Song for the start of the chapter!

You are welcome!

I laid in bed the next morning for a few moments as I tried to remember what happened last night at the club. Everything blurred together after we got there and I am sure the drinks didn't help anything. I thought about the fight that Toby and I had. He was explosive, like a bomb going off and our emotions were left scattered like debris on a battle field. I had never need that side of him before.

I looked at the clock on my phone with a frown as I saw the time. "Great, I have only have 20 minutes to get ready." I said and got out of the king sized bed franticly. I couldn't believe that I forgot to set the alarm.

I felt my body ache and my head spin as I walked to the bathroom. I partied too much last night. I was worried that my head would be too clouded for today. I shouldn't have gone clubbing. I should have stayed home and played it safe.

Within a few short minutes, I was dressed and down in the large brightly colored lobby to eat breakfast. I looked around at the near empty space and ran to get a quick meal. I felt my stomach growl as I grabbed a two pieces toast, yogurt, a muffin, and an apple with glass of milk.

"Someone's hungry," Toby said over his newspaper from a couple tables over. He smirked at me as I took a bite of toast, unwilling to wait until I was sitting down to eat it.

I nodded as I swallowed the bite of toast. "It was all of those dance moves last night," I said and went over to sit by him.

"That has to be it," he said with a chuckle. The tension from yesterday was completely gone and just like that, he seemed to be back to normal. He turned back to his newspaper as I took another bite of food.

"I'm guessing you've been up for a while," I said looking at his polished look that looked to be straight out of a fashion magazine.

He nodded as he patted his perfectly gelled hair. "Yeah, since 7, I'm guessing you just woke up,"Toby said as he looked with dripping wet hair, who forgot to put on mascara.

"I woke up at a little past eight. Forgot to set my alarm," I said then shoving my mouth full of muffin. My head was continuing to pound and I felt like I had a slight hang over. I thought Toby would have one too but as I looked at his manicured outfit and alert eyes, I knew that he was perfectly fine.

It made me wonder, did he even drink last night? I tried to remember if he had anything. I could have sworn he drank the same amount as me, but maybe I was wrong. I suddenly felt self-conscious of my appearance. They would see him and how put together he was, then there was me, a dim little star trying to make herself known.

"Oh, that sucks. Well you have about five more minutes before Fabien's here," Toby said with amusement in his voice. He leaned back in his chair and put his newspaper down to watch me. He wanted to see me stuff my face.

I frowned. "Don't remind me," I grumbled as I started to eat a little faster.

By time we made it into the CIA building, we braced ourselves for more chaos but were pleasantly surprised to see that things appeared to have calmed down a bit. I looked around at the second floor and even noticed people talking about their night before as if there was nothing pressing that they needed to accomplish at the current moment.

"You're right on time, good," General Smith said as he came up to us with a smile on his face. It was clear that his mood was better then when we last saw him. This must have meant that we were doing our jobs correctly. I just hoped he placed a good word for us with my grandmother. "I want you, Annalise to go to the 3rd floor. They're having problems with the main computer again."

I nodded as I felt Toby's eyes on me. wondering if it was the same problem as yesterday. And if so why? I was so sure that I removed all bugs. Unless someone reinstalled one. I thought about the conversation that I had with Toby last night. He wanted to know details about the bug as if he was grabbing something from it. He would want to know what would happen today, but something told me that I shouldn't share. I wanted the glory for myself. "Yes sir," I said and started to walk away without any more questions asked.

As I waited to the elevator to open I turned to see General Smith and Toby talking. Both had frowns on their faces as if something wasn't going to plan. I wondered if Toby actually fixed that machine in the basement or if the issue was something larger. By the look to their faces, I would guess the latter. This just confirmed that Toby was working on another side case. I felt as if I had been slapped in the face. I didn't want to be reminded that I was not the first choice in my grandmother's books but this was apparent that I wasn't.

The bing from the elevator pulled me from my thoughts like a lasso around a calf. With a sigh, I walked into the machine to find the computer. By time I made it to the computer on the 3rd floor, I realized that it was infected again with the same bug that I clear the day before.

I swore under my breath, feeling frustrated that I had to walk through the same exact steps as yesterday and started typing away at the keys, trying to break the infection. I tried code after code and step after step hoping for things to clear up, but the same thing I did yesterday to correct the problems was not working today. If this was the same bug, then why wasn't the same things working to crack it.

Just when I was starting to see some progress, the screen went black. "Shoot," I said, so much for fixing the issue quickly. I hit the screen lightly, hoping that it would help something. "Come on you piece of trash."

Suddenly, white letters started to appear on the screen in front of me. When it was done typing it said, "Annalise"

My frown deepened as I looked to see if anyone else was seeing this. Luckily, everyone else was busy with their own work. No one seemed to notice me or what was happening to me, which made me wonder if this was my headache speaking. Maybe I was seeing things or loosing my mind. I shook my head to clear my vision. I had to be going crazy.

"You're not seeing things." It typed out.

My eyes widened at the screen. Who ever was typing was watching me. They knew me. I felt my heart race in my chest. I had a terrible feeling about this. I looked around myself, wondering if this was a joke. No one was looking my way which made me believe that this was not a joking matter.

"B26, you're a bright girl, you'll figure it out. You always do."

By now, the frown was permanently etched on my face. I had so many questions and I knew that I wouldn't get them. I had no idea was B26 was. I've never heard of it. What was I supposed to do with that kind of information?

"One more thing, don't..." The screen started to go fuzzy. "Don't trust...." then the screen went completely black; in fact the whole floor's computers went black.

I heard shouts and some other colorful language coming from throughout the floor, hinting that all were frustrated by their computers. But I didn't focus on that. All I could think about was B26. Who was talking to me and what did they want? And who did they not want me to trust?

Minutes passed, honestly, I had no idea how many minutes passed until I was able to move even just a little bit. I was convinced that I lost my mind. I was so desperate for greatness that I was seeing things now. B26 wasn't real. It couldn't be. I was just imagining things. Besides, even if it was real, why would they seek out me? I was no one that was for sure.

Breaking me from my thought was the computer as it turned back on. It beeped loudly and caused me to jump from my seat. The computer rebooted it's self and when to the home screen as if nothing had happened.

Trying to prove myself wrong about my ideas, I typed away on it to see if there was any trace of the bug or what had just happened but there was nothing. It was as if neither thing had happened. I felt disappointment hit me like a brick. Maybe a part of me didn't want to be loosing my mind. A part of me did want a computer to be talking to me.

Not willing to take the emptiness as an answer, I spent the next hour searching the hard drive to find any trace of what I could explain as a breach, but there was nothing. As I continued to hunt to any trace of anything, I couldn't help but wonder if this person that talked to me was the same that bugged the base. It only made since that they were the same person. But why? Why did they want the base bugged?

Bringing me away from my thoughts once again was Toby. He came up to me with a smile as he wiped his forehead from sweat. "Hey, can you send a message to Langley to see if it works?" he asked as he looked at the computer. "What are you doing?" he asked.

I quickly shut down what I had open and smiled at him. "Nothing. Fixed the bug though."

"That's good. Any stories to share about it?" he asked, fishing for more information as if he expected any.

I shook my head. "Nope. Nothing exciting happened. How about on your end? Any stories?" I asked, changing the subject to him.

He shook his head. "Nothing to report," he said with a frown as he stuffed his hands into his pockets in disappointment. "So, can you send the message?"

Remembrance hit me as I pulled up a different application. I almost forgot that this was my main job to begin with. I had to fix the computers so they could send messages back to Head Quarters. "Yeah, I'll try," I said my voice trailing off as I started to type. I quickly typed out, 'hi, can you read this? It's Annalise Phillips.'

I waited impatiently for a message to return and after a few minutes, I got one back saying, 'Hi Annalise, yes we got it, seems like it's working fine. Thanks for your help.'

I smiled. This would make Gram proud for sure. I unbugged all of the computers and nothing went to craps. No rumors would be made about me this time. "Yes!" I said almost jumping out of my seat as excitement hit me. "It works!"

Toby smiled at me as he wrapped his arms around my waist. "Great job. I'm proud."

"If only my grandmother would say those words to me," I pouted too quickly.

He frowned as he cupped my cheek. "You know she thinks those words, right?"

I shook my head. "I am not even sure she thinks them."

He was silent as he tried to figure out the words to tell me, because deep down he knew I was right. "Well, I think you are amazing and isn't that enough?"

Sadly it wasn't, nor would it ever be. I sought approval from the one person that would never give it to me. Nothing else was enough nor would it fill the void I had in my heart. Plus without my grandmother's approval, those nasty rumors would continue to spread like wild fire since she wouldn't protect me from the burns.

I pulled out of the embrace as my phone buzzed. I pulled it out and answered it without seeing the caller ID. Very few people had my number and I had a feeling my grandmother was on the other line. "Hi grandma, we got it to work," I said over the phone.

"That's good to hear. I guess you'll be coming back a day earlier than expected. Did everything go smoothly?" Gram asked over the phone back to me.

I frowned as I thought about the bug and the message on the screen. The assignment was smooth, but there as nothing normal about what I did here. However there wasn't any point in telling her this since I had no real idea what truly did happen and why. It was up to me to gather more information then report. "No, everything was fine, easy fix."