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"It became my talisman. When things got really bad, I just had to look at her..." his eyes found Quinn's, "at you. And I knew that everything would be okay, that there was something good waiting for me." A naughty grin tugged at the corners of his mouth before he added, "I think she may have underestimated just how good."
Quinn's smile took his breath away and for just a minute they did nothing more than stare at one another.
"That woman was Maude. She was the same woman who sent me back to Archer's time, the one who sent you to me."
"Who is she?"
"I don't know but we owe her so much."
He rolled over pinning Quinn under him and just before his mouth covered hers he whispered, "Understatement."
Quinn looked out at the fair which they had been able to assemble in just over three days. It was amazing and mainly because the town had really come through, arriving at Whispering Winds in mass ready to do whatever needed to be done. It looked so much like the fair in Archer's time that Quinn felt herself getting a bit nostalgic. She thought of him, just as he asked, and it wasn't a conscious thought because he was just as much apart of her as her soul.
She smiled at the thought but her smile faded quickly as she thought about the conversation with Niall that Gabriel told her about. Katherine had taken the bait and was coming. It bothered Quinn that Katherine would have shared that with her brother, a brother she really didn't even like apparently, but she was coming and hopefully by the end of the day it would all be over.
But that made her sad too because she knew when it was over that Gabriel would be leaving, going back to the future. She realized it wouldn't be long before she met the Gabriel of this time so it wasn't as if she was going to have to wait a lifetime to meet him again. Of course, the Gabriel of now wasn't going to know all of their history, or would he? Time travel was just too damn confusing.
The dunking tank was setup, and Quinn was slotted as the first to sit in the hot seat. She was actually looking forward to it. When Gabriel came up behind her and slipped his arms around her waist, she leaned back against him.
"Nervous?" he whispered in her ear.
"About taking a swim? Never." Her feigned outrage had him chuckling.
"I like seeing you wet, though preferably with less clothes."
She turned and grinned up at him. "Are you suggesting I wear nothing?"
"Not unless you want me to kill every man here. However..." he pulled her to him wrapping his arms around her waist, "later when we're alone, that could be very interesting."
Quinn had to shake her head to get the blood flowing into her brain again. "Now I'm going to have that visual in my head."
He lowered his voice to a whisper, "Well, while you're thinking on that, think on this too: I intend to lick you dry, Quinn. Every single drop."
And then he was walking away, whistling a merry tune as he went. Before he was too far from her, he looked back from over his shoulder and winked then got lost in the crowd. Quinn watched until he disappeared as both love and fear waged inside her.
Everyone had their places, someone was covering every major event, so when Katherine arrived they would know. Quinn wasn't sure how much time passed before a shiver of warning worked its way down her spine as an all too familiar voice came from behind her.
"Quinn, how nice to see you again." Quinn's heart literally stopped for a second before she turned and looked into shockingly pale blue eyes. She didn't notice the knife until it was pointed at her. "Let's go find Gabriel, shall we?"
Katherine didn't wait for an answer before she started forcing Quinn along. "You know, you should have listened to me. He's mine and he always will be. You may think you've won him but you haven't." They made their way through the crowds, the others catching sight of them and following after, until they reached Gabriel at the horse races. Quinn saw the rage in Gabriel eyes but when he spoke his voice didn't betray what he was feeling.
"Katherine, let her go. It's me you want."
Quinn felt the knife dig into the flesh of her back and Gabriel involuntarily took a step forward but Katherine stopped him with a shake of her head.
"Unless you want to watch your love bleed out before you, stay back." Katherine studied him a moment before she asked, "Why couldn't you have loved me? What does she have that I don't?"
Gabriel's voice was full of conviction when he replied, "My heart and my soul."
"I should kill her, right here in front of you, and make you suffer as you've made me suffer. I loved you. I would have made you very happy. I would have done anything for you, I even killed for you but you never gave me the time of day and then she walked into your life. Her!" Katherine's eyes were wild and she looked rabid as spittle dripped from her snarling lips. "I hate her almost as much as I hate you."
"Take me then and leave her alone," he begged.
"Killing her is me showing her a kindness, unlike you who will be forced to live a life without her."
A terrible premonition flashed through Quinn's mind and the sense of someone walking over her grave had the hair on her arms standing on end. Charles arrived then with the police and soon Katherine found herself surrounded. It was then that Quinn felt most afraid because desperate people did desperate things, especially since there was no way out for Katherine.
Everything went deadly still as the seconds seemed to tick away like hours and then Katherine all but purred, "This isn't over, Gabriel. Don't delude yourself into believing that it is."
