Fighting Wars

Chapter 17

After Jennifer's mandatory five month break she sits down at the long table in front of the section chiefs. "Agent Porter, how long have you been with the team under Agent Gideon?" "About 5 years sir." Jennifer answers "And when did you two get together?" Jennifer leans forward "Excuse me sir but when I was called here my understanding was to talk about the risks I took with the case. Not my personal life." He leans forward "Miss Porter-" "Agent Porter-Gideon." Jennifer corrects, he rolls his eyes "Your personal life does correspond to the risk." Jennifer shakes her head "No sir it doesn't correspond with my personal life it corresponds with my interpol life back in london." He leans back "Okay, what happened when you heard that Olivia Wyatt's father was back?" Jennifer sits back "I went to go check her out from school
3 weeks earlier
    Jennifer walks into a restaurant and there's William and Lauren. Jennifer smiles and gives them a hug. "What's up?" Jennifer asks sitting down "Where's Olivia?" Jennifer quickly checks her watch. "At school." "We need to pull her out." Jennifer leans forward "Is he back?" Lauren nods "And she's not safe." Jennifer nods and grabs her bag "I wish I could stay." Lauren nods and Jennifer stands up and walks out the door.
    Jennifer pulls up to the school and walks into the office. "I'm here to check out Olivia Wyatt." Jennifer pulls out her FBI badge and slides it on the desk. The front office lady nods and picks up the phone. "Mrs Smith?" Jennifer looks at the picture hanging above the desk with all the faculty members. "Will you please send Olivia Wyatt to the office, she's checking out." A few seconds later Olivia walks down the hallway and into the office. She runs up to Jennifer and gives her a hug. "Hey Olivia." Olivia let's go and smiles "Hi Jennifer." Jennifer nods to the door and Olivia walks out with Jennifer following behind her. "Is he back?" Olivia asks, Jennifer nods and opens the federal SUV door "Are you alright coming to work with me?" Jennifer asks, Olivia nods and slides in the car.
    Jennifer parks the SUV and opens the door so Olivia can get out. "I know this isn't a good day, so hopefully I can make it better." Jennifer says walking inside digging through her purse for the box. "It's fine." Olivia says forcing a smile. "Here it is! Happy birthday." Jennifer hands Olivia the box and when she opens it her face lights up. "Oh my god! Thank you Jennifer!" Inside was the necklace Olivia was eying in the store. "Are these the same flowers?" Jennifer nods "Marigolds, your mother's favorite." Olivia smiles and gives Jennifer a hug. Jennifer let's go and opens the door. "Alright let's go." Olivia smiles and slides the necklace on before following Jennifer out of the car.
    Jennifer walks in and sets her bag on her desk and waving Olivia to follow her as she walks up the steps and knocks on Aaron's door. "Come in." Jennifer opens the door and slides in. "Aaron you remember Olivia, right?" Olivia steps in and Aaron smiles "Yes of course I remember Olivia! What's up?" Olivia sits down on the couch and Jennifer shuts the door. "Her father is back." Aaron nods. "This case can be put on hold." Jennifer nods and Aaron turns to Olivia. "Would you be alright staying here with Kyrsten?" Olivia shrugs "Can I meet her first?" Jennifer nods "Of course, come on while Aaron briefs the rest of the team I'll go introduce you to Kyrsten." Olivia smiles and stands following Jennifer out the door to Kyrsten's office.
    "Kyrsten this is Olivia." Jennifer says Olivia smiles and extends her hand. Kyrsten shakes it "Nice to meet you Olivia, what's up Jennifer?" Jennifer looks back at Olivia then to Kyrsten. "I'll give you the short version." Kyrsten nods and leans back in her chair while Jennifer explains. "Olivia's father is an infamous serial killer, my team and I were tracking him down in interpol. We found him I saved Olivia got her a good school and home away from him while he was bounced around from prison to prison. He escaped and is back looking for her." Kyrsten nods and pats the bean bag next to her. "Okay come sit." Olivia smiles and sits down and sinks into the bean bag. Jennifer laughs as Olivia slowly sinks in more. "Are you okay staying with Kyrsten?" She asks Olivia nods "I'm down." Kyrstens smile grows as she pulls out her food bag and sets it on Olivia's lap. "Here you go, help yourself." Olivia says thanks and starts rummaging through. "Thank you, I've got to go." Kyrsten nods and waves her off. "Have fun!" Jennifer laughs and jogs out. Aaron waves her to the SUV and she slides in. "Where would he be?" Aaron asks Jennifer nods "I have a few ideas."
    "He's not here." Charlie says through the phone, Jennifer nods and puts Emilie on "Anything from you Em?" "Not yet, I'm driving through the parking lot now." Jennifer nods and Aaron takes the phone "We're at his last murder scene, keep us posted." They get affirmative answers and Aaron hangs up. They get out of the car and start toward the warehouse. "So how did you get your hands on this case?" Jennifer shrugs "Come on, I know that face." Aaron presses Jennifer sighs "I knew Olivia's mom, she was forced into that relationship... his very last victim was Olivia's mom. The second he crossed borders I called in some favors and got my hands on the case. Section Chiefs were not happy." Aaron nods and a girls scream fills the air. They run towards the front and Jennifer kicks the door in. "Ah, Miss Porter. It's been a long time." Jennifer shakes her head and trains her gun to his head. "Where is she?" He shrugs and she lowers her aim to his crotch "Let me ask again. Where is she?" He nods and puts his hands up "The back." Jennifer nods and Aaron jogs to the back. "So the FBI huh?" Jennifer nods "Yep, you're coming in. Get on your knees and put your hands behind your head." He complies and Jennifer gives him a stair and he smiles. "Just because you caught me doesn't mean I'll talk." Jennifer nods "Wouldn't have it any other way." He grins and Aaron comes back with a voice recorder. "It's fake." Jennifer nods and looks him in the eye. "Don't think you've won, because you haven't." he nods "Wouldn't have it any other way." Aaron pulls him off of the ground and to the SUV.
    They walk in and Jennifer jogs ahead to Kyrsten's office and shuts the door because she doesn't want Olivia's father to know that they have Olivia. Other agents set him in the chair and hook his handcuffs to the table.  Jennifer leans back against the wall "I need to go in." Aaron shakes his head "Not now, we need to show him that we are running on our timeclock not his, then you can go in." Jennifer nods and starts to bite the inside of her cheek. "You and Olivia's mother were more than friends weren't you?" Jennifer jumps back startled "What-" "Don't ask me a question to flip it back on me. Jennifer it doesn't change anything in our relationship ut it does change something that can be useful in the room though." Jennifer sighs, "Yes she was my first ever girlfriend, we broke up later down the line after we both realized we had opposing interests. But we still were the best of friends I'm Olivia's godmother." Aaron nods and looks to the window and notices how he is now unsettled and searching for a clock. "Alright go ahead, and I think you know how to start the conversation." Jennifer nods and opens the door.
    "So Ilia left me for you trash bag, ouch that stings." Jennifer pulls the chair out and sits down propping her legs up on the table. He stands up and slams his hands on the table "You're the one she tried to leave me for?!" Jennifer nods smiling "Yes she did. Now Sit Down." He sits and she takes her legs off of the table and leans forward and searches his eyes for something, what she found she did not like. "You really know nothing about Ilia do you, you just took her from me so you could use her as a punching bag!" Jennifer stands up and he smiles "You know she was one of my favorites always put up a fight made it interesting." Jennifer feels her temper rising so she takes a deep breath to calm her down "She was an easy one to catch though too bad she tried to leave I would have loved to keep her around... I think I was close to straightening her out." Jennifer grabs the table and flips it over "Listen here! I swear I will find that girl and I will see you rot in hell for what you did to everyone! And you will never see your daughter again!" She punches him in the face and the door swings open and Derek grabs her around the waist and pulls her out of the room.
Present day
    "So Agent Gideon, how did it make you feel when you figured out your wife is bisexual." Aaron takes a deep breath "Nothing changed between us, but I was hurt when I saw what she was going through the rest of the case." He nods "And what happened after the interrogation."  Aaron leans back "There were mixed reactions, most of them were just hurt that Jennifer hid this from us for so long." He nods and says "Why did you make the decision to keep Jennifer on the case, after all she's been through?" Aaron looks at him confused and says "I kept Jennifer on the case because she has been through a lot so that gives her experience that we all needed to solve this case." He nods and Aaron continues "And besides... Sir. I feel like that's just part of the job description everyone has to go through alot."
3 weeks earlier
    "When were you going to tell us?" Charlie asks when Derek let's Jennifer go. Jennifer shrugs "I actually wasn't planning on it because I don't want this part of me to define all of me." They nod and Emilie says "I wish you would have told someone." Kyrsten nods "It's not something to bottle up for long, trust me." Jennifer nods and looks at Olivia who must have been standing there the whole time "Oh, Liv." Jennifer pulls her into a hug and Olivia starts to cry. Jennifer holds her closer and starts to tear up. "How much did you hear?" Jennifer whispers, Olivia just nods and Jennifer pulls away just a bit so she can look Olivia in the eye. "I will not stop until he is put away for good. Okay?" Olivia nods and Kyrsten puts her hand on Olivia's shoulder. Olivia shrugs away from both of them, "I'm going to sit right here and watch him, I'm not going to hide behind those walls." Jennifer nods and pulls up a chair "Okay, I'll stay with you." Olivia nods and Jennifer sits on the desk. "I assume you don't want me back in there, so whoever's going back in don't show any emotions, but break him." Aaron nods and he looks at Derek. "Me? No Aaron you can't be serious." Aaron nods "The look of fear he had when you came in and took Jennifer away meant something. He's scared of you. Go." Derek nods and reluctantly steps in the room.
    Olivia stares through the glass and starts tapping her fingers on the table. Charlie tilts his head to Olivia's fingers were just in his sight. He smiles and bobs his head slightly and waits for her to stop tapping. Jennifer catches on and starts doing the same. Olivia doesn't stop she taps it as long as the interrogation is going on, Jennifer's pretty sure that Olivia isn't aware that she is doing it. Derek steps out and shakes his head, he wants Aaron and Jennifer. Jennifer looks at Aaron and he nods. Jennifer pats Olivia's knee before standing up and walking in the room with Aaron. "Sit." He invites Jennifer shakes her head and stands in the corner. Aaron sits though, Jennifer looks at him and hopes she doesn't look too confused. He nods and Jennifer sighs relaxed now that she actually knows what's going on. "I'm glad you came-" Aaron shakes his head "I'm sorry but I didn't come because you asked I came to hopefully have my wife apologize for what she did." Aaron looks back and gives Jennifer the cheesiest smile ever. Jennifer withholds a laugh as she looks him in the eye and says "Why should I apologize to him?" Aaron shakes his head "Why don't you come and sit down?" Jennifer rolls her eyes, "Alright." Jennifer pulls up a chair and sits down next to Aaron and lace her fingers with his under the desk. Aaron looks at her and nods "I heard you had a bit of control and anger issues when you were in prison." Jennifer hands Aaron the file with her free hand. Aaron opens it and points out things to Jennifer "Beating cook with tray, Stabbing cellmate with a toothbrush." "Oh that's gruesome." Jennifer winces Aaron nods "And all because you didn't get what you want right when you wanted it." Mr. Wyatt shakes his head "You can stop now." Jennifer looks at the file again "Then you beat the warden when you weren't allowed to change cells." The table flies over their heads as Mr. Wyatt lunges at them. He throws Jennifer against the concrete wall and jumps on Aaron. Jennifer sits up and struggles towards him "Aaron!" She cries he looks at her and mouths "I love you" before Mr. Wyatt starts to punch and kick him relentlessly. "Get Away From Him!" She regains her balance and jumps on his back pulling him away from Aaron. Derek finally opens the door that the table was blocking and pulls them apart practically throwing Mr. Wyatt against the wall. Jennifer kneels down by Aaron and grabs his hand. Aaron's eyes open a little bit and a tear falls between the two of them. "I'm sorry." Jennifer whispers he nods "It's not your fault." Derek starts to take a yelling Mr. Wyatt out the door and only Jennifer catches this one sentence drowned out by his maniacal laugh that changes the whole case for everyone "I can't believe you haven't found her yet! She's in one of those gay meetup spots!"
    After Aaron gets checked up Jennifer tells them what she heard from him through his laugh. "But that's not very specific." Kyrsten says "There's tons of meetups." Jennifer nods "I know exactly what one-" She looks around and notices Olivia's gone. "And Olivia knows to. We've got to go!" They run out of the office and see a SUV pull out and into the main road "She can drive?" Charlie exclaims Jennifer nods "She turned 16 last week." They nod and Derek pulls up in another one "Let's catch up to her!" They jump in and Derek speeds onto the road and catches up to the other SUV Olivia's driving. Olivia takes the exit so quick that the others just barely got on. It's a neighborhood. "Oh! I hate chases in neighborhoods!" Derek groans, after a bit Olivia successfully lost them. "Let's just go to the place." Jennifer says "Where is it?" Aaron asks "Three miles down this road." Jennifer says looking down at the map. They pull out and Jennifer sprints inside.
    "Jennifer!" Jennifer rounds the corner with her gun out and there's Olivia in the grasp of a man in a mask. "Who are you?" Jennifer asks, he smiles "Really Jennifer?" He takes the mask off and Jennifer almost breaks down "William?" He nods "You were working for him the whole time?" Jennifer exclaims he nods again. Jennifer looks at Olivia who has tears in her face "I'm sorry." She whimpers William raises his gun to Olivia's head "Shut Up!" Jennifer raises her gun to him "You shoot me, you'll end up shooting her." Jennifer shakes her head "You must have forgot everything back in interpol." He looks at her confused Jennifer looks at Olivia and then back to William "I never miss." Jennifer fires and hits William right in the shoulder. "Agh!" He drops Olivia and she runs up to me "I'm so sorry I should've never left." Jennifer shakes her head and pulls her closer "Olivia it's fine, I would've done the same thing." Olivia nods and holds onto Jennifer while the other team members search the building. "Found her." Aaron says, a girl Olivia's age with blonde curly hair and dark skin walks next to Aaron. "I'm going to hand you to Aaron okay?" Jennifer whispers Olivia nods and walks to Aaron and Jennifer waves the other girl over "My name is Jennifer, what's yours?" "Amelia." Jennifer smiles and Amelia gives Jennifer a hug "Can I go back to my family?" Jennifer nods "Of course, can I just have the doctors check on you first?" Amelia nods and looks back to Olivia and Aaron. "Is she your daughter?" Jennifer shakes her head "She's my goddaughter though." Amelia nods "Tell her I say thank you for protecting me." Jennifer nods "I will." Jennifer stands up and walks with Amelia out to the ambulance where her family is waiting and where the doctors can check on her. "My baby girl." Jennifer steps between them "I'm sorry ma'am but she needs to be checked on first." Her mom nods and Jennifer passes off Amelia to the doctors "Will you stay with me Jennifer?" Jennifer nods and sits on the edge of the ambulance while the doctor checks her making sure she's ready to go home.
Present day
    The team sits at the long table together i front of the section chiefs "This team took a lot of unnecessary risks on this case. Agent Porter, how did you justify shooting your own interpol teammate?" Jennifer looks him in the eye. "Sir he has a gun to my goddaughter's head and was a long lasting accomplice to Mr. Wyatt. I call that shot to his shoulder justified." They nod and he turns to face the other section chiefs and they talk for a moment "Dismissed, except for you. Agent Porter." Jennifer nods and the rest of the team hesitantly leaves Jennifer alone in the room again. Derek paces back and forth across the hallway while Aaron sits with his face in his hands. Kyrsten holds Emilie's hand telling Emilie that it's going to be okay, while Charlie leans against the wall staring at the door. What people don't realize is how much Charlie is freaking out. Jennifer was the first person he met that when he introduced himself she didn't look at him like he was a scocally awkward nerd, she saw him as himself, a friend. He doesn't know what he would do if this team got disbanded... they were his very first family. The doors open and Jennifer steps out of the room. They look at her searching for information on what will happen to this team. Jennifer smiles and they burst into cheers and give Jennifer a hug. Charlie steps back and once everyone is done Jennifer walks upto Charlie tears filling up in her eyes and gives him a hug. "Thank you, for everything." Charlie hugs her back and whispers "Thank you for being there."
    They get back to the office and grab their go bags. "Wait, how did you get them to keep the team together?" Derek asks. Jennifer sits on her now empty desk and says "I told them how long this team has been together, how much we love each other, and how strong you all are." He nods and Aaron looks at the empty desk "There's something else?" Jennifer nods "I told them that the only reason all of this happened was because of me, so I gave them my credentials and stepped down." The room falls silent, until Emilie drops her coffee cup. "No... Jennifer, you can't leave." Jennifer wipes her eyes "Em, I have to." Jennifer says. Emilie runs up to her and gives her a hug. Everyone gives her a hug and when she gets to Aaron she looks back to Olivia who is standing by the door. "Jenn." Jennifer looks back to him and he pulls her into a hug. "I can't believe this." Jennifer nods "I can't either." He kisses her forehead and let's go "See you at home." Jennifer nods and grabs her bag "I love you all so much, don't ever forget that. You were my first friends in this town and you will always have a place in my heart and in our home." Aaron nods and Jennifer pulls Olivia into a side hug and she waves goodbye to the others.  Jennifer opens the glass doors and begins to walk out with Olivia, a hand grabs her arm and it's Emilie. "Jennifer, I understand that you did this for the team but you can't go, stay please." She begs, Jennifer shakes her head as tears flood into her eyes "I'm sorry Emilie, but I can't stay."
    People cry, not because they're weak. It's because they've been strong for too long. -Johnny Depp