Dominic and Cathy dragged Ethan between them into the bathroom. Cathy turned the faucet on and Dominic dropped Ethan into the water, none too gently.

"Ahh! This water is bloody cold! I’m not dead yet, woman!" Ethan nearly jumped out of the bath, even in his weakened state. Cathy scowled at him as she turned the hot water on. Ethan sighed in gratitude as the tub warmed.

"Thaaat’s better. The water is wonderful now, my dear," the ever ready Ethan coyly intoned. "Join me?"

"What do I have to do?" Dominic asked, staring at Ethan with somewhat less than love in his eyes.

"Hold him steady, and find something I can put the thorn in when I remove it." Cathy answered.

"You are not going in there with him." Dominic said. "Tell me what needs to be done, I’ll do it."

"Now, now. Don’t bicker. Plenty of room for both of you, if we all squeeze up close." Ethan sighed leaning his head back. He could feel the icy fingers of death on his shoulders but couldn’t resist leaving without a quip on his lips.

They both shot him a look.

"Dom, I don’t have time to explain it to you. We have to remove the Thorn, or he is going to die. I know what I’m doing! I’ve done it before." *Once*

"Cathy, I... I don’t want you to get hurt."

She had forgotten that he would have heard her thoughts instantly via their link.

Sensing the depth of his emotion, Cathy took his hands in hers. "I don’t want to get hurt either. Dom, if we can save his friend, maybe the Watcher will." She fell silent, looking deep into her lover’s eyes; they shared their thoughts through their link. One thought above all was paramount.

*I don’t want to do this anymore.*

Dominic reached out for Cathy; she stepped into his arms and they held each other for a long time.

"Hello, excuse me? Spare a second, lovebirds. In the bath? Dying?"

They ignored Ethan.

She looked up into Dom’s eyes. When he spoke, his voice was serious. "You’d best get a container of some kind. I’ll get him ready." Cathy nodded and with a half smile, she turned and left the bathroom.

"Well, how is he? Have you finished? Have you started? What’s going on?" Giles pounced upon Cathy, the moment she entered the room, bombarding her with questions.

"You were told to leave the hotel, Watcher…" Cathy looked past the anxious man towards Willow; she was silent, but her eyes betrayed just as much concern.

"He’s getting worse." She locked eyes with the Ex-Watcher once more. "No we can’t start the removal yet. We need a container." She answered in an even tone.

"A container?" Giles look at her, confused.

"If the thorn is removed it’s rigged to explode, we need somewhere to store it…"

"Oh, I know!" Willow turned, and scurried off.

"Is he going to? I mean." Giles asked haltingly.

"I’m not sure." At Giles’ put out expression, she reiterated. "I can’t tell, until I get a chance to look at the wound. We are both doing everything we can to make sure he is OK. Dom is trying to make him comfortable."

Dom paused mid-pace to stare at the smirking Ethan. He stalked across the room to him.

"So, I’ll be having the pleasure of your girlfriend’s company in the tub, then?" He drawled.

"You don’t have to be conscious for us to remove the thorn." Dom warned, in a level voice. Sitting behind the tub, he pulled Ethan up, causing him to wince in pain. Dom’s arm held Ethan securely tucked under his arm and around his chest, leaving the wound area open and fully submerged, but easier to get to.

"You know, I love this rough treatment." Ethan purred.

Dom froze, and stared straight ahead. "I hate you."

Cathy returned, holding an empty jar in her hands. She put it to one side and turned away, starting to undress.

Dom looked at her in surprise "Not using the thorn?"

"I can’t" Cathy replied. "Every time we use the thorns, the overlords have a greater chance of finding us." She continued to undress.

"Shut your eyes." Dom growled at Ethan, not taking his eyes away from Cathy.

"Why should I?" The equally enraptured sorcerer replied.

"Because if you don’t, I’ll remove them."

"Oh, very masterful…" Ethan wriggled at Dom’s incredible discomfort even Cathy giggled. Dom glared at her, and she stifled it "Remind me again why we have to keep this one alive?"

"So that after we save his friend, maybe the former Watcher will help us find a way to be free from the Greys. A way we can be together and not have to live this life."

"That’s a good reason." Dom looked down at Ethan. He was weakening, but still managed to annoy him with the smug look on his face. "Damn."

Cathy allowed herself one last giggle, before announcing, she was ready.

Dominic and Cathy exchanged a look, and she carefully stepped in to the bath. For all his bravado, Ethan had fallen silent, and his eyes were starting to close. She examined his wound.

The thorn had dug in deeply, and it was barely visible amongst the bruised pink of the wound. She touched it as lightly as she could with her fingers, and still he jumped in pain. Dom held Ethan steady, as Cathy probed the wound, trying to coax the thorns edge loose so she could pull it free. As she worked, the steady trickle of crimson became a flood, till the water turned red.

"Cathy." Dom warned. He could feel Ethan weakening. He wasn’t going to last much longer, with the thorn working its malignant magic inside his flesh.

"I know!" She growled. The thorn was refusing to come free, not even enough for the slightest purchase. There was only one chance left. She looked at Dom. "I need a knife."

"What?" Even Ethan offered a weak surprised murmur.

"Just give me your knife!" She raised her voice.

"I don’t have a knife." He answered. "Should I use the thorn?"

She looked at him, stunned. Damn! "No!" She supported Ethan in the water. "I have him, just get a knife. Quickly!"

Dom pushed the door open and marched out. Giles was on him in a second.

"Well, how is he? What’s taking so… Where are you going?"

"We need a knife" He addressed the room and began searching, he went behind the bar opening the small fridge-freezer. Not even an ice pick!

"WHAT?" Giles barked. He started towards the bathroom but Willow stopped him. "You can’t get the thorn out can you? So you’re going to kill him and run! That it?"

"The thorn is stuck inside your friend. We’re going to have to cut it out."

Giles glared at the hunter and spoke in a low, intimidating voice. "You are not going to carve him up!"

Dom replied, in an equally pitched voice. "Your friend is dying. If we don’t remove the thorn, he will die. If we do, he has a chance to live. To remove the thorn, I need a knife. Your choice Watcher." He folded his arms his eyes flickered to the bathroom door.

They stared at each other for a few seconds, while Willow looked on. She cried "Giles, please!"

"Alright!" Giles produced the small knife that Xander had given him and threw it at the Hunter.

"Thank you." Dom caught it and winked at Willow, which further annoyed Giles. He smirked at the Ex-Watcher as he hurried back to the room.

"Oh some great Watcher-Hunter you are!" Giles yelled after him "You don’t even have a knife!". Willow took his hand to calm him.

Dom opened the door and shot a look at Giles over his shoulder, his smirk pushed several levels past critical. "I was fighting you. I didn’t need one." He shut the door behind him.

"You took your time!" Cathy snapped. Ethan was slipping into the water, so Dom ran across the room, placed the knife by her hand, and took hold of him."Sorry. Ex-Watcher problems."

She picked up the knife, and tried to focus on the wound. The water was so full of blood; she could no longer distinguish the thorn or the wound accurately. Thinking quickly, she sank into the bloody water, her eyes slowly adjusting. She saw the black line that was the thorn, and cut into the wound, hastily, twice. Ethan was so weak he didn’t even twitch.

The thorn slowly slipped free of Ethan’s chest, and started to float to the surface. With a desperate grab, she caught the thorn, but not without pricking her finger. She gasped in pain, and the water filled her lungs. She flew the surface, coughing, but held her hands under the water.

She looked into Dom’s concerned, loving eyes; he was beside her in a second. He gave her the jar, which she completely filled with water before dropping the thorn inside and tightening the lid.

Dom lifted her out of the water, while she coughed and spluttered. "Are you okay?" She coughed, pointed, and tried to speak. "What?"

"Ethan" She managed, between coughs.

He spun around. Ethan had sunk into the water, unconscious from blood loss and was slowly drowning. Dom wrenched him free from the water and laid him on the floor.

"Quick, get the Watcher!"

Giles crashed through the door. He couldn’t wait any longer. His eyes raked over the Hunters. They had removed the thorn and were looking at a still and sullen Ethan.

"Don’t just bloody stand there," Giles bellowed at them. Willow came in and knelt by Ethan’s body on the wet floor. He was cold and pale, his lips blue and his eyes staring coldly at the wet tiles. His chest was still. He was dead. Willow looked up at Giles with tears in her eyes and the Ex-Watcher sank to his knees beside her, his own hot tears streaming down his face. His tormentor and mentor finally gone, the last link with his past severed forever…

Ethan’s body jerked and his chest heaved in the effort to draw a breath. The bloody water erupted from his mouth, barely missing Willow. He supported himself on one elbow leaning over to one side.

"Ethan?" Giles queried softly, not daring to hope. Ethan took a few more desperate breaths before answering.

"Present..." He fell back onto the bathroom floor and hid his eyes with his forearm, swallowing hard. Willow touched his chest hesitantly where the thorn had been; there was nothing there but a pink dent.

Cathy and Dominic held hands as they surveyed the tender scene. Cathy dressed using the thorn then looked down at herself in horror. The killer thorn was out of Ethan’s body with no harm caused. Now it would transmit a signal to the overlords to terminate the defectors.

Ethan was smiling at Giles. He remembered how tender Ripper was earlier in the day when they had had their little "head to head." Giles’ look spat daggers at Ethan.

Dom was leaning against the wall deep in thought. Cathy was talking to Willow.

"Willow, we were sent here to kill the Watcher. The Greys, our masters didn’t tell us that he was no longer a Watcher. Now we know that this was a test to see if Dom and I could work together without our love for each other getting in the way. We failed the test. They will terminate the experiment now, do you understand? It’s dangerous for all of you. We should have let Ethan die. Willow…I’ve been killing for forty years I don’t want to do kill anymore… The Greys will track us down with the thorn we removed from Ethan. The thorns don’t only explode in air…"

Cathy looked back at Dom, knowing that he had heard every word. He stared at the floor his expression unreadable. Cathy had promised him long life and freedom from old age and disease. He only had to kill and kill and kill. He shook his head trying to fight the Greys oppressive mind control.

"Rupert, we have to leave," Willow looked back at the Hunters; they paced uneasily like caged animals. "Cathy says someone will be coming to pick them up soon. They know that they’ve failed. The thorn they took out of Ethan has some sort of homing device. They will be terminated…"

Giles looked at the two Hunters. They resembled the engraving in his book but there was something different about them. They had an undeniable humanity. Saving Ethan was clearly against the rules. Why would they do that?

Willow went to the bar with the thorn jar and slipped it into the freezer with the ice cubes. She came back to the conversation and saw that Dom and Cathy were barefoot. She’d missed something.

"And you say these…" Giles touched the black thorns gingerly. "Control your aggression, channelling it into your ability to fight more efficiently?" He asked Cathy because Dom’s feet still looked tender.

"They do, before I had my colour I was proud of my record of slaughter. My trainer couldn’t stand to see my suffering so he made me the colour thorns. He knew the penalty for their manufacture was death but he wanted me to be happy. I chose Dominic as my partner. He didn’t know what was in store for him. Without the colours, we’re killers; with them we could be of great help to you. Will you help us?"

Ethan stared as Giles actually looked like he was coming round to the woman’s point of view.

"Ripper, don’t. They nearly killed me. Let them fend for themselves. The bitch is manipulating you…" Ethan never finished his sentence. He flew across the room, propelled by Dom’s backhanded blow across his face. The hunter strode after him with fierce dark eyes.

"DOM!" Cathy screeched. He halted in his advance and dropped to the floor, seeming to switch off briefly before coming back "on-line" again in Cathy’s embrace.

"We can’t go on. We’re not human anymore. They changed us and we don’t like it. We have to extract the thorns from each other. Leaving the colours intact." Dom spoke to the Watcher without insult, for the first time since meeting him. "If it were Willow in Cathy’s place, you’d help her…" He looked at the close proximity of the redheaded Witch and the Watcher. "We only want the chance to have a life…" He stopped and looked at Cathy… she looked as though she was listening. "The Greys… the overlords should have been here by now."

Willow smiled. "I froze the thorn, it can’t transmit. We have some time for you to get away."

Ethan grabbed his things and stuffed them into a bag, He was the first packed. Willow had her laptop and Giles carried the weapons bag containing the books. Willow had explained about the ice cubes and how they could perhaps convince the Greys that Cathy and Dom hadn’t failed after all and had killed their chosen victim. Giles agreed that it would buy them time to take flight and had volunteered to phone about the bomb in the hotel. Soon, they were leaving for Willow’s house.

The jar shaped ice cube set on the bar began to slowly melt.

Willow looked anxiously back at the hotel. She saw a maid walking in front of the rooms. She hadn’t heard about the bomb scare. Willow dropped her case and raced across the road, screaming "Bomb!" at the top of her lungs.

"Willow!" Giles shouted. But before he could act, a black blur swept past him and flew at Willow’s body like a panther taking down a gazelle. The thorn exploded in that same instant and Dom rolled with her on the ground. His hands held her safely between his body and a low wall. Debris showered over them, he winced and bowed his head over her face, their lips almost touching.

When all was silent, Dom opened his eyes to see Willow pale and shaken beneath him. He had covered her small body completely. "Are you all right?"

Willow nodded. Her eyes were large and dark in response to his continued presence on her body.

"I think I can get up now…." She squeaked. Dom suddenly realised and lifted off her immediately. "Sorry…uhm. Sorry." He looked embarrassed.

Giles and Cathy scowled at him. Arms folded. "Don’t you have a leash for him?" Giles asked acidly.

"Yes, but I left it behind…" Her eyes glittered dangerously at Dom and he shuddered. He was in for some punishment later…

"Thank you…" Willow murmured, Dom looked down at her and smoothed the hair from her eyes. "My pleasure, love."

Willow and Cathy walked past each other like a spy exchange in an old cold war film. Dom flashed a smile for his lover, but she wasn’t interested and grabbed him in a steamy clinch. Ethan looked from one kissing couple to the other and shuddered. All this kissing going on and no one invited him, he pouted.

Willow broke her kiss with Rupert reluctantly. He held her in a bone-crushing embrace. She looked up at him tearfully, asking a silent question…

"The maid’s alright Willow," he smiled weakly at her removing a fragment of hotel from her hair. "Someone flattened her, too." He brought her close to his chest once more taking a shuddering breath he closed his eyes, mouthing a thank you to the Gods.

Willow puttered about her parents’ kitchen making tea. Ethan leant against the doorframe his eyes shining taking in every lithe inch of Willow’s young body.

"letch…" Giles muttered to him as he pushed past him.

"Pot rather calling the kettle black, eh, Ripper?" Ethan patted him on his rump as he passed enjoying the sight of his startled eyes… Yes and a little turned on, perhaps. He sighed happily and stretched. It was good to be alive! Oh to be in England, now that April’s there, hmmm nice girl April… and June wasn’t bad either. He grinned at the memory.

"Where are the leather terrorists? Aren’t they having tea?" Willow set the tray down before him. He smiled at her and taking her hand he kissed her palm. Giles bristled.

"Thank you my dear, I didn’t have time earlier to thank you for looking after me. If there’s anything I can ever do to you…" He paused, catching the murderous glint in Rippers eyes, " or for you, please don’t hesitate to ask…"

She smiled and offered him a plate of biscuits. "Cathy and Dom are having a shower." Willow mentioned innocently.

"Oh?" Ethan took a sip of tea. "I wondered what the noise was."

Giles spluttered his tea, swiftly catching the drips in his palm to save the carpet.

Cathy and Dom came downstairs holding hands. Rupert shuddered, but Willow smiled; she thought it was sweet. She had forgotten what the Hunters could do whilst holding hands.

Giles still mourned the loss of his books. Never mind that they now nestled encased in a plastic and steel binding hugged by his precious Willow. He missed them. He was angry. He stood up and went to the window. He looked out; the street was silent and dark except for a few pools of light provided by the street lamps.

Dom sat and lounged. Cathy perched beside him more attuned to the whisperings of the Greys. They were near. She looked up at Ethan and then at Giles, her anger flashed through the link. Her partner shot up from his seat; his demeanour changing in an instant.

"How have you contacted them?" She screamed. Her whip hand extended and the weapon appeared. Giles froze he didn’t think he’d ever fear a dominatrix but this one he did. Ethan sat transfixed in the corner. If he hadn’t have been so damn weak in that tub…

"That’s none of your business. You’re a menace! You’ve killed and maimed hundreds of people and now you’ve betrayed your masters because you love each other!" He grimaced. "You deserve to be put down, both of you and good riddance!"

Ethan’s mouth gaped in shock. Willow was also upset and was about to protest when she was silenced by a look from Ripper.

"You fancy Dominic don’t you?" He glared at Willow and she rushed from the room. Ripper’s eyes followed her flight and died a little.

Dom stared at Giles, cold hatred in his eyes. No longer constrained, he materialised a long fencing foil. And took a step towards the Ex-Watcher.

"Dominic" Cathy cried a split second before the door caved in, a tide of Grey humanoids swept in. Her whip flickered once then twice, and one fell clutching its eye, blood pouring from it.

Dominic hit the front row of their assailants like a cannonball, dropping the first two in seconds. Cathy stood by his side replacing her whip with a short blade more suitable for close quarters combat.

The Watcher Hunters fought with desperation and skill, but eventually sheer numbers overwhelmed them.

The silent Grey figures held Dom and Cathy still. Ethan palmed his handcuffs to Ripper. He stepped forward.

"Gentlemen, may I?" Giles smiled his most charming smile and the Greys parted. They held the struggling couple’s wrists together as Giles snapped the cuffs on. Dom shot him a venomous look. "Can’t tell you how that scares me…" He grinned up at the scowling man. "Good luck!" He said evenly. The Greys dragged them out of the house.

Giles waited a beat before stepping to the window. "C’mon…. C’mon… A child could work it out…." Ethan joined him at the window. "Did he get out?" Giles looked back through the window then smiled "Oh, yessss!"

Dominic stared at Cathy; a mixture of black anger and blacker despair filled his link with her. He flexed the cuffs experimentally. No give. He glared angrily at the bastard Watcher. He even gave them the cuffs! Dominic flexed back in his jailers’ arms, pivoting to give Giles the finger. Then he stared at the cuffs. He looked again. He looked back up to the Watcher’s disappearing form. He thought/sent his discovery to Cathy and they both smiled.

Cathy glanced around the area, and spotted an unattended motorbike. She thought the location to Dom and a desperate plan formed. As they approached the van, Cathy dropped to the ground. Her guards stared at her, and one kicked her sharply, drawing Dom forward, but he stopped when he felt his guards tense. Mentally, he counted down.

3…

2..

1.

They both slammed their hands together, jarring the weak point on each cuff that Dom had seen. Hands free, Dom grabbed the heads of two of his assailants and slammed them together, hard. He threw one guard to the floor, nose broken, and tossed the other at a group of Greys running towards him to reclaim him. He ran for the bike, with the slightest of nods to Cathy ensuring she was handling her guards.

She dropped two to the ground with a kick to the chest, and a knife edged chop to the throat. She sought out the Grey that had kicked her and kicked him savagely in the groin. He fell to the ground as she ran for the bike.

Dom reached it first; Cathy slid in behind him. He hot-wired it, with practised skill, before revving the bike into gear, just as some Greys drew close. They roared away, with a parting kick, for Cathy’s stricken attacker.

Cathy’s hair streamed out behind her, the ride was exhilarating. The Greys followed in a car, but they were able to bob and weave in and out of the traffic to the coast with hardly any bother. Then she sensed something to their left and right. Two more cars had joined the chase. They were going to die. The link jumped and Dom increased their speed heading for the open sea…

The salty tang of the sea at early dawn sharpened Cathy’s senses. They raced over the wooden boards there was only room for one car on the loose boards. She hugged Dom closer as she saw the boards’ edge close upon them.

Their speed didn’t waver as the front wheel left the last plank. They were airborne and falling. One sentence echoed through her head as they fell. "Breathe deep and hold it— love you." Then they were in the water and sinking. Dom kicked away from the bike and took his boots off; Cathy did the same and they swam together.

They curled round each other underwater. Cathy writhed silently while Dom dug out the thorns with the knife. He held them tight in his fist. Cathy levered out the thorns from Dom’s feet and held them in her hand. She dropped the knife and swept up to him. Her lungs burned but she had such a sense of freedom and she knew Dom felt it too. They swam for the surface and took a quick breath under the boardwalk.

Cathy listened to the whispering Greys her ability to understand them fading rapidly with the removal of the controlling thorns. Her eyes grew wide and Dom looked at the thorns and nodded.

He dove under the surface and swam a little way off. Cathy watched as Grey One got out of the car and held a small device. He pressed the button shortly after she had instructed Dom to throw the thorns out of the water.

The blast was orange, ripped with white and red. It lit up the sky like a false sun. The force of the blast threw Dom back beneath the surface and he sank fast. Cathy dived after him; she had been sheltered from the blast under the boardwalk. The last thing she “heard” the Greys say was "next time we’ll send robots."

She found Dom suspended in the water on the way up again. The explosion had charred his hand. They broke the surface of the water so that just their faces showed. He didn’t breathe. She raged at him but still he would not stir. Her thoughts blazed in her head and she chucked her thorns at the slowly retreating car. Her thorns exploded and she knew the same peace as her lover.

Willow stared in horror at the newscast. The marina had been bombed, the reporter said that it was the same kind that had destroyed a motel downtown that afternoon.

"Rupert!" She screeched. He was there in a moment, stake in hand. "Look! They killed them! You let them go and now they’re dead!" She accused.

"No, no." He muttered, shaking his head as he sat down to watch the reported devastation. "I thought they’d make it. I used trick cuffs, Willow. I thought they would be fine."

The reporter said that clothing had been found floating in the water after the explosion.

The tide lapped over their feet, Cathy cradled Dom in her arms. She rested a while before dragging him further under the boardwalk. She gasped in pain from her bleeding feet but the pain didn’t matter, they were free; they had survived!

"Cathy?" He woke to find her lying next to him smiling. He returned her smile and stroked her cheek. He kissed her fingertips. "We’re free?" he asked.

"In heaven…" She moaned and kissed him.

End of part 9

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