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Hello, my awesome readers, and welcome back to the story! As always, I want to take a moment to thank all of you for reading, reviewing, favoriting, following, and private messaging. You all mean the world to me, and I always want to take a little bit of time at the beginning of each chapter to say thank you. Some of you probably skip over it, but it's there nonetheless. As long as you know that you are appreciated, I'm good.

DECEMBER IS HERE! I'm freaking out because winter is my favorite season. It's also my busiest season at work, but I promise that I'm going to try my very best to make sure that I'm still getting updates out on time. This story will go into the new year but should conclude by mid-January (ish). And then… who knows?

Also… last night's episode of the show was… um… there aren't words. I'm shocked, baffled, frustrated, angry, sad… and I have to wait until JANUARY to find out what happens afterwards. I HATE when shows take a winter break. I get it… but that doesn't mean that I have to like it. And I don't like it, just to be clear. No spoilers, I promise, but… grr. If you've seen it, what did you think of it? No spoilers, please! (But feel free to private message me if you'd like to have a spoiler-filled talk about it.)

I've done a couple of disclaimers lately, so I won't bother again for a bit. I think that you all get the gist of it by now. If not… maybe go back to the first chapter and check it out. Anyway… I hope that you enjoy this newest chapter!

Happy Reading!

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Chapter Eighteen: Older Friends

Steve

I was the one to open the door when they knocked, and I smiled when I caught sight of them. They had duffel bags thrown over their shoulders and looked like they were ready to head into battle.

Just the kind of men that we needed.

"Seth. Lance," I greeted them as I pulled the door open wider and ushered them inside. "Thank you both so much for coming."

"Not much that we wouldn't do for Allie," Seth told me as he turned back to pin me with a serious look. "Just how bad is this thing?"

"Pretty bad." There was no sense in lying to them now that they were in. Anyway, I was almost certain that they'd already looked into him after we'd talked. "From what I've managed to dig up, Medici is a pretty formidable guy when crossed."

"So are we." I hadn't really had a chance to talk to Lance after we'd met back in Hawaii but seeing him there now with his hardened expression and battle-ready eyes, I had no doubt that what he'd just said was one hundred percent true.

I nodded. "Good. Come this way and I'll introduce you to the gang."

"I've always wanted to meet Allie's family," Seth said as he set his duffel bag down. "I met Kol, of course, but I've dreamed of meeting the others for years."

"That's what we're here for," I muttered sarcastically. "To make dreams come true. Ready?"

They nodded, and we passed through the large doorway and into the living room, where Alex, Evelyn, Edward, Kol, and Max were waiting. There was an invisible great divide up the middle, with Kol and Max on one side and everyone else on the other.

Clearly, everyone wasn't getting along perfectly quite yet. Not that I was surprised after what had happened at the breakfast table a couple of days ago, but I'd been hoping that everyone would, at the very least, pretend to get along. No such luck, however, and I knew that I was just going to have to deal with that. I had much bigger fish to fry than their relationship troubles.

I cleared my throat to draw attention, as the two sides were pointedly looking away from each other and whispering. "Everyone, these are friends of Allie's from her days with the CIA. Seth and Lance, meet Allie's family."

"We've met." Kol smiled mischievously, a gleam in his eye as he nodded a greeting to Lance.

Lance smiled back at him, the same glint in his eye. "Your help was greatly appreciated."

Seth's eyes lit up in realization and he frowned. "That's how you pulled off the Monte Carlo job! The bet was for no help. Give me my hundred back."

"No way," Lance retorted with a snort. "I think the statute of limitations is up on that." Before Seth could argue further, he stepped forward to shake Max's hand.

Once everyone had officially met, I spoke to Seth and Lance. "As you know, we asked you here to pass a message to Allie." I'd spent nearly their entire flight time messaging them about everything that had happened, so they were up to date on what was going on. "She won't be easy to find, though. We haven't even tried to find her again, for fear of what Medici will do, and he obviously won't allow her to return to the museum until heist time, so we won't be much help."

Alex spoke up. "Roger, our tech guy, has been asked to hold off on trying to locate her just in case Medici has men keeping tabs on that sort of thing."

"Oh, no worries." Seth smiled. "We've already had one of our guys find her. Now, it's just a matter of trailing her to wherever she goes. How do you want us to pass the message?"

Edward spoke up, loathe to be left out of anything. "We have decided to let you plan all of that. We fear that if we plan it, Medici will know that it has our brains behind it. Unfortunately, he knows our family quite well."

"Makes sense." Lance nodded and looked at Seth. "So, we tag-team it?"

"Definitely." Seth sighed and cracked his knuckles. "Just like Rio."

I handed them a piece of paper. "This is the message. I don't know when you'll want to move on it, but it would probably be wise to head to the airport immediately afterwards just in case Medici decides to have someone watch you. We don't want to risk you leading them back to the house, obviously."

"Right. Wouldn't want to lead them back here." Seth nodded. "That was probably our plan, anyway."

Lance nodded agreement. "We'd like to get a few hours of rest, though, if you don't mind."

Kol motioned for them to follow him. "I have you guys all set up in my room and I'll be bunking with Steve until you fly out."

So far, I'd been lucky to be one of the only ones to have a room to themselves, but everyone had to make sacrifices. And this was a small one. I really didn't mind Kol, even if he was acting like a child about his mother coming back into his life.

Once they were gone, Alex pinned me with a very serious look. "Do you think that this will work?"

"The forgery or the message?"

"Both," Edward answered for him.

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. "It has to. I thought about asking some of my former SEAL buddies to come and help out, but I think that CIA agents are far more equipped for this. And Medici wouldn't know them, so that's a bonus. Really, they're the only option that we have right now."

"And the CIA would definitely know how to do a good brush pass," Evelyn added. "I think it's a good idea. And right now, it's the only chance that we have at getting this message to Allie. We'll just have to go with it."

She had offered to do the brush pass, but no one wanted to take that chance. It was easier to just let Seth and Lance pull it off for us. Plus, I had been able to ask them to get one of the CIA's technical analysts to start helping us locate Trent.

"Nothing to do but wait," Alex sighed, sounding like that was the last thing that he wanted to do.

I was right there with him.

Allie

It had been a few days since I'd left the message at the Arc, with nothing to show for it. Ari hadn't turned up to kill Medici and save me… but had I ever really thought that he would? Maybe a part of me had thought that maybe it was possible, but the bigger part of me knew that I had watched him die.

No one was going to save me.

That was the depressing thought dominating my mind as I walked down the chilly Paris street, sipping my coffee. Behind me trailed one of Medici's men, watching me like a hawk. No chance of escaping, even if I wanted to.

I saw the man only a half second before he crashed into me, so absorbed in whatever was on the screen of his phone that he hadn't bothered to watch where he was going. His phone dropped from his hands and landed screen-down between us, the loud cracking sound leaving no question as to the fate of the phone. My coffee was not any luckier; it spun out of my hand and the lid came off halfway down, sending a splash of dark brown liquid onto the pavement only a second before the cup hit.

I looked up so that I could yell at the man (totally immature, but my patience was at an end), but the words died in my throat as I recognized him.

Lance.

Lance from the CIA.

A million possibilities began to run through my mind. Was he here on a mission? Was he on holiday? Or was it possible that Steve and my family had taken a chance on letting him get word to me? And how was I supposed to let him get word to me with Medici's man already closing in on us?

Giving no indication that he knew who I was, Lance began to apologize in earnest. "I am so sorry, miss! I… I mean, do you speak English?"

When I nodded, he gave a sigh of relief and continued.

"I wasn't watching where I was going. I was checking the basketball scores from back home and… God, I'm so sorry." He bent down and picked up his phone (likely just a burner) and groaned when he saw that it was completely shattered. "Shit. This is all my fault."

"Hey, pal," Medici's man had reached us, and he stepped forward to put himself between me and Lance.

Lance, ever the talented actor, stepped back as if he was intimidated. "Whoa, sorry. Did I do something to you, too? I was just apologizing. I spilled her coffee everywhere. And shattered my phone." To really make his point, Lance practically shoved his shattered phone at Medici's man, who swatted it away.

"Look," my guard growled low in his throat. "Just get out of here, okay? You're making a scene."

"I'm not trying to make a scene," Lance went on. "It's just that-"

But my attention was drawn away when I felt an ever so slight brush along my back. As if someone was planting something in my back pocket.

I glanced to the right, following the movement, just in time to see Seth rounding the corner.

Brilliant.

By the time that I could focus again, Lance and Medici's man were done arguing, and my guard motioned for me to continue down the road. I did so, having to use almost every single ounce of self-control that I had to not look behind me at Lance.

They had pulled it off. No one was the wiser that they'd gotten a message to me.

I made a mental note to thank them later.

We made another stop for coffee, and then went back to the hotel, where I retreated to my suite. Once inside, I knew that I had to be patient and couldn't just go rushing off to the bathroom. So, I sat down on the couch and made some heist plans while I finished off my coffee.

Finally, enough time had passed that I knew no one would be suspicious when I went to the bathroom. After I was safely locked away inside, I took the folded note out of my back pocket and smiled when I saw Steve's handwriting.

The Kingsley Museum is hosting a dinner for its benefactors this Saturday. Get an invite and take the box then. Roger will be waiting to help you with the security system in case Medici's men can't handle it. Also, we've made a forgery of the box. Your mother will give it to you once you're inside and you can deliver the forgery to Medici.

I love you and stay safe.

At the bottom, in handwriting that I was pretty sure belonged to Seth, it said: Congrats on the baby! Can't wait to meet him/her and babysit! (No diapers, though.)

After committing the note to memory, I ripped it up into the tiniest pieces that I could manage and flushed it down the toilet.

Then, I allowed myself to freak out.

MY MOTHER?!

Who in the world had called my mother? Or had she just found out? And why was she coming back after all this time? I mean, sure, she was the one that had stolen the box in the first place, but why would she come back just because I was in danger? She'd never cared before.

What was I even going to say to her once I saw her again? There was no way that things could go back to the way that they had been decades before. Surely, she knew that. So, what did she expect from me? And what, exactly, did I expect from her? She probably wasn't even the same woman that I remembered from my childhood.

"Oh, well," I whispered to myself after splashing some cold water on my face. "If Steve thinks that she can be trusted, then she can. I'll just have to deal with it."

Once calmed down, I went back out into the living area and kept working on my heist plan.

I had, of course, seen that the museum was having a dinner, but I hadn't wanted to go because I was trying to stall as long as I possibly could. But, if they were going to create a forgery for me to give to Medici, then I wasn't so worried. And, of course, that kind of event was the perfect opportunity for me to break in.

Now, all that I had to do was get Medici on board.

Steve

"Is this a secure line?" Seth asked me when he called a few hours after they'd left the house that morning.

"Of course, it's a secure line. Why would I have called you from this number a few days ago if this wasn't a secure line?"

"Don't take that tone with me," he said sarcastically and then grew serious. "So, the brush pass went well. She has the message."

Relief flooded through me and I gave the thumbs up to Kol, who was sitting on the bed watching me pace. He smiled back at me. "Great. How did she seem?"

"I thought you said she was pregnant?"

"She is." I frowned, suddenly worried. "Why? What's wrong?"

"She doesn't seem to have changed much," he said nonchalantly. "I mean, maybe a little fuller in the face, but I couldn't even tell that she'd gained any weight at all. Isn't she almost halfway there by now?"

"Almost." I sighed, aggravated at the situation. "She had some pretty bad morning sickness at the beginning that made her lose weight and I doubt that all of this stress is helping. Hopefully, it'll all be over soon, and she can gain the weight that she needs to."

"Yeah, hopefully." Seth sighed. "Well, our flight just got called, so we're on our way back. Don't hesitate to call again if you need us. And we'll let you know if we hear anything from our analyst about possible holding locations for Trent."

"I appreciate it. All of it. We wouldn't have been able to do it without you."

"You're making me blush, SEAL." He hung up.

I relayed the conversation to Kol, who looked just as worried about his sister as I was. "She'll get better, though. After you get her back home where she can relax."

"And that's all she's doing," I said firmly. "Kono is planning the baby shower, Allie has already resigned from Five-O, and I can't imagine any other stressors that could come up."

"I'll be there, too," Kol informed me. "Hopefully not to be in the way, but to help. I think Allie will go stir crazy if you just make her stay at home by herself all day. Maybe I can provide some comedic relief."

I smiled at the image. "I don't doubt that."

Suddenly serious, Kol leaned forward and clasped his hands between his knees. "Hey, listen… since Allie resigned… does that mean that you have a position open on the task force?"

Surprised, but pleased, I smiled. "You want to come back to law enforcement?"

He shrugged. "Possibly. I kind of miss working cases with the BAU. There, I just didn't like all of the red tape. But with you guys…" he laughed. "Well, there is no red tape. I think I'd like it."

"And we'd be lucky to have you. The job is yours, if you want it."

Serious again, he nodded. "I really appreciate it, man. And for what it's worth… my sister couldn't be getting a better man."

I cleared the lump from my throat. "Well, I don't think I could be getting a better brother-in-law."

The emotional moment ended when he very seriously informed me, "You couldn't."

I laughed and punched his arm. "Let's head down for lunch and let the others know that it was a success."

For the first time in a long time, everything seemed to be going our way.

And hopefully, it would all be over very soon.

Allie

"Come in," I said as I waved Medici into the suite. "Do you need anything to drink?"

"No, thank you." He took a seat at the small table, eyes shining with excitement. "You said that you had a plan for the heist?"

"I do, as a matter of fact." So, I sat down directly across from him and filled him in on what I had come up with and what I would need to make it happen.

When I had finished, he nodded. "This sounds like a very good plan. I'm pleased. Is that everything you'll be needing?"

"Yes." My family would supply the rest, but he didn't need to know that. "And I expect that we will hand off at the same time. Trent for the box – that was the deal."

Nicolas smiled – the first true smile I'd seen from him in quite some time – and stood. "Of course. You will have Trent at the same time that I am given the box. I'm extremely pleased with your progress. I knew that you would come up with something. I'll see to the arrangements immediately."

"Thank you." I stood as well and felt a rush of pleasure at the thought that this would all be over soon, and I would never have to see Medici again. "Just one more thing."

He raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"

"When all of this is over, and you have the box in your hands, you leave me and everyone that I care about alone. For good. No contact, no harm… nothing. I want your word."

He didn't seem at all surprised by my request. "Of course. You have my most sincere promise that once the box is in my hands, it will be as you've said."

"Excellent."

With a nod, he quit the room, his guard following closely behind him. And once I was alone, I exhaled a sigh of relief. Soon, it would all be over.

There was minimal prep work to do now – tedious stuff, really. Memorizing the camera patterns, choosing a dress to wear for the evening that would allow me full range of motion, double checking all possible hiding places and escape routes…. Still important things.

So, I got to work looking over the blueprints and setting contingency plans in place. Nothing was going to go wrong with this heist… I was determined. I was going to pull it off, trade boxes with my mother (who was a problem in and of herself, but one that I would deal with after everything was over), and trade it with Medici to get Trent back.

Then, I'd go back to Hawaii, marry Steve, have our baby, and live happily ever after.

Nothing was going to stop me.