Chapter 9

A frustrated breath slipped out of Justine, trying for what felt like the hundredth time to get her team. There had to be something blocking the signal which meant they had no clue what was happening to them, and she had no clue what they were planning. Her watch showed it was nearly midnight now. They were running out of time. Harvey was likely getting close to finding them now. The wooded area wasn't that large, and it was the only logical place for them to be after the barn, the copse of trees, and the road were all devoid of their presence.

"Okay, we're going to head back towards the house and make for the road. Hopefully he'll be searching out here and give us a clear path off the property. I know I have a signal out on the road," she told Isabelle who nodded, her face scared and a bit pale, but also determined, and Justine gave her hand another squeeze as they slid back through the woods, hiding when they spotted Harvey going deeper into them, still spewing curses and threats of what he'd do when he found them aloud.

She barely breathed until they were between the garage and the house, hidden from view of the woods. They were getting closer to being out of this mess.

Justine hurried them back towards the barn, and they reached the copse of trees minutes later, pausing to breathe and for her to try the team again. There was still no response, and she shook her head, gauging how far to the road it was now.

They stepped out from the trees and a cackle sounded to her right before something slammed into her side, sending all the breath from her body as she crashed to the ground, a hard weight falling on her.

"Run," she gasped out to Isabelle, managing to make out Wendell's sickening face through the soft glow of the moon.

"Not so fucking fast," Wendell laughed, grabbing Isabelle's ankle, sending her down next to them. It gave Justine the opportunity to drag in some much needed air, allowing her to kick out at Wendell as he shouted into something, "I fucking got them! They're in the trees by the barn."

Her foot connected with his stomach, making him grunt and she pulled away, getting Isabelle free of his hold.

"Go," she told the girl but as Isabelle stood, it was clear that she wasn't going to be able to run very much as a pained cry fell from her lips. That left Justine very few options except to take down the bastards herself.

She pushed at Wendell with all her strength, forcing him off her and popped up, moving between him and Isabelle as he lunged for them. His grab didn't land but her punch to his gut did, sending him stumbling back a hint, cackling again.

"Oh, you think you're a tough bitch do you? Let's see what you got then," he snickered, coming after her again and she countered each of his laden moves with a quicker, successful one of her own, winding him to the point he was hunched over, sucking in air in pants. It let her send a kick to his head, and he landed in a heap on the ground out cold.

Justine slipped an arm around Isabelle, helping her towards the road, but before they could reach it, her arm was jerked back with a painful twist and she felt it snap, bringing her face to face with Harvey. His breath hot in her face as Isabelle stumbled, falling down again behind them.

"You bitch, where's my brother?" he demanded.

"Out there somewhere. He's going to have one hell of a headache when he wakes up," she shot back, forcing down the pain to stay focused on the jerk.

He lunged towards them, faster than Wendell and she was struggling to stay out of his grasp, her counters nowhere near as successful with her hurt arm. She turned out of his way, and he let out a loud shout of rage when it sent him stumbling over the uneven ground.

When he turned back towards them, he was holding something in his hands, and she moved quickly seeing him brandishing what looked like a tree branch towards Isabelle. She jumped between them, the blow hitting her already hurt arm as she held it up to shield Isabelle. The force sent them both stumbling to the ground, and Justine slid her hand into her boot, pulling out the gun, doing her best to hold it steady with the agony running through her arm.

"FBI…take another step and I'll shoot, Grimes," she warned using his name to make her point.

"Like hell you will," he crowed coming at them with the branch raised once more and she didn't hesitate. She pulled the trigger, landing a bullet in his shoulder as a huge shout of pain tore through the night.

Justine wasn't entirely sure it was all from him as the slight recoil of the gun felt magnified by a thousand through her injured arm.

Harvey fell to his knees, dropping the branch, and she helped Isabelle up, moving them backwards away from the man. They were a good fifty feet from him when someone grabbed her, and the feel of a cold sharp blade settled against her neck.

"I'm going to kill you and enjoy it you fucking bitch," Wendell seethed, and Justine let out a slow breath, a strange calm settling over her.

"You're not man enough to do it," she returned, lifting the gun, putting a new bullet into Harvey's leg as he started their way, before quickly turning out of Wendell's shocked and loosened grip, grabbing his arm with her good hand, twisting it back around and down until it slid into his stomach sending him to the ground groaning in pain.

"Justine!" Moe's staticky voice shouted over her earwig as she eased her and Isabelle further away from the two. "Justine, for…love…god. Answer…"

"Get your asses in here now," she replied not taking her eyes off the two as Isabelle shook within her hold. There was something wet on her neck and she patted the girl's arm, trying to comfort her as best as possible until the entire area flooded with lights, the sound of engines drowning out the cries of pain of the two bastards on the ground.

"Justine!" Luke shouted, hurrying over to her side and she relaxed her stance as agents rushed the two men, cuffing them despite their injuries.

"What the hell happened? We couldn't get hold of you, and we heard shots," Dean added, and she turned them towards her team, her gun feeling like a lead weight in her hand as the surge of adrenaline began to wane.

"Take this for me," she told Luke, and he grabbed it before she dropped it, then lifted her arm swearing, and stupidly, she looked down, seeing the awkward angle of it as the bone pressed against her skin but thankfully not puncturing it.

"We need medical now," Luke stated, catching her as she started to go down.

"There are more girls in the barn. They'll all need medical," she warned before things went dark.

∞∞∞

"Isabelle!" Hailey shouted as they hurried into the ER, and Tyler's head flew over to a group standing not far from his sister. Behind them were more bays with the curtains pulled shut and his jaw tightened not seeing Justine anywhere.

"Hailey," Isabelle said, hugging her twin hard before she glanced towards the rest of them. "I'm okay…I sprained my ankle and have some bruises but that's it."

"Then where did the blood come from?" Hailey questioned and Tyler's eyes slid over his sister's shoulder where it looked like dried blood was.

"It's not mine. Justine…she got cut getting us out of there," Isabelle said, hesitating on her name.

"Is she okay?" Hailey asked pulling a grunt from their dad as he and their mom hugged Isabelle tight.

"She'll be fine," a voice from behind their group stated, and Tyler's gaze slid towards a man likely seven to ten years older than him heading their way. "She's already arguing about wanting out of here, but they need to run a few more tests first to make sure there's not any damage to her kidney from the hit she took."

That news sent a wave of dread through him, and he recognized the look on Hailey's face at the mention of kidneys. None of the others really thought anything about it, but he knew Justine only had one. That her other was inside Hailey now, which meant damage to it was more severe than for a normal individual.

"She's really okay?" Isabelle asked, pulling another grumble from their dad and Tyler had to bite back a grin when his sister shot him a dirty look. "Stop it. She risked her life for me. She… she took down both of them with a broken arm, used it to shield me when the guy came at me with a freaking tree branch. I don't want to hear anything about her being a Crawford."

"You can blame the sass on the pain of a sprained ankle later," Hailey tacked on, giving their parents a grin as their mom pressed kisses to both of their heads.

"I know it was scary to see her pass out, but the combination of the pain, the ability to relax, which resulted in the adrenaline lowering took a toll. She was coming back around in the ambulance already," the man assured Isabelle, but she didn't look like she bought it.

"She lost a lot of blood though," Isabelle said pulling a hint of a smile from the guy and Tyler didn't like it one bit.

"Justine's tough. The knife barely nicked her artery, and they had fluids in her before she even woke up, stopping the blood loss quickly. She'll be back to fighting shape in no time."

"Wait, what happened?" Grace asked coming back to their group after speaking with the doctor looking after Isabelle.

Tyler's heart was in his throat as Isabelle told them and his eyes went back to the man there, the hint of a smile deeper and his eyes narrowed on the man.

"We'll need to ask Isabelle some questions about what everything that happened, but that can wait until tomorrow. I believe the doctor was going to release her once you all arrived. I'm going to grab some clothes out of the car for Justine, if you didn't bring anything for Isabelle, there's a shop open down the street, or they can give her some scrubs to go home in," the man simply said when Isabelle finished, heading for the door.

"I'll go grab the bag from the car. You left it in the backseat of Mom and Dad's car, didn't you, Hailey?" Tyler asked his sister who nodded.

"Sorry, I was too anxious to get in here to grab it when we got here."

Tyler took the keys from his father, moving out the door after the man wanting more from him than what he gave the others. He stopped just outside the doors, trying to see where he went and heard a voice clear from off to the side.

"Do you have a problem with me?" the man questioned, lifting a brow his way, that same ghost of a smile on his lips. "I mean, I know you're sleeping with Justine, so I'd assume you knew that our relationship is and always has been strictly professional. I care about her immensely. At times I was the only person that had any interaction with her that wasn't from some scumbag, so I'm protective of her beyond our professional relationship but not because I want her."

"How…what?" Tyler said, moving further away from the building, and the man followed him, allowing him to grab the bag for Isabelle.

"Granted she didn't tell me that the two of you were once again ‘on' more like she told Melissa that the two of you were seeing each other again, although the rest of your family isn't aware of that fact, are they?"

"No, not yet. Who are you?" Tyler added sending the man's brow upward a bit more. "I didn't have a clue what Justine's job was until she walked into my parents house wearing a fucking FBI jacket, this…yesterday morning," he corrected as the time was well past two a.m. now.

"Luke Morrison. I was Justine's handler when she was UC—undercover," Luke explained as his brows furled a bit in confusion at that. "When she was deep under it was too dangerous for her to contact the rest of the team, so I was the only one that knew where and what she was doing most of the time. We had scheduled meets for her to check-in and get a slight break from her UC duties. Believe me, in our field that's necessary."

"And her injuries…is she really going to be okay?" he questioned knowing if he took too long it'd be suspicious.

"She'll be fine physically. She'll need to take it easy but since she's resigning that shouldn't be too hard to do. If you told me two years ago that she would be, I wouldn't believe it, but now…well, it's easy to see why she's ready to make a big change in her life. Doesn't mean that we're not still going to be part of her life though and if you hurt her or let any of your family hurt her, you'll answer to me. Understand?" Luke warned and his jaw tightened in fury that anyone would question him when it came to Justine.

"I will never hurt her or let someone else hurt her. The only thing I've wanted the last fourteen…nearly fifteen years was her. She's the only woman for me and nothing anyone says will change my mind on that," he said, before returning to the ER, desperate for at least a few minutes with Justine.

The opportunity came faster than he expected when the doctor gave them a prescription for some pain medicine for Isabelle to take with the discharge paperwork. It wasn't a narcotic but a higher dosage ibuprofen that should help her handle the ache from the severe sprain.

"Why don't I wait for the script while you all head on home?" Tyler suggested to his parents, glancing at Grace who gave him a little brow lift clearly reading his true intentions. "I can drop it off on my way through. Grace can ride back with you to help get Isabelle inside, right?"

"Of course," his cousin agreed, giving Isabelle a hug. "She'll likely need it first thing in the morning to keep the pain at bay."

"Thanks big brother," Isabelle said, squeezing his neck tightly when he gave her a hug first. "You better be nice to Justine from now on too. No more biting at her because you're mad that Angela left you and she's the one that told you."

"I won't," he assured her, holding back a laugh while the group left, letting him slip over to the desk to ask what room or bay Justine was in not seeing any of her team there waiting for news about the other girls they'd brought in from the farm any longer.

"I'm not sure…" the nurse said as the ER doctor moved up behind her.

"Look, I know my dad was acting like a jerk at the mention of her and the rest of our family has a century old feud they engage in, but Justine and I don't. We're friendly and I just want to check on her before I leave, thank her for finding my baby sister. I don't intend to disturb or upset her," he told the man who studied him for a long moment before nodding, directing him towards a room.

There was no one around as he gave a soft knock on it, peeking his head around the door to ensure no one else was in there before heading in as Justine's head turned his way, a smile settling on her tired face. His breath stalled seeing the bandage on her neck along with the cast on her arm. His chest tightened knowing how easily he could have lost her tonight, and he never wanted that. He wouldn't survive that.

"It's not as bad as it looks, I promise," Justine said as he shut the door behind him, slipping over to her side quickly, his hand sliding beneath her shoulder, gathering her to him as tightly as he dared. "I'm okay, Tyler."

"Tell that to me when you're not in a hospital bed with the doctors monitoring you for kidney damage and then we'll talk," he argued pulling back enough to see her gorgeous face. Her eyes were sleepy but thankfully there wasn't pain evident in them.

"They're just being overly cautious about it, I'm perfectly fine. Don't worry honey-bae," she said, and he couldn't stop the smile that hit his lips hearing the term slip from her. "What?"

"You haven't called me that in ten years. Just savoring it," he admitted, lowering his mouth to hers in a soft, sweet lingering kiss. "If anything had happened to you…I couldn't survive losing you again, babydoll."

"Talk about not hearing something in ten years," she teased resting her forehead against his cheek as he leaned over her still, unable to move away from her yet.

"I guess part of me felt like you weren't really mine still," he admitted, pulling back a bit to see her better. "I knew you were keeping something from me. I just didn't realize it was to do with your job. I still don't get how you had so much leave…what?" he added when she let out a soft sigh, his brows furling a bit. "You weren't out here working. It's not possible…"

"No, I wasn't working. Had no intention of getting anywhere back near that world again," she told him, worrying him at her tone. "I promise, I'll explain everything later when I know there's no chance to be interrupted. I know my team didn't call my family but that doesn't mean they won't hear and show up without warning."

"And finding me in here holding you isn't the way we need this coming out," he said pulling a nod from her. "Are you getting out of here tonight…or morning whatever it is now."

"Probably later today, they want to monitor my kidney function for a bit to make sure everything's good. I'll let you know when I'm back in town. I'll probably need to be up here for a couple days at least to handle paperwork. Since I discharged my weapon there will be more questions to answer than normal. Nothing's changed except now my medical leave is extended again…" she said making his brow rise quickly as he studied her intently. "I technically was on an extended medical leave. It wasn't for any physical ailment, more to let me process what happened on my last assignment, deal with it. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do when I got here but seeing you, being back with you, it's the only thing that makes sense, Ty.

"I love you. Even when I swore I couldn't or shouldn't because things that happened during that last assignment messed me up pretty good but being with you…it's cleared up so much of it. Made me deal with it, own up to the fact that I still have a ways to go and I probably do need to talk to someone to help with that, but the first thing I see when I wake up isn't danger and chaos. It's sweetness and hope and I want to stay in that, here with you, for good this time. There is nothing out there that's better or makes more sense than being with you, being us," she added, and he lowered his lips to hers, stealing another kiss wanting to know everything she was still keeping to herself but for now, knowing she wanted to be here, wanted them was enough to let him head back to town to wait for her to come home again.

"I love you too, babydoll. More than anything in this world. Nothing else but that matters right now. Get some rest—and thank you, for saving both of the twins' lives," he added, kissing both of her eyelids then her forehead before he left her, hoping it was the last time he ever had to walk away from her.