A/N: To avoid any confusion I'll start off by telling you that names in
this chapter are interchangeable. Sometimes their real name/alias or code
name is used so here's a quick rundown. Kathryn is also Alexia and Shiner.
Jack is Sam and Papa Bear. Jake MacGyver is JD Salenger (he's referred to
mostly as Salenger) and Cobalt. Ruggiero is the bad guy and Paul Collins is
Jake's partner. Q's concerns just ask.
This Chapter is dedicated to Anna Sun!!!
Redemption
Chapter 19
JD Salenger stood close to his fiancée. Her fathers words echoed in his mind, one of us stays with her at all times. He knew she wasn't an agent, she was good but she wasn't an agent. His Russian partner Paul Collins was talking to her father and he caught his eye. Paul walked towards them and intercepted his fiancée away from Ruggiero with the promise of a dance. The two were soon lost in a slew of Russian that Salenger couldn't keep up with. He adjusted the tie clip Alexia had given him as a gift turning the comm links on and discreetly placed the earpiece in his ear. He grabbed two glasses of champagne and walked over to Samuel handing him one. "This is Cobalt checking in."
"Coming through loud and clear Cobalt," Eric tapped the keys of his laptop adjusting Salenger's audio level.
He reached over shaking Jack's hand, "How are you Sam? How's the vacation?"
"Tired," he smiled. "That daughter of mine does love to shop, other than that can't complain."
"She's not CIA?" he confirmed lowering his voice to a whisper.
"No. We can't afford for anything to go wrong. She's smart but she's not trained."
The two watched Alexia and Paul circle the floor speaking with various people.
"She's good," he commented sipped his champagne.
Jack said nothing; she was good, never breaking character, always enchanting and charming. Her accent was perfect one would think she'd lived in South Carolina her entire life and not New York. "Collins will distract Ruggiero, the two of you have a fight and I will follow you out. Security will be down for eight minutes."
"It'll take two to get to the lab, two levels down on the left."
"Good, now go dance with your fiancée." Jack took his glass from him and Salenger crossed the room only to be headed off by Ruggiero. When Salenger reached the two Ruggiero was in the process of trying to convince Alexia to play the harp for the guests. Silently Salenger yelled at himself, the asshole remembered what he'd said when he was drunk. It had been Jake MacGyver's first taste of Spanish liquor and his last. That was when the slip up about Alexia's age had happened. Evidently he'd slipped up on her musical talents as well. In his ear all he could hear was cursing and everyone telling Alexia to stay calm. She was more than calm; her accent never faltered as she talked herself out of it.
"I'm afraid Senor Ruggiero that I am out of practice on the harp, Daddy and I have been travelling so much lately I haven't an ounce of time for playing." Ruggiero looked crestfallen, his lower lip popping out slightly reminding her of a five-year-old who was told he couldn't have a cookie before bed. "Perhaps we can compromise," she said sweetly. "Do you enjoy Mozart on the violin?"
"My favorite," his smile was smug as he led Alexia over to the string quartet. She could feel everyone's eyes on her back as she turned facing the wall and adjusted the violin. "To my private listeners unless you plan on being deaf in the next 5 seconds I suggest you turn my volume down." Marshall reacted quickly and adjusted her volume. The fiberglass beads on Alexia's dress would have reflected the sounds of the violin giving everyone with a comm link a permanent headache for a week. She turned to face the crowd curtsied flashing a sweet smile at Ruggiero and raised the bow. On the outside she appeared calm and collected, performing in front of an audience was something Alexia did often. Kathryn on the other hand hadn't picked up a violin in over three years. She gritted her teeth almost anticipating a screech but there was none and slowly she relaxed as she played Mozarts Violin Concerto No. 5.
Jack watched from a distance as her hands moved skillfully over the strings. Her audience nodded appreciatively and Weiss whistled in his ear, Sydney's praiseful comments came through as well. Kathryn certainly was full of surprises tonight.
Salenger waited until she had curtsied, and thanked her audience before intercepting Alexia away from Ruggiero. He kissed her cheek and pulled her into his arms, slowly dancing over near the entryway. From across the room Paul took his position and Jack wandered near the door taking a refill on his champagne.
"Almost time," Alexia murmured in his ear.
"Good Luck," Sydney's reassuring voice rang in her ear before being Weiss took over.
"Security is down in. 5.4.."
"Make it real," he pulled away from Alexia.
"2"
"1. Go!"
Smack.
Stunned JD Salenger rubbed his jaw lightly silently cursing in pain. She stepped away from him, her deep blue eyes filling with tears, her hand shaking from the sheer force of slapping his face. Her chin trembled, "how could you," she cried tearfully oblivious to the curious onlookers. Had it been a real fight he would have been groveling at her feet begging for forgiveness at the sheer sight of the tears splashing down her cheeks. She turned running out of the room, "Lexie wait, I can explain" he called running after her.
Jack took off after the two pretending to be furious and Collins prevented Ruggiero from following. By the time Jack reached the two they were at the bottom of the stairs heading to the restricted area. He conferred with Weiss regarding security while Salenger punched the security code and they entered the restricted stairwell. Kathryn slipped off her high-heeled shoes feeling instant relief and slung the straps around her wrists she hiked up her skirts and followed the two men down the cement stairs doing her best not to step on the material otherwise she would take all three of them out.
The three of them ran at full speed down the long corridors.
"Okay team, you're clear up ahead, but there are three guards coming down the east hallway," Weiss zoomed in on the security cameras. "I've looped their system so all they're seeing is empty hallways, ETA 45 seconds."
Jack pulled off his watch attaching it to the labs secured entrance. "Decoders in place," his finger hovered above the handle as the decoder cracked the code and the three entered the lab with only seconds to spare. Jack tossed Salenger the computer disk with the encrypted virus, "upload it in the 2nd server." Jack attached his cell phone to the second computers tower and entered the mainframe uploading the information and satellite specs via wireless modem to the Op Center back in LA. Kathryn stood near the door listening for any activity in the hallway.
"I can't get in." Salenger suddenly pulled his hands off the keyboard. "I can't bypass the secure server without setting off the alarm, I didn't know about this."
"Marshall did you get that?" Jack leaned over Salengers shoulder scanning the screen.
"Got it," Marshall logged into his computer connecting to the one Salenger was logged in on. "Oh Boy, you can't do anything, the only way to get the virus in without triggering the alarm is to manually bypass the server and type the coding in, that will take at least three minutes."
"Abort the mission, Jack I want you out of there, now."
"I know the code," Kathryn stood beside the chair looking up at Jack. "I helped Marshall with it, I wrote the code down, I know the code."
"Jack your order is to abort." Kendall took control of the microphone repeating his order. "Abort now, I repeat abort!"
Jack turned to her knowing how many months of work had been at stake by this operation. "I need to know you can do this." His voice was calm and steady hiding any uncertainty he felt about putting her in this situation.
"I can do this," her voice was confident and he believed her.
"Move," Jack pulled out the chair and Salenger got off it. Kathryn took her place at the keyboard, handed Salenger her shoes and began typing the keys rapidly.
"She said she can do it." Jack told Kendall.
"Shiner, your order was to abort," Kendall said angrily. "I want you out of there now!"
"It's too late now," she swallowed hard. "I'm in. Marshall, how do I get past the alarm into the secure server?"
Frustrated Kendall threw his headset to Vaughn "tell her."
Marshall was frozen momentarily but snapped into action when Kathryn yelled at him
She typed furiously following Marshall's directions. "Getting past the alarm, I'm in the 2nd server." She took a deep breath and closed her eyes as she began to type the lengthy virus encrypted code that Marshall had created based solely on her memory.
Salenger watched her open-mouthed as she pounded on the keyboard a look of determination on her face; her eyes shut tightly mouthing everything that she typed.
Jack checked his watched, the security cameras would return in less than two minutes. "Hurry," he said disabling the remote modem now that the specs had been uploaded into CIA hands.
"I'm going as fast as I can," she said through gritted teeth. She was almost done uploading the virus onto the communications server that would enable the CIA to track every keystroke made by Ruggiero on the secure server. If she didn't finish the code the CIA efforts for the past four months would be lost.
"Come on, come on, come on." Salenger checked his watch again, they were almost out of time; he tapped his thigh nervously.
"Security Systems will be back up in one minute, you're going to have to haul ass to get out of there," Eric scanned the different cameras, "three guards on the west hallway first floor blocking your way out, you're going to have find a different way around them.
"I know a way, hope you're not afraid of heights," he said to Alexia. She ignored him as she concentrated on typing the last few lines of text.
"It's done." Kathryn opened her eyes pulling away from the computer.
"Copy that Shiner, the code is working fine. Good work, and come home safe," Sydney smiled broadly releasing Vaughn's hand and he flexed his fingers allowing the blood flow to return to his fingertips.
"Let's get out of here," Jack held the door open and the three stepped back into the hall heading towards the stairwell. They took the stairs back up to the main floor.
"Security feed is back on in twenty seconds," Weiss warned. "Those guards are still there you'll have to get around them."
Salenger motioned them to follow him. The guards stood blocking their way to the party and silently he led them into a large room adjacent to the ballroom where the party was taking place. They exited through the french doors onto the balcony. "Like I said, hope you're not afraid of heights," he pointed at the narrow ledge connecting the balcony they were on to one from the party.
"Go," Jack nodded and Salenger slung his leg over the railing, Kathryn watched as he shimmied across and looked to make sure there wasn't anyone near the balcony before swinging his legs over. "Nice and easy," Jack instructed as he helped Kathryn slide over the railing. She flattened herself against the wall and slowly began inching over to the other balcony. It wasn't easy as her dress kept getting in the way. Reaching the balcony she began to turn to climb over but her foot caught the edge of her dress and she slipped. A small cry erupted from the back of her throat and a strong arm grabbed her right arm saving her from falling to the ground as she slammed into the brick wall.
"Come on," Salenger groaned as he tried to pull her back up. Jack swung his legs over the balcony but he would be of no use to them. He looked down at Kathryn, she swung wildly and was kicking her legs trying desperately to gain some footing and pull herself back up. She was reaching her left hand up trying to grab hold of something but there was nothing she could do.
"Grab her other hand," Jack said suddenly realizing that Salenger was holding her right arm. The arm the cast had come off of earlier that day.
"What?" Salenger asked breathing deeply as he tried to get a good grip on her.
"Grab her left hand let go of her right."
"Dad what's going on?" Sydney asked frantically. "What is your status?"
"She fell," his response crackled through the headset and Sydney's heart sank. "Is she alright?"
"Grab her other hand now and let go of her arm or you will break it," Jack repeated and he edged closer to the ledge but still there was nothing he could do. "Do it now!"
"Bloody hell, stop kicking," Salenger swore and took one hand off her arm. He reached for her other hand and after several unsuccessful attempts finally managed to grab her left hand. Bracing his foot against the metal bars he released his hold on her right arm and gripped her left hand with both his hands. Slowly he pulled her up and over the balcony rail. "Are you alright?" he asked breathlessly glancing through the closed door to make sure no one had seen them come onto the balcony.
"Dad, is she okay?" Sydney repeated several times not having received an answer.
Jack crossed over to the balcony. "She's fine," he told Sydney after ensuring that Kathryn was unhurt.
Kathryn could only nod as she gasped for air, "I thought I was going to fall," she said breathlessly, her voice choking as she fought for air. "My shoes-" she looked over the edge of the balcony.
"Ruggiero's just spotted you on the balcony, he's coming over to you," Collins whispered urgently.
"I'll try to stall him," Jack opened the french doors and slipped inside.
"Just relax and breathe, we'll stay out here as long as possible," Salenger leaned back against the railing and cupped the back of her head drawing her to him. She brought her hands up to his shoulders slipping them around his neck and rested her head on his chest listening to his heartbeat as she tried to steady her breathing. To the outside viewer they looked like a happy couple in love sharing a private moment together and he played on it. He brought his hands up to her bare shoulders rubbing them slightly and then trailing them down her sides and encircling her waist. She shuddered slightly and he held her tighter one arm around her waist and the other cupping her head. "You're fine now, I wouldn't have let you fall," he stroked her hair and kissed the top of her head lightly. "Just breath, he's coming."
At the sound of Ruggiero's voice Kathryn plastered a smile on her face and turned to face him still struggling to control her erratic breathing.
"Senorita Deveraux I've been looking for you the Russian ambassador- Are you alright Senorita? You look pale?"
"Si Senor," she smiled. "Just a little tired, I'm afraid the flight is catching up with me now."
"And before? Is everything alright?" he looked to Salenger for an explanation regarding the lovers spat in the ballroom.
"Yes, fine thank you. Just a misunderstanding," he slipped his hands around her waist and gently kissed her neck.
"What was that about the Russian ambassador?" she asked switching the subject.
"Ah he wishes to continue your conversation regarding the upcoming UN convention in Moscow."
"Well then we must not keep the ambassador waiting, I too am eager to continue our discussion." She took Ruggiero's arm and then turned back to JD. "Coming?" she asked.
"Right behind you." He followed Alexia closely grabbing a glass of champagne on the way and downing it quickly. She intrigued him regaining her composure so quickly. Who would have thought that this girl standing before him speaking in rapid Russian with the Russian ambassador about politics among other things, had only moments before been hanging precariously several stories up from the ground. After several minutes he managed to steal her away and danced a few dances before her father cut in.
"Are you alright Alexia?" he asked.
"Of course Daddy," she smiled trying not to step on his feet; her dancing skills left a lot to be desired.
"We'll leave soon."
"Okay."
"How's your arm?" he asked lowering his voice.
"It's fine, he didn't break it."
"Good," the song came to an end and Jack pulled away from her. "We'll leave in about twenty minutes."
Jack was true to his word. Twenty minutes later after sharing a tearful goodbye with her fiancée exhausted and sore Alexia Deveraux slowly ascended the ballroom steps her arm tucked securely in her fathers. Many of the guests were starting to wain and other couples departed as well. She turned giving a small nod to Salenger who stood at the bottom of the stairs in the very spot where he'd first seen her. He couldn't help but smile at her, what a night. She returned his smile and then continued up the stairs, thankful that her dress had been hemmed two inches too long, for if one looked closely enough they would she wasn't wearing any shoes. For Alexia Deveraux it would have been a catastrophe, but for Kathryn Sullivan--it suited her just fine
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Coming up!!! Chapter 20 will be a little bit of a filler tying up loose ends but stay tuned for Chapter 21 Someone rather unexpected makes a surprise appearance.
This Chapter is dedicated to Anna Sun!!!
Redemption
Chapter 19
JD Salenger stood close to his fiancée. Her fathers words echoed in his mind, one of us stays with her at all times. He knew she wasn't an agent, she was good but she wasn't an agent. His Russian partner Paul Collins was talking to her father and he caught his eye. Paul walked towards them and intercepted his fiancée away from Ruggiero with the promise of a dance. The two were soon lost in a slew of Russian that Salenger couldn't keep up with. He adjusted the tie clip Alexia had given him as a gift turning the comm links on and discreetly placed the earpiece in his ear. He grabbed two glasses of champagne and walked over to Samuel handing him one. "This is Cobalt checking in."
"Coming through loud and clear Cobalt," Eric tapped the keys of his laptop adjusting Salenger's audio level.
He reached over shaking Jack's hand, "How are you Sam? How's the vacation?"
"Tired," he smiled. "That daughter of mine does love to shop, other than that can't complain."
"She's not CIA?" he confirmed lowering his voice to a whisper.
"No. We can't afford for anything to go wrong. She's smart but she's not trained."
The two watched Alexia and Paul circle the floor speaking with various people.
"She's good," he commented sipped his champagne.
Jack said nothing; she was good, never breaking character, always enchanting and charming. Her accent was perfect one would think she'd lived in South Carolina her entire life and not New York. "Collins will distract Ruggiero, the two of you have a fight and I will follow you out. Security will be down for eight minutes."
"It'll take two to get to the lab, two levels down on the left."
"Good, now go dance with your fiancée." Jack took his glass from him and Salenger crossed the room only to be headed off by Ruggiero. When Salenger reached the two Ruggiero was in the process of trying to convince Alexia to play the harp for the guests. Silently Salenger yelled at himself, the asshole remembered what he'd said when he was drunk. It had been Jake MacGyver's first taste of Spanish liquor and his last. That was when the slip up about Alexia's age had happened. Evidently he'd slipped up on her musical talents as well. In his ear all he could hear was cursing and everyone telling Alexia to stay calm. She was more than calm; her accent never faltered as she talked herself out of it.
"I'm afraid Senor Ruggiero that I am out of practice on the harp, Daddy and I have been travelling so much lately I haven't an ounce of time for playing." Ruggiero looked crestfallen, his lower lip popping out slightly reminding her of a five-year-old who was told he couldn't have a cookie before bed. "Perhaps we can compromise," she said sweetly. "Do you enjoy Mozart on the violin?"
"My favorite," his smile was smug as he led Alexia over to the string quartet. She could feel everyone's eyes on her back as she turned facing the wall and adjusted the violin. "To my private listeners unless you plan on being deaf in the next 5 seconds I suggest you turn my volume down." Marshall reacted quickly and adjusted her volume. The fiberglass beads on Alexia's dress would have reflected the sounds of the violin giving everyone with a comm link a permanent headache for a week. She turned to face the crowd curtsied flashing a sweet smile at Ruggiero and raised the bow. On the outside she appeared calm and collected, performing in front of an audience was something Alexia did often. Kathryn on the other hand hadn't picked up a violin in over three years. She gritted her teeth almost anticipating a screech but there was none and slowly she relaxed as she played Mozarts Violin Concerto No. 5.
Jack watched from a distance as her hands moved skillfully over the strings. Her audience nodded appreciatively and Weiss whistled in his ear, Sydney's praiseful comments came through as well. Kathryn certainly was full of surprises tonight.
Salenger waited until she had curtsied, and thanked her audience before intercepting Alexia away from Ruggiero. He kissed her cheek and pulled her into his arms, slowly dancing over near the entryway. From across the room Paul took his position and Jack wandered near the door taking a refill on his champagne.
"Almost time," Alexia murmured in his ear.
"Good Luck," Sydney's reassuring voice rang in her ear before being Weiss took over.
"Security is down in. 5.4.."
"Make it real," he pulled away from Alexia.
"2"
"1. Go!"
Smack.
Stunned JD Salenger rubbed his jaw lightly silently cursing in pain. She stepped away from him, her deep blue eyes filling with tears, her hand shaking from the sheer force of slapping his face. Her chin trembled, "how could you," she cried tearfully oblivious to the curious onlookers. Had it been a real fight he would have been groveling at her feet begging for forgiveness at the sheer sight of the tears splashing down her cheeks. She turned running out of the room, "Lexie wait, I can explain" he called running after her.
Jack took off after the two pretending to be furious and Collins prevented Ruggiero from following. By the time Jack reached the two they were at the bottom of the stairs heading to the restricted area. He conferred with Weiss regarding security while Salenger punched the security code and they entered the restricted stairwell. Kathryn slipped off her high-heeled shoes feeling instant relief and slung the straps around her wrists she hiked up her skirts and followed the two men down the cement stairs doing her best not to step on the material otherwise she would take all three of them out.
The three of them ran at full speed down the long corridors.
"Okay team, you're clear up ahead, but there are three guards coming down the east hallway," Weiss zoomed in on the security cameras. "I've looped their system so all they're seeing is empty hallways, ETA 45 seconds."
Jack pulled off his watch attaching it to the labs secured entrance. "Decoders in place," his finger hovered above the handle as the decoder cracked the code and the three entered the lab with only seconds to spare. Jack tossed Salenger the computer disk with the encrypted virus, "upload it in the 2nd server." Jack attached his cell phone to the second computers tower and entered the mainframe uploading the information and satellite specs via wireless modem to the Op Center back in LA. Kathryn stood near the door listening for any activity in the hallway.
"I can't get in." Salenger suddenly pulled his hands off the keyboard. "I can't bypass the secure server without setting off the alarm, I didn't know about this."
"Marshall did you get that?" Jack leaned over Salengers shoulder scanning the screen.
"Got it," Marshall logged into his computer connecting to the one Salenger was logged in on. "Oh Boy, you can't do anything, the only way to get the virus in without triggering the alarm is to manually bypass the server and type the coding in, that will take at least three minutes."
"Abort the mission, Jack I want you out of there, now."
"I know the code," Kathryn stood beside the chair looking up at Jack. "I helped Marshall with it, I wrote the code down, I know the code."
"Jack your order is to abort." Kendall took control of the microphone repeating his order. "Abort now, I repeat abort!"
Jack turned to her knowing how many months of work had been at stake by this operation. "I need to know you can do this." His voice was calm and steady hiding any uncertainty he felt about putting her in this situation.
"I can do this," her voice was confident and he believed her.
"Move," Jack pulled out the chair and Salenger got off it. Kathryn took her place at the keyboard, handed Salenger her shoes and began typing the keys rapidly.
"She said she can do it." Jack told Kendall.
"Shiner, your order was to abort," Kendall said angrily. "I want you out of there now!"
"It's too late now," she swallowed hard. "I'm in. Marshall, how do I get past the alarm into the secure server?"
Frustrated Kendall threw his headset to Vaughn "tell her."
Marshall was frozen momentarily but snapped into action when Kathryn yelled at him
She typed furiously following Marshall's directions. "Getting past the alarm, I'm in the 2nd server." She took a deep breath and closed her eyes as she began to type the lengthy virus encrypted code that Marshall had created based solely on her memory.
Salenger watched her open-mouthed as she pounded on the keyboard a look of determination on her face; her eyes shut tightly mouthing everything that she typed.
Jack checked his watched, the security cameras would return in less than two minutes. "Hurry," he said disabling the remote modem now that the specs had been uploaded into CIA hands.
"I'm going as fast as I can," she said through gritted teeth. She was almost done uploading the virus onto the communications server that would enable the CIA to track every keystroke made by Ruggiero on the secure server. If she didn't finish the code the CIA efforts for the past four months would be lost.
"Come on, come on, come on." Salenger checked his watch again, they were almost out of time; he tapped his thigh nervously.
"Security Systems will be back up in one minute, you're going to have to haul ass to get out of there," Eric scanned the different cameras, "three guards on the west hallway first floor blocking your way out, you're going to have find a different way around them.
"I know a way, hope you're not afraid of heights," he said to Alexia. She ignored him as she concentrated on typing the last few lines of text.
"It's done." Kathryn opened her eyes pulling away from the computer.
"Copy that Shiner, the code is working fine. Good work, and come home safe," Sydney smiled broadly releasing Vaughn's hand and he flexed his fingers allowing the blood flow to return to his fingertips.
"Let's get out of here," Jack held the door open and the three stepped back into the hall heading towards the stairwell. They took the stairs back up to the main floor.
"Security feed is back on in twenty seconds," Weiss warned. "Those guards are still there you'll have to get around them."
Salenger motioned them to follow him. The guards stood blocking their way to the party and silently he led them into a large room adjacent to the ballroom where the party was taking place. They exited through the french doors onto the balcony. "Like I said, hope you're not afraid of heights," he pointed at the narrow ledge connecting the balcony they were on to one from the party.
"Go," Jack nodded and Salenger slung his leg over the railing, Kathryn watched as he shimmied across and looked to make sure there wasn't anyone near the balcony before swinging his legs over. "Nice and easy," Jack instructed as he helped Kathryn slide over the railing. She flattened herself against the wall and slowly began inching over to the other balcony. It wasn't easy as her dress kept getting in the way. Reaching the balcony she began to turn to climb over but her foot caught the edge of her dress and she slipped. A small cry erupted from the back of her throat and a strong arm grabbed her right arm saving her from falling to the ground as she slammed into the brick wall.
"Come on," Salenger groaned as he tried to pull her back up. Jack swung his legs over the balcony but he would be of no use to them. He looked down at Kathryn, she swung wildly and was kicking her legs trying desperately to gain some footing and pull herself back up. She was reaching her left hand up trying to grab hold of something but there was nothing she could do.
"Grab her other hand," Jack said suddenly realizing that Salenger was holding her right arm. The arm the cast had come off of earlier that day.
"What?" Salenger asked breathing deeply as he tried to get a good grip on her.
"Grab her left hand let go of her right."
"Dad what's going on?" Sydney asked frantically. "What is your status?"
"She fell," his response crackled through the headset and Sydney's heart sank. "Is she alright?"
"Grab her other hand now and let go of her arm or you will break it," Jack repeated and he edged closer to the ledge but still there was nothing he could do. "Do it now!"
"Bloody hell, stop kicking," Salenger swore and took one hand off her arm. He reached for her other hand and after several unsuccessful attempts finally managed to grab her left hand. Bracing his foot against the metal bars he released his hold on her right arm and gripped her left hand with both his hands. Slowly he pulled her up and over the balcony rail. "Are you alright?" he asked breathlessly glancing through the closed door to make sure no one had seen them come onto the balcony.
"Dad, is she okay?" Sydney repeated several times not having received an answer.
Jack crossed over to the balcony. "She's fine," he told Sydney after ensuring that Kathryn was unhurt.
Kathryn could only nod as she gasped for air, "I thought I was going to fall," she said breathlessly, her voice choking as she fought for air. "My shoes-" she looked over the edge of the balcony.
"Ruggiero's just spotted you on the balcony, he's coming over to you," Collins whispered urgently.
"I'll try to stall him," Jack opened the french doors and slipped inside.
"Just relax and breathe, we'll stay out here as long as possible," Salenger leaned back against the railing and cupped the back of her head drawing her to him. She brought her hands up to his shoulders slipping them around his neck and rested her head on his chest listening to his heartbeat as she tried to steady her breathing. To the outside viewer they looked like a happy couple in love sharing a private moment together and he played on it. He brought his hands up to her bare shoulders rubbing them slightly and then trailing them down her sides and encircling her waist. She shuddered slightly and he held her tighter one arm around her waist and the other cupping her head. "You're fine now, I wouldn't have let you fall," he stroked her hair and kissed the top of her head lightly. "Just breath, he's coming."
At the sound of Ruggiero's voice Kathryn plastered a smile on her face and turned to face him still struggling to control her erratic breathing.
"Senorita Deveraux I've been looking for you the Russian ambassador- Are you alright Senorita? You look pale?"
"Si Senor," she smiled. "Just a little tired, I'm afraid the flight is catching up with me now."
"And before? Is everything alright?" he looked to Salenger for an explanation regarding the lovers spat in the ballroom.
"Yes, fine thank you. Just a misunderstanding," he slipped his hands around her waist and gently kissed her neck.
"What was that about the Russian ambassador?" she asked switching the subject.
"Ah he wishes to continue your conversation regarding the upcoming UN convention in Moscow."
"Well then we must not keep the ambassador waiting, I too am eager to continue our discussion." She took Ruggiero's arm and then turned back to JD. "Coming?" she asked.
"Right behind you." He followed Alexia closely grabbing a glass of champagne on the way and downing it quickly. She intrigued him regaining her composure so quickly. Who would have thought that this girl standing before him speaking in rapid Russian with the Russian ambassador about politics among other things, had only moments before been hanging precariously several stories up from the ground. After several minutes he managed to steal her away and danced a few dances before her father cut in.
"Are you alright Alexia?" he asked.
"Of course Daddy," she smiled trying not to step on his feet; her dancing skills left a lot to be desired.
"We'll leave soon."
"Okay."
"How's your arm?" he asked lowering his voice.
"It's fine, he didn't break it."
"Good," the song came to an end and Jack pulled away from her. "We'll leave in about twenty minutes."
Jack was true to his word. Twenty minutes later after sharing a tearful goodbye with her fiancée exhausted and sore Alexia Deveraux slowly ascended the ballroom steps her arm tucked securely in her fathers. Many of the guests were starting to wain and other couples departed as well. She turned giving a small nod to Salenger who stood at the bottom of the stairs in the very spot where he'd first seen her. He couldn't help but smile at her, what a night. She returned his smile and then continued up the stairs, thankful that her dress had been hemmed two inches too long, for if one looked closely enough they would she wasn't wearing any shoes. For Alexia Deveraux it would have been a catastrophe, but for Kathryn Sullivan--it suited her just fine
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Coming up!!! Chapter 20 will be a little bit of a filler tying up loose ends but stay tuned for Chapter 21 Someone rather unexpected makes a surprise appearance.