Hunted

Title: Hunted

Author: Sarge

E-Mail: Shalimarfox2@aol.com

Rating: PG-13/R(not sure yet)

Content Warning: The mentioning of rape.

Summary: Brennan and Shalimar go on a peaceful walk in the woods…yeah, uh huh, when pigs fly or when Eckhart becomes good.

Status: Work in progress

Disclaimer: They’re not mine.(Dangit!!)

Author’s Notes: After having the ever so evil “Brain Block”(what I like to call writer’s block) for about a month and a half, I have come up with this. I really hope you all like it.

Chapter 1: The Hunt Begins

“I can’t believe I allowed you to talk me into this, Shal,” Brennan huffed as he followed his blonde companion down a trail in the middle of a thick forest.

“Oh, come on, Brennan. You’ve got to admit that this is great. I mean, it’s just you and nature. Nothing else,” Shalimar said cheerfully and whirled around with her arms open wide.

“Actually, I find it quite annoying,” Brennan replied as he blindly swatted at an offending mosquito. “Remember, you have those feral genes that make you love the outdoors. Me, I would be more content to curl up with a book and just relax.”

“I think I would still love being outdoors even if I weren’t feral,” she said with a small smile as she began to walk backwards so she could face Brennan as they talked.

“Besides, if you hadn’t of come with me, you and I would be stuck at Sanctuary doing work for Adam. He would have never let me go on my own…Which I think is lame because I can easily take care of myself.”

Just as the words were out of her mouth, she stepped on a patch of ground that wasn’t inclined to carry her wait. She immediately fell through and plummeted several feet until she came to a very abrupt stop. She laid there in shock for a moment before deciding to move. She sat up and tested each of her limbs. When she got to her right ankle, she let out a small yelp as pain shot up her leg. It was just then that she heard Brennan calling her name from up above.

“Shalimar, are you ok?” he asked in concern.

Shalimar looked up to see that she had fallen a good 15-20 feet. “Yeah,” she replied weakly as she sent Brennan a small smile.

“And I thought you said you could take care of yourself,” he quipped. “Well anyway, did you bring the rope because we have to get you out of there,” he said.

Shalimar gave him a strange look. “Brennan, I’m feral,” she began. “I can run up walls. This little pit is going to stop me.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. Just be careful.”

“Yes Dad,” Shalimar replied as she slowly stood up and gingerly tested her ankle. As soon as she put it to the ground, pain shot back up her leg.

“Shal, are you sure you’re ok?” Brennan asked when her saw her wince.

“Yeah, I think I just twisted my ankle. It’s nothing to worry about,” she answered as she wiped her damp, sticky hands on her pants. ‘Wait a minute,’ Shalimar thought to herself. ‘Damp and sticky? Why are my hands damp and sticky?’ It was just then that she recognized an all too familiar smell. She made her eyes go feral as she looked around the pit. It was just as she expected...It was blood. Taking off her backpack, she opened it and began looking for a flashlight. Not finding one, she called up to Brennan.

“Hey Brennan? Did you remember to bring a flashlight?”

“Yeah, why?” he replied.

“Just throw it down to me so I can show you something,” she told him.

“Ok,” he said as he pulled the flashlight from his backpack and threw it down to Shalimar.

She turned it on and shined it on the ground.

“Is that what I think it is?” Brennan asked as he looked down at where Shalimar was shining the light.

“Yup,” she replied. “It’s blood and it’s everywhere.”

“Including all over you,” Brennan said with a grimace.

Shalimar looked down at her clothes to see that she was covered in the blood. Immediately feeling uneasy, she took her jacket off and dropped it. Then she made a fruitless attempt to wipe the rest off of her other clothing.

“Maybe it’s bait for an animal or something,” Brennan suggested.

“No, I don’t think so,” Shalimar answered as she shook her head. “It’s not even animal blood.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s human. I can smell the difference,” she replied as she knelt down as examined the ground. “The dirt is loose. Something’s been buried under here,” she said as she began to dig, but then suddenly she stopped.

“What do you see?” Brennan asked from above.

Shalimar backed away slightly as she said, “It’s a woman and…” she swallowed hard, “she’s dead.”

“Dead?” he questioned, immediately feeling a sense of unease.

“Yeah, she’s umm…been murdered. Her throat’s been slit,” Shalimar said, her voice quivering slightly.

Just then, Brennan heard a twig snap and faint voices coming towards them.

“Shalimar, get out of there,” he ordered.

Shalimar didn’t even look at him, she was still staring at the dead woman.

“Shalimar!! Get out! Someone’s coming,” he said urgently.

That caught her attention. She snapped her head up in Brennan’s direction and after seeing the almost desperate look on his face, she dropped the flashlight and slowly stood up. Crouching down low, she launched herself toward the top of the pit and grabbed onto the edge. Usually she would have made it up and out in one leap, but with her injured ankle, it made it a little harder. Brennan grabbed her by her wrists and pulled her out. Just as he helped her stand up, a gun went off and the bullet hit the tree next to them.

“Uh..I think that’s our cue to run,” Brennan said quickly, ducking as another bullet flew over their head.

“I don’t think I can run,” Shalimar admitted as she indicated to her injured ankle.

“Well, you know what? I’ll help you,” he replied as he wrapped his arm around her waist and then the two took off. After a little bit of running, they seemed to have lost the people who were shooting at them.

“Brennan,” Shalimar panted. “I have to stop for a second. My ankle’s killing me.”

Brennan stopped and looked around to see if they were being followed. Seeing nothing, he gently helped Shalimar sit down. It was then that he finally got a good look at her. She had a pained expression written across her face, she was sweating profusely, and she was covered in blood. Ignoring all this, he turned his attention back to her ankle and said, “Let me take a look at it.”

Shalimar merely nodded as she attempted to stifle a yelp as Brennan slipped off her hiking boot, although she failed miserably.

“Sorry,” Brennan mumbled as he examined her ankle. “Well, it looks like a bad sprain.”

“Joy,” Shalimar muttered as she let out a sigh.

Brennan pulled the first aid kit out of his backpack, saying, “I guess we’ll have to remember to thank Adam for making us take this when we get home.” Then he pulled out the medical tape and wrapped her ankle the best he could.

“If we get home,” he heard Shalimar say under her breath.

He looked up at her and placed his hand over hers. “We will get home,” he said as he gave her hand a gentle squeeze.

Shalimar gave him a small smile. “Yeah, but if I hadn’t insisted that we leave our comlinks behind so Adam couldn’t bug us, we would already be back at Sanctuary,” she stated as her smile faded.

“Don’t worry about it. Sooner or later, Adam will figure out that we’re missing and he’ll come look for us,” he assured her.

“Yeah, well it better be sooner because our little friends are getting close. I can hear them,” Shalimar said as she looked in the direction they had just come from.

“Well, then we better get a move on it,” Brennan stated as he put Shalimar’s boot back on and then helped her stand. Picking up the backpack and then wrapping his arm around her waist once more, they took off again.

<>*<>*<>*<>

“Dammit, I told you, Will. I told you to burry her deep!” the man yelled at his companion as they followed the tracks of the two people they were chasing.

“I did burry her deep. I put her in a 20 foot hole, for God’s sake and I wasn’t exactly expecting two lost hikers falling in,” Will, the other man, replied.

“Well, she didn’t look very buried to me!...And how exactly did you dig a hole that deep anyway?”

“I was going to fill the hole, or most of the hole, in. I just didn’t have time because you called me back to help clean out the cabin where we killed her…And I found the hole. It was probably an animal trap, but it didn’t look like it had been used in a long time.”

“So, let me get this straight. You put the body in a hole that was already there? You’re such an idiot! If you don’t want a body found, you put in a place where no one will look, but in the bottom of a hole that someone else dug? That’s just stupid!”

Will looked confused. “Why?” he asked.

“Because whoever dug that hole in the first place might have come back and found the body. Then there’s a chance we might get caught. The smart thing would have been to burry her somewhere else where nobody goes. That way there is a very small chance that anyone would have found her.”

“Oh.”

“Now putting that aside, the next stupid thing that you did was shoot at them. They didn’t even know we were there. We could have just taken off and the cops would never have caught us, but no, you got trigger happy!”

“Sorry Slade! I thought they had spotted us,” Will said as he threw his hands up in mock surrender. “But think of it this way. The blonde was a babe and she was hurt. So, after we kill her boyfriend, we can have fun with her.”

A nefarious smile lit up Slade’s face as he replied, “Yeah, I guess you’re right, but since you were stupid enough not to get rid of our last ‘toy’ correctly and because you shot at the two hikers even though you didn’t need to, I get first go with the blonde.”

Will glared at Slade for a second before nodding. “Fine, but we need to catch them first.”

<>*<>*<>*<>

“Do you have any idea where we are?” Brennan asked.

Shalimar looked around the area and shook her head. “No, not really. I’ve never been around this area. I usually stay on the trail whenever I come out here, but then again, I’m usually not being chased by gun-wielding murders.”

“Very true. Do you come out here often?”

“I used to come out here a lot with my dad when I was a kid. I’ve also brought Adam and Jesse out here a couple of time. That is, of course, when we actually had time off.”

“I know what you mean. I never thought that being a super hero would be so time consuming,” Brennan said.

“A super hero?” Shalimar asked with a smile.

Brennan seemed to blush slightly. “Yeah, that’s how I like to think of our job. We’re out there saving new mutants from the deadly clutches of the evil Eckhart and the GSA. We’re super heroes.”

Shalimar laughed. “Are you sure that it’s poetry you’re always reading and not comic books?”

Brennan smiled slightly as he shrugged. “I know it sounds lame.”

“No, I think it’s cute, Brennan,” Shalimar stated with another grin.

“You do?”

“Yeah. Although, I wouldn’t exactly say that we’re ‘super’ heroes. Maybe just heroes, but not ‘super’.”

“Why? I mean we do what super heroes do. We use our powers to protect the weak,” Brennan said.

“You’ve thought about this a lot, haven’t you?” Shalimar asked as another smile lit up her face.

“Strangely enough, yeah.”

Shalimar looked up at the sky and sighed. “It’s getting dark and Adam won’t even know we’re missing until tomorrow night. I told him that we would be back sometime around tomorrow afternoon.”

“I think we should stop soon and try to get some rest,” Brennan said.

“I don’t know. I mean, I’m all for resting, but what if the people after us don’t rest? They’ll catch up and that would be bad,” Shalimar replied as she glanced around their surroundings.

“Yes, but what if the time comes that we have to fight them? If we don’t rest, we’ll be worn out and it will be hard to fight. Not to mention that we don’t even know if they’re still following us.”

“I’m sure they are. I mean, they started shooting at us for no reason and frankly, I don’t think we look like deer. They killed that woman and they know we’ll go to the police about it. They aren’t going to let us get out of this forest alive,” Shalimar stated plainly.

“You’re right, but I still think we should take a break and rest a little. Maybe we can find a cave or something.”

“Well, judging by the direction we’re going in, we should arrive a small ridge in a little while. There might me a cave there.”

“How do you know? I thought you said you didn’t know where we were,” Brennan said as he looked over at her.

“Well, I’ve been thinking about it and I pretty sure I know where we are now. You see, the trail goes down a steep hill that curves around a small ridge. If I’m judging our direction and time correctly, we should arrive at the top of the ridge in about a half an hour. If we can climb down that and get to the trail, I can get us home,” Shalimar explained with a small smile on her face.

“That’s great!” Brennan replied.

“Yeah, but we still have to get there.”

<>*<>*<>*<>

“Why haven’t we found them yet?” Will asked as he frowned.

“We will. It’s just a matter of time now,” Slade answered.

“How do you know? I mean, how do you know that they didn’t double back and are now on the trail again, headed to the police?”

“Because I can read their tracks, you idiot!” Slade retorted angrily. “They’re headed toward the ridge. Now, if one of us continues to follow them and the other heads east, then goes around to the bottom of the ridge, we can cut them off.”

“Well, you’re better at tracking them so why don’t you continue to follow them and I’ll head to the bottom of the ridge,” Will suggested.

Slade smiled. “That’s exactly what I was thinking.”

“Ok, I’ll see you later then,” Will said as he turned east and wandered off in that direction.

<>*<>*<>*<>

By the time Shalimar and Brennan got to the top of the ridge, the sun had almost set.

Brennan looked down over the side of the ridge and frowned. “You know, I wouldn’t exactly say that this is a small ridge. A small mountain would be more appropriate,” he said as he noticed that it was about a 175 foot drop all the way down.

Shalimar shrugged. “Mountain, ridge…same thing.”

“Not really,” Brennan replied.

“Well, it doesn’t matter now. We still have to climb down it.”

“I think we should wait until first light. The sun is about to set and I really don’t want to get stuck half way down when everything goes dark.”

“Yeah, maybe you’re right. I remember when I was a kid, I used to look up here from the bottom and see a small cave like structure. It should be around here somewhere,” Shalimar said as she looked around the area. Suddenly spotting the rock formation she was talking about a little further along the ridge, she pointed to it, saying, “It’s right there.”

“Great,” Brennan replied as he and Shalimar walked toward it. Upon arriving they were greeted by a fairly cozy looking cave that was just big enough for the two of them.

Brennan helped Shalimar sit down and then he sat down as well. By this time, the sun had finally set and the night air was getting very chilly.

Shalimar shivered as a gently breeze blew into the cave.

Noticing her shiver along with the fact that she was only wearing a tank top and a pair of thin pants, Brennan asked, “Are you cold?”

“Yeah, a little bit. I had another jacket in my backpack, but I left it in the bottom of the hole. I guess I should have remembered to grab it before I jumped out,” she replied with a sheepish smile.

Brennan moved closer to her, saying, “Well, I don’t have anymore jackets that you can use, but I’m still here.”

Shalimar gave him a curious look before grinning. Then she nodded and allowed Brennan to pull her into his arms. Snuggling in closer, she laid her head on his shoulder and let out a content sigh.

“So, how’s the ankle?” Brennan asked.

“It’s ok. It still hurts a lot, but I’ll manage,” she replied.

“I really hope so because it’s going to be hard climbing down the ridge with a hurt ankle.”

“I know, but I’ve still got to do it.”

“Well, I’ll help you the best I can,” Brennan told Shalimar just as he saw her yawn. Smiling slightly, he said, “But right now, we both need to get some rest.”

Shalimar merely nodded her head in agreement before she closed her eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep.

Brennan grinned as he watched the blonde in his arms sleep. So many nights he would lay awake longing for her to be there beside him and now, even if it was under extreme circumstances, it felt as if his dream had come true. He wished he could tell her how he felt, but he was afraid she wouldn’t feel the same. Letting out a sigh, he too closed his eyes and fell asleep.

<>*<>*<>*<>

“Dammit!” Slade growled. It was too dark and he could hardly see a thing even with a flashlight. Stopping, he sat down and leaned his back up against a tree. He was going to have to wait until first light before he could continue his hunt. He would get them though. He knew he would and when he did, they would be very sorry.

Chapter 2: It Continues

Shalimar was the first to wake up the next morning. She sat up groggily and blinked her eyes against the bright sun that was shining into the cave. Turning to Brennan, she saw he was still asleep. She grinned when she saw a small smile caress his lips as he mumbled something incoherently. ‘He’s so cute when he’s asleep,’ she thought to herself. ‘Wait a minute…What am I thinking? He’s so cute when he sleeps? What is with me? It’s like I’m falling in love with him.’ Shalimar let out a small gasp as she looked back over at Brennan who was still asleep. ‘I am falling in love with him,’ she suddenly realized.

“Oh God, this is not good,” she groaned softly.

“What’s not good?” a sleepy voice mumbled from beside her.

Shalimar looked over to see Brennan sitting up.

“What’s not good?” he asked again.

‘Oh, just the fact that I’m falling in love with you,’ she thought to herself. “Oh, nothing,” she lied.

Brennan gave her a strange look. “Are you sure?”

‘No.’ “Yes, I’m sure,” she replied as she forced a smile on her face. “I think we need to get up because we have a lot of climbing to do today,” she said, changing the subject.

Brennan nodded his head. “Yeah, you’re right,” he agreed as he stood up. “Speaking of that, how’s your ankle? Do you think you’re going to be able to climb?”

“It still hurts a lot, but it’s not going to stop me from climbing down. It might take me a little longer than usual, but I’ll make it.” Shalimar answered as Brennan helped her stand.

Grabbing the backpack, he looked over at her, saying, “Alright, let’s go.”

Shalimar nodded as Brennan once again wrapped his arm around her waist and they made their way to the edge of the ridge.

Looking down, Brennan gulped slightly and shook his head. “I’ll go down first. You know, so I can find the best route for you to go with your ankle,” he said as he glanced over at Shalimar.

She let out a small sigh, saying, “Ok, but be careful.”

Brennan could see the fear in her eyes and he had to fight the desperate urge to kiss her. “I will,” he replied finally. Then he let go of Shalimar’s waist and slowly lowered himself over the side of the ridge.

Shalimar waited for a little bit before she decided to start down. Looking down at Brennan, she called out to him. “Ok Brennan, I’m going to start coming down now.”

Brennan glanced up at her, replying, “Alright, but be very careful. The rock it quite slippery.”

Just as Shalimar was about to lower herself over the side, a voice came out of nowhere.

“Oh, no you don’t. You’re not going anywhere.”

Shalimar looked toward the woods to see a man standing there with his hunting rifle leveled at her head.

“Now, I want you to stand back up and walk toward me,” he ordered, his tone icy.

Shalimar smiled slightly. “I don’t know if I want to do that,” she replied.

The man glared at her. “Well, it doesn’t look you have much of a choice. I’ve got the gun.”

“There are always choices,” Shalimar retorted.

“Alright, fine. Here are your choices. You can be a good girl, get up and come over here or…I can shoot you. Which sounds better for you?”

“There’s actually another option,” Shalimar replied with a grin.

“Oh and what’s that?” he sneeringly asked.

“Well, I can get up and then beat the crap out of you.”

The man laughed. “Oh really? And how are you going to do that? You’ve got to remember that I’ve got the gun.”

Just then, they both heard Brennan calling from over the side of the ridge.

“Shal? Where are you??”

The man holding the gun smiled. “Oh, is your little boyfriend down there waiting for you? Too bad you won’t be coming down,” he snarled as he inched his way over to the side of the ridge so he could look over the edge at Brennan. Glancing quickly, he noticed that Brennan was hanging there about 25 feet from the top.

“Oh, he’s not even down yet,” the man said with a smile. “How about we help him a little.” At that, he pulled a Beretta 9mm out of his waistband and pointed it down the side of the ridge at Brennan. As the man glanced away for that second to aim, Shalimar lunged at him, knocking the rifle out of his hand, but not the 9mm. They both landed hard on the ground and began to struggle for control of the gun.

The man was exceptionally strong, not like a normal human. Had Shalimar known this before she pounced on him, she would have re-thought her plan of attack, but it was too late now. Pulling the gun away from her, he pinned her to the ground with her hands above her head and sat straddling her stomach. The man looked down at her and smiled evilly.

Shalimar flashed her feral eyes at him and let out a low growl.

“Oh, so you’re a feral?” he asked, although it was more of a statement.

Shalimar didn’t say a word. She just continued to glare at him.

“Well, guess what, doll? I’m one too, but unlike you, my feral abilities are predominantly based on strength, not agility,” he told her.

“Is that supposed to be threatening?” Shalimar snarled.

Another nefarious smile lit up the man’s face. “No…I just wanted to let you know that because there’s no use in struggling while I have my fun with you.”

Shalimar’s eyes grew wide in terror as she comprehended what he was saying. ‘Oh God, he’s going to rape me,’ she thought to herself as her fear began to build.

The man grinned at her reaction. Then he held her hands down in of his hands and then reached down with his other.

Shalimar began to struggle even more when she saw him unbuckling his belt, but it did little to release her from the man’s strong grip.

Finally he finished with his pants, he looked up at Shalimar and smiled again, saying, “Well, this is going to be fun.”

Just then a gun went off and Shalimar watched as the man’s eyes grew wide in pain. Then they closed and he collapsed on top of her. Rolling the dead man off of her, she looked over to see Brennan standing there with the man’s rifle in his hand.

Dropping the rifle, Brennan quickly ran over to her and dropped to his knees, asking, “Are you ok?”

Tears sprung to Shalimar’s eyes and her bottom lip began to quiver as she shook her head ‘no’.

Brennan quickly pulled her into his arms and held her as she sobbed into his shoulder.

“Oh god, Brennan. He was going…going to…” she stuttered though her tears.

“I know, Shal. It’s ok…Shhh…it’s ok,” he soothed as he gently rocked her in his arms.

They stayed there like that until Shalimar eventually calmed down.

Pulling out of Brennan’s embrace, she wiped the tears out of her eyes and looked up at him, saying, “We should get down the ridge and onto the trail before the sun sets.”

Brennan nodded and helped her stand. Walking over to the ridge, the two began their slow decent down.

Chapter 3: It Only Gets Worse

“Hey Shal? You doing ok?” Shalimar heard Brennan say from below her.

“Yeah, I’m ok,” she replied as she glanced down at him. She could see he was struggling a little bit, but he was doing alright. She, herself, was a bit worse off than him. While she usually found rock climbing fun and invigorating, it was not the same in this case. Her ankle kept sending agonizing waves of pain up her leg and because of it, she kept on slipping. She had almost fallen several times, but it was her sheer will to get home alive that kept her holding on. She was roughly about 80 feet from the bottom and Brennan was about 5 or 6 feet below her.

Suddenly, just as she lowered herself down the rock face a little bit more, the rock above her exploded in a cloud if dust. She had to close her eyes to keep the dirt from getting in them. Then the rock beside her exploded as well. She glanced over her shoulder to see another man, at the bottom of the ridge, shooting at her. She then looked down to see Brennan hiding somewhat in a small crevice. Just as she heard the gun go off again, she felt a sharp burning pain in her shoulder. She struggled to keep hold of the rock, but the pain was too intense. It was at that moment her hand slipped and she was sent plummeting toward the rocky ground below. Suddenly, she stopped falling as she felt something grab a hold of her wrist. Looking up, she noticed that Brennan had caught her by her wrist and was now holding onto the rock with only one hand.

“Nice catch,” Shalimar commended between clenched teeth.

“Thanks,” was all he said. The rock he was holding on to was digging deep into his hand and with the added weight of Shalimar, he wasn’t sure he could hold on much longer. Not to mention the fact that the man at the bottom was now shooting at the both of them. He ducked slightly as another bullet soared over his head and planted itself in the rock face. There was no way they were going to get out of this alive unless he got rid of the guy at the bottom, but the only way he could do that would be to let go of Shalimar.

“Shalimar?!” he shouted.

She looked up at him, pain written across her face. “Yeah?” she replied, her voice faint.

“I need you to get a hold on the rock,” he told her. Seeing her kind of dazed look, he continued, “I need to get rid of the guy at the bottom and the only way I can do that is to fry him. So, I need my hand free. That’s why I need you to get a hold on the rock. Can you do that, Shal?”

Shalimar nodded her head.

“Ok. I’m going to swing you over and then you can grab on. Alright?”

She nodded again. “Yeah.”

“Ok. On three. Ready?…One…two…THREE!” At that, he swung her over and she grabbed onto the rock face. As soon as he let go of Shalimar, Brennan shot a bolt of electricity at the man below. As usual, it hit its mark with a deadly accuracy. The man flew backwards and landed on the ground with a loud thump. From there, he didn’t rise again.

With a triumphant smile, Brennan looked back down at Shalimar to see that she wasn’t doing to well. His smile faded when he saw that she was barely hanging on and her head was bobbing back and forth as she fought to remain conscious.

He quickly climbed down to her and said, “Shal, we only have a little more to go. Now, I need you to stay with me. Can you do that?”

Shalimar looked over at him and gave him a weak smile. “Yeah, I can do that.”

“That’s my girl,” he said with a grin.

‘His girl? I like that,’ Shalimar thought to herself as she slowly, with the help of Brennan, re-started her descent to the bottom.

Chapter 4: Ahh… A Little Peace

After finally completing their strenuous, and in Shalimar’s case, painful, climb down, both of them collapsed to the ground in exhaustion.

Brennan laid there for a few seconds before he finally sat back up and looked over at Shalimar. She was laying there with a painful expression written across her face, breathing heavily.

“You ok, Shal?” he asked as he moved over and began to examine her injured shoulder.

Shalimar opened her eyes and looked over at him, weakly replying, “Well, considering that I was shot and that I almost fell to my death, I think I’m ok.”

“That’s good to know because you still have to get us home,” Brennan said as he pulled the first aid kit out of his backpack. He looked through it to find out that there wasn’t any medical wrap to bind her shoulder with. Frowning, he put the first aid kit down and began to look through his backpack to see if there was anything in there he could use.

“What’s wrong?” Shalimar asked when she saw him throw the backpack down with a huff.

“I can’t find anything to wrap your shoulder with,” he replied.

“Use my shirt,” she said with a small smile.

Realizing what Shalimar was suggesting, he quickly answered, “Good idea, but I’ll use my shirt.”

Shalimar merely nodded as she closed her eyes again.

Brennan grabbed the bottom of his shirt and began to rip off strips. When he had enough strips, he gently began to wrap Shalimar’s shoulder, although it wasn’t gently enough.

Yelping in pain, Shalimar re-opened her eyes and glared at Brennan.

“Sorry,” he said as he continued to wrap her shoulder. When he was done, he quickly declared, “Finished!” and then gave Shalimar a small grin.

“Good. Now we need to start walking again. If we don’t, we won’t be out of these woods before the sun sets,” she stated as she, with the help of Brennan, sat up.

“Are you going to be alright?” Brennan asked, his concern evident in his eyes.

Shalimar smiled. “Yeah, I’ll be fine,” she replied. ‘I love that look he gets when he’s worried,’ she thought to herself. ‘Oh, for cryin’ out loud, Shalimar! Knock it off!! Brennan is like your brother. He would never fall in love with you.’

Brennan sighed as he thought to himself, ‘It breaks my heart to see Shalimar in pain. I almost lost her up there and I still can’t work up the nerve to tell her that I’m in love with her. I’m such a loser.’ Standing up, he reached down to Shalimar, asking, “You ready to go?”

“Yeah, let’s get out of here,” she replied as she allowed Brennan to help her stand. With that, they took off toward the trail.

Chapter 5: And You Thought It Couldn’t Get Worse!

After finding the trail, Shalimar and Brennan followed it for a little while when suddenly there was a loud clap of thunder.

Brennan felt Shalimar jump slightly at the noise and when he looked over at her, he noticed she was staring up at the dark clouds looming overhead.

“What? Are you scared of a little thunder?” he quipped.

Shalimar shook her head. “No, it’s just a lot louder to me than it is to you,” she replied. “And look whose talking. I’m not the one who gets all weak when I get wet.”

Brennan grinned. “Yes, very true. I’m definitely not one of those ‘singin’ in the rain’ type of guys.”

Shalimar giggled slightly, but then stopped when an intense pain shot out from her shoulder. Wincing, she closed her eyes and waited for the pain to pass. When it did, she re-opened her eyes to see Brennan gazing down at her with a concerned look on his face.

He was about to open his mouth to say something when suddenly the clouds opened up and the rain began to pour out.

“Aw man,” Brennan muttered as he and Shalimar began to get soaked.

“I think a little shelter is in order,” Shalimar said as she looked up at Brennan.

“Yeah, I think that would be a good idea,” he replied. “Do you know where we could find some?”

“Actually, yeah. There’s a kind of rundown hunting cabin a little farther up the trail.

“Let’s go then.”

With that, they headed down the back down the trail. As they did, the rain continued to heavily pour, not letting up for a second.

“It should be just around that bend in the trail,” Shalimar explained.

“Good because all this water doesn’t agree with me,” Brennan replied, his voice somewhat weak.

Just as they rounded the bend, they were suddenly confronted with a very rough looking river.

“Ok, that could be a problem,” Brennan stated as he watched the water of the river whip by them.

“This is usually just a small stream, but I guess the rain made the water level rise.” Shalimar said as she looked up at Brennan. “We still have to cross it because there’s no way I’m walking all the way back the other way. If we cross this, we can stop at the cabin for a little while and then it’s only like twelve more miles until we get out of the woods. Once we do, we’ll find a road and we can follow it until we find civilization. We can call Adam from there. If we turn around, it’ll take about three times as long to get out of the woods and to anywhere with a phone. I don’t know about you, but I really want to get home.”

Brennan nodded. “Yeah, same here. I guess it looks like we’re going for a little swim.”

Shalimar merely nodded as she and Brennan stepped in. As they waded deeper the current got stronger and the frigid temperature of the water made them both go numb.

“God, this water’s cold!” Brennan exclaimed through chattering teeth.

“Yeah, a little too cold,” Shalimar replied.

As the fought to keep their balance against the strong current and the slippery rock underneath them, they could only hope that they would make it across without falling in.

Suddenly, Brennan stepped on a rock that moved out from underneath his foot and in the increasingly strong current, he was unable to keep him balance. In one quick movement, Brennan plunged into the freezing water, dragging Shalimar with him.

They both surfaced, coughing and spitting out water. It was then that they noticed that they were being dragged down the river by its intense current.

Brennan looked over at Shalimar, saying, “I think we should start swimming.”

“Yeah,” was all Shalimar said as they both began to swim toward the shore.

Shalimar could feel Brennan’s grip on her getting weaker and when she looked over at him, she noticed that he was struggling to keep his head above the water.

‘The water’s making him weak,’ she immediately thought to herself as she glanced away from him for a second to see how far away from the shore that they actually were.

In the brief second that she looked away, Shalimar felt Brennan let go of her, but when she looked back over, she saw that he was no longer there. Panic almost overwhelmed her as she frantically searched the water’s surface for Brennan, but seeing that he was anywhere, there was one other place he could be. Underneath the water.

Shalimar took a deep breath and dove under. The water was murky and she could hardly see a thing. As she lungs cried out for oxygen she was forced to surface for another breath before she dove under again. Shalimar was on the verge of tears when she resurfaced for about the sixth time. ‘No, I won’t give up. I won’t let him die! I love him!!’ she thought to herself as she dove back under. By this time, the frigid water was beginning to take effect on Shalimar and she was getting tired, but suddenly she spotted something that looked vaguely like dark brown hair. Swimming over to it, she immediately recognized it to be Brennan. She pulled him into her arms and dragged him up to the water’s surface. With a sudden burst of adrenaline, she managed to pull him all the way to and up on shore. Laying him on his back, she tested for breath and pulse, but found neither.

“Oh God,” Shalimar said as tears began to cascade down her face. Immediately she began CPR, but it didn’t seem to be working.

“Please don’t die on me, Brennan! Please!!” she cried as she continued to do CPR. “DON’T DIE ON ME!!! I love you, Brennan! Please, come back!” Just then, Brennan began to cough up water.

Doing as Adam had taught her, Shalimar quickly turned Brennan on his side so he wouldn’t re-swallow the water. After he got all of the water out of his lungs, Shalimar laid him back down flat.

“Shal?” Brennan whispered weakly as he lifted his hand and brushed a wet piece of hair out of Shalimar’s face.

“Oh Brennan,” Shalimar whimpered as she pulled him into her arms and hugged him fiercely. “I thought I had lost you,” she said as she pulled back.

Slowly Brennan sat up and looked into Shalimar’s tear-filled eyes, saying, “You almost did and in those seconds before I...drowned, I realized that I never got the chance to tell you a very important thing, but now that I’m…alive again, I’m going to take this very moment to tell you that…I’m..in love with you.”

Shalimar’s breath caught in her throat. ‘Did he just say he was in love with me?’ she thought to herself.

Seeing that Shalimar wasn’t saying anything, Brennan quickly added, “But I understand if you don’t feel the same way, but I just had to tell you.”

It was then that Shalimar found her voice. “No Brennan, I do feel the same way! I don’t know when it started, but I’m in love with you too!!” she exclaimed cheerfully.

Brennan couldn’t resist any longer. He pulled Shalimar into a deep, passionate kiss that she eagerly accepted. After finally breaking apart for air, they shyly smiled at each other.

“I’ve wanted to do that for a very long time,” Brennan stated.

Shalimar nodded. “Me too.”

Just then, as a loud clap of thunder sounded and a bright flash of lightning lit up the sky, it began to rain extremely hard. Groaning, Brennan looked up at the sky and frowned.

“I think we should find that cabin,” Brennan suggested as he helped Shalimar stand up.

“Yeah, that would be a good thing,” Shalimar replied as they walked back toward the trail.

Chapter 6: To The Hunting Cabin We Go!

By the time they arrived at the cabin, the numbing effects of the cold river had long since worn off and Shalimar was in pain again. She was actually in more pain now than she had been before and she guessed it was from pulling Brennan’s heavy body out of the water.

Going inside of the cabin, both of them noticed that it contained a small bed in the corner, a chair, and a fireplace, but that was it. They could see where the rain had seeped in through the poorly built roof and the whole place smelt of mildew, but it was better than being in the rain.

Walking over to the bed, Brennan helped Shalimar sit down before declaring, “I’m going to check outside to see if I can find any dry wood we could build a fire with.”

Shalimar merely nodded, in too much pain to say anything. Not only was she in pain, but she was cold too. While the numbness from the river had worn off, the coldness had not. She sat there for a few minutes before Brennan finally came back in.

He was carrying an armful of wood which he quickly placed in the fireplace. Taking off the backpack, he opened it up and pulled out some waterproof matches. Within a few minutes, he had a small fire going.

“How about we pull the bed over here near the fire?” he suggested as he walked over to Shalimar.

“Ok,” she said between clenched teeth as she stood up so Brennan could move the bed.

Seeing this, Brennan immediately asked, “Are you alright?”

Shalimar shook her head. “No. It hurts.”

Brennan quickly moved the bed near the fire and then helped Shalimar over to it. Sitting her down, he suddenly realized how pale she looked. Not to mention that every so many seconds a shiver would run through her body, yet she was sweating profusely. Placing his hand on her forehead, he quickly felt the heat radiating from her.

“Oh God, you’re burning up,” he told her as he had her lay down. Unwrapping her shoulder, he immediately noticed that her wound had turned an angry red color, undoubtedly signs if infection. Pulling some extra strips of his shirt out of the backpack, he gently re-wrapped it.

Looking up at Shalimar’s face, he raised his hand to wipe an errant strand of blonde hair out of her eyes as he said, “You’ve got an infection.”

“There might be some antibiotics in the first aid kit,” Shalimar replied weakly.

Brennan nodded and then grabbed the backpack, pulling out the first aid kit. Quickly searching through it, he took out some antibiotics and some Tylenol. Then he grabbed the canteen from out of the backpack. Handing one pill at a time to Shalimar, he helped her drink out of the canteen as she took all of the pills before he covered her with the old blanket that was on the bed and kissed her softly on the forehead.

“Get some rest,” he said as he sat down in the chair beside her.

“Where are you going to sleep?” Shalimar asked as she looked up at him.

“Right here,” he replied, indicating to the chair.

Shalimar shook her head. “There’s enough room in the bed for the both of us,” she told him.

“Yeah, but I don’t want to hurt you anymore. You know, I wouldn’t want to jar your shoulder while I was sleeping.”

“You won’t,” she answered as she pulled back the covers slightly and patted the bed beside her.

“I’ll sleep with you on one condition,” Brennan said.

“What?”

“I want to sleep behind you so you get the warmth from the fire. Ok?”

Shalimar nodded and smiled. “Yeah, ok.”

Going behind her, Brennan pulled back the cover and was about to get in, but then he stopped.

“What’s wrong?” Shalimar asked as she looked over at him.

“It just occurred to me that I...,well we, still have our wet clothes on,” he stated, but seeing Shalimar’s confused look, he continued. “It’s not good to stay in cold, wet clothes. It will only make your condition worse. So, I think we should…take them of. You know, at least…to our...underclothes,” he stuttered slightly as he felt a rush of warmth in his cheeks.

Shalimar smiled when she saw him blush. “Why Brennan Mulwray! First you tell me that you’re in love with me and then a few hours later, you want to jump in bed with me naked…or semi-naked,” she quipped.

Brennan looked down at his feet, blushing even more.

“Well, you know what, Brennan? That doesn’t bother me at all. All I’ve got to say is that I’m glad it’s you, not…well, anyone else,” Shalimar declared with a smile. “But you’re going to have to help me with my clothes.”

Brennan looked back up at her and grinned. “That I can do.”

After helping Shalimar strip down to her underwear and bra, he quickly stripped down to just his boxers and then slip in the bed beside Shalimar. Being very careful not to jar her shoulder, Brennan pulled Shalimar into his arms and snuggled up against her.

“I could get used to this,” Shalimar mumbled sleepily, making Brennan smile.

“Yeah, me too,” he replied as he kissed Shalimar on the top of her head. “Now, you need to get some rest, alright?”

Shalimar nodded. “Ok,” she murmured as she closed her eyes. Soon, she was fast asleep.

Brennan laid there awake just watching her sleep. ‘God, she’s so beautiful. I can’t believe she’s in love with me too! It’s like a dream come true!’ he thought to himself as he drifted off to sleep as well.

Chapter 7: Good Grief!!! More Bad Guys???

Sometime early the next morning, Shalimar awoke to a sound outside. The noise sounded like footsteps, but she then dismissed it due to the fact that she thought her pain-fogged mind was probably playing tricks on her. She looked over at Brennan to see that he was still asleep and deciding that she could use some more rest too, she closed her eyes again. Suddenly she heard the noise again. Letting out a soft groan, she gently shook Brennan awake.

His eyes immediately snapped open. Looking at Shalimar’s pale face with a concerned expression written across his, he asked, “What’s wrong? Are you ok?”

“No, actually I feel like crap, but that’s not why I woke you. I don’t know if it’s my mind playing tricks on me, but I keep on hearing noises outside,” she replied.

“What do these noises sound like?” he questioned.

“Footsteps,” she answered as she glanced over at the door.

“Really?” Brennan said as he sat up and got out of bed. “Maybe it’s Adam coming to rescue us,” he suggested. Walking over to the window, he parted the old curtains slightly so he could peak outside. He noticed that the sky was still dark with rain clouds and the ground still looked wet with rain. Just then, out of his peripheral vision, he saw something move. Snapping he head over in that direction, he quickly spotted three men with guns making there way toward the cabin. He immediately recognized one of the men to be the one he had fried when he was climbing down the ridge.

“Uh oh,” he muttered as he backed away from the window.

“What’s wrong?” Shalimar asked.

“Um…you know that guy I zapped while we were climbing down the ridge?”

Shalimar nodded. “Vaguely, yeah.”

“Well, um…I don’t think I hit him with enough electricity because he’s alive and he’s brought some of his buddies with him,” he replied as he began to shove everything except their clothes into the backpack. Then he grabbed his clothes, put them on, and then helped Shalimar with hers.

“Ok, I think it’s time to get out of here,” Brennan said as he walked back over to the window to see where the men were. He saw them all standing out there and then he noticed one of them doing something that immediately struck a moment fear in his heart.

“Now, what’s wrong?” Shalimar asked when she saw Brennan’s wide-eyed look.

“Um…one of the guys out there is um…laying down detonation cord.”

Shalimar immediately got a worried look on her face. “Detonation cord? As in what’s used for blowing up things?”

Brennan merely nodded.

“Well, this trip just keeps on getting better and better, doesn’t it?” Shalimar said with a frown.

“Yeah, you could say that.”

Just then, the both heard a voice from outside.

“We know you’re in there!” the voice began. “Now either you come out on your own or we’re going to blow you out. It’s your choice.”

“Nice choice,” Brennan whispered to Shalimar. “Either we get blown up or shot. How would you like to die?”

“Neither way, thank you.”

“I agree. So, I think it’s time for a little cook out. How do you like your crazy murderers fried?” Brennan asked with a grin as he generated electricity in one of his hands.

“I like them well done,” she replied, returning Brennan’s smile with one of her own.

“Then well done it is, my Lady,” he quipped as he then turned to the door. “Ok Shal, once I fry them, we’re going to have to run for it. That one guy didn’t stay down the first time so there’s no telling if he will this time around either. You ok with that?”

“Not really, but I don’t really have a choice, do I?” she answered as she limped over to him.

Nodding, Brennan opened the door a crack and then shouted, “Ok, we’re coming out!” At that, he swung the door open and sent a bolt of electricity toward the guy who had laid down the detonation cord. As the bolt hit him, he was sent flying into a tree. Before the two men could react, Brennan shot two bolts over electricity at them, but they both hid behind trees so that they wouldn’t get hit. Then they both started shooting at Brennan.

Ducking, Brennan shut the door and then ran over to the window. From there he could see both of the men. In one quick movement, he broke the window and sent another bolt of electricity toward the man that had shot at him and Shalimar when they were climbing down the ridge. This time, the bolt hit the man and he fell to the ground, unconscious. Then Brennan sent another bolt toward the other man, but much to Brennan surprise, the man seemed to erect a force field around him and the electricity just bounced off. It was then that Brennan noticed that the bolt of electricity struck the detonation cord, making it spark to life.

“Oh crap!” Brennan exclaimed.

“What?” Shalimar asked from where she was crouched near the door.

“I’ve fried two of the three, but the other one emitted an energy or something that deflected my electricity. But not only did he deflect it, he sent it flying into the detonation cord and now it’s alight.”

“Than what are we sitting here for?!” Shalimar exclaimed as she pointed to the window in the back of the cabin.

“Let’s go!” Brennan said as he helped her over to the window and after he broke it, he climbed out. Then he turned back around and helped Shalimar out. They took off, running as fast as they could, just as the cabin blew up. The force on the explosion sent them flying to the ground. Landing, Brennan immediately threw himself on top of Shalimar to protect her from flying debris. Once everything had settled, he glanced up to see that the cabin was completely demolished.

“Whoa,” he muttered to himself as he rolled off of Shalimar.

She looked over at the cabin too and then cringed. “Thank God we weren’t in there.”

“Yeah, I know,” Brennan replied as he stood up. “I don’t see that guy anywhere. Hopefully he was taken care of by the explosion, but I think we should get out of here quickly just in case he wasn’t.”

Shalimar nodded in agreement as Brennan helped her stand.

“Are you going to be ok?” Brennan asked as he finally noticed how bad Shalimar looked. She was pale, sweating, shaking slightly, and he could see blood beginning to seep through her bandages again.

“I’m going to have to be,” she replied. “Now, let’s get out of here. I want to go home.”

“Ok,” Brennan answered as he wrapped his arm around her waist again. With that, the two began their slow journey again.

Chapter 8: We’re Saved!!
“Brennan, I can’t…I can’t walk anymore,” Shalimar announced, her voice weak.

“Ok Shal, we’ll take a break,” Brennan told her as they stopped walking, and he helped Shalimar sit down. Kneeling down in front of her, he gently brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes and then said, “We only have a little more to go and we’re home free.”

“I know,” she replied softly. “I just don’t feel good. It’s so hot and my shoulder’s killing me.”

Brennan moved over and sat down next to her, letting her lay her head on his shoulder.

“I know. You’re wound is infected and that’s why you don’t feel well. As soon as we get home, Adam will fix you right up,” he said as he kissed her on the top of her head.

“Speaking of Adam, I would have thought that he would have found us by now. I mean, we were supposed to be home yesterday afternoon.”

“I know. I was thinking the same thing. Maybe he is looking for us, but he just hasn’t been around this area yet,” Brennan suggested.

“Yeah, maybe. I just wish he’d hurry up,” Shalimar said with a sigh.

“Me too.”

Just then, they both heard a twig snap and when they looked over in the direction, they were confronted by the barrel of a gun in their faces.

“Aww…isn’t that cute,” the man holding the gun said with a grin. “It’s just too bad that I’m going to have to kill you both. Now, stand up and start walking.”

“What if we don’t want to?” Shalimar snapped.

The man shrugged. “Than I’ll kill you here,” he retorted as he cocked his rifle and aimed it at Shalimar’s head.

“No! No,..we’ll come with you,” Brennan quickly said as he got in front of Shalimar.

The man smiled. “That’s what I thought you’d say. Now get up and get moving!”

Brennan helped Shalimar stand and then they began to walk in the direction the man had indicated.

They walked for a few minutes before they came upon a rock face a lot like the one they had climbed down, only smaller, and in it was a cave.

“Go inside,” the man ordered.

Shalimar and Brennan immediately complied and walked in. The thin tunnel that they were following was dark and they could hardly see where they were stepping, but suddenly it opened up into a wide area. In the area sat a bed, a table with three chairs, and there was a power generator that lit up several lights that were placed around the cave.

“Nice cave,” Brennan commented. “What? Did you scare the bears out with your ugly face?”

The man just glared at Brennan before he said, “Sit down in the chair.”

When Brennan didn’t sit, he pointed the gun at Shalimar saying, “Now, either you sit down or I’m going to kill your girlfriend.”

Brennan sent a death glare the man’s way before he reluctantly sat down in the chair.

“Good,” the man said as he threw Shalimar a rope.

Shalimar gave him a confused look. “What am I supposed to do with this?” she asked even though she had a good idea of what he wanted her to do with it.

The man rolled his eyes. “Tie him up and do it tight!”

Shalimar did as he said, but little did the man know that she had tied the ropes a certain way that made it look and feel tight, but it was actually really easy to get out of. Standing up, she winked at Brennan and gave him a small smile.

“Are you done yet?” the man asked.

“Yes,” she snarled as she turned around to face him.

“Good. Now, you sit down in the chair next to him,” he ordered as he pointed the rifle at her for emphasis.

Shalimar growled slightly before sitting down in the chair next to Brennan.

Once she had done what he had said, the man sat down on the bed opposite to Brennan and Shalimar.

“Why aren’t you tying her up?” Brennan asked, trying to sound somewhat like a little boy who was pissed that his brother didn’t gotten smacked too for something bad that they both had done.

“Because she’s not a threat to me,” the man replied as he let his gun drop so that it was pointed at the floor.

Shalimar looked over at Brennan and smiled. “Is that so?” she asked just as she flashed her feral eyes and lunched herself into a flip.

Before the man could react, she landed in front of him, knocked the gun out of his hands, and then landed a nice left hook to his jaw. The man seemed dazed for a second, but when she tried to land another punch, he managed to erect his force field and Shalimar’s fist just bounced off. She tried again, but she still couldn’t get through.

The man laughed; then in one quick movement, he dropped his force field and backhanded her across the face, driving her to the ground.

“Hey buddy!”

At the sound of someone else’s voice, the man snapped his head around to see that Brennan was free from the chair and before the man could do a thing, he sent a stream of electricity at him. The man went flying backwards into the cave wall and then collapsed to the ground. Once he was sure the man wasn’t moving, Brennan ran over to Shalimar and kneeled down beside her.

“Are you ok?” he immediately asked as he pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly.

“Other than being twice as dizzy now than I was before, I guess I’m alright,” she replied weakly as she pulled back out of Brennan’s embrace.

Looking her in the face, Brennan quickly added, “And you also have a split lip.”

Shalimar winced when he gently wiped the blood away from her lip.

“Yeah, that too,” she replied just as she snapped her head around toward the cave entrance and cocked her head slightly as if she were listening for something.

“What is it?” Brennan asked.

“There’s someone outside the cave,” she replied as she continued to listen. “It’s Adam, Emma, and Jesse! They’re looking for us!”

“How do you know?”

“Because they’re calling our names.”

“Oh. Well than, let’s go!” Brennan said as he stood up, but when he helped Shalimar stand up, she just about toppled over again when an intense wave of dizziness overwhelmed her. “Whoa!” he exclaimed as he caught her just before she fell over. “Are you ok?”

“He must have hit me a lot harder than I thought because I’m extremely dizzy,” she replied as she closed her eyes and brought her hand up to her head.

Before Brennan could say anything, they heard a voice from behind them.

“You’re not going anywhere,” the man said as he stood up. He had his rifle in his hands and he was pointing it at them.

“Sorry buddy, but we are,” Brennan retorted as he suddenly struck the cave ceiling with a bolt of electricity. Everything began to shake and then all of a sudden, the ceiling caved in on the man, but it didn’t stop there. Everything began to cave in.

Brennan quickly scooped Shalimar up in his arms and made a beeline for the tunnel exit. Running as fast as he could, they both made it out just before the whole thing collapsed, but Brennan didn’t stop there, he just kept running until he heard the calls of his other teammates.

“Brennan?! Shalimar?!” It was Adam.

“Adam!! We’re over here!” Brennan called out just as he saw Adam, Emma, and Jesse running toward them. He looked down at Shalimar to see that she had finally passed out from pain and exhaustion.

“Oh God, Shalimar!” Adam exclaimed as he began to check her vitals.

“What happened?” Emma asked Brennan.

“It’s a very long story and I’ll tell it all to you guys later, but can we take care of Shalimar first? She’s hurt pretty bad. She was shot and she’s got an infection,” Brennan replied.

“Yeah, come on. The Double Helix is in a field just through those trees,” Adam said as he pointed to the trees where he and the other two had just come from.

“You want me to take Shalimar?” Jesse asked.

“No, I’ve got her. Let’s just get out of here,” Brennan replied as they all walked back to the Double Helix.

Chapter 9: A Dream Come True!

Once they had arrived back at Sanctuary, Adam immediately had Brennan carry Shalimar to the lab and the other two followed as well. As Adam worked on Shalimar, Brennan retold the story of what had happened to them...Well, most of the story.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa…are you saying that Shalimar pulled you all the way out of the water with a bullet wound in her shoulder?” Jesse asked with an unbelieving look on his face.

Brennan nodded. “Yeah, she did. I don’t know how. All I know is that she saved my life and for that, I owe her big time,” he replied.

“By what you’ve told us so far, I’m guessing that the cold water made her numb and she didn’t even feel anything when she pulled you out,” Adam said logically.

“Yeah, maybe,” Brennan agreed.

“Then what happened?” Emma asked, almost excitedly.

‘We admitted we were in love with each other and then kissed,’ Brennan thought to himself. “Oh, we just got up and walked to the hunting cabin.”

Emma looked kind of disappointed. “That’s it? No white light at the end of a tunnel? No ‘I thought I was going to die and I realized that I never told you that I was in love with you’ lines?”

“Emma!” all three men scolded.

“Sorry!” she exclaimed as she threw up her hands in surrender and then looked down at the floor. “I’ve watched way too many sappy movies.”

“You can say that again,” Brennan muttered.

“Anyway, what else happened?” Jesse asked.

Brennan continued to tell the story and by the time he was done, Adam had finished fixing up Shalimar.

“Alright. Well, Shalimar needs to rest in quiet and I’m sure you,” he looked over at Brennan, “could use some rest too. So, I want you all out of the lab until I tell you that you can come back in. Ok?” Adam said.

All three of them nodded and then wandered out of the lab.

Brennan stopped at the door and glanced back at Shalimar.

“She’ll be fine, Brennan. She just needs rest,” Adam said when he saw Brennan stop and look back.

Brennan merely nodded as he walked out of the lab.

Sometime later that evening, while everyone thought he was asleep, Brennan quietly slipped into the lab and pulled up a chair beside Shalimar. Gently taking her hand in his, he just sat there and watched her sleep. Before he knew it, he was starting to doze off.

He was on a balcony overlooking a beautiful beach. The sun was warm and the air was fresh. It was perfect. Just then, he suddenly jumped when he felt arms slither around his waist, but when he realized who it was; he leant into the arms and smiled.

“Good Morning,” the female voice behind him greeted.

“’Morning,” he replied as he turned himself around, still in her arms, so he could face the beautiful woman who was standing there. Bending down slightly, he kissed her on the lips and then pulled her deeper into his arms. As she rested her head on his chest and closed her eyes, he sighed in contentment; happy just to breathe in her scent and feel her body against his.

He looked down at the blonde in his arms and smiled. “God, I love you, Shalimar,” he whispered as he kissed her gently on the top of her head.

“And I love you,” she replied as she lifted her head and kissed his passionately on the lips.

“Brennan?” a voice said, calling him from out of his perfect dream.

“Huh?” he murmured as he looked up to see Shalimar staring at him with a huge grin on her face.

“Shal, you’re awake!” he exclaimed as he sat up straight.

“Only because you kept talking in your sleep. Good dream?” Shalimar asked with another smile.

Brennan nodded and returned her smile. “Very good. It was…perfect.”

“Perfect, huh? Well, I guess you’ll have to tell me about it sometime.”

“Yeah, I will,” he replied. “So, how are you feeling?”

“A hell of a lot better than the last time I was conscious,” she replied. “And seeing you there when I woke up made it even better.”

Brennan smiled. “I’m glad because I disobeyed Adam’s direct order not to come in here until he said so…but I had to see you.”

“I’m happy you did. So, what happened after I passed out?” Shalimar asked.

“Well, not much. I collapsed the cave with our little friend inside and then ran out to find the other three looking for us. We got you home, got you fixed up, and I retold what had happened to us.”

“Everything?” Shalimar questioned; thinking about what they had shared with each other after she had saved Brennan from the river.

“No, I left out a few minute details,” Brennan replied with a smirk. “I wasn’t sure if you wanted the others to know, so I left out those parts of the story.”

“Thanks for waiting. I really appreciate that and just for the record, I don’t mind if we tell them. It will be very hard to keep it away from them anyway…Especially Emma,” she said.

“I know!” Brennan exclaimed. “She already suspects something. You should have seen her when I was telling them what happened. She was all like ‘When Shalimar saved you, did you end up confessing your undying love for her?’ That’s not exact, but you know, something like that. I tried to act like she was going insane, but I don’t think she bought it.”

Shalimar laughed. “Yeah, that sounds like Emma.”

Brennan grinned and then nodded. “Well, when do you want to tell them?” he asked as he leaned in closer to Shalimar.

“Later,” she whispered as she leaned in as well and caught Brennan in a passionate kiss.

Suddenly they broke apart when they heard another voice in the room.

“I knew it!!!” Emma exclaimed from where she stood at the lab door; a huge smile spreading across her face.

Both Shalimar and Brennan could feel themselves blushing ferociously.

“How did you know?” Brennan managed to ask.

“Just by the way you kept looking at Shalimar when you were telling us what had happened,” she explained, but when she got disbelieving looks from the other two, she added, “And…I…uh… kinda picked up a telempathic transmission from you, Brennan.”

“You were reading me?!” Brennan asked as a surprised/pissed look spread across his face.

“No! I…uh…I…” she stuttered just as she turned around quickly and ran out of the room calling for Adam.

Shalimar just smiled as she watched Emma run away. “Well, it looks like the others are going to find out about us sooner than we thought,” she said with a laugh.

“Yeah, you could say that,” Brennan agreed. “But that’s fine with me because then we don’t have to hide anything from them,” he said as he looked deep into Shalimar’s eyes to see her deep love for him burning from within. “God, I love you, Shalimar,” he whispered as he caught her in another enchanting kiss.

When they broke about, Shalimar looked at Brennan with tears in her eyes. “And, I love you,” she replied as she got off the chair that’s in the middle of the lab and straddle Brennan’s lap. Then she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into another passionate kiss. It was a dream come true for the both of them.

THE END!!