A/N: The novel is finished! Well, the first draft, anyway. Now that I'm in the middle of the second, I have more time to finish my fan fiction—and I intend to finish them before moving on to the next! (Novel, not draft. ;) )

Ten

He couldn't believe it. A bible and a rosary, just as he had asked. It had been amazing when a television—unrequested—had suddenly began appearing on Sundays, allowing him to watch televised mass; but this was quite a concession.

Tom sat on his bed and began thumbing through the bible. It was the plain-language bible that had become popular with young people in recent years, but it didn't matter. So long as it was an intact Christian holy book, a bible was a bible.

He fingered the rosary lovingly. Tom was surprised to note that the pale green beads weren't the plastic, glow-in-the-dark sort found at dollar stores, but actual bits of jade strung together with tiny links of filigreed chain.

"Wow," he murmured. "She sure has mellowed since I helped her conceive!"

There was a surreptitious knock at the door and Tom heard all the security measures release. A young man stepped into the room with a cart bearing the evening meal, which had become more lavish as of late. The servant lifted the cover from the tray, revealing half a ham steak, a whole wheat roll, and a baked potato drowning in sour cream and butter.

"You may have soda, decaffeinated coffee or tea." He caught sight of the rosary. "May I?"

"I'll have tea," Tom replied, handing it over.

The servant admired the rosary for a few moments, then handed it back, smiling.

"From The Lady?"

Tom nodded.

"You know that jade is a traditional engagement gift from a woman to a man…?"

The young man left to get the beverage and Tom threw aside in disgust.

"Been in here long?"

"Too long!" The older gentleman smiled ruefully. "They've probably stopped looking for me by now."

"You…ah…see anybody killed?"

"One. Kneeling right next to me. Didn't even see the poor sap's face."

Sam eyed his cellmate. For someone who had been held "too long", he seemed rather comfortable in blue jeans and a short-sleeved shirt of forest green. Kassmeyer, meanwhile, had begun to suffer from the airlessness of the room and sorely wished he had been stripped by his captors.

"Know why you were caught?"

"I'm a deputy marshal," Sam said a little too proudly. "I came to interrogate…Ananke, is it? About her connection to Claire Williams and her relationship with Frank Brietkopf."

"Never heard of Williams or Brietkopf."

Sam began to unbutton his shirt. "You get caught snooping too?"

"Can't say I've ever been that stupid. But by the sounds, you've been doing too damn much of it!"

Kassmeyer was surprised—his cellmate hadn't seemed like the type to cuss. Especially since he was getting the feeling that he had seen the other man before…with glasses.

"Do you think we'll die?"

His cellmate smirked. "I'm in no danger of that. Ananke is at least six weeks pregnant—and it's mine."

Sam blanched. "Benton?"

"Last I was allowed to look in a mirror."

"This is a setup!"

"How slowly you catch on."

The deputy marshal slunk toward the opposite side of the room. "But I'm safe with you, right? The FBI told me that you were a…ah…fundamentalist."

"It's possible that I might adhere to a new set of fundamentals after being held captive for so long."

Tom slipped off the counter upon which he had been seated. "Ananke is the key to seeing my wife again. She's also carrying my only living child. It would be wise to do whatever it takes to please her."

"'Thou shalt not kill' is one of the Ten Commandments!"

"I am not naïve enough to believe—even for a moment—that Ananke will allow me to live if I refuse to kill you." The older man's voice was becoming dangerous. "My god is not that naïve, either."

Sam stared at Tom uncomprehendingly. This was the meek soul that Agent Hotchner had claimed was suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder? A flash of movement caught the deputy's eye. Without waiting to see what the other had grabbed, Sam lunged.

Tom moved a centimeter to the right and the deputy's flight fell short. While Sam was recovering from his collision with the table that formerly sat in the middle of the room, the older man was already wrenching off a leg.

"Please! What will your wife say?"

"My wife will forgive me!"

He swung.

"My priest will forgive me!"

Again.

"Jesus Christ will forgive me!"

The final blow shattered the table leg over Sam's head, the remainder of which Tom swiftly threw aside. Kassmeyer had begun to crawl away, his vision dimmed by the nearly killing blows. While the deputy marshal was fleeing, however, he missed Tom's grab for the scalpel he had dropped at the beginning of the fight.

"It's a shame Lady Ananke didn't give me a gun," Tom said breathlessly. "I would have enjoyed shooting you through the kneecaps, both feet…maybe breaking a toe in the process? Then, when you were crying for mercy, I would shoot you pointe blank and string you up from the overhead light!"

Sam couldn't believe what he was hearing. There had been rumors that Ananke had fantastic powers…the ability to make anyone think anything was happening to them. Yes, that was it. Ananke was giving him a living nightmare. He would certainly come out of this alive.

Unfortunately, Sam was too busy trying to clear his head and catch his breath to notice that his opponent had dropped the scalpel again and was rummaging around in a previously unseen cupboard. By the time Sam was able to roll over, it was just in time to see Tom donning a gas mask.

"She left me a circular saw."

*****

Ananke watched the live feed, stunned. A servant had brought popcorn, but the bowl sat on a nearby table, growing cold. Just as she began to wonder if Tom would be able to go all the way, a splash of blood hit the hidden camera. Ananke jumped in spite of herself, screaming a little as the feed shorted out.

"My Lady?" A servant peeked into the room.

"Call Doctor Schuler."

"I—"

"I don't care if she's an obstetrician! Call Doctor Schuler!"

When the servant was gone, Ananke weakly sat back in her chair and flicked off the television.

"Well," she said in her softest Dutch. She placed a hand over her stomach. "He certainly knows how to protect his family, doesn't he?"

Author's Notes

Well, wasn't that a trip? I love it when characters run away from me!

Let's see if you caught all the references:

1. Tom's mention of shooting Sam in the knees and feet and breaking a toe is from the Criminal Minds episode "100". (That's how Sam actually died.) Bashing his head in with a table leg is an indirect (and unintentional) reference to the way Hotch killed The Reaper in the same episode.

2. Tom's mention of shooting Sam pointe blank and stringing him from the rafters is a reference to the way D.B. Sweeney's character (John Goetz) died in the Jericho episode "Termination for Cause".

3. Sam's death is an indirect homage to Dexter, James Remar's (Tom Benton) usual show. (Although quite a violent homage!)