Title: "Heart's Blood"
Author: Rebecca Bradstreet
Rated: PG-13
Archive: Sure.
Summary: Falling in love is scary no matter how many times you do it.
Warning: Cursing, talk of blood, and death.
Disclaimer/Notes: This is a Profiler/Anita Blake Vampire Hunter Crossover. I don't own John Grant, or any other Profiler character. I don't own Jean-Claude, or any other Anitaverse character. I don't own the lyrics to "Cecilia" it's a Simon & Garfunkle tune. Nelle gave it to me. I do own Rebecca Belinda "Becca" Drake. She is a dragon version of me. I've dreamt a couple of Profiler/ABVH X-Overs. This is my attempt at continuing one of those stories. I use // for thoughts, and ** as emphasis. Being a Lyric Wheel story this is unbeta'd. All mistakes are my own. ;)
"Heart's Blood"
by Rebecca Bradstreet (c) 2001St Louis
Monday Feb 26, 2001Gone, he was gone. Grant couldn't be dead; she'd know if he was, but he certainly wasn't in his room. Becca headed for the nurse's station.
"Hello, my names is Rebecca Drake. I'm looking for John Grant. Can you tell me where he is?" She gave the nurse a hopeful grin.
"Grant? Sorry Ms. Drake I can't give you any information on him." The nurse gave her a cold smile.
"What's your name?" Becca asked far too quietly.
"Michaels," the nurse answered warily.
"Well, Michaels, you *can* damn well tell me where he is! I may not be family, but I sure as Hell have the right to know!!" She was yelling. She knew she was yelling. And she knew she should care that she was doing it. Becca didn't. The case was done. The monster stopped. The world was once more safe for innocents. But making the world safe once more hadn't been possible without someone she cared about getting hurt. Becca had come to St Louis because Bailey had asked her to. She'd stopped the monster because it had seen to it that she'd had to hold Grant bleeding in her arms while she waited for an ambulance to come -- hoping he'd survive the wait.
//Bailey knew -- he knew I *could* look him in the eye and refuse to come, but I *couldn't* stand in front of John and refuse. I wonder if Grant knows Bailey brought him as an example of the innocents that need me. Need...I saved John's life all right, *after* I lead him into a trap. Where is he?// Becca rested her head on the counter of the nurse's station.
"Becca, there you are. What's wrong?" Malone came down the hall looking at her with worry on his face. She wondered what he'd told Dolph about her -- about who and what she was.
//No way the Spook Squad is letting me leave their city having seen me as I truly am without Bailey having given Storr something. Not that Dolph isn't a good man who saw enough to know I was doing what *had* to be done, but he's a cop who specializes in fighting monsters, and in my true form I sure look like a monster.// Becca took a deep breath. Malone had asked her a question.
"It seems John's been moved, and I don't get to know where because I'm not family," she told him.
"Oh?" Bailey's face was blank and Becca wondered what she was missing.
"Malone did you come here to add to my aggravation, or save Michaels from me?" She asked narrowing her eyes at Bailey. He raised his hands defensively.
"Actually, to see the look on your face when..." He trailed off as John stepped into the hall behind her.
Becca continued to glare at Malone for a moment before she realized he was looking at someone behind her. She turned around and froze.
"Bailey, the beds around here don't stay empty long. Someone's taken my place." John observed tiredly.
"You're... I mean... I...," Becca gave up on words, found she could move, and threw herself at Grant. She wrapped her arms around him, and smiled up at him.
"The case is finished. You both have some time. Take it, enjoy it, and come on home when you're ready." Malone smiled at them both, and left.
"Miss me?" John smiled questioningly at Becca.
"Miss you...yes. I think we should have the rest of this conversation somewhere else," she glanced guardedly at Michaels, and then in the direction Bailey had gone.
"All right," John nodded, puzzled by her wary tone.
They left the hospital, and drove to the hotel. When Becca opened the door to her hotel room she froze. John looked over her head and recognized the vampire sitting in her hotel room. They'd interviewed him at The Circus of the Damned when they'd begun the case. It was Jean-Claude, the Master Vampire of St Louis and something of...an...ah...old friend of Drake's.
"The case is over. Your city is safe. What do you want Jean-Claude?" Becca asked, sounding tired but not angry.
"Becca, I just wanted to give you this. I have seen how you are around agent Grant." He gave her a silver thimble.
"John, you've bled for my city. For that, I owe you a debt. You've also won the heart of a good friend, and for that I owe you a warning. See that you don't break her heart." Jean-Claude nodded to them both, and departed.
"What's that he gave you?" Grant asked Becca, ignoring Jean-Claude's words focusing on the gift he gave her instead.
"A thimble. It's a reminder of something I told him once," she explained as she moved on into her room, and pulled him in after her.
"What did you tell him?" John sat down, and looked up at Becca.
"I told him...I told him how a dying soul once told someone the blood on their shirt was only a thimble full but it was heart's blood -- their doom was upon them. I was explaining how I fall in love -- why I was hiding then. It's the same reason I was hiding when Bailey and you came to me. John... I..." She ran a hand through his hair, leaned her head against his, and sighed. He put his arms around her waist, and sat her in his lap.
"When he gave you the thimble what was he saying to you?" Grant asked taking the thimble gently from her hand, and studying it.
"He was letting me know that he can see I'm bleeding -- falling. He was telling me to enjoy the fall." Becca turned the thimble in John's hand so that he could read the inscription on it. It said, 'It's heart's blood.'
"You're 4,000 years old, and you fight the fall?" John asked softly.
"Having your heart broken doesn't hurt any less the thousandth time than it did the first." He could see old heartbreaks flicker through her eyes.
"Were Jean-Claude's words a warning or a threat?" John asked reminding her of them.
"Only a warning. He knows how unattractive I am when I've had my heart broken," she smiled wanly.
"How unattractive -- like you were in my hospital room with the bags under your eyes, and your face all red and wrinkled from your falling asleep with your head on the side of the bed? Like you were in the warehouse crying and talking softly and desperately?" His voice was gently teasing.
"A lot like I was in the warehouse, actually. I was afraid you were going to die before I could tell you... I love you," there was an echo of that fear in her eyes.
"I heard you," John assured her.
"You remember more of what I said in that warehouse then I do," Becca marveled warmly.
"You didn't want me to leave. I listened," John smiled tenderly.
"And felt my touch," she kissed him lightly.
"And felt your kiss," he kissed her passionately.
"Cecilia"
by Simon and Garfunkle
The lyrics I used in the story I've highlighted with *'sCelia, you're breaking my heart
You're shaking my confidence daily
Oh Cecilia, I'm down on my knees
I'm begging you please, to come homeCelia, you're breaking my heart
You're shaking my confidence daily
Oh Cecilia, I'm down on my knees
I'm begging you please, to come home
*Come on home*Making love in the afternoon
With Cecilia up in my bedroom
I got up to wash my face
When I come back to bed
*Someone's taken my place*Celia, you're breaking my heart
You're shaking my confidence daily
Oh Cecilia, I'm down on my knees
I'm begging you please, to come home
Come on homeJubilation, she loves me again
I fall on the floor and I'm laughing
Jubilation, she loves me again
I fall on the floor and I'm laughing