Because I can...

Several hours were wasted with no results. We were not any closer to Rai. As we had been looking for her, my thoughts circled constantly around the possibility that I would never see her again. What if I never got to ask her? It wasn't like me to just ask her outright about how she felt but I still needed to know. Did Rai feel that way about me? I didn't even know how I felt about her. I just didn't want to hurt her.

First I have to find her. She always knew how to make me feel completely useless: hunting her down, chasing after her, or sitting by a hospital bed. If she could just trust me, just once, I could help. How was I going to get that through her thick head? We are partners. I trust her with my life and I need her to trust me. Rai, damn it, where are you? The cold didn't really bother me but I still felt miserable in the wind. I just wanted to know she was ok. She couldn't die on me now, not after everything we'd been through. This guy Garrison was bad news. Everything we were finding out about him from our sources only seemed to have Rai's chances of survival dwindling.

"Hey, over there! Did you see it?!" I heard an agent shout suddenly. "Pipe down!" Someone shot back. "No, look, he's right!" Another voiced joined in. I found my attention hooked when more agents started to gather. Fingers were pointing down the block out of my view. "I don't see anything!" Arguments erupted among the tired and cold group of agents.

"I'm telling you, I saw a light down past that building!"

"So what?"

"It looked suspicious…"

"Do you think that's got something to do with her?"

I didn't wait around to hear any more. I was willing to take any lead right now. Sprinting in the direction of where they had pointed, I found myself outside of an underground parking structure. I heard several agents shouting after me but ignored them. I could hear car alarms, a lot of them. Something was going on down there…

Rai…

The sound was deafening. So many cars throughout the whole structure were going off. I made my way from one floor to the next shouting her name but had no response. Could she even hear me? I couldn't hear myself think! Damn it all!

Racing down to another floor I stopped short when I saw a form crumbled on the ground. A few agents had caught up to me and stopped abruptly when they saw me freeze. One glanced passed me and saw the figure as well. "Is that…?" I felt sick thinking about it.

"No." I wouldn't accept that. My feet carried me closer but a part of me wanted to stay back. I couldn't bear to know… What if she…?

As I approached, I saw that the figure was definitely dead. It was also too large to be her. Relief washed over me but it was short lived. I still didn't know where she was!

"Rai!"

More agents were arriving as I left the body and marched farther into the parking garage. Car alarms weren't going off on this floor. Whatever fried the guy back there and created a bright enough light to carry up three floors had to have fried the alarms in all of these cars. I scanned the shattered glass and twisted metal of the surrounding cars. What had happened?!

"Rai!" Again, no reply. Please be here. Please be alright. Damn it!

I marched past a mangled blue car and scanned the garage. My pace quickened as I walked farther from the body. "Rai! Damn it, where are y…" The air left my lungs before I could finish.

In between two cars, lying on the ground was another figure. Her red hair gave her away. She was here.

"Rai!" I crammed myself into the narrow space and brushed her hair out of her face. Quickly, my hand went to her pulse. Her heartbeat sent a shockwave of emotions through me. She was alive. I lifted my hand from her neck to her cheek. She looked so worn down. I wanted to be angry with her, I should be furious. But in this moment, I was just relieved.

"Hellboy…" She breathed out. What was this strange feeling in my stomach? Rai's hand was suddenly covering mine, holding it to her face. Her eyes opened slowly and, damn it, she smiled up at me. "You're here." She whispered. I could hear the exhaustion in her voice. I didn't know how to respond. Of course I was here. She needed help. As I tried to figure out what to say or do, she started to sit up. It was incredibly difficult for her and the painful expression that crossed her face broke me out of my frozen state.

"Hey, watch it. Are you hurt?" I moved my hand to her shoulder to steady her. She smiled again and leaned into me. I wrapped my arm around her and held her by my side. I felt her hand grip the front of my shirt. "A little bruised and battered. Mostly, I'm just really tired." She said softly. I nodded. What else was there to say? Frustration was building but it wasn't with her. For the life of me I couldn't find the will to be mad at her. This whole situation had my anger flaring.

"Hellboy…" She whispered. I stared down at her, my heartbeat racing just from hearing her say my name.

"Yes?" She looked so tired, but I needed her to talk to me. I missed having her talk to me.

"I did it." She said. She raised her hand and brought electricity to her fingertips. For a moment she grinned at me and then she dropped her hand back against my chest. The expression on her face changed slowly before she closed her eyes and leaned her head against me.

"I'm sorry." She whispered remorsefully.

"For what?" I asked, resting my chin on her head. Holding her was helping fight the anger and chase away the fear that had been plaguing me before.

"I made you worry. You're mad." She muttered. I smiled at that and pulled back to look down at her again. She looked up, bracing herself for whatever I was going to say.

"No more of this. That's it. No more running off alone. You don't face these things without me. Got it? We face these things together or not at all. Understood?"

Seeing her safe and feeling her lean into me brought too many emotions spinning through my head. Relief was prominent among those feelings. It was so strong that I thought I might collapse after the exhaustion, frustration, and stress was lifted. She was here, she was safe, and she was with me. Her emerald eyes expressed her fatigue. I couldn't figure out why the look she was giving me was making the air seem so hot. As I looked down at her face and felt her hand on my chest, I had to fight the urge to do something I might regret; something she might not even remember after some much needed sleep.

"Ok." She replied softly to my ultimatum. A few swear words assaulted my thoughts as I felt my body react to her fragile voice. She started to relax and leaned back into me. I didn't resist as her head fell to rest against my chest. I simply tucked her head beneath my chin and held her until she was completely asleep. We sat like that for a while until Abe arrived and found me. He suggested we take her back to the Bureau for further care.

Physically she wasn't too bad off, I trusted her when she told me that, but it didn't hurt to have someone give her a check-up just to make sure this creepy warlock guy didn't do anything else to her.

She sat, cradled in my arms the whole way home, it was a long drive but she never stirred from her sleep. Abe checked every 20 minutes or so to monitor her recovery.

"The energy is building up slowly but it is building. She is going to make a full recovery. It is quite remarkable. The ability her body had to reabsorb her own energy when it was used against her is astounding. All evidence suggests she should have died." Abe mused aloud. I shifted my grip on the sleeping agent. "Blue." I said, after a few minutes. "Yes?" He replied.

"Not now." I finished. Abe understood. I wasn't trying to shut him down; I just wasn't able to participate in a conversation about Rai dying. Not even when I knew she was alright.

She looked so tired. I was glad that she could rest. I was glad I could hold her while she rested. I leaned more firmly against the wall of the truck and watched Rai's face. They say sometimes, when we dream, we make stupid faces as we react to things going on in our dreams, but Rai was completely calm and peaceful. I wondered what she might be dreaming about.

She looked cute. No, she looked beautiful as she laid there in my arms. She was strong and reckless and hard headed. She struggled to put trust in anyone other than herself. I could understand all of those things about her. I was all of those things. But…

I stared down at Rai's calm face. I wasn't going to let her get away with this anymore. Whatever her feelings were for me, or anyone else, I was going to make Rai trust me. I wasn't going to let her think she was alone anymore. I would be there for her.

Rai Lightning, looks like you've gotten to me after all.

It only took how long? Oh don't you worry. Things are taking off from here. R/R