Home... TW/AA

Chapter 5

Mitch woke up to the sun shining in through the window of the hotel room. He squinted a little because of its brightness and turned the other way to see Annika sleeping peacefully. He laid there watching her, thinking about the events that occurred just a few hours ago.

After a few more minutes he decided he's let her sleep a bit more and go shower to get ready for the day. He got up from the bed and went to the bathroom after getting some clothes to change into once he was done.

 Annika woke up about fifteen minutes after and heard the shower running. She figured it was Mitch seeing as how he wasn't in bed. She got up and went to the to the kitchen to make some coffee.

Mitch got out of the bathroom once he's dried off from his almost twenty minute shower. He didn't see Annika in bed anymore so he went out towards the kitchen/living room area. He saw her in front of the counter facing the coffee maker with her back turned towards him.

He quietly walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. She leant her head back on his shoulder and enjoyed the moment for a while before the coffee maker started beeping.

"Here, I'll get our coffee cups ready to go and you go get ready so we can head over to Stan's house to meet up with Irene." Mitch told Annika. She just nodded giving a quick 'mhm' before heading to the bathroom for a quick shower.

___________________________________

Annika and Mitch just got to Stan's house after a four hour car ride. It was a quiet, peaceful car rise. They made occasional small talk but nothing really needed to be said. It was a sort of comfortable silence throughout the entire trip.

As soon as they stepped into the house Irene started briefing them on their next mission. She had everything up on the television screen and explained everything as she changed slides and pictures.

"Okay we have reason to believe that this man is making a bomb that is to be placed somewhere in the town. We do not know where or why he is making this bomb but if he manages to detonate it, it will eliminate the whole town and anything within a three mile radius outside the town."

Irene explained as she pointed to the man and on the screen.

As soon as Mitch saw that he spit the water he had in his mouth right on the screen. He crushed the water bottle in his hand and with an unreadable expression asked "Where is the mission?" Irene was still shocked about the spitting situation that she didn't answer.

"Where. Is. It?" Mitch asked again, this time in an angrier tone than before. "Um- I-In a town called Beacon Hills in California." She answered taking a second to regain her composure. Mitch threw the crushed water bottle in his hand on the floor and stomped outside in and angry manner.

Everyone watched as he walked out, confused as to why he had such a reaction. Mitch was usually either emotionless or angry but he had no reason to be angry at all. They looked back at each other still confused before Annika went after Mitch.

Annika found Mitch shooting at a target that Stan had out back for target practice. She could see he was tense so she was careful going up to him from behind. "Mitch." was all she said and he immediately turned pointing the gun at her head.

She put her arms up in surrender "It's just me, it's just me." He brought the gun down to his side and visibly relaxed at the sight of her. She slowly walked up to him placing a hand on his own. "What happened in there? Why did you get so mad when you saw the man or when Irene told us the location?"

Mitch looked at her for a minute debating on wether or not to tell her before deciding to just say some of his past. "Before everything that happened with Katrina and the terrorists I... I lived in Beacon Hills. I had a life there but I haven't seen or talked to anyone since the attack. They think I died that day.... I made sure of it."

"What do you mean you made sure of it?" "I mean I hacked into that list of people found dead and I added my old name on there before they aired it on the news." Annika looked at him slightly shocked but in a way she understood why he did what he did.

She thought about what he'd said when a question popped into her head. "Old name?" Mitch let out a sigh and looked down to the ground before saying "After that day I changed. I wanted nothing to do with my old life and needed to focus on taking down the terrorists so along with making everyone believe I was dead I changed my name to Mitch Rapp.' he continued with a chuckle remembering his time with Katrina. ' It was what she used to call me..." he muttered under his breath but Annika still heard him.

It hurt Annika a little the way he looked when he thought of her but she didn't blame him for having that look because they were in love and she knows a love like that doesn't go away especially with the way he lost her.

"Mitch." she whispered as she brought his head up with her pointer finger on his chin to face her. "You did what you had to do. I know that I don't know much from your past but for your future you need to face whatever's coming. You need to face your old friends and family, they need to know you're alive and maybe this is the perfect chance."

"I can't do that. They'll hate me for lying to them Annika. I've been gone for three years. I'm not the same person I was before." "They're not going to hate you Mitch. Maybe they'll be upset in the beginning but they'll be so happy to see you alive. And it doesn't matter if you're not the same person they deserve to know the truth. You know that."

She finished as she looked at him with love and honesty to her words and he could have sworn he'd fallen again right then and there. "Your right.' he said just above a whisper 'They do deserve to know. But I don't know if I can do. I don't know if I can face them alone."

"Good thing thing you won't be alone. You'll have me right by your side like I always. We have each other's backs. Remember that." "Thanks." Annika nodded her head with a small smile and said "Come on let's go inside."

___________________________________