A/N: Complain about my cliffies all you want, my loyal readers. I know you love me. ;) As always, thanks a million to my reviewers: Caranath, LazyPanther, j, hollyboo2001, SC15, KennaC, max2013, jabba1, and Foxy121!

The drizzle from earlier had turned into a full-blown thunderstorm, and lightning flashed in the windows as Nancy reentered the dining room.

"Hey Nurse Nancy," Buck taunted, "How's the patient?"

"Go to hell." Nancy sat down at the table next to Sal's and rubbed her hand over her face, trying to look defeated. It wasn't a difficult act.

"Aw, don't be like that, sweetheart. There's plenty of fish in the sea." Buck said, sitting down next to her. Under the table, he placed a hand on her knee. She somehow refrained from forgetting the plan and stabbing him on the spot, instead just turning away from him and his wandering hands. It seemed Sal had given up on curbing his thoughtlessly exuberant partner, because he remained seated and said nothing.

9:51. If Theresa could be believed, that meant nine minutes til showtime, and Sal was very aware of it. He'd arranged the scant few customers and staff into a tableau of normalcy. The cook and the busboy had been positioned behind the bar, across from the lone drinker. Joseph and his wife were seated at their table, picking unenthusiastically at the cold meals that had been prepared for them before the whole ordeal started. Sal sat in his corner booth alone, the gun never leaving his hand.

Theresa set a fresh wine glass down in front of Nancy and poured her a drink, trying for a smile. Nancy tried to smile back. She toyed with the stem of the glass and tried not to look at the clock. Any second now. Would Frank come through on his promise of a diversion? Was he still conscious? Was he even still—?

The lights went out.

The room was thrown into deep shadow, the only light coming in from the outside streetlamps and the dim candles on the tables. Frank had come through. Nancy tensed for action.

Sal leaped to his feet. "Get the lights back on! He's never gonna come in here if there's no lights! Theresa!" he barked, startling the frightened waitress. "Where's the circuit breaker?"

"Ih-In the back office." she stuttered.

"Buck! Take care of it. And hurry!" Sal commanded.

"Sure, Sal." Buck said, getting up and heading toward the back office.

The moment he was out of sight, Nancy took her opportunity and lunged at Sal, grabbing for the gun in the dark. It went off, but the shot missed, shattering one of the bottles of liquor behind the bar. Sal cursed, grabbing her by the hand and twisting her painfully into his arms before pressing the gun to her ribs. "Brave, Nancy." he gritted into her ear. "But stupid."

Buck had run back in at the sound of the shot. "Sal?"

"Your girl decided to try to be a hero. Why don't you take her in the back and take care of her there?" Sal said coldly. He really still thought he had a chance to pull off this hit, Nancy realized. He really didn't want to shoot her in the front room where Leonetti might see and get tipped off! "And get these damned lights back on!"

He shoved Nancy at Buck, who caught her gleefully. "Let's go, Red. You can keep me company in the dark back there."

He crushed her against him, and Nancy panicked, reaching out for a weapon, anything. Her hand closed around the full wine glass on her table and she grabbed it up, splashing the wine directly into his eyes.

Buck roared in pain. "You bitch! You did that on purpose!" Enraged, he leveled his gun at her.

"In the back!" Sal hissed at him. He turned his gun on the rest of the room, in case anyone had the idea of trying to help her. "Nobody else move."

Nancy stumbled backwards down the hallway, Buck shoving her along with his gun hand while wiping his stinging eyes with the other. They burst through the door to the back office, and Nancy barely had time to register the sight of Frank curled up on the floor before Buck was on top of her, tackling her against the wall. Despite herself, Nancy shrieked, bringing her hands up in front of her.

The sound covered the gasp Buck made as he staggered back, the steak knife lodged in his chest, buried to the hilt between two of his ribs. His face was shrouded in shadow. Time seemed to stretch, the single moment lasting minutes. Hours. He drew in a wet-sounding breath.

The gun made a skittering sound as it fell from Buck's hand and slid in the dark. A moment later, Buck fell himself.

Nancy felt herself quaking as she slowly slid down the wall, lowering herself beside Buck. A tentative hand placed against his pulseless neck confirmed it.

She'd killed him.

Tears welled up in her eyes. "Frank." she whispered. "Frank?"

He didn't answer. Her shivering intensified, and for a moment all she could do was bring her shaking hands to her face and try to remember to breathe. She was alone, in the dark, with two dead men, and on the other side of the door—

"You get it, Nan?"

The faint mumble filled her with such incredible relief that for a second she didn't understand what Frank was asking her. Get what?

The gun.

"Buck! The lights!" In the front room, Sal sounded furious.

Nancy crawled around on the floor, feeling for the gun. She started when the grandfather clock began to chime next to her head. Ten o'clock.

"Buck! For the love of—He's leaving!" Sal was howling now. "You imbecile! Do you know what you've—he's gone! Buck! ...Buck?"

Her own breathing was echoing in her ears as she searched frantically for the fallen gun. Sal was coming back here, she could hear his footsteps, he was right on the other side of the door! Stumbling on Frank's unmoving figure, she caught herself on the wall with one hand. Her questing fingertips found another kind of cool metal: the circuit breaker panel.

As Sal burst in through the door, Nancy threw the panel open and switched on the lights. In the brief second that he stood there, blinded by the sudden brightness, she smacked the gun out of his hand, scooping it up and pointing it at him. "Hold it."

Her hands were deceptively steady as she kept Sal frozen at gunpoint while she called for Theresa to summon the police and an ambulance. Joseph and the cook gladly took Sal off her hands, bringing him out front to wait for the cops.

For her part, Nancy draped a tablecloth over Buck's body. It wasn't something she could think about right now. Collecting Buck's and Sal's guns, she dropped them tiredly into one of the desk drawers before sinking down beside Frank, gently lifting his head off the hard floor and into her lap.

"Hey," she said softly, "How'd you get all the way over here to turn off the lights?" The circuit breaker was maybe two or three steps from the couch at most, but at this point she could barely walk that, let alone him.

He gave a rusty laugh. "Don't know... trying to impress you, I guess."

"I'm impressed." she whispered. The sound of approaching sirens filled her with hope, and she began to laugh too.