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I looked the camera feeds from the area around the cell and shivered since it appeared that there were between fifteen and twenty Nails approaching the room where Mel and Simon had determined to make there stand. Turning to one of the controllers in the room I asked, "Can we do something to help my team-mates out?"

"We're trying, but these Nails outnumber our SWAT guys by about five to one and we're having to work through them a bit at a time." One of the controllers stated before turning back to direct her team towards where Mel and Simon were holed up, waiting to hit the Nails when they tried to come to take out Amanda.

I closed my eyes and looked away from what I was seeing to focus on something less worrying, namely that Helen and Amanda were almost to top of the roof and I could already see a helicopter coming to pick them up and take them, safely away from the fighting that was going on under their feet. "Helen, Amanda now I want you to get onto that helicopter and it will take you to a safe area." I told them.

"Daren what about Mel and Simon?" Helen asked, "I heard Mel turn off her radio, she's never done that before."

"I know," I said softly, "I don't think she wants to get out of this one Helen, she knows that if she were to survive she'd end up in a small cage for the rest of her life."

Helen gave a small sardonic laugh, "We both know that Mel would hate that, she is not a cat that would do well in a cage."

"I know that Helen, but..." I began shivering slightly.

"You love her don't you, you always have." She replied, "I know she enjoys being with Simon, but you were the one she truly loved kitten."

I blinked my eyes as I thought about all of the times that I'd spent with Mel and I found a knot deep in my chest that I couldn't dispel. "Always and forever Helen, always." I finally found the guts to say, "We shared something so special that it would take me a thousand years to fully explain it, and now she's."

"She's setting you free Daren, she knows that you have a new life to live, and you won't reach your full potential with her hanging onto your tail."

I gulped softly and sniffled slightly. "What if I don' want her ta go?" I asked trying to keep myself from completely losing it.

Helen sighed softly, "Daren that's the thing about love, I know it hurts but if you truly love her you'll let her determine her own fate. She's doing this out of love for me an Amanda, as well as for you."

I looked at the screen that showed the hall outside of the room where Amanda had been held and shivered at the sight. It looked like the Nails had discovered that their prisoner wasn't alone now and they were trying to reach the door, without dying first from Mel's precisely applied firepower, or from Simon's less precise but more plentiful covering fire. Mel knew her trade, that much was clearly obvious, but sooner or later all the experience in the world wouldn't matter for a pinch of ball-dust since I knew that they didn't have a huge amount of ammunition for their weapons.

"Helen how can you be so..?" I began, trying hard to keep from crying.

"Realistic Daren," She supplied, "I know that it looks as if I am resigning her to her fate, but the reality is that she knew that this was a possible outcome for the very outset. She is delaying those people, keeping them guessing and thinking that Amanda is still in the room with her instead of out here with me, about to board a helicopter."

"She should be with you Hel; she and Simon should be there with you." I said loudly, as if by the sheer volume of my voice I could make what I wished come to pass.

"They wouldn't fit through that window Daren, it was a tight squeeze for me and Simon wasn't going to leave Mel's side even if it meant survival. Nobody should ever die alone and he was determined that she wouldn't die without somebody at her side."

I finally gave in and my body began to shake as I expressed the long hidden fear that she'd die and leave me alone in the world, she'd been by my side since I was fourteen, helping me learn and develop into a grown adult that was nothing like what my father wanted me to become. I shivered softly and then looked down noticing that the number of people in the hall had dwindled to almost nothing, though there were a significant number of writhing wounded. I thought for a few more seconds before the ache in my chest caused me to yowl out like a cat in pain before I stood and dropped down to all fours before dashing out of the van and headed for the route that my friends had take to get into the compound. I knew the route myself and I could follow it, though I had to make more than one shift in the route due to the fact that when standing on two legs I was only, at most, a little less than two thirds as tall as Simon was.

As I got closer to the fighting I found myself taking even more risks and moving more quickly, though I did also seem to be paying more and better attention to my senses that I'd gained with my new body. I could see, hear, and smell both the cops and the Nails and place them in my own mental map as I moved through the warehouse towards where Mel and Simon were holed up shooting at the Nails.

For the most part I did my best to avoid the cops and the Nails though on at least one occasion I made a slight detour as I ran past on cop to scoop up, what I later found to be .380 pistol and used it to shoot a Nail that was approached the cop from behind with a shotgun. The shock of the recoil was significant to my young body but in the state I was currently in I paid it no heed, shoving it in the back of my shorts before dropping back down to all fours and continuing to where I knew Mel had holed up.

I arrived in the hallway, and to no great surprise it was only occupied by the bodies of those who'd come to kill Amanda, though they'd been greeted instead by a hail of bullets from Mel and Simon. I didn't even consider that as I made my way to the room and kept low in case somebody was there to shoot anybody who came through the door.

The door itself was riddled with holes and it was all that I could do to keep from crying as I came through the door and smelled the blood in the air.

Simon was laying to one side the door, his small hands still grasped around his semi-automatic sub-machinegun but I didn't need to be a trauma doctor to realize that there was no helping the mouse, who had four small holes in his head near his eyes. Instead I looked over and saw Mel, laying in a pool of blood, but still breathing.

"Mel." I shouted before running over to her heedless of the blood on the floor.

Her amber eyes opened slightly and focussed on me. "What are you doing here Daren?" She asked with a thread wheeze. "This is no place for a cub."

"I couldn't leave you here to die alone," I told her grabbing one of her hands. "I'm going to get help for you." I continued before I turned the dial on my radio to adjust it to the frequency that I knew the police were using.

She seemed to chuckle softly before coughing harshly, the noise had a wet, almost gurgling quality that I had learned years ago when I'd found one of our neighbours in our building lying in a pool of his blood. "Kitten a battle is no place for you." She stated softly as I dialed in the radio

"This is Shadow 2 to any police near the objective room I need immediate medical assistance in the room. I have a female lioness down with several gunshot wounds to the torso and extremities, please hurry." I almost shouted into the mic before returning my attention to Melinda. "Don't worry Mel, we'll get you some help soon." I stated softly, though I wasn't sure if it would arrive in time.

She weakly reached over to me and grabbed my hand, before guiding it down the front of the black shirt she wore to grasp something before pulling lightly. "You deserve this back Daren." She said and I already knew what she was talking about.

"Please Mel, stay with me." I begged her as she pulled my hand from her shirt.

She gave a small smile and coughed again. "Daren I was so happy when I saw you in this new body of yours, but I know that I don't really have a place in your new life now. I have found peace now, and I know that given time you will be able to become so much more than you were before." She said softly, and I found myself leaning over her to hear what she was saying, though I couldn't really see due to the tears that were obstructing my vision.

"Mel, for god's sake please, save your strength... Help is coming just stay with me." I sobbed out squeezing her hand tightly in my little hand almost shaking her body slightly.

For her part she coughed again, licking a too red tongue over he lips before softly saying. "Daren... Daren I've always loved you... always loved..." She coughed again, that horrible gurgling sound before leaning her head against the cot. "Always... loved... you... Daren." She said in the merest of whispers before sighing softly and closing her eyes.

"Mel!!!" I shouted but I could already see her whole body relaxing and I began to shake as I sobbed out in absolute misery and pain at her departure. I didn't even really see as I brought the small necklace up to my hand and opened it, knowing what was hidden in the palm of my hand. A small ring, too small to fit on Mel's fingers but she'd always treasured it beyond measure because of what it had represented. I'd purchased it four years after we'd started working together, an expression of how I truly felt about her. In the center of the white-gold setting was a pure blue sapphire surrounded by four smaller diamonds, though right now only the sapphire shone slightly since everything else was stained in her life's blood. I gently touched her muzzle, now relaxed as if she was sleeping and I could see the grey that had begun to creep into the fur around her muzzle. "Why did you?" I asked her body, crying in misery at her demise. "You had time dear heart." I stammered before something came up behind me and softly picked me up.

"That was unbelievable dangerous Daren." Came the voice of Seamus O'Flannigan, "But your timing was... impeccable, you saved my bacon back there kitten." He stated softly before kneeling beside Mel and checking her neck, rather needlessly since I already knew that she'd passed from this world.

"She laid down her life one more time so that other's may live." He said softly standing up before shifting me to his left arm, "God Speed Staff Sergeant, may your next life be more pleasant than this one." He said formally drawing himself into a pose of attention before saluting my friend, my lover, my mate.