Some sweet honey on a cold winter's day... and perhaps an answer to some questions. Enjoy!

Chapter 13: The Roller Coaster

Harry's eyes flew open when she heard muffled footsteps in the corridor, which halted at her bedroom door. She had no idea what time it was, but she saw through the semi-open curtains that it was still pitch-dark outside, except for some faint moonlight that occasionally found its way through the clouds. With a jolt, she sat up straight in bed when the heavy door handle was cautiously pushed down. The moment she heard the squeaking of the door, she quickly slid from the bed onto the small rug that was lying on the cold floor. Her heart was pounding hard as she was squatting behind the bed, waiting for what would happen.

Just as she wanted to reach for her gun in the top drawer of her bedside table, she came to the shocking conclusion that she wasn't in her own room! She remembered how she had been tossing and turning in bed for hours last night, unable to sleep. Eventually, she had ended up in Dempsey's room. She didn't really have an explanation for it, but lying in his bed and smelling his scent on the pillow and on the shirt that she'd found in the laundry basket, had such a relaxing effect on her that she must have fallen asleep there.

Now she cursed herself for her negligence! How could she have been so stupid, to fall asleep in Dempsey's bed and leave her gun in her own room, while she knew there were at least two killers looking for him? Perhaps they had found his trace, but they didn't know that he'd left the place, early this morning?

From her hiding place, she saw the light beam of a pocket torch shining throughout the entire room, as if it was looking for someone or something. She held her breath when the beam of light passed over her head. Fortunately, the light continued its way in the room, until it stopped at the wardrobe. It had been a close call, but apparently the intruder or intruders hadn't spotted her.

Then Harry heard the footsteps again, followed by the creaking of the antique wardrobe door. Very carefully, not to make any noise, she peeked over the bed. She could see the intruder's profile. One man, rather tall, dark clothes… He was busy searching through the wardrobe, using his torch. Unfortunately she couldn't see his face clearly, the open closet door blocking her view.

She spied around the room, trying to find a way out. Perhaps she would be able to get to the door to the hallway or the connecting door to her bedroom, before he could reach her? No, she didn't stand a chance. Either way, she had to go past him on her way to one of the doors. Another option was to overpower him in an act of surprise. But he certainly was a head taller than her and, although she couldn't see any weapon at first sight, she suspected that he was armed. She quickly searched around her by touch, but couldn't find anything that could serve as a weapon. She only felt a blanket on the bed, and a cloth... Dempsey's shirt! She held it in her hand...

If only Dempsey was here. He would have no problems overpowering the intruder.

She quickly ducked back behind the bed when she heard the man carefully closing the wardrobe door again. What if he came toward her now? She would be trapped, as there was no way out of her hiding place without bumping into him! Damn!

She sat crouched behind the bed, all her muscles strained to the limit and ready to fight for her life, as the footsteps slowly approached her. When the intruder was about halfway across the room, however, he made another stop.

Again, Harry peered over the bed and saw him standing at the desk, near the window. With the little light that the moon could offer her, along with the indirect light of his torch, she was able to get a look on his face. Her eyes widened when she recognized him! Without hesitation, she stood up from her hiding place.

"Are you looking for something?" she asked fearlessly.

The man was startled. In one smooth movement he turned to her and shone his flashlight in her face, at the same time drawing his gun and pointing it in her direction.

"No, Dempsey, it's me!" she yelled shocked, with her hand shielding her eyes from the bright light.

He lowered his gun immediately. "God damn it, Harry! I could've shot you! What the hell are you doin' here?"

Harry turned on the night lamp on the bedside table, and immediately the room was illuminated with soft, yellowish light. Dempsey switched off his flashlight and put his gun back in the holster.

"Waiting for you…" she answered with some hesitation.

Dempsey frowned. "How did you know I would come back here?"

"I didn't. I just hoped you would…," she answered truthfully. "But where have you been all day? And why did you sneak away without saying a word?" she began to raise her voice. All her worries and helpless anger of that day came bubbling to the surface, ready to erupt.

He shifted a little uneasily in place. "I explained everything in the letter. Didn't you find it?"

She interrupted him angrily "You call that a letter? Those few lines scrawled on that little piece of paper? Jesus, Dempsey, I know you'll never make it as a professional writer, but even a seven year old can do better than that!"

He shrugged, not in the least impressed by her allegation. "Ah well, we all have our talents, I suppose…"

"Oh really? You certainly managed to hide yours well, as I still haven't found them after two years working closely with you!"

"You came pretty close to discovering them recently, sweetheart, if only you hadn't pulled away so fast…"

There was that crooked grin and the mischievous twinkle in his eyes. She knew she was in acute danger of a complete meltdown now, the kiss in the woods -to which he undoubtedly referred- still fresh in her memory.

She felt her cheeks getting warm and she quickly averted her eyes. Knowing very well which direction the conversation was heading, she deliberately ignored his last remark and decided to get the attention back to the main issue. "You still haven't answered my question. Where have you been all day?"

The grin instantly disappeared and his face turned sombre. "Just wanderin' around for a while, tryin' to sort out a few things…"

"And did you succeed … to sort things out, I mean?"

"No…, not yet, anyway."

So, he hadn't given up his stupid plan!

"What made you decide to come back then?" she asked, even though she knew the answer.

With a sigh, he let his eyes wander around in the room. "I forgot somethin'. Thought it'd be here."

"Oh really, what did you forget? Your lucky silver dollar, perhaps?"

He let out a dry chuckle. "Yeah, maybe, although I fail to see how it would've ended up here after all this time,... isn't that right, Makepeace?"

Feeling a bit uncomfortable all of a sudden, Harry turned her attention to straightening her dressing gown, in order to avoid his gaze. For over a year now, she had the silver coin in her possession, after their most heated discussion about who was responsible for losing her car keys in the middle of a chase. It had almost drifted them apart until, out of the blue, he'd come back to save her from the bad guys. She still dreamt about it sometimes. Her brave knight with black jacket and his aviator sunglasses, coming to her rescue riding his metal horse… She figured it would have been quite romantic, in times of kings and knights.

Having found the silver dollar together with her car keys in the glove compartment of her car afterwards, had felt like an unspoken victory. She'd decided to keep the coin as a kind of trophy, even though she knew he would never admit his wrong, nor would he apologize, due to his pride and stubbornness. Sometimes, when she was lying in bed, thinking about her cocky partner, she took the silver coin from the top drawer of her bedside table, and studied it. For some reason, looking at the coin always made her smile. Maybe it was a lucky silver dollar, after all? Her lucky silver dollar, now!

When she looked up again, she noticed he was shivering. "What's wrong? Aren't you feeling well?' Concerned, she approached him. "Oh my God, you're soaked! Is it raining?"

"No, I forgot to take off my clothes when taking a shower!" he quipped.

She rolled her eyes and started to remove his jacket. "Come on, take off those wet clothes, and take a hot shower to get you warmed up!" she commanded him firmly.

He tried to resist, but she pushed him into the bathroom, where she immediately began unbuttoning his shirt. "You'd better hurry, unless you want to end up in hospital again with pneumonia!"

When she was halfway to opening his shirt, he gave in, albeit with reluctance. "Alright, alright, I'll take it from here." He couldn't deny that she was right. A hot shower would definitely make him feel better, as he felt exhausted and extremely cold. He had roamed around all day looking for 'it', and then had waited in the bushes of the Winfield estate for several hours, until finally all lights had gone out in the big castle. Meanwhile, the rain had been pouring down on him, making him soaking wet.

While he was in the shower, Harry went to the kitchen to make him a cup of tea. Although she knew he normally favoured coffee over tea, he'd have to settle for tea this time. No more than ten minutes later, she came back into the room, carrying in one hand a cup of hot tea and in the other his holdall, which she had found at the bottom of the stairs. She caught him in the act as he was searching through the bedside table, wearing nothing but a towel around his waist. He glanced briefly at her, but continued his search without giving any explanation. Without saying a word, she dropped the bag on the floor beside the wardrobe, and cautiously put the tea cup on top of the desk. Then she sat on the edge of the desk with arms crossed, watching what he was doing.

"You won't find it there." She finally said, on her typical calm manner.

Surprised, he turned to look at her. "What did you say?"

"I said that you won't find it there. In fact, you won't find it anywhere in this room," she assured him.

He stared at her for some time, in which she saw his features change. His eyes turned dark and a frown appeared on his forehead. She braced herself. He knew…

"Makepeace…" his voice sounded threatening, "…did you take my passport?"

Denying it was pointless. With head held high, she defied his furious gaze. "Well, I had to do something to prevent you from doing stupid things again! What were you thinking, anyway? It is sheer madness what you intended to do!"

"What are you talking about? How could you possibly know what I was gonna do?" he asked. Since he received no immediate answer, he came to the only plausible conclusion he could think of. "Wait a minute…" he snapped his fingers and pointed at her. "Spikings! He was the only one who knew about it! He told ya?" he asked incredulously. "God damn it, I've explicitly told him to keep you out of it! I should've known he couldn't be trusted! The bloody traitor!"

Harry bit her lip. She had seen Dempsey's eruptions more than once, but she'd never seen him like this. Besides that, she knew that his anger would be directed at her, once he would know the truth. She had no choice, however, as she couldn't let Spikings get the blame for her actions. That was against her nature. No, she had to face the consequences of her own actions, even if it meant that she would have to endure the wrath of her partner.

"Spikings didn't say anything. He didn't need to… I overheard the conversation you had with him the other night."

His eyes widened in disbelief. "You what?"

Oh dear, here we go…

"Before you jump to any conclusions, you must know that I didn't mean to listen in! But if you want to have a private conversation somewhere, you'd better do it behind closed doors rather than in an open hallway, where everyone can hear you!" She retorted firmly. "Anyway, I heard what you were up to, and decided to take action!"

"You had no right to interfere!" Dempsey fumed, his eyes spitting fire. "That was my choice to make, not yours! Who the hell do you think you are, anyway? You think you can rule my life just because you're some kind of snobbish aristocrat?"

"This has nothing to do with my origin!" she shouted back. "Damn you, Dempsey, I hate you! You're such an arrogant and selfish bastard!" she stepped briskly towards him. For a moment, she wasn't sure whether she wanted to slap him in the face or throw her arms around his neck. She felt tears welling up, but was too angry to give in to them. When she stood before him, she clenched her fists and started hitting him on the chest. "You always want to do things your own way, without even thinking about the consequences for the people around you…, people who happen to care about you..." She swallowed hard to keep her emotions in check.

He hesitated and took the first couple of blows without moving. Then he blocked the next strokes by holding her wrists firmly, however without hurting her. She tried to wriggle out of his grip, but she was no match for him and soon she felt her strength slipping away.

"I've been so worried about you lately. First, when you disappeared, and then when I found you in Dan's place,… you were in such a bad shape. I feared you wouldn't even make it to hospital…" The image was still raw in her memory, haunting her sometimes at night. "And today, when you disappeared again… What's next? A body bag? I can't take it anymore, James, I really can't. I care too much about you…"

The next moment, she broke down and started sobbing uncontrollably. As soon as he noticed she was crying, he let go of her wrists and held her into a comforting embrace. "Oh, Harry…." he whispered in her ear as he gently stroked her back. She buried her head in his chest and held on to him tightly, while she let go of all the tension she'd built up over the last few days, ever since he'd first disappeared.

He waited patiently, holding her in his arms while stroking her back up and down. It wasn't until her sobs gradually started decreasing, that she felt him release the embrace. She also withdrew, her head bowed as she was too ashamed to look him in the eye.

"I'm sorry. That wasn't very professional, was it?" she sighed. "I guess I've just had a weak moment," she tried to excuse herself.

"Well, I haven't exactly made things easy for you…" he couldn't but admit.

Harry chuckled. "That's an understatement!"

She quickly wiped away the remaining tears, before she lifted her head at the height of his shoulders, where her eyes fell on his injury. The wound was no longer bleeding, but the deep red scar looked nasty and seemed far from healed. "Your bandage must have come off when you took a shower. Shall I put another on it?" she asked, staring concerned at the injured shoulder.

"That won't be necessary. The doc's removed the stitches and said the wound's looking good," she heard him responding calmly.

Reassured that at least he had calmed down again, she inquired further. "Does it still hurt a lot?"

"No, just a little. It healed pretty well, thanks to the good care of a very nice wet nurse," he joked, referring to her words when the doctor had examined him a few days ago.

His little joke had broken the ice and she felt a little more at ease again. She smiled and ran her finger gently around the scar, her face showing a compassionate grimace. Without really thinking about it, she placed a soft kiss on the wound, as if to ease the pain.

Only then, she lifted her head and met his soft hazel eyes. They stared at her, full of concern, and she could detect a mild frown on his brow. Afraid to lose control again, she wanted to avert her eyes, but she couldn't. It was as if she was hypnotized by his gaze. She could feel his warm breath on her face, on her lips. Her heartbeat quickened. Like that day in the woods, she felt drawn to him like iron to a magnet.

Before she knew what was happening, her lips landed on his, for the second time in as many days. This time, however, neither of them withdrew. Instead, Harry wrapped her arms around his neck in order to deepen the kiss. At the same time she felt a couple of strong arms on her back, pulling her closer to his body. There was no escape possible. Not that she'd wanted to put a stop to it, no way! On the contrary, she wanted this moment to last forever.

She was out of breath when they finally broke the kiss. From the moment their lips had touched, she'd closed her eyes, in order to fully enjoy the wonderful sensation of the intimate contact. Her heart was pounding so hard, she feared he would be able to hear it too. All this had lasted no more than five minutes, but it was enough to disrupt her, so far, well-organized life. She opened her eyes, confused and uncertain, to find him staring at her with an amused grin on his face.

"I warned you that you wouldn't get away with it so easily a second time." he said with that deep voice that made her knees go week.

"Maybe, I didn't want to get away with it, this time…" she answered shyly, trying to hide her flushed cheeks.

He used his fingertips to gently smooth a lock of hair away from her forehead, while studying her face. "You realise this would change everything between us?"

Her bright blue eyes bored deep into his. "Can't you see that things already have changed between us? Why do you think I resigned from SI 10? Because I couldn't bear the thought of seeing you get killed, or hurt!" She sadly shook her head. "You know, maybe it wasn't such a good idea to withdraw my resignation, after al. Now don't get me wrong, it's not because I don't care about you," she hastened to add. "Quite the contrary, it's because I care too much about you…!"

She swallowed hard and bent her head, as she felt her emotions coming to the surface again. "I've tried, Dempsey, God knows how hard I've tried, but I can't stop these feelings I have for you. They're too strong. I feel like I'm losing control whenever I'm with you…, and even more when you're not there… It's like I'm in some sort of roller coaster and I want to get out, but I can't! It's all so overwhelming…" She paused a moment to get a grip on her emotions. Then she continued in a low voice. "I need you to do me a favour, because I can't do this on my own. Let me go, James…. You'll have to let me go, or we'll both end up hurt at some point."

After a brief silence, in which she gave him some time to think about it, she heard his soft voice near her ear. "Maybe there's another way, Princess…You think you still have a seat available on that roller coaster o' yours? I'd like to give it a try, if you'll allow me…"

Her heart leaped up. This wasn't exactly the answer she had expected. Far from it even! Surprised, she lifted her head and searched his eyes, to see if he was serious. The severe expression on his face told her everything she needed to know. Before she even had the chance to give him an answer, his lips descended on hers again, offering her another soft kiss that deepened the moment she responded, and letting the roller coaster take them on its journey, fast and unstoppable...

(TBC)