Hana's POV

Hana watched on as Sarah took a calming breath and knocked on the door to Tali's room. She could see the whiteboard on the door that gave the names of the two girls in there- Meghan and Tali. One of them had written 'BFFs Forever' underneath their names, and that made Hana smile briefly. She made a mental note to tell Jess about the board when he was well enough to talk, and pulled out her phone to quickly snap a photo as proof.

A moment later, the door opened and a young girl around Tali's age stuck her head out. "Yes?" she asked.

"Hi," said Sarah. "My name is Sarah and I am here to see Tali. Is she here?"

The girl nodded and pulled her head back into the room. A second later, the door opened in full and Tali stepped out of it.

"Hi, Sarah!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms around the woman. "Is dad here too?"

"Uh... no, honey. There's something I need to tell you, Tali. Something that's going to make you very scared and upset."

Tali let go of Sarah and looked around for the first time. Hana could see realisation dawn on the young girl's face before she took a deep breath and looked at her uncle.

"Uncle Clinton, is my dad dead?" Tali asked, her calm voice sounding forced.

"No, sweetheart. But he is hurt, bad. We are here to pick you up and take you to New York to be with him."

Tali nodded. Hana watched her disappear into her room. She could hear the other girl- Meghan- saying something and reminding Tali to text her, then the door reopened. Tali and the other girl came out into the hall.

"Sarah, this is Meghan. She's my best friend. Am I allowed to keep her updated about dad?" Tali asked.

"Of course you can, Tali! He's your father, if you think you need to tell your friend about him, that's totally up to you." Sarah gave the two girls a smile. "Maybe, when your dad is better, we can invite Meghan to join us for a week or so?"

"I want to tell dad about Meghan. I sent him a letter about her, do you know if he got it?"

"He got it, but I don't know if he read it. It arrived just before he had to head out on this last case."

Tali nodded. She turned to Meghan. "I'll send you a message as soon as I get to see dad."

"I hope he's okay, Tali," said Meghan. "I promise I'll be there if you need me, so don't forget to tell me if you need me!"

Touching down in New York five hours later, Hana shivered. The air was cool. It whipped her short hair around her face, but she didn't let it stop her from walking to the waiting car. She jumped into the driver seat, having noticed that she seemed to be leading the team now.

"We'll be at the hospital in twenty five minutes, everyone," Hana stated as she pulled out of the parking lot. "Kristen says that Jess is still in surgery, so we will probably be waiting a while. Does anyone want to go home first?"

"We have everything we need, Agent Gibson," said Marilou from the very back of the car. "Please just take us to Jess."

"Very well. Jess is a very lucky man to have you for in laws, that's for sure."

"We love him like he's our son. We always have treated him the same as Clinton," said Nelson, smiling, "and we always will."

The hospital was loud, busy. People were darting around the halls, talking to many different people as they went. All of this was a blur to Hana as she twisted in the now uncomfortable armchair in the waiting room for the ICU. They were on hour seven of Jess' surgery, and they still had no idea of how long they were going to be waiting. Barnes and Kristen had gone home to their families, and Ortiz had gone to update Isobel about Jess' condition. Tali, who's eyes were bright red and puffy from crying, had finally fallen asleep on her grandmother's shoulder, and both Marilou and Nelson were whispering so as not to wake their granddaughter. Clinton was pacing back and forth, glancing towards the door where they had been told that Jess would be brought through. He was on his way back to the seats when Hana finally sighed.

"Clinton, come and sit down already. Pacing isn't going to make them bring Jess out faster." Hana patted the seat next to her.

"Why is it taking so long?" Clinton asked after he sat down.

"The bullet hit his neck. Longer is probably better, because it means that they can be careful."

"It's been seven hours already."

"Yeah, I know."

Clinton looked over at the doors again, then said, "you're the team leader right now, did you know that?"

Hana shook her head. "Barnes is team leader when Jess isn't around."

"Is she? You've taken charge since Jess was shot. You've kept your cool and done everything. That's the mark of a team leader."

"Do you think I could be the team leader one day?"

"Without a doubt, Hana. Probably sometime very soon."

"Barnes is next in line."

"Just because someone is the next in line, does not mean anything. Things change, sometimes without anybody knowing. This entire time, you are the one that has taken care of everything. Sarah told me that you took charge telling her about Jess, you organised flights for all of us. I noticed that you stayed here, at the hospital, rather than going home tonight. You have taken charge of everything. That tells me you are ready more than anybody on Jess' team to be team leader."

Hana smiled a little. "Thanks, Clinton. You know, we miss you so much."

"I miss you, too. I am sorry I haven't been to visit in a while."

"What have you been doing?" Hana asked, settling back into her chair.

"The FBI had me working in a task force, but I resigned a few weeks in. My parents moved back to Canada, and they needed help running their little farmers market. I thought I would miss law enforcement, but I actually don't. I love being able to come and go when I want, the nice sunshine. Now, with Tali in Canada, I get more time to spend with her. I really love the change."

"That sounds really peaceful."

"It is. We live on a farm, so most days, the only noise comes from the animals."

"When Jess is better, maybe I could come and visit you?"

"You are always welcome, Hana. Always."