THREE

I tapped my fingers on the table nervously. I sat across from Wes in his office, waiting. The waiting was physically painful, my daughter was out there somewhere with a dangerous man who’d tried to kill my husband and I. Not to mention the fact that said husband had followed him into a trap.

A clock ticked, my fingers tapped, Wes sighed. I stared at the coffee cup in front of me, cold and untouched. Time passed.

Finally the door opened and Blaine walked in. I was out of my seat in a second throwing my arms around him. He held me to him tightly, burying his head in my shoulder.

“I went back to that place,” he began. I assumed that place was where I’d been shot. “I was so sure that was where they’d be, but they weren’t.” The last part of his sentence came out in a sob. I felt the tears well up in my eyes. I held him even tighter for a second as we pulled ourselves together. Then we parted and turned to Wes.

“What do we do now?” Blaine asked.

“I will do my best to get your daughter back. You will go home with a couple of agents in case he calls,” Wes said.

“I’m not sitting by, I’m an agent and this is my daughter,” Blaine growled.

“You are a teacher, Blaine and even if you were still an agent you’re emotionally compromised,” Wes replied.

Blaine didn’t argue. To anyone else he looked defeated. To those that knew him you could see the determination in his eyes. Wes could see it as well as I could. “Blaine, either promise me you’ll back down or I’ll have to put one of my best men in your house to keep you out of trouble. That’d be a waste don’t you think,” Wes told him. Blaine nodded slowly.

We went home. I didn’t speak to Blaine in the car, nor when we walked back into the house. I didn’t say a word to him as I made coffee for the agents or as I began to clean the kitchen. I couldn’t sit and do nothing so I worked on the making the already clean kitchen cleaner. That’s when I noticed the glass, the milk poured but never drunk. It was room temperature. I began to cry, sliding down the cabinets to the floor and pulling my knees up. I buried my head and sobbed.

I can’t have been sitting there for long when I felt a presence beside me. Familiar arms wound around me and I allowed myself to be pulled onto my husband’s lap.

“You’re mad at me,” he said. It wasn’t a question, he didn’t doubt the fact. “I was trying to protect you,” he explained.

“Don’t, not now,” I replied through my tears. I would be angry with him later. Right now I needed him.

“Ok,” he said and just held me.

It was some time later when the phone rang. We’d moved to the sofa, I was lying across it my head pillowed on Blaine’s lap, I was nearly asleep. The sound of ringing caused me to jump and I sat so quickly I felt dizzy. Blaine propped my up against him as he answered the phone, holding it between us so we could both hear. One of Wes’s agents was recording the call and listening in.

“Hello?” Blaine asked shakily.

“Hello Warb,” the name alone told us who was calling.

“Where is she? If you’ve hurt her I swear I will make you suffer.” Blaine said, his voice low and threatening.

“I’d be a little nicer or your darling girl will pay,” Finch replied. I choked out a sob and looked at Blaine desperately.

“What do you want?” Blaine asked, carefully reigning in his anger.

“I think it’s time you come and get her,” Finch said, following up with a place name. He hung up. I blinked slowly. I didn’t know where the place he’d mentioned was.

“Do you know where he is?” I asked Blaine. He nodded.

“It’s an old abandoned warehouse where we used to train.”

It didn’t take long to get organised. Blaine had tried to leave immediately, I’d been with him on that, but Wes’s men stopped him. They set up a plan of attack and decided there was no way Blaine or I would set foot inside that warehouse. We were allowed to accompany them in a car though. Wes explained it was to comfort Annie, I reckoned it was so Wes could keep an eye on Blaine.

We were sitting in the back of the car waiting for the team to emerge with our daughter. I was dreading her getting caught in the cross fire.

“Where the hell are they?” Blaine hiss, opening the car door and getting out. I followed quickly, half scared he’d lock me in, though I could let myself out of a car. I hurried round the car to his side where he was leaning on the side, head resting on the car. I hooked my chin over his shoulder and wrapped my arms around his waist.

“I hate not being able to do anything,” he whispered.

“I know,” I replied.

“Excuse me?” A voice asked. We both turned to them. “There’s no sign of your daughter I’m afraid. We’re doing a thorough search of the premises now.”

It took a while for his words to sink into my brain. By the time they did I’d already slid to the ground. Blaine was kneeling in front of me. I blinked up at him.

“Kurt?”

“You said she was here,” I said. Blaine looked shocked and hurt.

“I… that’s what Finch said,” he explained.

“Well maybe you got it wrong,” I snapped, standing swiftly.

“You’re blaming me?” Blaine looked furious. “Because she got taken on your watch.” The words cut me deep, I could feel my eyes filling with tears.

“She got taken because some maniac wants revenge on you,” I bit back, my ingrained defence mechanism kicking. I instantly regretted the words but we were both too wound up to say sorry so I turned and walked away.

I knew logically that this wasn’t Blaine’s fault but I was scared and upset. My fear for my daughter’s safety was causing me to stop thinking rationally. I didn’t go far. Just around a corner so I was out of site. I leant my forehead against a wall, letting my tears fall. There was nothing I could do until Wes’s men had finished their search.

I felt a presence beside me and someone leant against the wall at my side.

“You know I’d have thought you and Blaine would have known better than too get other people involved in this.” I looked up quickly to see Finch beside me. He grabbed my arm and carried on quickly. “Piss me off and it’s your daughter who’ll pay, understand.” I nodded.

“So all these people were not part of my plan, I need to get ol’ Warb back on track. I figure that best way to do that would be to give him nothing else to loose. I considered just killing you but I don’t want to make him too crazy. So congrats you get to be reunited you’re your daughter and of course if Warbler behaves then you and little Annie can live your lives.”

“And Blaine?”

“Dies, non-negotiable.”

“Not convincing me to play along.”

“Oh you’ll play along, you not going to let me hurt your kid are you. So make a choice, get in the car and Warb dies” he pointed to a car a little way from us. “Or go back and tell Warbler my plan and Annie dies.” He let go of me. “Your choice.”

I didn’t move. I thought, hard. This was the worst decision I had and probably ever would have to make but in the end there was no choice. I knew if Blaine stood here instead of me, he’d make the same one. I walked to the car.

Finch followed and opened the front passenger door for me in some parody of gentlemanliness. I slid into the seat. Before he closed the door he asked for my phone. Of course. I handed it over without a word.

He asked for the passcode and I told him. I was playing by his rules now. He tapped out something then locked it and laid it on the pavement gently. I frowned as he got in the car beside me.

“He needs to be able to find us,” Finch said by way of explanation. He started to drive, taking me away from my husband and towards, I hoped, my daughter.