"The fuck you say!" Norman yelled as he jumped up from his seat.

"Norman..." Meg said as she stood with him and put her hand on his arm. Immediately he jerked it away. His eyes were as wide as she'd ever seen them and she knew that he was close to a panic attack.

"No... no!" He swallowed a couple of times, before fixing his stare on Bob. "Don't tell me you're actually considering allowing this to happen. For god's sake, she might die!"

It was silent for a few seconds and then Meg quietly spoke up. "Every enemy of the CIA, every assassin in the world, will be gunning for me. Whether I ever had an interaction with them or not, I will now be a symbol... a warning if you will. By killing me they'll be sending a message that we aren't invincible." She did her best to tamp down the growing knot in her stomach and focused all her strength on trying to help Norm understand the situation. "I feel completely confident in being able to defeat El Sombre, but if we don't make it look as if I died then I'll spend the rest of my life on the run."

"So, what... you're going to just have a hand or foot cut off? Send it to this fucker to have as a... a trophy?"

Meg looked over at Bob and asked, "When do you need to leave – tonight or tomorrow?"

"In the morning; there's an agency plane picking us up at 9:30 to take us to the Field office in Atlanta."

"I need some time alone with Norman."

"No problem. We have a command post in an RV down the road at that campground. I'll be there if you need me. There's another crew coming to relieve the one out there now." Then he got up, nodded at Norman, and disappeared out the front door.

Several minutes passed where Meg and Norman awkwardly avoided each other's glances. Meg went to the kitchen and fixed them both a tall drink and returned to the living room. She handed him his glass, and then took his other hand and pulled him up the stairs to her bedroom. She could tell he was reluctant, but he followed her none the less.

They sat on the bed and Meg put her hands on either side of his face to make him look at her. "I'm going to need you to hear me out, and then we can argue or fight or whatever we need to do."

He wasn't happy and his face was mostly closed off, but he nodded nonetheless.

"Before we start talking about the next few days, I want you to tell me why you love me."

He looked over at her, a little surprised, but he sat up and looked at the vaulted ceiling above them. "Well, when I first met you it was your smart-ass mouth. Actually, the mouth combined with how calm and cool you were. Then there were your ninja moves that showed a little taste of how strong you were, and the Jedi mind trick you did on me showed that your strength wasn't just physical, but also mental." He looked over at her and smiled a little before continuing. "Your personality was so unexpected; I'd never met someone with so damn much darkness in them that could also appreciate the joy life had to offer, like dancing in the rain and combining just the right wine with just the right chocolate."

Norman leaned over and cupped the side of her face and continued his monologue. "The day before we left for St. Augustine I prayed that I would meet someone interesting and different from the women we were surrounded by. Then you walk in and get me all twisted up, and it was like you were made from my dreams, while warning me that you weren't emotionally available. Which guaranteed I would fall for you." They both chuckled a little. "But what did it was when you cried over that dress. I stood there looking at this literal warrior, a woman who's not only walked through the shadow of the valley of death... She's done a damn tap dance through it and has the scars to show for it... and something like a pretty blue dress made her choke up. I honestly had been a goner before that, but those tears were the nail in the coffin."

"Thank you. You'll never understand just how special those words are to me. I'll never forget them. But one thing in all of the things you just listed, you never once mentioned my appearance."

He was stunned, because he felt like he had. After all, he found her incredibly sexy.

She continued, "That actually makes me incredibly happy and makes me love you even more. I mean, I know you find me attractive or else we wouldn't have meshed so well sexually. But, I'd like for you to think for a few minutes about whether you'd still love me and want me if I looked different – say if I had dark hair, or blue eyes, or a slightly different nose or mouth... if I had only one hand or one foot..."

Norman sucked in his breath and then dropped his head. He saw what she was doing now, and while he had to admit that it was effective, he still couldn't reconcile his mind to sacrifice she seemed willing to make.

"Jesus, Meg... of course I wouldn't feel any different about you, but I just cannot be okay with you risking your life or letting these pricks win!"

She reached out and entwined her fingers in his, then let out a big sigh. "Look, I don't want it any more than you do, Norm. I've sacrificed so much of myself for this country and its citizens. I'll never know what it feels like to carry a baby in my body, but yet I know what it feels like to touch your own intestines." He shivered and looked away from her, but not before she saw the tears fill his eyes. "But what I'm going to do over the next few days? That is for me and you."

He swung his head back around and the question was plastered on his face. "What do you mean?"

"The only way we'll be free of all this is if Meg MacAndrews dies and the proof of death requirement is satisfied. I know that it's a risk; we have to lure the enemy into a trap that may or may not work. In order to deliver on the requirements, we have to have access to his phone and whatever else we can find on him and his vehicle. If Don Carlos doesn't receive the required notifications then another assassin will be contracted and this whole thing starts over. It's critical and will set up everything the Agency needs to prosecute him on International Crimes."

"But what about your... you know..."

"My hand? We'll figure out the best way to do it, and I promise I won't suffer. But being able to love me with one less hand is just the start of it, Norman, and I need you to mentally prepare for this. Meg is going to die, and there will be new stories about it, along with a funeral, etc."

She could hardly look at him; she was mourning as much as him. She never thought this day would come. "But, obviously I won't actually be dead if all goes well. For years there has been an alternate identity waiting in the wings for me, for just this exact scenario. That's who you'll be able to be with, if you still want me after all this goes down."

Norman was looking at her like she had grown a second head. "How the hell does that work? Like what, you have a twin just pop up out of the ground?"

She couldn't help it, she laughed out loud at him. "You watch too many movies, Reedus!" When he didn't laugh with her, she sobered quickly and kept explaining. "No, a cousin actually, the daughter of my father's brother; neither of whom actually exist other than in an incredibly thorough paper trail complete with lots of pictures and social media, etc. The brother married a Jewish woman and moved to Israel. The daughter served in the IDF and joined the National Intelligence Agency there, called Mossad. She's retired, as well, and we'll craft a background that incorporates my new wounds as the reason for her retirement. She'll be moving here, eventually, as heir to my assets."

"So this is why you mentioned your change in appearance." He stated and then he ran his hands through his hair. "God, Meg, it's so fucking unreal to be having this conversation!"

"I know, trust me... It's not much easier on this side of it. I haven't even started thinking about how my parents are going to react."

Norman's head popped up and she saw the regret on his face. "Shit, I didn't think about that. Here I've been feeling sorry for myself and I never thought about the other people who love you."

"Don't add that onto your plate, Norm. They've been preparing for my death for nearly 20 years; it's what parents of SEALS and CIA agents do. They'll adapt and they'll play their part well."

"So what now?"

"I'd like to spend a few hours making some more memories with this body, then tomorrow we get up and you go help Bob nail those two idiots. I've got an assassin to kill so that you can start the process of moving on... with Ziva MacAndrews. "

Norman stands up and takes his shoes off and starts unbuttoning his shirt. Meg reclines on her arms to watch. Once he had removed all his clothes, much to her delight, he crawled up her body and straddled her waist. He looked down at her while sliding her shirt up and over her head. "I have to ask you one more thing; what would you do if I wasn't in the picture?"

"Kill them all."