SHOUTOUT to the best Beta ever, Budweiser I'm talking about you! Thanks so very much for all the help you're awesome!

Hey y'all I hope everyone had a great summer. Mine was busy, the few moments of relaxation I had were either writing the chapters for this story, reading some of the lovely reviews y'all wrote or reading the other fics I was so hooked on.

Anyhoo, onwards and upwards, here is one of the final five chapters I have planned for this fic. It's been a rollercoaster ride and next time I promise it will be all fluffy, frothy delicious fluff/romance/comedy (á la Jamate – of course).

WARNING: Very David Lynch chapter ahead! – I promise it will make sense and if it doesn't let me know so I can fix it!

Chapter 25

Kate was soaring; she was flying so high that looking down to earth made her stomach lurch in a violent and sickening manner. So she looked straight ahead and willed the wind to carry her higher. She was scared and she didn't want to go back down there, where everything was dark and terrifying, and nothing made sense. If only she could stay up here, and keep flying until the end of time.

"Kate! Come on now Kate, stay with me here! Goddamnit Kate! Stay with me!"

Against her will she felt herself start to plummet back down to the earth with a gut-wrenching thud. Holding her hands out to cushion the fall as she landed on her gigantic abdomen. Kate's eyes widened in wild panic, she'd forgotten about the twins! Oh God, she'd promised Jamie she'd keep them safe and she'd completely forgotten about them. Gritting her teeth she felt a sharp pain wrenching through her abdomen like a wood-saw cutting through from her lower back all the way through to the front.

Turning around to lie on her back she growled low in her throat as her water broke and the warm liquid gushed down her thighs, legs and onto the bed she hadn't even realized she was lying on.

Kate gripped the sides of her abdomen as the lacerating contraction ripped through her and bit her lip so hard it bled. Looking around frantically, she searched for a watch or a clock somewhere so she could tell how far apart they were. But it was all very blurry due to the unbidden tears and sweat that were clouding her vision. Lying back on the bed she let go of her abdomen and used her hands to wipe the tears and sweat away.

"Jamie…."

Kate called out in a frantic whisper as she tried to get her bearings, she felt off kilter as if she was recovering from a drug induced sleep. And some instinct told her that she should be as quiet as possible until she had a better idea of where she was and what was going on.

"Right here Freckles, I'm right here. It's gonna be alright." James responded in a low whisper as he appeared in her line of vision surveying the scene with concern.

Kate gasped in relief; she'd been so scared she was going to have to do this alone!

"Oh thank God! Jamie, the babies… they're coming! I can't have them here! I can't!" Kate whispered vehemently, her voice translating the panic she felt effectively. Her hands caressed her abdomen absentmindedly as she lay on the bed, her legs slightly splayed, and the skirt of her dress clinging wetly to her thighs.

James shushed her gently, smoothing the sweat dampened hair away from her face he held her head firmly and looked her in the eyes.

"Freckles, listen to me, you can. Its okay, I'm right here an' I ain't goin' anywhere. Just hold on, I need you to be strong an' I'll get us outta here."

His voice was so forceful and confident that Kate was powerless to resist the hypnotically calming effect it had on her. She latched onto the life-raft it provided for her in the stormy seas she'd found herself in, and managed to nod her head.

"Jamie…w-w-we need something to time the contractions… my waters broke!" Kate said, remembering what she had been looking for before she found him.

James nodded in agreement and said, "That's alright I got a watch on right here, now let's see 'bout makin' you a little more comfortable."

James reached behind Kate and positioned some pillows behind her back and got her to lean against the monstrous gothic headboard. Moving around to her front James winked at her encouragingly as he pulled out a thin tarp-like sheet from his pack and spread it on the bed and underneath Kate. Reaching into the chest of drawers by her bed he found a change of linen, Egyptian cotton no less! And with a rueful smirk at the irony of something so luxurious and clean existing in a place like this, he spread the linen on top of the waterproof sheet, gently maneuvering Kate as he spread it out properly. Kate still slightly disorientated, tried to focus on breathing and prepared for the next contraction.

She smiled at him slightly before closing her eyes and forcing the air in and out of her lungs. She needed to concentrate on that, she couldn't think about the fact that she was in the middle of nowhere in the unforgiving Russian mountains about to have twins! And the pain said birth was causing her. Or the fact that Ivan was downstairs and didn't know James was up here. Or that Kate had… Kate's eyes flew open in alarm and she surveyed the room. Her eyes rested on a sight she had hoped she was wrong in thinking of; but the undeniable truth was there. In the left corner of the room, next to the shuttered but no longer padlocked balcony doors, was Olga's lifeless body.

The statuesque blonde's body lay there at an odd angle and there was blood all over her clothes, face and closed eyelids. Kate glanced down at her own hands and noticed for the first time the blood in her nails, as well as the spatters on her hands and on her clothes. Frantically she brought her hands to her face and felt her fingers slide on the combination of blood, sweat and tears. Getting up with the limberness of someone who wasn't about to give birth, she dashed to the large rust-stained oval mirror behind the bedroom door. Sure enough, she had blood on her face, and in her hair. Olga's blood.

Kate's mouth opened in soundless horror as she looked into the face of Olga's killer, before she could scream or anything James dragged her back to the bed.

"Oh no you don't, Freckles! Not right now, we got more important shit to deal with." James whispered fervently.

Setting her on the clean linen he forced Kate to tear her eyes away from Olga's lifeless body and for the first time, Kate noticed that James had blood on his face and hands too.

Swallowing convulsively, she compressed her lips tightly to bite back the scream that was welling up inside her and focused on looking into his midnight blue eyes, her blood-stained fingers clenching the collar of his shirt tightly.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I- aaarrrrrrrrgggggggggh." Kate didn't finish the sentence as another contraction did its best to sever her torso from her lower body. James held her hands tightly as Kate bit her lip and tried her best not to cry out loud. Softly he whispered words of encouragement.

"That's right baby, you're almost there, shhhhh…"

Kate's eyes flew open as the pain subsided and she sagged back against the pillows, her face was flushed and her hair was dripping with the mixture of blood and sweat. She still held onto James' hands tightly.

Looking him straight in the eyes, silent tears rolled down her cheeks, "What are we going to do? I can't have them here! You can't stay here… if Ivan finds you he'll kill you."

James wiped the tears leaking out of her heartbreakingly unhappy green eyes with a corner of the blanket.

"One thing at a time now, Sassafras, you focus on the contractions an' let me worry 'bout that, understood?"

Kate wanted to argue, wanted to rail at the fates for the current state of affairs, but quite frankly she was too tired, and she needed to conserve her energy for the next contraction.

So she uncharacteristically shrugged her acquiescence, sagging backwards to rest against the cushions, her eyes falling on Olga's dead body once again.

James moved to block her view, "I'm timin' the contractions, so don't worry 'bout that, I don't think we'll be able to move you, so we're just gonna have to deal with it. I need you to believe me when I say I'll take care of this, I won't let anythin' happen to you, Freckles."

Kate closed her eyes briefly to communicate her understanding before she opened them and squeezed his hand tighter.

"Okay, Dr. Ford… but I have to say something because I may not get the chance to say it later."

James frowned slightly, despite the faint smile that graced her lips, his instincts told him he probably wouldn't like the rest of what she had to say, but he nodded for her to go on.

Kate pulled herself up and brought her face mere inches from his, the smile was gone and she looked so intense; searching his eyes she said, "I need you to forgive me for being a bad person."

James narrowed his eyes at Kate in frustration and slight anger, "I'll have none of that Freckles, you ain't a bad person. You're a survivor, just like me."

Kate shook her head in disagreement, "No, I'm a bad person, the things I've done… I killed Olga and-"

James cut her off with a finger to her lips, "You were just defendin' yourself Freckles, ain't nothin' wrong with that."

Kate looked into his eyes sadly, her shoulders slumping, she refuted his reasoning, "I knew she was provoking me and I also knew she would never try to actually kill me… Not while we're under Ivan's roof anyway."

James frowned, not liking where this was going, and Kate looked at him her eyes reflecting the shame she felt but also the defiance James loved, and knew was never far.

"I gave in… I gave into that part of me and that's that." She said it so softly, that it took a few moments for his brain to register what she'd just said.

Without hesitation, James lifted her chin up and looked into her eyes.

"It don't matter. Nothin' matters but you, an' our babies, an' the future… I mean that Freckles." His voice shaking with the conviction he felt as he said these words.

Kate leaned forward and pressed her lips against his, drawing away sharply as another contraction ripped through her.

James held onto her tightly and mumbled encouraging words as he looked at his wristwatch to see how far apart they were. 6 minutes! He was no doctor but they seemed to be too close together for somebody who'd only been in labor an hour or so! Shit. What the hell was he going to do? No matter what he wouldn't let this turn into another Catalina incident of this he was sure.

Kate's eyes were screwed shut as she gritted her teeth and attempted to breathe the way Sergei had been trying to teach her the week before. She had felt pain before but never had she felt something like this! It was like a sadistic and deranged, spinal surgeon was using a poisoned blunt saw to cut through her, each movement having the calculated effect of causing the most pain possible. The image of Jack dressed in his scrubs, running through the jungle looking for Ethan; sprang to mind and when she could see him standing behind her sawing into her back, Kate couldn't help the bubble of hysteric laughter that rose up in her chest.

When the pain had crested Kate moaned softly in relief as she lay back against the pillows and tried to catch her breath. James was mumbling to her softly, using her earlier discarded face-cloth to mop her brow. The water was probably dirty seeing as he'd washed his hands in it when he'd found her but Kate didn't notice because the coolness of the cloth was soothing. All that mattered right now was surviving the contractions long enough to actually give birth.

Sergei crept into the room and approached James and Kate; James looked up at Sergei hopefully as Kate smiled at him in weak greeting.

"Don't tell me she's actually going to spring those poor angels out of their uterine prison!"

Sergei hissed at James, taking in Kate's raised knees, wet dress and James' discarded weapons and gloves.

"Alright." James replied drily.

Sergei's face flickered with fear, "She can't have this baby here! Now! Papa's on his way up with a few of the men… they found your equipment at the base of the castle."

Sergei was hissing angrily at James as if the unfortunate timing of Kate's labor was his fault. James hadn't thought he could feel more terrified than he was already feeling but Sergei's news did the trick, rectifying that earlier misconception.

Sergei was crouched in front of James so that Kate couldn't see his face or hear what he was saying. Sergei looked over his shoulder at Olga's lifeless body and at the sight of the blood he shuddered, crossing himself as he turned away to face James again. The look on James' face made Sergei's hand freeze in midair.

James shook his head slightly, in silent warning to Sergei not to say anything about Olga and her gory death. Sergei blinked his eyes in understanding before getting up efficiently.

"Try to keep her calm, I'll try and stall them." Sergei whispered conspiratorially.

Walking up to Kate, he kissed her forehead and whispered, "Look lively Babydoll, the most magical moment of your life is nigh. There's nothing we can do about that hair but we wouldn't want to usher the most beautiful babies in the world with a sourpuss now would we?"

Kate livened up a little at this and swatted him away, "Go make yourself useful, since your promise of a quick and painless birth in Cedars-Sinai turned out to be bullshit."

Sergei snapped his neck back, and placing one hand on his hip, hissed, "Yes well, maybe if Papa wasn't such a tight ass and you weren't such a smart ass cookie it might have happened."

Kate drew herself up getting ready to defend herself but Sergei snapped his fingers in her face before wiggling his rump at her and marching out the bedroom. Kate turned disbelieving but twinkling green eyes on James who was decidedly less impressed with Sergei's mannerisms.

Kate choked back laughter, "Oh come on, he's just being Sergei."

James' narrowed his blue eyes at her in response before moving up on the bed to hold her hand, "I hope you ain't plannin' on havin' his fruitcake ass 'round my kids."

Kate grinned at him evilly, "Until you start pushing an eighty ton truck out of your body, I can have whoever I want around both our kids and Rita."

James' eyes flared with irritation, but he was smiling despite himself, "Oh really?"

Kate laughed silently but the laughter quickly turned to pain as another contraction ripped through her. James looked at his watch in dismay, this one was earlier by a minute!

When the contraction had run its course, Kate offered James an undaunted beatific smile, "If we get out of this, you're cooking for me, giving me massages, taking me shopping, and just all around worshipping my personage until my dying day."

James who'd been fearfully staring at her lowered head as she fought the pain, relaxed at her attempts to lighten the mood. He was well aware of the danger they were in, and of all the things that were at risk, seeing as Kate appeared to be wavering between hysteria and calm.

"Oh really?" He managed weakly.

Kate grinned at him, as she nodded, "Yes, really. Don't think that you'll get away with asking that question like you did on the Island."

"Well this certainly ain't the Island." James volleyed back.

Kate's shoulders shook with silent laughter, "No, this is Russia, much worse and nothing like Craphole Island as Shannon called it."

Before James could respond another contraction ripped through Kate the pain shredding the smile and calm on her face as she gnashed her teeth in an attempt not to cry out. James winced in pain as her fingers practically cut off the circulation in his upper arms with the force of her grip. As soon as the pain had passed James made to move to check the progress of the babies, but Kate cried out in protest.

Her eyes wet with tears, Kate begged him softly, "No! Don't please!"

James raised an eyebrow in surprise, "Are you kiddin' me Freckles? I gotta take a look at the progress!"

Kate shook her head vehemently, "Please, don't! I can't let you look! We can wait for Sergei, he was a nurse, and he's already seen it!"

James was smirking at the mention of Sergei being a nurse, but her last words wiped the smirk off his face, "What's that now?"

Kate looked at him blankly, "What? It was last week, I went into false labor and he wanted to check how dilated I was!"

James shook his head, "You let Nancy the Queer look at your cha-cha an-"

Kate raised an eyebrow at James as she snorted softly with laughter, "My cha-cha?"

James grit his teeth in irritation, "I'm sorry, your vagina."

Kate covered her mouth in an attempt to hide her mirth; this is what she loved most about him! The fact that she could be lying here in the most undignified state any woman could be in; with a dead body in the room, and a troop of Russian mercenaries down stairs, and he could still make her forget all of that, and not only smile, but actually laugh.

James' blue eyes narrowed even more as he took in her humor at his expense and opened his mouth to wipe that smile off her face. Instead he ended up chuckling silently with her and taking her hands in his they shared a moment.

Suddenly, James heard footsteps thudding up the stairs and heading for the bedroom door, which effectively ended the argument for the interim. Hastily picking up his gun, James hid behind the door as Kate stared after him, scared and alone all over again.

The door was kicked back with violent force as Ivan stepped into the bedroom gun cocked and at the ready. He stopped short when he saw Kate lying on the practically dripping bed, with her hair plastered to her head as if she'd just taken a swim, and blood staining the off-white dress she was wearing as well as her face, hands and neck.

Dropping his gun he rushed over to her with genuine fear on his face, "Milaya moya, nyet, not here! Not now!"

Kate made to move away from him, encumbered by her body and the now damp blanket covering her legs. While she was attempting this, her eyes fell on Olga's body then darted quickly to James who'd hefted the semi-automatic he was carrying and preparing to take his shot. Without thinking Kate grabbed Ivan by the shoulders and pushed him out of the way, screaming at James not to shoot as she did it.

After James' bullets hit the balcony shutters, the three faces formed a tableau of various kinds of shock; Ivan was in shock that he'd been so concerned about Kate that he had almost gotten killed, James in shock because Kate had risked her life to save Ivan, and Kate in shock because she'd moved to save Ivan without even thinking about her own safety as well as the fact that she may have ruined their only chance of getting out of there alive.

Then suddenly as if operating on fast-forward everything and everyone started to move at what seemed like double-speed.

James moved forward and in one motion hit Ivan in the face then solar plexus with the butt of his rifle. Kate who'd ended up lying on her left side after pushing Ivan out of the way, was leaning on her left arm so she propped herself up into a sitting position against the pillows as another contraction chose that moment to remind her just how precarious a balance her own life and that of her unborn children were.

"Jamie!"

Kate screamed in agony, the contraction was so excruciating that Kate lost all sense of reality, there was only the gut-wrenching, dizzying and temporarily blinding pain that was nature's way of telling Kate that her children were coming whether she was ready or not.

Ivan was half sitting, half slumped against the foot of the bed, James had his tanned hands wrapped around Ivan's throat but Kate's shriek afforded the cold-blooded Russian a reprieve.

Rushing to Kate's side, James grabbed her right hand and slid behind her to support her better, trying hard not to remember a similar move with Catalina in the Latin American jungle. This wasn't going to happen this time around, James did not have the strength to face even the thought of a future without Kate.

Kate was gasping like a landed fish as the pain subsided, helpless tears rolling down her face as she noticed the seven new faces that had joined them in the room.

"Ah shit." James swore with feeling.

They were standing at a stalemate, Ivan's men with a bloodied and injured Sergei standing barely able to stand between them, and Kate lying on the bed, knees raised under the tangled no longer pristine clean sheet, with James resting on his heels behind her and his arms protectively surrounding her.

Kate froze in horror as one of the men, Yuri, turned around and saw Olga's still form; with outrage he turned back towards Kate and seeing the blood on her clothing deduced she had a hand in Olga's permanent silence.

As if in slow motion once again Kate watched helplessly as his face registered fear, then anger then fear again, this time mixed with hatred. Kate had killed his sister, and she knew from Yuri's face that someone she cared about was going to pay for that.

'I deserve it. I deserve his fear and hatred. I deserve to die. Oh God what about my babies? Oh God no please!' As these thoughts ran through her mind, Kate's body was already in automatic survival mode as she grabbed James' arm and instinctively slid her fingers in the flap made to conceal weapons. Unsurprisingly, her fingers found the deadly 4 inch blade in his sleeve, and she let it fly, nailing Yuri right in the windpipe.

James looked down at Kate in shock; reacting instantaneously he hunched over Kate to shield her, and then rolled them off the bed, using his body as a cushion when they landed on the rough stone floor, as all hell broke loose around them.

Kate didn't know what was happening exactly, all she knew was that bullets and blades were flying above her as Travis and his men burst through the front door. Luckily, Kate had landed on James' hands and started to crawl towards the door, with James crawling with her in an attempt to continue protecting her.

Kate looked up, somehow in the pandemonium, as the bodies of Ivan's men dropped like flies; Kate had ended up bypassing the door and was now just outside the balcony doors. She was face to face with Olga's corpse and another contraction was tearing its way through her abdomen. She didn't have to dig deep for the soul-shattering scream that ripped out of her. This wasn't hell anymore she was in purgatory destined to suffer this sadistic form of punishment for all eternity.

James stopped moving and drawing away he did a quick sweep of the room to make sure they weren't in the line of fire before he propped Kate up against the balcony doors. Grimacing slightly at the unfortunate proximity to the unnaturally still Olga, James held Kate's hands and tried to keep her calm with the sound of his gravelly voice.

Kate was beyond calm now, the contractions were bearing down on her like a freight-train somehow they had become only a minute apart. And she felt the irrepressible urge to push; gritting her teeth she fought the urge. All Kate wanted to do was reach in and drag the twins out her, she was going crazy! Nobody found labor easy even in a sterile hospital room with nurses and doctors let alone while people were shooting at each other, imprisoned in a cold and remote Russian castle!

James glanced over his shoulder using the minute Kate was getting her breath to survey the damage. Five of the seven men that had entered the room with Sergei were dead, but Travis and the other men had somehow ended up in the hallway, stray bullets ricocheting into the bedroom every now and then. Turning back to Kate he couldn't hide the fear he felt, so he reached forward to lift her chin so her eyes could meet his.

"Ivan is h-h-he s-ss-sstill alive?" Kate stammered in a combination of fear and breathlessness.

James closed his eyes, unable to hide the disappointment he felt in her concern for the Russian mob boss that deserved everything he was going to get.

"Ya zdes' luybimaya ne voolnysya, ti zhe znaesh, ya vsegda ryadom." (Translation: "I'm here darling don't worry, you know I'm always next to you.") Ivan said limping up to James and Kate. Wincing he, knelt down and cradled Olga's face for a second before dusting his hands off on his pants and walking around James and crouching next to Kate.

James reached for a weapon but Kate grabbed his hand to stop him, angry he did as she asked. Ivan's sharp eyes didn't miss the exchange and lighting up with a calculating glint he placed a hand on her shoulder.

"While we are all here together, ask him about Sam Austen." Ivan prompted silkily as he tucked a strand of dripping wet hair behind Kate's ear.

Reaching behind her head, Ivan slipped off the hair-tie that held Kate's auburn tresses in a ponytail. Ivan turned to look at James and smiling coldly at the Southerner he turned back to look at Kate.

"A woman in childbirth must always have her hair unbound it helps the birth to go smoothly. Go ahead ask him, milaya moya." Ivan said conversationally.

Kate's green eyes met James' as another contraction ripped through her, knees bent Ivan held her left hand while James held her right. Gritting her teeth, Kate bit back the scream that welled up inside her. As soon as the contraction subsided, Kate let go of both of them and closing her eyes sagged against the doors. She wrapped her arms around herself in a subconscious gesture of protectiveness.

"Did you do it?" Kate asked James, her voice already hoarse from screaming.

James closed his eyes, and pinching the bridge of his nose he opened them again in order to meet her emerald gaze head on. He didn't have to say anything; Kate had known when she asked what the answer would be.

"And now he wants to kill me, Sam Austen was not a father to you Katya, but I am." Ivan said in that same silky voice.

James would have loved nothing more than to punch a fist right through the asshole's head. He was going to tell Kate but in his own time and after they left this nightmarish country behind. And now, something in Kate's eyes told him that despite the lack of opportunity to broach the sensitive subject, he'd messed up, as well as the way Ivan seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself.

Kate started to shake her head, unable to accept that James the man she loved above all else had killed the man that despite all the harsh things she'd said to him back in LA she still loved and always would.

"Not you Jamie, please tell me that you didn't kill my Dad." Kate whimpered as she bit back the sobs.

She started to rock herself slightly as she mewled against the images of Sam Austen being shot dead by James Ford. Her James Ford, the father of her children, killing the only father, flawed as he was, she had ever known. He'd killed off the last link to her childhood, and the only one left from her past, from her time before she became his.

"That's right milaya moya, he did kill him, and now are you going to let him kill me too?" Ivan asked quietly.

Before Kate could respond, another contraction ripped through her and although she tried to fight off James' supporting arms she ended up letting him hold her. As soon as the contraction was past, Kate wrenched herself away from James, holding onto her arms like she was cold.

"Freckles, you gotta let me take a look baby, please." James asked her gently.

Now wasn't the time to get into the death of Sam Austen, there would be plenty of time for that later. James would make it up to her, he swore to himself he would, but now they had to make sure the babies were born.

Kate kept her eyes closed but shrugged her acquiescence, letting James gingerly lift up her ruined white dress, to take a look. James ducked his head down and saw that he could see the baby's head already! Shit. Pulling the hem of the dress back down, he pulled Kate up by the shoulders.

"I know you're mad at me baby, but I'll explain, an' make it up to you, I swear, but right now you gotta take everythin' you're feelin' an' push. I'm gonna get that blanket, I'll need to somethin' to-"

James was cut off when a bullet flew past their heads; it looked like the fracas was headed back in their direction. Kissing Kate's forehead, he jumped up and ran to get the only clean but now blood spattered blanket he'd covered Kate with earlier.

Rushing back to her he laid it underneath her, totally ignoring the silent Russian bear of a man that was kneeling behind Kate now, supporting her as she started to push. So intent on what she was doing, that her eyes weren't actually seeing anything as she growled in pain and determination, red faced, with that vein in her forehead ticking.

Kate reached a hand out towards James and when she grabbed his collar, she half laughed half sobbed.

"I didn't want you to have his blood on your hands, I never wanted that for you. Now it's too late, and you're just like me."

James was chilled by her words; she really believed she was bad! And he didn't know whether it should bother him that she thought he was too, heck it was probably an honest assessment of him. James was pretty sure he knew who to blame for all of that! But now wasn't the time, so he just shook his head at her and placing a finger on her lips he kissed her chastely.

"You don't want me to touch him, I won't." James whispered against her lips.

Kate nodded her head in agreement, "I don't, no more killing."

James stroked her unbound curls and kissed her again before rising to his feet, and glaring at the Russian, he rushed to the chest of drawers by the bed.

"I need some clean sheets or something to wrap-" James didn't finish the sentence because Ivan had picked up the gun he'd left by Kate's legs and shot James in the torso, twice.

Kate screamed so loud she went deaf momentarily, and to make matters worse the contractions bore down with a vengeance. Kate's legs thrashed and her head hit the balcony doors repetitively like she was having a seizure.

Ivan dropped the gun and went round to face her, concern clouding his hooded ice blue eyes.

"Katya! Focus on me milaya moya, focus on Papa." Ivan pleaded.

Kate suddenly stopped thrashing and taking deep breaths she opened her eyes to look at Ivan. The Russian was breathing deeply in an attempt to guide her and get her to calm down.

Kate followed his example, leaning forward so she was but a hair's breadth away from him.

Glaring at him darkly, she whispered, "You never learn do you? I'm not yours, I will never be yours."

Kate growled her way through another contraction, when she paused to take a breath from the exertion of pushing she said.

"I'm sorry for what I did to you, I'm sorry you killed Nikolai, and I'm sorry I killed Olga."

Ivan shrugged and leaned in to kiss Kate's face, Kate closed her eyes as she let him shower kisses on her, then reaching up to cup his face she looked into his eyes as she snapped his neck.

"I'm not sorry for that." Kate whispered to herself, her eyes gazing up towards the ceiling absent-mindedly.

Ivan's body slumped onto Kate's; she felt multiple contractions rip through her body, instinctively she slid down further as her body prepared to expel the contents of her womb.

Crying and hysterical she screamed for James as her world slid off kilter and the most piercing physical and emotional pain she had ever felt rippled from her broken heart into her abdomen, down to her toes and as she turned to the left in order to get some air as she unsuccessfully pushed at the dead weight that was Ivan, her eyes rested on Olga's corpse.

Whimpering brokenly, Kate lost her grip on reality, as she floated on the wings of pain that carried her above and beyond into the welcoming darkness.

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Not to worry Chapter 26 is also up with this! Seriously guys let me know what you think, I want the ending to be great and moving enough to carry us all through the Kack travesty (Kackesty) that S3 is shaping up to be (if the promos are anything to go by).

P.S. What's going on with HMCTD ClaireandKate? Get to it girl, I wanna know!

And Cowboys you still around or do you just hate me now? I hope you don't! Miss your reviews girl, they can be so colorful!