Show: The Agency

Title: The American Family

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Archive: Yes. Just let me know where it is going, please; it's simple politeness to do so.

A/N: Sorry for the delay, yet again. My computer was playing the backside as usual. I'm glad to see that you liked the last chapter, and that the whole story in general is keeping you all interested. Keep sharing those comments; I love to hear from you all.

*~*~*~*~*~*

CIA Headquarters, (one week later) 9:00 a.m.

Another week had passed with some furious intelligence gathering efforts, and yet nothing new had been uncovered. Terri was worried when Allison O'Connor hadn't called in when scheduled on Thursday and she had relayed her fears to Quinn, who played it down citing that it had happened before.

"Allison's a good operative," he had said. "She'll call in as soon as she can."

The weekend had come and gone, nothing spectacular intelligence wise had occurred, but it was Monday morning yet again, time for the weekly meeting and yet, Allison O'Connor still had not called in. When her handler called into Quinn that morning, even he started to get worried - Allison had never been out of contact for so long.

The one bright spot on the day was the report that the election date had been reset, so Martin Archer's trip to Northern Ireland had been put on hold for the time being. Gage had tried over the weekend to convince the President to send someone else but had been sorely put in his place: "Martin wouldn't need any friggin' help if you CIA boys would do what the damn tax payers pay you to do!"

Gage stood at the head of the conference table, his deputy Carl Reese to his right, Quinn to his left, looking over the team. Joshua and Lex sat next to Terri, while Stiles and Jackson sat on the other side of the table. Lex had set up a laptop at the desk, and was currently linked to one of their deep cover agents in Ireland, beating the camel with the same stick, with the same results: nothing.

"Anyone found anything?" Gage asked finally, although he already knew the answer was no.

Lex and Joshua shook their heads. Stiles and Jackson didn't even bother to answer. Terri's brow wrinkled. Despite what Quinn told her last week, she was still worried. Her stomach churned every time she thought of the woman across the seas. Something was not quite right, but she couldn't figure out what. Quinn had asked her not to let Gage know that she knew about Allison, but she figured the Director would be just as worried as she was.

"Well sir," she spoke up tentatively, glancing at Quinn as she did so.

Quinn frowned. He knew what she was going to say, and he disapproved, but he truly was worried about the Agent. He nodded from his corner, silently giving Terri permission to continue.

"There was one more channel that we didn't try. Well, that's not the correct wording. We tried, but we couldn't get through."

Director Gage looked puzzled. Joshua, Lex, Carl and Stiles all shared the same look. Only Jackson seemed to know what Terri was getting at. "What do you mean, Ms. Lowell?"

Terri cleared her throat. "There's an operative by the name of Allison O'Connor who's a deep-cover in the Orange Brigade." At the mentioning of Allison's name, Carl and Gage looked at her in surprise, then over at Quinn who simply shrugged his shoulders. Terri continued, " She was to be in contact with her handler last week Thursday at approximately 1:00 a.m. EST. I put in a request to the Agent to ask her about the Sumac Cell. The Orange Brigade and Sumac Cell as you know are bitter enemies. So she might have known something that we don't. It's been five days, sir," she continued, "and Agent O'Connor still hasn't called in."

Gage frowned. "I know that Ms. Lowell. the question is, how do you?"

Terri's frown matched his own, "Does it matter, sir?" she asked.

"No, I guess not."

"So what are we going to do, now?" Jackson asked.

"All the links seem to be cold," spoke up Stiles from his corner. "I even spoke to Danny and my Grandfather, but not even they know anything. What I guess I'm trying to say is, that probably not even the other terrorist groups know anything about them. They take aim, fire and disappear like smoke, and *that* is what makes them so dangerous."

"Well at least Archer's departure for Ireland has been postponed," said Lex hopefully. "That's a good thing, right?"

Stiles shook his head. "I'm not so sure about that," he replied.

"Why wouldn't it be?" asked a confused Lex. "It gives us more time to dig, or to at least beef up security for him."

"What do you think those groups are going take an election postponement as?" Stiles continued.

"A sign of weakness," finished up Terri, making eye contact with Stiles.

Those few seconds of eye contact caused the air to sizzle between them, and Stiles felt his stomach churning. Terri looked away. "Exactly," he continued.

"What do you mean, Agent Stiles?" asked Gage, inviting him to continue.

"Prime Minister Thompson has had a tough time at it," he continued, standing up to pace the room, gathering his thoughts. "He's had to deal with religious violence, a flagging economy, hassle from both the US and Britain, and he's done a pretty good job. But there are those of us who don't think he's done a good enough job, and most of them are sitting on the Opposition in the Irish Parliament.

"They've been doing everything, especially in the past couple of months, to really shake the foundation of the Party: no confidence motion after no confidence motion; vetoing bills, refusal to sign decrees. basically holding up the show for Thompson and the Catholic party. He's not getting half of the things he promised done, and the people are angry: protests, strikes, looting. it's a mad house. The perfect opportunity for some madcap terrorist group to slip in, set off a few car bombs, or loot a few churches, and really get the rabble stirred up.

"It'll seem like they can't trust a Catholic government to care for the people, so up goes the Protestant poll votes, and boom goes the car-bombs that the IRA will set in retaliation. We know what they'll do," he continued, pausing to look out the picture window. "It's just the fucking Sumac Cell we have to watch out for. Because when they finally decide to hit back, they'll hit hard."

Terri frowned. She knew Stiles was right, and that was not a good thing.

"Ok, that does it!" announced Gage. "I'm going to arrange another meeting with that idiot Bush, and try to get that sending Marty Archer to Ireland is going to be a big mistake drilled into that thick skull of his!"

Gage, Quinn and Reese left the room after that, while Jackson ambled down the hall to his office. Lex, and Joshua packed up the laptop and headed back to OTS, Joshua paused to smirk at the door as he realized they had left Terri and Stiles alone.

Terri slowly packed her things into her briefcase, blatantly ignoring Stiles. He scowled at her behaviour, but tried to keep a leash on his temper.

"How was your weekend?" he asked pleasantly.

Terri, who was lifting the strap of her briefcase to her shoulder paused and looked at him in mild surprise. "It was fine," she replied warily, turning to face him.

"Just fine?" he continued, coming to stand closer to her.

He wasn't crowding her personal space but she felt he was too close. She stepped away so she couldn't smell the crisp clean scent of Irish Spring soap and Obsession cologne that clung to him, causing the butterflies to illicitly start fluttering in her stomach. "Yes," she replied. Terri's eyes narrowed as she took stock of the man standing before her. "Why so curious?"

Stiles grinned. "So I can't ask how your weekend went without getting the third degree?" he meant the question to come off lightly, but the in the face of Terri's still narrowed eyes, he had a vague feeling he failed.

"The only person getting the third degree is *me*, Stiles," Terri replied tartly, turning her back on him and preparing to leave the room.

Stiles didn't want the conversation to be over so soon. "So you're not even gonna tell me his name?"

Terri paused again, whipping to face him, frustration evident on her face. "Now, why on Earth would I do that, Stiles?"

He shrugged lightly, playing it off in typical indifferent fashion. "I'm just curious to know who this guy is that's got you all in a dither," he replied, quite proud of himself for saying that without a degree of bitterness in his voice. He was a true master of hiding his emotions, especially over a certain brown-eyed girl.

Terri flushed lightly. "I resent that implication. Not that it's any of your business, but his name is Michael. Michael O'Leary. There, are you satisfied? Can I leave now?" she asked sarcastically.

"He's Irish? What do you know about this guy?"

Terri heaved a frustrated sigh. "What difference does it make if he's Irish or not? It's not like he's some radical terrorist with evil designs, Stiles!" she exploded, walking out and slamming the conference door shut behind her.

Left alone in the conference room, Stiles scowled before jerking open the door and heading down the hallway to his seldom used office. Sitting at his computer, he opened the search drive, and searched for: O'Leary, Michael.

A few seconds later, the desired file opened up. His scowl deepened as he gazed at the face behind the name. Hot jealousy roiled in his stomach as his eyes narrowed at the photo that accompanied the dossier:

Name: Michael Patrick O'Leary

D.O.B: August 10th 1965

Birthplace: Boston, Mass.

Marital Status: Widower - Deceased wife: Fiona O'Leary nee O'Brien

Next of kin: Jason O'Leary (brother); Liam O'Leary (uncle)

Occupation: Advisor, U.S. Department of International Relations

Bio.

Stiles didn't have to read the rest of the dossier to know that Michael was a clean-cut, educated pencil pusher. A bureaucrat! He thought Terri had better taste than that! The other part of his mind argued that Michael O'Leary was exactly the type of guy that Terri was attracted to: he was good-looking, educated, well-traveled, and probably liked classical music and the opera! Stiles furiously closed the file and lay back in his chair. How the hell could he compete with someone like that?

*~*~*~*~*~*

Later that night after feeding, bathing and putting Alex to bed, Terri relaxed on the couch with a very well deserved half-pint of Ben and Jerry's. Spoon in mouth, she flipped on the television and started channel surfing.

Something on the BBC caught her eye, and raising the volume, her eyes grew wider, and the spoon dropped from her mouth to fall unchecked on the carpet.

"And in news from Northern Ireland today, the decomposing body of an unidentified blonde female was found hanging from a cross mounted in Mourning Alley, the no man's land between predominantly Catholic and Protestant neighbourhoods of Oberside and Neely's Land in Belfast. The woman was apparently dead for at least three days. We'll have more details as they come in.

"And in other news.."

The world stopped for Terri, as she continued to stare at the television screen. The story had changed: rising oil prices for Western Europe, but all she could see in her mind's eye was the bloated, blue body of the missing Agent: Allison O'Connor.

TBC.

A/N: Well, R&R, tell me what you thought. I'm sorry if my comments on President Bush offended anyone - it was part of the story. As many of you know, relations between operatives and politicians aren't the best, so I thought that although Gage is a former Senator, that's how he would react. I also apologise for my potty mouth - if that was in the show, it would have been censored. Bye for now, keep the comments coming, please.