Shane sat stone-faced, while Kim gave her report on Steve's session. As Kim described what Steve had experienced, Shane's expression never changed. He just listened and jotted down the occasional note. When she finished, she stared at him.

"Don't you have anything to say?" she asked.

He leaned back in his chair. "I'm not sure what to say. We knew Lawrence was working on some type of chemical agent, most likely a chemical weapon." Shane glanced down at his notes. "This seems to confirm it, but I'll have to get our scientists to tell me exactly what we're up against."

Kim paced. Shane was taking this far too calmly. "I don't get it . . . . You're acting like it's an everyday occurrence that one of your friends was treated like a guinea pig and tortured."

"I know you think I don't care about Steve, but I do." Shane sighed. "It's just nothing Lawrence Alamain does surprises me. I knew Steve was one of his test subjects. I knew right after I saw him in Lawrence's compound. So I guess hearing the specifics doesn't shock me that much." He stood up from his chair and walked around the desk toward the library window. She watched his shoulders rise and fall as he took a few deep breaths.

Something Shane once told Kim popped into her head. It was fairly early in their relationship and she could not even recall the context, but Shane had said that in his line of work, he had seen a lot of terrible things. The thought reminded Kim that, because Shane was so often unable to tell her the specifics of his missions, a large part of his life had been mostly hidden to her. Often he had to keep the details secret, leaving her only with a sense of whether a mission had gone right or wrong. She could always tell when a mission had gone wrong. She learned to tell that from Shane's demeanor, and sometimes just from the way he made love to her.

"Shane . . . I know things have been awkward between us," Kim said, hesitantly. She worried that she might be crossing some unstated line, but she kept going. "Before anything else . . . we were friends. We could tell each things we never told anyone else. I . . . I told you about Uncle Eric. You told me about Emma. I'd like to think that even with the mess we've made of everything else, we at least could be friends again."

Shane turned and Kim saw the muscle along his jaw twitching, always a sign that Shane was struggling to control his emotions. "Kim . . ."

"We have too much history between us," she said. "And we have a son. We have to get back to the place where we can be open and trust each another."

After a long pause, Shane nodded and Kim detected a hint of a smile playing on his lips. "I guess that's probably a good idea, especially with us being in close quarters."

Kim was flooded with relief, and then decided to see if they could make some progress. "You mentioned knowing about Steve when you saw him in the compound. Can't you say anything about how you got Steve out of that place?" She paused. "It's not as if I don't know the ISA got Steve out, and I understand why it has to remain secret. In fact, technically, I'm part of the case right now since the ISA hired me to work with Steve."

Crossing back across the room, Shane made his way over to the ever-present tea set and poured himself a cup. He offered one to Kim, but she shook her head. She wanted answers.

"I have to admit. . . ." Shane said, taking a sip of his tea. "Your logic is impeccable. So what do you want to know?"

"How did you get Steve out, for starters? I assume you didn't just knock on the front gate and ask Lawrence's people to hand him over."

"No, that probably wouldn't have worked all that well."

"Don't be glib with me, Shane Donovan." Kim crossed her arms. "I'm serious."

"Okay, okay." Shane walked over to the couch and sat down. "We had an ODA."

"An 'ODA'? What's that?" Kim knew a fair amount of ISA terminology from living with Shane and then working on some actual cases with him, but that term was foreign to her.

Shane sipped his tea. "An 'Operation Detachment Alpha,' more commonly known as an 'A-team.' Green Berets, Kim."

Kim tried to stop her eyes from widening. She knew ISA missions sometimes involved the military. After all, Shane had met Alfred Jericho in Southeast Asia, when Jericho was an officer in army intelligence. But this was the first time Shane had ever mentioned being involved with soldiers on a mission. "So you waited for a team of Green Beret to clear out the compound and then went in and found Steve?" She waited for him to confirm that, but his silence and the creeping flush in his cheeks told her otherwise. Kim felt a little lightheaded. "You didn't wait for them to clear out the compound, did you?"

"Our intelligence said it was lightly defended." Shane shrugged apologetically. "It turned out our intelligence wasn't quite up to snuff."

Kim took a few quick breaths, wondering if maybe she should try the technique she had suggested to Steve to ward off flashbacks. "Have you ever wondered if Chief Tarrington wants you out of the way?"

"I don't think he'd have made me his second-in-command if that were the case." Shane still had a rather nonchalant air to him. "So going back to the compound. We went in, fought off the bad guys, and found Steve in a closet."

"Why do I feel like the 'fought off the bad guys' part is a little more complicated than that?" Kim said.

Shane nodded. "It was. . . . I just doubt you'd like the details. Anyway, you wanted to know about Steve. At first, he didn't recognize me. Maybe it was because I was in a uniform, but I don't think so. He was just out-of-it. And . . . well, you saw how weak he was when you first got to England. It was even worse there. At first, I didn't think he could walk. But he . . . Well, eventually, we got outside the compound and some of the soldiers carried Steve to the helicopter. That's it, really."

Kim knew there was a lot more, particularly by the way Shane looked away as she stared at him. He stood up and walked back over to the tea, ostensibly to refill his cup, but she suspected mainly to avoid her gaze. She decided not to push. It had been a major victory for Shane to open up even this much.

"Thanks for telling me that," she said. But then she remembered something else. "Steve mentioned someone. 'Deke' or something like that."

"Deakins." Shane finished filling his cup and turned back around. "He was one of the soldiers. But don't ask anything more about them. I've already told you more than I should've, and anything specific about the soldiers . . . I can't betray that trust."

Kim did not really understand what he meant, but Shane always had some unusual ideas about honor that she figured were derived from his ISA experiences. She chose to let the subject drop. "How about we discuss something else? Do you think what Steve said will get the ISA to back off?"

"I can't say for sure," Shane said. "But it should. It proves you're making progress." His eyes narrowed. "Did you tell Steve about the ISA? Was that what prompted him to talk?"

Kim shook her head vigorously. "No, he volunteered it. I think he felt he needed to tell me because of . . . because of Andrew."

"That makes a lot of sense." Shane pursed his lips for a moment. "If he thought it would help put Lawrence away and protect the family, Steve wouldn't hold back."

That's true, Kim thought, as looked away. Ever since Steve had become part of their family, he had proven that he would go to extremes to protect them. He had risked his life to save Bo and, even if he would probably deny it, to save Shane. Of course, Shane had returned the favor.

"Um, Kim. . . ." She looked back to see that Shane had walked back over to his desk and was leaning against it. "I probably should get back to work. I need to pass this information on to our science team. Unless there's something else. . . ."

"Actually, there is something else." Kim took a deep breath. "It's about Andrew. . . . We can't keep him locked up here like some prisoner."

Shane rolled his eyes. "He's not a prisoner, Kim. He can play in the gardens, he can have his friends over, and, with an adult, he can go to the stables. We just went for a ride."

"You know that's not what I mean," Kim said. "He should be in school with his friends and with Sami and Eric. Being told he can't go anywhere is going to reinforce his fear and make him think he's not safe."

"He's not safe." Shane looked confused. "I won't put Andrew in danger just because he might otherwise be scared."

"Isn't there something else we could do?" she asked. Shane shook his head, but then a thought dawned on Kim. "Shane, remember when I was working at the radio station and getting those letters?"

He nodded. "The letters that turned out to be from Jericho, right."

"You hired a bodyguard for me." Kim remembered how adamant Shane had been that she never go anywhere without him or the bodyguard. "What if we hired a bodyguard for Andrew?"

Shane narrowed his eyes. "And that won't reinforce his fear? Being followed around by a man with a loaded pistol always at the ready? "

"It will let him do what's normal for kids his age," Kim said. "He probably wouldn't even realize why the bodyguard is there."

"I don't know, Kim." Shane sounded so uncertain, but Kim could tell he was considering the idea, even as he added, "I mean . . . look what happened at Salem Elementary. A bodyguard couldn't have stopped that. If Andrew's out in public-"

"It will be different," Kim insisted. "It won't be like what happened at the school the other day, because the bodyguard will know to look out for signs of danger. You and Roman were surprised; someone who's hired to look for danger won't be." When her logic did not seem to effect Shane, she resorted to pleading. "Shane, we don't know how long this is going to last. We could barely get any evidence on Lawrence the first time and, even then, he's still a threat from prison. We can't have Andrew spending months or even years being kept away from anything public."

Shane took a deep breath. She could tell that he still did not like the idea of a bodyguard, but she could also see his resistance crumbling. "Fine," he muttered unhappily. "I'll check out some references and see if I can find someone we can trust. . . ."

Kim knew how he wanted to finish that sentence - someone we can trust our son's life to. She smiled softly. "Thank you. I know it's hard for you to do this, and I know it's important for you to be in control . . . . But no matter what, I know you love Andrew. . . ." Just like still you love me, but won't admit it. "And you'd never let anyone hurt our son." Shane looked a bit sheepish, so Kim decided not to say anything further. "I'll let you get back to work. I need to talk with Simmons about Jeannie's birthday party on Tuesday." She headed for the door, but stopped just before she reached the foyer and turned back. "And Shane. . . ."

He looked up from the desk and their eyes locked. "What? Is there something else?"

"No," Kim said. "I just wanted to thank you. For trusting me."