The Phoenix

Breathe Later

"Lucy, come on! Sit still!" Leo exclaimed as she adjusted her position on the floor.

He had wanted to braid Lucy's hair, and despite his sister trying to show him the right way to do it, it was obvious that he was royally messing things up.

"You're doing it all wrong, Leo." Penny sighed, flopping dramatically on the couch.

Lucy hadn't exactly planned to spend her Saturday off wincing every five seconds due to her boyfriend's inexperience with hair, but you can't always get what you want in life. He gave up trying after ten more minutes of struggling, letting Penny take over and comb out all of the knots he had accidently created.

About halfway through, Lucy's phone buzzed.

"Who's that?" Penny asked, pausing long enough to look over the older girl's shoulder.

"Oh, it's my godmother, Audrienne."

"Like, a fairy?"

"No, it's not like that. She was my mom's lifelong best friend, and when a child is born, the parents will typically name someone as their godparents. If both parents were to pass away before the child was 18, the godmother would become their legal guardian. That's who my mother named me after."

"I thought your name was Lucy," Leo stated, confused.

"Listen, you try living with a name like Audriette hanging over your head," she joked. "Lucy isn't even my middle name. My actual name is Audriette Jolene Lucille Rhodes. I never liked any of them, so I just started calling myself Lucy."

"Do I even want to know what Emily's full name is?"

"It's actually really simple: Emily Katharine Rhodes. My mom started with the long names after she realized she had given her first daughter a boring one. My brothers is even more of a kicker. Sawyer Augustus Hamilton Rhodes."

"I was honestly expecting there to be a 'The III' in there somewhere."

"I loved my mom, but she went a little overboard with the names."

"So, what does your godmother want?"

"Oh, she's coming to DC at the end of the summer to help me and Eliza move into the dorm. Speaking of Eliza, she's bringing her brother and sister down next week to visit. You totally have to meet her little sister, Arielle. She's about your age, Penny."

"What does she look like?"

"Well, she's really tan, she has green eyes and really dark curly hair."
"Then how on earth is she related to Eliza? It might have been dark when we met, but she was pale and had flat red hair."

"They're half-sisters. Eliza's dad was never married to her mother and she's only met him twice. Eliza calls Arielle's dad, Raymond, her father. The reason they look nothing alike is because Arielle is biracial."

"Ah. So wait, if your godmother was supposed to be your legal guardian, why didn't you and Sawyer go to live with her after your dad died?"

"Your dad died? What happened?" Penny asked.

"I don't really want to talk about it." she stammered.

Lucy was perfectly fine talking about it, but an eight-year-old didn't really need to know the tragic way her father had died.

"Oh, okay."

"You almost done back there? The floor isn't too comfortable."

"Well, duh. It's the floor. Don't worry I'm almost finished."

Emily sat in PEOC and watched as Secretary Levi tapped her fingers nervously on the table. As annoying as the repetitive sounds were, she couldn't really blame her. Rebekah was sending her older brother into a mission that could get him killed. The look on her face must have unintentionally clued her into the fact that the tapping was irritating because the Secretary stopped and offered up an apology.

"I apologize. I have a proclivity for doing that."
"No, I understand. If it was my brother's life being put on the line, I would be nervous too."

"Yes, well, that was not an easy decision for me to make. However, I have faith in my brother. He is Kidon. They do not make mistakes."

"It never is an easy decision. Especially when it's someone you love."

This really was one of the times that made Emily take a step back and look at all the amazing things this life had given her. Maybe it had taken both of her parents too early, but it had given her Lucy, Sawyer, and most importantly, Aaron. Who appeared seemingly on queue, followed by Admiral Chernow, President Kirkman, and the Secretary of Defense. They all took a seat at the table.

"The mission is a go. Patch us into the live feed." Secretary Thomas commanded.

The feed showed the Kidon team making their way up a stairwell. It was mind blowing how they managed to do it so quickly without making a single sound.

"This won't take long. My brother and his men will be in and out in less than five minutes. Any longer would be seen as unacceptable." Secretary Levi explained, focusing intently on the screen as she began tapping her fingers on the table again. It didn't bother Emily this time, she was sharing a bit of that nervousness now.

She took her eyes off the screen for less than ten seconds, and the agents were already at the door to the apartment where David Langston was holed up. They busted the lock, but as soon as the door opened, a gunshot rang out and the feed cut out.

"That's not supposed to happen. Someone patch me into Command Ops at Mossad. Now!" Rebekah demanded, standing up.

A few moments later, one of the agents called her over, phone in hand.

"What the hell was that?" she asked.

The voice on the other end was completely inaudible, but you could tell what had happened just by the look on her face. She stood in silence, dropping the phone from her ear onto her chest.

"What is it, Madam Secretary?" Admiral Chernow asked.

"It's my brother," she choked out. "He was shot."

Emily's stomach dropped. She recognized that look in Rebekah's eyes. She had seen it in the mirror almost 13 years ago.

"What about Langston?"

"They have him. There's still no word on Isaac's condition, but they said they'll let me know as soon as they do," she said, hanging up the phone.

"Emily, Aaron, I need the two of you to let Seth know what's going on once the press conference is over."

Aaron must have been able to tell that she had something on her mind because he hadn't even tried to engage in conversation as they walked back to his office. All she could think about was how crazy it was that you could lose someone you loved in an instant. That thought compelled her to take advantage of whatever time she had left, so as soon as the door to Aaron's office closed, she did just that. She kissed him harder and more fiercely than she ever had before, catching him by complete surprise. However, it only took him a few seconds to pick up on the fact that something wasn't right.

"Whoa, Em. What's going on?" he asked after pulling away.

"Not important." she muttered, kissing him again.

Aaron went along with it for a while, kissing her back. Emily's kisses went from fervent to having a sense of desperation and urgency to them. She began to feel lightheaded since her brain had been telling her 'Kiss now, breathe later.'.

"Okay, Emily, why are you acting so strange all of a sudden?" Aaron demanded.

She sighed.

"It's just, seeing someone almost lose someone is a big wake up call. Just another reminder in my life that nothing is guaranteed. I don't want to lose anyone else."

"Well, you don't have to worry about me. I won't be going anywhere."

A/N: So, we've officially hit 1.4K reads, and I have something BIG planned for when we hit 1.5. I think you guys are really going to like it.