A/N Hello, everyone, I apologize for my failure to update last week but I was in a very un-update oriented mood.
Thanks to all reviewers!
Dedication: To Leilani my newest reader. :)
Disclaimer: I own nada. ;)
"I have news," Arthur Gray announced walking over to the group of Hardys and their friends. He was flanked by two Network agents.
The entire group looked up at his approach. They were all once more gathered in the waiting room, they had been kicked out of Frank's room by his doctor in order for him to do some post-operative checks.
"Did you catch them?" Joe was the first to jump in and ask for further information.
Gray hesitated, it was just a fraction of a second, and almost unnoticeable, but Joe noticed it, and he knew that it boded ill for whatever the Network agent planned to say next.
"Mostly." Gray answered.
"What do you mean by mostly?" Callie demanded.
"Jonathon Marion escaped." Gray admitted. "We rounded up the rest of the men at the compound, including his second in command Gustafson, but Marion was nowhere to be found."
"Son of a bitch." Fenton swore harshly.
"How could you lose him?" Tony demanded.
"He is one of the most sought after terrorists in the world; he is hardly easy to catch." Gray said sounding affronted.
"I thought you people were supposed to be good." Callie said derisively.
"Apparently not." Biff remarked.
Gray closed his eyes for a few moments seemingly attempting to summon what vestiges of patience he possessed.
"We are," He answered.
"Then where is Marion?" Vanessa countered.
"Look, this is just a temporary setback." Gray stressed. "We have a huge portion of his organization in custody, and are subjecting them to interrogation as we speak, it is only a matter of time before one or more of them cracks and tells us what we need to know."
"By then Marion could be halfway to Mexico." Joe said with a scowl.
"Look, we're very sorry about this."
Joe didn't really think Gray was really all that sorry, except as it related to his job.
"But, yelling at me isn't going to accomplish anything."
"Oh, really?" Callie asked rising from her seat and stalking over to him. She jabbed the Network agent in the chest with her index finger. "Find. Marion." She ordered through clenched teeth.
Gray's junior agents looked uncertainly from the short blonde woman to their boss clearly unsure as to whether they should stop her or not. Gray who had his eyes fixed on Callie did not offer them a response one way or another.
"I can promise you that if you don't manage to find him you will regret it." Callie said with a huff of anger before stalking off in the general direction of Frank's room. She would park herself outside the door and wait until the doctor was done if she had to.
"I'm needed at the interrogations." Gray offered seeming somewhat shaken after Callie had disappeared. "I promise we will do everything we can to find Marion." He added somewhat uselessly.
"You had better." Fenton remarked. "I'm not going to have my children harmed further by their involvement with your agency."
"Understood." Gray said curtly. "I will have security posted near Frank's room, I doubt it will be necessary, but…just in case."
"You do that." Fenton said coolly staring after the retreating backs of the Network agents as they headed towards the bank of elevators.
Callie arrived just as the various medical personnel were exiting Frank's room. They smiled sympathetically at her, and the nurse told her that she could go in.
"Hi, again." She greeted the unconscious figure on the bed.
Unlike last time she did not sit down. She was too wound up to sit. Instead she paced back and forth in front of the bed.
"Is it just me or do federal agencies seem to be staggeringly incompetent?" She wondered aloud as she pivoted on her heel and made her way to the other end of the room. "It's no wonder you guys always wanted to be private detectives instead of working for a government agency or the police." The blonde continued.
She paused in her pacing to peer at the figure on the bed. "I worry about you, you know." She whispered. "I always have, running about and getting in to all of those dangerous situations, how could I not?"
She resumed her pacing. "I don't know about you, but I think it's about time for you to wake up, you've got the rest of your life to sleep, now is not the time." She said sternly.
When Frank continued in the realms of unconsciousness she spoke up again. "Apparently you don't agree." Callie noted. "You should." She added sternly.
Frank did not stir.
Callie did hear a half-hearted laugh from the direction of the door however and she spun around to find Joe leaning in the doorway.
"He's not listening to me." She noted.
"He is quite stubborn." Joe agreed. "I think the Gray Man is afraid of you." He added.
Callie snorted. "Good."
Joe grinned fondly at her. "Nice work with that by the way."
"Thank you." Callie said with a brief answering smile. "You can sit with him now." She offered. "I was going to go get some coffee, and see if the others wanted anything. Speaking of which, could I get you something? Tea? Coffee? Water? Food of some sort?"
Joe shook his head in negation. "Nah, I'm fine." He said voicing his opinion in addition to the gesture. "I don't think I could manage to keep anything down as freaked out as I am." He admitted.
"I need to have something to do." Callie said quietly. "Even getting drink orders for everyone is better than sitting in the waiting room ready to tear my hair out in worry."
"I imagine it would be." Joe agreed.
"I'll just leave you alone with him, shall I?" Callie said and without waiting for a response, she slipped past him out the door and headed back towards the waiting room on her quest to keep busy.
A/N Review! Update will occur next Tuesday!