Author's Notes:

Thank you to those that take the time to review, it means a lot to me. It definitely keeps me motivated. Jalton is going to play into this story, probably not as much as people would like, but I love a good slow burn. Also, somehow, Amir kinda poked his nose in and I have allowed that to develop all on it's own. This is also another shorter chapter.

Chapter 3:

They arrived at the DIA hours later, anxious to see what had been so urgent that their remaining leave time was being cut short. Jaz was not opposed to leave ending early, she always felt lost and like a tumbleweed moving around the country. Noah greeted them as they passed through security with a smile and handshakes as they moved the elevators. Top was silent as he followed Noah, and when Jaz looked over at him, she saw the worry in his eyes.

"Top?" she asked softly. He glanced over at her and shook his head. She swallowed and nodded her head in acknowledgment.

They walked into a conference room to find Hannah and Director Campbell waiting for them. There was also the unexpected presence of Preach. It was the first time Top had smiled since they left the cabin. Preach stood and smiled at his team before hugs were exchanged and handshakes doled out. He looked whole and healthy and Jaz was never so happy to see him.

"Preach has been cleared for duty and just in time too," Patricia announced briskly before turning to the screen at the end of the room and the team gathered around all sides of the table. Top sat next to Preach and Jaz stood behind them both. McG and Amir were standing on the other side of the table. McG glanced at Hannah, and Jaz smirked seeing Hannah returned the look with one of her own.

"Two days ago, we received a call from an undercover CIA operative to the DIA emergency family line. It came from a burner and only three words were used. The CIA has tried to decipher it, but with no luck, they are hoping we will have better luck." Patricia explained before nodding to Noah to play the audio.

"Andromeda, Pegasus, Hades." It was a female voice and it was clear and steady. In no way did she sound destressed, but Dalton had leaned forward instantly, and Jaz felt the hair on the back of her neck rise.

"Andy," was all he said as he looked to Patricia. She nodded and Preach looked to Top with concern. McG also eyed Top. Amir was the only one that was not looking at Top, his focus was on the screen showing Andy's picture.

"What does it mean?" Amir questioned looking over to Noah and Hannah for answers.

"We were hoping Dalton could tell us." Noah answered looking to the other man. Everyone's eyes shifted to their CO.

"Andromeda is Andy. Pegasus is twofold, it's me, and it's a request for exfil. Hades means she thinks she's been compromised or her team has," Adam answered pulling his phone out.

Jaz thought back to the pictures from Greece earlier that morning, she and Adam had thought she was being followed, now it seemed their hunch was correct. She watched Adam hand his phone to Noah and told him to bring up the images. She settled on the table just behind Top, not bothering with a chair.

"What was her current mission?" Amir asked, his voice tight, and Jaz glanced at him puzzled. He hadn't even known Andy existed as far as she knew.

"She is undercover as the mistress of Adrian Dimakos, a man with a nasty reputation for kidnapping young women for the European sex trade and arms dealing. A week ago, her handler was killed in a car crash that has been deemed a hit and run." Patricia continued to run down the ins and outs of the case his sister was working on, but he could only see the picture of her with an arms dealer holding her hand with an engagement ring on her finger.

He knew his sister was CIA, had encouraged her to join when she asked him for his blessing, and she was good, her file had come across his desk when the replacements for Elijah had come through, but he knew that he would not be able to put his sister in the positions he put his team in without it affecting his judgment. She had agreed she wouldn't be good working with a team led by her brother. Andy had in fact been the one to recommend Amir for the job.

"Adam, you and your team will be wheels up in an hour. Andy built into her cover a brother and his girlfriend, and Dimakos is throwing a gala to celebrate their engagement Saturday night. Your names will be on the guest list." Noah explained looking at Jaz and Dalton. Jaz glanced at Adam and saw him nod in agreement.

As promised an hour later they were in the air with their gear stowed and Dalton brooding next to Preach. Jaz had taken up a spot near Amir and McG to catch up with them on the 11-hour flight they had ahead of them.

"So, Amir, you want to tell us why you looked like you saw a ghost when Andy's picture went up?" McG asked beating her to the punch. Jaz smirked at him over Amir's head.

Amir glanced between the two of them and sighed. He knew that he was going to have to confess eventually, but he wasn't going to do it until this mission was either over or Andy explained first. "Nope."

"Clearly you know her, but you didn't know she was Top's sister, did you?" Jaz surmised. It was rare to see Amir uncomfortable, but he looked like he was ready to be anywhere that wasn't near them.

"I knew her at the farm as Andrea Turner." Jaz raised an eyebrow at the different name.

"She went by her mother's name because of me," Top stated having moved to sit across from Amir. He thought of the day he had come home on leave and she told him.

Andy pulled up to her brother's apartment, he had come home on leave at her request. She had been interning in DC much of the last four years and she was due to graduate from college in two weeks. She had made her decision to join the CIA, but she wanted Adam to know.

Over the last four years, Andy had spent more time with Adam than any of his other sisters or his mother. He had grown distant from them before Andy, but it only seemed worse following his inclusion of her. Part of that was that he could relate to her in more ways than his other sisters. She was the only one that knew what work he really did, mainly because she had been an assistant analyst on a mission recently and learned the details by default, even if she hadn't already figured it out on her own.

Adam pulled up next to Andy's Honda that she still drove and was greeted with a bear hug as he climbed out of the truck. "I'm so glad you are home," she whispered feeling the nervousness in her stomach finally settle. It had been nerve wracking to be on the other end of his comms during the last mission. He hugged her back and ruffled her hair as they walked up to his apartment.

"Not really how I wanted you to find out what I actually do for a living," he stated once they were inside.

"I knew you did more than just sit around on base." She answered blandly before climbing up onto the counter.

"You never were the one to take things at face value, were you?" he mused as he pulled a bottle of water from the fridge.

"Not on your life," she replied with a grin.

"How's your target practice been going?"

His last stretch at home, he had discovered she had been taking self-defense classes and she was learning to shoot. When he questioned her on it, she had been cagey in her response. Now that he saw her, he knew she was going to drop something on him. She was twitchy.

"Just ask," he demanded.

"Not really an ask, more just a heads up," she responded picking at the label of her water bottle.

"Okay…"

"I got accepted into the farm," she replied knowing that because he had the clearance, she could tell him and really, he probably already knew.

Adam swallowed the water he had just gulped and looked at his kid sister that he felt had just graduated high school. "Is that really what you want?" he asked carefully. He knew she could do the job, knew that she had the nerves of steel needed, the talent of slipping into different personas as needed. The only reason he worried was that she had talked about having a family someday. Most operatives he knew were solitary and the job didn't afford for any kind of lasting romantic entanglements.

Andy looked at her brother and smiled. She knew his concerns, loved him for not doubting she could do the job, but she was still surprised he wasn't talking her out of it. "Adam, I want to do something that matters," she replied with honesty and without guile. She could never guarantee that she would find someone that loved her, and she loved in return. They had had that discussion one night after she turned twenty-one and he'd picked her up from a house party drunk. Neither thought they would ever get married and have kids, even though it wasn't something they would turn down if the right person came around.

"So, my baby sister is going to be a spook?" He was proud, but he wanted to talk her out of it. The look on her face though? She knew what she was getting into, and he would support her. He would also make damn sure he had a way to watch her back.

"Why because of you?" Amir questioned.

"Because my sister has a stubborn streak longer than mine. She was determined to earn everything she got on her own. It isn't easy for women," Adam glanced at Jaz with a look that showed he understood more than she had realized. "She didn't want my reputation having any influence over her successes or her failures hurting me."

"Sounds like something you would do," Preach responded having joined their conversation.

"She learned it from her own mother. I didn't meet Andy until she was seventeen years old when her mother died." His confession was something they had not known. They knew she was a half-sister, knew that he didn't grow up with Andy, but they didn't realize just how many years it been before they even met.