Hero

Seeing Chad was going to stay, Clint leaned on the open engine hood after tossing him a different wrench. "Yeah...she's fine." He turned his attention to the engine but winced when he tried to use his freshly wounded hand. "As fine as she can be after her own father made her miserable enough to walk away from the place she loves most."

Bitterness laced his tone and even though he was staring at the engine, his mind was far from his task now. He finally sighed and glanced back to Chad. "She did want to cut contact with you. But only for two reasons. One, because of all the flack from our dad, she got so screwed up, I think she started to forget who she really is. She couldn't handle the conflict anymore. And...two...because she didn't want you caught in the middle."

He paused and straightened up. "Look...my sister is in love with you. If you don't want to deal with all this family crap or her mixed signals, I get it. I won't blame you if you walk away, and I won't tell her you were here. But...if you can handle it...and if you care as much as I think you do... I'll tell you where she is. Despite her pulling away...you're what she wants most right now."


"Okay." Jason smirked a little. "You haven't lost your stubbornness, that's apparent." He grinned before turning to leave. "I'll touch base with ya later, Hero."


"I know. And I'm sorry too." Reese nodded slowly.

"Look, I, um... I know we haven't seen eye to eye lately...on a lot of things. And I can't lie...It really bothers me." He pursed his lips in thought. "Not because I'm upset we disagree but because I just hate the tension and distrust...on both sides."

He shrugged and took a sip of coffee. "Not sure how we got to this point, but I wanna fix it. Somehow. The Elite can't afford to have us at odds."

A long pause followed, and he finally took a seat in the extra chair. "There are...changes...that are coming. They have to do with coordinating efforts with the FBI. That's the easy way of putting it, but we're getting pressure from the board, and the bottom line is they're too uncomfortable with our continued free rein. They want us more accountable and less vigilante-ish."

A light chuckle surfaced. "Not quite what I envisioned when I joined TJY under Austin's lead. But it is what it is, and I believe in our work too much to let it end."

He searched Nate's eyes. "No one else knows about any upcoming changes yet, so I'd appreciate it if you kept that tidbit under your hat. But, um...back to us..." He sighed deeply. "I trust you, Nate. I always have. We may not agree. But I trust you. So I want you to know...if you do anything or know anything you think I'd disagree with...just tell me. You're right that I probably wouldn't have wanted you to stay in touch with Victoria. But all I'd expect is to have been informed anyway. I trust your snap judgments and I don't require that you get my permission on everything. I just need to stay in the loop. Especially being under as much scrutiny as we are right now. We need to be a well-oiled machine...always, but especially now."

Another pause allowed for another sip of coffee. "So. I guess the bottom line here is I'm sorry things have been rough. And I need you as my top agent now more than ever. If I get cranky, it's only because I'm trying to make the best decisions for our team as a whole. I'll be open with you, if you're open with me."