The rush of the emergency room barely registered even in the back of her mind. The stretcher before her moved through the halls with a fluid grace as the nurses pushing it had had years of practice. The thought of not being the first person to have to deal with the situation she found herself in brought about a macabre sense of relief. But it was very little and didn't hamper the exploding fear in her chest to any great degree. One hallway after another disappeared behind her rushing footsteps, and she wouldn't remember any of them later to any great clarifying degree. All her attention and thoughts were focused on the pale form lying so dreadfully still on the thin mattress beside her.

She hadn't left her side since she came home to find the same figure slumped over her desk. Dara had returned home any number of times to the same sight and would waken the sleeping beauty with a kiss or nibble. This time, the very still of the room stole any playfulness in her heart and she walked slowly over to the desk in a strange fear that rapid movement would hasten the calamity that had overtaken her lover. When all her tries at getting the woman to wake up or respond in any way had failed, she quickly dialed 911. Every second after that as she waited painfully alone for the welcome, piercing wail of an ambulance seemed to slip by like an eternity between each terrified heart beat. Standing to the side and watching the paramedics move the frail form onto the stretcher filled her with a deep sense of helplessness. She had vowed to protect her no matter what may come and she felt that somehow she had greatly slipped in her pledge.

She almost felt like arguing as the attendants told her she would have to wait outside, that her presence would not be any help or aid as they tried to save the brunette's life. Only the fear of any action of hers causing greater harm to the woman that had stolen her heart so completely kept her from fighting. She quietly stepped back, tears filling her eyes at her last glimpse of the woman as the doors closed and a freezing cold entered her blood stream.

Maggie was home reading a book when the alarm of her pager quickened her heart. She always hated when that thing went off, it scared her to think that a patient's life hung in the balance and the one thing that could possibly keep that life from extinguishing were her hands. Ever since she had lost Mr. Balford and almost died when she was vacationing at her uncle's cabin, she felt uneasy about stepping into the operating room unless she made herself remember that all those years of believing that she was the sole reason a patient survived, were based on a system of values and beliefs that had been greatly altered recently. She had to keep in mind that there was a greater power at work than any that she had imagined, or she would lose her focus.

She walked into her room and grabbed the bag that was always packed for just such an emergency. She used to wear her scrubs under a sweat suit and simply pull off the unnecessary garments before she needed to operate, but ever since they snagged on the bicycle and almost sent her headlong into a car, Seth had insisted that she store them in her backpack. She grabbed her helmet, something else at the insistence of Seth, and hastily put it, strapping it tightly against her springy curls, as she walked to the bike. She knew the accident had spooked Seth and she almost felt guilty because of that. The happiness at the chance of living her life with Seth caused her insides to bubble with glee and she took advantage of this fact and didn't pay attention to where she was going when she almost hit that timber truck. Didn't matter who was at fault, if she had made contact, she would have had a greater number of scrapes and bruises, she would have been dead. She remembered the instant of fear before it turned to overwhelming joy in Seth's eyes. He had feared that she was dead and that was an expression she never wanted to see again. She turned onto Beaver Street and forced the chill to leave her body at the thought of those beautiful, warm brown eyes filled with bitter tears and pain. She was lucky and she swore to herself to never forget that it was a very real possibility that she could have died and lost her one true chance at happiness.

She reached the hospital rather quickly, luckily the traffic was not as bad as it could have been. She rushed into the changing area and in a matter of minutes she was walking out to the wash area. She scrubbed her hands and didn't turn when the door swung open behind her. "Maggie . . . "

She didn't like the reluctance in the voice. She didn't want to go into the OR with one of her staff fearful at the chance of their patient dying. She had enough to worry about with her own questions. "What is it?"

He sighed. "The patient is young, only thirty-one. But everything we have says she had a heart attack."

She dried her hands with a towel. "That's not that unusual these days. People don't watch what they eat, and they don't exercise. Given the right condition, a twenty-year-old could have a heart attack."

He followed her out of the room, and his next words caused her to pause as she stepped closer to the table. "That might be true, but this is not one of those cases. She is as healthy as one can be without overdoing it. The initial test we did showed an incredibly healthy heart and her girlfriend swears that she exercises religiously."

"Girlfriend?" He shrugged and she mentally smacked herself. Doesn't matter Maggie. A life is a life. You really shouldn't be judging, considering. "Something tells me you suspect more than this being a slightly unusual case."

He nodded slightly. "It'll take a few hours for the blood work to come back, but I seriously think she was poisoned."

She stared at him for a moment. "Have you been reading those detective novels again?" His head dipped slightly as the embarrassing question. "This is real life, not some Hollywood production. I think you should put aside your romantic notions and concentrate . . . "

His head rose quickly. "I may love those books but they in no way would distract me from what is most important. You just wait till you see her and then you tell me if my suspicions are all fantasy." He rushed into the room and she sighed. He was young and new. Obviously brilliant as he was one of the youngest doctors ever to intern at the hospital. She hadn't had reason to question his work, but there was never a safe moment to trust until one was absolutely sure of their assistant's abilities. She grabbed a mask and tied it onto her head as she walked backwards into the room. She wouldn't remember much about the patient, all she really saw was a short glimpse at the face and the chest. She sliced with ease into her chest and was shocked for a moment at what she saw. Instead of a weakened heart almost wheezing in its task to pump blood through clogged arteries, she saw an almost perfect heart. The only thing abnormal was the slightly greyish sheen of the surface and she looked up at the screens. When she realized that what she was seeing with her own eyes didn't match up with what was going on with the screens she started to panic. "Hoffman, what it wrong with those screens?"

"Nothing. They passed inspection just last week."

"That's impossible," she whispered. She ignored the knowing grin of the doctor across from her. "Who set them up?"

"Anderson."

There was no way that a mistake could have been made. Nicholas Anderson had been at the hospital going on fifteen years. He had a flawless record and she knew there had to be something to her assistant's theory. But there was no way she could give into her own suspicions. She directed her staff to give medicine to combat the degeneration and watched the screen. After a few breathless seconds, they showed the beat of a normal heart and Maggie breathed deeply as the heart beneath her hands started to return to a more natural color. Feeling more out of control than ever before she stitched up the patient and left, automatically leaving instructions as her mind swirled with the impossibility.

Dara was pacing in the waiting room drinking what could easily be her twentieth cup of coffee. Her bladder felt like it was about to bust, but she didn't dare leave. She didn't want to miss any update's on Nora's condition. As she turned to throw the paper cup into the trash, she saw a short, blonde woman enter the room. She was wearing a white coat and a stethoscope. She knew that the doctor's physical description didn't exactly match her profession but, remembering the ridicule she herself had received from not exactly, physically at least, fitting anything that required any intelligence she had no problem in believing what she saw. She waited anxiously; her nerves rubbed even more raw by the haunted expression on the woman's face.

"Dara Johnson?"

"Yes, are you the doctor that operated on Nora Williamson?"

Maggie nodded and sighed. Seeing the blonde's reaction to her reluctance, she quickly spoke. "She's okay. She made it through. We need to keep her in observation for a couple of days, but there isn't any indication that she will have a relapse."

Dara let out a huge breath and her eyes filled with tears as she felt a great weight lift off her heart. "Oh God, thank you. Thank you so much, I don't know what I would have done if . . . " She ran out of words and simply let the happiness she felt fill her. She didn't worry about the doctor's earlier unease as she rushed for a bathroom.

Maggie sunk into an overstuffed chair and ignored the feeling of drowning in fabric and padding. She slipped off her shoes and socks, each movement an automatic action as she couldn't shake her earlier confusion. She knew she wasn't going to be of any use with this constant source of distraction so she left the hospital making sure she called the lab with the specific directions of them beeping her the moment Ms. Williamson's results were ready. She had battled with herself to place a security guard at her patient's door but didn't think causing her blonde companion any more upset would help any. She did make sure that the young woman, after Maggie patiently waited for her release from recovery, was placed in a private room that only a nurse and Ms. Johnson could visit. She reluctantly informed security with her suspicions and the specific directions that they were not to let the two women realize the need for such awareness and protection. Now, all she could do was wait. Wait for the results, wait for her patient to fully recover. She sighed. Wait for Seth. For the first time that day her mind concentrated on something other than the mystery at work. Where was he? He was usually home by now. It figured quite nicely with the type of day she had been having. He was usually always there, worrying and sometimes she came very close to snapping. Only the knowledge that his love was causing such endearing concern kept her from losing her calm. She had to admit; the new routine of burying herself in his tall form at night beat her old, comfortable habit of sleeping alone. Now, when she really really needed him, he wasn't around.

She forced her increasingly indolent body up out of very comfortable position and into the kitchen. She had always made great pains to eat healthy, especially after all the hours of studying the degeneration of a heart after years of fat and cholesterol, but, right now, she really didn't give a damn. She opened a cabinet and pulled out what she called her comfort bowl. It was large, well beyond large, but she didn't have any problem with that. She figured since she was usually so good when she decided to be bad, she had the right to be quite treasonous to her petite body. She pulled out the rectangular carton from the freezer and felt a slight chill creep through her extremities. Whether it was because of the cold or her excitement she didn't know, but she enjoyed it all the same. She pulled a large spoon out of a drawer and scooped the dark, royal chocolate ice cream into the white container. After she had filled her bowl with a decent amount of the rich desert - okay, gargantuan, but someone had to consider it decent - she replaced everything into their respective places.

When Seth came home, he found the love of his life snuggled deep in the chair with a quite guilty, childish grin on her face and she dared him to say anything as she piled her spoon with ice cream and shoveled into her mouth. He had to hide a grin behind his hand as a small trickle escaped the corner of her mouth. She quickly licked the retreating sweet and he lost himself in a fit of chuckles. He stood closer to the chair and lifted her into his arms, turning around and planting himself in the chair with her on his lap. She squealed slightly in indignation but he stopped her protesting as he began to feed her the sinful ice cream. A few moments later, he placed the now empty bowl on the table beside them and snuggled deeper in the chair as she did the same with his body. She patted her full stomach and closed her eyes, basking in the quiet serenity his arms brought her. She sighed and he bent his head to look at her face. She could feel his stare and opened her worried eyes to look into his concerned ones. His face begged that she tell him what was wrong and she fought slightly with herself before giving in.

"You ever felt that you were completely out of touch? That you were missing something?"

Seth looked at Maggie and she could see the sarcastic cast of his eyes. "Oh yeah." She ran her hands lightly through her hair and left them there for a second, looking at him. "I forgot for a minute who I was talking to."

Seth didn't say anything. He just waited for her to tell him. Or not. It didn't really matter as long as she knew he was there for her.

Maggie wasn't quite sure what to say. All she had were a few fears that she had to admit had been fueled by her assistant. And she felt a responsibility to her patient to keep her business private. She knew she could trust Seth, but she didn't feel it was her right to divulge any information without her consent. She looked up into his eyes and felt the compulsion to tell him everything. That was going to be dangerous later.

"My patient... the one I operated on today." Well, not really, but... "Something I'm working on that isn't right."

"Isn't right?"

Maggie nodded. "Her body went against everything I was taught in school that led to her condition. She wasn't dying, just deteriorated." She looked at him with confused eyes. "And there was no reason."

"Sometimes things happen that there is no normal explanation for."

"Oh ho." A snort. "Trust me, I have learned that, but there is just something I can't see. It's like hearing the buzz of a fly but not seeing the bug. Elmerg had his own ideas."

"Elmerg? The one who likes detective novels?"

"Uh huh. At first I just thought he was imagining this, bringing his romantic notions into the operating room where they don't belong."

"Did you tell him that?"

She nodded.

"And?"

"Basically he told me that it had no bearing on his work. And, Seth, I haven't seen any indication that he was lying. I have no problem with his work except that he will get better as he goes, but the idea of poison is a bit far fetched. But . . . "

"But?"

"No matter how I try to rationalize it, there is nothing I can think of that would have that kind of effect. A perfectly healthy heart was degenerating before my eyes and there was no reason for it."

It was at times like these that Seth really missed the ability to read her thoughts. He felt blind in a way, almost impotent in not knowing what to say or how to help her. Instead, he pulled her closer and rested his chin on her head. He sighed and was slightly surprised to feel a great deal of anxiety slip out of her body. He couldn't see how he had had anything to do with her ease, but he was glad it happened no matter what.

"Thanks," came the whispered reply.

Seth's eyes rounded in wonder and he looked down at her. "Thanks?"

She nodded slightly and smiled at the confusion she saw in his eyes.

"For what?"

"For being here. For not trying to solve my problem. For not coming up with some lame line and just listening. Impossibly, his eyes widened more and she did her best to smother the laughter bubbling up from her chest, only managing to reduce it to a chuckle. "You were trying to figure out to do that weren't you? You wanted to say the right words."

He nodded. "It hurts to see you upset. I don't know what to say or do and I am so afraid of blundering . . . it was so much easier before."

In her vulnerable state she misinterpreted his words. "I'm sorry you gave felt you had to give that up. I tried to let you go and walk away . . . I should have just walked away. I am selfish." He shook his head. "No, no, don't try to deny it. I am selfish. If I had thought about someone other than myself for once in my life, you would still be an angel, immortal and able to live your life as you always had."

"And being miserable without you." His simple statement shot through her defenses and she stared at him. "I have never regretted my decision. And you did try to walk away, I wouldn't let you. I was the one that fell, I was the one that gave up my immortality for you, so stop trying to blame yourself."

"But, if you had never met me, you would have never wanted to fall, so it was my fault."

He shook his head. "It was going on long before I ever met you." He searched her face. "For a long time, as eons and ages passed by, I was satisfied and happy with what my existence was. I had no knowledge of there being anything else for me and I worked as hard as I could to fulfill my purpose. But as time passed and I came closer to the very humans I had been sent here to help, I began to do more than just watch over them, I began to watch them. I began to listen and learn from them, and to love them. We have a very basic love for all life, we respect and uphold the natural order of things that was set into motion millions of years ago. But, I started to develop a strong love for man. It was gradual, this change I felt in me. With eternal creatures, things tend to take their time, speed and time have no hold on us so they do not employ us with any true interest or concern. But it bothered me and I thought on it and I meditated, that is the best word I can think of to describe it, over what I was feeling. I tried to stop it, to crush the rush of dangerous thoughts and feeling slowly crowding my brain." He stopped and sighed. He wasn't sure how to say the next part. How was he to describe to her an undescribable experience?

She felt his discomfort and ran her hand softly up and down his arm. He smiled at her and she could see the trembling of his lips as though he was trying to force words out of his mouth. "What's wrong?"

"I'm not sure how to say this."

"Just say it."

"It's not that easy when you can't find the words."

"How did it feel?"

"Uhm . . . I got a jolt; an intense wave of emotion passed over me. What it was I wouldn't know till later when I thought about what had happened."

She smiled. "I know what you mean." Surprise was quite evident on his face. "I told you about it." A second later a revelation dawned and he looked at her with something akin to awe. "When I first felt you, I experienced very much the same. It is very hard to describe so I don't try to. I just think about where it left me, how it affected me."

His smiled widened and she was starting to feel a bit embarrassed by the adoration shining from his eyes. "Well, I didn't realize what it was till later. Conversations between what humans refer to as heavenly hosts are quite different from what most people think. We don't speak as you do we have no mouth or vocal cords to produce the sounds, we communicate differently."

"Through your thoughts."

"In a way. Individual thoughts are private, we can sense each other's emotions, but not personal thoughts that are chosen to be kept private. We would have to make a conscious decision to communicate and it would come out like a stream of water passing over us. Usually quite gentle, and you would just know what the other person was trying to say. It happened every time, so we were used to it. But what I felt was not like anything I had felt before. It was more like a rush of fire than water. A strong gust of information that brokered no resistence, it would be heard. Afterwards, all I felt for a long time was calm. After time, I realized that a strong sense of understanding underlay that message."

"Who do you think it was?"

"Oh, I know who it was, but I doubt that most people would believe me."

She thought on that a moment and felt a jumble of emotions as his words unfolded their meaning. No, I don't believe it. But he wouldn't lie. Doesn't matter, this is just too much. For a second, she looked into his eyes and a thought hit her. How impossible was it considering who was holding her? How much further was the acceptance of his words than from the acceptance of who the man she loved was? "I believe you."

"You do?"

"Yes, how could I not, considering?"

"You are very wise, you know that? Most people would have fought against it no matter what evidence was before them."

"Well, I have to be."

"How's that?"

Her smile widened into a conspiratorial grin and she looked into his eyes, her voice a whisper as if she were passing on secret information. "I fell in love with you."

It took a moment of reminding himself to breathe and the blinking away of tears before he collected himself enough to blush. She started to giggle and he tilted his head to study her. This caused her giggles to intensify. "You think its funny, huh? What are you laughing at?" He started to poke at her side where he knew she was ticklish and as she fought and squirmed he started to tickle more spots. "I'll make you laugh." Quite without warning, she reached up and stroked his face and his hands stopped. She smiled and he bent down to kiss her.