Kayla had told Dru that she wasn't sure whether she'd make it into
work that day or not.  She was still iffy about it all.  He had
already left for work and to drop Kyleigh off at school.  But after
pacing for a good thirty minutes and feeding Emery, Kayla finally
decided that she was going into work.  She dressed and dressed Emery
before taking her out to the car and locking her carrier into the car
seat base.  Getting into the driver's seat, she took a deep breath
before securing her seat belt and starting the car.

Rafe sat in his new SVU, figuring he needed to change his vehicle
after his run in with Kayla at the park incase she saw what he was
driving.  He sat down the street watching Kayla get into her SUV
making sure Emery was strapped in.  Rafe patted the Great Pyrenees
puppy lying on his lap that he still had yet to name.

After a couple minutes of just sitting there, Kayla started down the
street trying to make herself as confident as possible about going
into work with Emery.  She just couldn't see leaving her with anyone...

Starting up his small SUV and followed her down the road.  He had to
plan this perfectly or everything would be screwed up.  Rafe waited
for a few turns until he had found a spot where there was hardly any
traffic.  He saw her turn on her blinker and started accelerating
behind her.  Holding onto the puppy in his lap he smashed into the
back of Kayla's SUV sending the front into a telephone pole as she
began her turn.

Kayla had been taken by surprise and had hit the steering wheel right
before the airbags went off.  Luckily having a newer vehicle, the SVU
was equipped with airbags all around.

Emery screamed in the background, pulled from her happy state of
playing with the butterfly toy that was hung on the car seat.

Rafe put puppy down on the passenger seat and got out of his vehicle
heading over to Kayla's SUV.  He glanced in the driver side window
making sure Kayla was ok then opened up the back door and saw Emery
screaming in her car seat.  "Hey sweetie… it's ok…" he whispered and
unbuckled her from her car seat.  Rafe carefully picked her up and
made sure to grab the baby bag on the floor that Kayla had backed and
any toy that was on or around the car seat.

Looking at Kayla, Rafe headed back to his SUV that was hardly damage
just a few dents in the front bumper.  He opened up his back door and
placed Emery in the car seat he had gotten and strapped her in.
"Shhhh it's ok sweetie…"  He kissed the top of her head as she kept
scream, obviously traumatized by the accident.

Emery's screams slowly brought Kayla out of it, and she slowly lifted
her head.  She looked over her shoulder and saw the car seat there,
but the door open.  "Emery..." she whispered as she tried to open the
door, but kept missing the handle.  After a few more tries, she
managed to get it open.  Reaching down, she pressed the button and her
seat belt was released.  Holding heavily onto the door, she managed to
get out of the vehicle and then she saw Rafe behind doing something...
  "Emery..."

Rafe got into his SUV and slowly backed up picking up his cell phone
before driving away heading for the airport.  He heard one of his men
answer the phone, "ready the jet."  That was all he said before
hanging up.  He drove a little farther before calling 911 to report
the accident; he didn't want Kayla to be hurt or seriously injured.

Kayla moved to the back of the SUV and reached in and ran her hand
along the car seat.  Where was Emery?  Tears fell down her face,
"Emery...  Emery!"  Her head was pounding, and looking around just
made her even dizzier and she slowly slid down the vehicle.

Emery continued to cry.  She didn't like this seat, it wasn't the
same.  It didn't have her butterfly toy hanging up.

Rafe continued to drive towards the airport, and looked back in his
mirror every once and a while.  "Shhh… it's ok Emery…We're just going
on a little trip."  He said softly trying to calm her down and smiled
seeing his puppy sit up and looked back at the baby wondering what was
going on.

The baby just continued to cry, "Da...Ma..." she cried out waving her
arms around.  She wanted someone to come and check on her.  She wasn't
used to crying for so long.

Rafe got to the airport and stopped the car near the jet.  He climbed
out and slowly got Emery out of her car seat and grabbed everything,
then headed towards the jet.  Rafe looked at the man standing at the
bottom of the stairs.  "Get my bags and my puppy out of the car."  He
ordered him and headed up the stairs taking a seat holding Emery in
his arms.

Emery coughed a bit as she tried to catch her breath and looked up at
the man.  He wasn't her mom or her dad.  Why was he holding her?  She
just sniffled as she studied him.

"Hey sweetie…" He said softly and smiled brightly at her.  "You're too
adorable."  Rafe bounded her on his knee slightly.

"Mamam..." she said looking around.

"You're coming home with me sweetie…" Rafe smiled at her and tried
tickling her belly softly.

"Mamam..." she said again frowning up at him.

"I know sweetie…" he reached down and grabbed one of her toys from the
bag.

Emery grabbed the toy and then frowned up at him.

"You'll be ok."  He smiled.  "We're going to have a good time in
Australia."

"Mamam...Da...Dadadadda..." she babbled looking down at the toy and
waving it around a bit.

"Ya play with your toy sweetie."  He smiled and held her in his lap.

Emery sighed and then threw the toy onto the floor and looked down at
it and then up at Rafe.

"You don't want that one?" Rafe asked before bending down to get it.

"Mamam..."

"Emery mom was not nice… she wouldn't let daddy see you."  He said
softly.  "I'm your daddy…"

Emery just looked at him weirdly and then started to cry.

"Shh… it's ok…" Rafe soothed and brought her up against his chest and
rubbed her back gently.

"Mamam...Dada..." she whispered sniffling.  She wanted them.  She
liked them.  She wasn't used to strangers.

"You're ok…" Rafe whispered rubbing her back and kissing the side of
her head.

She sniffled more, but settled against his chest, letting her head lay
there as her little body relaxed.

"Shhh… you're ok…" Rafe said softly still rubbing her back in soothing
circles.

Bringing her hand up, she stuck her thumb in her mouth and sucked on
it.  She wanted her mommy or daddy.  Normally, she wouldn't suck her
thumb, but she wanted the comfort of it.

Rafe continued to rub her back in soothing circles and held her close.
  "You'll be ok…"

Emery just laid there sucking her thumb not really paying any
attention to the man.

"Hey Emery you like puppies?"  He asked turning her around so she
could see his puppy bounding around.

She just looked at the puppy and then back down quietly.  That wasn't
one of her puppies.

"He's your puppy." Rafe smiled and held her on his knee.

Emery just frowned a bit as she sucked on her thumb.  He was so not
her puppy.

"Sweetie you shouldn't suck your thumb." He explained to her before
searching through the bag for a pacifier.

But she kept sucking it anyways ignoring him.  If her mommy or daddy
were there they would be playing with her and she wouldn't have been
upset in the first place and wouldn't need to suck her thumb.  This
guy was crazy to think he was gonna get her to stop.

Rafe couldn't find a pacifier, but started pulling out toys offering
them to her and dancing them around trying to get her attention.

"Mamam..." she said softly before putting her thumb back into her mouth.

"She's not here sweetie…" Rafe explained trying another toy.

"MAMAMAMAMAMAM!!!" she cried out pushing the toy away.

"Shhh… she's not here."  He explained.

Emery just glared at him before sticking her thumb back into her
mouth.  She wanted her mom.

Rafe smirked seeing her glare at him, "you are so much like your mother…"

"Mamam!!!" Emery said brightening up a bit thinking that her mom was
coming.

"No sweetie… moms not coming."  He explained softly.

She frowned and stuck her thumb back in her mouth.  He was being
mean...making her think she was going home with her mom...

"You need to sleep Emery…" he explained.  "We have a long flight."

"Mamam..."

"No mom."

"MA! MA!" Emery said practically shouting.

"And there's the Lopez side… you're defiant like my sister…" He
sighed, shaking his head.

"Mamam!" she continued.  "MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA!!!!"

"Shhhhh calm down…" Rafe said calmly.  He knew this was going to
happen and that it would take a while for her to get used to him, but
he just had to be patient with her.

"MAMAMAM!!!" she looked around trying to see if her parents were
coming for her.  "Mamam...Dada..."

"They're not coming."  He explained to her lowly.

Emery frowned, "Mamam.  Dada."

"No kiddo they aren't coming…"

And in went the thumb again as she glared.

Rafe just smirked at her, "so much like my sister."

Emery just looked away from him.

~*~*~

Rafe heard the pilot announce their approach to the runway and soon
enough they were at a complete stop.  There was a jeep there equipped
with a car seat and Rafe strapped Emery in and made sure the puppy was
comfortable in the back before putting in the bags.  He got in and
began his drive to his isolated beach house on Trinity Beach in the
Queensland's of Australia.

Emery started screaming.  She wanted to go home to her mommy.

"Shh… We're almost there…" Rafe explained driving down the street
towards his house.

She continued to scream and cry.  "Mamam..." she cried.

Rafe continued to tell her it was going to be ok and to quiet down.
He was just glad that they were almost to his house.  Turning down
another street getting closer to his house, he approached the front
gate signaling to the guard to open up the gate.  It slowly opened and
Rafe drove up the long driveway to his house.

She gasped for air, stop breathing for a couple seconds, before
sucking air in and screaming again.

Stopping in front a few people came out from the house to get the bags
and take the car to the garage.  Rafe unbuckled Emery and picked her
up holding her against his shoulder.  "Shhhh… we're home…" He bounced
her gently before walking up the stairs into the house.

Emery cried and waved her arms about, "Mamam..."

"She's not here…" Rafe explained to her and headed up the stairs
hearing the puppy bounding up after them.

She flailed her arms around and hit Rafe in the side of the head.  She
wanted her parents, he was being mean.

"Oww…" Rafe mumbled.  He grumbled a little bit, knowing that if Kayla
had just let him see her they wouldn't be in this position.

Emery continued to cry.

Rafe brought her up to the nursery and walked out onto the balcony.
"Look sweetie the ocean."

She just sniffled as she tried to catch her breath.  Where was her
daddy and mommy at?

Rafe walked over to the wooden rocking chair that was outside on the
balcony and sat down.  He slowly started to rock holding her close and
after a few minutes started singing an Argentinean lullaby that his
mother used to sing to him when he was upset.

===============

Dr Makayla Michaels, MD
APO Field Agent
Medical Unit

Rafe Lopez
Drug/Weapons Dealer
Masq

Emery Carissa Michaels

Kayla sighed as she carried Emery into her and Dru's bedroom.  "I
don't feel safe leaving her with anyone, Dru…  Can I take her to work
with me?  Director Shaw would probably completely flip…"  She sat
down on the edge of the bed, holding Emery close.  She had already
looked on Kyleigh again and had changed the baby into her pajamas
before finally heading to the bedroom.

"You could call and ask..." He suggested. "But I don't know." He
shrugged, walking over and sitting next to her. "Maybe you're not
ready to go back yet."

  "It's been seven months...if I don't go back soon I might not be
able to go back at all," she told him frowning.

"Well, if you're not safe leaving her with someone then going to work
would be pointless. You'll just be worried about her the entire
time..." He pointed out, brushing a strand of hair away and tucking
it behind her ear gently.

"But if I could take her with me...if we weren't in the field...  I
mean, Kyleigh's not safe either, but Emery's more of a target," Kayla
tried to explain her worries.

"Da!" Emery said holding out her arms to Dru.  A smile on her face as
she wiggled her arms at him.

Reaching over, Dru took the squirming child from Kayla and held her
on his lap, smiling at her before looking back at Kayla. "Maybe if
you explain the circumstances to Shaw she'll understand."

"That or call me paranoid," Kayla grumbled before getting up and
going over to pull out her nightgown.  "I just...she's good...she
wouldn't be any trouble..."

"I know..." He smiled down at the little girl, whispering to her
quietly before looking back over at Kayla. "She might not have a
problem with it, you'll never know if you don't try asking."

"Da!  Da!" she shouted pulling at his clothing happily.

He smiled at her. "Aren't you supposed to be sleepy?" He asked.

"Da!" Emery just giggled.

Kayla smiled and quickly changed into her nightgown. "She's such a
good girl..."

"Yes, she is." He grinned, tickling her sides lightly.

Emery giggled and tried to get his hands and keep him from stopping.

Dru smiled and stopped, not wanting to tickle her too much. Leaning
forward, he kissed the tip of her nose lightly, still smiling.

Kayla watched them smiling and sat down next to them wrapping her
arms around both of them.  Laying her head on Dru's shoulder she
whispered, "She loves her daddy..."

Dru smiled and kissed the top of Kayla's head. "And she loves her
mommy..."

"Can she sleep with us?" she asked looking up at him.  "Please...?"

"Ok." He smiled. "Doesn't look like she's ready to go to sleep,
though..."

"Of course not...she's not been trained yet...because her mother has
been crazy lately..."

"Oh right, crazy mom."

"I'll totally take the blame for it..."

Dru just shook his head at her before looking back at Emery.

"So, maybe I'll try going in tomorrow...after dropping off Kyleigh."

"Ok... as long as you think you're ready..."

"Well, it's not like I can take a leave for eighteen years…and even
then I may not be ready," Kayla responded.

Dru grinned at her.

*~*~*

Dr Dru Michaels, MD
APO Field Agent
Medic Unit

Dr Makayla Michaels, MD
APO Field Agent
Medic Unit
Emery Carissa Michaels

"You can't do this Kayla... It's not fair..." He told her as she
walked away.

Dru had finally caught the growing puppy and was heading back with
her when he saw Kyleigh take off for the SUV. He frowned, something
wasn't right. Looking further over, he noticed Kayla standing,
talking to someone; he couldn't quite make out who it was at the
distance he was at. He began to pick up speed, wanting to know what
was wrong.

"Leave us alone!" she yelled over her shoulder and when Emery started
to cry she whispered her apologizes and bounced her a bit.

"You won't keep me from my daughter Kayla... no matter what you do...
I'll see my daughter."  Rafe explained before seeing Dru rushing over
to them.  He huffed and picked up his puppy then walked away before
they started a public scene.

Kayla started to run towards Dru, she just wanted to go.  Emery was
crying, but she didn't want to stop until she got to Dru.  She was
too freaked that Rafe would take her.

Dru stopped when he met Kayla. "What's wrong?! Who was that!?"

She handed Emery to Dru remembering that she had left the carrier
back at the bench and they couldn't leave without it.  "Take her and
get into the car...I'll be right back," she told him before running
back.

Rafe had left where her was standing and went over under a tree and
watched everything play out.  He wasn't the bad guy in this...she was
for not letting him see his daughter.

Kayla went back and picked up the carrier and the basket and headed
back to the car.  The brief encounter scared her, their lives had
been so perfect for the last several months and now this?

"Kayla, who was that?" Dru asked again as Kayla walked up to him and
the car.

"Rafe," she barely whispered as she started to snap the carrier into
the base and then put the basket into the back figuring that Dru had
Emery and could put her in.

"What...?" He asked, just staring at her.

"He's demanding visitation," she told him quietly.

"He's a fugitive... there's no possible way he's getting
visitation..." Dru said, carefully buckling Emery into her seat.

"He threatened to do anything to get to see Emery and be a father to
her," Kayla told him quietly.

"He can try whatever he wants... it's not going to happen... we'll go
to APO, they can give us protection against him until he's caught...
he won't be stupid enough to come around if we've got agents around
us..." He tried to reassure her.

Kayla dropped her gaze, "I had hoped he'd just leave us alone..."

"He will, Kayla..." Dru said, wrapping his arms around her briefly.
He stared down at her. "He will because as soon as he makes the wrong
move he's going to go away... for good..."

"Last time APO made me let him go..." she whispered.  "Sometimes I
wish we could just disappear..."

"It'll be ok, Kayla..." He promised.

"Can we go home?" she asked in a whisper.

"Yeah... c'mon..." He led her up to her door, opening it up for her
to get in before closing it and jogging around to the driver side,
getting in and quickly starting the SUV.

She immediately pushed the lock button on her door and locked all the
doors, "It's not fair..." she whispered.

"I know..." He said softly, reaching over and brushing her hair
behind her ear gently before pulling out of the parking lot.

Wrapping her arms around herself she rocked herself a bit before
looking into the back and seeing both dogs quietly sitting and
Kyleigh with her head down.  Frowning, she reached back and ran her
hand through her niece's hair, "I'm sorry...Honey..."

Kyleigh just nodded and stayed quiet.

"How about we go home and we'll order pizza and watch some
movies...?" Dru suggested, glancing at Kyleigh through the rear-view
mirror.

"Kay," she whispered.

Kayla tried to put on a smile for her, "Hey, I'll take you to school
extra early on Monday and you can play on the playset with your
friends.  How about that?"

"Dru takes me," Kyleigh responded.

Kayla just frowned

Dru sighed, heading for the house. This hadn't exactly turned out how
it was supposed to...

Kayla rested her head against the window and closed her eyes trying
to stay calm.  It had taken her a long time to be able to be calm and
not constantly freaking out about things...  But this...  She
wouldn't let Rafe take away Emery...

"It'll be ok..." Dru said softly, reaching over with his free hand
and wrapping it around her hand.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"You don't have anything to apologize for..." He said softly,
glancing at her.

"If I had just died during the transplant none of this would have
happened," she whispered.  It wasn't that she wasn't happy with Dru,
it was the pure fear of what could happen to her family...

Dru stopped the car and looked at her. "Don't ever say that again..."

She looked up at him with tears in her eyes, "I'm sorry, Dru...  I
just want him to leave us alone...  He acts like he can just walk
right up and start being her father.  It's not fair...  It's too
much..."

"I know... I know it is... We'll take care of it... I promise you
that, Kayla..."

"I'm hungry," Kyleigh told them.  "And Emery has her hand in her
mouth!"

"She's ok..." Dru said, glancing back at them before he got the car
moving again. They were back at the house a few minutes later and Dru
got out to let the dogs and Kyleigh out and into the house, letting
Kayla get Emery.

Kayla didn't take any time to talk to Emery or anything, she unlocked
the carrier from the base, closed up the car and headed in after Dru
and Kyleigh.  She wanted them safe in the house.

After everyone was inside Dru went around, locking all the doors and
turned the alarm system he had had installed on. Once that was done
he walked into the living room and looked at Kyleigh. "Ok, why don't
you
pick out a couple movies and I'll order some pizza?"

"Is Rafe gonna take us away again?" Kyleigh asked quietly looking up
at Dru.

"No... no, you don't worry about Rafe... He's not coming anywhere
near us..." He tried to assure her. "Go pick out some movies, ok?" He
added in a softer tone.

"Can I get Hippo?" she asked quietly.

"Of course..."

Kyleigh hurried to her room and grabbed Hippo from his chair.  Hippo
had been something she had held onto after everything, but had
started to fade out of it...but now, she needed him.  "C'mon Hippo,"
she whispered petting his head before squeezing him tightly in a hug
as she headed back out to pick out movies.  "She pulled out Pirates
of the Caribbean and Finding Nemo before sitting on the floor near
Secret.

Dru called and placed an order for pizza and soda before returning to
the living room. "Did you pick out the movies, kiddo?" He asked,
walking over to Kyleigh.

"Yeah," she responded quietly hugging Hippo.

Kayla had gone and had taken Emery to her room.  In the nursery, she
sat down with Emery in the rocker, holding her close as she slowly
rocked.  The thought of losing her little girl scared the hell out of
her.

Dru took the movies, picking Pirates and walking over, putting the
movie into the DVD player and turning the television on. He grabbed
the remote and walked over. Bending down, he picked Kyleigh up, Hippo
and all, carrying her over to the couch with him. Once there, he
plopped down, setting Kyleigh next to him and wrapping an arm around
her, pressing play when the menu came up. "I'm sorry about what
happened, today, Kyleigh." He said softly, looking down at her. He
knew it was affecting her as well as Kayla.

"Do we have to hide again?" she asked him.  "I like it here.  I like
our house.  I like my school.  I don't want to move..."

"No, no... we're staying right here..." He assured her. "Promise." He
added with a slight squeeze.

Kyleigh looked up at him, "We can't even have a picnic at the
park...it's not fair..."

"We will be able to... ok? Soon everything will be normal again...
We'll be like a normal family, only with secret agent identities." He
said with a smile, trying to get her to smile.

"Does this mean Colby and Madison are going to try to hurt us again,
too?" she asked sadly.

"But you couldn't protect me before when they sent me to grandma and
grandpa's and then came and took me to Italy..."  Kyleigh frowned, "I
don't like needles...and Aunt Madison likes to poke me with them and
it makes me feel sick..."

"That will never, ever happen again, Kyleigh..." Dru said in a steady
voice, trying to keep his anger out of it. He couldn't believe she
had done that to a child, it wasn't right. And it also wasn't right
what Kyleigh had already gone though at her age.

"I don't believe you," she told him quite bluntly.  "You took forever
to find me in Italy and then Hippo was missing!!! And then Rafe found
us up on vacation and now he found us again!"

"I'm sorry, Kyleigh..." Dru said softly, he honestly didn't know what
to say.

"I don't like that you and Aunt Kay are super secret agents anymore,"
she grumbled.  "And we're not allowed to watch The Incredibles EVER
again..."

Dru sighed, not really knowing what to say. They couldn't exactly
just up and quit, it just wasn't that easy.

She pulled away from Dru and huddled on the other side of the couch,
her knees drawn up to her chest and Hippo in between.  Wrapping her
arms around her knees she just started to sob.

Dru frowned more. Watching her pull away from him and start crying
made his heart break. Slowly he moved over and pulled her into a hug,
gently stroking her hair. "I'm so sorry, sweetie..." He
whispered. "I'll do what I can to make things better, I promise..."

"I just don't want Rafe or anyone to hurt us anymore," she whispered
through her sobs.

"I know, sweetie... I know you don't... And I'll do everything I
possibly can to keep that from happening..." He tried to sooth her.

She clung to Dru keeping Hippo between them.  "What if he tries to
get into the house?"

"He won't be able to... we have lots of security to keep him out."

"But what if he tries?  Aunt Kay is in the other room!!!"

"Kyleigh, we're going to be ok..." Dru said, trying to calm her
down. "We have security and we have people to help us out if we need
it, ok?"

"But Aunt Kay and the baby!" Kyleigh insisted wanting everyone
together so she knew nothing was happening.

"Ok, ok... c'mon..." He said, Gently getting up and picking her up.
He headed out of the living room and a minute or so later walked
quietly into the nursery with her.

Kayla looked up and concern quickly washed all over  her face as she
heard the quiet sobs from her niece in her husband's arms.  "What
happened?  Is she okay?"

"She's upset about what happened..." He said softly. Walking over, he
carefully sat on the floor next to Kayla, holding Kyleigh in his lap
with his arms wrapped around her. "She wanted us all to be
together..."

Frowning, she looked down at Emery, who was fast asleep before
getting up and carefully laying her down in her crib.  Walking back
over to the rocker, she sat down with Dru and wrapped her arms around
both of them.  "It's gonna be okay, Honey," she whispered.

"But Rafe...he was trying to get us again," Kyleigh said sniffling.

"We're not gonna let him."

"We'll make sure everything's ok, Kyleigh..." Dru said softly.

Makayla laid her head on his shoulder, "We're gonna be a family just
like we've been.  Dru and I will keep you and Emery safe."

Kyleigh just sniffled and leaned against Dru.

Dru rubbed her back. "We'll be ok..."

"Can we all go watch the pirates now?" she asked quietly looking up
at Dru.

Dru looked at Kayla.

"I'll put Emery in the carrier, but we'll have to keep the volume
down a bit, so it doesn't wake her up," she told Kyleigh before
getting up and setting the extra carrier they had in the house on the
dresser before lifting Emery into it and carefully buckling her in
for safety.  She placed a blanket across her legs before picking up
the carrier and turning to Dru and Kyleigh.

Dru slowly got up, carefully setting Kyleigh on her feet and folding
his hand around hers. "Come on, the movie's already started and the
pizza should be here soon." He said with a smile before leading them
all out to the living room.

*~*~*

Dr Dru Michaels, MD
APO Field Agent
Medical Unit

Dr Makayla Michaels, MD
APO Field Agent
Medical Unit

Kyleigh Tamberlyn Lynch

Emery Carissa Micahels

Rafe Lopez
Drug/Weapons Dealer
Masq

Rafe couldn't stay away from LA too long.  He wanted to be a father
and to be a better one than his own.  He sat in his BMW looking out
the window watching his daughter play with Kyleigh in the front yard
of their  house.  Emery was growing up so much and he couldn't even
officially meet her, he had to watch her grow up from across the
street in a car.... it wasn't fair.

Though Kayla knew that Kyleigh wouldn't let anything happen to Emery,
she felt much more comfort with Secret and Akira out front keeping
watch.  Especially Akira wouldn't let anyone who could be a threat
near either girl.  She had just ducked into the house to grab jackets
since the wind had picked up.  "Dru!!!  Is the food almost done?"
Kyleigh had begged for a picnic and they had agreed, but Kayla didn't
want to keep the girls out if it was too cold.

"You don't have to yell." Dru said, walking up behind her with the
food packed into a basket. "And yes, it's done."

Kayla turned and smiled at him, and pulled jackets off of the pegs
not too far from the door.  "The wind's picking up...  I don't want
them cold," she explained.  The last six months had been pure bliss,
and Kayla enjoyed every single day to its fullest.

He nodded and reached over, opening the door for
her. "Understandable." He smiled.

Rafe sighed and reached over to the passenger seat rubbing the ears
of the Great Pyrenees puppy.  He had become lonely over the months
just hanging around doing nothing, so in just the past month he
bought a dog to keep him company.  "See that's my daughter..." He
smiled and picked the large puppy up and put him in his lap so he
could see outside the window.

Kayla walked out and first put on Emery's sweater, making sure to
button the violet sweater up before kissing her beautiful little
girl's cheek and setting her back down.  She handed Kyleigh hers
before pulling on her own jacket.

Dru smiled at them before walking over to the back of the SUV. He
opened the back and whistled for Akira to get in, smiling as Secret
hurried over after the larger dog. He set the basked down and picked
the smaller dog up, helping her into the back before shutting it.

Walking around to the passenger side, he opened the back door and set
the basked on the floorboard in front of Emery's car seat, leaving
the door open so Kayla so she could put the baby in.

Zipping up her jacket, Kayla watched as Kyleigh headed for the
vehicle before scooping up Emery.  "Dru, did you lock up, or do you
want me to?" she asked before placing a kiss on Emery's forehead.

"I'll get it; I gotta get the cooler with the drinks." He called,
already heading over to the front door.

"Hear that, Baby?  Daddy will be right back and then we're gonna go!
Yes, we are.  Yes, we are," she said in a high pitched voice making
Emery smile as she headed to the side where Emery's car seat was on.

Rafe stared out the window patting the white puppy in his lap.  Maybe
he should just kill Dru and that would get rid of half of his
problem... on the other hand it could make it worse.  He just wanted
his daughter.

Setting Emery in the already anchored carrier seat, she carefully
strapped her daughter in.  "You excited?"

"I AM!" Kyleigh piped up.  She was hugging Secret and was practically
bouncing.  "Dru is taking tooooo long!!!"

Kayla smiled, "He'll be back in just a minute."

Dru walked out of the house, cooler in hand. He paused to make sure
the door was locked and secure before jogging over to the car.
Opening the backseat, he set the cooler between Kyleigh and the car
seat before getting in.

"You all ready?" He asked, starting up the vehicle.

Closing Emery's door, she climbed into the front passenger
seat, "We're all set, Honey," she told him brightly.  Pulling her
seat belt across her, she buckled it in and looked over her shoulder
quickly to make sure the girls and dogs were all in place.

Rafe noticed Dru get into the SUV and start it up, he moved the puppy
out of his lap and grabbed his sunglasses putting them on.  He
started up the BMW and waited to follow them.  While he sat there he
looked over at the puppy who just stared at him with his little pink
tongue hanging out.  "You need a name..." He patted the puppy.  Rafe
had only had him for a few weeks but had yet to find the right name
for him.  He tested some out but none of them fit.

Dru pulled out of the driveway, turning the SUV and heading down the
street for the park they had decided on going to.

"So?  You don't think it's too cold out, do you?  I wouldn't want
Emery to get sick..." Kayla asked concerned.

"It's fine." Dru assured her, glancing at her as he came to a stop at
a stop sign. "Just a little windy."

"Uncle Dustin?  What did you make for the picnic?" Kyleigh asked
bouncing in her seat.  She just couldn't wait!

Rafe waited a few seconds before following them.  He just wanted
Kayla to let him see his daughter a few times a week.  If she
wouldn't let him, he'd have to find another way.

"Sandwiches and chips and some veggies." Dru answered. "Picnic stuff."

"No pizza?" she whined in disappointment.

"No... you don't take pizza on a picnic, you said you wanted a
picnic."

"Oh...  But I want pizza!!!"

"Then you should have asked for a movie night. See, with movies you
get pizza. Picnics you get sandwiches."

"Oh..."

Rafe followed a few cars behind the SUV and watched them getting
closer to the park.  He needed to do something even if it was
disturbing their 'perfect' picnic.

Kayla smiled at Dru happily, "So, what do you think about me easing
back into work?" she asked.  She really hadn't been into APO at all,
but then APO /did/ owe her.

"If you're ready for it..." Dru said, glancing at her. "It might be
good, but then, if you're not then don't go... You can still wait
awhile, Kayla, they put you through a lot."

"I know...  But, I have to let go of spending /all/ day with Emery,
right?"

He nodded. "It might be a relief." He added with a smile. "A little
time away from her."

"Yeah...until I break down from separation anxiety," she half joked.

"You'll be fine." He assured, reaching over and rubbing her thigh
lightly.

"Are we there yet?" Kyleigh asked.

"Almost."

"I can SEE it!!!" Kyleigh announced.

Rafe slowed his car down as he watched the SUV come to a stop by the
park.  He slowly drove by and stared at the vehicle, he needed to
find a place to park away from them.

"Can we get out?  Can we?" Kyleigh bounced in her seat.

"Yes." Dru laughed, shutting the car off and unbuckling his seat belt
before climbing out. "Stay close to us, ok?"

Kyleigh got out with Secret and immediately started off for the
playground.  "SWINGS!!!" she called running quickly away from the
vehicle.

Sighing, Kayla looked over at Dru, "Wanna go after her?" she
asked.  "Or should I?"

"You go." He smiled. "Take Emery and go ahead, I'll bring all the
stuff over."

Rafe slowly parked his car and grabbed the puppies leash.  He slowly
got out of the car and put his hood over his head and slipped his
sunglasses.  He needed to get to his daughter.

Kayla nodded and got out quickly.  She opened the door behind her and
unsnapped the carrier from the base and adjusted the handle and then
adjusted the cover so the sun wouldn't blind Emery.  "C'mon
Honey..."   Closing the door, she headed in Kyleigh's direction.

Dru got the basket and cooler out of the SUV, letting Akira out
before locking it up and heading after Kayla with Akira trotting
alongside him.

Kayla got pretty far into the park quickly with the carrier in hand
and spotted Kyleigh.  Shaking her head, she sat down on the bench and
set the carrier down next to her before checking on Emery.

Rafe hung way back letting his puppy stop and sniff things.  He had
to think of a plan... He walked into the park more and went over to a
large tree sitting underneath it watching Kayla with Emery.

Dru walked over, setting the basket and cooler down next to the bench
and gesturing for Akira to go and play with Kyleigh before taking a
seat next to Kayla. "This is nice." He smiled at her.

"Yes...it is..." she whispered looked from Emery to Dru.  "She's so
beautiful," Kayla beamed with pride.

"She's going to look just like you." He said, smiling at the both of
them.

Kayla grinned, "Just wait until she starts walking and babbling more."

Rafe watched them at their picnic and let his puppy go from his
leash.  The pup just lay down next to him and Rafe watching them
closely as he patted the pup. He couldn't believe he actually wished
he was in Dru's place but he did.

"SECRET!!!" Kyleigh yelled as her puppy went running
off.  "DUSTIN!!!" she yelled over at him wanting help.

Dru looked over at Kyleigh and sighed. "I'll be right back." He said,
kissing Kayla's cheek before getting up and running off after the
puppy.

"Kay."  Kayla turned back to Emery and took her stuffed bear and made
it dance around and then kiss her cheek.

Rafe saw his opportunity to move in as Dru was occupied trying to
catch the loose puppy.  He slowly stood up putting the leash back on
the pup and headed down the path towards Kayla on the bench.  Rafe
walked up behind the bench and crossed his arms on the back of the
bench.  "Cute baby..."  His hood and sunglasses were still on but he
knew she'd know him by his voice.

She didn't even look up; she immediately clutched the sides of the
carrier.  "What are you doing here?" Kayla asked her voice calm.

"I came too see my daughter that you won't let me see..." Rafe
explained looking at Kayla.  "See unlike what you may believe, I
actually /want/ to be a father to our daughter."

"She's not yours..." she said coldly and started to un-strap Emery
from the carrier planning on running with her baby girl.

"Now Kayla we both know that's not true..." He kept staring at
her.  "You're just making this harder you know... by not letting me
see her."

She pulled her baby girl out and held her close to her chest, "Dru's
here...he'll be back any minute."  Kayla had started carrying her gun
with her all the time, but this wasn't exactly the place to draw it.

"Look Kayla I just want to spend time with /our/ daughter.  Why are
you denying that to me?" Rafe stood up straight staring at her.  His
puppy yapped and wagged his tail hoping they were going to play
now.  "Shh... quiet buddy..."

"Because you're not part of my life.  Dru is.  Dru is going to be the
one to raise her with me.  Not you.  You're a wanted international
criminal."

"Just because of my history doesn't mean I wouldn't be a good
father..." Rafe explained to her.  "Don't make this difficult
Kayla..."

"You think that'll be a good role model for her?  You should be happy
that she'll be raised in a family that will love her and are good
parents to her," Kayla told him stepping back.

"You don't think I'd be a good parent?" Rafe's eyebrows raised under
his sunglasses.

"APO will arrest you," Kayla told him stepping back again and looked
around.

"You have no right to keep me away from her or to judge me on my
parenting skills..." Rafe told her lowly.

"You're a CRIMINAL," she repeated.  "I won't subject her to that
world."

"You of all people /know/ I don't bring my work home.  You lived with
me!"  Rafe was trying not to raise his voice and attract attention to
them.  "I don't subject my little cousins to that life...what makes
you think I would with our daughter?"

"And what if someone comes after you and blows the house up?!"

"It's hasn't happened yet and it wouldn't happen unless you guys did
it." Rafe explained.  "I wouldn't let anything happen to her.  I just
want to spend some time with her and get to know her."

"I don't care," she told him and started to walk away and saw Kyleigh
and waved for her to come.  They had talked to Kyleigh about if
Colby, Madison, or Rafe were to approach her and what to do.  She
watched Kyleigh run for the car just like they had taught her.



*~*~*

Dr Dru Michaels, MD
APO Field Agent
Medical Unit

Dr Makayla Michaels, MD
APO Field Agent
Medical Unit

Kyleigh Tamberlyn Lynch

Emery Carissa Micahels

Rafe Lopez
Drug/Weapons Dealer
Masq

Irish had just had a problem with his computer in the forensics lab.
He brought it down to the tech lab to see if they could possibly
figure out the problem.

Josh was in his office, yes it was his day off but he needed something
to do before Emily got out of work.  He dug through some of the
drawers looking for a computer chips for his PDA that he wanted to
upgrade.

Irish walked into the tech lab to find Josh digging through drawers.
"Spring cleaning a little early aren't we?" he asked with a small smirk.

"I'm looking for a certain computer chip…" Josh mumbled not looking
up.  "I need it for my PDA."

"Ah, well after you find that, you think you've got time to look my
laptop over? It crashed while I was working on a case file for forensics?"

"Oh I don't work here."  Josh mumbled hoping he could get out of
working today.  Plus he didn't really know this guy so maybe he could
trick him into thinking he didn't work in the Tech office.

"Oh well, guess Emily will have to stay later and help me get this
file finished then." Irish replied, turning to leave.

Josh sighed, "alright bring it here."  He shut the drawer and stood up
clearing a spot to put the laptop.

"Figured you'd see my point." Irish said as he put the laptop down in
front of Josh. Irish knew a thing or two about what went on behind the
scenes at APO, being the resident prankster and all. Though he did
tend to keep secrets well.

"What do you mean by that?"  Josh questioned sitting in his computer
chair and rolling over to the laptop.

"Just what I said." Irish replied with a shrug of his shoulders.

"What's your point?"  Josh asked, this guy was a little odd.  He
turned on the laptop and began working on fixing Irish's problem.

"No point was really meant to be made. Just small talk." Irish
replied, trying to pass the time.

"Alright then…" He nodded and narrowed his eyebrows a little bit
concentrated on fixing the laptop.

Irish leans against the doorframe, watching Josh work from a distance
and keeping to himself.

Josh worked for a few minutes before speaking up, "soooo you work with
Emily huh?"

"Yeah, she's the head of forensics. So we work together." Irish
replied. "Who do you work with here in tech?"

"Usually me, myself, and I and sometimes Soren when she's around."
Josh explained picking up a leather CD case and flipped through his
CD's then placed one into the laptops CD diver.

"So what made my laptop crash, man?" Irish asked.

"Virus…" Josh explained running the CD program on his laptop.  "You
know you should really run a virus check once a day if not more."

"Alright, I'll make sure to step up on my scans. I usually only run
like two a week."

"Definitely not a good idea…especially on our network."  Josh told him
simply leaning back in his chair waiting for virus scan to finish.  "I
virus could easily spread through our system, I've been trying to
upgrade it to keep it from happening but I get stuck with all the
other tech things as well."

"Alright, so I'll step up my scans to twice a day. Once when I get
here in the morning and once more before I leave for the night."

Josh nodded, "that should do it."  He put his feet up next to the
laptop and waited.

Irish came further into the lab and pulled a stool up to the desk. He
sat back and waited as well, knowing that he had files to put into the
system once his computer was fixed.

"So… How working with Emily?"  Josh asked out of the blue.

"She's a cool boss, easy to work with; we just seem to click out in
the field. Why do you ask?"

"No real reason…" Josh shrugged.  "I've just talked with her a few times."

"She's nice, very sweet and caring."

"So you like her?" Josh asked.

"As a friend, nothing more." Irish replied with a laugh.

"Oh so no like office fling or something?"  Josh smirked.

"No way, man. Why? Do you like her?"

"Hey I was just wondering."  Josh told him before leaning forwards and
hitting enter to start another scan.

Irish could tell that the guy obviously felt something for Emily, he
just wasn't sure what. But he wasn't gonna say anything. "Whatever, man."

"Almost done the scan…" Josh told him.

"Great, the sooner the better. I can hopefully get all of those files
in the system."

"Nothing should be lost."

"That's excellent. That'll get me home a lot sooner than later.
Thanks, man!"

"No prob."  Josh smiled at him.  The screen finally showed 100% done
and he popped out the CD then restarted the computer.  He placed the
CD back into it rightful place in his leather case and waited to see
if that did the trick.  The computer turned on normal and Josh just
closed the top down.  "There all done."  He picked up the laptop and
handed it back to Irish.

"Thanks! I guess I'll catch you later, man." Irish said, accepting his
computer and standing up.

"Yup, I'll probably be here since I have no life…" Josh explained and
rolled over to the drawer he was looking through before Irish came in.
  "See ya lata."

Irish waved over his shoulder as he walked out and headed back to the
forensics lab.

************************************

Agent Josh Griffin
Tech Ops/Field Agent
Technical Unit, APO

Irish Brady
Field Agent
Forensics Unit, APO

“I know…� He smirked and finished up the two omelets.  “Would you like
milk or OJ?�

"Oh the choices!" She grinned at him. "Orange juice, please."

Josh slid the omelets onto two plates then grabbed glasses getting two
glasses of OJ.  He brought over the plates to the middle island then
got the silverware and drinks.  “There you go, late night breakfast.�

"Looks great," she said, moving over to one of the stools next to the
island. She climbed up onto one of them and then settled the kitten
into her lap.

“Just wait until you taste it.�  He smirked and started cutting into
his omelet.  Josh took a few bites before looking at her again.  “So
about tomorrow?�

Utensils poised over her omelet, Emily turned her head towards him,
paused to think about it, and then finally said, "I have to go in the
mornin', but I could probably leave early if you wanna go do
somethin'." She smiled. "I have to go get kitty supplies anyway."

“Alright.�  He nodded and kept eating his omelet.  “I have some
supplies if you’d like them.�

"I'd appreciate that." Emily beamed. "I have some, of course, but
Olivia might not like to share."

“So true.�  Josh smiled brightly at her.  “Alright so we’ll do
something tomorrow afternoon then?�

Emily grinned at him. "Sounds like a plan, handsome," she said with a nod.

“Then it’s a date,� he smiled brightly at her before taking a bite of
his omelet.

Laughingly shaking her head at him, she finally dug into her omelet,
taking a bite. She chewed for a moment and then nodded, saying, "This
is great."

“Mom’s recipe.  She made sure I could cook some meals before leaving
home incase I had to impress a woman.� Josh smirked not looking at her.

Emily giggled. "She taught you well," she said, taking another bite.
"So uh, where is your mama? She live close by?"

“Try the other side of the country.�  He looked up at her.  “She and
my dad live in Maine.�

"Aww, how sad." She gave him a somewhat sympathetic look before
smiling again. "Do you ever get to see them?"

“Sometimes…It’s hard though being way over here.�  Josh explained and
looked up at her.  “How about you?  Do you see your family?�

She shook her head. "Not really, no," she answered. "Not because I
don't wanna see them, of course. It's because, well, Mama lives in
Louisiana, my big brother Bobby lives in Arizona with his wife, my
little brother Timmy is goin' to college at NYU, and my Daddy and twin
sister Calleigh live in Miami. So, we're a little too spread out to
see each other that often." She smiled. "And well, I do work a lot."

“Yes I’ve noticed,� Josh gave her a grin.  “You know too much work can
be a bad thing… maybe you should take some me time.�  He suggested
already halfway through his omelet.

Emily nodded thoughtfully. "I've been thinkin' about it actually," she
admitted. "I really miss my sister and I was thinkin' about maybe
goin' to Miami to see her at some point."

“See that would be good for you…� He smiled.  “Miami’s great too.  At
least it’s warm there.  If I went to Maine I’d freeze my butt off if I
went there.  Yet I have to admit I miss snowboarding, snowmobiling,
and some cross country skiing here and there.�  Josh rambled on not
realizing it.

Smirking, she just watched him for a moment before saying, "I've never
been around a lot of snow. I'd probably kill myself tryin' to
snowboard or whatever."

Josh’s head snapped up from his food and stared at her with a huge
smile.  “I’ll have to teach you!  Snowboarding and snowmobiling!�

"Oh my God, I'd make such a fool of myself," Emily said with a laugh.
"I can hardly rollerblade without fallin' over."

"Well good thing you have me here to teach you."  He smirked and took
another bite from his eggs.

Emily snorted. "This comin' from the guy that fell over in his chair
today just because he was a little bit startled," she quipped,
grinning. "I'm not sure I feel safe with my life in your hands."

“Hey I’m very good with outdoor sports.� He smirked at her.  “I’ve
been snowmobiling and stuff since I could walk.�

"That's so much more comfortin'," she teased, shooting him a cheeky grin.

“I know right?� He chuckled.  “Maybe we could take a weekend off or
something and go to the mountains.�  Josh suggested.

She smiled at him, thought about for a moment, and then nodded. "I
think I might actually like that," she told him.

“Skiing trip are a lot of fun.�  Josh told her going back to his
omelet that was starting to get cold.

Emily nibbled on a piece of her omelet thoughtfully. The idea of going
on a ski trip alone with Josh was rather...exciting...and terrifying.
"I can't remember the last time I went on an actual vacation," she
admitted after a moment.

“Then I guess we’ll have to go then.�  He smirked brightly at her.
“It’ll be fun.�

"Yeah," she agreed with a wicked grin, "And we could always go visit
your family as well."

“Oh you want to visit my fam huh?�  Josh chuckled and kept eating.  “I
was thinking about maybe a Colorado vacation.  But if you want to go
to Maine that cool.�

Emily giggled. "I was just playin'," she said. "You're the skiin'
expert. You tell me where we should go. I'm fine with anythin'."

“Well Colorado always has great skiing.�  He smiled at her brightly.

"Colorado it is then." Emily shot him a smile and then took a rather
large bite of her remainder of her omelet so that she would have a
moment when she couldn't talk. She couldn't believe she had just
agreed to go on a ski trip to Colorado with Josh. The decision to go
had been so impulsive, so rash...and so unlike Emily.

“Great.� Josh grinned.  He was really surprised that she agreed to go
on a skiing trip with him.  “We’re still on for tomorrow afternoon?�

"Absolutely," Emily replied with a smile before she finished off the
rest of her omelet. "And thank you for the late night breakfast." She
picked the sleeping kitty back up in her arms and cuddled him close.
"And for the kitten." There was a pause. "Does he have a name?"

“You’re welcome.�  Josh smiled put down his fork and stood when she
did.  “Nope… he’s nameless.�  He replied.

"Nameless, huh?" Emily looked down at the little kitty, tilting her
head to the side slightly. "Whaaaaat should we name you?"

“I don’t know he’s really small so what about tiny.�  Josh replied
with a smiled walking over to her and petting the kittens head gently.

Emily giggled and shook her head. "My uncle had a pony named Tiny and
he was a little bastard. He had a thing for kickin' me, or at least
tryin' to." She smiled and shifted the kitten into her hands, bringing
him up to eye level. "Hmmm..."

“Ok fine not Tiny…how about biggie?� Josh questioned in a teasing tone.

"I'd prefer if my kitten wasn't associated with food from Wendy's,"
was Emily's reply. She winked at him and then looked back at the cart
in her hands. "What aboooooout...Pickle?... No no, Peanut!"

“Peanuts cute.�  He smirked and stared at her at he pet the kittens in
her arms.

She beamed. "What do you think, kitty?" she asked. "Do you like
Peanut?" She giggled when the little critter softly meowed. He just
wanted to go back to sleep. "I'll take that as a yes." She grinned at
Josh. "His name will be Peanut."

“Ok peanut it is.�  He smirked.  “So do you want to call me tomorrow
when you get done?  Or you can come right over.�

Emily hopped off of the stool and tucked the kitten neatly in her
arms, nodding. "I'll call you when I'm done and then I'll come over."
She grinned.

“Ok.� He smiled at her before leading her towards the front door.

Emily followed him, making that the kitten was secure as she did so.
She didn't want him jumping out of her arms when she got outside. "All
right, I'll see you tomorrow then."

Josh smiled at her and leaned against the door frame with her standing
right in front of him.  “Have a good night.�  A part of him wanted to
lean down and kiss her goodnight, but they weren’t really seeing each
other officially.

Emily smiled up at him. "You too," she replied. "Thanks again for my
present. You were right when you said it was good." Holding the kitten
in one arm, she leaned up and hugged him.

“See I told you so…you thought it was gonna be weird.� Josh hugged her
back and gave her a kiss on the cheek without even thinking about it.

Pulling back, Emily patted him on the chest with her free hand and
gave him a cheeky smile. "You did good, handsome," she told him, doing
her best not to blush because of the kiss. Southern women didn't blush.

“Why thank you.�  He smirked brightly at her.  “I’ll see you
tomorrow.�

"Yes. Right. Tomorrow." Emily grinned, made Peanut wave goodbye, and
then stepped out of the door. "Night handsome."

“Night,� he smiled and watched her head to her car.  He finally shut
the door and when back to the kitchen to clean up smiling brightly.

***************************************

Agent Josh Griffin
Tech Ops/Field Agent
Technical Unit, APO

&

Emily Duquesne
Field Agent/Head of Forensics
Forensics Unit, APO

Emily closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose, sighing
tiredly. She had been working non-stop since she had seen Josh early
that morning. She had even skipped lunch in order to get her work
finished, and she still had yet to complete it.

Reopening her eyes, she glanced up at the clock and noticed that it
was 10:32pm. She grumbled something under her breath and shook her
head. She had sent Irish home hours before. It had been a fight, but
she had managed to do it.

She looked back down at her work and frowned as it began to blur. She
really needed to do something else, or better yet, go home and see her
cat. But then there was Josh. She sighed once again. It was probably
too late to go see him and get her present, but she could at least
give him a call.

She picked up her cell phone and dialed his number. She listened to it
ring and then smiled slightly when she heard Josh's distracted voice
on the other end. "Hey handsome, it's Emily," she greeted.

“Hey,� Josh smiled as he tried to grab the kitten that ran by his
feet.  “I thought you ditched me.�  He dodged and tried to tackle Jake
as he ran by after the kitten.  Josh landed with a huge thud and groaned.

"No no," Emily replied, flipping through some crime scene photos. "I
just lost track of time...Did you just fall over?"

“Umm… Jake and I are playing…� Josh explained as he slowly got to his
feet.  “We’re playing tug of war.�  He lied as he went over to get
Jake away from the kitten.

"And Jake is winnin', huh?" Emily smiled to herself. She always loved
a guy who loved his animals. It seemed that a lot of the field agents
at the CIA were animal lovers and that was always nice.

“Very much so…� He slowly crept up to the animals trying to grab
Jake’s collar to get him away from the poor kitten.  It wasn’t that
Jake was trying to attack the kitten; he just thought it was a play
toy.  “So… you still planning to come over and get your present?�

Emily glanced back up at the clock on the wall. "It's almost eleven
o'clock at night," she told me. "You sure it's not too late?"

“Nope,� Josh smiled.  “I have tomorrow off so I’ll be up for awhile.�
  He dove to grab Jake’s collar again but the dog took off after the
kitten.

Putting down the photo she was looking at, Emily climbed off of the
stool she had been sitting on for the past several hours and stretched
out her sore back. "Well, if you're sure, I guess I could stop by,"
she said, rubbing the back of her neck.

“Alright just come over whenever I’ll be here.�  He slowly got up from
the floor and walked to find the dog again.

"Ok, I just have to pack up my stuff here at work and then I'll head
to your place." Emily went over to the evidence cage and unlocked it,
preparing to put away all the things she had out.

“Ok sounds good I’ll see you in a bit.�  He explained before hanging
up the phone after her reply then tossed the phone onto the couch.
“Come on Jake leave the poor kitten alone…�

Emily put away everything that needed to be put away and then tiredly
gathered up her things before she flicked the lights off in the
forensics lab and headed out to her car, a silver Chrysler Crossfire.
She started it up and pulled out of the parking lot.

She drove to the beach and drove along until she located Josh's place.
She hadn't been there in quite a while, but she had a good memory so
it didn't have that hard of a time finding it. She pulled up and
parked before she headed to his front door, knocking once she got there.

Josh had finally had gotten Jake into his room and shut him in there
and was currently sitting in his recliner with the kitten on his
chest.  He heard a knock on the door and got up placing the small
kitten in the chair then went over to the door opening it up.  “Hey.�
Josh smiled at Emily brightly.

Emily smiled tiredly, but brightly at him. "Hey yourself," she
replied, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. "You gonna
let me in or just make me stand here?"

“I don’t know yet.�  He smirked before slowly moving back to let her
in.  “So you ready for your present?�

Beaming, Emily nodded. "I've been ready all day, handsome," she replied.

Josh shut the door with a huge smile.  “Well you’ll have to close you
eyes.�

Emily eyed him for a moment and then finally nodded, closing her eyes.
"If you put somethin' gooey or gross in my hands, you will pay," she
told him playfully. She worked with dead bodies and a ton of other
disgusting things. It took a lot to gross Emily out, but still. She
thought she'd warn him anyway.

“Nope just hold out your hands.�  He smirked and walked into the
living room to get the kitten.  Josh grabbed the tiny kitten in his
hand and walked back over to Emily.  He carefully set the kitten in
Emily’s hands with a huge grin.

As soon as the kitten was in her hands, Emily knew what it was. Her
eyes shot open and she stared down at the tiny little kitty. It was
white with blue eyes and a tiny bit of orange on his tale. Emily broke
out into a huge smile. "Oh my God," she squeaked. "HE'S SO CUTE!!!"

Josh smiled brightly seeing the happy look on Emily’s face.  “I’m glad
you like him.�  He grinned.  “I saw him and I just couldn’t resist.�

Giggling, Emily cuddled the tiny creature close and stroked his little
head, her grin getting bigger as he started purring. "I can see why!
He's absolutely adorable!" She looked back up at Josh and then stepped
forward, hugging him as tightly as she could without crushing the cat.
"Thank you so much."

He smiled and hugged her back.  “I he was the runt of the litter at
the shelter and no one wanted him.�

"Aww, poor baby," Emily cooed, pulling back to look back down at the
kitten. "How could no one want you?" she asked the little critter.
"You're so precious!"

“Well I would have waited longer… but he and Jake would have torn the
house apart.�  He smirked down at her.

Emily grinned. "So when you were playin' tug o war with Jake, you were
really tryin' to save the kitty from him, huh?"

“That would be correct.� He nodded with a huge smile.  “So are you
hungry?�

There was a pause. Emily hadn't been thinking about eating, but now
that he mentioned it, she couldn't stop her stomach from growling. She
hadn't eaten anything since breakfast. She blushed slightly and gave
him a shy smile. "Well, now that you mention it..."

“What would you like; I stocked up the fridge the other day.�  He
waved for her to follow him to the kitchen.

"Anythin' would be great, really," she told him as she followed him
towards the kitchen. She looked down at the little kitty and grinned
when she saw that he was beginning to doze off in her arms. He was so
cute!

“He’s been tired…� He grinned over his shoulder at her.  “Jake and him
have been running around all night.�  Josh smirked.  “How’s an omelet?�

"An omelet sounds great," she replied, grinning up at him. "Speakin'
of Jake, where is that rascally pup?"

“My bedroom.�  He smirked.  “How’s a ham, cheese, onion and mushroom
omelet?�  Josh started pulling out stuff from his fridge.

She smiled. "Sounds yummy," she said almost distractedly as she kissed
the kitten's head.

“Mom’s famous recipe.�  He smiled and grabbed two pans and a bowl.

Emily leaned against the door frame to the kitchen and just watched
him. "I'm sure it's fantastic." She shot him a cheeky smile. There was
a few moment of silence before she spoke up again. "What would you
have done if I hadn't wanted the kitten?"

“I would have kept him.�  He smiled and started the veggies.  “It
would have been hell keeping those two apart but… I would have kept him.�

"I have no doubt," the blonde said with a grin. "I just hope Olivia
likes him. She's a bit of a mama's girl, ya know. I spoil her to death
and just hope that she doesn't think I'm replacin' her by bringin' him
home."

“She won’t.�  Josh smiled and kept cooking the omelets.  “So… do you
have work tomorrow?�  He asked kinda softly staring at the veggies and
ham in the pan cooking a bit.

"Actually, yes," she replied with the softest of sighs. "I work every
day." She stroked the little kitty's head. "It's my life."

“You should take the day off.�  He smiled over his shoulder at her.
“You deserve it.  A girl needs to take time for her self once and a
while.�  Josh explained putting the omelets together.

Emily laughed softly and then shrugged. "I get bored when I take the
day off. And besides, I don't have all that much to do besides hang
out with my cat...or cats now."

“What if you took the day off and spent it with me?�  Josh asked her
making sure he didn’t burn the omelets.

Cocking an eyebrow, Emily studied him for a moment. "Depends on what
you have in mind," she replied after a few seconds.

“Anything you want?� He offered glancing at her over his shoulder.

She giggled. "Somethin' a girl always likes to hear," she teased, winking.

***************************************

Agent Josh Griffin
Tech Ops/Field Agent
Technical Unit, APO

&

Emily Duquesne
Field Agent/Head of Forensics
Forensics Unit, APO

Alexandros had just been called up by some unknown group within the
CIA. All he knew was that they wanted him to work for them for a good
little while. He didn't care either way, more money in his pocket was
what mattered. He got dressed in a charcoal colored suit with a dark
red dress shirt. He looked impeccable and he knew it. He spiked his
hair and grabbed his coat. Whoever was supposed to take him to the
super secret headquarters would be here shortly.

Jordan grumbled as she looked at the paper in her hand of an address
she was supposed to go to.  She was ordered to pick someone up and
bring them to the APO.  Why she had to be the meet and greet person
she'd never know.  She pulled up to the spot she was supposed to pick
up this unknown person and slowly got out of the car heading up to the
front door.  Jordan knocked and waited semi patiently for the person
to answer.

Alexandros straightened his tie quickly as he heard the knock on his
front door. He stealthy moved about the living room and made it to
where he could see who was at his front door with gun in hand. When he
saw a very familiar face at his front door, he somewhat smirked. He
hadn't talked to Jordan in a little while and what a pleasant
surprise. But this made him wonder, what if his new CIA contact came
while Jordan was here? Wouldn't she be in danger?

Securing his gun in his holster and replacing his jacket over it,
Alexandros went over to the door and opened it. A bright smile
appeared across his face as he took in Jordan's appearance. "Jordan,
what do I owe the pleasure?" he said. Come to think of it, how does
she know where I live? "And how'd you find my house?"

"/You/!?"  Jordan looked up at Alex who stood in front of her.  This
is not what she expected.  "I'm here to bloody pick up you?!"  Out of
all the people in the world it had to have been him.

Oh shit. She's CIA. "Wait a minute.... you're CIA?" Alexandros all but
stuttered out. This came as a complete surprise to him. He'd been
expecting some old guy with a briefcase, not this stunning woman
standing before him. Alex grabbed his keys and pulled the door shut
behind him. "Then I guess we'd better get a move on. I'm sure the
bosses don't want their new boy toy to be late." he replied, waiting
for Jordan.

"Ya ya ya…" She muttered and headed down the steps and over towards
her car.  "Come on…"  Jordan pulled out her keys and got into the car.
  This is not what she expected.

Alexandros follows Jordan to her car and climbs into the passenger
seat. "And here I thought you had a normal, boring day job." he said,
getting comfortable in his seat. He was completely blown away that
Jordan was his CIA contact. He wouldn't have expected her in a million
years.

"Yes well I consider this bloody normal and boring…" Jordan mumbled
and pulled out of her parking spot and headed towards the APO.

"So how have you been? I mean we've obviously been very busy or else I
would have tracked you down and asked you out again." Alex told her.

"I'm busy.  You know… work…" She stated before taking a turn heading
towards the museum entrance knowing it was the closest.

"I know that and that's what I just stated. That we both lead
incredibly busy lives." Alex stated, turning his head to look out the
window. So her cover was pretty close to what she'd say. APO had a
museum entrance.

Jordan pulled into a parking spot near the museum and got out of the
car.  "Alright let's go."  She headed towards the museum entrance and
looked back at him.  "So why are you here anyways?  Making a deal or
something?"

Alexandros followed Jordan towards the entrance. "The CIA called me up
for my expertise. No deals are needed, my hands are actually clean. I
don't do assassinations or drug deals if that's what you are asking."

"Then what is your expertise?"  Jordan asked walking through the
museum heading for the janitor closet.  She walked to the door and
turned her back towards Andros then quickly plugged in the pass code
opening up the door.

"I'm more of a snatch and grab kinda guy actually. That and I'm a
sharpshooter. How about you?" Alexandros asked. He followed her to the
janitor's closet and fights to hide his smirk. "Kinky..." he whispered
under his breath.

"Just get in…" She shook her head.  "I thought you said you don't do
assassinations…?"  Jordan walked over to the wall and swiped her ID
card then plugged in her pass code.  She watched the door open to the
elevator that would take them down to the APO.

"I don't. I said I was a sharpshooter, doesn't mean I assassinate
people." Alex replied, easily stepping into the elevator with Jordan.
"What about you? What's your area of expertise?"

"Ya sharpshooters do, or they wouldn't be sharpshooters."  Jordan
explained pressing the button for APO.  The doors closed and Jordan
waited patiently for the doors to open again.

Alex leaned back against the elevator wall, deciding to just drop the
subject. He'd never killed anyone intentionally, shot but not killed.
He tried to wait patiently for the elevator to take them to whatever
floor they were going to end up on.

"I'm a demolition."  Jordan finally answered his question.  The doors
opened and she walked out heading down the hall towards the large
glass doors that led into the APO.

Alex nodded as he followed her out of the elevator. He walked behind
her towards the glass doors and quickly opened the door, allowing
Jordan to walk in before him.

"Thanks…" She walked through the doors.  "Umm are you supposed to meet
with director?"  Jordan asked walking towards the bull pen of desks.
She didn't really know what he was doing there; she just had to pick
him up that was it.

"I'm supposed to be put on assignment immediately as far as I know."

"Oh well I think the director is in a meeting right now."  Jordan
explained walking over to her desk.

"Well then perhaps you could show me around the office. That is if you
have the time." Alex replied.

"Ahh… sure I'll give you the grand tour."  Jordan said standing up
from her chair.

Alex stepped back giving Jordan some room. "Lead the way then."

"Alright…" Jordan said waved for him to follow her as she headed
towards the closest hallway.  "The weapons room, shooting range and
locker rooms are down here."

Alex stuck beside Jordan as she pointed out certain rooms. "Not bad."
he said, taking a peak in the rooms as they passed. "So how about
dinner?" he asked as they continued to walk.

"I'm busy tonight."  Jordan told him as they walked down another hall.
  "Forensics and Tech labs are down here."

Alex nods his head as he continues to follow her. He wouldn't push the
subject.

"Then there are more offices down this hall along with an equipment
room that has everything but the guns.  Also the medical lab is down
here too."  Jordan explained to him.

Alex nods his head.

"And back to the bull pen."  Jordan stopped when they entered the open
area with many desks and agents working hard.  "Also there are a
couple of briefing rooms over there." She pointed to two glass rooms.
  "Offices of the big chiefs over there.  There are bathrooms and
whatnot around too."

"Always good to know." Alex replied. He took another look around the
office building and gave a quick nod. It was definitely well put
together; he hadn't seen an operation put together as well as this.

"Yup, oh there is a break room too with coffee and couches and stuff…"
Jordan explained to him as they walked back over to her desk.

Alex nods as he takes a seat on the corner of Jordans' desk. "Well I
guess you'd like to know my real name? I mean, I gave you an alias."
he said, feeling that he should at least be partly honest with her if
they were going to work together.

"Would be kinda nice."  Jordan nodded and started shuffling through
some of her files.

"Alexandros Bradley, but you can call me Alex." Alex told her. He was
sure that she hadn't given him an alias, so he wouldn't question her
on that fact.

"We'll its understandable on the alias part… I've done it before."
Jordan explained opening up the folder in front of her.

Alex sat back and watched her for a moment. "True, though I guess
coming clean on the fact that I did use an alias has to make up for
the lie."

"You could say that."  Jordan nodded and looked up at him.  "Glad you
told me though."

"Consider yourself the first. Though if the director happens to
mention the name Tomas Bolivier, just nod your head." Alex replies
with a smile. "That's the name I go by mostly for personal reasons
mind you."

Jordan rolled her eyes and picked up the file on her desk turning it
towards him so he could see.  It was his file.  "We know all about
you."  She smirked and put it back down.  "We /are/ the CIA."

Alex rolled his eyes. "Peachy. And here I thought I'd be some kind of
enigma." he replied with a smile. "Now when do I get to see your's. I
mean, fair is fair."

"Sorry that's classified." She smirked and grabbed another file to
look over.

"You do realize that I have my ways." He replied with a smirk of my
own. He leaned over and picked up the file she'd been reading (his),
and began to look it over. It was slightly behind on his past missions
and made him want to laugh out loud.

"Sorry to burst your bubble but all of APO agent files are highly
classified.  Unless you know the President of the United States or the
Head of the CIA.  You won't see it."  She smirked and took the file
back from him.

"Well then let me let you in on a little secret..." He replied leaning
in, "My file is incomplete."

"Hey I didn't make the file." She smiled at him.  "Somebody with more
time on their hands then I, did."

"Apparently they didn't have enough time on their hands. The file is
only about half way complete. You're missing at least six years
there." He told her.

"Well you could always write them a bloody complaint letter and ask
them to please up date it."  She smirked and closed the file putting
it back on the stack.

"Are you having fun with the teasing?"

"Actually I am."  She smiled brightly at him.

"So when would you be free for dinner? Or a walk through the park? I
know that Ares, Interceptor, and Shiva have missed pouncing on you."
He teased with a smirk.

"Hopefully by next year."  Jordan replied before looking over another
folder in front of her.

"Well aren't you the comedian." Alex replied. "I just might have to
kidnap you for a day."

"You do and I'll blow up your bloody apartment…" She mumbled as he
reached for a highlighter to mark things in the folder.

"Makes it easier for me to come and crash at your place."

"How about nooo…" Jordan smirked before chewing on the cap of the
highlighter.

Alex smirks as he stood up.

She didn't look up at him as he stood.  "Let me know if you need
anything."

"I already did." He replied over his shoulder.

"You did?"

"Dinner."

"That's not something."  She replied.  "I meant CIA related."

"Well sorry, but on the CIA front I believe that I will be okay for
now." Alex replied. "Guess I'll go and call a cab."

"You're here to meet the director."  Jordan explained to him.  "You
can't leave just yet."

"Well I guess I'll have to wait a bit longer then." Alex replied,
turning back around and taking a seat in a chair across from Jordan.

"That would be correct."  She nodded and glanced at him.  "Or not…"
Jordan explained seeing the director waving for Alex to come over.
"Have fun."

"Gee thanks." Alex replied as he stood up. He headed over to the
director and stopped in front of her. "You called for me, Director. I
thought you wanted to keep me a secret until your next mission."

Chris walked back into her office motioning for him to follow.
"Mission is coming up in a week or so."

Alex followed her into the office. "Always good to know. Care to brief
me on it?"

"I just want to make sure you'll be ok working with a team."  Chris
explained sitting down in her chair.

"Depends on who it is, do you care to fill me in on who will be on
this team? Dossiers' would be helpful." Alex replied as he took a seat
across from her. "I don't work with people I know nothing about."

"You'll meet the team later… I haven't picked who's going."  Chris
explained to him.

"Well then I guess we'll see whether I can work with this group of
people you're selecting when you announce the team."

"Yup I guess we shall."  Chris said before pulling out a piece of
paper.  "I want you to memorize this number.  When you need to come
into the APO, just call it and an agent will come and pick you up."

Alex reached across the desk and took the piece of paper. He quickly
read it and memorized the number. Taking a lighter out of his suit
jacket, he lit the piece of paper and watched it burn.

"One of the agents will take you home if you wish to go home now."
Chris explained to him.

"I suppose it'd be best, considering there is nothing for me to do
here right now."

"Alright."  She nodded and watching him get up from the chair.

"I guess I'll meet them by the museum entrance. Especially seeing as
that's the only one I know."

"Yup, that's correct."

"Nice meeting you, director." Alex replies, as he stands and heads for
the door.

"You too."  She nodded to him and went back to work.

Alex walked out of the office, closing the door behind himself. He
headed over towards the museum entrance, the same one he'd came in
through.

**************************************


Agent Jordan Carter
Field Agent/Demolitions
Undercover Unit, APO

&

Alexandros (Alex) Bradley
Agent for Hire
Freelance

Josh sat in his tech office leaning back in his leather computer chair
fiddling around with a palm pilot.  He had the back unscrewed and was
playing with some of the wiring trying some new idea he had.  His back
was turned towards the glass door leading into his tech office and
head nodded up and down in rhythm of the music from his iPod.

He had tried to search for Emily but she was wasn't in her office.
Josh and Emily drifted apart for a while, he didn't really know why
maybe because of their schedules or something.  It wasn't like they
were officially dating or anything but he missed her bubbly
personality.  Josh had been seeing someone off and on but she wasn't
around much due to her job, so he didn't really consider them dating.
  They just spent time with each other when she was in LA for a
business thing.

Josh bit his bottom lip in deep concentration while he worked on the
palm pilot.  Even though he was working there were other things on his
mind like giving Emily her birthday present.  Yes he knew it was
almost a month early but this gift was special…yet troublesome.

"Daddy, I really don't have the time to discuss this right now," Emily
said into the cell phone that was balancing precariously on her
shoulder as she walked quickly down the hall with two large boxes of
evidence in her arms.

The boxes were quite bulky and she knew that if she didn't make it to
the forensics lab soon, she was going to drop everything. She hadn't
wanted to use one of the wheely carts to get everything to the lab
because she didn't feel like having to return it. She was now
regretting that decision.

"No Daddy," she sighed, quickening her pace even more as the top box
began to slide forward, "It's not that I'm avoidin' you or even that I
don't want to talk to you. It's just I'm in the middle of a lot of
work and I just don't have the time." She rounded the corner, deciding
to take the shortcut through the tech department.

"I understand that-...Cal and I are both very busy people, Dad. We
don't have time to-AH!" Emily had no time to stop before a distracted
young tech assistant came charging out of his cubical and slammed
right into her. Emily, the phone, and the boxes- everything went flying.

Josh swore he heard a loud noise outside of his office door and pulled
one of his earphones out of his ear and listened.  He turned around a
little bit trying to look to see if someone was there but he say
nothing.  Josh shrugged and put his earphone back in.

Bobbing his head to the music from his iPod he kept fiddling with the
wiring in the palm pilot.  He went to strip on of the wires and nicked
it with another wire by accident causing several sparks.  "OW… Son of
a bitch!"  He yelped and sucked on his index finger that got shocked.

With a much dignity as she could muster, Emily gingerly picked herself
up off of the ground and rose to her feet. She glanced down,
inspecting herself. Her limbs seemed to be intact, no sprains or
breaks, and while her knees hurt a bit and the heels of her hands
stung from some pretty nasty rug burn, she was pretty much unharmed.
Her evidence on the other hand, was scattered all over the place. She
sighed.

The tech assistant was apologizing profusing and babbling on about
making a breakthrough in the phasesynchronization of his advanced
power module or something, and that he had been rushing to go report
his results...or something. Emily wasn't really listening. She was too
concerned with all the classified evidence that had been strewed about
the floor.

Josh shook his finger then went back to work as his iPod changed songs
and started banging his head to the Trivium song.  He picked up his
tool again before he started singing the song out loud.  "How can you
just stand there and stare. The world burns alight the air. Fire of
passion ignite. Open yourselves to fight."  He stopped his work for a
minute and air guitared the guitar solo, banging his head to the music.

After a moment, Emily finally crouched down and started gathering
everything up. The evidence from both boxes were now all mixed
together which meant that before she could get to work, she was going
to have to sort through everything first. She sighed again. This was
just what she had needed.

She picked up a knife, some bullet casings, various fibers, tissue
samples, and so on -all sealed in plastic evidence baggies or other
containers- along with countless files of test results and crime scene
photos, etc etc. Finally, she grabbed her phone, having momentarily
forgotten about it, and brought it back up to her ear.

"Dad? You still there?" There was an affirmative answer followed by an
inquiry about her well being. "I'm fine. I just tripped.....Look, I
have stuff to do. Can I call you later?...Ok, talk to you then. Bye
Daddy."

Closing the phone, she shook her head slightly and then attached it to
the cell phone holder on her belt. She waved off the tech assistant
who had begun to try to help her gather all her things and told him to
go get her a wheely cart. There was no way she was going to try to
carry it all again.

The young man nodded and sped off to go as he had been told.

Emily continued to pick up the rest of the evidence. With no one else
around, she decided to give up on dignity and got down onto her hands
and knees. It was just easier to do it that way. She crawled around on
the ground, despite the fact that it was making her sore knees and
stinging hands hurt worse, and gathered everything up piece by piece.

She crawled forward a ways, making her way into the open door of one
of the tech labs. She didn't even notice that the room was occupied
until the person inside started singing. Emily stopped mid-evidence
baggie grab and looked up to see Josh sitting there listening to his
iPod and fiddling with something in his hands. She just stared.

"Revelation new serenity. Destruction disharmony." Josh continued to
rock out and sing.  "To see this. I'll wait for you. To rise from this
dream. I will be waiting for you. To rise from this."   He did a quick
head bang and air guitar move before continuing his modifications on
the palm pilot.

Emily continued to stare for a few long seconds before she decided to
quickly climb to her feet so that when he finally did notice her, he'd
be the only one in a strange position.

Once she was on her feet, she brushed herself off and straightened up
before she knocked on the door. The music was obviously too loud
because Josh didn't respond. She tried again, louder, but got the same
results.

Narrowing her eyes slightly, she tested the weight of the baggie of
bullet casings in her hand before she tossed them across the room. The
lobbed object hit its mark: the side of Josh's head.

"AHH!!" Josh scrambled to his feet and shrieked when this foreign
object hit his lap.  With the force of his scrambling shot him
backwards onto the floor with a loud thump.  His heart was racing a
mile a minute wondering what the hell just tried to attack him.

Emily blinked. And then she started laughing. She hadn't thought that
Josh would have such a reaction, but it was certainly amusing. She
giggled hysterically for a few moments before she finally stepped
inside the lab and then walked over to where the evidence baggie had
fallen. She picked it up and then turned to Josh, holding it up so he
could see what it was. "If I had been the enemy, you would have been
dead," she said to him, trying her best to keep a straight face.

Josh caught his breath and looked up at Emily who stood over him then
pulled out his ear phones.  "Well I don't think the enemy is gonna
walk into my office and try to kill me with a bag of bullet casings
Miss Duquesne."  He smiled a little and groaned finally feeling the
pain his back and head.

"You never know," was Emily's reply before she offered her hand to
him. "And obviously you thought somethin' of the sort was possible or
else you wouldn't have shot out of your chair like you ass was on
fire." She shot him a cheeky look.

Josh took her hand and slowly stood up with a loud groan.  "Yes well
when flying objects just plop down in your lap when you're not paying
attention it usually surprises you."  He smirked and rubbed his lower
back before stretching to pop stuff back in its place.

"Mmmhmm," Emily mused, "It's usually men that are the most concerned
with objects droppin' in their laps." She smirked. "But I suppose I
can't blame y'all for that. And it's amusin' either way."

"Well I'm glad I provide entertainment for you."  He smirked and put
his iPod down next to his computer console.  "You know I was looking
for you earlier."  Josh finally said looking back at her.

Emily cocked an eyebrow and then leaned back against his desk. "Oh?"
She hadn't seen very much of Josh over the past several months and was
now actually surprised to hear that he had been looking for her.

"Ya," he smiled.  "I have something for you."  Josh explained putting
down the palm pilot.  "But it's not here."

"Somethin' for me?" Emily asked curiously. "Should I be scared?"

"No," he kept smiling.  "Its ahh… an early birthday present…"

Emily's mouth dropped open for a moment. Since when did he know when
her birthday was? And why would he bother to get her something. "I
uh..." She looked slightly confused. "How do you know when my birthday
is?" she finally asked.

"Umm… I know all?"  He questioned a little trying to make it sound
more like a defense, yet he had none.

There was a pause before Emily broke out into a bright smile. "You
hacked into my file," she stated, already knowing that was what he had
done, and of course, Josh's guilty expression only confirmed it.

"You know, I think I should be mad," she said. "I mean, they say it's
not polite to ask a woman's age and I'm havin' a hard time seein' how
doin' what you did is any better than that." She tried to sound and
look serious, but just couldn't manage it.

"I swear I didn't!"  Josh explained crossing his fingers behind his
back.  "I just knew."

She narrowed an eye at him. "You just knew, hmm?" She crossed her
arms. She was really trying her best to remain serious, but was having
a really hard time with it. He was just so cute! "Kinda like magic?"

"Yup," he smiled brightly.  "But I couldn't bring it with me so you'll
have to come and get it or I'll drop it off at your house."

"I'll have to come and get it?" she sassed, smirking. "I'm tryin' to
figure out what exactly to do with that statement before I make any
possibly dangerous decisions."

"It's nothing bad… it's a present."  Josh smirked and walked over
putting his chair back in its rightful position.

"Again, I could take that many different ways," the southern belle
teased, "but since it's you and I don't believe you're quite capable
of doing anythin' really malicious, I'd be happy to come get my
present from your house...even if my birthday is twenty days away."
She grinned.

"Yes I know twenty days but it's a really good presents."  He smirked
and sat back down in his computer chair.  "So is tonight good?"

"Well, define 'tonight,'" she replied, glancing towards the door. She
had /a lot/ of work to get done before the end of the day and after
her tripping disaster, it was going to take even longer.

"When ever you want." Josh explained with a hug smile and reached over
grabbing the palm pilot and tools.

Emily smirked. "I'll call you when I get out of work, how's that?" she
questioned, pushing herself off of the desk.

"Sounds perfect."  He smiled up at her.  "You have my cell number?"

"As long as you didn't change it," she replied, winking at him.

"Of course not," Josh grinned up at her.  "So just call me later."

She nodded and moved towards the door. "Will do." She waved goodbye
and then stepped out into the hall. She disappeared for a moment and
then suddenly popped her head back in the door, saying, "It better be
good."

"It is trust me…" he smirked and went back to work.

***************************************

Agent Josh Griffin
Tech Ops/Field Agent
Technical Unit, APO

&

Emily Duquesne
Field Agent/Head of Forensics
Forensics Unit, APO

"Oh please," Rowan croaked. "I feel sick enough without watching you
two go at it like a pair of teenagers."

Lydia quickly pulled back her face completely flushed.  "You're
awake." She gasped trying to catch her breath.

"Yeah, good thing too otherwise Miss Hot and Mister Heavy would have
ended up doing something naughty," Rowan stated dryly as she struggled
to push herself up into a sitting position. "But I suppose it doesn't
really matter when and where you do it as long as you name the baby
after its soon to be dead Auntie Rowan."

Lydia rolled her eyes at her, "you're not going to die…"  She sighed.
  "How many times do I have to tell you that gee…?"

"Right." Rowan knew her friend was in denial and while she appreciated
the fact that Lyd was just trying to keep up her spirits, she was
beginning to find it slightly annoying. "The doctor said that if this
level of chemo doesn't knock it out, nothing else will." She shrugged.
"This doesn't work; all he said he could do for me is try to make me
comfortable."

Lydia just sighed again and leaned against Jeri more.  "I brought some
stuff for you."  She said trying to get off the topic of death.

"Woo," Rowan enthused weakly. "Stuff is always nice. You didn't,
perhaps, bring my dogs, did you?" She missed Caesar and Constantine
desperately. She hadn't seen either of them since she had started
first round of chemo.

"No I couldn't bring them but… I did bring some pictures and a tape of
them."  She smiled at her friend.

Rowan smiled the biggest smile she had in months. "I guess that'll
have to do for now." Although, what she didn't understand was why she
couldn't see her dogs when she was going to die anyway. They might get
her sicker, but at least she'd die happy...or happier.

"Ya it took me like several weeks to get the tape all done and
everything," Lydia explained and slowly stood up off Jeri's lap
grabbing the bag next to the chair and pulled out a photo album for Ro
to look through and then went over to put the tape into the VCR in
Ro's room.

"I see the boys have taken to sleeping on my bed instead of their
own," Rowan commented as the flipped through the album, "and that they
still don't like Jacen's kid." She smiled.

Jericho smirked, silently wondering who in their right mind would want
to mother a child for Lazaray. The guy was nuts.

"Yes well… at least he doesn't call you mom…" Lydia mumbled and popped
the video in turning the TV on.

"Yeah, thank God for small favors," Rowan replied, shaking her head.

"Is the kid even allowed around you?" Jeri asked curiously.

Rowan looked up at him. "Nah, animals and kids are forbidden when
you're getting radiated."

"Lucky…" Lydia grabbed the remote and went back over sitting herself
down on Jericho's lap again.   She pressed play, "this is unedited… so
I don't really know what's on it."

Rowan settled back into her pillows more and stared up at the TV. "As
long as it's not more face sucking ala Lyd and Jeri, I'll be ok."

"If there is, I didn't know about it," Jericho said with a smirk,
wrapping his arms firmly around Lydia's waist.

"There isn't," Lydia laughed and snuggled against Jeri wrapping an arm
around Jeri's neck and looked up at the TV.  "There is a part where
the dogs attack me I know that…" She smirked and began rubbing the
back of Jeri's next with her finger tips.

Rowan just grinned.

"The dogs attacked you?" Jeri asked, giving Lyd a cheeky grin.

Lydia looked at Jeri, "yes they attacked me.  I had to run away so
they wouldn't jump on me."  She smirked at him and played with the
hair on the back of his neck.

"You poor baby," he teased, leaning in to nuzzle her shoulder.

"I have trained them well," Rowan commented, eyes not leaving the TV.

"Mmmhmm…" Lydia mumbled not really paying attention to the TV.  She
turned her head and planted a light kiss against his lips when he
pulled back from nuzzling her shoulder.

Jericho smiled against her lips before he returned the kiss. "This
mean the rule is null and void?" he asked, pulling back just enough to
talk. "At least when it pertains to me?"

"Maybe," she teased with a huge smirk and brushed her lips against
his.  "It is nice having you around."

Jericho grinned. "I'm glad you think so," he said, "I kinda like being
around."

"If you two need some alone time, I'd be happy to leave my room,"
Rowan stated dryly, shaking her head at the two of them.

"Would you?" Lydia teased and shot her friend a smirk.

Rowan glared playfully at Lydia and then slowly pulled her blanket
back so that she could get her legs free. "There's a hot male nurse
out there named Scott. Maybe I'll just go see how he's doing."

"Hey get back in bed missy!" Lydia yelled and quickly got up from
Jeri's lap to go put her friend back into bed.

"Hey now," Rowan countered, swatting at Lydia's hands as she tried to
get her back into bed, "I deserve a little lovin' too, especially
since I'll be dead soon."

"Bed now." Lydia told her pulling the covers up.  "Just keep watching
your pups on TV."

Rowan narrowed her eyes at Lyd and then shook her head, getting
comfortable again. "You're just lucky I'm feeling a little off," she
grumbled, "Remember what happened last time you stood the way of me
and some man-age."

Jericho cocked an eyebrow. "Do I even want to know?"

"No you don't…" Lydia mumbled and tucked Ro back into bed.  "Would you
like anything to eat or drink?"

Ro made a face. "Not unless you wanna see it come back up again," she
replied dejectedly.

"Gross no thank you…"  Lydia smirked after making a face and going
over back to Jeri.  She sat down on his lap again, "be good."  Lyd
poked his chest.

Jericho grinned. "I'm always good."

Sighing, Rowan leaned further back into her pillows and kept her eyes
on the TV. She was so ready to either get better or just die.

"Ya whatever…" She smirked and laid her hand on his shoulder and
watched the TV.  They all sat in silence for a while before Lydia sat
up, "right here!"  She said loudly pointing at the TV as they watched
the dogs come running at her.  "Evil…." She huffed and watched the
camera bounce around wildly as she ran away and told the dogs to get down.

Both Jericho and Rowan laughed.

"My poor poor girl," Jeri chuckled, planting a kiss on the top of
Lyd's head.

"I'm sure you deserved it," Rowan stated with a nod, smirking. She
loved her dogs so much.

"I didn't do anything!"  Lydia defended herself.  "I just told them
the video was for mommy and the entire video they went nuts!"

Ro grinned brightly. "Well, that's why then. They wanted to make me
happy."

"They seemed to be doing a good job," Jeri commented, smiling.

Rowan just shot him a smirk.

"At /my/ expense…"  Lydia mumbled.  "I swear if I get kicked out of
/MY/ bed again they are all sleeping out in the living room…"

"Awww...they want to sleep next to someone because I'm not there," Ro
giggled. "My poor babies."

"Hello my bed…" She grumbled.  "Evil doggies…"

Ro smirked. "You know you like it," she countered.

Jericho tightened his arms around Lyd's waist. "The boys just love
their Auntie Lydia."

"Exactly!" Rowan agreed, nodding.

"Ya ya ya…" Lydia shook her head and leaned against Jeri again.  "They
love me enough to make me sleep on the floor."

Ro shrugged. "They like to share. They can't help it if they're huge."

"Yes I have three of the biggest dogs in my bed."  She rolled her
eyes.  "Well soon you'll be home and I won't have to worry about it.
I can just share my bed with me, myself, and I."

"And Jericho," Rowan added with a dry smirk.

Jeri raised an eyebrow and then grinned. "I think I could handle that."

"Ya we'll see about that…" She patted his shoulder.

Jericho grinned brightly, but then quickly calmed down. He didn't want
to push it.

"Mmmhmm..." Rowan shook her head and then turned back to watch the TV.

"You're not out of the clear yet…I might go back to rule."  Lydia
smirked at him before looking over at Ro and just hopped she'd pull
through.  She couldn't even imagine a life with out her best friend.

"Mean," Jericho pouted before he smiled and kissed Lydia on the head
again. "I'm in no rush."

Rowan glanced back at the pair and then rolled her eyes. "I think it's
time that you two went home," she said after a moment. She was feeling
really tired. "The doctor said he'd have the results of everything
tomorrow, if you want to stop by again."

"Of course I'll stop by tomorrow I stop by everyday."  She smiled at
her friend and slowly stood up off of Jeri's lap.

Rowan shot her a look. "Don't I know it." She then smiled and gestured
towards the door. "Go away now. I'm tired."

Jericho smirked and stood up, waiting for Lyd to lead the way.

"Alright alright…" Lydia chuckled and took Jeri's hand leading him
towards the door.  "See you tomorrow."

"I'll be here," Rowan said with a wave off.

Jericho smirked and followed Lydia out the door. He hoped that Ro got
the results she wanted tomorrow.

Lydia headed back to the parking garage still holding Jeri's hand,
"so…" Lydia said softly once they entered the elevator. "Umm would you
like to come back to the apartment for a while?"

Jericho grinned. "Absolutely."

********************************

Lydia Chadwick
Handler
Recon Unit, APO

Jericho Shepherd
Field Agent
Strategy Unit, APO

&

Rowan Wolfe
Handler
Recon Unit, APO

Lydia tried to wait patiently at the coffee shop right on the beach
where she planned to meet Jeri.  She was nervous; yes they have talked
some on the phone and saw each other at work, but not really outside
of work.  Lydia wanted to keep her no dating coworkers rule but with
Jeri it was so hard not too.  Then there was Ro being in the hospital
getting chemo, which just made it complicated again.

Jericho half walked/half stumbled through the door of the coffee shop
as he entered. He was late to begin with, so he was rushing, and then
of course, he was nervous about meeting Lydia outside of work. It was
all just really awkward.

He caught himself before falling over and then straightened up,
clearing his throat. Looking around, he immediately spotted Lyd and
after a moment of hesitation, walked over to her. "Sorry I'm late."

"Hey it's ok…" She said softly with a smile and held her hands around
her coffee cup.  There were two other empty cups on the table…she was
very antsy and had kept getting coffee to keep her from going crazy.
"You ok?"

He gave her a shy smile. "Yes, fine," he replied, glancing down at the
coffee cups on the table. "Thirsty?

Lydia smiled and hung her hand, "bad habit…" She admitted then sipped
her coffee that was in her hand.  "So…um…"

"Yeah..." Jeri finally sat down at the table with Lydia and waited as
the owner of the shop to bring him over a coffee. He was a faithful
patron of the coffee place so the owner already knew what he wanted.
Jericho shot the older man a grin, took the coffee, and then turned
back to Lydia. "How are ya?"

"I'm good… you?" She asked back not really knowing what else to say to
him.  It was awkward…they were trying to work through it but it was
still awkward.

Jericho nodded. "Not too bad," he replied, shrugging slightly before
taking a sip of his coffee. And then there was another long, rather
silent pause. This was going really well. "How's Rowan?"

"She's ok…" Lydia said softly.  "I actually was going to go see her
after I met with you…" She looked up at him for a second.  "Would you
like to come with me?  I'm sure she'd love to see more people than
just me."

Jericho thought for a moment. "I don't know," he said slowly. "I heard
she was going through chemo and I wouldn't want to impose on her."

"Trust me she'll enjoy a different face than my own walking into her
room…" She smiled slightly at him.

"Are you sure?" he asked. He really, /really/ didn't want to just drop
in on Rowan unexpected if she wasn't up to seeing people.

"Ya I'm sure…" She nodded.  "You can keep me company if she's asleep."

Jericho smirked. "I can do that," he stated. If Rowan's best friend
said it was ok that he came, then he was ok with it too.

"Alright you wanna go now?"  Lydia asked setting down her cup of
coffee.  "We can ride together or just meet up at the hospital."

"Now is good," he said, "but I walked here so I'd have to ride with
you anyway unless I walked back to my place and got my car..."

"Well I guess it's ok if you ride with me," she smiled at him again.
"But I could just be mean and let you walk…" Lydia slowly stood up and
dug into her pocket pulling out some money to pay before brushing her
long hair out of her face.

"But you could never be mean to me," he said with a smirk before he
stopped her in the middle of getting out her money. "I got it." He
looked over at the man behind the counter. "Put it on my tab, would
you Joe?"

The older man nodded and smile. "Sure thing, Jericho."

Jeri turned back to Lydia and grinned. "Ready?"

"Yes," Lydia shook her head putting her money back into her pocket
then walked out of the coffee shop and over to her Celica parked down
the street.  "You always get the tab you know that?" She stated
pulling out her keys and unlocking the car opening up the driver side
door.

Jericho, following her to the car, shrugged. "So?" He winked at her
and then, after she had unlocked the car, opened the passenger side
door and climbed in. "Do you not like it that I always get it?"

Lydia just rolled her eyes and got into the car starting it up after
putting her sunglasses on.  "I never said I didn't like it."  She
smirked and pulled out quickly from her parking stop and sped down the
street heading towards the hospital.  "I just said you always get it."

"So you were just stating a fact, hmm?" Jericho shot her a grin. He
turned his attention out the front wind shield and watched the scenery
go by. He wanted to stare at Lydia, but resisted. He didn't want to
make her uncomfortable.

Lydia kept her focus forward on the road trying not to look over at
Jeri all the time.  She just really wanted to be with him but on the
other hand she wanted to stick by her rule.  Lydia just drove to the
hospital and pulled into a spot in the parking garage.  "Here we are."
  She stated out of pure awkwardness from the last five minutes of
driving.  Lydia got out of the car grabbing a few things that she
brought for Ro.

Jericho got out as well and waited for Lydia to gather all her stuff
before the two of them headed inside. They headed up to the floor
Rowan was being kept on and made their way to her room.

Lydia approached Ro's door and slowly pushed the door open.  She
noticed Ro lying in her bed with her eyes closed.  "I think she's
sleeping…"  Lydia whispered and walked into the room more.

Following her in the room, Jeri made sure that his footsteps were
soft. He didn't want to wake Rowan. "She looks a lot better than I
thought she would," he randomly commented.

"Ya…she's one touch chick." Lydia said softly and slowly walked into
the room more.  She looked over her shoulder at Jeri who was standing
at the door and held out her hand for him to take.

Jericho didn't hesitate to take her outstretched hand. "I remember,"
he said quietly as he moved closer to Lydia. "Do you visit her every day?"

"Of course," she gave him a small smile.  "What kind of friend would I
be if I didn't?"  Lydia led him over to the side of the bed and just
looked down at Ro.

"She's lucky to have you," Jericho whispered, his eyes never leaving
Lydia.

She nodded slowly, "I guess so…" Lydia looked around and noticed one
chair on the other side of the bed.  "Wanna sit down?"

He waved her off. "No, I'm all right, thanks." He smiled softly at
her. "But by all means, you take a seat."

Lydia just rolled her eyes and walked around the bed pulling him along
and got to the seat, "sit…"

He shot her a cheeky grin. "Yes, Ma'am." He sat down and then, upon
reflex, promptly pulled Lydia down into his lap.

She tried not to squeak and wake Ro up but she wasn't expecting him to
pull her down.  "You're bad…" Lydia swatted at his chest and just
moved around a little on his lap to get comfy and to just torture him.

"Yeah, well I figured you were more likely to go for the bad boy
type," Jericho replied, smirking. "But I mean, if you like losers, I
could always dump you on the floor and let your neighbor have you."

Lydia turned her head looking at him and frowned.  "You're mean…"  She
shook her head.  "So does this mean you have no feelings for me?"

"Well, that kind of depends," he replied, cocking his head to the side
slightly studying her.

"It does?" Lydia asked staring back at him.  "How does it depend?"
She asked her eyebrow slowly rising.

Jericho tried to keep a straight face. "It depends on if /you/ have
feelings for /me/," he stated.

"Maybe…" She said softly back staring into his eyes.  "Maybe a little
too much."  Lydia admitted looking at him.

"Because of your rule," Jeri murmured, diverting his eyes for just a
moment.

"Yes…" Lydia whispered and brought her hand up to the side of his face
and turned it towards her again.

He brought his eyes back up to meet hers and then sighed softly.
"Well, maybe you could just bend your rule for once..."

Lydia looked at him for a minute, "give me one could reason why I
should?"  She gave him a small smile.

"Because you think I'm hot?" he offered cheekily.

"And you think that's gonna do it?" She questioned trying to keep a
straight face.

He feigned defeat. "That...that's all I have." He sounded quite deflated.

Lydia couldn't help but smirk, "no kiss?"  She asked keeping her voice
low.

"Oh, you want a kiss, huh?" He grinned slightly. "To be honest, I feel
slightly used. First my coffee and now my kisses?"

"Girls gotta do what a girls gotta do…" She smiled and rubbed his
cheek lightly still staring at him.

"Well then, I suppose I can't blame you," he said, grinning. "And I
also suppose I could manage to give you one kiss...if you think you
can handle it."

"I think I can," Lydia grinned back and leaned in closer to him.  "But
I don't know maybe we should test it out."

"Mmm, I'm all for testing things out," Jericho replied lowly before he
finished closing the space between them and pressed his lips up
against hers. It was soft at first, but when she started to respond in
kind, it grew hotter.

Just as it began to reach a whole new level, a voice suddenly killed
the moment.

********************************

Lydia Chadwick
Handler
Recon Unit, APO

Jericho Shepherd
Field Agent
Strategy Unit, APO

&

Rowan Wolfe
Handler
Recon Unit, APO

Over the past six months, Jacen Lazaray has been busily searching for
and finally locating his four-year-old son, Hudson. Four months
later, the CIA had sent him and a few choice agents on a recon
mission to rescue the poor little boy. Hudson Grant was found in an
abandoned warehouse in Prague by Jacen, Lydia, and a few others.
After having secured the perimeter, Jacen and Lydia moved in. They
found Hudson all by himself. The little boy launched himself at his
father with a yell of "DADDY!!!" as Jacen dropped to one knee. Jacen
took his son into his arms for the first time in two years. As the
two pulled back slightly, Hudson looked up at Lydia and asked, "are
you my new mommy?" Without waiting for an answer, he launched himself
at her and wrapped his tiny arms around her legs. Jacen and Lydia
quickly got Hudson out of the warehouse and headed straight back to
Los Angeles and to a trusted CIA doctor. After receiving a clean bill
of health, Jacen and Hudson headed to the director's office.

Jacen requested time off to get reacquainted with his son. Though the
directors at first denied his request, they soon changed their minds
thanks to some well placed threats from other agents who believed
that it was just what Jacen needed. They gave him one month to get
himself and his son situated in their apartment. This gave Jacen
plenty of time. He and Hudson quickly hopped on a jet bound for
London, England. There the duo went straight to the Grant family
lawyers and reclaimed the family money and land. After staying in the
Grant family estate for a couple of days, they jumped back onto a jet
and returned to Los Angeles.

Upon returning to the United States, Jacen insured that he had
everything that his son could ever want or need, except for one
thing - a mother (aka Lydia). Hudson continually asked Jacen, and
even Lydia, why his new mommy didn't live with them. Though both were
adamant that Lydia was in no way Hudson's new mother, the little boy
refused to listen (Stubborn little fella, just like his daddy.) and
continued to call Lydia 'mommy'.

Jacen bought a car so he could be more independent away from Lydia
and Rowan. He didn't want to have to depend on them for rides to work
or wherever. Coming back to work for APO, Jacen was immediately sent
away on a mission, while a nanny was hired to watch after Hudson.

---------------------

Agent Jacen Lazaray
Field Agent
Recon Unit, APO

Hudson Grant Lazaray
Four year old kid
Civilian

Anyways, glad we're back. I think the requirements seem doable,
although I'll see how much I can participate once my new class
schedule starts next week. As for ideas...um, how about a civilian
section? It might be interesting to play from a season 1 Francie/
Will "why is the bank sending her out so much?" perspective. Eh, just
tossing things out...

hehehehe like the title? lol not very original huh? thats ok hehehe...
alright then... If you would like to get rid of a character or add a
character this is the time to do it!!!!  So let me know, cause I know
a lot of us have a /bunch/ of characters.  Reply back asap about this!!

~Pam~

Hello gang :)

Long time no RPG, lol!  As I told Shan I'm just gonna wing this email.
Basically the RPG just kinda dead /but/ I personally like to call it a
hiatus.  I would really like to bring it out of this long hiatus and
make it living again because it's a cool RPG.  I just want to see what
you guys think. I don't want to start the RP again if no ones
interested in it anymore.  I think there is a lot of potential for the
RP just because there are a lot of mission ideas that we could do.  I
would love suggestions and feedback on what you guys would like to see
happen with the RP or even some ideas would be nice.  I'm thinking I
might change up the Teams or even do a time jump and skip a few months
in the RP.  I don't know yet.  So just reply back please so I know
what you guys think, cuz I know a bunch of use are back in school but
I still would like to get this started again.  I hope to hear back
from you soon with lots of feedback and suggestions!!!!

~Pam~

Kayla lay on her side in her bed at the hospital.  Dru had gotten
them to the nearest hospital fairly quickly.  Emery had been taken to
the nursery to be looked over, while Kayla had already been looked
over by a doctor who had told her how lucky she was to have had Dru
there.  She just stared at the wall trying to get comfortable.  Dru
had taken Kyleigh down to find a vending machine so she could have a
drink while the doctor had come in.

"No! He's gone!" Kayla could hear her niece.  "We took a long time
even!  I told you we were going the wrong way," she said before
peeking into the room and grinning and looking back at Dru, "See I
was /right/."  She skipped in and over to her aunt.  "You okay?"

Nodding slowly, Kayla moved up a bit into more of a sitting position
happy that Rafe was gone and it was just them.  It was their family
after all.

Dru shook his head as he followed Kyleigh in and walked over, sitting
in a chair next to Kayla's bed. "Hey, how are you feeling?" He asked,
taking her hand in his.

"Tired...and...tired..." she said smiling at him.  "Has anyone said
anything about Emery?"

Kyleigh went and sat down on a chair by the window and peeked out.

"They said she's doing find, just a little small. And her breathing
is a little uneven, but that's because of her being premature. They
said she should be fine." He smiled.

"Does she have to stay here longer?" she asked frowning a bit.  She
wanted Emery with her...she didn't like being separated especially
with Rafe so intent on taking her.

"No, she shouldn't have to stay here too long."

"Can we ask them to bring her back in here?  I want to be able to see
her," she said worried.

He nodded. "I talked to some of the nurses; they said they'll be
bring her back in shortly."

"Did you tell them her name?  They didn't ask me...  You haven't told
me the middle name yet anyways," she said smiling and laying down a
bit.  She felt so safe with Dru there.

"They have her name." He said with a smile. "And our names as the
parents..." He said slowly.

Kayla smiled, "Good...it would be sad if they just called her
baby."   She moved forward, holding onto the side of the bed and
kissed Dru, "I love you so much."

"I love you, too…"

"Are we flying back to LA?"

"In the morning," he assured.  "But you need to rest for now.  Don't
worry about it."

"What about you, two?" Kayla asked slipping down, more laying down
than sitting.

"Don't worry. We'll be fine.  You rest."

"What about the car?"

"What about the car...?"

Kayla blinked and then reached out to feel his temp, "We're flying
home...we drove up here...and the dogs?"

"The dogs are fine and I can have the car taken care of, don't worry
about it, ok? Just rest..."

"I'll be good!" Kyleigh chimed in walking over to Dru smiling at her
aunt.

"You better be," she whispered yawning a bit.

Dru grinned. "Of course she will be."

Kyleigh grinned.

Kayla smiled, "And then we can take Emery home...and we'll all be
home...in our beautiful home," she yawned again, and slipped down in
the bed a bit more.

"Mm hmm..." Dru said softly, kissing her forehead lightly. "Go to
sleep, Kayla..."

"Emery's okay?" she asked again sleepily closing her eyes a bit.

"Mm hmm..."

Kayla smiled as her eyelids slid closed and she relaxed completely
into the bed.

*~*~*

Dru Michaels, MD
Field Agent – APO
Medic Unit

Makayla Lynch – MD
Field Agent – APO
Medic Unit

Kyleigh Tamberlyn Lynch