Fire and Ice (Guardians) (30 page)

"Fuck, if I give that up," Maia retorted showing spirit for the first time since she'd woken up. "What, they couldn't find it on any of the salvageable computers?"

Viktor shook his head.

Jack closed his eyes in resignation.

"What is it?" Derek asked curiously.

"We have to give them something," Viktor said.

"It should be with my personal stuff. Ask the nurse. But make a copy of it, we can use it for leverage."

"Against who? Reznikov is dead," Derek said.

Viktor cleared his throat. Maia's eyes widened and she mumbled apologetically to her boss. "Sorry, my brain is still addled."

"I'll go ask for it at the nurse's station," Viktor said as he left the room.

"Babe," Jack said in a calm, reasonable voice as he approached the bed, "This didn't end with Reznikov, did it?"

Maia shook her head.

Jack's jaw clenched in frustration as Derek muttered a string of curses.

"It's okay, babe," Jack said gently as he tucked a stray curl behind Maia's ear. "We'll talk about this later. I want you to rest."

A few minutes later, Viktor came back waving a few sheets of paper triumphantly. "Got it. Great job, Maia."
 

Jack walked up to Viktor, "A word, please." And he walked out the room.
 

When they were out of earshot from Maia, Jack whirled on the older man and thumped him twice on the chest.

"You are a dick, do you know that?" Jack said through gritted teeth.

"I know," Viktor said coldly. "And I warn you not to lay a hand on me again."

"Maia thinks the world of you, but you treat her like a fucking pawn in your crusade against God knows what. She almost died yesterday and you can't wait to see what you can get out of her? You're no better than a leech."

"She's tougher than she looks. You forget, I've known her for eighteen years, you've known her for what? Two weeks? And most of your knowledge of her you've learned between the sheets," Viktor sneered.

"Fuck you, Viktor," Jack hissed aware of the stares they were attracting from the medical personnel milling around the hallway.

"I will concede that Maia needs to recover her strength," Viktor said quietly. "She's got a couple of weeks of rest at least. I suggest you get to know the woman she is rather than bubble wrap her away from the world she knows. She is what she is, you can't change her. If you can't accept that you better walk away now."

"Are you trying to scare me off?" Jack challenged.

"I like you, Jack, I really do," Viktor said. "You have an idea of the life we lead and if you back off from your overprotectiveness, things will be easier for everyone."

"You mean you," Jack bit out tersely.

Viktor gave a short derisive laugh. "Jack, as I've said you've only known Maia for a little over two weeks. I don't care if you're a God in bed, I warn you not to get between Maia and her job. And that means not making her choose between you and me, because you'll always lose."

With that, Viktor turned around and headed back to Maia's room.

Jack stood in the hallway trying to regain control of an overwhelming fury. He itched to wipe that sneer off of Viktor's face with his fists but he didn't want to cause a scene in the hospital and add to Maia's distress. It did kind of sting that Viktor was right that he had only known Maia for a short time, but it was wrong of him to insinuate that his only connection to her was sex. He wanted more from her than that, he wanted her body and soul. He wanted her heart.

***

Much to Jack's satisfaction, Viktor left after a few hours. Even with Derek's easy-going nature, there was simply too much testosterone bouncing around the walls. Apparently, Jack was not the only one to notice that.

A nurse came in to check Maia's pulse and other vitals and remarked to the two men, "Whew, good thing the blond one left. I was afraid this room would spontaneously combust with all the raw male energy from you guys."

Maia giggled as a blush crept up Derek's and Jack's faces.

"Lucky girl," the nurse muttered and batted her eyelashes at the men before she left the room.

"Don't you guys need to be somewhere? I'm sure you all have something better to do than babysit me?"

"Trying to get rid of us, Maia?" Derek asked.

"I need to be at New Park tomorrow morning," Jack said. "But I can be back tomorrow night and check you out on Wednesday. Derek will stay with you in the meantime."

"You don't have to do that, Jack." Maia said, "I'm sure I can ask one of the Guardians to take me to my house in DC."

Jack glanced at Derek as he took the hint and left the room.

Jack sat at the edge of Maia's bed and said gently, "What do you think is happening here, Maia?"

"Why don't you enlighten me," Maia replied, looking uncomfortable.

"You're moving in with me," Jack said bluntly. Maia's eyes grew huge.

"I know we're together, Jack. But don't you think that's moving too fast? New Park is 30 minutes from DC, we can still see each other."

"Have you forgotten the beltway traffic? I'm not wasting time driving back and forth," Jack said. He gently grazed the back of his hand up and down her cheek. "I want to take care of you while you're recovering from this. Most of all I want to go to bed with you at night and wake up with you in the morning."

"Jack ...you sound serious..." she laughed nervously.

"I am serious about you, babe. Have you not figured that out yet?"

Maia's breath hitched and Jack smiled. "I don't want you to stress about it. Just sleep on it and if you want to argue about it, we can do so when I come back tomorrow night. But if you remember how bull-headed I can be, best you let me have my way."

Maia grimaced. "Neanderthal."

"I see you remembered. Get some rest, Maia, I can see you slowly fading. I need to get back to the hotel and freshen up. I'll send Derek in to sit with you."

She leaned back on her pillows and slowly closed her eyes. Jack got up slowly. Maia's eyelids fluttered to half-mast. "Jack?"

"Yes, babe?"

"You shouldn't let Viktor get to you. He's got a twisted way of showing he cares."

Jack smiled. "Don't worry, babe, he won't."

***

The visitors started pouring in on Tuesday afternoon. Rick Grayson was the first to stop by. The bruising on his face was darker, but the swelling had gone down. Maia imagined she didn't look any better.

"Rick!" Maia greeted enthusiastically. Working on the Baltimore project and spending time together in captivity had forged a bond between them. "I never did thank you for digging me out."

"You crazy fuck," Rick muttered affectionately as he gave Maia a kiss on the forehead. He nodded to, Derek who was lazily observing from the couch.

"Rick, have you met Derek Lockwood?" Maia made the introductions between the two men. Derek stood up to shake Rick's hand. "So you're the famous Richard Grayson."

"More like infamous," Rick said mockingly. "Getting myself abducted like that."

"So how's the head, lady?"

"I've felt better, but I can't complain."

"She gives a new meaning to the term 'rock head'," Derek added. "So how did you two escape anyway? Maia hasn't been exactly forthcoming."

"Boring story," Maia answered quickly. "I had a blade in my shoe to cut the restraints. Then we used the old
playing sick
game."

Derek laughed. "Don't tell me they actually fell for the stomach ache line?"

Rick looked at Maia thoughtfully before saying, "Not exactly."

"What?" Derek frowned.

"Rick ..." Maia warned.

"Our friend here seems to have a death wish."

"What, is this a bash-Maia day?" she grumbled.
 

"No, it's a Maia-intervention day," Rick retorted. "She incited Sergei to beat her up."

"The bruising on her face wasn't from the explosion?" Derek asked as he looked at Maia with concern.

"Nope, and I bet her ribs are worse. Sergei kicked her good," Rick said without apology.

"Gee thanks, tattle-tale," Maia snapped and then yelped in outrage when Derek tried to raise her pajama top to look at her torso. "Hey!"

But Derek, in a rare departure from his general easy-going demeanor, out-armed her. He hissed at the fierce black and blue bruising that covered more than half of her abdomen.

"This was from Sergei?" Derek asked angrily.

"Makes you want to kill the bastard all over again, doesn't it," Rick said.

"Look, some of it may have come from the explosion. I did have a table land on me after all," Maia explained. "Doctor Anderson said none of my ribs were cracked. They did a full body MRI, I'm fine."

"He had a gun to your head too," Rick added, sounding pissed-off all over again. "And you down on the floor with blood gushing from your mouth still mouthing off and daring him to pull that trigger. Jesus, Maia you need to work on your instincts for self-preservation."

"Jack's gonna go through the roof," Derek murmured in reflection.

"You are not telling him anything," Maia ordered, then turning to Rick. "That's enough from you. If all you've come here for is to lecture me, you can leave."

Rick didn't seem deterred at all. "Maia, sweetie, I promised myself if we got out of there alive, I was going to give you a piece of my mind. It bothers the shit out of me that you talked me into letting you be the one to take the shot at the tank."

Maia rolled her eyes and groaned, "Not that again."

"You castrate a man with your take-no-prisoners approach," Rick said fiercely. "It should be me in that bed, not you."

Maia's eyes softened. It was not the first time men in her team had felt the need to be the man and protect her when they could. It had been a struggle in the beginning but after her long years at the AGS and having proven herself numerous times she didn't even think of things being a gender issue. Which was why when she made snap decisions, gender was never factored in, just the best person for the job.

"But didn't my logic make sense? You think I could have dug you out to give you CPR in time?"

Rick grunted his agreement.

"By the way, what happened to Lizveta?" Maia asked, changing the subject.

"She's under DEA custody right now, but I've weighed in and told my superiors to be lenient with her and that she may have been an unwilling participant. They're still investigating, though."

"No other survivors?"

"None. Even the guard we tied up. Reznikov's men freed him and he was part of the assault at the lab."

A look was exchanged between Maia and Rick recalling their discussion about the ethical dimension of taking lives.

Rick stayed for another half an hour mostly tag-teaming with Derek to reform her "reckless" ways, or what Derek termed a de-indoctrinization from Viktor Baran's ways.

When Rick finally got up and left, he said, "Hope to see you around, Maia Pierce. Call me if you need a partner anytime. You are one heck of a lady."
 

Later that afternoon, Lee Isaac walked into her room. Luckily, Derek had to call-in to a conference with Jack and had decided to do it from his hotel room.

Lee had his arm in a sling. Maia had been relieved to hear that the bullet had not hit any vital organs.

He still had a haggard look to his face, suggesting he had not been sleeping well.
 

"Maia, Princess," he said in a warm, soft voice. His eyes roamed over her bruised face and his mouth tightened. "I'm so sorry."

"No, Lee," Maia said firmly. "It wasn't your fault. Sergei Reznikov had been after me for weeks."

"And he finally got to you because of me," Lee said bitterly.

"I was supposed to draw him out anyway," she said as she grasped one of Lee's hands to reassure him. "We were able to find the other DEA agent and we've shut him down. Everything turned out for the best in the end."

"I still don't understand why you can't do something else," Lee said, returning to the argument they had had before the abduction. "I love you, I want to be with you but knowing you put your life on the line each time you go on assignment, that's gonna drive me insane."

Maia smiled sadly. What could she say?

Lee cleared his throat and asked, "Are you and Jack ..."

"Lee, don't do this to yourself."

"I need to know, Princess," Lee whispered.

"We're together, yes."

Lee gave a short mirthless laugh. "He sure looked like he wanted to break my neck a couple of times. He's lucky to have you. Unlucky too."

Maia didn't say anything, just stared at their entwined fingers.

Lee pulled his hand away to lift her face to look up at him. "I'm glad you're okay."

"What are you going to do now that Addison is under investigation?"

"Move to another club. I'm already fielding offers," Lee replied. "But with my shoulder injury, I'm thinking of going on vacation for a while." He looked at Maia half-grinning. "Wanna come to Bali with me?"

Maia grinned, "I don't think I can fly anywhere just yet. And I think I'd prefer you to have all your teeth."

Lee chuckled. "That kind of guy, huh?"

After another uncomfortable moment, Lee leaned over and gave Maia a long, deep kiss. He pulled back with a grin. "Don't be a stranger, you know where I am."

With that, Lee turned around and left. He crossed paths with Derek at the door who didn't bother disguising his scowl.

"He didn't waste any time," Derek muttered.

"Don't start," Maia warned.

Derek looked at her innocently. "I'm not. Let's order pizza. Hospital food sucks."

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Jack took the Capital beltway exit towards Baltimore. He'd been in meetings all day and was now stuck in rush-hour traffic. He couldn't wait to get back to Maia but also decided that the delay may have been a good thing. It would probably give him time to cool down.

He was still seething at the latest information from Derek regarding the truth about Maia's injuries. He had seen the bruising on her abdomen and had been appalled at how bad it looked. The doctor had been more concerned about the head injury after the full body scan revealed no internal injuries; everyone assumed that most of the bruising had come from the blast. And now he found out that Sergei Reznikov had beaten Maia and it made his blood boil. He was impotent with rage because the man was dead and there was nothing he could do in retribution. So now all his anger was directed at Maia, because Rick was right, she had no instinct for self-preservation. It was as if she had a death wish.