DS #10 Storms of Quicksilver

By Carol M.

See prologue for details

Sorry this part took so long, but I was moving out of my apartment. Enjoy it, kiddies!

No one in the cabin wanted to move. They all lay there in shock as they stared at the mangled corpse of Jason Sullivan.

Claire was the first one to gain back some semblance of humanity. She picked herself off the ground and gave Arnaud a long, grateful stare. Then she quickly stepped to Darien and Katie, cursing silently under her breath as she saw the pair folded about one another. "Katie," she whispered softly as she tried to pull her daughter off of Darien.

Katie was sobbing and seemed to not hear her mother's request.

"Sweetie, you have to let go of him now," said Claire as she tried to break Katie's tight grip on Darien's arm.

Katie shook her head and pressed herself even further against Darien's unconscious form. "No," she sniffled.

At this point, Bobby had regained the use of his voice and limbs and stood up, gazing at Arnaud and then Jason's body. "Why?" he asked simply as he glanced at Claire trying to manhandle Katie off of Darien.

Arnaud shrugged. "If anyone's going to kill Darien Fawkes, it's going to be me."

Bobby smirked. "That's sounds about right."

"Besides, I'm not a complete monster. Katie didn't need to be hurt," added Arnaud.

"Ah ha," said Bobby. "She made you care about her, didn't she?" as he picked up a blanket and threw it over Jason's body.

Arnaud looked down for a moment and then looked back up with a small smile on his face. "Yeah," he said softly.

"Figures," said Bobby as he stepped over to Claire to help her with Katie and Darien.

Arnaud watched the family try and help each other for a few minutes and then casually backed towards the door. "I'll see you soon, Fawkes," he whispered as he slipped out the door, despite the snow that had started to fall.

Claire turned around at that moment and gasped when she didn't see Arnaud. "Bobby, Arnaud's gone," she said in a somewhat concerned tone.

Bobby nodded. "I know."

Claire stared intensely at him for a few moments and then nodded her head in understanding. The pair went back to the task of helping Katie and Darien.

"Okay kiddo, here we go," said Bobby as he lifted Katie's sobbing form off of Darien. He carried her over to the couch where he let her cry her eyes out in his arms while he stroked his hand through her hair. "It's okay, it's all over, Katesy. You did good. You saved you're daddy, kiddo. Everything's going to be fine."

While Bobby comforted Katie, Claire attended to Darien. His body was a tangled heap of bruises, blood and broken bones. She didn't even want to touch him for fear she would somehow hurt him. "Darien," can you hear me?" she whispered in his ear as she took his pulse, which was sluggish and weak. There was no response from Darien.

She ran a delicate hand across his forehead followed by a light kiss. Then she stood up and walked to the refrigerator, glancing out the window as she stepped. "Bloody hell," she exclaimed as she saw snow coming down outside.

"What? What?" asked Bobby with concern as he tried to move Katie out of his lap, where she had fallen into an exhausted sleep.

"It's snowing," she said grimly.

Bobby glanced out the window and cringed. "It's a freakin blizzard out there."

"What are we going to do with Darien?" asked Claire as she looked through the refrigerator to see if there was anything that she could use to help her husband.

"I don't think we've got much of a choice here, Keep. Looks like we're kind of stuck here for the time being," said Bobby as he located a blanket and placed it over Katie.

"What about Alex and Eberts?" asked Claire. "The Official sent them up here, right?"

Bobby nodded. "Problem is, they think we're at the Agency cabin. They have no idea where we are," he said as he reached into his pocket to pull out his cell phone. "Um Keep," he said in a skittish tone.

"Yeah?" asked Claire as she pulled out a few ancient bags of frozen peas and corn.

"I lost my cell phone," said Bobby.

"Great," said Claire as she stepped over to Darien and tried to clean him up.

**

"Keep going," said Alex firmly as her and Eberts slowly made their way through the snowy trail near the Agency cabin.

"Ms. Monroe, we have no way of knowing where they've gone," said Eberts as he tightened the hood of his blue parka.

"Shut up, Eberts," said Alex as she continued to walk down the trail. Her body started to shiver at the intense cold the snowstorm had brought with it. She would kill for a heater, a down blanket and a mug of hot chocolate right about now.

"Ms. Monroe, I really don't think this is wise. I say we go back to the cabin and wait out the storm. Then we can look for them," said Eberts as he followed behind her.

Alex stopped short for a moment and contemplated Eberts' logic. She hated to admit it, but the glorified file clerk was right. "Okay," she said in a strange tone.

Eberts looked at her in confusion. "Okay?"

Alex nodded. "Yes, let's go back."

"Please forgive me, Ms. Monroe, but are you agreeing with me?" asked Eberts in shock.

"Yes," said Alex simply.

"But no one ever agrees with me. In fact, I can't even recall one instance of someone at the Agency agreeing with me," said Eberts.

"Well, I guess this makes the record books then," said Alex as she started walking back towards the cabin.

**

"So what's the damage?" asked Bobby as he gazed down at his unconscious partner who was still laying on the floor. A blanket had been tucked around him and a pillow had been placed under his head.

Claire sighed and sat down next to Darien, running a hand through his dirty hair. "In a nut shell, he's one big bruise from head to toe," she said as she pulled down the blanket and lifted up Darien's shirt, revealing glorious purple blossoms all over his torso. "A couple of broken ribs, a broken arm, a bruised kneecap, the list goes on. The injuries I'm most worried about are to his throat and stomach," she said as she pointed at the raw tattered cuts that were still oozing slightly from Darien's throat. "Infection and plus the small fact that the wire might have severed his vocal cords."

"Aw damn Keep, you gotta fix that. Fawkes will be lost without the ability to run his trap," said Bobby. "What's with his stomach?" he asked as he knelt down next to Claire and looked at Darien's normally thin stomach, which had currently swelled up to give him the appearance of a slight beer belly.

"Internal bleeding," she said as she ran her hand over Darien's stomach and felt the rigidness of the swelling. "He needs surgery. We have to get him out of here as quickly as possible."

Bobby nodded and looked out the window, noting that the snow had lightened up considerably. "What do you say I go for a little hiking trip? Maybe Alex and Eberts are already here and looking for us."

Claire nodded hopefully. "He might not last the way he's looking right now," she said in a brave voice, fighting off tears.

Bobby placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Hey…Claire…we've gotten through much tougher scrapes than this. This guys a fighter and you know that. He'll be fine."

"I know," sniffled Claire. "I just get so sick of cleaning up the damage. Sometimes I wish I wasn't his doctor. Right now, I just want to be his wife," she said as she leaned down and kissed Darien on the lips.

Bobby smiled and shook his head.

"What?" asked Claire curiously.

"No, it's nothing," said Bobby in a dismissive tone.

"Bobby," said Claire sharply.

Bobby shrugged. "I just wonder sometimes, that's all."

"About what?" she asked as they both stood up and headed towards the door.

Bobby blushed in slight embarrassment. "What it would have been like it if would have been you and me, instead of you and Fawkes."

"Bobby," said Claire.

"No, you know. The whole courting, the wedding, Katie…hell, the soap opera that's been our lives for the past couple of years. I wonder if things would have been different," he said somewhat wistfully.

"Bobby, I told you I'd be open to having an affair at least twice a year," said Claire, trying to lighten the mood.

Bobby shook his head in anger. "That's not it, Claire. I love you, okay. I'll always have and you know it. Sometimes I feel like Fawkes just swooped down like a hawk and stole my prey right out from under me."

"Prey?" asked Claire. "So now I'm some helpless rabbit."

"I'm gonna leave," said Bobby in a hurt tone as he headed out the door.

"Bobby," called Claire after him,

"What?" he said.

Claire stepped to him and planted a firm kiss against his lips. Bobby melted into the kiss and began running his hands through Claire's golden strands. After several seconds, they backed away. Bobby was left staring at Claire with a warm blush on his cheeks. "So that's what it's like."

Claire smiled. "You think that's good, you should kiss Darien."

Bobby scoffed. "I think I'll pass," he said as he headed out the door again.

"I love you," said Claire quickly. "Just not the way you want me to," she said sadly.

"Story of my life, sweetheart," said Bobby with a slight smile as he disappeared out the door.

Claire sighed and looked back at Darien, who was gazing at her with his eyes wide open. "Oh dear," she said as she quickly ran to him and sat down, taking his hand in hers. "Did you hear all of that?"

Darien tried to nod but failed miserably. "Unfortunately," he gasped out.

"Darien I'm sorry," said Claire.

Darien painfully tried to shrug. "Everything he said is true, you know. I did sort of sweep in and steal his woman. But as the old adage goes, all's fair in love, war and quicksilver."

"Quicksilver, huh?" said Claire.

"Especially quicksilver," murmured Darien. "We need to get Hobbes a chick. Maybe Alex or Sally from Accounting."

Claire laughed and ignored the tears that started to fall from her eyes as she bent down and kissed her husband. When they parted, Darien was gazing up at her with a troubled look on his face. "The cabin seems a little empty," he hoarsed out.

"Right," said Claire hesitantly. "Jason has been taken care of," she said, nodding towards the sheet draped over his dead body.

Darien shivered. "Thank god."

Claire nodded in agreement. "But unfortunately, Arnaud got away."

"How? You could've stopped him, couldn't you?" said Darien knowingly. "Why'd you let him get away?"

Claire took a deep breath. "Because he saved your and Katie's life."

Darien stared up at her in shock for several seconds, letting the information digest in his mind. "Well, at least we got one of the psychos," he whispered after a few more seconds. "Is Katie okay?" he asked.

Claire pointed towards the sleeping little girl on the couch. "Exhausted, but fine."

Darien nodded and swallowed painfully.

Claire began running her hand up and down his chest. "Do you hurt?"

"So much you wouldn't believe," said Darien. He looked deep into her eyes and then flashed her his puppy dogs. "I'm so sorry for what I did when I was in Stage Five. I won't ever let that happen again."

"Darien, it was the only way to try and beat him. It wasn't your fault. I'm not mad at you," said Claire.

"What about Kates?" asked Darien, his eyes threatening to close.

"Well if Katie's mad, she has a strange way of showing it," said Claire as she glanced over at her sleeping daughter. "After you passed out, she crawled on top of you and used herself as a shield to protect you from Jason," she said in a proud voice.

Darien sighed and his eyes filled with tears. "Where'd that kid learn to be so brave, huh? She didn't get it from me, that's for sure."

Claire smiled. "I firmly believe that Katie is a mixture of the absolute best of both of us. She's smart, pretty, brave…she's great at picking locks."

"Of course she is," said Darien with a smirk as his eyes closed. "She knew how to pick a lock with a credit card when she was three years old," he said, his whisper quickly turning into a gasp. "Claire, I hurt," he said suddenly.

"I know you do, sweetheart," she said sympathetically as she ran a hand through his hair. "Help's coming soon, I promise," she said as she picked up a nearby ice bag and placed it on Darien's stomach.

Darien groaned and then passed out again, leaving Claire alone to hold his hand and wait for help to arrive.

TBC