Title  : He Did It All For Love

Author : Cathy Summers

Email  : [email protected]

Rating : PG?

Summary: The first mission Webb was in charge of and the special woman he met. (Mac/Webb)

Disclaimer: The characters do not belong to me…well duh…except for Mike and Lardin, but I would be more than willing to trade them for Webb ;)

Author’s note: my first fic, and sorry for the spelling mistakes, didn’t have anyone to beta read it for me. (cut me some slack, I’m from Denmark.) I wrote it one day when I was bored (along with two others I'll be posting.. sooner or later)

 Now, let’s get started, oh and by the way…feedback is more than welcome!

He Did It All For Love

Webb looked at his office one more time. He had come in early to clear it, he needed to be gone before the other agents began to come. He was going to miss it, but he had to do it. He knew that, and he hoped that he would not regret it.

 “Hi Webb, what are you doing in here so early...” Mike’s voice trail-ed off, as he saw the bare office and the box Webb had under his arm. Mike had been a good friend to Webb. In fact he was like the big brother he never had.

 “Wow...what’s going on Clay? Want to fill me in? I’ve only been gone three days.. have I missed something?”

 Clay just looked at him, and Mike knew something was up.

 “Hey pal, how long have we known each other? I think you at least owe me an explanation....”

 Webb looked at his watch. He had just enough time to tell Mike, be-fore the others would begin to come through the doors and ask ques-tions. And that was the last thing Webb needed right now.

 “Okay Mike,” Webb finally said and put down his box, “you want to hear the truth?”

 Mike nodded.

 “You remember Bosnia?” Webb knew that that was something Mike would soon forget. It was there he had lost his wife. His eyes changed a little while, looking haunted and sad, but he quickly recovered. Webb had often wondered how it all seemed to be so easy, to cover up emo-tions, even the death of your own wife. Mike had never taken time to grieve, he had just kept on working. Webb had done the same.

 “Yes, we were supposed to protect a micro-chip hidden in the American embassy. What happened in Bosnia Webb?”

 “I fell in love,” Webb stated. Sounding like a defeated man.

 “She was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever laid eyes on.”

 “Major, I’m Clayton Webb, special assistant to the Undersecretary of State.” A young Clayton Webb greeted the older man in combat greens.

 “Mr. Webb, welcome to camp. What brings you here?” The Major knew that this young man was not an assistant to the Undersecretary of State, but during this period in time. Nobody really  was who they said they were.

 “A case, but right now I’m on a break. Wanted to visit my neighbours.”

 “Major, Pike and Henry haven’t reported back to duty, sir” a young sergeant had appeared in the tent’s opening.

 “When were they supposed to be back?” The major asked concerned. He had already lost five good men, but Pike and Henry were only boys.

 “2 hours ago, sir.” 

 “I better take care of this. Mr. Webb, feel free to look around be-fore you go.”

 And with that the major left, leaving Webb free to do whatever he wanted. It was tempting, but he knew it was nearly time to head home, so he took what he came for and walked out of the tent and bumped into a  young lt., who seemed to be in a hurry.

 “I’m sorry sir, I didn’t see you..” the lt. quickly apologized. Webb looked up and his heart nearly jumped out of it’s place. The lt. was a young woman with brown hair and all-consuming brown eyes. Webb felt lost, almost forgetting his job.

 “That’s okay lt....?”

 “MacKenzie...Sarah MacKenzie, Sir. You can call me Mac.”

 “Mackenzie? Where have I heard that name before?” Mike thought. It sounded familiar, but he couldn’t quite remember her.

 “Mac? What’s wrong with Sarah?”

 “Nothing sir...but..”

 “Mac, you don’t have to say “sir” after every sentence. I’m not an officer.”

 That was the first time Mac noticed that the man wasn’t wearing a uniform. He wore a business suit and a trench coat. Suddenly Mac be-came suspicious.

 “So, who are you?”

 “Me? Clayton Webb, I’m a special assistant to the Undersecretary of State.”

 “Right, and I’m Marilyn Monroe. Nice to have met you Mr. Webb.”

 And with that she was gone.

 Suddenly he became aware that the thing he had in his bag, could very well expose him.

He felt a bit nervous. It was his first big mission and he didn’t want to screw this one up.

 “What was it you came after anyway?” Mike asked. He never knew that Webb had gone to the military camp. It must have been one of those days where he had spent his time with his wife. Leaving Webb in con-trol of the operation. On paper they were both in charge, but in Bos-nia Mike had taken the lead.

 “The uniform Mike.” Webb answered. He knew that was enough and that Mike would understand.

 “I always wondered where you got your uniform from. You looked more believable than the rest of the gang.”

 “Thank you,” Webb said dry and continued his story, “the day after I went back to the camp. I don’t know why... I guess I was bored. There was nothing to do, and you were off with your...” Webb stopped himself as he saw the tormented look in his friend’s eyes.

 “It’s okay Webb. I can’t go around all my life pretending she is still alive, can I? But please, finish your story, it’s yours I want to hear.. not my own.”

  Webb met the young sergeant from the day before. He was being at-tended by some doctors. Half of his left leg was gone, but he remained quiet as the doctors worked. Webb shock his head as he went by. He ho-ped that the war would be over soon.

 “Mr. Webb,” a voice said from behind him. He smiled, he quickly recognized that voice. He turned around and greeted: “Lt. MacKenzie, how nice to see you again.”

 “What brings you here? I can’t see what an assistant of the State would want here?”

 “I’m sorry lt. but I can’t tell you....classified,” he said with a wry smile, knowing full well that this marine didn’t buy it. He could tell by the look in her eyes, but for some reason, she didn’t ask any further and for that he was grateful.

  “I was just going to grab a bite to eat....if you’re not in a hurry, you are welcome to join me” Mac said. She didn’t know what it was, but there was something about this Mr. Webb, that puzzled her. Almost from the first time she had met him, she had thought that there was some-thing....almost lovable about this man.

 Just as he was about to look at his watch she said:  “It’s 0905,” and walked over to the jeep.

 He didn’t believe her, so he looked at his watch and with great sur-prise he saw that she had been right. He quickly ran after her.

 “How did you do that?” Webb asked as he took on his seatbelt.

 “Now that, Mr. Webb, is classified.”

 Webb smiled. This was going to be interesting.

 “So, how many times did you go back to the camp?” Mike asked. He was impressed that Webb had managed to keep this a secret ‘till now. He had always said that no matter where you went, somebody from the Agen-cy would always be looking over your shoulder.

 “7..the last time was the day before the ambassador’s party.”

 “Mr. Webb, I’ve been seeing a lot of you recently...” the Major, he had met when he first visited the camp, said with a big smile. He knew full well what drove this man to come and visit them so frequently.

 “Webb?”  

  And there she was. The Major retired to his quarters, leaving the two lovebirds to themselves. He was happy that Mac had found someone to care about. She was like a daughter to him and he only wanted to see her happy. He knew the background she came from and had been im-pressed with her skills as a marine. He and her uncle Matt had served in the same wars, and therefore he felt himself closer to her than to any of the other marines under his command and this guy, Webb, seemed to make her very happy.

  “Mac, I hope I didn’t come in a bad time.”

 Mac shook her head. She liked the way he always came unannounced. She always did love surprises.

“I brought you some lunch...care to join me?” he held out an arm for her, which she took and smiled at him.

 He returned the smile and led her to a spot he found one time when he was wandering about in the woods. Actually he had been hunting down a Russian spy, but what difference did that make?

 “It’s beautiful!” Mac exclaimed as she saw the wild flowers which grew there.

 “I thought you’d like it.” Webb said and took the things out of the basket he had been holding. He watched her as she stood there and loo-ked at the landscape in front of her. He admitted to himself that she was beautiful. Suddenly he realized that he was in love and it made him smile. Mac saw the smile appear on his face, and wondered what he was thinking about.

 “Earth to Webb, what are you thinking about?”

 Webb snapped out of his daydream and was about to tell her the truth. That he loved her, but thought better of it and decided to wait until his mission here in Bosnia was over. Then they would have all the time in the world, because he knew that this was the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.  

 “Nothing, I was just thinking about how beautiful you are.”

 Mac smiled and kissed him. She knew that she was falling in love with him and it scared her a little, what if he didn’t feel the same.

 “Are you hungry?” Webb asked a bit unsure. He had seen the doubt in her eyes. One of the first time they had talked, she had told him about her family and her childhood. She had been afraid that it would scare him off, but it made him admire her even more. He knew she had a hard time trusting people, afraid that they would leave her. But he swore to himself to never do that. He knew the feelings, and for some reason he was willing to throw that all over board and risk it all.

 “Yes, what have you brought?”

 Webb slowly uncovered what was in the basket, and he saw the joy light up in her eyes.

 “Beltway burgers? How did you....”

 “I remember you mentioned them once...said you missed them, so I cal-led in a favour,” Webb smiled. It hadn’t been easy and he was sure that Peter was going to want something in return, but that didn’t mat-ter right now.

 After they had eaten, Mac lay in Webb’s arms and suddenly it hit her. It was crazy to fall in love with a man she hardly knew anything about. The only thing she knew was that his father was dead and his mother lived in Virginia. She sat up and looked him in the eyes.

 “So, Clay, you know all these small things about me, but I don’t know much about you...and don’t tell me that you’re an assistant to the Un-dersecretary of State. We both know that’s a big fat lie.”

 Webb debated whether or not to tell her the whole truth and came to the conclusion that he loved her and she deserved to know, but her knowing could jeopardize the whole mission.

 “I promise to tell you...tomorrow, right now we better head back. It’s beginning to get dark. I’m sure the Major misses you.” 

 Mac just nodded and looked at him with something he didn’t recognize.

 “So I dropped her of at camp and headed back to our headquarter, when I met Peter Lardin.”

 “Lardin?” Mike repeated to himself. Lardin had been a young agent from DEA assigned to help them uncover the spy. Mike could very well remember Lardin. He was too eager to kill and to obsessed with the mission, but also a damn good agent.  

 “Mr. Webb,” Lardin greeted with a smile. He reminded Webb of a snake and even though they were about the same age, Lardin acted like a superior.

 “I hope you didn’t spill your guts to your girlfriend. We can’t af-ford to jeopardize three months of hard work, just because you want a quick fuck with a jarhead!”

 Webb could feel the rage build, but refused to make a scene in a pub-lic display.

 “You better watch what you’re saying Lardin, or else...”

 “Or else what Webb? You don’t know how to fight, I will send you to the nearest hospital if we did! And that would be a pity, now wouldn’t it? That would leave the marine all vulnerable, if you know what I mean.”

 Webb didn’t care anymore. He swung his fist at Peter and hit him square in the face.

 “FUCK Webb, I think you broke my nose!”

 Webb knew he had gone to far. People were beginning to take notice of the two men and if anyone sent for the police, they would both be jeopardizing the mission. So he got back in the car and drove away, but he could very well hear Peter screaming after him.

 “I’ll get back at you for this one Webb, believe me! And then you’ll see why an agent is not supposed to fall in love!”    

“I thought I had seen the last of him, Mike. He wasn’t supposed to be anywhere near the embassy that night.”

 It was dark by the time they got to the embassy, most of the important people had arrived.

 “Names?” the guard asked as they came to the door.

 “Major Ike Hansons and lt. Abby Cowen.” Mike answered with an important tone in his voice.

 The guard looked at his list. Webb felt the butterflies in his stom-ach and he was sure that the guard noticed, but he let them through.

 “Relax Cowen, try to blend in.” Mike said before he left Webb to search for their target.

 Webb took a deep breath and looked around. It looked more like the ambassador had invited the half of the population in Bosnia, he didn’t have much room to move around.

 Webb moved on to the bar, where the waitress walked up to him.

  “Seen him?” She whispered as she served him a tonic with lemon.

 “Negative. Lots of people, none fitting the description.”

  “You sound disappointed?” She smiled. She knew the look in those eyes. She often saw it in her husband’s whenever an operation had fai-led.

 “I was sure this was it Helen. Days of work, translating letters, un-dercover...and for what?”

  She just smiled, “Don’t worry Cowen, you’re still young. You have plenty of missions ahead of you.”

 Webb returned the smile and took a sip of his drink.

 “Webb, the micro-chip is gone. He is here!” Mike yelled, and Webb considered if that would leave a permanent ear-damage.

 Helen looked puzzled at Webb.

 “He’s here...” that was all Webb had time to say, before guns began to go off.

 “Everybody down!” a voice yelled from far away. Webb reacted in-stantly and threw himself to the ground. From there he saw the bullet pierce through Helen’s body, leaving her with a fatal wound in the chest. Suddenly he was glad that Mike hadn’t come down from the office yet.

 As Webb lay on the floor he could hear screams all around him and the guns seemed to go on forever. Suddenly it stopped and a male voice said: “If anybody moves, I’ll kill her!”

 Webb looked up. He had recognized the voice and he wanted to shoot himself for being so stupid. He should have seen this one coming. It was the kind Major from the military camp.

 “Mr. Webb, I trust that you’ll let me get away, since...well you know the reason,” he said with a big grin. It made Webb look up and he saw that the woman the major was pointing a gun at, was Mac. The blood in Webb’s body froze, but he had to play it cool.

“I thought you and O’Hara were buddies Major.. you wouldn’t want to kill his niece, would you?”

“Ah, Mr. Webb I see you have read my dossier. God I hate the CIA!”

From a distant he could hear Mike yell from the top of the stairs: “Shoot him Webb!”

 Webb knew he had a clear shot and pointed his gun, but the Major loo-ked seriously at him and then tapped the gun on Mac’s forehead.

 “But to answer your question...yes I would. It’s funny what a million dollars can make a man do. Betray his own country...but then you’re about to do the same thing, for the love of a woman. That’s even more pathetic Mr. Webb,” and with that the Major banged his gun in the back of Mac’s head, leaving her in the arms of Webb, as he made it for the exit. Disappearing with the micro-chip.

 Webb was still in a state of chock, when a new voice could be heard: “Now listen. I don’t want to harm anybody, I just have a score to set-tle with a man in this room! Where are you old buddy?”

 Webb looked up and saw Lardin looking at him with a smug grin on his face.

 “Is this the one? Is this who you blew the mission for?”

He grabbed her hair and forced her to look at him. He grinned and whispered in Webb’s ear:

 “In some weird way, I can see why you did it. She must have been so-mething in bed.” 

And then he shot her. Directly in the chest. Webb felt his world shat-ter around him as he felt some blood land on his cheek. 

 “And now, it is your turn to pay.” Lardin raised his gun, and a shot rang out. Webb expected to feel some kind of pain, but he didn’t and as he looked up, he saw Lardin with dead eyes and an open mouth fall to the ground. Behind him stood Mike with a gun in his hand.

“So that’s why? All this time I thought you froze, that you got cold feet...but you did it for love?” Mike asked astonished.

 Webb smiled wryly: “I guess that makes me a bad agent...”

 Mike looked at Webb with a sad smile, as he remembered his own wife: “I would have done the same Webb.”

 Webb looked at his watch again. Five more  minutes and people would be coming through the doors.

“So, then what happened?” Mike asked.

“The doctors said that she was lucky to have survived. I went to the hospital the day after the nurse had told me the news. I had already made up my mind before I got there. I had almost gotten her killed and as I saw her lie in the hospital bed I decided to stay out of her life. I was afraid what my job might do to her. She didn’t want to ac-cept that, so I just left her. I did the one thing that I promised my-self to never do, and then buried myself in my work.”

 Mike knew the feeling. He had done the exact same thing after Helen’s funeral. Mike looked at Webb’s box. There was a picture. He looked at Webb again.

 “Is that her?”

 Webb smiled, “yeah, that’s her.”

  “Ah, now I remember where I’ve seen her...she’s a lawyer now, isn’t she?”

 Webb nodded.

 “We met again, because of a case I was assigned to several years ago. The one with O’Hara.”

 Suddenly all pieces fell together and Mike knew the reason why Webb was leaving, and with a sad smile he admitted: “Wish I had had your determination to quit old friend. But once a CIA, always a CIA.”  

“People change,” Webb said.

 “You really do love her,” Mike stated and laughed a little, “I could have told you back in Bosnia that it is no use running. True love ne-ver dies. But what are you going to do now?”

 “Now?” Webb picked up his trench coat, “I’m leaving.”

 And with that he left his office with a small smile, never looking back. Mike watched him go and from the window he saw the pretty marine standing by her car, meeting his old friend with open arms.

THE END

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