A/N: For daseyloverwholived. Spite the fact that I don't really ship them, I am super excited for this fic; hope you enjoy :)
Prompt: my idea is Denley fic where Henley is pregnant.
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Month Seven.
As the due date drew closer, Henley was immediately tended to rest.
She and Jack stayed back at the apartment as much as possible, doing projects for the baby's birth, like setting up a crib they had pilfered when 'borrowing' that one delivery truck before Jack's "death", or helping her set up a curtain that would be the baby's nursery until they were able to afford an expanse of an apartment somewhere else. Maybe on a beach, or toward upstate New York, still in a short distance of the city.
Daniel and Merritt tended to keeping the FBI off their tail, including many close calls, car chases and false leads to their apartment number.
"We need to get out of here, soon," Merritt announces once he and Danny come back from another chase, bearing folded up cardboard boxes. At Henley's alarmed expression, Daniel crosses the room and kneels in front of her.
"It's only for a few days, a week at most," Danny assures her, and the men quickly packed their most needed items. Needed papers stuffed in one box, along with the dinosaur computer which Jack had to practically rip from the wall outlet, and a few other things. Clothes were stuffed in random piles, their four outfit sets all crammed into one box.
"Guys," Danny whispers, "they're here."
That's when they all heard the sirens wailing at a distance.
"Okay, Jack," Merritt speaks up, "Get Henley out, now. Daniel and I will gather boxes and get out of here quick as we can." Daniel pulled his girlfriend tight against him, kissing her chastely before passing her off to Jack, who was being embraced tightly by Merritt.
"I'll take care of her, man," Jack confirms before grabbing the box of papers and pulling Henley out the door by the hand.
That was the last they saw of their team. Merritt and Danny gathered the remaining two boxes in their grips, flicking lightswitches on their way out. Merritt tucked the key into his jacket pocket and steeled the door before he and Daniel raced toward the trash shoot on the floor below.
Merritt slid first, boxes following. It was just as the swat team was charging up the stairs that Danny didn't have a choice but to slide down immediately. The steel flap swung a few seconds, and Danny held himself right at the top of the shoot, holding himself up as he listened to the swat teams bang open doors. In the midst of the clattering, Danny felt a hand on his ankle.
Pulling him by his ankle was Merritt, who was forcing him down in the midst of the commotion.
Once they finished squeaking to the bottom, they gathered their loot and scrambled behind trashcans and equipment stands until they were safe in the alley outside their apartment complex. Right in the middle of the clearing, full of rusty junk and torn, flat leaves, was their car,engine purring.
Jack was cranking the key in the ignition as soon as his companions were on the leather seats. Merritt swung in beside the anxious, young magician whilst Daniel and Henley cowered in the back seat.
Every bump they hit as they curled out into an abandoned lot, caused a scream to erupt from Henley, clutching her pregnant stomach. Daniel massaged her tummy as Jack maneuvered through the busy streets, whizzing over splotches of sidewalk in the middle of the intersections, crashing into bikes and other kiosks, FBI tight on their heels.
It was when Jack got ahead of a black sedan similar to theirs, that Jack wired off into another side alley, slowing and parallel parking behind a shit-scented dumpster.
They all breathed heavily as they listened to sirens wail, wail, wail past. It was a little over a half hour later that the sirens stopped.
"We need to get out of the city," Henley states, and the three men look at her with gaping expressions.
"She's right," Merritt admits, and on that note, Jack wrenched the gear shift into reverse and soon they were on the road again, passing town upon town until Daniel gave cue that they were far enough from the city to make camp.
Currently, they were in a small town in the next county, only an hour from the city, and were headed toward a rental residence that Henley had ordered through a cell phone call.
"We're to put a check in the mailbox and they'll come pick it up soon," she informs them as they rumble up to their cottage- it was butter yellow, with white shutters and a black-stained cement porch. Two stories with the ideal family summer home feel. Her swelling face was creased with worry and her eyes were glassy with unshed tears.
Merritt and Jack got to work moving them into their two-story residence.
"It's roomier than the apartment," Merritt observes, letting the box fall to the coffee table in the living room.
"And we have the view of the lake!" Jack admires, drinking in the sun-baked strip of sand that was being revived with the calm tide of the lake.
"What do you think they're doing at the base?" Henley asks as Daniel starts to shift the warming food from one box into the fridge, while Merritt scribbles a check out of an alias' bank account.
"Henley," Daniel soothes, "Without all of the information, it will look just like an average apartment."
"Yeah," Merritt speaks up, "They're not going to touch your nursery tent or go through any of our stuff. If it looks clean, they'll move on."
"So, what's the rest of the instructions?" Jack asks as they all group around the kitchen island.
"Screw the instructions," Merritt corrects, "This is a whole new ball game. I say we lay low until we know it's safe to return to the city. We'll finish the instructions there." Daniel wanted to speak, but the elderly magician holds up a hand.
"Daniel," he states, soothing, "If we lay low, they'll forget about us. We come back without a bang, finish the instructions and we're done. For once, just let me guide." His voice is gentle, but authoritative.
Henley answers for him, touching her pregnant belly, feeling the swelling of her stomach. Faintly, the baby kicks, an assurance that no matter what happened, things would turn out.
"Okay."
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A/N: this blew way out of porportion, but they'll return to their apartment in the next chapter, but the police are still on their tail. stay tuned to see if the popo catch them before their instructions are filled!