A/N – Heads up: Individual replies at the end of this chapter, so careful about getting too excited about the length. ;)

Previously:

Mercalli's headquarters went up in a deafening explosion that shook the earth. Though Sahara's hand was blocking it from direct view, Carson could still see a vibrant orange glow light up the floor around them. Vaguely, he thought, 'That's one big fireball,' before a cloud of smoke and ash completely engulfed them.

He felt more than saw Sahara rip off a strip of cloth from her undershirt and press it over his nose and mouth, then repeat the process for herself.

There was nothing else to do but wait.

"Carson?"

The voice came to him from far away, wary, coaxing. He didn't want to open his eyes. As soon as he did, he knew, the pain would come rushing back in all its hell driven fury. Right now, smothered in darkness and the remnants of a half-sleep, he could almost pretend it didn't exist…

"Carson?" There was more distressed worry in the voice now, more obvious concern. If it had belonged to anyone else…But he knew that he'd put up with any amount of pain to see the face that belonged to that voice again, at this moment. Slowly, with conscious effort not to move anything else, Carson opened his eyes.

An interesting combination of pale white moonlight and shifting shadows played across Sahara's face as she bent over him with anxiety in her eyes. Carson attempted a reassuring smile, and winced as his lower lip cracked. Some of the fear left her expression, but the concern remained. Carefully and with more gentleness than anyone would expect a woman capable of lifting 518 pounds to possess, she wiped the dust away from his eyes. "Are you alright?" Her voice was as soft as the breezes stirring the short blades of weeds or grass around them.

Was he alright? There was a bullet lodged somewhere beneath his left shoulder blade, at least three of his ribs were fractured, and he'd be really surprised if there was an inch of his flesh left that wasn't purple and throbbing. Still, looking up at her…he felt somehow reborn. "I'm alive anyway," he answered finally. "Thanks to you."

Sahara didn't respond, continuing to wipe the dirt away from his face very carefully, as though she were handling something incredibly precious. At length, she said quietly, "Why did you blow up the building, Carson?"

Why. It almost felt like a trick question. There were so many ways to answer it, explicit, implicit, elusive…all hovering around something that felt like truth in the center of his heart. After a pause, he chose the surface route. "Violet told me you were dead."

He knew the implication wasn't lost on her by the way a surge of raw emotion surfaced in her eyes. Carson stared into them, utterly transfixed, seeing her perhaps for the first time without some kind of protective mask hiding her feelings. So many feelings…all for him.

"She told me she'd killed you…with my gun," Sahara said in the same quiet voice, and with a jolt Carson remembered the horror-inspiring look that had been on Sahara's face when she'd killed Violet. He'd wondered what they'd done to her, at the time. Now he knew.

It was almost eerie, actually, to think that she'd have such a cold-blooded, heartless surface reaction to the news of his death. He had to forcibly suppress a shudder at the memory, which was promptly followed by the less chilling remembrance that she'd cried – no, flat out sobbed – when she'd found him alive, after all. Something hopeful stirred in his chest. It blew him away how much she cared. Caring was a universal measure of –

But he smothered the thought before it could be allowed to complete itself. Bad things happened to people who made assumptions. Mainly: their assumptions were proven to be wrong.

Carson desperately did not want his nearly-formed assumption to be wrong.

Above him, Sahara sighed. Her fingers had stopped brushing residue off his face and were now carefully combing through the tangled mess that was his hair. "It was her, you know," her voice was nearly devoid of inflection, and the trace of resentment it held sounded somehow more like regret than it should. "It was all her."

"What was?" Carson asked, unsure about what particular aspect of Violet's betrayal Sahara was referring to.

Sahara sighed again, this time sounding very tired. "Everything."

She told him about Violet's working under cover for Mercalli since the beginning. She told him about the woman's role in the attack, and her cat and mouse game with Viviane – her sister. She told him that it had been Violet in his office that night, not Viviane. She told him how Violet had managed to dismiss the other agents before the attack, leaving Sahara and Carson alone and clueless, though they hadn't realized it. She told him that Linda Lohan was actually Marvin's wife, whom Violet had kidnapped in order to exert more leverage on the poor man. She told him about the history of the tracker, and how Violet had managed to corrupt segments of Mercalli's database for the specific purpose of misleading them. She told him everything.

When she'd finished, Carson sucked in a deep breath and let it out on a low whistle. "Wow." He was reeling. It was amazing how one bad apple had managed to screw up so many things. Guiltily, he made a mental note to apologize to Marvin – who must've been under tremendous amounts of stress and, aside from being a mildly annoying speaker and unwittingly kindling Carson's jealousy, had done nothing to earn the extra burden of Carson's antagonism over the past weeks.

Snapping himself out of it, Carson refocused his gaze on Sahara. She was staring out over the field, brooding, though her fingers continued to comb absently through his hair. Without realizing it, he followed suit, losing himself in thought.

For a long time they stayed that way, huddled in their own reflections yet somehow still connected by the silence. Finally, Carson spoke.

"Guess this means I owe you an apology," he sighed with an attempt at his lighthearted grin, "I really didn't think you were capable of doing that."

Briefly, a look of confusion crossed her face. "Doing what?"

"Getting us out of there."

Sahara paused and fixed her gaze on the horizon again. Then she said, "I'm not."

Carson turned his head to get a better look at her. In actuality, she was staring more at the stars than the horizon, and the expression of brooding solemnity had once again taken over her features. "Sorry?" he prompted.

"I'm not capable of doing that," she reiterated firmly, and he realized that she was being serious.

"Well, obviously, you are," he informed her, stifling a laugh, "seeing as how we're both lying here alive…somehow."

This time she turned her head to meet his gaze. "I'm serious, Carson, I honestly don't know how I did that."

"But you did do it," Carson pointed out in his best logical voice before conceding, "Though yes, I'll grant that how you did it is still beyond me."

Sahara reclined fully on the coarse earth and turned her gaze to the sky again. "I know what I did," she mused softly, to herself, "I know exactly what I did. But it shouldn't have worked." Carson watched her thinking, unwilling to interrupt. Finally, she shrugged. "It must have been one of those automatic reaction capability things. Like those stories of women lifting cars to free small helpless children."

"Although I've never heard of someone blowing a hole through a wall with a single gunshot before," Carson pointed out dryly.

Sahara fixed him with a wry look. "I didn't shoot the bullet through the wall, Morgan. They were made of panels bolted together – incredibly old fashioned. Everyone knows, if you can hit it right, there's a point of weakness at the juncture between –"

"Wait a second," he cut her off, "Did you just call me a small helpless child?"

She propped herself up on one elbow again and graced him with her best haughty smile, "Well, aren't you?"

Carson mustered a sound of outrage. "Despite the fact that you carried me out of there, I would like to take this moment to present the detail that I am bigger than you. Also, I have just managed to 'helplessly' incinerate a very tall, formidable building. And finally, I am definitely not," taking her completely off guard and determinedly ignoring the pain, he yanked her down to him with his good arm and kissed her with every ounce of expertise he could gather before murmuring against her mouth, "a child."

"Point taken," she murmured back.

Carson kissed her nose, her forehead, and finally the top of her hair when she settled contentedly into the crook of his arm. Neither of them moved for a few minutes, staring at the stars again. At last, Carson cleared his throat and said in the best mock-sorrowful voice he could conjure, "Of course, this means I'm in your debt again."

Sahara shifted slightly. "How so?"

"This is the second time you've saved my life, if I'm not mistaken. I've only saved yours once so far."

To his surprise, instead of laughing or blowing him off, she hesitated. "About that," she started cautiously. "Do you remember the night I went to get the disks?"

Carson scoffed at her, "Alright, I know you came back with the intent of saving my life, but I wasn't really in mortal peril that time, Sahara. Technically it doesn't count. We're still calling it two to one."

"No," she muttered without looking at him. "We're calling it even."

He stared down at her in confusion for a few moments, unwittingly prompting her to sigh and continue. "When I heard the earpiece crunch, that night, I was on the verge of breaking in to Mercalli's main computer room, with every intention of physically destroying the system…and inevitably drawing a lot of attention to myself."

Carson stared at her for a few more speechless moments. Then, "You were going to undertake a suicide mission?" he sputtered, furious. Sahara only nodded. Cursing, Carson unconsciously tightened his hold around her shoulders. "Well you can thank Violet for that particular save then," he muttered darkly, "I certainly didn't do it on purpose."

"No," Sahara said again, firmly. "If it had been anyone else wearing the damned earpiece, I wouldn't have stopped." She seemed to be marveling at the incident herself. "But the second I heard it, and I assumed you were…I didn't even think twice. I mean I just dropped everything and left without looking back. Practically burned holes through my tires on the way, too."

Carson didn't answer, none too pleased at his tendency to put Sahara's life in mortal danger. She continued. "Anyway, as far as I'm concerned you saved both our lives tonight. I shouldn't have been able to get us both out of there. I wouldn't have, without the extra motivation of your life on my shoulders. No pun intended," she smiled faintly.

"But you would have been able to get away easily, if it wasn't for me," Carson commented half to himself, sobered further by the thought that she'd nearly died – again – getting him out of there. She shouldn't have attempted it. She shouldn't have. Carson would happily have died, assured in the knowledge that she was safe. Why did she have to be so damn stubborn? Again without realizing it, his arm tightened further around her shoulders and he began reprimanding her for her apparent lack of common sense. "You shouldn't have tried it. You should have just gone, Sahara, why the hell couldn't you just leave when I asked you to?"

Sahara let out an exaggerated sigh and didn't answer for a few moments. Then, as though steeling herself, she took a deep breath. When she spoke, her words were still quiet, yet undeniably firm. "Carson, how many ways are you going to make me say 'I love you'?"

At first he thought he hadn't heard her right. After all, Sahara O'Brian was not the type of woman to make emotional confessions. He stared down at her in stunned silence for a few long moments, wondering what kind of paralyzing disease had suddenly befallen his unfortunate tongue, and whether or not she'd meant to say that out loud. But then she turned her head and locked eyes with him, an expression of dead solemnity on her face. And in that moment, he knew without a doubt that she'd meant every word.

Carson smiled.

Ignoring the pain, he moved his head enough to kiss her as he had once before: with absolute tenderness, as though sealing a pact. When he pulled away, her eyes were all but shining at him. He cleared his throat and said in his best military voice, "Will you be requiring affirmation of the reciprocation of said emotion then, O'Brian?"

Propping herself up on one elbow to look down at him again, Sahara smirked. "Don't be ridiculous, Morgan. Affirmation of feelings is required only by persons of weak constitution, who are lacking the fundamental confidence necessary to function as a competent employee of the NTDA."

Carson grinned up at her. "I see. So you won't be needing me to tell you that I love you back, more than anyone or anything else on earth?"

"That's correct, agent Morgan." Sahara paused and broke eye contact, staring ponderously at a spot near his shoulder for a moment before meeting his gaze again. "Though now that you mention it, I wouldn't mind hearing it again."

Laughing, Carson pulled her down and kissed her a third time. She smiled at him before settling in the hollow of his neck and closing her eyes. Carson pressed his lips to the top of her head and stroked her hair, murmuring in a soft but sincere voice, "I love you Sahara. God, I love you so much. You're everything to me. Everything."

She didn't answer, but Carson felt a contented sigh escape her and whisper over the skin of his throat.

For a full half hour they simply stayed that way, enjoying the comfort of silent companionship and watching the sky gradually lighten by almost imperceptible shades of blue. At length, when the first stars began to wink out, Sahara stirred. "We should get back," she murmured against his neck.

"Why?" Carson countered just as softly. "I'm perfectly happy where I am, thanks."

He could practically feel her reluctance when she sat up, but she managed a wry smile when she looked at him. "You're in pretty bad shape, Morgan."

Carson did his best to pull an authentic scoff and tried sit up as well, but the only slightly dulled pain in his shoulder made him flinch involuntarily. "I'm fine," he managed, very unconvincingly.

It was Sahara's turn to scoff. "I can see that."

"No really, I like it out here," Carson continued his feeble protest, "I don't want to leave yet."

Sahara helped him into a full sitting position, and he knew that the way he gritted his teeth against the pain wasn't lost on her. "Don't be stupid, Carson, we need to get the bullet out of your chest before it gets any more infected than it already is. Can you stand?"

"I think so." Truth be told, just sitting up had made him feel somewhat disoriented. He tried shaking his head…but it hurt too much. Groaning faintly, he pressed a hand over his eyes.

Cursing softly under her breath, Sahara stood. He heard her scavenging around…snapping twigs, cracking wood, another soft curse directed at a renegade splinter. As soon as he felt reasonably steady again, Carson opened his eyes to find a make-shift crutch beside him. It miffed his pride – after all, it was a shoulder wound; he shouldn't have trouble walking – but at the same time he was grateful for it. He'd lost a lot of blood and the evening's…adventures had succeeded in making him feel like a giant bruise. A very weak giant bruise, no less.

"Come on, Morgan," Sahara helped him to his feet and waited patiently for him to get his bearings, one arm braced around his middle to provide extra support. "You can lean on me, too, if the crutch isn't strong enough, but it's twenty five miles back to headquarters," she summoned another wry grin, "an especially long distance when you're traveling with a limping guy, on foot."

Ever on the hunt for a good joke, Carson sighed dramatically. "And here I thought you were going to carry me back."

For a moment she actually took him seriously. Carson had to physically step back to avoid her, nearly tripping over the crutch in the process. He met her stern look dead on and said flatly, "If you ever carry me again, I'm going to kill myself."

Sahara rolled her eyes. It took a few seconds before Carson let her approach him – he wasn't taking any chances. Briefly, he thought he heard her mutter something about a certain male ego under her breath, and narrowed his eyes. "What?"

"Nothing."

And without another word, she nudged him off down the road toward a doctor and, doubtless, an extra-fragrant bubble bath.

*Cue inevitable collective 'aw'* lol *ehem* now that that's out of our systems…

Right, so, before individual replies, ANNOUNCEMENTS:

There will be only one more chapter of this story *sob*. HOWEVER, I'm doing various things to make up for it (including the two new announcements below), and you may expect a pleasant surprise to follow up the end of the next chapter. ;) So yes, to make up for its being almost over, I give you two of my three intended things. First:

New Story in the Works!

Tentatively titled "Winter Blade"

SUMMARY: Meet Ocean, a highly specialized freelance assassin at the top of her game who would never – repeat, never – make the stupid mistake of falling in love with the man she's supposed to kill… (Look for it sometime in the next three weeks, if you're interested.) And second:

I've just done something either a) very interesting, or (more likely) b) very stupid. I've drawn some possible character sketches of Carson *le gasp* and posted them on an art website (appropriately, under the beginnings of a Hot Guy Collection, lol). Now, I have different ideas of what he could look like, so I tried a couple different approaches, and it turns out that one of them looks more like him physically (Hot Guy Number 2) while the other has more of his personality (Hot Guy Number 1). So use your imaginations and combine them somehow, eh? ;) You can click on them and they should get bigger than the previews on the site (if they don't, click the magnifying glass below the picture to full view). Here's the address – I had to put spaces in it, to get it to appear on this site, so remember to take them out when you go to put it in the address bar – glitterjewele. deviantart

And now, because I actually have a day off *le gasp*, INDIVIDUAL REPLIES! Woot…

Writer-who-also-loves-to-sing: whee! Glad you liked the grand escape! lol how does Sahara manage to do all that indeed…well, I believe she did most of the explaining in this chapter herself, so I shall spare you the repetition. =P ya, definitely a one time thing, methinks. She thinks. Whatever. Anyways, thanks for reviewing!

Inu22: alas! I have never seen, nor indeed heard of, rurouni kenshin. However, I believe I should like to ~ it sounds quite interesting. ;) Thanks for reviewing!

StarsignLeo: tee-hee, thanks much for the compliment! *blushes* I always agonize over the actions scenes – I can never tell if they're moving to slowly, or if they're unclear or whatnot. So yours was a very reassuring review. Glad you liked it! =)

Whispering Romance: ay, sorry for the not-so-prompt update! And as for Mercalli's life-death status…'fraid you shall have to wait and see. Hehe. Gah, I'm awful, sorry. Thanks for reviewing!

ItalianQT: hehe, hooray for grand escapes, eh? Yes, I share your philosophy, I mean what's an action story without a grand escape? =P Thanks bunches for the review! *hugs*

H.M. Banson: lol first, I just want to let you know that regardless of your future sign-in names, I shall be referring to you hereafter as 'Hollie.' It suits you nicely, methinks. ;P ANYWAY, yay! I'm so happy the last chapter made you feel better on a sucky day, because I mean seriously, you've brightened my sucky days countless times already, so I'm quite thrilled to finally be able to return the favor! Ah yes, I too wish fervently that more guys were like Carson…and Marcel…but NO I am NOT thinking about Marcel anymore *bangs head against wall*. *sigh* I've been trying to wean myself away from doting on him, since Chaville is over now and I won't be able to read any more about him…dang that's a depressing thought. *cries*. *sniffles* Well, before I completely drown in my brooding Marcel-less-ness, I shall thank you profusely for your wonderful review (lol seriously…you're like, The Magic Reviewer: every review you submit makes me grin from ear to ear, without fail). You're awesome chica! *hugs* And I hope the Hero editing is going according to plan as well, of course. ;)

dome1gro: Hey! lol, ah yes, a rather amusing sight indeed, to see her carry him out of there. Gotta love elements of the ridiculous, eh? =P Anyhoo, glad you liked it! Thanks a ton for reviewing! Means the world to me. =)

sapofbks2004: yee-haw, a new reviewer! Hehe. Hi there. So glad you think the story is interesting, as well as the relationship. It was one of my goals when I started, you see, so that's music to my ears, to hear someone say that. Yes, terribly thrilled that you've found it, and muchly appreciate the feedback! Thanks!

icytigerwarrior: hehe yes, chica, have I ever told you that one of my favorite things about updating, is that it guilt-trips you into updating as well? =P *muahahaha* lol glad you liked the action sequence! And I know this is probably a little off topic but, GAH, Kiara has a boyfriend. Oh my gosh, I forgot to tell you ~ I had this freaky dream a few nights ago about Kiara and Dre. I don't remember all the details anymore, but I seem to recall something about acts of submarine sabotage and mortal peril. Hence, you need to update before that happens again ~ I mean, you know you're obsessed with a story when you start having random scary dreams about the characters being in mortal peril on sabotaged submarines. Lack of updates is definitely not – repeat, NOT – going to ease my mind here. Don't make me threaten to take away the squirrels again. *serious look* ;) Anyway, hope posting this has had its intended goal of inspiring you. =P I'll be checking my fav's list…

Liviana: hehe yay! Glad you liked the escape, despite its slight unbelievableness. =P What's a good dramatic escape without the willing suspension of disbelief factor, right? Haha. Thanks so, so much for reviewing!

wee-rebz: lol! Sahara IS supergirl, isn't she? But that's why we love her. Well, that's why I love her, anyway. =P Thanks a ton for the inspiring review! =D

DH L'Orange: (seriously…I'm never going to get over how much I love your penname…) Woot! I'm so thrilled that you consider this an original story ~ definitely what I was going for, so it's nice to hear it worked! =D And ah yes, the story is winding down…but there's still the surprise to look forward to. *cackles gleefully* Thanks for reviewing!

VoodooFairy: LOL oh my god, you have NO idea how much fun I had interpreting your review, "!". I was like, 'OOH, I have got to figure out exactly what combination of events led to the "!"', and I went back and re-read chapter five and came up with theories and really, so much fun. =P Thanks for that, chica. ;)

Death's Counterfeit: lol still pissed at the Alias writers, I see…haha, well, I can't say I blame you. I was terribly pissed at them for a good long time ~ even through like, the first six or so episodes of season three, actually. So you have lots to look forward to, eh? =P And OH…MY…GOD. I inspired a lufian. *faints* t'was perhaps the crowning moment of my fictionpress existence, chica ~ I shall be forever humbled, I assure you. *ehem* …*smirk* WOOOT, I'M A LUFIAN INSPIRER! ! ! YEAH, TAKE THAT, SHAKESPEARE! ! ! *does the Lufian Inspirer Dance* …right, anyway, YES, who could possibly resist the infinitely overflowing amounts of chica power Sahara exudes, eh? Glad it amused you, chica ~ I go back and read it myself, sometimes, when I'm in need of a good laugh. =P As always, I adore your reviews and shall cherish them forever and ever, etc. ;) Thanks much! *hugs*

not sure yet: hehe, yes indeed, yay for mushy moments hiding in the midst of extreme violence sequences! *cheers* =P Haha, glad you liked it, chica, and as always thanks so very much for reviewing! =D

ReinaLucille: lol ah yes, I too am quite glad that Violet is finally dead. I've been wanting to kill her off for ages, actually. Took no small amount of self-control to hold back so long, haha. =P Eternal thanks for the review! *grovels in reverence*

Sailacel: woot, another new reviewer! God I love you guys. =P welcome, welcome. And since there's really no way you'd read this before you read the answer in the actual story…yes, it is Violet. *smirk* ah, how I love stating the obvious. Haha. Thanks for finding me! (Love your penname, by the way ;)

.Tzentel: YAY! YOU'RE BACK! *bursts from dangerously high levels of happiness* hehe, can you tell I've missed you? =P Ah yes, Carson got shot…you see, bad things happen when your absence throws off the benign balance of things. ;P Thanks for the suggestion ~ I've been wary about that nasty little sentence as well, actually, and shall promptly edit it, now that I have a second opinion. =) And I'm glad you liked it! *grins widely* Thanks for reappearing, mon ami! *hugs*

Miken: hurrah! Thanks for the two reviews, chica, they made my day! I know I've already said it, but I shall say it again, for emphasis, if you will ~ I'm thrilled beyond thrilled that you're reading this and actually like it! It's always so exciting to get feedback from people you admire in the first place. =) Thanks so-o-o-o-o much, and I'm looking forward to your next update! ;)

kaika switched: (hehe, awesome penname…) Yay! A new reviewer! Welcome, chica! lol I'm so glad you like Sahara's character so much. I tend to get more of a response to Carson than her, so it's nice to know she's an influence, too! =) Hehe, she is funny, isn't she? Well, she amuses me (and evidently you – hence we're either both crazy or sane, which do you prefer?), anyway. Thanks much for the compliment, and thanks for reviewing! =D

*WHEW* Alrighty! I don't think I forgot anyone, but if I did, you have my full permission to beat me over the head with a stick until I give you the attention/recognition/shout-out that you deserve. *Straps on sturdy helmet and looks around warily for Forgotten Reviewer hurtling toward her brandishing a sledgehammer* ;)

A HUMONGOUS HUG TO ALL OF YOU ~ I NEVER WOULD HAVE GOTTEN THIS FAR WITHOUT YOUR SUPPORT. THANKS GUYS! ! ! :D