Disclaimer: I don't own G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra

AN: So, before I tell you guys some news, I want to thank my beta, Hoodoo, for putting up with all my franticness. I get really nervous about parts and she comes in and fixes everything I worried about. She's a goddess!

Ok, I just wanted to let you all know that I'll be out of town from later today (Aug. 11th) till Monday (Aug. 16th). I don't know if the hotel we'll be staying at has internet, so I can't promise any updates. And then right after that, on Aug. 18th, I'm flying back home from Texas to Louisiana, so I may not be on or anything until the 19th. Hopefully I won't be too busy and I can type another chapter. This fic is my brain baby and I like to feed it.

Also, I'm thinking about writing a Sky High fic, so I may have another story posted up for anyone who wants to read it some time soon. If I do end up writing it, I'll still be focusing primarily on this story. Think of the other one as a side project.

Ummm, pertaining this chapter, I'd love to hear what you all think of Diana now that you've been further introduced to her character. Of course, this isn't the final cut for her characterization as she will be degrading as the story goes on. Hoodoo has helped me beat any Mary Sue qualities out of Diana so I'm hoping you'll all like her and find her realistic!

For a sec, I'm going to be totally and completely honest with ya'll... chapter titles are like the hardest part of writing for me. Don't ask why, I just hit snags thinking of a good title.

Anyway, I give you chapter 4 of Till Death Do Us Part.

"Dr. Lewis, I insist that you leave this hospital right now!"

Patients and nurses alike looked up as the Scottish accent rang through the waiting room. The doors to the hall leading to the ER slammed open as a tall man with brown hair and graying roots pushed a petite blonde out. The eyes of the curious continued following the two as the man continued pushing the woman to the automatic doors that exited to the front of the hospital.

Dr. Arthur McDonald, the Chief of Medicine at St. Elizabeth's Hospital and a native of Scarinish, Scotland, was getting fed up with the head of his neurology department. He understood that dealing with the loss of a loved one was hard, but Diana wasn't helping herself with what she was doing.

"Chief, please, you have to let me take another shift. Please. I need to be doing something or I'll go mad," begged Diana, trying to keep herself from being pushed out of the building. She dug her heels into the doorway only to stumble as Arthur shoved her a bit more forcefully.

"Diana, you've gone mental! You've been working overtime near non-stop for months now. I've kept my back turned, but recently Kathy's been getting up my nose about you working on your days off. I can't let this continue or you'll taking up residence in the morgue." His tone, though upset, had taken on more of a worried quality. "Is that what you want? To join Rex before your time?"

Diana's lower lip trembled momentarily before she blinked, adopting a casual confused face. "Up your nose?" she inquired, raising a brow.

Arthur huffed, calming. "It means complaining. I swear, I'd have thought you'd be used to my slang by now—WAIT ONE BLOODY MINUTE!" He became angry again, causing Diana to look away in shame. "I know you're trying to distract me, young lady, and it's not going happen."

Arthur looked over the woman before him. The Diana he worked with had always been so happy and carefree. This new Diana was constantly working in an attempt to stop herself from grieving. The longer it took for her to grieve, the longer Diana would be in this fragile, depressed condition.

"Look, Diana, you need to go home and not come back for at the very least a week. The hospital can take care of itself while you take care of yourself."

Arthur paused momentarily, struggling to find a softer way to word the next sentence. Unable to find one, he decided to just say it. "Face the facts, Diana, Rex is gone. You, however, are still alive. I know for a fact Rex wouldn't like what you're doing to yourself. He'd want you to move on."

Diana narrowed her eyes when she heard Arthur telling her Rex was dead. She knew that, she wasn't an infant! Besides, that wasn't the problem. The problem was Arthur kicking her out of the hospital. She needed to work, to keep busy or she wouldn't be accountable for her thoughts and actions.

"Chief, Arthur, please."

She sounded so weak, so depressed.

"Go home Diana." The chief stepped back into the hospital, the doors sliding shut but not cutting off the gazes of those inside.

Diana stood at the entry for what felt like hours but in reality was only minutes. That was something Diana seemed to be losing track of: reality. She wasn't a big fan of it anymore and being at work in the hospital was the only safe haven she had from the bitter-sweet truth that accompanied reality. It was as if reality and truth were married. Never too far apart. Always together.

Like Diana and Rex had been.

Shaking her head, Diana walked the one fifth mile to the Congress Heights metro station located down the road from the hospital, her hands in the pockets of the white lab coat she hadn't been able to remove.

Walking anywhere in the Congress Heights neighborhood of D.C. after nine at night was considered unintelligent. Calling Congress Heights one of the most dangerous areas of Washington D.C. was the understatement of the century. But nothing had happened to Diana thus far, so she'd gained a bit of confidence. Of course, five months ago she'd never even dreamed of making the walk. She used to get picked up and dropped off in front of the hospital by Rex but he couldn't now that he was de-

The wind created by the arrival of the 9:35pm green belt subway blew Diana's blond hair in front of her, momentarily obscuring her vision. Brushing the hair from her face, Diana entered the car in front of her, taking a seat close to the door. The only other people from the platform who entered behind Diana were a young couple, hands clasped tightly together, and a rather tall man in all black who had a scarf covering his face. Diana let her eyes roam over the man, momentarily curious as to why the man was wearing a scarf in July. She brushed it off to the rather chilly nights D.C. was having that month and turned her attention away.

When Diana had been in college and she was having trouble dealing with stress during finals, Rex would take her to the metro station and the two would ride it for hours, playing little games. They'd sit and guess where people were headed and what they were saying. Rather, Rex would sit there, using different mock voices and accents for each passenger in an attempt to make Diana smile. Even now, thinking back to a particularly terrible Russian accent Rex had once used for a rather bulky tourist, Diana couldn't help but smile again. However, it was much more melancholy than it used to be.

Pulling a hand out of her pocket, Diana brushed a tear from her eye before it fell. In an attempt to distract herself, Diana surveyed the car. Her attempts were made in vain. It was a Friday night, after all, and the stop after Diana's would be L'Enfant Plaza, which was filled with clubs and bars. So of course most of the people on the crowded subway, minus Diana, the strange man in black, and an elderly couple, were young couples in their early twenties. Such young,innocent couples, untouched by the knowledge of how losing one another must feel.

Three stops later when the subway stopped at the Waterfront-SEU metro station at 9:38pm, Diana practically threw herself off before anyone else could exit, unable to sit around the happy couples any longer.

Stepping outside the station and into the cool air, Diana tugged her lab coat closer to her body. Silently she cursed Arthur McDonald for not allowing her to change out of the thin scrubs. It was a 15 minute walk to Fort McNair and she'd surely freeze. There was the option of calling a cab, but Diana decided against it. It wasn't as if she didn't have the money for one, she just… didn't feel like it. The walk to the fort wasn't safe but Diana had long since thrown caution to the wind.

It was as though Diana were trying to get herself killed.

Diana's footsteps were lazy and slow as she looked at the sky. The stars were being blocked by the clouds, the street lit by street lamps. Diana felt she was wandering in the dark alone though. No one wandered the streets in front of her, all tucked safely inside with their loved ones. Diana longed to be at home with Rex, tucked close to his side as they watched a movie.

Shivering, Diana glanced behind her. She could have sworn she'd heard something moving behind her. She turned her attention forward, slowing to a snail's pace for the rest of the walk to the fort.

She closed her eyes, begging for someone to kill her and let her see Rex again.

"You're home early, aren't you Dr. Lewis?" came a voice.

Diana's eyes opened, allowing her attention to focus on Private First Class Colton Tate, the son of her good friend Kathy. Rex always said Colton was like a puppy looking for a treat.

"I got ill at work and they sent me home," she said softly. Her eyes gazed at the full moon, which she could finally make out through the parted clouds. The light cast a rather haunting glow on the Potomac River that lay beyond.

The brunette male chuckled. "Kinda ironic, eh? You work at a hospital and you get sick so they send you home."

Diana cocked her head back to the ground, a hand grasping the large gold ring that hung from her neck. "I guess. I'd better be going. Please be sure to let your mother know I made it home safe.

Good night Private Tate."

"Yeah, 'night Dr. Lewis."

Colton stared after Diana, brows knitted in worry. He wasn't stupid; he knew they'd probably sent her home since she'd been working nonstop. His mother had talked to him about it on more than one occasion. Maybe he should go after her to make sure nothing happened to Diana.

Before Colton could act upon this thought, a black gloved hand shot out of the shadows, wrapping around his face. A white rag laced with chloroform covered both Colton's mouth and nose. Try as he might, the young Private First Class couldn't get away and was soon lying against the wall, out cold.

A figure in all black swept passed his unconscious body, the ends of a scarf dancing in the wind.

Diana entered the home she and Rex had once shared. It wasn't big, the two having had no desire to start a family, but it was still spacey. Diana shut the door behind her, not even bothering with locking it. She did live in a military fort, after all, no place was safer.

Setting her keys on the kitchen counter, Diana began to prepare her meal for the night. Peanut butter and jelly. Juvenile, yes, but it was simple. She was a doctor, not a gourmet chef. Besides, making peanut butter and jelly was so easy she didn't have to think. Diana loved to not think because it stopped Rex from showing up in her mind.

While she was focused gathering her ingredients, her front door opened with a light creaking. A pair of dark brown eyes took in the entry way. Little had changed since the man had last been in the home, though a folded American flag sat on the small mahogany side table. Behind that was a picture of a high school couple. The girl had her blonde hair in a braid, glasses perched on her nose. The man was behind her, head resting atop hers, his arms wrapped possessively around her shoulders. Both wore graduation gowns and glints in their eyes hinted at what they would be doing that night.

"Damnit," Diana cursed herself. Off automatic pilot, she finally realized her mistake. She'd finished making her sandwich and was settling down at the table located in the dining room next to the entry when she noticed she'd set out a second sandwich and a glass of Sierra Nevada rested to the right hand side of the plate.

Diana rose. She was now unable to eat. She quickly disposed of all evidence of not only her meal, but the second, and then walked to the entry way to the stairs. She couldn't do this anymore. Every time she made dinner, whether it was a microwaveable meal or cereal, she'd always set a place for Rex.

Always.

And when she'd finally noticed she'd have to come to terms with the fact that Rex was no longer there to eat it.

Diana threw open the door to her room, angry tears streaming down her face.

"I can't take it," she screamed, grabbing a vase, throwing it at the wall. "I can't take it."

She repeated this again, this time throwing a picture frame with the smiling, happy faces of herself and Rex. She continued throwing things until the floor was covered in trash and both bedside tables overturned.

"Why did you leave me all alone? Why?" Diana sobbed brokenly, collapsing into a sitting position on the green queen sized bedspread on the bed. Diana dropped her head into her hands, hiding herself from the cruel world.

The sound of a ventilator echoed through the bed room but Diana seemed oblivious, too lost in her despair.

"Diana," he whispered, wishing his voice sounded more like himself before the accident.

Diana looked up, eyes resting on the man who was in her room, the same man from the subway. Tears continued to roll down her cheeks as she whispered three defeated words that nearly killed the intruder.

"Please kill me."

A sob left the Rex before he moved toward to the petite blonde who looked even smaller than he remembered. Ignoring the iron lung he wore, Rex collected Diana into his arms, cradling her to him as if she would break.

"Don't ever ask me to kill you Diana, it's the one thing I can never do for you," whispered Rex, his voice choking through his oxygen mask.

Diana gasped, snapping back to reality. She began to struggle when she realized there was a strange man holding her.

There was a strange man in her home.

She looked up at the man, green locking with brown.

Wait...

"Rex?" Her voice was shaky. Her eyes had to be playing tricks on her, after all, this man's voice was much deeper. "Y-You're dead. I had to bury your empty casket."

Diana's hands shook in fear. She must finally be losing her mind. She knew this day would come. Here she was, being held by an intruder, and she believed it was her husband.

Her dead husband.

Diana decided to throw caution, and her sanity, to the wind and attempt to accept what was happening.

Rex brought his left hand up to brush away Diana's tears, wishing her fears and doubts could be brushed off as easily. "That's the point babe, it was an empty casket. Duke and the others didn't check to see if I survived. I was saved by a man who was in the bunker with me at the time. I'm barely living as it is."

Diana took a deep breath, hardly listening to him as reached up to remove Rex's scarf. Her hand was caught by a large black glove before she could grasp the cloth.

Why had Rex stopped her? She needed to see his face to know this was truly him.

Diana's hand jerked, struggling to grab the scarf.

"I need to see!"

"Diana… stop! I need to warn you before you see the full extent of my damage." He tightened his hold on her hand, voice sharp.

Diana whimpered.

Rex took a deep breath, trying to calm himself after using such a forceful tone. He'd never lost his temper with Diana before. This was going to be harder than he thought, especially with her reacting to him the way she was. "I was burned terribly in the fire that ensued from the explosion. My head and face are covered in scarring and I'm completely bald. I have to wear an oxygen mask and I also have to have an iron lung attached to me at all times. I'm not the same man I was when I left you five months ago."

Rex released her hand, placing his own on the scarf. "I need you to be prepared."

Diana just nodded, watching Rex closely. She would have been completely silent had it not been for her sniffling.

Moment of truth.

Rex took a deep breath, counting down from ten before pulling both the scarf he wore and his wig off.

He winced when Diana gasped.

Had she not recognized Rex's brown eyes, Diana was sure she'd have never known this man was her husband. Not only was he unrecognizable with the scars, but the oxygen mask hid most of his features. Unsure if she should or not, Diana brought her hands up to grasp Rex's cheeks through the thick plastic, leaning up.

Rex flinched when he felt Diana's lips brush between his brows.

"I'm sorry Rex! I didn't know it would hurt you," said Diana in a rushed manner. She instantly released his face.

"No, no, that's not it. I just . . ." Rex paused, searching for the right words. "I just don't understand how you can be so accepting of me."

"I... I don't know" Diana ran a hand carefully over Rex's head, making sure to be careful around the metal. " I love you... can't that be enough? I love you more than anything. I can't give you a better reason than that. I'm surprised and scared and angry and- I love you! I don't even know if I'm making any sense! You know how I can get!"

Rex chuckled, nodding. Oh, he knew how his wife could get. He ran his own hand through Diana's hair, having taken off the gloves to reveal his scarred hands. He ignored Diana's slight flinch. "You have all the time you need to get used to this new me. I plan on taking you with me."

"With you where?" asked Diana, hands exploring the workings of his oxygen mask, tugging lightly on the magnets that attached the device to his head.

"Let's not talk about that right now, Di." He grinned slightly at her furrowed brows. "You can remove my oxygen mask to kiss me if you want."

Diana blinked. "How will you breathe without it?"

"Not well, but that doesn't matter. I'd risk drowning just to kiss you."

Diana smiled and slowly removed Rex's oxygen mask.

Diana's fingers danced over his cheeks as she tugged down the plastic responsible for rigging the mask to his face. As soon as his mouth was uncovered, Diana knew it was Rex. The shape of his lips was the same, and his chin still came to the same rounded end. That, however, was the end of her observations, as Rex's lips had claimed their rightful place over hers.

The kiss was urgent, Rex's dry mouth pressed sloppily to Diana's own moist lips, as though this were the only chance they'd get. However, Rex was taking Diana with him back to the temporary base in Scotland to stay with him.

He forced out all thoughts of Scotland, research, and his condition. All he planned to focusing on right now was kissing his wife.

A moment or so later, Rex pulled back, gasping for the precious oxygen his lungs craved. He replaced the mask to his face, taking a moment to catch his breath. Under the oxygen mask, Rex's tongue ran over his lips, savoring the taste.

"Come on, we need to get out of here quickly." Rex rose to his full height, placing his wig back on his head. He wanted to get back to the research waiting for him.

"N-Now?" studdered out Diana, looking shocked.

Rex nodded.

"Right now?"

Again, he nodded.

"But what about my job, and your sister and-"

Rex tuned out the rest of what she was saying, impatience striking at his mind.

They needed to go!

Now!

When Diana rose from the bed. When she turned, eyes widening in horror as she realized the extent of what she'd done to the room, Rex found his opening. Reaching into the pocket of his coat, Rex pulled out the same damp, white cloth he'd used on Colton Tate nearly thirty minutes ago.

Moving quickly, Rex's arm snaked around Diana's head, pressing the cloth to her mouth.

Diana's widened as she took in a deep breath of whatever was on the fabric covering her mouth. The sweet antiseptic smell was making the world spin. She turned her head, body falling due to the movement.

"Rex?" she slurred in a confused manner, trying to catch his eyes as she gazed up at him. He seemed to be getting farther away as she fell down a hazy tunnel. His mouth moved, the sound not reaching her ears as she fell farther and farther away until she knew no more.

In reality, Diana had only fallen back into Rex's arms. He gazed down at her, watching as her pupil's widened, losing their focus .

"Sweet dreams, my Diana," he whispered, hoisting her up into a firmer grasp before exiting the room and then the house.

Outside was a black, unmarked car. Being careful with his wife, Rex opened the door, setting her in the seat in the back. He then moved round to the other side, climbing in to sit next to her. The car began driving away, leaving the Lewis household and their old life behind.

Rex had what he'd come for, time to return to begin his research.

AN: I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. I can't wait to hear what ya'll think. I'll have the next chapter finished, edited, and put up as quick as possible!