Thank you again for all of the reviews. It lifts my spirits no end.

Chapter 4

Jesse was dumbstruck. He had expected Fiona to be staying with Michael over night, but he hadn't expected them to be looking so…comfortable. He wasn't stupid; he knew there was more going on here than the two of them just casually sharing a bed. Michael seemed happier than he'd seen him in the short time he'd known him.

Now with the way he and Fiona were acting when they were together, he knew something had changed. There was definitely more to their relationship than there had been before, a new closeness. The vitamins only added to his suspicions, but he wasn't going to be the one to ask if what he suspected was true.

"So," Jesse started, when Michael pulled two yogurts out of the refrigerator and handed him one. "Have you told Fiona yet?"

Michael reached for two spoons from the drawer and stopped in mid flow when he heard Jesse's question. The deal he'd struck was one that would benefit the government and himself. He'd had an epiphany, of sorts. Priorities had changed and he'd fallen so deeply for the woman in his life, more than he'd ever imagined he could.

"Not yet," he sighed as he turned around to hand the other man a silver spoon. "I'm waiting for my moment. She doesn't need the stress."

"Why?" Jesse asked as he gestured towards the pill bottle on the windowsill. "Is she sick?"

"Uh, no," Michael couldn't help the small catch in his voice as he spoke. "She's just a little run down."

"Well, Mike. In my experience, isn't it better to tell her now than leave it until she finds out on her own?" Jesse asked. "I've seen her angry and she's a fireball."

"Yeah," Michael mused. "She's passionate about the things she believes in."

"And you think she's going to understand?"

"Understand what?" Fiona's voice broke into their conversation as she walked back through the loft, towards them. Her hair was lying in wet tendrils over her shoulders as she regarded the two of them suspiciously. "Michael?"

Michael shot a scowl at Jesse for bringing up the discussion in the first place. Putting his unopened Yogurt back onto the counter, he moved towards her to take hold of her hands.

"When I got back you asked me if I got the result I wanted," he told her softly. "And I did, in a way."

"In a way?" she asked worriedly as her eyes scanned his face. "In what way?"

"I uh, I think I'll leave you two alone," Jesse started to stand.

"You can sit right back down, Jesse," Fiona snapped, staring at him with blazing eyes before turning them back on to Michael.

Jesse's eyes grew wide as he started to move gingerly towards the door and pulled it open. "Honestly, Fi…this is something for you two to discuss…I'll…um, see you back at…the house…okay…bye…"

Michael watched the door close behind Jesse's departing form and gulped heavily as he directed his gaze back to the woman before him. She was watching him with wide eyes, her body tense as she waited for him to speak.

"I'm still officially burned," he told her, leading her over towards the bed to sit her down. "But after I complete three missions, I'll get my life back." Her silence made him uneasy and he reached for her hand again. "Talk to me."

Fiona swallowed hard against the lump forming in her throat. "I told you I would stand by you," her voice cracked when she tried to speak but tears blurred her vision. "And if this is what you want…"

"Fi," his voice lowered to a soft whisper as he reached out a finger towards her chin, tilting her head up so that he could see her eyes. "Look at me, please."

When she lifted her eyes to his, he could already see the tears pooling in her depths as she tried desperately to be strong for him. "I know this is what you wanted," she sniffed, "I told you I would support you, and I will."

"No," he shook his head and squeezed her fingers, urging her to look back up at him. "You're not listening…I do three missions in return for guaranteed protection, for all of us."

Fiona nodded, understanding slowly seeping through her words. "And then what happens after you've completed these three missions? Do they make you take another three for another promise?"

"No, that's all. If I decide to work for them again after that, it'll be on my terms, with my own team…this is for our future Fi," he implored her to understand.

"Can you be happy with that, Michael?" she asked softly as a lone tear spilled down over her cheek. "What if this life we're making together isn't enough for you? What if—"

Leaning forward, he silenced her fears with his lips, kissing her softly. When he pulled back he reached up a hand to stroke his fingers over her face, wiping the tears away with his thumb.

"Fiona Glenanne, you have always been more than enough for me."

Her eyes dropped to their joined hands before she looked back up at him and forced a smile to her lips. "When do you have to leave?"

"Five days," he told her solemnly. "I told them I needed to be here with you."

"Five days?" she whispered brokenly. "We only have five days?"

"Fi," he reached forward and pulled her body into his arms, holding her against him. "We'll get through this. I promise you."

"What about this…" she gestured towards her stomach, "…we still have the sonogram."

"The doctor said as soon as possible, right?" he told her, squeezing her hand.

"If you're not here I'll take your mother, and I'll let her loose on you," she warned. "I won't stop her!"

"I'll be here," he told her with a reassuring smile.

"And, I will not stay at your mother's while you're away. Don't even try and make me because I will hurt you!" Her eyes caught him in a serious gaze and he had no doubts at all that she meant every word.

"Okay," he nodded slowly.

"And I will be taking jobs with Sam, don't you dare try and stop me."

She pulled her hands away from his and got to her feet. He could see her take a shaky breath before she moved towards the kitchen. Her silence worried him. An angry Fiona he was familiar with, but this was something new.

With a heavy sigh he moved off of the bed and made his way slowly towards her motionless form. She was standing in front of the sink facing the window, stock-still and unmoving.

Stepping up behind her he slipped his arms around her waist and pulled her back against his chest. Lowering his face, he rubbed his cheek against her hair. He loved this woman more than he had ever thought possible. She had turned his whole life upside down since the day he'd met her and despite how many times he had left her, she still remained fiercely loyal to him.

"You know what scares me the most?" she asked softly, her voice no more than a whisper.

"What?" he asked as he pulled her body tighter against him.

"I've never been on the top of your list of priorities, it's always been your job first," her voice wavered as she spoke and he could tell by the tightness in her body that she was trying not to show how much she was struggling with this. "You never put me first, ever…"

"Fi," he whispered, her words causing guilt to well up inside him. "Fiona…"

Moving his hands to her shoulders, he manoeuvred her so that she turned in the circle of his arms to face him. She kept her gaze lowered, her eyes focused on his chest.

"The second you came flying through that window, everything changed." Leaning forward he pressed his forehead against hers and closed his eyes. "You chose to be with me, even though there was a good chance that I wouldn't get out of there alive. We both could have died, but you came after me anyway..."

"I wanted to die with you," she told him as she moved closer to him, moulding herself to his body. "I chose you."

His hands slid up her arms and enclosed around her body, pulling her tighter into his embrace. "These three jobs they want me to do. When they're over, I'm out, officially, but with the pension and the protection…" When she lifted her eyes up to his, he leaned closer, his lips hovering over hers. "This is me putting you first…"

Fiona met his lips in a soft kiss and pulled back to look up at him tenderly. "I want you to be happy, and if staying with the government is what you want, then I will support you."

"I thought you wanted me to turn it down."

"I want whatever you want," she told him with a sigh and stepped back out of his arms. "This…it's hormones…" she pointed to her tear filled eyes. "I'm a Glenanne, we don't cry at the drop of a hat."

"Fi," lifting his hands to her shoulders he traced his fingers over her arms. "I want a job that keeps me close to home, and they've promised me that."

"Will that be enough?" she asked tearfully. "You love your job."

"I love you more," he told her in a whisper as he met her lips with his.

000

Madeline looked up from her magazine when Michael and Fiona came into the house. She regarded Michael coolly when he held the door open to usher Fiona through.

"Hi sweetheart," she smiled when Fiona came to sit down beside her. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine," Fiona told her with a tight smile. She could feel the hostility in the room and it was making her uncomfortable. Michael stepped up behind her, sensing her unease and placed his hands on her shoulders, squeezing them lightly with his fingers.

He caught his mother's glare and was suddenly taken aback. She only used that certain look when he had done something she disapproved of and Jesse's face suddenly came to mind.

"Mom, is there something you want to talk about?"

Fiona's eyes snapped towards Madeline's before she lifted one of her hands to touch Michael's fingers on her shoulder. She regarded Madeline with a worried gaze and squeezed Michael's hand before she stood up

"If you two are going to do this now, then I am going to go and work on my little present for the newspaper thief."

"Wait…what?" Michael's gaze shifted to her. "Newspaper thief?"

"Someone has been stealing my papers from my front step, so Fiona kindly offered to help me find out who," Madeline told him matter of factly as she reached for another cigarette.

"And how are you doing that exactly?" Michael asked, his voice rising slightly as he turned his attention to Fiona's retreating form. "Fiona?"

"Will you leave that poor girl be?" Madeline snapped at him as she took a long drag from her cigarette before blowing out a plume of smoke. "She is trying to deal with this pregnancy the best she can, especially with you disappearing every few days."

"You spoke to Jesse," he sighed heavily. Pulling out Fiona's vacated chair, he sat down next to his mother and fought to find the right words.

"She's not as strong as she makes out," Madeline told him harshly, keeping her voice low. "When she told me about losing your baby, I could see the pain in her eyes Michael. She carried that secret around with her for so many years. Losing a baby hurts, not just physically but emotionally. She needs your support not your vanishing act."

"Do you think I want to leave her?" Michael asked angrily, his voice lowering to a harsh whisper. "Do you understand how much it rips me apart every time I walk out that door without her? Do you?"

"Then why not just walk away?" Madeline's voice softened when she saw how much he meant those words.

"I am walking away mom," he sighed as he lifted his hands to his eyes and rubbed the wetness away. "I'm doing this to protect her and our future."

"I know honey," Madeline sighed. Her eyes focused on her half smoked cigarette and stubbed it into the nearby ashtray before she pushed her chair back to stand up. "It's just a shame you have such lousy timing."

"Mom?" he asked worriedly when she started to walk away. "What does that mean?"

"Ask Sam," she sighed haughtily as she turned away from him to walk towards the kitchen.

Michael swallowed heavily when she slammed a kitchen drawer closed and looked towards the old garage. He had a heavy feeling in the pit of his stomach as he walked towards the open doorway, dread eating away at him.

"So Fi," Sam asked, hovering around Fiona as she sat at the table attaching a small magnetic plate to the inside of the newspaper he'd brought in with him. "You've given up on the tracker?"

"No," she told him with a growing smile. "I decided it was too boring. I need something that goes bang!"

"You do know these things make more of a pop don't ya?" Sam teased. "Are you going soft on us?"

"Don't be ridiculous," she snapped as she picked up the small radio receiver that she'd been working on a few days ago and popped it onto one of the small red packages that she'd filled with her special dye. "Whoever is stealing Madeline's papers is going to get a big surprise when this thing explodes all over his clothes and the fun part is that I get to shoot him."

"Now Fi…we talked about this. There's no shooting anyone," Michael's voice echoed throughout the room, causing Fiona to cast him a sideways smile.

"You're no fun Michael!"

"Can I help?" he asked as he came into the room to sit down on the chair beside her.

"You can set the timer," she told him with a smile as she handed him the small device. "Set it to ten seconds."

"Okay," he focused on the device in his hands and cast her a tentative smile. "So, my mom say's you have some news for me Sam."

"Me?" Sam asked quickly. "I'm just the messenger Mikey, Fi's the one with all the know-how."

"Here you go Sam," Fiona smiled sweetly as she handed him a small radio transmitter. "Would you be a dear and fix this to the doorframe outside for me please."

Sam scowled at her as he took the transmitter from her nimble fingers and grumbled under his breath about how pregnant women made him crazy, before he left the room.

When they were once again alone, Michael reached out towards her and placed a hand over hers, stilling her fingers.

"Are you going to tell me what's going on?"

"It's nothing," she swallowed hard and diverted her eyes, "I just got my date for the sonogram, that's all. Nothing big."

"That's great," he told her with a smile that soon dropped from his lips when she didn't return it. "Fi, what's wrong?"

He could see her blinking rapidly before she turned back towards him, keeping her eyes focused on his hands. "It's next week…you're going to miss it."

"What?" His voice came out on a sigh, disappointment echoing in that one word. "Can't they do it sooner?"

"Sam asked," her voice cracked when she spoke. "It's something to do with clinic hours and avoiding suspicion."

"But I wanted to be there," his fingers squeezed hers and tugged gently, urging her to meet his eyes. "You know how much I want to be there."

"I know," she swallowed the lump in her throat and looked up into his gaze. His eyes mirrored the same devastation as hers. "But you're doing this for us; right…it'll be worth the sacrifice in the end…" a single tear spilled from her eyes to carve a wet track down her cheek. "Tell me it'll be worth it…"

"It'll be worth it," he told her brokenly as he shifted quickly to pull her into his lap, snaking his arms tightly around her body.

Fiona laid her cheek against his head and planted a soft kiss into his hair before pulling back to look into his eyes, stroking his face with her fingers. "We'll get through this as long as we're together."

"We will, Fi…" he told her softly as he touched her lips with a gentle press of his own. Moving back slightly, his hands came up to frame her face, their movements deliberately slow as he came forward and pressed his lips to hers in a kiss that held none of the passion they had captured over their time together. His arms surrounded hers, the sheer strength of their kiss causing them both to adhere to each other.

With a deep sigh, he deepened their kiss, binding them together in slow intoxication, linking them as one in their desperate bid to memorize each other for the lonely time ahead.

Their lips parted slowly, only to meet again and again with feather light touches, desperation etched in every touch that kept them fused together until a loud cough pulled them apart.

"Will you two get a room or something," Sam groaned as he came into the room with Jesse following close behind. "You're turning me off my beer!"

Fiona smiled and laid her head against Michael's forehead before slipping off of his lap. "Oh you're just jealous!" she sing songed as she moved back to her red dye pack.

"And you're delusional," he cracked back.

"Oooo, big words Sam," she told him with a bright smile. "Mind you don't choke on 'em!"

"Guy's," Michael cut in, holding his hands in the air. "Can we just stop!"

"She started it!" Sam whined, casting Fiona a look of triumph when Michael turned his attention to her.

"I'm pregnant, what's your excuse?" she beamed.

The gasp from Jesse stopped all three of them in their bantering. Fiona sighed heavily and turned back to the dye pack she was working on while the three men in the room stared at her.

"What?" she asked, shrugging her shoulders before casting a mock glare in Sam's direction. "This is all your fault."

"Hey don't blame me sister, I didn't put that bun in your oven!" Sam held his hand up in surrender and backed away.

"Don't be disgusting," she snapped and turned her scrutinising gaze towards Jesse. "I'm pregnant, yes, it's Michael's and no, it wasn't planned…anything else?"

Jesse's mouth opened and closed but no words would come out. Silently he raised his hands in the air, openly conceding to a question he'd never even asked.

"Uh…congratulations," he offered hopefully, looking from Michael to Fiona nervously.

"Thank you," Fiona smiled sweetly before getting up from the table with her device intact inside the newspaper. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a thief to catch."

000

A month had passed since that day in the old garage. Fiona had succeeded in catching the culprit who had been stealing Madeline's newspapers. She felt a little guilty when he turned out to be the thwelve year old kid from down the street. Between Madeline's screeching and the red dye all over him, the young boy never came back.

Michael had left in a black sedan three days later, clutching a brown folder in his hands. He'd given her one last smile before he left, and that was what had kept her together all this time.

Jesse had been in touch a few times to let them all know any updates he had, which were few and far between. Fiona tried not to worry, she tried to keep positive, but as the days wore on she became more and more withdrawn.

Her eyes gazed down at the sonogram picture in her hands and she stroked her finger over the grainy image. She was now close to sixteen weeks pregnant and expanding out of her clothes with rapid speed. Today was supposed to be the day she went to the mall with Madeline, but somehow, she couldn't shake the feeling of sorrow from the pit of her stomach.

Propping the small picture up against the fan next to the bed, she stood up and turned towards the full length mirror that she's borrowed from Michael's old room. Standing sideways, she ran her hands over her rounded stomach and felt a small kick against her palm. Tears sprang to her eyes when she felt the tiny movements. She missed Michael even more; he should have been here to share this moment. He should have been the first one to feel their baby move, not Sam.

They had been sitting in the charger waiting for Madeline to come out of the store when she first felt the small movement. At first she'd been uncertain, wondering if she'd imagined it, but when it happened a second time, she reached across and grabbed Sam's hand, holding it to her stomach.

He had been as shocked as she was, and he tried to yank his hand away. But then he had felt the movements beneath his palm and sat there with a silly wide grin on his face. It wasn't until Madeline got back in the car that he'd pulled his hand away, feigning embarrassment, but Fiona knew that he was just as moved by those tiny movements as she was.

The sudden buzzing of her phone brought her out of her reverie and she moved away from the mirror to look at the screen. The number wasn't one she recognised, so she lifted it to her ear cautiously. "Hello."

"Fi…"

"Michael," she breathed. "Oh thank god, where are you?"

"I'm on my way home…" the phone line crackled and for a moment she thought she'd lost him, but his voice came through again. "I'll be back…in… tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" she raised her voice, shouting the word as if by speaking louder he would hear her. "When tomorrow?"

"Call…I love—" and then the line went dead.

"I love you," she whispered into the phone, even though she was greeted with silence. Taking a deep breath she closed off the phone and made her way towards the door, picking up her car keys as she left.

tbc