A/N: Hey guys! I suck at posting updates to my stories, apparently. School has been real crazy, which is a lame excuse, but it's all that I've got and whatnot. Anyways...
JustADreamer24: I hope that this chapter will answer some of your questions. Thanks for leaving another fabulous review!
Chapter Eleven
Hospital Room
"Why didn't you come back? You promised that you'd always come back."
Mac stares over at Babette for a moment, a slightly pained frown appearing on his face that Babette is sure comes from more than the cracked ribs and stitches in his arm. He doesn't say anything as he slowly stands from the wheelchair, slowly hobbling over to the bed where Babette is sitting.
She sniffles slightly, scooting away from him as he sits down next to her. He places a hand on her shoulder and squeezes it slightly. "I'm really sorry… And, I wish I could explain what's going on but… I can't."
"Why can't you tell me?" She grumbles, her face pulled down in a frown. "Please… I just want to know why you never spoke to me again."
Mac sighs, rubbing his good hand over his face and shutting his eyes slowly. He stays silent for a moment, keeping his eyes closed and shaking his head slightly.
"Fine… Just don't tell anyone that I told you." Mac mumbles slightly before he starts speaking. "I was going to come back after the army, but I joined the Phoenix and I had to lay low for a while."
He takes a breath, looking over at Babette who had scooted slightly closer, before continuing his rather lengthy explanation.
"Um… And after that, I wanted to pick you up from the orphanage you were staying at, but then… something came up."
"What came up?" Babette asks quietly, the sixteen-year-old having now leaned her head against Mac's shoulder seemingly without her realizing.
"You parents… They weren't trying to find you or anything, but they started hacking into our systems and trying to gain information about our past ops." He rubs the back of his neck, his eyes drifting to the ground. "I couldn't… They would have found you, and I couldn't let that happen."
"My parents?" Babette frowns as Mac wraps his uninjured arm around her shoulders, but she does nothing to stop him.
"They were international thieves. They weren't on our radar until they started trying to get our information." Mac squeezes her shoulder lightly, carefully to avoid her arm which had just recently been put in a splint. "I really wanted to contact you, but my boss wouldn't let me. She said they would find you… They're still trying to find you."
Mac stops, his voice breaking slightly as he presses a kiss to the top of her head. He seems shocked as Babette snuggles up against him and presses her face against his chest. He stays silent for a moment before speaking in a slightly quiet tone.
"That's why nobody can know that you're here. Matty doesn't want to risk you getting caught." He mumbles softly, stroking her hair with his free hand. "Are you… I'm just really sorry."
"I forgive you." She says quietly, keeping her face pressed against his chest as her muffled voice drifts up to him. "I was never mad, I don't think."
Legal Office
Jack blinks slowly, staring at Bozer for a moment in shock. He eventually gives a slightly nervous laugh and claps him on the shoulder.
"Must be a different person. I don't think anyone's from Mission City 'cept you and Mac."
Bozer shakes his head quickly, arms crossing against his chest as he stares at Jack in disbelief. "I don't believe you. It has to be that Babette."
The legal worker's eyes widen and he scoots away from the desk, taking the file with him. He looks at Jack and nods slightly, as if to say that he has nothing to do with whatever is about to happen. The man goes into a back room and quickly shuts the door, leaving Jack and Boxer sitting in awkward silence.
"Well, look at that Dalton. You've already spilled information on the Morris case. Well done. Want to tell Bozer about any other high priority operations while you're at it?" Matty's voice suddenly sounds from the door and Jack quickly turns around, flashing her a sheepish smile.
"Hey boss… It really wasn't my fault though." Jack says as he awkwardly rubs the back of his neck. "I didn't actually tell him anything."
"Mhm… I'm sure." Matty sounds quite unconvinced as she steps further into the room, arms crossed against her chest. "Now, if you're done sharing information with Bozer, I need you to come do your job. Sound good?"
Jack nods at her, standing from the chair and quickly walking out the door after Matty. He shakes his head, mumbling slightly under his breath as he walks towards the War Room. He holds the door for Matty and then steps inside after her. Matty walks to the front of the War Room and then looks out at the room where Riley, Jack, and a few random agents are scattered around.
"We found the connection between the Morris case, F.A., and the girl." Matty says as the hum of talking begins to die down. "Riley?"
The hacker nods and quickly types something into her keyboard, moving one hand in a swiping motion. Several files and maps appear on the screen and Jack's eyes widen as a very familiar looking map appears off to the side. He had studied that map once before. When he and Mac had been in the Army together.
Hospital Room
"How about I get you out of this stuffy hospital room?" Mac says as he lifts his head from on top of Babette's. "I'll take you on a quick tour of my place of employment."
Babette nods slowly, lifting her head from Mac's shoulder. She fiddles with the strap of the splint on her arm as she swings her legs over the edge of the bed. Mac stands up slowly, carefully shifting his bandaged arm to rest against his chest. He holds out his good arm and helps Babette up from the bed. He then walks towards the door, helping Babette out of the room and then down the hall.
Babette and Mac walk down the hall side by side, the teen leaning against Mac's side and mumbling something to herself under her breath. He laughs slightly as he hears what she's mumbling about and he squeezes her shoulder.
"You're a dork. You know that?" He says to her as they walk, turning the corner and then stopping in front of the elevator. "Why are you mumbling about plans for a taco bomb?"
"Cause I'm bored?" She responds in an uncertain tone, a slightly embarrassed smile on her face. "But you'll let me make it, right? I really wanna try to make it."
"Yeah. Once we get this all figured out, we can make taco bombs." Mac says with a laugh, moving as the elevator door opens. "Whatever that means."
"So… You get all the ingredients of a taco, right?" Babette's face breaks into a grin as she starts to explain her idea, her hands waving around slightly as she speaks. She keeps talking, even as they get off the elevator and Mac begins to walk her towards the War Room.
Mac laughs as Babette pulls at his sleeve slightly, an excited glint in her eye as her explanation gets even more insane. He kisses the top of her head, putting his good arm around her shoulders as he stops at the door to the War Room. He's about to step inside when Jack suddenly rushes out, stopping quickly and just narrowly missing running into the pair of them.
"Jack? What's going on?"
"Oh, thank goodness." Jack breaths out, placing a hand on Mac's shoulder and squeezing lightly. "You almost gave me a heart attack there bud. Here we thought you'd been kidnapped or somethin', but turns out you're just being a bad patient. Again."
"Why would I be kidnapped?" Mac says in confusion. "You stopped the guys that were kidnapping Babe."
"Turns out that their boss, the F.A. guy, is still out and about." Jack says with a slight nod before his
gaze shifts towards Babette. He looks her over for a short moment and then looks at Mac again. "We managed to intercept one of his messages… He's working with them."
"With them? You mean them them." Mac asks with a slightly panicked edge to his voice, his hold on Babette tightening slightly.
"Oh yeah." Jack nods quickly, waving one hand for Mac to follow him into the room. "And you'll never guess who F.A. is."
Mac lifts one blond eyebrow, walking in after Jack. He keeps an arm around Babette's shoulders who, while being rather talkative around him, was in fact quite terrible around other people. A fact that was only strengthened by her Synesthesia. She has become quite good at hiding it since when she was five, but Mac could always tell when she was feeling something. Always.
"So…" Matty stands at the front of the War Room, looking at the small group of agents that she'd gathered. Hers eyes flicker towards Mac and Babe as they enter with Jack, but there's no falter in her speech. "You are all the people that I have brought in on the Morris Case, and you are the only people that are ever going to know about the case. Got it?"
She looks around the room, staring pointedly at Jack before she looks at the group at large. The group gives a rather convoluted response that sounds like several mumbles of 'Yes.' 'Of course.' and, from Jack, 'Sir, yes sir.'
"Good. Now, to the information that we have." She turns to the screen for a moment, waving one hand at the many maps. "We now know that the Morris family has, in fact, been working for F.A. this entire time. They were paid to steal the weapons from the military and the information from us. The Phoenix Foundation has been chasing the Morris family for five years now, and we've been going after the wrong people this whole time."
Mac had placed himself on one of the empty couches while Matty had been speaking, Babette sitting down so close to him that she's practically pressed against his side. Her brown eyes stare down at the ground, her fingers fidgeting with the paperclip B that Mac had given him.
"So, what we're going to do is look for F.A. The last transmission we managed to intercept was him informing the Morris family that they were no longer needed. It's clear now that he-" She cuts off, eyes darting towards where Babette is sitting.
Mac shakes his head slightly at Matty and she gives a nod, shooting him a knowing look as she continues the explanation. He lets out a slightly relieved breath and Babe looks up at him in confusion. He simply shoots her a small smile and then listens to Matty again.
"It turns out that F.A. stands for Fazl Abdulrashid." Matty continues and only Babe can feel the slight flinch that runs through Mac's body at the mention of the name. "He runs a huge organization in the Middle East. They call themselves 'Adil' and they seem to think that they're fighting for the greater good."
"Sure. Greater good my…" Jack trails off with a slight glance in Babette's direction. He shakes his head, scoffing slightly as he continues speaking in an agitated tone. "They don't do nothing for the greater good. They sure weren't thinkin' of anything good when they shot Mac full of lead!"
Matty shoots him a glare and he silences himself quickly, folding his hands tightly in front of his body. She nods slightly and then turns back to the screen, speaking in a low voice. "Mac and Jack, you're officially off the case. You're too close to this, and I can't risk that getting in the way."
Jack splutters slightly and Mac simply frowns, looking down at Babette who had fallen asleep against his side. Matty crosses her arms, waiting for either of them to argue. When they make no move to argue, but don't begin to move either, she claps her hands together and then points at the door.
"I'm taking you off of the Morris Case, or the Adil Case, or whatever you want to call it, which means that you can't be here." Matty lifts both eyebrow slightly before continuing. "We both know what happened after your last encounter with Adil. I only read the file, but it wasn't a pleasant read."
"When someone shoots my boy, I'm going to do something about it. I'm sorry my methods aren't up to your standards." Jack says with an annoyed glare in Matty's direction as he heads towards the door. "If you're tryin' to hold the past over my head like some shameful thing, then I'm sorry, but I don't see why takin' care of my boy is anything to be shameful of.
With that said, Jack leaves the War Room and Mac and Babette quickly follow after him after receiving another glare from Matty. It was at that moment, Babette thinks as she looks back on the moment, that she realized she and Jack Dalton would get along fine. Mac might be something different to her, something more like a father (if she were willing to accept that), she would do anything to take care of him too.