Sarah Moore looked up as a nurse entered the room.

"When will he be able to leave?"

"We'll have to keep him a day or two for observation once he wakes up…it was very fortunate that you brought in your husband when you did, Mrs. Sands—he lost a lot of blood," the nurse answered as she checked his vitals.

"Yes he did, didn't he?"

"Have the police found out who did this yet?" the nurse continued.

"No, they're still looking…" Sarah responded with a small smile.

The nurse made sympathetic noises as she left the room.

"It's time to wake up now, Blair," Sarah whispered to the still form on the bed, "it's time for us to leave here so you can make me better."

He slowly opened his eyes and blinked them into focus. A woman with long dark hair was leaning over his bed. His forehead wrinkled in confusion and then he remembered. His eyes widened and his mouth opened as if to scream.

"Shhhhh…none of that now," said the woman putting her finger to her lips, "we're going to leave here and you're to behave while we do."

She then pulled out a knife, "If you don't I'll have to hurt you again."

That said she unhooked the I.V. and helped him out of the bed.

Blair found that he was too exhausted to do anything but comply.
-------------------------------------------

Simon Banks slammed the phone down with a muttered oath. No leads yet and they had also been unable to find a connection between Sandburg and Sarah Moore. And time was running out. If Sandburg was not found soon he feared that Ellison would be too far into a zone to be reached. The phone rang and he answered it praying for good news…
----------------------------------------------

Sweat poured off Blair's brow as he was settled into the bed. They were in a hotel room, but where it was located he wasn't sure. He had passed out a few times on the way over and now he thankfully succumbed to the exhaustion that was sweeping over him. When he finally awoke he saw that she was watching him intently.

"She didn't want your help," the woman began, "but I do…I want you to help me, to make me better."

Blair looked up at her in confusion, "What?"

"I heard you talking to her," she continued, "you said that you could help her if she let you—but she didn't want your help…she didn't want it, but I do..."

Her voice trailed off and her gaze wondered around the room and Blair struggled to comprehend what she was telling him. Then her gaze went to him again and her eyes became glazed as she continued in a faraway voice, "Blood…I can hear it pump, pump, pumping away…it calls to me as it rushes through your veins…mocking me…" She glared at him then and her voice took on a decidedly maniac edge to it as she told him, "You will save me…you were going to save her…"

"Who, who was I going to save?" Blair asked confused.

"Alex, Alex Barnes…you told her—I heard you!"

She started to pace the room as she continued, "you came to visit her all the time…you would sit by her and tell her that you could help her if she let you…you told her to listen to your heartbeat—to follow it back so that she could get better…"

Blair stared at her as her voice picked up speed.

"I listened…I listened to it every time you came…I listened but I didn't get better…then I realized it wasn't your heart that would make me better—it was the blood flowing through it…the blood calling to me…"

She whirled around to face him and the anger melted from her face as she smiled at him and slowly walked toward the bed. It was then that he saw the knife glittering in her hand.
---------------------------------

They had finally gotten a lead. A woman matching Sarah Moore's description had checked into a hotel on the outskirts of Cascade. As the police cars took off to that location, Simon Banks prayed that they would get there in time…

Blair's eyes widened as he struggled against the restraints binding him to the bed.

"We're going to do this right this time," the woman began, "I got a little too excited at the cabin…" She looked at him intently as she said in a serious tone, "It has to be done right or it won't work."

"Please, I'll try to help you—but not this way," Blair implored.

"Shhhh…," she said putting her finger to her lips, "no talking now."

She pulled a bandana out of her pocket and gagged him with it.

"There now," she said in a satisfied voice, "now we can start."

With her knife she gently caressed his chest just above the heart, drawing a thin line of blood.

"Little drops of blood…just drip, drip, dripping away…" she said in a faraway voice as she stared it.

She blinked and shook her head with a frown, "not enough…not nearly enough to get better…"

She was bringing the knife again to his chest when the door was suddenly kicked in.

She quickly whirled around, the knife in her hand raised and dripping with blood.

"Freeze, Cascade police!" a voice yelled as a group of officers stormed into the room, guns drawn.

"No…. get out, your going to ruin everything…" Sarah Moore responded, shaking her head.

One of the officers slowly approached her, "drop the weapon," he yelled.

Her eyes widened and the knife slowly dropped from her grasp and clattered to the floor.

As she was cuffed, she looked up at the officer with tears pooling in her eyes.

"He was going to make me better," she whispered, "he was going to make me better…"

Blair was taken to Cascade General and put into the same room with Jim. His injuries were mild considering what he had been through, but the doctors wanted him to stay a day or two for observation.

As soon as Blair saw Jim's condition, he quickly went to his side to try to bring him out the zone.

"Jim it's time to come back, big guy…" Blair said quietly as he gently rubbed his arm.

He continued to talk quietly to him for what seemed to him like hours when Jim's eyes slowly flickered opened.

"Chief?" he asked hoarsely.

Blair smiled, "Welcome back."

"I thought you were dead," Jim continued quietly, "there was so much blood…"

"Hey, it'll take more than loosing a little blood to get rid of me," Blair responded trying to lighten the mood.

"Good thing," Jim responded, tightening his grip on Blair's hand.

"Yeah," said Blair, "I'm just glad it's all over…"
------

At the mental institution for the criminally insane, Sarah Moore huddled in a corner of her room rocking back and forth.

She mumbled, her eyes glazed as she stared at the wall," drops of blood…little drops of blood…drip, drip, drip…going to make me better…"

THE END

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