A/N: Hey all, yes – updating Tuesday, just like you all wanted . . . 'kay, I just got back from soccer practice, I'm dead-to-the-world tired so maybe this chapter won't be as long as you've all (and I've) been hoping for but hey, it's coming to you quicker.
Thanks go out to my reviewers: Bite Beccy, Bail's Other Daughter, Steelo, Starryeyes10, Kitty X, martini1988, QueenOfAces, froggy0319, alix33, mjag, moonlight, nursejay80, AnMaDeRoNi, snugglebug, jaggurl, Anne, ficchic, dansingwolf, Radiorox, cbw, wishwaters, Rocket Rain, sgcgirl52, tlk29, JJScottishGirl, Blueangel, aj, French-navy girl, Marge, Jane, Tina Frank, highplainswoman, mac AND harm fan, Ali Baba, super ducky, tumblebuttons, AB, Abigiale, macandharmlover, jazzy, vhosek malacath, Britainy, MartiniMac, HighHeel Shoe Lover, Sirus 745, Fan, Pissed off Poet 1, southernqt, BrittanyLS, sugar230, K, Ilovemyselftoday, eggy weg, xobabygurlxo, Reni-Maniac, Cille, ForensicsFreak1988, HMtogether4ever, MaritzaCarmichael, Lara783, janessab, tizy, June, vrbinkaCZ, Cherise, DD2, Bekka, Lani-LoveNPain, Dessler, mommie, daisymh, Laura, confused, and basketball babe8!
Note: this chapter starts off in Vera Azhad's point of view (hey, something different, okay . . ?)
From Past to Present
0248
28 Belleville Drive, Virginia
Hot. Very hot.
I stumble through the hallway, tripping as my feet catch with each other. I stumble to the ground, my hands flying out in front of me to break my fall. The pain sets in immediately. But no, don't stay down – get up, get out, hurry.
I'm running again, stumbling through the familiar halls. The heat is unbearable. My eyes sting from the sweat rolling down my face. My breath gets all choked up in my throat. I stop for a minute to cough, wheezing as painful tears roll down my face. Don't stop – never stop. Just get out – get out fast.
My hands reach out in front of me as I run, breaking through the smoke. The heat is intense. Smoke and tears cloud my vision. I trip again, and fall. I can't get up. Help me. Someone, please, help me . . .
I lay crumpled on the ground, sobbing, hurting, dying . . . and then I feel hands grab me. I'm lurched forward, my small body being pulled up from the ground roughly, harshly. I cough as more smoke enters my lungs, clogging the entrance to my throat. My lips utter deep excruciating breaths. My eyes sting from the smoke. My hands grope out to touch the person holding me.
"Antonio?" I whispered through a raw throat.
And then just like that I was flung. My body tore from the protectiveness of his arms and sailed through the window, the glass crashing into a million pieces around me. And I fell. It felt like eternity. My body was thrown wildly down from the window, the glass raining in small jagged shards around me. My vision spun, my hands groped the sky in front of me. And then . . . I fell.
My body hit the ground with tremendous force. My legs laid crumpled in a twisted position, my arms flailing around my small body. The pain was immediate. It seared through my body, twisting and burning my flesh. My heart hammered inside my chest, pounding painfully against my skin. Don't give up . . . don't give up . . .
My eyelids closed. Darkness surrounded me. Don't give up . . . don't give up . . .
The little voice inside my head was dying. My body laid crumpled across the wet grass. The heat surrounded me. I could hear screaming, the voices, they'd somehow gotten inside my head. I could hear the magnitude of the fire, the roaring of the flames as it devoured my house. Don't give up . . . don't give up . . .
But the darkness was so close. It loomed up in front of me, barely an arm length away. How inviting it looked, the dark. So calm, so peaceful, so safe. I would never feel anything again. No pain, no anguish, nothing . . .
Don't give up . . . don't give up . . .
My body relaxed, my back to the grass and my arms flung somewhere around my head. The pain was intense, shooting through my body from all angles. It would be so easy to give in now. No more heat, no more pain, just the beautiful blanket of the nothingness . . .
And then I saw them, in my mind, the dark graying man with laughing eyes but a serious smile and beside him the small slight woman with the fiery hair and the soft soothing voice. Their faces loomed before my vision, visible through the enormity of the smoke and untouched by the strength of the heat. Don't give up . . . not now . . . don't go . . .
My arm lifted, my hands stretched out in front of me. Their faces were within my finger's grasp. No, you can't go . . . what will I do . . . don't go . . . don't leave me. "Madre!" I cried through the shrill shriek of the fire. "Padre!"
My small body racked in sobs. I shook on the ground, my limbs trembling but my heart not willing to let go. No, don't give up . . . don't go . . . "Mother! Father!"
Don't go . . . don't leave me . . . please . . .
I could feel my brain numbing, my body giving in. It was only a matter of time now. The darkness swirled around me, clouding my vision, engulfing my body. I saw the darkness, I breathed the darkness, I was the darkness . . .
But no, DON'T LET GO!
I shrieked. My voice cut through the crackling of the flames, the shrieks of the fire, the rumble of the voice around me. My eyes were wild, my voice was harsh. God, help me . . . save me . . .
And then I felt strong hands circle around my waist, pulling me up from the ground, lifting me from the wet burning grass. I was sobbing, my breath caught in my throat, and hot angry tears burning my cheeks. "Madre!" my voice was so soft and so lost against the cruelty of the fire. "Padre!"
"Shh." The man's voice was strangely comforting – like a breath of fresh air in a sky filled with smoke. "It'll be okay."
His bright blue eyes flashed as he held me in his arms, carrying me swiftly through the glowing flames. "My name is Lieutenant AJ Chegwidden and you're going to be just fine."
My body eased to his arms, slowly giving way to the fatigue of the pain. My eyelids closed almost reluctantly, my body becoming loose and unresponsive. The darkness was slowly fading, diminishing against the power of the light. My head rested upon the man's shoulder. Help me . . .
My eyes snapped open – instantly engulfed by the darkness of the room. My heart was pounding within my chest. Sweat drenched my lower back and all across my forehead. I lay there in the bed, shaking almost numbly. The heat – immeasurable. And the pain . . . unbearable . . .
My breath kept catching in my throat as I laid there shaking, my covers drawn up against my body and my head buried in my sweat drenched pillow. No, don't think about the darkness . . . don't think about how close it was . . . don't think about anything.
Slowly, I stood up. My legs were shaky and I kept falling back against the bed but I managed to straighten myself. My body trembled. Soundlessly I exited my room, creeping quietly down the hall so as not to wake anyone. The silence was deafening. I walked slowly to his room, willing myself to stand before his door. The wood was foreboding, as if telling me to go away.
But I couldn't. I needed him . . . I needed him to make the pain go away. How I long I stood there I didn't know. My arm raised a little, my clenched fist just an inch away from the door and then I lowered it. He would be sleeping – I shouldn't wake him. Not for something as stupid as this.
But he hadn't thought it stupid last time, had he? Well, I didn't know. Neither of us had ever mentioned it again . . . but then again – wasn't that all the more reason to do it? I was filled with a new found self confidence. I raised my fist once more, barely an inch away from the face of the door and then . . .
"Oh, come on, Catherine . . ." Clay's voice floated through the security of his door. Childish, almost playful. It cut through me like ice.
"No, no I will not . . . oh for god's . . . oh, yes, that feel's good . . ." Clay broke off with a loud, long, leisurely sigh. I physically deflated. No, God, no . . .
I'm running down the hall. I don't care how damn noisy I am – it seems like everyone's up anyway. I bolt down the corridor, swinging wildly into a left turn as I'm faced with another door. This one I have no second thoughts about opening. I fling open the door and rush in, shutting it rather loudly behind me.
"Vera?" a groggy voice greets me.
"Oh, Harm." I fling myself onto his bed in totally despair and then shove him over because he's taking up too much room. He moves obligingly though perhaps that's just because his eyes are heavily laden with sleep. "I think I made the worst mistake of my life."
"Huh?" Harm grunts as he slams his face into his pillow. Lord, help me.
"Harm. Get. Up!" I punctuate every word with a slap on his back. He turns over and gives me one of those pushes that aren't actually meant to hurt anyone, but merely to gesture the fact that your presence is not welcome. I ignore him. "Please, Harm . . ." He rolls over. "It's about Mac . . ."
He turns towards me, the fringe of his dark hair falling in front of his eyes. "You're lying."
"Am not," I defend. I glare at him and Harm sits up a little in his bed, resting his back on his pillow. "See, Mac's old boyfriend? Yeah, I'm having a few problems with him . . ."
Harm groaned. Tonight was going to be a long night . . .
0927
28 Belleville Drive, Virginia
Webb's POV
I open the door to find an unusually cheerful Jake greeting me. He's wearing a clean shirt, he's not clad in jeans, and his hair sports the faint traces of perhaps a brushing this morning? Good lord, Mac's trained him faster than she did that old dog of hers.
"Good morning."
Jake's grin is unbearable. "Shut up," I mumble. "We've got about forty minutes till Catherine and Harm are expected back – Catherine took him to headquarters about ten minutes ago. So let's hurry up and discuss whatever damn thing you came to torture us with this morning."
I hold open the door for him and Jake enters, his hands stuffed in the pockets of a pair of khaki pants. I didn't even know that Jake possessed one pair of pants that weren't denim.
"Wow, you're in a bad mood," Jake commented lightly, promptly swinging open the fridge door and taking a sip right out of the carton. He lowered the carton slightly, revealing a quite obvious milk moustache and then flashes me a grin. "Up late last night?"
I roll my eyes and slump down into my chair at the kitchen table. "You could say that . . . ugh, my back acted up again last night."
Jake flashes me a sympathetic look but one that clearly read 'wow, he's getting old' which I really don't appreciate considering the fact that Jake is only two years younger than me – but of course he still rides a Harley Davidson and acts as if he's a twenty-something grad student let out fresh into the world who still drinks out of milk cartons and wears Grateful Dead t-shirts and does their laundry like once a month. No, I don't appreciate criticism from those type of people. Grateful Dead t-shirts . . . my god.
"And then I was hobbling through the hall to get an icepack for my back thinking it might help when Catherine saw me and insisted on giving me some sort of body massager thingy."
I shrug my shoulders. After all, I am a guy – and not quite accustomed to the world of the heavenly mechanical masseuse. "I was up till close to three o'clock on the phone with Catherine getting operating instructions," I yawned. Vera entered the room, walking rather quickly and not stopping to catch my eye.
"But, believe me, once I got it running . . . wow," I told Jake. Vera spun around, an absolutely disgusted look upon her face. Wow, what's eating her?
"All last night, man, I'm telling you," I said, wiping my eyes and taking another sip of coffee. "From three a.m. till when I woke up this morning."
Jake raises an eyebrow. "That good, huh?"
I nodded to Jake, but at the same time taking note of the expression of utter disgust on Vera's face. What is the matter with her? Maybe she hasn't had her coffee yet. Yes, that's probably it.
"You know, if you want to try – I can ask Catherine for you. I'm sure she wouldn't mind . . ." I begin but I'm almost immediately cut off by Vera.
"That's it, you freaking sick pig!" Vera screams. I swear in a galaxy far far away, a glass just shattered. "Ugh, I can't stand you two! You idiotic egotistical males and your possession of female property! Why do all men have to be such jerks?"
And she stalks off through the door but not before telling Jake to quit his sexy manliness in drinking out of the carton and to just for-mother-of-#$'s sake to just drink out of a glass. Needless to say both Jake and I are speechless.
"Wow," Jake whispered after a silent moment where he promptly grabs a glass and begins to pour. "And I thought you were in a bad mood."
"What was that about 'possession of female property'?" I asked, mildly windblown from the angry tornado that had just swept in and swept out of our kitchen. "For God's sake, it's a portable back massage thing."
"Perhaps it's sacred to the female clan," Jake said wisely, sipping from a glass now. "And we stupid males must not know of the key to holding their civilization together – the portable back massage thingy!"
I throw the empty milk carton at him. "You're an idiot."
I stare back at the empty hallway where Vera had disappeared into. "She's not acting herself . . ." I whispered thoughtfully, my gaze not leaving the hall. "I don't know . . ." I sigh. "Maybe she's pregnant and her hormones are all out of whack."
I look over at Jake, expecting maybe a laugh or some sort of witty female-discriminating comment but instead I see that beneath the light sprinkle of freckles that decorate his face, he's pale. He opens his mouth but not a sound comes out. And then, "Clay, about what I came to talk to you about . . ."
And the next words out of his mouth cause my jaw to drop.
A/N: I know, I'm evil, aren't I? That's what you're all thinking right now. I know, I know, I said I was going to have Clay's reaction in this chapter but then I got tied up with all the other stuff so – yes, I know this chapter wasn't the longest either – but I will strive to make a chapter over six pages next time! (this one was five and a half not including the review responses). But, anyways – review and tell me what you think. Any opinions are welcome. I work off of constructive criticism. Please, don't hold back.
marineJAG: I'm so sorry I didn't get to Clay's reaction this chapter. I was definitely going to do it but then I realized that if I wrote it in this chapter it would lead to so many other things and I couldn't possibly stop right in the middle so – I just had to break it off there. But next chapter – I will DEFINITELY have Clay's reaction!
Reni-Maniac: I know where you're coming from on the baby-front (pretty much everyone else's reviews were 'she CAN'T give up the baby' – which I completely understand and everything). Still . . . what will the future hold . . ? lol (I won't tell you what will happen next but I think you'll like it, okay?)
Snugglebug: Okay, so I know Harm didn't find out about the baby this chapter . . . and as a warning, he might not even find out next chapter – but you'll certainly get a reaction. I mean it, the mother of all reactions.
Bail's Other Daughter: omg, I don't know how many people have told me they're falling for Jake but ahh! I mean seriously . . . lol. You're falling for my fictional character! But seriously – as soon as this story's done – I have no problem with sending him over to your house. Lol
Abigaile: aint it lovely when a spook shows he has a heart? Lol – now about this giving-them-a-break-letting-them-talk-to-each-other thing . . . we'll see . . . the future is already mapped out . . . (okay, I'll stop writing, I'm getting weird again).
Starryeyes10: thanks
Alix33: OMG, you're an HP fan too? Wow – I'm like – well, okay, next to JAG, it is my number one obsession (again, next to JAG). Are you shipper for anyone in the book? (just wondering, you know . . .) But seriously, four days! I'm flipping out already. And don't worry – I don't mind being the brunt of your frustration (I happen to take out my fury on like a hundred people all at once and then I'm quiet as a lamb – people actually find it amusing, that gets me ticked off). But I have been making it my best effort to read over my chapters before I post them but, you know . . . there are always corrections (and I'm eternally grateful for you pointing them out).
DD2: Tuesday soon enough for you? Lol, hope you liked this chapter.
MaritzaCarmichael: thanks, hope you liked this chapter!
LovexNxPain: ah, food . . . wonderful stuff ain't it? (especially like French vanilla ice cream with frozen berries on top) lol, hope you liked this chap!
Jaggurl: I'm so sorry you're disappointed with this chapter. Five and a half pages, who am I kidding – that's not long at all. But I'll try and do better next time – lots longer and I'll definitely get a Mac scene in there! (didn't have any mac this chapter)
Sugar230: was this an evil ending to? If so . . . mwahahaha – Nix prevails! Lol – more to come, hopefully quicker, longer, better. It's summer vacation so I've got a lot of time on my hands. Four days till The Half Blood Prince! I'm seriously singing!
Steelo: you're like the hundredth person to tell me that they like Jake! I mean seriously. He's F.I.C.T.I.O.N.A.L. Repeat after me – fictional. And second of all . . . I know no second – lol, I gotta post To London With Love. It's been a really long time since I've added to that.
Froggy0319: I promise you a Harm reaction some time soon (I'd be lying if I thought it was the next chapter – but you really never know). I thought I was going to get clay's reaction in this chapter but things didn't work out that way. It's good to know you like this story so much. It means a lot to me.