Chapter 15

"Are you sure you told us everything?" George asked Angelique.

"I did."

George shook his head. "I know when someone is lying, and you are. You found out something and you don't want to share it. Why? Not because it is good. No. It is bad news."

"Julia knows all of it. She can choose to tell you."

"Adam knows, too. Of course, you can make him shut up or forget."

"All you and Barnabas need to know, I have told you. There is nothing in what we do that you can help with, so there is no need to tell you of it."

George looked at her with suspicion. "This is not going to end here."

"Maybe you'll find out, and too soon for your taste."

"What is it that I will find out?"

"Nothing!"

"You are almost as bad a liar as Barnabas. Come on, out with it. Whatever it is, I can handle it."

"You can't force me. And take my word for it. The less you know, the better off you'll be."

Robert Loomis was there, waiting for him.

Urien whimpered. Not again. Would he ever stop? What did he want, anyway? He had had nothing to do with the old man's death.

Someone else was with him now. He recognized her. It was the gypsy who had attacked him back in Collinsport, and who had since burned to death.

"Leave me alone." he said to her. "What do you want with me, anyway? I don't owe you anything."

"We want you to deliver a message." Zoya said.

And there was one more with them. Yolanda Overton. The one who had tried to kill him and the others just to hurt Barnabas.

"What do you want with me? You want revenge again? You want to hurt Barnabas again?"

"I want Barnabas to know of this."

"You will tell him." Zoya said.

"No! I won't! I won't let you hurt him again!"

"You will tell the bloodsucker of us." Robert Loomis said.

"No! Not me! I will not help you! I know you! I know what you are! You will not hurt him again!"

"We do not want to hurt him." Robert Loomis insisted, irritated.

"I won't help you, ever!"

"You must."

"No! Not I!"

"We will make you."

"No! I will stop you!"

"You can't. You must not. It has to happen."

"No.. no... You won't hurt him again, any of you!"

"You are fool, child."

He was grabbed by the shoulders and shaken. He kicked and protested. Whatever they wanted with Barnabas, he would not allow it.

"Urien, it is me, David. Wake up."

"No!""

"Stop it before the neighbors complain."

"I will not let you... I will not.." he opened his eyes and saw David standing in front of him. "Huh?" he asked.

"You must have eaten something that did not agree with you." David said.''

"Yes. I think that's what it was." Urien said weakly.

"It happens, sometimes. Better keep away from pizza and beer next time."

Urien nodded. "I dreamed about Yolanda Overton."

"The one who tried to kill us all? Yes, that would be scary, all right. But she's dead and not likely to come back."

"She seemed so real... and she was going to hurt Barnabas..."

David nodded. "Have you had any more dreams about her?"

"No, not till now."

"Then it is likely to be badly digested pizza."

"But it could be for real... the first warning."

"It could... maybe you should tell Barnabas."

"No." Telling Barnabas was what Yolanda wanted him to do. He would not do it. While he kept silent about it, Barnabas was safe.

"No?"

"No... you know. Now it seems unreal, when I have woken up... it was only a bad dream. Just as you said."

He hoped that David would believe it. He would not let Yolanda have her way. He would never betray Barnabas to her.

Whatever it took.

Barnabas went down the cellar. He knew that Angelique had found the answer, but also that it would take time until they knew if it would work or not. Julia would work at it, she had said, and she would tell him when she had it.

And then, everything would be right again. Maggie would be back to DC, to wheel and deal with the best, and one day she would be Senator, and maybe President... and Joe would go back to Tammy, and before long they would have a child... Adam by now would have learned to stay out of trouble...

And yet...

Something gnawed at him. Things were not what they seemed. There was more to it...

Maybe Angelique had not told all the truth...

No, what happened was that he felt excluded. He had done nothing himself to solve the problem. It had been Angelique and Adam. Amy had helped more than he had.

But what could he have done? Adam had been the one who had dived carelessly in, and Angelique had been the best qualified to handle it. He could not have helped much if he had gone into the maze himself. Trask would have caught him before he had the chance to learn the first thing, and no one would be a bit better because of it.

He stroked Maggie's cheek. "You will not stay this way much longer." he told her "You'll be back in DC in no time at all. Then you will have to find a way to disallow your doppelganger's actions."

Maggie, of course, could not answer him. No more than Joe. He sighed. It would come to be, but not today.

And again he thought of it with a bit of irony. Maggie and Joe, together again, after all those years. He had been the one to separate them, and now, through him, they were together again, and neither of the would want it.

Maybe he had never be released, they would have enjoyed a normal life, both of them. Maggie and Joe would have married, would have had a home with children. Neither of them would have been sent to Wyncliffe,,... and Maggie would have never gone to DC... Well, maybe that would have been for the best... Better than this...

If... It was useless to ask iffy questions. They are the shortest way to heartbreak as Dave had warned him. He had not paid attention then, why should he pay attention now?

He went up the stairs again. To wait till someone came to him to tell that they had the answer and that Maggie and Joe would be living, breathing people again, instead of stone.

Tammy was waiting for him upstairs. She came every day, to see Joe. It did not help any, but she had to come. Somehow, she believed that he knew that she was there.

"There is no change?" she asked.

"None."

"They said that Angelique had the answer."

"Yes. She also said that it would take time. She and Julia are working together."

"At least now they got something to work with. Not like when they were trying to cheer me up... you all tried to cheer me up, but I could tell that you did not mean it."

"I never gave up hope."

"I know. After all, Phillip did come back... and you came out of some hopeless trouble yourself. But did you truly believe that there was an answer?"

"I hoped there was. And I knew that there would be none if we gave up hope."

She nodded. "I have been behaving quite horribly lately, haven't I? You were just trying to help and I just shouted at you."

"Grief does terrible things to people. I should know."

She sobbed, and this time, after man days, Barnabas knew that it was safe to put his arms around her.

She held onto him, cuddling up and rubbing her tear-stained face against his chest.

"Tammy." he said with emotion. "this is the first time that I truly believe that you ware my daughter, and that you believe it too."