Title: Light the Fire

Rating: PG

Disclaimer: I do not own the 4400.

Summary: A "Trial by Fire" what if that includes Diana's thoughts during the episodes and what happens when Maia is targeted during the bombings.

Author's Note: I'm sorry; this idea was just itching to get out. I will work on both this and I'll Worry About You While You're Gone simultaneously.

Chapter 1

When we got word of the first bombing I dismissed it. Then the second bombing occurred and we realized a pattern. The vic…one of the 4400, the weapon…a bomb with a trip wire trigger…the motive….fear, most likely. But still we analyzed the clues and came up with nothing. Not a piece of DNA, not one fingerprint, nothing.

Tom and I were both starting to get scared. He for his nephew Shawn, and I for Maia. It was around this time that I decided that it may be a wise decision to bring her back to quarantine. I talked to her about it, stated my case, and asked her for her opinion. She started crying. She kept asking me if I hated her, if she had done something wrong. At that point all I could do was take her into my arms and promise her that she could stay with me if she wanted to.

But then the third bombing happened to a nice couple, part of the 4400 named Richard Tyler and Lily Moore, they were a nice couple. I had interviewed them in quarantine, back when I felt that the 4400 were vectors for disease. The couple was very pleasant to be around, they kept to themselves, didn't cause much of a fuss, well except for when Lily was arrested for trying to break a restraining order. Other than that I don't understand why they were targeted.

Fortunately, neither of them were hurt, there were just a few minor scrapes and now they're living with that Collier guy. There was something about Collier that gave me the creeps. Ever since I saw him on the Barbara Yates show.

Going through the debris from the bombing we didn't find anything else. Just the same as we had the past few times we'd taken samples. No prints. No DNA. I decided to run a chemical analysis on the bomb finding that catalyst was a homemade plastic boiled down from bleach.

It seemed like the more evidence we collected the more we turned up short. The most we had was a profile. The bomb design was as basic as one could get, an amateur. Beyond that, we had nothing.

Tom soon developed a Marco like persona, having to listened to my rantings about the ripple effect, his theory was that the bombings were that ripple. I had to give him credit. Compared to how he talked to my fellow science geeks in the theory room a few months ago, he was starting to sound like them. It was actually kind of scary. \

I said that I would check the list of victims in the Knox murders and would get back to him if I found a ripple and then I took off, already late to pick up Maia.

I drove to her school rushing to make sure that nothing had happened to her. When I arrived I found her outside with her teacher. The teacher asked to speak with me for a moment and I apologized for being late only to be cut off as she explained to me that Maia was a security risk for the school with the bombings. I told her that I understood.

After she left, I kept my mask of understanding on as I walked Maia over to the car promising her that we would find somewhere else for her to go to school. Deep down inside I was infuriated. So infuriated that I would have marched right back in there and given the teacher a piece of my mind had I not been worried for Maia's safety as well.

Maia assured me that it was okay but I told her that it wasn't okay, that it was wrong. Then she told me about someone that was coming. My brow furrowed at the notion, I wondered, who was coming? What she meant by that? Was Maia going to be taken away from me? No of course not. She was my responsibility.

We drove to the store. I had to pick up a few things. Maia and I walked into the store and selected; bread, various deli meats, a few snack foods, some ice cream, soup, and hot chocolate. For a treat we picked up some marshmallows. We checked out, I paid the bill, and we headed back to the car.

But something didn't seem quite right. I told Maia to get in the car, and she climbed into the backseat as I loaded the groceries into the trunk. Afterwards I climbed back into the car and buckled my seatbelt. No more being reckless. I inserted the key into the ignition and I tired to turn it.

The car was making a humming noise, kind of like the one that it makes when the battery dies. I tried again but the engine made the same noise. So I popped the hood to take a look at the engine. Maia followed me out to the front of the car where I pried open the hood and looked at the interior and my eyes widened with horror.

There was a blasting cap attached to the engine. Next to it, a time that was counting down…10…9…8...I stood still until my instincts kicked in.

"Maia, run!" I shouted.

Maia started running and I followed close behind her. I pictured the clock going down…6…5…4. My heart pounded. My head was sweating. Somehow I knew that I wasn't going to outrun this…3…2…1.

Suddenly I heard a popping sound and I was blown off my feet by the explosion and tossed onto the pavement. I heard screams. I don't know where they were coming from. People were shouting, to call for an ambulance a few were just standing by in awe. I didn't see much more before the darkness consumed me.

TBC

Author's Note: Okay, as you can probably tell this is going to be an alternate universe story, which I don't often write but I've decided to try my hand at it. Let me know what you think of the first chapter.