Author's Note: More thanks to Harry for all his kind reviews! :) If you think Lisa and I are evil now, you really aren't going to like us by the end of the story! :) Keep reading and reviewing!



War Fields: Chapter 6


Brad and Buddy entered the hotel about 9am yawning. They both did a quick surveillance of the city and contacted a few anonymous sources regarding VENOM's whereabouts. Matt had been waiting by the front desk all morning for them to arrive. Buddy and Brad took note that Matt didn't look like he had gotten any sleep at all. Buddy asked, "You want to debrief now?"

Matt shook his head, "No after breakfast. Brad I need to talk to you."

"Did something happen to Annie?" Brad noticed the concern look on Matt's faced and feared the worst possible scenario. Buddy was going to head for breakfast, but Brad's question sparked a sudden interest to know as well.

Matt was hoping to keep this between him and Brad, but at this point the rest of the team probably already knows about it. "Annie is fine. I assure you," Matt took a long pause before continuing, "I thought it best you hear it from me, before you hear anything from Annie. Roxanne had a nightmare last night, which cause her to attack Annie."

"WHAT!?" Brad and Buddy spoke in unison with such disbelief.

"Roxanne didn't do it on purpose, she didn't realize what she was doing, until Annie snapped her out of it. I assure you thankfully nobody got hurt," Matt continued to reassure Brad, "She'll be staying in my room for the rest of the mission, to prevent this from happening again."

Brad rushed pass Matt and into the restaurant where everyone was dining in, "Annie?" He wanted to look at her; he needed to be reassured she was ok. Matt's words were never good enough to satisfy him.

Annie sat between Scott and Roxanne and waved to her father, "Dad over here!"

Brad notice Roxanne turned away avoiding eye contact. It was obvious she was embarrassed about the situation. His full attention then went to his daughter, who looked just as beautiful as he had left her. The only thing remotely out of place was that she was wearing her long hair loose instead of in her typical braid.

"So you find anything out, dad?" Annie asked with curiosity.

"We got enough to start out with," Brad remarked. "Did you sleep well?" It was almost as if everyone's eyes were upon Annie expecting her to retell the horrors.

"Slept like a baby," Annie replied with a smile, and then gave Roxanne a slight wink.

She lied to me! I can't believe it! Brad stood there uncertain if he should accuse her on the spot, or just go along with her. He then sat down at the table realizing he should trust his daughter's judgment, "Alright then let's eat then."

Brad managed to actually eat his breakfast and maintain an outward air of calm while his inward thoughts were in turmoil. He was seriously starting to regret his decision to let Annie come along. Not twenty-four hours into their mission, and the threats weren't even coming from VENOM. Now he remembered why he left her in the expert care of Jesse Hawkes and the other Rangers. He knew that they would take care of her and that she would be safe. Moreover, he knew he wouldn't be taking the chance of having his concentration split between the current mission and worrying about her. He found himself wondering how Matt was able to do it.

A kick from underneath the table jolted him. Brad narrowed his eyes as he looked around the table for the culprit, immediately ruling out Scott and Roxanne, one of which was too far away and the other STILL wouldn't so much as look at him. Buddy seemed engrossed in his own breakfast, so that left only one other person at the table. His daughter shot him a pointed look out of the corner of her eye as she finished the last few bites of her own breakfast. He had to have been staring at her...again. He returned the sidelong glance with one that said: "We'll talk about this...later."

Before Brad could settle back into his thoughts, Dusty entered the restaurant. The southern man tipped Annie's chair back and gave her a hug right around the back of it.

"Hello, Darlin' " Dusty drawled in his best Conway Twitty impression. Annie blushed and giggled as he added, "How was breakfast?"

"Not as good as your cooking," she replied smoothly.

"How'd ya sleep?"

Roxanne's fork forcefully crashed into her plate. "You know, I'm not as hungry as I thought." Before anyone could reply, she bolted out the door. Without thinking, Scott quickly followed.

Brad watched Annie's gaze flicker from Roxanne's exit back to the rest of the table. Her eyes and tone were deceptively calm. "You guys are absolutely incorrigible."

She received a collective innocent glance of "Who, us?" in reply.

"I'm really not the one you should all be worried about." Annie stood up and gave Brad a small hug before she left as well.

"She sure could say that again," Dusty agreed. "You sure her and Roxy bein' friends now is such a hot idea, Brad?"

Buddy replied before he could. "If there was ever a time Roxy needed a friend, it's now. I wouldn't worry too much about Annie...she's got a big heart."

"Yeah, and I don't aim to see it broke, either," Dusty growled protectively. "If that girl so much as lays a finger on her..."

Brad cleared his throat, unable to suppress a small smile. "Ahem, isn't that MY line?"

The three MASK agents looked around the table at each other and then laughed as they returned to their breakfast.



Brad quickly finished and set out to look for the girls, before Matt came looking for him. He caught a glimpse of Roxanne entering the ladies' room in the hotel's lobby and praised his luck. She thankfully hadn't seen him so all he had to do was wait for her to come out. It didn't take long.

"Hey," he said to her, catching her arm in a soft, yet firm, grip before she could bolt. "I'm not mad at you. More importantly, Annie isn't mad at you."

Roxy just stared up at him.

"Let me put this into perspective for you," Brad said, trying a different angle. "My daughter has never, EVER, lied to me...not even the little childish white ones. But back in the restaurant just now, she lied to me, to my face, to save you from being embarrassed."

"It didn't help now did it?" Roxy growled back. "Everyone still knows."

"Well, they didn't hear it from Annie," Brad countered, releasing Roxy's arm since he had her attention, "and that means a lot to her. It means enough for her to lie to me, which is something she knows I won't tolerate."

Roxy simply folded her arms and looked at him, unconvinced.

He continued anyway. "I would have called her on it right then and there, but I trust her judgment. If she says everything is fine, then everything must be fine. I still need to go talk to her, but I wanted to talk to you first. Besides," he added with what he hoped was his most winning smile, "you can't avoid me forever. There's still a matter of a certain set of concert tickets..."

With that, he left her alone.


It didn't take Brad long at all to find Annie. She was exactly where he thought she'd be...back in her hotel room with her nose stuck in a book. He stood in the doorway of the adjoining suite across from Matt's, watching her for what he thought was only a few moments, until she spoke.

"For crying out loud, Dad, would you PLEASE stop staring at me like I'm going to disintegrate at any moment!" She marked the page of the book she was reading and set it down so she could glare at him more fully.

It was the closest Annie had ever come to outright defiance, and Brad got the closest he had ever come to outright yelling at her. "That's a dangerous tone you've taken with me, young lady, and we haven't even discussed the outright lie you told me back in the restaurant."

She softened her tone, but not her glare or the emotional content. "What exactly was I supposed to say?! 'Well, actually Dad, I slept horribly because my new best friend woke up in the middle of a nightmare and nearly killed me.' ?" Her tone became more accusatory. "And it was obvious when you walked in that you knew, so you should have never asked, or at least had the courtesy to bring it up in private!"

"You have me there," Brad admitted with a sigh, as he ran his fingers through his hair nervously. He walked over and sat down on the edge of her bed. "I was so worried, I just said the first thing that came out of my mouth…as usual."

Annie sighed deeply, and half smiled at him. "Man, I can't lie to you, I can't argue with you...what kind of a teenager am I?"

He couldn't help but grin back at her. "One of a kind, dear, one of a kind." There was a little bit of an awkward silence before he asked, "You're sure you're okay?"

"Dad, I'm fine," she answered in exasperation. "Sure, I was scared at first, but after Matt intervened I was more scared for Roxy than myself. There's nothing to worry about now since she'll be sleeping in Matt's room for the duration."

I'll always worry, Brad thought as he pulled her close. "I can't help but worry about you. If anything happened to you, I'd never forgive myself."

Annie looked up at him and said firmly, "Stop worrying. You can't afford to worry about me right now. Your concentration might slip during your mission, then something would happen to you, and then *I* wouldn't be able to forgive myself."

A polite cough from the doorway interrupted their conversation. "I hate to interrupt, but we are conducting an investigation here," Buddy said flippantly.

Brad looked down at his daughter one last time. "Promise me you'll stay safe."

"Promise me you won't worry."

Neither really answered the other, they just hugged one last time before Buddy coughed again.

"Good luck boys," Annie said as the two agents walked out the door.

Before she even had time to miss her father, Scott and Roxanne walked back into the room. "So," Annie asked, as though nothing had happened that morning, "what's on the agenda for today?"