Tess was trapped. It was dark. She could feel the scratchy and rough feeling of rope binding her ankles and wrists. She tried to scream as she felt a knife slide across her throat, but her vocal cords were already sliced. She felt the warm, sticky sensation of her own blood ooze down her chest as everything suddenly ended.

Tess shot up instantly. It was dark and she didn't immediately recognize where she was. The cold night air on her bare breasts brought her back to reality.

"Tess?! What's the matter?!" Felonious asked sitting up, instantly awake.

She dissolved into tears as everything flooded back to her. It was New Years and Felonious had told her he loved her for the first time. They had made love and she was with him. Her nightmare was a flashback of what Andrew Hill could have done to her and her family. It was so long ago in reality, but to her, it was just yesterday. It will always be just yesterday.

Felonious pulled her into his arms and she cried into his bare chest, clinging to him for dear life. He knew a nightmare when he saw one, but he was willing to bet it wasn't the bogeyman harassing his love. No, it was an entirely human experience that caused this. If he ever ran into Andrew Hill, the man would meet a very gruesome end for what he had done to Tess.

"Was it him?" He asked drawing her face up to look into her eyes with his fingers under her chin, his other arm still wrapped around her.

She nodded, trembling, tears ever present in her eyes.

"I feel so silly Felonious, I'm sorry. I don't know why it bothers me still. He's in prison and I can protect myself if he ever gets out." She shook her head and wiped her eyes with her fingers.

Felonious gently tucked a blonde lock of her hair behind her ear and swept away her bangs from her eyes. "I will never let anything happen to you, Tess."

She suddenly became very aware of how naked they both were but didn't try to cover up. Instead, it emboldened her. She moved to straddle his hips, saying, "Why don't you help me forget about this nightmare?" She whispered seductively in his ear.

It was safe to say that sleep was the last thing on their minds.

A few more months passed by quietly. No attacks, no FBI intruding on their bliss and no problems. They had their first real fight the following spring. They screamed at each other (away from the girls' sight and hearing) and Tess left in anger. Looking back, it while it was loud and angry, it was the most civil fight she had ever had with a lover. It was fair, no name calling and neither party had brought up the prospect of a break up. The relationship was permanent to them, there was no chance of leaving, but the roses at her desk the next morning was a nice touch.

That summer, Felonious asked Tess to move in. She already practically lived there, so the transition was expected to be easy. A few minions were brought along to help load and unload her things. Every one of the minions was in disguises, but one in particular caught Tess' attention.

Tess saw the minion was dressed…funny. Grabbing Felonious by the sleeve of his jacket, she asked in hushed tones, "Why is that minion in a wig and dress?"

Felonious sighed and shook his head, "I can't tell you. I have no clue. He's dressed like that since I brought the girls home!"

Tess giggled, "Well if it makes him happy…"

After a long, hot day of loading and loading boxes, it was nice to crawl into a warm bed with the man she loved and fall asleep and wake up in his arms.

They made love for the countless time that night; leaving Felonious thankful that he had the foresight years ago to put the girls in a room that was separated from his own by an entire floor and opposite end of the house.

Margo soon started to have problems. Edith and Agnes easily took to Tess as their mother figure, even calling her mom. Tess fell easily into the role of being a mother. All her time caring for Percy must have helped. However, Margo would be icy towards Tess and wouldn't listen if Tess asked her to do something. It exploded when Felonious wanted to have Tess listed as all three of girl's emergency contact at school along with himself. Margo threw a fit at the school during enrollment.

"She's not my mom!" Margo yelled, storming off. All the administration, parents and other students stared at Felonious and Tess. She was thankful Marlena took the younger girls for the day. She didn't want this to rub off on them.

Tess heard Felonious swear in Russian, as his ears turned red. He was angry with his eldest and embarrassed by her public tantrum. "She probably wouldn't like it, but can you check on her? I'm needed here."

Tess nodded and followed the path Margo forged. She found the girl in the playground on the swing set, moping. Tess saw a teacher was watching the other kids play and decided it was best to give Margo her space.

"She's fine. She's on the playground and a teacher is watching. Just let her calm down." Tess said, rubbing his forearm.

"I'm sorry, Tess. I don't know why she's doing this. It's not like her." Felonious said in exasperation.

"No, it's ok. It's normal. She's testing me."

"How do you know?" He asked, curiously with an upraised eyebrow.

"I minored in psychology. She's trying to push me away intentionally because she probably feels she'd rather do it to herself than have me forced from her when she's attached. I bet she gave you a hard time before she accepted you as her father, too."

Felonious grinned and remembered all the trouble she caused him those first few weeks, all the backtalk and catty remarks. It took him saving the lives of her and her sisters to accept him as her father.

"And it stopped once you saved her life, didn't it?"

"So, you have to save her life now?"

"No, I just need to stay present in her life. Eventually she'll realize, no matter how horrible she acts, I'm not going anywhere. And I'm not. I practically raised Percy during his terrible two's, I can handle whatever she'll throw at us now and later."

"Isn't she too old for temper tantrums, though?" Felonious asked.

Tess laughed at his naïve question, "Oh Felonious, she'll eat you alive when she goes through puberty."

After a few minutes, Tess went outside. "Can I sit down?" She asked Margo. The girl just shrugged and turned over the dirt with the toe of her shoe, her hands on the swing's chains.

Tess sat down on the swing next to her. Most of the playground had cleared out. 'Good,' Tess thought. It would give them some privacy.

"Do you want to talk about it? Just let it all out, don't worry about hurting my feelings. It's all about you right now."

"My real parents died in a car crash. Sometimes, I wonder if they're really dead." Margo said quietly, looking down, fumbling with her hands.

Tess' heart broke in that instant. How much sadness and hurt was this girl really carrying?

Margo looked up and met Tess' eyes, "I feel like if I called you mom, it really makes them dead. I really wonder if they are. I mean, I lived and I was only a little girl. Couldn't an adult live, too?"

"Margo, I never told you this, but I was the one who lead that case to find to find your parents. I personally saw the wreckage. You were lucky to survive yourself. Barely hurt, nonetheless. Margo, your parents would want you to be happy and to move on. It makes them sad to see you stuck like this. If moving on means that you don't call me mom, it's ok. I understand. Do what makes you happy. I'm sure your dad has had this conversation with you before, and we'll probably have it with Edith and Agnes, but we're not trying to replace your birth parents."

Margo was silent for a moment. "Doesn't the FBI just work with bigger cases? Why didn't you tell me before?"

"I had to work my way up to there. I didn't tell you because I didn't want to bring up any bad memories for you."

"I think I'd like to you to be my mom too." Margo said, a small smile gracing her face. "I have four parents, really. Two who created me and two who chose me."

Tess smiled, "That's a good way to see it."

Eventually all the girls started calling her mom.

More time passed and things were peaceful. Every few weekends Percy would stay the night and Tess had a sneaking suspicion Felonious was grooming Percy to be his heir to his criminal legacy. Tess laughed at the idea. Percy was too softhearted for that. Deep down, so was Felonious; very deep down. Tess started bringing both Felonious and the girls to her family's Sunday dinner. Her mother was ecstatic to have granddaughters to spoil. Her father was just happy that Edith knew how to play football and he finally had someone else to teach it to after Colin! He tried with Percy, but that didn't go too well.

The girls started school that fall and they fell into a nice schedule. Felonious would wake up a few minutes before Tess to take a shower (living with four women, hot water was a commodity) and get dressed. He'd wake her up with a kiss and go downstairs to start breakfast as she got ready for the day. After that, Tess would wake the girls up. She and Margo really bonded every morning when she helped Margo pick out what she would wear for the day.

After breakfast, Tess would whisk the girls off to school (not without a goodbye kiss from Felonious). With the house finally quiet, he'd go down to the lab until it was time to pick the girls up from school. Tess made it home from promptly at 5:45 every night. They'd have dinner and enjoy having each other. On Mondays and Fridays, the girls had dance class and that changed the schedule a bit. Tess and Felonious couldn't believe how lucky they were to have such a happy life and someone they loved so deeply.

Felonious knew it was time to make it official. He knew it months ago. So, after school one day, he took the girls ring shopping, he needed their opinions on what Tess would like for an engagement ring. They decided on a princess cut diamond with smaller diamonds inlaid in two other conjoining bands. She'd only get those two if she said yes! They would make up her wedding ring along with her engagement ring in the middle.

He decided he'd ask her on Christmas. When that morning finally came, he felt like he was going to jump out of his own skin in anticipation. Finally, it was time.

"The girls and I wanted to give you this," Felonious said, handing her a sloppily wrapped present, shaped like a square. Either Edith or Agnes could have wrapped it. Tess smiled and opened the gift. It was a popular book from a popular series that just about everyone had read. The looks on Felonious' and the girl's faces told her to examine it further.

She opened the cover and turned a few pages. On the first page of the story, the middle part of the pages were cut out in the shape of a long ways rectangle, revealing a chapter named, The Unbreakable Vow. On that page, hanging by a white ribbon was a ring.

Tess' heart began to race and only one answer, one word, came to her mind.

Felonious was on one knee before her, Margo had her fingers crossed while Agnes had her own index and middle fingers crossed, as well as her ring and pinky fingers, her arms and legs, probably her toes if Tess could see through her shoes. Edith was too preoccupied trying to set up her new gaming console to care too much about what Tess had to say.

"It was the girl's idea," Felonious said, "how to ask you, I mean," He clarified, "You probably wouldn't like the way I would have asked." Felonious said as he slipped the ring on Tess' finger. "Will you marry me?"

Tess felt tears of joy slipping from her eyes. She looked around the room and saw the people and beings that now fell into one category; her family. She saw her beautiful daughters, the silly little minions and ever protective Kyle. On the floor, awaiting her answer as though his life depended on it was her husband. She couldn't have said no.

"Yes, Felonious! Yes!" She answered, cupping his face in her hands and drawing him to a kiss.

Had her world hadn't been silenced by the kiss; she would have heard her daughters cheer and one of the minions started to bawl.

"Oh, but Margo was reading this book," Tess said, worriedly, looking at the now unreadable book.

"No need to worry. We bought this book especially." Felonious answered, clasping both her hands in his own.

That was last good night they would have. After the girls had gone to bed that night, Felonious and Tess had just gotten upstairs when something all too familiar happened. The sounds of explosions filled the air. The house rattled, knocking the couple off their feet and to the hard floor.

Felonious clambered to his feet and ran to the window. Tess could already see flames from where she had fallen.

"There are bombs hitting the house. You are going to have to evacuate with the girls to the safe house." Felonious said, hurriedly, picking Tess up and putting his hands on her shoulders, looking into her eyes.

The house was shaking, and drywall was falling all around them as the lights flickered. All his protective measures from last time failed to work this time.

"What?! What about you!?" She exclaimed.

"I need to stay here, but I'll be there as soon as I can."

Tess was about to cry, but she stayed strong. She knew that this could very well be the last time she ever saw him. She grabbed him and kissed him.

"I love you Felonious. Promise me you will be safe."

He had her cheek cupped in his hand and other on her shoulder, as he looked into her eyes and promised, but both knew he truly couldn't promise his safety. "I promise Tess and I love you too. Go get the girls and get down to the lab. I'll meet you there."

She nodded and hurried down the hall. The girls were awake and grabbing their precious items. Everyone already had a bag packed with clothes and other necessities in case they needed to leave quickly. Tess had her bag and purse slung over her shoulder.

"Come on girls! We're evacuating to the safe house!"

The girls ran out of their crumbling room with Kyle and hurried down the hall and the barely standing staircase, to the lab.

The lab wasn't fairing any better than the house. There was no power and one wall had caved in, which led Tess to believe that whoever was attacking them had ground penetrating bombs.

Tess pulled a flashlight out of her bag and called for Felonious. He came running up in the darkness and ushered them to the hangar where his airship was held. Hurriedly, they strapped in the girls as four minions charged with their safety readied the ship for launch.

"I love you, daughters. I will be safe and we will be together again shortly. I promise." Felonious said, kissing each one on the forehead.

He grabbed Tess and kissed her soundly. "I love you. Keep them safe." Without another word, he jumped out of the ship and slid the door shut behind him, his eyes locked on Tess as he did so. The sound of him closing the door would ring in Tess' mind for years afterwards.

It was eerily quiet on the flight to Russia. No one spoke. No one moved. Not even the minions made any noises; no childlike fighting or laughter. They just made sure the ship was going where it needed to go. The silence was in stark contrast to the sounds of the attack; the girls crying, minions and Dr. Nefario yelling back and forth, the sounds of the explosions and the house and lab breaking around them.

Tess checked her cell phone every five seconds to see if there was any word from Felonious. There was nothing. Not long after they left for the safe house her mother called her.

"Tess! Are you alright?!" She exclaimed worriedly into the phone.

The girls looked expectantly at Tess, hoping it was their father on the other line. She solemnly shook her head and their expressions of hope vanished.

"Yeah mom, I'm ok."

"What about Felonious and the girls?"

"Felonious had to stay behind. The girls are ok, they're with me. We're en route to one of his safe houses. I'm sorry, but I can't tell you where. My phone could be tapped. Wait, how do you know what's going on?"

"It's all over the news, honey! I can hear the explosions and see the fire and smoke from here!"

"Is anyone trying to stop it?" Tess asked hopefully, but knowing all too well that Felonious rarely accepted help.

"I don't think so sweetie. The President doesn't know what to do, other than send in people to rescue his neighbors. I think everyone has the mentality that he brought this on himself and this is the way to get rid of him."

'Get rid of him as in kill him.' Tess thought. "I'm sorry mom, but I can't hear much more of this. I'll call you when we're safe."

Tess and her mother said their goodbyes, which were all too meaningful. It could be their last. The airship was plunged into silence once more. Then Margo spoke up.

"What happens to us if he dies?" She asked quietly.

Tess unstrapped herself and sat down on her knees in from of them, grabbing each of their hands and holding them in her own. "Nothing." She said earnestly. "You will still have me. You will not go back to Miss Hattie's. You'll still live in the same house, with me. You'll still go to school. Nothing will change and we will carry on without him. But I'll tell you a secret about your father," The girls leaned forward eagerly, "your father is tough. He won't go down without a fight. It'll take more than that for him to die. He's too stubborn."

The girls laughed a bit and Tess saw them relax a bit, but barely.

They arrived on would have been that next morning. The airship was capable of going great distances in a short amount of time. Tess stood up and went to the cockpit and saw they were in the middle of nowhere. Out of the ground, an earth covered hatch opened and the minions maneuvered the airship inside. Exiting the ship, they were standing in a well-lit, midsized hangar, big enough for a few more airships. From a door on the wall, people walked through, three in all, two men and one woman. All three looked a bit younger than Felonious and older than Tess.

"My name is Abram, I am Felonious' cousin, and this is my brother Lev and sister Natalya. Felonious told us you were coming and didn't want you to be alone. We are also here to protect you." The man said, in an accent thicker than Felonious'. It was clearer, however than his, Tess doubted Abram moved around as much as Felonious did, thus creating his amalgamation of an accent.

Tess nodded, "Thank you."

Abram turned to Lev spoke to him in Russian. Lev nodded and walked off. He went to Natalya and repeated the process.

"I told Lev to do another security sweep, to ensure your safety and Natalya to show you to your rooms.

If you need anything at all, one of us will be on guard out her, always. There is no need to worry for your safety. We are trained protectors."

"Ok," Tess replied and Abram turned his attention to minions.

Natalya silently led them through the door Tess had seen them emerge from. On the other side were rooms set up like the apartment in the lab. However, this time, Tess did not feel like cooking to busy her mind.

Natalya said nothing as she left Tess and the girls alone.

Tess collapsed on the couch in exhaustion, the girls and Kyle all cuddled around her, but no one tried to sleep. After an unknown amount of time, Tess suddenly heard her phone ring. The kind of ring told her it was only a text. She dived for her phone and sighed in unimaginable relief seeing it was Felonious. He was alive. The text simply read,

'I know who is trying to kill me.'