The assassin could not help but be pleased with the tremendous efforts that were forced into action to eradicate Griffin's life as he knew it. The thugs and the weaponry was expensive. VERY expensive but in the end, it would be worth every penny. Griffin himself would pay for all the damage that had been done.

It had been so easy to terrify. Following the Griffin family and terrorizing them was the easy part. The fun part and the most fulfilling. Watching Griffin panic as he tried to think of each and every one of his enemies and which one of them could possibly be the one after him now. Then, as was typical for Griffin, he shelved the identity of his assailant in favor of taking the offensive. Deliberately, blatantly walking around, silently daring his assailant to fire. Making himself a target to draw the assailant out. Too bad for him that it hadn't worked!

And now, the job will be finished once and for all....

*****

Jim Hellstrom opened his eyes to pain. His head was swimming with dizziness but he managed to raise his aching head to see two very familiar figures sprawled on the ground next to him. Casually testing his arms and legs to make sure all of them still worked, he noticed that Vanessa and Savannah just seemed shaken. Vanessa was checking herself for injuries while moaning about a dirt spot on her red dress. Savannah was holding her own ankle and twisting it carefully back and forth.

"Everybody okay?" he asked as his vision began to clear. The major scanned their surroundings. Luckily, the three had managed to make it into a maze of packing crates surrounding several rusty warehouses. Excellent cover for them...and their attackers.

"I'm fine," Vanessa mused as she aimed her pistol and shot a thug drawing close to them. Turning her arm in that manner only made her notice another smudge on the dress. "Damn! You know how much it costs to dry clean this thing?!"

Savannah shook her head in amazement. *She can shoot people and worry about her dry cleaning at the same time. Unbelievable.* Hoisting herself to her feet, Savannah put her weight cautiously on the injured ankle and nodded at Jim. "It's just a scrape. I've had worse. Jim? I clearly saw you hit your head."

Jim waved her off as he offered a hand to his mother. "I'm okay. Just got the wind knocked out." He shook his head slightly to cause a lock of hair to cover the developing lump on his temple.

Savannah shook her head again. *Stubborn, little...! Just like his father!*she thought fondly.

Vanessa took his hand and allowed him to pull her up. "Why don't you take off those heels?" Jim asked. "You're going to break your neck in those things!"

"I'd rather die than take these off," Vanessa told him. "This dress looks hideous without heels." Leaning to the right, she shot another thug. "This is not good. I only have two bullets left. We'd better get out of here."

"Best idea I've heard all day," Jim said, extending a helping hand to Savannah, who declined the help. "You two go on while I distract them."

"With what? Your good looks?" Vanessa demanded. "I don't think they're your type!"

"If we split up, we might have a chance to confuse them," Jim pointed out.

"Jim, I don't think that's a good idea...." Savannah began.

"Neither do I!" Vanessa said, crossing her arms. "If we find a way out of here, we need to stay together!"

*And to think, I lived all these years with just one mother!* Jim suddenly had a mischievous glint in his eye that both of them recognized. "Well, isn't it too bad that I'm not going to give you a choice!" With a loud outcry, he leaped forward and charged through an alleyway, yelling at the top of his lungs as he ran, drawing the thugs away from the two women.

"Jim!" Vanessa called out uselessly.

Savannah approached, still a bit dizzy from the Florida heat and the explosion. "Vanessa...come on. Like father-"

"-like son," the spy completed. "We'd better find some new transportation. Hot-wiring isn't exactly my specialty so let's try to find one with a man in it that we can charm the keys out of...."

Savannah mopped her sweating brow with a sleeve as they made their way through the endless rows of boxes and crates. As they walked, Savannah saw the path blur before her eyes. She shook her head to clear her vision only to see the odd sight of the rows of crates converge of their own volition to block her path. When she reached out to move them with her hand, nothing was there.

Fighting her panic, she attempted to follow the speck of red in front of her that she assumed was Vanessa but even that danced in and out of her vision. After what felt like hours, when in actuality it was only minutes, Savannah reached a hand out to the figure in red. "Vanessa, I'm sorry but I'm not feeling well...."

Vanessa glanced back, noting the flushed cheeks and the perspiration on her friend's face. She realized that Savannah hadn't had the slightest idea of how to protect herself during the explosion. Vanessa wasn't the war veteran than Kermit was but she had been in one or two situations where such knowledge had been necessary. She knew to cover her face with her arms to trap oxygen for breathing and to protect her skin from the noxious fumes and fire that caused first-degree burns. But Savannah couldn't have known.

As she stopped to let Savannah catch her breath, she looked around for resources and thanked the Lord above. There, sitting right in plain view was a water fountain.

"Come on, dear," she said gently, guiding her over to the fountain and sitting her on a crate next to it. She opened Savannah's purse that was looped around Savannah's wrist without asking, withdrew a handkerchief, wet it and lightly dabbed at Savannah's face and neck. After a moment, she was pleased to see some normal coloring return to Savannah's face.

"Agent 99 I'm not, huh?" Savannah teased, more than a little disappointed in her performance.

Laughing in the midst of their predicament, Vanessa countered, "I've seen much worse, my dear. Remind me to tell you about the time Kermit got his pants burned off by-"

"What's that?!!" Savannah exclaimed, looking over Vanessa's shoulder. Vanessa turned but didn't see anything. She turned back to tend to Savannah, but the young woman grabbed her arm. "I did see something! It was over there! I saw it!"

"All right," Vanessa comforted. "I'll go check it out. You stay here." Vanessa looked around and found a strong, metal pipe. "Anyone comes around, you just hit him with this."

Savannah hefted the pipe experimentally and nodded. Vanessa winked and disappeared into the maze of crates.

*****

The arrogance of the young military man only served to spark a waterfall of laughter from the assassin. The naiveté of this pup to think he could control the situation with such an obvious ploy.

"Draw those away, Jimmy boy," taunted the assassin, gazing through a set of binoculars at the fray. "There are more to take their places."

With a simple wave of a hand, the assassin deployed reinforcements and returned to ecstatic observation.

*****

Vanessa made her way through the crates, gun drawn. Kermit would kill her if she let anything happen to his wife or son. Trouble was, they were both toodamned independent!

She couldn't believe that Savannah had done all this. Vanessa had talked to the doctor herself, pretending she was Marilyn and imitating Marilyn's voice, after hearing Savannah's story. She had wanted to know how much was fact and how much was hysterical wife raving. The doctor told her that it was a *possibility* that the infection could spread to Kermit's kidney. After that, there was only a chance that Kermit would actually lose his kidney, maybe only then requiring a transplant. That made four not-very-likely possibilities, more than betting odds, yet Savannah had flown across the United States to find a kidney donor for just-in-case. Either Savannah had misunderstood or had inferred more urgency from the face-to-face contact with the physician.

Vanessa shook her head. Maybe that was one of the reasons that Kermit was so devoted to her. Because she was so devoted to him. With the kind of odds the doctor quoted, Vanessa would have ordered flowers and returned to the hospital on Monday to take him home.

And Jim! Jim was getting just as bad! He hadn't even worried about how long the forged papers were good for or anything. Once he heard about Kermit in danger, that was it. He was on their side, trying to fly north to help him. *Or maybe I'm the one that's abnormal,* Vanessa thought just as a fist came flying out of nowhere toward her face.

She ducked and brought up the gun, which was batted aside. Seeing it was two against one, Vanessa rolled back her eyes and fell, puppet-like, to the hard ground in a dead faint.

The two thugs turned to look at each other. "Puff piece," one man remarked to the other, who seemed to have muscles on his muscles. "I'll go help Don. You take care of her." He walked away, leaving the large behemoth to finish off the helpless woman.

Two meaty hands reached for Vanessa...just as he began to scream.

Looking down, he realized that one four-inch high heel had been jammed thoroughly and painfully into his crotch. It withdrew and kicked high narrowly missing his eye as the deadly point impacted with his cheek.

Vanessa sprang to her feet, grabbed a brick nearby and clubbed him senseless. She straightened out her perfect dress with satisfaction. "That's what you get for not rendering aid to a lady," she told the unconscious man, kicking him once more for emphasis.

*****

Savannah was cautiously exploring her surroundings, still gripping the pipe in one hand. She didn't want to go far from the water fountain so that Vanessa could find her again but she also didn't want to sit there like a lump, doing nothing to help. There must be some way out of here and maybe she would be lucky enough to find it.

Instead, as she turned the corner, she ran into two very nasty-looking men, looking her over as if she was their entree.

"Excuse me, gentlemen," she greeted cheerfully. "Wrong passage. This isn't the ladies' room...."

One man sauntered quickly over to her, halting her getaway. "Not so fast, little lady," he sneered. "I'll show ya a passage-"

As the woman swung her lead weapon at his head, the villain laughed and grabbed the wrist to halt her attack. As she was taught by one Kwai Chang Caine, Savannah twisted the hand still plastered around the pipe back over the man's confining arm. Reaching quickly beneath the burly arm, she grasped the other end of the pipe and applied enough pressure to the shocked thug's arm to drive him to his knees. With the advantage of her attacker's own ill-considered confidence, Savannah then released one end of the pipe, allowing the released tension to snap the length into his temple with bone-crushing power. With one attacker rendered unconscious, Savannah attempted to retreat only to be thwarted by another.

"The little lady has teeth," the other man grinned. "I like that." Savannah backed up. This opponent was much larger. *The bigger they are....* Savannah thought, moving into position to use her favorite trick to make herself smaller.

Unfortunately, this time when she doubled over, she ran right into one leg as large as a tree trunk, the man's arms firmly around her waist. "I know that trick," he grinned. "Seems when you're a big guy like I am, everyone tries that trick on you."

Savannah silently cursed to herself. What could she do now? Strangely enough, advice from an unlikely source came to mind: 'If you're a female and you want something from a man, you must either ply him with sex or pretend a man told you to do it.'

"You know what, sugar? I don't really want to fight you at all," Savannah purred. Swallowing the urge to vomit, she took one hand and stroked his large chest as the other hand reached up and ran through his hair. "Can we just have some fun instead?" Slowly, she began to unbutton her blouse. Cementing his attention to her cleavage.

The man's face brightened at the thought and then contorted in pain as Savannah kicked him firmly in the jewels. He dropped her, holding himself, as she rolled out of the way. Using his formidable weight as leverage, she propelled him into the wall, rendering him unconscious.

*That's that,* she thought, dusting her hands in satisfaction and had to catch herself as her vision swam in front of her again. It seemed that defending herself had made her focused but now she realized it was adrenaline. And it was wearing off.

As she tried to focus once again, Savannah could hear the popping sounds all around her. Fighting off the fog around her to grab consciousness again. Before she could move, a savage grip around her neck jerked her upward and pinned her against the wall. She couldn't speak. Couldn't see his face. A dazed blur. The hand tightened around her throat. Squeezing out the air....Two large hands slapped against both sides of the man's head. As his eardrums burst, the man's eyes bulged in pain. He yanked his grip from Savannah's neck and reached to the source of his torture. In vain. With a lightning jerk, those hands twisted the man's neck. Snapping and crushing vertebrae with a sickening sound.

Kermit Griffin tossed the would-be murderer to the ground with all the regard of a piece of garbage. He didn't have time to deal with the shock flooding across his wife's face. Grabbing her with one arm around her waist, he dove for cover. As they landed behind a wall of large wooden crates, he took control. "Stay here. Don't move. Understand?"

Questions would have to wait. Savannah understood his tone and the situation. In spite of her dismay, she nodded and felt him press a revolver into her hand.

"Anybody comes around the corner, shoot 'em." With that, he disappeared in search of Vanessa and their son.

*****

James Hellstrom was in serious trouble. He was good - check that, he was GREAT with the fisticuffs - but even he had problems fighting one on four. What the hell happened to Vanessa??? Was she even okay? What about Savannah? Someone clipped him on the jaw and he shook his head, dazed. *Keep your mind on things, dammit!*

His mind was not cooperating. His thoughts kept drifting back to one certain man, lying in a hospital bed, on the verge of needing dialysis for the rest of his life. And he was the only person alive who could prevent that!

Spurred on by that thought, he kicked a bone crunching blow to one opponent's knee and managed to punch another one painfully in the ribs. Unfortunately, this left him open for the other two, who tackled him, knocking him to the ground. The bigger one of the two drew a wicked-looking blade and grinned...just as his body did a suspended, macabre dance of agony as bullets plowed into his back. He dropped over his intended victim as the other man looked over his shoulder and lost his life in the process as well.

Jim struggled over the dead weight draped over him as a figure approached. The man's body was obscuring his area of vision until a hand grabbed the clothes of the man's body and dragged him off of the young major. Jim felt his jaw drop as he saw his rescuer. "W...what the...?"

Kermit knelt beside him and pressed a gun into his son's hand. "Are you hurt?"

"No." Jim couldn't stop staring. "How...?"

"Later. Where's Vanessa?"

"We all got separated...."

"Savannah's okay," he told him. "She's just over...." Kermit's sharp eyes picked up a flash of red in the midst of all the crates. "Let me guess - she's wearing red again. I've told her a *million* times...." Kermit, bending low at the waist, ran over to another pile of crates, with Jim following.

Guns in hand, Kermit and Jim peered around the corner to see Vanessa, trying to charm her way out of an ambush made up of three men approaching her. The charm wasn't working this time. Kermit and Jim took aim and fired, causing her assailants to collapse to the ground. Kermit waved her over and, after a quick double-take, she ran towards them.

"Nice to see you in one piece, Honey B-" Kermit stuck a warning finger in her face. Vanessa smirked as she pocketed the gun Kermit handed her with the other hand.

"Nice to see you prepare ahead," Kermit shot back sarcastically. "No vehicle nearby, no extra weapons...AND you're wearing a red flag, as usual. Why not just save time and wear a sign that says 'I'm right here, please shoot me'!"

"You don't have anything nice to say, huh, Griffin? What about the fact that we came here and-"

"GUYS!" Jim Hellstrom felt like the only adult in this scenario as he put astop to the bickering. "Savannah-!"

Kermit winced. She must be going out of her mind....He waved a 'come on' at the others. "This way...."

*****

Savannah rushed out from behind the crates when she heard Kermit and the others returning. Quite nearly tackling him. "KERMIT! What are you doing here? You were so sick....How...how can you be here...?" She peppered the ex-mercenary with kisses which he readily accepted.

"Now, that's some greeting. Well worth getting shot at for, Scarlett." He pulled her back to look into those green eyes he'd been so worried about - only to be greeted with an explosive glare.

Two and two snapped together in her mind. "You weren't hurt at all! WERE YOU??!!"

"Just a little. There was a situation and...."

"YOU JERK!!!" She took her fist and drove it into his stomach. "You let me think you were DYING!! You shit!! How could you?!!!"

"Watch the language, please." He massaged his abdomen, wincing, surprised at the wallop she could pack when enraged. He was still a bit sore where the pylon stabbed him even though there was no resulting infection.

"Don't tell me what to do after you pull this crap on me! Do you KNOW what I...what we went through? Thinking you were about to lose your DAMN KIDNEY!!!" She stood before him, outraged. One hand on her hip, one finger in the ex-mercenary's face, and the murder in her eye.

Vanessa and Jim moved closer to get a better view of the escalating battle. For once, Major Hellstrom, though totally confused by his father's healthy appearance, offered the voice of restraint. "Savannah....maybe you should listen to what...."

"SHUT UP, Junior! We're having a fight, if you don't mind!" Stepson stifled, she returned her attentions to her husband. "I want answers! Right now! Right this minute! Do you hear me? And it had better be good or I swear to God the next punch goes right upside your head!"

Now he was beginning to feel his temper. After all, SHE was the one who had messed up his carefully-laid plan. "Just wait one damn minute. If you, my dear, hadn't run off like some hotshot, *WE* wouldn't be in this mess."

Jim quietly nudged his mother. "Aren't you going to do something?"

"He's a big boy now. Besides, dear, that would spoil all the fun! Just sit back and enjoy the fireworks." Vanessa plopped down on a crate to view the fray.

Still confused, Jim sat beside her. "Deja vu, Mother?"

"Mmmhmm!" As the voices grew louder, she couldn't help but revel in Kermit's distress. *No cream puff for you, Griffin.*

Kermit shouted out his frustration. "Every time I turn around, you're jumping off the deep end with your heart in front of your head. Haven't I been able to teach you anything?!"

"TEACH ME?!! You arrogant son-of-a....Don't you EVEN try to put this on me, Kermit Griffin. I was trying...to...." Her voice cracked and she knew she'd lost the power. Fierce emotion always brought tears to her eyes. She hated that.

*Over the line, Griffin. You are an arrogant s.o.b.* He wrapped his hand around the accusing finger pointed beneath his nose. Roughly, at first, then turning it softly to press it to his lips. "Look, I know you were worried. Why don't you listen for a minute and we'll wade through the story."

"Hey!" Vanessa shouted at the impending reconciliation. "Don't let him off that easy. At least punch him one more time!"

Kermit fired a vicious look her way as Jim elbowed her in the ribs.

"Okay," Savannah answered as she tried to let her relief at him in one piece spread over her anger. "You've got two minutes. Start talkin'."

Sucking in a deep breath, he began. "Somebody's been after me...."

"What a novel concept," Savannah quipped, sarcastically.

"Hey, it's still my dime, Scarlett. Anyway, as I was saying, I decided to draw the guy into my own battleground. After what happened at the dedication, it seemed like a perfect opportunity to manipulate the situation. I would draw my assailant into my hospital room where he thought I'd be totally helpless - although I wouldn't be helpless. The only person I let in on the act was the good doctor. If I was incapacitated, the bad guy wouldn't miss the opportunity to take advantage. I assumed you would wring your hands for a few hours like Dr. Sabourin told you to and by then, I'd have the guy and be ready for you to beat the crap outta me. I figured the whole thing would probably take two hours, tops. At least, that was the plan."

Kermit shook his head. It had seemed like a good idea at the time....

*****

Dr. Sabourin ran into ICU like a bat out of hell, catching the half-dressed Kermit Griffin by surprise. So much so that she skidded to a stop, confronted by a Desert Eagle. He sighed and put the gun down instantly. "You shouldn't surprise me like that," he warned her. "I told you-"

"You wife insists on seeing you," she interrupted.

*SHIT!* Kermit didn't know why he was surprised. Quickly, he began undressing again. "Can't you stall her?"

"I tried but she's insistent. Hurry." Dr. Sabourin bustled about, wheeling a gas unit over to the bed and preparing the oxygen tent. "I told her she had only a few minutes to see you. She's dressing now in 'protective gear'."

Kermit, now once again dressed in the shapeless hospital gown, reclined on the bed once more. He jerked away when Dr. Sabourin attempted to put a mask over his face. "I'll play possum," he told her. "I'm good at that."

"It's no good," Dr. Sabourin insisted. "Your body must be completely relaxed or she won't be fooled. Then, you'll have to tell her the whole thing." Reading Kermit's look, she added, "Believe me - a wife will know. It's only nitrous and it's just enough to relax your body. It will wear off in ten minutes. Well?"

Kermit sighed and nodded reluctantly, accepting the mask.

Dr. Sabourin manipulated the switches as she spoke. "I don't like this at all," she muttered. "This is taking lying to a new point. If it wasn't to save her life...."

"It will, trust me," Kermit managed, his head already swimming. "It's too much gas...."

"No, it's not, detective. It just feels unsettling at first but it's necessary. I'll turn it off when she comes in."

Kermit's eyelids closed as Dr. Sabourin completed the disguise with oxygen tent, letting his body succumb to the gas but fighting the effects with his mind to remain clear. It wasn't working. It seemed that, even before he was aware of it, Savannah was at his bedside, speaking softly to him and it took all of his willpower to not respond to her voice and open his eyes.

She was saying something about how they were all safe....Little did she know.

*I'm sorry, Scarlett,* he thought to her, keeping absolutely still. *This is the only thing I can think of. Please forgive me....*

He'd nearly lost it during the "I love you, baby" and "Sweet dreams" bit. Lying to her felt like shit. He wanted to take her hand, explain it all to her, and assure her that he was all right and would protect her always. But that was why he had to deceive her now. To save her life. It still felt like his heart was being torn out. Making the decision, he opened his eyes and reached out to her but her back was already turned and, in seconds, she was gone.

Kermit sighed, tugging off the mask off his face savagely, still disoriented by the gas. He would take his frustrations out on this mysterious assassin. He would pay for making him lie to his beloved wife and putting her through this agony.

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