On her way out of Iron's mansion, Sara took her cell phone out of her pocket and dialed Vicki Po.

"Coroner's office, Vicki Po."

"Vic! Great you're in. I'll be there in about five minutes. Get a sample of that virus ready to kill."

"You got something that will kill it?!"

"I certainly hope so. I need to test it out before trying it on Ian though. I don't necessarily trust the source."

"I'll line up everything we need."

Sara flipped the phone shut as she heard Vicki hang up. Please God, let this work.

The man was getting impatient. He had hoped that Sara would have come home by now. He surveyed the equipment in the basement. Quite a nice home gym. Perhaps he would remain hidden and watch the beautiful Sara work out before he made himself known.

Jake pulled up at the Riverside Drive house and parked in the driveway. He gathered the things he had brought with him from the passenger seat and got out. He wasn't looking forward to seeing Nottingham without Sara present. The few times they had met when Ian had come to pick up Sara, Jake had sensed hostility towards himself coming from the man. He didn't know what he had done to garner such feelings from the other man. Perhaps Ian thought that he and Sara were closer than partners should be or something. Not likely. Sara had never been anything more than professional around him. He found her attractive certainly, but he wasn't one to mix business with pleasure. Not in his current position anyway. Sighing, he headed towards the door.

Gabe greeted Jake at the door a moment after he knocked. "Hey dude, come on in." He had Helmut on a leash. "Was just getting ready to take the dog out for a whiz." Gabe grinned. "Ian's in the bedroom if you want to pop your head in and say hey."

"How's he doing?"

"About the same. Not getting any better, but not any worse either. Guess that's something to be thankful for."

Jake nodded, still feeling rather uncomfortable. "I'll just leave this stuff and be on my way then."

"I'll walk you out to your car then." Gabe looked down to the dog, "Come on Helmut before you bust." Gabe led the dog out behind Jake and pulled the door to behind him, but not shutting it completely.

The words of Gabe and Jake floated through the ceiling down to the basement gym. They would be outside for only a few minutes, but it would be long enough. Time to take care of the dark-haired man. One less obstacle between himself and the beautiful Sara.

The man eased up the stairs, careful not to make a sound. He withdrew a knife from his pocket and silently opened the door leading into the kitchen. Finding the kitchen empty, he stopped for a moment listening. Not hearing anything he pushed open the door to the bedroom where Ian lay on the bed. Raising his knife and steeling his resolve, he stepped closer to the bed.

Ian's eyes flew open as he sensed the presence of someone in the room. Seeing a man with a knife poised to slit his throat he yelled, "Gabe!" The man hesitated, obviously torn between running and finishing the task.

Helmut's head snapped up and he pulled Gabe towards the door so quickly he almost lost his balance. Jake stopped in the process of getting into his car when he saw the dog pull Gabe towards the house and ran to follow.

Helmut slammed his body against the front door, pushing it wide open. With lightning speed he burst into the bedroom, knocking the intruder off his feet. Gabriel and Jake rushed in a moment later. Jake seeing the knife in the man's hand, raised his handgun and fired once.

No one spoke for a long moment, the only sound in the room was the low growl from Helmut as he stood over the intruder's lifeless body. At last, Ian spoke up, "Thank you." He looked at Jake for a long moment and then said, "I believe I owe you an apology."

Jake looked at Helmut, trying to avoid eye contact with Ian at all costs. "Ah, it's all right. You don't have to . . . " He paused. "I'd better call this in. Where's the phone?"

Gabe pointed to the kitchen, "In there."

Jake turned and went into the kitchen. A moment later Ian and Gabe could hear him speaking over the phone to someone.

"I am so sorry. I should have never left you alone in here."

"You did not know, Gabriel. There was no way you could have known. The dog had to go out and there is no possible way to avoid that." Ian smiled.

"Better than wet carpet, huh?" Gabe wrinkled his nose.

Ian laughed and then sobered. "Would you mind getting my cell phone for me? It is over there atop the dresser."

"Want me to call Sara for you?"

"Yes, please. I need to speak to her, to hear her voice and know that she is all right."

"You would have sensed if she weren't?"

Ian nodded slightly. "Would you hold the phone up here for me, please?"

Sara's cell phone started ringing causing her to jump slightly. She looked over to Vicki, "Excuse me a second."

Vicki nodded and went back to peering through the microscope in front of her, with an occasional look up to glance at the three white laboratory mice sitting in a cage on her desk.

Sara smiled as she heard Ian's voice come through the receiver, "Hey yourself. I've got something for you. And yes, that means what you think it means. I'll be home soon." She hung up and looked to Vicki, "Are we all set?"

Vicki sighed and backed away from the microscope. "I think so, but don't go getting your hopes up. It is working on the lab mice, but that's no guarantee it will work on a human. Lab mice are a long way from primates," she paused, thinking of Ian's neural enhancements, "or reptilians for that matter."

"Gonna have to take that chance, Vic."

"Give me a minute to lock up. I'll go with you to administer it."

The phone on Vicki's desk rang just as they were getting ready to walk out the door. Vicki turned around and grabbed it, answering in her usual fashion and then listening for a moment.

"I'm the only one here right now, and I was just getting ready to step out for a while." Vicki sighed. "What's the address?" Vicki's eyes grew large as she listened and then hung up the phone.

"What?" Sara looked at Vicki.

"I have to go pick up a body. Sara, it's your address."

Sara roared up the driveway and into the yard on her Buell, Vicki pulling up in the Coroner's van a moment later, parking in the street to avoid all the emergency vehicles. Jake and Gabe came out the door to meet them, Gabe was holding his hands up, "Relax Chief, it's not Ian."

Sara gasped a few deep breaths before replying, "Oh thank God. Is he ok?"

Jake nodded and wrapped an arm around Sara to steady her as she looked like she might pass out from relief. "There was an intruder. It was taken care of."

Sara nodded numbly, her shock still quite apparent, as she watched other officers coming and going from her home.

Vicki having overheard what Jake had told Sara, was snapping on rubber gloves as she headed for the door.

After all the uniformed officers had left and things had settled down somewhat, Jake took Gabe outside, "Listen, I've really got to get going, but tell Sara and Ian if they should need anything to let me know. I've got to go fill out a report on this, but I left the stuff for them on the kitchen counter."

Gabe nodded and smiled, "Will do and thanks again."

Jake smiled and waved before getting in his car and pulling away.

Gabe turned and went back inside. Vicki and Sara were in the bedroom with Ian when he entered. "You guys mind if I take Helmut for that walk now? I think he deserves it."

Sara smiled at Gabe, "I'm sure he'd love it."

As Gabe and Helmut left the room, Sara turned to Vicki, "So how long do you think this will take, Vic?"

Vicki pushed her glasses back up her nose. "To be honest, I'm not certain. Not immediate though, I can safely say that." Vicki swabbed Ian's arm with an alcohol pad and then slowly inserted the needle.

Sara winced as she watched the needle sink into Ian's skin. Ian's eyes stayed on Sara. "Just what did you do to get this?"

Sara glanced to Vicki then back to Ian. "Made a deal with the devil, so to speak."

Vicki looked up to Sara as she withdrew the syringe from Ian. "All right, I have to go take that body in. Call me if there are any adverse reactions or any positive results for that matter."

Sara and Ian spoke in unison, "Thank you, Vicki."

Vicki grinned. "It's ok. I still want to study you two further." She gave them a wave as she picked up her things and headed for the door.

Once Vicki was out of earshot, Ian looked at Sara, "You made a deal with Irons? What kind of deal?"

Sara told him what the conditions were that allowed her to bring the little bottle home as she eased down on the bed to sit beside his prone body.

"You what? Sara, how could you?"

"I did it to save you."

"I am not worth . . . " Ian started, but before he could finish Sara cut him off, her voice full of anger.

"You listen to me, Ian Christian Nottingham. You are worth it. You are my husband, my protector and my soulmate. How dare you insinuate that you are not worthy of such a minute thing. You would lay your life down for me without a moments hesitation, yet you question how I could give so little of myself for you?" Sara rested her hand on Ian's, so caught up with what she was saying that she didn't notice the Witchblade beginning to glow on her wrist. "How dare you insult my love for you by saying you aren't worth it! You aren't Irons' puppet anymore, Ian. Get it through your thick skull that I love you." Her tirade over, Sara shifted so that she was facing away from him, her eyes welling with tears.

Feeling the warmth spread through his arm from where Sara had held his hand, and knowing it to be the work of the Witchblade, Ian lifted his arm a little at a time until his hand was resting on Sara's leg.

Sara looked down at her leg, Ian's hand resting atop it, and immediately turned to face him. "How the. . .?"

"The Witchblade, Sara. Now that the virus is being killed off, it is working."

Sara looked into Ian's eyes and then tearing her gaze away, began to run the eye of the Witchblade over his body, amazed as its stone glowed brilliant crimson with swirls of yellow and orange running across its surface.

Tears of joy slid down her face as Ian sat up in the bed and wrapped his arms around her tightly. With a slow smile she slid the bracelet off of her wrist and sat it on the night stand.

Gabriel and Helmut returned to the house a few moments later. Hearing the sounds coming from the bedroom, Gabriel led Helmut into the kitchen, "Want some pizza?" Gabriel studied the fruit basket on the counter that Jake had left and then saw that there was something taped to it. Flipping the piece of paper open he saw it was a check. A large check. In the "Memo" section of the check it read simply: "From your brothers in blue." Gabe smiled. Jake had taken up a collection.

Helmut wagged his nubbin of a tail rapidly. His people were happy and well again and he was being offered pizza. This had turned out to be a good day. He did a little dance around Gabriel's legs, the doggie version of a smile on his face.

The End

This story ©copyright Beck, September 20th, 2001