An hour and a half later Christian and Taylor were on their way to the airport.  After a sequence of planes trains and cars they arrived at Sean's small house in the woods.  Christian had a very unsettling feeling about this entire trip and the feeling did not get any better with time.

Taylor squeezed his hand as they entered the house, her other gently gliding over her stomach.  She shared with the uneasy feeling but still knew she had to do something to help her former patient.
 
 
 
 

As it was, Sean was just approaching Ross at the hospital.  The doctor finished explaining a treatment to a nurse, spotted him, and then excused himself.  Previously set up for their way of meeting, Ross then went to a bank of elevators and then went down to one of the rarely trafficked areas in the hospital.

Sean met him minutes later, expression grim.

They arranged for Sean to get the files, with Ross asking about Taylor and even Christian.
 
 
 
 

Hours later Sean was headed toward his place, files in hand.  He parked the car in the garage and approached the house from a side entrance.

Christian heard the approach and met Sean at the door, gun in hand.  He was relieved to see it was his friend and he lowered the weapon slightly.  "You could give us some warning next time you know."

"No." Sean said, not joking.  If he were captured or if someone found out they were in town and tried to make them think Sean was at the door and wasn't, Sean wanted Christian armed, period "How's your better half anyway?"

"Upset," Christian told him honestly "though probably not as much as I am."

"Or maybe hiding it better." Sean offered as he entered and walked toward the kitchen and putting the bag he had been carrying down "We have Italian for dinner."

"That sounds like something she'll like." Christian replied, considering his words.  He'd actually thought about that already, but now he was thinking about it again.  He wasn't sure how to help her.  Other than by coming here, which they had done.
 

Taylor ran her fingers through her hair and continued to pace in the den. Christian had gone to go meet whoever it had been at the door and she soon heard Sean's voice, so knew both men were okay.

She wasn't sure how to feel.  She knew she would have been wracked with guilt had she stayed but she was feeling the unease of unseen danger being back here, in the city.

And then there was the danger against the unborn child her former patient had wanted so desperately, and a thought whispered into Taylor's mind.

What if the people responsible for creating Christian's daughter - now their daughter - and the murder attempt afterwards had done something to make the unborn baby slip into a critical condition?  And at what lengths would they go to in order to try and flush Christian and herself out?
 

Sean looked up at his friend, both men now in the kitchen but the dark-skinned man moving about the kitchen as he prepared the meal "I'm going to cook this up for the two of you and then head out.  There's a lot to set up before tomorrow and I think both of you could use some time to yourselves."

"What, no take out?" Christian said, looking at him suspiciously.  He really wanted to get all of this over with as soon as possible.  The longer they just sat around the more uncomfortable he felt about the entire matter.

"No," Sean answered, cooking "No take out.  Don't tell me Taylor eats fast food all the time?"

"Well not ALL the time." Christian replied.

"And I make sure to eat healthy for the baby." Taylor said, just entering the kitchen and giving Sean a wry look.

"Being a doctor and all." Sean added with a wink.

"With cravings." Taylor agreed as she sat on a stool beside Christian.

"Some crazy cravings." Christian said, trying to keep a completely innocent look on his face.

Taylor smiled but jabbed him playfully in the side "You making fun of me?"

"Of course not," Christian said "just stating a fact."

"Is that so?" Taylor asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes," Christian told her.  "The fact is you have been wanting some strange things at peculiar times."

"That's pregnancy." she shrugged and propped her chin in a hand as she watched Sean cook.

"I can believe that," Christian agreed, "though I recall you having ....original tastes before."

Sean chuckled and shook his head, pouring the sauce into the noodles he had just finished boiling "You keep that up and you'll be using your alone time trying to figure out what you did and then trying to get back into her good graces."

Taylor chuckled at that.

Christain frowned and looked at Taylor.  "Did I do something?"

"Almost." Taylor admitted, before leaning toward him and kissing his frowning lips to coax a smile from him.

Christian returned her kiss and then scratched his head thoughtfully, wondering what he'd almost done.

"What's the progress on things?" he asked Sean as he mulled this over.

"You're at a loss of what you almost did, dinner's almost done and I'm going to go pick up the files tonight and bring them back for the doctor here to look over." Sean answered with an unrepentant grin as he moved about the kitchen. If there was one thing he loved to do, it was ribbing his friend when the chance came up.

Christian very calmly and very calculatingly picked up a napkin designed it into a paper airplaine and and sent it flying across the room, striking Sean square in the back of the head.  By the time his friend turned around however, he was sitting perfectly still his chin in his hand.

Taylor blinked innocently but her lips quirked at the edges.

Sean picked the plane up and wadded it up, tossing it at Christian with a 'uh huh' look "Watch it or I'll slip something into your food to make sure you can't enjoy your lady's company for more than the three seconds it'd take you to run to the head."

Christian maintained his air of complete innocence.  "I think Taylor might have something to say about that if you did it."

"Yup," Taylor agreed, even if she did it in a way that sounded like it was a definitely 'might' "I might have something ot say about it."

Christian remained perfectly unflustered.

"Both of you are all talk." he told them.

"And you know that's a lie." Taylor said, knowing full well she was nothing near an 'all talk' kind of person.

"Well maybe not you, but he is." Christian said nodding at Sean.

Taylor grinned, not disagreeing with that.

"You have her brainwashed against me." Sean mock-accused his friend as he served up two plates of the food he had been preparing and set them in front of the two.

 "Nonsense." Christian said as he accepted the plate handed to him and carefully set it in Sean's place.

"You don't like my cooking all of a sudden?" the man asked with raised eyebrows.

"I love your cooking," Christian said standing and moving to the stove, "I just had a sudden urge to wait on myself."

Sean rolled his eyes and went to the cabinet that had Tupperware dishes, making the plate Christian had put down to go "Suit yourself.  I'll chow down on this while working.  And if you need anything, you know to call."

He would have stayed to eat dinner with them but wanted to get all of this over with and them back to their home.

"All right," Christian agreed  "Just be careful."

Sean mumbled something about his friend being a smart ass as he left and Taylor chuckled before taking her first bite of the dish.

"Not bad." she commented, looking at Christian for a moment "It'll be okay."

"It better be," Christian said, taking a bite of his own.  "He always did have a way with Italian."

Taylor was referring to the whole thing of them being in the city but left it at that and took another bite of the dish that had been prepared.
 
 

Moments later...

Ross was at his apartment, pacing as he looked over at the files again.  There had to be something else he was overlooking!

Just then Sean slipped in unheard and made his way to the doctor's livingroom.  Not even half a minute later he was slipping up behind the man and tapping him on the shoulder.

"Shit!" Ross spun around, almost falling on his ass in reaction to being scared in his own home "Why do you do that??"

Sean chuckled and shrugged "I like watching your reaction.  Do you have the woman's files?"

Ross regained his balance and turned to the files, picking them up and turning to hand them to the man, his only contact to Taylor "Is she here?"

Sean accepted the files and tucked them into his jacket "I'm going to take these out to her.  We'll see what can be done then."

And then he slipped back out.  That easy.
 
 
 

Half an hour later, and Taylor glad for the respite considering she had spent her time thinking about the case and watching Christian worrying, she heard a car drive up the driveway and the engine turn off.  She got down off of the stool and started toward the side door, careful to stay out of view of the window beside the door but hoping it was Sean with the files.

Just then, Sean opened the door and gave her a grin, holding up the files "Bingo."

"Good." She replied, accepting them.

"No trouble?" Christian asked from the door way to the den.  He had a hard time believing this was going to be such a smooth project.

"Even got a chance to scare Ross to falling on his ass." Sean replied with a slight chuckle, before coughing on it when Taylor looked up from reading the medial files.

"Stop picking on him." she said, referring to both of their penchant for doing things to tease the other doctor.

"Yes ma'am." Sean said, not even near to meaning it as he looked at Christian and tried to keep from snickering.

Taylor turned to continue to read the files, heading toward the kitchen to get a glass of juice.

"I didn't say a word." Christian said, looking mortally offended at such an accusation - though the mental picture Sean had given him was on that was very hard not to laugh at.

"Didn't have to." Taylor called out from the kitchen, knowing full well he would find it hilarious.

She served herself a glass of juice and sat at the kitchen table, reading over the papers carefully.

"Could you get me a notepad and pen please?" She called out to either one of them, having no idea where the stuff was here.

Sean chuckled and looked at him, pointing at the hallway table nearby "They're in there and I'm going to go hide in the library so she can't hear me laughing my ass off.

With that, the man turned and headed to the room he indicated, not even making it that far before starting to snicker again at the mental sight of what he had done came back to him.

Christian shook his head as he watched his friend go.  Then he rummaged through the drawers until he found a legal pad and a pen.

"Perhaps I should go keep Sean company while you work." he suggested as he handed the items to Taylor.

"Mmmhmm," Taylor gave him a half humorous look as she accepted them and quick kiss "More like to hang out with him and laugh at what Sean did to Ross.  I'll give a yell if I need anything."

"All right." Christian agreed as he moved towards the door.

"I doubt we'll spend ALL that time laughing at that."  he added.

"Okay..." Taylor said distractedly, looking around "Does Sean have a computer that's online?"

"Yes, in the study off the living room," Christian told her as he headed for the den.

"Thanks." she said, going in that direction.  She had her old passwords to the hospital computers and could get the information she needed there.

Sean figured Christian would be back soon so made a couple of drinks for them before making himself comfortable in one of the plush chairs he had had imported a few years ago.