27.

*Joe*

The helicopter wasn't flying fast enough.

Sure, it was an enhanced helicopter with unbelievable autopilot and it cut down regular flight time by two hours, but it still wasn't fast enough. I wanted to be there now. My wife was… Well, actually, I didn't know if she was hurt or scared or what, but I knew that something was wrong and that was more than enough for me. I had hardly been able to wait until the end of all classes to leave.

I need to see you as soon as possible. It's an emergency. – Katelyn

'Emergency' isn't a word that operatives use lightly. In fact, I wouldn't even consider being cornered by twelve arms dealers an emergency. An operative missing three call-ins was an emergency. An operative trapped and dying in a shack in Russia was an emergency. A Code Black was an emergency. Emergency meant that something was excessively wrong, to the point that it was going to be nearly impossible to fix. And I knew that Katelyn wouldn't have used that word lightly. She was strong and independent, which meant that this 'emergency' – whatever it was – was something that she couldn't handle herself. Which meant that it was big.

When the helicopter landed, I all but sprinted off of it and began to head to a street to find a taxi. I found one, gave the guy an address close to my safe house, and we took off, though not fast enough. I couldn't exactly tell him that it was an emergency, though, so I sat back and forced myself to calm down. Freaking out wasn't going to do anything to help Katelyn.

I checked for tailing cars as we drove but, of course, there were none. I paid the driver when we arrived and then I got out and began to walk in a way that would help me detect a tail. The last thing that I wanted to do was lead anyone to Katelyn. And then the idea came that since she'd killed Antonio, maybe one of his guys was after her. But how would they know that it was her specifically? Hacking into the CIA computers was too tough for anyone that didn't have CIA training.

All of this was just confusing.

Finally, I made it to my house and I put the key into the lock, entered the numeric passcode, and opened the door. I rushed up the stairs and to the bedroom, where I knew that I would be able to find Katelyn.

She was sitting on the bed, her knees drawn up to her chest. She wore black sweatpants and a red Under Armor hoodie, with her Nike shoes kicked off and sitting on the floor. Her hair was in a high ponytail and she had on no makeup. She reminded me of a little kid. Trying to hide vulnerability.

"Katelyn?" I whispered softly, moving slowly closer. "Hey, Katelyn, love, what's wrong?"

She looked at me then, her blue eyes swimming with tears. "Please don't hate me, Joe."

"I won't hate you," I said, feeling a little nervous. What could she have done that would make her think that I would hate her? I checked her left hand for signs of Rider's ring, but she wore my ring, not his. She didn't look physically injured in any way; she wasn't wearing a cast or sporting any bruises.

"Yes," she whispered, you will. And a tear fell from her eye.

I moved to the bed and sat down beside her, pulling her into my arms, where she came willingly. Her head buried into the space where my neck and shoulder connected and her arms rested against my chest while mine were wrapped around her tightly, holding her against me. I could smell the perfume that she had used and it comforted me a little. It made me strong enough to ask, "Katelyn, what's going on?"

She sniffled and then took a deep breath before she pulled away from me and looked into my eyes, trying to be brave. "I'm… Joe, I'm…"

"You're what?" I asked, confused. I reached up to wipe the tear trail away from her face.

"I'm pregnant," she whispered.

Pregnant. "You're gonna have a baby?" I asked, even though I'm a highly trained operative with a perfect IQ score and I knew the definition of pregnant.

Katelyn nodded and looked down at her hands, which is when I noticed that she'd been chewing on her fingernails. Some were dangerously low. "I found out yesterday. That's when I sent you the message."

"My baby," I whispered.

She nodded and then looked up at me again, steady tears streaming down her face. "I'm so sorry, Joe."

"For what?" I asked, surprised, reaching out to pull her close to me again so that maybe she wouldn't feel so alone in all of this.

She sniffled and then took a couple of shaky breaths. "Most operatives don't want kids. I know that I never wanted kids. And we didn't plan this and I'm still living with my parents and we aren't living together and I just don't know how I'm supposed to deal with this…"

I held her tighter and kissed the crown of her head. "Katelyn, it's okay, love. You can't apologize for this happening. It's not wrong."

"What are we going to do?" she whispered, sniffling again.

I, too, had been asking myself that question. And then, I came up with an answer. "I'm going to get you out of there, Katelyn. You're going to come and be with me."

"How are you going to do that?"

"I'll send your parents a fake mission," I replied. "Something to lure them away long enough that we can get the things you need loaded onto a helicopter and get out of there. Okay?"

She nodded against my chest and I felt some of the tension in her muscles relax. "When are we doing this?" she asked.

"This weekend," I replied and kissed her hair again.