Disclaimer in Part 1...



Arnaud pulled up to the hospital and parked in a fairly vacant area of the lot. He walked inside and over to the nurse's station. He quickly located which room Hobbes' wife was in while the nurse was distracted.

He went into the dispensary and took a few vials and syringes placing them in a small bag and quicksilvering the bag.

Marie yawned as she flipped through the channels. She ran her hand over the small bulge in her stomach. "It's ok baby, you're going to be fine," she crooned. She looked up as the door to her room opened. "Hello?" she called frowning to see no one there.

Arnaud smiled seeing the woman on the bed. 'Monsieur Hobbes has good taste in women,' he thought. He glanced at the chart at the foot of her bed. 'She's pregnant? Interesting. I think I will change my plans.'

Marie poured herself a glass of water and took a small sip before setting the cup down. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end as she felt something very cold grip her mouth. She tried to scream but whatever is was blocked the sound.

"Calm yourself, chere. I'm not going to hurt you," Arnaud spoke softly into her ear.

Marie tried to hit the nurse call button but another very cold thing gripped her wrist tightly.

"Now, my dear, I'm going to give you a little injection and you'll just fall asleep. I promise you won't be harmed," Arnaud told her. He pulled her arm up to his hand that was over her mouth so he could grab the syringe.

Marie squirmed in his arms trying to free herself.

Arnaud took her head into an even firmer hold. "I don't want to hurt you, but if you continue this I'm going to snap your neck. Do you understand?"

Marie nodded.

"Good," Arnaud filled the syringe and jabbed it into her neck.

Marie's eyes rolled back into her head as the sedative took effect.

Arnaud picked her up gently and placed her on a wheelchair. He checked the hallway to make sure it was clear and rolled her over to the staircase. He carried her down the flight of stairs. He made sure the short hall to the back exit was empty and took her out to his car and drove away.



****


Bobby paced outside Alex's office.

"Hobbes, calm down. Stark's not going to get away," Darien put a hand on his shoulder.

"He already did, Fawkes," Bobby glared at him.

"We'll get him back. Don't worry," Darien said.

Bobby opened his mouth to comment as Alex emerged from her office. "Well?"

"I got it Hobbes. The police are gonna meet us at the Taurus building," she pulled on her jacket.

"Let's go," Bobby took off down the hallway.


****


Hobbes had never driven so fast in his life. He had to get this bastard NOW! He saw the two police cars waiting as he pulled into the parking lot of the Taurus building.

"Ok, we do this by the book," Alex said as she hopped out of the van.

"Whatever," Hobbes grumbled under his breath.

Darien raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment. He was not gonna get in Bobby's way if he ended up getting to Stark first.

The guards at the front door hit the alarm when they saw them coming.

Stark gazed at the security camera from his computer terminal. "Great, now what?" he decided to make himself scarce.

Alex and the two police officers subdued the guards allowing Darien and Bobby to go after Stark.

"You take the front elevators and I'll take the back one," Bobby snapped.

"Right," Darien ran forward to the elevator.

Stark jumped into the back elevator which led to the underground parking garage. He cursed as the elevator slowed and stopped on the first floor.

"Hands in the air, RIGHT NOW!" Bobby shouted aiming his gun at Stark's head.

Stark raised his arms sneering at Hobbes as he did so.

"You thought you could get away with trying to kill my wife?" he growled punching Stark in the gut before putting the cuffs on him.

*cough* "What are you talking about? I gave you the antidote," Stark spat.

"You lied to me. And that lie almost killed my wife!" Bobby hit him again dragging him out of the elevator.

Stark just stared at Hobbes. Arnaud... Arnaud had screwed him over. "I thought it was an antidote. Arnaud made the poison and--"

"Save it!" Bobby cut him off pulling him down the hallway. He thrust him over to the police officers. "Take him in."

The cops nodded and took Stark out to their car.

Bobby leaned against the desk.

"You ok, Hobbes?" Darien asked.

"Yeah, just tired. I'm gonna stop by the hospital and check on Marie before I go home. Can you drive the van?"

"No problem," Darien took the keys from Bobby.


****


"I'm gonna grab a cup of coffee," Darien told Bobby as he walked to the elevator.

"Alright. I'll meet you back here in twenty minutes," Bobby sighed and pressed the button for floor 2.

He walked down the hallway to Marie's room. There was only one nurse on duty right now. He stopped dead in his tracks when he entered her room. Her bed was empty the IV pole still sitting next to the bed. He knocked on the bathroom door and opened it when he didn't get an answer.

His mind raced with terror. Something must have gone wrong with the baby and they took her to surgery. He ran down the hall and grabbed the nurse. "Where is she?"

"Sir, what's wrong? Who are you looking for?"

"My wife. Marie Hobbes. She's not in her room. Where is she?" he practically screamed.

"I don't know. Let me check her chart," she quickly looked over the patient charts.

Darien came upstairs with two cups of coffee. He figured Hobbes could probably use some. He rushed out of the elevator as he heard Hobbes screaming at a nurse. 'Oh great? Now what?'

"She should be in her room, sir," the nurse told him.

"Well, she's not! I was just there!" Hobbes shouted.

"Sir, if you could just calm down-"

"Hobbes, what going on?" Darien asked.

"Marie's not in her room!" Bobby ran his hands over his head.

"What? Where is she?"

"I don't know! I went down there and she was gone."

"Look, stay here. I'll be right back," Darien went down to the room. He looked around for anything that might give him a clue. He spotted a syringe in the trash can next to the bed. He grabbed a Kleenex and picked it up.

Bobby was gripping the nurse's desk to keep from collapsing.

"I think I found something," Darien said as he came back down the hall.

"What?"

"This was in the trash can next to her bed. I could take it back to the Keep and have Claire look at it."

"How do you know that it wasn't a med one of the nurses gave her?" Bobby asked.

"We always put those in the sharps dispenser," the nurse answered for him.

Bobby nodded. "I'll call Claire and have her meet us at the lab."


TBC...


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