Author's Note: Special thanks to Harry for the reviews! I'm sorry to say that Lisa and I have more VENOM-ous cliffhangers coming in later chapters...you have been warned! :) Also, some of the history of the story from this point forward builds off of Lisa's other stories "Blood and Water" and "The Enemy Within". It's not absolutely necessary to read those first, but it will help to understand the background of this story. It's also a shameless plug. :)




War Fields: Chapter 3


Who could he want me to meet? God I hope it's not his father again, I don't think I'd survive another round of it.

"Annie will you quit your day dreaming and pick up the pace," Scott spoke with anticipation as he dragged her into the public eye of the party. The first thing she noticed was a burnet girl about her age speaking with her father in the distance. Who's that? Better not be one of those lovie dovie fans who drool all over him.


Brad Turner tried to walk in ever direction around the girl, but she kept cutting him off, "Come on Brad! All I'm asking is for permission to go California and see you perform live on stage with Aerosmith. I mean what could be cooler then that?"

He stopped trying to move around her and glanced into her blue eyes, "Have you spoke with your dad about that?"

"Oh PLEASEEEEE Brad," she got down on her knees making the biggest show of her life and looked up at him with puppy dog eyes, "Didn't you promise me you'd do something to make up for…"

"Hey! Don't go bring that up right now," he then helped her up off the ground, "You got grounded again didn't you?"

Roxy crossed her arms smirking, "Is there anything that goes on in my life that you people don't know about?"

"And you know I'm not going to answer that," He smiled as he walked right passed her towards the refreshments.

Buddy put a hand on her shoulder as he walked by, "Nice try!"

"Nice try? You told me the puppy dog eyes would work!" Roxanne looked at him annoyed as if she just committed a sin.

He laughed, "They work for me. I didn't say Brad would fall for them."

"Eh you guys are so impossible," She stepped away irritated and ready to scream. Her attention drifted towards Scott who was dragging a red headed girl in her direction. "Hey I didn't think there was a place to pick up girls out here?" she snickered.

Scott slightly blushed at the remark, as he turned to Annie for a moment then back to Roxanne, "Hey Roxy knock it off! Anyways Annie this is Roxanne my sister."

Annie just stood there puzzled. They just kept the shocks coming around here. Sister? Is she adopted like Scott? I really have to make it a point to get out more.

"I can tell you're lost," she remarked at Annie's all out stare, " frankly I don't even know how I got here either."

Scott continued with the introduction, "Roxy this is Annie, she's Brad daughter."

"Whoa!" she reacted surprise and with her mouth hanging open, "Brad has a daughter? That's funny cause he never mentioned it. I would have never guessed he was the fatherly type."

Annie was uncertain how to reply to the remark, so she settled for a halfway neutral, "Uh…please to meet you I guess."

Scott scratched his head, as it remained silent for a few minutes afterwards, "Did I make this anymore awkward?"

Anymore awkward? The only thing that might be worse would be Matt stopping by for another chat, Annie thought to herself while still trying to keep her expression neutral.

Roxanne broke the silence, "It's nice to meet somebody who's not in anyways connected to my dad. I'm a little embarrassed that nobody at this stink'n barbeque managed to even mention Brad had a daughter. What the heck is wrong with Brad, the other guys talk about their families all the time."

Why? Why did dad not say anything? Annie notice Roxanne was annoyed by the secret, "I guess I should be just as mad. Although I don't get out here that much, I spend most my time in the Sierra Nevada Mountains with the Hawkes family."

"You hang out with Buddy's family?" She looked at her with total disbelief, "That's it everyone of these guys at this barbecue is going down." Her eyes narrowed on Scott, "Starting with Scott because he's within arm length."

Scott backed up, "Hey now!" He notice she started cracking her knuckles, "Roxy, I?" Scott ran back towards his father as Roxanne just too one step towards him.

Annie didn't look amuse, "That was mean. Besides, it isn't his fault nobody communicates around here."

"I'm still trying to get use to this whole sibling thing," She confessed, "besides we can do some serious girl talking without him around."

Annie asked curiously, "If you don't mind me asking. I've known Scott all my life and he's never once mention about a sister."

"Oh I'll give you the short version," she spoke as she sat down on the grass, "I've only lived here almost 2 years. My mother died when I was really young never telling me who my real father was. Then by the luck of the draw we crossed paths. Since then I was given a new life and a chance to know my father. Well that is when he's actually around," She spoke with some displeasure.

Annie wondered out loud, "That's strange cause Scott always talks about the places him and Matt go."

"Yeah well Scott isn't grounded for a decade," Roxanne smirked as she pulled some grass out of the ground. "Anyways what about your mother?"

Annie pondered for a moment, "She abandon me when I was just a baby."

"That really had to suck," was all Roxanne could muster out as a reply.

Annie tried to shrug it off as no big deal, although it was. "Worse for Dad than for me, I suppose."

There was another moment of awkward silence before Roxanne spoke again, "Well Annie Turner, I get the feeling that were going to be such good friends." She then placed an arm around Annie neck, "And as a sign of this new friendship, could you please talk to your father about letting me attend his concert, cause he owes me big time."

Annie turned to her, "Your not very good at begging."

"I can't pull off the innocent routine, cause those guys know how I work," She admitted.

"Well, he's immune to the puppy dog eyes seeing as he gets those from about one million insipid fan girls every day," Annie relayed, a little too late for Roxy. "Hard work usually does the trick for me, and extended absences help a little." She shrugged helplessly. "If it makes you feel any better, I've been begging him for *FOREVER* to get me autographs from the band Restless Heart."

Before Roxy could reply on her takes in music, Dusty shouted from the distance, "HEY KIDDO'S! You better eat before the food gets cold." With that remark, the girls headed towards the picnic tables to grab some grub.


Matt and Brad sat under a shaded umbrella drinking cold beers and watching the two girls giggling over lunch. "See, what did I tell you the girls hit it off well," Brad smiled knowing his idea was a success.

Matt couldn't help but smile as well, "I never doubted you for a second. She really needed a friend more then ever. Hopefully hanging around Annie will cause her to settling down on her rebel antics. Even Scott never got into that much trouble on his own."

Brad laughed slightly knowing his friend was running out of ideas to control her, "I just hope this idea doesn't give too much of the opposite effect. Annie could stand to be a little less shy, but anything more than that I'm holding you responsible for, Trakker," he joked.


The day was coming to a close, and Brad and Annie were ready to head home. As they headed towards Condor Brad asked, "So what do you think of Roxanne?"

"She's very interesting. How come you've never told me about her? We've never kept secrets from each other before?" Annie asked with a hint of anger in her voice.

Brad knew where this was going, "It wasn't definite she was actually going to live with Matt. She's lead a very troubled life and this is a lot for her to adjust to. She can be very sweet, when she's not trying to con her way into something."

Annie wasn't certain if that was the answer she was looking for, "So this was an excuse for the two of us to meet?"

Brad smiled adjusting his shades, "Pretty much."

"Your not keeping anything else from me are you?" she asked with her hands on her waist.

Yeah, sure...your new friend is a former VENOM agent, and I had to pretend to be one to get her out alive. Brad knew better than to tell her a truth that would ruin a blossoming friendship, but he couldn't outright lie to her, either. Instead, he totally sidestepped the question. "Come on, it's late and I know you're tired. Let's go home."

"Dad..." Annie began, but she was cut off by Brad's firm tone.

"Get on the bike, Annie."

Her eyes flashed with a mixture of emotions that he couldn't read, but she didn't argue with him. Wordlessly, she climbed up onto Condor and put on her helmet. A few moments later, he followed.



The ride home seemed unusually quiet. Annie really didn't feel much like talking...she was too busy thinking about some of the things Roxy had said. She came out of her reverie long enough to notice that her feet had carried her through the front door, almost as if on auto-pilot. As much time as she spent in the mountains, and as much as she loved Buddy's extended family, there really was no place like home.

"It's good to be home again," she said softly as she walked up the stairs to her room.

Everything was much like she left it, she noticed, as she changed into an oversized T-shirt and an old pair of shorts. As she unbraided her hair and ran a brush through it, she again thought back to some of the things Roxy had said. Some of them she didn't know how to respond to, and some just didn't make any sense. Annie found herself really liking Matt's daughter, and she wanted to know more about her. Like what exactly is up with her and Dad, anyway? When she had tried to feel him out, he pulled rank on her, effectively ending the conversation. Well, maybe now that we aren't standing on Trakker territory, he might be a little more open. It's not like him to hold back like that.

She laid the brush down and padded down the hall, noting that his bedroom door was still open. She stood in the doorway for a moment, until Brad looked up at her, eyebrows arched. "Figured you'd probably be asleep by now. What's up?"

"Just thinking about some things Roxy said today," Annie replied as she sat down on the bed. "It was kind of weird...when Scott introduced us and said I was your daughter, she seemed angry that you never told her. I'm kind of at a loss as to what to make of that..." She laid down, propping her head up on an elbow, facing Brad. "I really like her, and I'd like to know more about her, so I mean...if something happened between you two..."

Annie let herself trail off, unsure how else to express her curiousity. An unreadable expression crossed her father's face for a moment, but Annie waited patiently for him to find the right words.

Brad, however, was feeling more like a deer caught in the headlights with every passing moment. He thought briefly, then came up with what he hoped was the right approach. "Well, remember that I told you she's had a troubled life, right? She lost her mother, and never knew her father until she was a teen. By the time she came to live with Matt, she had already grown up wild."

"Unlike me, who had a larger support network," Annie verbalized softly.

Brad smiled and ruffled her hair playfully. "Exactly. So, I guess you could say I've kind of taken Roxy under my wing."

"Because you've been there."

He grinned wider. This was working out better than he expected. "Right again."

"So, why didn't you ever mention me to her?" Annie asked, trying to keep the small touch of bitterness out of her voice.

"Well, two reasons. One is that again, we weren't sure she'd be staying with Matt. I wouldn't have been able to introduce her to a good friend only to have that friend ripped away from her. The girl has been through enough as it is," Brad replied. "The second reason is that when I'm not home with you, that usually means I'm 'working', which doesn't leave a lot of time for socializing."

Annie nodded. "Makes sense. So tell me more...I mean, what is it that you guys do, or have done? I just keep getting this feeling that there's something between you..."

Brad shrugged. "I just try to be her friend. And maybe when you guys get to be better friends, she'll share some of those experiences with you. I don't know as it's my place to tell you."

Well, what do you know? quoted Brad's older self. Found a way to quench her curiousity without outright lying to her. You're a genius, Turner, praised his younger self.

Annie wasn't sure she could buy all this, but she couldn't dispute it either. "So you're kinda keeping her confidence."

"More or less. I'm sure there's plenty of stuff you tell Robin and Jackie that I don't and won't ever know about."

Annie laughed. "You wouldn't want to know the stuff I tell them, that's why I tell them." She paused for a moment, as what she just said sank into her brain. Her face twisted into a look of self mockery. "I just proved your point, didn't I?"

He grinned, pulling her into a tight hug. "Yes, you did."

Annie snaked her arms around him and rested her head against his shoulder. After a moment of silence, she said, "I missed you, Dad."

"I missed you too, honey."

"I love you, Dad."

"I love you too, honey."

Brad just sat there for a few minutes with his daughter cradled in his arms and a sense that for the moment, all was right with the world. The next time he looked down at her, he saw that she was sleeping. Gently he picked her up and carried her back to her room, then he went to bed himself.