Shout-out to my reviewers:
liyun: Working on the update fast, writing by hand can be difficult!
Ghostwriter: Update coming soon!
Mistra Rose: Always nice to see a new fan! Thanks for the review, more soon!
Previously, in "Persuasive Tactics", Maggie and Jubal continue with their undercover op to bring down a criminal who trades girls on the black market. Jubal is injured after an explosion at the club where the op is taking place.
Author's Note: Chapters 5 & 6 will see a change in Maggie & Jubal's relationship but how big of a change will remain to be seen until I've posted the chapters.
Chapter Four
Maggie groans & coughs then glances around her as the smoke begins to clear. Her gaze falls to Amber, quickly scooting over but crying out in pain when she couldn't move very far. "Amber, can you hear me?" Maggie gets a tiny groan in response so the agent leans forward to focus on seeing what keeping her from going anywhere. Just above and slightly behind her kneecap was a fairly large piece of glass and Maggie reaches up to grasp the flower hair clip with a trembling hand. Removing the clip from her hair Maggie brings it down in front of her face. "I don't know if you guys can see or hear me but we need some ambulances. I'm okay and so is Amber but I've got a piece of glass stuck in my leg."
"Yeah, Maggie, we read you loud and clear," Kristen says before calling for the ambulances. When they arrive the African-American FBI analyst directs them to the club and to where Jubal lays on the ground, groaning.
From a safe distance with a blanket covering her shoulders Dana watches Kristen work her magic with the paramedics. "She'll make a fine agent one day, don't you think?" the older woman asks Stuart, a recent transfer from the D.C. office, in a quiet tone.
Stuart's gaze flickers to where Dana is looking, nodding once. "Yeah, I do agree; she deserves a shot to be one of us," he replies with a smile, though it didn't quite meet his eyes.
Down the street Jubal attempts to sit up but lays back with a groan when his head would only throb in pain. A paramedic notices him and moves over to him. "Sir, can you hear me?"
Jubal can only groan in response and the paramedic waves their partner over to help. Within a few hours Maggie is waking up to the steady beeping of a machine nearby but also to the warm steady breath on her cheek. Glancing down at the weight on her chest Maggie smiles, not surprised to see Abigail Valentine laying there asleep. When Maggie had first met the Valentine family…well that was an explanation all of its own. But Maggie's brief memory slips away as her gaze flickers to the man asleep in the chair beside her bed. She stifles a laugh at the sight he made with her two girls asleep on his chest, Jubal's mouth open slightly; drool caked to his chin.
Maggie is about to reach out for his hand when movement outside the door to her hospital room catches her eye. "Mom, they're in here," she hears Tyler Valentine call down the corridor and Maggie knows it's Samantha, Jubal's ex-wife. When she walks into the room Samantha greets Maggie with a soft genuine smile. "So you're the mom of the two girls Abigail can't seem to stop blabbering on about. It's nice to finally put a face to the name," the redhead says before taking a sip from her to-go coffee mug. And then, with a wave of her hand, Maggie is left alone again with everyone still sleeping around her.
Turning her head as much as she could with the top of Abigail's head pretty close to her chin, Maggie watches Jubal sleep with her girls tucked into the chair on either side of him. "Date me," Maggie hears Jubal mumble in a sleepy but still distinctive voice; surprising the female agent.
"Undercover me or regular me?" Maggie asks. She had to make sure he really meant what he was saying.
Sitting up slightly straighter Jubal opens his eyes a little, staring into Maggie's eyes. "Maggie Louise Bell, will you do me the great honor of going out with me?"
A few hours later nine different pairs of eyes blink in surprise after hearing the news about the date proposal. "Are you kidding me!?" Sam asks in demand & surprise as she and Jubal eat dinner in the hospital cafeteria. "We've just barely let the ink dry on the divorce papers and you're already proposing a date to another woman!?"
"What should I have done, asked her to marry me instead!? We both know how well that worked out," Jubal says in a flat monotone.
"You're so infuriating, Jubal. Just you wait, the relationship won't end well for either of you," Sam replies before getting up to walk the kids out.
Jubal sighs. He knows Sam is right, he was rushing into this in a head over heels tumble. Back in Maggie's hospital room, the older of her twins looks at Maggie. "Daddy would want you to be happy again, Mommy," Mattie tells her mother.
Jillian, the quieter of the two, pipes up in agreement. "You should totally say yes, Mommy!"
"Oh I should, huh?" Maggie says with a grin, reaching out to tickle Jillian as her daughter sits on Kristen's lap.
Dana & Kristen exchange a smile at this, knowing without a word that their plan to nudge Maggie & Jubal into taking a chance would work after all.