Chapter 23 -- And The Rain Came Down

A/N: PG-13...

Wind is a cycle
that blows through the ocean
Blowing the rag
giving birth to your dreams
Waiting but it's holding me
down to this star
You were always the one to adore
You open up this spiderweb and die
You twist his words, there's no sense to his verbs
It's been raining for years
You're waking me, this urgency you hide
You're everytime I wake, you see me hide
Just don’t trick me
Just don’t stop here
It's been raining for years

Goldfrapp - Sartorius

Chapter 23 -- And The Rain Came Down

Mara found herself pacing the big room again, waiting for Rafe to emerge from the bathroom. The long minutes turned into what felt like at least an hour. She finally became fed up and went to peer into the bathroom.

Rafe was still sitting on the toilet where she had left him. He hadn't moved. She hoped he was just dozing and not unconscious. Surely he would have slid off his perch if he were unconscious?

She warily walked in to the bathroom, not wanting to be accused again of hovering, but wanting to see if he was all right. "Rafe?"

He was startled by her voice and jerked, almost succeeding in losing his seat. The wash cloth on his face fell to the floor as he looked at her as best he could, with a bewildered expression on his face. "Wha..?"

"You've been sitting in here for a long time. I got worried."

"Dod worry about be. I'b fide."

Mara had to bite back a mildly hysterical giggle. Apparently the ibuprofen had done nothing to bring down the swelling in his face. "Well," she said unsteadily. "You want to come out to the main room where you can sit in your sleeping bag and at least be warm?"

He was silent for a long moment and then shrugged. She wondered if she should have checked for a blow to the head, he had been acting in such an uncharacteristic manner. Usually Rafe was ever the gentleman with her, but their last conversation had bordered on acrimonious.

"I'b fide, feel good," he muttered. "Took sob bore ibuproden."

"How much more," her voice mildly alarmed.

"Four bore tabs."

At least that explained his being a bit out of it. Mara made an executive decision, figuring he wasn't completely in his right mind. "Okay, Mr. Moretti, we're going to go out and bundle you up in a sleeping bag so you can get some proper rest," she said trying to emulate good bedside manner.

He shrugged again.

"You don't get a choice in this one, mister. We're getting out of this bathroom."

"'kay," he whispered.

"Can you stand up on your own?"

"Thik so."

"I'll be right by your side if you feel the least bit wobbly."

"'kay." He stood up slowly and teetered, then steadied. Mara put his right arm over her shoulder and slowly walked out of the bathroom with him.

She opened up one of the sleeping bags and helped him sit down on it. "I'm just going take off your shoes. Okay?"

"'kay."

She took off his shoes and he lay back down, his head on the pillow. Wheezing a bit, he uttered, "Cat breathe."

"You were doing all right standing. How about if you sit up and lean back against me." Mara grabbed the other sleeping bag and opened it next to him and sat down on the end. She helped him slide back to rest his upper body against her and she heard his breathing become easier. She zipped up the bag he was in and then brought the bottom half of her bag up to cover them both.

Gently cradling him against her, she felt his breathing slow into sleep. After kissing the top of his head, she laid her head back against the wall to try to catch a few winks herself.

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Before midnight, the Deputy Superintendent called the Kuntzlers one more time to let them know that the parabolic mike had picked up something like voices. However they were unable to pinpoint the floor where they came from, yet. Somewhere in the top third of the building.

The team at the site was going to go up into one of the occupied apartment buildings across the street to see if they could get a better bearing on the location of the voices. They had problems securing a place in an unoccupied apartment towards the top of the building as the landlord had been been out. Finally, the man had come home and they were able to set up in the vacant apartment.

Kevin relayed this information to Lara. She sighed, "We might as well try and get some rest. I don't know if I can sleep at all just yet, but..."

"Let's just lie on top of the bed with a comforter over us. I'm just going to kick off my shoes, but I do want to stay dressed in case I need to leave in a hurry." Suiting action to words, he walked into the bedroom and kicked off his shoes. He set the cordless phone on the bedside table and grabbed a comforter from the bedroom closet.

Kevin turned around to find his wife already lying on the bed with her shoes off. He unfolded the comforter to cover her and then crawled under the other half.

"Well, Mrs. Kuntzler. How was your day?" he asked half humorously, trying to think of something to talk about other than the tense situation.

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Don Carlo sat in his office drumming his fingers. Where the hell was Giancarlo? He was worried that the young man had been killed and the kidnapping of the reporter and his girlfriend was all for naught.

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Mara listened to Rafe's breathing as he slept and prayed for them to get out of this nightmare more or less in one piece. Rafe would need to have a doctor look him over. She hoped it would end sooner rather than later.