Stroke

by zaida.thorngage

After Alana is taken away, Tom's single-minded mission of getting her back becomes all-consuming. He begins to waste his life away, wondering if they'll ever be reunited. Rated M for language and certain scenes in the story. Pairing: Tom/Alana

1. Chapter 1: Taken

"The 4400" was created by Scott Peters and Rene Echevarria. All characters (and NTAC!) belong to them. I own nothing more than the storyline.

**Note: This is my first attempt at writing in years. Rate & review, but please give specifics on reviews. You can't make a better omelette without someone giving you tips on how to do it, right?

**Sorry about the short chapters; this is quite literally the first draft.

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Chapter 1: Taken

"Tom, you can't do this," the woman called after him, "You're one of the best agents here!" Tom spun around on his heels and stared menacingly into her eyes, "The hell I can't, Meghan… and it looks like I just did." Whipping around, he marched straight to his desk with his boss following behind, begging and pleading for him to reconsider while he busied himself with snatching papers, photos, whatever he could reach inside of his desk, and threw it all into a box. When he stormed out, the rest of the team at the National Threat Assessment Command just stared, dumbfounded at the scene that just unraveled in front of them. Meghan Doyle just stared as Tom Baldwin's form retreated through the door.

Just keep walking, Tommy-boy, he hissed at himself, Keep walking… Once he reached his car, he threw his belongings into the backseat, jumped into the driver's seat and barely thought about safety as he barreled out of the parking lot – nearly running over his now-former partner, Diana Skouris. "Hey, what the hell? Watch where you're fu---- Tom?" Diana did a quick double-take, wondering what had made Tom so angry as to nearly wipe out his partner.

Diana turned to walk inside when she was greeted by a frantic blonde-haired woman. "Tom! Tom – wait!" Meghan stopped at Diana's side, trying to catch her breath. Not wasting a second, Diana looked over at her boss and asked, "Wanna clue me in on what the hell just happened here?" Between breaths, Meghan finally managed to gasp out, "Tom --- quit. Alana --- gone. Taken. Need --- to catch --- my breath." Horrified at this revelation, Diana looked from Meghan's panting form back to the street where Tom left just moments earlier.