Release

One at a time, she and Olivia traversed the hallway outside the room Bobby was in. It was like walking into a gale-force wind that teased and caressed places the wind was never supposed to touch. Alex had to dig her fingernails into the palm of her hand to keep from breaking down the door. She emerged weak and breathless on the other side.

"It's definitely getting worse," Olivia observed. Alex glanced at her watch; nine twenty, almost forty minutes since she'd hung up on him. What must he be thinking? That they'd given up, abandoned him, left him to die-- She jumped as Olivia gently touched her shoulder. "It's this way," she said, nodding her head to the right.

The farther down the corridor they went, the easier it became to breathe. Once they passed through the last metal door and stepped into lockup, the curse was barely more than a whisper on the back of Alex's neck. Standing on chairs, she and Olivia hung the curtain at the end of the corridor, giving at least the semblance of privacy. When that was finished, Alex's eyes swept along the wall near the ceiling.

"Are these the only two cameras?" she asked. Olivia nodded. She dragged a chair over and climbed up, unplugging the camera from the feed wire. "There." She climbed down and looked around, trying to foresee any possible hang-ups. As long as Bobby wasn't too ... Bobby, everything should go as well as it could, under the circumstances.

"You know," Olivia said hesitantly, "maybe you should let me do this." Alex raised her eyebrows. "Don't misunderstand, I really don't want to. The thought makes my skin crawl--"

"He's not an ogre," Alex hissed between her teeth. Olivia shook her head.

"That's not what I meant. I meant the incubus, the curse, not Goren. I meant being powerless against it."

"Then why would you offer?"

"Because, you have your partnership to consider, your friendship. That could be destroyed if you have sex with him."

"But ..." Alex sputtered, "but it's not like --"

"I know, you're doing it to save his life, but you need to realize that it could kill your relationship." She was right, and it wasn't fair. Alex's eyes strayed to the cell they'd prepared, the clean blankets on the narrow, hard cot, and winced at the image of her and Bobby sharing the most intimate of moments with their eyes closed and faces averted.

"I can't ask you to do this," Alex said after a moment. "I can't ... let you do it. Or anyone else. He's my partner." She glanced at Olivia, not sure how she could better explain herself. This was something she had to do. The taller woman nodded slowly. She understood. Alex sighed. "Come on, I need one last favor from you."

"Oh?"

"I need you to explain this to Bobby. I can't, he knows me too well; he'd know instantly that something was going on."

"And you think I can keep this from him? How?"

"You're going to lie."