A/N: Hellooo my lovely readers! Hope you're all doing well! PLEASE READ THE END AUTHOR'S NOTE! Or check my profile regarding news on my moving and possible temporary absence!

Thank you so, so much to kiki, Mythical Words, RANDOM COOKIE NINJA, 3DWishea, TempusSimia, Happy2BeeMe, JellyBeane, ForeverTeamEdward13 and DreamingInATeacup for the reviews! I love hearing from you!

Hope you like this chapter, let me know what you thought!

. : Chapter 12: Hunter or Hunted? : .

"Aunty Evie," A small voice probed at the corners of my mind. "Aunty Evie, 'ake up."

"Mmhm?" I breathed, gingerly peeling open one eye to stare sleepily at the equally sleepy blue eyes inches from my face. "What is it, Benny?"

"I need'a ooze the baff'oom." He whispered.

I frowned. He what? It took a minute for it to click that he said he needed to use the bathroom. "Oh." I sat up and smiled at him, rubbing my eyes. "'Course you can, come on, I'll show you where it is." I took him down the hall and opened the door.

He staggered inside and closed it behind him. I smiled and shook my head. He was determined to be a big kid as soon as possible. I waited outside. I mothered him to much, but I couldn't help it. I didn't want him to grow up. Benny, poor unlucky baby, was the closest thing I'd get to a child of my own so…I fussed over him and spoiled him rotten. To put it simply.

I heard the flush and the 'splat' of his bare feet across the tiled floor as he emerged, reaching up and taking my hand.

"Did you wash your hands?" I asked, scooping him up.

He paused and shook his head. "Can't weach,"

I chuckled and took him back in, holding him up over the basin as he washed his hands. He wrinkled his nose at the flowery smelling soap and I laughed. "It won't kill you, hun. Come on, let's get you dressed and go find you some food." 'And, introduce you to the hoard of people that are undoubtedly downstairs devouring every crumb.'

After rummaging around in the nappy bags, I finally located his clothes. Little kids clothes are just the most adorable thing on the planet. Beside the little kid, that is. And the little shoes…ah hem. Okay, so I get mushy and sentimental over kids. Shoot me.

I'd just gotten him into the mini, dark blue jeans and had just turned to grab the 'Bob the Builder' shirt when he squealed happily and bolted out the door.

"Shit!" I hissed, he did this sometimes, and you had to chase him for ages. It was one of his favourite games. "Ben!" Mini shirt in hand, I flew out after him, Mutt bouncing excitedly on my heels.

He'd just scampered down the stairs as I got to the top one and took off through the sea of legs and disappeared. I leapt onto the rail and slid down, landing in a crouched position in time to see his small frame dart into the lounge room.

"Ben, get your butt back here!" I skidded around Embry, grabbing his arm to turn my momentum in the right direction and leapt over the lounge, earning a grunt and string of protests as I disrupted Vincent.

Ben was laughing joyously and he squealed and ran behind the recliner Sam was lounging on. Expertly, I followed him step for step until he ran into the middle of the room and made to go back into the kitchen. I closed the distance between us and plucked him up mid-run and threw him up into the air and caught him. He laughed and shrieked more as I blew on his stomach and cradled him in one arm and tickled him with the other.

"S-st-stop!" He cried, trying to grab my hand in both his smaller ones. "A-aunty Ev-ieee!"

I laughed and did as he asked, kissing his chubby cheeks as he panted. "No running around in this icebox until your dressed, m'kay? I don't want you getting sick, young man."

He nodded wordlessly and swayed a little as I perched him on the arm of Sam's recliner. My cousin was watching us with amused eyes. "Arms up," I instructed and Benny did so obediently and I pulled his shirt over his head. "Good boy." I picked him up again and cuddled him. "Okay, introduction time."

He lifted his head from my shoulder and looked around at all the grinning people shyly.

"This is my cousin, Sam," I pointed to each person as I said their names. "You remember Tashie, right? That's Vincent, Brady, Collin, Jared, Kim, Paul, Seth, Embry, Quil, Emily, Leah, Kevin, Max, Georgia and," I wrinkled my nose as Black watched me intently. He didn't look much better then he had last night. "Jacob." I finished, saying his name shortly then ignoring him. "Everyone, this is Ben."

They waved and smiled and said hello. Benny just buried his face in my neck under all the attention. I chuckled. "They won't bite, BB. If you ever need anything and I'm not here then I want you to ask Leah or Emily. You can go to Tashie, too, if it's not food you want," I poked my tongue out at my sister playfully. "And if their not around then you go to Georgia, and if she's not around that you go to Sam or Seth, okay?"

He didn't look up, but he nodded understandingly.

"What's wrong with the rest of us?" Embry asked, pouting at me.

I snorted. "Entrust the rest of you idiots with the most precious thing in my life? I don't think so. Is there any food left, or have you demolished it all?" I patted Seth's bare stomach as he sprawled out next to Vinnie. "One day you'll blow up."

He laughed and patted my shoulder. "Sure, whatever you say, Evie."

I rolled my eyes and took Ben over to the bench where the girls were. They smiled and 'awed' at him predictably. "Come on, kiddo, what do you want to eat? And it has to be something healthy since you got ice cream for dinner." I set him on the bench top and leaned down to look him in the eye. "Speaking of which, we'd better keep that between us, your Mum and Dad might not approve." I'd be lectured on proper eating for days.

Benny nodded seriously. "Okay."

I smiled brightly, reassuring him that nothing was wrong. "Awesome, now, if you ask Emily very nicely, she might have something for you to eat."

He looked at his lap nervously and I tilted my head to the side, nodding encouragingly. He took a breath and looked up, straight at Em, having no problem remembering who was who. "Excuse me, Emily." He said in a quiet voice. "May I p-please have something healthy to eat?"

I beamed proudly and ruffled his hair. "That's my boy."

Em stared at him, and then smiled. "Well I'll be…of course you can have something to eat, sweetheart. You're the nicest young man I've ever met. What would you like? I can do pancakes, toast, eggs, bacon, cereal, muffins…there's fruit to."

Benny looked at me imploringly. I chuckled. "You can have whatever you like, I won't tell." I winked and he giggled a little, before turning back to Emily, more confident.

"May I please have banana pancakes?"

Emily was already moving to get the ingredients. "Absolutely, honey."

"Hey Em…?" Max called in a whinny voice. "Can we…"

"No." She answered shortly, sending a glare in the boy's direction. "Ben has better manners then all of you put together. And you've already had breakfast."

"But we're still hungry!" Collin sniffled, in an attempt to look cute.

"Are you three and adorable?" Leah asked, putting her hands on her hips.

They shook their heads. "Not three…" Paul grinned wolfishly.

"Didn't think so, so shut up."

Ben was gawking at her and the guys, who were once again all shirtless, in stunned amazement. Leah looked down at him and her angry expression softened. "Hi, Ben, I've heard a lot about you." She pointed at me and smiled a little. "She talks a lot."

"He's my favourite godson, I'm aloud to talk about him as much as I like." I sniffed defensively.

"Aunty Evie?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm your only godson."

I grinned and laughed. "All the more reason for you to be my favourite then hey?"

He grinned. "Can we go to the theme park when we get home?" Ah, he always liked to use this power he had over me. Not that I minded in the slightest, I was the one who taught him to like all the good things.

I nodded. "Yep,"

"And to the movies?"

"'Course,"

"And can we go for a drive in the Enzo later?"

"Sure,"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Kevin intervened, waving his arms and pouting at me as sadly as humanly possible, he looked like a puppy that'd been denied food whilst being starved to death. "This kid gets everything he asks for!"

"Only if he asks me," I grinned.

"That's not fair." Quil pouted. "It took us ages to get you to let us even get in the Enzo! Even for Seth!"

I rolled my eyes. "A day is hardly ages. Don't be such sooks." I redirected my glare to the stairs when I heard the shrill ring of my phone. "'Scuse me, peoples." I flew up the stairs and dove on the device. "Hello?"

"Hey, Evie!" Dan's happy voice said. "How's things?"

"Fine, brilliant, how are you? Aren't you supposed to be working?"

"I am working. I'm perfectly capable to multi-task thank you." Now that he said that, I could hear the tapping of computer keys. "I couldn't resist ringing, I'm sorry. I had to check up on you both."

I laughed. "Well we're both fine, I promise. Everything alright there?"

"Yes, yes, everything is going according to plan. Yet we still have no idea how long it will go on for. I don't think I have ever missed America so much in my life." He complained.

I chuckled. "You're a sook, you know that right? Would you like to speak to your son?"

"I can spare a moment or twenty. How is he settling in? Are your family being nice to him? What's he doing now?"

"And I thought I was a mother hen." I laughed. "Dan, trust me, don't worry. I'll die before anything bad happens to Ben. He's doing just fine, the girls love him and I have the feeling he'll be spoiled rotten for his entire stay here." I smiled as I went back downstairs, grinning even wider when I saw Leah talking to Ben.

"That is hardly unusual. You spoil him all the time. Spoilt children develop bad characteristics…"

"Oh, don't be ridicules. Ben doesn't have a mean bone in his body. Besides, you know I'll do what I like, no matter what you say, so you might as well save your breath, brother."

"Har de har har," He muttered. "Very funny."

"Ben, would you like to speak to Daddy?" I asked, ignoring Dan's mournful complaining with great amusement.

Ben perked up and nodded eagerly. I handed over the phone and he pressed it to his ear excitedly. "Daddy!"

I smiled and left him to it, drifting around the other side of the bench to help Emily with his, and probably my, breakfast. I smiled brightly at her and she matched it. Wordlessly I started chopping up bananas and dropping them into the mixture she'd not long finished making. The house was oddly quiet, yet no one had left. The only real noise was Ben babbling away happily into my phone.

"What's with the silence?" I asked, handing Emily the banana mix so she could start cooking. "He's not that hard of hearing that you all have to be deathly silent, you know." My eyes briefly locked with Black's, through no fault of my own, but before anyone could respond Benny was holding the phone out to me.

"Aunty Evie, Daddy wants to talk to you!" He said in a sing song voice, the tone that we'd taught him to use when someone was in trouble.

Ha, I'd like to see Danny try and get one over on me. I plucked the phone from the tiny hand and kissed the chubby cheek. "Thanks, BB. Hi, Daniel, what can I do for you now?"

"Those brief cases are catch up. The girls want you up-to-date, something about some week in Paris? Anyway, it needs to be done, and I think Maddy put in something extra she wants your help with."

I nodded to myself. I'd forgotten about Paris, it was the fashion week/show thing soon, so not my thing, but the girls were ecstatic about it. "Yep, no problem, I'll get onto it right away." As soon as I've had breakfast…and possibly done some other stuff.

"I know what your thinking, and I may allow you to eat, but then it has to be done. ASAP, Eva, got it? Maddy said it was important…" The unmistakable sounds of rapid gunfire sounded over the phone and Dan cursed. He never curses. He's like the geeky Boy Scout for crying out loud.

"Dan?" I asked hurriedly. "Daniel! What's going on?"

"I've got to go, take care of Ben, we love you both, bye." The line went dead and I swore under my breath.

Chewing on my lip to the point of almost drawing blood, I turned around and ran my hands through my un-brushed hair. This was just brilliant. I felt so useless here, doing nothing, when I should be in the thick of it with Maddy. Making sure she came home to Dan and Ben every day. Damn, I'm never taking a holiday again.

Emily cleared her throat. "Evie, is everything alright?"

"What? Oh…yeah, fine." I sighed and dropped my phone on the bench, slumped in a chair at the table and dropped my face into my hands. I couldn't help it, I was worried.

Before long I felt tugging on my pants leg and lifting my face, I saw Benny looking up at me with a scared expression. I sat up straighter and he climbed into my lap.

"Is Mummy and Daddy gonna be okay?" He asked as he curled into me.

I wrapped my arms around him and smiled tiredly at Emily as she placed a full plate of the mouth-watering pancakes in front of us. I glared at the boys who eyed it hungrily. "Of course, baby. They'll be fine and home before you know it. I promise." I kissed his forehead and turned him towards the plate. "Eat up, I'm just gonna run upstairs and take a shower okay? Leah will stay with you." I lifted him off my lap and got up, setting him back down on the chair.

He pouted at me but this time I stayed firm. "I'll be back soon, sweetheart, don't let that get cold, okay? Remember to thank Emily, won't you?" He nodded and I ruffled his hair. "Good boy."

'Maddy said it was important…' If Maddy was trying to drag me away from my vacation time-which she always insisted I needed more of-to go back to work-which she insists I do to much of-then 'important' must be dire. And dire was probably not good.

My hands expertly snapped open the locks on the metal briefcase after I closed the door behind me. An A4 envelop lay across the top with my name scrawled across the top in Maddy's elegant handwriting. I lifted it up and smiled at the laptop resting underneath it. I pulled out the papers from the envelope and frowned slightly at the letter on top, written in the same perfect handwriting, only in Arabic.

Hi, Evie,

Make sure your alone for this. I only received this info this morning and so far, I'm the only one that knows. I picked it up on one of the security cameras in an LA airport. This is your call. Whatever you decide to do I'll be right behind you. This bloody Indian assignment has undesirable timing, so please, I beg of you, don't do anything until I get back.

I know nothing more then what is enclosed in this envelope and I've left it up to you to decide how you want this handled. I wish I could have told you this in person but our job has yet again interrupted.

Take good care of my son, and yourself. I'll contact you as soon as we get home. Give my love Ben, you'll no doubt hear from Daniel some time.

Love, your sister,

Maddy

I frowned; even more confused, and tentatively pulled the letter aside to view the next sheet. It was a flight timetable for the aforementioned Los Angeles airport from yesterday morning. The flight from St Petersburg- Russia to LA that landed at ten past seven was highlighted orange. I pulled it aside to and I swear my heart stopped at the CCTV print out.

Dressed simply in dark jeans and a green and white t-shirt with a backpack slung over his shoulder, was Adam Taylor, strolling across the terminal like he owned the godforsaken world. The picture wasn't the greatest of qualities but it was good enough to see that he'd had a hair cut and that he still wore the leather necklace with the real shark's tooth.

I felt like I'd been punched in the gut, I couldn't breathe, couldn't blink, couldn't look away from the face that I'd know anywhere.

I checked the VP70 9mm semi-automatic hand gun for what seemed like the millionth time and sighed. It was as perfect as the first time I'd checked it. This drop was the most boring thing I'd done all week. And I thought that nothing could top the plane ride to Italy on Tuesday.

"Stop fidgeting, Evie!" My partner's voice came across the coms' unit in my ear. "You'll give away your position for god's sake."

I scoffed. "Unlikely, I highly doubt their eyesight is good enough to see me all the way over here. Can't you hurry up? I'm dying out here and I could really go for a rice cracker with cheese and tomato sauce…"

"That's disgusting, honey." Said another amused voice.

It immediately brought a smile to my face. "Shush, Adam, let's not forget whose fault my cravings belong to."

"Takes two to tango, baby."

"Urgh, would ye both be quiet before I'm sick?" Adam's partner, Joey, groaned in his Irish accent. Really, there was a Brit working for the CIA and an Irishman working for MI6. Adam and I were the only ones working for the countries we were born in.

"Alright, alright, can we be professional for five minutes and get this over with?" Maddy asked. I could picture her on the roof top across from the warehouse, scowling at us.

"Yeah, hurry up boys, I'm starving out here." I added cheekily. Adam and Joey were in the warehouse with the package ready to hand over to Austria in exchange for their package. Maddy and I were positioned so far away that we needed binoculars, or in Maddy's case, the sniper rifle's scope, to see the doors. Okay, so I was exaggerating a little, I wasn't that far away…but still…

I hummed softly and rested my free hand over my stomach and smiled. Six more months and I'd be holding the life that was currently growing inside me in my arms. Tyler messaged me just the other day and told me it was a boy. My little Oliver, my precious baby boy.

We've been so busy running around the world that I haven't gotten a chance to tell Adam the news yet. He'll be thrilled, I know. Even though he said he'll be overjoyed no matter what sex our baby is, I know he wants a son. Someone he can teach to play football and talk cars with. Not that he wouldn't love it if it was a girl, but there's always next time for that.

'Next time?' I thought, a smile lighting up my face yet again. I hadn't even had this baby and already I wanted another one? Yes, another one would be nice…

"Adam! What the bloody hell are ye doing, boy?" Joey's voice screamed over the coms unit.

"What?" I yelped. No, nothing could go wrong, not this time, not now! This was my last mission before I took pregnancy leave, nothing could go wrong! "Adam? What's happening?" A string of Austrian, which I have yet to learn, filtered across the coms unit followed by Joey's shouts and pounding footsteps.

I leapt from behind the building opposite and ran towards the warehouse entrance, ignoring Maddy's orders for me to stop. It all went in slow motion then, all I could hear was the yelling over the coms but it all sounded like gibberish to me. I was less then fifty metres from the old warehouse when it erupted in a bright cloud of orange and the noise shattered my eardrums.

The force of the explosion flung me backwards and pain exploded in my abdomen as smoke and flames licked up the building that contained my lover and so much more. I screamed, half in pain of my injuries and half in fear for Adam. My world became fuzzy and I barely recognised Maddy's panicked voice near me yelling for help through her phone. Barely felt her hands on me and didn't register her words. Pain clouded every sense until finally it all went black.

I sniffled as I pushed the memory of that day away and wiped my damp cheeks. I hadn't seen or heard from Adam since that day. And to my knowledge, neither had anyone else I knew. I toyed with the idea that he was dead sometimes, but I knew he wasn't, because we never found his body in the destroyed warehouse.

Joey had survived, just, but the Austrian agents had perished in the explosion. It was only from Joey that we learned basically what happened. The forty year old had just managed to dive into what would have been the office when the warehouse was still in use and it had luckily shielded him from the worst of the bomb.

Not good enough though, Joey was now a paraplegic having lost the use of both his legs. Adam wasn't his favourite person now. That hurt us too. Even though it was a joint mission between England and the United States he shouldn't have betrayed his partner. Our partners are our only hope in the field. The only person you can depend on, or are supposed to be able to depend on.

And yet…Adam had ruined Joey's life.

Joey told us that as soon as the meeting started it didn't go according to plan. Adam started asking about other things, I don't know what, but the Austrian didn't take kindly to it and pulled a gun.

Adam pulled a detonator and threatened to blow to place to kingdom come if he wasn't given both packages. From what Joey could remember Adam got both, then ran. The Austrian's went after him and he pushed the button.

I sat heavily on my bed and stuffed all three papers back into the brown envelope. I don't know if Adam knew I was hit in the blast. I don't know if he knew he'd killed his son. I don't know why he's back in the country.

If I hadn't gone to help him, if I hadn't been hurt, Oliver would be a month old now. Was that why he was back? Did he think he had a child here somewhere? He was in the wrong city if he was looking for me, though. What do I do now? Tell my agency or hunt him myself? Or just ignore it and stay away from him? I don't know.

I lifted the laptop out of the briefcase and set it aside on the bed. The top of the padding had flicked up as I'd pulled it out. I pulled it right out of the case and stared at the twin Smith & Wesson M&P series .45 ACP handguns nestled snugly in the bottom of the case. Their magazines lay next to them and boxes of cartridges were tucked into the foam packaging as well.

Maddy was obviously worried that he'd come looking for me.

Shit.

A/N: And the plots thickens! :D Hope you all enjoyed this chapter, it was certainly fun to write, but I'm not so sure if the beginning sounds alright or not…?

As you know, my family and I are moving in the next couple of days (if it doesn't rain and push back the schedule) so I can't really say for sure when I'll be able to update again. We won't have internet straight away, and I have no idea how long it will take to have that set up. I will try to post another chapter before we go, as a make up for absence, but if I can't, I'll just post several when I have net again.

Really sorry about this, but there's not much I can do!

Thank you so much for reading! Hope you liked it!

Please review!

~Meg xx