Disclaimer: See the first two chapters.
A/N: Oh come on people, I got more reviews than this the last first time I posted it. Where are all the people who reviewed for me last time? I WANT FIVE REVIEWS OR YOU WILL NEVER KNOW WHAT HAPPENS!! And that's too bad, 'cause I had planned on a sequel...
'Please God, don't let it be her.' He prayed. Lexa came quickly around the corner from the computer room. Her eyes fell upon the picture on the screen and grew wide. She ran off after Brennan, cold fear gripping her heart.
Shalimar heard Brennan's shouts as he and Lexa pounded down the hallway. She opened her door just as they arrived and Brennan enveloped her tightly in his arms, his whole body shaking. Tears streamed down his face as he breathed raggedly. He ran his hands over her, checking her over carefully. He cupped her face in his hands, kissing her repeatedly.
"Thank God," Lexa whispered, hugging her gently. Brennan sank to the floor, taking her down with him, smothering her in relieved kisses. Shalimar looked at them confused, running her fingers through his hair and hushing him gently while trying to figure out what the hell was going on.
"Brennan what-?" She ran her hands over his quivering back and arms. "You're shaking like a leaf. What's wrong? What happened?" She straddled his lap, kissing him.
"I thought, God I thought it was you," he sobbed, burying his face in her hair. She looked over at the more stable one of the two. Lexa's normally stoic disposition seemed to be falling apart at the seams.
"Lexa?"
"There was a picture on the news. She looked just like you...we thought... we were so afraid it was you...." Lexa's voice was choked with suppressed tears. Shalimar's eyes grew wide. Now she understood. They had thought some dead girl on the news was her. The thought scared her immensely but she held Brennan tighter, whispering words of reassurance in his ear.
"It's okay, baby. I'm right here. It wasn't me. I'm okay." She murmured over and over again, rocking him in her arms. After several minutes of repeated reassurances and Brennan running his hands over her back, arms, shoulders, face, and through her hair, just to be sure, he finally stopped shaking. He still held her tightly in his arms and she didn't try to stop him, knowing what that picture had done to him.
"He knew," Brennan murmured. "He knew about you and how much I care about you. He did this on purpose. He knew what it would do to me. Tear me apart inside. Make me wish I were dead just to be with you. Make me wish I had told you how much I loved you before. Make me blame myself."
Shalimar looked at him wide eyed, "What'd you just say?" She smiled, tears of joy forming in her eyes.
"Blame myself?" he said obliviously. Lexa smirked and back away a few paces, leaving them to enjoy their moment.
Shalimar shook her head, "Before that." His eyes widened as he remembered what he said, and then he smiled.
"That I love you." He looked at her hopefully, praying that his feelings were returned. She smiled warmly, letting a few tears fall from her eyes.
"I love you too." She smiled through her tears, he kissed her deeply. "No matter what happens, I will always love you." She breathed as they broke their kiss. She nipped at his ear and neck gently. He growled, quietly, and then turned to Lexa.
"Lexa, wake Jesse up, tell him we're moving out in an hour. Tell him to be ready." Lexa was just about to ask why he wanted to wait an hour when realization dawned as another small growl escaped Brennan's lips at Shalimar's seductive antics. Lexa smirked again and went to re-monitor the computer for another half-hour of so, knowing that it was not essential to wake Jesse right away.
Forty- five minutes later, Jesse woke to Lexa shaking him gently. "Jess, Jesse wake up!" Jesse stirred slowly, covering his eyes with his hands at the invasive light that shone brightly through his closed eyelids. "C'mon Jess, wake up. There was another murder last night." Jesse sat bolt upright, startling Lexa.
"What!" He exclaimed.
"This guy's a wacko. He's obviously trying to mess with Brennan's head. The police found a girl near that alley. She was in her early twenties; blonde, wavy hair, green eyes, a feral. Sound like anyone else we know?"
Jesse's eyes grew wide, "Oh God, Shalimar!" He leapt out of bed, pulling on a pair of jeans.
"Jesse, it's not her." Lexa assured him quickly.
"Thank God." Jesse breathed a sigh of relief. "Brennan must have had a heart attack." He said in concern, tugging on a shirt. The two team mates walked quickly down the hallway.
"Oh yeah, and he's pissed. "
"How's he doing?" Lexa tried to suppress a grin. "Shalimar's...um...taking care of him..." Nope, she couldn't do it, her face cracked into a wide, amused grin. Jesse looked at her in confusion before a light bulb lit over his head.
"Oh," he said quietly, smirking.
"Yeah, he says we're leaving in about fifteen minutes. Actually, he said an hour, but I decided since they were busy having their fun, I'd let you sleep. But he wants to get this guy ASAP. And I can't say that I blame him. I want this prick caught too." They got ready; changing into more appropriate clothing, then went to warm up for a few minutes. About ten minutes later they came upon Brennan and Shalimar in the computer room. Brennan was seething and Shal was trying to calm him down. It wasn't working, even after their little... um...playtime...
"Brennan, he's trying to mess with you! Don't take the bait." Shal jumped in the path of his angry pacing. Brennan stopped abruptly and looked her straight in the eye.
"If we don't get this bastard now his next victim actually could be you. I mean, obviously he knows about you, God only knows how, but he does. I need to get him Shal. Before he really does hurt you." He looked at her desperately. She took a long pause before answering.
"Okay," she said at last. "Okay, we go after him."
"No, Shal, not we." He said, lines of concern etching themselves in his brow.
"If I'm agreeing to this we're going with you. And don't try to leave without us. I will hunt you down and I will hurt you. And don't think that I won't." She growled menacingly. He looked away, still reluctant to put her in danger. She curled a finger under his chin and forced him to look at her. "Listen to me Brennan! I love you! I am not going to let you face this guy alone!" Tears glistened in her eyes.
"Okay, okay. I give." He put his arms around her waist. "But like I said before, if anything happens to you guys...never. I will never forgive myself." Shal kissed him.
"We know, Bren. We know. Now come on. We've got us a murderer to stop." Shalimar led the others to the Helix, starting it and speeding out the secret exit in the mountain side. "The thrill of the chase," she growled cattishly. Brennan grinned. She was quite the hunter, his feral.
They landed the Helix on a rooftop a few blocks away and made their way to the alley that Jesse had shown them on the map last night. They crept around the corner. They heard a noise and froze.
A rat. It was just a rat. They breathed out sighs of relief and checked the alley quickly. A trash can tumbled over behind them, making them all jump and Shal and Lexa to gasp in surprise. A dark shape darted around the corner and they gave chase. Shane Taylor yanked open the plexi- glass doors of the multi-story law office building. It was almost empty inside so the Mutant X team mates ran through after the fleeing convict. Shane dashed up the stairs no more than six feet ahead of them. He shoved open the landing door on the seventh floor. Brennan and the others piled out onto the floor looking left and right but not seeing him.
"Split up!" Brennan ordered and he and Shal went right while Lexa and Jesse went left. "At the end of the hall split again, look every where. We can't lose him again." Brennan called back to him. At the end of their hallway, Shal went left and Brennan went right. "Be careful." He shouted to her as she ran along.
"You too baby." She called back then disappeared up the flight of stairs leading to the roof. Shalimar crept out onto the gravel and pavement rooftop cautiously. She heard heavy footfalls on the gravel somewhere ahead of her and to the left. She brought the COM ring to her lips and whispered into it as quietly as she could. "Brennan, he's on the roof. I'm going after him."
"No!" Brennan's voice sounded in her ear. "Shal, no! It's too dangerous!" But Shalimar ignored him and followed the footsteps of the fleeing fugitive. She crept around another corner and slunk over to the railing. Her eyes glowed yellow as she felt a presence behind her. She whirled around and froze. There he was. Shane, with a small handgun pointed straight at her. His cold blue eyes met hers, now fading from yellow back to their normal green.
"So you're the one Brennan's so in love with. Made a pretty close match last night, huh, baby?" Shane grinned.
"Don't ever call me that you sick bastard." Shalimar growled, yellow-gold eyes flashing angrily.
"You're quite the hottie for a freak." He continued, as though he hadn't even heard her. "It'd break Brennan's heart if you died. I would've loved to have seen his reaction this morning when he saw the news. Did he have a complete mental breakdown? Or what?" Shalimar glared at him silently. "That's alright baby, I can see his reaction when I really do kill you. The real thing is always more fun anyways. Now let's see how well a gun works at killing a feral freak like yourself." He cocked the gun and pointed it straight at her. "This is for you, Traitor."
Brennan heard the first shot fired as he reached the top of the stairs. 'Oh God, no!' He thought to himself, terror fogging his mind. "Shalimar!" He shouted into the COM ring. He heard the second shot a few moments later and followed the noise, fear clenching tightly around his heart. He rounded the corner and saw Shalimar sort-of standing only a few feet away from Shane. She had her hand on her left side and blood flowed from between her fingers and down her pant leg. Another bullet wound in her arm bled heavily. Brennan was surprised she was still conscious, let alone standing. Shane cocked the gun again and fired.
"NO!" Brennan screamed, throwing a bolt of electricity at Shane and shoving Shalimar out of the bullet's path at the same time. Blood spilled from a wound in his shoulder but he steeled himself against the pain, covering the bloody hole with his leather jacket before kneeling over Shalimar. She fought for breath, her face contorted in pain. "Shal?" Brennan choked out, tears pricking the corners of his eyes.
"Bren-nan," Shalimar gasped, her eyes meeting his. Brennan grasped her hand in his.
"Shh, don't try to talk. Save your strength," he said. Shalimar's body quaked in his arms, blood covering his hands as he tried to slow the bleeding. "You can't leave me, Shal. I can't lose you. You mean everything to me. I love you." He whispered, kissing her forehead gently.
"I don't b-blame you," Shalimar gasped. "I-love-you."
"Shh, baby, don't move. I'm right here. I'm not gonna leave you." His voice caught in his throat and he kissed her again. He turned to his COM ring. "Jesse, Lexa," he choked into the ring. "Call an ambulance and get to the rooftop. Shalimar's been shot."
"Oh God, is she okay?" Jesse asked.
"No," Brennan sobbed, clasping her hand tighter as Shalimar's eyes fought to stay open. Finally she lost that battle and her eyelids flickered shut. Her breathing was ragged. "Hold on baby." He whispered.
"We'll take her back to Sanctuary; let the computer in the med lab heal her." Jesse said.
"No, we can't risk transporting her. She could die." Brennan said hoarsely. There was a pause on Jesse's end.
"Okay, we'll call the ambulance."
TO BE CONTINUED...
A/N: Remember people: FIVE REVIEWS!!! Please...pretty please... ::sad-puppy-dog eyes:: Saph