DS #10 Storms of Quicksilver

By Carol M.

See prologue for details. Enjoy kids!

There were three things Darien noticed when he first regained consciousness. One was that he was absolutely freezing. Every part of his body seemed to ache with a cold that was set deep in his bones, making him want to curl up in a thick blanket and shiver for the rest of the day. The second thing he noticed was a nasty ache in his chest that felt like he had been kicked repeatedly by someone wearing steel-toed boots. This too made him want to curt up in a ball and feel sorry for himself. The third thing that pierced his senses was the soft sounds of sniffling coming from somewhere below him.

Darien opened his eyes and curiously peered down his torso, seeking the source of the tears. It was then that he saw his daughter wrapped around his waist, her chest heaving slightly as she cried. "Katie," he croaked in a concerned tone.

Katie looked up, her brown eyes filled with tears. "Daddy?" she said.

"What's going on?" he asked gently. "Why are you crying?"

"Cuz I nearly turned you into an ice cube," she said as she started to cry again. She put her head back down and rested it against his stomach, her tears soaking through the thermal shirt Claire had put on him.

"Kates," said Darien as he reached down and ran a hand through her long hair. He reached down to her side and began to tickle her lightly.

"Ahhh," she yelped in surprise. "Daddy, what are you doing?" she asked, the trace of a smile on her face.

Darien chuckled. "Trying to make you smile," he said.

Katie sat up and crawled to the pillow beside him, sitting next to his head. She peered down at him and shook her head sadly. "Why would you want me to smile? You hate me. I nearly killed you," she said as the tears started to return.

Darien crinkled his forehead in confusion and struggled to sit up. "Why on earth would I hate you?" he asked. "Katie, it was an accident. That means it wasn't your fault."

"Yeah, but you could've died," said Katie, her face a wash of guilt and sadness.

"But Katie, I didn't, okay. Come on, you know me. You know how often I get injured. It's just a part of my charm. It was inevitable that I would fall in the lake. I'm just glad I got it over with early," said Darien with a teasing smile.

Katie tried to stifle a giggle. "You are kind of accident prone."

Darien nodded. "See, you know what I'm talking about. So I don't want you getting all upset about this, okay."

Katie nodded. "Okay," she said with a small smile.

"And Kates," said Darien.

"Yeah, daddy?" asked Katie.

"I could never hate you. No matter what. Just remember that," said Darien. "I love you, sweetie and that'll never change. Ever."

Katie's smile grew. "I love you too," she said as she leaned down and kissed him on the cheek.

"And look, I don't want you worrying about all the stuff going on. You're going to be just fine. Let Daddy and Uncle Bobby handle things," said Darien. " And I'm sorry about the spelling bee," he added apologetically.

Katie shrugged. "It's okay. I already know I would've won," she said with confidence.

"That's my girl," said Darien as he gave her a pat on the back. "Now go get your mom for me and then I want you in bed," he said after he had glanced out the window and realized how dark it was. "You need to get some rest."

Katie nodded. "Night daddy," she said as she blew him a kiss and walked out the door.

Darien sighed and then lay back down in the bed, wrapping the blanket that had been draped over him tightly around his body.

Claire entered the room a second later and sat down on the bed next to him, taking his hand in hers. "How you feeling?" she asked, her eyes weary with fear and exhaustion.

Darien gave her a small smile. "I'm cold," he whispered.

Claire laughed. "Of course you are," she said as she leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on his lips. "We almost lost you."

Darien nodded. "I heard," he said. "Do you think Katie's going to be okay? She seemed kind of freaked out by everything."

Claire smiled knowingly. "She just needed to be reassured by her daddy. She's been sitting with you for the last three hours."

Darien bit his lower lip. "Are we going to get through this thing?" he asked.

"Don't we always," came the voice of Bobby from the doorway.

"Hobbes, what's up man?" asked Darien.

"Not you, that's for sure," said Bobby as he stepped closer to the bed. "You had us all real worried. Even Arnie seemed a little choked up."

"Yeah I'm sure he was really torn up about it," said Darien sarcastically. "You got him under control?"

Bobby nodded. "Oh yeah, I got the little weasel cuffed to the chair. We're going to be playing lookout for ole' silver eyes."

"Sounds good, man," he said. He looked up at Bobby and Claire with an appreciative look on his face. "Thanks for saving my butt once again, guys."

Claire smiled. "Don't worry, we're used to it," she said, glancing at Bobby. "And I also would like to commend Bobby for a job well done. He really went above and beyond the call of duty."

Bobby gave her an embarrassed glance. "What do you mean above and beyond? As I recall, you pretty much forced me to do it."

"Do what?" asked Darien.

Bobby shook his head. "Nothing, nothing at all."

Darien glanced at Claire with a raised eyebrow. "What's going on?"

Claire laughed and shook her head. "Nothing."

"Uh huh," said Darien, not believing her. He shook his head and yawned. "Whatever, kids. I'm freezing and tired, and I want someone to cuddle with," he said, gazing expectantly at Claire.

Claire gave Bobby an amused glance and then climbed into bed next to Darien. "Goodnight, Bobby," she said in a pleasant tone.

"Night guys," said Bobby as he started for the door.

"Bobby," said Claire.

Bobby turned around curiously. "Yeah Keep?"

"Thanks," she said sincerely.

Bobby blushed and smiled. "Not a problem. Get some rest guys," he said as he walked out of the room and shut the door behind him.

"What was that all about?" asked Darien as he wrapped his arms tightly around Claire.

"I tell you about it another day," said Claire as she buried her head against Darien's chest and inhaled his musky scent. "Go to sleep, Gilligan."

"Aye, aye, Mrs. Howell," said Darien tiredly as he closed his eyes and sunk back into his pillow. Within seconds, he was fast asleep.

Claire glanced up at him and watched him sleep for several minutes, taking in the steady rise and fall of his chest and the soft snores that escaped through his lips. She was terrified for him, although she was doing her best to hide it. She placed a kiss to his heart and then settled her head back down against him, loving the feel of his arms around her.

That was the thing about her husband. Ever since they had slept together for the first time seven years ago, Darien would hold her so tightly that sometimes she couldn't breath. And she loved it. She loved the feeling of him around her, and she loved the fact that she had given him something to hold…something to love. It was want he needed and she was only too happy to provide it for him.

Claire placed one more kiss to Darien's heart and then let the soft sounds of his breathing lull her to sleep, despite the fear that was racing through her veins. That could wait until morning.

Which was exactly why Jason decided to make his move at night. Totally unexpected, totally unprepared, absolutely perfect.

Things had worked out quite well for Jason Sullivan ever since his escape from the hospital three weeks before. He had traveled down south almost immediately and quickly reacquainted himself with Darien Fawkes and Arnaud De Phon. And they hadn't even known it.

He had visited Darien first. Tailed him on every case, every errand and every family outing. All invisibly of course. Darien and the rest of them had had no clue. It was enjoyable knowing that they had no idea he was there. He saw things that he was certain he had no business seeing like tender moments between husband and wife. He knew it wouldn't last. It was only a matter of time before they found out about him and then their peaceful little existence would be shattered. He had waited six years to take his revenge; he could wait another couple of weeks.

After about two weeks of watching Darien, Jason had made his way down to Arnie's hacienda and seen firsthand how Arnaud made his business dealings with prospective recipients of glands. That was when Jason decided to start his little plan. He had destroyed all the glands that Arnaud and Dr. Rendell had created and he also destroyed all the research. That was when Arnaud figured out what was going on and quickly fled the area.

That was okay, though. Jason had watched Arnaud fly away in his helicopter and waited patiently for nearly a day until it returned to the helipad. When it finally touched down again, Jason had simply stuck a gun in the pilot's face and asked for Arnaud's location. The pilot, who was faced with nothing more than a gun pointing at him from thin air, quickly gave up the information.

So Jason had traveled to the Sierras to a pretty little cabin in the middle of nowhere. By sheer luck, he had found an abandoned cabin about five miles away from Arnaud's location. He had quickly gotten in the routine of sleeping during the day and watching at night, all without Arnaud's knowledge. The poor Swiss man thought he was safe. Boy was he wrong about that.

Jason had been ready to kill Arnaud the day Darien arrived at the cabin. In fact, he had been busy collecting the various weapons he was going to use to torture Arnaud when he saw Darien pull up to the cabin. He had quickly hidden in the forest, not wanting to be detected by Darien's quicksilvered eyes. Jason couldn't believe his good luck. He hadn't planned on getting them all together, but now that they were all here, he couldn't pass up the opportunity.

So he had stayed hidden in the forest for the rest of the day with binoculars in hand watching the dramas of the cabin unfold. He had watched Claire play Barbies with her daughter on the porch, listened to Arnaud explain to Darien the ups and downs of being in permanent stage five madness and had also watched Darien plunge headfirst into the icy lake. Then he had watched the group struggle to save his worthless life. And now, as the night turned darker, he watched as the respective family went to bed. Jason was ready to put a new plan into action.

He had two aces on his side that night and their names were Bobby Hobbes and Arnaud De Phon. Bobby had been the one to make the six hour drive to the cabin. Coupled with the lake incident and the general stress of the whole situation, Bobby was completed exhausted. As hard as he tried to keep his eyes open, they just weren't cooperating. So about an hour after he had said goodnight to Darien and Claire, Bobby had drifted to sleep on the couch, still clutching a pair of thermal goggles in his hand.

Arnaud, who was cuffed in a nearby chair, had taken advantage of the opportunity and tried to get away. He had quicksilvered the cuffs as soon as he heard the first sound of snores coming from Bobby's direction and tried to crack the cuffs. But it hadn't worked. Apparently the cuffs were specially formed to withstand manipulation from freezing temperatures, which was good for Bobby when his partner went quicksilver mad, but was very bad for Arnaud. He briefly considered trying to break the chair and make a run for it, but he realized that even though Bobby was asleep, his years of training would no doubt make him a light sleeper. So Arnaud had decided to give up for the night and keep watch for an invisible man. But a half-hour later, he too was fast asleep in his chair.

This was when Jason decided to make his move. He crept up to the cabin and pulled out a small knife, slashing all the tires of the SUV parked in the front. Then he made his way around the cabin and quietly made his way onto the porch in the back. He poured a stream of quicksilver into the lock and it quickly cracked, allowing him to open the door. He made his way into the cabin and paused briefly in the living room, listening in amusement as Bobby and Arnaud sawed logs. Then crept down the hall, taking care not to make any noise. He got to the door to the master bedroom and slowly opened it, ready to pounce on anything that might be waiting on the other side. But the only sight that greeted him was Darien and Claire snuggled in one another's arms fast asleep. He gave them a wicked smile and then stepped out of the room, closing the door quietly behind him.

He started down the hall again, this time heading for the guest bedroom. When he got to the door, he carefully opened it and peered in, seeing Katie fast asleep in her bed clutching a worn stuffed bunny. He padded into the room and stepped right next to her bed, staring down at her. Katie chose that moment to stir and Jason made his move. He unquicksilvered just his silver eyes and clamped a hand over her mouth before she could scream. "You make a sound and I'll kill your mommy and daddy," he said in a menacing voice.

Tears instantly started pouring from Katie's eyes and she started taking panicky breaths.

"Shut up, little girl," said Jason as he grabbed her hand and got her out bed. "We're going on a little field trip," he said as he took his other hand and made from what Katie could see, a random design of quicksilver on her bed. Then he started to pull her towards the door. She shook her head firmly and tried to shrug out of his grip, but he was too strong for her. He picked her up effortlessly and carried her out of the room, his hand still clamped on her mouth. Seconds later, Katie tried to bite at the invisible flesh over her mouth, but all she succeeded in doing was giving her mouth freezer burn. She started to struggled wildly as they passed by Darien and Claire's room and then Bobby and Arnaud, but the movement and sounds were too quiet for anyone to hear. Jason quickly led her out the door he had come in through and the pair disappeared into the dark of the night.

**

"Would you please shut up you muttering oaf!" came the voice of Arnaud from somewhere in the background of Bobby's mind. He cracked his eyes open and realized that light was streaming through the cabin.

"What the hell?" said Bobby as he jumped awake. He gave Arnaud an angry stare. "Why didn't you wake me up, you bastard? We were supposed to keep watch for Sullivan," he said in anger as he got up from the couch and pounded on Darien and Claire's door. "Fawkes, Keep, you guys up?" he yelled. He shrugged his shoulders awkwardly and opened the door, seeing Darien and Claire in bed just waking up. "You guys okay?" he asked.

Claire gave him a confused bleary eyed stare. "Huh?" she asked in a sleepy voice.

"I must have fallen asleep," said Bobby apologetically.

Darien sat up in the bed, wiping the sleep out of his eyes. "Did you check Katie?"

Without a word, Bobby left the room and knocked on the second door. "Katie, sweets, you up honey?" No answer. "Katie, it's Uncle Bobby, wake up," he said as he pushed opened the door. It took a second for him to register what he saw and when it finally did, he nearly passed out. "Aw crap," he whispered in a shaky voice.

"Hobbes?" he heard Darien call from the other room.

Bobby was in too much shock to answer him.

"Hobbes man, what's going on?" asked Darien as he staggered into the room next to Bobby. "What the fu…" Darien trailed off as his mouth dropped to the floor in shock and fear.

"Darien, Bobby," yelled Claire worriedly as she stepped into the room next to them. "Oh dear god," she said as she finally saw what had caused them to clam up. Katie's bed was empty except for her stuffed bunny and three words that had been etched on the bed in quicksilver: Come Get Her.

TBC