Page 81 of Operation: Sharp Angel

Tessman reached over and took hold of her hands. “You need to talk to Lassiter if you won’t talk to me. Mentally and emotionally, you have a lot to deal with, finding out exactly what happened and why. Are you still taking it in?” he said with the most gentle, kind voice he could muster.

Becca locked eyes with him. He was the same calm, kind Carter who’d been there for her time and time again over the past week. She shook her head. “I’m not okay,” she confessed.

“You’re still cold,” he said, rubbing his hands over hers. “Let’s get you upstairs and into a hot shower. That’ll help. Then I’ll tuck you into bed and put an extra blanket on you.”

“Will you stay with me?”

“If you want me to. I kind of thought you’d want me to be far away from you after what you saw at the warehouse.”

“I thought so too, but now, no, I want you to hold me tonight. I don’t want to be alone.”

“You got it,” he promised.

***

Becca jolted awake. Sunlight flooded into the room through the window. They hadn’t bothered to close the curtains the night before. Her back was pressed against Carter and his arms were around her. She liked to wake up next to him. She wondered what would happen now that the case was solved. How soonwould they arrest everyone involved so she would be deemed as safe?

“You okay?” Tessman asked. He lay on his side and held her in his arms. He’d been awake but hadn’t moved, as he didn’t want to disturb her sleep.

Becca relaxed back into him. “Yeah, I’m fine. What time is it?”

“Just before seven hundred,” he answered.

“Thank you for staying with me last night.”

A grin curved on his face. It was almost laughable that she thanked him. He loved to hold her as he drifted to sleep, and he loved to wake with her there as well. “Can I make you a cup of coffee?”

She grasped his arm to keep it in place. “Not yet. Can you just hold me a while longer?”

He tightened his grip on her. “Baby, I’ll hold you as long as you’d like.” He pressed a kiss to the back of her head. “I like waking this way. It’ll probably be safe for you to go home in a couple of days. And with this case over, I’ll probably be assigned to a new one on Monday.” He didn’t like that thought.

“Will you deploy for it?” she asked.

“Maybe,” he said, though he was sure it was the case.

He knew several of the teams had returned from their missions the night before. Next week’s assignments should be coming out soon. Delta Team plus Sebastian ‘Crash’ Roth and Bravo Team’s Kenny ‘Ducky’ Gallup would be back to HQ, completing their DEA Partner Mission within the next few hours. He wanted to touch bases with Delta Team member Brian ‘the Birdman’ Sherman to see how Brielle, his wife, was really doing after this case. This case had gotten to him, and he didn’t even have children. He’d known it had been rough on Jackson, so he assumed with Brielle being a woman, it was harder for her.

“But I think Shepherd will want you here a few more days, just to be sure there are no threats against you.”

“How will he know?”

Tessman laughed. “He just will.”

“I still feel there is something left unresolved in all this,” she said. Or was it that she wanted there to be, so she’d remain with Carter longer?

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. But I still think there was something time sensitive about them getting that proof from me that I didn’t even know existed. Honestly, with the volume of stuff from Nicole’s house, I would never have gotten through it anytime soon. They could have waited until things settled down and then either burglarized my house or burned it down, thus burning down the proof if they didn’t know if it was in paper or electronic form. Their persistence at trying to find it is suspicious to me, Carter.”

“I could have Brielle take another look to see if there is something more there, something else hidden.”

“Yeah, maybe that wouldn’t be a bad idea.”

***

Tessman left Becca to get dressed after they had coffee and ate muffins and yogurt, both stocked in the apartment by Angel. He’d offered to get a hot breakfast for them from a local diner, but she declined. He caught up with Delta Team in the Team Room. They’d just debriefed with Shepherd after a successful mission. They were all looking forward to a few days off.

“This last case was a hard one. I just wanted to see if you’ve talked with Brielle,” Tessman said to Sherman after he’d greeted the team.

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