A/N: Huge thanks to BurnedSpy, max2013, Guest, Leya, zenfrodo, Caranath, Stork Hardy, Lady Emily, Future Animator, Chelle, Vinsmouse, Jackie, bhar and ILoveMom for reviewing! You're the best! Thanks also if you're reading!

Chapter 32

Nancy was standing on the side of the cathedral with Bess when the gun went off.

Her heart lurched in her chest.

Another round reverberated through the church.

Nancy leapt forward, running toward the altar…and Frank.

Please let him be all right. Please let him be all right.

She saw Frank and Joe on the ground trying to subdue Kathy, but where was the weapon?

Nancy rushed over and scanned the ground, trying to spot the gun amid the tangle of writhing arms and legs. If Kathy still had it, and it went off at this range, whoever it hit could be killed instantly.

She scrambled around Frank and Joe, and a screaming Kathy, but still couldn't see anything.

Nancy stepped back, hoping that maybe the weapon had been kicked away, and noticed a large red streak across the altar steps.

Her stomach fell.

Blood.

Somebody was hurt.

OOO

Emily struggled against Guillaume who had her pinned down on the marble floor. She'd heard gunshots.

"Guillaume, please!"

Emily shoved him hard and he released his grip on her.

She heard Kathy wailing, but couldn't tell where Joe was.

Her eyes darted back and forth until she spotted him with Frank…on the floor of the cathedral.

"No," she whispered, scrambling to her feet.

Her pulse was thrumming in her ears as she made her way toward him.

He had to be okay.

OOO

Nancy saw Joe slide his leg forward to gain some leverage over Kathy, and a flash of metal caught her eye. The weapon was on the floor, right by Joe's knee.

She sprinted toward him, determined that she was going to get that gun out of Kathy's reach...no matter what.

As she approached them, she had to jump back twice to avoid Kathy's thrashing limbs. Maneuvering to get closer to the weapon, she stuck her foot into the pile, dragged the gun out with it, and kicked it as hard as she could.

It skittered across the marble floor, coming to rest under one of the pews.

Nancy breathed a small sigh of relief, but she still needed to find out who was injured.

"Frank?" Her voice trembled as she spoke.

He didn't reply.

Nancy dropped to her knees next to him, scanning what she could see of his body for blood stains.

Frank glanced at her as he pulled Kathy's arms behind her back and tried to hold her immobile. "Stay back, Nan."

"I got the gun."

He grunted as Kathy struggled against him. "Thanks, babe."

"Frank, I heard it go off. Is someone hurt? There's blood on the altar steps."

She meant to keep her voice calm, but she was pretty sure she sounded as frantic as she felt.

Before Frank could reply, Father Xavier burst in through the side door.

"What happened? I heard gunfire."

A scream from Kathy echoed throughout the cathedral and drowned out anything Frank might have said.

"It hurts! Somebody help me!"

Nancy put her hand on Frank's shoulder. "Honey, please! Are you injured?"

Frank gestured with his head toward Kathy. "She shot herself in the foot."

"I heard two shots," Nancy insisted.

"Yeah, one grazed me." Joe grunted, as he held Kathy's legs down firmly.

OOO

Panic washed over Emily.

Joe had been shot?

She rushed toward him, trying hard to swallow the fear welling up inside of her.

Grazed. He said a bullet grazed him...not hit him.

Guillaume pushed past her and tried to help Joe and Frank subdue Kathy.

Emily reached Joe's side at the moment he stepped away from Kathy. Guillaume had managed to successfully pin her to the floor.

Emily clutched Joe's arm. "You're hurt?"

Joe wrapped his arm around her neck and pulled her into him, kissing the side of her head.

"Don't worry. It's not bad."

OOO

Kathy screamed again as Frank tried to gather her up in his arms. He grimaced and turned to Nancy.

"Can you help me, Nan? My thigh muscle isn't strong enough for this yet."

Guillaume nudged Frank and gestured toward Kathy.

"Thanks," Frank said with a smile as the candidate scooped her up and headed down the steps of the main altar.

Nancy supported Frank as he staggered to his feet. "Are you really okay?"

She was sure he had reinjured his muscle. And Kathy was to blame for that…again. She couldn't wait to get the senator's obnoxious daughter out of their lives for good.

"I'll be fine," Frank said. "For now, we need to get Kathy to the infirmary."

"We need to get her to the mental hospital," Bess muttered as she approached them.

Father Xavier ushered the party through the side door of the cathedral and down the hall to the infirmary. Guillaume deposited a writhing Kathy onto one of the cots, while Emily walked Joe over to the other one.

"Dr. Delacroix isn't here at the moment," Father Xavier explained as he glanced at the clock on the wall. "He takes care of the sisters at the Convent of the St. Sylvie in addition to the brethren in residence here. They're all elderly and need quite a bit of attention from him at times. He should be back momentarily though."

"I could bleed to death by then!" Kathy shouted.

"We should be so lucky," Bess hissed under her breath.

"You won't bleed to death." Nancy's voice was firm. "I've had first-aid training."

She walked over to the cot and removed Kathy's shoe. There was a small caliber bullet wound in the top of her foot. Nancy found she couldn't work up any sympathy at all for Kathy's predicament. As far as she was concerned, the spoiled little brat had gotten exactly what she deserved.

Kathy let out another wail and tried to push Nancy away.

Nancy grabbed her foot more firmly.

"Knock it off."

"It hurts!"

"Do I need to remind you that this was a self-inflicted wound?"

"I didn't mean to hit myself." Kathy turned cold eyes toward Emily who was fussing over Joe on the next cot. "I meant to hit her."

Nancy peeled Kathy's sock off none too gently.

"We'll be sure to mention that to the prosecutor when this goes to trial."

OOO

Emily ignored Kathy's ranting as she examined the bullet graze on Joe's leg. She'd had more than enough of the irritating little twit to last a lifetime. The only thing she was concerned about now was her boyfriend. She bent her head down to get a closer look at his thigh.

"It's nothing, babe," he said. "It barely scraped me."

"It's bleeding, Joe."

Emily slapped his hand away as she tried to pull the burned fabric of his jeans back from his injury to get a closer look. She sighed.

"Take your pants off."

A slow smile spread over Joe's face.

Emily gave him a warning look. "Stop it. I need to examine you."

"Aye, aye, Nurse Ratched," Joe teased, as he undid his belt.

Emily held a blanket over him as Joe slid his jeans down. She lifted it enough to scrutinize the injury to his thigh, then sighed with relief.

"Thank goodness it's not deep, but I'm going to have to clean it really well, and you'll probably need to get a couple of stitches."

"Be gentle with me," Joe said, trying to lighten her mood, as he lay back on the pillow, stacking his hands behind his head.

Emily rolled her eyes and walked to the other side of the room, where she met Nancy who was opening cabinets and gathering supplies.

"Is Joe okay?"

Emily picked up some gauze and smiled.

"Yes. He's being his usual snarky self, so I know he's not hurting too badly. Thank goodness."

"Well, Kathy has a bullet lodged in her foot, so she'll have surgery and a nice recovery ahead of her." Nancy paused as she opened a drawer. "Emily?"

Her friend turned quickly at the tone of Nancy's voice to find her holding out a small handful of plastic zip-ties.

"Why would a doctor need these?"

"I don't know," Emily said slowly. "But there must be a logical explanation."

OOOoooOOO

Nancy proceeded back over to Frank, who'd been standing guard over Kathy.

"What's wrong?" he asked as she approached.

"I don't know. Maybe nothing." Or maybe everything.

Nancy wasn't sure yet. Why would a doctor have zip ties? There had to be a medical reason for them.

She poured antiseptic on some gauze and hastily cleaned Kathy's wound. Kathy let out a shriek that made Bess cover her ears and move to the other side of the room. Kathy kicked at Nancy hard, nearly hitting her in the jaw.

Frank stood, leaned over the senator's daughter, and pressed her shoulders firmly into the cot.

"Settle your ass down!" he ordered. "She's trying to help you."

Nancy looked up at him. "I'll tell you later."

Father Xavier interrupted the proceedings, as he rushed into the room with Louis, two police officers and an EMT.

"Dr. Delacroix isn't back yet?"

"We haven't seen him," Frank commented.

Nancy covered Kathy's wound with gauze and secured it with first-aid tape, while more EMTs rolled in a gurney. The police officers moved toward the cot and flanked Kathy as Frank and Nancy stepped aside.

OOO

"What are they doing here?" Kathy wailed. She glared at Joe. "I thought you said you wouldn't tell anyone about this."

"That was before you held a gun on Emily," Joe said. "Kathy, you need help. Please let these people help you. Please."

Kathy's eyes filled with tears. "I'm sorry, Joe. It's not supposed to be like this. We're supposed to be together."

"You need help," Joe repeated in a gentle tone of voice. "And I understand. I really do."

She had serious problems. Problems that she might never even solve in this lifetime. Joe wasn't heartless. He did feel sympathy for her. But he also knew she needed to be in a secure environment where she could get some real help. Otherwise she'd just pull the same stunt again with some other poor sap. And he wouldn't wish the "Kathy Martin treatment" on his worst enemy.

The EMTs lifted a struggling Kathy onto the gurney, strapped her down, and began to push her out of the room.

Joe gestured for Louis. "Hey, be nice to her," he said as the senator's aide looked over at him.

Louis nodded, a troubled expression on his face, as he followed Kathy out of the room.

Emily finished bandaging Joe's thigh, then stepped back to survey her work.

"Well, I think you're going to make it. I can't believe Kathy actually pulled a gun on you."

He grinned at her. "I think that's why they call it a shotgun wedding, babe."

She threw the roll of gauze at his head.

OOO

Nancy smiled as Frank took her in his arms and held her close.

"Well, that's one mystery solved. Now, how about Joe and I help you with yours?"

"I would love nothing more," Nancy replied, leaning against his chest.

She closed her eyes for a moment, simply enjoying his strong embrace, and then pulled back suddenly.

"Wait a minute. I almost forgot."

She took Frank by the hand and led him over to the drawer where she'd found the gauze. She opened it and handed him the zip ties.

"What do you think?"

"I'm not sure," he replied. "This might not mean anything."

"Or it might mean everything." Nancy said. "It could be where our abductor got the plastic ties he used on me and Emily."

"Are you suggesting it was Dr. Delacroix?"

"Think about it, Frank. Where in this monastery would Father Bertrand be without his keys?"

"A medical exam?"

"Bingo." Nancy began pacing the floor, as more ideas came to her. "Dr. Delacroix could have easily gotten the keys from him then, and either kept them and replaced them after he used them, or made copies."

Frank nodded. "We definitely need to check it out."

"No better time than the present."

Frank glanced around.

"File cabinet?"

"After you." Nancy held out her hand.

They began to walk toward the doctor's desk, when Guillaume crossed the room and filled a cup with water from the cooler next to the doctor's desk.

"Maybe we'd better postpone this until later," Frank whispered.

"I think we're going to have to," Nancy said.

She was frustrated. With Kathy out of the way, she could finally work with Frank and focus solely on her case. She didn't want anything or anyone else getting in her way.

"Don't worry." Frank slipped his arm around her waist. "We'll get it done. Might I suggest a midnight rendezvous?"

"You, me and a filing cabinet?" She leaned in to kiss him. "Sounds romantic."

OOOoooOOO

Joe looked up as Guillaume, paper cup in hand, strolled across the room and approached his cot. He handed it to Joe.

"Thanks," Joe said.

Before Guillaume could reply, Emily visibly startled him by flinging her arms around the young candidate's neck and hugging him.

"Oh, Guillaume, merci. Merci beaucoup. Vous êtes merveilleux!"

Guillaume blushed from head to toe, but held Emily tightly to him.

A little too tightly, Joe thought, as he took a sip of water.

He watched as Guillaume involuntarily closed his eyes and buried his face in Emily's hair for a moment. Guillaume stepped away from her. Emily turned to Joe.

"Do you know what he did? He stood in front of you and Kathy and recited French nursery rhymes instead of the wedding ceremony. So in case it actually went all the way to the end, you wouldn't have exchanged any vows at all."

"Seriously?" Joe gave him a surprised smile. "Thanks. The last thing I wanted was for that to be a real ceremony."

"Well, you forgot the part about him not actually being a priest," Bess chimed in, as she approached the cot.

"Doesn't matter," Joe responded. "I didn't want there to be any loopholes. If we'd exchanged real vows in a church, even without a priest, it would probably mean something somewhere."

"I can't tell you how much better you made me feel," Emily said to Guillaume in French. "Thank you again for being so sweet."

Guillaume blushed, then leaned in and kissed Emily on the cheek.

Joe rolled his eyes. He'd just gotten rid of one crush gone wrong. He didn't want to have to deal with another.

Guillaume paused, looked to Emily, and said something in French.

"Um, sure. Go ahead." She put her arm on Joe's shoulder. "He wants to talk to you. Alone."

Joe shifted himself into a sitting position. "This should be interesting."

"Be nice," Emily whispered in his ear.

She stepped back from the cot and motioned for Bess, then walked over to Frank and Nancy.

Guillaume reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. He handed it to Joe. "Please."

Joe took it, a questioning look on his face. He opened it up.

"Did you write this?"

Guillaume gestured to Bess, "She help me."

Joe scanned the paper. Joe, I need to apologize to you. I'm afraid I have taken liberties with Emily.

He looked up sharply. "Liberties?"

Guillaume nodded solemnly as Joe's eyes darkened and returned to the note in front of him.

She is very beautiful, and I'm afraid my thoughts toward her became carnal in nature. It was very disrespectful to her, and to you, for me to think of her in this way, and I'm deeply sorry. Emily will be a wonderful wife to you someday. I will say that meeting her has answered many questions I've had about whether life in this monastery is right for me. I've discovered that I am probably better suited to life outside these walls, and someday hope to have a woman as lovely as the one you have found. Again, please accept my apologies for my inappropriate behavior. Guillaume.

At the bottom of the page were a few sentences in Bess's handwriting.

He's very sincere about this, Joe. He feels terrible for ogling Em. Don't hit him.

Joe almost burst out laughing. He glanced at Guillaume, who was twisting his hands in his robes and looking like he might be sick. Joe knew this was a serious breach of morality for an almost monk, and he pressed his lips together to suppress a smile. He would be serious and grant Guillaume the absolution he obviously felt he needed. But he was going to have so much fun with this later.

OOOoooOOO

Frank put his hand on Emily's arm as she and Bess reached him. He'd seen Joe unfolding some sort of letter and reading it. And his curiosity had gotten the best of him.

"What's going on?"

"Oh, we're just completing the de-frocking," Bess said with a smile.

"Excuse me?" Frank had no idea what she was talking about.

Bess gestured toward Guillaume with her head. "He's decided to leave the monastery."

"What?" Emily cried.

"Yeah, apparently you were too much for him, Em," Bess said. "His raging hormones wouldn't stop raging around you. You ruined him for monastic life."

"But, but..." Emily sputtered.

"He wrote Joe a note apologizing for all the lewd thoughts he's had about you," Bess continued. "He's reading it right now."

"Oh, this is going to be good," Frank said.

He turned to watch his brother, but was distracted by a nudge in his side from Nancy.

"Listen, keep an eye out for a minute. I'm going to search Delacroix's desk."

"Okay," Frank agreed. "I'll block you from view. Be careful, babe."

"Always," she said with a smile.

Frank watched as Nancy moved around the desk and slowly opened the top drawer. He positioned himself in front of her, making sure she was blocked from view, while he kept one eye on the door and the other on Joe.

OOOoooOOO

Joe sat the letter down on his lap and looked into Guillaume's anxious eyes.

"Hey, it's all right."

"Je suis désolé," Guillaume murmured.

"If that means, 'I'm sorry', forget about it. Really. I'm not upset." Joe reached for Guillaume's hand and shook it. "You're a good guy, Guillaume."

Guillaume smiled with relief. "Bien?"

"Très bien," Joe said with a grin, reciting the only French he knew with the exception of "merci" and "oui bébé".

Emily walked over to them and took Guillaume by the arm.

"I need to talk to him," she said to Joe.

She led Guillaume to the bench by the entrance to the infirmary. Joe watched as she spoke to him quietly. He smiled at her earnest expression, as he folded the note and put it in his shirt pocket.

I am so teasing her about this later.

OOOoooOOO

"Frank, look at this!"

Frank turned quickly at the urgent tone in his girlfriend's voice, and saw Nancy holding up a train ticket she found in the center drawer of Dr. Delacroix's desk.

He read the bold print across the front of it. "Engenbern? That's the name of the town we translated from that book."

"Yes," Nancy said, her eyes flashing and her smile wide. "And it's just outside of Usanne, the town where the Madonna statue was originally kept."

"And Delacroix is going there." Frank thought for a moment. "What's the date on that ticket?"

Nancy quickly scanned it. "Tomorrow. Ten a.m."

Frank smiled. "I think we need to be on that train."

"I think so, too."

Frank heard the door to the infirmary open, and he positioned himself in front of Nancy, as she hastily shoved the ticket back into the desk drawer and closed it.

Dr. Delacroix glared at them.

"What are you doing in my desk?"