Title: Dangers of the Heart

Summary: Jack's oldest daughter falls in love with one of his agents. What happens when someone threatens their happiness and their safety?

Discloser: I own none of the Without a Trace Characters. I only own Elizabeth Malone, and if she turns out to be an actual person, then I really wouldn't own her either.

A/N: Like on my other story, please only give constructive comments, no flaming! If you read the story at all, I would really like you to review. If you review my story, I'll review one of yours. Thanks!

Thanks to saturn567 and pealee for being my very first reviewers for this story! Much appreciation goes out to those two!

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I wake up a few hours later to the smell of fresh coffee and to the sight of a clean-shaven Martin sitting in the chair, reading over some paperwork.

"Boy, do you never take a break?"

He looks up from the paperwork, his eyes immediately landing upon my bruised face.

"Welcome back you."
"Thank you, you."

I say, smiling at Martin, as he takes my right hand in his.

"You had me pretty worried for a minute there."
"Sorry about that."

A moment of silence passed, as if neither of us knew what to say to the other. The silence was uncomfortable, like that of a silence on the first date.

"You were the one that found me, weren't you, Martin?"

He just nods his head, confirming what I already knew.

"How bad was it all? Dad didn't mention anything, and the doctors are tap-dancing their way around the issue."
"Elle,"
"Martin, please. Just tell me the truth, that's all I ask."
"It was pretty bad. You were still awake when I got there, but it's like you weren't fully there. God, Elle, I…honestly, I didn't think you were going to make it. It was very messy."

Reaching over with my right hand, I brush away the lone tear that had begun to fall down Martin's face. This was a side of Martin that very rarely came out, the sensitive side.

"I'm still alive now, aren't I? I'm a fighter, Martin. When I go down, I'm going down kicking. Alright?"
"Alright."

Martin sits up in the chair, composing himself.

"What are you working on?"

I ask, motioning to the file he had been looking at, and was now sitting closed on his lap.

"Oh, it's nothing, just some work."
"Can I see it?"
"Come on, Ellie, you know the protocol. I'm not supposed to let you see case files that you aren't assigned to."
"So? What stopped us before?"
"It was never about you before."

The words come spilling out of Martin's mouth before he can truly realize what he's saying. I silently sit up in bed, my mind racing at the thought of what could be inside of that case file.

"Elle, I'm…"
"Just let me see the case file for one minute Martin. I promise I won't over-react and nobody will ever know this happened."

He nods his head nad hands me the case file. I open it up to the front, where there is a photograph paperclipped onto the folder.

"So, this is the guy that attacked me?"
"We think so, but it's not for sure yet. Danny and Sam are back at the office, running his name through every database known to the FBI. Your dad and Viv are out interviewing people who knew this guy, trying to find out where he might have run to."
"But so far,"
"So far, we got nothing."