AIM [FIRST DRAFT]

Chapter 26: ... And What Can Be

The sky poured and they slept until dawn. AIM soldiers had made camp above them during the night. They opened both doors for some fresh air and the birds' tweets echoed through the barn. Aimee's eyelids fluttered as she let out a long yawn. The sunlight travelled from the staircase up to her cheek, and then she heard coughing.

"Stefan?" she beamed hopefully.

He raised his head. "Aimee," he could barely half smile. "Aimee, I'm so sorry."

"For what?" she said slowly.

"For all of this," he paused. "Aimee, I would never want you to get hurt. I know this is hard for you. Your mom -" he coughed, "your dad, GINM and AIM."

"Stefan," she looked him in the eyes. "It would've happened sooner or later. And you've been my rock this entire time."

Aimee caught sight of his slight smile, the few teeth that he bared. It made her smile too.

"You know, all my life I thought I was worthless," his voice broke slightly. "I never knew life outside of missions, labs, and everything that was going on with my parents."

"What about your parents?" she queried. "If I may..."

Stefan sighed. "Yeah... they've been divorced since I was thirteen," he gazed to the floor.

"I'm so sorry," Aimee bit her lip. "Where's -" she stopped when he looked up at her. He nodded to assure her that he was okay with her asking whatever was on her mind. "Where's your mother?"

"Janet Summers," he answered.

His face softened while Aimee's did the opposite.

"The one Buckley pulled you away from?"

"He doesn't let me see her, talk to her, just because he doesn't want to be in the same room as her," he tested. "If I could, I'd probably go and live with her, but I think Buckley knows that. I think he fears being alone as much as I do."

Aimee glanced at him, her eyelashes sparkling and wet. "Well, I don't know about Buckley, but I know that you're not alone," she affirmed. "And I'm sure as day that you're not worthless."

"Thanks, Aimee," he chuckled quietly, even though it hurt a little.

"Well, I mean it," she smiled.

They were interrupted. They heard heavy boots above them. I knew they didn't leave. There's another wish that didn't come true. Aimee thought to herself, her previous wish being that Stefan was not harmed. She stared at him momentarily. There was a thud, her attention shifting to the sounds upstairs, and then it was quiet.

"Think they fell asleep?" questioned Stefan.

Before Aimee could answer, she heard voices. It sounded as though everyone just woke up, there was yelling. Their noises reminded her of a battle in a medieval video game, but with guns and not swords and lances.

"I don't think so," she said humorously. "What do you think's going on up there?"

"I don't know," he laughed. "Maybe someone stole Leo's breakfast."

"Oh, that makes sense," she giggled.

Their expressions became serious as the commotion had not ceased. Celeste's voice was not heard. Without her around, everyone was out of control. Aimee was starting to worry. It's not Abba's agents, is it?

Guns clicked. They were out of ammo. A few AIM soldiers cursed when their supposed teammates refused to swap guns. Some only screamed until they could not anymore. There was punching, kicking, thrusting, threatening, cursing, you name it, and then for a moment there was nothing. It was like everyone had fallen concurrently. Aimee and Stefan shared glances and thoughts. Were they next?

They heard someone spit on the floorboards, and then walking towards the stairs. Their hearts were beating unnaturally fast.

Before whoever got to them, there was one last cry and one last thud. A body rolled down the stairs and Aimee and Stefan gasped in unison. They could not see who it was, but did it even matter now? They heard heavy breathing; someone was waddling down the stairs. He slowly spun into the light.

"Gavin!" chorused Stefan and Aimee.

They could not have been happier to see him, but their smiles faded quickly. He was hurt, badly hurt. His left hand was bloody, smothering a gunshot wound on his right arm, and he was limping towards them. His face was beaten. Blood ran from his nose down to his chest, and there was a cut on his left brow. He neared Aimee as quickly as he could and knelt down behind her. Gavin groaned, moving his hand away from his wound to untie Aimee. He acted swiftly.

"Gavin, what happened?" she was jumpy. "What did they do to you? Why -" she paused as he kissed her cheek.

"I just gotta get you two outta here," his voice was so low he was hardly whispering.

He proceeded to untie Aimee. His blood was on her cheek, she could feel it. He released her and he helped her up by her arms.

"Thank you," she said. Gavin had not let go. "Stefan's turn," Aimee nodded over to him.

Gavin glanced at him over his shoulder. "Right," he walked up to him. "We could've picked a better time to rendezvous, bub," he fared a delicate smile and untied him.

"Just another day at work," Stefan half smiled. "You look like crap."

Gavin pulled him up to his feet. "You're a sight for sore eyes yourself," he joked.

They strode up to Aimee slowly. She smiled at them; her trust in Gavin had grown. He stood on Stefan's left with his arm around him to help him walk, Aimee joined at his right. The three of them made their way over the unidentified body and up the stairs. There were bloody, lifeless soldiers, empty machine guns, and ripped tents and bags of food.

"I can't believe you took all these guys on your own," Aimee grinned, staring at Gavin.

"Barely," he said.

Her smile vanished. Gavin led them outside. His chopper was on the road, surprisingly, he had not caused a traffic jam. He opened their door and tried lifting Stefan up and inside, but he could not. He was just as injured as Stefan, or maybe worse.

"Let me help," offered Aimee, seeing him struggle.

Stefan insisted that he could get into the chopper on his own, but they hoisted him up anyway. He stopped being so stubborn and thanked them. He reached his right hand out for Aimee to grab hold of and hoisted her up too. On his lap, she closed his door, strapped them in and watched as Gavin hopped into the pilot's seat. He started up the chopper and they were airborne shortly after.

"We're going to GINM," he announced, adjusting his seatbelt and headset.

"Why GINM?" queried Aimee. "I have no business there," she concluded.

"Buckley wants to talk to you," Gavin explained as he flew them forward.

Aimee had no say in the matter. And anyway, they were there in less than ten minutes.