Fury Saga              by: Darkside        © 2000

Soul Mates

Part 8c

Alex was waiting by the phone in his Cambridge hotel room. Kat was only six hours away and Cathline would be here in the morning. There had been no news from the kidnappers at all, which had surprised the police as usually demands are made as soon as the kidnap is made known. He had tried to remain strong for Kat, but inside he was desperately worried. He and Elizabeth had grown so close over the months they had been together. How cruel would it be for their love to be denied? Frustration was starting to creep in, he felt powerless and at the mercy of the fates. There was nothing he could do except wait and pray. He’d tried watching TV but every cop show or drama only served to rub salt in the wounds. The comedies he couldn’t laugh at and even the Kweepa and Rooney movie on pay per view seemed puerile and pointless. Frustrated and bored he lay back on the bed and thought back to the fun times he and Elizabeth had had. The first date was one of the most memorable. It was as near perfection as he could have imagined. It was, however, the day he had asked her to marry him, which stuck in his mind. It hadn’t been a grandiose affair. He had proposed to her over a simple meal at his house; he wanted the moment to be a special one and not contaminated with fancy meals or venues. She had taken one look at the ring, a simple diamond and gold affair, and said "You really expect me to marry you after the lifetime of grief you caused me?"

His heart had sunk at the sound of this. He had blown it. A laugh from the other side of the table made him look up. Elizabeth had placed the ring on her finger and was inspecting how it looked on her hand. She smiled. "Alex, Yes I will marry you," and they had embraced, both wishing that moment would never end.

There was a sharp knock on the door and Alex swung his legs out of the bed and answered it. Inspector Jones stood there and was accompanied by another police officer. "Hi Inspector. Any news?"

"Can I come in?" Inspector Jones said. He pushed his glasses back onto his nose as if trying to avoid saying something.

"Sure. What’s going on?

Inspector Jones turned to his fellow officer and said "Bob put the kettle on for us please. Mr Richards, please take a seat."

Alex’s desire for news turned to apprehension. Inspector Jones didn’t look at all happy to be there. It was as if he had to perform the worst job in the world but Alex sat down as instructed.

"Inspector what in hell has happened?" Alex demanded.

"Elizabeth’s been found. She was in a farm house in Yorkshire," inspector Jones started to say.

"That’s great! Is she ok?" Alex interrupted.

"I’m afraid not. She was shot in the chest at close range during a struggle with her kidnapper. It looks as though she was shot trying to escape. We have the kidnapper in custody."

"How bad is it?" Alex asked. He hardly dare ask but he had to find out.

"Very nearly as bad as it can be. She’s in St Lukes hospital Huddersfield. She’s in a critical condition with severe damage to her heart, lungs and she was bleeding internally. At the moment the only thing that’s keeping her technically alive are the machines. That’s all I know. We have a car waiting for you if you’d like to go there. It’ll take a few hours but the doctors don’t expect much change in her condition. I’m sorry Alex, I really am."

Alex sat there stunned. The woman he loved, the woman he was going to marry and his ‘soul mate,’ was virtually dead. Elizabeth’s life hung by the slenderest of threads and he was powerless to do anything about it. "Do Matthew and Kat know?" Alex managed to say.

"We called them before we came here. Matthew’s on his way here now but it will be a number of hours before he gets there. I would suggest you try and get some sleep in the car."

Alex nodded and took the cup of strong sweet tea that the other police officer had just made him. He took a sip and swallowed the warm, sweet liquid. He knew the real motive behind the drink; they were treating him for shock. Putting down the cup of tea on a nearby table he collected a few things and put them in his bag. He wouldn’t bother to check out. He’d settle the bill by PDA later on. He was escorted outside and got into the white and yellow striped Rover-Proton police car. He suddenly felt very tired and was soon fast asleep.

o—o—o—

From her vantage point above the farm house Anne had watched the ambulance take Elizabeth’s body away, closely followed by a still unconscious Angela. Police had stormed into the house and soon made it difficult for Anne to stay around and watch. She had sprinted the kilometer back to her car and had deduced they would take Elizabeth to the best and closest ER possible. It took her about twenty minutes to drive into Huddersfield and she tried a couple of hospitals there before locating St Lukes.

She shifted form into a five foot five brunette and quickly located the laundry room. No matter where she went all hospitals were the same. From Adelaide General where she’d lain comatose and near to death to her fathers hospital the layout, atmosphere and attitude was all the same. She quickly found a clean nurse’s uniform, and checking that the coast was clear she put it on. She would ask Heinlein for a valid ID later on but for now the uniform would do, as in her experience most people didn’t even check for a badge. In an overworked hospital who’d notice an extra nurse?

She quickly located the intensive care room and slipped inside. Looking at the array of equipment, she was impressed. She had expected to find older less effective hardware, but this looked brand new. She checked each bed in turn and saw Elizabeth lying in one, in a side room. Her skin had a pallor of death and the monitors showed that she was barely alive. Anne touched a few of the displays in order to get more information. Given the circumstances, Elizabeth’s condition was as good as she could have hoped for. The monitors showed that her heart had ceased working on it’s own an hour ago and was now being artificially stimulated by the machines. Both her lungs had failed and she was now on artificial ventilation. Brain activity was almost zero, it was borderline as to whether Elizabeth was technically alive or not. When they got there Matthew and Kat would need to decide whether to turn the machines off or not. It was not a decision she would want to make herself, but she had done so when she had shot her. She now wished there had been any other way, but the way she had chosen had been the only one left open to her.

Anne walked over to a series of X-rays and scans pinned to the wall over Elizabeth’s bed. To her relief it looked as though she had hit exactly where she had intended. Using her changeling organ she could manufacture and inject Elizabeth with a serum that would gradually repair the wounds, as she had done years ago with Detective Tina Cox but Elizabeth probably wasn’t strong enough to cope with even the smallest dose. For the moment, it was now down to Elizabeth to cling onto the tiny fragment of life that remained in her.

"Can I help you?" A deep voice sounded from behind her.

Anne whirled round to see a tall man with glasses and thinning hair. "Sorry?"

"Can I help you? I don’t recognize you. What are you doing here?" The doctor asked.

Anne used the response she had prepared for such eventualities, "You were a few nurses short for the night shift so they asked me to transfer from the Royal for tonight. She’s a very ill young lady isn’t she?" Anne said, nodding towards the inert Elizabeth.

The doctor gave Anne a suspicious look "She wouldn’t be here if she wasn’t!"

Anne decided to ignore the barbed comment, "I’ve seen the readouts. How much can she support herself? Is it just the machines?"

The doctor nodded sadly. "Apart from the barest flicker of brain activity it’s the machines. She’s in a deep coma and in my opinion is likely to remain that way."

Anne wasn’t so sure about this doctor’s opinion. "I’m surprised the gunshot wasn’t fatal."

"It effectively was. It was a hell of a shot though. It went into the chest cavity splintering a rib. The bullet then passed thru her left lung puncturing it before coming to a stop just before her spinal cord. A centimeter further on and she would be paralyzed, not that it matters much now."

Anne knew the answer before she asked but she needed to gain the doctor’s confidence, "So how come there’s so much internal damage?"

"The rib shattered, sending bone fragments into her other lung, superior Vena Cava and supraventricula crest. We’ve managed to patch her up by microsurgery but there was too much damage to do anything else. It’s down to her parents now. It’s their call."

Anne nodded "Thanks Doctor. What do you want me to do?"

"There’s a patient in the second IC ward, change the biofilter for us."

"OK," Anne replied. Although things had gone as well as she could have hoped for, for Elizabeth’s sake she wished she knew Kat better.. She was tempted to come back when they arrived but she needed to report back to Heinlein. She would stick around for a few days to make sure things were progressing as she wanted them to. Besides, she needed to pay a visit to Angela.

o—o—o—

A few hours later Kat came running into the intensive care ward. Alex had fallen asleep next to Elizabeth, his hand was still holding tightly onto hers. The array of tubes and machinery around Elizabeth scared Kat but it was Elizabeth’s ashen gray appearance that caused her the most concern.

"Mrs Stephens," a voice said from behind her.

Kat turned around, her eyes streaked with tears. "Yes, doctor."

"Please come with me," the doctor replied.

"What about Alex and Elizabeth? I can’t leave them," Kat pleaded.

"There’s nothing you can do for her and he needs his sleep. He’s been here for hours talking and holding her hand. Please, Miss Stephens, follow me."

Kat was led into a side room, and sat down on one of the plastic chairs in the room.

"What have you been told?" the doctor asked.

Kat, still numb with shock and worry answered as best she could "That Elizabeth is extremely ill and the it’s the machines that are keeping her alive."

The doctor nodded. He hated this part of his job most off all. Especially when they were young and had a whole life in front of them, "It’s not the time just yet, but we need to think long term about Elizabeth, what’s best for her. There comes a point, which we are not yet at, when it becomes pointless to prolong her life any longer. We can keep her heart beating, her lungs working and the rest of her body functioning indefinitely but there is very, very little brain activity. It’s being fed oxygen and as far as we can tell there is no physical damage but we are facing the very real probability that she may never recover from her coma. Sometimes the body just shuts everything down and forgets to come back again. From where I’m standing and based on years of experience, it looks to me as she will never come back to us. The injuries and blood loss are just far too great."

Kat tried her best not to cry. Elizabeth would tell her not to be so silly; to be strong for her, Matthew and Alex. But Kat couldn’t help but feel deep despair. Wiping away a tear from her eye she asked "What are you saying doctor?"

I’m saying that you need to start thinking about how long you are prepared to wait before we switch everything off and let Elizabeth die peacefully and without pain. It’s a choice we need to make together based on her condition. All I’m asking is that you and your husband give it some thought."

"I can tell you right now. I forbid you to switch off those machines! Not now, not ever!" Kat snapped.

The doctor nodded. "Ok, but every day she lies there she is using resources that other people desperately need. She’s too ill to move or be unplugged. Sometimes it’s better just to let go." The doctor put a comforting hand on Kat’s.

Kat looked up and wished that Matthew were here.

o—o—o—

Anne had called Heinlein in her car and told him what had happened. She was now in a bitter argument with him over her failing to kill Elizabeth outright.

"The fact remains that you were ordered to kill her if she failed the test. I’ve got another team on standby. They’ll do the job you failed to do. In all our years of working together you never fucked up this badly. You did this on purpose!" Heinlein shouted down the phone.

"Too right I did it on purpose! I needed to give Kat, Matthew and the rest of the family time to say goodbye. I never got the chance with my parents and I’m dammed if I’m going to put them through what I went thru. You’ve seen the medical reports. She’s not going to wake up, and in a month’s time, after they’ve said their good-byes, they’ll switch off the machines and let her die in peace with her family all around her. Isn’t that so much better than leaving a dead body in an old farmhouse with a bullet thru the skull?"

There was a pause as if Heinlein was considering all the options. Anne knew he was consulting the medical report in front of him. "Ok, I’ll call them off."

"When can I expect my hospital ID?" Anne asked

"You’ll get it tomorrow morning. Dr Anne Williams, just transferred from Addenbrooke’s this week right?"

"Yep."

"One more thing," Heinlein demanded.

Anne was getting well and truly pissed off with being ordered around. Especially when those orders involved her shooting her own daughter, "What!" she said sarcastically.

"What the fuck did you do to the cult leader? It took my clear up team three hours to sort the mess out. Consider yourself warned on that one. Also, if you pull a stunt like you did with that gang a few days ago I won’t be able to bail you out. It took a hell of a lot to persuade the police to drop the case. As of now you kill anyone again and I won’t be there to get you off."

"I’m not planning to, unless it’s in self defense," Anne snapped.

"Screw self defense! There are other ways apart from decapitation, dismembering and disemboweling!" Heinlein snapped. The police had demanded to know what creature had killed those gang members, and he had had to use all of his persuasiveness to get them to drop the case.

"That’s not what you said when you made me assassinate Ambassador Putin is it? What was it? Use whatever force you must," Anne snapped back. She had hated assassination missions.

"Just don’t do it again," Heinlein said as firmly as he could.

"Fine! Oh, and Heinlein?" Anne said.

"Don’t call me a bastard yet again," Heinlein replied. "That joke’s wearing a little thin."

"I’m not. I’m just going to say that if you ever call me again, if you send in your goons to kill Elizabeth off before Kat and Matthew allow it, I’ll come after you. You know there’s nothing that can stop me if I put my mind to it. If I do have to come and get you then what I did to the Bexley cult leader will be like the Disney matinee version. Capiche?" Anne’s voice was a deathly whisper.

"Don’t you threaten me, freak!" was Heinlein’s agitated reply.

"It’s not a threat, it’s an absolute certainty. Goodbye!" Anne disconnected the call. She would drive to a hotel and book herself in. She needed to stay close by for a while.

She sat back in the car seat and allowed herself to cry. Why hadn’t she thought that Elizabeth would be in danger earlier? Why hadn’t she dealt with the Bexley cult earlier? Did she have any choice but to shoot Elizabeth? A thousand questions bombarded her. What if she’d met Elizabeth sooner? What if she had let Deianeria live? What if she had killed Angela? Would Mark want her back? Did she even want to go back to him? These and many more questions flooded her mind and threatened to overcome her with guilt. She found tears helped relieve the pressure a little. She had made the choices she had made, and that was the end of it. There was nothing she could do to change things now. All she could do now was watch and wait.

o—o—o—

Kat awoke in a hotel room not remembering how she got there. The clock on the table said 8:16am. She had slept almost ten hours! Matthew would be here in an hour or so. Cathline too. She needed them more now than ever before. In some ways it was easier when they were in danger. She knew they could help themselves. But this? She felt so helpless and shocked. How could Elizabeth be effectively dead? They had escaped from the Guild civil war, survived an explosion of a laboratory, being shot, having cancer and numerous other hardships, and now this. It didn’t seem fair. Elizabeth had had her whole life in front of her. They had been planning the wedding only a few days before and now she would be thinking about funeral arrangements.

Kat had to admit the doctor had a point. They couldn’t keep Elizabeth on the machines forever. Sooner or later they would have to switch them off. She felt tears well up in her eyes again. Elizabeth was so young. Where had the time gone? It only seemed like yesterday that Elizabeth too her first steps, tottering along the furniture before launching out into the middle of the room. She remembered Matthew playing chase with her, of them flying a kite for the first time. More tears flowed as she remembered Elizabeth at a precocious five telling the world she knew everything there was to know. Her teaching Elizabeth to swim in the pool, of making clay bugs on the table. The pride she had felt as a parent when Elizabeth had aced her exams allowing her to enter medical school, and more recently the sheer rightness of her engagement to Alex. That relationship so much reminded her of hers and Matthews, and now it had been cut tragically short.

Alex walked into her room, carrying a tray with a pot of coffee and some croissants on it. "Hi Kat. I thought you might like some breakfast."

Seeing Alex brought fresh tears to her face. He looked older, more worn out than she had ever seen him. His normal fun loving self had gone, replaced by this husk of a man. "Thank you Alex." She said softly, taking the tray from him.

"I booked us into a hotel. You’d fallen asleep beside her when I awoke. I figured we needed our rest so I took us back here. Hope you don’t mind," Alex said.

Kat put the tray to one side and gave Alex a deep embrace "Oh Alex, I’m so sorry," she cried.

Alex returned the hug and sat down, fresh tears in his eyes. "She looked so ill when I came. She looked dead already. I spent hours just holding her hands and talking to her. I prayed to any god that would listen that they would take me instead. I tried to make her better by force of will. I would take her place in a moment if I thought I could."

Kat gave a tearful nod. "I would too."

"But God or whoever didn’t listen. They say she’s already dead. How can that be, Kat? I love her. People say that love is the strongest force in the world, but that’s not true is it? If it were, I could love her back to life, and then we could get on with our lives. I just wish it were me there, that’s all."

Kat gave a sob. She had wished the same thing again and again. She wanted to say something, but couldn’t find the right words. She held Alex’s hand and embraced him once more.

"Y’know Kat. They said they were going to ask you about keeping her alive, well, keeping the machines running that is. I need to know what you told them. Please Kat, I love her so much," Alex said tearfully.

"I told them to go to hell. But if the time comes, we’ll make the decision together, you, Matthew and me. In the meantime, we spend every hour we can being with her, being there for her, and telling her how much we want her back." Kat tried to sound hopeful even if she didn’t feel it herself.

"Come on, your coffee’s getting cold. Let’s watch some TV," Alex said handing Kat the tray.

"TV on," Kat said picking up a warm croissant and handing it to Alex.

The picture on the wall faded from view and was replaced by a TV picture.

"DNA tests and brain scans have confirmed allegations that Elizabeth Stephens is not the real daughter of Matthew and Jane Stephens but is a direct clone of the late Dr Elizabeth Bexley. This dramatic new evidence came to light yesterday hours before Elizabeth Stephens was found gravely injured in a Yorkshire farmhouse. Her situation is described as beyond critical."

"TV OFF!" Kat screamed.

Alex was staring at Kat in hurt and pain. He put his croissant on the bed and stormed out. Kat held her head in her hands and sobbed. Surely things couldn’t get any worse.

o—o—o—

As Mathew walked from the taxi to the hotel reporters mobbed him. They huddled around him, trying to get that sound bite quote from him that would make the evening news. Questions were thrust at him from all directions

"What do you say about the new evidence that’s come to light regarding your daughter?"

"What is Elizabeth’s condition? Is she still alive?"

"Why didn’t you tell the world this before?"

"What about the previous evidence indicating the opposite. Who fabricated that?"

"If Elizabeth recovers what does this mean for her and her fiancée? Does this mean she IS Dr Bexley or just shares her DNA?"

"Did you know the kidnapper? We understand she was Elizabeth’s room mate—can you confirm this?"

Matthew was about to answer ‘No comment’ but anger overtook him. "Look why don’t you all just fuck off! My daughter is essentially dead, only the machines are keeping her alive, and all you wonder about is something as pointless as this. I’ve been on a fourteen hour flight, and I need to see my family, so fuck off," Matthew swore and stormed inside.

o—o—o—

Matthew put his finger on the biometric fingerprint reader on the hotel room door and opened the door. Kat was lying on the sofa gently crying. She heard him walk in and got up. On seeing Matthew she ran towards him and gave him a comforting embrace. "I’m so glad you’re here," she cried.

"Me too. How is she? Have you heard? Somebody’s leaked out all about Elizabeth. The press was swarming all over me outside. Where’s Alex?"

"Elizabeth is the same as she was. I switched on the TV when Alex was here. We heard then. He glared at me and then stormed out. I’ve not seen him since," Kat said sadly.

"That’s all we need. We’ll leave Alex to Cathline. We have enough troubles of our own. She called me from her car. She’ll be here in an hour or so."

Kat snuggled up to Matthew "Last night was one of the worst of my life. The doctor wanted us to think about switching the machines off. They’ll soon need the resources and space for people they can save."

Tears formed in Matthew’s eyes and he put his head on Kat’s shoulder. "Meaning, there’s no hope for her."

Kat snuggled in closer "There’s always hope Matthew, there has to be."

o—o—o—

Anne pinned her new ID badge on her shirt and walked back into the hospital. She was wearing her new body, that of Dr Anne Williams, a divorced forty five year old with mousy brown hair and a normal looking but educated face. She was tempted to waltz in as the stunning new doctor, but she wanted to keep a low profile. Consulting the hospital layout on the wall she quickly found the secure unit where she knew Angela was about to moved from. It took her a few minutes to walk there along the long corridors, and eventually she turned into a side corridor and straight into two police officers. "Can we help you doctor?" they demanded.

In her best timid but dutiful voice Anne said, "I’m here to see Miss Holden. She due to go into custody later on today and I need to check if she is ok to travel."

"Can I see your ID Doctor?" One of them asked.

"Sure," Anne said and held it out in front of her.

"Mind if we check it?"

"Fine," Anne hoped Heinlein’s people had done their job properly.

A policeman scanned in the chip on the ID card with his PDA and in a few seconds he said, "Go on, You’re cleared."

"Thanks, Officer," Anne smiled sweetly and went inside the room.

Angela was awake and reading ‘Hello’ magazine as Anne walked in. Thru her hospital nightgown Angela saw that her shoulder was bandaged tightly. ‘Should I have hit your head instead?’ she thought.

"Hello doctor," Angela said sweetly.

‘It’s hard to believe this is the woman, no, not a woman, the girl that did this to my Elizabeth’ Anne thought. "How are you today?" Anne asked.

"I’m ok, but they think I shot Elizabeth, can you believe it? I’m her best friend! They kidnapped me too. It wasn’t me! It was this vicious red headed woman. She shot me, and then shot Elizabeth. I gave the police a description of her."

Anne walked slowly towards the door and put a chair under the door handle. She then turned to a puzzled looking Angela and said, "Did she look like this?"

Anne felt her body morph into her ‘Friday’ guise and a few seconds later stood in front of a terrified Angela.

Angela’s scream had died in her throat. It was the same woman as had paralyzed her last night! Furthermore this doctor had changed into her right in front of her eyes. But a full body change wasn’t possible. All her life she had been told it hadn’t happened, that DNA modification wasn’t possible and therefore the events of the Fury were part of a ploy to destroy Dr Bexley. "Who... What..." She stammered.

Anne sat down on Angela’s bed. "I think you know who I am. I can only be one person can’t I? Why’d you do it?"

"Beloved Mother," Anne whispered in awe. Surely Dr Bexley was dead. Every shred of evidence she had ever been shown said that she had committed suicide. If Dr Bexley were still alive then that changed everything. Why did she wait so long before revealing herself? So many questions formed in her mind.

"I never wanted to be turned into a goddess. Why did you kidnap Elizabeth and force her to become like me at the height of my madness? You made her into a monster!" Anne was trying to restrain her anger.

"She wasn’t a monster. She was you! We have liberated her mind from its shackles. Released her potential," Angela said as though repeating some mantra.

Anne took out the voice recorder from her coat pocket, and placed in on a tray in front of Angela. She pressed the play button and played her interview with Elizabeth the night before to Angela.

Angela’s eyes widened with horror as seemingly Elizabeth explained the brutal fucking, murder and mutilation of her family. "It’s a lie. You recorded it!" she sobbed.

"It’s no lie. Do you know who shot her? I had to shoot my own flesh and blood, and you made me do it," Anne’s voice was a deathly whisper.

"How did we know she would turn out like this? She wouldn’t come to us on her own. We needed to do something or else her gifts would be lost to the world," Angela said, trying to ignore the fact that it was her idol and her god sitting in front of her.

"Then that was her choice and you should have respected it! When you sit in your prison cell and rot for the next twenty years I want you to remember that you destroyed the life of my only child. I’ll never forget or forgive that as long as I live!" Anne snapped.

Angela stared at Anne, who thought she had betrayed the core of who she was and what she stood for. "You’re not supposed to be like this! I love you, I love what you did, and what you stand for," Angela said, still deeply shocked by the venom of Anne’s attack.

Anne continued. She wanted to take Angela down. Not kill her, but destroy this cult once and for all. "I’ve always been like this. As for what I did, I’m not proud of that at all. Yes, I saw your wrong and completely misleading propaganda about me, but I ignored it. It was amusing to see you people come up with even more improbable theories to explain what had gone on. The worrying thing was people believed you! Sure, it was nice for the ego to be treated as some kind of guru. However, it misled a whole load of people. I haven’t got any more answers than anyone else. Seeing you people do this to me made me sad and a little angry. You were defaming some of the most wonderful people I have ever known, and in case you’re wondering who they are, they are called Matthew, Kat and Cathline. That’s right. I feel honored and humbled that they forgave me and gave me a second chance. Not many people would. Are they the kind of people who would commit fraud and murder? I didn’t think so."

"But you did so much good. You stopped a war, saved people’s lives," Angela’s previously haughty look had gone, and had been replaced by a look of hurt and pain.

"I also killed people. Everything Cathline wrote about me was true. I stopped a war because I had to, not because of some divine guidance. Actually, it took a whole load of us to do it. Kat deserves a lot of the credit and quite rightly she gets it; everyone involved does. None of what you gave me sole credit for I did alone. Curing Detective Cox, I had a whole team work on that for me. All I did was provide the plan."

Angela shook her head in disbelief, "No you’re lying."

Anne gave Angela a vicious stare, "No I’m not! I’ve spent years trying to exorcise the ghosts of my past and everywhere I went you people were not only dragging them back up again but getting them wrong. Still live and let live, or so I thought; that was, until you took my daughter hostage. What you did to her I can never forgive. I vented all my initial fury on your cult leader, but when you come out from prison watch out! If you try to revive your evil cult then I will come for you. I will come for you all!" Anne’s voice had dropped to a deathly hiss. She had suppressed the anger she had felt before, but this bitch in the hospital bed needed to be so scared and put in her place that she would regret her decisions for the rest of her life. Still in the same venomous tone of voice Anne said, "I’ll say it again, just in case you missed it. You destroyed the life of my only child, someone who I had loved from the moment she was conceived. It was my love for her that kept me away, and my love for her that made me return to her when she needed me most. Yes, I shot her; I had to because otherwise that monster would have been loosed to the world. I may have pulled the trigger, but you have her blood on your hands. I want you to remember how much I hate you, how much I wish I had dissected you alive, just like I did the cult leader."

Angela gave a gasp of horror. Her father was dead! Killed by the woman she had adored.

Anne continued, "But I spared you. I’ve had enough of death and killing, and the thought of you rotting in a prison cell thinking on what you did to me is punishment enough. I hope it eats away at you day by day, minute by minute, until you feel so much grief that every day you struggle to find a reason to live. In my mind that’s far worse than a simple bullet in the head and far more than you deserve."

Anne was about to launch another scathing attack, but suddenly noticed Angela reach inside her mouth and suddenly started to convulse. Her mouth was foaming and she was making gagging noises. Anne rushed over to her as various alarms went off around her. A few seconds later Angela had stopped breathing. Anne quickly changed back into Dr Anne William’s body, stuffed the voice recorder back in her pocket and whipped away the chair from the door just in time before a full crash team burst in.

"I think she killed herself. Looks like a cyanide compound. There was nothing I could do," Anne said breathlessly.

"What happened?"

"I was taking her new readings and just chatting. She then tells me she doesn’t want to go to prison and then she reached into her mouth and suddenly convulsed there was nothing I could do. She was dead in seconds," Anne said sorrowfully. She hadn’t meant to drive Angela to suicide with that last comment, but obviously being hated and despised by someone you had thought of as divine, added to the fear and humiliation of going to prison was too much for her. Anne knew the hospital board would interview her over this incident but she knew she could handle it. She felt sorry for Angela, believing that the woman who was Dr Elizabeth Bexley was some kind of prophet and source of all wisdom. Anne didn’t feel like that at all. She felt as though death, misery, and tragedy followed her wherever she went. Mark was right to walk away from her. She was right in her suicide note written years ago. She truly was death incarnate and Mark was better off well away from her.

o—o—o—

Kat, Matthew, and a newly arrived Cathline hoped they would find Alex at the hospital, but when they arrived at the IC ward he was nowhere to be found. The hospital staff had done a fine job of keeping the press away, so they entered the hospital unmolested.

Kat had hoped that Elizabeth’s condition would improve overnight, but a briefing from the doctor treating her told her otherwise. At least it hadn’t gone downhill, was the most hopeful thing she could say.

"You know I’m here for you both," Cathline said, holding Kat’s hand in comfort.

Matthew nodded, "Yeah, thanks Cathline. I just wish all this hell bitch’s daughter thing hadn’t come out. That’s all we needed."

"Alex must feel as though we lied to him. It would look to him as though we didn’t trust him enough to tell him. That’s not true at all. It was between Elizabeth and him. It wasn’t our business to tell him, it was Elizabeth’s," Kat said, and glanced towards Elizabeth, still connecting to several machines and tubes.

"I know," Alex said from the doorway. He had gone to the coffee machine and was now on his way back.

"Alex!" Cathline stood up and gave Alex a hug.

"Hey watch the coffee," Alex said, but returned the embrace all the same.

Standing up from his seat nearest Elizabeth, Matthew said to Alex, "Here have my seat."

"Thanks. Kat, I’m sorry for walking out like that. I was just in shock, that’s all. Why didn’t she tell me?" Alex said softly.

"I dunno. Maybe she thought it wasn’t important. Maybe she thought who she was, was more important than where she came from," Kat said in reply.

"I guess we’ll never know," Alex said, and took hold of Elizabeth’s hand. Turning to Elizabeth, Alex said, "Why didn’t you tell me, silly! Did you think I would run just because of who your mother was?"

Elizabeth said nothing in reply. Just the constant breathing and beeping of the machines.

"We’ll leave you to it," Matthew said. It was obvious Alex needed to get this out of his system.

A tearful Alex just nodded his thanks.

Kat, Matthew and Cathline filed out of the room leaving Alex alone.

"Hey Kiddo I brought you some stuffed toys down at the shop. They didn’t have Kweepa and Rooney in stock yet, but I’ll pick them up later for you," Alex fingered Elizabeth’s engagement ring as if reminding her that she was still his.

"I don’t know if you can feel this ring still on your finger, but it’s a sign of our love for each other. It tells the world we are meant to be. I don’t care whose cells you came from, or what DNA you have. I just want you back with me. Kat and Matthew showed me and you that love can cross any boundaries, outlast the fiercest fury and endure the greatest pain. If death is the final boundary then love can cross that too. No matter what happens I will love you until I finally join you at wherever we go when we die. I might look a little older than you, but you’ll always look as you did that night on the beach, or when you put that ring on your finger," Alex wiped fresh tears from his eyes.

"I know that’s what mom holds on to, John’s memory that is. It’s why she hasn’t found anyone else and wont for the rest of life. Yes, I know she had a thing for Kat and Dr Bexley, but deep down she really loved John. I’m just like her; I mate for life. I know how lonely she is, and how it eats into her, but she’s got me now, and that I think has almost made up for John not being there. If she can spend her life alone, waiting to be reunited with him then I can do the same. Elizabeth, I promise I WILL do the same. When it’s time to say goodbye I will take this ring from your finger and wear it next to my heart, because that is where you will always be," Alex fingered the ring once more and clenched Elizabeth’s hand tighter.

"We are soul mates, you and I. If our souls can’t be together this time around, maybe they will another. Maybe this life was just them getting to know each other, and in the next life they’ll meet and have real party. You’ve just got to the party before me, that’s all. You can pour me a beer, get the best food from the table and wait for me. To me it will be a lifetime, but to you I’ll just be a few moments behind."

Alex turned his head away and used his sleeve to brush away the tears. Turning once more to Elizabeth he said, "I don’t want to wait until the next lifetime. I want you now! Prove me wrong Kiddo. Prove to me that you don’t want to meet me there just yet. I dare you! You never could resist a dare from me could you? So why are you chickening out now!"

Alex looked up at Elizabeth’s face hoping to see a flicker of life, but it remained still and deathly pale. Alex started to sob once more "Come on God, fucking do something!" he swore in desperation and despair.

There was no answer and Alex turned and kissed Elizabeth’s hand once more. Any hope that he had been holding was slowly fading away. He realized that the sooner he faced up to Elizabeth’s death, the sooner he could move on and start to rebuild. He glanced at Elizabeth’s engagement ring. It would soon be next to his heart forever, and Elizabeth would be gone.

o—o—o—

"I don’t understand it!" Mark was telling Wills.

"What’s not to understand? She dumped her car at the golf course, left all her clothes behind in her room. There was milk in the fridge, food in the pantry, and a half drunk cup of coffee on the table. She’s done a runner. Anne Baxter is no more, she’s gone off to start a new life under a different identity," Wills explained.

"She told me she was working on something that would save the global, marine ecosystem. It seemed the most important thing in her life. We’d worked out we have less than sixty years before it faced total collapse. There’s no way she would run out on that kind of problem," Mark said. Anne had seemed so fanatical and secretive about her project, abandoning it didn’t seem to make sense.

"She can still carry it on elsewhere, under a different name."

Wills suggested.

Mark rubbed his face in thought "But she left all her research behind. Her PDA, her E-library and her samples, everything. If it was that important and it was, she would take it with her. It would take years to get back to where she was now."

"I suppose. Did she send you any E-mail? A dear john?" Wills asked.

"No, nothing. She just told me she loved me and then after I told her how I felt she stormed off," Mark said.

"I just hope she’s ok," Wills commented.

"Hah! ‘Miss rip you limb from limb,’ you can bet on it!" Mark snapped. The hurt of Anne’s actions and revelation still ran surprisingly deep.

o—o—o—

The hospital board and the police were interviewing Anne. They were trying to find out if she had been involved in Angela’s death, The interview had been going on for hours, and Anne desperately wanted to go and see how Elizabeth was doing. She had one final task to do before she left.

"Dr Williams, we’ve identified the cause of death."

"Was it cyanide?" Anne asked.

"Yes. It was held in a small capsule contained inside the lower left molar. There were two small buttons embedded in the tooth, one either side so as to avoid accidentally setting it off. The area around the tooth hadn’t healed properly so I guess it must have been put in recently."

"So I’m free to go?"

"One last question. Why do you think she waited until you were there to trigger it?" A policeman asked.

"It’s my guess she wanted a witness. To ensure the world knew about her suicide," Anne commented.

"Thank you Doctor Williams. It seems as though you did everything you could, and were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. We’ll take care of everything from here on."

A few minutes later Anne walked out of the office. She made her way to the intensive care unit and found where Elizabeth was being treated. A young man she assumed was Cathline’s son was sitting there holding Elizabeth’s hand, and whispering into her ear. On hearing her walk in Alex looked up, his deep brown eyes streaked with tears, and his face utterly tired. Anne didn’t want to shoo him away but he clearly needed a break.

"I need to check on her condition. Would you mind leaving for a few minutes," Anne asked.

"Can’t I stay? I promised her I’d always be here. What if she wakes up?" Alex asked.

"Then she’ll still be here waiting for you," Anne said firmly.

"Doctor Atkins said I could stay," Alex protested.

Anne gave Alex a stern stare "Look, I admire your concern for her. If she were my daughter sitting there then I would want you to. But you look shattered, How much sleep have you had in the last day or so? You’ll be no use to her or your family if you burn yourself out now."

"I suppose," Alex admitted. He stood up gave Elizabeth a goodbye kiss, and taking a last look back at her walked out of the room.

Anne checked over the readings on the life support systems. There had been no change at all in her external condition but it seemed as though the internal bleeding had been stopped fairly quickly. That was good. Elizabeth’s patient log showed that a number of treatments had been discussed, including stem cell rejuvenation, but the consensus was Elizabeth was too far gone to respond. Anne had to concur with that prognosis. She looked at Elizabeth lying on the bed; what could be seen thru the tubes and breather mask showed that her face was peaceful and pain free.

Anne walked to the door and flipped the sign across that said ‘Do not enter, treatment in progress’, and closed it. That should keep Matthew, Kat and the others away for a while. She sat down on the seat where Alex had been sitting and took hold of Elizabeth’s hand. "Elizabeth, I’m so sorry for putting you thru this but it was the only way. If I had let you go then somebody would have killed you there and then. That wouldn’t have given anyone the chance to say goodbye properly, and not given me the chance to do what I have to do. Of all the things I have done in my life this was the one that broke my heart the most. I will look back fifty, a hundred years from now and know that I was the one who probably allowed my only child to die."

Anne paused for a few moments, gathering her thoughts. "I can’t stay for long. I need to get back and get things moving on my project. If I fail then we’ll all lose our children and their children’s children. Elizabeth, I don’t want to leave you but I have to. In all those years of watching you grow up from afar I never stopped loving you, never stopped wishing I could be there for you. And the one time I was there it was too late. I’m in a dark pit and can see no glimpse of sunlight. The man I loved, who treated me like a real person, not some inhuman monster, has turned out like all the others. I want to go back and see if he’ll try again. I don’t blame him for the way he feels. It’s not him, it’s me. This quote sums up how I feel. I know you can’t hear me but it does help me.

‘You do me wrong to take me o’ the grave: Thou art a soul in bliss; but I am bound upon a wheel of fire, that mine own tears do scald like molten lead."

Anne looked at Elizabeth’s engagement ring on her hand and smiled "It looks just like the one your dad gave me. I’m sure you were as happy as I was when you were asked. Our fates are linked, I think. We both need someone to pull us out of the dark places where we are," With her other hand she gently gave Elizabeth’s hair a loving stroke, "I’m going to give you something to help you on your way. It’ll take time to work but it’s for the best."

Anne concentrated hard until sweat started to form on her brow. Inside her body she could feel her changeling organ starting to synthesize the chemical building blocks she required. She nearly passed out under the strain of concentration, but a few minutes later a small, needle like tube grew from her hand. "I once gave Kat an old Egyptian blessing and it’s stuck with me ever since. I’m now passing it onto you."

Anne took Elizabeth’s hand once more and stretched out her lifeless arm. Tearfully she plunged the needle into Elizabeth’s arm and whispered, "May God go with you in all the dark places where you must walk."

Within a few moments Elizabeth’s already tenuous and weak brain activity had started to fall. Anne pulled the needle out from Elizabeth’s arm, and it retracted back into her hand. She placed Elizabeth’s limp arm back inside the bed and stood up. Putting a finger to her lips, and kissing it, she put it on Elizabeth’s exposed forehead. Anne checked the monitor screens and already the brain activity was falling away. Anne looked around for a pen and paper and saw one on the clipboard at the end of Elizabeth’s bed. She took it out and wrote down the same blessing as she had given Elizabeth, and signed it ‘Dr Anne Williams’.

Trying to resist a sob, Anne fled out of the room.

o—o—o—

Kat’s pager bleeped in the hotel room. She had been given it by the hospital in case of a change in Elizabeth’s condition. She sprinted to it and saw a text message ‘Please call - Urgent!’

"What is it?" Matthew asked.

"Quick pass me the phone," Kat demanded.

"Want me to wake Alex?" Cathline asked.

"No don’t bother. He looks shattered. That doctor was right to send him home. We’ll wake him if we need to," Kat said softly. This was hitting them all hard.

"Catch," Matthew said, throwing Kat the phone.

Kat quickly dialed the number and a few seconds later said "We need to go in. Cathline, leave a note for Alex. He’ll want to come."

Within twenty minutes, they were inside another briefing room, much like the one Kat had been shown when she had first got there. Doctor Atkins and the neuro-consulant were present in the room, both looking gaunt and sad.

"What is it?" Kat asked hardly daring to speak.

"There’s been a change in Elizabeth’s condition, and it’s not a good one. Over the last couple of hours her brain activity has dropped below what we would call the ‘threshold of life’."

Cathline let out a cry of despair. She knew what it meant.

"What are we talking about?" Matthew asked.

The consultant replied, "The normal brain has millions of electrical pulses firing off every second. Elizabeth’s has dropped to one or two per minute. It’s just random neurons firing as her brain slowly dies. I’m so sorry, but her fight for life is over, from now on it’s just the machines. She gave her consent for her organs to be used in the event of her death. Many more people will be able to live because of her."

"NOOO!" Kat roared.

Matthew just held his heads in his hands and sobbed.

The neuro consultant handed Matthew a sheet of paper and a pen. Matthew took it, and said, "What’s this?"

Doctor Atkins explained in a deeply sorrowful tone, "This is the form that gives us permission to switch the machines off. You can choose whatever date and time you want to make sure everyone is there who needs to be. It gives us permission to remove whatever organs we need as soon as you have said your goodbyes. The quicker we do this the more people will be able to live full and happy lives because of her."

"Don’t you dare sign it!" Kat snarled at Matthew.

"Kat. Please let go of her. She’s gone," Cathline said tearfully.

"I will not let go because she isn’t dead!" Kat snapped.

Matthew gave Kat a hug and said, "Kat, please let her go. I want her to be alive as much as you do. But she’s gone."

"You sign that form and the next form you’ll be signing are our divorce papers!" Kat’s face was red with a mixture of despair, sorrow and anger. From Kat’s tone of voice Matthew knew this wasn’t an idle threat. She really meant it!

"Mrs Stephens, other people need that equipment. We had to fly a small child who had been hit by a car, and was badly injured to another hospital today, because our intensive care units are full. If there were a glimmer of hope I would tell you. Please let your daughter go. There’s nothing we can do for her now. For the sake of others, and yourself please let us do this." Doctor Atkins had seen resistance and denial like this countless times before. It was a natural reaction and it was best to let it burn itself out.

"I’ll buy you a hundred fucking machines, I’ll build an entire ward for you, just don’t switch off those machines," Kat demanded.

"Kat, let her go," Cathline said softly.

"NO!"

"Please. For her sake and ours," Cathline said tearfully.

"NO!!" Kat’s denial was more forceful than the last.

"How long can we wait before signing the forms?" Matthew asked doctor Atkins.

"We can keep her body functioning indefinitely, but we are beyond the point where it becomes of any use. Practically, we need those machines now."

"Not good enough!" Kat snapped.

"Kat, please," Cathline pleaded.

"No they can take me to court if they want, but I absolutely do not give my permission for this!" Kat said with all her will.

"Kat I’ve never known you so selfish. LET HER GO!" Matthew pleaded.

"Selfish? Not killing our own daughter? I hardly call that selfish!"

Kat shouted at Matthew.

"Kat she’s already..." Matthew started to say.

"Don’t say it! If you finish that sentence than that’s it between us. Forget thirty five years of being married and what we all went thru. If you make me do this then that’s IT!" Kat’s eyes were red with tears.

Matthew stayed silent. Kat was serious. There wasn’t much that could drive her away from him but if he acted against her wishes in this then he would lose her and as well as Elizabeth. That was something he wasn’t prepared to do. He had to give Kat time to overcome the shock she was feeling. Kat was in denial, he knew that, but she needed him more than ever and he needed her. There had to be another way. Then it came to him "It would take a few weeks to get a court order, correct?"

Dr Atkins nodded, "Yes it would."

Matthew turned to Kat and put his hand on hers "We’ll give it six weeks. If anyone needs that equipment we will pay for them to use whatever facilities they need, Euro-health service or private, it doesn’t matter. If you need more staff hire them, whatever it takes."

Kat nodded her agreement. "If there’s no change in six weeks then I’ll agree." As soon as she said it, she burst into tears, turned and gave Matthew a ‘protect me’ hug.

Doctor Atkins said, "One more thing. The doctor who discovered her condition wrote you a message. I guess she knew what was going to happen, and sought to bring comfort to you. It’s a single sentence and simply says ‘May God go with you in all the dark places where you must walk.’"

Through her tears Kat gave a smile. "Tell her thanks. A friend told me the very same thing years ago. It stood me in good stead then and I’m sure it will now. Cathline, Matthew let’s give Alex a call. He’ll want to come."

o—o—o—

Anne packed her bag and checked out of the hotel. She had cried all the way home, but there had been no other choice. No choice what so ever. On the way back she had made up her mind. She would go back to Mark. He was the only person she had left that she could go to. She needed to be near his innocence; it was the only way out of the darkness she was in. She had lived for years in the shadows of her mind and her past and now they had consumed her. Her final monologue with Elizabeth had shown her the way. If she continued the way she was, only death, despair and darkness would remain. She had just enough hope left inside her to believe that there was more to her fate than that cold, lifeless existence.

Anne changed forms into Anne Baxter at Heathrow terminal six ladies room. Her thoughts went back to that hospital room where Elizabeth lay, back to a weeping Matthew, Kat and Alex, and how devastated they must be feeling. Nothing she could think of could bring her any joy any more, her only thoughts were of the words from King Lear she had spoken to Elizabeth

"You do me wrong to take me o’ the grave: Thou art a soul in bliss; but I am bound upon a wheel of fire, that mine own tears do scald like molten lead."

It would be a long flight and journey back to Haverford, so she tried to rest before the flight. At times like this she wished she still had use of the Aurora, but she wasn’t sure she could face another gut wrenching journey.

Ten long hours later she paid the pound to release her car, gave a basic set of answers to the police, and drove back to her dorm. Mark had to take her back and this time she wouldn’t take no for an answer.

o—o—o—

Mark was just in the middle of brushing his teeth when he heard a loud knock at the door. Quickly rinsing his mouth out and washing the spittle down the sink he ran to the door, "Ok Wills I’m coming he called."

Mark flung open the door and saw Anne standing in front of him. Mark thought she looked tired and worn out. Her normally flawless face had dark rings around her eyes, and her hair looked as though it could do with a wash. Anne was normally impeccably dressed, with every article of clothing carefully matched, but she looked as though she was wearing clothes a size too small that hadn’t ever seen an iron. It was the oldest and saddest Mark had ever seen her look.

Anne spoke first; aware that she looked a mess "Can I come in.

I need to talk."

Mark was about to tell her to go away, but the once infallible Dr Bexley, the woman who had changed the world forever, and had slain a gang who was going to kill them, now looked as vulnerable as a child. He wasn’t sure if it was an act or not but he couldn’t ignore her, not now. "Sure, come in."

Anne gave a smile. "Thanks," she said, and walked inside.

"Coffee?" Mark asked nervously. Why was she here?

Anne shook her head, "No thanks. I drank loads on the plane back so I only had a couple of hours sleep."

So she went overseas, Mark thought. Mark sat down on the opposite armchair to where Anne was sitting. "You look exhausted. Why not go back to bed."

"I needed to see you," Anne said softly.

"Why? I think we said all that we needed to say don’t you?" Mark stated. A few days after she had left, the numbness that comes from a broken heart at started to set in. The last thing he wanted to do was reopen the wounds again.

"Please," Anne pleaded.

"Look. I’ve got a tutorial in about twenty minutes. What about after classes? That’ll give you some time to freshen up and have a rest," Mark said. Why did Anne, sorry Dr Bexley look so mentally tired? It was as though all the life had been drained out of her and all that was left was an empty shell.

Anne nodded. It could wait till later "I’ll meet you at the beach.

Where we had our first date. At say six?"

Mark nodded his agreement. "Ok. It’ll give me chance to collect all the stuff you leant me as well. It’ll save you a job later on," In the meantime he would send a note to Wills asking him to explain the truth about Anne Baxter to the world if he didn’t return and give a code word. He was going to take no chances at all.

o—o—o—

"So we have six weeks," Alex said tearfully. The rest of the family had driven back to the hotel to find Alex getting ready to leave for the hospital.

"That’s all we could get. I’m sorry." Kat took hold of Alex’s hand for comfort.

"So that’s it. She’s dead," Alex said bitterly.

Matthew nodded his head, "I’m afraid so. Any brain activity there is just the random firing of neurons as her brain slowly breaks down."

Cathline moved over and gave Alex a hug "We’ll get thru this together just like we always have."

"It was only a week ago we were having punt races on the river Cam. I still can’t believe she’s dead," Alex wiped away some fresh tears.

"She not dead. I keep telling you. Why won’t you believe me!"

Kat snapped.

Matthew gave a sigh. "Kat I’m saying nothing. We said all there is to say back at the hospital.

"Good!"

Cathline tried to defuse the situation. "Look, John’s flying over tomorrow. We need to be there for him too. He’s only just found out about the whole thing, so we all need to help him cope. We’ve had 48 hours to adjust to this. He’s still trying understand how and why he’s lost his sister."

"He hasn’t lost his.." Kat started to say.

Alex reached over and took Kat’s hand "Kat, you don’t need to be strong for me. I know she’s gone. If you don’t let her go you’ll only end up very ill and none of us need that. You need to start dealing with this properly, not deny it out of hand and get angry at anyone who disagrees with you."

On hearing this, grief welled up inside Kat and she let out a loud sob, "I’m sorry, maybe I am in denial, but part of me refuses to believe that she’s dead. We have six weeks before they switch off the machines and I mean to make the most of them."

"Why did they do this to her?" Alex asked in disbelief

"Who. The Children of Bexley?" Matthew asked. He had been wondering the same thing.

"The police thought they might have tried to persuade her to join them. It doesn’t matter now, does it," Cathline explained to John.

"I never had Angela down as the type. She seemed so nice. Elizabeth thought the world of her. She was going to be one of our bridesmaids." Alex turned and walked towards the hotel room window. Night had long fallen and the orange sodium glow of the streetlight’s cast shimmering patterns on the roads. It had rained as they had come back from the hospital, which echoed the tears Alex felt form in his eyes.

"Who knew? I heard she killed herself this morning. Couldn’t face trial and the humiliation of the cult or so I heard. Why in hell did Elizabeth try and escape?" Matthew asked. Once again the empty, lost feeling he’d been having all day had nearly overwhelmed him.

"Because she takes after her mother," Kat said softly.

"She was her mother’s daughter alright," Cathline agreed.

Matthew put his arm around Kat and drew her close. He ignored Kat’s use of the present tense. "We need an early night. We still have a long way to go, and this is only the second day."

o—o—o—

Anne sat herself down on the beach and proceeded to wait for Mark to arrive. She’d had a long relaxing bubble bath and had taken the time to do her hair properly. She found that she had been unable to sleep. Her mind was on Mark, and on Elizabeth so many miles away. His reaction earlier on in the day was a severe blow. He still wanted to break up, she just hoped he’d turn up. She checked her watch, it was now six thirty and Mark was half an hour late. With a sigh of resignation she stood up and walked towards her car.

She reached her car and found a small parcel on the front seat. On it was a small note with a single word, ‘Elizabeth’ written on it. She recognized the handwriting. It belonged to Mark. Sadly she opened the driver’s door and got inside. Reaching over, she picked up the letter and opened it.

"Dear Elizabeth"

Here are the things you lent me during our time together. I wanted to get them back to you as soon as I could. Please forgive my not turning up. I couldn’t face seeing you again. The last few days have been the most painful of my life, but I realize that we are too different to be together. When I saw you standing outside my room today, part of me wanted you back but I knew then that we’re not meant to be.

I spent months wishing I could get to know you, but you’re not the woman I fell in love with. She was just an act, a role for you to play. That’s what hurts most of all, the woman I fell in love with wasn’t real. She was a creation, made up by you.

How can I forget who you are? How can we go back to how we were before? We can’t. Too much has happened for that to be possible.

I don’t feel betrayed. You stayed when you could have just vanished into the night. What you told me the other night took real courage.

I know you have a busy month or so. So do I. Whatever you are planning to do, I hope to God it works because we need it. I’ve mailed you my latest research, and I hope that it’s of use to you. We both leave here in about eight weeks, and I expect we’ll meet again at some conference. When we do, we’ll be able to chat about all the fun we had and how things may have advanced. Please don’t worry about me saying anything to anyone—your secret is safe with me.

I’m not making myself too clear so please forgive me. I’m just trying to stop things before they got too far and hurt us more. I’m sure that there’s someone out there for you. I’m just not sure that person is me.

Mark"

Anne tearfully put the note down. It was over. She had at most two painful months left before she finished here, but she decided that she would pack up and leave as soon as everything was ready. She was sure Tel-Aviv would take her back and the delay in the project wouldn’t be that great. It would be fitting for Tel-Aviv, the site of her greatest failure, to be the place of her greatest triumph. She couldn’t bear to be at the college campus any longer. Her pain was too great. Everywhere she walked she would remember being there with Mark, and of the last best hope he represented. She would pack only her notes, other essentials, and get the rest sent later on. She could be out of here in less than two hours.

Her paper had a month of solid work left on it before it was ready. She would need to prepare samples, document everything she had ever done and ensure there was a complete and accurate audit trail of everything she had worked on. Her paper would face the full spotlight of a skeptical scientific community when it was published and she had to be ready for it. In a way it was just as well Mark hadn’t shown, she wouldn’t be able to pay him much attention anyway. But she had desperately hoped to be able to patch things up beforehand.

Fresh tears formed in her eyes, born from a forever broken heart. She switched the engine on and drove off From Wills’s car parked the other side of the road Mark and Wills watched Anne drive off. Mark said nothing for a few moments, before turning to Wills and saying, "Come on we’d better go."

Wills turned to look at Mark. Mark’s face looked deeply sad, there were deep worry lines around his eyes. He looked sadder than Wills had ever seen him. Even more so when he’d read about when Anne was missing after the boat accident. "We can still go after her," he said.

Mark shook his head, "No. It’s for the best. We’d never catch her anyway. Why couldn’t she be just a normal girl?"

Wills started the engine and slowly drew away from the side of the road "Because, she’s not a normal girl. If she were you would never have noticed her. You spent months telling me how unique and special she was. What did you call her, that’s right an ‘Uber Babe’."

"That was before she turned out to be a inhuman killer," Mark snapped.

Wills indicated to turn left and joined the freeway once he was on it he turned and said to Mark, "From what I saw of her she was everything you described and more. You didn’t fall in love with Anne Baxter you fell in love with her, Dr Elizabeth Bexley. I’ve just realized that you were very, very wrong about her," Wills wanted to have his say and switched off the auto-nav, the last thing he wanted was for it to keep interrupting him. What he had to say to Mark was important.

"How so?" Mark asked.

"She wasn’t play acting, nobody is that good. That was how she really was. Anne Baxter wasn’t just a name for Dr Bexley to hide under. It was how she really is. Don’t you see she wasn’t trying to hide? She was trying to rebuild her life. That’s why she went back to college, built a whole life around Anne Baxter and eventually fell in love with a complete idiot called Mark."

"You heard the news the other day. The cops are going ape about it. They’ve issued an appeal for witnesses because they don’t have any. I was going to call in. ‘Yes Officer I know who ripped those men apart; it was my pissed off girlfriend’. You didn’t see her rip those guys apart; it was horrific." Mark said bitterly.

Wills’s sense of frustration was growing, "No I didn’t. But you know what I’m glad she did it, because in that one incident she showed you how much she loved you. She put everything she had on the line for you that night. She risked everything she had done as Anne Baxter, her mysterious project, her entire life was laid bare for you. Sure, she could have just called the cops, run away, or even stunned those guys, but she didn’t. In one moment she said ‘Here’s who I really am. I love and trust you enough not to hurt me or betray me’. That’s hard enough for anyone to do let alone her."

"But she never said anything to m.." Mark started to say.

"Yes she did! She told you she loved you, and you’ve gone and thrown that right back at her."

"But.." Mark started to say

Wills interrupted again his voice "For fucks sake, Mark! For nearly a year I’ve watched you mope around and wallow in self pity over that girl and not once told you to get a life. Now I am. You nearly failed your course because you were too distracted by her, and in fact she saved you didn’t she? I’ve never seen you like this about anyone before. Not even me and we’ve been friends since the age of five! You don’t feel like that about just anyone, Mark, and you don’t throw it away because of what people did years ago. It’s how they are now and what they are like now that matters. From what I’ve seen of Dr Bexley she is everything you yearned for, for months and more besides."

"But she kill...."

"Don’t interrupt me! I’ve told you why I think she did what she did and from her actions after that I know I’m right. Deep down you do too. So do we go back to campus and you can live out your life wondering what if, or do we go find her and you can tell her what a full sized dickhead you’ve been."

Mark gave a deep sigh. Wills was right. He did still love her.

Why else did he feel so sad and guilty about leaving the note? Why else had he stayed behind to watch Anne as she had picked it up and driven off? If he still didn’t love her then why, back at his dorm this morning didn’t he want to open the wounds again? Why had he tried to talk himself out of being with her when all he’d done all year was yearn to be with her? The only answers to these questions were that he still loved her. He had always loved her and always would! "Let’s go find her. I’ll see what she has to say," Mark said softly.

Wills gave a smile "Even complete dickheads get it right sometimes."

Suddenly in front of them a concertina of brake lights flicked on from car to car. Wills swore quietly. He’d wanted him and Mark to have some peace and quiet, so he’d turned the auto-nav off and now he was caught in some kind of traffic jam. "Fuck it," Wills swore and switched the auto-nav back on

Straight away the dulcet female tones of the auto-nav said "Wills you have stationary traffic for six miles. A Tanker has overturned at intersection 15. The estimated delay is two hours. Would you like some music?"

"Fuck," Mark replied. Typical! He fished his PDA out and started to write Anne an E-mail. If he couldn’t be there in person he’d send a letter.

o—o—o—

Anne had just finished packing the last of her clothes into her suitcase and was now composing a transfer request letter to send to the dean and Tel-Aviv. She’d managed to get a last minute platinum class flight to Tel-Aviv from JFK leaving the next day. She didn’t want to spend that amount of money, but otherwise she’d be facing a three or four day delay for a standard seat. She just needed to get away from this whole thing. She had debated flying back to England to see Elizabeth, but she knew there was nothing she could do for her now. Every visit she made to the hospital she risked being found out and that was too much of a risk for her to take right now. Besides, it was nearing the long summer vacation, soon the various experts she needed to court would be away from their research labs, and the whole process would slow down for another three months or so. She took a look around once more at the place she’d called home for two years. It hadn’t been a bad place to live, certainly more comfortable than many other places she’d been.

Her mind went back to her torture and killing of the cult leader. She’d felt justified at the time. The clock was ticking for Elizabeth and she had no time to waste. In retrospect it seemed brutal and cruel, like something that that monster Deianeria would do. How much different had Deianeria’s vivid description of the cruel sex, rape, killing and mutilation of her family been compared to the death by vivisection she’d performed on the cult leader? The stark truth was none at all. Although she could claim the moral high ground by claiming it saved a life, in reality she had done it out of anger, fury and fear for her daughter’s life. This time around she couldn’t blame her MPD as she had been cured for twenty years. Mark was right, she was inherently a merciless killer. Deianeria and her were one and the same.

The thought disturbed her a great deal. Mark had been right not to show. How could he ever love someone like her? Not after all she’d done that was for certain. How would he react when she told him of her recent activities? Especially that she’d slowly and methodically dissected a living human being in order to get information. She heard a bleep from her PDA, which was sitting on the bed and had been waiting to be put into her hand luggage.

"Anne, You have one message from Mark Andrews," the female voice of the PDA called.

Anne thought for a moment. It didn’t matter what Mark said or wrote. The fact was that she was just as much of a monster as she had been all those years ago. The motives might have changed, but the method and disregard for human life hadn’t. Mark was worth more than she could give him. "PDA Delete and erase mail. Disregard all future mail from Mark Andrews."

It was so easy for her to say the words that would wipe away four months of hope for her but inside it was horrifically depressing. She had come back hoping to find a ray of hope for her but instead had only found the death of her dreams and the death of that hope. She placed the PDA inside her hand luggage and walked to her car. It would be a long drive but she knew she could keep going all night if she had to. Once she started work in Tel-Aviv then it would all work out, it had to because that was the only thing she had left!

o—o—o—

Wills and Mark cleared the traffic some ninety minutes later. Wills had parked his car as close to Anne’s dorm as he could, but had noticed that Anne’s car had gone. Mark had said that it didn’t mean anything. Maybe she’d had to park it at a more distant lot and walked the rest of the way. Wills however wasn’t so sure. As soon as Wills’s car had drawn to a stop Mark pushed open the door and sprinted to Anne’s dorm. A few seconds later Wills was in hot pursuit. Not wanting to wait for the elevator, Mark ran up the five flights of stairs and almost skidded to a halt outside of Anne’s door. "Anne, Hey open up." Mark gasped.

There was no answer.

"Hey Anne. Open up we need to talk," Mark shouted thru the keyhole. Mark peered inside the room. It was dimly lit inside and that didn’t hold out much hope that Anne was inside.

"Anne. Come on please," Mark pleaded.

Mark heard some footsteps behind him and whirled around, hoping it was Anne, but to his dismay it was only Wills emerging from the elevator.

"Not there huh?" Wills asked.

Mark gave a sigh, "Doesn’t look like it!" Until this point he’d been full of hope that he could patch things up with Anne, but now she’d gone.

Wills tried to cheer Mark up. "Let’s try the lab. Maybe she’s there?"

Mark smiled, "Oh course! Let’s go!"

This time both of them took the elevator and sprinted across the lawn towards the science faculty. They arrived there a few minutes later, and found the doors locked and the lights off. At the sight of this Mark shook his head in defeat and sat down on the steps leading up the to building. He was too late.

Wills gave Mark a comforting look, "Look she’s probably just gone off to think. We’ll try again in the morning."

Mark felt relieved "Ok."

o—o—o—

The next day Mark and Wills tried Anne’s dorm once more. Much to Mark’s dismay there was still no answer to his repeated callings. A quick trip to the science faculty proved fruitless, as did a search of all the college’s allocated car lots. In desperation Mark sent an email to Anne’s faculty head asking for information on her. The police weren’t interested until twenty four hours were up so it came down to Wills and Mark to find out where she had gone to. So they sat outside the science faculty wondering what to do next.

"I know where she’s gone," Wills said, looking at the screen of his PDA.

"Where?" Mark asked expectantly.

Wills pointed at the screen of his PDA. "She’s gone to be with her daughter."

"Daughter?" Mark was stunned. Since when had Dr Bexley ever had a daughter?

"Oh Mark! We can get up-to-the-second information, and net access points are everywhere we go, and you seem to move around in blissful ignorance. It turns out that Elizabeth Stephens is really Dr Bexley’s daughter. She cloned herself years ago and impregnated Jane Stephens with the embryo or something. Anyway Elizabeth Stephens was kidnapped a few days ago and was killed while trying to escape. Well just about killed, she’s in a coma and only bio-support is keeping her alive," Wills explained. Sometimes he wondered what planet Mark lived on.

"Fucking hell. Poor Anne. No wonder she looked beat when I saw her. I bet that’s where she went for those few days. She came back to see if I would have her back and then when I wouldn’t she’s gone back to be with her daughter again," Mark’s stomach felt sick. The fact that his girlfriend had a daughter the same age as him was hard enough to take in, but in Anne’s time of greatest need he had thrown it back in her face. But how was he supposed to know? He just wanted to be with her again, to help her come to terms with the death of her daughter, and to try and put their lives back on track. From what Wills had just read Anne really would need all the help she could get. Help that he had thrown back at her.

"How do you feel?" Wills asked.

Mark sighed, "Like I’ve kicked her in the teeth. She came back for me to help her and I kicked it right back at her. Why do I always screw up when it comes to her? I checked my mail this morning. She deleted my mail without even opening it. I sent another but it came back as blocked. I don’t blame her for doing it. I hurt her more than I thought. What am I going to do Wills?"

"We’re going to find her and you are going to work this out," Wills said determinedly.

"I guess. Look why don’t we go see the faculty head in person. Maybe he knows something by now," Mark said. His sprits had risen a little by Will’s pep talk.

A bleep came from Mark’s PDA and he quickly took it out of his pocket. "It’s from the faculty head. That was quick."

"What’s it say?" Wills said excitedly.

Mark read it out "To Mark Andrews, from Blah blah. Here we go.

Elizabeth Anne Baxter has requested a transfer to Tel-Aviv. Please forward your important family news to services@telaviv.edu."

"She’s gone to Tel-Aviv?" Wills asked.

"I guess she wanted to finish her work away from me," Mark said glumly.

"At least you know where she is. All you need to do is book yourself on a flight and go meet her!" Wills stated.

Mark’s spirits rose. Still holding his PDA he said "PDA what’s the next available flight to Tel-Aviv?"

There was a few moments silence and then a silky female voice said, "The next flight with available seats is four days from now."

"Four days! PDA, what about standby seats. How much are we talking about?"

A few more moments of silence as Mark’s PDA interrogated the airlines booking systems "Standby seats with only a 20% chance of departure are available two days from now at a price of two thousand dollars! Standard price seats flying economy class are available at four thousand dollars. There is a ten percent deposit for all seat reservations"

Mark shook his head in disappointment "Well that’s it then! It may as well be four million dollars! I can’t afford four hundred let alone four thousand! I know Mom and Dad can’t either. Where in hell am I going to get that kind of money?"

"From me," Wills said quietly.

"You haven’t got that kind of money either!" Mark complained.

"Yes, I have if I sell my car. I should get 6K for it. That’s enough to send you to her and enough for me to get another car."

"Wills, I can’t ask you..." Mark started to say.

Wills gave Mark’s shoulder a friendly pat, "You don’t have to ask me. Look, we’ve been friends for nearly twenty years. If Anne is anything like the woman I know she is, she’s worth every cent."

"Will’s I don’t know what to say," Mark said. He was nearly moved to tears by Wills generosity.

Wills smiled "You can tell Anne you love her. That’s enough for me. Go ahead, make the reservation. It’ll take me a few days to sell the car. Anne will still be settling in, so you’ve got a good chance of meeting her there. What’s your credit limit at the moment?"

Mark shrugged. He hadn’t a clue, "PDA what’s my current credit limit?"

The PDA replied a few seconds later "Your credit limit is four hundred and twenty dollars"

Mark smiled "PDA reserve me one open ended return to Tel-Aviv. Standard class leaving five days from now. Use Visa card 1 for reservation deposit"

The PDA beeped for a moment. It would take a few minutes to check all the details.

"There we go. Sorted!" Wills smiled.

"YES!" Mark punched the air with a clenched fist.

The celebrations were cut short by Mark’s PDA "I’m sorry.

Travel visa to Israel denied!"

"PDA, Why in hell. I’ve got a valid visa for all travel," Mark complained

The PDA continued "Visa denied because of previous visit to Egypt less than one year ago. A new Visa will need to be obtained alongside appropriate security clearances."

"Fucking field trip!" Mark swore. He’d been denied because of the field trip to Egypt some months before!

"PDA how long to obtain a new visa?" Mark asked. His heart was in his mouth. It could be months if at all.

The PDA was silent for a few minutes until it spoke once more "Israeli immigration database indicates that the lead time is a maximum of eight weeks. "

"Eight Weeks! She’ll be long gone by then!" Mark complained.

His dreams of getting back with Anne were slipping away.

"First things first. Apply for the visa, let me sell my car and the rest is down to fate," Wills said in a matter of fact manner. It was going to be a long two months for the both of them.

"At least it’ll give me chance to finish my dissertation before I go. I might even stand a chance of getting a Ph.D. by then," Mark tried to look on the bright side of things. It worked, but only up to a point.

Wills gave Mark wry smile, "Come on old friend. I’d better enjoy my car while I’ve still got it. "

o—o—o—

It had been one of the longest weeks Kat had ever endured. John had arrived a few days ago and had immediately broken down in tears. It had fallen to Kat to try and comfort him as only a mother can, but in the end she felt as sad as he did. Elizabeth had shown no improvement at all, and although they hadn’t said anything she knew the doctors desperately needed the equipment. In her heart, she knew that there was still some hope for Elizabeth. There had to be, because the alternative was too awful to contemplate.

She had calmed down from her initial reaction. The shock had given way to stoic determination. For his part Matthew was standing by her, comforting where she needed it, supporting in the quiet times and a shoulder to cry on for the rest of the times. Cathline was trying her hardest to comfort Alex who had nearly burnt himself out with his constant vigils. In the end they had settled on a six hour rota, so that Elizabeth would always have those she loved around her. Alex had been able to get some welcome rest, and now as Kat walked in to take over from Cathline it she thought about what she would say to Elizabeth. They had made a policy decision not to speak about the sadness they felt, only about the good times they had shared together.

As Kat walked into the IC room, she saw Cathline still holding Elizabeth’s hand. On hearing Kat walk in Cathline looked up, her one good eye streaked with tears. Cathline shook her head as if to say ‘no change’. For her part Kat just nodded sadly and swapped seats with Cathline. Normally Cathline looked radiant, improbably beautiful but the strain was showing on her face. Cathline gave Kat a comforting pat on the shoulder and left, she was too tired to speak.

Kat took hold of Elizabeth’s hand and started to speak.

"I Remember when I first found out you were inside me. It was quite a shock I can tell you, but seconds after I was told I knew I had to keep you. How could I kill a new life that was growing inside me, even if you weren’t mine? As you grew so did my love for you. I remember running to Matthew after I’d felt your first kick, and demanding he feel it too. We used to talk to you every night when you were inside me. Telling you what a special girl you were going to be."

Kat paused for a few moments, remembering the feelings of motherhood. Gathering her thoughts she continued, "I’ll admit you didn’t come easy into the world. We thought we’d lost you for one moment but you fought back and lived. You’re like your mother that way, a survivor."

Thoughts of those panicked few seconds, when a newly born Elizabeth had stopped breathing, came back to Kat. Much to Matthew and Kat’s relief Elizabeth had decided to start breathing again, and the emergency had passed. Kat resumed "It was hard at first being a parent. Still, with each passing day our love for you grew and grew. Matthew was there to see your first smile, the first time you rolled over and your first steps. He’s very proud of you. Sure, as a toddler you had an awful temper on you, but you always seemed to know how far to push us. We all had a hard time when you started school. You being the daughter of such famous parents and us saying goodbye to you every day. We knew you were special when you started to ace every test you were given. It wasn’t until we had the blood and brain tests done did we know how special you are."

She remembered the look of horror on Matthew’s face as they were told the news. She felt the same, but deep down her love for Elizabeth stood firm. That day she had vowed to treat Elizabeth as her own flesh and blood daughter and not make the mistakes Dr Bexley’s parents had. They had been outraged when they were told in no uncertain terms that Elizabeth would be confined for her own safety and that of others, should she exhibit the same behavior as Dr Bexley. In the end they had reached a compromise. Cathline would act as the counterbalance, and would decide if and when to notify the authorities. From that time on Cathline had been nearly as involved in Elizabeth’s upbringing as Matthew and herself. Kat continued to speak to the lifeless Elizabeth, "It’s not the major things I miss. It’s the thousand little things, like the way you and Alex used to feud. Each of you trying to out maneuver the other. Like when you decided to go brunette for a week, those kind of things. They add up to an experience that I would never give up for anything in the world. I always wanted to be a mom and you know what? It’s more than lived up to my dreams. You have more than lived up to my dreams and expectations," Kat gave Elizabeth’s hand a squeeze. She checked her watch, only five hours and fifty minutes to go. Her optimism at the start of the week was starting to fade, but from being Elizabeth’s mom for the past twenty two years she knew one thing. Elizabeth wouldn’t give in without a fight, but she had to admit this might be one fight she couldn’t win.

o—o—o—

If the first week was hard on Kat then the next month was even worse. The daily vigils had continued to no discernable effect on Elizabeth, and now even the stoic Kat was starting to think it was all over. They now had only four days left before the machines were switched off and it was a deadline that prayed on all their minds. In fact if that day’s readings on the bio-support systems were to be believed, then Elizabeth’s body was in the process of dying, in spite of the machines. The effort the bio-support systems took to keep her alive had increased by some 17% over the last few hours, and the doctors had told them it was a sign that the end was close at hand. Kat had allowed Matthew to start making the funeral arrangements. Elizabeth would be buried in the tomb where Salah had been laid to rest. Her friends from Cambridge had already been notified of the date and arrangements made to fly them to the island where Elizabeth would be buried.

Matthew had set the date for two weeks from now, which would give them enough time to bring Elizabeth’s body back, and prepare it for burial. Alex had asked them if he could keep the engagement ring he’d given her, and of course they had agreed. Elizabeth would be buried in her favorite outfit, the one she had bought for the meal at the London Hilton. From all around the world messages and get well cards had been pouring in to the hospital. It was good to see that so many people cared about them. Flowers had been arriving every day from people they had never met. So many in fact, that Kat had, had to employ some few administrators to note down the names of the well wishers. Kat vowed to write to everyone in person to thank them personally. It meant more to her than she could say.

Matthew and her had been asked for several interviews for the TV and webcasts, but had politely declined. This was a private moment and they didn’t want to share it. They would issue a press statement in a few days time to thank all those who had offered support and to congratulate the medical team there. Kat’s hope had all but faded, but she had just enough determination to refuse to have the machine’s switched off early. They had gone this far, so another four days wouldn’t matter. Matthew and she had scheduled Elizabeth’s time of death to be at 13:18. This was the time she was born, and it gave a certain sense symmetry to her life.

Kat had been impressed with Alex. He had stood beside Elizabeth every hour he could get away with, and had been on hand to provide advice and comfort to them all. He was so like Cathline it was unreal. She was glad he was there. In the last few months he had changed from the immature joker to a mature young man. He and Elizabeth would have been so perfect together. When she had seen them together it was just like she and Matthew had been. But now the dream was over, shattered by a single gunshot from a fanatical organization.

Nobody had seen the Children of Bexley cult leader for weeks and it was thought he was on the run. The cult had denied all knowledge of the kidnap, but it’s records and assets had been impounded on both sides of the Atlantic. She’d had a strange message from the Guild stating that Salah’s body had been exhumed and was undergoing tests. Kat had no idea where that had come from, only that Elizabeth had requested it be performed a few months back. Kat guessed it was part of Elizabeth’s project she had been running after her first semester. The message had also implied that the Guild knew what to do with the information, so Kat just let it go. The Bexley cult had been the bane of their lives for years and now it seemed as though they had taken their adoration too far. She was sure it wasn’t the whole cult, only a few crackpots but that was all it took to end her daughter’s life.

At least it looked as though the Bexley cult was finished. After they had fucked up the kidnap, people were apparently leaving in droves, disillusioned with the whole thing. Kat was pleased, but that didn’t bring Elizabeth back. Matthew and Cathline shared Kat’s feelings on this, but Alex was finding it hard to understand why they would do anything like this. Sure he understood in his head, but his heart was still some way behind. John too, was finding it hard to come to terms with the death of his sister, but he had tried to busy himself in the detail of the funeral arrangements. Kat kept a watchful eye on him in this, making sure he didn’t bottle up how he really felt. John was a lot like Matthew in that respect. Matthew would bottle things up until he snapped and John would have done the same.

Elizabeth’s burial clothes would be here tomorrow and Kat and the others still had a lot to do.

o—o—o—

Wills ran up the stairs to Mark’s dorm. With a loud staccato knock he banged on the door. It took Mark a few minutes to answer "Hey Wills wass up?"

Wills smiled, "I’ve just transferred four thousand dollars into your account. I did a great deal on the car, so I’ve got a bit more than I wanted but all the better."

Mark punched the air "Wills I could kiss you."

"People will talk, and besides, what would Anne say?" Wills smiled.

Mark laughed. "Guess what? My visa’s due next week so I can go ahead and book."

Wills walked inside Mark’s dorm and sat down. "Any news from Anne?"

Mark shook his head, "Nope. I know she’s arrived and the transfer’s been agreed, but she’s still blocking my mails. All her samples went over last week, so I guess she’s still working on whatever she’s working on. I’ve tried calling the university but they won’t give out personal details over the phone. I’ve waited this long I guess it won’t matter if I wait a little longer."

o—o—o—

Anne checked the clock on the wall. She had been working a solid fifteen hours today, and she was starting to feel tired. Her PDA had told her that Mark had tried to mail her every day for the past five weeks, and that the PDA had blocked and deleted every single one. She had managed to hide her pain in her work and had fallen back on her old escape route of pushing her mind and body to the very limits. She was so close to finishing. She just had to validate the effects on the food chain and she would be done. There would be plenty of time for rebuilding afterwards.

She had noted with dismay that Elizabeth’s bio support systems were due to be switched off in two days time, and that thought did nothing to ease her depression. She had kept a happy face on for her colleagues but it was so hard to keep up the facade. It was now too late to do anything about Elizabeth. But did Mark want a reconciliation? The Mark situation she could do something about if she wished but did she want to? She’d had a month to debate her choice to leave him behind, and now in the cold light of day it she saw it to be the correct one.

She had shown no mercy to the cult leader and the gang members. Mark was right. It was in her nature to be utterly ruthless. Mark needed someone who was compassionate and caring. Someone who he could love as much as they loved him. As much as it hurt Anne to admit she wasn’t that person. Sure she cared deeply about the people she loved, but there was a ruthless and vicious side of her that she hated and knew Mark did too. Whatever he might feel at the moment she knew that when he found out about her activities then the whole thing would blow up again. For a while she had considered not telling him, but a relationship with secrets was no relationship at all. The gene sequencer telling her that the sample had been successfully analyzed distracted her thoughts. ‘No rest for the wicked’ Anne thought as she studied the print out from the sequencer. She did however allow herself a smile at the results. The evidence that she was right was now irrefutable.

o—o—o—

For the next two days Kat, Matthew, Alex, Cathline and John hoped and prayed as they had never done before. The only response was another 10% increase in the amount of work the bio support systems had to do just to keep Elizabeth’s body alive. For Kat this was the final confirmation that she had been wrong and it hit her hardest of all. Her daughter was dead in all but a signature on a page. Now came the hardest day of all. Kat had finished dressing in a dark black dress, and had tied her long black hair up into a bun. Matthew, John and Alex were dressed in black suits and dark ties and Cathline too was wearing a newly purchased long flowing black dress. All five of them got into a limousine to take them from the hotel to the hospital. On Matthew’s request the media had stayed away, a gesture for which Kat was grateful. This was a private moment, a moment when they would flip the switch to end their daughters life.

Inside the limousine Kat allowed herself to cry and was immediately comforted by Matthew and Alex. "When the time comes. I want to do it. I was the one who bought her into the world so it’s fitting I should be the one to take her out of it," Kat said, choking.

"Ok," Matthew agreed. In a way he was glad Kat wanted to switch the machines off. It was not a task he had been looking forward to, and besides, Kat had lived these last few weeks in denial and this would help her.

"Should we have gone for two more weeks?" Kat sobbed into Matthew’s arms.

Gathering all his courage Matthew drew Kat closer into his shoulder and stroked her hair. "Kat, my love. You’ll always want two more weeks. We have to let her go," Tears formed in Matthew’s eyes. That was the hardest thing he’d ever have to say. He so wanted those extra weeks of slender hope, he would trade his life for those weeks but he knew that it was time to let go or he might never.

"I know," Kat said, and broke into deep gasping sobs of tears.

"Mom, We’re here for you. For each of us," John said softly. He hated to see his mother this way.

They sat in silence for the rest of the journey. Each of them wrapped up in their own thoughts and memories. Dr Atkins and Dr Roberts, the neuro-consultant met them at the door of the IC ward and they were then escorted to a side briefing room.

"We’ve got the papers for you to sign," Dr Atkins said softly. Inside his heart was breaking as well. This remarkable family had stuck together for the past six weeks, and now it was time for their greatest trial of all. Dr Atkins put two copies of the forms on the table and continued to say, "As Elizabeth’s parents you both have to sign a copy of the forms. I then need to countersign them as Elizabeth’s doctor and then both of them need to be witnessed by Cathline and Dr Roberts.

Sniffing back tears Matthew said, "Thanks," and took the forms from the table. He gave one copy to Kat and kept one for himself. Matthew read the form carefully and flipped the page over and then re-read it once more. He tried to keep calm and composed, but before he could sign a deep sob came from his throat and he had to force it back down again. He took a deep breath, and signed and dated the form.

For her part Kat had read the form twice as well, studying every single line of text. She glanced in Matthew’s direction and taking a deep breath, as if steeling herself against a great trial, and signed her copy of the form. As soon as she had done that she broke down into an inconsolable mass of tears and sobs.

Matthew immediately moved over to comfort Kat, his face full of tears. Cathline walked over and placed a hand on Kat’s shoulder. She bent down and whispered in Kat’s ear "Kat, it’s time."

Matthew handed the forms back to Dr Atkins for counter signatures and then had to help Kat to her feet and clutching onto Matthew she walked into the room where Elizabeth lay. One by one Cathline, Alex and John filtered in and stood around the bed. Matthew took hold of Elizabeth’s hand and held it to his chest. Alex took hold of her other hand and kissed it gently.

"Here is the master switch," Dr Atkins said pointing to a large red switch on the side of one of the machines.

Kat nodded and moved over towards it.

Dr Atkins pointed to another row of switches each colored a red color "First, you flip these three switches in the order up, down, up. Count to ten and then flip them down, up, down. You then have 30 seconds to flip the main switch before it resets again."

Kat turned to Matthew and cried "Mat, I can’t do this. I thought I could but how can I?"

Matthew nodded in sympathy. He felt exactly the same, but it had to be done. "Kat. I’ll do it. She’d want one of us to rather than a doctor."

Kat tearfully agreed but then changed her mind "We’ll both do it.

You do the three and I’ll do the last one."

Matthew sighed. "Ok what’s the time?"

Dr Atkins checked his watch "It’s 13:17".

Matthew slowly walked up to the bio support system and breathed in. He moved the switches up, down and then up and counted to ten. He was grateful for the gap, as it allowed him time to compose himself. Finally he reversed the order and a voice said "Warning. Shutdown protocols activated."

Matthew moved back to the bed, took hold of Elizabeth hand and held it tight once more.

Her hand shaking, as if she was pushing against an invisible wall, Kat’s finger rested on the master switch. Images of her giving birth to Elizabeth, of Elizabeth starting to walk and talk and then telling her of her engagement to Alex flashed thru Kat’s mind. She nearly pulled back but digging deep into her last reserves of courage she flipped the master switch down.

There were ten warning bleeps and within a matter of moments all the monitors went flatline. Elizabeth’s chest stopped rising and falling and a sense of calm descended on the room. Kat screamed in despair and sadness. At the same time Cathline, Alex and John cried deep, gasping sobs

Matthew clutched hold of Elizabeth’s hand even tighter, bent down and kissed Elizabeth’s face and whispered "Goodbye little mite," and gently put Elizabeth’s arm back down on the bed. He then joined Kat in weeping for his daughter.

A few minutes later; after waiting for the initial tide of grief to end Dr Atkins asked "If you’ll just sign here Mr Stephens. This is the formal death certificate. If you don’t mind we’ll need to take the body now for organ harvesting. Elizabeth has saved many lives, it’s what she would have wanted."

Kat was still in shock and weeping "I killed her!" over and over again. John and Cathline were attending to Kat and Alex just stood over Elizabeth’s body in shock. He pressed his finger to his lips and put it on Elizabeth’s head. He took a deep breath and whispered "Bye Kiddo. Wait for me won’t you?" He bent down and gently kissed Elizabeth’s exposed forehead. He then put his mouth to her ear and whispered, "All of my heart, forever."

Matthew surveyed the aftermath around him and took the form, signed it and gave it back to Dr Atkins.

"You mind if I stay with her?" Kat asked.

"We’re only taking her down the corridor. You’ll see her again soon," Doctor Atkins said softly.

"I just want one more look at her," Kat sobbed.

Matthew took hold of Kat’s arm in comfort. "Kat, my love, you’ll always want one more look. Let her go."

Deep down Kat knew Matthew was right, Elizabeth was gone.

o—o—o—

In her dorm in Tel-Aviv Anne checked her watch as the time flipped over to 16:18. From the news reports she had read Matthew and Kat had just switched off Elizabeth’s life support. She so desperately wanted to be there. but knew that she would give herself away by the emotion she would be unable to contain within herself.

She had wished a lot of things on Matthew and Kat over the years but not what they had just been thru. That thought gave her a glimmer of hope. Deianeria had shown no remorse at what she had fantasized about raping and murdering her own family, whereas she at the height of her fury had fallen short of that horrific act. Deianeria took sexual pleasure from killing whereas she had only killed when needed. It was a fine line but one that gave her a slender thread of comfort.

Anne tried to get back to some work but her thoughts kept wandering to the IC ward in that English hospital. She knew what was going on but she so wanted to be there it hurt. To try and take her mind of events, she turned back to her PDA and started the final read thru of her paper.

o—o—o—

Mark’s PDA bleeped a few times, which had the effect of waking him up from his sleep. Wearily he got out of bed and walked to the table where the PDA was still beeping away. "What now," he muttered.

"PDA read mail message to me please," Mark said sleepily. It was too late now. He was up and awake, and no amount of counting sheep would rectify that. This had better be good.

The PDA read. "To Mark.Andrews@Haverford.edu. From immigration@israel.nation Dear Mr Andrews. You request for a travel visa has been approved. Please note that future travel to restricted countries may revoke this Visa or lead to deportation from Israel. We hope you will enjoy your stay."

Mark shouted, "YES!" He was now only a few days away from meeting Anne again. He just hoped she’d still be there when he arrived. His first reaction was to call Wills and tell him but then he remembered that it was still first thing in the morning. Instead he readied himself by sending his newly acquired visa number to the airline to finally confirm his place on the flight. It would take a while to get confirmation thru so in the meantime he walked into his kitchen, hunted around for a clean cup, and started to make himself a cup of strong coffee.

 

o—o—o—

Hand in hand Matthew and Kat walked down the long corridor of St Luke’s hospital as they had done every day for the past six weeks. Every step was an effort, but in a way they both felt relief from the ongoing torment of waiting and hoping to no avail. Now at least there was an end and they could begin to rebuild their shattered lives. Later on that day they would hold a press conference, and Matthew admitted that he wished he’d never arranged it. But people had to be thanked for their support and grief made public. It would help all of them come to terms with what had just happened. Cathline, Alex and John had gone on ahead while they stayed behind to sort the remaining legal details out. Elizabeth’s official time of death was 13:18GMT, which was just as Kat wanted it to be.

Another thing that brought them a little comfort was the fact that Elizabeth had had her family with her when she had died. It would have been so much worse for them had she died alone and terrified in that farmhouse a few weeks back. True it was small comfort, but at this time they took any that they could. In a few hours time Elizabeth’s body would be taken to the local funeral directors for preparation and from there be flown to their island in the Maldives for burial.

They met the rest of the family at the hospital reception desk. Alex was sitting down on a nearby chair and was being comforted by Cathline. John was sitting next to them, staring into space in shock. There was no smile from Cathline as she saw Matthew and Kat walk in, just a simple nod of the head as if to say ‘Is everything sorted out?’

"We just want to wait and thank Dr Atkins and the rest of the staff who looked after Elizabeth," Kat said softly.

"We know. We were told they’d be out in a few minutes and let us know how many lives Elizabeth would save," John said as stoically as he could muster.

"Anyone want a coffee?" Matthew asked. He just needed a short break away to compose himself some more.

There were various orders thrown at Matthew, and in his shocked state he had trouble remembering them. After another slower repetition of the order, he went off in search of a vending machine.

It took Matthew a few minutes to find an old looking vending machine, but at least it was still working. He fumbled in his pockets for some change with which to buy the drinks. Carefully reciting the orders he primed the machine with change and the machine proceeded to pour the alleged coffee into small plastic cups. He used the last few euro-cents to buy a small disposable tray and walked back to the reception.

He knew something wasn’t quite right when he heard excited voices from where Kat and the others had been. Dr Atkins and other medical staff were surrounding Kat and were looking to be explaining something. He caught a glimpse of Kat’s face. She was smiling for the first time in weeks!

Matthew rushed over as best he could to see that the commotion was. He quickly put the tray of drinks onto the receptionist’s counter, and pushed his way thru to be alongside a joyous Kat. "Kat, what’s going on?

"A miracle!" Kat said and gave Matthew a large hug.

Matthew returned the hug but was still confused. "Kat, please tell me."

"Elizabeth’s started breathing again!" Kat exclaimed, and gave Matthew a large kiss.

"How?" Matthew exclaimed and returned Kat’s kiss.

"That’s what Dr Atkins was trying to explain when you walked in," Cathline replied.

Dr Atkins shrugged his shoulders "Ok, for Mr Stephen’s benefit I’ll start again. As you know we took Elizabeth’s body down to remove the organs for transplant. We were just about to make the first incision, when a colleague noticed her chest gently moving up and down. We immediately took pulse and respiration measurements and although not normal were slowing rising. Straight away we put her on a ventilator to help her out but she didn’t seem to need it. Now she’s gone in for some tests to see the extent if any of brain damage and to find out what the real picture is. I can’t explain this at all."

"How long before we know?" John asked.

Dr Atkins checked his watch, "The brain scans will take about an hour, the internal ones should be done in the next few minutes."

"So is she going to wake up?" Alex asked hurriedly.

"From the initial results I don’t see why not. But there could be significant brain damage. The only thing I can tell you is that she is breathing normally and on her own."

"When can we see her?" Matthew asked. The turn around in events still had him stunned and overjoyed.

Dr Aktins thought for a few moments, "Soon. You know where the briefing room is. I suggest you go, take your drinks and wait until we have some news for you."

"Deal!" Kat broke into a smile and shook Dr Atkin’s hand.

When they were in the privacy of the briefing room Kat allowed herself a few tears of joy. She KNEW Elizabeth was still alive! Somehow, deep down in herself she had known. "She’s alive Matthew. I don’t know how come, but thank God she is!"

A multi-way conversation ensued with everyone exclaiming their joy, but puzzlement as to the reason for the sudden upturn in Elizabeth. About an hour later Dr Atkins and a neuro-consultant walked in. Matthew noticed that Dr Atkins was holding a large brown envelope under his arm. "What’s the news?" Alex said excitedly.

Dr Atkins took two large photographs from the envelope and placed them on a nearby table. "To say I am stunned is an understatement. From the scans we took earlier on today it looks as though Elizabeth’s lungs and heart have completely healed themselves, and there is no sign of internal scarring or bleeding. She still has a smashed rib but that’s not life threatening."

"And brain damage?" Kat asked hesitantly.

"This is the confusing part. I’ll hand you over to Dr Renton here who will try and explain," Dr Atkins indicated to the neuro-consultant who nodded in recognition.

"Ok, this plate here is of the brain scan we took when Elizabeth was first brought in," Dr Renton said indicating to the left hand side photograph, "If you notice this small dark area here. This is some kind of disorder, but we can’t be sure without further study."

Kat knew what it was. She’d seen that mark a number of times before. But she didn’t say anything.

"Now on this plate," Dr Renton pointed to the right hand photograph. "There is no mark at all. Whatever disorder had been in place is no longer there!"

Matthew was staggered. "Are you telling me that somehow Elizabeth’s body has repaired it’s self and cured this brain disorder?"

Dr Renton nodded, "That’s what I’m telling you. My best guess is that her body was using everything it could to repair the damage, and that’s why she needed the bio support systems more and more. I’m aware of her unusual origins. Is it possible Dr Bexley gave her some kind of enhanced healing ability when she created her? That’s the only reason I can think of because as it stands that’s the only way this was possible."

"I’ve no idea what Dr Bexley did to her before she implanted her in me. Whatever it was we all owe her one," Kat said softly.

"So when will she wake up?" Alex asked again.

"She’s sleeping peacefully now. Her body has gone thru massive trauma, but she’ll be fine. She’s still in a side ward on her own so you’ll have some privacy. Because she’s had no activity for a number of weeks she’ll need to gradually build her strength up before we can move her. Good job she looked after herself as this has helped her enormously."

"Is she off the machines?" John asked.

Dr Atkins looked at a concerned John and said "She’s still connected but that’s purely precautionary. If all goes well we’ll disconnect her tomorrow."

"Can we see her?" Matthew asked excitedly.

"Sure, Now we’ve finished the tests. Try not to wake her just yet though, so it’ll have to be one at a time." Dr Atkins replied.

"Me first," Kat demanded.

o—o—o—

The next morning it was Alex’s turn to see Elizabeth. The previous afternoon they had all quietly filtered in one at a time and paid their respects to the now sleeping Elizabeth. Her deathly gray pallor at had gone, and although she looked far from her normal glowing self she was definitely better than she had been for some time. The get well feelings they shared with Elizabeth were muted, as they dare not wake her. Alex had been dying to give Elizabeth a hug, but had to hold back. As he walked into the side room he noticed with great relief that she had been disconnected from the bio support systems, and that for the first time a plastic breather mask didn’t cover her face, and that she was breathing freely.

Alex sat down on the chair next to Elizabeth. He’d just met Matthew on his way out and he’d told her that Elizabeth was still fast asleep. Alex adjusted his chair and leaned forward. "Well Kiddo you always wanted to get one up on me, and I must admit you’ve got me beat this time. You had me going for a while there," he whispered, not wanting to wake Elizabeth.

From the corner of his eye he noticed a slight movement of Elizabeth’s arm. It seemed to be more of a twitch than a conscious effort but it was the first time Elizabeth had moved in over six weeks. "Elizabeth?" Alex asked. His voice was full of hope.

There was no reply but Elizabeth’s muscle’s on her face twitched.

"Hey kiddo," Alex queried. He tried his best not to let his euphoria overwhelm Elizabeth.

A quiet, almost silent whisper replied, "I told you not to call me Kiddo."

Alex leapt up and gave Elizabeth a hug. "I missed you!"

To Alex’s dismay and puzzlement Elizabeth turned away from him. "No Alex please, Where am I?" she asked.

"Hospital. You were shot!" Alex explained. He saw to his relief that Elizabeth had opened her eyes and was now starting to focus on the room around her. How he’d missed her blue-gray eyes, sparkling full of life and intelligence. He’d have swapped his own life just to look at them again and now they were looking at him in deep regret and sadness. But why?

"Shot?"

"Shhh, rest," Alex said and tried to kiss Elizabeth but again she moved away.

"No Alex. It wouldn’t be right. Where’s Mom and Dad?"

‘Wouldn’t be right?’ What the hell was Elizabeth talking about?

Alex decided against his feelings that it was better to let it drop.

"They’ll be here soon. I’ll call and tell them you’re awake. I’ll go if you want me to," Alex said. He didn’t want to leave, but Elizabeth looked so tired.

"Tell them I love them. Alex, please go and be with them. I’m so tired." With that the blue-gray eyes closed as if closing the conversation.

Alex was upset. His initial joy and jubilation had evaporated as quickly as it had arose. Why had Elizabeth been so cold towards him? Didn’t she love him anymore? These were questions he’d need the answers to quickly, but only when Elizabeth was ready to talk. In the meantime Alex stood up and once he was outside the hospital called Cathline on his PDA.

Alex only had to wait a few minutes and soon spotted Cathline, John, Kat and Matthew walking from the hospital car lot. He ran towards them and shared what had happened with them. In all of this Cathline was unusually subdued, but Alex put it down to a mixture of exhaustion and relief.

"So she’s gone back to sleep?" Kat asked.

"Yeah. Look why don’t we go to hospital restaurant for a coffee? We’ll give her an hour or so before we look in again. It was odd but she doesn’t remember being shot!" Alex replied.

Cathline reminded Alex, "She’s still in shock. She may be awake, but she’s not better."

"I guess."

o—o—o—

After spending two hours drinking tasteless and tepid coffee they decided it was time to see how Elizabeth was. Alex was relieved to see Elizabeth awake and sitting up in her bed. On seeing Matthew and Kat, Elizabeth broke into a huge smile and whispered "Mom, Dad, John, Auntie Cathline!"

Kat struggled to fight back her tears of joy and she towards Elizabeth and gave her a hug. Elizabeth returned it, albeit weaker. "Mom you came!"

"Try keeping me away. Elizabeth you gave us such a scare. Are you ok?" Kat asked. She felt the tears start to form again but blinked them back.

"Just A little tired, that’s all. What happened to me?" Alex told me I was shot but I don’t remember it at all."

"It’s ok. it’ll come back," Kat comforted Elizabeth.

Elizabeth’s face dropped a little when she looked at Alex, "Alex would you mind finding a nurse for me. I could do with some more water. Actually an OJ would be better."

Glad to be noticed Alex perked up, "Sure."

Elizabeth waited until Al