Comments to Reviewers

- Moontrance: I'm sorry, you're absolutely right, I really need to update more frequently. It's my most annoying flaw but I hope it won't keep you from reading when I eventually do update.

- Angel: thank you so much

- Denise: Yeah! I love Nick too, especially reading or writing stories involving around him. Nickchicks rock!

- Boyles Babe: Thank you, I'm glad you think I capture the characters well. I try my best to not have them act too out of character.

- natascha: I don't want to get rid of you! Silly girl, I like reading your reviews and to see your enthusiasm. So don't be a stranger

- Kiss 316: Thank you so much for all your reviews, it was a delight reading them. And yes, I'm afraid you had to wait long before the next chapter and I'm sorry to say they're not out of the woods just yet.

- Loopy!x : There are still some writers out there writing PTL fics, the show will never be abandoned as long as there are fans like you and me. And thank you.

And of course a bunch of hugs to Nina, Randi and Iniyasa and all those reading my stories.

Chapter 10

"Nick."

The voice was coming from far away, and it took a lot of effort to
actually hear it. He couldn't respond to it, but he didn't want to
either. He just knew that if he woke up, it was going to be painful.

"Nick, you have to wake up now."

I don't want to, he responded, only not loud enough for the voice to
hear as it continued annoyingly. He moaned, the voice was clearer now
and he could identify it as Derek's. Not that Derek's voice was enough
reason for him to wake up.

"Why?"

Okay, so he officially sounded like crap too, his voice soft and
hoarse like he hadn't been talking in ages.

"Nick!"

"Yeah, I'm up. Just don't shout okay?"

He blinked when he opened his eyes, expecting bright light and not the
almost complete darkness. It took some effort to discern Derek's face,
who looked worriedly down at him. He tried to sit up but his Precept's
hands stopped him gently.

"Take it easy Nick, you took quite a blow to the head and you lost
some blood."

Blood loss…..from where? He didn't remember getting a wound or
anything. And he sure didn't remember getting here, wherever that was.

"What happened?"

Cool hands touched is burning forehead and his Precept's eyebrows were
pinched into a huge frown. He got that look from Derek a lot lately.

"I don't know. The Druids brought me here and shortly after that they
threw you in. The door's locked and there is no other way out of this
stone shed."

Despite Derek's busy attempts to keep him lying down, Nick managed to
sit up, cause the floor was really freaking cold. His entire right arm
throbbed and his shirt was soggy so that must be the place where the
blood was coming from. The Druids……right, he remembered now. Though
getting your ass kicked wasn't something you'd wanna remember.

"At least we managed to get that guy safe."

The older man looked down at the ground, his unreadable mask back in
place.

"What?"

There was a deep sigh before Derek made eye contact again and the ex-
Seal had a pretty good idea what he was about to say.

"They managed to recapture him."

"Yes, not long after we were enclosed in here."

Well, then they just had to find a way out of here to rescue him
again, that was why they were here anyways, partly. His hazel eyes
shifted around in the darkness, looking for a way out even though the
Dutchman had mentioned there was only the door.

"Nick, it's of no use, look at your watch. It is close to noon, we're
too late and should worry more about ourselves."

Noon, he had been out like a light almost ten hours. No wonder Derek
acted so worriedly. It also made him realise they were in a tight
spot, pretty damn tight.

"And now they've got us, so one of us will be used in their last
ritual, right?"

Derek nodded, he had thought about that as well, which one of them it
would be. At first he immediately thought it was going to be Nick but
he wasn't sure now. His security chief was burning with fever, his
deep shoulder wound had gotten infected, and he needed medical
attention soon, especially because he had been unconscious far too long.
When they first had brought in his young colleague he had feared he'd
been dead, he certainly had looked like it. Covered in blood and dirt,
his face icy pale with a hint of blue around his lips. He looked
better now, just slightly.

"I doubt they will leave the other one alive once they have succeeded."

Nick rolled his eyes at his boss for his cheery attitude, he was
always such a mood killer.

"That's one way to keep things light."

Derek gave him one of his famous looks that made Nick chuckle, earning
him an honest glare.

"I hardly think this is a laughable situation. You're injured and we
only have a few hours left to come up with something."

"I know, but look around you Derek. There's no way out of here and I
don't think I can stand on my own so outrunning five ghosts isn't
really an option."

Not that it had ever been an option that could work. They were both
captured after trying to outrun them the first time.

"Alex and Rachel will know we're in trouble, we should have checked in
hours ago."

"Yah, if they ever find us, we don't even know where we are."

"Now who's keeping things light?"

The two men shared a look before they both chuckled this time. Their
fate was out of their hands, there wasn't anything they could do right
now but wait.

San Francisco

"Rachel, let's go."

Alex was waiting for her friend to get into the helicopter, to get
them to the airport fast. Their two male colleagues were in trouble in
Ireland and she needed Rachel's help. She understood her hesitancy to
go but there was hardly a choice now. The guys hadn't called in like
they should have and the two women had waited impatiently for any form
of communication. When nothing happened after a few hours, they knew
the decision had been made for them.

"I don't know if I can do this."

Rachel shivered as she climbed into the helicopter. She had never been
afraid of flying, she was hardly afraid of anything after the few
hellish years with the Legacy but she was terrified now. Going back
there, after everything that had happened. What if they lost another
one of them in Connemara because that she couldn't take. What if she
couldn't deal with all of her memories? What if she failed Alex and
her friends? She had never been back, never visited Patrick and Connor
ever again.

"Rachel, you know you have no choice. If there's somebody who can face
her past full on with her head held high, it's you!"

The Afro-American researcher gave her friend a gentle push so she
could get in as well. Not for the first time she was glad they had a
private helicopter and jet. And still they were running out of time.

"You have all the papers with you?"

The blonde waved her bag nodded tight-lipped and pale. It was too
important to forget because they needed them to defeat the Druids and
put them in the box they brought with them as well.

"Next time we put them on a leash," Alex muttered while looking down
at the ground far below. Rachel grinned for the first time in hours.

"I doubt that will keep them out of trouble. If I didn't know any
better, I would say they were jinxed, the way trouble follows them
around."

They both laughed, thinking about the many cases that had meant
trouble for their friends and those were a lot. Too many in Alex's
opinion. And by the rate this case was going, Nick was probably
injured as well, like most cases. That man had more lives than a cat!
She could only hope he wasn't using his last one.