Clicking… Incessant. Like the pounding in her head, throbbing faster than her beating heart... The blood rushing to the strange tempo produced by that strange tapping. Almost like twigs being broken… Random pitch. A chime. Noises! Heaviness dominated her body… invisible lead weights lay heavily upon her body, grinding her into the soaked mattress. Suffocation. Eyes snap open as she emerges from the watery grave of sleep, the clicking becomes more obvious…

Gabriel sat at the small desk across from her bed, typing away on a tiny console. The glow from the screen was the only illumination within the room, the shades were drawn and the gray moonlight outside was kept at bay. She pushed herself up to a sitting position and let out a heavy sigh combined with a soft moan.

Gabriel turned in his chair and regarded Bronx with a half smile. "How ya feelin?" He asked, leaning back in his chair.

"How do you think?" She knew she couldn't look very good so the question seemed redundant.

"Just askin… Trying to be polite." He turned back to the computer and continued his typing.

She slid out of the bed and blushed as she realized that she was in a white night gown, bare underneath. "What did you do?"

"Pardon me?" He looked back at her, brows furrowed.

"I said what did you do? How'd I get dressed like this?"

"You started to bleed again. I had to clean your wounds and dress them again. You're lucky, none of them are very deep." He waved a hand at her infuriated expression. "There was little choice. It was either I helped you out or tried to find a hospital and considering that I don't know where the hospital is…" He let the sentence die and turned back to the computer. "But since you're feeling better now--"

"I'll be right back." She interrupted, walking into the bathroom. He shrugged and returned to the screen, reading over a myriad of documents his query had brought up.

'How in the hell does Grace get this thing to work!' He thought, trying a different set of qualifiers and setting it to search again. Bronx came back wearing a black silk robe, her cheeks flushed. She sat on the bed and pulled her legs up to her chest and the tears started to flow freely down her cheeks. Gabriel squinted at her.

"What's wrong?" He moved over to sit in front of her.

"Leave me alone." She whispered, her voice quivering almost uncontrollably.

"Matsu…" He bit his lip. "Please?" The imploring look he held her with made her heart leap. 'Why now? Why not then?' She wondered and a myriad of forgotten dreams flooded her mind again. 'Be strong.' She told herself.

"I can't…" The tears came with more force, flooding along flushed cheeks. The burning sensation that began in her nose explored the rest of her face causing every nerve to tingle uncomfortably. She gagged. Control submitted before a rush of emotion and she sobbed uncontrollably.

Gabriel pulled her into an embrace and whispered comfortingly to her for a long while; she basked in what she at first thought she'd never had, convinced herself she never wanted, pretended that she never needed. When it came down to it, she enjoyed the comfort and relished it regardless of what her mind told her… her heart enjoyed the moment.

As she regained her composure, she reluctantly pushed away. Part of her cried out against the discontinued comfort but a stronger, more dominant portion reminded her to be strong. As always, the dominant portion won. She looked him straight in the eyes, her own dark almond ones mirroring her anguished internal conflict.. "Gabriel… I… I can't live with this anymore… I have to tell someone…"

"It's alright, Matsu…" He smiled reassuringly, wiping a tear from her cheek. "I'm right here."

The relief that swarmed over her from the simple statement made her smile back at him and as grief stricken as she was she meant it. She was glad to see him. It was the first time she could remember that she was so happy to be in the presence of someone besides her family.

"Gabriel… It's Neil…. He…." Her voice was low and he almost had to strain to hear her.

"Neil?" He had to think a minute. "Neil Rhodes?" A tiny nod from her. He furrowed his brow, wondering. "What's he got to do with anything?" Neil was publisher that Gabriel had the misfortune of having to deal with in the past. He was successful but generally disliked by his authors and anyone else who had to work with him, often considered to be nothing more than a necessary evil to attain one's goals. There was no confusion. Everyone knew that if someone seemed to like him, they were kissing his ass.

The first time that Gabriel had met him, he was desperate for some cash. The novel that Neil backed flopped, his only failure (much to Gabriel's dismay… He wasn't fond of being someone's only career failure) and so their relationship was never on anything more than a professionally courteous level. The fact that Neil was often unreasonably difficult about the editing of the works he backed and made certain to degrade authors that were under his employ, Gabriel had a fair idea of what Bronx was about to say.

"He…" She paused and closed her eyes as if preparing herself. More anger at being weak. 'This is not weak.' She told herself. She lowered her head and whispered very softly, "He...raped me." She had thought that by saying it, by relating what had happened in so simple a manner that it would alleviate some of the pain… The humiliation was still there along with the burning rage.

Gabriel's eyes went wide, first with surprise then with fury. "What?" His voice was quiet and the word sounded more as a statement than a question. "When?"

"Three weeks...month ago at most..." She looked down, her tremulous voice hardening slightly." She looked down and hardened up. No more tears. Not now.

"And did you go to the police?" He asked, rising to pace off some of the anger that dominated his heart.

"No… I- I couldn't. There was no way that…." She stopped and took a deep breath. "Gabriel, I was… was carrying his child."

Gabriel stopped his pacing and looked at the ceiling trying desperately to calm himself. He felt a strong desire to kill Neil, to brutally end his life in one fell swoop he took a deep breath and looked down at her. "Why was? Why past tense?" He asked softly, trying desperately to quell his rage and intense desire for justice to be done. She needed comfort now, not a vengeful friend.

Her head seemed to go limp, chin resting on her chest. 'Strength you!' That rational, logical piece of her chimed in over the emotional onslaught that was battering her heart. "B...because..." She faltered and gave a tight shake of her head. "I...I..." Tears welled up, spilling in a steady stream down her cheeks. "Gabriel I had a miscarriage...just now..." Her voice shook and the pain that etched every syllable of her words was almost more than he could bear. "There was...there was blood everywhere in the bathroom..." She couldn't continue. Her thin frame gave a convulsive heave; she put a trembling, icy hand over her mouth and deep, hard sobs shook her body.

Gabriel once again moved close and pulled her to him and she cried for a long while. Time lost its meaning and he held her for a long, long time. Soon the sobs began to subside; a little while more and she fell asleep in his arms, worn out by her ordeal. Gabriel lowered Bronx into her bed, drawing the covers gently over her up to her chin. Looking down at her, he no longer saw the constant rational that she displayed to everyone else.… Rather, he saw the woman that he never knew or noticed.

Somehow, it was surprising. He had always thought of her as a callus, unemotional woman. Was it because of her tragedy that she suddenly opened up? He glanced up at a portrait hung over her bed; a surreal, film-noir/fantasy portrait of a man in a long black coat silhouetted against a pale Japanese Ukiyo-e style moon. Technique wise, it was a stunning tour-de-force in shadow and light; combined with the passion that obviously fuelled the creation, it was breathtaking, a portrait that haunted you for long after the first glance. Powerful features glared down at him and he frowned in appreciation. Her art indicated her passion-- an emotional outlet for one who had never found another to share with. She was a complex one, Matsu. No denying that.

He turned and looked back at her again-- An innocent, ageless face pale and worn even in its cradle of sleep. He had more than a half a mind to pay Neil a visit immediately. A protective anger still played about his heart and the idea that Neil thought he could get away with something as animalistic as nagged at his conscience. He could not sit by idle.

Nothing to be done about it now. There was a more pressing matter. He glanced back at the SIDNEY terminal and frowned. The creature. He had to find more information about it. Hindered by the talisman and Bronx's strange mirror, it seemed to adapt very unusual indeed. Not many variables they were simply obscure. He'd never heard of anything even similar… Which could explain SIDNEY's lack of information. His queries couldn't be THAT bad.

Lost in thought, he found himself sitting back in the office chair, head tilted back eyes closed. His thoughts drifted among a dozen worries. The creature could still be stalking them… how long before it found them? Neil Rhodes… Was it a personal release that he sought in retribution for what he did? Bronx's emotional state… What could he do? What priorities to set? They became more difficult to grasp as he fell away from consciousness into a long overdue sleep.