Chapter Six

After the memorial service, Steve and Oscar had the same idea. Steve was just reaching out to touch Jaime's newly-engraved name on the "Lost in Action" wall for government operatives when he heard a voice behind him.

"I made sure it was done before the service," Oscar said softly.

Steve was grieving beyond words, even beyond tears now. "Thank you," he said. The lump in his throat threatened to choke him, and he had to walk away, leaving Oscar to his own turn at the wall. He walked slowly back to the fountain, feeling as though his own life had ended, as well. The light and the hope had certainly left him - for good.

"Oh, cut the waterworks, Austin; it's really not that bad."

Jaime? He was hallucinating. He had to be. Steve was too scientific to believe in ghosts, but he knew the mind was a very powerful thing, especially when it longed - ached - for something or someone so badly.

"Would you please quit being so stubborn?" Hands with a distinctly feminine touch touched both of his shoulders and gently turned him around.

"Oh...my...God - Jaime! How..." Steve was definitely too choked up with emotion to speak now.

Jaime smiled warmly at him. "Looks like rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated."

"It - really - is you, isn't it?"

"In the flesh. Oh, and the circuitry, of course."

Before he even thought about it, Steve picked Jaime up in his arms, sweeping her around in a broad circle of joy. Oscar, just coming away from the wall, turned toward the fountain in time to see the joy-filled embrace and the kiss that followed. Although it hurt him deeply, he couldn't help but notice how right they were together. "Jaime..." he said, approaching slowly to give them time to pull apart. "How -?"

"Question of the hour, isn't it?" she said, smiling happily. "I got away from them, right about when you got there, Steve. I heard you, but if I'd have answered, I would've probably been shot. They caught me again and put me in a van, and I was sure they were driving me off to kill me. But they knew the NSB was coming and they were high-tailing it outta there. When we got to the other building, I got real lucky. They didn't know my arm is bionic, and they put the IV needle in it. So I just pretended to be too doped to talk, and waited for the right moment."

"I heard you scream, right before the planes came." Steve said, still not quite daring to believe his eyes and ears.

"Yeah. Since at that point I thought I was gonna go out in the woods and be shot, I decided I had nothing to lose, and I screamed so you'd know I was there. Or, that I had been."

"I did know - I found the door." Steve told her.

"Steve, when they were driving me away, we could see the planes. And you were still in there. You could've been killed. Why didn't you evacuate?"

Oscar smiled at her. "He refused to leave without you; we had to drag him away," Oscar said, realizing even more strongly what he had to do. "Jaime, do you feel up to talking for a few minutes?" He looked at Steve, trying to convey what he couldn't tell him just yet - that it would all be ok, that he'd be bringing her back shortly.

He led her a short distance away, so preoccupied with what he was about to do that he inadvertantly led her to the wall with her freshly-engraved name on it. "I'll have them file that off tonight," he told her.

"What's up, Oscar?" Jaime asked, sensing the seriousness of his mood.

"Jaime, I know what we said to each other that morning in the hospital, and even though I meant every word...it was wrong. Really wrong. Being with me nearly got you killed."

"That wasn't your fault -"

"Please listen. When Callahan said I was married to my job, she was 100 percent right. And I can't give a relationship the attention it deserves and still do justice to my job." Oscar was looking directly into her eyes, and although his heart was breaking, that same heart knew to its core that he was doing the right thing. "I saw you with Steve a few minutes ago. It's true you two don't have what you used to; maybe you never will again. But you definitely have something, and it's very special. I don't want you to let that go."

"Oscar..."

"Come with me? Please?" He led Jaime back to where Steve waited, took her hand, placed it in Steve's, then smiled at both of them. "Happily ever after," he said softly, walking away.

END