Title: One Thing
Author: Santos J. Black
Timeline: Everything goes up to 17X01
Spoiler Warning: This story is up to date so if you are not caught up with the most recent episode, beware. You have been warned.
Disclaimer: I don't own them, wish I did… or at least just Michael, and Owen *Swaps at dream bubbles over her head*
Thanks to my new beta Lioness002 this looks so much better because of you… you rock!
He didn't know who he was anymore, he didn't know what to think of his life anymore, he just didn't know. The last ten years had been driven by one thing, and only one thing, the idea of revenge. Revenge for what had been taken from him, revenge for the empty house in Hawaii that they never got to use, revenge for not being able to threaten Haley's first boyfriend, revenge for not being able to kiss his wife good night one more time.
He had lived just for that ideal, his only reason for waking up was that maybe that day would be the day he was going to put a bullet in Kasim's head. Each breath was for the thought that maybe before the next he would get the tip he needed to catch him. Though, now as he rested his head against the cold glass of the plane that was taking him back to the U.S, his heart was beating for something other than revenge.
Five years ago she had promised him she would help him get revenge, that she would do anything to help him get closure, to help him revenge his family. She had stood beside him for two years, giving him another reason to breathe other than senseless violence and death. He was sure, for he saw much of what he felt reflected in her, that it had killed her on the inside. It killed her not being able to kiss him the way she wanted to, to be with him always. All of her pain and suffering was because he was broken; she suffered right along with him. She understood what he needed, what kept him from being able to give her his heart, his all, but deep down he knew it was slowly eating away at her like a poison.
He let out a sigh and moved to settle his head on the head rest, closing his eyes as he gave a dry chuckle. Because he had known that even if they were not supposed to get attached, they had done that way before their first mission together in Russia. He had been attached since the moment he had been the recipient to her first wise ass remark, from the moment she had made him forget, for even a minute, all of the pain that was inside his heart.
His mind went to her last words before they departed ways; he was mad at her, mad because he knew she was right, about everything. He could not risk innocents; he could not risk Haley's and Elizabeth's memory and do the same thing Kasim did to him to some other poor man. He couldn't, no… he wouldn't be the cause of people losing their families, not anymore. He was willing to wait, willing to work alongside her once again to bring down the monster that had been controlling him for the last 10 years, once and for all.
He sighed as he opened his eyes to realize that they were starting to fly over land, he was closer to home that he had expected. He sometimes wondered, what would have been different if he had caved into her all those years ago. Would they still be alive? Would Percy have cancelled them? Would she have met Daniel? Would she have gone rouge? There were so many questions and too few answers, the positive side; all the questions were what ifs.
He passed a hand through his hair as the plane started to descend to the runway. He looked at his ring-less left hand, he was sure Elizabeth would have approved of her. Even if they looked nothing alike he knew that the two women he loved had a lot in common. Both where strong willed and good hearted, he could read both better than they thought he could… and both always put up with him more than he wanted or thought they would.
The plane landed and as soon as it stopped he un-strapped his seat belt, getting up and out before anyone could stop him. He was a man on a mission, a different one from the one he had 24 hours before when he had left from the same airport, but a mission none the less. He still had one thing to live for, and as he caught a taxi to drive him back to her, he knew what that once thing was… and where he was going to find her after he had told her one of the biggest lies in his life.
It wasn't until he had left that she finally broke down, she just couldn't believe it. Even after being a firsthand witness to Percy's evil schemes this was just too much, to think all of Michaels suffering had been originally plotted by Division. Michael was probably the best person she knew, he made sacrifices so other people didn't have to, he cared for those no one cared for, he followed his every command based on the premise that Percy was the only one able to help him; that in the end he would be able to find his family killer and end it all, end his 10 year old grudge… finish his story.
Her heart had broken when he had walked out of the room, dropping his gun in front of the man he had haunted the last decade. His defeat was palpable, and it had made her hate Percy even more than she already did. Kasim had said they were more alike than she knew, and in a way he was right. They had done what he did, they had followed orders and had killed innocents; but unlike him she knew them. Michael, Owen and she, had even more reasons to fight against the evil that was Division. She was doing this for all the Daniel's, Emily's, Lizzie's and Hailey's of the world, and most of all she was doing it so her best friend, her mentor, her soul mate could eventually have some kind of peace.
As she made her way back to what she called home she couldn't stop thinking of him, of the heartbroken man that had confided in her all those years ago. That was probably the moment, if she had to pin point one, when she had fallen in love with him. He had opened up to her for the first time, he had let her see the man behind the agent, and he had let her see into the deepest part of his soul. She had loved him for so long, and she knew he felt the same way.
That had been the reason why she had gone to Daniel, because she had so much love in her and she just needed somewhere to put it. He had been amazing, and she had loved him, in a way, but he had been a poor substitute for Michael. Guilt was behind everything she did nowadays; guilt because it was her fault the amazing man that was Daniel Monroe had been killed, because of a crime she had committed, letting herself love.
She knew Michael would do the right thing. She knew it just like she knew that even if Michael had said so, he would have never double crossed her; just like he knew she would never shoot him. He would come back to her, just like she always came back to him. And she would be waiting for him, her arms and heart wide open to receive him, because from then on, they would never depart.
