Time for the final confrontation with Drake! There is violence in this chapter was well.

The Morning After

Joss woke, feeling the most pleasant of ache in the most pleasant of places. A smile graced her lips as she thought of the previous night. She had waited nearly a thousand years for this, and it was every bit as good as she had remembered.

She realized she was tucked against John's side, with her head on his shoulder. She closed her eyes and called on all her control to keep from sobbing. How many times in Africa had she awakened in this same exact position? This was perfect.

She carefully raised her head to study John. His salt and pepper hair had fallen down over his forehead, giving him an almost boyish appearance. His beautiful dark lashes splayed out over cheekbones that could cut glass. His nose was slightly off to one side and she wondered if it had been broken at some point. It was odd to see him so relaxed in sleep, he was normally so vigilant, always on edge.

Joss wondered if John would want to stay with her when this was all over. And if he stayed with her, would he allow himself to be turned? Or would he age and eventually pass on? Would she be forced to watch him die all over again?

Joss sternly told herself to stop. They still had to find Drake, they still had to save millions of lives. Morgan le Fay had told her she would find him again in a time of great need. They must attend to that need, then they could figure out their future. She had to have faith in their love.

John stirred next to her. He opened one eye and the corners of his mouth quirked up into a smile when he saw her. Joss could have cried. He had woken like that so many times back in Africa. Everything she had wanted for so long was finally here.

She returned his smile with a shy one of her own. Dear gods above, she was a millennium old, and this felt like her first time. Gently she reached out and touched his face, smoothing a stray tuft of hair off his forehead. "How do you feel?" she asked.

John paused, considering her question as he reached for the words to describe just how he felt. "Different," he replied finally. "Last night you told me to feel the power, and I do."

"You ingested a lot of vampire blood," she said. "You will have the power of the vampire for several days until the blood works its way out of your system."

"I won't turn?"

Joss noticed that John seemed more curious than upset at the prospect of becoming one of the undead. "No, turning requires two steps, you must ingest some vampire blood, and the vampire must also ingest some of yours. I didn't bite you. And I won't, unless you want it."

John seemed to think about that for a minute. Then he looked at her, his face troubled. "Where do we go from here?" he asked softly.

Joss wished she had an answer for him. She wanted him to stay but she would let him go if he wanted to go. She wanted to turn him so they could be together forever, but she meant it when she said that she would not turn him without his consent. . However, today she was going to make the most out of having him here. "That depends on you," she replied. "We can talk about it after we stop Drake. Right now, I want a shower." She placed her hand on his chest. "And I would like some company," she purred.

John broke into a smile and followed her to the ensuite bathroom. They lovingly scrubbed the blood from each other and coupled again with Joss's legs wrapped around John as he held her against the wall and thrust deeply into her. Joss came screaming his name.

As she came down off her high, she buried her face in his neck and inhaled his now familiar scent. She marveled at how easily they had fallen back into their old rhythms; it was like the last thousand years had never happened.

John held her as she carefully replaced her feet on the floor and her wobbly legs took her weight. She looked up at him and he smiled at her. She nearly gasped as she saw John Rhys from Africa for the first time in a thousand years. This was not the cold-blooded CIA assassin who had first visited her a couple of nights ago. This was a loving, caring man who had seen too much. She reached up and touched his face. "There he is," she said, blinking back a tear. "My John. I've missed you."

They had stepped out of the shower and dried each other when they were interrupted by pounding on the door. "Get moving, slackers!" Tony yelled through the door. "Finch just called, he's found Drake!"

John and Joss froze for a brief second as they stared at each other, then they began to dress with all possible speed. "We're coming! Two minutes!" Joss yelled to her man.

John was surprised by how fast he was moving. He was going so fast he nearly stumbled over his own two feet. Joss steadied him with a hand on his arm. "Take it easy, you're still getting used to your new strength," she chided him gently.

"We don't have time for me to take it easy," John replied.

Joss shook her head, but removed her hand from his arm. She grabbed her sword from the floor where it had dropped the night before and flung open the door. Tony was standing just outside with his hoodie on and two swords in his hands. He offered one to John, "I hope you remember how to use this, your gun isn't going to do a lot of damage to vampires."

"Yes, I do." John took the sword and tested its balance. It was perfect, of course. It felt oddly right in his hand.

"I take it Drake is not alone?" Joss said as she strode down the hallway to the stairs.

"No, he has several of Quinn's men with him, probably for protection. He's in a high rise by Carnegie Hall."

"The center of Manhattan, best place to set off a weapon of mass destruction to kill the maximum number of people," John commented. "Exactly what I would do in his shoes."

"Contact your people John, let them know it's going down. Have them meet us there," Joss said.

John nodded and called Mark to give him the news. Mark informed him that they had been following Quinn and his remaining top lieutenants in Brooklyn, but they would be there as soon as they could. He knew that there was no way the others would be there in time. This is going to be up to John and the vampires.

"How many men are with Drake?" Joss asked.

"Finch counted seven," Tony replied grimly. "We only have us, plus Dom, and Paul. No one else is close enough to help."

Joss closed her eyes and sighed, then opened them. "It can't be helped."

"We've prepared for this Joss, we're ready."

"I know."

A minivan with heavily tinted windows was idling at the curb in front of the mansion with Dom at the wheel, and Paul in the passenger seat. Each of them had a sword. Tony, John, and Joss climbed in and Dom hit the gas.

As Dom maneuvered the van through New York traffic with admirable skill, Joss spoke. "I think you all know what's at stake here."

"We know, ma'am," Paul replied. "If there is a mass murder of humans by vampires, we will all be blamed. This will be our 9/11."

"They will hunt us down," Dom added. "We won't be safe anywhere. We'll lose everything."

"I won't let that happen," Joss said.

"We've trained for this fight. We're with you, no matter what the cost," Tony growled. "You're not alone."

Joss laid her hand on Tony's shoulder. "Thank you my friend." She took out her phone. "Finch, what's the situation?"

Finch's cultured voice filled the van. "I count 6 of Quinn's people in the lobby. They've killed the doorman and they've locked the doors. They're not letting anyone into the building. Drake and one of the vampires went up to the 43rd floor. They just broke into an unoccupied apartment. I can't see them any more but I imagine they are prepping what ever it is Drake brought with him from Romania."

Joss frowned as something occurred to her. "Finch, are you still in Manhattan? You need to get out!"

"I think that time has past, Joss. Ms. Shaw is in a hospital only a few blocks from Drake's location. Detective Fusco's precinct is not far. I'm afraid we are all in with you."

Joss closed her eyes and took a breath. "We won't let you down."

"Of that I have no doubt. Good luck."

They screeched to a stop in a loading zone in front of the building and piled out. The doors were locked, but one well placed shot from John's gun destroyed the lock. The doors were yanked open and Joss and her men rushed in.

"Go for Drake!" Tony yelled at Joss as he smashed his elbow into the face of one of Quinn's men. "We got this!"

Joss nodded and grabbed John's hand. One vampire tried to stand between them and the elevators, brandishing his own wicked looking sword. Joss dropped to a knee while at a full run, sliding across the polished marble floor under his sword to cut him off at the knees. He fell to the floor screaming where John finished him off by stabbing him through the heart. Then John and Joss scrambled into the elevator. Another one of Quinn's henchmen lunged for the elevator in an attempt to prevent the doors from closing, but Tony beheaded him with a massive swing of his sword. The doors closed and the elevator began its ascent.

They watched the floor indicator as it rapidly climbed. "That guard vampire is going to know we're coming," Joss remarked. "He'll be waiting as soon as the doors open."

"Not a problem," John replied as he pulled his gun from his waistband.

The doors dinged open on the 43rd floor and as expected the vampire was charging down the hallway at full speed with his sword up. He leaped into the air, bouncing off the wall intending to come at them from above. What he had not expected was John's marksmanship as he expertly emptied his clip directly into the vampire's face, turning his head into a bloody lump of flesh and bone. The vampire's body toppled to the floor and lay still.

"We'll have to tell Tony that he was wrong about your gun being useless against our kind," Joss remarked as she stepped over the corpse.

John gave her a cocky grin as he switched out his clip. "You know what they say about the right tool in the right hands."

"You do have good hands," Joss purred as she headed for the only open door in the corridor. "I'm looking forward to seeing what else they can do later. After we get Drake."

John moved to follow her, but she stopped in the doorway. "I don't suppose I can get you to wait out here? Whatever Drake is doing, it only kills humans." She blinked rapidly. "I don't think I could watch you die a second time," she said, her voice wobbling a bit.

"I have no intention of dying this time," John said and cupped her cheek with his hand. "But I have a job to do."

Joss nodded and started to lead the way into the empty apartment, when John yanked her back, just in time to avoid the bullet that whizzed by her nose.

"How rude," she huffed.

"Mercenaries tend to be rude," John shrugged. He held up his gun, "You just have to be rude, too. If I lay down some cover fire, can you do that vampire wall climbing thing and get to him?"

Joss nodded, and stuck her sword in the scabbard strapped to her back, then stepped back to let him take the lead. He raced into the room firing on Drake's position. Joss followed, she was up on the wall in one leap, then one more to the ceiling.

The apartment consisted of a combination kitchen/living room and a door off to the left leading to one bedroom. Drake had taken up his position inside of the bedroom, crouching to one side of the door. John was hitting the door jamb with each shot, sending wood splinters in the air with each hit. Drake was trying to shoot back, but was forced to stay back or he would get a face full of splinters.

Joss began making her way to the bedroom door. She was completely exposed, and while it took a lot of bullets to bring down a vampire, she knew Drake probably had skills similar to John's. If anyone could duplicate John's feat in killing the vampire out in the hallway, it would be a man like Drake.

She almost made it to the bedroom door when Drake spied her and took aim. Moving as fast as she could, she zigzagged across the ceiling at full speed and lunged for the operative. Drake managed to squeeze off one shot and graze her once on her arm before she landed on him at full speed. She could hear a loud crunch as his neck snapped. His legs twitched and then he lay still.

A cold breeze moved her hair and she realized the window was open. To her horror she saw a metal cylinder taped to the outside of the window with a red light blinking on top. "John, it looks like there is some sort of device here!"

John ran into the room and took one look at the cylinder, "That looks like some sort of smoke canister. That must be how Drake was going to deliver the biological agent." He looked down and picked up a small cylinder with a button on top. "Dead man's switch, when Drake died he released pressure on the button. We have to assume the device is armed."

Joss's eyes opened wide. She shoved John out of the room so forcefully he went down to his hands and knees and slammed the door shut, locking it. In two bounds she was across the room, snatched the device off the window and slammed the window shut.

"Joss, open up! I have to disable the device!"

"Nope, you stay out there. This thing can't hurt me, but can kill you!"

"This is my job!"

"I hate to break up this lover's quarrel," Finch's polite but firm voice cut through their earpieces. "If you would be so kind as to check the device, I believe I have disabled it."

Joss looked down at the device in her hands. The blinking red light was no longer red or blinking, it was completely off.

The door opened and John peeked in. "Did he do it?"

Joss frowned at him. "Did you pick the lock?"

John shrugged. "It wasn't hard. Is the device off? Did Finch disarm it?"

"Looks like it." Joss held it up to show it to him. "How did you do it Finch?"

"It uses a common electronic control. When I was going through the equipment that had been delivered to the lab, I had noticed that Oppermann had placed a large order for this type of control, so I took a chance that it was used on the device. I sent a series of tones through your phone to disable it." Finch sounded smug.

"Good looking out, Finch," Joss laughed.

"I was motivated, I'm close by," Finch replied. "By the way, Mr. Reese's colleagues have finally arrived and are on their way up."

"Thanks for all your help Harold, we'll take it from here."

"Have a good day, Ms. Carter, Mr. Reese."

"Well that was anti-climatic," John remarked with a small smile.

Joss shook her head and shrugged. "I certainly didn't expect it to be that easy."

Their eyes locked, and they both burst into laughter.

"Is this an intelligence operation or a comedy club?" Kara's voice cut through their laughter. Both John and Joss stopped laughing but smirked at each other before breaking eye contact and turning their attention to the new arrivals.

Kara, Mark, and Hersh stood just in the doorway, their arms folded, glaring at them with identical glares. "Report," Mark snapped.

Joss could see John shut down. The smile left his face and his eyes went flat. "It's over, Drake is dead," John jerked his head in the direction of Drake's body, "and the device is disarmed."

"You got Drake!" Mark was almost giddy. John rolled his eyes knowing that Mark would be crowing about how he directed the operation that took down the infamous mercenary the CIA had clashed with so many times over the years. It would be quite the feather in his cap.

"Too bad you didn't leave him alive," Hersh grunted. "I would have liked to have questioned him about the organization he was working for and the origin of the device."

Joss shrugged. "He was shooting at me at the time." She indicated the wound on her arm. "I didn't have the time to be delicate." Joss held up the canister, "It worked. There will be no mass casualty event today."

"I'll take that." Hersh stepped forward and Joss handed him the device. He gave her a nod and turned to Snow and Kara. "Go through his pockets and backpack, see if we can find anything that will tell us about the organization that cooked up this device."

Snow and Kara nodded and moved to Drake's body to do their superior's bidding.

John turned to Joss and the two stood looking at each other, neither one knew what to say. The case was over, it was time for them to go their separate ways, but as John stared at his long lost love, he knew he could not leave. As he opened his mouth to speak, to finally tell her that he couldn't go, he heard the tell-tale hiss of two gas grenades.

The next few seconds seemed to drag out for hours. He spun just in time to see Hersh toss the grenades into the room and swiftly shut the door. John had no doubt the door was now locked.

Snow realized they were in mortal danger and lunged for the door, only to fall to the floor gasping. Kara tried to rise, but fell over Drake's body as she too gasped for air.

John turned back to Joss only to see her grab her throat, her eyes wide. His eyes opened wide and his mouth formed an "O" as he realized why there were two grenades; one to poison the humans, one to poison the vampires.

John called on the last reserves of his enhanced strength from the vampire blood. He grabbed up Joss and shot out the door knob, carrying her out in the hallway. He staggered to the elevator, his entire focus on getting Joss out of danger away from the poisonous gas. He would not lose her again.

He felt his throat closing as he made it into the elevator with the last of his vampire enhanced strength and the doors closed behind them. He heard Joss cough and knew she would be fine, the vampire's strong constitution would allow her to recover from the poison quickly. As for himself, he knew he was dying; had it not been for the vampire blood he had ingested the night before, he would already be dead like Kara and Snow.

He could no longer hold on to Joss as the blackness was swiftly claiming him. He dropped her and slid down the wall to the floor where he lay on his back gasping for air. Joss's face came into to view. "John!" her anguished cry gave him focus.

"Turn me," he gasped out. He could not leave her again.

"John…." Joss started.

John grabbed her arm. "Turn…me."

Joss did not hesitate again. The last thing John felt was her fangs sinking into his neck.

Tony looked around the blood spattered lobby of the building, holding his broken arm to his body. He could only hope Joss and her paramour had managed to stop whatever it was they were supposed to stop. He and his men had done their part. The battle had been a rough one. Vampires tended to give no quarter. Quinn's vampires were all dead, but he and his men were all seriously hurt. Paul had had his stomach slashed open, if he had been human he would be dead. Dom had a hand cut off. Tony had been forced to give them some of his blood to tide them over until help arrived. Fortunately, a couple of vampires loyal to Joss had heeded the call for help and had just arrived in time to rush both of them to doctors experienced with treating their kind. Dom's hand would be reattached, and Paul's stomach would be sewn up. Both of them would be out of circulation for a few days, but they would recover.

As for himself, Tony refused to leave until he knew Joss was alright. He had sent Reese's colleagues up several minutes ago, but he didn't trust them. Reese was OK, he seemed to care for Joss as much as she cared for him, but the others…there was something not right there.

Still holding his arm to his body, he decided there was nothing more he could do here. He had already ordered the newcomers to dispose of the dead and begin the clean up process, now it was time to check on his queen. He took some blood from one of the new arrivals to keep himself going and hefted his sword with his remaining good arm. If she wasn't OK, there was going to be vampire hell to pay…

The elevator dinged and Tony broke into a run, hoping it was Joss returning. To his horror, he saw Joss and John on the floor. Joss's fangs were buried in John's neck, her tears mixing with his blood as it ran down his neck. Frantically, Tony cried out to the rest of the Joss's loyal vampires for help.

Yeah, I left you on a cliff hanger, but, come on guys, its ME! You know I love my OTP. ;)

One more chapter to go. I want your thoughts/feedback!