The Flu

Andrew Garner looked up at the television hanging in the middle of the elegant hotel's restaurant/slash bar as he waited in line to check out, frowning slightly at what was on the screen. What in the world was Nick up to? Maybe he should have gone to Victoria's funeral. He had seriously considered it, but then he had worried that things might have ended up being awkward with the situation with Melinda, so he had decided it was better to just sent flowers and stay away. Now he was seriously reconsidering things, though, seeing what had happened in the funeral's aftermath. What in the world was Nick up to? Okay, maybe it wasn't Nick that was up to something, but Peggy Carter and he was seriously afraid his mother-in-law. Should he call Melinda to make sure she knew about that?

Before he could think about that further, he saw that the person in front of him was almost finished, and he reached into his pocket for his wallet. His frown deepened as he felt paper, and pulled out a folded note.

"Doctor Garner!" The cheerful man at the desk called his name just as he finished reading what was on the note. "I hope your stay went well!"

"Yes, it did." Andrew said. "And as it turns out, I'm going to need to extend my stay for another night. Would that be possible?"

"Of course. I hope there isn't a problem." The man asked as he worked on his computer to extend Andrew's stay.

"I just need to have a talk with someone and I'm afraid it might take me a bit to find them. Thank you." As soon as it was confirmed he would have a place to stay for the night, he headed for the elevator, dragging his rolling suitcase behind him. He was almost sure that Lian and his car would have been long gone before he found the note, but better to double check in case. And then it looked like he was going to have to call Melinda after all.

Melinda was checking for bowls she might have missed when she was gathering things for John to wash when her phone rang. She grabbed for it, and hit talk, hoping against steep odds that it would be her mother. Maybe it would be best if they kept going with Nick, wherever Peggy was heading with him, but the least they could do would be to release poor Sharon! "Hello?"

"Melinda?" Andrew said her name, muting the television as he talked. "It's Andrew."

"Andrew?" Melinda went still. He didn't need to say his name. She would recognize his voice anywhere. Why was he calling, though? But then it hit her. The situation with her mother and Peggy Carter was everywhere,

"Melinda, I hope this isn't a bad time or anything." Andrew said. "Did you know your mother's on television for helping Peggy Carter kidnap poor Nick?"

"Sadly, yes. Maria's working on finding them now and getting them back to Shield." Melinda told him. Just then something hit her. Andrew. Maybe he could at least do something about getting Fury declared sane, so he wouldn't be drug off for who knows what mental treatment if he was ever found. "Andrew, do you think you could contact Maria? Somehow Nick got himself drug off to a mental institution and…."

"I saw something about that, but the report wasn't clear on what happened, it just said something about an incident at Victoria's wake. Which kind of surprised me. I know Nick takes losing agents hard, even though he tries to act like he doesn't, but something public like that doesn't seem like him."

"He's been having a bad few days." And that was putting the entire thing mildly. "Can you talk to Maria? I hate to get you involved in this, but…."

"I could go to the Triskellion if you think I could help." Andrew offered. "I'm actually in Washington now. I was attending a lecture. I'm not sure about Nick's sanity after a few hours in a car with Peggy Carter behind the wheel, but I could vouch that he was sane before that."

"You're in Washington? You didn't go to Victoria's funeral, did you?"

"I sent flowers. I wasn't sure if it would be awkward or not if I attended, although I'm wishing I had rethought that now."

"Flowers. Flowers. She probably won't kill you over flowers. Well, over one arrangement of flowers, anyway." Melinda said. "I can explain away flowers."

"Melinda, what are you talking about?"

"The reason Nick got drug off to the mental institution was because he was trying to alert everyone that there had been a mix-up of gigantic proportions and that Victoria wasn't dead. Which didn't go so well, as what looks like everyone on the planet can see at this point."

"Victoria isn't….." Andrew's jaw dropped in shock. "Okay, I'm reconsidering vouching for Nick being sane before Peggy got her hands on him. If Victoria isn't dead, how did her funeral end up being turned into a major news circus?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure how it went so far." Melinda said with a shake of her head. "My team was dealing with a situation at the Hub, with everyone having the flu, and we did have some problems with communications being down. By the time we got in touch with Nick, it seemed like everything was out of control. But can you help Maria with the situation? I hate to ask but…."

"Are you sure that you want to keep him out of the mental home? Her grandparents were crying on television. I don't think Victoria's going to be very happy with Nick. The mental home might be safer for awhile." Andrew said.

"Except the mental home just had to deal with Peggy Carter and my mother. I'm not so sure how stable the people there are going to be after that."

"And that was why I was calling. Have you talked to your mother since this happened?"

"If I had, there's a chance poor Maria might not be losing her mind while trying to find them."

"That's what I figured. So you have no idea where they are?"

"No, but I don't think you really need to worry if that's why you were calling. You know my mother."

"Yes, which is why I was calling. I was about to check out of my hotel to go home when I found a note from your mother in my pocket. It seems she and Peggy borrowed my car."

"She did what?"

"Let me read you the note. 'Borrowing your car. Let me know when you will be in town again. We'll have dinner.'" Andrew read the short note. "I checked the parking lot. My car's gone. They didn't leave Lian's car there, though. I'm not sure where they stashed that."

At least her mother hadn't left her own car, that was everywhere on the news, at the hotel, to drag Andrew into this mess. Maybe there was a chance Andrew wouldn't be drug into this mess. What was she thinking, though? "Andrew, I am so sorry."

"It's not your fault. I do know your mother. You could have been right next to her, and I doubt you could have stopped her. Well, maybe you could have came pretty close." He said with a laugh. "I didn't even see her or realize she had picked my pocket for my keys until I was about to check out."

"Okay. Do you know if anyone else saw her?" Make sure that there was no way Andrew could be tied into this mess. That was Melinda's first worry right now. As for the rest, she could save it until she found her mother.

"I heard the parking attendant talking about some sort of short circuit with the cameras when I was checking the lot for my car. And was going upstairs I heard someone at the desk saying the entire system was out, and something about a water leak."

"So my mother helped Peggy shoot up a mental institution, kidnap Nick, and now damage what I'm sure was a very expensive security system before stealing your car. Perfect." Melinda muttered.

"They've apparently kidnapped some other poor woman too." Andrew let her know. "She's currently unidentified but it's on the news. Of course, they're saying Nick did it for some crazy reason."

"They kidnapped someone else. Just perfect. Andrew, are you alright for now? They didn't take anything else but your car?"

"I just had the one bag and I hadn't loaded it yet. And I hadn't checked out of my room when I found your mother's note, so I have a place to spend the night." Andrew told her. "Listen, Melinda, I know your mom. I'm going to go out and check a few places and see if I can find her. Who knows, maybe I'll get lucky and she'll be hiding in plain sight."

"Andrew…." Melinda didn't want to get him involved in this. He had suffered so much due to Shield already.

"Maybe I can convince her to release that poor woman. And poor Sharon." Andrew told her. "It's better than sitting here doing nothing, anyway, and I already checked and all of the rental cars are booked so going back to Culver isn't an option, before you suggest it."

"Andrew, I don't want you to get involved in this. People think Nick is armed and dangerous, probably because they can't bring themselves to believe that two senior citizens are the real problem."

"Which means that the authorities are the ones who are in real danger out there, if they're underestimating your mother and Peggy. I know them. If I find them and it doesn't look like I can convince them to at least let poor Sharon and that other poor woman go, I'll contact Maria. I know them. I'm not going to take any chances, I promise."

"No chances. And I'll try to find my mother. She has to answer her phone at some point. Just be careful." Melinda told him.

"Trust me, I know those two. I'll be very careful." Andrew said with a laugh as he ended the call.

As soon as she heard the call closing, Melinda hit her mother's number. "Mother, where are you?" She demanded as soon as the voice mail clicked in. "Bring back Andrew's car now! Don't you dare drag him into whatever you and Peggy are up to!"