A/N: I'm so sorry for the long delay in the update... but this chapter is finally finished. This took me forever to write and was very hard for me to finish. It just was hard to find the right moments to write. hopefully it turned out okay...
The focus was drawn off the knife to Carlton. The restaurant was filled with noisy life, but no one at that table heard any of it, that one little word still ringing in all of their ears.
"Delilah?" Karen whispered softly, staring at her detective, all her suspicions confirmed.
"Delilah. Delilah, Delilah, Delilah" Lloyd repeated, his grin gaining evilness each time he said the name. "She told you her name, still want to deny you were in a relationship?"
Carlton did not respond, horrified with himself for the secret he revealed. Lloyd was not pleased with this response. He pushed the knife a little harder into Delilah, knowing Carlton was watching and would react to this. He was right.
"Yes, we had a relationship," Carlton answered quickly.
Lloyd smiled, but the knife stayed put. "For how long?"
"One night thing." Delilah answered this time. "That's how I got away. I offered myself up and he took me up on it. Afterwards, I managed to handcuff him to a pole and leave. So there Lloyd, you have your answers. We were a relationship for one night, and I used my body to get of going to jail."
She was lying, and everyone knew it. Her voice was strong and confident, but it was her eyes that gave the lie.
"Really? Just for one night? Then why does he know your name?" Lloyd asked angrily, pushing the knife further into her neck. A small dribble of red started to run down Delilah's throat.
Without thinking Karen reached for her gun. Lloyd noticed this and suddenly remembered he had a gun. "I wouldn't do that Chief," he barked. "I've got a gun too and it's pointed right at you."
Karen stopped dead. Wondering if it could be bluff, she glanced at Delilah who confirmed that the threat was true with a nod. Karen slowly placed both hands on the table.
"Good, and just to make sure that doesn't happen again, Detective Lassiter, take out your handcuffs and handcuff Chief Vick to the table."
"What? No! Detective, do not take out your handcuffs," Karen ordered.
"Then how would you like a hole in your gut?" he threatened, his eyes narrowing at her.
She sighed and held out her hands. "Make it fast Detective."
Karen would not even look at Carlton as he bounded her to the table. She glanced under the table as her hands were chained to the table's leg, and tried to get a good look at this supposed gun. Once her moment of humiliation was done she stated, "Nice gun. What is that, .45?"
"Actually, it's Gypsy's, got it from her closet," Lloyd tattled.
"What? You were supposed to give up all your guns, that was part of your arrangement," Carlton scolded.
"Well maybe I kept a couple for moments like this when the person I put in jail came back for revenge," Delilah snapped at him.
"Maybe then you should have taken the protected custody if you were so worried about this," he snapped back.
"Sorry if I thought there was something worthwhile in staying here. I guess I was wrong," she retorted. Desperate to get her mind off of Carlton, she focused her attention on the man threatening her life. "And what are you even doing here? You are supposed to be serving three life sentences?"
"I love our appeals system and the crooked judge who presides over them," he explained in one sentence.
"So how much did it run you to get the judge to overturn your sentence?" Delilah asked causally.
"Seven fifty," Lloyd replied.
"Seven fifty what, hundred?" Karen clarified. When Lloyd's corner of his lip twitched at her suggestion, she knew she was off.
"Three fourths of a million dollars, you must have really missed me," Delilah commented, her voice extremely dry. "But really, I'm not worth that much."
"No, I agree with you, but destroying you is," he told her. "It took me two long years to find a damn judge that I could buy off. And during that time I realized that before I die I want to destroy you."
"Get over it," she replied, shocking everyone. "Ooh I turned you in, you've done worse to me. I have nightmares about you. You deserved being locked up, so be a man and suck it up."
As the table waited for the reaction of the man holding the gun, Karen was sure Delilah had finally pushed him too far. Instead though, Lloyd chuckled.
"So that's what this is all about, that night by the side of the road?" he questioned, finally understanding why Delilah had chosen him, of all the professional killers she knew, to turn over to the police.
"Shut up," she ordered, her eyes narrowing dangerously. For a brief moment she forgot that it was her life being threatened.
"Aw, did someone not have fun that night? I had plenty of fun, even if you were an unwilling participant, but once I got your pants off it was smooth sailing," he told her, his voice laughing at her pain. "At least you didn't cry."
Karen hated Delilah for a variety of reasons. There were the obvious ones, she was a killer, broke the law, and was not nice to Karen. Then there was what she did to Carlton. Karen had heard about Carlton's kidnapping ordeal and the consequences of it. She had heard the wild rumor that the two were actually lovers, something only spread around for laughs since it was so inconceivable. But then Karen had seen the look Carlton gave Delilah when she said she was turning herself in, and he had smiled for the first time since he found out he was passed up for the Chief of Police position. It was then Karen came to the conclusion that the wild outlandish rumor that buzzed around for comic relief was true, and that Carlton had given up his career for a woman who had yet to apologize for anything.
That was the true reason Karen hated Delilah. Delilah had not expressed any remorse for her actions; she had kept it hidden from the other woman. Yet Karen knew they were there. She had seen Delilah's sorrow one day in her office as Delilah eyes darted downwards, trying to hide the pain in them, and her lip had tensed, fighting the urge to quiver. In a moment though, Delilah's emotions were gone and she was stone again. Karen had been convinced then Delilah had no humanity left in her, and Karen's despite towards the killer had grown enormously ever since that moment.
It was not till Lloyd had praised her on her ability not to cry after one of the most horrific events that could happen, that Karen's heart went out to Delilah. Karen forgave her for not expressing her regret or pain, realizing that even if Delilah had wanted to, her body was trained so well not to, that she would not know how.
Karen watched as Delilah's eyes darkened with pain and anger, and thought for sure she was going to do something to get her killed, but to Karen's surprise Carlton was the one who acted first.
Carlton lunged across the table at Lloyd, too overwhelmed by his strong urge to hurt Lloyd for what he did to think clearly. The two sprawled to the ground, Carlton throwing punches like fastballs. Carlton had the upper hand for a couple of moments, managing to catch Lloyd off guard and throw in some decent punches. However, Lloyd was physically stronger, and quickly managed to start winning the fight.
By now the whole restaurant was staring at the brawl, but neither of the two men in it noticed that. They were too busy trying to hurt each other in the worst way possible. Both were oblivious to the mothers shaking their head in disproval about their violent behavior, the children watching with wide eyes, and the undercover cops that manage to sneak in reach towards their guns, just waiting for an opportunity.
Delilah watched, her eyes wide in fear as Carlton began to lose the confrontation. He was pushed on his back and Lloyd's hands were creeping around his neck. As panic rose in Carlton as the hands around his neck tightened, he looked for any means to save his life. The gun that previously had threatened the Chief, was laying only a few feet away, just asking to be used. He reached out for it, his fingers just grazing the barrel, but he was losing concentration, feeling dizzy and lightheaded. The hands were tighter then ever, and Carlton was fighting the urge to close his eyes, but was losing.
Delilah saw it, the moment Carlton closed his eyes and began to surrender. She was not about to let Lloyd take away the best thing in her life, so she took the steak knife that still had her blood on it and stabbed Lloyd in the side, right between two ribs. In an agonized groan he fell over to the side, and his hands disappeared around Carlton's neck.
"Carlton," Delilah cried, dropping down to check on him. She placed her hand on his cheek and whispered his name again, he had yet to open his eyes.
Carlton heard his name and slowly forced his eyes open. It took a moment, but Delilah came into focus, hovering just a few inches away from him. His eyes went to her red lips as they formed a smile when he whispered her name back. "Delilah."
"Are you alright?" she asked quickly, her nerves making her speak faster then she wanted.
"Fine, are you? Are you okay?" he asked back, his hand reaching up and touching her face.
"I'm-" she went to answer, but never got the chance. Lloyd was standing a few feet away, and now pointing the gun at them, the knife was still in his side.
"Isn't that precious? The two lovers caring for one another, one last time," he sneered. "Get up, now!"
Delilah slowly help Carlton up, all the while watching Lloyd carefully. Once Carlton was up he stepped in between Delilah and the gun.
"Calm down," Carlton stated in a soothing voice. "There are cops all over, don't do anything that will get yourself killed. Put down the gun, and you can still walk out of here."
"Yeah right Detective," Lloyd spat. "Why don't we continue on with our little truth chat? How long have you and, Delilah was it, been together? Don't lie, I have this gun pointed right at both of you."
"Almost seven years," Carlton answered gravely.
"See, was that so hard? All I want is the truth, keep telling it and Delilah will be fine," Lloyd promised with a nasty grin. "Now, tell us why you got passed over for the position of Chief?"
"They didn't think I had enough qualifications for the job."
"Bullshit, the real reason now!" Lloyd barked.
"I wouldn't tell them where Delilah was heading after she kidnapped me," Carlton replied. "I wouldn't tell them anything about it, so that was their punishment."
"There, now we're getting somewhere," Lloyd stated with a sneer, but then winced and brought a hand up to his knife wound.
"Why didn't you just tell them what you knew?" Delilah asked quietly. "You saw the boating supplies, you could have told them that I planned to take a boat out of the country. Why didn't you just do your job and tell the police that?"
"Yes, why didn't you Carlton?" Lloyd repeated grinning nastily.
"I didn't know for sure if that's what you planned to do, I didn't want to send them on a wild goose chase in the ocean," Carlton replied weakly.
Delilah stepped around to face Carlton and asked seriously, "Why didn't you tell?"
"Because I love you, okay?" he snapped. She stared at him wide eyed, and he went on, "I love you, and I didn't want you to get caught. I couldn't stand it if you were sent to jail, so I lied to protect you. I didn't tell them because I love you."
Delilah just stared at him, in shock, while Lloyd laughed in the background and taunted, "Aw, how sickeningly sweet. Do you have anything to say to him Delilah?"
She shook her head. "No I don't."
"What, no 'Aw, I love you too honey bear'?" he teased. When she just shook her head he got mad. Grabbing her arm, he pulled her closer and put the gun to her head. "I told you to tell the truth, now say if you love him or not, and don't lie! I know you do, so just say you do!"
After he yelled his order in her ear, Delilah shakily replied, "I love him."
"Say it to him," Lloyd demanded.
She glanced up into his pale blue eyes and barely controlled her voice as she said, "I love you."
"See, that's all I wanted," Lloyd told her.
"Why don't you just kill me? You're done with me, you humiliated me enough, why don't you just kill me already?" Delilah asked, almost pleadingly.
"No, I'm not done with you," Lloyd replied, gruffly. "I've already been to prison and I'm not going back, no one will hire me anymore, my life was destroyed by you, so I'm going to destroy yours and the best way I can think of is to break up that little deal with the FBI you have and take away the thing you love."
Delilah knew what he was going to do before he even moved the gun away from her head. Crying, she broke away from Lloyd and ran towards Carlton. Right as she reached in front of Carlton she felt it, a sharp stinging sensation in her back, and her body being lurched forward, into his.
Carlton felt Delilah's body fall against his and then a sharp pain in his gut. For a few moments neither one of them moved, they did not even breathe. Then, he felt something warm and gooey against his gut. He slowly angled his head down so he could get a look, but Delilah's pleas stopped him.
"Don't look," she begged in a whisper. "Just hold me, I want to feel safe."
"Okay," he whispered back, and wrapped his arms around her. He did not know how much time he had, so told her, "I'm sorry, for what I said."
She looked up at him, a small smile beginning to form on her ruby lips, the only thing on her face that still had color, but then her eyes drooped and her body went limp.
"Delilah!" he cried and laid her body down on the floor. He shook her and pleaded, "Delilah, wake up. Stay awake Delilah."
Her eyes fluttered open, and gazed up at Carlton and began, "I-"
Any sentiments she was going to express were lost by the sound of her gagging and coughing up blood. As blood trickled down the corner of her mouth, she closed her eyes and let her head fall to the side.
"Delilah!" he cried and attempted to wake her again. Shaking and hitting provide nothing, Carlton glanced around looking lost and confused, trying to find someone whom could help and make the world right again.
There is something to be said when a love one gets shot, you tend not to notice anything else. Carlton's ears went deaf to anything that was not Delilah. He had not heard the second gunshot after the bullet had pierced Delilah. His eyes did not see that shot hit Lloyd square in the neck, ripping out skin. He could not see Lloyd lying flat on his back, gargling in his own blood as he tried to take one last breath. Carlton did not recognize the Chief's yelling as she was being unhandcuffed, demanding to know who shot the second shot that was killing Lloyd.
The only thing Carlton registered when he looked around was Carla Pendas slipping something into her purse as she hurried towards the exit. She stopped for a moment, turned around and made eye contact with him. She gave him a reassuring smile, even though he could tell she was crying, and a quick nod of approval before she slipped out into the crowd of prettified civilians.
Approval? Did Carla approve of the way he handled their plan? Or was she finally approving his relationship with Delilah? Carlton had no time to ponder these questions. He glanced back at Delilah's lifeless body with a pool of blood collecting around her back, and he felt his heart break.
The pain was intense, but it was all in his side. He wondered if it was his heart that was breaking should not the pain be in his chest? He tried to ease the pain by applying pressure to his side, and that is when he found the hole in his shirt. He held his hand there and felt a warm gooey substance coming from the hole in his shirt.
Pulling his hand away, he remembered wondering which blood was his and which blood was Delilah's, but it was too red to tell. And that is all he could remember seeing, the bright red blood, before everything went black.