“Hi, Baby Girl. You scared me for a while there. Don’t ever do that to me again, you hear me?” I whispered, taking her hand and kissing it gently. “I love you, Anna. I love you so much, and I nearly lost you.” My body started to calm down; now that I was near her, I wasn’t as worried about her.

I sat there, just looking at her beautiful, bruised face until her parents came back in. I sniffed and moved to get off the bed to give them the space, but President Spencer shook his head. “No, it’s fine, you stay there,” he instructed, pulling over two chairs for him and his wife to sit in.

“Thank you, sir.” I nodded gratefully.

“Do you really love my daughter?” he asked suddenly.

I smiled. “More than anything,” I confirmed, rubbing my thumb over the back of her hand.

“And she loves you?” he inquired.

I nodded. “Yes, sir, she does,” I said confidently. I would never doubt that after what she was willing to do for me, to go with Carter just to save my life. To sacrifice herself, her whole life, just to save me.

“Okay, well then I guess you should be calling me Tom,” he suggested, smiling slyly. I looked over at him a little confused. “If you’re going to be dating my daughter, then you should be able to call me Tom,” he explained, shrugging.

“Actually, I was hoping to be marrying your daughter, I asked her in the ambulance and she said yes.” I frowned as soon as I said it, knowing I’d just screwed up. I probably shouldn’t have just announced it like that.

His eyes widened. “You want to get married?”

“Um, yes, sir. Though Anna’s probably going to give me hell for coming out with it like that,” I winced, thinking of the scolding she would give me for blurting it out to her parents, and while she was in a coma to top it off. Great job, Ashton.

He laughed. “That’s okay, Agent Taylor, we knew you were serious about her when you refused to get treatment after getting shot. But I’m sure you’re right, Annabelle’s probably going to kick your ass,” he teased, grinning and looking at his daughter lovingly. “Can I ask now though, why did she ask me to transfer you? Did you two have a fight or something?”

I sighed and shook my head. “We didn’t have a fight. I think it was Anna’s stupid way of protecting me. I couldn’t understand it at first, but today she was so upset when I got there. She kept saying she couldn’t watch it again. I think this is deep rooted issues from Jack, and she didn’t want history to repeat itself.” I looked down at her peaceful face. I knew it would have destroyed her to see me murdered just like Jack, and I’d almost put her through that.

The President sighed and shook his head, rubbing at his temples. “That sounds like Annabelle.”

I nodded and shifted my weight on the bed, wincing because it felt like someone kicked me in the side. My whole body was aching now; I could barely think of anything else but the pain.

Melissa put her hand on my knee, squeezing affectionately. “Ashton, go and get your treatment now. She’s not going to wake up; they’ve drugged her so she can’t. You need to make yourself strong for her,” she suggested, looking at me kindly.

I sighed. I knew she was right, but I didn’t want to leave Anna, I didn’t want her out of my sight. “Yeah, I guess,” I nodded, and bent to kiss Anna’s forehead. “I love you, Baby Girl. I won’t be long,” I whispered in her ear, before pushing myself up and forcing myself to walk out of the room.

It took over an hour for all of the necessary treatment. I had x-rays to check there was no remaining shrapnel in my arm, and a splint for my two broken fingers, some strapping for my three broken ribs, and some more painkillers. They changed the dressing on my gunshot wound and added some more permanent stitches once they’d confirmed there were no foreign bodies inside. Once I was done, I walked back into Anna’s room and dragged another chair next to her bed so I could hold her hand.

I sat watching the rise and fall of her chest until one of the agents came in with a report pad. I sighed and looked regretfully at Anna. I didn’t want to leave her, but they wanted my statement.

“You can do it here if you want, Agent Taylor,” President Spencer offered, waving the agent in and pointing to a chair.

I smiled at him gratefully and went running through my statement. Everything that I saw heard or did from the point of hearing she was taken, to carrying her to the door. The only thing I left out was about her being married; she hadn’t told anyone for almost four years, so she obviously didn’t want it to be common knowledge.

When I’d finished, the President was staring at me in shock. “You took out twelve hostiles on your own?” he asked with wide eyes.

“Actually, eleven. Carter shot one himself,” I corrected.

He shook his head, looking at me in awe. “You truly are a gifted agent. Annabelle was lucky to have you watching out for her, and the agency is darned lucky to have such a fine agent working for them,” he stated. I smiled gratefully; the President of the United States had just given me a huge compliment.

“Thank you, sir.”

“Tom,” he corrected.

“Right sorry, sir, I forgot. I mean… Tom,” I answered, stumbling over his name. It just doesn’t roll off the tongue for someone like me, who had been taught for four years to respect authority, to call the President by his first name.

He laughed and shook his head, patting my knee. “You’ll get used to it eventually.”