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CHAPTER 8

After a night on the couch, Stiles woke up stiff and tired. The first thing he did was call the Agency to see if there was any news. Jackson, with all of the compassion and sympathy he could muster, told him there was none. Stiles slowly moved upstairs to take a very long shower. As soon as he threw himself on the bed, he landed on a hard object. He pulled it from behind him intent on throwing it across the room when he noticed it was a present. His curiosity overtook his weariness and anger when he saw his name on the card. He opened it slowly.

"This makes it real. I'm sorry it took me so long to understand. I love you, Terri."

Stiles had no idea what to expect as he eagerly tore open the package. Inside the box was a silver picture frame covered with balloons and bears and "daughter" etched at the bottom. Inside the frame was a sonogram with "It's a girl" written across it in Terri's writing. Underneath the frame was a tiny pink bib that read "Daddy's Girl."

Stiles stared at the photo for a long time. It was a grainy black and white photo, but it represented so much more. He was amazed that he was looking at the baby that Terri was carrying. The baby girl that may not have survived Terri's gunshot. The one that, even if she survived the gunshot, might not survive whatever else would happen to her mother. As Stiles was staring at the picture, wondering what would become of his girls. Before he realized it, Stiles was waking up to the doorbell. He shook himself awake and nearly ran down the stairs hoping the visitor would take him to Terri.

"Jackson. What happened? Did you hear something?" He asked expectantly.

"No. I'm sorry. I couldn't say much when you called, but I know you want answers and I wish I had some. How are you?"

"I don't know how I am. How could he, Jackson? He knew. He knew where she was the whole time."

"Actually, I'm not sure he did know." Jackson would never defend Quinn, but he wanted to diffuse the situation as much as possible. Terri was more important than Quinn's and Stiles' egos.

"Even if he didn't know where she was Jackson, he could have done something. He knew who kidnapped her!"

Stiles sat down on the couch and looked at his friend. He had no idea what to do with himself. He was tired, he was angry, and he wasn't good at waiting. "Jackson, what do I do now? He's not even sending the team there for another, I don't know two or three days! I don't know if I can wait; I'm thinking about going myself."

Jackson felt for both of his friends. "Stiles don't do anything rash. They'll find her; the agents he's sending, they're good agents. I know you want to go, but and I can't believe I'm about to say this, Quinn may be right this time. Do you really think you could search for her like she was any other agent? Can you really be objective? We know that one wrong turn could turn things the wrong direction."

"She was shot Jackson. What if she lost the baby? She'll be devastated. What if I lose her?" Stiles looked up at Jackson as if waiting for him to supply the magic answer.

"I don't know. Let's not even talk about that. She was still alive the last time Joshua saw her. Remember that."

Stiles spent the next several days waiting, pacing, and vacillating between imagining a happy homecoming with Terri and imagining news of her death. Lex and Jackson took turns checking on him to make sure he didn't fall apart or worse, hie himself off to wherever he thought Terri was. Carl Reese called him. He wanted to make sure he came back when everything was over. Carl was sure Terri would be found alive-a lot of things depended on it.

". . .Stiles, we need you here. You're one of our best agents, you know that."

"Carl, I can't work for him."

When Carl confronted Quinn, he didn't deny anything. In fact, he was still rather proud of his 12 year operation to control the North Koreans. Carl was sickened by what happened to Terri because of Quinn's deception and he let him know it in uncertain terms and Quinn responded in his usual smug fashion:

"What are you going to do Carl, ground me and send me to bed without my supper?"

Carl thought about all of the possible scenarios. At this point, there wasn't much he could do. If he told on Quinn, that would be tantamount to telling on Joshua. If Joshua was arrested he would be hung out to dry and Quinn would find another way to continue. Carl kept his mouth shut.

Stiles had a hard time keeping Terri's disappearance from her mother. Helen had already caught on to the fact that Terri never traveled without Stiles so he had to be creative. He wanted to just tell her the truth, but he couldn't. How on earth could he explain all of the deception, Terri's real job, her injury, a mole in the CIA, kidnapping? She still didn't even know Terri was pregnant.

"A.B., when will Terri be back? She should have called me; she's supposed to be hosting a shower for her cousin. It isn't like her to be so irresponsible. I thought you said she never traveled alone? When did that change? I don't like the idea of her going out of the country by herself, not right now. There's too much going on. What color is the terror alert right now? Can you get to her is she's in trouble? I never did like the idea of her working for the government. I have my suspicions about what she really does." Helen went on like that for several minutes before Stiles finally interrupted.

"HELEN!" Stiles heard Helen gasp when he called her name. Helen was shocked at his tone. Stiles had never raised his voice to her. He realized he'd yelled, but it was too late.

"Helen, I'm sorry. I didn't mean . . ."

That was all Stiles got to say. The next thing he knew, he was hearing a dial tone. While he was deciding how the mess he created with his mother-in-law, his phone rang.

"Helen, I really am sorry, it's just . . ."

But, it wasn't Helen. On his fifth day of misery, Stiles finally got the phone call he'd been waiting for.

"Mr. Stiles, this is Ms. Ayana, Mr. Gage's secretary."

"Oh, I was expecting my mother-in-law. Is there news about Terri?"

Mr. Gage would like to see you in the conference room in one hour. I'm sorry, that is all I know."