When she opened her eyes, the last thing she recalled was falling, not just tripping and falling down, but sailing through the air and landing with a loud painful thud.

She checked herself out for injuries, and other than a huge lump on her head, everything else was intact. Well not exactly. The broken heel on her shoe was probably the reason she went flying down a long flight of marble stairs, and in retrospect it was sheer luck she hadn't broken her neck or anything else vital for that matter.

As she stood up, she felt dizzy and leaned on the nearby wall with her hand to steady herself.

A warbling came from her shoulder bag and she opened it to investigate the strangely familiar sound.

Digging among her lip gloss, hair brush, perfume atomizer and other paraphenalia, she found a little transistor radio that was the source of the beeping.

"That's odd?" She said out loud, but something made her instinctively press a button on the side of it.

"April luv are you there?" The voice of a very British man came out of the speaker instead of music.

"Hello?" She spoke tentatively.

"Oh thank God you're all right. Where are you April?"

"Who are you and who's this April?" She suddenly realized she didn't know her own name yet this man seemed familiar with her voice…and her name, if it was indeed April.

"What do you mean?"

"Well it seems I don't know who I am? What's your name?"

"April it's me Mark, Mark Slate your partner. Don't you know me?"

She could hear the concern his voice as it went up slightly in pitch.

"Where are you luv?"

"I'm at the bottom a of long staircase...everything is marble, pink marble. There's lots of paintings on the walls. I wonder if I'm in some sort of a museum?"

"I know the place," he said excitedly," leave your communicator on and I'll be there in two shakes of a lambs tail."

"Leave what on?"

"Ugh...you're transistor radio. Just stay put. Out."

The radio went silent.

"What did he mean by stay put out? Did that mean she was supposed to go outside and wait for him?" She shrugged, thinking that sounded reasonable. As to leaving the radio on, she guessed it was just in case he needed to get in touch with her. Technology was amazing nowadays...

She felt extremely comfortable trusting this fellow Mark, though at the moment she hadn't a clue about him, other than he said he was her partner.

So that meant 'boyfriend' she guessed. His British accent did sound awfully cute.

As she reached the top of the stairs a voice called to her.

"Where do you think you're going Missy?"

There were two burly men, not handsome at all, blocking her way.

"Missy?" Now she was confused. "No, no, my name is April...I think. I was going outside to meet my boyfriend. Now if you don't mind, you're in my way."

She tried squeezing past, but o

ne of them reached out, grabbing her by the arm and violently yanking her towards him.

Without thinking about it she lifted her leg, kicking him sharply in the crotch, and as he bent over in pain she karate chopped him in the neck.

The other man grabbed her from behind, pinning her arms in place, but she was some how able to reach into her purse. Her fingers latched onto the atomizer and as soon as she had hold of it, she went limp in his arms, pretending to pass out.

As he loosened his grip, she suddenly turned and sprayed a whiff of the perfume in his face. Down he went, unconscious.

"April!" She heard the familiar British voice calling her.

"Mark?" She looked at him running towards her but her head started to spin.

Slate got to her just in time to catch her before she passed out.

A few minutes later as the Brit knelt on the floor cradling the beautifu red-head in his arms; he smiled as her eyes fluttered open.

"Mark?"

"That's me luv? You do know it's me right?"

Her face twisted up in confusion. "Of course I know it's you goose? Why wouldn't I?"

He helped April to her feet, not quite sure what to say.

"Oh you had a hit on the noggin' from what I can see, but from the looks of it," he said, staring at the two goons out cold on the marble floor."You'll be just fine."

She reached down slipping out of her broken shoe, holding it up for him to see.

"Oh darn, I don't think my pump's fine though."

"Well let's go buy you a new pair of shoes then my dear," Mark offered her his arm.

"Sounds like a plan Mr. Slate,"April happily agreed. "I saw the most adorable pair at B. Altmans."

"Indeed it does Miss Dancer," Mark smiled, relieved he hadn't lost his partner for very long.