A/N: I know we are all very upset by the news that NBC has decided to pass on renewing The Brave (big mistake), but I will continue to finish this story. I had plans for a series of one-shots set in the same universe, but I'm not sure if I will write them or not. It will depend on if there is an it to continue to write. We'll see.
Chapter 12:
McG sat in the restaurant at the bar, watching the door and took a sip from the club soda. He had received the call from Top and DC sent him his deep cover to be Andy's body guard through the end of the week. He noted the tone of Top's voice and knew today had been a turning point for Andy. The roses being sent to the school meant that the students she was trying to protect had been put in the crosshairs and for any of them that was unacceptable.
He was looking at the front door when Jaz and Top walked in and Andy directly behind them. McG watched as most men in the immediate area turned to look at her, including Amir sitting against the wall across the room. McG barely contained his grin as Amir swallowed visibly. Andy made a show of looking around as Top and Jaz got a table midway between Amir and McG. She pretended to spot him and walked towards him with purpose.
He pushed away from the bar and buttoned his suit coat. "Ms. Weber?" he greeted her with a smile. She nodded and took his proffered hand.
"Mr…?"
"Joseph Mackenzie," he answered and she barely smirked before he motioned towards the bar.
"Mr. Mackenzie, thank you for meeting me on such short notice," she answered with a smile, climbing on to the barstool and angling to look in the mirror over his shoulder giving her the ability to keep an eye on the door.
"What would you like to drink?" he offered and allowed the niceties of a job interview dictate his movements.
"Club soda with lime," she answered glancing at the bartender. The bartender immediately went to work and set the drink in front of her.
They continued to put on a show for the team and anyone who might be observing Andy. They conversed easily and after an hour, she paid the tab and stood to shake McG's hand. "Joseph, how do you feel about starting right now?" she questioned slipping her purse on her shoulder.
"Lead the way," he answered, and they left the restaurant together. Top and Jaz following close behind and Andy made a show introducing them outside the restaurant before she told Joseph to follow her to the mansion. Top and Jaz went back to the safehouse and Andy drove solo to the mansion with McG following her.
When they pulled up at the mansion, McG met her at the front door and she led him inside. "Adrian," she called out setting her purse on the table inside the front door. Adrian came ambling out of his office and stopped seeing McG standing in the foyer.
"Who is this?" he demanded looking at Andy and she could feel the fury rolling off him in waves.
"Joseph Mackenzie, one of the men on your short list for my bodyguard. I interviewed him this evening after I received roses at school that were not from you and came with this," she answered handing him the unsigned card. She watched the color rise on his neck as he read the card and crumpled it in his fist. "I didn't want to wait. I'm sorry I did it without you, but he was able to meet right after school and I wanted him to start immediately. I brought him here, so you could interview him yourself," she added as his eyes took in McG's taller frame. She could tell his fury was being redirected to the Russian tail and silently breathed a sigh of relief.
She watched as McG turned on the charm and Adrian led him back to the office. Adrian looked furious with her, but he was controlling it in front of someone new that he didn't trust yet. She caught his glance as he shut the office door and she took the opportunity to climb the stairs to the bedroom and proceeded to hide her weapons within easy reach in case things got out of hand that evening. She no longer trusted Adrian to not make things violent and she was not going to allow herself to be compromised.
"McG's nearly done," Preach commented in her earpiece. She had almost forgotten that she'd been wearing the thing most of the day as it had been relatively quiet.
"How's he doing?" she asked as she removed the picks from her hair and allowing it to cascade down her shoulders.
"His usual charming self," Preach answered and she could feel his grin. She smiled too, as she removed her leather jacket and all the weapons that it had concealed. Once she was barefoot, she headed back down the stairs just as McG and Adrian exited his office.
"What do you think?" she questioned approaching Adrian's side and slipping her arm around his waist.
"You chose well my love," he answered with a hint of pride. "Joseph, can you start tonight? Andrea has been most anxious with the man following her to the school."
"Sure," McG answered with a smile.
"Excellent, I will give you a tour," Adrian ordered and they all began moving around the house. He kept a possessive arm around Andy's shoulder and McG caught her limping more as the evening wore on.
An hour later, Andy was smiling up at McG as she handed him a bottle of water. "I decided not to go to school tomorrow. I already had taken vacation for Friday. I am going to run some errands and pick up my dress. I have a fitting at four and then I am hosting some of Adrian's family that are coming to town," she laid out for him.
"Got it. Anything else I should know?" he asked as she moved around putting together a sandwich for each of them.
"I get up at five usually for a run, but I've been nursing a sore knee. It is feeling well enough I'm going to test it out. The man that was following me, I saw him on my usual trail the other day, so I would prefer not to go alone." McG frowned at her about the knee, but he knew it was a show for Adrian that had just walked back in the room behind him.
"Fair enough, we should switch up your usual routes to throw off the man following you. Puts him at a disadvantage," McG offered laying out a plan that made sense and had Adrian nodding. Andy gave him a warm smile and nodded her head.
"Sounds like a plan. Adrian, I'm going to be out running errands tomorrow, is there anything you need me to pick up?" she offered, and he poked his head out of the pantry with a bag of chips. She immediately knew that he was high.
"More chips," he mumbled as he walked away with the bag. McG raised an eyebrow at her and she frowned.
"He is high as a fucking kite," she answered allowing her frustration to show. He was unpredictable when he was high, and she could not afford any changes to the routine. "I need to find his drug stash before this weekend," she added looking over at McG.
"You should get some sleep," he whispered softly. She looked like she hadn't slept in days and he could see the tension in her shoulders when she wasn't hiding it.
"I can't just yet. He needs to pass out first. You can go though. That way you can get back in time," she replied turning to the stove and picking up the tea kettle. She decided that she would have a cup of tea and then head to bed.
McG watched her move about the kitchen and realized why she was stalling. The abuse started when Dimakos started using drugs more frequently. She was letting him off the hook, but he couldn't leave her there knowing that information. He was torn about leaving, but ultimately, he knew for the mission, he needed to go. She was tough as Jaz and Jaz would kick his ass for doubting Top's sister. He couldn't help having a soft spot for her though having seen her at her worst bleeding to death in the middle of a field.
He watched her drop a tea bag in a cup and pull honey out of a cupboard. She was moving around easier than that morning when he had watched her limp to the car. She also seemed to be studiously ignoring him. "I'll be back tomorrow morning, we aren't running far," he stated as the tea kettle began to whistle. Andy leveled a gaze at him as she poured hot water over the tea bag.
"Are you handling me?" she whispered barely moving her lips.
"Having been the medic to treat you, yes. You need to be as healed as possible to finish this," he answered softly. She met his eye and nodded before moving around the counter to sit on the barstool beside him.
"I'm used to taking care of myself," she assured him as she sipped her tea. She glanced at her watch and noted that it was nearly midnight. She was running out of energy and she was sure that McG was too.
"Yes, but as a team we take care of each other," he responded giving her a pointed look. She met his gaze and nodded silently accepting the handling. He released a breath and sent silent thanks that she wouldn't argue with him as much as her brother did when he was hurt.
Ten minutes later, she finished her tea and set the cup in the sink. She turned to see McG's studying her again. It was a little unnerving, but she let it go because even though they knew who she was, working with her was still a new element. "I'm kicking you out. I'll see you at 0500," she stated quietly.
McG allowed her to escort him and he said goodnight heading to his ride. He surveyed around him before climbing in and driving away. He glanced in his rearview mirror and saw Andy standing in an upstairs window staring out.
When McG entered the safe house, he was greeted by Top and Amir sitting at the table. There were no words, just a nod that told them both that she was okay. He wanted to tease Amir about it but couldn't bring himself to do it. The man looked like Top when Jaz had been captured in Tehran.
"I've got to be back in the morning," he stated leaning against the wall. They went over the plan for another ten minutes before Top told him to hit the rack.
Amir and Top sat in silence, watching the monitors and reviewing the plans to the underground tunnels that they were supposed to be infiltrating in two days. "I didn't want to shoot her," Amir stated when the silence got to be too much.
He had been itching to say his peace to Top about Germany for days, but they hadn't been alone long enough to say anything. Amir never thought he would be sitting face to face with Andy's brother when he shot her all those years ago. He also didn't expect to be running an op with her again. He never thought he would have to explain his actions to anyone but his superiors. In a way, that was still the case.
Adam studied the man that he had chosen to be on his team, to have their backs and that his sister had vouched for when asked. Amir had what Adam referred to as his spy face on, and Adam just shook his head wondering how his sister had learned to read him. "If she says it was to protect the mission and that's your version, then we don't have a problem," Adam challenged.
"The men that recruited me for that first cell were the ones I was protecting her from," Amir explained. Adam didn't need more details to know it was the ISIS cell that he had managed to infiltrate. "I didn't know she had lived until three years later during my debrief after they pulled me out," he added, and Adam could hear the mixed emotions the other man felt.
Amir set foot on American soil for the first time in three years and felt himself barely able to breathe. He was on his way to Langley to debrief and hand in his resignation. Three years and one too many suicide bombers later, he had seen enough. He wanted to go to his uncle's farm and hide from the world for a while before returning to his parents' home. That was his plan.
He set foot in CIA Headquarters and was greeted by the director's admin. He was ushered to a secure conference room where various heads of the alphabet agencies. He repeated verbally the last days being in Germany, including the shooting of Andy. He detailed how he had lined up the shot, how Andy had pled with him, but they had already discussed in the days before that they would do whatever needed to be done.
"Did Agent Turner survive?" one of the directors from the FBI questioned.
Amir looked to the other members of the CIA for answers but was surprised when Deputy Director Campbell from the DIA answered, "Yes, Special Operations group 7 rescued Agent Turner less than three hours later and she recovered and returned to duty." Patricia watched as Amir's face registered surprise, then anger, and finally relief. "You didn't know she had made it?" She questioned looking at his superiors.
"I believed I had succeeded in proving my loyalty," Amir answered looking to his superiors with barely veiled hostility.
Adam studied Amir longer and the thought that had been plaguing him surfaced. "How long have you been in love with her?" He hadn't meant to ask the question but the brother in him wanted to know. He had missed so much of Andy's life already. In terms of the mission, he needed to know what to anticipate with regards to Amir's reactions when everything stepped off on Saturday. He had to protect the team and his sister, and it was a balancing act that he couldn't lose.
"On the Farm," Amir confessed quietly. "She was the first person I ever told about my sister," he added as he studied Top's reaction.
Adam suspected it had been that serious, but not the length of time, and it made him question Andy's response when he had asked her if she could keep her head working with Amir. "I need to know if you can keep a clear head," he demanded knowing that Amir would be honest with him.
"Top, we will get the job done," Amir answered knowing that no matter what happened between him and Andy, they would get the job done. "When we were together, the mission always came first, too much was dependent on us to allow our emotions to cloud our judgement," he added and watched Adam nod in response.
Adam didn't know what else to say to Amir at that point. He had more questions but wanted the answers from his sister. "Go get some rack time," he ordered before turning back to the monitors that showed empty rooms.