Ian watched as Vicki repeated the testing, this time on Sara rather than himself. As he watched Sara's blood flow into the syringe it crossed his mind that Kenneth Irons would probably kill to get his hands on that sample. He tried not to think about his former Master, but the man's image floated into his mind unbidden at times. Lost in thought, he didn't hear anything else until Vicki shook his shoulder.

"I'll run these first thing in the morning. I'll refrigerate them when I get home, they should be fine until then. I'll let you know something as soon as I can. Depending on what turns up, I may want to get you to come in and let me do more tests. I've got some friends that work on live ones, so I'll get you a prescription for some pain meds. Get some rest, ok big guy?"

Ian nodded. "Thanks again, Vicki"

Once Vicki had gone, Sara returned to the couch to sit with him. Her words were cheerful enough as she comforted him, but one look at her face told him she was deeply troubled.

"It is going to be all right."

Sara leaned against him, her arms going around him. "I hope you're right."

Ian smiled, "Going to help me to bed?"

Sara stood and helped Ian up, letting him rest his weight on her as they made their way into the bedroom. She got Ian settled in the bed and turned around to close the door. Helmut slid into the room before she could do so, lying at the foot of the bed with a dissatisfied "whumph." Sara gave up and climbed into the bed beside Ian and then turning out the bedside lamp.

Outside, the man watched the woman he didn't know drive away and then saw lights in the house go off shortly thereafter. He made his way around through the bushes to the back of the house and stared into the kitchen through the sliding glass door. He could see the tiny red dot of light reflecting off the glass that indicated the alarm system was on. Sooner or later they would forget. Everyone did.

Sara slipped out of the bed before Ian awoke and called in to the office and told Joe that Ian was under the weather. Would it be ok if she stayed home with him? Was it serious? Yes it might be. Thank God for Joe. She hung up the phone and began fixing a pot of coffee. Helmut leaned against her legs as she switched on the machine. "Hey there, Hell Mutt. Hungry are we?" Helmut's little nub of a tail began to wag frantically. Sara laughed and poured some dog food in his bowl. She shook her head as the price tag on the bag caught her eye. Ian would buy nothing less than the best for this pooch. Helmut had brought out a side of Ian she loved. She adored watching the two of them wrestle with each other in the middle of the living room floor, each of them pulling on an end of a raggedy rope toy. Helmut was full-grown when they had rescued him from the shelter, but he took to Ian immediately. Kindred souls, she supposed. Both were trained for fighting, both had been abused. Hell, they even had the same look in their eyes most of the time. Sara stroked Helmut's sleek fur as he wolfed down the kibble. Love ya, you big old mutt. Well, mutt wasn't the right term. Helmut was a pure-bred Doberman as far as anyone could tell. His black and tan coat was shiny, his cropped ears erect and his little nubbin of a tail twitched back and forth so quickly it was a blur when he was happy. He was a solid dog too, every ounce muscle. His chest was broad and tapered to a thin middle, all supported by strong muscular legs. He really was a beautiful dog. Sara smiled.

Ian's voice interrupted Sara's musings about the dog. "Sara," he called from the bedroom. Then a little louder, "Sara!" and finally he shouted, "Sara!!" His voice sounded panicked.

Sara ran into the bedroom with Helmut right on her heels. "What?! What's wrong?"

Ian looked at her with terror in his eyes, "I can't get up."

"Oh shit." Sara ran to the phone and dialed, then said to Ian, "Hang on, baby. I'm calling Vicki."

Vicki Po answered her phone on the third ring. "Coroner's Office, Vicki Po speaking."

"Vicki! Oh thank God! It's Ian . . .he can't get out of bed!"

"Well that's good."

"Good!?!? Sara shouted into the phone, staring at it disbelievingly.

"Yes, good. It means it isn't MS. It doesn't progress that rapidly."

Sara thought about what Vicki had just said a minute, then in a calmer voice, "Vicki is there anything I should be doing?"

"Check his pulse. If it's healthy and his pupils look normal, let's not panic. Is he breathing ok?"

Sara nodded even though Vicki couldn't see her. "Yeah, he wasn't having problems shouting for me."

"Ok, go check the rest, I'll wait."

Sara sat down the receiver and went back into the bedroom. "Vicki said for me to check your pulse and eyes," she explained as she grabbed Ian's wrist and lifted it. She was stunned at the lack of resistance he offered. His arm was lifeless in her grasp. Her fingers found his pulse though, and it was strong, a little rapid, but that was probably from him panicking. She looked at his eyes as she laid his arm back on the bed gently. They looked normal. "Be right back." She went back to the phone.

"Vic? His pulse is strong, a little fast, but that's understandable. His eyes are fine too."

"Ok, I'm looking at his blood sample under the scope right now. The DNA swabs are in the centrifuge at the moment. This is weird, Sara."

"What's weird?"

"Man, I wish I could show you this. Hang on. Let me get your sample."

Sara heard Vicki put the phone down and a moment later pick it back up. "Oh man, yours is almost as weird as his."

Sara looked down at the bracelet on her wrist. "It's gotta be that, um, thing I told you about." Sara was leery of talking about it over the phone.

"Yeah, I'm thinking. Ok, I think I've got something here. Comparing your samples, his is definitely showing something yours isn't."

"Could it be the drugs and things he's been exposed to?"

"Could be, but somehow I don't think so. This looks viral."

"Viral?"

"Yes, as in virus. Let me do some checking here and I'll call you back in a bit. I've gotta look this one up, it isn't something I've seen before."

"Ok, Vic. And thank you." Sara hung up the phone, her eyes moist. She returned to the bedroom.

Ian looked up at her expectantly. "What did she say?"

"She's going to call back. She found some sort of virus in your blood. She said it's definitely not MS though, guess we can be thankful for that."

Ian sighed and closed his eyes a moment. "I am so so sorry, Sara. I never meant to bring anything like this on you."

'Ian, it's not your fault. We'll find out what this is and we'll fight it. Together." She leaned over and kissed him gently on the lips, her tears falling onto his face.

**

Sara jumped when the phone rang. She rushed to grab it and breathlessly said, "Hello?"

No one said anything. Silence.

Sara shouted into the phone, "Dammit! I'm waiting on an important call! Don't even think of calling this number again!" She slammed the phone down in frustration.

"Sara?" Ian called her from the bedroom.

Sara returned to the bedroom. "It was that prank caller again."

"Come here. Sit beside me, please."

Sara did as Ian requested. She could see that he was trying desperately to remain calm for her benefit.

"Would you read to me while we wait?"

Sara nodded and picked a leather-bound book up off Ian's bedside table. Opening the book to the page marked with a ribbon, she began to read aloud to him. His eyes slipped closed as she read.

The Fair Singer. (Andrew Marvell)

As Sara finished reading, Ian opened his eyes and smiled at her. Before either could say anything however, the phone rang, startling them both. Sara jumped up went to answer it.

"Vic?"

"Yeah, it's me."

"Any good news or is it all bad?"

"Good and bad really. The bad news is I can't find anything like this anywhere. If I had to hazard a guess I'd say it was engineered. A normal virus taken into isolation and forced to undergo several mutations. I don't even know what the original virus was at this point."

"And the good news?"

"It appears to affect striated muscle tissues only."

"Meaning?"

"It is only going to work on the skeletal muscles of the body. It won't affect the smooth muscle or cardiac muscle. It's meant to incapacitate. It also means that he had to come into contact with this somehow. It's not something you are just gonna get by breathing the air. Ian said he got bit by a mosquito. Just a hunch here, but would you see if you can see where the bite is? I'll hang on."

Sara went back to Ian and told him what Vicki had said. He told her that the bite had been on the back of his shoulder. Sara rolled him up as best she could and looked.

"You sure it was this shoulder?" She asked Ian.

"Yes," he replied.

"Hmm. Be right back."

"What?"

Sara left the room without responding. She picked up the phone and spoke into it.

"Vic? There's no bite."

"Ok, is there anyway someone could have snuck up on him and injected him with something?"

Sara looked at the phone oddly for a moment before answering, "No. Absolutely not. He's an . . . I mean he's military trained, Vic. It just couldn't happen."

"All right, let me run this through some more tests and see what I can come up with."

"Thanks, Vic."

Sara hung up the phone, a bit discouraged. She returned to Ian and related the conversation to him.

Ian sighed. "This is Irons doing. Somehow, some way." He closed his eyes.

"Vicki said she thought it might be engineered. The question is how in the hell did he get it in you?" Sara glanced down at the bracelet on her arm. With a swirl of red and orange, she clearly saw a vision of a man standing in the bushes at the edge of the backyard. It was hard to make out his features though, as he seemed to blend with the shadows. The only thing that really stood out was his eyes. Dark, dark orbs in sharp contrast to the whites of his eyes. The vision faded as quickly as it had come. "I do not know." He sighed again.

"I'm going to take a look around in the backyard." Sara stood, a determined edge to her voice.

"Carry something with you and make sure to set the alarm. That way if you see anyone, you can open the door and set off the alarm." He paused, "I am so tired. I think I will just rest for a bit."

Sara leaned over and kissed him on the forehead. She picked up her service revolver from her side of the bed and then slipped out the door, Helmut following on her heels.

Helmut followed Sara out the sliding glass door into the back yard. Tic, tic, tic. There was that noise he had been hearing from inside the house. It was a lot louder now though. He tilted his head, his cropped ears following the sound. Tic, tic, tic. He began to bark at the white plastic cover of the pool cleanout. Tic, tic, tic. He started to dig at the plastic with his sharp black toenails.

Sara heard Helmut begin to bark and whirled around looking for an unseen assailant. She noticed him digging at the cleanout. Oh great, now the dog was going bonkers. Just lovely. "Helmut! Stop! You'll tear that up."

Helmut stopped his digging and hung his head. He now just whined at the offensive noise. Tic, tic, tic. Couldn't she hear that? He whined some more.

Sara looked at the dog. His nose was pointed down to the cleanout and he was whining incessantly. Must be something dead trapped in there. Maybe a bat. They liked to swoop down over the pool at night, catching the bugs that liked to hover just above the water. Sighing, she walked over to find out what disgusting thing he'd found. Much to her amazement, as she opened the cover to the cleanout she saw a yellow feathered dart bobbing on the water.