Author's Note: *looks at calendar* Yeah, yeah I know it's been a minute. I between being out of the country and school starting back been I've been VERY busy. *wipes brow* Anywho, I would like to thank all my readers old and new. Hope you enjoy this new chapter.

Chapter 29

Solomon stormed through the White House the next morning, seeking out Fitz. He still couldn't believe it was possible. After everything he'd done, Ethan had not only escaped Death but he was a free man, too. The closer and closer Solomon got to the Oval Office, the more his anger grew.

"Excuse me, sir," the secretary said, rising from her seat and calling out to Solomon as he approached, but Solomon was on a mission. He shoved the young girl aside and thrust opened the door to the Oval Office.

"Mr. President!" Solomon practically bellowed, as he burst into the office.

"I'm so sorry, President Grant!" The secretary followed shortly behind Solomon, looking over at Fitz helplessly.

"It's alright," Fitz assured her, raising a hand and gesturing for her to leave. "Close the door behind you, would you, dear?" The secretary followed the president's orders, leaving the two men to themselves. As she glanced at first one and then the other, she could tell that she was leaving behind a war.

"President Grant," Solomon said, once the secretary was out of the room. "I need to talk to you about something."

"What is it, Solomon?" Fitz asked, rising from his seat behind the desk and approaching Solomon.

"Now, I'm sure this is all just some miscommunication on my part," Solomon began, taking a seat in the chair opposite Fitz's. "But, what is this I hear about Ethan Daniels being given a pardon?"

"Yes," Fitz replied, leaning back against his desk and intentionally avoiding looking at Solomon, "he was released."

"President Grant, I could have sworn we had an agreement," Solomon objected. "I would help make up those phony charges against Daniels, you would expedite it through the Military Court, Daniels would be executed and he'd finally be out of the way once and for all."

Fitz briefly glanced up at Solomon, then walked over to the bookshelf. He seemed to busy himself with looking for a book. "There was a change of plans," he said, his back turned to Solomon.

"A… change… of plans…" Solomon repeated. He was doing his best to keep the rage he was feeling out of his voice.

"But don't worry," Fitz assured him, still not looking at Solomon. "Ethan won't be a problem anymore." Solomon was fed up now.

"President Grant…" He slammed his hand down on Fitz's desk, causing the President to spin around and face him for the first time. "Do you KNOW who you let back ONTO THE STREET? AFTER ALL THE TIME WE SPENT PLANNING, YOU JUST LET HIM GO!?"

"I think you need to watch your tone, Solomon," Fitz replied, slowly but steadily walking back towards the man. "You are, after all, in MY office and I am STILL the President." He was standing right in front of Solomon now, staring face to face. "Your position, let alone the mere EXISTENCE of CP9, is entirely under my authority as Commander in Chief.

"Now, as I said, there was a simply a change of plans. Ethan Daniels was set free, and that's the end of it." With that, Fitz walked back around the desk and took a seat in his chair again. There was a new confidence in his voice and stride. Ever since he'd gotten Olivia to make that deal to abandon Ethan forever, Fitz was feeling practically untouchable.

Solomon, on the other hand, was a volcano waiting to explode. He wanted to reach over the desk and grab the President by his neck, but he urged himself to calm down.

"Fine," Solomon said. "Of course, President Grant. I apologize." Solomon rose from his seat, glanced at Fitz one last time, and then walked out of the Oval Office. But this was far from over, he thought.

"Nobody crosses me," Solomon mumbled to himself. "I'll have both your damn heads on a platter."


Ethan sat in the car, waiting to go back home. While he was glad to finally be out of that hellhole, he was much more concerned about his wife and daughter. None of the military police spoke much to him after he was released; they simply told him he would be returned home and that all of the charges would be expunged from his record.

"Here we are," the driver said, as the car came to a sudden stop. Ethan got out immediately, though he soon noticed he wasn't at his house. In fact, he was somewhere in downtown D.C.

"Hey, wait a second. This isn't…" Ethan turned back to get into the car, but the driver sped off.

"Wait! Wait!" Ethan called after the car, starting to chase it down.

"Ethan!" A voice suddenly called out, stopping him in his tracks and causing him to turn back. "Over here!" He saw a hand waving in the distance, and as the figure approached him, noticed that it was Huck.

"Huck?" Ethan asked. He sighed, relieved to see a familiar face as Huck reached him.

"You okay, man?" Huck asked, noticing the bruises that covered Ethan's face.

"I'm fine," Ethan replied. "Where are Liv and Amelia?"

"Come with me." Huck led Ethan back to the hotel Olivia had been staying at with the baby. Though their walk was short, neither said anything to the other on the way there. As they entered the hotel lobby, however, Ethan noticed something.

"What is Secret Service doing here?" he remarked. The agents were clearly trying to blend in with the crowd, but Ethan knew their look all too well.

"I'll explain everything once we get to the room," Huck replied, getting Ethan on to the elevator. They arrived at the room and Huck opened the door. Ethan immediately saw Olivia and Amelia playing on the floor and he was overcome with emotion.

"Liv…" Ethan called over to her. Olivia looked up, and the expression on her face when she saw him, looked just as relieved and overjoyed. Her husband was finally safe and sound.

"Amelia, look who it is," Olivia said, pointing at Ethan. The baby girl looked over at the man her mother was pointing at and her little eyes grew wide.

"DA-DA!" Amelia squealed in delight. The little girl tried to walk over to him, with Olivia following closely behind her in case she fell. But she didn't have to walk very far, as Ethan rushed over and scooped Amelia into his arms.

"Hey, Princess!" Ethan said, kissing his baby girl. "I missed you so much."

"I'm so glad you're safe!" Olivia hugged her husband, kissing him all over.

"I'm happy you two are safe as well," Ethan smiled, kissing his wife back.

"Are you alright?" Olivia asked, raising a hand to his face. She, too, had noticed the bruises from the beatings he'd taken while in prison.

"I'll be okay," Ethan assured her, sitting down with Amelia on the nearby couch. But the little girl didn't want to let her father go, not even for a second.

"Dada, stay!" The little girl ordered him and Ethan couldn't help but chuckle.

"Yes ma'am." Ethan replied.

Olivia was only able to manage a weak smile as she watched them on the couch. She didn't know how she was going to break those two up. Amelia adored her father, and the baby girl was Ethan's entire world.

"Ethan," Olivia started, taking a seat next to Ethan on the couch, "There's something I have to tell you."

"What is it?" Ethan asked, looking over at his wife.

"You were supposed to be executed last night," Olivia said.

"Yeah, I know. And for some reason, Grant stopped it. Do you know why that is?"

"Well, I made a deal with him…"

"A deal?" Ethan repeated, raising an eyebrow at that. "What kind of deal, babe?"

"I… I told him that I'd be with him..."

"WHAT!" Ethan blurted out. "Olivia, are you crazy?!

"I had no choice!" Olivia pleaded. "If I hadn't done anything, they'd have killed you in a manner of minutes."

"Liv… you know that man is deranged."

"I do, but I was trying to protect you, Ethan."

"Dada…" Amelia said, interrupting the two. She had noticed that her father was upset and began patting her little hands all over his face.

"Okay," Ethan said, trying to be calm. "We're talking about Grant here, so I know it can't be that simple. What else was part of his terms?"

"I had to divorce you and marry him…" She struggled to get the words out. "And I can never see you again." Olivia's words hit Ethan like a bag of bricks. He inhaled deeply, trying to get his own thoughts in order.

"You know… I wish they'd just gone ahead and killed me." Ethan said.

"Don't say that." Olivia said.

"You know how important you and Amelia are to me. You know that, Liv," Ethan replied, setting Amelia down on the floor. "And now you're saying I'm free but I can't be with you guys ever again?!" Ethan got up off the couch and began pacing around, trying to walk off his frustration.

"I understand that you're angry with me," Olivia insisted, "but I love you too much to watch you die over a bunch of lies!" Ethan simply shook his head.

"I need to think about all of this." Ethan headed for the door.

"Dada! Stay!" Amelia pouted.

"I'll be right back, sweetie," Ethan said, going back over to the couch to kiss his daughter on the forehead. "I promise." He looked over at Olivia one last time and then walked out into the hallway. He collapsed in a heap on the floor, trying to think of what if anything could be done.

He heard a door open and looked up to see that Huck had come out into the hallway with him.

"I'm sorry, man," Huck told him, walking over to his friend.

"I just got out of prison," Ethan thought aloud, "Only to find out I'm going to lose my family."

"I don't want you to feel like that was easy for Olivia to do."

"I don't, but…" Ethan trailed off. He was feeling a dozen emotions at once. He didn't like anything about this situation at all.

"Grant waited until there were less than thirty minutes to your execution, to show up and break the news to her," Huck explained. "He told her there was only one way to stop the execution. Liv practically fell apart when she made the choice." Ethan could feel his blood boil behind what Grant had done to his wife.

"How long do we have?" Ethan asked, looking up at Huck. "Until they have to leave, that is."

"One day," Huck replied. "Just one day."

"I see." Ethan got up off the floor, trying to get himself together. He walked back into the room. Olivia was there on the couch, sitting there and holding Amelia. He went over and kissed his wife gently.

"I love you," Olivia said, as her eyes welled up with tears.

"I love you, too," Ethan brought her in close to him. "We're going to be okay."

The family spent every waking moment they could together. That evening they sat on the couch while their daughter drifted off to sleep and then, together, they laid her down to rest in her crib.

"When are they supposed to be coming to get you?" Ethan asked her.

"Sometime in the morning," Olivia replied sadly.

"Come here." Ethan pulled his wife over to him and held her in his arms. "Don't you worry. We'll get through this."

"Okay," Olivia replied. She snuggled in close to Ethan. She didn't want to forget anything about her husband – how his arms felt when she was wrapped in them. How soft his kisses were. The sound of his voice. His very scent.

"Do you remember when you proposed to me?" Olivia suddenly asked him.

"Yeah," Ethan replied, looking down at his wife. "I took you to the beach."

"You had the motorcycle…" Olivia replayed the memory in her head, remembering herself holding on to Ethan as he rode them out. Before then, Olivia had never been on a motorcycle before, and so she'd wrapped her arms tightly around Ethan's waist.

"We were walking along the beach, underneath the stars," Olivia continued, "and you told me to look up. You said you would give me one of those stars, and that's when you gave me a ring to marry you." The mere memory made her squeeze her husband closer still.

"You made me the happiest man alive when you said yes," Ethan said with a smile, caressing her back.

"I don't want to go," Olivia blurted out. She started to cry again.

"Look at me." Ethan put a finger under her chin and tilted Olivia's face so she could look right into his. "This isn't going to be goodbye – I promise you that. I'm going to figure out a way to get you out of there. Someway, somehow… we WILL get through this."

"Okay." Olivia kissed Ethan's lips as held on to her. "This is-"

"Don't you dare say this was your fault," Ethan stopped her mid-sentence. "You didn't know he was going to be some nutcase."

"I know but-"

"Stop," Ethan put a finger to her lips. "We won't mention him, you leaving tomorrow, or anything else that doesn't concern you, me, and that little girl asleep in the bedroom."

"Yes, sir," Olivia smiled, leaning back into his arms.

Olivia fell asleep shortly after, but Ethan stayed up all night. His mind ran through possibilities of how to get them out of their predicament. Part of him just wanted to run away with Olivia and Amelia, but he knew it wouldn't be that easy with Secret Servicemen watching their every move. Ethan took his sleeping wife up into his arms and carried her into the bedroom, laying her on the bed and tucking her in. Once she was settled, he sat down beside her and resumed wracking his brain.

A sudden stirring in the crib broke Ethan out of his thought process, however. He walked over to the crib and saw his daughter rubbing her eyes. Amelia blinked, looking straight up and giving her father a smile when she saw him.

"Dada." Amelia reached to him and Ethan picked her up out of the crib.

"Hey, let's not wake up mommy," Ethan said. He walked out the bedroom with her in his arms and into the living room area. Ethan looked over at the clock; it was still early in the morning

"What are you doing up, anyway?" Ethan teased the little girl. Amelia giggled in reply. "I don't care what that crazy president says - you and your mommy are my world. We WILL be together again. I promise you that."

"Baba!" Amelia exclaimed, as her father kissed her on the forehead.

"That's right. No matter what, dada will…" Ethan stopped mid-sentence. A sudden thought had dawned on him.

"You know what, baby girl?" Ethan said as he smiled to himself. "I think we may have figured it out." Ethan approached the phone in the main room, wary that he'd have to be careful in the event President Grant had bugged the phones. He dialed a number.

"Hello?" The voice at the other end answered. "Do you have any idea what time it is, calling me this early?"

"Hey," Ethan said. "It's me. I'm going to need your help."