Yes I am back! And here to finish the story. A more detailed A/N is at the end. Enjoy.
What means the most to me
is waking up next to you.
Feel the morning breeze
You're my favourite thing in love
coming home to your arms
when you kiss me hello
it's these simple things that mean the most to me.
that mean the most to me, yeah.
A groan of pain woke Bickman from his slumber. Barely orientating himself, he automatically turned to his side in search of Catherine.
"Hey," he mumbled, running a hand over his face. "What are you doing up?" He asked as he too stood and rounded the bed, delicately wrapping an arm around her waist and Catherine removed the hand holding her weight against the wall to rest on his shoulder.
"I wanted to go to the bathroom and I'm sure you got in late." She reasoned as he helped her towards the bathroom.
"Let me know when you're done. I'll call up some room service so that you can take your meds." He said after situating her in the bathroom.
Bick had just hung up the phone when he felt a pair of lithe arms wrap around his torso. "Good morning," she mumbled into his naked back.
Holding her arms and turning around he leaned down and pressed a kiss to her lips. "Good morning."
"How was work?" She asked.
"A simple surgery," he replied. Not wanting to bring up his work when hers was up in the air. He felt her nod into his chest and drop her head down. "Hey... It will be okay. I promise you that."
"How can you promise me that? My entire career as a neurologist is finished."
"I'm sorry? You are the Marco Polo of the brain. Tell me again that your career is over. You are one of the brightest medical minds this generation has ever seen. You were something. You are something and you will continue to be something. Okay?"
After no response Bick tilted Cat's head up so that her green orbs locked onto his own. "Okay?" he repeated.
At her nod he dropped his hold on her chin in favor of wrapping his arm around her waist.
They stood like that for several minutes. Their arms wrapped around each other with the morning sun bathing them in the absolute silence. It felt good. It felt normal.
The knock on the door interrupted their reverie and Bick stepped away to fetch their food. "Thanks," he tipped the bell-boy and returned to the living area where Catherine moved to the couch. Placing the tray on the table he went to get her medicine placing it on the table.
"You and your healthy food." Cat laughed, motioning towards to eggs in front of her and the fruit salad on the table.
"There's a box of fruit loops still in the bedroom if you want it." He smiled.
He liked this. It was nice. It was easy.
"Nah I think you may have brought me to the dark side." She took an exaggerated bite before opening her various bottles and medicating.
The buzz of a phone interrupted their light banter and Bickman went to the bedroom to retrieve her phone. "Unknown caller!" Bick called out and handed her the phone once he returned to the living room.
"Hello..." Catherine muttered hesitantly into the phone.
"Doctor Black. You have to help me." A voice responded.
"Who is this?"
"Please... You're the only one who can help me. I'm at the Cube. They told me you aren't here." The tone was then replaced by an unpleasant one. "Move and I'll shoot!" Catherine took in a deep breathe and Bick gave her a questioning look.
Standing up Catherine headed towards the bedroom and leant down for her overnight bag. Bickman trailed behind her and picked it up placing it on the bed before she could bend too far down.
"What's happening?" Cat attempted to have empathy shrouding her tone as she asked, though her mind already knew. "I...I...I need help and these, these people they say you aren't here. I need you here Doctor Black. You have one hour and then I start shooting hostages. You need to fix me." With that the tone went dead.
"Get dressed. We need to go to the Cube." Catherine called as she pulled up a pair of pants and winced when she tried to get into her shirt. Bick helped her button it up and went for his own clothes.
"What's happening?"
"Someone has taken the Cube hostage. I don't know if it's a hoax, but we need to get down there."
Bick paused the buttoning of his shirt, " you expect me to let you walk into a hostage situation? Not to mention the fact that you have not recovered from your injuries. Not in the slightest."
"Bick..." Catherine paused from her place on the bed. "Come here." She beckoned and he finished buttoning up his shirt as he sauntered towards her. "I. Am. Going. To. Be. Fine." She punctuated each word by rubbing her thumb against his chest. "Plus we don't even know if there is a situation. Now finish getting dressed so we can go."
The pair left shortly after and they made the drive to the Cube. Sure enough the building was surrounded by police cars. The area was cornered off and no civilian population in sight, just a sea of blue.
Exiting the vehicle they briskly walked up to the Cube.
"Ma'am, Sir. You need to leave the area."
"We work here," Bickman said. "Doctor Black and Doctor Bickman." He motioned to the two of them.
"You're Doctor Black?" The sergeant asked taking in her dishevelled state. In her haste she didn't care too much she what she put on.
"Yes. The man inside called my cell not to long ago. He is threatening to shoot people if I don't go in there. I have to go in there." Catherine pointed towards the front entrance to the building.
"Ma'am...I can't let you do that. We can't place anyone else at risk and I don't think giving into his demands is best."
"No I'll handle this." Whipping out her phone she called the Cube and placed it on speaker.
"Hello?" Owen answered.
"Owen! Are you okay?" Cat asked.
"Catherine... Yes we are fine. I'm here with fifteen others. He says he wants to see you Cat. Don't come in here Catherine -" the sound of the butt of a riffle hitting flesh sounded.
"Doctor Black. Get in here within the next five minutes or I start shooting." The unfamiliar voice demanded.
Looking at the sergeant Catherine took a deep breathe, "I need something from you in return," Doctor Black reasoned. "Release the hostages and I'll go in."
"Do you really think I will let go of all of my leverage?" He laughed.
"No. Ten hostages including the injured in exchange for me."
The sergeant pressed mute on the phone. "I can't let you do this ma'am."
"It's the only choice we have. I am not letting my friends die in there!" She motioned to the building.
"Eight hostages and you come in alone and unarmed. If you trick me...there will be consequences Doctor Black."
Unmuting the call Catherine responded without even sparing a glance at Bickman or the police Sergeant. "Done." With that the line went dead.
"Ma'am -"
"Catherine -"
Both the sergeant and Bick sounded simultaneously.
Holding up her hand Catherine motioned for them to stop. "I have to do this. Even if I can save eight lives I will try, turning to Bick she placed her hand on his chest, "I am going to do this and I am going to be fine."
His eyes bore into her own for a few solid moments and in that time it felt like no one was around, just the two of them in an oblivious state were no one else existed.
Finally Bick blinked and grasped her hand in his bringing it up to his lips, "You will be okay. Don't do anything rash and you will be okay Catherine. There is no other choice. Do you hear me?"
Grinning she leaned up to press a chaste kiss on his cheek and whispered into his ear, "Thank you for always having my back."
She tucked herself into Bick's side before addressing the Sargent once more. "I'll call you so that you have ears inside." Brushing her hands on her pants she spoke, "Let's get this over with. Shall we?"
"If you appear to be in any danger we are going in so stay low."
She called the Cube once more, " I'm going in. Alone and unarmed. Send four hostages out and then I will go in, followed by the remaining four. Fair?" Catherine questioned.
She heard no response from the other end but saw the door open and four hostages were released and met by police officers who quickly got them out of harms way.
"I'm heading in." Hanging up she called Bick's cellphone and placed her own in her coat pocket. After Bick placed it on the hood of a police car he turned to her and slightly pulled on the lapels of her coat and fused their lips together.
Wrapping her arms around his nape Catherine responded just as vigorously as he.
"Be safe," he mumbled onto her lips as they detached.
Slowly Catherine embarked towards the Cube, glancing back intermittently at Bick. Now she had something to lose. Something to fight for. Him.
Taking a deep breathe Catherine pushed the door open and stepped foot inside the Cube.
Her eyes scanned the faces and she was relieved when Doctor Morley was conscious and seemingly responsive. "Go."
Quickly four of the other hostages scampered out, including Doctor Morley and then the hostage taker turned to Catherine. "Doctor Black. Over there with the others!" He bellowed and Catherine hastily responded.
Catherine was surprised that he didn't ask her to diagnose him straight away. Though bidding her time she observed him. He kept looking at the gun in his hands and squinting, not entirely believing that it's there, moving it around as if to determine if he is actually holding something. He looked confounded at what the object is.
"I...I...I...uh I don't know what this is. You need to help me Doctor Black," he said motioning to the gun in his hand.
"May I?" Catherine questioned while attempting to stand, wincing at the pain in her abdomen.
"Slowly."
Meanwhile, outside Ian was carefully cleaning the cut on Dr Morley's forehead.
"Any idea on what you think this can be?" Bickman asked him.
Careful not to jostle his head to much Owen gave a negative shake, "No clue."
Once Bickman had finished taping the wound he stepped back.
"How could you let her go in there Bick?" Owen started in.
Scoffing Ian placed a hand on his hip, "Like I really had a choice. What Catherine Black wants Catherine Black does, and frankly she is the best at what she does."
With a sigh Doctor Morley let his head drop, "If he hurts her..."
"He won't. She is going to find out what is wrong with him and if all goes well she will be back home resting for a very long while." He needed to stay positive. He needed Catherine to be okay. There were no other options in this scenario.
Bick moved to sit next to Owen on the back of the ambulance that was called in for any trauma. After a few moments of silence Owen finally looked up, "I messed up firing her, didn't I?"
"Honestly...yes. Not because we're involved am I backing her on this. But she is the best at what she does. She cured rabies for godsake! I have never met anyone more passionate about their work or their patients. Yes she is bipolar. But obviously she has a handle on it, and when she doesn't. Well... Even off her meds she has done great things. Though I have a feeling she will stick to them for a while now."
"If...when she gets out of this, I'd like to have a chat with her. You should be present too." Doctor Morley responded.
The two of them stood and walked over to Seargent Muniz to listen in on what's happening inside.
"Can you tell me what this is?" Catherine asked.
"A pen."
"Good. Now how about this," Catherine drew shapes on a piece of paper, "Can you tell me what these are?" She questions.
"That's a...a...triangle?" He guessed.
The shapes drawn were a circle, a square and a pentagon.
"Incorrect."
Seeing that he was getting hostile she hastily added, "Though I have an inkling about what's wrong with you."
"Doc?"
"We'll need to run scans to be sure but I think you have appreciative agnosia. See, the patient can't differentiate shapes nor duplicate them, which is primarily what you have demonstrated so far. But like I said I need to run tests."
"You can fix me?" He asked, inching towards her.
"Yes, but I need to place you in an MRI machine to do so."
"No. No machines. No tests." He pushed at Catherine's abdomen and she hit the floor with a great thud, causing the people on the other side of her telephone line to wince. "If we run the tests you will all leave!" He began pacing back and forth, running his fingers through his hair.
Some of the other hostages helped Doctor Black lean against a desk as blood began to seep through her blouse.
Stopping his pacing back and forth he briskly walked towards Doctor Black. "You said you would fix me!" He said waving the gun in her face.
"What's your name?" Catherine asked him, attempting to defuse the situation.
"Alexander. My name is Alexander."
Letting out a breath, Catherine pushed her fringe to the side, "well Alexander. I can't prescribe you medication if we aren't one hundred percent positive that you have the right diagnosis."
Scoffing, Alexander moved closer towards Catherine, rubbing his gun as he did so, "Really now? Let me ask you this. Are you prepared to die instead of medicating me? Are you willing to sacrifice your life on this basis?"
Closing her eyes Catherine thought a few million tiny thoughts, Esme, her brother, Bick. She can't be without them, but they may be without her.
While Alexander was focused on her, a police officer entered the Cube and stood right behind him, with his gun pointed at Alexander's head.
Standing up from his crouch Alexander swiveled around to find the police officer there and lunged towards him. The two battled and Catherine kicked the dropped gun away so that Alex wouldn't hurt the officer.
Finally, with a blow to the head Alex no longer resisted arrest as he crumpled down towards the ground.
The officer quickly swiped cuffs onto the hostage takers wrists before turning to Catherine and the other hostages, "Are you all okay?" he asked before noting the blood on Catherine's shirt.
Holding up her hand, "I'm fine," she responded and a nurse who was taken hostage with her helped her up. "Don't take him down yet, I still need to run a scan on him so that I can treat him."
"Yes ma'am."
The officer placed him on a chair and stood beside him, while speaking into his radio.
Just as Catherine began walking towards the exit, Bick and Owen burst through, eyes roaming over the environment until they landed on her. The pair rushed towards Catherine
Seeing her strawberry blonde hair and a grin dancing across her lips was enough to appease Bickman. She is okay. She is alive.
Just as he went to reach for her Catherine swayed gently and both Ian and Owen reached for her before she could fall. Bick looked down and saw crimson bleed through her crisp white silk shirt and yelled. "Get me a suture kit, STAT."
He carefully unbuttoned her blouse in order to not further aggravate her wound and Catherine began to regain her consciousness, eyes rapidly blinking. Doctor Morley, who stood by her head began patting her head and she grimaced in pain as Bick ran the needle through her. "We need morphine," Doctor Morley called out.
An orderly rushed back a short time later with a needle and Owen injected it into her arm. The effects were fairly instantaneous on Catherine so Bick continued suturing the wound.
With a final knot he stood back and moved into Catherine's line of vision, "Cat…" he trailed off.
"Mhm…" A groggy Catherine responded.
Smiling, Bick bent back down and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Carefully move her onto the bed," he turned to the orderlies who brought a bed around to place Catherine on.
Turning to Doctor Morley, "Have him," pointing towards Alexander, "taken down for an MRI – I'm willing to bet that Catherine is right. The sooner we get him out of here, the better."
After receiving a short nod from Owen, Bick trailed behind the orderlies taking Catherine towards a room and moved to place the blanket higher up her chest, he would need to bring her a shirt.
"Do you need anything else Doctor Bickman?" one of the male nurses asked.
With a shake of his head the room cleared out. Bick went towards the adjoining bathroom to wash his hands. Turning on the tap he gazed down at the crimson coating the crevices in his flesh. For the first time ever, Bickman thought of throwing up at the sight. He was a brain surgeon for godsake, yet the sight of her blood on his skin – it made him sick. With a deep breathe he placed his hands under the tap, the coolness of the water in contrast to the heat inside of him; the anger, the hurt, the rage, the love and began to wash the blood off.
He then went back to Catherine's bedside and stared at her as she lay on the brink of consciousness. Her strawberry blonde hair was tousled, her skin a pallor that was far to white – even for her, and once again she looked frail. Bick was sick of seeing her in a hospital bed twice in two days was enough for an eternity.
"We've got to stop meeting like this," she whispered, her eyes opening to reveal deep green depths and the sides of her lips turned upwards to form a smile.
"That we do, Doctor Black," Ian stood and rubbed his thumb against her cheek while her eyes fluttered closed.
"Was I right?" she asked and he automatically knew she was speaking about Alexander.
Before Bick could answer Doctor Morley entered the room, "Yes you were Catherine," he responded.
Approaching the bed he hesitantly motioned towards the chair, "May I?" he asked.
Turning so that she was facing him she nodded her head in the affirmative and Owen took a seat.
"Catherine… First off, I am glad you're okay what you did today was…WOW. I have no doubt he would have started shooting, so thank you, thank you for saving my life. I will forever be indebted to you. Now that makes the timing of this quite poor, but believe that they aren't related, well, not really," taking a deep breathe Owen continued, "You are the best neurologist I have ever met and I doubt I will ever meet one who is better at what they do then you are at what you do. I need to know that you won't self medicate again, not only is it illegal but it is harmful to you as well. If you do it again, I am going to have to report you to the medical board –"
Catherine interrupted, "I won't, on that you have my word. I sometimes go off my meds but I won't be self prescribing any more."
"On the subject of going off your meds, obviously now that we are aware of your condition we can all determine the side-effects of going off your meds," he motioned to himself and Bick, "Though there will be no treating patients when you are off them. However, in the event of a patient coming in with rabies, you are allowed to go off them to save a life – just get approval before you do anything first," he smiled, making Catherine grin too.
Reaching to grab her hand he gave it a gentle squeeze, "The Cube needs you Catherine, and so do I. So effective immediately I restore you to your position of Director of the Cube. Obviously you will need a few days to recover, but when you are ready to come back, it's here."
Owen squeezed her hand once more and made for the door, "Owen, thank you," Catherine called out just before he left.
Turning to back to Bickman she grinned, "So you were right…" she worried her bottom lip, trying to contain her excitement.
"I always am. Now stop rolling over so much or you are going to rip those perfect sutures I did for you," he moved to fluff her pillows so she could prop herself up.
"Ah, but then how can I get you to do some more of your fantastic work then, Doctor Bickman."
Running a finger down her throat with a light touch he grinned down at her, "Easy. I excel in other departments, Doctor Black."
"That you do," she grinned, leaning up to press her lips to his in a chaste kiss, "Now are you able to get me a shirt, it's a tad cold here."
Giving her a more thorough kiss, Bick complied to her demands and swiftly left the room.
Not to long a time later Catherine and Bick were safely ensconced on Bickman's couch after giving her statement to the police.
"So I see we have found an apartment we like," Bickman brought up the page from the previous evening.
"Yes. I like it. No picket fences," she provided him with a dazzling smile and he brought her closer into his chest.
"No picket fences."
In that moment, with the two of them relaxed, embracing each other and doing something so…normal, it felt right. It felt right because they could never be normal, normal doesn't exist. White picket fences and white dresses exist but they live in a realm with 100 billion neurones, how can one deem anything as mundane. Things with them will never be. No. They'll be electric and magnetic.
Him. Yes.
Her. Yes.
Normal. No.
Perfect. Yes.
Love is friendship that has caught fire.
It is quite understanding, mutual confidence, sharing and forgiving.
It is loyalty through good and bad times.
It settles for less than perfection and makes allowance for human
weaknesses.
Fin.
A/N: I did finally complete this, a shock I know. I recently rewatched Black Box and I am disappointed that it wont be around to see a Season 2. I thought it best to complete my outstanding work for the fandom. Honestly, I don't even know if any of you are going to read this – but I felt that I had to complete it. I have ideas for other Black box fics – and I may see them through if you guys want, otherwise they can just play around in my head.
So provide me with some feedback and if any of you want to write any Black Box fics I promise that I will read and review!
