Chapter 14: Confessions and Coffee
Ian had found it difficult to stay away from Sara during the night. She was still weak, and really had no business being alone. It bothered Nottingham that he could not stay with her every moment, but he had other duties to attend to. Said business including a meeting that he would dearly love to put off. Irons was going to bring up that tape again, and Ian was going to have to tell him something. He just didn't know what.
Not the truth, that was for certain. Irons would blow a gasket if he found out that Ian had given the tape to McCarty. He had already been forbidden from telling Pezzini that her partner was FBI. Kenneth wanted Sara to feel that she had no one to turn to, other than himself, for help. Ian could only hope that McCarty would be smart enough to tell Pez the truth on his own.
At least young Bowman was visiting with her this morning. Their friendship had been as sudden as it was strange, but Gabriel was fiercely loyal to Sara for all that. Privately, Nottingham thought the Witchblade might have had a hand in that. He had first wondered if Bowman was another soul bound to the Gauntlet when he had refused to back off after being threatened. After all, Ian knew that Gabriel had been afraid of him that day.
The more Sara turned to Gabe for his esoteric knowledge, the more certain Ian became that the Witchblade had 'arranged' for the two of them to come together.
They were not friends, but Nottingham respected the younger man for his intelligence and fortitude. Perhaps he should speak to Bowman again, in a more congenial manner. After all, Sara did not have many friends. He should make more of an effort to get along with the few she had. He didn't want to make things any harder for Sara and himself than it was already going to be.
For all his archaic sensibilities, Nottingham was realistic enough to admit that they had hurdles enough already. No matter how you looked at it, they should not mix. Their careers were assassin and police officer. Their outlook on life was just as far apart, being poet and pragmatist, each carrying enough emotional baggage to ground a 747. That didn't even touch upon the supernatural elements of their relationship, or the battles that they would be called to fight, simply because of who they were. Yet he loved her, and hoped she was coming to love him in return.
Perhaps they were so opposite because together they were complete? It was an argument put forth by many a bard; and everyone knew that magnetically speaking, opposites attract and like repels. It had seemed little enough to pin his hopes on, but ever since Valentine's Day, that theory had seemed more and more substantial.
While holding that feeling tight to his heart; Ian made his way down the halls of Vorshlag Industries. The sooner he finished here, the sooner he could get back to his beloved's side.
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Sara had been up and down, pacing until she tired (which wasn't long), sitting until she couldn't stand it any more, and then went back to pacing again. Just when she was about to reach for the phone, there came a rapping at the door. It sounded like someone was kicking it lightly, as opposed to knocking.
An eye to the peephole showed a big brown eye looking back at her. Rolling her jade green ones, Sara opened the door. Honestly, that was such a kid thing. She stepped back to let Gabriel in, the smell of coffee and fresh donuts telling her why he had taken longer than she had expected to arrive.
Bowman was instantly forgiven for worrying her. In Sara's book, coffee would buy you a pardon for a great many lesser offenses, and a few major ones. "Thanks for coming so early, and for bringing coffee."
"Well I, for one, was not going to function without caffeine, and I didn't know if you would have any." Gabriel sat the bag of donuts and the cardboard carrier with the two cups of coffee on the kitchen bar.
"You are a godsend," Sara popped one of the cups out of the carrier and took a sip.
Her eyes closed in bliss. They wouldn't let her have coffee in the hospital, said it would mess up her blood sugar. Nottingham must have been listening in on that discussion, because he hadn't bought any when he went to the store. He'd even thrown the can she kept in the freezer away. Bastard.
"I'd always heard the way to a woman's heart was chocolate, but whatever works." Gabe grinned cheekily at Sara.
"Well, the way to a detective's heart is coffee." Sara chuckled as she cradled the hot paper cup.
"So I should be in good with the entire precinct with this in my backpack?" Bowman asked as he carefully set his pack on the table. The front compartment, which usually held nothing but extra disks and junk food, was bulging. Gabe zipped it open and pulled out a bag of 'The Roasterie' coffee beans.
"Oh definitely," Pez grinned as she scooped up the bag and headed to the kitchen. One of the few cooking implements she had, before Ian's little shopping trip, was a grinder.
While Sara was in the kitchen, Gabe set up his laptop. He connected it to his cell phone, since Pez did not have Internet access in her apartment. Bowman did not like to leave files on his computer, but had them archived on an encrypted, password protected, server. Once he had logged on, he began to open relevant files.
After several minutes of mysterious clanking noises, Sara came out of the kitchen area and sat down next to Gabriel. "Ok, next wave of caffeine is brewing, so what have you got for me?"
"Well, you already know that Ceto is the mother of monsters, among which are the three gorgons. Interestingly enough, of the three, only Medusa was mortal. Her two sisters cannot be slain, according to myth. What you might not know is that there has been some speculation that Medusa's ability to die means she can be resurrected under certain conditions."
"Actually, I knew that." Sara cut in, "And it's not speculation. The snakehead I fought was definitely Medusa. I am not worried about her as much as I am Ceto. This is the second dream she's invaded, and this time I wasn't wearing the Witchblade. In fact, she said that without the Witchblade's protections, I was an easy mark."
"Whoa there Pez, why don't you start from the beginning?" Bowman turned away from the monitor, giving the brunette his undivided attention.
"Ok, but this is gonna sound weird, and I don't understand half of it," Sara warned before beginning to relay the dream.
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A/N: My apologies for the long waits and short updates. The holiday season is upon us, and I am working like the Fairy Godmother's employees in Shrek 2, only I'm making jewelry, not potions. Anyway, it's gonna be sparse around here until after Christmas, I am sorry to say. Thank you for reviewing, and please continue to let me know what you all think. I suspect you are all wondering why Sara didn't ask Ian, and the truth is, Sara gets more straightforward and unfiltered answers from Gabe, and she knows it. I'm a little disapointed that she didn't think Ian would tell her everything, but...shrug... this IS Sara after all. She's not the most trusting of souls, and with good reason.