A/N: Hey everybody, I know I like fell off the face of the planet for two years but I'm back! It's the moment you've all been waiting for... Chapter 10! I'm really going to force myself to update this story as much as possible and not make you guys wait so long again, so please bear with me as I get back into the swing of writing. This chapter really had me stumped and I really didn't know where I wanted to go with it and procrastination is a bitch and I just stopped writing all together. I want to apologize for that. But I hope this chapter was worth the wait! I would love to hear you guys' feedback because you are all so lovely and nice and it really helps to motivate me by hearing from you guys how you're liking it. So let me know :) Without further adieu, here's chapter 10!

The first thing I notice is the heat. I'm laying on the ground with the heat from the sun pounding down on me, and I can feel the dirt beneath my fingertips. The next thing I notice is the noise; I can hear gunfire and screaming and bullets ricocheting off of metal. When I open my eyes to look at my surroundings I see my men fighting the al-Qaeda group that ambushed us. I know I'm dreaming, or hallucinating, or something, but that doesn't stop the fear from gripping at my heart.

I see a man coming towards me, but my gun is out of my reach, so I grab the knife that's strapped to my calf and plunge it into his Achilles tendon. When he falls to the ground, I yank my knife out of the tendon and plunge it into his chest.

I look down, expecting to see the face of a young man, however when I look at the body I see the face of Unicycle. I look down at my hands that are now covered in blood, and then back at the body.

The face shifts. I'm staring at Bumper's pale deceased face as blood seeps out of his mouth. I blink and the face shifts again. Familiar green eyes stare into my soul.

"You were supposed to protect us, Beca," Shane's raspy voice calls out to me. "Why weren't you there for us, Beca?"

I look up and I'm surrounded by men I fought side by side with who lost their lives. Their bloody corpses coming closer and closer to me, their words echoing through my mind.

"Where were you, Beca?"

"Why weren't you there for us, Beca?"

"We trusted you"

"Why didn't you save us?"

Their words feel like knives through the heart. I can't breathe and honestly I've given up trying. I'm a monster and these good men and women are dead and I'm to blame. I couldn't protect them when I promised I would. I deserved to be right there with them. Cold. Rotting. Lifeless. They're closing in on me when—

I feel a hand on my shoulder and I'm pulled out of my trance. I turn around to see Benji looking worried. I look around and notice I'm standing in the hallway of the hospital that Chloe had been taken to.

"Beca, are you okay? You don't look good. Are you hurt?" He asks, his eyebrows were furrowed and I could see the concern in his eyes.

"I'm okay, I just got lost in thought," I mumble. I take a few deep breaths to try to bring myself back to reality. The past two times I've been in a hospital haven't been under good circumstances, but I didn't expect to have an episode like that just by being here. I'm used to the dreams, but I don't usually see things like that when I'm conscious. "I'm looking for Chloe's room."

"It's down this hall, third door to the left," he replied. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine, thanks, Benji."

I turn back around and head for the room Benji directed me to. I quietly open the door and see Chloe laying in a white hospital gown with her red hair sprawled across the pillow. She was staring right at me as I walked in and I can visibly see her body relax when she notices it's me, her shoulders slump back and the furrow in her brow goes away.

"Hey there," I say softly as I close the door behind me. I could see the bandage on her shoulder peeking out of her hospital gown. Guilt surged through me seeing the woman that I have begun to grow so fond of injured. I walked towards the bed and sat on the edge, grabbing Chloe's hand and squeezing it. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm good, they have me on some painkillers so I have minimal pain. I think they should be releasing me to go home soon," she replied. She was looking at me closely, like she was trying to gauge what was going on in my head. I looked down at our intertwined hands to break eye contact.

This was our first time seeing each other since our first kiss, well, our first real kiss. I didn't really know what to say or how to feel. I'm happy that it happened, but I didn't know what that meant for us going forward. Everything has been happening so quickly, and I don't really know how to act or what to think.

"Hey," she whispered, lifting my chin up with her fingertips so I would look her in the eyes. "What's going on? You don't look well."

I didn't know how she could see through my facade so quickly, I spent my whole life shutting my emotions off so nobody could tell what I was thinking or how I was feeling. In just a couple weeks, Chloe has been able to see right through that every time.

"I just feel like every time something horrible happens to you it's because I failed to do my job properly," I muttered. "I feel like I've put you in more danger because I've made stupid decisions. I feel like I shouldn't be the one in charge of watching over you."

"The only reason why I'm still alive is because of you, Becs," she said as she squeezed my hand for reassurance. Even though I still felt guilty for everything, the sound of the nickname she gave me lifted my spirits a bit. "You have proven to me on several occasions in the past few weeks that you are willing to die in order to keep me safe. You did what you thought was right earlier, you left to try to protect me. Even with everything going on you still make me feel like I'm safe, and if I didn't have you I probably wouldn't have even survived the car chase while coming back from the mall. You are so amazing at everything you do. Please don't feel like any of this is your fault because it's just like you said, you're not the one who's trying to kill me, you're the one trying to put an end to all of it."

"How do you do that so well?"

"Do what?"

"You always know the right things to say to make me feel better," I smiled softly. "I'm just glad to see that you're okay."

"You have good aim," she chuckled, and I had to bite my lip to fight the urge to smile from the sound. "The doctor said I should have a fast recovery and the bullet didn't hit anything that would cause complications."

Just as she finished speaking the doctor walked in to inform us that Chloe was all set to go home. One of the other Secret Service agents had brought her a change of clothes since the clothes she was wearing before coming to the hospital now had blood all over them, so once all the paperwork was filled out for her dismissal I sat in the waiting room for her to get dressed. She came out of the hospital room in a plain white t-shirt, black skinny jeans, and all black Nike sneakers.

When she saw me waiting, her face broke out into a delighted grin, and I swear my heart skipped a beat at the sight. Something about Chloe dressed so casually had my hands sweaty and made my mouth go dry, she was usually dressed pretty fancy and professional even when she was just at home. For someone who had just gotten shot, she looked radiant.

"Ready to head out?" She asked as she came closer to me. "Where exactly are we going to go now? The house is trashed after today."

"Come with me. We need to speak in private," I ordered, leading Chloe in the direction of the hospital's exit. She followed along silently, and when we exited the hospital I quickly escorted her to the car. "We need to check the car to make sure nobody put any tracking device or anything on it."

"What?!" She exclaimed, her eyes wide and jaw dropped. "What do you mean? You think someone would do that?"

"I wouldn't put it past these people," I sighed. "There's gotta be a reason they found us so quickly. We had been very careful, I don't see any other way of them knowing where we were. Take a look on your side, let me know if you see a wire or a blinking light or just something that looks out of place."

I looked along the driver's side of the car and didn't see anything out of the ordinary. I dropped down on my knees to take a look underneath the vehicle. I used my phone as a flashlight, and sure enough, there it was. A blinking red light was flashing, and I reached out to pull it off the underside of the car. This is how they found us, but the pieces didn't add up. Who else had access to this car before it was given to me?

"Found it," I called out to the redhead. I stood back up to show her the device that was used to find our location. I dropped it on the ground and stomped on it with the heel of my shoe to destroy it. "We need to go now, they're going to notice that they can't track us anymore and will probably come to the last place they could track us."

I didn't have a plan. I had no idea where we could go. We had none of our belongings on us, but it was way too risky to go back to Chloe's grandparent's beach house after everything that just happened. All I knew is that I needed to get both of us far away from here without many people knowing.

We each got into the car, and as soon as we were both buckled I sped off to get as much distance between us and the hospital. I was trying to wrack my brain of possible places we could go from here, but not a single place came to mind. I was nervously drumming my thumbs against the steering wheel as I was driving, and biting my bottom lip so hard I wouldn't be surprised if I was drawing blood. I hated this feeling that had consumed me since I saw that red dot aiming towards Chloe.

"Beca?"

I snapped my head to the right, noticing for the first time that Chloe appeared to be speaking to me and I hadn't heard a single thing she said. I shook my head, hoping that would clear my mind, before muttering an apology and indicating that she now had my full attention.

"What are we doing?" She asked, and damn was that a loaded question. Whether she was referring to where we were currently headed off to, or whether she was referring to the kiss we shared and where that was leading us, the answer was the same.

"I don't know," I replied earnestly. I hated that I couldn't give her a better answer than that, hated that she was caught in between this, hated that I couldn't give her something to hope for. "I need you to call your father."

Chloe nodded and immediately pulled her phone out call Jason. I wasn't surprised when Jason picked up immediately, no doubt worried sick about the wellbeing of his daughter. I waited patiently as the two of them spoke, Chloe reassuring him that her and I were safe.

"Beca needs to speak with you, dad," Chloe said into the phone. I could see tears brimming her eyes, obviously feeling emotional after everything that's happened. "I love you, too. Here she is."

She passed me the phone, and as I took it our fingers brushed and I was shocked at the electricity that shot through my body from such a simple touch. I didn't have time to dwell on the feeling, which was probably a good thing because of course I wanted to figure out my feelings for Chloe, but it was the least of my concerns at the time being.

"Hey, Jason," I greeted.

"Beca, how are you doing?" He asked, and I could hear the stress in the older man's voice. Jason Beale didn't get stressed out a lot, but with running a country and having his daughter and me being hunted, I really wasn't surprised that it was taking a toll on him.

"We're okay," I answered, hoping that would put him at ease a bit. "I'm sorry, Jason. I thought our plan would work out, at least buy us some more time."

"You don't need to apologize for anything," he said, sincerity lacing every word he spoke. "I'm so grateful that you two are alive. I should be thanking you."

I swallowed the uncomfortable feeling I get when people compliment my work, not that I don't believe I do a good job, I just don't like the attention on me. Plus, there were more important things to discuss.

"Jason, we found a tracking device on the car I was given while mine has been in the shop," I explained. I let my words hang in the air for a moment for them to sink in. "I need a list of everybody who was in contact with this vehicle before it was given to me."

"You think somebody on the inside is involved in this."

It wasn't a question. He caught on to what I was insinuating, and a part of me almost hoped that he would challenge that because the fact that someone who was supposed to be on our side could possibly be roped into this mess was absolutely terrifying.

"Yeah, I do," I breathed out, wishing that the quieter I said it the less real it would make things. "We also need somewhere to go, we can't go back to that house."

"I've already got a plan figured out, I've been making calls the second I found out about what happened. I'm going to text Chloe an address, drive there and I have a private jet waiting with all of your things to take you both to Aspen, Colorado to one of my houses," he explained. "It's secluded from everybody, and it has a top of the line security system so if anybody so much as steps foot on the property you'll be notified. When you get there, both of you need new phones with new numbers. Destroy your current devices and call me right when you get there. I'm having Amy drive your vehicle to you since it's out of the shop. It may take a couple days for her to get there but until she does you guys will have plenty of supplies to last until she does."

After going through the details we ended the call. I was hoping this plan would turn out better than our last but there was no way to be sure. But this bought us time, even if it was just a little bit. And that was all we could hope for at this point.

The plan was going smoothly, and by smoothly I mean we at least got to our destination and were able to settle in. Who knows how long that would last though, last time we only had three days of peace before we got disrupted. I honestly expected someone to already be here ready for us to arrive, it felt like whoever it is we're dealing with are always a step ahead of us.

The "house" Jason has us staying in is actually a mansion that has a little mini mansion next to it as a place for guests to stay. I thought Chloe's house was huge, and then I thought the Miami beach house belonging to her grand parents was enormous, but this place blows both of them combined out of the water.

It was 11 o'clock once we got settled into our rooms and put all the groceries away that they had on the plane for us take with us, and although a lot happened today and I should be exhausted, my mind simply wouldn't allow me to go to sleep. It probably had something to do with the nerves of being in a new, unfamiliar area.

So instead of sleep I settled down in my bed and worked on a mix of Titanium and 500 Miles that I hadn't gotten a chance to touch since beginning this job. When I was staying at my dad's house after the incident in Afghanistan, the only thing that kept me from not completely losing my mind was music. I missed the feeling I get when I get lost in the tracks I'm listening to and working on.

With my headphones on I couldn't hear anything, but I knew Chloe had to be at the doorway because I could see the light from the hallway peeking into the room out of the corner of my eyes. I slid my headphones off my ears and around my neck, and turned my head to get a better look at Chloe. She was standing in the doorway with a pair of grey joggers on and a large black t-shirt, clearly her attire for bed. I checked the time on my laptop and frowned, it was past twelve now and usually Chloe was already asleep by now.

"Hey," she greeted softly, closing the door behind her and taking a few tentative steps into my bedroom. "Sorry for interrupting, I just wanted to see what you were up to. I'm having a bit of trouble falling asleep."

"I can't sleep either," I confessed, scooting over and patting the spot on the bed next to me for the redhead to sit. When she sat down, I couldn't help but notice how close we were. Her leg right leg brushed against mine and I had to bite my lip to not audibly gasp at the contact. The small touch shouldn't have my head spinning, but with everything going on and not knowing what was happening between Chloe and I had my emotions running rampant. I cleared my throat, hoping to ease the tension I was feeling, and asked, "did you call your dad to let him know we arrived?"

"Yeah, I talked to him and my mom for a while," she smiled, but it didn't quite shine like it usually does. I knew this was incredibly hard on her, being away from her family and friends, and there was nothing I wanted more than to be able to take all this pain away from her. "Dad said he was going to send you all the files you needed tomorrow morning, he just got held up in a lot of meetings today."

"That's okay," I said. I went to save my work and close my laptop, but before I could Chloe grabbed my hand to stop me.

"What are you working on?" She asked and scooted even closer so she could see what was on my screen.

"I uh, was just working on a mix," I mumbled. I never share my work with anyone because I just do it as a hobby and don't expect this passion of mine to lead to anything, so I like to keep it private.

But when Chloe squealed excitedly and begged to listen to what I was working on, my body started working before my brain could process that I was handing over my headphones to the older woman. I sat impatiently picking at a thread in my pajama pants as she listened, not looking at what her reaction was because I was nervous that she wouldn't like it.

"Holy shit!" She shouted once taking the headphones off. "Beca, that was amazing! How have you not shown this to me before?"

"I've never actually shown anyone," I confessed quietly, feeling my cheeks burn from the compliment. "You know David Guetta?"

"Have I been living under a rock?" She asked, sarcasm lacing her tone. "That song is my jam… my lady jam."

I could feel my cheeks burn even more as very inappropriate images of Chloe flooded my mind. And I knew by the teasing smirk that adorned her face that she definitely said that to get this exact reaction out of me.

"You continue to amaze me every day," Chloe confessed, and her tone shifted from teasing to serious. Her blue eyes were burning with sincerity and the complement caused my brain to short-circuit and I couldn't form coherent sentences.

"Chloe, I uh, I-" I stammered over my words. I huffed out a sigh of frustration and ran my fingers through my brown locks, hoping that would help me formulate my thoughts. "I was wondering what exactly is going on between you and I?"

"I don't know," she shrugged and I could tell she had more to say but was trying to figure out how to say what she was thinking. "All I know is that I enjoy talking with you when there isn't this ominous threat lurking behind us. I feel safe with you in a way that is more than just the fact that you can protect me from danger. I feel safe being me and knowing that you won't judge me or push me to be someone I'm not."

Right then I wanted to reach for her and kiss her, to not say anything at all and show her how I feel. But we needed to have this discussion, it was important to me to hear her say what she's feeling. So instead of kissing her, I reached out and holding her hand in mine, giving it a reassuring squeeze that I was listening to everything she was saying.

"Now is probably the worst time for us to jump into anything," she murmured, looking down at our interlocked fingers. The sentence made my heart plummet into my stomach. That wasn't where I was expecting that tangent to go, but the feeling subsided when she continued speaking. "But I don't really care if it isn't a good time, it may never be a good time. And I don't want these feelings to pass us by and for us to miss out on something that could be amazing. So, I say we just take things one day at a time and see where it leads us."

"Yeah," I hummed in agreement. "That sounds nice."

It sounded better than nice, it sounded amazing. We've had so much thrown at us in the past few weeks, and now we could have the opportunity to have some time to just be ourselves and see where it brings us. I was overcome with a feeling I hadn't felt in a while.

Hopeful.