Hey guys! I got another random review today, and yet again it motivated me to continue with another chapter. (Actually I got just another review last night, so I got two more!) Thankyou my lovelies ^-^ I also have a great idea of starting another new Tabby fic that's more of an AU based around them being teachers. Please leave a review and if you'd like me to start the new story I've just mentioned, a few phrases do come from other places and I do not take credit for them.
-D
For an American, Abby considered herself pretty smart at finding her way around the British historical maze. What Townsend never knew was that her infatuation for Hampton Court Palace was really intense. She didn't have the heart to tell him that she basically knew the palace inside out from her own personal research (and the internet). It made sense; she would lull Townsend into the maze and shock him by beating him to the chase (no pun intended). Running through the maze remembering the aerial map of the maze she had memorised many years ago, Abby knew deep down she had this in the bag. Finally she would have some more leverage on Townsend that she could constantly gloat about. Her internal clock recorded her time she completed the maze in to be 4 minutes and 38 seconds.
Smugly praising herself, Abby perched herself on a bench and decided to wait patiently for Townsend to appear, knowing that the surprised expression on his face would be priceless. She was all alone and took in the beautiful scenery around her; the gardens were so extensive, with flowers blooming in all its different varieties around her. The sunlight blocked by the clouds passing over it, leaving a cloudy overcast which she hoped would disappear soon as she loved sunshine. Maybe she'd thank Townsend for taking her here, she thought to herself. What she didn't expect however was a woman she already vaguely knew fast approaching with a knife. Abigail Cameron is not one who is taken by surprise very often, but finding her perched on the bench next to her with her blade pressed neatly into her throat in one swift, fluid motion most definitely temporarily stunned her.
Abby sighed, not even flinching. "You see, I'm trying to my best to be polite here, Allison. Although, if you move that blade a centimetre closer to me, I will tear you apart."
"Ah, so you do know who I am, I didn't think my little performance with dear Edward caught your eye." She smirked; taking in Abby's unwavering expression was a clear indicator that she had seen the whole thing.
"Whatever you do with that idiot is really none of my business, nor do I care. Sorry." She challenged, she refused to let Allison believe that she cared for the arrogant Brit, which she totally didn't.
"We're going to take a little a little trip, Abigail."
"Not if I can bloody well help it." Abby muttered, reaching for the gun strapped to her thigh. Within seconds she could feel the blade digging into her throat just a little bit more. The glare she gave her at that moment, let's just say, if looks could kill, she'd been staked, buried, dug up and then staked again for good measure.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Allison signalled to the little girl and her mother who had entered the scene, complete oblivious to the fact that two trained operatives were about to brawl. Abby was trained and ready to fight, but even she wouldn't place a child and mother in a dangerous situation like this if she could avoid it.
Gritting her teeth as she battled the exit strategies in her mind, she reluctantly followed Allison who had now switched to holding the blade tightly to her side; the slightest touch could've impaled her. This is what happens when I finally start to have a little fun, she cursed to herself, wondering just when Townsend would realise that she had vanished.
Luckily for her, it didn't take very long at all.
Only a few minutes later, Townsend exited the hedge maze and had started to wonder where his irritating partner in crime had gone, surely it wouldn't have taken her that long to find her way out?
Getting lost in his thoughts, he nearly missed his phone ringing loudly in his pocket. Fumbling around frantically in his pocket, he pulled out his phone to see Allison's ID appear on the screen. He drew in a deep breath.
"Allison how lovely to hear from you-"
"Where's Abigail Cameron, Edward?" She sung gleefully.
"Sorry, you must have me mistaken; I don't know who she is." Townsend objected, hoping that the thoughts running through his mind were only hypothetical; he started quickly glancing around at his surroundings, almost silently pleading that he would see her appearing round the corner, as if it was all a prank.
"Abigail Cameron, CIA. Sister Rachel Morgan, CIA, niece Cameron Ann Morgan current student at the Gallagher Academy, protection detail of Macey McHenry. Shall I continue? She purred.
"Where is she, Allison?" Rage bubbled over; Townsend swore that the next annoying thing that would come into contact with him would meet an unfortunate fate.
"You're lucky; she's such a tough kitty. She hasn't uttered a word since the torturing began-"
"WHERE IS SHE?" He boomed, not allowing his mind to dart to the pictures of Abby being tortured
"Why don't you pay a visit to our base that you attempted to 'infiltrate' some time ago? I have a few friends who are very eager to meet you."
"Oh, and don't bring any reinforcements, or your dear Abigail will be dead within the hour. Ciao." The phone cut off.
Townsend thought that losing her in the palace was already enough today; clearly sod's law had other plans for him. He grumbled as he briskly walked back to his car.
He really wished he never had to visit this place again. If Abby hadn't been injured last time, he would've blown up the place himself. This time however, he was feeling like a pyromaniac. Knowing that the doors would be heavily guarded, he opted for the walking straight through the entrance technique, releasing some of his pent up rage on the guards.
Once security was dealt with, Townsend could hear faint screaming haunting the hallowed hallways of the facility. Townsend raced towards the shrill screams that came from Abby, those sounds would haunt him for a very long time, he didn't know that they would keep him up for the next few weeks. Sourcing the sound of Abby's screams, he found her gaged, hands cuffed to a chair, and deep cuts in her arms and legs and her eyes wide with, fear? No, it was warning. Her once bright emerald eyes now rimmed with tears as her eyes fell onto her chest which had a ticking bomb attached to it.
"Oh god, Abby-" he started as he rushed for her.
"Mmmmm...mmmm" she started shifting in her seat. Townstead gently ripped the tape off her mouth.
"They'll be back, they've got AK47s. Please, untie me from this chair, I'll deal with the bomb." She pleaded.
"No, I'll do it. You just calm down."
"Edward, now is not to the time to argue, I've been trained in disengaging bombs, this is a mere distraction. Allison is in the room on the left of the corridor. They talk of a bigger bomb the Circle intend to use in London tonight."
"Fine. I'll take out our friends here, you head for that other bomb."
"Roger that."
Townsend pulled his gun out of his holster and continued onwards. The hallways had framed images of the Circle descenedents followed by quotes, if he wasn't so preoccupied he'd have photographed them and sent them back to Elizabeth Sutton for analysis. Upon finding the room, Townsend was met with a familiar face.
"Townsend, darling, I can't say the pleasure is all mine-" without letting her finish, he had already spun her round and had her neck poised, ready to snap.
He leant close and whispered in her ear. "I would really appreciate it if you'd just tell me where the bomb is, Allison." He murmured, tightening his grip on her neck.
"Kill me, I am nothing but a loyal pawn to the Circle. We will change the world, sacrifice is neccesary for the revolution to succeed." She spluttered, her face broke out into a Cheshire Cat grin.
Her head signalled to the camera screens recording footage from the other rooms. Her next sentence was almost chilling.
"Sacrifice is necessary on both sides." A man with a large gun entered Abby's room. Townsend cursed as he watched her fiddling with the bomb, immersed in it so much that she didn't realise the attacker had emerged. Coming to his senses, Townsend grabbed the handcuffs from his pocket and cuffed her to the nearest chair.
Meanwhile Abby has beads of sweat surfacing as she carefully cut the wires the way she was taught to. Only at the last second, from the corner of her eye did she see her attacker coming through the reflection of a window.
"Why can't you guys ever come when I'm completely prepared to kick your ass." She moaned as she rose, ready to collide with her attacker. Dodging her attackers blows, she rapidly slammed the gun out of his hands and roundhouse kicked him, his head slamming the ground, instantly knocking him out.
Townsend appears, panting, "Are you ok?"
"I'm peachy, you took a while."
"Why do you have to be like this, Abigail."
"Ohh, how was Allison by the way. Did you guys catch up?" She rolled her eyes, finally now feeling the stings and aches of the cuts they'd inflicted on her earlier.
"It's okay to not be strong sometimes, Abigail."
"Oh that's rich coming from you Townsend." She retorted almost instantaneously, and just like that, two of the most highly trained operatives were bickering, yet again.
During this time, the unconscious attacker had awoken and slowly reached for his gun, thanking the fact that the duo were so stubborn and volatile that they had assumed he was out cold.
Aiming his gun on Abby, Townsend heard the release of the safety of his gun and pushed Abby out of the line of fire as he aimed his shot at her. Impacting the blow, Townsend crumpled to the floor having taken a shot to his abdomen. Reinforcement soldiers filled the room ready to attack Abby.
Within that moment, something changed within Abby. She almost turned inhumane, frantically attacking the rest of the attackers, savagely. It was almost grotesque how quickly she took their lives away without even comprehending it, the pure rage had taken over her, and it scared Townsend. Truly scared him. Her hands move with a mind of its own, ruthlessly taking down the operatives surrounding her. Very rarely had he seen her become like this, each time he tried to erase the memories from his brain, how the life had drained from her eyes as she ruthlessly killed those who harmed those close to her, what was weird about it was that she didn't have to be dead for the life to be drained from her eyes. The humanity vanished as she took out 20 operatives alone, Townsend immobile, was forced to watch his brilliant partner do the best she could in the situation, it wasn't for long as he could hear he grunting as she continued to fight. Darkness swirled around him as he felt his world turn black.
He woke to a sharp press to his wound. Her other hand slapping his face (lightly, or what Abby would define as so) pleading for her partner to wake up.
"We've got to stop this bleeding, can you make a scene in a time I don't need you next time, okay?"
"...the bomb-" he spluttered, eyes almost automatically opening.
"Whilst you were out, me and Allison had a nice conversation, you could say."
"Did she struggle too much?"
"I find it offensive how you doubt my intetrogation tactics."
"I have good reason to, Abigail." Townsend winced; the conversation was sapping the little amount of energy he had left.
"Whatever, no, I had her singing like a, what do you British people call it? A canary? Yes, I had her singing like a canary." At that moment, Townsend couldn't care what had just happened; he was taken by the beautiful smile that had spread over her face.
Catching him staring, she nimbly embraced him. "To answer your question your dying to know, we found out where the bomb was, MI6 are on the scene. You can relax now, help is on its way. How about we go to the hospital, huh?
"Oh, definitely."
Abby managed to lugg her heavy, half concious partner to his car and stepped on the gas.
The doors burst open; Abby started shouting for help, dragging her partner by the arm as he limply followed. Blood dripped from his fresh wound onto the sceptic floors, her own injuries fresh and seeping through her clothes. Doctors swirled around her partner, badgering him with questions at the secure hospital. What nobody expected was for him to lose consciousness so suddenly, she thought that he would be ok. She would kick his ass later for lying to her and saying 'its just a scratch.'
Panic filled her like a balloon, all at once with intensity. She rushed to the aid of him, only to hear the doctors ordering their nurses to prepare for surgery. She lifted his heavy head into her lap and looked at the doctors for help. Only then did the doctors notice her own state and insisted that she was seen. The wounds didn't hurt her, she couldn't feel anything but numbness, refusing to be seen until Townsend was well.
The surgery lasted only an hour, she had fallen asleep by the vieing window, the fatgiuge gaining on her. It was midnight in the surgery wing, she shrugged the sleep off and went in search of Townsend's bay. Sleeping in random places really mucked up her hair, she realised, taking in her reflection as she looked at the mirror. The operating doctor stopped her and updated her on his stability, explaining that he should be awake in an hour or two. Relief washed over her as she found his bed to find him sleeping peacefully, bandaged heavily around his middle. His wavy hair, even despite all it had gone through hadn't lost its signature look, which irritated her. How can he still look so perfect after going through hell?
"That's so not fair." She grumbled, following the nurse to get her wounds seen to.
Underestimating just how long it would take for her wounds to be seen to, Abby could recall receiving an additional 5 different stitches in different areas, because having one in her side clearly wasn't enough. Her thoughts were disrupted by a hobbling Townsend attempting to 'knock' on her curtain as if it was a door he needed permission to enter. Maybe he was high off the morphine?
"You're meant to be in bed, you're the injured one, Townsend." She sighed, it had been long day and all she wanted was to be curled up in that darn hotel bed.
The nurse looked between the two of them and excused herself. Townsend thanked her on her way out.
He took two stride towards her and gently traced his hand over her stitches, lifting her shirt up to check the major wound she had received only recently. A sad expression caused his face to frown.
"I'm fine, nothing but a few scratches."
"I'll kill her." Townsend seethed.
"Oh no, Rachel will do that way before you do."
"Abigail, are you alright?" He gazed deeply into her eyes, their faces now inches away from each other. The duo were silent for a while.
"I'm fabulous. You however aren't fine." She took in his appearance, somehow he seemed unwatered by the whole ordeal. Moving her hand from her side, she felt the soft bandaging from his surgery and almost winced as he stilled at her touch.
"It's time for you to rest, now you can either move there yourself or I'll drag you myself." Raising herself from the examining bench, she placed an arm on his shoulder and gently shoved him forward.
"Oh Abigail, you're no fun sometimes." He staggered as he started moving back to his room. Somehow maintaining his composure despite being heavily drugged.
"That's my line, I'll have you know-" she was cut off by his lips meeting hers desperately, crushing her almost. It took seconds for her to respond snaking an arm around his neck, however he had other plans as he lifted her over his shoulder as if she weighed nothing. The duo walked back to his bay, well, technically he carried her all the way, ignoring the hurl of insults she flung at him.
Finally he came to a halt, placing her on his bed which he got in besides her. As soon as she hit the bed, she could feel the sleep coming back, her body started relaxing and given ten minutes, she was out cold. Townsend fell asleep besides her, satisfied that she was in his eye sight, allowing himself to fall asleep with a ghost of a smile on face.
Later that morning, Abby woke up to see the face of the Director perched in the chair in the corner waiting for the first one to wake. As soon as her eyes laid on him, she jumped out of her skin, pretending like she hadn't been caught in the arms of her comrade in a single bed.
"I can explain…" She started, facing the Director's curious gaze.
"Don't bother Abby; you don't need to bother explaining anything." He chuckled, the smouldering flame in his chocolate eyes settled on her.
"Why are you here? I mean you don't really fly out to check on your agents." She shot him a questioning look as she fixed her clothes and carefully removed herself from the bed and walked over to meet him.
"I wanted to personally deliver this to you and also check that the two have you hadn't killed each other yet." He said, handing her a case file with a stamp labelled 'classified for authorised personnel only' in big letters.
"You'll be working a case with one of Interpol's best, Amelia Bennet. There are reports of robberies in some very high profile museums with some leads; we're sending you, and possibly Agent Townsend, depending on how fast his recovery is, to work with Interpol for this case." He finished, eyes trained on Abby the whole time.
"Yes sir, I'm sure Townsend will probably be fine for it, I'd rather he left me alone though. WHY DID YOU MAKE OUR COVER A MARRIED COUPLE?" She growled, gritting her teeth, trying to avoid waking Townsend up.
"Quit the act, Abby. It seems like you two both needed the excuse." A slow grin took over his face, taking in the angry facial expression Abby was currently wearing. Clenching her fists at her sides, she silently willed herself not to bark back at her boss.
Her silence was a victory for him. Turning his head to Townsend, Abby followed his gaze and saw Townsend stirring.
"With that, I shall take my exit. Until next time, Abby." The Director heaved, making his way for the door.
"Have a safe trip back, sir." Abby mock waved him out, discreetly closing the door and taking in a huge sigh of relief.
"Amelia Bennet, it's certainly been too long." Townsend said as he started to straighten himself up on the bed. Running a hand through his now mussed pillow head. What a cute bedhead, Abby thought.
"Old flame?" Abby questioned the look on his face; it was a mixture of happiness and confusion. Taking a seat by his bedside, she started playing with a loose lock, twiddling it between her fingers as Townsend set his eyes on it.
"It's a long story, Abigail. Now isn't really the time."
"I swear, if she's another woman you've slept with, and had another child with that you 'apparently' didn't know about, I may actually kill you."
Townsend belted a strong throaty chuckle. "No, no, it's not that."
"If you don't want to talk to be about it, all you have to do is just say." Her expression showing the slightest turn of a frown. Abby is a master at hiding her feelings, unfortunately, her partner was no match for her. She was good, he'd admit that, but not that good.
Registering the subtle change in expression, Townsend leaned over and took her hand in his. She looked up from underneath her thick rimmed lashes to find his eyes look softening at the sight.
"Just so you know, I knew my way around that maze." She grumbled, her face giving way a Zachary Goode-level smirk.
"I always knew you did."
"But you accepted those conditions and still played along?" Townsend nodded, he couldn't say no to that smile on her face. It was similar to a childish sense of awe, and the competitive nature of a panther mixed into one. He left her thinking to herself. Disrupting the silence, Abby blurted.
"You know, I technically found my way out of the maze first."
"On the contrary, Abigail-"
"Hell no, I got out of there first, I was kidnapped by your psychopath ex girlfriend. That's not my fault." She argued. She was not going to let him live this one down.
"You definitely wouldn't be here now without me coming to your rescue."
"Well I guess we're now even for Buenos Aries then." Townsend grinned at Abby's stern expression, upset that she had just lost one of her best pieces of leverage against her partner.
"Don't think this is a damsel in distress situation" I am very capable of saving myself," she retorted.
"You men assume that all women need saving, that's just some bullshit stereotype that men came up with to attempt to assert their masculinity."
"I never pegged you as a feminist Abigail."
"Feminism actually recognises women as people, why wouldn't I advocate it?"
"Oh no, I'm all for it." Townsend reassured her, he of all people knew that Abigail Cameron never needed a hero; she would become one herself when she needed to be. He knew all too well she didn't need a man to be just who she wanted to be. It's one of the few traits he found very admirable about her. She defied the status quo, she was different. Looks aside.
Getting up from her chair, Abby went to visit the nurse in charge of Townsend's discharge forms. Taking in his surroundings, Townsend fell deep in thought. Allison had ruined everything; he planned on surprising Abby in a way that was finally good for once instead of bad. Hurriedly he patted down her pockets to check it was still there, panic filled him as he recognised that it had moved out of his pocket at some point. Cursing to himself, Abby re-entered the room with his belongings in a bag, hoisted over her shoulder.
"Come on Eddie, how about we get you back to the hotel?"
On arrival, Townsend could've never been happier to see that bed again. Collapsing on the bed face first, Abby just sighed and grabbed towels from the airing cupboard and hit the shower.
As the water hit her back, Abby's hand traced over the brand new stitches she had just received, her bullet wound scar was slowly improving, very slowly. She had to laugh at the fact that they both had similar injuries. Lathering her body in soap, she finally relaxed against the bath and closed her eyes. Flashbacks of Allison tearing her skin apart made her shudder, if Townsend had appeared two minutes later than he did, she would have had herself free from the handcuffs she had been picking the whole time with a bobby pin. But that's not what puzzled her, the little blue box she found that fell out of his pocket whilst he was unconscious confused her. It resembled the box that their fake wedding rings were in, why he had that box in his pocket she didn't know. She definitely didn't have the time at that moment to find out either. Pulling herself away from her thoughts, she got out of the bath and brushed her brunette curls.
Abigail Cameron does have an arachnophobia. Edward Townsend was not aware of this. That would explain why he busted down her door when she screamed. Eyes wild with fear, Townsend looked ready for combat, to find that it was all but a mere spider. Her face was as pale as the towel she was wearing, her hand wrapped tightly around her body.
"Holy crap Townsend, you're so paying for the damages." He made a beeline for her, pulling her tightly into his arms before she could make any protests. Shaking from the cold, he soothingly smoothed her hair as she shivered against him, his heat holding her.
"I'm fine, it was only a spider." Abby laughed nervously, her face pressed to his chest. She was forced to inhale his musk, which wasn't so bad, but considering he hadn't showered after all that has happened; she forced herself out of his grasp.
"Go wash up please, we'll talk afterwards." She gave him a reassuring smile, stopping dead in her tracks when she laid her eyes on him, still alert, he was ready for combat but taking in his appearance, he was tortured somehow, the bags under his eyes heavy and dark.
"Ok." He exhales, shutting the door behind him.
Half an hour later Townsend came out freshly dressed in Pyjamas, his hair still dripping wet, but Abby supposed he looked better than before. She sat on the bed, playing with the blue box in her hands.
"Ah I was looking for that-" He says pulling the box out of her hands, his mind darting to the obvious thought. Has she opened it?
"I ordered room service, please eat something." She says softly, watching him cross the room to the small table with lunch sitting on it. Picking up a sandwich, he halved it and handed her a piece.
"Thanks" She said, nibbling on the sandwich. With her eyes focused on him, she pulled him over to the bed and ordered him to rest. Walking to her luggage, she pulled out her laptop and started on some work as Edward found a book to read as he finished his lunch. Time passed as the two were deep within whatever they were doing. It was only when Townsend called Abby's name that she snapped herself out of her work.
"Abigail" He started, shaking her thigh to get her attention.
"Hmm? Yeah?" Lifting her head up from her laptop, she hadn't noticed how close he had gotten. The blue of his eyes had lit up like an excited child seeing Santa Claus for the first time. It was rare that he smiled like this.
"Come with me to the proms."
"Uh, Townsend you do know we aren't 16 right? This isn't homecoming." Townsend simply shook his head at the common mistake.
"No it's a ball with the accompaniment of a live orchestra; I'd be honoured to take you with me."
"Darn, I am a sucker for classical music. I hope it's in a few days because you need your rest."
"Of course, is that a yes?"
"Yes, I suppose that does mean that. But I don't have a dress."
"Oh, don't worry about that detail, Abigail." He gently leaned down and reached for her laptop, folding it and placing it on the desk besides her. His free hand reached for her cheek and drew her face to his. Instinctively, her hands grasped his neck, pulling him closer to her and returning the kiss as she moaned as he roughly tugged her lip. How did his kisses always manage to leave her so breathless? Breaking off the kiss, Townsend held his face close to hers, daring her to kiss him, their noses touching as Abby beamed, realising that she was being teased with. This time, pulling his face to hers, she bit his lip, hard. Townsend stifled a moan, she was copying his movements.
"You're playing with fire, Abigail."
"Playing with fire is my specialty." She purred.
