NYPD 11th Precinct
New York, NY
Sunday, August 5, 2001
"Pet-zzini."
Sara ground her teeth together and pivoted on her heel to face the Vice Captain. Somehow a couple months ago Vice and Homicide had been somewhat merged and Bruno Dante was now as much her superior as Joe Siri.
At least professionally, she smirked to herself. The Blade on her wrist warmed in agreement.
"You don't look sick, Pet-zzini. You hung over yesterday or somethin'?"
Later it was hard to decide whether Jake saved Sara from answering or whether he had saved Dante from physical harm. How dare Dante insinuate that she would put alcohol above her job? She drank less than most of the other detectives, and never when it would interfere with work. And lately she hadn't been drinking at all. But god forbid Dante should ever find out the reason for that.
"I told you yesterday, Captain," Jake said. "Sara's sister Angel is really sick."
"That's right," Dante said in a tone that Sara supposed was meant to convey forgetfulness. The calculating look in his beady eyes ruined the effect. "She better now?"
"Some," Sara answered. "We think it's a flu of some kind. Her boyfriend is taking care of her today."
Sara shuddered when Dante got a disappointed look on his face. "Anyone I know?"
He lifted his coffee mug to take a sip and Sara tried to figure out a way to drop something disgusting in the mug. Preferably something slowly and painfully lethal.
"You may have met him," Jake answered for her. "He's Kenneth Irons' bodyguard."
Evidently this news caused some of Dante's coffee to go down the wrong pipe, because his eyes watered and he started coughing violently. Sara bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing as Jake thumped ineffectually on the other man's back a few time. Dante waved Jake away and gained control of his breathing.
Too bad, Sara thought as the dark man walked to his office.
On the way, she could hear him wheezing, muttering something under his breath about a "sweet young thing" and a "psychotic freak". Sara felt bad for a moment when she realized that Dante's thoughts were similar to what hers had been. But, at least she had been somewhat open-minded and had given Nottingham a chance to change her mind, with a little help from the Witchblade of course. Jake asked her a question about one of their pending cases and Sara turned her attention to work.
An hour later, just as she and Jake were about to head out on an information gathering trek, her cell phone rang.
"Pezzini."
"Hi, Mom."
Sara smiled. "Hey, hon." Jake looked at her with a frown, which disappeared when she continued talking. "Feeling any better?"
"Some," Lilianna answered. "I was a bit queasy earlier this morning, but it passed. Nottingham's been in and out all morning, checking on me every time he gets a spare minute."
Sara laughed lightly, even though she understood Nottingham's concern. No need to burden Lilianna with the thought that maybe her illness was only a sign of what was to come.
Lilianna continued, "So I thought we could go ahead and give the shopping trip a try. Nottingham thinks it's not a good idea for you to keep showing up at the loft though, so I thought we could meet at your old apartment and go from there."
"Okay," Sara responded. "I get off work at three, so I'll meet you there around three thirty."
"Alright, Mom. I'll see you then."
Sara said goodbye and hung up the phone.
"I take it Angel is doing better and your trip to get dresses is still on?" Jake asked as they made their way out of the station.
"Way to use those detective skills, rookie," Sara teased.
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Nottingham's Loft
New York, NY
Monday, August 6, 2001
morning
"You do know you're a cat, right?"
Lilianna and Nottingham were in the shower, both staring down at Bast, who was sitting directly under the spray of warm water, purring. Lilianna laughed when the kitten chirped in answer to her question. The mangy cat loved water like a dog and made sounds like a bird. Bast was definitely one confused feline.
Gently scooting the kitten to one side with his foot, Nottingham stepped under the spray to rinse off. He had to leave in ten minutes to guard Irons during a news conference. Lilianna was still a little weak from being sick, but she had insisted that she felt well enough to be left alone for the day. Sara was at work again and Nottingham did not think Irons would give him a sick day to stay home with Lilianna. Not without some serious torture afterward, and he knew that thinking she was the cause would hurt Lilianna more than the punishment would hurt him. When he got out, toweled off and left the bathroom, Bast followed him. A few minutes later Lilianna emerged and stood on tiptoe to kiss him good-bye on his cheek.
At the last second, he turned his head so that she kissed his mouth instead. Smiling against his lips, she took advantage of the redirected target to kiss him deeply, distracting both of them from the fact that he had to leave. The Witchblades hummed and they reluctantly pulled away from each other.
"Be careful," she ordered, her voice a whisper.
Nottingham went down on one knee at her feet and brushed his lips across the knuckles of her left hand. With her fingers still clasped within his, he looked up at her and vowed, "Anything for you."
He turned to leave, but she caught his sleeve.
With a slightly worried expression on her face, she asked, "You do know that I would do anything for you as well, don't you?"
He smiled at her. "Of course I do, even if I don't deserve it. Now rest, I have to go."
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From the balcony, Lilianna watched Nottingham leave the building. Glancing up at her from more than fifteen floors below, he motioned for her to go back inside before climbing into the car that had been left at the curb by another of Irons' bodyguards earlier that morning. Turning around to do as he had indicated Lilianna threw her arms out to the sides to steady herself when the world began to tilt. When the vertigo stopped, she moved inside slowly, taking her time pulling on sweats and thick socks. Brushing her hair took a lot more energy than it usually did, and when the silken, damp mass was finally tangle free Lilianna pulled it back into a quick but tidy braid.
When she felt dizzy again as she tried to stand, Lilianna gave up trying to push herself into doing something and lay back on her husband's side of the bed. Maybe she just needed a nap to get her energy back. Even though she hadn't eaten anything since the day before, she wasn't hungry. Lilianna closed her eyes, letting Nottingham's clean, masculine scent envelop her senses like a cocoon.
"Lilianna."
The voice was a woman's, soft, slightly husky, and somehow familiar. Lilianna opened her eyes and sat up, relieved and surprised not to feel dizziness or nausea. She looked at the woman who was now her Guardian. Her eyes widened and she gasped. She had only ever seen Miss Parker on DSAs before, but this couldn't be her, she was still alive. Then she remembered what everyone connected to the Centre always said to Miss Parker the first time they met her. You look just like your mother. Catherine Parker was her ghostly companion. This was going to be interesting.
"May I call you Lily as my son does?"
"Your ... son?" Lilianna squeaked. Interesting, it seemed, did not even begin to cover it.
Catherine smiled, "Yes, my son. Christian was born when Elaine and Angelo were three. I toured Europe for a year to hide my pregnancy from Mr. Parker. But Christian was taken from me before he was a full day old."
"Irons seems to like taking children from their mothers right away," Lilianna said softly, thinking of the events surrounding her own birth. "But, who is his father?"
A brief flash of pain filled the blue eyes that were icy in color but, Lilianna knew from stories Jarod had told her, never in temperature, and she was almost sorry she had asked. Catherine had experienced more than her share of pain in life, but so had Christian, as she would now think of him, and he deserved to know his past.
"I met Jonathan Nottingham when he was only nineteen years old. I never got to know much about him, but we did love each other. He died in a car accident about three weeks after I got pregnant. I never figured out whether he was killed by Irons or Mr. Parker."
"So, his last name really is Nottingham, and Irons shortened 'Christian' to 'Ian'?"
Catherine nodded. Another smile lit her face. "I have some good news."
"Oh? Do you know how to stop Glory?"
"No, this news is of a more personal nature."
Lilianna waited, not having a single idea as to what it could possibly be. Catherine's smile grew even happier, and she announced, "I'm going to be a grandmother."
Lilianna's mouth dropped open slightly. She hadn't expected that. Angelo and Ethan didn't have any children that she knew of, and Elaine wouldn't be with Jarod for another few years. Was there another sibling that she didn't know about? "Who's having a baby?"
Catherine's smile softened, "You."
The Stone of the Blade flashed brilliantly, and it showed her the two precious lives growing inside her. She and Christian were having twins! A little boy and a little girl. She couldn't wait to tell him. Reality prodded her. How was she going to tell him if she and the children were going to reach their expiration date in a little over two weeks? It might destroy him. She put her hand over her still flat stomach. Somehow, she had to find a way for her two babies to live.
Catherine saw the pain and worry flicker across Lilianna's face and told her softly, "Don't worry, Lily. Your life and the lives inside you will be full length ones."
"How? No, forget how, that doesn't matter anymore. When? Will I be sent back to the future? Will Christian ever see his children? What's going to happen to all of us?"
"I don't know, dear, THEY only told me to tell you that. THEY keep me in the dark more than I like, but at least you know you and the babies will live."
Lilianna swallowed back the urge to cry and nodded. Catherine vanished a moment later, and Lilianna wrapped her arms around her knees. Then her inner strength, the strength she had thought abandoned her when she came to this time, returned. She stood, shaking off her melancholy. Perhaps it was time she paid Gabriel Bowman a visit. He had always been able to help her mother with strange problems. This, as well as everything else in her life, certainly qualified.