That letter had me absolutely terrified.  The murderer was in my room.  Even worse, he was threatening Will now.  Will must be getting too close to them.  

I contemplated telling Will about the letter.  It didn't say I couldn't tell him, right?  But if I did, knowing Will, he'd only be more inclined to protect me.  I couldn't watch him get killed.  I felt the fear bubbling up in my chest as I thought of having to go to a funeral for him, watching him sink into the ground as they buried him.  I made up my mind.  I wouldn't tell him.

But I still had to find a way to get him out of harm's way.  He couldn't be standing close to me.  I didn't want to die either, but I would not watch other people die for me.  How would I keep him away?  The only time he's ever left me alone was when I made him angry.  So I guess that's what I would do.  I would have to push him away, make him angry with me.  I felt panic surging in my chest.  I had to do it or he would die.

I jumped when I suddenly heard him calling to me from the other room.  I stuffed the letter under my pillow and hurried back to the living room where Will was pacing.

"I have good news. From the security camera we placed in the parking lot we got the license number of the man who shot the officer and I. It was a rental. We have a lead on the name the man used. Whether or not it's his real name, it helps us. My team followed up with the security cameras at the rental place and we have a face as well as an address. It's a great lead. It puts us lightyears ahead of where we were."

"Great! Did his picture match any of your suspects?" 

He nodded. "The picture matched that of Brian Mills, the gang member we've had our eyes on. It's circumstantial but at least we have a direction."

A rush of happiness made my brain swirl. "So it wasn't Jaime?" I whispered, more to myself than anything. I didn't realize until now that I'd worried he might have had something to do with it. I guess I'd taken Will's suspicions to heart after all.

He narrowed his eyes at me in concern.

"Don't get ahead of yourself yet. We still have to follow up with the lead and check on the other suspects before we can be sure of anything."

"I know." I replied simply. I knew the FBI couldn't mark him off the suspect list yet but at least things were moving! At least now I had some proof he wasn't the scumbag Will seemed to think he was.

I couldn't push him away from me yet.  The idea of hurting him made my chest ache, so I decided to put it off as long as I could. For the rest of the night we hung out together, watching random movies.  I tried to have a good mood, which seemed to lift his and we laughed and teased like we used to before my life got messed up. It was beautiful seeing that we could fall back into our relationship even now. However, around 3 a.m. that beauty turned bittersweet when I started thinking too much.

I looked at Will, really looked at him. My eyes scanned his features, from his messy finger-length brown hair to his slightly dimpled cheeks, down his lean yet extremely muscled body to his feet. I couldn't help but wonder if this was the real him. He'd been hiding his whole self from me for so long, how could I know that the man I was seeing was truly him?

"What's wrong?" His eyes finally caught on to the pondering look in mine and his nose crinkled, adorable in his worry.

"Is this the real you? You're being the same way you were before this whole mess started. Before I knew the truth."

He studied me for a moment, then moved closer to me on the couch so his leg was touching mine. He put a finger under my chin and guided me so I was looking at him.

"Yes. That's what I've been telling you this whole time. Even when I wasn't honest with you, you somehow brought out the real me. There were some sides of me you hadn't seen but this," he gestured between us, "was never fake. And now you've seen those sides of me. You've seen me at work, you've seen the truth."

I took a moment to process that. It was a nice thought that I could bring out the truth in him even when he's supposed to be someone else. And I suppose in the time I've known the truth he has been pretty much the same person, just with some small differences. He'd been working so hard to get me to trust him again.  I couldn't hold his lies against him anymore, not when I was keeping something from him too now.

I gave him a tight smile and stretched, yawning.  I excused myself and headed to bed. My sleep was restless, filled with nightmares. Once I finally brought myself to open my eyes for good it was 8 a.m. I felt more exhausted than I had when I went to bed last night. My lack of sleep gave me a headache and a bad mood. I was praying all the stupid people in the world would give me a wide berth because I could not handle any more without exploding.

After I dressed and got up I found that Will had made me some coffee. He'd also left a note by the pot informing me he'd left to follow a lead and he'd be back later. It said there were two FBI agents outside my door and that I shouldn't go anywhere. Well, that was just fine by me. The less time he spent with me meant he was safer.  

So I spent the majority of the morning and early afternoon lounging around in my sweats and doing homework. Sometime in the afternoon I decided to ask Jaime over. I knew Will had demanded I stop seeing him without certain precautions but I felt safe. I had two agents outside my door. Wasn't that enough? He texted me back saying he was on his way.

About ten minutes later there was a knock on my door. When I opened it I saw Jaime behind the two armed agents.

"Hey guys. I asked him over, if you could let him through."

To my surprise they glanced at each other then one of them pulled out a list.

"What's your name again sir?" The taller, darker one asked him.

"Jaime Gomez."

"Sorry sir, ma'am, but we've been instructed not to allow him in unless Agent Tucker is present."

My jaw dropped. Of course. Of course he would go around me like this. How did I not see it coming? Oh that's right. Because I'm an idiot, and naïve apparently. Well fine. Two can play at that game.

"It's alright Jaime. I'll talk to Will and text you when it's worked out."

He glared at the wall and tersely nodded. "I'm not happy we have to go through him to see each other. That's not okay with me." I nodded in agreement. It wasn't okay with me either.

"I know. I'll talk to you later." I gave him a small smile.

He quickly left down the stairs and I slammed the door. Will would be in for a beating when I saw him next.  A small voice in the back of my mind told me this was the chance I was waiting for to pick a fight to push him away.  

I sat, fuming, for a half an hour until Will walked in. I glared at his smiling form. He raised an eyebrow at me, as if daring me to fight him. So he clearly knew that I knew what he'd done. I'd been fully prepared to fight him but given he was expecting it I suddenly decided to ignore the situation until he brought it up.

"So, what lead were you tracking down?" I asked, dangerously calm.

His eyes opened wide in surprise. Clearly, he wasn't expecting that. One point to me.

"My guys went to the address listed at the rental car place, only to find an empty lot. No surprise there. We were able to use facial recognition software and track him to a set of buildings in Queens. I led a team through the neighborhood asking people if they'd seen him. We got lucky. There were a couple of witnesses who directed us to a rundown motel in the area he'd had pizza delivered. The motel manager opened the door for us and it looked like he'd been tipped off. All of his stuff was still there but he'd clearly just left."

"Was there any evidence linking him as one of the attackers?"

"From the photos he'd had on the walls to the schematics of the alleys by your university, I'd say he was the one behind this."

I visibly sunk in relief. They finally knew who was doing this! They hadn't caught him yet but at least they knew who to look for. Could my life get back to normal soon? Could I finally finish my degree and get out in the world without being afraid of some attacker?  Would Will be safe?

Almost as if he could read my mind, Will gave me a reality check. "Don't forget we're still looking for the female accomplice. We don't know who she is. With Mills still out there, he could be sending her for you any day. You can't have free reign with your boyfriend just yet."

And there it was. There was the jab I was waiting for. He was trying to get me to react. He was just staring at me, waiting for me to say something. Despite knowing I should make him angry, the fire in my heart was put out by his reality check.

"That's alright. I'll be fine." I muttered curtly. He kept watching me, so I turned away and actively ignored him.

For the next hour or so he kept asking me questions and trying to get me to react but I kept giving him the silent treatment. Until he brought it up himself I wouldn't indulge him.

Finally, he caved. "Alright, stop with the silence. Can we please talk about how your boyfriend came to visit earlier?" His voice was dripping with annoyance. I rolled my eyes.

"About time. You have some explaining to do." I crossed my arms.

"Me? I didn't do anything wrong. You were the one who went expressly against my wishes by inviting him here."

"I thought two FBI agents in front of my door would be enough for you! I shouldn't have to go through you to see my boyfriend anyway. That's really messed up."

He took a deep breath, as if to calm himself. "It would be messed up if that boyfriend of yours wasn't still a suspect. But for now, I'm just doing my job."

I took a deep breath.  His reasoning made sense, but I had to keep pushing the issue.  He wasn't angry yet.  "Really? You're still pretending this is still about your job? You're telling me you don't have a problem with me dating him? Because it seems we're always fighting about that. Almost every day we argue about it because you're treating me unfairly. So what's the truth Will?"

"Yes, you're right. I do have a problem with you being with him. He's sneaky and I don't think he's being honest with you. Forgive me if I'm just trying to protect you."

I was insulted by the hypocrisy of what he just said. "You're one to be talking about lies. You haven't been honest with me the whole time you've known me!"

His eyes were suddenly very angry and his mouth straightened into a flat line. I knew at that point I'd gone far enough.  He was clearly livid.

"We've discussed this! I'm trying to be a better man for you! But you keep throwing my mistakes in my face every other minute. Well, fine. Maybe I'll stop begging you to trust me. You so clearly decided to trust a perfect stranger over me anyway, so why am I even trying?!"

He was right. I have been trusting Jaime over him. And I haven't been fair to him about that either. But I couldn't be fair right now.  I had to be unyielding so he would be safe.  The reasoning was sound, but it didn't make my heart hurt any less at the pain I could see in his eyes.

"Annie, wait," he called to me, also standing up. "We discovered some evidence Brian Mills is trying to harm your father, so we'll be putting him in protective custody at a safehouse for a while until we get things settled. We're taking you to a separate safehouse as well tomorrow. If you want, I can bring you to him so you can catch up." He said quietly, devoid of emotion.

I couldn't muster up any words, so I just nodded. Anything would be better than being stuck here in this tense silence with Will. It looked like I was about to talk to my father for the first time since he told me to get out of his life.