Hush Little Baby Ch. 02

*******

Interesting, being outnumbered...

We had been at the cabin for a few days now; Charlotte was slowly getting back to her own fitness levels. I watched from the porch every morning when both the girls would go for a run and come back almost an hour later soaked in sweat. The first day they did this, a county sheriff's cruiser followed them back here, a deputy got out. He was young and curious, this wasn't summer season and yet we were at the cabin that belonged to a retired General.

His hand rested on his sidearm when we all walked into the cabin so Charlotte and I could show him our ID. He took both along with Dana's passport outside with him and sat in his cruiser; I already had my cell out and just finished talking to General Alison Thomson. All three of us sat on the porch, watching the deputy get a call from the station in town, we couldn't hear what was said, but we watched several shades of pale cross his features before he acknowledged and got out of his cruiser.

The deputy handed me all three ID's back and said. "My apologies sir, I will remove my enquiry from the data base."

"That's already being done but thank you for your time deputy. Had you let us explain rather than treating us all like criminals, we could have avoided all this."

His cheeks reddened slightly but other than nod his head, he turned and walked back to his cruiser and left.

Alison Thomson turned up the next morning, I met her at her car and she pointed to the overnight case in the back before walking into the cabin. She was deep in conversation with Charlotte and Dana when I carried her case up the stairs to her room.

"Thank you Michael, your wives are fascinating women."

With all three of us now in the same room, Alison Thomson once again apologized. "I sometimes forget the security that surrounds me out here; it's that small town mentality thing. Don't get me wrong, I'm not belittling it at all, when we come here on summer vacation the Sheriff and Mayor plus families come to all our cookouts."

Alison looked directly at Charlotte and said. "In my haste to offer you the sanctuary and solitude this place offers, and you really do need. I failed to consider the locals that look after this place for me when my family isn't here."

Rank really did take a back seat when Alison pulled Charlotte from the chair and hugged her. I left them to it and made us all drinks; we were still talking as it started to get dark. That's when all three got up and wandered over to the kitchen and started making dinner, I was handed a knife and either chopped or pealed, dependant on what was placed in front of me.

The topics continued to ebb and flow between them, more so when we were all sat at the dinning table. It did pause once when Alison mentioned that she was CIA station chief at the French embassy for a year.

Charlotte and I sat and watched from the dining room table as Dana and Alison dropped into French for a few minutes, I thought I saw enforcer in her eyes for a moment, but Alison said something and waved her hand, almost dismissively and the Dana I know now, had returned.

With her overnight bag now in her car, Alison sat all three of us down in the day room. She herself stayed standing.

"When I heard what happened to Charlotte and what Ghost did to get her and the rest of her team back. It brought certain things to the forefront of my thinking once again."

She wrung her hands, something I had never seen this woman do.

"Believe it or not, I do have a boss. We've talked and this is what we're putting on the table. We want you all to think about it and get back to me when you all decide."

General Alison Thomson had never let me leave; it seems she was always a shadow over me, even when I went back to Ghost Squadron. Our countries military involvement was being decreased, within two years Ghost Squadron would be disbanded. Alison Thomson wanted me to return to her and she would make me a department head, I could even pick my own team.

Charlottes regiment were already told their rotation back to the states, she had less than three months left in the sandbox.

Alison stood directly in front of Dana. "In an ideal world, I would want you on my side. But you have seen the freedom and the gift your father gave you so it would be unfair to bring you back to that. Take my advice and let him get you pregnant now, while you're still young. This country has as good an opportunity for news reporters as any. It also has a great transport system so you can even keep your freelance work for the French and German magazines if you wish too.

She took a step back to emphasize that she was talking to all three of us.

"It's time to come home, all three of you have served your country and in return this country offers you a reason to settle down, have loads of babies and peacefully grow old together while you watch them grow up."

She hugged both the girls then looked directly at me. "You know that if you come back to me, I'm not showing you any favoritism, I'll ream your ass if you fuck up.

We both smiled, more so when I told her that I wouldn't want it any other way.

I watched Alison leave, the girls got changed and went for a run, three hours later they walked up the drive and into the house still talking to themselves. Once showered and changed, they pulled me into a seat and sat on the floor in front of me, Dana looked at Charlotte. What she said to us both just then, didn't come from her heart, but from her very soul

"I've wanted a baby since the day you put a ring on my finger. I can't speak for either of you, only for me, thankfully I listened to my own common sense, it would have hurt like hell knowing you were out there and a prisoner and I couldn't help to get you back due to being either pregnant or with a child to support."

Her face became hard for a second before her cheeks colored slightly, she spoke in such a soft voice, even for her. "I want my baby soon please. Alison spoke with wisdom and I liked her the moment she came through the door. Charlotte and I have talked; my sister will let me go first. It will take a couple of months to get what I use out of my system, I want to conceive as soon as possible after that, if you both agree."

Two days after Alison left we locked her place up and went back to our house, Charlotte still needed to be close to the hospital but the vacation at Alison's place gave us the shot in the arm we all needed. The change of scenery, plus that little competiveness between them helped Charlotte get her fitness back as well as give her wounds time to heal.

*******

Surprises for all...

We had a routine now that we all seemed to have happily got along with. It had been two months since our mini vacation and everything was going like clockwork, from hospital visits to days out and the continued efforts on all our behalf's to keep fit.

Charlottes regiment called her in for a medical, the doctor noticed the increase in fitness and her Psych evaluation was pretty straight forward. Colonel Knowles phoned her a couple of days later and congratulated her on her dedication and determination, he stopped short of saying anything else, she was progressing well and he didn't want to rush her efforts to return.

We had gone back to the house. Dana had a bathroom break and a minute later let out a scream that had Charlotte rushing into the room a second before I could. Dana looked quite comical standing in front of the toilet, her panties around her ankles and the biggest smile I've even seen on her. The smile said so much, the little white stick in her hand simply reinforced her smile.

The Doctor confirmed her pregnancy and recommended an OB/GYN who happened to be his wife. We were still feeling our own way on all this, so we gladly accepted any help given to us.

We had both got to see the start of her baby bump when Charlotte and I got our recall orders. I stopped shaving and in retaliation the girls stopped kissing me, well, on the lips anyway. Charlottes regiment only had six weeks left in the sandbox, however orders were orders. Usually we would see Dana off to Europe first and leave the next day. She decided that she would spend a couple of day's leisurely closing down the house before leaving, so she waved us both off.

What neither of us saw as we said our farewells to Dana, was that enforcer had returned.

*******

A favor owed...

Dana left the terminal and stood by the curbside. A dark sedan flashed its lights twice and pulled away from the shadows and alongside her. She got in the back and sat alongside the only person sitting there.

"I have to thank you."

General Alison Thomson nodded in the small light coming in through the darkened windows. "I have to say you surprised me when you called. Also what you asked me to do as well."

Dana nodded and stared directly ahead. It wasn't an accident that both her husband and sister were recalled to duty. It would have taken someone as powerful as General Alison Thompson to make that happen.

"I swore that I would never again lie to those I love. This baby has changed that and I regret making that promise."

This time she looked at Alison and said. "I couldn't think how I could do this and not get my husband and sister involved. If this all goes south, I would rather it be just me than them as well."

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

Dana shook her head and said. "Want to, no I don't. Have to, then the answer is yes. While I lived almost permanently in Europe, my brother refused to change the status quo between us. I want to live here as much as in France now, plus you've made Michael that job offer. I knew this could be a problem that I should have dealt with long ago."

Alison Thomson raised an eyebrow when she looked at Dana.

"I'm not going to regret this am I? This isn't going to turn into a bloodbath, is it?"

The Hamilton's family's enforcer turned to look directly at Alison Thomson and Alison felt a cold feeling move up her spine.

"I love my husband, Alison. I love my sister just as much. They have shown me a future that I both want and need. The baby that grows inside me should never lack for anything, most of all, love. For enforcer to leave in peace she must know that she will never have a need to return. I must seek peace with my brother and the family, for that to happen I must physically see him, talk to him."

The cold feeling crept further up Alison's spine. She clutched her handbag just a little tighter, the comfort of knowing that her own personal weapon was within reach.

"You came to us and painted such a picture; we all want to grasp that life and live it. For me to do that, I must ask permission from my brother, I need his blessing Alison."

Alison Thomson knew the question, just as she knew the answer.

"What if he refuses?"

Dana face was difficult to read, even for a seasoned veteran like General Thompson.

"My brother is not like my father Alison."

The vehicle pulled up at the far end of the street, Dana had hold of the door handle and turned once more to look at Alison.

"Please leave Alison, he is due in an hour, I must prepare for his arrival."

*******

Respect for one another...

It was seven in the evening, late for some but on time for the man in the Limousine. A bulk of a man got out of the passenger seat and opened the door for his boss. Matteo (Matt) Hamilton thanked the man and walked up the steps to the church, two other men followed a few paces behind.

Both bodyguards sat a respectful distance from the confessional as their boss entered. He closed the door, opened his coat and sat down.

He took a breath and said. "Forgive me Father, for I have sinned."

A little panel slid open by his head. "Thank you for agreeing to meet me Matt."

The gasp didn't go unnoticed to Dana.

"God damn it Dana, I wish you wouldn't do that."

Both giggled. Matt had come to confessional early and then expected to see Dana later, somewhere in a discreet part of the church. It didn't occur to him that she would hide in the confessional, but thinking back at her past profession, thinking outside the box always was her forte.

Matt could only see a shadow through the partition. "You said it wasn't an emergency but you needed a face to face. Well sister of mine, the floor is yours."

The pause was but a moment, Dana drew a breath and smiled to herself, as she could remember the very act between her and Michael, and she just knew the true gift he was giving her.

"I'm pregnant Matt, it's going to be a boy. My husband has already said that whatever name I give him; he will be okay with. I thought of dads to begin with, but as I thought more on it. I would like your permission to give him the name of Matteo."

The man looked at the shadow of his sister sitting in the other booth and smiled. His voice caught in his throat and he almost choked. Dana Hoffman was his half-sister, hell it wasn't until Matt had joined the company that he even knew she existed and even then, had only met a handful of times, when he was in Europe to deliver messages from their father.

Now the head of the family and company, he realized the intricate lines of communication his father had with the sister he barely knew. As head of the family, he also got to read the file his father had on Dana Hoffman.

He realized that if even half of what was in this file ever got out, the company would instantly close and more than half the family would go to jail, and it shook him to his very core that this woman he had only met in Europe, could do so much on the orders of their father.

With the death of his father and his own rise into the position of head of the family, he realized the position he was in. Dana Hoffman actually went into a war zone to kill the man she believed had killed her father. Yet on her return, she had changed and in his own opinion, for the better. It was going to be a strange relationship, the man she went to kill, and another woman now came into the picture. Between them, they had even rebuilt the house that she herself had burned to the ground, sending him a message that she was coming for him, regardless of where he was hiding.

Now the message was one of rebuilding, not only the house, but building a relationship. Matt knew that the other woman came first, the owner was still in Afghanistan. The people Matt sent to watch over the place said that they only left the house to shop and return. Eventually the owner came back and it was the first time Matt ever got a look at the Michael Davis. The same thing happened again, all three only ever left to shop and return to the house.

Then the two returned to active duty, leaving Dana at the house. Matt was due to travel across country to a meeting, Dana disguised herself as one of the flight crew and joined him for a real-time face to face meeting. Matt knew only two choices faced him then, let her live in France and cut all further ties with her, or have her killed. Without the influence that their father could bare on Dana, Matt had no idea if she would ever again tow the family line.

He saw a whole different Dana on that flight, she was in love. A word he truly believed she wasn't capable of knowing, let alone experiencing. The eyes that he had looked on while their father was alive no longer looked hopelessly lost to us, her face turned cute colors of pink and she actually smiled when she talked and always fondly about Charlotte and Michael.

When the plane landed and came to a stop. They had re-written her life, the families ex enforcer left that plane with her head held high. Matt even felt safe enough to allow the continuation of any communication she wished with him as head of the family. She only ever used that communication to wish those in the family Happy Birthday's or at Christmas.

Then came the request for a real time meeting, there was no reason he could think of as to why and that worried him enough to bring his most trusted people with him.

"Dana, why do you wish to name your first child after me?"

The pause was their, he felt it, he could almost taste it.

"Because you didn't kill me on the plane like you had planned too, because you allowed me to live my life in a place I love so much, and with the man and woman I love so deeply and most of all, because you're nothing like our father."

Dana's only contact with the family in the beginning was through Matt, until her father could establish a more permanent and invisible communication system for them to act on rather than to continue to send his son. Of the times they had met, Dana knew that one day he was going to run the family business. The look of contempt he always gave her when he came to see her let her know that on that day, she would be deemed expendable by her own half-brother.

With the death of Marcus Hamilton and finally the summons to a meeting with her brother on the company jet, she knew that day had come. Her life had already changed, when she came back from Afghanistan, the house rebuild and joining of minds, bodies and souls of both Charlotte and her, then Michael came home and the natural way that all three became one.

Dana knew that if the meeting of her and her brother didn't work out, she was going to be killed before they landed, she couldn't risk Matt then going after her husband, so she hatched a plan. She planted a bomb on the plane, it didn't need to be a large device considering they were traveling in a small aluminum tube, at speed and height. Dana placed a heart monitor to her chest, the bomb would only go off if her heart stopped.

*******

Matt's mind screamed the words his mouth refused to utter. She knew, and she still got on that plane. When he looked at the shadow that the mesh between them would allow, he knew he was staring directly at his half-sister's eyes.

Matt knew just then, a newfound respect for each other had just began to blossom between them. His own heart skipped a beat, something that hadn't happened since he took his third child in his arms and could see the love peeking back in his six-minute old daughter's eyes.

Dana may have seen his smile but he doubted it, she was watching his eyes. "You have my blessing. The communication between us will stay open until you choose for it not to be. Enjoy your life my sister."

Matt stood, did his coat up and left the confessional. The two men followed behind him. Dana watched from the device that she had in her hand that was connected to a camera via Wi-Fi, focused on the confessional and a few of the surrounding pews. It was only then that she placed the safety back on the silenced weapon she had pointed at her half-brother throughout the time he was in the booth.

A small smile touched her lips, when her father started to bring in professionals to teach her to kill, a little old man spent close to six months placing bruises on every part of her body as he taught her self defense moves that never appeared in any rule book. Every day she would crawl on her hands and knees to the bathroom to soak in the bath after training, yet that man never even broke into a sweat.

Only once in the time Albert was with her had she even bettered him and that was this evening, she hid the triumph from her face, that man had taught her well as he beat her into submission again and again, until this very evening, a small smile left his lips before he nodded her towards the bathroom. Bruises on what felt like every inch of her body he ignored her crawl away on her hands and knees into the next room at the end of her training session to try and heal herself in the bath knowing that all he had ever taught her would save her life many times.

On his last day he walked into the bathroom, Dana was soaking in the bath, she was too tired to even place her hands over her breasts, as Albert sat on the toilet next to her.