The mission van pulled up in front of the Mansion. They had been gone for five days and they were all eager to get back to their normal routines.

Edward was the first one through the door. He spotted Danielle immediately.

"What the Hell happened here?"

Michael came in right behind Edward, and his outburst made Cassian and then Kimberly hurry through the door. Cassian noticed the trail of blood on the marble floor.

"Edward don't…" Edward put his hands on Danielles shoulders and gently turned her around "touch her."

Cassians plead came too late. Edward lovingly caressed Danielle's cheek.

"Oh my God," he whispered.

Danielle was bleeding from her nose, ears, eyes and mouth. Her clothes were soaked in blood as well and her entire body was covered with soars and white blisters. Edward reached out and searched for a pulse. He found one, short and thready, but it was there.

Cassian had gotten masks and gloves for Kimberly, Michael and himself, and now he knelt down beside Edward.

"We have to get her down to the labs and run some tests."

"I know what it is."

Cassian stared at him.

"How?"

Edward checked Danielle's eyes for response. None.

"Because she looks exactly like my mother did before she died."

He took Danielle in his arms and carried her to the elevator where Cassian entered his code.

"I have to isolate you Edward. We don't know if you're right and if you're not you have been exposed to whatever Danielle has."

Edward stood next to a hospital bed in which Danielle was now lying.

"I know Cassian. I want to be here anyway."

Cassian nodded at Edward. He saw something in the eyes of the young virologist, something that he had never seen there before.

"What tests are you running?" Edward asked, adjusting the IV fluids.

"I asked Doctor Shiroma to do a test for IgM and IgG antibodies. And I'm going to do a virus isolation myself to make sure we've got all bases covered."

"What about Michael?"

"He's overseeing the temporary lockdown of the upstairs for now. We're sealing the upper floors until we know whether this thing is airborne or not."

Edward nodded.

"Sounds like you don't need me," he said sarcastically.

Cassian smirked as he left the observatory.

"Why, Doctor Marcase, I thought you were busy with a patient and shouldn't be disturbed."

Then Cassian was gone and Edward was alone with Danielle again.

He sat down beside the bed. Cassians joke had been welcome in an already dark atmosphere, but the remembrance of fun had faded as soon as he turned and looked at Danielle again. He took her hand in his. She looked so fragile, lying there, paler than the whiteness of the pillowcase.

Why?

That was the question that he asked himself over and over again. Before they had left, he had mentioned to Cassian that he thought the Dawn was following Danielle. Why would they do that? She had noticed the Mercedes around the same time she met Michael the first time in the club in Washington. Was it possible that the car hadn't been following Danielle, but Michael instead? And when they met she became of interest to them. Edward leaned back in his seat. Had he dragged Danielle into this? Was he responsible for her lying here, fighting death with what little strength she had left in her worn out body?

"Edward!"

He woke up abruptly at the sound of Cassians voice. He turned to see him standing in the upper observatory, looking down into the sealed lab. His voice had come through the COM link. For a second when he heard his voice, Edward had thought it had all been a bad dream. He hadn't been sitting here with Danielle, in isolation, not being able to do anything.

"What is it?" he said.

"We have the results of ELISA."

Edward waited:
"And?"

"And you were right."

An enlarged picture of the filovirus that Edward recognized as Ebola appeared on the projection screen in front of him.

"In fact, you were more right than you could possibly know."

"What do you mean?"

Edward got up and faced Cassian through the glass.

"I had Kimberly check out any similarities with the previous strains. It's Ebola Zaire."

"So?" Edward looked at him.

"It's the 1976 strain. It matches the Maryinga sample from Fort Detrick exactly."

He paused for a second.

"This is the exact same strain that killed your parents and infected you."

Edward sat down.

"How is that possible?"

Cassian shook his head.

"All I can think of is that someone broke into USAMRIID and stole a sample of the Maryinga strain. I just can't figure out how Danielle got infected."

"I can."

Michael had entered the observatory. He had a long square box in his hands.

"What is it?" Cassian said.

Michael held the box up so both Cassian and Edward down below could see the bottom of it. There was a small Dawn logo in the middle.

"Where did you get that?"

Cassian stared at Michael.

"In Danielle's bedroom. It contained roses. They were on the living room table."

Edward turned around and looked at Danielle. His eyes searched and found the Band-Aid on her finger.

"Roses have thorns," he mumbled:
"Don't touch the roses."

He turned to look up at Michael.

"Way ahead of you," he said:
"They're in bio containment already and Kimberly is checking them."

Edward sighed.

"That means Danielle got the virus directly into the bloodstream. I couldn't understand how she had gotten sick so fast before."

Kimberly entered the observatory. She looked more worried than any of them had ever seen her before.

"I have the initial results from the roses," she said:
"They're packed with virus." It almost looks like someone dipped them into Ebola."

She looked down on Edward.

"Danielle's tests are bad. As far as I can see, all we can do now is wait."

Edward shook his head.

"No, I want to try a transfusion."

"A transfusion?" Kimberly said:
"With what?"

"My blood," Edward answered and started preparing everything.

"You can't do that Edward," Kimberly said in a hard voice.

"Watch me," he replied, not even looking at her.

"Edward, there is no scientific proof that this works. Maybe if we produced some blood plasma we could try…"

"No Kimberly," Edward shouted:
"We have no time to make plasma. The transfusion will have to do."

"There's no guarantee it's going to work," Cassian cut in.

"I know. But I have to do something."

Cassian nodded.

"I understand. If you wait a minute, I'll suit up and give you a hand."

He left the observatory.

"You can't transfuse contra bloodtype," Kimberly uttered.

Edward finally looked up at her.

"Don't you think I checked? We're both type O."

Kimberly looked at Michael then back at Edward.

"I'll be in the lab working on the analysis," she said and left.

Michael looked down at Edward. He hadn't even noticed Kimberly was gone. He was busy preparing himself for giving blood while waiting for Cassian.

When Daniel Cassian had tapped as much of Edwards' blood as he dared, he helped him up and offered him a glass of juice. While the young virologist drank, Cassian hooked the blood into Danielles IV together with the fluids. He looked back at Edward.

"You know," he said:
"I just realized that you don't have to be in isolation anymore."

Edward looked at him.

"What?" he said in a sleepy voice.

"Well, since this is the same strain that infected you in '76, you shouldn't have to worry about a secondary infection. It's never been heard of."

He paused to look closer at Edward.

"You look tired."

He walked over to him and helped him stand.

"Why don't you go take a decontaminating shower and then grab a cup of coffee in the conference room? I'll monitor Danielle until you get back."

For a second, Edward looked like he wanted to protest, then he nodded and walked towards the door.

"Let me know if there are any changes," he said.

"Of course," Cassian replied.

Edward leaned back in the chair in the basement conference room. He was tired and he had every intention of drinking the cup of coffee in front of him, but instead he ended up sitting there, just looking at it.

The only thing that kept his body going was adrenaline. That and a very strong will. He wanted to be there for Danielle – all the way. And now Cassian had shipped him of to the conference room – for some down time as he had said.

He heard steps behind him and two seconds later, Kimberly sat down next to him. When she saw the haunted expression on his face she shook her head.

"No, no, everything's fine. Or put in another way, nothing has changed. She's been stabile for an hour now."

Kimberly looked at Edward.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?" Edward said.

"For questioning you. There was no time to make let alone get the blood serum. I see that now."

She looked at him again.

"I don't have any experience with Ebola patients, but it looks to me as if the transfusion is helping. Her condition is no longer deteriorating."

"She's not getting any better either."

Edward slammed his fists in the table and made a growling sound:
"This waiting is killing me. I want to do something, anything, but deep down I know there is nothing I can do."

"It is frustrating," Kimberly agreed:
"But the fact that she isn't getting any worse should indicate she's recovering."

Edward raised his head and looked at her.

"Appearances can be deceiving – especially when it comes to Ebola. My father seemed to be recovering just before he died."

He looked at his hands.

"You never know. Not with Ebola."

Kimberly was about to say something when Edward cut her of.
"It's my fault," he said.

"What is?"

"Danielle, lying there infected with Ebola. It's my fault."

"Edward," Kimberly said:
"Listen to yourself. How can it be your fault? You weren't even here."

Edward nodded.

"Exactly. I got her involved and then I wasn't even here when the Dawn tried to kill her of because of our relationship."

Kimberly reached out and put a hand on his arm.

"Edward, you're talking nonsense. You don't know why this happened. It could have been an accident."

"Not with the Dawn involved."

Kimberly was about to say something back when they heard Cassians voice on the intercom.

"Doctor Marcase, I think you better come down here."

Edward hurried through the door and almost knocked over Doctor Cassian in his bio suit in the process.

"What is it?" he said, running towards Danielle's bedside.

"She's coming to," Cassian said in a soft voice:
"I don't know if it's the transfusion that's working, but she's coming out of the coma."

Edward sat down by the bed and took Danielles hand.

A few seconds later she slowly opened her eyes. They were red, bloodshot and she was bleeding from the tear ducts. Yet she didn't seem aware of it. Her eyes had found Edward immediately and he could feel how she squeezed his hand just a little bit.

"Hi," he whispered:
"How are you feeling?"

He caressed her forehead and cheeks with his free hand.

"I'm thirsty," she whispered back.

Edward reached for the table and grabbed the icebox. He took a single ice cube and wetted her lips with it.

"Better?" he asked.

She nodded in response.

"It hurts," she suddenly whispered:

"It hurts everywhere."

Edward smiled at her.

"I know. You're very sick. You have Ebola."

Danielle still looked calm. Then she saw Cassian standing in the bio suit behind Edward and realized that he wasn't wearing any protection.

"No," she uttered, trying to get out of bed:
"You have to get out of here. It's too dangerous."

Edward looked at Cassian then he turned back to Danielle shaking his head.

"I won't get sick," he whispered:
"I had Ebola as a child. It killed my parents, but I survived."

He put his hand on her forehead caressing it with soft strokes, trying to get her to calm down.

"You don't have to worry about me, I promise."

He smiled.

"Instead I want you to concentrate on getting better. Can you do that for me?"

Danielle slowly nodded.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"For what?" Edward asked.

"Thank you for fighting for me."

He bent forward and gently kissed her hand.

"You're welcome. Now, go back to sleep. You need the rest to get better."

She closed her eyes and Edward watched her until she was asleep. Then he looked up at Cassian.

"I think it's working."

Cassian laughed.

"So do I."

Edward was half asleep sitting in a chair next to Danielle's bed. It wasn't exactly a comfortable chair, but he was dreaming about lying in bed and that made his current position tolerable. He had been awake for more than 72 hours by then and the blood transfusion he had undergone hadn't exactly helped in the matter. Finally his body had given in and he had fallen asleep with his head on Danielles left arm.

He slowly started to wake to the sound of his alarm clock, then he remembered that he wasn't at home and that there was no alarm clock.

"She's crashing."

The sound of Kimberly's voice awoke him faster than he would have thought possible. From the corner of his eye he saw her rushing through the lab door in her bio suit. He looked at the monitors next to Danielle's bed. He recognized the horrible sound, the sound that he had turned into the sound from an alarm clock in his tired state.

"She's flatlining," he yelled and rushed to help Kimberly with the crash cart.

"What happened?" Kimberly said while she ripped Danielle's hospital shirt open.

Edward shook his head.

"I don't know. One minute everything was fine and then this."

He took the paddles from the cart.

"Charge to 200," he said to Kimberly.

She turned the button on the cart then she returned to the CPR she had begun.

There was a beep from the cart.

"Clear."

Edward placed the paddles on Danielle's skin and released the charge. Danielle's body was lifted from the bed in the familiar spasm Edward had seen too many times. He looked at the monitor.

"Still flatlining. Charge to 300."

Kimberly turned the button.

"Charging."

The wait was excruciatingly long. Then finally a beep.

"Clear."

Edward placed the paddles and released a charge again. Again Danielle's body reacted with a spasm, but when she fell back in the bed, something had changed. When Edward looked at the monitor, he realized that it was the sound. It was no longer a monotonous ringing, it had returned to short regular beeps.

"We've got her."

He checked her pulse on the side of her neck and looked at Kimberly.

"That was a close call. Not many Ebola patients survive a cardiac arrest like this."

"No," Kimberly replied:
"The rest of the system is usually so deteriorated that the heart just won't function again after an arrest."

Edward smiled as he ran a finger down Danielle's neck and pulled the torn shirt together over her bruised body.

"I guess she's stronger than I thought."

"Stronger than we all thought."

Kimberly smiled back at him.

"When I first saw her she seemed to be so fragile."

"She was scared," Edward whispered:
"Fear has a profound effect on people, especially if they have never really experienced it."

Kimberly looked at Danielle.

"I'll get a new shirt for her."

Edward nodded back.

"I'll be right here."

Then he sat back down next to the bed and Kimberly left the lab again. It was quiet, just as if nothing had happened.

When Danielle woke up again later that same evening, Edward was by her side again. He smiled at her when he realized that she was awake.

"Hi," she whispered.

"Hi yourself," he whispered back:

"Are you feeling better?"

"I'm not sure," she replied.

"You're not sure?" Edward repeated:
"How can you not be sure? Either you're better or you're not."

"Quit picking on the sick person," she yelped and Edward couldn't help but laugh.

"I know. I'm sorry."

He looked at her.

"Can you forgive me?"

She nodded in response.

"My chest hurts," she continued a second later:
"It feels like an elephant's been sitting on my ribs."

Edward carefully felt her ribs with the tender touch, Danielle had come to expect from him.

"I think Kim broke a couple of your ribs when she performed CPR on you this evening."

Danielle looked confused.

"CPR? On me?"

He smiled.

"Don't worry. Kimberly is every bit the professional. And it's absolutely normal to end up with a couple of broken ribs after an episode like this."

Danielle shook her head.

"That's not it. It's just that…that…"

She paused and looked at Edward.

"What?" he whispered:
"It's just that what?"

She sighed.

"That I've always been terrified of death."

Edward sat down in the chair next to the bed and grabbed her by the hand. There was a mysterious smile on his lips.

"There's nothing to be afraid of. And I know what I'm talking about. I've been there."

Danielle could almost feel her jaw drop.

"How?"

Edward smiled.

"I died and went to Heaven."

He could read from Danielle's expression that she found everything he had to say very hard to believe.

"Well," he said:
"I didn't actually make it to Heaven, if I had, I wouldn't be here now. It wasn't my time you see."

Danielle stared at him.

"Was it when you had the Ebola?"

Edward shook his head.

"No no, it was much later. Actually it happened only a few weeks before we met."

"On an assignment?"

Edward nodded.

"Somebody decided to use me as a guinea pig in an experiment. They killed people and then brought them back to life in order to get the information the subject had received."

"Received from whom?"

He squeezed her hand.

"That's not important now. All you need to know is that death is not to be feared. You go to a wonderful place filled with love and happiness – and all the pain will have vanished."

He looked closely at her.

"There is nothing to fear. Believe me, death is a release into something so peaceful I can't begin to describe it."

Danielle smiled. There were tears in her eyes.

"You don't have to. I can see it in your eyes and hear it in your voice."

They stayed like that for a while, holding each other's hands and saying nothing.

Then Danielle suddenly smiled at him, a smile that almost blew him away.

"I'm glad it wasn't your time yet," she whispered.

Edward smiled back.

"So am I. So am I."