Collinsport -- 72 and 73

Subj: Collinsport -- 72
Date: 8/19/00 3:06:22 AM Central Daylight Time
From: DSRules

Sister Lorna fumbled with the straps for a while, but her anxiety got the better of her. As she did so, Quentin lay completely still, trying to keep calm, because he knew that he would only rattle her further if he let himself get agitated.

Finally, she worked his right hand free. He struggled into a sitting position, feeling the cut marks on his abdomen give as he did so. "You get my feet. I'll get the left hand." He whispered.

She hastily complied. Once he was released from the table, he attempted to rise to his feet, but was still too weak and fell backwards, leaning against the table.

"Easy there!" Lorna said as she hastily grabbed a sheet and handed it to him. "Here. Wrap this around yourself. I can't take you out of here like that."

The room was only half-illuminated, so all Quentin could make out of the young woman dressed in an acolyte's robe and veil were her luminous dark eyes.

{She reminds me of Daphne . . .} Quentin remembered the acrimony that had characterized his last meeting with Daphne and flinched.

"What's the matter?" Lorna's dark eyes reflected her concern for him.

"Nothing," he whispered back. "I'm fine." He made a clumsy attempt to wrap the sheet around his hips, but as soon as he removed his hands, the sheet fell off.

"Let me do that." Lorna picked the sheet up off the floor and in a wink had Quentin dressed in a toga.

"Well, I'm all set for the orgy now," Quentin quipped weakly.

"I don't think you'll be ready for that sort of activity any time soon." Lorna said, half of a smile brightening her face.

Quentin tried to stand upright again. "So, what do we do . . ." He stopped when he began to lose his balance again.

Lorna wrapped her arm around him, levering him into an upright position. "What we do now," she finished his thought for him, "is you lean on me until you regain your strength. Then we head for the back stairs and get the heck out of here."

Quentin followed her directions and was amazed to find that, slight as she was, she was strong enough to support his more than six foot tall frame.

Together, they hobbled out of the room, through several yards of darkened hallway, and down the poorly-lighted back staircase.

"You're stronger than you look." Quentin whispered.

She merely looked at him and smiled.

~ ~ ~

"Reverend Strong," a security guard approached Petofi.

Petofi tried to look benevolent. "Yes, my son?"

"The prisoner, Collins, sir, he's escaping."

"Oh? Is he?"

"Yes. And we have reason to believe that Sister Lorna's going with him."

Petofi blinked a few times. "Now that was unexpected. But I think it will play very nicely into my plans. Let them go."

"Sir?"

"I said, *let* *them* *go*. If I need either of them later, I'm sure I can find them."

"Yes, sir."

~ ~ ~

The pair reached the bottom of the staircase. Lorna reached into a drawer that stood next to the back door to the building and pulled out a huge set of keys. "The parking lot's back here. I don't think that Reverend Strong will begrudge us the use of one of his vans."

Quentin marveled at how calmly she spoke of stealing a van. "Who are you? Some kind of government agent or something?"

"Oh, nothing that interesting. Just a woman looking for her place in the world."

Quentin suspected there was more to her story than that, but just let it lie there.

They headed for the parking lot, which was outside the gates of the complex, and Lorna stopped at the van closest to the parking lot exit. She propped Quentin up against the side of the van and began trying keys.

"No."

"Ah! This is the one! Here, I'll help you in."

She slid open the side door and boosted Quentin up into the back of the van. "I'm sorry. I'm afraid it won't be very comfortable."

Quentin smiled. "Don't worry. I've endured worse."

Quentin lay down on the floor in the back of the van. Lorna had been right. It wasn't very comfortable. But if it'd get him home, he'd put up with it.

"You never told me. Why are you helping me?" Quentin asked.

"Because. I thought what Reverend Strong did, kidnapping that baby, was horrible. And you sent her home." Lorna flashed him a brief smile before sliding the door shut and climbing into the driver's seat.

* * *

Azura sat on the sofa in her father's living room, Adam on one side of her, Zoe on the other.

"Zoe." Azura began. "I have some bad news for you." She took her daughter's hand lightly in her own.

Zoe's blue eyes, so much like her father's, widened. "Yes?"

Azura took a deep breath and glanced at Adam, drawing strength from her father's presence. "Your father. . . . He . . . . "

She decided to get a running start. "Your father was killed tonight."

Azura leaned forward to give Zoe a hug, but Zoe yanked her hand back. "You're lying!" She yelled, springing to her feet. "He's not dead! He's not!"

"Zoe . . ." But Azura's attempt was in vain, for her daughter turned and ran up the stairs.

Azura threw an inquiring glance at her father.

Adam shook his head in response. "Leave her alone for a few minutes. She needs some time to digest the news."

Azura knew that Adam was right. Zoe had been raised in isolation, and she needed to return to that state for a while, until she was ready to face her family again. Then, needing her own father, Azura lay her head on Adam's lap and cried.

* * *

"OK, we're in Collinsport. Where do I go now?" Lorna asked as they passed the sign that said, {You Are Now Entering Collinsport, Population 5,770}

Quentin said, "I live in the old lighthouse keeper's quarters. Go down Main Street to 5th Street and make a left."

Lorna looked around and noticed that she already was on 5th Street. "All right. Then what?"

"Are we on 5th Street?" Quentin asked in a perplexed tone.

"Yes."

"Then go to the end of the street and make a right."

"OK." She made the right turn that Quentin had indicated, then a left onto Harborview West.

"Then make a left onto Harborview West."

Lorna chewed on her bottom lip, debating whether to tell Quentin that she'd somehow known to make that turn onto Harborview West.

"The lighthouse is at the end of the street." He directed her.

She pulled up in front of the lighthouse keeper's quarters. "What a beautiful house!" she exclaimed when she saw it, bathed in the light of the full moon that hung overhead.

"Yes." Quentin responded. "When I grew up on the other side of the harbor, I never dreamed I'd live over here. But it's home now."

Lorna slid the side door open again and helped Quentin out. He looked at the house. "Oh, no."

"What?"

"Azura's not here. Her car's gone."

"Is Azura your wife?"

"My fiancee." He responded automatically, pleasantly surprised by how easily the words came to him. He shook his head. "I can't stand the suspense. I have to know that David and the baby got home all right. Do you mind another drive?"

"Where to?" She asked as they headed back towards the van.

"Over there." Quentin pointed to where the lights of Collinwood were barely visible through the trees. "My cousin's a doctor. He can check me out while I'm there, anyhow."

Lorna bundled Quentin back into the van, and they headed out once again.

* * *

Eventually, Azura sat up and dried her tears. "Sorry about that." She said.

"You don't have to apologize. That's what I'm here for, remember?"

Azura nodded. "I just wish . . ."

"What?"

"That Quentin and I had been able to have a child before he died." She didn't mention her confrontation with Laura.

"But you did. He gave you a beautiful daughter."

She gave her father a weak smile. "You're right. He did."

Just then, Zoe came back downstairs. "Mom?" She asked.

"Yes, sweetie?"

"Are you all right?"

"I'm fine." Azura nodded. "How are you doing?"

"All right." Zoe responded, but it was clear from her tone that she was still upset. The little girl walked over to the sofa and climbed up on it. And this time, when Azura pulled her daughter up onto her lap, Zoe didn't resist.

* * *

David and Sarah were carrying Penni through the party, letting various family members and friends hold her. Letty had signed Penni's birth certificate, and left, saying that she'd file the certificate with the county the next morning.

They had just passed Penni off to Sabrina when they heard a knock at the door. "I'll get it." David offered.

"No. I'll get it." Sarah responded.

"I'll get it." David contradicted.

"Oh, no you won't!"

The pair raced to the door and, together, flung it open. . . .

* * *

"Well, here we are." Lorna said as they pulled up into the driveway. "And it looks like they're having a party."

"What?" Quentin was so surprised that he sat upright before realizing that that wasn't a good idea. "OW!!!" He yelled as he collapsed.

"Don't do that. You're injured, remember?"

"Sorry." Quentin responded sheepishly as he rubbed his offended abdominal muscles.

Lorna helped him out of the van and to his feet again, and they went to the front door

Lorna lifted and dropped the knocker several times.

The door was answered by Sarah and David, who were giggling as they did so. When they saw the faces of their visitors, they stopped giggling and said, in unison, "Miss Winters?"

Subj: Collinsport -- 73
Date: 9/19/00 11:47:55 PM Central Daylight Time
From: DSRules

The door was answered by Sarah and David, who were giggling as they did so. When they saw the faces of their visitors, they stopped giggling and said, in unison, "Miss Winters?"

The young woman in the religious vestments seemed not to have heard them. "He's been seriously hurt," she explained, indicating Quentin. "Where can I lay him down?"

David took in the ashen complection of his friend and gasped. "We can put him in the study. There shouldn't be anyone in there."

David took the young woman's place at Quentin's side, and Sarah took a position under Quentin's other arm.

"I can handle him myself." David said as the quartet shuffled down the hallway.

"I know. But I felt weird just standing there while you did all the work." His wife explained.

"Would the two of you stop talking about me like I'm not here?" Quentin snapped weakly.

David and Sarah shared a sheepish grin. "Sorry, Quentin," David responded as he opened the study door and they walked in.

* * *

Hallie and the children spilled out of her minivan, which she'd had to park up the private road, due to the large number of cars already parked in front of the mansion. Roger sulked along, kicking stones out of his way with a petulant expression on his face.

"Roger!" Hallie snapped in a testy tone. "Do *try* to seem happy about this." It was obvious that Hallie was doing her best to keep a lid on her temper.

"You don't wanna deal with Dad and Sarah, right, Mom?" Burke interrupted.

Hallie shot her youngest a look. "I wouldn't put it that way . . ." she hedged.

Laura dashed ahead. "Can I go in? I wanna find Jeb."

Hallie nodded her assent as she sighed. {I lived in Collinwood for years and never saw any indications of the ghosts that Laura insists she sees there. But it makes her happy, and for whatever reason, her father's not worried about it.}

Laura opened the huge front doors and disappeared inside, her younger brother following closely behind her.

Hallie walked closer to Roger and put her arm around him. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing."

"All right." Hallie took her arm away and sped up a little, increasing the space between her and her eldest.

"Why am I here, anyway?"

Hallie slowed to Roger's pace again. "Here as in Collinwood?"

"Here as in here." Roger kicked another stone.

"Alive?"

Roger didn't respond, but the change in his body language told Hallie that she had guessed correctly. "You're here because your father and I love you."

"Right." He barked out a bitter laugh.

"Would your father have gone into that cult to get you out if he didn't love you?"

Roger had no response to that. He merely began sulking more.

After a while, he broke his silence again. "But when we got home, all he could think about was that baby."

Hallie knew she had to walk a fine line on this one. "Roger, your father thought that his baby had died. Would you have liked it if he'd said, 'Oh, well. Maybe we'll have better luck next time'? Does that sound like the kind of man *you'd* want for a father?"

The pair had reached the door of the mansion, but neither wanted to go in, so in silent agreement, they sat on the doorstep together.

"No. I guess not." Roger conceded.

Then they sat together for a while, enjoying the silence, punctuated by the background noise of the party inside the house.

* * *

After they'd laid him on the sofa in the study, Quentin began regaining consciousness. "Where?" He mumbled.

"You're at Collinwood." Sarah responded, kneeling on the floor next to his head and taking his hand in hers.

"Sis - Sister Lorna got me here?" Quentin sighed.

"Yes." David responded, nodding as he turned around to where Sister Lorna had been the last time he'd seen her. "Thank you -. Hey! Where'd she go?"

~ ~ ~

Sister Lorna tiptoed down the hallway. She hoped no one would notice that she'd gone until after she was well away from this house. It made her nervous for reasons she didn't understand. After all, she'd never been here before. Had she?

Her path, however, was intercepted by a middle-aged blonde. "Have you seen David?" The blonde asked distractedly. Then she focused on Sister Lorna's face. "Oh, my God. Vicki?"

* * *

Sarah stood. "I'm going to go check on Penni." And with that, she ducked out of the study.

David pulled a chair up and sat down to examine Quentin.

"Penni?" Quentin asked. "I thought you were going to name her Naomi, after Barnabas and Sarah's mother."

"Be quiet. You can't afford to waste energy talking." David said in a tersely professional tone. "We changed our minds." He added simply.

"Why?"

David left that question unanswered, choosing instead to focus on his examination. "Unbelievable." He breathed. "I can practically *see* the wounds healing."

The door closed behind him and he glanced around to find Sarah standing there holding their daughter in her arms.

"Look! Right there! That gash just knit itself up as neatly as you please. See, Sarah?"

"I'd rather not, thanks all the same." Sarah responded, a queasy tone in her voice.

Quentin winced. "Could you do me a favor?" He asked her.

"Sure."

"Could you call over to the lighthouse to tell Azura that I'm all right?"

"I'd be happy to." She crossed to the desk and picked up the receiver on the phone and pressed the speed dial for the lighthouse. A few seconds later, she hung up. "I got the answering machine. I'll try calling over to Adam's house."

* * *

Adam, Azura and Zoe were huddled together in a miserable mass on Adam's couch when the phone rang.

"I'll let the machine get that." Adam said.

"No. You'd better get it. Could be important." His daughter replied.

Adam stretched one long arm out and grabbed the receiver on the third ring. "Hello?"

"Adam? It's Sarah."

"Oh, hello, Sarah."

"Is Azura there?"

"She can't come to the phone right now. I'm sure you understand."

"Well, yes, but . . . I was wondering if you could come over, because Quentin's here."

"How do you mean that?" Adam asked cautiously.

"I mean that he's here. Alive, here."

Adam nearly dropped the phone. "He's alive? Really?"

He could hear Sarah's happiness over the phone lines. "Yes. He's alive. And he's asking for Azura."

"We'll be right over. Thank you for calling, Sarah."

"You're very welcome." Sarah responded, a smile in her voice, as they hung up.

==================

CASTING NOTE:

After much contemplation, I've finally cast Holly Marie Combs in the role of Sarah. I also have an actress in mind for the younger Laura Collins, David's daughter, (a much younger than she is nowadays) Lecy Goranson, who played Becky on Roseanne.