5/

"Everybody doing okay out here?" Ed asked as he walked out and found his staff sitting at their desks, their eyes glazed over in boredom.

Mitch blinked a few times before responding, "Yeah, I think."

Ed glanced over and saw a monitor with a hole in its screen. Walking over, Ed examined it and then turned to face the group of people congregated in the surveillance room, "What the hell happened here?"

"Spencer got bored," Sarasvati responded dryly.

The President of Operations sighed deeply as he rubbed his forehead, "Spencer, that was a $400 monitor, I hope you don't mind getting a paycheck that's significantly less next week."

The burly African American man sighed deeply as he sat down on a desk, "All I did was tap it, Mr. D."

Ed nodded, "Oh sure, yeah, I believe that." Walking over, he said, "Lemme see these." He picked the man's hands up and looked at them, smacking the tops of them gently, "King Kong has smaller hands than you do. Maybe next time you'll think before you walk around 'tapping' monitors around here."

"Next time?" Mike asked, "Mr. D, there won't be a next time."

The older ex-CIA agent turned to face Mike, "Than I suggest the minute the power is restored you get your ass on the phone and start purchasing those generators. I'll sign the forms, to hell with Brunson, cheap bastard isn't here 90 of the time and he expects us to make do with stuff they used in the Stone Age."

Mike nodded as he sat down and sighed. "I don't suppose we could take a vent down and cut a hole in the wall of Mystique again, can we?"

"No," Ed responded as he too sighed, sitting down on a table. "Maintenance had a difficult time getting those panels restored, apparently my laser rounded the edges or something," he shrugged, "I don't know, I don't pay attention to those guys most of the time."

"So what do we do until they get the power restored, Dad?" Delinda asked as she sat down next to her father.

He shrugged, "I don't know, honey, I guess we can just sit around talking."

"We could play a game," Mitch suggested.

Ed narrowed his eyes at his employee, "What sort of game?"

"Truth or Dare," Sarasvati responded, grinning, a twinkle in her eyes.

"Ooh, yeah," Delinda said, grinning, nudging Ed, "Come on, Dad, whaddya say?"

Ed sighed, knowing he would soon regret what he was about to say, "Fine, but only on the condition that what is said in this room stays in this room."

"Oh, totally," Delinda agreed. "Okay, whose first?"

"I am," Mike said, as he looked at Ed. "Mr. D... Truth or Dare."

The former CIA-agent glanced at his employee, wondering why he was so eager to be the first one. Warily, he said, "Truth... I think."

Nodding Mike asked, "What does the tattoo on your arm mean?"

Ed rolled up a sleeve and exposed his tattoo, "This?" He sighed as he ran a hand over the faded mark and shrugged, "It's just something I got while I was on assignment somewhere."

"Where?"

"Somalia, I think... Or it may have been Beirut, I honestly don't remember anymore."

"God, it doesn't even feel like a tattoo," Delinda remarked as she ran a finger over her father's forearm, "It's like it's stained or something."

"Yeah, I've had it since you were about a year old, I remember going home and your mother saw it and she wouldn't speak to me for a week afterward," Ed said as he laughed softly.

The small collection of employees laughed softly as they all gathered around. Ed looked at them assembled and laughed, "You guys look like a bunch of children gathered around a campfire listening to a ghost story."

"Hey, it isn't every day we get biographical information on Ed Deline," Mitch said, his own interest piqued.

Rolling his eyes, he said, "Okay, is it my turn? Sarasvati, truth or dare."

The Indian woman's eyes grew wide, "Well, knowing you, if I chose dare, you'd probably make me do something that will humiliate me beyond belief, so truth."

"Is it true that you had Indian royalty in your family?" Ed asked with interest.

Sarasvati grinned at her employer before nodding in confirmation, "It is. My great-great grandmother was a princess."

"You are kidding," Mitch asked skeptically.

"No," she responded with a smile.

Ed grinned at her, "Well, Princess, it's your turn then."

Sarasvati laughed as she rolled her eyes, "Mitch, truth or dare?"

"Truth," he said as he adjusted his chair to face her.

"Why are you in the wheelchair?"

Everybody took in a quiet breath, curious themselves, but never really having the nerve to ask him. Mitch glanced down at his chair for a moment and sighed softly, "When I was seven," he began, "my father was an alcoholic. When he got drunk, he was a mean drunk, constantly screaming, throwing things at my mother and myself, beating us..." Ed couldn't help but wince as he listened to the man's story, "Anyway," Mitch said as he sighed, "he got very very drunk one night, drunker than I've ever seen him. Mom was working--she did all the working, inside and outside of the home, I can remember her working three jobs once, just to make ends meet and everytime she got a paycheck, she'd try and hide it, but dad would always find it and blow it on booze--anyway, she was working that night and I was left alone with him, something I hated. It was late and I was in bed, sleeping, and he came barreling into my bedroom, turning my light on and screaming at me to get my ass out of bed. I got out and he looked at me, demanding that I tell him where my mom's paycheck was." Mitch paused as he found himself unable to look at the faces of his co-workers, but fully aware that Ed had placed a hand on his arm, "I told him I didn't know and dad ripped his belt off and came towards me and I tried to get out of the house by breaking a window. As soon as my back was turned, I heard the sound of a gun cocking and before I got out of the window, he had fired the shot, the bullet lodging in my spine."

"Oh god," Delinda said as she felt tears falling. Standing up, she walked over and hugged the man, "Mitch, I am so sorry."

Mitch gave her a soft smile as he hugged her back, "It was a long time ago, Delinda, I've come to terms with what happened."

"What, um," Ed began, his voice soft, "what became of your father?"

Mitch sighed as Delinda released him and sat down next to him. Looking at Ed, he said, "He's in prison. A neighbor heard the gunshot and called the police and they came and they found me, dad was sitting in the corner crying and he admitted everything. They tried him and found him guilty of attempted murder and child endangerment and he was sentenced to twenty years. Everytime he comes up for parole though, my mom and I petition the courts to deny it, which is easy for them to do considering that he's killed twice since he's been there. He killed a guard six years after he was there because he wouldn't bring dad cigarettes, they still aren't quite sure how he managed to do that, and then he tried to escape and actually got out of prison and got a hold of a gun and killed a motorist who wouldn't give him a ride."

"Is he in Carson City?" Mike asked quietly.

"No," Mitch said, "He's in San Quentin. He's tried contacting me, through letters, but I just have them sent back, I have no intention of ever seeing or speaking to him again."

"I don't blame you there," Ed remarked, and then sighed, giving him a soft smile, "It's your turn, buddy."

The man glanced around and then looked at Delinda, "Truth or dare."

"Truth," Delinda remarked as she drew in a breath.

"Word has it that you were married once, is this true?"

"Oh god," Ed said as he stood up and paced. Delinda winced as she watched her father and then looked at Mitch, nodding in confirmation, "Yes."

"Tell us about it."

"I wish I was still locked in my office," Ed muttered softly, causing his daughter to glare at him.

"I don't know what you are so upset about, you had it annulled three hours later"

"That's right, I did," her father stated, "and I'd do it again in a heartbeat."

"So, what happened?" A curious Mike asked.

Delinda sighed, "I met this guy when I was nineteen, right? We were living in Connecticut at the time and Daddy was off doing god knows what, god knows where--"

"I was working," Ed interjected.

"Do you mind?" Delinda asked, "I'm trying to tell my story," Ed rolled his eyes as he paced as Delinda continued, "Anyway, Daddy was working and I was in school and there was this guy in one of my classes. His name was David Murphy and let's just say the guy was so good looking he could put Brad Pitt to shame," she grinned. "David and I hung out, dating and not long we fell in love and got married."

"Yeah, more like three weeks after they met," Ed grumbled.

Mike blinked, "You married some dude three weeks after you met him?"

The free-spirited blonde merely shrugged her shoulders, "I thought I loved him. Anyway, mom didn't say too much but when Daddy got word, he grabbed David by the ear and pulled him down to the county court house and made him file annulment papers."

"And how long was that after you were married?" Mitch asked.

Delinda glanced up and chewed her upper lip in thought, "Mmm... six weeks, I think?"

Sarasvati and Mitch rolled their eyes as Mike sat there in astonishment, "Well," he said, "I guess that lasted longer than Britney's."

"Did you ever see this guy again?" Sarasvati asked.

"No," Delinda said, her voice taking on a tone of annoyance, "he joined the military and was deployed to Antarctica." As she spoke, she glared daggers at her father.

"Hey," Ed said in defense as he rose his hands up, "I had nothing to do with it."

"Uh-huh, right," a disbelieving Delinda said.

He rolled his eyes as he walked over to a small refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of water. "Ed, that water's probably luke warm by now," Mitch stated.

Nodding, he unscrewed the cap and took a drink, "Yeah, but it's liquid and it'll wet my dry throat."

"I want some," Delinda said as she walked over. Opening the door to the fridge, she gave her father a look of annoyance, "That was the last bottle."

He shrugged, "Perks of being the boss," he said with a grin as he walked over and sat down in a chair. "Okay, Mitch, your turn, truth or dare."

Mitch glanced at Ed, "Truth. Ed, why do you hate Jack Keller so much?"

"He tried to screw me out of $50 million dollars and he stole a painting from the gallery of my hotel. End of story."

"No, no no..." Mike said, "There's more than that. My guess is that something went down with you two."

Ed sighed as he looked at his employee. Rising to his feet, he made his way over and looked at Mike, speaking softly, "I can tell you... but then I'd have to kill you."

"I'm good with that."

Mike glared over Ed's shoulder at Mitch, "Quiet," he said before turning his attention back to his boss, "Ed, come on, please? It's not like what you tell us will leave this room anyway."

The ex-CIA agent sighed as he stalked back to the table he was sitting on and sat back down, "He turned on me," he said. "We were undercover in Costa Rica, I guess it was probably around '89 or so... Anyway, we were there to take down a drug kingpin who was planning on moving stateside to California. We get there, set up camp, and he and I begin to do what we were supposed to... Collect information and befriend the people in this asshole's gang. About two weeks into the mission, Keller goes to this guy, Escobar, the kingpin we are trying to take down, behind my back and tells him that I'm in the CIA, that I'm working on taking him down and that he wanted to let him know so Escobar could get the hell out of Dodge." Ed sighed deeply, "He tells Escobar that he met me in Argentina and was looking to get into the trafficking empire and he wanted to warn him. So what does Escobar do? Comes to the seedy little shit hole that I'm staying in, loaded gun in one hand and a knife in the other, and proceeds to scream at me in Spanish, calling me every name he could think of. He unloads a bullet into my stomach and takes his knife and slices down my neck to the top of my chest." Ed loosens his tie and unbuttons the top button of his shirt to show them the scar.

Delinda stood up and walked over to a window, her back to the room. Hearing of her father's injuries, minor or major, always made her feel a sense of sickness deep in the pit of her stomach. Reaching down, she held her stomach and sighed deeply as Ed rose to his feet. Nobody said a word when the father walked over and wrapped an arm around his daughter, leaning down to kiss the top of her head as he sighed. "It's stupid, Daddy," she said softly, "it's been sixteen years and it still scares me to death to hear you talk about what you did."

"It's not stupid, honey," he said quietly as he sighed softly. Delinda nodded and turned around, hugging her father, "I love you, daddy."

Ed smiled softly as he hugged her back, "I know, sweetie, I love you too."

Everybody in the room remained quiet as they witnessed a rarity... the soft side of Ed Deline.