Desmond raised his head up from the makeshift bed he had made the night before. The small shed he had found on the back of an abandoned property had provided enough shelter from the elements, but his arm was telling him that he really needed to have it looked at. The pain was getting worse and the skin around the wound was now inflamed and burned like a branding iron. He knew an infection when he saw one, and this was getting worse.

Rising from the old blankets he had scavenged, the wind howled outside, letting him know he was in for another cold day. Pulling the phone from the inside pocket of his jacket, he saw that it was four in the afternoon. Not a wonderful way to start the day, but he also knew that he had to get a move on. Abstergo was not going to just sit idle and wait from him to be spotted. They would have more men out looking for him now.

Grabbing the small first aid kit that he found in the back of the truck he procured from Abstergo, and removing his jacket, he gingerly peeled off the old gauze and bandages from the wound. The putrid smell of infection and rot reached his nose, causing him to gag, but he didn't know where to go, or where any hospital was.

So, after carefully rewrapping the wound, he leaned back against the shed's wall, feeling it give a bit at his weight. His stomach rumbled, telling him that it was completely empty, and he knew it. But there was no money left. Not even enough for a small pack of gum. He thought about going into the small town of Obninsk that he had passed the night before, but he had finally seen himself in a mirror of being on the run now for a week. His hair, which was longer than normal, was knotted and full of leaves and things only found in the forest. His brown eyes were sunk in from lack of food, and sleep, and he smelled like a trash can.

Tears weld up in his eyes, and he had a feeling he wasn't getting out of this alive. The SUV was nearly out of gas, his arm was so infected that he knew it was a matter of time before it moved into his blood stream, and all he could think about was how Isabella was going to take his death yet again.

Just the thought of her made his heart hurt, and the tears fall. He had failed her, and she would never know how much he tried to get back to her. How much he wanted to be there with her and their son. He was going to die in that little shack and there was no telling when anyone was going to find his body. They wouldn't even know who he was. Just another homeless man trying to get out of the weather.

Picking back up the phone, he dialed the cellphone number she had given him last night when he finally was able to call her. She had told him it was her personal line and that only she would answer it. After two rings, she did pick up. 'Desmond, thank God you called. I was getting worried.' Her voice came over the line, causing the tears to fall harder.

"I am so, so sorry." He told her, leaning his head against the cold wood.

'For what?' She asked.

"For thinking I can do this on my own." He now knew that he should have asked for help sooner. If he had, he might not be in this mess.

'Where are you?' She demanded. 'I'm coming to get you. I said I would, and now I am.'

He laughed bitterly. "You won't get here in time. You're in the States, and I don't know how much longer I can take the cold."

'Desmond, listen to me. I'm leaving Moscow. My plane landed an hour ago. I can get to you. Where are you?'

"Huh?" He didn't expect her to come. He told her not to come, but thinking back, when did she ever listen, and this time he was glad she didn't. "You're here?"

'Yes, but I can't come get you if I don't know where in this damn country you are.' Her voice was strong, but he was not.

"I don't know. I'm near a town called Obninsk. I'll… I'll try to make it into town. I have a car." Pushing himself up, his limbs protested to the movements because of the pain, the chill in his body, and the exertion yesterday. "Will you… will you talk to me until you get here? I'm not doing too hot."

'What happened?' Her voice wavered, and he could tell she was most likely on the verge of tears.

"Got shot." He hissed as he finally stood straight. It was painful to do so, but he managed. Tucking the phone into the crook of his shoulder, he pushed the door open with his good arm, and frowned when he saw all the snow that had fallen the night before. There had to be at least six or more inches.

'You got shot? How bad is it?' From her tone, she was beyond scared, and he felt bad for do that to her.

"Yeah, in the arm. It's pretty bad, I'm not gonna lie." He looked at the snow some more, and knew that he had to get to the SUV, which he hid in the barn at least a half mile from his current position. "Bella, I don't even know if you can save me this time."

Isabella snorted over the line. 'I will damn sure try. I'm not giving up on you, Desmond Miles, so you had better have your ass in that town in under an hour.'

He laughed as he trudged through the deep snow, nearly falling a few times. "Now you sound like my dad."

'Well someone has to push you, and push you I will. I didn't fly halfway around the world to bring back a corpse. You're going to be fine, and damn it, we are going to give our son the family he needs.' Her voice became strong once more, and he wished he was as optimistic as she was. The bitter temperatures were sapping what little strength he had left.

The barn wasn't too far now. He could see it just in front of him. He was going to make it. "Bella, do you remember that one time we were shipwrecked?" The memory took his mind off the pain for a minute. It was the first time he had actually kissed her. It was the one of the greatest days of his life.

She chuckled. 'Yeah, I remember. You got me to skin that animal. I still find that disgusting.'

"But it was worth it. That honestly has to be one of the best memories I have. Not the shipwreck, but just being with you." Laying his hand on the wooden barn, he took a few shallow breaths. It was difficult to even do that at the moment. The freezing cold was hard on his lungs.

'The best memory I have is the first night I met you. That was the night that changed everything for me.' Her tone was soft and he heard a sigh. 'You know, you were too chicken shit to talk to me the next day.'

Opening up the barn door was a feat, but he did it, and got in the SUV. "I know I was. I never really had a lot of interaction with women who weren't drunk before." Pulling the keys from the visor, he fired up the motor, and almost cheered when it started.

She laughed at him, but from the waver in the sound, he knew she was still worried. 'Des, you are so messed up.'

Letting out a yawn, Desmond leaned back in the seat. "I know, but…" Another yawn escaped him, and his eyes tried to shut, but giving his head a good shake, he tried to stay awake. "but, you know you enjoy it."

'That I do.'

His phone began to beep, signaling that it was coming to the end of its battery life. He had maybe a few minutes of talk time left. "Isabella, listen to me, if we get cut off, don't worry. My phone is dying, and I don't have a way to charge it." He had forgotten the charger in the shed and he wasn't about to make the trek back to get it. To hell with that.

'Then I'll let you go. That way it'll be there for me to find you when we get to town. Just hold on for a little bit longer. I'll see you soon.' Her voice brought him a measure of comfort in that dark time, but even then he knew he still had to make it to her.

"Okay. I'll leave it near me." And he hung up the phone. He was so tired, but he could sleep more after he got to her.

*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*

"Can't you go any faster?" Isabella looked over at Vlad, who sat tall in the driver's seat.

He chuckled. "Do not worry, Isabella. He are making good time, and if we are not careful with our speed, we will be pulled over, and that will take us longer to get there." He slowed the car to make a turn. "We will be there in under twenty minutes."

Twisting the phone she had in her hand, her eyes gazed out the window to the snow covered trees that passed. It had been almost twenty minutes since she had talked to Desmond last, and the way he sounded had he worried to no end. He was in a bad way, and her biggest fear was they wouldn't make it in time.

Sitting in the car was hard enough, but just thinking about everything that could go wrong was making it worse. Her thoughts were getting the best of her, so trying to clear her head, she glanced again at her temporary partner. "I'm climbing in the back to get ready."

All he did was nod his head, his dark eyes never leaving the road. Climbing into the back seat, she took a seat, and undid the lock that was on her mother's case. Inside lay the only weapons she liked to use, and that was her hidden blades. Sure she knew how to use a gun, but it wasn't her first choice. The familiar weight of the steel belted to her forearms gave her a measure of comfort that calmed her nerves, and made her think of better times.

Pulling them out, Isabella pulled up the sleeves of her jacket, and slipped on the modified leather bracers. Once they were tight, she buckled the blades to where they were to be, and pulled her jacket sleeves back down. If she wasn't careful, she was going to cut the edge of her sleeve, but that would be a small price to pay for preventing her own death.

"Isabella." Vlad called her name from the front seat, and she raised her head to look at him. "We have arrived."

Her eyes drifted out the windshield as a few houses were visible through the heavy trees, but buildings were able to be seen over the treetops in the distance. "What is this town?" She asked, climbing back into her original seat, and buckling up.

"Obninsk is a science town. It was built around the old nuclear power plant here. It has many scientific academies as well." Slowing down more as they entered a new speed zone, he held out her phone. "You may want to call him now. Find out where he is. I do not want to be here any longer than we must."

Giving him a nod, she took the device, and found Desmond's number. After a few rings, he answered. 'I hope you're here.' His voice was low, and a few coughs followed.

Swallowing the lump in her throat, she answered. "Yeah, where are you?"

'Outside of town. The truck ran out of gas before I even made it into town. Had to abandon it because Abstergo would know it was theirs.'

Rattling off a road sign he had seen, she asked Vlad if he knew where he was talking about. "I do. We are about five minutes from there. He is near the entrance to the power plant." Turning down another street, she went back to talking to Desmond.

"Hold on just a few more minutes. We'll be there soon. Vlad knows where you are." She smiled. Just a little but longer. "Can you see the road?"

'A little bit.' His voice became strained and she could hear his labored breathing.

"We're in a dark green sedan. I'll try and stay on the phone with you until we get there, but do you think you're phone's going to last that long?" She was worried that if he was off the road, and passed out, they wouldn't find him.

Another cough, and it sounded like he spit. 'It should. It's got like ten percent left.'

Doing the calculations in her head, she figured it out to be about ten minutes of talk time, if that. "Well, I hope it does last. It'll be a lot easier to find you that way."

'Yeah, because I really don't want to start yelling for ya. That might hurt my pride a bit.' He tried to laugh. At least he was doing better than he was earlier with his talk about not making it.

Isabella laughed a little. "I'll ignore it this time."

They chatted about stupid things just to keep him on the line until she saw the sign he was talking about. There was a black truck a ways down the road that she assumed was his. "Desmond, we're here. I'm getting out. Where are you?" All she could see were white fields, and trees.

'There's a ditch on the side of the road. I'm down in there.' She heard rustling on his end of the line, and knew that he was going to try and make it up to them.

"Just stay put. I'm coming down there." Turning to Vlad, she nodded. "I'm going down to get him. Please watch the roads. I'll yell if I need help."

He returned the nod, and leaned against the car. Waiting for a car to pass, she darted across, and began her descent down the embankment. 'Isabella?' Desmond asked on his end.

"Yeah?" She answered.

'I see you.'

Turning in a circle, she saw a mass huddled against the side of a tree, eyes looking at her through a dirt covered face, but she would know those eyes anywhere. "Desmond." She whispered his name as she walked over to where he was. Kneeling in the snow, he looked up at her when she did so. "Hey."

"Hey back." He gave her a lopsided smile, but it was hard to see through the facial hair he had. "You're going to get sick out here." His voice was weak, but there was still determination in his eyes.

Not being able to help it, she laughed. "Like you're one to talk. Well, if I get sick, we'll just be sick together." Reaching forward, she rested her palm against his face, and felt the heat that rose from his skin. "I need to get you out of here. You're burning up." Looking around, she saw they there was going to be no easy way back up. "Can you stand?"

Nodding his head, and with her help, he was on his feet. "I don't know how I got down here."

"I can figure a few ways." Looping his arm over her shoulder, she sighed. "You up for the climb?"

"If I tell you yes, would you believe me?" He asked as they took a few steps.

"No." Shaking her head, she looked at the slope. "We need to head up, and I will be right there next to you."

*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*

Desmond looked over at Isabella, still trying to figure out if she was a phantom brought on by his messed up mind, or if she was really there. It was so hard to tell with Ezio, Altair, Connor, and Clay being there as well. They stood off in the distance, watching and sometimes giving him words of encouragement. "Isabella?"

"Yeah?" Her eyes met his, and he watched so many emotions rage in those green depths.

"Please tell me this is real? That I'm not imagining it." He asked keeping eye contact with her, praying that she wasn't going to vanish like she had before. It had been one of his hallucinations.

She gave him a smile, let go of his arm, and stood in front of him. "I'm real, I swear to you I am. Now, we need to get you out of here and to a doctor. After that we'll talk more." Her hands rested on each side of his face, and he wanted nothing more than to take her in his arms and never let her go. But that wasn't going to happen at this time. They needed to get out of that ditch, and out of the damn country.

Giving her a nod, they began to make the trek up the incline. It wasn't really that steep, but with little strength, he was breathing hard before they even made it half way. "I should have just stayed in the truck."

"It isn't parked far from here, so why did you leave it?" She asked as she helped him up part of the hill.

Giving her a puzzled look, Desmond shook his head. "My truck ran out of gas almost a mile from here. I was out further than I thought I was. Took to the ditch when I got to that marker I told you about. I thought about staying on the road, but there were too many cars passing, and I didn't need the law called on me."

Her steps came to a halt. "If that isn't yours then…" Isabella's head shot up. "Oh fucking hell."

"What?" He asked, clearly confused.

"When we pulled up, there was a black truck not a half mile from here. I… I thought it was you, but if you were farther down, then that means they know we're here." She began to curse low. "Desmond, we have to move."

Reaching around, he pulled the gun from the back of his waist band. "Here. You know how to shoot?"

Nodding, she gingerly took the firearm from his hand. "I do, but I don't favor it."

Grabbing onto a small sapling, he leaned against it, trying to get some of his breath back. It was hard to do so when he had so little to begin with. "You're going to need it more than me. I can barely hold the thing without shaking." And it was the truth. He wasn't even sure of he would be able to pull the trigger on the gun, let alone hold it up. "You really think they're up there?"

"I don't know, but I wouldn't hold my breath that they already know I'm here. It wouldn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out. I may have come into the country under my mother's name, but with you escaping from a facility here, then my mother's name popping up on a passenger flight." Her eyes went to the road above. "Damn it all to hell."

Grabbing for another small tree, he pulled himself up the hill some more until he was on equal footing with her. "I am so sorry for dragging you into this. I should have never called you."

Turning to face him, her glare said it all. "Don't you ever say anything like that again, Desmond. I was relieved that you called, and I am still relieved that you're taking breaths. Now, all we have to do is make it to the road, then to the car, and get the hell out of dodge."

"Isabella, maybe I should just let them take me again. Give you enough time to get home. That way I know you're safe, and that…" But before he could finish, she was in his face.

"If that damn idea runs through your head one more time, so help me, I will beat it out of you." Her eyes softened, and he could see tears beginning to form. "I cried for so long because I thought you were dead. I lost my mind when I woke up in that place, and thought you were gone. I'm not going to go through that again. Please don't make me."

Not knowing what else to do, he grabbed her and pulled her to him. "I promise I won't say anything like that again. I'm sorry."

Her head rested on his shoulder as her arms wrapped around his waist, and he could tell she was starting to cry. "I forgive you." She whispered.

All he wanted to do was stay right there and let the world pass them by, but Abstergo wasn't going to let that happen. "We need to get moving."

Pulling back, she nodded and wiped her eyes. "I'll go up first and make sure it's clear. When it is, you can come up."

"I think I can handle…" But with a raised brow from her, and a gun tapping her leg, he hung his head. "Can you at least give me my man card back after this is all said and done?"

Isabella smiled. "Sure thing."

Hello to everyone! Thanks again for the great reviews. I cannot say that enough! Well, Desmond and Isabella are back together, and they may have a lot of trouble on their hands. Will they make it to the car, and out of danger unscathed? You will just have tune in next chapter and see!

Preview of Chapter Five

Walking into the front door of their small two bedroom apartment, Rebecca looked over at the laptop she had left sitting out on the table. There were soft beeps coming from the thing. It had taken all night to finish running the symbol through the amount of data that was on the terabit hard drive she had for the data they had collected from Desmond's sessions within the Animus.

Shaun was sprawled out on the couch, snores coming from the red-headed man. He had finally gotten some sleep when they got back from dinner, and then worked this morning. She knew he was tired, and like her, when it came to a puzzle, he wouldn't stop until he saw it through to the end.

Taking up a seat in front of the screen, she hit a few keys, and a symbol appeared, but it didn't come from where they were looking. Backtracking where it had come from, she saw it was from her collection of data she had been receiving from Jack at Abstergo. Knowing Shaun was going to want to see this, she quickly called his name.

He woke up with a start. "What?" He asked, voice muffled by the yawn that left him as he sat up.

"You might want to get over here and see this. It found your symbol." She turned back to the computer. None of it made sense to her, but it probably would to him. That was his field of expertise.

Grabbing his glasses from the end table, he shuffled over to the table, still pretty much asleep. "I hope you're not pulling my leg, Rebecca. I could really use some good news right about now."

Pointing to the screen, she hear him suck in a breath. "Think I'm messing with you now?"

"Bloody hell. It's…it's the Observatory. You do know what this means, correct?" He looked at her, eyes wide in wonder, and she shook her head no, because truthfully, she didn't have a damn clue as to what he was going on about. So, letting out a sigh, he began. "In the time of the First Civilization, they had many places all over the world that they would study different things. The Grand Temple was just where they stored all of their collective data.

"Well, in some of these places, they studied different things, and from my research I've learned that the Observatory was a place that with a few drops of blood from someone in a glass cube, they could tell what they were doing at any given time. It was just another form of control." He rummaged through the papers to the left of him until he found the sheet given to him by Tori. "No if you look here, they're not quite the right match, but it is close enough to understand what they mean. The first is Eden, where they came from. The second is about Adam and Even themselves, and the third I would say would be the Observatory. Maybe that was where they were running to. Trying to figure out a way to save the human race."

"Or maybe that was where they were going to hide at, but why would these symbols be coming up in her dreams? I mean, what the hell does she play in all of this?" Rebecca wasn't that hot on having to work with Tori more. They didn't have the best relationship in the world, and that was putting it mildly.

"I wonder something." He began to scan through some of the data, and came across the footage that they had from what Clay had left for them to find. "This is the footage from what Clay gave us. It's Adam and Eve's escape." He hit play and they watched the two make their daring escape from the place that was supposed to be paradise on Earth, if you were a First. "Adam and Eve were the first hybrids, correct?" She nodded. "Now, the reason Desmond was chosen by Juno was because of the high amount of First DNA in his bloodline."

Getting aggravated, she snapped. "Would you just get to the damn point already?"

Shaun snorted and leaned back in his seat. "Well look who's in a bad mood today? We may have just stumbled on the greatest find in our history, and you are getting shitty with me."

Taking a breath, she looked at him. "Sorry, long day, continue."

"Thank you." He went back to the computer, pulling a few more things up. "The vision is one of those traits. A few assassins can use it, denoting that they come from one of those bloodlines, but not all have it to the extent that I have seen only two people have it."

Then it began to click into place. "Are you trying to tell me, and I can't believe that I'm about to say this, that Tori is descended from Eve?"

His nod said it all. "I believe this is what that all means. There was no telling where they were going to go, or what was going through their minds when they left, but it's certain to say that Juno wants the descendant of Adam and the descendant of Eve. With that much First DNA in one place, she might be able to figure out a way to have vessel strong enough to give her life once more. Become whole if you would."

This little puzzle began to take a dark twist. "What are you going to tell her? I mean, half of duo is missing, and like hell Isabella is going to let that vampire near him when he is found. We would have a war on our hands."

That made him laugh. "That would be interesting to watch. A real catfight."

"As much as I would love to see Tori punched in her smug face, we can't let those two anywhere near each other. That would be inviting trouble to our doorstep." She shook her head. "So, would you like to call her and tell her the news?" Holding out the phone, she watching him begin to sweat. "You're not nervous are you?"

Snatching the phone, he dialed Tori's number. She must have picked up because he swallowed hard, and spoke. "It's Shaun. I think I figured your little mystery out."