Chapter 1: No Rest for the Wicked

For a while they just sat there, looking into each other's eyes, seeing the reflection of their own happiness in the eyes of the other, and the slight disbelief of the situation they were in.

"Does this mean… that you are staying?" Daniel asked carefully, afraid of the answer.

Peggy looked away from him for a moment, commitment not coming easy to her. But this, whatever it might be, had been lingering in the air for so long, so how could she not give it a try.

"I still have a few vacation days – well, weeks – left," She answered.

That was all he needed for now. He pushed the phone towards her.

"Sounds like you have a plane to cancel," He said, and watched as she gladly picked up the handset and called the New York office. He was surprised that she stayed sitting in his lap, maybe because she knew that he had never seen her as a secretary, and hopefully because she enjoyed being close to him, just as much as he wanted to be close to her.

As Peggy put down the handset, she could not remember the last time she had felt so light, the weight of the world momentarily having left her shoulders.

She smiled down at Daniel, who smiled back, and then she closed the distance between them once more. He held her tighter, as if still not believing this was happening.

It had been a long time coming for both of them, and the anticipation that they had both been building up was expressed in every movement that their bodies made towards each other, and in every fiery kiss.

A hard knock on the door made Peggy jump off of Daniels lap, facing away from the door while quickly recovering her composure and trying to correct her lipstick in the mirror image of the window. Before Daniel could allow entrance to his office, the door was swung open, a younger, frantic looking agent standing in the door.

"Agent O'Neill, what the…" Daniel started scolding the agent when he was cut off.

"Chief Thompson has been shot."

Peggy instantly turned to face the young agent and Daniel stood up.

"What?" Daniel exclaimed, not believing what he had just heard.

"Chief Thompson has been shot." Agent O'Neill repeated.

"When? Where?" Peggy demanded to know.

"Like, ten minutes ago. At his hotel," Agent O'Neill elaborated, "The hotel staff found him. He was supposed to be out of his room, so they came to kick him out, and he just laid there. Shot. He's being taken to the hospital right now. But it's bad."

The weight came tumbling back onto Peggy's shoulders. She looked at Daniel and saw a mirror of her own confusion about the situation.

"Let's go," Daniel said, grapping his crutch.

"You go to the hospital, I'll go check out the scene while it's still fresh," Peggy stated and stomped out of his office.

For a second, Daniel felt like reprimanding her for giving him orders instead of taking orders from him, but he agreed with her priorities and knew that he could not hold her back.

"Does anyone else know?" Daniel asked the young agent still lingering at the door.

"No sir, I came straight to you," O'Neill answered.

"Good. Keep it that way," Daniel said and quickly added "Go with her. Hurry!"

"Oh, right, yes sir!" O'Neill answered and quickly ran after Peggy.

Daniel followed behind them. He looked around the office, trying to figure out whether to include more agents, but with everything that they had uncovered since Peggy came to L.A., his instincts told him to keep it at a minimum for as long as possible. He would have to call the New York office. They would expect Jack's arrival tomorrow, but he had to know what to tell them before making the call. Hopefully, he would be able to joke with them that Jack had just gotten into trouble to prolong his stay here in sunny California, instead of having to ask them to make that call to Jack's family.