A/N: I hope everyone had a good holiday season! I apologize for the slight delay in chapters but real life did catch up to me. Hopefully though, I will be getting all caught up and ready soon so that once the new season starts the time between chapters is not as long. Once again I'd like to thank Peaches2010 for her continued support and patience with me.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the familiar material, merely Rowan and Beryl.
Standing atop one of the concrete light bases within the FBI Academy's parking lot, Rowan felt her heart racing as grey eyes rapidly scanned over the gathering crowd. The sounds of distant evacuation alarms and murmured theories were all background noise in chaotic static, her senses tuning everything out as her mind switched between replaying memories and continuing her search. Just after nine in the morning, seven weeks into the Academy, it seemed as if everything had gone to shit. Alarms had screamed, piercing the early morning quiet. In the midst of juggling a too hot cup of coffee and dog-eared novel, Rowan had found herself getting swept away into a crowd of relieved agents who figured that this was just another drill, a practice in case a real threat were to ever occur…but she knew, she just knew, that they were all allowing the wool to be pulled over their eyes. She didn't know how she knew, rationalizing the growing pit in the bottom of her stomach as an indicator of things to come, just as it had indicated to her that there was something more to that Chicago warehouse than a simple sweep.
Her frustrations growing as she scaled the lot light in an effort to get a higher vantage point, Rowan glared when someone bumped into her and nearly knocked her from her perch. Her N.A.T's were missing and like a momma bear when her cubs were threatened, she was ready to strike out at anyone. Where the hell were they? She should have known better than letting the group out of her sight, despite the fact that she had been banned from attending their morning exams. She should have ignored the way the scent of cafeteria coffee sang to her, should have stationed herself outside of the lecture hall doors. Failing to spot her N.A.T's she jumped down to land in a crouch, shouldering her belongings as she pushed through the sea of agents in an attempt to find Assistant Director Miranda Shaw. Unable to locate the woman in question Rowan mulled over various plans, shifting to keep in the shadows as she made her way back towards the building.
Finding an unmanned, unlocked entrance was more difficult than Rowan had considered and yet she was determined to find a way inside and to her N.A.T's. Her hands were in the process of tugging on a side door when a throat cleared behind her.
"And where do you think you are going, Agent Danvers?" questioned the honeyed voice of Miranda.
Well crap. Tugging on an earlobe in thought, Rowan gave a cheeky smile. "Well, I just realized that I left one of my favorite novels inside and was hoping to go back in and get it."
A neatly manicured brow rose in the Assistant Director's dark face, as if to tell Rowan to "try again."
The redhead gave a huff. "Fine…my N.A.T's are unaccounted for, ma'am. I have yet to see a single one of them come out of the building."
"And you were going to what, Agent Danvers, go back in for them?"
"Well, this is supposedly just a drill. Is it not?" Rowan retorted.
"Do you think it is a drill?" Miranda questioned, her gaze staring Rowan down.
Unflinchingly, Rowan shrugged. "If it were a drill we would all be accounted for, if it were not a drill we would all be accounted for. Either way there are people still missing and respectfully, ma'am, I am a firm believer in never leaving a man or woman behind. Now please, get out of my way."
Miranda said nothing for a moment and Rowan took that as a form of consent, darting around the Assistant Director of the FBI and into the unlocked door that she had found. Her boot clad feet beat against the tiled flooring of the hallways as she skidded around one corner and nearly collided with a wall as she cursed the freshly waxed floors. Seeking out signage to get a better grasp on where she was, she found that she was on the opposite side of the building from the lecture halls which only made her push herself faster. Corridors passed left and right, areas that were usually teaming with life dead quiet. As the cafeteria passed on her left, her breathing seemed to ease as she used it to landmark her distance from her destination. Dread crept back into her twofold as she turned a corner and found a group of N.A.T's, led by Elias Harper, hightailing it in her direction.
"You need to turn around Agent Danvers!" he called out to her, sweat soaking through his tight wife beater tank. "They're trying to diffuse it but there isn't much time!"
Feeling her heart freeze in fear, Rowan merely slowed rather than stopping. "Trying to diffuse what?'
"There was a bomb in the lecture hall," another N.A.T in the group called out.
She swore, picking up speed once more. "I was afraid you would say that," she yelled. "Go, get out of here. Everyone else has met in the far lot near the track, try to get as close to them as possible," she called over her shoulder as she moved in the opposite direction of them. Ignoring the sound of someone calling her crazy, Rowan began mumbling a prayer to St. Michael, the patron saint of Police Officers and one of Heaven's own warriors.
Hitting the final stretch she began unconsciously keeping count of the distance. Two hundred yards…a hundred yards…fifty…twenty….ten….fingers grasping the door jamb as she finally made it to the lecture hall Rowan yanked herself to a stop, her feet nearly flying out from beneath her as she skidded. Her breath caught and her heart broke at the sight before her.
Gathered at the center of the room were her N.A.T's- Ryan, Simon, Alex, one of the twins, and Shelby- speaking softly as they worked on something between them. Crowded around them were a few more people, all who looked shaky and skittish. Moving softly as not to spook them, Rowan sidled up next to the group.
"What can I do?" Rowan asked, slowly kneeling at Alex's side.
Ryan's eyes were the only ones to meet hers as he held a piece of the bomb steady. "Get out of here Rowan, that's what you can do."
"Psh…since when have I ever listened to you in a state of emergency," she snarked. "Simon, since you're clearly in charge, put me to work."
Listening to Simon as he doled out precise instructions, it took everything Rowan had to keep her hands from shaking as the six of them worked in tandem to defuse the bomb. Swallowing thickly as the numbers continued to tick down closer to zero, she couldn't help the outburst of laughter she had while the others released sighs of relief the moment the countdown froze.
"Holy crap! Simon did it!" Rowan chortled. "Not that I didn't believe in you, but holy crap!"
Calloused hands grasped at bare biceps, hauling Rowan to her feet. Returning the gesture despite the fact that Ryan still had a grasp on her, Rowan turned, clasping hands with Shelby and tugging the blonde up before offering her hand to whichever Amin twin was present in the current moment. Almost vibrating in a mass of emotion, Rowan couldn't help but embrace her N.A.T's one way or another before she glared, smacking them each on the back of the head.
"Don't ever do that again!"
Not a single one of them looked abashed, if anything they seemed proud of their accomplishment.
"We just defused a bomb that could have leveled the entire Academy and killed hundreds of agents. I'd say that excuses us from head slaps," Simon rationalized, idly gathering his discarded shirt and belongings. "What were you doing in here anyway?"
Rowan floundered, especially once sharp blue eyes locked on her and repeated the question. Shelby and Alex looked on with faint amusement and Trainee Amin cocked a brow. Nose wrinkled, she answered.
"I got worried when I couldn't find any of you," she grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest. "And I may have snuck back in to look for you. Elias told me what was going on when I past him running in the opposite direction on my way in."
"And when someone tells you that there's a bomb you run in, not away?" Alex repeated. "Do you have no self-preservation?"
"I have self-preservation but I find that it is outweighed by the concept of never leaving a man behind. Besides, y'all are my responsibility, and okay, maybe you're kind of my friends."
"It was stupid," Ryan said, speaking for the first time.
Rowan rolled her eyes and leaned into Shelby as the group began to make their way out of the lecture hall. Squeezing the blonde's forearm she stepped to the side and fell into pace with her partner. "It's all good Ry," she murmured, sparing a glance up at him from lashes.
"It was reckless and you should have stayed outside."
Rowan stopped walking and grasped the material of Ryan's shirt. "I wasn't going to stay outside, and if I had to choose whether to do it again or not, you can damn sure bet that I wouldn't change a thing. You know what they say- "Ohana means family, and family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten."
"Did you just quote 'Lilo & Stitch' at me?" Ryan asked after a moment of silence, the main entrance beginning to come into view.
"Damn straight I did," Rowan laughed. The doorways loomed closer until they were directly before their exit, and sharing a look, the six of them pushed through the glass and into the afternoon sunshine.
Within an hour all those who had remained in the lecture hall while Simon had instructed in defusing the bomb were gathered by Assistant Director Miranda Shaw. Whispers passed between the remaining N.A.T's as they waited with bated breath to find out if they were to face another challenge now that it had been disclosed that the bomb scare had all just been a part of their exam. And while she had expected to learn something about what had possibly possessed the FBI to plant a fake bomb, the last thing Rowan thought she would be hearing was Shaw disclosing the fact that she had been running her own operation. A certain part of her felt pride in knowing that she had been correct, that Rowan had indeed picked up on the fact that there were two Amin twins in the Academy but that pride diminished with every word Shaw gave in explaining herself.
They were to be some of the top operatives that the FBI utilized, capable of becoming one person in volatile operations so that information could come in a constant stream. Someone had once likened agents like that to members of sleeper cells, their cover so deep that it could last for years at a time. Not just one person would be losing their identity though, it would be two- Nimah and Raina Amin. Shocked silence blanketed the room as the twins stood side by side, one in her hijab and the other without, until hands hesitantly rose like elementary children. Questions came one by one until the twins were given the clearance to answer.
Exhaustion and shock swept through Rowan as she sat beside Ryan in his SUV, the days natural light diminishing as the sun began to make its final descent towards the horizon. Curled up in the passenger's seat, her legs drawn to her chest and the heels of her bare feet balancing her weight, the only thing she could do with his most recent news was shake her head in disbelief.
"So you are telling me that O'Connor just pulled you aside and tried to reinstate you? Just like that? And instead of going back and reaffirming your position in the Bureau you asked to think about it?" she reiterated, her eyes wide as she stared at the profile of her partner. Shadows played along the planes of his cheek bones and long lashes, his strong jaw squared off. The entire scene made him appear to her as a fallen warrior who was merely looking for a way back.
"That's about the whole of it, except I may have also said something to Alex when she asked about what happened in Chicago that had O'Connor sniffing around me," Ryan summed up, fingers fiddling with the thin piece of oblong metal that he kept in his wallet and only produced when nervous.
Covering his hand with her own and gently prying away the tag before he could wear away any of the information on it, Rowan ran her own thumb over the impressed letters that she had long ago memorized, just as she had memorized the story behind the tag. "What did you tell her?" she questioned absently, rereading the information. "Andrews, Taylor J. 425-15-7621. A Neg. Catholic."
A single, broad, cotton covered shoulder rose and fell. "I told her the truth. I told her that we were sent on a blind sting by a superior who thought he had credible Intel and that people got hurt. I told her I took the blame like a good soldier and that O'Connor was the one who passed along the crap Intel to Hamden."
"Are you going to take the reinstatement?" Rowan whispered, nearly afraid of the answer.
His answer was immediate. "After today, I don't think that I could leave you to work with another partner- someone needs to look out for your self-preservation," he teased, gently socking her on the shoulder in a gesture that just screamed 'old buddy, old pal, you're just one of the guys.' "Besides, my reinstatement would be to the L.A field office and why would I want to have to break in a new partner when I've got one that works just fine for and with me?"
She ignored the comment about Los Angeles. "My self-preservation is just fine!" she laughed, her head thrown back. "And speaking of, did I tell you that there has been a new N.A.T added to my group of misfits?"
"Your 'group of…'" he trailed off shaking his head. "And what does a new trainee have to do with self-preservation?"
"Because this trainee refused to leave today as well, even if he wasn't a trainee. Caleb Haas has been reinstated into the program and put under my supervision for the remainder and or until he screws up again."
"Caleb!" Tawny brows jumped in Ryan's tanned face. "Huh, good for him."
"Damn straight, he would make a surprisingly good agent," Rowan praised. "And now that we are done discussing whether you're taking the reinstatement, we can discuss our next move."
"I plan on sticking around, that's my next move. O'Connor is gunning for Alex and I want to know what she or her father has done to put her on his radar. And to know that, I need to take a trip. How do you feel about a little road trip to pick up some information?"
"Information on O'Connor? Give me five minutes to gather my aux cords, some books, and a bag of snacks," Rowan beamed.
As he keyed up the ignition Ryan reached a hand behind his seat and pulled it back a moment later holding a backpack. "Snacks are in the biggest compartment; trail mix, those protein bars you like, some peanut M&M's, a couple bottles of water and Gatorade…the essentials. The aux cord you gave me is in the glove box and I snagged your Kindle when you weren't paying attention, it is in the small pocket," Ryan smirked, shoving the bag in her direction.
"And how did you know I would agree to this field trip?" Rowan asked sarcastically as she tore open a package of M&M's, offering the bag in Ryan's direction as he pulled away from the park they had been sitting outside of.
Tossing a few of the candy coated chocolates into his mouth as he eased onto the main road Ryan cast his partner a glance from the corner of his eye. "We've been partners for three and a half, almost four years. I knew that you would either want to be in on getting the information or you could be bribed with the snacks. And if they didn't work I was going to leave you behind."
Rowan made a 'psh' sound as munched. "You wouldn't have left me behind- I am a road trip, field trip, and stake out necessity. You would be bored out of your gourd without me."
Merging lanes and gesturing to the radio system Ryan gave a solemn nod. "Damn straight- now crack a bottle of blue Gatorade for me and start the music."
Doing as instructed Rowan cracked a bottle of Gatorade for him and placed it in the driver's side cup holder before hooking her phone up to the vehicles sound system. Her thumb sweeping over the screen she allowed it to tap 'RB/RD's Great Adventure Tunes' before settling back into the leather seat. As the opening chords of Steppenwolf's "Born to Be Wild" began she couldn't help but roll her windows down and let out a whoop followed by laughter as she and Ryan began howling along to the chorus. This was certainly better than sitting home with Beryl's cat and take out!
A/n: In the famous words of Bugs Bunny: "That's all folks!" Chapter eleven is written and waiting to be posted as soon as chapter thirteen is done. So keep an eye out for that. Enjoy your week{end} everyone!- Alisabeth