Only Hope {Ethan Hunt/OC}

* Undead Leader *

Ethan continued to stare at the man in disbelief, putting his hands on the man's shoulders. Laura kept her hand close to her weapon of choice in case something happened. She didn't trust the man before them, even if Ethan did.

"Olivia Manning, this is Jim Phelps," Ethan introduced his supposedly dead leader.

The three sat down in the train station as Jim explained what happened that night in Prague. Laura felt on edge sitting across from the man, to say the least.

"I checked our aliases," Phelps continued as Ethan watched him in thought.

"And that's when you picked us up in the States," Ethan stated.

Jim nodded, "But you left before I could get there and I could check just so many places. Once you turned up in England, it was easy."

As they continued talking in hushed tones, Laura kept a look-out for anyone out of the ordinary. She felt out of place as well as uncomfortable, so she put a hand on Ethan's knee to feel something resembling a type of safe for her. He made no moves like he knew why she had done it. Jim suddenly coughed once more, causing Ethan to lean over the table to make sure he was okay.

"Who are you kidding here?" Ethan questioned, "Doctor's gotta look at that. You can't sit up straight."

"I can sit up straight," Phelps disagreed, "I just can't sit up very well."

He told Ethan to sit down while Laura glanced briefly at Ethan before training her eyes to Phelps. As Ethan sat back down, his hand found her knee, a silent "everything's going to be alright" message.

"Ethan," Phelps said, "I saw who shot me. I saw the mole. It was Kittridge."

"Kittridge," Ethan whispered back, believing the older man.

Jim repeated, "Kittridge."

Ethan leaned back in his seat, deep in thought before realizing, "Kittridge is the mole. Of course, you're right. He was at the Embassy that night. First, he took out Jack in the elevator. He shot you on the bridge. He must've had backup to take out Sarah. How did he do Hannah?" Ethan sat thinking more, remembering what happened that night. "He could've done Hannah himself. Why Jim? Why?"

Jim wiped his mouth with his napkin before saying, "If you think about it, Ethan, it was inevitable. No more cold war, no more secrets you keep from everyone, but yourself. You answer to no one but yourself. Then one day, you wake up. The President of the United States is running the country without your permission. The son of a bitch, how dare he? And you realize it's over. You're an obsolete piece of hardware, not worth a grading. You've got a lousy marriage and sixty-two grand a year. Kittridge. We'll go after the no good son of a bitch big time."

Ethan leaned back in his seat again, taking in everything, still thinking.

"We won't have to," Ethan stated, "He'll come after us."

"What's gonna make him do that?"

"What he didn't get in Prague. The NOC list."

"Oh Jesus, Ethan," Phelps sighed, "Good for you."

"A meeting tomorrow on the TGV, en route to Paris," Ethan informed.

Phelps answered, "Tight security. No guns. Real plus."

"If I supposedly deliver the NOC list to Max. Max has agreed to deliver Job over to me. I'll have Claire, Olivia, and Luther Stickell with me on the train. Krieger's gonna have a transport waiting in Paris."

Jim stared off for a moment before telling Ethan, "I was in a café waiting for you, Ethan. And there she was standing in the rain, alive and beautiful thinking I'm dead and gone. God knows what she's had to do to forget me. To keep going and get the job done. She can't know about me, Ethan. No one can. Not til this is over."

Laura wanted to roll her eyes so badly, but she refrained from doing so. This man was getting on her nerves, and her gut was telling her something was wrong, but Ethan's hand tightened on her knee in reassurance, causing her to cool off.

"You're probably right," Ethan responded.

"There's too much at stake."

"Once we leave the safe house," Ethan began, "You can get there and crash. I'll call you from Paris."

Jim faced Laura as she kept sitting straight next to Ethan.

"You're a disavowed agent, too, Ms. Manning?" Jim questioned.

Laura simply nodded, not saying a thing, because she didn't know whether or not her next words would be kind towards the older man. A few minutes passed before Ethan and Laura made their way back to the safe house in the slow drizzling rain. Ethan finished his email to Max before he went off to where Claire was sleeping. Laura found a chair to crash down for the night in, her hand resting where her knife was kept on her person. She didn't feel safe, not with Krieger in the safe house with them, and definitely not with Jim Phelps alive.

She heard the sound of a door closing behind her quietly which caused her to internally panic. She didn't want to die, so she reached for her knife quickly as the sound of someone walking up to her became louder. She kept her breathing as steady as possible before getting a good grasp on her knife and waiting. The figure approached and had bent down into the light right as her hand came up to attack the threat. She gasped in relief when Ethan grasped her wrist, his eyes kind and comforting as she closed her eyes, scared for her life.

Ethan let go as she put the knife back in its spot before Ethan took hold of her hand and rubbed each of her fingers with care. His other hand reached up to her face, and wiped a tear from her eye. Embarrassed she tried to move away from his green eyes, but he held her face and made eye contact.

He whispered, "You're okay, everything's going to be alright."

She nodded, trying to take in his words and believe them, but it was hard to.

"Tomorrow I want you with Luther, okay? I'll handle everything else."

Nodding once more, she leaned forward into Ethan's arms, and stayed there til she drifted off into a peaceful slumber.