The majority has spoken. Here is the "Ryan visits Nicole in hospital" chapter. I tried to not make it sickenly sweet. ^^

Disclaimer: See chapter 1. Plus, I don't own Get smart or Curse of the Ring, or Brunhild

Epilogue

He closed the door behind himself, noticing his fingers were trembling. He hated things like this. Lucky enough, there hadn't been many instances where he had to visit one of his friends in hospital. Calleigh. He had visited her twice when she had been here. When all of them had feared for her life after her lungs had collapsed. When she had been on the verge of death. She had come back, more powerful than ever, and cheerful as ever.

And then there had been Delko. When he had been shot for the first time, a hit ordered by Clavo Cruz. It had been a moment Ryan would never forget. It had been one of the rare occasions in his life where he had been close to tears. Seeing his friend and co-worker lying on a bed, already flat lined once, and with nobody who could tell him whether he would come back had been one of the moments that had burned themselves into his memory.

He remained leaned against the door, just like he had remained leaning against the door when he had been watching Delko. Alexx had told him what had happened to Nicole. She had been in a fight at some point of that fatal night. Fight bites on her hands proved it. Frank, who was out to hunt Chris Walton down, would confirm later that Walton was missing a tooth. She had fought, but it hadn't saved her from being knocked down, beaten up and shot. Ryan clenched his fist so tightly the knuckles turned white. The bastard had beaten her up when she had been completely helpless. He hoped, and knew, Frank would let Walton feel the anger of the whole team.

He now moved closer to the bed. Alexx had taken care of Nicole's wounds. Now that all the blood had been washed away, it didn't even look that bad anymore. Her face was scratched and her lip split. Her head was bandaged, but at least the bullet was out. Calleigh was right now taking a look at it. She would come up with a result that would nail Walton. He knew it.

He sat down on a chair next to the bed. His voice was hoarse when he started, "Hey, Nic. I… I just wanted to tell you we cracked the case. You were wrong. Mame was innocent. No need for you to sing that song anymore." He smiled a bit. "Now, listen. Alexx told me nobody knows if you'll wake up again. But I know. Travers knows too. Now, the only thing we need now is for you to know you'll wake up again. Take your time. You need the rest. But don't even think of pulling a Sleeping Beauty on us. You're not gonna be here for a hundred years. Not even for one year." He licked his dry lips. "You probably saved Mame's life. It's possible he would have killed her if you hadn't been there. I just wanted you to know that. Maybe it helps you to wake up." He smiled bitterly, "That sounds like you alright. Just after I told you what happened to me, you just decide to get yourself trashed and then take a nap. That's your idea of funny, right? Let me tell you something, Nicole. You need to wake up. I know this is definitely not some stupid scene from a movie, because you're not gonna wake up in the next seconds…" He raised his head and looked at her. She didn't move. "See, that's what I mean. If this was a movie, you would be looking at me, smiling and wondering why I'm talking such crap."

He hesitated, but then placed his hand on hers. It felt surprisingly warm. "Listen, Nicole. I know you can hear me. Alexx told me. And I want you to listen carefully to what I'm saying now. You can't leave. Remember, Nicole Ferguson doesn't take shit from anybody. You have proven that so many times. Like with Shona. Remember Shona? The spider? You didn't take shit from her. Or from the guy who shot at you both. Remember Father O'Shanahan? You didn't take shit from him. And you won't take shit from Chris Walton, you hear me?" He ran his fingers over hers. "What are Frankie and the cats gonna do without you? And Valera? Natalia? Travers? There's nobody who jokes around with Walter anymore." He bit his lip and got up. "I'll be back soon. I'll visit you as often as I can. And I know at some point, you will sit in bed upright in bed when I come in and smile at me, with your pink curlers in your hair and a cat on your lap."

He heard a giggle from the door and turned around. Natalia was standing in the door frame. She was smiling, "You know I told her the exact same thing this morning?" She walked over to the bed and sat on the chair next to Ryan. "I've been listening to you for quite a while now. I'm sure you're right."

"Of course I am. Agent 99 didn't die either."

Natalia laughed, "Oh, yeah, Agent 99. Her big role model. She always said that the perfect cop would be like Agent 99 and Brunhild."

"Brunhild? The valkyrie?" Ryan frowned.

But Natalia nodded, "Yeah. Since she's seen Curse of the Ring for the first time, she always said that Brunhild was one hell of a woman. And that it would be cool to be like Brunhild. Valera and I actually have a bet running whether she will ask Travers to beat her in a swordfight first before she allows him to marry her. And, remember the case with the Japanese? I could barely stop her from running around with the Katana and pretending she was fighting King Gunther." She was laughing, but now tears started to fall from her eyes.

Ryan laid his arm tentatively around Natalia's shoulders; if she was anything like him, she would shove him away. He couldn't stand people touching him when he was upset. But Natalia let him. He softly pulled her head to his shoulder and listened to her sobbing, "Hey, don't worry. I told her she can't just leave. And I tell you, I could practically hear her saying 'Yeah, right, like this city would survive a day without me'." He heard Natalia chuckle through the tears. "And you know she always keeps her promises. Like Brunhild. I guess."

Natalia nodded, "But it's just… It all happened so fast. You know, yesterday at this time, Maxine, Nicole and I made plans to go to New York next month. And now…"

Ryan sighed deeply. He was out of ideas to cheer Natalia up. So he just said, "I know it's hard. For everybody. But we can't do a thing now. We have to trust the doctors here, and hope that Nicole is strong enough to win this fight."

"You're right…" Natalia sat up straight again and dried the tears from her face. She then laid her hand on Nicole's and said, "I finished the paper work for our case. If Frank manages to get Walton, he'll go down for arson and false accusation. And attempted murder on a police officer." She whispered, "Nikki, you hear me? Attempted murder on a police officer. Not murder."

Ryan nodded, "It will remain attempted murder. Believe me." He breathed in, and suddenly said, "Natalia. We have forgotten something."

She looked at him, "What?"

"We know Walton killed Jose Moreira when he burned his house down. And we know he tried to kill Nicole. But what about Jeffrey Donald and Oscar Garcia? The deep freeze and the Miami quake victim?"

Natalia frowned and said, "You're right."

"Who killed them?"

Mh. Yeah, who killed them, actually? Walton only prepared the Q-Tips, but somebody else killed them. We'll find out in due time :D

Okay, this is the End of Put the Blame on Mame. I wanna thank you all for your reviews, for putting this story to your various lists. I hope I was able to entertain you. Thanks also to my silent readers.

The next story is already planned out, so you might have a new story from me soon.

Peace and Love, yours Fergie.