Aiden walked out into the rain, across the driveway to the gate, watching as Ace stood with no umbrella, just letting the pouring rain pelt him in the face. "You have this place locked up like Fort Knox." Ace said, a wry smile on his face as Aiden dropped the concerned expression on his face and smiled.
"Safe house, kind of the point." Aiden replied, typing in the fourteen digit entry code that Parker had installed. "Parker was here." He said, opening the gate. Immediately Ace held out his hand to shake it Aiden's, who grasped the other man's hand in greeting. "Come on, let's get out of the rain." He said, nodding toward the house.
"Thanks." Ace said, though his voice seemed a bit nervous for some reason. He waited for Aiden to lock up the gate, and followed him toward the house.
"What brings you out here? Booth said you took a few days off." Aiden said, stepping under the overhang by the door, the two men paused for a moment.
"Uh, yeah." Ace nodded. "Just a lot going on and stuff. You know." Harding nodded. "I needed to take a couple of steps back." He sighed.
"So you came to the safe house, to get away from the investigation?" Aiden chuckled, noting that Ace seemed to get a little more nervous. Aiden smiled slightly. "Come on in." he said, opening the door, he ushered Ace inside. "You've been here before, right?"
"Uh, yeah. A few times." He nodded. "Bec and I used to vacation with Doc and Booth occasionally." He said, pulling his shoes off, he looked up to see Antonia standing about halfway down the hallway. "Hey, kid." A relieved smile appeared on his lips as soon as he saw her.
She stepped down the hallway slowly, and immediately he noticed her defeated gait, and the slumped shoulders. She wasn't the usual cocky kid he was used to, and it frightened him to see her so vulnerable. "Why are you here?" She asked, her arms folded over her chest as if it were what was keeping her warm, and not a defensive gesture. He could see that her hair had been wet recently, possibly standing in the rain, and her eyes were dull with exhaustion.
"I don't know." He sighed. "I just… I took a few days off, and I got in the car, and I ended up here." He said, watching her eyebrow lift slowly. "I don't know why I'm here."
"Bullshit." She mumbled, glancing to Aiden. "Aiden, can you check on Melody?" She whispered.
Aiden looked between Ace and Antonia, and nodded. "Uh, yeah." He said, walking down the hallway quickly, he glanced back at the two of them, and neither had made a move. He walked back toward the bedroom where Melody was.
"You came here to see me." She said, watching the older agent's eyes on hers. "Ace." She sighed. "Come on, talk to me."
"It's weird." He said, shaking his head. "I have worked with your mother for so many years. I've grown accustomed to the way she pushes, the way she snipes at me, the way she always focuses on logic and the truth. I've grown used to that, and it has never bothered me. The past four months though, I don't know what it is. You've been driving me crazy." He said, lifting his hand to his forehead for a moment, he swiped his thumb across it, grasping his temple with his fingertips. "I don't know if I should follow you, or if I should stand in front of you."
"Gun goes first, Ace." She said, stepping toward him.
"Yeah, yeah… but it's different with you, Ant. It's different, and it's not a good kind of different. I can't explain it. I don't even understand it."
"It's because I'm a kid." She said, tightening her arms across her chest. "I'll always be a kid to you, and that's fine."
"It's not fine." He said, his voice a little louder. "I think you understand, but it's not fine." He shook his head. "Toni, I don't think you should work with the FBI anymore." He blurted out, closing his eyes tightly. "I don't think you should go out into the field anymore." He said, tightening his jaw as he opened his eyes and looked at her straight in the eye. "Not because you're not good at it, but because it's too dangerous. It's just too dangerous. You're going to be a mother soon. Someone will be relying you, and…"
"And Aiden will be a father." She said abruptly. "Do you think he should quit his job as well? Do you think he should give up his career now, because it's too dangerous?"
"Well, no… but…"
"Then I think this conversation is pointless." She said, straightening her posture. She watched a cloud of frustration mask his features, his nose flared just slightly. "However." She sighed. "If the point you are trying to make, is that in my current condition, it might be necessary to slow down a little, then it might be something that can be discussed." She said, watching his expression change just slightly. "I remember, Ace." She said, watching the agent stand and watch her. "I don't want to go through what my mother had to go through with Gracie."
"Then why did you continue working so hard? Why do you put yourself into situations like this?" He asked, shaking his head. "Why didn't you tell anyone?"
"Aiden knew." She replied.
"Yeah, well, Aiden wasn't the only one dealing with you." He snapped. Immediately, he noticed the cold look in her eyes, the stiff and frozen posture. "Aiden's not the only person who is responsible for you out there." He snapped.
"Why did you come here?" She said, taking a step back, shaking her head. "Did you come here to yell at me, to lecture me? Did you come here to tell me off, or to tell me to back off? What do you want from me, Ace? What do you want me to do? Because all I've gotten from this conversation is that you want me to quit my job and become a housewife."
"Stop it." Ace said, stepping toward her. He immediately felt guilty when she took a defensive step backwards. He looked down the hallway and could see Aiden keeping watch. He closed his eyes, trying to find his words. "I'm sorry." He shook his head. "I shouldn't have come here. I'm going to go." He said, turning around, he reached for the doorknob, and immediately felt her hand on his shoulder.
"Turn around." She said, waiting a moment as he stared at his hand on the doorknob. "Ace." She whispered, her voice almost a whimper. She could feel the deep breath he took. "Ace, please turn around." She whispered.
Slowly he turned around, his eyes meeting hers and the mask was dropped. He stepped forward and placed his hands on Antonia's face, leaning down to press his forehead against hers gently. "You are the closest that I have ever come to having a daughter, Antonia. Even Gracie has never captured my heart like you have." He took a slow, deep breath as he tried to focus on his words. "The thought of something happening to you tears me apart from the inside. The thought of something happening to your child? It is making me absolutely crazy. I know that I have no right or claim to you, Antonia. I know that I cannot tell you what you can or cannot do. I'm nothing to you. I'm not your father. I'm not even your uncle. I'm just some lonely old guy who just happens to work with your mother, and be friends with your father. I am nothing, and I have to face that. I'm sorry."
"Bullshit." She said angrily through gritted teeth, those dark eyes focusing on his. "How dare you say that to me?" She shook her head angrily. "How dare you look me in the eye and tell me that you are nothing?" She said, pushing at his chest angrily.
"Toni."
"Don't you, 'Toni', me." She shook her head, taking a step back. "You were the one that brought my father back!"
"That's not exactly true."
"You were the one that was there, Ace. You were the connection. You were the missing piece of the puzzle. If you weren't there, then I would never have known my father as I do now. You were the catalyst, and you've never been less than that to me." She said shaking her head. "You were there, Ace. You were there every step of the way. Do you have any idea? You made my mother laugh again. You made her trust again. You were the reason that she stopped crying every night, Ace. It wasn't Dad. You were the one that told her to take him back! You were there on that plane to Boulder to find Parker! You stopped my mother's panic attack…. And… and, It was you that convinced Rebecca to come back! I remember that! You gave me my father, you gave me my mother, and you gave me my brother. How dare you say that you are nothing?" She exclaimed. "How dare you stand there and tell me that you are nothing?" She sobbed. "You brought back Deuce." She said through her tears, her legs feeling weak as she stood before him. "You took my best friend, broken and battered, and you put him back together, Ace. You took the time and the patience to piece him back together. You are the first person after my father that my mother looks for when something bad happens! Do you have any idea?" She screamed, punching him in the chest with her fist. "Do you think I'm stupid? Do you think that I don't see it?" She screamed, gripping him tightly. She was quickly faltering, her teeth gritting as she sobbed harder into him.
Ace looked up at Aiden desperately. His hands moving to Antonia's as she held onto his jacket, and Aiden started down the hallway toward them.
"You have no idea what you mean to me!" She exclaimed suddenly, slamming her fist into Ace's chest again. "You have no idea! How dare you tell me that you are nothing!" She screamed, as she pushed him into the door, sobbing into his chest as he held onto her tightly, her breathing was becoming labored as she sobbed.
"Aiden." Ace said desperately. "Aiden, where can we take her?" Ace said, supporting her in his arms now as she fought him.
"Here." He said, ushering the two of them down the hallway. He opened one of the bedroom doors and turned on the light.
"How dare you?" She sobbed. "How dare you say that to me?" She sobbed desperately.
Ace carefully helped her onto the bed, watching as she grasped for him as she cried, her exhaustion taking a toll on her as she gripped his shirt, pulling at him. He carefully lay beside her as she sobbed into him, feeling his arms wrap around her tightly. "It's okay." He whispered to her as he held her to him. "It's okay, I'm here." He whispered. "I've got you." He said, feeling his own tears begin to fall. "Oh, sweetheart. I'm so sorry." He whispered.
Aiden watched as Antonia fell apart in Ace's arms, and though he wanted to comfort her, he knew there was nothing he could do. He stepped out of the room and looked down the hallway and could see Melody watching everything curiously, her own lip trembling, her eyes wide. "Aw, no." He whispered as he approached her, and as he lifted her into his arms, she immediately started to cry against him.
He held tightly to the little girl in his arms, her soft sobs making her body tremble as he leaned against the wall and slid to the floor while he held her. He closed his eyes as he held her against him, rocking her gently as he listened to her cries mix with the anguished sobs of Antonia.