Thanks for sticking with me. I know it's been so long between updates and I apologize. I didn't really know where this was going and I still don't. I thought about extending this and making it the last chapter but I'm kinda stuck so I'm going to give it at least one more. We'll see how it goes.

Thanks again!

Sharon woke with a start. Under the weight of her right arm, Brenda was fitfully thrashing about. She could tell Brenda was asleep by the muffled groans and abrupt movements. She flipped on the soft glow of the lamp next to the bed. Brenda's forehead and chest were drenched in sweat. Agony skewing her face. It didn't even process in Sharon's mind that Brenda would have nightmares after her ordeal but she should have expected it.

Gently shaking her awake, Sharon watched Brenda's eyes fly open as she immediately recoil away from her. Brenda clutched the sheet to her chest with white knuckles.

"It's okay." Sharon assured her softly. "It's just me. You're okay."

Brenda took several gasping breaths before somewhat calming down. Her heart was still pounding though. In her mind she was tied up in Hawthorne's bed and he and Stroh were taking turns at her. She couldn't move or defend herself. For the first time in her life she was completely and utterly helpless. It was a relief knowing it was all just a dream…a very bad dream.

Lying flat on her back, Brenda stared at the ceiling. It was all just a dream, she kept reminding herself. But she couldn't shake the uneasiness. She'd been Valencia Steele for too long to simply fall out of character and right back into Brenda Leigh Johnson's shoes. It was part of the CIA training that many, even veteran, officers failed at. Like a deep sea diver having to take slow steps to avoid decompression sickness, a deep undercover agent had to take similar baby step to reinsert themselves into their previous lives.

But what did she have to go back to? An empty house. No career. No friends except for her former colleagues who were busy with their own lives. No husband. No family. Nothing. She could feel Sharon staring at her.

"You'll acclimate just fine." Brenda snapped her head to the side. Was she reading her mind? Sharon Raydor was lying on her left side and holding her head up with her bent arm. Her right arm stretched down her side to rest lazily on her hip. The white robe she was wearing hung loosely open at the neck. She looked so un-Sharon-like that it made Brenda smile.

After the tumultuous dream she had had and the realization that life was going to be so different when she returned, it was the sight of Sharon Raydor that made her smile.

"What?" Sharon asked as Brenda tried to contain her grin but failed.

"This isn't the Sharon Raydor I know." She almost giggled.

"Oh?" Even though it was at her expense, Sharon was happy to see that Brenda could take a little joy out of something at that moment. This Job could have really taken a detrimental toll on the usually stout former Deputy Chief of the LAPD and time would only tell if the affects were just delayed.

They laid there looking at each other for several long minutes. But then Sharon watched a shadow cross over Brenda's face. Furrowing her brow she waited for Brenda to say something but when she didn't Sharon finally broke the silence.

"What are you thinking?"

Brenda regarded her for a long time before answering. Did she really want to know what she was thinking? Her mind was going in twelve different directions at once. But it all came down to one thing.

"Why'd you come lookin' for me?" The answer weighed heavily on her mind. Fritz didn't come. Will didn't come. Detective Gabriel didn't come. Sharon Raydor came.

Sharon rubbed the middle of her forehead. "When Fritz told me Stroh was out and missing, I knew he only had one agenda."

"Fritz knew?" Brenda asked somberly. She wasn't surprised because Fritz knew pretty much everything and what he didn't know he couldn't easily find out…if he wanted.

Sharon could only nod her head in agreement. It must have been difficult knowing that the person she shared her life with for so long hadn't pushed every envelope and boundary to find her. But Sharon didn't press it. She continued where she left off.

"I couldn't sit back knowing all of that and not do something about it. Try, at least. I also knew it was a long shot finding you since you were so deep. I couldn't, in good conscious, let you hang out to dry." Sharon Raydor watched each of her words sink in. "But when I happened upon you in that café the other day…it wasn't because of some stealth recon or high tech gadgetry. It was just that…a happenstance. Call it what you want—fate, magic, coincidence, whatever." Brenda's eyes widened with the realization that if it weren't for that moment…that decision for both of them to end up in that coffee shop at the same time…her life could have been over. "I couldn't let you keep going on this kamikaze mission without helping you or trying to help you. I contacted a friend who owns a private jet and told him money was no object. He got me here in record time and is still here waiting until it's time to go. Brenda, you're the smartest, toughest woman I know but you were in over your head. And you wouldn't have listened if I told you."

Brenda flinched slightly at the no holds barred words. But Sharon was right. She had been in way over her head.

"And according to your text message I'm your best friend so…" Sharon shrugged her right shoulder and smiled the slightest of smiles as Brenda blushed at her words. "I probably read that message two hundred times." She admitted in a low, deep whisper.

With that revelation, Brenda's eyes collided with Sharon's. The sudden rising and falling of Brenda's chest pulled Sharon's eyes downward. Down her long neck to her flushed chest. Her own breathing increased in reaction. Sharon also knew from experience that when Brenda started breathing rapidly she was freaking out a little on the inside. But she couldn't tell if this was one of those times or not.

"Can we go home…" Brenda suddenly let out a strangled laughed and floppy back onto the bed. Thrusting her fingers thru her splayed hair she laughed again. "I don't have any home to go home to."

Sharon edged a little closer to Brenda and lightly rested her hand on top of her stomach. She immediately felt the hitch in her muscles. She hadn't meant to be so bold. "You don't have to go back to anything. All you have to do is get back and you can make a whole new life for yourself."

Brenda turned to look at her friend. Yes, her friend. If the woman risked her life and spent who knows how much money to save her the least she could do was consider her a friend. Brenda could feel the weight of her hand still resting on her stomach. It was the same weight from last night that comforted her and made her feel safe. That is until the dreams started.

"Thank you…Sharon."

Sharon turned her head slightly. "You don't have to thank me for anything."

"I owe you my life." She felt Sharon's hand twitch lightly on her stomach. She laid her own over it. Half expecting Sharon to pull her hand away, Brenda was surprised when she didn't. Any other time having Sharon Raydor touching her would have sent fireworks into the sky but that day it was the most comforting, welcoming feeling she'd ever had.

"Let's go home."