Bella didn't sleep much.  

Between Gavin tossing and turning and the things that she saw when she closed her eyes, both from the horrible work and the disgust related to the monster they were hunting, she found herself laying still and staring up at the ceiling.  Once she got up to pace, but Gavin had startled awake so hard that she dared not do it again.  So, instead, she just used the restroom and returned to her space beside him.

In her early days of knowing her husband Frank, Lucy had written in her journal about the 'Great Wall of China' that had once rested between them in their bed ... well, she'd always found that to be utter madness.  She couldn't conceive of a situation in which NOT touching her (then lover) would have ever occurred. 

Maybe she saw herself as above Lucy in some ways, that her and Gavin's relationship was maybe stronger than Lucy and Frank's... but tonight, tonight Gavin might as well have been on the other side of the planet and she couldn't bring herself to bridge the gap.  She took comfort in the warmth beside her, but she felt as though she needed to give Gavin space until this was done... and it hurt.  She wished she knew some way to make it better, to make it right, but there wasn't anything.  

Just the wall. 

Before she knew it, the time for being close had slipped through her fingers.  It was time to prepare for the hunt anew.  Only instead of camouflage paint, she put on lipstick and rouge and instead of hunter's orange she put on a navy blue pencil skirt and a white blouse with one too many buttons undone.  The woman in the mirror felt unrecognizable as she tossed her hair over the front of her and ran her fingers through it to give it that 'just got out of bed' careless look.  She looked as if she and Gavin had just...

But that was the point, wasn't it?  She drew a deep breath and steadied herself for the night to come.  Exiting the bathroom she began hiking up her skirt clean to her hip.  As she bent down to grab the new sheath that Gavin had picked up (God alone knew where) he was there suddenly, kneeling before her as he once did not so terribly long ago with her ring in his hand.  This time it wasn't a ring he was holding but instead the delicate suede sheath & straps, that held a thin steel blade. 

Wordlessly his hands worked, sliding over her thigh and making sure the weapon was in place securely, all done with a machine like precision, and yet... all without looking.  Instead, his eyes held hers and something of intimacy passed back and forth and between them.  A small instant of warmth, concern, and maybe just a hint of longing.  No, not longing as in something lustful Bella thought, but loneliness. 

She felt like she should say something.  That maybe she should hold him or kiss him so he knew she felt the same, but like so many fleeting moments in the last few days she got the distinct impression that this was his attempt to acknowledge her continued respect for this space that he clearly needed and not a plea for her to try and cross it. 

He slid her skirt back into place, his beautiful blue eyes pulling away from hers.  Quietly he instructed, "Make sure you can pull it quickly.  If you can't I'll ..."

Bella's hand moved like lightning.  Sure enough, Gavin's estimation of her reach was precise.  The blade came free without hesitation and she found herself pointing the business end at her lover with a small smile, proud of him... feeling just a little safer tonight than she had the night before if only due to two inches of steel he'd found for her to wear.

Gavin nodded, seeming satisfied.  "Good." 

He stood up, Bella put the blade back into place, and that was the end of it.  The bridge across the wall disappeared, intimacy hidden away from the world and once again they returned to their roles:  The hunter and the barmaid.

NIGHT TWO

Hour 1

Bella found herself having to work harder to find the joy tonight than she had the night before.  Her feet were tired just starting out, the little things that bothered her last night were already grating on her nerves and the night had only just begun. 

Hour 2

How did Evelyn do it? 

She made it look so easy as if her beauty was inborn and not learned as Bella's had been.  Evelyn had carried herself utterly thoughtless that night at the restaurant.  She imagined the woman never looked as tired at work as she felt tonight; that buxom blonde beauty with the perfect make-up probably all but dancing around the room as she put down beers in front of men. 

"Hey baby," 

Bella nearly jumped out of her skin and had to stop herself from pulling the knife on her thigh as she felt the firm slap on her ass and the lingering hand cupping her bottom.  Her head whipped around to look at the offender who's tie was off and he was leaning back in his chair as if he meant to put his feet up and just claim the space as his own in the way some men did in their living rooms.

"Get me a beer, won'tcha, Sexy?"  Several guys nearby, his co-workers perhaps?  They laughed.

She had just been imagining how Evelyn's smile probably never faltered each night at work; but now, staring at the man who had taken a full handful of her bottom into his palm without so much as asking her name, it was less about how much better Evelyn was at this than her and more about wondering how she'd become so strong. 

Every night she saw them, people looking at her with either judgment or unrequested lust.  Evelyn had to know what they were thinking... not just her killer, but every man in the room she smiled for and every hand on her ass she ignored.  Every jealous woman's looks.  How every angry woman judged her. 

How *I* looked at her. 

How *I* judged her.

The ass-grabber left her a quarter after racking up a three dollar bar tab.  And while she didn't need the money, seeing the shiny quarter in her hand, knowing how small it really was for someone who needed it, someone like Joan or Evelyn, she felt sick to her stomach.

"I'm taking a break."  She told the bartender and headed to the restroom. 

Once inside she locked herself into a stall and sat down on the toilet with her face held in her hands trying to forget the terrible person she'd been to the woman whose lungs she now knew the color of, a woman who's only crime had been falling in love with the same man she had loved.

By the end of the second hour, before returning to the main room with a smile painted on her face, Bella had to reapply her eye makeup in the bathroom after having had a good cry.

Hour 4

The bartender waved her over to answer the phone, but the only call she was expecting was one from another waitress and so on the way to the bar she put the vase of flowers in the front window to signal Gavin to come inside and she made a bee-line for the phone.  Gavin had been watching closely because he appeared only a moment after the girl on the other end had begun to tell her story.  

Gavin stood at the bar and asked for a beer, trying to look as though he wasn't waiting on something.  Bella scrawled out "The Shamrock" on a napkin in blue ink.  She warned the girl not to go anywhere with the man and to stay inside, someone would be by to help soon.  The moment she hung up she made for the beer well and putting Gavin's beer down in front of him she sat it on the edge of the napkin she'd written on.  

He snatched it up and for a moment Bella thought about chasing after him, but that wasn't the plan.  The plan had been she'd stay put... just in case the girl at the other place was wrong.  This was, without a doubt, the most dangerous part of the whole deal.  Gavin was at risk chasing a killer on his own... to say nothing of the cops.  Then there was her, alone set up to be bait with a monster on the loose.

**CLINK CLINK CLINK**

Bella looked away from Gavin and towards her 'friend' from the night before. 

Dick.

When she looked back, Gavin was gone.

Hour 5

Bella quickly checked her hair in the mirror and exited the restroom.  Making her way to the bar.  The bartender had a tray waiting for her.  

"The whiskeys go to the guys at table five and the tap brew goes to the man in the corner booth."  

"Thanks."  Bella said picking up the tray and turning with a smile to see two men at table five already checking her out.  She made her way to them quickly.

"How's it going tonight guys?  Whiskey for both of you?"  She put the drinks down and as she lifted her head to look in the direction of her next customer, every muscle in her body tensed as she watched the man's tongue wet his lips.

"That and anything else you wanna bring by our table, Doll."

Rapid-fire images flashed through her mind - terrible images, as his tongue did it again.

"You good, Honey?"  The other man asked her and she knew then she'd let her unsettled feelings slip through.  Quickly she laughed it off.  

"Just tired."  She said forcing her smile, but it was fleeting.  "You know what... let me get these flowers off this table for you guys.  You don't want these in your way."  She chuckled.

Putting the vase of flowers onto her tray she walked over to the table where the killer sat, waiting, watching her... undressing her with his eyes that were unnervingly intense.  She thought about killing him, right there, right in front of everyone.  She could see herself doing it, she'd done such a thing a dozen times before - what was stabbing one more man?  The shock of a waitress stabbing someone in the eye might buy her time to hit the door before the bouncers thought better of stopping her... right?

She glanced at the door as she moved closer to the killer's table with his beer.  

No.  No hope in hell.  If I kill him, I'm not getting out of this bar... I'll go down for killing a man who they should throw me a parade for killing.  I'll be away from Gavin for years... Aurora will grow up without me, the last of her family.  I can't.  I have to...

"Smile."  He said in a sickeningly sweet tone, so normal that it might have come from any other man in the bar tonight.  That, more than his stare or the way he licked his lips, that was what made him truly terrifying.  

He could be any of them... any man in the bar. I'd never have known.  I'd be dead too.

"You'll look so much prettier if you do."  He offered her.  Bella smiled and put down his beer.

"Let me get this out of your way."  She picked up the vase of flowers from his table.

"Thank you... it kind of was in the way.  You know, why don't you bring me another beer in about five minutes?"

"You think you'll be done with that one so quick?"  She asked, hoping he'd rethink his request.

"Probably not.  May not drink any of them... just want an excuse to see you up close again, My Lovely."

Bella suppressed a shudder and forced a giggle.  

"I'll see you in five."  She said and she headed back to finish up her newly self-appointed task.  

A SHORT WHILE LATER

As Gavin returned to the bar a strange sight awaited him.  Bella and he had planned that one vase of flowers in the window should tell him to come inside.  But there wasn't a vase of flowers in the window... now there were twelve, one from every table in Bella's section.  She knew if the cops hadn't nabbed him and he made it back that he wouldn't misunderstand the message, but what he'd do with it, that was yet to be seen.  

Gavin didn't get rattled easily, but he felt shaken when he realized The Shamrock was a false alarm. He'd started running as soon as he saw that the suspect didn't fit the profile at all, thinking only of Bella by herself at the bar. When he saw the vases in the window, he nearly ran in with his gun out, but he forced himself to stop. The people inside the window were laughing, smiling. Having fun. Things were still fine.

Still, he walked briskly around to the back alley, just to reassure himself. 

The prey... a predator, in this case... had taken the bait. The hard part was over, but the fact that he was a person of interest in a serial murder case would make this even harder. 

Gavin paced, pondering until he had his plan. There was a ventilation shaft leading from the bar to the alley, and it didn't take long to pile up some garbage and set it on fire. Gavin slipped inside the door and immediately scanned the crowd as he saw smoke begin to flood into the bar. His eyes locked onto the man in the back corner. Snake-like. No one noticed the smoke at first, until the blaze really got going and a woman screamed at the suddenly smoke-filled bar. Bella? A few men started shouting, and the crowd began pushing toward the door. In the chaos, it was easy for one man in the back to get lost in the crowd.

A quick blow to the head to stun. Gavin's knife to the killer's throat to maintain control- while the other hand quickly checked for the killer's knife and wrenched it away. Gavin cut his hand in the process, but it was more important to quickly disarm the man in question. With his knife gone, the killer suddenly froze, and Gavin led him back into a small office. He threw the man against the desk and locked the door behind him. 

Gavin turned with two knives in his hand: one was his and the other was the killer's. 

"You know, I shouldn't think about you like that."

"Wh-what?"

"In my head, I'm thinking about you as 'the killer'. But that's not really accurate."

"I'm not a killer!"

"That's not it. You are. But I am, too. So when I think about 'the killer's knife'?... well is it this one? Or that one?"

Gavin punctuated his words with two lightning quick slashes into the other man's chest- both drew blood, but they weren't enough to put him down. The man scrambled for the phone on the desk, and Gavin let him pick it up and even dial before he calmly sliced the phone wire running to the wall. 

"Police? Good choice. In about 30 seconds, you're going to wish you were arrested."

"Please, I-"

"Save it. I'm curious to see what possible reason you might give for me to spare you, but I'm short on time. I figure I've got five minutes, ten tops, before the firefighters get here. But I figure if I try real hard, I can make it feel like a few hours for you."

"You can't-"

"One last thing. The blonde? Her name was Evelyn. She was my friend."

There were screams, but only for a few seconds. After that, there was still noise, but it wasn't as loud or intelligible. By the time the screams got truly loud, the fire engines drowned out the sound. 

***

Bella was standing outside with the other patrons and workers at the bar. She scanned the crowd, but didn't see the killer. Or Gavin. She could only hope that that was a good thing. Even in her fear, she couldn't help but curse to herself about how cold it was outside- especially considering her attire. She had her arms crossed as she stared at the bar, whose windows were obscured by smoke. Three firefighters went inside. Two of them emerged after a couple minutes, and they nearly went back inside to get the third one until emerged with a wave. A second truck showed up and all half dozen firefighters went back inside, although one quickly exited and headed toward the crowd. As he got closer, he raised the brim of his hat and Bella saw a pair of familiar blue eyes looking back at her with a strange expression. Without needed words, they both headed quietly in the opposite direction, drawing a couple brief glances but no extended looks. They walked a block in silence, and Gavin removed the heavy coat to give to Bella. 

She started to ask a question, but Gavin shook his head.

"It's done. Let's just get the hell out of this city."

She nodded. 

***

One hour later, they were on a private plane looking down at Lake Erie. Gavin had changed again; the clothes he'd been wearing under the firefighter's jacket and pants had been drenched in blood. A local cleaner- one of Marie's old contacts- had handled the bloody clothes. Gavin kept his knife... the knife of the killer had been wiped for fingerprints and left on the body. 

The plane had taken off, and Gavin finally let himself relax. He looked over at Bella, the strange look still in his eye.

"Thank you."

As he looked into her eyes, Bella reached over and took his hand in hers and gave it a gentle squeeze.  This was the moment when the ugly veil should have been torn away and everything would return to normal... but touching him didn't feel quite the same and the look in his eyes was still something that didn't sit right with her.  

Had he changed?  Had she?  How would this affect them going forward?  Would he always have that look in his eyes, haunted and angry, would he always feel so distant?  Was the wall a new part of their life as it had become for Frank and Lucy.  The thought was utterly terrifying.  If he'd been Elias she would have screamed at him, picked a fight just to feel something even anger was better than this feeling of distance that hovered like heavy morning fog.  He was saying thank you, his muscles seemed to be relaxing, but it wasn't the same.  

Your welcome felt like an empty platitude.  A reply that was expected to be given to an issue of thanks.  This situation, it was anything but normal.  It had left them... different.  How could she ever hope to find a way to tell him how she felt right now?  What word or words could ever hope to encompass her love for him in spite of everything they continued to face over the years?  Hell, maybe because of it?

For a long moment, she was quiet, just looking at his eyes - trying to see some hint of the man she loved lingering in the odd look that he held onto now.  She thought about turning away.  Maybe it would be different after sleep.  Maybe the next time she looked the ghosts that haunted him would move on and he'd return to her.

Or maybe Evelyn had gotten Gavin in the end... in the worst way possible.  Maybe, just maybe, he would never come back from this and the ghosts of his choices and the work of a demon in a man's skin would hold onto him and keep him from her forever.

How long would she, could she, wait for him.

She swallowed and forced a smile, "Always." The told him.  Leaning back in the seat she closed her eyes, still holding his hand.  She tried to call up memories of happier days but Evelyn haunted her thoughts as much as she believed the woman to be haunting her husband.  She wondered if she'd ever sleep well again with memories of the snake's words and the sound of his voice to now go with it, still in her head. 

It was true, Gavin wasn't the same as he'd been before this trip, but maybe she wasn't either?

Why does it always feel like I'm saying this to him?

Eyes still closed, facing forward she spoke for Gavin's ears alone, "When we started seeing each other... you asked me to help teach you about relationships.  I thought... I guess we both thought I was the one who was knowledgeable about what love really was and yet... here I am.  Again, saying this to you, realizing you're teaching me something new every time I turn around.  You leave me feeling... like a novice, fool who thought herself wise.  Well, Gavin Byrne, I was wrong... again."

She sighed, tired and frustrated with herself.  Hurting that she had no better way to help than to pour out her own guilt and hope that it gave them something to talk about some path back to normalcy.

"I was horribly and utterly wrong in all the ways I could be about her."

He'd know now what she was talking about, she wondered if he'd listen as he usually did when she got serious, or if he'd ask her not to speak about it yet.  When he said nothing she continued in a near whisper,  "I was an unforgivable bitch.  Even if I never said a single word of what I was thinking to her face, I know she must have known."

She kept her eyes closes and absently fingered his wedding band.  "I may have come for you, but I want you to know that before it was done, I wanted to find him for her.  And I hope you know that I'm sorry that I was so petty and insecure to a person who you loved so much."  She turned and looked at him.

"Anyone you care about that much, anyone at all, should have been equally dear to me because I do love you. I'm so sorry that I couldn't realize that sooner - for you and for her."

"You don't need to apologize for anything. You didn't do anything wrong. How many times did you even meet her? Once? Twice, at most? Evelyn is... was... a lot... she was especially a lot as an ex. You would have been friends, eventually. I'm sure of that. So don't hold yourself responsible for how you felt about her or thought about her, because you never really got the chance to get beyond a first impression. Shit, the first time I met Will we hated each other's guts."

Gavin paused, the shadow of a smile on his face- perhaps now that he'd left the city.

"Well, he hated me. I didn't really care about him. But my point is that we had a person in common, and we were on opposite sides for a while. If Will or I got wacked after that first meeting... well, that's kind of what happened here. You can forgive yourself for being human."

He nodded.

"And Evelyn wouldn't hold anything against you. Not after what you did to help get the guy who did it. If you owed her anything, you paid that debt."

Gavin leaned back in his seat. He was quiet for a while.

"If you're going to worry about one of us, worry about me. I really let myself go in the bar. I hadn't done that in a long time."

He paused again.

"He deserved what I did to him. I don't doubt that for a second. But I feel... different. Not good. Ten years ago, I would have done... what I did... and not batted an eye. But now it's... shit, it's complicated."

He took her hand.

"I don't think I want to come back to Chicago. Too many ghosts."

"Pity."  She said softly.  "There is one park there that I am partial to."  

She gave him a small smile and squeezed his hand.

"But yes... a lot of ghosts haunt that city.  So many I'm tied up with.  It's probably just as well if we don't return."  She shrugged.  "As for your actions in that bar,"  She drew a breath and exhaled slowly.

"I'd be more bothered if you didn't feel something after all this wickedness.  Sometimes... a good thing can be made nasty just by being near to something foul.  In time though, you'll square it in your mind or the intensity of the feelings will fade.  Like a bad smell, sometimes you just need some fresh air to clear your head of it."

She leaned over and kissed his forehead as she stood up.  "I'll be right back."

She walked to the front of the plane and knocked on the door to the cockpit.  After a moment she walked back.  Gavin felt the plane banking and changing directions.

"We're not going to put this out of our heads for a while... but maybe we should take a day or two for ourselves... we can't go back to the kid like this."  

The plane was now flying north.

"Sound good?"

Gavin noticed the position of the sun and the direction they were heading...

"Well, it's too cold to sleep on top of the Sun Life building... but I'm sure we'll think of something."

With his first genuine smile in days, Gavin leaned back in his seat and tried his best to move on.