What if Cat had been the one investigating Danny Milton's disappearance? Rehash of a moment in OFITG by Jeaniene Frost, All characters and italic words belong to the wonderful Ms. Frost

All Quiet in the ICU

Everything looked as tidy as could be. Even the IV needle that had been pulled from Danny's arm rested innocently on the bed, as if waiting for its next vein. No footprints, no fingerprints, no blood, no bodily fluid, not even a frigging sheet out of place.. . .

As I stood in the hospital room in Chicago, I knew that Danny was dead. Good riddance. Did saying that make me a heartless, cruel bitch? Probably. All I knew was that I felt heart-less since I'd left Bones. I stared around the room looking for some sign of the vampire who had taken Danny, as if I didn't already know it was.

Tate entered and walked over to put a hand on my shoulder in comfort. Without thinking I twisted his arm around his back and glared at him. "Don't put your hands on me or else I'll break them," I said. "If I'd had a knife on me, you might be dead."

"We're all upset about Dave; it isn't your fault, Cat," Tate said, wincing as I let go of his arm.

"Well, whose fault is it, then? If I had trained him better, he wouldn't have fallen for Lazarus' trick. Go away; I want to see if I can figure out what happened to Danny. I'll call you when I am finished."

I looked at the items in the room—shoes, socks, underwear, shaving cream, bandages, needles, a watch.

Spots danced in front of my vision. The hand I extended to pick up the watch shook so, I missed it twice.

It was my watch. Bones had given it to me as an emergency pager; press the button and Bones comes running. I'd used it only once, when Hennessey tried to make a meal of me. Running to the windows, I tried to see if I could spot Bones outside somewhere. The pager had a five mile coverage radius; he was out there, so close.

Did I want to see him? That was never the issue; I loved Bones with all my being. We were so alike we were the same person, and together, we were magic, mischief, love, beyond reason. I didn't want to imagine my future without him. But should I see him? Nothing had changed about why I left him in the first place—the government baddies would be on my ass and his, too. It wouldn't be fair to ask him to go into hiding for me.

I would grow old and eventually die, as all mortals do, and wasn't that the real problem? I wouldn't be able to live watching his love for me dwindle as my body aged, and he stayed the same perfect Grecian god he was. Thinking about his sculptured face, his brown eyes, pulling me into their orb, his almost translucent skin, I felt my knees tremble.

What was life truly about? His life was virtually endless; mine, finite. Didn't we deserve some time of happiness, however brief?

Or did I leave him because I was still afraid of my vampire nature? Was I afraid that he would want me to turn, would force me to turn? Even without him or his influence, I knew in my heart that I was more vampire than human. If that made my mother hate me forever, so be it. She's the one who told me all vampires were evil demons; that made me an evil demon, too. So what should an evil demon do?

Was I afraid? Hell, yes. Perhaps I was most afraid that Bones wouldn't want me anymore, but he left the watch, didn't he? What would become of us? But did I even want to live without him?

I was buried in my thoughts and my fingers took over; my thumb pressed the button with a sure touch. An eternity later, though it must have been only two minutes, I felt his aura around me. Looking up to the window, I saw him floating outside (floating? I'll worry about that later.) I opened the latches and let him in.

"Kitten…"