Flint took a seat in the hospital's waiting room. He had just completed his third complete loop of walking the hospital complex as he tried to give an outlet to his raging emotions. He had left the Pentagon hours ago to get Alison the medical attention she needed, but the anger he felt about the attack hadn't abated.

He looked at his watch and saw that it was after midnight, nearly two hours since Alison had entered surgery. The doctor had assured him that Alison's injury wasn't life-threatening. However, Flint still worried about the blood loss Alison had experienced, and the risk of unexpected complications.

The door to the waiting room opened, but it was a different doctor looking to speak to another family member. She was the bearer of good news, and Flint watched as a relieved older woman, excitedly pump the doctor's hand in thanks. The two left together, leaving Flint alone with one other couple, who too was waiting on word on a victim of the Pentagon attack. Flint had spoken to them briefly earlier and had been amazed at how calm and patient they had been, and continued to be.

Those were two words that never could be used to describe Flint whenever Alison had been hurt, captured or in any kind of trouble. She had been injured several times while a member of the Joe team, and Flint knew he had tested first Doc's and then Lifeline's patience with his antics during her hospital stints.

In fact, the main reason why their relationship became a matter of public record was due to Flint's behavior the first time Lady Jaye had been hurt while out on a mission. He couldn't remember exactly where she had gone, but he did still vividly remember the moment he received word that their mission had gone bad, and her team was coming back with multiple injuries.

He had met Wild Bill's Dragonfly as it had landed on the tarmac. As Flint had feared, Lady Jaye was not one of the Joes walking off under her own power, but instead was being wheeled into HQ on a makeshift stretcher. She was unconscious, although Flint couldn't see any visible injuries.

Flint had stayed with Duke, who had been the lead on the ill-fated mission, only long enough to get a brief recap. The Joes had been investigating an abandoned Cobra base when they accidentally triggered a booby trap. Lady Jaye and two other Joes had been on the outer fringes of the resulting blast.

Flint then had raced to the medical wing, and had made a nuisance of himself until he finally got an update from Doc. Lady Jaye had been lucky. The worst of her injuries had been a concussion and bruised ribs.

At first Doc had been hesitant to let Flint see Lady Jaye, as he wanted her to rest, but he had eventually relented. Flint had only been allowed a few minutes with her, but it had been enough to soothe his mind that she truly was okay.

Flint had run into Duke as he was leaving Lady Jaye's room. With a frown Duke had said, "In case you were wondering, Gung-Ho and Barbecue are also going to be okay."

"That's a relief," Flint had said. He knew his behavior had been completely inappropriate, and that there was probably going to be some kind of retribution. He had braced himself for the tirade he knew was coming from Duke.

Instead Duke had sighed. He had looked to Lady Jaye's closed door and simply said, "Are we going to have a problem here?"

Flint knew that was Duke's way of letting him off easy. "No, we're not."

"Good," Duke said. He patted Flint's shoulder. "I'm glad she's okay."

"You and me both," Flint replied.

The door to the waiting room opened, and the doctor Flint had been waiting to see finally walked in. He looked at Flint with a smile. "Everything went very well, Mister Faireborn. She's going to have some discomfort, but I expect Alison to make a full recovery within a few weeks. We're going to admit her and keep her overnight for observation, but I expect she'll be released within twenty-four to forty-right hours."

"Thank you, Doctor, that is great news. I really appreciate everything you've done."

The doctor nodded. "We're in the process of moving her to the recovery floor. She probably won't regain consciousness for a few hours, so if you want to go home I can have someone call you when she's awake."

Flint hesitated for only a moment. His first thought was for Marissa, but he assumed that she was sound asleep at Stalker's house. He knew she'd be okay for a few more hours. "No, I'm going to wait here. I'll feel better once I see her."

"I understand. There's a waiting room up on the seventh floor where Alison will be transferred."

Once the doctor left, Flint said a silent prayer of thanks that Alison was okay. He followed up with the request that Alison be spared from further life-threatening injuries. Flint hoped that the next time he had to be in a hospital was for a happier occasion such as the birth of another child.

Despite the late hour, Flint was far from tired. Since he had nervous energy to burn he decided to take the stairs instead of the elevator. As he passed the floor for labor and delivery, he began to reminisce about Marissa's birth, and how exactly six months prior he had been in another hospital welcoming her into the world.

That thought stopped him. Marissa had been born in the early morning hours after the blackout. Which meant that the attack on the Pentagon had occurred exactly six months after the blackout that had crippled DC and the Northeast.

It seemed too much of a coincidence to be a random occurrence. They didn't have a lot of information on the attackers of the Pentagon, as they had disappeared as rapidly as they had appeared. But the one thing that seemed to be certain was that it hadn't been done by the Dreadnoks or Cobra. The group behind it may be a mystery, but they had to be connected to the blackout perpetrators.

Had the blackout been a warning of what was to come? Was it an initial demonstration of the group's power? Or did they need to trigger the chaos during and after the blackout as a way to probe weaknesses in the Pentagon's defenses?

Flint turned around and began to head back down the stairs. Before he took up residence in the waiting room, he wanted to talk to HQ, and see if he could get any answers to his questions. It was late there, but he was sure that no one was sleeping as they too were processing the attack.

It was time to put his anger and nervous energy to good use. He had been at this job long enough to know it was probably going to be a long and frustrating process but he made a vow that one day he was going to punish the perpetrators that had attacked the United States and threatened his wife and child.

Alison woke up disoriented and with a throbbing pain in her shoulder. She tried to sit up but a hand on her good shoulder held her back.

"Don't sit up. It's better if you lay still."

Alison's memory returned with a flourish, up until the point she collapsed outside the Pentagon. "Marissa?' she asked. Her throat was so dry she had a hard time talking.

Flint passed her a cup of water. "She's fine. Once we learned you needed surgery, Lydia offered to take her home."

"What time is it?"

"About 9 AM, Saturday morning."

"Wow. So I was out all night?"

"You were in and out after your surgery, but you were so groggy that I'm not surprised you don't remember anything." Alison gingerly poked at her bandages, as Flint continued. "You got lucky. The bullet was wedged in your clavicle, which caused it to crack, but the doctor said it could have been much worse. He was surprised it didn't shatter. The more serious part was that you had a pretty good amount of blood loss, so they had to give you a transfusion. The doctor was by earlier and said your vitals were much more stable this morning. If that continues he said you could be released tomorrow, or Monday the latest."

Alison sighed. "So much for our weekend together."

"Don't worry, I'm not leaving any time soon. I already cleared it with General Bradshaw. You're going to need help with Marissa, and I can also assist in the clean-up effort at the Pentagon."

"How bad is it over there?"

"The last I heard, pretty bad. There's a lot of physical damage to the building, and they haven't even been able to get to the blast sites due to the fires that are still burning. As far as casualties, we were lucky, relatively speaking."

"Hawk and the others okay?"

"They are," Flint let out a yawn, so Alison asked. "Did you get any sleep last night?"

"I had a couple of naps."

Alison reached for his hand and squeezed it. "Thank you for staying with me, but you should go home. Pick up Marissa, and spend some quality time with her. You haven't seen her in a couple of weeks."

"I also haven't seen you."

"I know, but I'm not much company right now. Plus, I'd feel better if you relieved Lydia. She has her hands full with her own kids and I don't want Marissa running her ragged."

"She's a barely mobile six-month-old, how ragged could she run anyone?"

Alison smiled. "Spend the weekend with her and then tell me how you feel."

Flint too smiled. He stood up and kissed the top of her head. "Okay, I'm going to go but I'll be back later this afternoon. Do you want anything?"

Alison gave him a list that included her laptop. He frowned at that item. "You're supposed to be resting."

"I will. It's just to keep me from getting bored."

Flint shook his head. "Fine. But please try to sleep why I'm gone. I love you."

"I love you too," Alison replied.

Alison rang for the nurse as soon as he had left her room. In addition to the reasons she told him why she wanted him to go, she had another one. Her chest was throbbing due to the fact that Marissa had missed her last two feedings. She was in desperate need of pumping, and it wasn't something she wanted to do while Flint watched.

The nurse came in and helped her get set up. The nurse stayed with her and they made small talk about the Pentagon attack. Alison also asked her how long she would have to forgo nursing Marissa due to her injury. The nurse told her she should abstain for at least twenty-four hours after any doses of the stronger pain killers. That sealed the idea in Alison's mind that she was going to wean herself off the medication as soon as possible. She knew with Marissa starting to eat solid foods, their nursing sessions were numbered and she didn't want to lose too many of the remaining ones she had.

Once she was done, the nurse packed up the equipment and left. Alison felt much more comfortable. Plus, the pain in her shoulder had dulled so she picked up her room phone to give the Joe HQ a call. She wanted to pick Chuckles' brain on the new threat.

"Hey Alison, it's good to hear from you," Breaker said. Alison grinned as she heard the sound of his popping gum. It gave her a sense of normalcy. "I heard you got banged up in the firefight yesterday."

"I did, but I'm okay."

"Glad to hear it. How's the baby?"

"She's good. She's getting big. I think she might start crawling any day now. Is Chuckles around? I want to talk to him about the group that attacked the Pentagon."

Breaker grunted. "He's been going non-stop since yesterday afternoon. I'd pull him away from his work, but I'm not sure how coherent he's going to be. I can get Dial-Tone or Mainframe, though. They've been assisting him and they can probably give you the same information."

Alison waited the couple of minutes until Dial-Tone came on the line. "Good morning, Dial-Tone. I wanted to see if I can get caught up on whatever information you dug up on the group that attacked us yesterday. But before you say anything, I want you to know I'm on an unsecure line in my hospital room, so be careful with any classified stuff."

"Yeah, I heard you got hurt yesterday. I'm glad you're okay, and Flint was able to get to you. As far as anything classified, I don't think I have anything more definitive than what the news stations have been reporting."

Alison made a mental note to put on the TV after her phone call ended. "Okay. I've been out of the loop the last few hours, so I need to be caught up."

Dial-Tone explained that all signs pointed to the attack being orchestrated by a new terrorist group called the Red Shadows. He further explained that they also seemed to be behind the blackout. The Joes were working on putting together a rudimentary chain of command for the organization, and whether or not they were connected to any other terrorist groups.

"Thanks, Dial-Tone, that's a good head start for me. Do me a favor, if you can, e-mail me any and all documents you dig up. When I get a chance I want to read through the information."

Dial-Tone laughed. "Maybe you should talk to your husband. He requested the same documents late last night."

"I will. Thank you."

Alison hung up the phone. She laid back on her pillow, as the brief activity exhausted her. She tried to fight it, but soon she was fast asleep.

Alison was released from the hospital late in the day on Sunday. The doctor had fought her on the idea, and wanted to keep her an extra night, but Alison refused. She wanted to get home, to spend the night with her husband and daughter.

However, her homecoming hadn't been as nice as she had envisioned. She had hoped to return to a semblance of a typical evening routine. Flint had tried to introduce a new vegetable to Marissa's dinner, but she resisted. He quickly switched to cereal, but it seemed that the damage was done, and Marissa refused to eat that as well. So he took her out of her high chair, and tried to feed her a bottle. By that time she was shrieking.

Alison had hesitated stepping in, as she couldn't hold Marissa very well with her injured shoulder. But she couldn't take seeing her daughter in distress so she asked Flint to bring Marissa to her. Marissa had assumed that meant she was going to be nursed. But since Alison was still weaning off the pain medication, she knew she couldn't. Alison tried to distract her with the bottle, but that just led to another round of crying. Marissa clearly did not want the bottle and no amount of coaxing was going to change the fact. As she again rooted towards her breast and was denied, she reared her fist out, hitting Alison in her bad shoulder.

The pain was excruciating. Alison cried out, "God damn it, Dash, take her!"

He picked her up and started jiggling her against his chest. Marissa let out an even louder shriek. "What do you want me to do?"

Alison struggled to remain calm. "Take her into the bedroom, and try again to feed her. Maybe once she's away from me, she'll take the bottle."

"And if that doesn't work?"

"I don't know!" Alison shouted. "Just figure something out!"

Flint slunk away and luckily closed the bedroom door behind him. It only muted the screams. Alison felt awful, both emotionally and physically. She knew that waiting one more day to nurse Marissa was the safest thing for her health, but she couldn't help but wonder if she was causing other damage by denying her daughter what she so desperately wanted. Plus, the pain in her shoulder was unbearable at the moment which was unhinging her mental state even further.

The baby continued to scream, and Alison debated taking the coward's way out and escaping from the apartment. She really just wanted to go for a walk around the block to clear her head, but she didn't have the energy to move. Instead she sat on the couch and started to cry.

After what seemed like an inordinate amount of time, Marissa quieted. Alison waited a couple of minutes to make sure she truly was done crying before she walked over to the bedroom and peeked her head in. Marissa was asleep in Flint's arms. The bottle, still full, was on the nightstand.

"So she never ate?" she asked.

Flint shook his head. "No. I think she finally passed out from exhaustion."

"Poor baby," Alison said as her tears started anew.

"C'mere," Flint said. He patted the bed next to him. "Don't make me have to calm you down too."

Taking care not to disturb the sleeping infant, Alison nestled against Flint. She rested her head against his shoulder. "I can't believe that she put up that much of a fight."

"I can. Apparently she inherited your stubbornness."

Despite her mood, Alison let out a chuckle. "Hey! I think you might have contributed some of that too. You can be pretty strong willed yourself."

"If she's this bad now, can you imagine what she will be like as a teenager?"

"Oh, God. But promise me one thing, that you are not going to be the stereotypical father of a teenage girl that gives her everything her heart desires."

Marissa stirred and let out a small squawk. "Quick," Alison commanded. "Give her the bottle before she fully wakes up. Maybe she'll take it now that she's not a screaming banshee."

Alison pulled away and watched as Flint brought the bottle to the baby's mouth. Marissa latched on immediately, and drank hungrily. Alison felt like a weight was lifted from her shoulders.

"See, she's okay," Flint said. He gazed down at the baby, and rubbed her cheek with his thumb. He was rewarded with a brief grin before she resumed eating.

Flint wore a matching grin on his face, and Alison realized that Marissa had already wrapped him around her little finger. "If only Cobra knew that the secret to taking down the great Flint Faireborn was a pretty brunette."

"Oh I think they knew. Why do you think I had so many encounters with the Baroness?"

"Cute," Alison replied with a smile. Marissa finished her bottle, and Alison looked at the clock. "I'll take her to get her ready for bed."

Flint shook his head. "No you're not. I want you to rest."

"You've been taking care of her all weekend."

"True. But by my calculation, I still need to make up about another 160 days before we're even."

Alison didn't argue any further. She kissed Marissa, and Flint took her away. Alison too got ready for bed. She smiled as she listened to the sounds coming from the other room. It seemed like she finally got her request for a normal family evening. However, the bandages on her shoulder reminded her that they were still far from normal.

She began to remove the bandages until Flint walked in. "Do you need help with those?"

"If you don't mind. I should put fresh ones on."

"Of course, I don't mind. I like taking care of my girls."

"And your girls appreciate all that you do."

Flint carefully removed the old ones and rewrapped the clean ones. Once he was done he leaned into her and gave her a long, deep kiss. "Make love to me," she whispered.

"Are you sure?" he asked huskily.

"I am. I really want you."

He was just as gentle. Due to her limited mobility, it was far from the most passionate sex they had shared, but it was one of the most intimate she had experienced.

Afterwards, they chatted for a little while, and Alison fell into a deep sleep. Marissa gave her standard wake-up call at 5 AM, but when Alison began to rise, Flint told her to stay in bed. She was so tired that she didn't argue.

She woke up a couple of hours later, feeling completely refreshed. Flint was still asleep next to her, and she decided to repay the favor of the previous night by giving him a chance to sleep late. She quietly got out of bed, and closed the door behind her. She tiptoed into Marissa's room and saw that she was already awake. As soon as Marissa saw her she let out a squeal and reached her arms towards her. "Shh, sweetie. I don't want you to wake up Daddy."

It was a bit of a juggling act, and quite a bit painful, but she was able to get Marissa out of the crib and into the rocker so she could feed her. Since it had been a day and half since she last took any medication, Alison felt it was now safe to nurse her daughter.

For the first time in months, she felt like she could truly relax and enjoy this moment. Usually this was done as she was half asleep and in a rush to get out of the house in the morning. She then heard the sounds of Flint's phone ringing. She cursed at the timing. Not only did she want him to catch up on some sleep, but based on the early hour of the call, someone needed him for something.

That was confirmed when he came into Marissa's room. "That was General Bradshaw."

Alison sighed. "Does he want you back at HQ?"

"No. Actually, it's the opposite. Since they need all the help they can get at the Pentagon, Duke is flying in with a team. General Bradshaw wanted to know if I could meet them at the airport and help get them situated. I told him I had to see how you were doing first."

"Dash, I'll be fine. You should go."

"Are you sure? It might be a few hours."

"I am. We'll be okay."

"I can drop her off at Mrs. Matthews on my way out if you want."

"No. I was just thinking that this is a nice opportunity to spend some quality time with her. If it gets to be too much, I can always bring her over later."

Flint seemed satisfied. He walked over to give both of them a kiss. "I'm going to take a shower, and then I'll make a quick breakfast."

"You don't need to do that."

"No. It's fine. They're not landing for a couple hours, so I have time."

Flint was true to his word. He showered, made her breakfast, and changed and dressed Marissa before he got her settled in her activity chair. Then, with a promise to only be gone a couple of hours, he left. Alison looked over at Marissa, and saw that she had fallen asleep.

She took advantage of the quiet time and lay down. However, her mind was uneasy and too unsettled for her to rest. Something about the Red Shadows had been nagging her ever since she learned the name of the new terrorist group. But between the pain and the medication, she had been too groggy to think clearly.

She was feeling better, and more clear-headed, so the answer finally came to her. This was not the first time she came across the Red Shadows name. She remembered a point more than a year earlier when she was still with the Joes and Chuckles had flagged a term that she had misinterpreted to mean the Crimson Darkness. Instead she realized that what she had actually come upon was the first references to the Red Shadows.

That had been a stressful time when she was struggling to hide her pregnancy and hold onto her job and relationship with Flint. She looked over at Marissa and even though it hadn't been that long ago, she had only vague memories of what it had been like being pregnant with her.

The reason for her chain of thoughts was that Alison wondered if because of her personal issues at the time if she had missed the signs of the Red Shadows potential power. Her conscience seemed to think so as it continued to nag at her. But the more she reminisced the more she became convinced that she had acted properly. She remembered flagging the term for follow-up, so even though her career path took a detour shortly thereafter, she knew others had been picking up the slack.

So that settled, she wondered why her sub-conscience was still hounding her. And then she remembered another reference to the shadows – the time she met the creepy old woman in Scotland. Even after all this time, the woman's words came back to her.

"You will give birth to a daughter that will bring you and your husband great joy." Alison looked at Marissa and smiled. That part was absolutely true. She remembered at the time that she didn't know for sure the sex of her baby, and she even had doubts about whether she and Flint would ever end up married. But they did, proving the first part of the woman's prophecy true.

Alison's breath caught as she had the awful thought that if the first half of the woman's prophecy was true than the second half must follow suit. "You will suffer a great tragedy once the evil in the shadows is revealed." She now guessed that the Red Shadows were the evil the old woman referenced. She tried to calm herself by saying that maybe the woman wasn't totally correct. She and Marissa had a close call, but they did escape their encounter without any lasting harm. But Alison was afraid this event was not what the women prophesized. She had an awful feeling that another Red Shadows attack was in their future, and they were not going to be as lucky during the next go-around. For a third time, she looked at Marissa sleeping peacefully in her chair. Alison was hit with an absolute crushing fear that their next encounter with the Red Shadows was going to have deadly consequences.