Nicole had slept in later than usual that morning; for the first time all of the aches and pains had left her alone all night and she took advantage of it. As a result the sun was almost all the way up and breakfast was long since over with by the time she came out of the shower and slinked down the stairs in jeans and a tank top.

"Well, look who decided to join us." Bailey said as he folded up the newspaper he had been reading. "You okay?"

"Yes. I guess now that I'm not hurting as much I finally got caught up on my sleep. Where is everyone else?"

"Working."

"Working? On what?" Nicole asked as she entered the kitchen and poured herself a cup of coffee.

"A case came in, the local authorities asked if the VCTF would take a look at the evidence and offer some assistance with cracking the case."

"And they can do that from here?"

"Not as well as traveling to the crime scene, but we can still tell quite a bit without visiting the crime scene."

"What about James and Rebecca?"

"They went into town to pick up some medical supplies that they want to keep on hand."

"Is Agent Carter around? I was hoping to go further down and find some more blackberries."

"You didn't eat enough of them yesterday?"

"Hey..."

"Please, there were more blackberries in you then there were in Rebecca's basket."

"I offered to share."

"Yes, you did. Look, there's nothing more I can do on this current case so why don't I go blackberry hunting with you?"

"Really?"

"Yes, really."

"Cool. Let me just eat some cereal and then we can head out."

Bailey noticed that Nicole still moved slowly, but she didn't seem to be in any pain as they made their way across the yard. Agent Carter, who had been keeping an eye on her when she went out, was in the living room and stood up but Bailey stopped him from trailing them. "Take a day off, agent. I can keep up with her."

Agent Carter nodded and sat back down, although he did give Bailey a sympathetic look that said 'good luck with that job'. At least Bailey knew that assigning him to watch Nicole had been a good decision. Nicole at times needed her 'alone time' but she allowed Agent Carter to stay close by when she would ask everyone else to please just leave her be. There was some unspoken respect between them and while Bailey was at times envious, he was also grateful that Nicole's safety was ensured.

"You sure you want to go that far?" Bailey asked when Nicole told him where she wanted to go to pick blackberries.

"Yes, I'm sure. James says I'm healing fine, and besides it's not that far."

"Still..."

"Bailey, please. I'll be okay. It's not like I'm going to race you there."

"I need a break," John announced, standing up from the table they had all been working at.

"Sounds good. I want to talk to Nicole anyway," George said, stretching his back before standing. "She asked if I could help her figure out RollerCoaster Tycoon. Seems her laptop crashes when she plays it."

"Chloe and Angel went into town with James and Rebecca," Sam said, sliding up next to John, "so what do you say you and I spend a little time together, hmm?"

"We haven't had much of that, have we?"

"No, we haven't. Come on, let's go to our room so we can be alone."

"Lead the way," John said with a chuckle as Sam grabbed his hand and pulled him with her.

"Grace, if you see Nicole tell her that we have something to discuss with her later. Wedding plans," Sam yelled as she and John were leaving the room.

Grace smiled, knowing how hard it was for them, but especially for John, to not know exactly where Nicole was and what she was doing. Just that morning she had caught John standing by her door, the door cracked open just an inch so he could watch her sleeping.

Just what do you think you're doing? Grace had asked. Yes, John meant well but the last thing thatNicole needed was John spying on her like a peeping tom.

I had a nightmare. She was lost and alone and kept crying for someone to help her, but I couldn't find her. I just...I had to make sure that she was safe and sound in her bed. I didn't mean any harm, Grace.

I know, honey. You're just a big softie who worries about people. Nicole is fine, as you can see, so why don't we go get some breakfast and let her sleep in, okay?

At least John wasn't insisting that he and Sam find out how Nicole was first; slowly he was coming to trust that Bailey could take care of her, and Agent Carter would keep her safe.

Jack had thought long and hard about mailing his little 'present' to Bailey. As soon as it was received, Bailey was likely to pack them all up and move them all to a new location. "Oh dear, this is a dilemma isn't it Samantha?" he asked the picture he was holding of Dr. Waters. "What ever am I going to do?"

He remembered the time he nearly succeeded in killing Grace's husband. The entire team and their families had bunkered down inside the VCTF building, not that it stopped him from watching them. It was so easy to get inside government computers. That was why Bailey had chosen a safe house that wasn't listen in any database. Jack didn't need a database to find them anyway. He had a much better method.

When he had broken into the cabin that Sam and Angel shared, it hadn't been to hurt anyone. He had simply known that soon his Samantha would take flight again. He intended to follow her, and so he had placed a GPS tracker inside one of Chloe's old stuffed animals since she would take them with her wherever they went.

No, even if they did hide again, Jack would find them easily enough. He walked into the post office and slid his package into the slot for 'small flats', then left to watch the show unfold on his computer screen, knowing that his package wouldn't be delivered until the next day.

When George found out that Nicole and Bailey were together, he decided that he would wait to talk with her. Sometimes he wondered if Nicole saw the love in Bailey's eyes when he looked at her, or if Bailey realized how Nicole's face lit up whenever they were together. Yes, theirs was a difficult relationship to try to classify. It seemed that they made each other happy, and that was all that mattered.

In his wandering through the house, he found Jake Carter standing by a window, scanning the area where Nicole and Bailey were. "Something wrong?" George asked.

"No, but I feel responsible for her."

"Bailey can take care of her, you know."

"I know that, but I can't help worrying. When we've been outside sometimes I feel like we're being watched."

"You are. There are cameras monitoring every part of the property and agents monitor the feeds 24/7."

"I guess that could be it."

"You know as well as I do that nothing can happen on these grounds without dozens of FBI agents instantly knowing about it and swarming the place. We're safe."

John and Sam were lying together on their bed, side by side as Sam flipped through a bridal magazine. "You think that Nicole will be willing to be a bride's maid?" she asked.

"Why wouldn't she be?" John returned, frowning. "I thought that the two of you had become friends?"

"We are, I just...she seems to really shun having attention on her, not that I blame her, and I...well I don't want to have her in the wedding if it's going to make her uncomfortable."

"I really don't think that she'll have a problem with it, Sam. She's not going to be the center of attention at our wedding, you are. Besides, she'll be walking down the aisle with Bailey and she trusts him to keep her safe, or hadn't you noticed?"

"And do you think she'd be willing to wear this dress?" Sam asked, pointing to one in her magazine.

"She's not blind Sam. No one with any sense of dignity would wear that dress."

They both started laughing then, until John moved so that Sam was on her back and he was on top of her, and he pressed his lips to hers. That effectively ended all talk of hideous bride's maid dresses and began an afternoon of gentle lovemaking as they took advantage of the fact that everyone, including Chloe, seemed to be otherwise occupied.

Nicole winced and rubbed her back as a sharp pain went through her. "Damn it," she said under her breath.

"What's wrong?" Bailey asked, putting an arm around her for support.

"Nothing to worry about. I think I just overdid it with all the walking yesterday and then coming down here this morning. I should have listened to you."

"Let's go back to the house and you can rest. I'll carry the basket, you just let me help you." Bailey had the basket in one hand, the other arm still wrapped around Nicole's waist. They went very slowly and as soon as they were in the door Jake and George were both there to help Nicole over to the sofa.

"I'm fine, guys, really. I just pushed myself a little too far."

"Nonsense. We've nothing else to do anyway, so just accept that we are going to fuss over you, aren't we Agent Carter?" George said as he arranged several pillows at one end.

"Absolutely."

By the time they were done she had her feet up on the sofa and was leaning back against the pillows. "Thanks. Really, I'm glad that I've got friends like you."

"Bailey, why don't you sit down and I'll make you two some hot tea," George said while Jake took the basket of blackberries into the kitchen to wash them.

"I think you should give Agent Carter a raise," Nicole said, picking up the remote control to turn the television on. "Want to watch a movie?"

"Nicole, you okay?" Grace asked. She had looked out her window and seen Bailey helping her back and immediately came downstairs.

"Yes, I'm okay. Just pushed myself a little too hard is all."

"Well then you just rest and let us take care of you. Otherwise we'll never hear the end of it from James and Rebecca."

"Thank god they aren't here," Nicole said with a sigh. "I love them dearly but sometimes..."

"They smother you?"

"Exactly."

By the time Rebecca and James returned with Angel and Chloe, Nicole had fallen asleep on the sofa. Chloe hadn't meant to make noise, but as she came in the storm door slammed shut and Nicole woke with a start and sat up.

"It's okay," Bailey said, getting up and sitting on the edge of the sofa. "It was just the storm door."

"I'm sorry," Chloe said when she realized what had happened. "I didn't mean it."

"It's okay, Chloe," Nicole told her as she calmed down. She wasn't even sure why the sound of the door had scared her like that. "No harm done.

"I'll be quieter next time, I promise."

"No, you don't need to be quieter. So what movie did you and Angel go see?"

"We didn't. The movie was an old one that we had both seen so we went shopping instead."

"Buy anything exciting?"

"A sketch pad and some colored pencils. Angel says she'll help me draw the landscape."

"Sounds like you two are going to have fun."

"You can join us. Angel says creating is good for the soul."

Nicole chuckled at that. "I can't even draw stick figures."

"Then I'll teach you to draw them."

"I'm sure that you could. You hungry? I was thinking of making some lunch."

"You will do no such thing," Bailey quickly said. "You need to rest."

"Bailey is right," Grace said. "You need to just rest."

"Nicole, is something wrong?" Rebecca asked.

"Nothing. I just tried to go to far. I'm fine, really."

"All right, if you say so. I'm going to see what our choices are for lunch."

"You okay, kiddo?" James asked as Rebecca went into the kitchen.

"Yeah, I'm okay."

"I'd better see if I can give Rebecca a hand before she turns lunch into a seven-course meal."

"Did you get everything that you needed in town?"

"Yes, we did. Where are John and Sam?"

"I believe they are in 'do not disturb' mode," Grace said, "locked away in their bedroom."

Jack was watching the entire scene and clenching his fist in anger. How dare his Samantha make love to John? The satellite gave him a clear view of their bedroom, the curtains floating in the breeze enough to let him see her naked body, the way she let John touch her, begged him to touch and caress her. His Sam was begging for the touch of another man.

Well she would just have to be taught a lesson. She was his, and no one else could have her.