SORRY IT'S BEEN SO LONG. LIFE IS HECTIC AND GETS IN THE WAY SOMETIMES.

Bronwyn closed her eyes and tried willing her roiling emotions to calm and the myriad of thoughts to slow enough to make sense of recent events. The steady beeping of the hospital monitors helped, oddly enough. As long as the monitors were beeping, and not blaring, it meant that they were stable. She took a few deep breaths and opened her eyes.

Better. Not good, but better. Thank God the twins were safely out of the Country with their paternal grandparents – a trip designed to keep them safe and away from any threats that could be posed by Louden. A trip made possible thanks to Webb's many connections.

Chegwidden lay unconscious in the bed to her right, while Galindez was in the bed to her left – likewise unconscious. Surgery had been successful, both men were stable and improving. Good. But they shouldn't be there in the first place. They had been shot because of her. Because of their refusal to allow her to go anywhere by herself. They had insisted on one of them being with her at all times, just in case Louden made another move.

Well, he'd made a move alright. And, like before, it had come from out of nowhere, from a distance. Chegwidden had been hit first; once in the shoulder and once in the thigh. Galindez had been hit twice in the chest immediately after, as he tried to shove her out of the way. She'd been much too busy trying to staunch the wounds of the fallen men to even have the opportunity to catch a glimpse of Louden or where his sniper's lair might have been. It was pretty obvious by now that he wasn't trying to kill her – or he could have done so on several occasions. No… he wanted her to suffer. To fear him. What he was really doing was pissing her off.

Rabb was still incommunicado – and had been for two days. Webb was in Russia, as was MacKenzie. Webb had been alerted to a plot to assassinate the Russian President and he'd asked for help to foil that plot. She had agreed, but Bronwyn knew it had more to do with Rabb, than Putin. Nevertheless, she was grateful that Rabb was still out of the Country. At least he wouldn't be a target – for now.

The buzzing of her cellphone shook her out of her reverie. As she took the phone out of her pocket, she stood up and moved toward the window to answer it.

"O'Malley."

"They will not be the last."

Louden.

"Well, well," she sighed, rage coursing through her veins. "The coward deigns to speak."

"Mind your manners, dear Bronwyn. You know I will not tolerate disrespect."

She pulled the phone away from her ear and stared at it, incredulous.

"Disrespect? Disrespect?! I'll show you disrespect, you sniveling coward," she hissed.

"Silence!" he snapped. "How dare you speak to me like that – after all I have done for you?!"

"What, little man…? Other than to steal a year of my life from me, hurting the people I love, threatening my children… What do you think you have done for me?!"

"Your children," he sneered hatefully. "I tried to rid you of the burden those spawn would become. They should have never been born!"

It hit her like a ton of bricks. The accident. It hadn't truly been an accident after all. He had somehow managed to drive her off the road without leaving a trace of his involvement. Just as he'd managed to erase any trace of Rabb from her apartment before Chegwidden got there.

"I will kill you, Louden. Before I let you get anywhere near my children, I will kill you."

"And now you have taken up with Rabb again?!" he continued. "I took you from him once, and I will do it again – permanently this time."

"Going to try and kill me again? Run my car off the road? Put a bullet in me?" she demanded.

"You refused to listen to reason, dear Bronwyn. Insisted that you loved him – that you were having his baby… I wasn't going to allow that to happen. I wasn't going to allow him to have you. You belong to me. Only me. I swore that if I could not have you, then neither would he – or anyone else. When you survived the crash, I knew it was a sign. But when you lost all memory of him?" he trailed off, laughing humorlessly. "I knew it was destiny. You had been cleansed. I knew I was right; that you truly belonged to me. That we would be together, just the two of us."

"Guess that didn't work out the way you planned, eh?" she snarked.

"Your bothersome benefactor, Chegwidden whisked you away. But I was okay with that – as long as you weren't with Rabb. It gave me time."

"Time?" her brow furrowed in confusion. "Time for what?"

"To prepare everything we will need for our life together. It's ready now. It's time," he informed her.

"No thank you," she told him.

"You will do as you are told, Bronwyn."

She laughed, loudly, into the phone. "You don't know me very well, Louden."

"Bronwyn…" he said, his tone increasingly angry.

"No," she stopped him. "You know what? You want me? Come and get me. Me, Louden. Nobody else. Come at me directly – or do you only strike from the shadows, like all cowards?" she taunted before hanging up on him.

She could almost hear the howl of rage he was surely expelling at that. As expected, her phone rang again a heartbeat later. She declined the call – a move designed to enrage him further. She needed him to lose it. He'd been so careful all this time. So controlled. She needed him to lose that control. It would make him sloppy, and sloppy would get him caught. With any luck, this would all be over with by the time Rabb came home, and she wouldn't have to worry about him getting shot and/or killed trying to protect her. Her phone continued to ring for the next thirty minutes and he left several angry, rage-fueled rants and threats on her voice mail before finally giving up.

She looked at Chegwidden and somberly shook her head. "Sorry Pop…. I have to do this…" she murmured before planting a tender kiss on his forehead and striding out of the room.

The guards placed by NCIS were standing at attention on either side of the door as she exited. She gave each of them a nod. "Don't you let anything happen to them," she warned.

"Yes ma'am," they replied in unison.

As she drove out of the parking lot, she knew there would be at least one car on her tail – protection detail ordered by NCIS, but she knew she could lose them easily enough. She had only a narrow window of opportunity to draw Louden in before the cavalry descended on her.

Once she lost her tail, she drove straight to Rabb's apartment and parked her car there before grabbing a passing taxi to take her home. She knew that the car would draw anyone looking for her straight to it – except for Louden. He always seemed to know where she was at any given time. She would be home alone – for at least thirty minutes. If he wanted to try and grab her – that would be the time to do it.

She was fully prepared when, not five minutes later, she heard the front door knob rattling before the door swung inward. She had an array of weapons spread out before her and hidden throughout the house, in case she needed them. What she wasn't prepared for, however, was the sight of the man she encountered as she slipped into the living room and pointed her gun at his head.

"Bron!" he called out in alarm.

Her heart pounding, and her knees suddenly weak, she lowered her gun and put her hand over her mouth as she stared up at him in shock and dismay.

"Harm…"

"Bron, what the hell…?!" he muttered.

"This is how the mother of your children greets you after an absence?"

She glanced at the shorter man standing slightly behind and to the left of Rabb. She didn't know him, but something seemed very familiar about him.

"Not usually," Rabb shrugged, more than a little concerned. "What gives?"

"You were supposed to be someone else," she replied dryly.

"Good to know," he nodded, arching an eyebrow at her. "I think."

"Long story," she sighed.

"Who, Bronwyn?" he asked.

"Later," she told him. "Who's your…." And then it hit her. Those eyes. She knew those eyes. "Oh my God!" she gasped, staring at the younger man who had come in with Rabb.

He smiled nervously at her, caught off guard by her apparent recognition of him and wondering how she could possibly know about him when Rabb hadn't been able to reach her.

"Sergei Zhukov, this is Bronwyn O'Malley," Rabb began. "Bron, this is…"

"Your brother," she finished for him.

They looked at her in surprise.

"Webb?" Rabb asked.

"I haven't spoken to Clay since he left for Russia," she replied.

"Then… how?" Sergei asked.

"I'd know those eyes anywhere," she told him. "Harm Sr. had those eyes, as do Harm and the twins."

"You are quite observant," he smiled.

"I can't wait to hear all about this and, Sergei… welcome. You are most welcome here, I'm sure the children will be thrilled to have an Uncle."

"Speaking of which," Rabb interrupted. "Where are the twins?" he asked. "Not here, I'm sure, given how you greeted us, but…. Where?"

She blinked up at him for a moment, confused. "You don't… she didn't… Clay would have…" she stammered.

"I saw Webb for about five seconds, so no… What… Bron, what the hell is going on?" Rabb demanded.

"Colonel MacKenzie didn't tell you?" she wondered out loud.

"Tell me what? Are the kids okay?" he asked, suddenly very alarmed.

"They're fine… they're safe. They're with your mother and Frank… in hiding out of the Country," she informed him.

"What happened?" he asked, taking her by the shoulders.

She led both men to the kitchen and explained everything that had happened since he'd left for Russia. The attack on her and the kids, the shooting of Chegwidden and Galindez, and finally the threats made by Louden, as well as the revelation that he had been responsible for the crash that had nearly taken her life five years before. As he listened to each shocking revelation he grew more and more angry.

"This is… most disturbing," Sergei said, watching his brother pace back and forth.

"And you were all set to take him on all by your onesie, weren't you?" Rabb stared at her. "That's why… the gun… and the arsenal here."

"Yes," she nodded.

"No," he countered. "No way. Not happening."

"Excuse me?" she narrowed her eyes at him.

"You are not doing this, Bron. You're going to call Webb and have him send you wherever the kids are with my folks and you're going to hunker down until we catch this guy," he told her.

The thunderous look on her face was enough to make Sergei back up a few paces and clamp his mouth shut. And he didn't even know her well enough to be afraid of her, yet.

"Care to repeat that?" she asked, stepping right up to him and staring into his eyes.

He recognized that look, but he couldn't help himself. He couldn't – no, wouldn't – risk losing her again. That lunatic Louden had very nearly taken her from him forever, he wasn't about to give him another chance at it.

"I'm not letting that psycho anywhere near you," he said, digging his heels in.

"That's what Dad said, Gunny too, and look where they are!" she argued. "And if you think for one second that I am going to sit back and paint my toenails, while you slap a target on your own back, then you've either forgotten a whole lot about me, or you never knew me to begin with!"

"I'm not trying to say…"

She cut him off with a glare and continued. "I am not some delicate little flower who needs to be locked in a bunker to keep me safe. I am the daughter of not one, but two Navy SEALS. My mother was an exceptional cop. Do you really think I haven't been taught everything there is to know about how to handle myself? How to fight? How to survive? Or how to hunt down a rabid wolf like Louden and kill him if need be?! Even without counting my own military training?!"

He knew that. All of it. She had already taken one of the steps he would have himself, had he been there when Louden first attacked. Sending the twins away for their own safety.

"I was hoping to have all this wrapped up by the time you came home, but…" she trailed off, her eyes widening in realization. "Damn it…"

"What?" he asked.

"He's probably out there – watching – right now. He could have put a bullet in your back when you walked up…." she told him. "In both of you – and he won't hesitate to do it, given a clean shot."

"Let him try," Rabb scoffed.

"NO!" she cried. "He took down my Dad, Harm. Coward that he is, he shot him from a distance, intent on taking out any potential resistance that might stand in his way, and he'll do that to you too – and Sergei now…"

"We Rabb men are not so easily killed," Sergei assured her.

"You don't understand… I purposely baited him into coming after me. I wanted it to be over. The kids were safe, you were safe, my Dad, Gunny… injured but safe… it was the perfect plan, but now you're back. And he's out there. Yes, all the windows are covered, but the moment either of you sticks his head out the door, he's going to have you in his crosshairs and he will take that shot."