Devil's Silver #6 Wicked Game Part 4
By Carol M.
See first part for disclaimer
Author's note: The excerpts from Claire's diary in this part are from my story A Tale of Two Brothers. It's not necessary to read that story before reading that part, but if you're interested you can find it at Fanfiction.net. Anyway, enjoy guys!
Claire typed on the computer, completing a report about how the gland could be surgically implanted into a host's head. She eyed the door every couple of seconds. She figured if she could surprise a person coming in, she might be able to get outside the door and find out exactly where she was.
She had completed an analysis of all the genetic codes present in the gland Chrysalis had made. She had toyed with the idea of adding QSM into the gland, but decided against it. She didn't want a terrorist going even more wacko then they already were and savagely raping or killing people.
She exited out of the program on her computer and stood up, picking up the chair she had been sitting in. She walked to the door, holding the chair, ready to pounce on the next person who entered the room. Someone would come for her eventually.
They had no leads. Darien, Bobby and Alex had visited every former Chrysalis location and come up empty. They had checked the kid's summer camp, the Cryolab and they had even sifted through the remains of the skyscraper known as Hades. Nothing.
Darien didn't try to contact Stark. He didn't want to let him know that they were investigating Chrysalis. If he was going to take them down, he was going to do it right.
All of these thoughts clouded Darien's mind as he laid in a PET scan. Kara was testing the gland's operation in different parts of his brain so she could better understand how it worked. He remembered the last time he had been in a PET scan, with Arnaud and Elizabeth Rendell at the helm. Arnaud. The thought of Arnaud made him want to explode. Darien banged his hand against the chair in frustration.
"You all right, Mr. Fawkes," he heard Kara asked with concern evident in her tone.
Darien sighed in frustration. "Yeah, I'm just great," he said.
"We're almost done here, Mr. Fawkes, just try and relax," he heard her say.
He rolled his eyes. "You know, Ms. Vore, you can call me Darien. I mean I'm not 60 years old or something," he said.
He felt the chair he was lying on slide out of the PET scan. Kara greeted him with a smile. "Well then, you can call me Kara," she said.
He nodded. He cleared his throat and looked at her awkwardly. "Hey, um, about the other day, I was kind of a bastard. I'm sorry," he said.
Kara waved him off. "Don't worry about it. I know it's been rough for you, coming in here and having a new Keeper," she said as she ejected a disk out of her computer. She put it in a file marked Darien Fawkes and then put the file in a drawer, locking it.
She looked at him pointedly. "So, any good leads on who murdered your old Keeper?" she asked with curiosity.
Darien shook his head sadly. "Nope. Nothing."
Kara gave him a sympathetic look. "Well I'm sure you'll come up with something," she said.
Darien nodded. "Yeah," he said, distracted . He took a deep breath and then came back to Earth. "Am I done?" he asked.
Kara nodded. "Yep, you're done."
"Okay, well, maybe I'll see you tomorrow," said Darien as he got out of the chair.
"Bye Darien," Kara said.
Darien waved and walked out the door.
Pavlov greeted him at his door as Darien walked into his apartment.
"Hey buddy," said Darien as he reached down and petted him. He walked over to the counter and pulled a dog treat out of a container, handing it to Pavlov.
Pavlov wagged his tail and ran off to a basket by the window that now served as his bed.
Darien sighed heavily. He walked into his bathroom and turned the shower on. He took off his clothes and stared into the mirror. He looked like crap. His normally handsome face looked drawn and tired. He looked at his body and realized how thin he was getting. Eating hadn't exactly been a top priority the last couple of days.
He ran his hands over his face and then stepped into the shower. He let the warm water flow over his body, trying to relax. He sagged against the wall, a few absent tears dripping down his face. He felt so empty.
He got out of the shower 20 minutes later, his body a wrinkled prune. He put on a wife beater and some pajama bottoms and sat down on his bed, eyeing his nightstand. Claire's diary sat there, both calling him and driving him away all at once. It had sat there for the past 3 days. He had been too chicken to look through it. But something told him that he was ready to read it.
He picked up the diary and laid down on his bed, against a pillow. In an instant, he was joined by Pavlov, who made himself comfortable on Darien's stomach. Darien looked down and smiled slightly at the dog. At least he still had someone to cuddle with, he thought sadly.
Darien ran his hand over the top of the diary, feeling the smoothness of the cover. He put it to his nose and inhaled. Her scent was still on it.
With shaking hands, he turned to the first page and soon discovered that the diary was the story of Claire and Darien's love.
There once was a story about a girl who met her prince charming. I thought it was only a story,
until it happened to me.
Darien smiled. That first sentence seemed awfully familiar to him.
You see, it took someone else to make me realize that my prince charming was right in front of me and that someone else was prince charming's brother, Kevin Fawkes. Kevin and I dated for about a year when we were both going to Caltech. He was the first love of my life.
Darien was in shock. He had no idea that Claire had known Kevin, much less that they had dated. He went on in the diary, reading about Kevin's death and how she had been hired at F&G.
Darien smiled when he read her first impression of him. So she thought I was hot, he chuckled.
All Darien did was bitch and moan about the gland and about not wanting to work at the Agency. This was definitely going to be a long couple of years.
Darien scoffed. That's not all I did, he thought. He read on, reading about Claire's increasing attraction to him. He laughed when he got to the part about her being jealous about all of his women. Allianora. He remembered how embarrassing it was telling Claire that he had caught the nanobugs from sex with Alli. He had wanted to crawl in a hole and die.
Darien swore his heart stopped beating as he went on and read her interpretation of the Kevin RNA incident.
Darien became Kevin. Kevin was exactly the same. God I had missed him. All those old feelings came rushing to the surface. And then he kissed me. It was at that moment that I realized how much I cared for Darien. It was Kevin kissing me, but it was Darien that I was kissing. Darien's hair, his lips, his stubble, his scent, his breath. It felt so right, yet so wrong at the same time. I had to pull away.
Kevin made me realize that I didn't love him anymore. Well, maybe that's not true. I will always love Kevin. But at the moment, I realized that I was in love with Darien.
He felt his heart might burst. She had picked him over Kevin. No one had ever picked him over his brother his entire life, unless it was for some sort of criminal venture. He wished he could remember kissing her.
He went on, reading about the rape, which made him sick inside. Then he read about the events of the last couple of months. Her kidnapping, the rescue, almost dying, their first kiss…
A few days later, in the hospital, we had our first kiss. A kiss between Darien and me, not Kevin and me, not QSM Darien and me, but Darien. Everything that I had wanted for so long came out in that kiss. It left me shaky and lightheaded. I can only hope it did the same thing to him.
Darien shook his head in disbelief. What are you crazy Claire? I could barely breathe after that kiss, he thought.
He went on, reading about being on the run from the Agency, getting the quicksilver files back and visiting his brother in the cemetery.
He cringed when he got to the part where she compared sex with him and Kevin. He really did not need to know how his brother had made love to her. But he felt his heart racing and his body tingling when she described Darien's own love.
He needs to show me how much he loves me and in turn, he needs to be shown how much he is loved, to be reassured constantly. I love his love. I crave his love. He needs my love.
Boy was she right about that last part. He went on.
Darien needs someone to love him and I have accepted the challenge. It's not hard to love him. Besides his good looks, his charm and his wit, there are so many hidden qualities that not many people get to see. His intelligence, his heart, his conscience, his love. Darien's love comes with a price. The price is seeing the person you love in pain. Whether it be from the QSM, the random injuries he seems to get everyday from working in the field, or the emotional pain that he constantly puts himself through, Darien lives in a world of pain. I guess all I can do is try to ease it. To be his Band-Aid. I will do my best to protect him, not because of Kevin, not because it is the right thing to do, but because I love him.
Blown away, Darien closed the book and put it over his heart. He had no idea she had cared for him that much. He had assumed, as always that he loved her more than she loved him. But he had been dead wrong. His heart felt full and happy and cold and empty, all at the same time.
God, he wanted to tell her what he felt. How his body tingled every time she walked into a room. How just knowing that she was in his bed made him sleep better. How much he treasured her stupid jokes and her seemingly endless stream of knowledge.
He got out of bed, much to Pavlov's dismay and grabbed a pen and paper. He wrote a letter to her, pouring his heart out. By the time he was done, random teardrops had wrinkled parts of the paper. He folded the letter and put it in his drawer, along with the engagement ring. He got back into bed, exhausted. His dreams were filled with images of him and Claire dancing under moonlight.
Claire had been waiting for what seemed like hours. The chair was held firmly in here hands, ready to smash anyone who came through the door.
She could hear noises coming from outside. She brought the chair up and took a deep breath. She could here whistling. The door opened. "Miss Spencer," she heard a voice say.
She swung the chair and hit the whistling man with all the force she had. He instantly dropped to the floor, unconscious. She set the chair down and eased around the corner of the door. She was in a long deserted hallway. She quickly ran down the hallway until she came to a corridor. She took a left in the corridor and ended up in another hallway. She could see a door. She started for the door, running as fast as she could.
She was just about to the door, ready to open it. Then to her horror, the door opened, revealing Stark, holding a gun on her.
"Don't even try it, Claire," he said.
She backed up in a panic and tripped over her own feet, falling to the floor hard. Two big guys appeared from behind Stark. They picked her off the floor and started to carry her back to her room, with Stark right behind them.
"No!" she screamed, trying to struggle out of their grip, but they were too big for her.
Once back in the room, they tossed her on the bed. One of the big guys dragged the unconscious man out of the room. The other left right behind him.
Stark stood before her, shaking his head with disappointment. "Now, Claire, what did I tell you about cooperating with us? About not trying anything?" Stark sighed. "I guess were going to have to punish Fawkes for your little stunt," he said with a smile.
"You are going to bloody well burn in hell for this you bastard," said Claire, with anger.
"Maybe next time you'll learn to listen," said Stark coldly.
He turned around and walked out of the room, locking the door behind him, leaving Claire to worry about Darien.
TBC