the long, gravel incline, admiring the view. The trees that lined the drive were just beginning to sport their Fall colors, but Steve's eye was focused on the front porch, where Jaime sat on the porch swing with Jenna in her arms, blissfully rocking back and forth while they waited to greet him. His family...Steve sighed with contentment. Life couldn't possibly get any sweeter.

As his car neared the house, his blood turned ice-cold with sudden fear. Two men were creeping quietly toward the porch, one from either side. Even from a distance, Steve's eye could clearly see the gun each of them held at the ready. He was afraid that if he shouted a warning, one or both of them would shoot and they were much too close to the porch for Jaime to duck the shot, especially holding the baby.

Jaime heard his car, and was rising to her feet when Steve rolled down the window and very softly said "Jaime, take Jenna in the house and bolt the door. Do it now."