TBITC Chp. 34

Alexx woke up when she felt Jack roll off the bed, but she kept her eyes closed. She stayed like that, listening to him exercise, then shower, dress and grab something from his bag. Probably a gun, doesn't that man ever go anywhere without a weapon.

"Ma…" Sam's small, fragile voice whimpered, bringing her back to the present.

"Hi, baby. Did you sleep ok?" she asked, smiling at him and kissing the two of his head. A small nod was his only response.

"Are you hungry?" she asked, and received another nodded.

"Ok, let's fix that then." She said, getting out of bed and picking him up. Sam immediately put his head on her shoulder, but then he started whimpering, and reaching for something. "What is it, honey? Tell mama what you want." She said, her tone soothing and patient. She looked in the direction Sam was pointing, and saw the pacifier that she'd bought for him a few days earlier. She picked up and showed it to him. "You want this baby?" she asked, and the look of uncertainty on Sam's face, like he thought if he responded yes she was going to beat him, broke her heart. "It's ok, baby, you can have it. Here, open up for mama." She said, and he opened his mouth. "Good job, sweetie." She praised as he sucked on the pacifier. "Ok, let's go get you some breakfast."

Alexx carried Sam to the galley and saw that everyone else was already up and about. If they noticed the pacifier, none of them said anything. Alexx saw that Jack was cleaning his rifle from the previous night's mission, along with Ken and Mike. Calleigh, Natalia and Anya were talking. Eric, Frank and Ryan seemed to be engaged in deep conversation as well. Horatio was talking to the elder Delko's. It seemed to Alexx that they were trying to give her and Sam their space, which was just fine with her. She opened the refrigerator and looked at what was inside. "Ok, baby, anything look good?" she asked, smiling at Sam.

"Ba!" Sam said, spitting out the pacifier, pointing at one of the bottles Alexx had prepared before leaving the previous night. She thought that Sam might regress, due to the emotional and physical trauma he'd suffered. Grabbing the bottle, she kissed his cheek. "I love you, angel." She told him, going back to bedroom.

In the bedroom, Alexx closed the door, then went to the bed sitting down and leaning against the head board. "Ok, baby, here we go." She said, smiling down at Sam, as she rubbed nipple across his lips and Sam opened his mouth to accept the bottle.

"Good baby!" Alexx praised brightly. As Sam drank, Alexx rocked him back and forth, softly humming a lullaby. Within minutes, Sam finished the bottle and was asleep, but Alexx didn't move. Instead, she enjoyed bonding with her son, praying that he knew he was loved and someone cared about him.

000

Jack watched Alexx and Sam go back to their stateroom after she got a bottle for him. He'd noticed the pacifier, but he could've cared less. If regression helped Sam heal, that was all he cared about. And he suspected that Alexx didn't mind giving Sam a little TLC. Suddenly craving a cigarette, Jack went to the upper deck. Several minutes later, Pavel followed him. Jack offered the man a cigarette, which he accepted. "Mess with the best, die like the rest. Was that your unit's motto?" Pavel asked, commenting on Jack's lighter, which had a scull wearing a green beret with crossed M16 assault rifles, and inscription, Mess with the best, die like the rest, above and below it.

"Unofficially," Jack said.

The two men smoked in silence for a while, and finally Pavel said. "You probably want to know what happened to Stetler."

Jack shrugged. "I figured you'd tell me when you were ready."

"I drowned him." Pavel said, and Jack could tell by the older man's tone that he wondered if Jack approved.

Jack mulled it over for a few minutes, and finally nodded his approval. Human's were naturally afraid of drowning and "That's what I would've done. Make sure Alexx doesn't find out."

"And if she asks what happened to him."

"Then tell her, but otherwise say nothing." Jack said. The Russian nodded. They smoked in silence for several minutes, when Pavel asked. "Do you want to head back?"

"Yeah, we're good. For now." But both men knew that the mission was far from over.

000

As the yacht returned to Miami, Anya became more and more nervous. Natalia picked up on this and asked her what was wrong. "What will happen to me?"

"When I told you could stay with me, I meant it." Natalia said, hugging the child. Anya looked at Mike, who'd stayed close by. "Will protect us?"

He smiled. "Of course, I will."

Anya felt tears in her eyes. "Thank you both."

Natalia hugged her again. "You're welcome, honey."

She suspected that in the coming days, as she felt more secure, Anya would tell them what happened to her. She also knew that like Jack in relation to Sam, Mike wouldn't rest until Anya was safe.

As the yacht made its way into Miami harbor, Jack, Mike, Ken and the rest of the team prepared to move 'the protectees' as Alexx, Sam and Anya were known from the boat to vehicles that Pavel had prepared. Instead of carrying their M4s, Jack and Mike opted to carry M249 and M60E3 heavy machine guns, respectively. Pavel also had some men on hand to augment the guard contingent.

When the yacht was secured in the harbor, they transferred everyone from the yacht to the vehicles without incident and moved out. Though Sam and Anya had been rescued, Clavo was still a threat so they were moving everyone to another safehouse. Everything was going smoothly, when Jack's radio suddenly came to life. The advance team to that was clearing their route radioed frantically. "DOWNTOWN, THIS IS UPTOWN, WE ARE UNDER HEAVY FIRE, REPEAT HEAVY FIRE! RECOM…."

"Uptown, say again? Roger, under heavy fire. Repeat last, you came in broken and stupid."

"….NOT…ROUTE COMP…."

As they were listening to the radio, the truck in front of them exploded. "REVERSE, REVERSE!" Jack yelled even as the driver was doing just that. Jack, who was in the front passenger seat, rolled down the window and leaned out, unloading the heavy machine gun in direction of their attackers. Suddenly, they were throne around as the van hit a wall in reverse doing 70mph. Jack's head slammed into the dashboard, leaving a huge gash in his forehead, but he ignored the pain. Forcing his door open, he knelt down and opened up on their attackers, who were closing.

"Mike, Ken! Bounding overwatch, get the civies outta here, I'll cover you!" Even as he fired, he turned and the other men nodded. He saw that Wolfe and Tripp weren't with them. That meant they'd been in the van in front of them that had exploded. Jack pushed the emotional pain aside and used it to fuel the rage he would need to get through this alive.

"Ready, GO!" Jack yelled.

Ken, Horatio and Eric moved out, with Calleigh, Gabriella, Alexx, Sam, Natalia, Anya, Valera and Chlorinda in the center and Meagan, Mike, Pavel bringing up the rear. Jack as they were out of range, Jack's gun abruptly fell silent. Mike and Ken turned and saw their worst fear, second only to being wounded themselves, realized. Jack lay bleeding on the pavement. Alexx started to run to him, but Ken and Horatio grabbed her. "Alexx, Alexx!" Ken yelled to get her attention. When she looked at him, he continued. "We'll get him. Stay here. Cover us." Meagan, Horatio, Pavel and Eric nodded.

The two former Seals ran to their fallen comrade, and while Mike covered them with his M60, Ken hoisted Jack into a fireman's carry and they moved to rejoin the group.

000

A/N: I didn't plan to kill anyone off, it just happened. I'm sorry if anyone is offended. I did plan for Jack get shot at some point. Hope it was good read.

Thanks,

Terry