DS #10 Storms of Quicksilver (epilogue)

By Carol M.

See prologue for details

Note: And we've reached the end once again. I wasn't sure how people were going to react to a certain little Katie Fawkes, but it seems as though you guys liked her. If you want it, I would be happy to give you more Katie, more Darien torture, more Arnaud and more Devil's Silver in the future. Also, if it seemed like the whole point of this story was to beat the crap out of Darien, well, it kind of was. The fight scenes in this story were inspired by the ending fight scene in the film Panic Room. The fight involves a variety of characters trying to take down the bad guys and I found the images quite inspiring. The fight scenes for this story were technically very challenging to write because of all the characters involved and the task of trying to figure out their placement within the scene. But I digress. Up next for me, a standalone angst fest that will tackle an alternative to The New Stuff or an action/comedy involving an unlikely pairing. One final note, if you're looking for any musical inspiration for Storms of Quicksilver, the Katie/Darien theme song for me was A New Day Has Come by Celine Dion. I'm not a big Celine fan, but somehow this song just seemed to fit. Anyway, enough of my rambling. Enjoy the end, kids!

Darien awoke three days later to the soothing sensation of someone running a hand up and down his arm. He opened his eyes and saw the eyes of his wife staring back at him. "Hey," he gurgled out.

Claire smiled widely. "Hi yourself."

"Guess I didn't die, huh?" said Darien.

Claire shook her head. "Nope. Used up another one of those nine lives though. I think you're down to, oh I don't know, negative twenty?" she said teasingly.

Darien attempted to laugh, but stopped when his body protested. "Don't make fun of me," he whispered.

"Ah, but that's my job," said Claire as she leaned down and kissed his cheek.

"What time is it?" asked Darien.

"Nine at night," said Claire. "Figures you'd wake up when it's almost bedtime."

"Yeah well, I'm always great with timing," said Darien.

Claire glanced towards the door and then back at Darien. "Think you could stand a little more company? Bobby's out there and Katie's been camped outside the door for the last three days."

Darien's eyes started to sparkle. "I'd love that."

Claire nodded. "Let me go get them," she said as she stepped outside the door and whispered something to whoever was standing outside.

A second later, Claire left the room and Bobby stepped in, eyeing his partner with sympathy. "Ouch," he said as he walked up to the side of the bed. "You look like you're feeling every single bruise on your skinny body, pal."

Darien nodded. "Don't remind me," he said in a hoarse tone.

Bobby looked down at the ground. "We didn't find Arnaud."

Darien shrugged. "Not surprising. We'll get the little bastard."

Bobby nodded and looked Darien in the eyes. "We sure will," he said as he shifted uncomfortably. "Look…what I said about me and Claire," Bobby shrugged towards the door, "Keep told me you heard all that and I just wanted to say…you know…"

"You were right," said Darien matter of factly.

"What's that?" said Bobby in confusion.

"I took her away from you, and I'm sorry. I thought we had gotten through this, but I guess we haven't," said Darien.

Bobby nodded. "I guess not," he said softly. "Doesn't mean I don't love you," he added after a few beats.

"Oh, so you're declaring your love now?" said Darien. "Not gonna kick me in the nuts like you did seven years ago the first time we had this conversation?"

"Well, I think you've been kicked in the nuts enough for one year. But yeah, I guess I am declaring my love, even though you're still a punk, a thief of chicks and a hell of a bastard when you hit your partner," said Bobby.

Darien nodded. "Yeah, about that, I'm sorry, man. There was just no other way."

"Yeah," said Bobby. "Well, I'm gonna let little Fawkesy come say hi. She's been waiting to see you," he said as he stepped towards the door.

"Hey Hobbes," Darien called after him.

"Yeah Fawkes?" asked Bobby.

"What about Monroe?" asked Darien with a devilish look in his eyes.

Bobby smirked. "Maybe…maybe. Take care buddy. I'll see you tomorrow."

"See ya, man," said Darien as he shifted his position to get more comfortable. When he looked up, Katie was standing in the doorway holding her backpack. "Sweets, what's up?" he said happily.

Katie slowly stepped to the bed, eyeing all the monitors attached to her dad in fear.

"Kates, it's okay, you can touch me, I'm all right. You're not going to hurt me," said Darien as he relaxed into his pillow.

Katie visibly relaxed and came up next to him, placing a small kiss on his cheek. "I missed you, daddy."

"Come here," said Darien as he stretched his arms out as far as they would go.

Katie stepped forward and wrapped her arms tightly around him, being careful not to hug too tight. "I heard mommy telling the doctors that you were in a lot of pain," she said as she pulled away from him.

"Naw Kates, it's fine," whispered Darien.

Katie ignored him. "So I brought something to cheer you up," she said as she reached into her backpack and pulled out her stuffed bunny. She stepped forward and placed it in Darien's arms.

"Oh sweetie, no, you don't have to give me this. You can't sleep without him," said Darien as he tried to hand her back the bunny.

Katie firmly shook her head. "You need Mr. Carrots more than I do right now. He always makes me feel better when I'm sick or sad."

Darien nodded his head and hugged the bunny tightly against his body. "Thanks Katie," he said, fighting back tears of gratitude.

"You're welcome," said Katie as she sorted through her backpack, which was filled with books and crayons. "Is there anything else I can do?" she asked, gazing up at him.

Darien eyed the books in Katie's backpack and smiled. "You can read me a bedtime story," he said hopefully.

Katie glanced at the books in her backpack and shook her head. "Daddy, these books are too hard for me to read. I brought them here so Mommy and Uncle Bobby could read to me."

Darien shook his head. "Doesn't matter. Read one anyway. You know them all by heart."

Katie smiled and nodded. "Okay." She reached into her backpack and pulled out a copy of Peter Rabbit. She sat down on the edge of the bed, opened the book and began to tell the story. "Well there's these four bunnies, Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail and Peter playing outside. Their mommy comes out and tells them that they can play in the fields or the lanes, but not in Mr. McGregor's garden. So the three girl bunnies naturally listen to their mommy, but Peter is a bad bunny and goes in the garden anyway. Well Mr. McGregor catches him and chases him all over the garden. Peter gets lost and tries to…" Katie stopped when she heard the soft sound of snores coming out of her daddy's lips.

She smiled slightly and leaned down, kissing him on the cheek. She put Peter Rabbit back in her book bag and then pulled the covers of Darien's hospital bed all the way up to his chin to make sure he was nice and warm. She snuggled Mr. Carrots tighter into his arms and then hopped off the bed. "Good night, daddy. I love you," she whispered. She glanced at him for several more seconds and then quietly stepped out the door.

That's All Folks!