006: Breaking Point

"New victim, new case," Jack announced, just as Angela signed her last form from the previous assignment. She gave a small groan before turning and looking at him. It was nearly ten o'clock on Thursday night, but the entire team had stayed late in order to finish their paperwork.

Jack held a picture of a teenage girl with short, dirty-blonde hair and a quirky smile. "Haley Goode. Last seen shopping at Target this morning. She never came home. However, it seems as though she's been using her laptop quite a bit because we've got evidence of emails sent to several friends and some people who we don't know since her disappearance."

"The last one was sent about an hour ago," Vivian confirmed. "It looks as if she's been instant messaging too."

"I know it's late, but we've got a job. Angela, I want you in the tech room, watching to see if there are anymore emails or instant messages sent. We've got it already hooked up. Martin and Samantha, you guys go talk to the people at Target and see what they know. Vivian, you and I are going to talk with the parents." Jack's eyes flashed and landed on Danny. "Danny, you're staying here."

"What?"

"You heard me. You're staying here with Angela to watch for the emails and instant messages."

"Jack, I don't really think that it's a two-person job—"

"I don't care what you think," Jack replied, raising his voice slightly. He looked around the office at everyone else. Samantha looked somewhat afraid, while Vivian just looked surprised. Martin seemed to be impartial to Jack's decision, and Angela immediately knew that he had something to do with it. She narrowed her eyes at him as he walked out of the door. He just gave her the "you'll thank me later" look as he left after Jack.

Slowly, Vivian and Samantha walked out after him, giving both Danny and Angela sympathetic looks.

The two were left in silence. Neither one of them said anything. Giving up, Angela stood and walked towards the door.

"If joining me isn't too big of an inconveniency for you, I'll be in the other room with the computer," she said shortly, glancing at him. Danny wasn't looking at her, but out the window. She sighed and walked out of the room, knowing that this night had to end in at least one of them forfeiting the battle that they were fighting.

---

After about half an hour, Danny finally joined her in the tech room with the computer. He didn't say anything, but actually sat in the chair next to her. When Angela realized that he was going to remain silent, she turned to him.

"Ok, well, they've got it set up so that whenever Haley sends an IM, we'll be able to see. Same with the emails. According to reports from her brother, the girl's been talking with people from all over the country for the past… year or so. One might have been a pedophile, preying on her. We're not really sure right now."

Danny was still silent, though Angela knew that his mind was working.

"Jack's going to call in the next fifteen minutes with a list of background checks that we should run down, and maybe some alibis of the parents."

And just then the phone rang. Danny didn't reach for it, so Angela picked up.

"Agent Harper. Oh, ok. Thank you. No, I'll come down and get it. Thanks."

Danny looked questioningly at her, but she pretended not to see his confused face.

"I'll be right back."

Five minutes later, she returned to the room with a large bag of fantastic smelling food.

"Chinese," she said briskly as she placed the bags on the desk in front of them. "I'm pretty hungry since I didn't have a chance to get some dinner." She sat down at the desk again and took out a box of shrimp fried rice. After several moments of silence, Angela sighed and turned to Danny. "Do you want some?"

"Oh, uh, no, that's alright. I won't take any of yours," Danny said, not looking directly at her.

"I thought you'd say that," Angela said matter-of-factly. "So I ordered some extra stuff." She pulled out another box of the shrimp fried rice. "And some egg rolls and rice in case you didn't like the fried rice."

Danny stared at her for a few moments before taking the box from her. It was if he couldn't believe that she was offering him some of her food. Angela was almost surprised herself that she was offering to him too. The truth was that she had heard his stomach growling about an hour before hand, and she thought it would have been just too cruel to eat in front of a hungry Danny.

"Thanks," he said finally as he reached for the box.

The two of them sat in silence for awhile as they munched on their food. Angela noticed that Danny was quite the chop-stick user; he was probably better than she was.

The phone rang again. This time Danny picked it up.

"Taylor. Yeah, she's here. In the same room, yes," he said. "Alright. I'll tell her. Ok. Bye."

He hung up and then picked up his chopsticks again to grab a shrimp.

"Jack's faxing over a list of about ten people who need a background check," he said, without really looking at her.

Angela popped her fortune cookie into her mouth as she stood up to get the list of names. As she walked over to the fax machine, she was surprised that she and Danny hadn't had an argument yet, or has ripped each other's heads off. She spent about twenty minutes on her computer, printing out backgrounds for each of the ten people on the list that Jack had sent over before returning to the computer and Danny.

As they sat there, watching the screen and looking over the backgrounds, Angela knew that the question of what made her react to the shooting was driving Danny out of his mind. She could see him struggling to try to keep it in. And at the same time, she was surprised that she kept getting the urge to just let it all out. To tell Danny, the man who had been so cold to her for the past two months, her deepest secret. She had a fierce internal battle for nearly half an hour before she spoke.

"It happened last May," she said finally, in a soft, somber voice.

Danny turned and looked at her in surprise and confusion, but Angela didn't dare look at him. If she was going to do this, she'd rather do it without interruptions.

"It was a typical hostage situation. There were two men with guns inside. And there were twenty-three other people. Twelve men. Eight women. Three kids. They wanted fifty thousand dollars from each of the families. I was sent in with my partner, Brady, and another agent, Holden. Another team of three was sent in the back way. Everything was going as planned, but somehow… Brady, Holden, and I were spotted. They took us in as hostages as well. They found our badges, and they went crazy. They disarmed us, and…"

Angela choked on the words. "They had told the families not to get the FBI involved, so when they realized who we were… They started killing people. Just like that. We were so shocked after the first one, and then right after that, he killed another. And another. And another. The screaming… oh, God… but Brady. Brady got a hold of himself and managed to trip one of the men to get his gun. But the other one. He shot Brady." Angela shivered.

"He shot him five times. I don't know how it happened, but next thing I knew, I had taken the gun from the fallen kidnapper. And I shot the other one. Five times. The other one, he was getting up and was coming towards me. I shot him. Twice. Holden had radioed the other agents by that time and they came in to help with the hostages. Agent Beckers told me that there was nothing more that I could have done. But, my God, seeing Brady like that… After that, I couldn't concentrate on the field. I couldn't hold a gun steady. All of the agents were always concerned about me. I was put on desk work, and then put into therapy. The therapist diagnosed it as post-traumatic stress. I took a month leave of absence, but when I came back, the other agents didn't want to be paired with me, nor I with them. So Agent Beckers suggested a transfer. I didn't want a field job. Not again. And he knew that the New York office needed an extra desk watcher. And so. Here I am."

The room was completely silent. Danny had looked away from her long ago, not being able to face her. Angela was staring at the empty box of Chinese food, and soon realized there were big, fat tears rolling down her face.

"I'm going to go to get a drink," she said quickly, her voice breaking as she stood up and rushed to the kitchen.

Once Angela got to the sink, she broke. She wasn't just crying; she was completely breaking down. The images of Brady on the ground in his own blood kept flashing in front of her. The maniacal laughter of the heinous kidnappers. The horrid gunshots that led to the death of her partner and best friend along with four other innocent people. The whispers about her behind her back at the office. The pitiful looks people would give her. It was too much for her. She wanted to forget it. She just wanted to be able to forget.

A new feeling came over her, and she didn't recognize what it was until she heard his voice. Large, warm arms were wrapping around her sobbing form. Her body was pulled against a broad, safe chest. A cheek rested on top of her head. A soft whisper in a broken voice filled her ear as she let herself be completely taken over.

Angela cried herself dry, but Danny didn't let go. His arms didn't loosen and his body never pulled away. She hid herself within his body and never wanted to leave his hold. His fingers would gently touch the back of her neck, and he kissed her forehead.

She had found solace in the person that she least expected. But now that she was here, she couldn't imagine anyone else.

A/N: Wow, you guys are going to murder me for having this put up so late. Sorry! And about the posting, I think I might start posting Fridays and Tuesdays. It works better for my schedule. Sorry about that too.

Anyways, WHO IS EXCITED THAT THEY FINALLY GOT TO FIGURE OUT WHAT HAPPENED IN MAY?!

I hope it wasn't anti-climatic. I hate it when that happens.

Anyways, reviews, my loves! Reviews! Do you realize that the review feedback on this story is phenomenal? It really is. And I must thank each and every one of my reviewers. Each of the reviews means the world to me. :)

Well, most, if not all of the questions have been answered in this chapter. But there is the always looming question of "What is going to happen between Angela and Danny?" Actually, after this chapter, there is no other reason to have questions at the end of the chapters. I just wanted to make sure that everything leading up to this chapter was clear. If something's not clear, don't hesitate to let me know!

Have a marvelous weekend everyone! Expect an update around Tuesday!

-Laura