A/N: First of all, I just want to say a BIG thank you to all who have reviewed, both here and on twitter. I was shocked to see how much interest this story seemed to get. I've written several fanfics, but so far this one has easily got to be my personal favourite, so thank you all for your encouragement. Just want to take a minute to answer some questions raised by reviewers, then i'll let you get on to the fic :)
JMonte: I hope this chapter answers some of your questions. I can't give you answers to some of them yet, because I don't want to reveal too much too soon. But I promise, as the story progresses, you will get all the answers you're looking for :)
Setch: Thank you for your comments. I appreciate them. Sorry if some of it seems cliché to you, but I had to try and get that first jolt between them and I tried to do it in a not so subtle way. I hope you continue to read this story and that no more of it seems too cliché.
To all my other reviewers, both here and on Twitter, I value your thoughts and support tremendously. Enough from me. Let's get to what you've all been waiting for :)
"This is Isla Bonita. I'm requesting a rendezvous point." Santana spoke into her cell phone.
"Isla Bonita, your contact will be visiting the special lady in the city in twenty minutes. Do you understand?" the female voice on the other end of the line answered.
"Copy that, control. Have a nice day." Santana replied.
Twenty minutes later she was standing on Liberty Island, looking up at the Great Lady herself. Santana had always loved the Statue Of Liberty. She didn't know much behind the history of it apart from the basics. But she loved how she stood. Tall, strong, proud. Just like her country.
"Going up?" a male voice asked, from behind her.
"What do you think?" she asked, not looking behind her. She knew everything there was to know about her handler, and she trusted him as much as she trusted anybody.
"I think you should go up, take in the sights. There's a rather important sight you need to see. You'll know it when you see it." he said.
"Inside or outside?" Santana asked, scanning the crowd, taking in the faces around her.
"Inside."
"Got it." she answered, ready to move and go take the elevator ride to the observation deck of Lady Liberty.
"You made a mistake." he called after her, stopping her in her tracks.
"Excuse me?" Santana said, twirling round mid stride and looking the man in the face.
"You made a mistake. You should never have kept the kid." he answered.
"When I want your opinion, I'll ask for it Nighthawk." Santana spat. She was fuming. She couldn't believe this guy was trying to get into her personal business.
"Don't forget who you're talking to, Bonita." he answered, in a hushed tone.
"Don't you talk about my personal business and we'll be fine, sir." she replied.
He didn't say anything to that. He just gave a small nod of his head. Then in the blink of an eye, he was gone. Damn spooks.
Santana went and purchased her ticket, then took the elevator ride to the observation deck of The Statue of Liberty. She knew visits to the crowd had to be reserved beforehand. It wasn't as busy as she'd been expecting. She knew it was a popular tourist attraction and she knew regular New Yorkers came here sometimes so she'd expected it to be busy. She stepped off the elevator and scanned her surroundings, taking in the faces of all the people around her. It wasn't as busy as usual, but there were still a couple of dozen people up there. She suspected there were more up in the crown. She walked towards one of the windows and looked out. The view really was spectacular.
For a minute, Santana was unsure of what she was supposed to be looking for, but she knew it would be in here somewhere. She pulled a packet of gum from her pocket and threw one into her mouth. She balled up the wrapper and walked towards the bin at the back wall. She dropped the wrapper in and that's when she saw it. A key, it was taped against the brick wall, barely in view. Santana looked around to make sure no one was paying attention to her, before she leaned down and retrieved the key. She walked back over to the window because she felt it was less suspicious than hanging around the bin. When she was sure no one was watching her, she turned the key over in her hand and looked down at it. The number 35 was etched into the top part of the key.
Santana walked towards the lockers on the back wall, and scanned them all. When her eyes landed on number 35, she inadvertently squeezed the key tighter in her hand. She took a deep breath, and slipped the key into the lock. She tried to turn it, but it wouldn't move. Her first instinct was to panic, but her training kicked in. She pulled the key out, took another deep breath, then slipped the key back into the lock. She wiggled it a little, and turned the key and was rewarded with the soft pop of the lock opening. Santana sighed. She'd been doing this job for as long as she could remember but sometimes, she still got butterflies and worried about what was going on.
She opened the door of the locker and was puzzled that there seemed to be nothing in there. She thought about getting her phone out and calling for another consult with her handler to see what was going on, but then stopped herself. She took a breath, and reached her hand inside the locker, feeling around inside. She'd been expecting the same old CIA manilla folder, but that's not what she found. When she pulled her hand out from the locker, she found a small, leatherbound notebook in her hand. She wanted to know what this was and what was going on but she resisted the urge to open the book and start looking. Instead, she left the locker door open, ready for the next person to use. And made her way over to the elevator.
She held on to the book tightly as she rode down in the elevator. She wouldn't mind brining Anna here soon, let her see the beautiful views, maybe even invite that beautiful blonde with the sparkling blue eyes along. Santana shook her head, she didn't know why she was thinking of her daughters teacher right now. When the elevator came to a stop, Santana stepped out and was glad to be back on solid ground. She'd never had a problem with heights but she wasn't happy about the rendevous point. She felt like there weren't enough escape routes, had something gone wrong.
Santana got back to her car and locked the doors behind her. She flipped open the notebook to the first page. She didn't fully understand what it was she had in her hand. She flipped through a few more pages, skim reading as much as she could. When she got to the fifth page, she stopped. Realization hit her. She was starting to get an idea of what this was, and the more she read, the more she felt sick.
"This is Isla Bonita. I'm requesting to come in to HQ. I need an urgent meeting." Santana said into her phone.
"Isla Bonita you're breaking protocol." the female voice replied.
"I know, I know. But this is urgent." Santana replied.
"All HQ meetings are to be arranged with your handler. Would you like me to set up a meeting with your handler, Isla Bonita?"
"No, I just saw him. It's because of the information he gave me that I need the meeting. Please, I know it's against protocol. But I need to come in, and I need to do it now!" Santana pleaded.
"Do you remember where checkpoint coleman is?" the female voice asked.
"Yes."
"Rendevous at Checkpoint Coleman in fifteen minutes, and you will be picked up."
"OK, thank you Operator." Santana said.
"Not a problem Bonita." the female replied, before ending the call.
Santana put the notebook on the passenger seat next to her, and put on her seatbelt. She had a few more hours before she had to pick up Anna from school, and she had a lot to do in that time.
"OK guys, can you stop what you're doing. It's almost twelve and that means, lunchtime." Brittany said to the kids, walking around the room taking in what they were all doing.
They'd stuck with painting for less than an hour before they got bored. Then Brittany had sat them all down on the carpet in the reading corner and read them a book. When they asked for another, Brittany didn't hesitate to read a second. When that was done, the kids seemed restless, like they were going to fall asleep, so Brittany had decided to take them outside into their play area. She had been assigned a teaching assistant to help, and Brittany thought the girl was great. They'd both stood talking, and getting to know each other a little bit, whilst watching the kids. They'd played on the swings and the roundabout, then some of the girls decided to play skipping rope games whilst the boys played with a ball. A few of the kids seemed to be playing chase too. When they wore themselves out, Brittany had asked her assistant, Emily, to help her round the kids up and get them back inside. When they were back inside, she let them break off into their own little groups and explore all the different things they could do in the classroom. And that's what they were doing until Brittany had stopped them for lunch.
"Anything you've been using can you put it away. Once we're ready, we can go have lunch." Brittany said, as all the children started clearing up after themselves. She was amazed there wasn't any resistance. No child trying to see if the teacher would clean up after them.
When Brittany was satisfied the room was clean, she told them all to go sit at their desks and wait for their lunches to be handed out.
"How many children brought their own lunches?" Emily asked, as she followed Brittany into the small room, within the classroom.
"Seven brought their own. Kids can be picky so their parents give them what they know the kid will eat." Brittany answered, retrieving the labelled lunch bags from the cupboard they'd been stored in earlier.
"This is Kerry's, this is Peter's and that's Joel's. Can you take them out to them please?" Brittany asked, handing the three lunch packs to Emily.
She picked up the remaining four lunch packs, reading the labels to see who's was whose. She walked back into the classroom, the four lunch packs in hand, and watched as all the kids seemed to be interested in the first three lunch packs that had been brought out. It was like they were assessing each others lunch.
"Hayley, here's your lunch." Brittany said, handing off the bag with Hayley's name on.
"Kyle." Brittany said, handing the child his lunch.
"Lisa, here you go."
"And finally, Anna. Here's your lunch, sweetie." Brittany said, placing the lunch pack on the table in front of the child.
"Thank you." Anna replied, smiling up at Brittany.
"You're welcome" Brittany replied, as she made her way back into the lunch room. She hadn't figured Santana as the home lunch kinda mom.
"What about the others?" Emily asked, as Brittany re entered the lunch room.
"Their lunch will be delivered down in a second." Brittany answered, getting out cups to pour the childrens juice in.
"That doesn't seem fair." Emily said, watching as the first seven children started opening their lunch, as the other sat and waited.
"We try to give their lunches out together, but there's usually a couple of minutes delay. We can't give them all out at once anyway, so it makes sense to do it this way." Brittany explained, pouring juice into the cups.
Brittany and Emily went around the children who were still waiting for their lunch and placed a cup of juice in front of each of them. When they were done, there was a knock on the door.
"Come in." Brittany called.
"Lunch is here. Sorry for the delay." the lunch lady said, placing the trays on the counter tops in the lunch room.
"Not a problem, thank you Maggie." Brittany said, as the lunch lady left.
"Are they all the same?" Emily asked.
"Yeah, they all eat the same food. We just change what we give them each day." Brittany explained. "Let's go feed these kids." she added, as she picked up three plates and made her way over to the tables.
"Their food looks nicer than ours." Lisa whispered, as she looked down at hers and Anna's lunch. Then over at the other kids who were having a school lunch.
"I dunno. It depends what you like." Anna said, looking around all the kids eating. "I didn't even know my mom made me lunch. I thought I was having a school lunch today."
"Oh, well. At least your mom knows what you like." Lisa said, opening up her stringy cheese.
"Yeah, she does. She's the best." Anna said, opening the wrapper to get to her sandwich. "I just thought she said I should try the school dinner first to see if I liked it."
"It looks nice." Lisa commented, picking at her stringy cheese. She had a sandwich in her lunch but she'd decided to start with the cheese.
"It tastes nice too." Anna replied, after she'd finished her first bite of sandwich.
The two girls sat and ate in silence then for a few minutes, enjoying their respective lunches.
"I need another juice." Lisa said then, shaking her now empty carton. "Miss Pierce, may I have more juice please?" Lisa asked, as she held her empty juice carton in the air.
"Sure Lisa, give me a second." Brittany said, as she went back into the lunch room to retrieve the pitcher of juice. She came back less than a minute later and poured Lisa a drink.
"Anyone else want more juice?" Brittany asked then, and a few hands shot up.
"Isn't she pretty?" Anna asked, watching Brittany as she walked from child to child, filling up their cups.
"Miss Pierce? Yeah, she's pretty." Lisa agreed, sipping on her juice.
Anna finished her sandwich and balled the wrapper up, she decided to eat her yohurt then. She picked up her little plastic spoon and dipped it into her yoghurt.
"Miss Pierce." Lisa said, throwing her hand in the air again.
"Yes, Lisa?" Brittany asked, making her way over to the child.
"Miss Pierce, can you take me to the bathroom?" Lisa asked.
Brittany looked around the room and spotted Emily sitting in the corner, keeping her eye on the children from a distance.
"Emily, can you watch them on your own for a few minutes while I take Lisa to the bathroom?" Brittany asked.
"Sure, Miss Pierce." Emily replied, standing up and making her way over to the children.
"Thanks, I'll be right back." Brittany replied, as she held out her hand for Lisa to take.
Anna was just finishing her yoghurt, when she felt herself flush. She felt really hot all of a sudden. She reached for her juice took mouthfuls of it, hoping it would cool her down. Instead, she felt her head go fuzzy. She felt sick. Something was wrong.
"Emily." Anna said, raising her hand.
"What's up kiddo?" Emily asked, picking her eyes up from where she'd been reading a text message on her phone.
"Oh, crap!" she said, when she saw Anna's face. "Anna come here!" she said, mvoving toward the child.
When Anna tried to stand, she fell to the floor. Within seconds, she started to convulse. Emily was out of her depth. The other kids seemed to notice something was going on and all began to panic and shout when they saw Anna shaking on the floor.
Emily placed Anna in the recovery position and tried to remember her first aid training. Her mind was blanking. She cursed herself.
Just then Brittany re entered the room with Lisa at her side. The child's eye went wide at seeing her new friend sprawled out on the floor, shaking. Immediate panic took over the room.
Almost instantaneously, Brittany ushered all the kids into the reading corner, trying to keep them away from what was going on. Lisa seemed more than reluctant to stay there. She wanted to go and see what was happening with her friend. She was scared.
Brittany rushed from the children over to where Emily sat, holding Anna in the recovery position.
"What happened?!" Brittany screamed. She didn't know why she was screaming.
"She just dropped. One minute she was eating her lunch. The next she just dropped. Look at her face!" Emily shouted.
"Did you call 911?" Brittany asked.
"No, I dropped my cell phone over there." Emily answered, pointing to where she'd been sitting.
Brittany jumped up, and went to retrieve the phone. As soon as she picked it up, she found her fingers automatically dialling the emergency services.
She told them what little she knew about what had happened and what the child was doing now. The voice on the phone told her the paramedics would be there within minutes.
The next thing Brittany did shocked herself. She went to her desk and found the folder with all the parents numbers in. She found herself dialling Santana's cell phone, before she'd even informed the school of what was happening.
A/N 2: If there are any mistakes regarding the Statue of Liberty and the set up, I apologise. I've never been. Also, I understand that lunch time may also not work that way in schools in the States. Please let me know what you thought. Thanks :)