Mike checked the entire area before allowing April and Conner to join him down the stairs. April spent that whole time looking at him. After all of this, she couldn't just leave him. "Come on." Mike encouraged, April taking Conner's hand and leading him down.
"Mike," April started, Mike's eyes still focused on getting them to the vent. "We have to be smart about this."
"That's why I'm getting you both the hell out of here." He had an edge to his voice, one April didn't like at all. When they got to the vent, Mike stopped, putting his hand on the vent before pushing his forehead to it as April just continued to stare at him. He turned to look at her with apologetic eyes. "I'm sorry. I've had a day."
"You've had a day?!" She spoke in a hushed whisper. "I was getting ready to go on a date when my house got shot at and attacked!"
Mike's eyes grew wide, leaning in closer to her. "Was it a date?"
"Guys!" Conner spoke, irritated with their arguing. "We can do this later when we get out of here."
Mike turned back to the vent, working on getting the screws undone. "Jacobs, I got Showers and Sparkplug, they're coming out of the ventilation shaft in the northwest corner."
"Sparkplug is." April corrected. "I'm staying."
"No the hell you're not." Mike spoke, deciding not to be distracted by April.
"How are you two gonna fit through that?" Conner interrupted before April could say more. Honestly, Conner was tuning out their arguing, just watching to make sure no one else was coming after them. "You're coming with me, right?"
April put a hand on her hip as she turned to look at Mike who ignored her and simply looked to Conner. "I gotta go get your dad. And April," he turned to look at her as he crouched down to talk to Conner. "I'm gonna get April out another way." April scoffed with an eye roll as Mike turned to look back to Conner. "You can do this, remember the chimney climb I taught you on the Rose Garden wall?" Conner nodded but April was still worried about him. She knew he could do this, but she didn't think she would ever be able to shake off how scared she was for him.
"Hey," April spoke, moving up to him, pulling his head up so he could look her in the eye. "Promise me you're gonna be careful." He just nodded at her, April hating that she was going to have to leave him. "I love you." He nodded before giving her a tight hug and when they pulled apart, April looked up the vent he was going to have to climb up, wishing there was time to make sure it was completely safe.
"Mike," Conner whispered, catching April's attention at the sound of his shaking voice. "I'm scared."
April looked to Mike, taking a deep breath, knowing the two adults were freaking out too. They couldn't even imagine what it was like for Conner right now. "Me too." He assured him while rubbing his arms. "But you're gonna get through it." He slowly handed over his Secret Service badge to him, giving him a wide smile. "You're one of us now." Conner took it from with a smile before putting it on his belt. "I'm counting on you, kiddo."
Mike picked Conner up by the legs, helping him getting into the vent as April hurried to the stairs, making sure no one else was coming after them. There was suddenly sounds coming from upstairs, April looking to Mike with a panicked face. "Hold up, Conner." Mike advised before hurrying to April, pulling her behind one of the walls to hide and surprise them.
He pushed April up to the wall, him standing behind her just waiting until April felt a little something she hadn't felt in a while. "Um," April whispered. "You might want to check and make sure everything is all right downstairs."
Mike let out a sigh while shaking his head. "Yeah, well, I can't control that."
April turned to him, slightly confused. "Really? Me in this position turns you on."
"Babe," Mike spoke in a scoff. "You in any position turns me on."
April bit her lip as she looked down with a shy smile. "We're all still here, Mike." Lynne spoke, April being able to hear that too. "All of us in the Pentagon listening."
"Well then I guess everyone in there who had questions about our relationship knows now." Lynne rolled her eyes as Monroe nodded in a kind of I-told-you-so way.
They began to hear someone come down the stairs, April putting a hand on her mouth to quiet her breath, praying that he wouldn't be able to find Conner. The guy moved up to the vent, Mike grabbing him by the back of the neck and holding him in a choke hold. April came out from behind the wall, all she could do was watch. Mike sat him down as he gasped for breath, holding him there in pain for a long moment before he snapped his neck.
He got completely still, making April let out a few panicked breaths before he threw him to the side. Mike moved past her to get to Conner, telling him it was just a false alarm and he could keep going, but April just kept looking at the man Mike had killed.
Mike turned her around quickly, making her jump as her breath was quick. "Are you okay?"
April stuttered for words, looking back to the dead man on the floor. "You killed him."
"To protect you and your brother."
"No." April spoke as she turned back to him, Mike's eyebrows furrowing at what she was getting at. "I know." April was still struggling for words, not sure how to say this next part. How the hell would Mike think of her after she said this? "Teach me."
Mike's eyes got slightly wide before he thought about it. He could use someone on his side in here. April was a great shot and she was a great fighter. She also knew the place just as well as he did. Maybe she was right. Maybe April did have to stay here with him. April sighed, looking to him with pleading eyes. "We have to smart about this." She repeated, now knowing what she was getting at. She wanted to stay with him. She wanted to fight with him and there was no way she was getting out the same way Conner was. It would eat up too much of their time trying to find another way for her to get out.
Mike sighed, knowing this wasn't the best idea, but it also wasn't the worst. He moved closer to her. "You stay behind me at all times, okay?" She nodded eagerly as he took off his bullet proof vest and began to strap her in it. "And you keep this on at all times." He looked her right in the eye to let her know he was serious. "You do what I say when I say it." He grabbed her face in his hands, making sure she was truly looking right in his eyes. "April, I'm serious, if anything happens to you out here while I'm – " April cut him off by leaning in and kissing him, making sure to place her hands on his face as his hands traveled to the back of her neck.
When April kissed him, she wanted to assure him in some way that she was going to be okay and that she had learned to look after herself. She hoped he got her message when they pulled away. She stroked his face once, looking into those pretty blue eyes before whispering. "Everything's gonna be okay."
"Sparkplug received." Lynne spoke into the phone leaving a huge smile on both Mike and April's faces as they leaned in for another hug, celebrating their small victory. April was just happy he actually agreed for her to go with him!
All the nurses and doctors took this much needed lull time to watch the press conference Speaker Trumbull was giving. Megan pushed her way through the crowd to be able to see the TV, hoping on some news on April since her phone wasn't working. "I want to reassure all Americans and everyone around the world that despite today's events, our government remains one hundred percent functional. We know that the President is alive."
Megan began to chew on her thumbnail, waiting for more news on the family that didn't come. "Yeah, but what about April?" She whispered to herself. A few of the nearby nurses, medical assistants and doctors heard her, immediately turning around to her with fearful looks. That's when she knew that everyone around her was worried about what was going on with their coworker. They just didn't want to say it because that would make it all the more real.
"To our friends, we are grateful for your loyalty and support. As a nation, we are never stronger than when tested. We will remain united and strong. God bless you all," Megan looked around to all of her coworkers, knowing they were all as scared as she was, but they had to keep going. They had to continue with their job. That's the only way they were going to help their country and that was the only way they were going to keep their minds off of what was really going on out there. "And God bless these United States of America."
April and Mike inched out from where they saw two men walking, Mike starting it off, punching one in the face and kicking the other back. April went to the one Mike had kicked, pistol whipping him, causing him to fall down immediately. Mike turned to look at her once he had finished knocking his guy out. He looked over April's work giving her a proud smile. "Nice work on the blow to the head. Right where I taught you to hit."
She looked up at him, giving Mike a proud, cheesy smile before leaning down and dragging her guy off into the Oval Office as Mike followed her. Mike tied each of them down, making sure to put a cloth over their mouths as he and April sat in front of them, April making sure to look like the toughest person she could.
"Hey, asshole." Mike spoke once they had woken up. "Who's running the show?" Mike was playing with a knife in front of them, making sure to look intimidating, April picking up that he was slightly teaching her what to do. "Do you speak English? Do they teach you that where you come from?" They just continued to sit there, looking uninterested in what he was saying. "Because you know what they teach me, is how to extract information from people like you?"
The one closest to Mike began to laugh, making the other one start to laugh as well. Both Mike and April looked bath and forth at them, Mike starting to laugh with them. "That's funny, huh?" He continued to laugh as he looked back and forth at the two. "Yeah I know it's funny. I get it."
Suddenly, without any warning, Mike stood up, jamming his knife into the brain of the guy in front of him. April gasped just a little bit before looking away. She knew this was something they had to do. These men were trying to kill them for god's sake. And she knew Mike had to do a lot of things in the military. A lot of killing. But she had never seen him like this. And she didn't know how to react to it.
Mike sat back down, rubbing the blood off of his knife on the pants of the other guy, April finding the whole thing sickening. April just kept her mind wondering on if someone was doing this to her. She couldn't think of them as humans though. That was the first rule Mike had given her. She was going to try a lot harder at it now.
"Yeah," Mike spoke, looking the only guy left in the eye. "I guess I'm a little rusty."
"Yeah," April spoke, looking over the dead guy, reminding herself on what Mike had told her. "I like your friend though." She looked back to the guy, giving him a chuckle. "He seemed like a real funny guy." Mike looked to her, impressed she was catching on so quick.
The guy began yelling at her, his voice muffled, but April could already guess he was calling her a bitch. "What's your leader's name?" Mike asked, looking back to the man. Mike then began to laugh, realizing something. "Oh, I'm sorry, here." Mike pulled down the cloth over his mouth so they could actually comprehend what he was saying. "How many men you with?"
He immediately began talking in his native tongue, April putting a hand over his mouth so he wouldn't scream as she gabbed the knife she held onto in his leg. Mike jumped a little as he screamed, not expecting that from her at all. He was now starting to get worried about April. He was glad that she was catching onto all of this so quick, but at the same time, he didn't want her to be so harsh and forget everything about herself. "In English." She snarled before tearing her knife out of his leg. Mike gulped, knowing that maybe they should try couple's therapy after this. Because they were both gonna need it.
12:23am
The two got all the information they could on Kang and relayed it back to the Pentagon, Mike now finding a new bulletproof vest from one of the guys they had killed. Now, Mike and April were walking around the house doing some recon. That was until someone came into Mike's earpiece. "Agent Banning." They both stopped dead in their tracks, April giving him a panicked look before hurrying to his ear so she could hear better. "Yes, I know who you are." She looked to him, a mix of fear and anger. This had to be the guy who had taken her dad. "Welcome to my house."
April felt her hands close into a tight fist. She wanted to get her hands on him in that minute. Knock that smirk right off of his face that she knew he just had to have on. Mike took out his mouth piece, putting it up to talk back. "Hey, asshole, what took you so long?"
"You're the one that let the First Lady die, no?" April grew rigid at the mention of her mother. Now she really wanted to kill this guy. "And soon the President."
Mike's hand immediately connected to April's. If asked about it, he would say it was to calm her down, but in all reality, he needed it just as much as she did. "Failure seems to be a habit with you."
"Yeah, well," he spoke as he leaned against one of the walls. "Maybe I owe you for giving me the chance for making up for that today."
"I admire you for acknowledging your failure." April was fighting her everything to yell out at Kang and letting him know that he would never be half the man Mike was, but she couldn't. He couldn't know she was there with him so she had to remain as silent as possible. "But there's no going back. Nothing you try and do here tonight can atone."
"Yeah, maybe not." He spoke with a shrug. April could tell there was some part of his words that were getting to him deep down. "But I reckon fucking your shit up will be a pretty good start. You may want to take a headcount. The bodies are piling up."
"I have more than enough men to finish the mission." He spoke with the shake of the head.
"Oh," Mike spoke, almost like he forgot to mention it. "If you're looking for April and Conner, they're on their way to the baseball game." Mike made sure to go over his words in his head a few times before saying it out loud, making sure to say "they" instead of "he".
"How is April, Michael?" April looked to Mike with furrowed brows. "You two did fall in love when you were working in the White House, right?" Mike turned to look at her, shaking his head the longer he talked. "What was that like? Feeling her skin and touching her all over while her father worked just a floor away." Mike let his head fall back onto the wall he was leaning on, taking deep breaths. "And she's going to school to be a nurse, huh? She saves lives…too bad she won't be there to save yours."
"You know what," Mike spoke, being able to put up with all of the crap he threw about him, but having him talk about April was driving him crazy. "How about we play a game of 'fuck off'. You go first."
Mike ended the transmission, standing up, not giving April the appropriate time to follow him. "I'm gonna kill him."
April sighed, rolling her eyes at him slightly before following after him. Little did they know, someone they would see as a friend was on their way to kill them. Someone they didn't expect at all. Dave Forbes.
1:04am
Mike and April walked through the halls in silence, not sure what to really say to each other. It was like this whole thing had stunned them silent. April then thought of something she had been wanting to ask Mike. Something she had kept quiet about for so long she almost forgot she wanted to ask Mike about it. Right now and right here, they could die any moment and she didn't want to die without knowing the answer to this.
"Mike," she spoke, breaking their long bout of silence. "Can I ask you a question?"
"Yeah." He wasn't really looking at her, though. He was looking straight ahead, trying to assess any threat that could come for them. Right now, though, it was quiet.
April looked down, knowing this was going to be awkward. "Why did you break things off when my mom died?" Mike actually stopped walking, looking straight, trying to figure out how he was going to answer this. "You never really gave me an answer." He turned to look at her, seeing how serious she was. "I think I deserve an answer."
Mike shook his head, not sure how to answer her at all before turning away. "That's a really complicated question, April."
April sighed, trying to keep her anger at bay, but this was just too sensitive for her to not get angry with him. "No." She spoke with the roll of an eye. "It's really not."
She began to walk off, Mike hurrying after her, grabbing her by the arm and turning her around. "Hey, what did I tell you about staying behind me?"
April ripped her arm out of his grasp before shoving him slightly. "You're not my boyfriend! You can't control me!"
"Keep your voice down." He hissed in a whisper before looking around to see if anyone had found them.
"No." She spoke defiantly. "I don't care who hears me because I need to get this off of my chest!" Mike looked around, panicked, but no one seemed to notice them so he turned back to her, letting her do what she had to do. "I talked to a therapist after my mom died and we talked a lot about you, and do you know what we decided?" His brows furrowed, waiting for what she had to say. "That you were scared after what happened and you felt guilty." She had to pause, finding herself getting emotional. "That you would come around. That you would change if you really wanted to be with me." She shook her head at him. "But you know what I just figured out? You won't ever change and I was stupid to think you would. That you would actually do something for me and not yourself."
She turned around quickly, trying to hurry off as Mike just continued to stand there. He was getting angry. He hurried to her, turning her around again. "That is not what happened."
"I swear to God, Mike, if you grab me like that one more time…"
"I wouldn't change for you?"
"You won't!"
"I changed everything for you!" April simply scoffed. Mike knew she deserved the whole story, but he didn't just want to throw Ben under the bus like that. "You want to know what happened? You want to know why I broke things off?" She shrugged like it was obvious. He hated to tell her the truth, but this had just gone on long enough. Mike looked down, hating that he was the one who had to tell her this. "Your dad asked me to, April."
April was stunned. She had to blink a few times, make sure she heard him right, but she knew she did. Her mouth opened, letting the silence linger before she finally asked, "Why?"
"He knew I was too dangerous for you." Mike looked away from her, not wanting to look her in eye. "And he was right."
She moved toward him, closing the space between the two before cupping his face in her hands. "Mike." She whispered. He finally looked up at her, looking so insanely broken in that moment. "If you don't know anything else, know this, dangerous things don't happen because of you."
"But they happen around me." He told her with a nod.
"Mike," April almost laughed out. "I'm the president's daughter. I'm pretty sure they happen around me." She brushed his hair with her hands, making their eyes match again. "I don't care what happens or what my dad thinks because without you, I'm lost." Mike looked all over her face, actually wishing they were able to have this talk earlier. They could have saved so much time. "I love you. I will always love you. You're the one person I've loved through everything, and no amount of chaos could keep me from you. I want you. Not just bits and pieces. All of you."
Mike looked to her, remembering why he fell in love with her. That compassion was never ending. Here he was thinking about all the ways it could have gone wrong, but April would never let that happen. She loved him and he was stupid to think that would ever change. "I love you." He whispered seriously, making sure to look right into those deep blue eyes as he said it. He had never loved her more.
"I love you." She whispered right back before getting on her toes to give him a kiss. No matter what happened tonight, what they saw, it was all a little less scary because they knew at the end of this, they would have each other. That's when they heard someone else walking through the halls.
Mrs. HappyAnarchy: Yes, go April! She continues to get slightly more bad ass.
CoolCat0720: Here you go, love!
Igor Blonsky: Mike's gonna ask him about the picture later on so we'll find out soon.
Kagome309: Your review seriously made my day! Thanks, love!
I have 88 reviews so let's get this story to a hundred in the next few chapters! That would be super awesome if we can make that happen! I hope you all liked this chapter and April being a little bad ass. She's gonna get a little darker in the next few chapters because I wanted to play around with that survival instinct and what all someone like April would do to survive in this situation. Also, the part where April finds out why Mike broke things off was inspired by All of Your Glory by Broods which the chapter is also named after. So, give it a listen, it's a great song and very Mike/April. Thanks for the read, you guys! Remember to review!