A/N: Enjoy!
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Sara watched Laney closely as she pulled her long red curls back in a braid, her arms and back agled so the swell of her growing belly was quite noticable.
"What will you do when you have the baby?" Sara asked quietly as she looked up at the sky.
"Once she is born I will go into hiding. Her life is more important than hunting." Laney bound the end of her hair with a thin back ribbon.
"Her?" Sara smiled, "You're having a girl?"
"Yea." Laney beemed as she let her gaze travel over a very tired looking Sara and abruptly changed the subject, "Did you sleep at all?"
"Not really." Sara confessed, "My mind wouldn't slow down- not after Nicholas."
"What were you thinking about?"
"Nothing, really." Sara didn't look Laney in the eye as she lied and instead opted to watch the traffic on the far side of the park.
"Nothing?" Laney asked, a laugh in her voice, "I didn't think you the type of person to loose sleep over nothing." Laney moved to sit on the gorund and Sara automaticly moved to help her, "I'm fine. Those benches hurt after awhile. Not to mention it's a rarety for me to find any time to just sit in the grass."
"At times I wish none of this had ever happened." Sara sighed holding out her wrist to show Laney what she ment.
"None of it?" Laney asked, eyebrow raised, "Without that, my dear, you, Gabriel, and your friend there in the black," Laney nodded to Sara's left and the detective turned to see Ian walking towards them, "You all would be dead, and if not, then none of you would have met. You never would have had the chance to love Gabriel, or befriend your protector."
"I see I am too late to tell you of the Hunters." Ian said with what ressembled a grin.
"By only a few hours, I assure you, Mr. Nottingham." Laney smiled and the tugged on Sara's arm, "Look, our breakfast has arrived."
Gabriel and Alex were aproaching from the right, both men looking stressed. Sara jumped to her feet and took two of the tottering coffees from Alex as Gabriel frowned.
"Oh, sure, help him but leave me juggling the food." he mumbled and Laney laughed as Ian stepped forward to help.
"So the portector has arrived, just as you said he would." Alex leaned down and kissed Laney before handing her one of the large cups.
"Caffine isn't good for a developing baby." Gabriel pointed out as he sipped his own coffee.
"It's a chocolate shake." Laney said happily as she took the top off and Alex dug out a spoon for her, "These are another rarety." she smiled, taking her first mouthfull.
"Did you guys have any trouble?" Sara asked as Gabriel landed, rather than sat, next to her on the ground.
"None at all." he smiled and handed her a bagel, "We were thinking it's due to the fact that they still think we're in the building."
"How did you get past them?" Ian asked as he looked from the pregnant woman to the clumsy oddities dealer.
"You are not the only one with tricks." Sara said as she held out her hand and Laney took it.
The assassin, though he had seen much in his days, took a step back as the two woman shifted before his eyes and the next second he was looking down at a teenaged girl where Laney had sat and a 6 year old girl where Sara had been moments before.
"It's just an illusion." Laney's voice was saying but the mouth of the teenager didn't move, "If you were to reach out to where Sara's head was you'd be able to feel her still there."
"Is that how you got out last night?" Ian asked quietly as Laney and Sara returned to their places and the two girls were gone.
"You heard about that?" Gabriel asked, nearly choking on his bagel.
"Of course." Ian replied calmly, "I have many ways of learning what i want to know."
"We wouldn't have gotten out if Laney hadn't been on her way to check in with the others." Alex said as he laid a hand the redhead's shoulder, "I got these two out and then we found a place to stay."
"Found?"
"We were blind-folded till we were in the room where we stayed the night." Gabriel said with slight annoyence.
"I see." Ian nodded taking all that in, "It certainly explains why I couldn't locate you."
*****************
"Everything is taken care of." Laney said quietly as she walked a step or two ahead of the Wielder, "Dante has you out for a long needed vacation and no one, not even him will question you about it."
"How is that? I mean, I can't exactly picture the Captain being so nice about this- or anything for that matter." Sara spat as they continued on their way to Talismaniac.
"I can be very convincing when the need arises." Laney smiled and waved her hand to give Sara the idea that Dante had had a little help in letting Sara go on vacation.
"T ell me again why we are returning to the building they have been watching." Sara said as Laney took her hand, trying not to loose her in the crowd, and inducing the illusion again.
"Because they found us gone this morning." Laney said quietly trying to keep from walking into anyone, "They will think we have made a run for it and while they are looking elsewhere, we will retuen to the only place we have for the time being."
****************
"I'm still not sure that splitting up was such a good idea." Gabriel said for the third time as he practicly had to run to keep up with Alex and Ian.
"Laney is perfectly capable of defending Sara should she need to." Alex said distractedly as he watched the people around them.
"I know." Gabriel admitted, "I'm just worried about Sara is all."
"Do you think I don't worry for Laney?" Alex asked, looking at Gabriel for the first time since they had left the park.
"I didn't mean-" Gabriel could feel his face burn, he hadn't even thought of how this danger was effecting Alex and Laney."
"Risk is a part of the job when you're one of us." Alex said as he looked back to the street in front of them, "But children among Hunters is rare, too rare. We don't live long enough to even get married, and when we do live to see times of rest we are too worried about our loved one's lives to risk them with bonds of marriage." Alex motioned for Gabriel to follow as they began to cross the street, "Even with certain 'help', "Alex looked down at his hands and Gabriel realized he didn't want to use the word 'magic', "It's not likely that we will see our daughter grow up."
Gabriel dropped his gaze to the tar and could feel Ian looking his way.
*How will things be with Sara- in the future- will we be looking over our shoulders till the day we died?*
The next time he looked up, Gabriel found that Ian was no longer in front of him.
*******************
"Damn it!" Laney cursed as she retched at the smell of a resturaunt they passed.
"That didn't smell that bad, did it?" Sara asked a bit lost. The smell of cooked chicken always made her hungry.
"I haven't been able to even look at chicken, cooked or no, not since I became pregnant. The smell doesn't have as bad an effect as the sight, thank the Goddess."
Sara smiled but faultered when she saw Laney go stiff. Thinking the woman was going to vomit she placed a hand on her shoulder and opened her mouth to ask what was wrong when Laney hissed, "Don't you feel it?!"
*Feel what?* Sara wondered as she strained to notice anything in the mass of people that seemed wrong.
Then she felt it, the dizziness that had over come her everytime before the voices and shadows kicked in.
"Taxi!" Laney yelled, "Damn it! I need a Taxi, now!"
"I think I'm going to puke." Sara felt her body go cold as her face felt on fire.
"Ow!" Laney gasped as she clutched her stomack, "Not funny." she growled, eyes searching the crowd around them.
The rush of 5 o'clock was suddenly working against them, instead of hiding them from foes it was hiding the foes from them.
"Ow!" Laney fell to her knees as a breeze began to pick up force around them.
"Jason?" Sara called, seeing that no one was even glancing at them, "Where are you?" she could feel her rage from the past few days mounting and the sight of a pregnant woman being hurt didn't help to calm her any.
"He knows it's you." Laney said, drawing Sara attention back to her as the wind blew Sara's hair into her eyes, "If he didn't he would be here."
Fighting the dizziness that threatened to have her join Laney on the pavement, Sara let the Blade loose.
*Laney has their minds elsewhere.* Sara thought when no one turned to look at the woman with the three foot sword in the middle of New York.
Turning slowly so as to keep her feet beneath her, Sara searched for the man who had come to visit her in her own office.
A movement, blurred by the spinning world, caught the Wielder's attention and she turned to see Jason in front of Laney, a blade held to her throat.
"I'll only come back to kill you in the next life." Laney growled, her hands over her baby.
"Not if we end it all before the next life." Jason smiled then looked to Sara, "Where's the Guide?"
"Safe." Sara found herself saying as a shadow to her right nearly dragged her eyes away from the blonde man before her.
Nearly.
"Let her go." Sara took a step towards the two and watched in horror as Jason lowered the dagger, in a motion too quick to actualy catch, to Laney's stomack.
The next thing Sara knew was there was blood on her hands and Jason's face held a note of surprise as he fell to the tar, two blades, one belonging to Sara, imbedded deep into his heart.
*Or where the heart would be if he had one.* Sara found herself thinking as she looking down at Laney who was bleeding from her right arm and a scratch on her nose, but holding Jason's own knife and what horribly looked to be the man's left hand.
"Well done." Came a voice next to Sara and she turned to see Ian standing beside her, "Are you alright?" he asked as the blade retracted.
"Yea. Check Laney." Sara swallowed as she watched Laney, with a wave of her hand move Jason's body to a dumpster in the alley he seemed to have come from moments before.
*Ian was the shadow I saw.* Sara sighed, trying to rid her body of the swaying motion in her stomack.
Laney waved a hand at Ian before he could ask her anything and held out Jason's hand to him, "Do me a favore and see that this gets dropped in the nearest river. He'll be back but he won't be whole, nor will he be a south paw(left handed) anymore."
Ian just looked down at her for a second untill she pleaded, "Take it before I puke."
Seconds after the hand was tucked into a pocket in Ian's jacket and Laney was wearing Sara's, a few people glanced at Sara before hurrying on their way.
******************
A/N: A long one to make up for my absense. ^_^
Like? No like? Please review.
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Sara watched Laney closely as she pulled her long red curls back in a braid, her arms and back agled so the swell of her growing belly was quite noticable.
"What will you do when you have the baby?" Sara asked quietly as she looked up at the sky.
"Once she is born I will go into hiding. Her life is more important than hunting." Laney bound the end of her hair with a thin back ribbon.
"Her?" Sara smiled, "You're having a girl?"
"Yea." Laney beemed as she let her gaze travel over a very tired looking Sara and abruptly changed the subject, "Did you sleep at all?"
"Not really." Sara confessed, "My mind wouldn't slow down- not after Nicholas."
"What were you thinking about?"
"Nothing, really." Sara didn't look Laney in the eye as she lied and instead opted to watch the traffic on the far side of the park.
"Nothing?" Laney asked, a laugh in her voice, "I didn't think you the type of person to loose sleep over nothing." Laney moved to sit on the gorund and Sara automaticly moved to help her, "I'm fine. Those benches hurt after awhile. Not to mention it's a rarety for me to find any time to just sit in the grass."
"At times I wish none of this had ever happened." Sara sighed holding out her wrist to show Laney what she ment.
"None of it?" Laney asked, eyebrow raised, "Without that, my dear, you, Gabriel, and your friend there in the black," Laney nodded to Sara's left and the detective turned to see Ian walking towards them, "You all would be dead, and if not, then none of you would have met. You never would have had the chance to love Gabriel, or befriend your protector."
"I see I am too late to tell you of the Hunters." Ian said with what ressembled a grin.
"By only a few hours, I assure you, Mr. Nottingham." Laney smiled and the tugged on Sara's arm, "Look, our breakfast has arrived."
Gabriel and Alex were aproaching from the right, both men looking stressed. Sara jumped to her feet and took two of the tottering coffees from Alex as Gabriel frowned.
"Oh, sure, help him but leave me juggling the food." he mumbled and Laney laughed as Ian stepped forward to help.
"So the portector has arrived, just as you said he would." Alex leaned down and kissed Laney before handing her one of the large cups.
"Caffine isn't good for a developing baby." Gabriel pointed out as he sipped his own coffee.
"It's a chocolate shake." Laney said happily as she took the top off and Alex dug out a spoon for her, "These are another rarety." she smiled, taking her first mouthfull.
"Did you guys have any trouble?" Sara asked as Gabriel landed, rather than sat, next to her on the ground.
"None at all." he smiled and handed her a bagel, "We were thinking it's due to the fact that they still think we're in the building."
"How did you get past them?" Ian asked as he looked from the pregnant woman to the clumsy oddities dealer.
"You are not the only one with tricks." Sara said as she held out her hand and Laney took it.
The assassin, though he had seen much in his days, took a step back as the two woman shifted before his eyes and the next second he was looking down at a teenaged girl where Laney had sat and a 6 year old girl where Sara had been moments before.
"It's just an illusion." Laney's voice was saying but the mouth of the teenager didn't move, "If you were to reach out to where Sara's head was you'd be able to feel her still there."
"Is that how you got out last night?" Ian asked quietly as Laney and Sara returned to their places and the two girls were gone.
"You heard about that?" Gabriel asked, nearly choking on his bagel.
"Of course." Ian replied calmly, "I have many ways of learning what i want to know."
"We wouldn't have gotten out if Laney hadn't been on her way to check in with the others." Alex said as he laid a hand the redhead's shoulder, "I got these two out and then we found a place to stay."
"Found?"
"We were blind-folded till we were in the room where we stayed the night." Gabriel said with slight annoyence.
"I see." Ian nodded taking all that in, "It certainly explains why I couldn't locate you."
*****************
"Everything is taken care of." Laney said quietly as she walked a step or two ahead of the Wielder, "Dante has you out for a long needed vacation and no one, not even him will question you about it."
"How is that? I mean, I can't exactly picture the Captain being so nice about this- or anything for that matter." Sara spat as they continued on their way to Talismaniac.
"I can be very convincing when the need arises." Laney smiled and waved her hand to give Sara the idea that Dante had had a little help in letting Sara go on vacation.
"T ell me again why we are returning to the building they have been watching." Sara said as Laney took her hand, trying not to loose her in the crowd, and inducing the illusion again.
"Because they found us gone this morning." Laney said quietly trying to keep from walking into anyone, "They will think we have made a run for it and while they are looking elsewhere, we will retuen to the only place we have for the time being."
****************
"I'm still not sure that splitting up was such a good idea." Gabriel said for the third time as he practicly had to run to keep up with Alex and Ian.
"Laney is perfectly capable of defending Sara should she need to." Alex said distractedly as he watched the people around them.
"I know." Gabriel admitted, "I'm just worried about Sara is all."
"Do you think I don't worry for Laney?" Alex asked, looking at Gabriel for the first time since they had left the park.
"I didn't mean-" Gabriel could feel his face burn, he hadn't even thought of how this danger was effecting Alex and Laney."
"Risk is a part of the job when you're one of us." Alex said as he looked back to the street in front of them, "But children among Hunters is rare, too rare. We don't live long enough to even get married, and when we do live to see times of rest we are too worried about our loved one's lives to risk them with bonds of marriage." Alex motioned for Gabriel to follow as they began to cross the street, "Even with certain 'help', "Alex looked down at his hands and Gabriel realized he didn't want to use the word 'magic', "It's not likely that we will see our daughter grow up."
Gabriel dropped his gaze to the tar and could feel Ian looking his way.
*How will things be with Sara- in the future- will we be looking over our shoulders till the day we died?*
The next time he looked up, Gabriel found that Ian was no longer in front of him.
*******************
"Damn it!" Laney cursed as she retched at the smell of a resturaunt they passed.
"That didn't smell that bad, did it?" Sara asked a bit lost. The smell of cooked chicken always made her hungry.
"I haven't been able to even look at chicken, cooked or no, not since I became pregnant. The smell doesn't have as bad an effect as the sight, thank the Goddess."
Sara smiled but faultered when she saw Laney go stiff. Thinking the woman was going to vomit she placed a hand on her shoulder and opened her mouth to ask what was wrong when Laney hissed, "Don't you feel it?!"
*Feel what?* Sara wondered as she strained to notice anything in the mass of people that seemed wrong.
Then she felt it, the dizziness that had over come her everytime before the voices and shadows kicked in.
"Taxi!" Laney yelled, "Damn it! I need a Taxi, now!"
"I think I'm going to puke." Sara felt her body go cold as her face felt on fire.
"Ow!" Laney gasped as she clutched her stomack, "Not funny." she growled, eyes searching the crowd around them.
The rush of 5 o'clock was suddenly working against them, instead of hiding them from foes it was hiding the foes from them.
"Ow!" Laney fell to her knees as a breeze began to pick up force around them.
"Jason?" Sara called, seeing that no one was even glancing at them, "Where are you?" she could feel her rage from the past few days mounting and the sight of a pregnant woman being hurt didn't help to calm her any.
"He knows it's you." Laney said, drawing Sara attention back to her as the wind blew Sara's hair into her eyes, "If he didn't he would be here."
Fighting the dizziness that threatened to have her join Laney on the pavement, Sara let the Blade loose.
*Laney has their minds elsewhere.* Sara thought when no one turned to look at the woman with the three foot sword in the middle of New York.
Turning slowly so as to keep her feet beneath her, Sara searched for the man who had come to visit her in her own office.
A movement, blurred by the spinning world, caught the Wielder's attention and she turned to see Jason in front of Laney, a blade held to her throat.
"I'll only come back to kill you in the next life." Laney growled, her hands over her baby.
"Not if we end it all before the next life." Jason smiled then looked to Sara, "Where's the Guide?"
"Safe." Sara found herself saying as a shadow to her right nearly dragged her eyes away from the blonde man before her.
Nearly.
"Let her go." Sara took a step towards the two and watched in horror as Jason lowered the dagger, in a motion too quick to actualy catch, to Laney's stomack.
The next thing Sara knew was there was blood on her hands and Jason's face held a note of surprise as he fell to the tar, two blades, one belonging to Sara, imbedded deep into his heart.
*Or where the heart would be if he had one.* Sara found herself thinking as she looking down at Laney who was bleeding from her right arm and a scratch on her nose, but holding Jason's own knife and what horribly looked to be the man's left hand.
"Well done." Came a voice next to Sara and she turned to see Ian standing beside her, "Are you alright?" he asked as the blade retracted.
"Yea. Check Laney." Sara swallowed as she watched Laney, with a wave of her hand move Jason's body to a dumpster in the alley he seemed to have come from moments before.
*Ian was the shadow I saw.* Sara sighed, trying to rid her body of the swaying motion in her stomack.
Laney waved a hand at Ian before he could ask her anything and held out Jason's hand to him, "Do me a favore and see that this gets dropped in the nearest river. He'll be back but he won't be whole, nor will he be a south paw(left handed) anymore."
Ian just looked down at her for a second untill she pleaded, "Take it before I puke."
Seconds after the hand was tucked into a pocket in Ian's jacket and Laney was wearing Sara's, a few people glanced at Sara before hurrying on their way.
******************
A/N: A long one to make up for my absense. ^_^
Like? No like? Please review.
