Title: You Can Never Escape Your Past
Spoiler: This story is a continuation of Viva Las Vegas.
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer I have nothing to do with The Agency and receive no
compensation

Since Stiles and Terri are now secretly married. I've changed some of the scenes to have it play out a little different. This part focuses on Unholy Alliances

Chapter 11

Terri walked into work, she was mad and not looking forward to seeing Stiles. She still couldn't believe he walked out instead of letting her explain, or at least talking it through. Joshua saw her come in. He couldn't wait to see how the weekend was, he was expecting an engagement ring. He had a big smile as he greeted her. "Good morning Miss. Lowell. Have a nice weekend?" She just looked at him like don't get me started. "Oh, you and Mr. Stiles didn't...."

"I don't want to talk about it."

"I'm sorry." Joshua was truly disappointed. Stiles went through so much trouble to make this weekend special he couldn't imagine what went wrong.

"God! What is it with men?"

Joshua looked at her confused. "What is what?"

"Why do they act so childish sometimes?" When he didn't answer her she looked at him "Well why?"

Joshua wasn't sure how to handle this. "I don't know. Some say it's part of our charm."

"My ex called while we were away, and Stiles completely overreacted!"

"Your ex-husband, Jeff Lowell. The one that caused all that trouble for you last year, that ex."

"Yeah!"

"Why was he calling?"

Terri couldn't admit to Joshua that she agreed to have dinner with him, she felt like he would take Stiles side, and really didn't want to hear it. "I don't know! I mean, maybe he's realized that I wasn't so terrible after all. But so what? I mean it's too late, I'm not interested. Stiles wouldn't even listen to me." Joshua just looked at her. He didn't want to upset Terri anymore than she was already, but he did think Stiles might really have a point this time. He couldn't help wonder how Terri handled it. He knew he couldn't ask Terri anymore right now.

Downstairs in the food court Stiles and Lex were getting coffee. Stiles was still fuming. "You know the reason why her ex-husband called?"

"No." Lex really didn't want to get in the middle. He liked both Stiles and Terri. He knew he would hear it from Terri too, and of course her version and his would be completely different.

"Because she wasn't home when he came to pick her up for their date Saturday night."

"What?" Stiles nodded that Les heard him right. "She was going out with him Saturday night? Stiles you must have misunderstood, Terri wouldn't go out with Jeff. She hates him."

"She didn't want to tell me at first, but I eventually got it out of her. She said it was just a friendly dinner to set things straight." Stiles really wasn't giving Lex a chance to talk, and Lex understood that right now Stiles needed to vent. "You don't have to have dinner to do that!"

"Does he know about you?"

"No. Now that's another thing! If your seeing somebody you'd say so right? Especially if its your ex-husband."

"What about Dacia, did you tell her about Terri?" Lex was trying to do anything to make this not seem as bad as Stiles was making it sound.

"When Dacia asked me to bring them back, I couldn't tell her it was Terri, but yes I did tell her there was no chance for us, because I was in love with someone else." Lex was surprised by his admission. "I thought Terri and I had something special, but I guess I was wrong. She is not who I thought she was."

Stiles was doing his best at avoiding Terri. Quinn called him in for a meeting. Quinn explained that Palestinian General Al-Tayeh came into see Gage. Then someone from Mossad came in. He wanted Stiles to find out how Mossad knew the General had come in. There was a knock on the door, Quinn looks up. "Come on in Miss Lowell." As Terri walked in Stiles put his hand up on this side of his head not to look at her. Terri noticed this and handed the file to Quinn. "That photograph is for Mr. Stiles."

Terri paused for a second and turned to Stiles, as she handed him the file she started to talk "This is General..."

Stiles cut her off. "Thank you."

Terri was obviously annoyed by his attitude, but gave him a phony smile and sarcastic. "Your welcome"

Quinn looked at Stiles as he watched her walked out. Quinn noticed the tension between them and said. "Well Mr. Stiles, I guess the honeymoon is over."

Stiles looked at him, he was now more convinced then ever that Quinn knew their secret. "If that's all Sir, I need to get back to work." Quinn just smiled as Stiles walked out of the room. Quinn wasn't happy about the trouble between Stiles and Terri. He only looked at it as creating work problems, these two were his best officers, he didn't want to lose one or both because they could no longer work together.

Over the next two weeks, Terri and Stiles just avoided each other. Stiles was in the food court having a cup of coffee when he noticed Terri, Lex and Joshua walk in. Lex and Joshua had hoped the two of them would work this out, but so far they wouldn't even look at each other. "Terri, look there's Stiles, why don't we join him."

"No Lex I don't think so. Maybe I'll just take my coffee back to my desk."

When Stiles saw her, he got up and left. "That's not necessary. Mr. Stiles just left." Joshua wanted to try to get through to him. By now Joshua knew Stiles' side of the story from Lex. He couldn't understand why Terri agreed to meet with Jeff. He hoped Stiles would forgive her, but he won't even look at her.

Later that day Terri and Stiles ran into each other in the hall. "Stiles, we need to talk."

Stiles just looked at her and walked away. As he walked away Terri noticed he wasn't wearing his wedding ring. He hadn't taken it off since she put it on him at their wedding. She looked at hers, and realized it might be over. Terri went into the bathroom trying to keep her composure, she wanted to make it work out. She needed to get him to talk to her.

That night when Terri went home, she called Stiles and got his machine. "Stiles, I can't keep doing this. Do you just want to end it? I don't, but I just can't take this anymore." This was the last thing Terri wanted and she was fighting back the tears. "Either way if you want to try to work this out or just get a divorce, you need to let me know." She hung up and cried herself to sleep.

Stiles got the message. He could tell she was upset on the phone. Every time he saw her at work he was so torn. Part of him wanted to hold her and tell her he doesn't care what happened he loves her and needs to be with her. The other part can't let go of the fact that she was going out on a date with her ex-husband. While he knew Terri would never cheat on him. The fact that she hid it from him hurt the worst, it also made him think there were unresolved feelings between them, and is why he was afraid that she might end up in bed with Jeff. Even as Stiles thought this he really didn't believe it. It was just a way to justify his anger. Stiles knew he was going to have to make up his mind what he wanted. He decided to go to Andros tomorrow night and sort through things in his mind. He wouldn't make it to Andros the next day.

Quinn got word of the car bombing and called Stiles into his office immediately. Stiles rushed in there. Stiles was in shock as Quinn told him. "You and Terri need to leave for Israel immediately. There is a flight in two hours. I'll call Terri in."

"No Sir. I'll tell her." He wanted to soften the blow for her, he knew she was good friends with Jackson and had a lot of respect for both Carl and Tom.

Stiles walked into the OTS offices. Terri had her back to the door and was busy working on her computer. Stiles wasn't sure how to tell her what happened. He looked at her, and thought about how beautiful she is, and how he wanted to hold her. The reasons for their fight didn't seem so important now. "Terri."

"Well you're finally talking to me." Terri was a little afraid of what he had to say., after the message she left last night. She thought it was about them. She continued doing her work and didn't look up.

"Umm.."

Terri finally turned and looked up at him. She could tell he was upset. "What's wrong?"

The look on his face was scaring her.

"We have to go to Israel." Stiles explained to her what happened.

"Stiles I'm sorry. Is Tom ok?"

"I don't know too much. We need to go pack."

"You still have stuff at home lets go, we can take one car." Stiles just nodded. Home he thought to himself. Was that still his home?

Stiles and Terri walked in the front door. Stiles hadn't been there in two weeks, since he walked out after hearing Jeff's message. They both walked upstairs and began to pack. Stiles didn't realize how much stuff he had left there. He didn't say anything as they finished packing.

They were both quiet on the way to the airport. Stiles just had the radio going. Terri just kept looking at him, he was careful not to make eye contact with her. All he wanted to do was just hold her, but they had a job to do. He was going into mission mode.

They got the last two seats on the plane. They were not sitting next to each other . Terri was on the right aisle in row 12 and Stiles was on the left aisle in row 15. Stiles couldn't stop watching Terri. He had to say something, but what. He still felt betrayed by her. The first time she had to make a choice him or Jeff, she was choosing Jeff. Well that's the way it went in his mind, but he loved her and being away from her these past two weeks was pure hell.

Terri saw it differently, she told Jeff she would have dinner with him, because she wanted to straighten things out. She did intend on telling him about Stiles that night. She wanted to hurt Jeff by telling him how happy she was. She wanted to see the look on his face. The minute Stiles was home, she forgot all about Jeff. She chose Stiles over Jeff and even through this fight they were having would choose him again. Terri looked back and noticed Stiles staring at her. When he noticed her looking his way he looked down, to avoid making eye contact.

Terri and Stiles arrived in Israel and went straight to the bombing site. Terri looked in the car, she was visibly shaken. Stiles watched her closely. He wanted to make sure she was ok. "There's a lot of blood." She said in a whisper.

Stiles looked in and told her. "They're still alive focus on that." He stood up and looked at her. For the first time in two weeks he looked her in the eye. Everything they couldn't say was said when they looked at each other.

They both had so many things that needed to be said. "Stiles."

"I know. We gotta just stay focused ok. Cause everything else is just a, just a waste." Stiles put his hands on Terri's shoulders and kissed her forehead. Terri put his arms around him. She started to cry, "It's going to be ok. I promise. I love you." he whispered to her. Terri looked at him, before she could say anything they were interrupted.

Peter Eshkol walked up to them and told them what happened. Terri wiped her eyes and listened to what he had to say. She couldn't stop thinking how good it felt to be in his arms again. Maybe they could work this out. Eshkol showed them that they were using disposable cell phones and watched to see the route the motorcade was taking.

Lex was tracking the disposable phone. Eshkol picked up a young boy who was using one of the phones. Eshkol was being rough on the child Terri was upset about that. Eshkol asked them to wait outside. "No" the young boy called out. He didn't want Terri and Stiles to leave he was afraid of what would happen to him.

Stiles told him to answer the question. Terri bent down and in a tender voice asked him "Who gave you the phone?" the boy wouldn't answer. Terri looked at Eshkol "What will you do to him?"

"What do you think? He is responsible for the death of four of my men."

Stiles looked at Terri. "Come on. We've got to go." Terri gave the boy a gentle squeeze on the arm as they started to walk out. The boy pointed to the picture of the man he got the phone from.

"It was him. He gave me the phone."

Terri went to the hospital to fill Tom in on what they knew about the man who gave the boy the phone. As she was telling him they wheeled Carl out of surgery. The doctor gave him the run down of Carl's condition.

Jackson called to Tom. Tom stood by his bed and explained. Terri's heart was breaking as Tom explained what happened. Tom had to leave when General Al-Teyah arrived. Terri walked in and sat with Jackson.

"Are you ok?"

"It hurts. Terri what about the Israeli girl that was with us?"

"I don't know."

"Are you here alone?"

"No Stiles is with Peter Eshkol. I came to fill in Director Gage about what we found out."

When they went to pick up Habib, he had already left. Eshkol told Stiles this is what the Palestinians do, they tell them where to find the terrorists and then warn them.

Stiles was getting annoyed with him. "You're men could have been spotted."

Eshkol got an emergency call. Stiles and Eshkol headed to the hospital. When he walked in Terri was sitting with Jackson and Tom was in with Carl.

Stiles told him that General Al-Teyah was killed in front of his house by a car bomb. Gage was mad he looked at Eshkol "I told him you wouldn't retaliate."

"We didn't."

They figured out it must be Hamas. Gage refused to leave. They were going to have this conference and that was it. Stiles looked at Terri sitting by Jackson's side. He walked in and put his hand on her shoulder. Jackson noticed there was some tension between them, Stiles just smiled at her. "Come on. We need to see what we can find out. Take care of yourself Jackson."

Terri and Stiles went to the lab where they had the car that was used in the bombing that killed Al-Tayeh. They were falling into their easy routine of working together. They anticipated each other's thoughts and actions. They found sawdust Terri said "The bomb must have been made in a wood shop."

Stiles found part of a license plate. Terri took out a magnifying glass to get a better look. He asked Eshkol "I don't suppose you can trace the license plate number?"

"From 2 digits? That only narrows it down to about 50,000 people."

Terri started talking. "That's Palestinian. For personal vehicle." Stiles looked at her with a soft smile on his face. "Issued in Ramallah, in the last 6 months." Eshkol and Stiles both looked at her. In Stiles eyes she could see pride. "The older plates were made of tin."

"Why do I get the feeling you've made a few of those?" Terri walked away without answering that. Stiles smiled as he watched her go. He thought to himself 'That's my girl.' He was proud of her, and as soon as this mess was over, he would make sure she knew how much he loved her and would do anything to work it out.

Lex Joshua and Quinn looked at satellite photos and got the license plate of the getaway car. They were able to find out the owner of the car. Terri, Stiles and Eshkol went to the address and saw a man and woman get into the car. Terri took pictures and they ran them through the files. The man was Eli Aggasi a demolitions expert in the Israeli army.

Stiles told Quinn. "I'll get back to you Sir." He turned to Eshkol "You son-of-a-bitch. It was you. Israel killed Al-tayeh."

Eshkol explained that Aggasi was the one who reported the jeeps and uniforms stolen from the checkpoint.

Aggasi and the woman were arrested. Terri and Stiles went to his wood shop. Aggasi made furniture. They found 2 cell phone casings, semtex. They knew he made another bomb but didn't know where. They found a piece of wood that Aggasi probably made a replica for the bomb. Once again Terri and Stiles were finishing each other's sentences as they were putting the pieces together.

Eshkol called into the meeting and told them about the other bomb. Terri and Stiles headed over to the hospital. They took a break from the meeting to see what they could find out about where the other bomb was.

Knowing that the bomb would be set off by a cell phone. Joshua and Lex decided to block all cell phone traffic in Jerusalem.

Terri and Stiles arrived at the hospital. Stiles was giving Neely Demsky the one in charge of security a hard time. "With all due respect one of your people could be responsible."

Terri knew this wasn't going to help, so she interrupted Stiles, "What can we do to help?"

"Stay out of my way." Stiles was a little mad.

Terri and Stiles were with Carl and Jackson in Jackson's room. Terri was sitting and Stiles was standing in the doorway with his back to them. Jackson looked at the file sitting there, he asked Stiles to bring it to Gage he might need it.

Stiles walked into the meeting and gave Gage the file, as he was leaving he noticed the table, the wood across the bottom was the same piece from the wood shop. Stiles remembered Demsky trying to use her cell phone in the hallway. He gave her his to use. He ran out of the room, and grabbed her. His cell phone fell to the floor, he looked as it started ringing. It was Lex's number, he picked it up. Lex told him that Agassi had a cousin working for Israeli Security named Neely Demsky.

They were able to stop the bombing. The Palestinians and the Israelis worked together for the first time, and were finally making progress.

Terri and Stiles flew back from Israel with Tom, Carl, and Jackson. This was not the time and place to talk they sat there quietly next to each other. They looked at each other and both knew that somehow they would work things out. Stiles' car was at the airport so he drove everyone home. Of course Terri was last.

As they sat in the car next to each other, Stiles put a CD in and picked the right track. It was the Chicago song. "I don't wanna live without your love" As the song started he took Terri's hand in his, they both listened quietly to the words of the song. Terri wiped a tear from her eyes as she realized what he was trying to say to her.

I don't wanna live without your love
I don't wanna face the night alone
I could never make it through my life
If I had to make it on my own
I don't wanna love nobody else
I don't wanna find somebody new
I don't wanna live without your love
I just wanna live my life with you

The song finished as he pulled into the driveway. "Terri, I'm sorry." Terri put her hand on his cheek. "I love you. That song says exactly how I feel. I want to work things out." Stiles was crying. "I know you wouldn't do any of those things I said. I was just mad."

"I know." Terri kissed him. "I love you. Come on in. Let's talk through this tonight."

Terri and Stiles walked into the house. Stiles took his wedding ring out of his pocket and put it back on. "I never should have taken this off." Terri smiled at him.

"Stiles I should have told you about Jeff." Terri noticed Stiles tense up when she mentioned Jeff. "I only wanted to have dinner with him, to... to show him I was fine and didn't want or need him. I wanted to see the look on his face when I told him that I have a man that is the type of husband I wanted. That is all I could ever expect."

"Terri"

"Let me finish, please." Stiles nodded and Terri continued. "Stiles I was going to tell you when you got back from San Francisco. When you showed up early, I was so happy to see you, believe me Jeff was the last thing on my mind."

"Terri, I never should have said all those things I said. I'm sorry. I'll try to be more understanding."

"Me too. Stiles I should have realized. When I was with you I forgot all about Jeff, or I would have told you."

"Why don't we stop talking about Jeff and go upstairs?" Terri smiled at him and they went up to their bed.

The next morning Terri and Lex sat at their computers working. Joshua walked in and saw Terri. "Welcome home Miss Lowell."

Terri said with a smile. "Thank you, Joshua." Joshua noticed this was the first time she had smiled in over two weeks.

"Is the world a safer place for your trip?"

"Mm... Let's hope."

Joshua couldn't resist anymore. With the smile on her face he had to ask. "And how are relations on the personal front?"

"Um.." Lex turned around to see Terri's reaction, and she looked at him funny.

Stiles walked in behind them, nobody noticed. "They're fine." Terri turned around and looked at Stiles and smiled at him. Joshua had a funny look on his face as he walked away, he was so happy that things were good between them again. Terri and Stiles looked at each other lovingly, when her cell phone started ringing. Terri looked to see who it was, she got a worried look on her face. "Ex-husband again, huh?" Terri looked at him, here we go again she thought, when she turned around to look he had a soft smile on his face. She knew that they were going to be fine.

"Lex, do you mind answering that?" She looked at Stiles "Well come on, I'll buy you a cup of coffee." Stiles and Terri walked out together. Stiles was very happy that Terri didn't answer the phone, but he wouldn't have gotten into a fight with her if she had, he loved her too much and it wouldn't be worth it.

As they left Lex picked up the phone. "No Terri isn't here. She is out having coffee with her boyfriend." Jeff was shocked by this. Before hanging up Lex added, "Oh and she doesn't want to see or hear from you again."

Terri left work that day her normal time. Stiles had to work late, he had a Homeland Security meeting with Quinn. Stiles left about 8:00, he wanted to do something special for Terri. He stopped and picked up a dozen roses and another charm for her bracelet. He found one of a palm tree, since Andros was so special to both of them, he thought that would be a good one.

Stiles walked through the door and he could hear Terri crying upstairs. He ran up to see what happened. "Terri, are you ok?" She just nodded. "What's wrong?"

"I'm fine." Stiles wrapped his arms around her.

"Terri, you're scaring me. This isn't like you. Please tell me."

"I'm not pregnant." Terri was crushed, she was so sure that she got pregnant while they were on their honeymoon.

"Terri, its ok." Stiles held her and kissed her forehead. He was relieved, while he wanted a baby with her, he was afraid she was hurt or sick. "We'll just have to keep trying." She looked at him, he had a big grin on his face and she couldn't help smiling back at him. "I'm disappointed too. It will happen, we're going to have lots of kids. Don't worry." His voice was so calm and soothing Terri just sat there snuggled in his arms, she knew things would be ok. Stiles wished he could do something to make her feel better, he hated seeing her like this. "I love you, I'm sorry." Terri looked into his eyes. She knew he was sincere. Stiles stood up. "Why don't we go get something for dinner?"

"I don't want to go out."

"Ok. You go lay down. I'll make you dinner." Stiles went into the kitchen and made dinner for them. When dinner was ready, he walked out and Terri was sleeping on the couch. He sat down on the floor next to her, and gently ran his fingers through her hair. After a few minutes Terri opened her eyes. "How are you feeling?" Stiles was looking at her with such concern.

"Better now." She kissed him.

"Good, come on dinner's ready." he put his arm around her as they walked into the kitchen. "We can watch Casablanca tonight. I made sure we've got popcorn."

"Stiles you hate that movie."

"It's one of your favorites." he said as he kissed her "And I love you." Terri couldn't believe how wonderful he was, she wasn't sure why she was that upset about not being pregnant. She knew realistically that it would take time, they just started trying. She just wanted it so bad, especially after they had that fight. She wanted to give him a baby, she wanted him to know how much she loved him.