Chapter 3
A week went by slowly as Elaina and Frank didn't talk to each other unless they were with the children. They never discussed what had happened. When at work his team noticed a change in him, he was withdrawn, more than he was when he met them.
Today when Frank arrived at work, Alex and Jake were outside having a heated argument.
"Why didn't you hang up or tell him at least he was interrupting our dinner. I bet you didn't want him to know that you had moved on with someone else." Jake was yelling and Frank decided to break it up.
"I didn't want to hang up on him. That was the first call I have had from him since he left. I just wanted to know how he was. I didn't know we were going to talk that long." Alex said defending her actions. "Besides you know I have feelings for Cortez, before we even hooked up."
"You still have feelings for him, you just admitted it."
"Excuse me, you two are at work. Have your personal discussions at home where they belong." Frank says as he walked to the door.
"Yeah like when you and Elaina did in Texas. We were working then, look how that turned out." Jake's statement made Frank stop from opening the door.
"Agent Shaw your mouth is getting your ass in deep trouble." Jake was angry enough to take a punch at Frank.
Frank blocked the punch and landed one of his own, knocking Jake down. "Stay down Jake." Frank yelled standing over him.
"Enough! Back off Agent Donovan!" Frank turned to see Elaina walking up to them. "All of you inside now!"
As they entered Elaina called to the others inside. "I want everyone at the table." She waited for everyone to be seated. Frank kept pacing back and forth in back of them.
"Alex, Jake this is your first and only warning. Get your personal life together on your own time, not here." She looked at Cody and Sab. "Sabrina, Cody you have been having troubles too separating personal and professional lives. Keep your hands to yourself at work."
"How did she know?" Sab whispered to Monica.
"Agent Kells, do you have something to say?" Frank asked.
"No sir." Sab replies, she had forgotten he was pacing behind them.
"We warned all of you what would happen. Just keep it up and you'll find yourselves transferred." Frank stressed to them.
"Agent Donovan." Elaina turned on Frank. "You have been having personal problems too; I know that as a fact because I have the same problem." She was trying to be professional as she spoke to him. "Letting your anger out by hitting one of your team members is not acceptable behavior to me. Do it again you'll be suspended."
Frank seemed to ignore what she said to him. "Why are you here?"
"I have an assignment; you'll be protecting two agents. One is getting death threats the other is being stalked. We haven't been able to trace any of threats yet."
"We're not babysitters."
"No you are federal agents sworn to protect. So you are going to protect two agents." Elaina countered. "The first agent is Maria Andrews. I know Cody knows her from the academy they were in the same class." That piece of information did not get past Sab. She stared at Cody with wide eyes. Cody tried not to look at Sab's stare, but it was hard for him to do so.
"We were in the same class but I didn't talk that much to her. We barely know each other." Cody finally explains for Sab's benefit not anyone else.
"Are you through Cody?" Frank asks. Cody nodded his head.
"Maria has been pulled from her current case and placed in the custody of the marshals but I want this team to take over protecting her. This guy just about blew her cover. He has been writing her, calling her and showing up when she least expects him." Elaina took a file out and showed them a picture. "This is Gabriel Thomas. He was at the nightclub Maria was working in while undercover. Maria only remembers that he asked her to dance a few times when she was on break. She was a singer there, D.E.A suspected the club was a front for drug dealing and she was about to get us the evidence we needed when Thomas started harassing her every night."
"What about that case, are we going to handle that too?" Monica asks.
"No, I have already placed another agent there." Elaina replies. Frank looks at her. "Don't worry it isn't me."
"Who's the other agent getting the threats?" Jake asks.
She wished he hadn't asked. "Elaina Blakely Donovan." Elaina replies as she watched Frank's look of shock turn to anger.
"Again you keep something life threatening from me?"
She ignores him. "My threats have been coming in to my office email. She handed them each a file. "These are copies of the threats made to me I rarely give my office email out so how they got it is a mystery. The source of the email hasn't been found yet."
"We should get you both in a safe house and then we can concentrate on finding who is after both of you." Frank says looking at the file.
"I'm not going in any safe house." Elaina protested. "If I."
"You just put us in charge of your protection and you will go where I tell you to!" Frank yelled.
"You know where you can go too!"
"Here we go again." Alex says under her breath.
"Fine you want your children to go through the rest of their lives without a mother, get yourself killed. I give up trying to understand your thought process." Frank went up to his office and slammed the door.
"I'll be right back, excuse me." Elaina walked up the stairs trying to put her self in his shoes. She knew he was right, she was just being bull headed due to their personal problems. In a way this was personal too, she had kept it from him to get back at him. She tried the door; he had locked it. "Open the door Donovan!" She waited to hear the door unlock when it didn't she took her keys out and unlocked it herself. Frank heard the key in the door. "How did you get a key?" He asks as the door opens.
"You shouldn't leave your keys lying around for me to copy. I knew it would come in handy one day."
"I guess I need to change the lock now."
"I think it's time we cleared the air."
"We don't discuss our private matters at work. That's the number one Donovan rule, and so far you're still a Donovan." Frank says as he turns back to his files on his desk.
"I'll always be a Donovan. We're not getting a divorce. As far as the rules go, to hell with them. Our disagreeing on everything has to stop and stop right now. We have our personal problems flowing into the professional just like your team; I can't take the tension between us in both places. You know my objection to being in the safe house has to do with the kids. I'm away from them enough; I'm not going to let a few threats take me away from them."
"You can't let them be in danger either. And they would be if who ever is threatening you finds out about them. As a matter of fact someone should be watching."
"I've taken care of it, Derek has a bodyguard at school and there is a guard at the house as of this morning." Elaina explained.
She walked over to his side of the desk and leaned against it. She held his face in her hands and kissed him. "I'm tired of this life we have been living lately. I know that what happened between you and Miranda was not your fault and I forgive you for that. I also understand why you never told me about it; I don't like it that you didn't trust my love for you enough to think I could handle the truth."
"I know that it hurt you to find out the way you did. I have kicked myself over the past week for never telling you."
"Just remember this for future reference. There are two people in this world that know when you are lying, your mother and me. That's the one thing we have in common, we are both human lie detectors." Elaina says smiling. "And as far as hiding anything from each other, we are never going there again. We are going to be completely forthcoming with anything that is important and needs to be shared."
"What about things that should be shared but aren't that important?" Frank smiled at her.
"Don't mess with me Donovan." She patted his face. "I will never keep anything from you and you will do the same."
"That sounded like an order." He laughed.
"It was. Can you be serious, I am?"
"I am serious. I love you and I don't want to fight any longer." He pulled her down on his lap.
"I love you too." She wrapped her arms around his neck. "I want us to be back together the way we were when we first got married; we worked together without any complications then. We discussed everything, now we seem to fight over every discussion."
Frank held her tight. "I want that too, and I believe that if we would quit trying to control each other it would help. I admit that your promotion has had a lot to do with my attitude lately; I'm not used to you being my boss again. I'm going to try harder to get use to that fact." "I think I can help with that. After this case I'm going to resign." Elaina replies.
Frank stared at her. "You're serious, aren't you?"
"I'm very serious I don't need the tension, neither do you and the kids. And I'm sure Sarah and Derek would love having me back home full time."
"Sarah I know would, but Derek? I don't know, he's going to be 17 in a few days." Frank says thinking what she said over.
Elaina was shocked. "Oh my God! I forgot my own son's birthday is coming up. How could I forget that?"
"You've had a lot on your mind. Besides I just reminded you in plenty of time to plan something for him and buy presents. I think we should get him his own car."
"He's saving for one."
"I know but it would be a surprise for him. I even know the type of car he wants."
"If that is what you want then we'll do it." She says as she kisses him.
"That's it, we're not going to have this long .." She kisses him again to shut him up.
"Don't push your luck I told you, we talk and we decide things together. It worked really well I think." Elaina says after she pulls away from him.
"So you are going to a safe house with Maria and we can send the kids to Montana for a few days to visit Hank and we can have his car ready when he gets back for the party, that I'm sure you're planning as I speak. Sounds like a good plan to me." Frank says letting her pull away.
"You're sneaky but I never said I was going in the safe house, but I will as long as you are my personal body guard at night."
"I think that can be arranged." They then kiss each other losing all thought of the others downstairs.
*******
"Wonder what is taking them so long. It's been way too quite. Do you think they killed each other?" Cody asks staring at the door.
"Maybe they're talking quietly, ever thought of that?" Monica suggests.
"As mad as they were at each other I'm with Cody, I think they killed one another." Jake says agreeing with Cody.
"Shall we take bets on when they will be coming down or if they will be coming down?" Sab asks turning to the team.
"No betting, if they were to find out we were betting again they'll kill us." Cody stated.
"You're just afraid that I would win again." Sab says poking Cody in the side.
"There's that too."
Jake went over to talk to Alex. "I want to apologize for this morning and last night. I was being a jerk." "Yes you were, but then so was I. Jake I think we would be better off just going back to what we were before last summer. We should just be partners, we were good together but we don't belong together."
"I know you and Carlos should be together. I saw that in your eyes last night when you were talking to him. You're right, we should be friends and partners. Besides it will give Donovan and Elaina more time to watch over Cody and Sab, to keep them in line." Jake laughed.
"Let's shake on it then partner." Alex held out her hand and Jake shook it, then they hugged each other as friends.
*****
Elaina and Frank came back downstairs a few minutes later.
"I think we can finish now without any interruptions." Elaina looked at their faces. "Why are you looking at us like that; we behaved like adults?"
"In more ways than one." Frank whispered in her ear.
Jake walked up to them. "Alex and I have something to say before we get started again. We have decided to be friends and partners nothing more, nothing less. We think it is best all around."
"As long as you can work together. I hope that our stormy relationship didn't sway you any." Elaina sounded worried.
"No we came to the conclusion on our own. We haven't been honest with our selves about the relationship and last night seemed to bring it all out in the open for us." Alex explains.
"Okay good, now back to the case." Frank says turning to Cody. "Cody I want to move Maria and Elaina into the apartment, it is close to here if we should need anything."
"Why not just keep them here, we have sleeping quarters and all our equipment is here?" Cody suggests.
"I want them to feel at home not locked in a dungeon." Frank explains. "I want you, Sabrina and Monica to go to the apartment and set up the equipment. I want cameras in every room. All hallways and the stairs."
Elaina clears her throat to interrupt him. "Except the bathrooms and master bedroom. "
"I know the drill it's not like I haven't done this before." Cody hated being told how to do his job.
"Then get to it." Frank spun Cody's chair around to help him move quicker. "You can program our computer at the apartment to tie in here."
"Will I need a password?" Cody asks.
Frank wrote it down for him. "Before you go looking for any information about Agent Blakely or myself, forget it, there's nothing there."
"I'm hurt that you'd think I would pry into your personal files." Cody pretended to pout.
Frank threw a file at him. "Go while you still can."
"Can't you two play nice once in a while?" Elaina scolded them as children.
"Mom he started it." Cody pointed at Frank. "Cody get out of here before you get us all in trouble." Monica pushed him as they walked to the Operations Board to get the equipment.
"Jake, Alex we need you to go and get Megan and the kids. Derek is in school, he has a bodyguard with him you can dismiss him. We have a password system with the principal too for him to get Derek out of class." Elaina looks to Frank as to what the password is. "It was your day to choose, what is it?"
"Morocco." Frank said.
"You watched Casablanca again last night didn't you?" Elaina asked knowing that it was their favorite movie.
"How did you guess?" He smiled at her. "The principal will ask for it, don't volunteer it. It's our way of knowing they are keeping their word to us that he is taken care of there."
"Take the baby seat out of my car." Elaina said as they walked out. She turned back to Frank. "That was really smooth Mr. Donovan."
"What did I do now?"
"You just found a way to be alone with me, because I know for a fact that Monica didn't need to go with Cody and Sabrina."
"I wanted them to work not play around." Frank replies looking down at some files.
"They wouldn't do that and you know it. They are professionals. The only ones with playing around on their minds are you and I." She says as she walks over to him.
"Who said I wanted to play around. I thought we should go get Maria and take her to the apartment. We are professionals and should be able to keep her safe until Cody gets the cameras up and running." Frank suggests as he looks up at her.
"That's true, but I think she is safer where she is right now."
"You're not acting like a professional; will you please stop that." Elaina was kissing him and unbuttoning his shirt as she was talking.
"You're talking too much; I have something else in mind." She put her arms around him and pulled him close to her. She could feel that he was not exactly turned off by her actions.
"We can't do what you're wanting to do here." Frank says looking down at her.
"Why not we're all alone?" She took his suit jacket off of him and threw it on the floor. She then tried to take his gun holster off but he stopped her.
"I said not here, I have to work here remember? How can I concentrate knowing what we did here?" Frank protested and finally got away from her.
"Okay, we could have gone to the apartment but you made that the safe house, we can't go home. Any suggestions?"
"Yeah, you cool off and wait until tonight."
"Are you forgetting that there will be other people in that apartment?" Elaina pouts.
"So, our room is far away from the guest room and living room and there is no way they will suspect anything."
"You are so deluded to think they would not suspect what we'd be doing."
"They won't say a word about it. If they do we can make their lives miserable." Frank says giving an evil smirk.
"Okay, I'll wait until tonight, but you better be worth the wait." She went and sat down on the stairs leading to his office.
"What kind of statement was that? Have I never been worth the wait?" Frank says pretending to be offended.
"Well let's see." She sat there and thought about. He came over and sat on the step in front of her.
"Don't take all day to answer." He put his head in her lap; she bent down to kiss him.
"I guess you've always been worth it." She wrapped her arms around his neck. She put her hand inside his shirt again.
"You're not going to make this easy are you?"
"Make what easy, waiting for the kids to get here which will take about an hour and a half and it will take Cody and the girls that long if not longer. So if you think I'm going to sit here on these steps with you that long without touching or kissing you forget it." Elaina replies.
"Alright but you're not going to get what you want." Frank tried to clear his mind of her advances. He had to keep control, not let her win. But she knew how to sneak into his mind.
She put her head on his shoulder and whispered in his ear. "My love, I have a yearning deep inside. It is my soul wanting to touch yours." She felt the muscles in his shoulders tense. "Please hold me close and look into my eyes." Her hands massaged his chest muscles. "When we become one, your soul will dance with mine." She kissed his neck. "We will feel as if we are floating on air. As our souls kiss; the electricity we feel will be our souls making love, and forever we will be soul mates." She knew she had him then.
"You'll try just about anything won't you?" He got up and took her by the hand and led her to the office.
"I thought you didn't want to do anything here?" Elaina says as they entered the office.
"Shut up and kiss me." He grabbed her by the waist and pulled her close to him and kissed her. Their passion for one another was over whelming. Their hearts raced taking their breath away.
"Are you sure you want to do it in your office?" He didn't give her a spoken answer he just helped her undress and she returned the favor.
He took a blanket from the couch and laid it on the floor then he helped her lay down. He laid beside her, kissing her face working his way down her body. She trembled with every kiss and touch of his hands. She wanted him more than she ever had; she had never had such an overwhelming feeling. "Frank." She called out to him he was there beside her but to her he felt far away.
He realized that she needed to be held close. He pulled her on top of him and held her tight against him. She kissed his face and chest; she then massaged his body with her hands, he groaned as she moved down his body. All the muscles in his body tensed as she gave herself to him. They lay entangled with one another they couldn't speak but then they didn't have to, their actions said it all. ******
At the apartment Cody was putting up the last camera in the stairway. Sab was helping and questioning him about Maria. "How well did you say you knew Maria?"
"I told you we rarely talked." He was concentrating on the angle of the camera and not divulging information enough to suit her curiosity.
"But you did talk to her, so tell me what is she like?" Sab says looking up at him from the bottom step of the ladder that he was standing on.
"Well, she's about your height, auburn hair, blue eyes; she has a heart of gold, and legs that drive a man crazy." Cody says with a laugh teasing her.
"Cody Forrester I'm gonna hurt you." Sab says as he hits his leg. "I really want to know about her."
"We studied together a few times that's all. She wasn't very good with the technical aspect of the training so I helped her with it." Cody replies as he makes his way down the ladder.
"But you rarely talked, huh? How did you help if you rarely talked?"
"We were in a room with other people when we studied. We were never alone; does that make you feel better?" Cody asks as he reaches the bottom of the ladder.
"I guess, so you won't be talking much to her during the case either, will you? I mean, there are no old times to talk about or anything like that." Sab says as she pulls him closer and looks up at him.
"No. We do not have any fond memories to reminisce about. When are you going to realize that you are the one in my present and hopefully my future?" Cody says giving her a small kiss on the lips. "So don't worry about meeting her or my being there with her. We were just fellow agents in training that's all."
"Okay, so there's no reason why I can't be there for all your conversations with her?"
Cody growled at her and let her go. "You can be so infuriating at times."
He turns and walks towards the other side of the room.
Sab giggles as she follows him. "I've learned from the best. I've been taking lessons from Elaina."
"Oh great, next thing I know you'll be shooting me." Cody says turning to face her.
"Don't be silly, I would never do that to you." Sab says with a smirk. "Well, unless I was provoked."
"I'll keep that in mind." He handed her his toolbox. "Here carry this."
"It's yours, you carry it." She sat it back down on the floor. "I'm not your helper, I'm your equal we share responsibilities."
"Yes we do, I put the camera up you carry the tools; that's sharing."
Cody starts to walk away as she picked up the toolbox again and hit Cody in the butt with it.
"Ow!" He turns to her.
"Sorry you moved too slow." Sab says with a smirk. "Yeah you're learning from her." Cody says rubbing the sore spot that the toolbox had hit. "Now I need to talk with Donovan to find out how to handle you."
"Knowing what we know about them, I don't think he has a clue either."
"Don't let him hear you say that." Cody sticks his head in the apartment door. "Monica, we're finished.
"Let's go get lunch before we go back I'm starving." Monica says as they walked out of the apartment.
******
Later at the nest Frank and Elaina were sitting on the stairs waiting for the team to come back from their duties. When Alex and Jake arrived with Derek, Megan and Sarah they walked down to greet them. Sarah saw her parents and went running over to them. "Mommy!"
"Hi there baby. How's my girl today?" Sarah hugged her mom then went over to her daddy.
"Daddy up!" Sarah reached up her arms and Frank picked her up and sat her on his shoulders.
"Last time you did that she was afraid." Elaina saw that at the moment it didn't bother the little girl. "She must like it now."
When Frank moved Sarah grabbed him. "I'm not so sure; she has a death grip on my hair." Frank winced as Sarah pulled his hair. Megan helped him get her hand loose. "I should have known better. The women in this family are out to get me."
"Quit you're whining, give her to me." Elaina says taking her daughter who was giggling. "Its not funny sweetie, Daddy loves his hair on his head not in your hand."
Cody and the others arrive with food in hand. "Anyone hungry we brought lunch?" Cody says with a mouth full of food as he carries the bags over to the table.
"I guess you already started." Jake jokes as Cody sets down a bag.
"We have to talk to the kids first, you guys go ahead and eat then we have to get back to our case." Elaina and Frank took the kids and Megan to one of the other rooms.
"What's going on? You know I have tests this week, three of them today." Derek asks his mom.
"You're father and I want the three of you to go back to the ranch and be with Hank for a few days, maybe longer." Elaina saw that her son was not crazy with the idea.
"No way, I'm staying right here." Derek says defiantly.
"No your not, you heard your mother." Frank states.
"I am staying; I have too much going on to up and leave now."
"Excuse me? Your safety is more important to us than your ball games or tests, which you can make up. And if this has anything to do with your birthday, don't worry, we can celebrate it when you get back." Elaina explains.
"My friends are throwing me a party, they can't cancel it now."
"Why not? Your birthday is in a few days, that is plenty of time to cancel or reschedule." Elaina wondered why he was being so obnoxious.
"I hate to interrupt this but I need to say something to you." Cody says walking up to Frank.
"What is it?" Frank asks turning to the doorway.
"You told me to program your computer to hook up with the ones here." Frank shook his head yes. "I needed to download our program in and I checked the space on your hard drive. I went in the files to see if I could make space for it. I found these hidden away." He gave Elaina a print out of the file.
"Derek Collin Donovan! How could you do this?" She threw the papers at him. Megan took Sarah from the room away from the argument.
Frank picked up one and read it. "Damn it, Derek, have you gone insane?" Frank yells at him.
"I didn't do anything to hurt anyone?" Derek tries to explain.
"What do you call scaring me with these threats? If not hurting me?" Elaina asks yelling at him.
"I heard you talking to Maria about what was happening to her and how you were going to get Dad's team to protect her. All I wanted to do was get you and Dad back together. I thought if he had to protect you, things would get better between you both. I didn't think it would scare you that much. You've been threatened before." Derek explains.
"You certainly didn't think I could tell that. I think it is time you learned a lesson the hard way. I want him arrested for threatening a federal agent. Cody do you want to do the honors?" Elaina asks turning to Cody.
"Are you serious?" Cody asks not knowing if she was joking or not.
"If you won't get Jake or someone that will. I am deadly serious. He's not going to get away with this prank." Elaina looked to Frank who was staring his son down. "Frank, I am serious."
"Cody go get the handcuffs and arrest him like you were ordered." Frank says as Cody leaves the room in a hurry.
"Mom you can't arrest me, I was never going to do anything to harm you." Derek pleads.
"You already have done something and no I'm not arresting you, I'm pressing charges against you." Elaina replies.
Jake walked in with the cuffs. "Cody said he couldn't do it." Jake walked over and put the cuffs on Derek. "Where are we going to keep him until the marshal's show up?"
"Downstairs away from us would be my choice." Frank suggested.
"Dad, you're going to let her do this?" Derek protests as he struggles with the cuffs.
"You'll only make those tighter fighting them. She's my superior I can't go against her. You perpetrated a crime and you have to face the consequences of it." Frank explains to him.
"Jake take him downstairs, I'll call the marshals." Elaina says walking out of the room, Frank following behind her. They watched Jake take Derek downstairs as she picked up the phone.
"How long do we keep him there?" Frank asks when they were out of his site. "I figure about two hours and then Jake can take him back to school if he apologizes." Elaina wanted her son to know the fear she felt. "I want him to realize he can't get away with this. If he doesn't truly apologize after his stay downstairs, I just might go ahead and press charges."
A week went by slowly as Elaina and Frank didn't talk to each other unless they were with the children. They never discussed what had happened. When at work his team noticed a change in him, he was withdrawn, more than he was when he met them.
Today when Frank arrived at work, Alex and Jake were outside having a heated argument.
"Why didn't you hang up or tell him at least he was interrupting our dinner. I bet you didn't want him to know that you had moved on with someone else." Jake was yelling and Frank decided to break it up.
"I didn't want to hang up on him. That was the first call I have had from him since he left. I just wanted to know how he was. I didn't know we were going to talk that long." Alex said defending her actions. "Besides you know I have feelings for Cortez, before we even hooked up."
"You still have feelings for him, you just admitted it."
"Excuse me, you two are at work. Have your personal discussions at home where they belong." Frank says as he walked to the door.
"Yeah like when you and Elaina did in Texas. We were working then, look how that turned out." Jake's statement made Frank stop from opening the door.
"Agent Shaw your mouth is getting your ass in deep trouble." Jake was angry enough to take a punch at Frank.
Frank blocked the punch and landed one of his own, knocking Jake down. "Stay down Jake." Frank yelled standing over him.
"Enough! Back off Agent Donovan!" Frank turned to see Elaina walking up to them. "All of you inside now!"
As they entered Elaina called to the others inside. "I want everyone at the table." She waited for everyone to be seated. Frank kept pacing back and forth in back of them.
"Alex, Jake this is your first and only warning. Get your personal life together on your own time, not here." She looked at Cody and Sab. "Sabrina, Cody you have been having troubles too separating personal and professional lives. Keep your hands to yourself at work."
"How did she know?" Sab whispered to Monica.
"Agent Kells, do you have something to say?" Frank asked.
"No sir." Sab replies, she had forgotten he was pacing behind them.
"We warned all of you what would happen. Just keep it up and you'll find yourselves transferred." Frank stressed to them.
"Agent Donovan." Elaina turned on Frank. "You have been having personal problems too; I know that as a fact because I have the same problem." She was trying to be professional as she spoke to him. "Letting your anger out by hitting one of your team members is not acceptable behavior to me. Do it again you'll be suspended."
Frank seemed to ignore what she said to him. "Why are you here?"
"I have an assignment; you'll be protecting two agents. One is getting death threats the other is being stalked. We haven't been able to trace any of threats yet."
"We're not babysitters."
"No you are federal agents sworn to protect. So you are going to protect two agents." Elaina countered. "The first agent is Maria Andrews. I know Cody knows her from the academy they were in the same class." That piece of information did not get past Sab. She stared at Cody with wide eyes. Cody tried not to look at Sab's stare, but it was hard for him to do so.
"We were in the same class but I didn't talk that much to her. We barely know each other." Cody finally explains for Sab's benefit not anyone else.
"Are you through Cody?" Frank asks. Cody nodded his head.
"Maria has been pulled from her current case and placed in the custody of the marshals but I want this team to take over protecting her. This guy just about blew her cover. He has been writing her, calling her and showing up when she least expects him." Elaina took a file out and showed them a picture. "This is Gabriel Thomas. He was at the nightclub Maria was working in while undercover. Maria only remembers that he asked her to dance a few times when she was on break. She was a singer there, D.E.A suspected the club was a front for drug dealing and she was about to get us the evidence we needed when Thomas started harassing her every night."
"What about that case, are we going to handle that too?" Monica asks.
"No, I have already placed another agent there." Elaina replies. Frank looks at her. "Don't worry it isn't me."
"Who's the other agent getting the threats?" Jake asks.
She wished he hadn't asked. "Elaina Blakely Donovan." Elaina replies as she watched Frank's look of shock turn to anger.
"Again you keep something life threatening from me?"
She ignores him. "My threats have been coming in to my office email. She handed them each a file. "These are copies of the threats made to me I rarely give my office email out so how they got it is a mystery. The source of the email hasn't been found yet."
"We should get you both in a safe house and then we can concentrate on finding who is after both of you." Frank says looking at the file.
"I'm not going in any safe house." Elaina protested. "If I."
"You just put us in charge of your protection and you will go where I tell you to!" Frank yelled.
"You know where you can go too!"
"Here we go again." Alex says under her breath.
"Fine you want your children to go through the rest of their lives without a mother, get yourself killed. I give up trying to understand your thought process." Frank went up to his office and slammed the door.
"I'll be right back, excuse me." Elaina walked up the stairs trying to put her self in his shoes. She knew he was right, she was just being bull headed due to their personal problems. In a way this was personal too, she had kept it from him to get back at him. She tried the door; he had locked it. "Open the door Donovan!" She waited to hear the door unlock when it didn't she took her keys out and unlocked it herself. Frank heard the key in the door. "How did you get a key?" He asks as the door opens.
"You shouldn't leave your keys lying around for me to copy. I knew it would come in handy one day."
"I guess I need to change the lock now."
"I think it's time we cleared the air."
"We don't discuss our private matters at work. That's the number one Donovan rule, and so far you're still a Donovan." Frank says as he turns back to his files on his desk.
"I'll always be a Donovan. We're not getting a divorce. As far as the rules go, to hell with them. Our disagreeing on everything has to stop and stop right now. We have our personal problems flowing into the professional just like your team; I can't take the tension between us in both places. You know my objection to being in the safe house has to do with the kids. I'm away from them enough; I'm not going to let a few threats take me away from them."
"You can't let them be in danger either. And they would be if who ever is threatening you finds out about them. As a matter of fact someone should be watching."
"I've taken care of it, Derek has a bodyguard at school and there is a guard at the house as of this morning." Elaina explained.
She walked over to his side of the desk and leaned against it. She held his face in her hands and kissed him. "I'm tired of this life we have been living lately. I know that what happened between you and Miranda was not your fault and I forgive you for that. I also understand why you never told me about it; I don't like it that you didn't trust my love for you enough to think I could handle the truth."
"I know that it hurt you to find out the way you did. I have kicked myself over the past week for never telling you."
"Just remember this for future reference. There are two people in this world that know when you are lying, your mother and me. That's the one thing we have in common, we are both human lie detectors." Elaina says smiling. "And as far as hiding anything from each other, we are never going there again. We are going to be completely forthcoming with anything that is important and needs to be shared."
"What about things that should be shared but aren't that important?" Frank smiled at her.
"Don't mess with me Donovan." She patted his face. "I will never keep anything from you and you will do the same."
"That sounded like an order." He laughed.
"It was. Can you be serious, I am?"
"I am serious. I love you and I don't want to fight any longer." He pulled her down on his lap.
"I love you too." She wrapped her arms around his neck. "I want us to be back together the way we were when we first got married; we worked together without any complications then. We discussed everything, now we seem to fight over every discussion."
Frank held her tight. "I want that too, and I believe that if we would quit trying to control each other it would help. I admit that your promotion has had a lot to do with my attitude lately; I'm not used to you being my boss again. I'm going to try harder to get use to that fact." "I think I can help with that. After this case I'm going to resign." Elaina replies.
Frank stared at her. "You're serious, aren't you?"
"I'm very serious I don't need the tension, neither do you and the kids. And I'm sure Sarah and Derek would love having me back home full time."
"Sarah I know would, but Derek? I don't know, he's going to be 17 in a few days." Frank says thinking what she said over.
Elaina was shocked. "Oh my God! I forgot my own son's birthday is coming up. How could I forget that?"
"You've had a lot on your mind. Besides I just reminded you in plenty of time to plan something for him and buy presents. I think we should get him his own car."
"He's saving for one."
"I know but it would be a surprise for him. I even know the type of car he wants."
"If that is what you want then we'll do it." She says as she kisses him.
"That's it, we're not going to have this long .." She kisses him again to shut him up.
"Don't push your luck I told you, we talk and we decide things together. It worked really well I think." Elaina says after she pulls away from him.
"So you are going to a safe house with Maria and we can send the kids to Montana for a few days to visit Hank and we can have his car ready when he gets back for the party, that I'm sure you're planning as I speak. Sounds like a good plan to me." Frank says letting her pull away.
"You're sneaky but I never said I was going in the safe house, but I will as long as you are my personal body guard at night."
"I think that can be arranged." They then kiss each other losing all thought of the others downstairs.
*******
"Wonder what is taking them so long. It's been way too quite. Do you think they killed each other?" Cody asks staring at the door.
"Maybe they're talking quietly, ever thought of that?" Monica suggests.
"As mad as they were at each other I'm with Cody, I think they killed one another." Jake says agreeing with Cody.
"Shall we take bets on when they will be coming down or if they will be coming down?" Sab asks turning to the team.
"No betting, if they were to find out we were betting again they'll kill us." Cody stated.
"You're just afraid that I would win again." Sab says poking Cody in the side.
"There's that too."
Jake went over to talk to Alex. "I want to apologize for this morning and last night. I was being a jerk." "Yes you were, but then so was I. Jake I think we would be better off just going back to what we were before last summer. We should just be partners, we were good together but we don't belong together."
"I know you and Carlos should be together. I saw that in your eyes last night when you were talking to him. You're right, we should be friends and partners. Besides it will give Donovan and Elaina more time to watch over Cody and Sab, to keep them in line." Jake laughed.
"Let's shake on it then partner." Alex held out her hand and Jake shook it, then they hugged each other as friends.
*****
Elaina and Frank came back downstairs a few minutes later.
"I think we can finish now without any interruptions." Elaina looked at their faces. "Why are you looking at us like that; we behaved like adults?"
"In more ways than one." Frank whispered in her ear.
Jake walked up to them. "Alex and I have something to say before we get started again. We have decided to be friends and partners nothing more, nothing less. We think it is best all around."
"As long as you can work together. I hope that our stormy relationship didn't sway you any." Elaina sounded worried.
"No we came to the conclusion on our own. We haven't been honest with our selves about the relationship and last night seemed to bring it all out in the open for us." Alex explains.
"Okay good, now back to the case." Frank says turning to Cody. "Cody I want to move Maria and Elaina into the apartment, it is close to here if we should need anything."
"Why not just keep them here, we have sleeping quarters and all our equipment is here?" Cody suggests.
"I want them to feel at home not locked in a dungeon." Frank explains. "I want you, Sabrina and Monica to go to the apartment and set up the equipment. I want cameras in every room. All hallways and the stairs."
Elaina clears her throat to interrupt him. "Except the bathrooms and master bedroom. "
"I know the drill it's not like I haven't done this before." Cody hated being told how to do his job.
"Then get to it." Frank spun Cody's chair around to help him move quicker. "You can program our computer at the apartment to tie in here."
"Will I need a password?" Cody asks.
Frank wrote it down for him. "Before you go looking for any information about Agent Blakely or myself, forget it, there's nothing there."
"I'm hurt that you'd think I would pry into your personal files." Cody pretended to pout.
Frank threw a file at him. "Go while you still can."
"Can't you two play nice once in a while?" Elaina scolded them as children.
"Mom he started it." Cody pointed at Frank. "Cody get out of here before you get us all in trouble." Monica pushed him as they walked to the Operations Board to get the equipment.
"Jake, Alex we need you to go and get Megan and the kids. Derek is in school, he has a bodyguard with him you can dismiss him. We have a password system with the principal too for him to get Derek out of class." Elaina looks to Frank as to what the password is. "It was your day to choose, what is it?"
"Morocco." Frank said.
"You watched Casablanca again last night didn't you?" Elaina asked knowing that it was their favorite movie.
"How did you guess?" He smiled at her. "The principal will ask for it, don't volunteer it. It's our way of knowing they are keeping their word to us that he is taken care of there."
"Take the baby seat out of my car." Elaina said as they walked out. She turned back to Frank. "That was really smooth Mr. Donovan."
"What did I do now?"
"You just found a way to be alone with me, because I know for a fact that Monica didn't need to go with Cody and Sabrina."
"I wanted them to work not play around." Frank replies looking down at some files.
"They wouldn't do that and you know it. They are professionals. The only ones with playing around on their minds are you and I." She says as she walks over to him.
"Who said I wanted to play around. I thought we should go get Maria and take her to the apartment. We are professionals and should be able to keep her safe until Cody gets the cameras up and running." Frank suggests as he looks up at her.
"That's true, but I think she is safer where she is right now."
"You're not acting like a professional; will you please stop that." Elaina was kissing him and unbuttoning his shirt as she was talking.
"You're talking too much; I have something else in mind." She put her arms around him and pulled him close to her. She could feel that he was not exactly turned off by her actions.
"We can't do what you're wanting to do here." Frank says looking down at her.
"Why not we're all alone?" She took his suit jacket off of him and threw it on the floor. She then tried to take his gun holster off but he stopped her.
"I said not here, I have to work here remember? How can I concentrate knowing what we did here?" Frank protested and finally got away from her.
"Okay, we could have gone to the apartment but you made that the safe house, we can't go home. Any suggestions?"
"Yeah, you cool off and wait until tonight."
"Are you forgetting that there will be other people in that apartment?" Elaina pouts.
"So, our room is far away from the guest room and living room and there is no way they will suspect anything."
"You are so deluded to think they would not suspect what we'd be doing."
"They won't say a word about it. If they do we can make their lives miserable." Frank says giving an evil smirk.
"Okay, I'll wait until tonight, but you better be worth the wait." She went and sat down on the stairs leading to his office.
"What kind of statement was that? Have I never been worth the wait?" Frank says pretending to be offended.
"Well let's see." She sat there and thought about. He came over and sat on the step in front of her.
"Don't take all day to answer." He put his head in her lap; she bent down to kiss him.
"I guess you've always been worth it." She wrapped her arms around his neck. She put her hand inside his shirt again.
"You're not going to make this easy are you?"
"Make what easy, waiting for the kids to get here which will take about an hour and a half and it will take Cody and the girls that long if not longer. So if you think I'm going to sit here on these steps with you that long without touching or kissing you forget it." Elaina replies.
"Alright but you're not going to get what you want." Frank tried to clear his mind of her advances. He had to keep control, not let her win. But she knew how to sneak into his mind.
She put her head on his shoulder and whispered in his ear. "My love, I have a yearning deep inside. It is my soul wanting to touch yours." She felt the muscles in his shoulders tense. "Please hold me close and look into my eyes." Her hands massaged his chest muscles. "When we become one, your soul will dance with mine." She kissed his neck. "We will feel as if we are floating on air. As our souls kiss; the electricity we feel will be our souls making love, and forever we will be soul mates." She knew she had him then.
"You'll try just about anything won't you?" He got up and took her by the hand and led her to the office.
"I thought you didn't want to do anything here?" Elaina says as they entered the office.
"Shut up and kiss me." He grabbed her by the waist and pulled her close to him and kissed her. Their passion for one another was over whelming. Their hearts raced taking their breath away.
"Are you sure you want to do it in your office?" He didn't give her a spoken answer he just helped her undress and she returned the favor.
He took a blanket from the couch and laid it on the floor then he helped her lay down. He laid beside her, kissing her face working his way down her body. She trembled with every kiss and touch of his hands. She wanted him more than she ever had; she had never had such an overwhelming feeling. "Frank." She called out to him he was there beside her but to her he felt far away.
He realized that she needed to be held close. He pulled her on top of him and held her tight against him. She kissed his face and chest; she then massaged his body with her hands, he groaned as she moved down his body. All the muscles in his body tensed as she gave herself to him. They lay entangled with one another they couldn't speak but then they didn't have to, their actions said it all. ******
At the apartment Cody was putting up the last camera in the stairway. Sab was helping and questioning him about Maria. "How well did you say you knew Maria?"
"I told you we rarely talked." He was concentrating on the angle of the camera and not divulging information enough to suit her curiosity.
"But you did talk to her, so tell me what is she like?" Sab says looking up at him from the bottom step of the ladder that he was standing on.
"Well, she's about your height, auburn hair, blue eyes; she has a heart of gold, and legs that drive a man crazy." Cody says with a laugh teasing her.
"Cody Forrester I'm gonna hurt you." Sab says as he hits his leg. "I really want to know about her."
"We studied together a few times that's all. She wasn't very good with the technical aspect of the training so I helped her with it." Cody replies as he makes his way down the ladder.
"But you rarely talked, huh? How did you help if you rarely talked?"
"We were in a room with other people when we studied. We were never alone; does that make you feel better?" Cody asks as he reaches the bottom of the ladder.
"I guess, so you won't be talking much to her during the case either, will you? I mean, there are no old times to talk about or anything like that." Sab says as she pulls him closer and looks up at him.
"No. We do not have any fond memories to reminisce about. When are you going to realize that you are the one in my present and hopefully my future?" Cody says giving her a small kiss on the lips. "So don't worry about meeting her or my being there with her. We were just fellow agents in training that's all."
"Okay, so there's no reason why I can't be there for all your conversations with her?"
Cody growled at her and let her go. "You can be so infuriating at times."
He turns and walks towards the other side of the room.
Sab giggles as she follows him. "I've learned from the best. I've been taking lessons from Elaina."
"Oh great, next thing I know you'll be shooting me." Cody says turning to face her.
"Don't be silly, I would never do that to you." Sab says with a smirk. "Well, unless I was provoked."
"I'll keep that in mind." He handed her his toolbox. "Here carry this."
"It's yours, you carry it." She sat it back down on the floor. "I'm not your helper, I'm your equal we share responsibilities."
"Yes we do, I put the camera up you carry the tools; that's sharing."
Cody starts to walk away as she picked up the toolbox again and hit Cody in the butt with it.
"Ow!" He turns to her.
"Sorry you moved too slow." Sab says with a smirk. "Yeah you're learning from her." Cody says rubbing the sore spot that the toolbox had hit. "Now I need to talk with Donovan to find out how to handle you."
"Knowing what we know about them, I don't think he has a clue either."
"Don't let him hear you say that." Cody sticks his head in the apartment door. "Monica, we're finished.
"Let's go get lunch before we go back I'm starving." Monica says as they walked out of the apartment.
******
Later at the nest Frank and Elaina were sitting on the stairs waiting for the team to come back from their duties. When Alex and Jake arrived with Derek, Megan and Sarah they walked down to greet them. Sarah saw her parents and went running over to them. "Mommy!"
"Hi there baby. How's my girl today?" Sarah hugged her mom then went over to her daddy.
"Daddy up!" Sarah reached up her arms and Frank picked her up and sat her on his shoulders.
"Last time you did that she was afraid." Elaina saw that at the moment it didn't bother the little girl. "She must like it now."
When Frank moved Sarah grabbed him. "I'm not so sure; she has a death grip on my hair." Frank winced as Sarah pulled his hair. Megan helped him get her hand loose. "I should have known better. The women in this family are out to get me."
"Quit you're whining, give her to me." Elaina says taking her daughter who was giggling. "Its not funny sweetie, Daddy loves his hair on his head not in your hand."
Cody and the others arrive with food in hand. "Anyone hungry we brought lunch?" Cody says with a mouth full of food as he carries the bags over to the table.
"I guess you already started." Jake jokes as Cody sets down a bag.
"We have to talk to the kids first, you guys go ahead and eat then we have to get back to our case." Elaina and Frank took the kids and Megan to one of the other rooms.
"What's going on? You know I have tests this week, three of them today." Derek asks his mom.
"You're father and I want the three of you to go back to the ranch and be with Hank for a few days, maybe longer." Elaina saw that her son was not crazy with the idea.
"No way, I'm staying right here." Derek says defiantly.
"No your not, you heard your mother." Frank states.
"I am staying; I have too much going on to up and leave now."
"Excuse me? Your safety is more important to us than your ball games or tests, which you can make up. And if this has anything to do with your birthday, don't worry, we can celebrate it when you get back." Elaina explains.
"My friends are throwing me a party, they can't cancel it now."
"Why not? Your birthday is in a few days, that is plenty of time to cancel or reschedule." Elaina wondered why he was being so obnoxious.
"I hate to interrupt this but I need to say something to you." Cody says walking up to Frank.
"What is it?" Frank asks turning to the doorway.
"You told me to program your computer to hook up with the ones here." Frank shook his head yes. "I needed to download our program in and I checked the space on your hard drive. I went in the files to see if I could make space for it. I found these hidden away." He gave Elaina a print out of the file.
"Derek Collin Donovan! How could you do this?" She threw the papers at him. Megan took Sarah from the room away from the argument.
Frank picked up one and read it. "Damn it, Derek, have you gone insane?" Frank yells at him.
"I didn't do anything to hurt anyone?" Derek tries to explain.
"What do you call scaring me with these threats? If not hurting me?" Elaina asks yelling at him.
"I heard you talking to Maria about what was happening to her and how you were going to get Dad's team to protect her. All I wanted to do was get you and Dad back together. I thought if he had to protect you, things would get better between you both. I didn't think it would scare you that much. You've been threatened before." Derek explains.
"You certainly didn't think I could tell that. I think it is time you learned a lesson the hard way. I want him arrested for threatening a federal agent. Cody do you want to do the honors?" Elaina asks turning to Cody.
"Are you serious?" Cody asks not knowing if she was joking or not.
"If you won't get Jake or someone that will. I am deadly serious. He's not going to get away with this prank." Elaina looked to Frank who was staring his son down. "Frank, I am serious."
"Cody go get the handcuffs and arrest him like you were ordered." Frank says as Cody leaves the room in a hurry.
"Mom you can't arrest me, I was never going to do anything to harm you." Derek pleads.
"You already have done something and no I'm not arresting you, I'm pressing charges against you." Elaina replies.
Jake walked in with the cuffs. "Cody said he couldn't do it." Jake walked over and put the cuffs on Derek. "Where are we going to keep him until the marshal's show up?"
"Downstairs away from us would be my choice." Frank suggested.
"Dad, you're going to let her do this?" Derek protests as he struggles with the cuffs.
"You'll only make those tighter fighting them. She's my superior I can't go against her. You perpetrated a crime and you have to face the consequences of it." Frank explains to him.
"Jake take him downstairs, I'll call the marshals." Elaina says walking out of the room, Frank following behind her. They watched Jake take Derek downstairs as she picked up the phone.
"How long do we keep him there?" Frank asks when they were out of his site. "I figure about two hours and then Jake can take him back to school if he apologizes." Elaina wanted her son to know the fear she felt. "I want him to realize he can't get away with this. If he doesn't truly apologize after his stay downstairs, I just might go ahead and press charges."