Review replies:

MG, glad you like the story!

junkfoodmonkey, thanks for the PM over at the Shrine :) Glad to know you're still following this :D And BIG thanks for helping me fix this all up. Since I'm apparently not allowed to use asterisks here, I'll use brackets, lol (hugs)

Notes: all fixed up! Thanks so much to jfm for helping me with this! It wasn't sitting right with me the first time around at all, lol. Originally this chapter was twice as long, but I've decided to break it up into two smaller parts cause I'm evil. (shameless OtJ fanfic forum plug) I generally post my fic updates on OtJ first (end shameless plug)

R&R!

A few hours later at eleven o'clock Nicole was waiting in the livingroom while Face, Murdock and her father changed into their uniforms. BA, finished already, was outside checking the weapons in the van.

Her father had decided that they should be at the hotel for noon, causing Face and BA to grumble about going in at high noon and his flare for the dramatic. In all honesty, though, Nicole was grateful for the wait as it allowed her to get a little sleep--even if the only way she was able to get that sleep was to have one of the guys in the room with her.

She started pacing the room nervously as she went over the plan in her mind. The uniforms would make it look less suspicious to any guests if they had to draw their guns, and it had the added benefit of drawing attention from their features, should any guest report what they saw to the police.

One of the doors opened, and caused Nicole to snap out of her reverie and look in the direction of the noise. When she looked up she saw Murdock, fully dressed in his uniform, looking at her, concern in his eyes. As quickly as she could she covered the goofy grin she was certain she was wearing; he really looked good in uniform.

"What?" The expression on his face had gone from concern to confusion.

Apparently she hadn't covered it quick enough. Damn. "It's nothing," she muttered, trying not to smile.

"Is my tie crooked?" he asked, reaching his hands up to adjust it as looked down in an effort to see it.

Suddenly she was finding it hard not to laugh, only when she did it was more of a giggle than a laugh. Damn. "The tie's fine, Captain," she snickered.

He stopped fiddling with the tie and looked up at her. "Well, what the heck are you smiling at, then?"

Nicole sighed and rolled her eyes. "It's just...well...you look good...is all..." The last part came out so quietly she wasn't sure he'd even heard her. Was she blushing? Damn.

Before he could reply, though, Hannibal came out of the bathroom and looked at Nicole. "You ready, kid?"

She switched immediately from 'Nicole' to 'Agent Kendall' and nodded quickly. "As I'll ever be," she confirmed.

At that moment Face emerged from his room, and the group exchanged quick glances, then headed out the door to BA and the van.

Forty-five minutes later they were nearing the hotel, and Nicole's stomach was doing flip-flops. She was seated in the back of the van near the door, and had been fiddling anxiously with her ring for the past five minutes. In a little less than fifteen minutes she would be face to face with Campbell again.

Suddenly she felt a pair of eyes on her, so she looked to her left where Murdock was sitting. He was looking at her with an expression that nearly perfectly imitated the one she had worn when he came out in his uniform.

"I know I'm going to regret asking, but why are you looking at me like that?" she snickered.

He smirked and replied, "just wondering what you'd look like in a uniform."

Despite her best efforts to hold it back, she wound up sputtering with laughter, and reached over to smack him lightly on the shoulder

"Ow," he muttered, recoiling slightly as he reached a hand up to rub his shoulder.

"Whiner," she chuckled quietly, feeling some of her tension dissipate. That's one way to take my mind off things, she thought.

Still rubbing his arm, he frowned and mumbled childishly, "I am not."

"Are too," she shot back, a mischievous glint in her eyes.

He grinned back at her and muttered, "am not."

"Are too."

"Am not."

"Are too."

BA had apparently had enough. He glared at the pair in his rearview mirror and growled loudly.

Nicole snickered and bit her lip to keep from laughing, but her effort was ruined when Murdock quietly whispered, "am not."

Once again the laughter sputtered out, but this time it disguised an, "are too." Privately she wondered why she was acting so childish; but it took her mind off of what was about to happen, so she decided the 'why' didn't matter.

From the front of the van BA looked back at them again and grumbled irritably. As Nicole caught his eye she raised her hands, her face the picture of innocence.

"Just what we need--another crazy fool," BA muttered, shaking his head.

As she leaned back in her seat, snickering, she winked at Murdock, and shook her head. In the rear view mirror she caught the reflection of her father staring back at them with an unreadable expression, and she wondered just how he felt about the way she and Murdock had flirted. Then again, did he even have the right to care when he'd been missing for the first thiry-odd years of her life?

Her train of thought was disrupted as the hotel became visible through the windshield, causing an almost involuntary twinge of fear.

BA pulled the van to a stop right out front of the hotel, and Nicole took a deep, calming breath as he turned off the engine.

"You sure you're gonna be okay, kid?" Hannibal asked, glancing back at her over his shoulder.

"No," she replied shakily. "But let's just do this and get it over with." Without waiting for a reply, she slid open the door and strode confidently to the doors. Or rather, she looked confident. What she actually felt was another story altogether.

She stormed through the doors without making sure the guys were behind her - she iknew/i they would be - and headed quickly and purposely to the front desk, where the man who had called Campbell on herself and Face the previous day was standing. He saw her coming and started to head at a quick pace to the office, which presumably had a lock on it.

But Nicole was faster. She jogged the rest of the way to the desk, and hopped on and over it, then caught him by the back of his collar and shoved him roughly up against a wall.

Behind her she heard Face explaining to some patrons that it was nothing to worry about, and that they should just continue on with their business.

"I told you I'd be back for you," she muttered dangerously. She grinned viciously and pulled him away from the wall, then shoved him in the direction of the phone.

"You're not in the army," he said quietly, noticing the four men in uniform, particularly Face, for the first time as they casually leaned against the front desk.

Face smiled patiently at the man. "No, not technically, but, uh, none of your patrons know that, now do they?"

"Call Campbell, tell him we're coming up," Nicole ordered sternly. "Now."

The man hesitated, glancing over the four men once more.

She cast a glance at her father and arched an eyebrow.

Hannibal smiled maliciously at the concierge. "Don't worry," he assured the man. "Your boss is expecting us. Now call him."

When he hesitated again BA growled at him, and the man instantly picked up the phone, dialing the penthouse suite.

The moment his back was turned Nicole let out a quiet breath and half-turned to face her father, a silent understanding passing between them. She briefly caught Murdock's eye as she turned back to the concierge, who was just hanging up the phone.

"You can go up," he told them quietly.

"You think?" Nicole muttered sarcastically as she pushed him around the front desk and toward the elevator. "Come on."

"But I..." he began, obviously trying to think up an excuse to be left alone. "I have a family."

Murdock grinned wryly at the man and grabbed him from Nicole, shoving him into the elevator. "Bull." He and Face stood on either side of the concierge, watching him, as BA, the last one into the elevator, pushed the button for the top floor.

Manoeuvring around the guys, Nicole stood right in front of the doors. She wanted to be the first to go in. It was her right to confront Campbell first after all he had done to her. She just hoped she could do it.

As the elevator came to a stop, she took a deep breath and cast a quick glance in her father's direction before returning her attention to the doors.

The elevator opened and it became immediately apparent that the two men they were expecting to be on either side of the doors were not there. Looking around the suite, they, in fact, saw that it was completely empty.

"The office," Hannibal stated calmly as he slowly started toward the double doors, Nicole directly behind him.

"I don't like this," Murdock mumbled, speeding up a little to walk beside her.

She swallowed her nervousness yet again, and retorted, "I admit the decoration's a little off, but with a little paint..."

The Colonel came to a stop right in front of the doors and turned to look at the others, his hand on one of the door knobs. Wordlessly, Nicole stepped forward and put a hand on the other knob, nodding silently at him as she did so.

He returned the nod, and raised his other hand to count down from three. When he reached 'one,' both he and Nicole pushed the doors open and walked in with Murdock and Face behind them, their guns ready.