A/N: this chapter is smaller then the rest but don't worry it was just as much twists and turns as the others…Enjoy…Thanks again to Suzy.

Chapter10: Hope rising, then falling

When he couldn't find them Darien took his chance. He put down Claire and then jumped towards Cassandra grabbing the fully armed gun on her side. He dropped the quicksilver and pointed the gun at her.

 "Don't move!" He yelled.

 "What are you going to do, Darien? Shoot me?" she taunted.

 "I just might," he said as he pulled back the hammer.

 "Darien don't." Claire said as she came up behind him placing her now visible hand on his shoulder. "This isn't you; we have her and Arnaud, and they are going to jail for a long, long, time." Darien started to lower the gun un-hooking the hammer gently resting it back into place. Bobby took down the chains that had held both him and Claire. He tied up Cassandra first then with Darien's invisible aid they tied up Arnaud.

 "You wouldn't get away with this, Darien." Cassandra hissed as she struggled with her restraints.

 "Get away with what? I'm the good guy remember."

 "That's not what I meant," then suddenly she broke free of the chains. Whipping the end around to circle around Claire's neck. Causing her to fall face first to the floor in front of Cassandra, choking trying to pry the chain from her throat.

 "Darien," she choked out.

 "Claire," he raised the gun and pulled the hammer back, pulling the trigger. The recoil shocked him and he had to take a step back to stop himself from falling. He looked up. Cassandra was holding her left shoulder with a smug look on her face. Then she turn and ran out the door not even looking back.

It was a few seconds before he realized someone was calling his name. He looked over to Bobby and saw that he still had a hold of Arnaud. 'At least it wasn't a total bust,' he thought.

Claire was undoing the chain around her neck when Darien slowly sank to the floor. Claire looked over at Bobby. He shook his head indicating that he didn't know what was wrong. Claire was stiff and sore and her back had an ache in it so bad it felt as if lions were ripping at it. But nevertheless she got up and moved to her co-worker, her friend, the man she loved with her whole heart.

 "Darien, what's wrong?" she asked taking his head into her hands. When he didn't answer Claire shook him. When she looked into his eyes she saw nothing but sadness, hate, and deadly anger. She shivered the only time she had seen that type of look had been when he went through QS madness.

 "Darien," she said pausing before going on.  "Sweetheart, it's over."

 "No, it's never over."

 "Darien look we have Arnaud."

 "He means nothing. God he is nothing." Darien muttered.

 "Hey I'm valuable, more than some lowly ex-thief like yourself," came Arnaud's disembodied voice.

Claire growled at the seemly open space near Bobby. "Shut-up De-Fern." Bobby pulled at the chain reach that held him.

Darien shook his head. "Guys, lets just get out of here." He slowly lifted himself up leaving the gun on the floor. He pulled Claire into his arms and let her relax against his chest. Fast enough she was asleep before they even reached the front door.

As Bobby got a car and strapped Arnaud down Darien glanced down at Claire. 'God, I hope she's okay.' He must have been staring for longer then he thought because the next thing he heard was his partner blowing the horn calling to him.

 "Coming, Bobby," he said gathering himself and walking over to the car laying Claire in then got in himself