Hour Nine

Joseph left the interrogation room furious with the Viscount, and furious with himself to losing his temper. After brushing off Lionel he checked in to see how the search was progressing. Still, they had found nothing.

Joseph began to wander around aimlessly, trying to make sense of something. Everything was beginning to blur together in his mind. A few minutes later, he found himself standing outside Clarisse's suite. Letting himself in, he went through to the bedroom. Her suite had only been searched once, and by Lionel. Joseph sat on the bed for a moment, pushing down on the wave of fear that swept through him. He decided that since he was doing little else he would go through it again himself. Glancing down at Clarisse's pillow, he wondered what she was doing at that moment.

Clarisse slapped the table and cried, "I've won haven't I!"

Mia laughed. "Yeah, you have, Grandma. Beginner's luck, that's all." She said. Clarisse had very quickly picked up the game of Spit and had just beaten Mia, the reigning champion.

"I'm tired." Nicholas said, his laugh becoming a yawn.

"Me too." Mia said settling back on the couch next to him.

"Why don't you rest for awhile?" Clarisse suggested.

"Well, all right." Mia conceded.

"Wake us, before dawn please?" Nicholas asked, shifting to get comfortable.

"Of course. Charlotte," she said to her aide and friend, "Why don't you take a nap, too?"

"But…"

"I'll be all right. Really." Clarisse reassured her, crossing the room to stand by the window again. She wondered what Joseph was doing now. After staring out the window, and thinking how pretty the woods would be in the fall, Clarisse turned to the rest of the room. Olivia could be heard moving around in the kitchen, Charlotte was asleep in her chair, and Shades had just left to take a walk outside. Glancing over at the couch she saw Mia and Nicholas snuggled up together, fast asleep. Looking more closely, she could see how close they had grown in the past few hours, they really cared about each other now. They made a striking couple, it really was a pity that Mia had to marry Andrew. Clarisse sighed. So many sacrifices had been made for the good of this country.

Joseph awoke with a start. It took only a moment to realize that he had fallen asleep on Clarisse's bed. Panicking, he was relieved to find that he'd only been asleep for about twenty minutes. Forgetting that he was going to search the suite again, he got up to go downstairs. One hour and ten minutes remaining.

Entering the security room, he found Lionel rifling through some papers.

"Find anything useful?" Joseph asked.

"No, sorry. This is just some old background checks I did when I first got here. You know, like this one, on Olivia." Lionel replied. He had matured this evening as well.

"Any news?" Joe asked him.

"Nothing. I've been watching these monitors for hours, Joe. Can't I go help the men?"

"Just a bit longer," Joe said.

"Okay," Lionel replied, reading the rest of Olivia's background check. "Hey, this is interesting. Did you know Olivia went to a military school, before she got the job here?"

"Yes, I think I did. I believe this was just supposed to be a temporary position, but she liked it, so she stayed."

"Yeah, with a concentration in explosives. She's a pretty smart girl." Lionel mused.

Joseph spun around. "What did you say?"

"She's a smart girl. I meant it too, I wasn't being…"

"No! Before that!"

"A concentration in…oh my god! Explosives! How stupid can I be!" Lionel cried.

"Olivia made the bomb." Joseph said, his voice mirroring the panic he felt.

"But she didn't bring anything with her to the cottage." Lionel said, confused. He was even more confused when Joseph paled and seemed to age ten years in ten seconds.

"Lionel, Olivia IS the bomb!"

A/N: Short? Yes, I'm sorry. I thought I had more. Pivotal? Very. Oooh I'm excited! One more hour to go! Please review! Lizz