Darkness Falling
Chapter 18
Day Zero.
8:00 am.
Jesse woke up with Lexa still in his arms. He felt a twinge of guilt for having drugged her the night before, but it had been necessary. She would have found a way to sneak out on the mission, and he knew that she would have done it. He still worried that she would wake up, angry at him for drugging her and upset that she was not on the mission. He had been careful with the dosage, enough to keep her out for twelve hours, but not enough to cause her any damage. Sedatives were always tricky. He gently kissed the top of her head, and then slipped out of bed. He tucked the blankets tightly around her, dressed, and headed to the computers so he could be ready for the mission.
9:30 am.
Shalimar woke up, in Brennan's arms as the sun streamed in through the window. Her thoughts went back to the night before. Their first night as husband and wife. Somehow, all the times they had made love over the years were shallow compared to the depth of love and passion they had reached as they had consummated their marriage.
She twisted the ring that was on her finger. She could hardly wait to go back to Sanctuary and tell Jesse and Lexa about the marriage. Then there was the fact that Adam would be back with them. Once she had worked through all of her pain and confusion she had to admit that she did love the man who had been a father figure to her for so many years. She could only hope that the others would be as willing to forgive him as she was.
11:30 am.
Shalimar and Brennan walked into the computer lab of New Sanctuary and found Jesse working at the computer.
Jesse looked up when he heard them and then briskly began to get things together. "Lexa is still asleep thanks to the sedative I gave her this last night or this morning, what ever you want to call it. I hated doing it, but didn't want to take any chances. You guys need to hurry up and get out of here because I don't want there to be any chance of her waking up early and slipping out with you. I'll be monitoring things from here, but there shouldn't be any trouble. Call me before you come back in of anything goes wrong." He took a deep breath. "I want you guys back here with in twenty minutes of getting Adam. Lexa's last treatment could give out by tonight so we don't have time to delay."
Shalimar gently hugged Jesse. "She'll be alright. We'll be back as quickly as we can."
Jesse nodded and chocked back his tears. "Let's get this over with."
12:45 pm.
Lexa walked over to where Jesse was, half angry and half amused. "You drugged me? You drugged me!"
Jesse turned to her and pulled her into his arms. "Only way I could be sure that you wouldn't slip out with Bren and Shal." he cupped her face in his hands and softly kissed her. "I love you and I don't want anything to happen to you. If we are going to get to the point where we are living a half normal life and have kids of our own to take care of I'm going to have to have you alive. Sending you out on that mission would be writing your death."
"Alright." Lexa agreed. "I love you, and I'm proud of you." she sat down in his lap and began to kiss him lightly, speaking one word at a time between kisses. "I'm proud you had the nerve to drug me. You are a very bad boy, Jess."
"You have no idea how bad." he whispered to her and then pulled her tight against him as he gave her a long slow kiss."
1:10 pm.
Brennan and Shalimar sat crouched behind a low brick wall as they waited. With every second that passed by they grew more anxious."
"Someone's coming." Shalimar whispered. She turned to her feral senses. "It's Adam. There are about three people a block away but I cant be sure about anything further."
"We'll get Adam and get out of here." Brennan whispered back.
They stood up and called to their former leader in unison. "Adam!"
Adam turned to face them and then hurried over to them. "We need to leave now. I cannot be certain, but I think someone followed me."
"Then let's go.' Brennan said and started toward the Helix. Just as they reached the door three men appeared. One was carrying a semi-automatic and opened fire.
The group rushed towards the Helix, Brennan pushed Adam in front of him and reached back to grab Shalimar's hand. Just as his fingers brushed against hers the world stopped. All he could feel was a sense of dread that he had not been able to do enough to save Shalimar.