Disclaimer: Don't own 'em, wish I did, but until I win the lottery, I'll just have to make do with borrowing them.
AN: Sorry it took me so long to get this up. I had to do a lot of revising. I added a few names to the other chapters to make it flow easier. Thanks to my faithful readers, please send me more reviews….
Chapter 4: Vs Family
Jesse's fingers flew over the keyboard. He was studying the information so intently that he was oblivious to the presence behind him until Brennan cleared his throat.
"Jesse, Adam sent me to find out if you've heard from Marie yet."
With only the slightest of pauses to indicate his surprise at the interruption, Jesse blocked out the screen he was working on and brought up his e-mail. "As a matter of fact….Adam," he spoke into his com link, "Marie just responded to our messages. It seems she did get our warning about the club last night. She said she took a few hours to think about it and she's decided to go underground. She wants to meet this afternoon at Ludlow Park. Jeeze, she doesn't give us much time."
Adam stepped into the common room, his lips quirked up into a smile. "Once she makes up her mind, she's very impatient to move on her decision. Brennan, why don't you take Emma and pick her up. You can take her to the new safe house until we come up with an alternate identity for her."
"I'd be happy to, but Emma's not here."
Adam raised an eyebrow, "Where is she then?"
"With Derrick," Jesse answered. Adam frowned for a moment. "Hm, in that case, Brennan, why don't you stay here and help Jesse with his other research and I'll go with Shalimar."
Brennan looked at Jesse with a question in his chocolate brown eyes. Jesse looked a little surprised, "How'd you..," his voice trailed off as he followed Adam's pointing finger to his computer screen which had chosen that moment to pop up a message stating "No criminal record listed for Derrick Johansen in the given time period."
Adam activated his com link, "Shalimar, meet me in the Double Helix," he ordered as he left the room.
Brennan grinned at his teammate. "So where do I get started?"
* * *
Emma smiled as she took a long sip from her raspberry milkshake. "This has been fun. I'm seeing our high school years in a whole new light."
Derrick smiled back. "I know what you mean. I never pegged you as the one who spiked the chaperone's coffee on prom night."
"Hey, what can I say, I was bored. My date spent the night drooling over Kathy Alton, you know, the prom queen that year. It was sickening."
Derrick grinned. "He was an idiot."
Emma stole a quick look at her watch. "Oh, Derrick, I've gotta run. I'm due home about 15 minutes ago."
"Why don't you let me take you back?
"Sorry Derrick, I brought my own car. We'll have to do that some other time."
"Why is it that you always seem to have an excuse not to take me home with you?" Emma opened her mouth to protest. "No, never mind, it's none of my business. I guess I'll let you go this time, but only if you promise to call me tonight." Emma nodded and dropped a light kiss on his cheek. Neither one of them was aware of the figure in the corner booth, watching them.
* * *
"Report!"
"Mr. Eckhart, sir, the civilian is known as Derrick Johansen. He's a model citizen and appears to be very good friends with Ms. Delauro. One of my operatives witnessed a meeting between the two just this afternoon. That seems to explain his appearance at the club last night. Our records indicate he graduated with her, but it isn't their past relationship that makes him most useful. In fact, I think you'll agree that having Mr. Johansen in town presents some very intriguing possibilities."
"Please, Mr. Colton, cease with the editorializing and get to the point."
"Simply put sir, our intelligence files on him came up with some interesting data." Mr. Colton handed Eckhart a manila folder. Eckhart perused the papers briefly. "Hmm, and you say he's a friend of Ms. DeLauro? Bring him in for an interview."
* * *
Emma took one last, deep, cleansing breath and then opened her eyes. She smiled and hummed a little to herself as she walked down the stairs. She hadn't felt this good in a long time, and it was all Derrick's fault. At the mere thought of him, her cheeks flushed and her smile grew. She'd always had a bit of a crush on him and to find that he liked her too, well that was very nice.
She was about halfway down the stairs when Jesse popped his head in the room. "Hey, Emma, come talk to us for a minute."
She followed him into the next room and found the other members of her team waiting. "Hey guys, what's up?" she asked curiously.
"Why don't you have a seat? There's something we need to discuss with you," Adam commented, gesturing to an empty chair between Brennan and Shalimar.
Emma frowned as she sat down, "Why do I get the feeling I'm not going to like this?" she asked, only half joking.
"Emma, we're a little worried about you," Shalimar began.
Emma looked at her friend in surprise, "Why?"
"Well, we haven't seen you much the past few days."
Emma interrupted. "You mean all this seriousness is about Derrick? Well you don't need to worry, I'm being a good girl. We just have a lot to catch up on."
"Is it Emma? Or is it something more? Shalimar asked gently.
"What difference does it make? I haven't given away anyone's secrets, I haven't been late to any team meetings, and I'm keeping on top of my training, so what is there to be worried about?"
"Emma, it's not like that," Brennan said taking a shot at helping Shalimar explain their concerns. "It's just that you haven't seen this guy in a long time, and we don't even know him at all. We're just concerned that you're moving too quickly."
Jesse piped in, "Yeah, we checked him out, and he doesn't have any obvious ties with the GSA, but sometimes connection like that can be hidden. My dad was a prime example of that."
"I can't believe you did a background check on him!"
"Well," Jesse defended himself, "I thought it was a little odd that he just happened to be at the club the other night, and he just happened to scare away four GSA agents without a fight."
Emma sighed and shook her head. "Look, I don't have to be a telempath to know that you're just worried about me, but I'm a big girl. You may not know him, or have any reason to trust him, but I do. I'm asking you, as my friends, as my family to trust my judgment on this one."
"Honey, we do trust your judgment, but I wonder, do you really trust Derrick? I mean have you even told him about your Psionic abilities?" Shalimar asked.
Emma shook her head. "What I choose to tell him about my private life is my business. I don't think of myself as a telempath first, I think of myself as Emma. I'll tell him when and if I think the time is right. Right now we're just getting to know one another again.
"I don't think we're going to agree on this, so why don't you tell me what I can do to make you feel better about this whole thing?
"Emma, if you won't slow this relationship down a little, at least consider reading him. Find out what his intentions are." Adam suggested.
"You all know that I won't read a friend without their consent unless there's a damn good reason." Emma was doing her best not to get angry.
Brennan spoke up again. "There is a good reason," he said softly, "your friends, your family, is asking you to. Look, Emma, we don't want to gang up on you, we don't want to make you angry, but we do want you to take some precautions, if not for your own safety, then for the safety of this team and those other New Mutants who are counting on us."
Emma sighed and let the anger drain out of her. "I'll think about it. Until then, I promise to let you know where I'm going and I'll keep my com link active when I'm out and about, but you guys have to promise to give him a chance."
"Deal," Shalimar agreed. The others nodded.
"All right, now who wants Chinese for supper?" Emma asked rubbing her hands together.