by Carol Roi
Releasing her chin, Dee went back to brushing her hair, and Megan could feel her hands pulling it back off her face and twisting it into a braid. She closed her eyes, leaning slightly against the other woman's hip, letting the gentle motions of Dee's fingers sooth and relax her. Part of her wanted to run and scream and hide from the world, but the rest of her wanted to stay right here forever, in this woman's incredible presence. She felt so safe, so secure. She just knew Dee would let nothing bad happen to her as long as she was by her side.
Dee was just finishing when Megan gave a big yawn. "Pretty tired, huh?" she said.
Megan nodded, offering no resistance when Dee pulled the oversized sweatshirt over her head. It smelled like Dee, she realized, and that gave her a peaceful sense of security, not unlike the one she had felt as a child, when she hugged her stuffed koala to her chest at night. Helping her into the matching pants, Dee led her into the bedroom and tugged back the covers on the bed. "Come on, climb in," she said.
She did as she was told, leaning her aching head on the soft pillow, which also smelled of Dee she noted, and let the other woman settle the blankets over her. Another yawn escaped her, and she caught at Dee's hand as she turned to leave. "Don't," she said, her dark eyes meeting the older woman's light ones.
Dee sat down beside her, and Megan rolled onto her side, resting their joined hands in Dee's lap. With her free hand, Dee rubbed the smaller woman's back until her eyes closed, and her breathing slowed to the deep, even rhythm of sleep. She sat there with her for few more minutes, watching her sleep, listening to her heartbeat.
A knock on the outside door to the loft startled her, and she realized she'd been lightly zoning on the sound of the policewoman's heart. Shaking her head to clear it, she rose, exiting the bedroom, turning out the light and closing the door partway behind her. Crossing the living room, she opened the stairwell door, ushering Jim and Blair inside, but motioning for them to keep it down.
"Where is she?" Jim asked, tension evident in his voice.
Dee walked into the kitchen, and the two men followed her, depositing their coats on the couch. Dee began preparations for coffee as she said, "She's sleeping right now, which is probably the best thing for her at the moment."
"Is she okay?" Blair asked, and Dee took her first good look at him, noticing the tired lines of his face, and the pain in his eyes.
"Physically, yeah, she's going to be okay. Emotionally, it's going to take a while longer. She was hurt pretty badly, and I think she feels that somehow it was her fault, though I tried to reassure her otherwise."
"Was she raped?" Jim asked bluntly, dealing with the attack on his friend the only way he knew how, like a cop.
Dee shook her head. "No, I intervened before that happened. But they were headed in that direction, and she knows it. She already feels helpless enough; she doesn't need that nightmare too. Bastards!" she spit out. She got three mugs out of the cupboard, trying to control the rage she felt building.
She felt Blair's presence behind her, his proximity cool water on her fire. "Dee," he said quietly, "maybe if you just told us what happened from the beginning, we would have an idea of where to look for these guys."
She gave a short, mirthless laugh, and turned around, leaning against the counter. "That's the real kicker. She doesn't want anyone to know about this. There was no way I was going to promise her that, no way. This is my city and no one gets away with that shit if I can prevent it." She straightened, her eyes turning to blue flame, looking every bit the fierce warrior she was. The change was electrifying.
Blair took a step back, and Jim felt the hair on his arms stand up. He didn't know how she did that, but it was impressive. "Dee," he said, trying to get her to focus on the details, "we're all pissed about what happened. But you're the only one who was there. We need to know what you know. So can you start from the beginning? Where and when did this happen?"
She started to go for the coffeepot, but Blair beat her to it. As he poured the hot liquid into mugs, she told them everything she knew. "I was singing at Joe's tonight, and got done about midnight. I hung around for about 15-20 minutes, changed my clothes, chatted with Joe. I walked out to the parking lot, and I heard a noise coming from the alley, some guy saying 'Here's the message for your friends in Cascade', then I heard a knife going through flesh, and a muffled scream. When I got to the alley, I saw two guys beating up on a woman, they had her skirt up, and were talking about having fun. I made sure they had anything but," she said with a snarl.
"Can you ID them?" Jim asked.
She nodded. "Yeah, and just about anyone else can too. I left my mark on them. One of them, the guy who cut Megan up, he has a broken nose. The other one has a broken right arm, just above the elbow." Blair handed her a mug, and she took a sip, noticing he had added milk and honey, just the way she liked it. "Thanks, Lobo," she said. He gave her a slight smile, and retreated to his position next to Jim.
"To make a long story short, I recognized Megan and when she refused to go to the hospital, I brought her here, cleaned her up and called you. I don't think she knew those guys in particular, but she knows what this is about. I don't think it was random."
"I don't either. Did you hear anything else, what this message they gave her was?" Ellison asked.
Dee chewed the inside of her lip. "I think the message was what they did to her, not anything they said. They cut her pretty badly, bad enough she would have lost a lot of mobility in her arm, and been scarred for life. They cut a cross into her chest. One line here," she said, running her forefinger from shoulder to shoulder, just above her breasts, "and one here." She drew her finger from just below her throat down between her breasts. "That mean anything to you?"
Blair's face had turned white at her description, and only Dee's quick reflexes caught the coffee cup as it slipped from his fingers. "I can see you know what I'm talking about," she said.
"Cristo," Blair whispered, his eyes wide and horrified.
Ellison put his hand on his guide's shoulder, and squeezed reassuringly. "It's okay, Chief."
Blair twisted out from under his patronizing grip. "No, it's not okay! I'm the one who got Megan involved in this! This is my fault!"
Dee stepped between the two men. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Back up a minute. I told you what I know, now it's your turn. Who's Cristo?"
Blair just shook his head, so Ellison answered for him. "Cristo is a drug dealer in Cascade. He's currently awaiting a grand jury hearing on whether or not he should be bound over for trial. Blair and Megan were instrumental in gathering the information that lead to his downfall. They are the prosecution's star witnesses. Cristo is a real piece of work; crawled to the top of the heap in Cascade by basically eliminating the competition. He has a real ego too, he'd have to, with a name like Jesus Cristo." At Dee's eye roll, he added, "That's his real name, and the cross is his sign. Most of the people we find carved up the way Megan was are dead."
Dee pondered that information for a moment, then noticed Blair was abnormally silent. "Lobo?" she asked. "What is it?"
He turned his worried gaze on her. "Megan," he said, "is she really going to be okay? You said she was hurt really badly... "
"She's going to be fine, Lobo. I healed her. She won't even have a scar. Probably was a good thing she didn't want to go to the hospital; the doctors would have done the best they could, but she wouldn't have fully recovered. So, you don't need to worry about any physical scars."
"Emotional ones are another story, huh?" he said, staring at the floor. "This is all my fault... "
"Sandburg... " Jim began, but Dee's hand on his arm silenced him.
"Lobo," she said quietly, "I'm going to tell you the same thing I told Megan. You can't blame yourself for this. You are not responsible for those men's actions. They made a choice to do what they did to her, a choice you had no part in. Megan is going to need you to be her support, her strength for a while. You can't do that for her if you persist in blaming yourself for this. You're going to
dig yourself into a hole of self-pity, and you're going to take her with you. I don't think you want that, do you?"
Blair shook his head. "No, no, I want to help Megan."
Dee took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. "Okay, then, that's settled." She turned toward Jim. "So, Detective, what do you think? I'm of the opinion that this was Cristo's way of warning Megan not to testify, and it was supposed to be a warning to you too, Blair."
Jim nodded in agreement. "It makes sense to me, but what I don't understand is why he just didn't have her killed. He's showed no reticence about it before."
Dee was about to reply, when Blair spoke up. "He liked her," he said quietly. "He liked that she had brains, and wouldn't fawn all over him like the rest of the women who worked for him."
This tale was getting more interesting by the minute. When things had cooled off a little, she would have to get the whole story out of them, but right now she had more immediate concerns. "I have a feeling that after tonight, Cristo won't be reticent anymore." She locked gazes with Ellison. "I think Blair and Megan are in a hell of a lot of danger."
At her words, Blair leaned over the sink, and was sick. "Sorry," Ellison said in way of apology, as he rubbed the stricken guide's back. "It's been a long two months. This whole thing started right after you moved away. You okay there, Chief?"
"Yeah," Blair croaked, then his stomach heaved again.
Dee stood there, watching the interaction between the two men, forcing herself to remain where she was, to not go to her companion, to not take away his pain. She felt her own stomach knot in sympathy with his, and was surprised at how little things had really changed between them. The bond was still there, a blue white cord she could see with her "other" sight, stretching from herself to Blair, twining with the thick gold band that connected him to Ellison as the two lines crossed. She wondered if the sentinel knew just how closely the three of them were joined. Hearing Blair starting to hyperventilate, she held back no longer, joining Jim at the anthropologist's side, placing her hand on the back of his neck. "Take a deep breath, Lobo, and hold it. Now let it out to the count of ten. And another deep breath. That's it," she encouraged him.
Blair felt his racing heart begin to slow, and his stomach quit churning. After a few more minutes of deep breathing, he felt better, not terrific, but not so out of control. Turning around, he looked up into two pairs of concerned blue eyes. "Chief?" Jim asked.
"I'm okay," he replied, and for the first time in two months, he did feel okay. He had two sentinels to watch out for him now, and the thought that there was safety in numbers gave him comfort. If anyone could keep Megan and him safe, it would be the black jaguar and the wild mare. That thought gave him an idea, one he was sure Jim would hate, but the more he thought about it, the more he knew this was the solution. And Dee had been the one who was always telling him to trust his intuition. "Jim, Dee," he began, "I have a crazy idea... "
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"No, Sandburg, absolutely not," Jim Ellison said, putting his coffee mug down on the table.
Dee leaned back in her chair and looked at the two men facing off over her kitchen table. Blair was leaning forward in his seat, his finger tracing an imaginary line on the wood surface. Ellison sat with his arms folded across his chest, his jaw clenched.
"Jim, you're not seeing the beauty of this. Megan and I would be protected at all times by a sentinel, a human early warning system. It's the perfect way to keep us safe," Blair said.
Ellison shook his head. "No, Chief, I'm going to ask Simon to put you and Megan in a safe house."
Blair snorted. "Yeah, right, just make us sitting ducks. You've seen what Cristo's done to other people who've betrayed him. Four walls and an army of cops didn't stop him. Face it man, there's someone on the Cascade PD who's on his payroll. Probably more than one!"
Jim leaned forward, nose to nose with the anthropologist. Before he could reply to Blair's accusations, Dee's hand moved to rest lightly on his wrist. "Is this true, Detective?"
He glanced down at her hand before he answered her, but made no move to shrug it off. "Probably," he admitted, "though we haven't been able to prove it. But Blair's idea is insane, a safe house, even with its possible drawbacks, is the best way to go."
Dee shook her head. "I think Blair's idea is a good one, in fact, I was going to suggest something similar myself."
"You would," Jim muttered.
With a resigned sigh, Dee began to lecture. "You were in the army, Ellison, so you tell me, which is harder to hit, a stationary, or a moving target?"
"Moving... " He didn't like where she was going with this.
"And which is more mobile, a small guerilla force, or a an entire platoon?"
"Guerillas."
"And would you say that two cops, a martial arts trained anthropologist, and an Immortal Amazon warrior would make a pretty deadly guerilla force? Oh, and did I mention that two members of the party have heightened senses, so they can detect any threat long before a normal human is aware of it?"
Blair shot Jim a self-satisfied grin. "She's got you, Jim, and you know it."
"All right, but YOU get to convince Simon this is the best idea." Ellison shot back at Blair. He could give as good as he got.
Dee pulled the pad of paper Blair had been scribbling his ideas on over. "So what do we have?"
Blair ticked the items off on his fingers. "You move back into the apartment in Cascade, so that we can watch out for each other. Megan moves in with you... "
"I what?" said an irritated Aussie accent. Megan walked into the kitchen, shooting a glare at Dee. "I asked you not to get anyone else involved in this. Nice to know you can keep your word."
Dee rose to her feet, and approached the policewoman. "How are you feeling?" she asked.
"Betrayed," Megan shot back, then instantly regretted it as hurt flashed across Dee's face.
"Megan," Blair said, coming to Dee's defense, "that was uncalled for." His angry tone surprised even him. She stared at him for a moment, then sat down in the chair Dee had vacated.
"Connor," Jim said, trying to sooth any ruffled feathers, "what Sandburg meant to say was if the situation were reversed, and he was the one in trouble, he'd want your help. We're not going to force you into anything, but this doesn't just concern you. You know Cristo did this, and you know you're not the only one in danger, Chief is too. All we want to do is make sure the both of you are safe. I know that's what I want. Diandra?"
"Lobo's and your safety is my only concern, Megan, and if you don't like it, tough," the Immortal said. "Now, I asked you a question, how are you feeling?"
Megan swallowed, and looked down at her hands. "My head hurts," she finally said.
Dee moved to get an ice pack for her, and Blair began filling her in on their plans. When she returned with it, he was saying, "So you see, with you living across the hall from us with Dee, we can keep an eye on each other. And when you're at the station, you'll be partnered with Jim, and I'll be with Dee when I'm on campus. So we'll never be... " He realized that Megan didn't know Dee was a sentinel, and Jim didn't know Megan knew about him. "Uh, never be without protection." He looked up at Dee questioningly; it was her decision to make.
Walking over to Megan, she handed her the plastic bag of ice wrapped in a towel. "I'm like Jim," she said simply. Both Megan and Ellison stared at her. Dee shrugged. "It's better if it's out in the open. We're going to have to trust each other implicitly in order to do this, and so we need to put all our cards on the table." Or at least the ones that are necessary, she thought. The immortality card didn't need to be played yet.
The Aussie held the ice pack to her temple, and said, "You're a Sentinel." Dee nodded "But that still doesn't make you a bodyguard. You're a civilian." She looked at Jim. "We shouldn't be letting her get involved in this; Captain Banks will have our hides if she gets hurt."
Blair started it with a small giggle that quickly turned
into raucous laughter. Jim stared at him for a moment, then joined in until tears rolled down his face. "Connor," he finally managed, "you've never seen her in action. If Cristo knew she was coming after him, he'd be on a plane right now, heading out of the country."
"You know, that's an idea, Ellison. Are you sure you just don't want me to handle this for you? Save us and the taxpayers a hell of a lot of trouble." She gave him a feral grin.
Jim felt a shiver run down his spine at her words. He had almost forgotten just what she was capable of. "Um, no thanks, Diandra. Let's try it by the book first."
Dee glanced at the clock. It was approaching five am. "Can we save the rest of it for tomorrow? I don't know about you guys, but I need to get some rest. Megan and I will take my room, Lobo, you and Jim can crash in the spare room. You know where the blankets and towels are, right?" At Blair's nod, she told them goodnight, and escorted Megan back to bed.
