Subj: Dark Shadows: Mirror/Mirror Chapter 4
Date: 12/10/98 11:12:15 AM Central Standard Time
From: DSRules

Cyrus was about to climb back into his car when he heard a feminine voice behind him calling, "Dr. Longworth!"

He turned around. "Clarice! Clarice Malone! I assume you're here to interview for the nurse's position?"

"However did you know that? You must be psychic, Dr. Longworth!" she responded flirting outrageously with him.

"Ah! That's my secret," he winked at her. "Actually, Liz Jennings called and asked me for a reference."

"And what did you tell her?"

"Well, I told her the truth, of course! That you were one of the most competent and compassionate nurses I've ever worked with."

"You did? Really? Why, I'm very flattered!"

"You needn't be. It was nothing less than the truth. Well, good luck in there. Not that you'll need it."

"Thank you, Dr. Longworth."

As she watched him get in his car and drive away, Vicki congratulated herself on choosing the correct physician to ingratiate herself to. She had, of course, run a risk of Quentin seeing her during her months working at the hospital alongside his old college friend Cyrus Longworth, but she didn't think that Julia Hoffman would have been quite so easily outwitted.

The hardest thing to deal with through her employment with the Collinsport Hospital had been Cyrus' attempts at flirtation. They would have been annoying to her if Quentin hadn't already stolen her heart, but as he had, Cyrus' had been positively infuriating to her. Once she had her family back, Vicki was determined to take care of Cyrus Longworth once and for all.

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"Amy, dear, could you close that window? It's frightfully cold in here."

Knowing that her first instinct, to point out to her great-aunt that she'd just asked her to open the window five minutes earlier, would be the wrong move, Amy took a deep breath and held it to the count of ten. "Yes, Aunt Nora," she said as she crossed to the window.

When she reached the other side of the room, she saw a plant that she hadn't noticed before. It was a yellow African violet. "Is this Marissa's African violet?" she asked Nora.

"Of course it's not hers. It's mine. She gave it to me."

"Yes, Aunt Nora. That's what I meant. This is the violet that she's going to name after Mother."

Sorrow overtook the ten year old for a moment when she said this. Her mother, beautiful dark-haired Cassandra Collins, had died only three months previously. Lots of things had gone wrong around then. First, her mother had died of a heart attack, followed almost immediately by her grandfather, Jamison. Then, Quentin had been hospitalized with a serious illness and upon his release, had been called unexpectedly out of town on business. Finally, just a week earlier, Aunt Nora had the stroke that had left her bedridden and caused her mind to go so foggy.

Amy looked out the window, and saw a young woman with dark hair walking up to the house. {That must be the woman who's interviewing to be Aunt Nora's nurse!}

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"Oh, my God! Look at you!" Marissa exclaimed. Leaving the basket of flowers forgotten on the ground behind her, she ran and threw her arms around her old friend.

Claudius returned her hug. It was hard for him to resist the temptation to cling to her as if he were drowning. Instead, he just held on for a fraction of a second longer than was necessary. She didn't appear to notice.

"What brings you back to Collinsport?" she asked as they released each other.

"Marissa! Don't tell me you've forgotten what day this is?"

She paused for a moment. "It's the tenth anniversary of Lorraine's death!" her eyes went wide and she covered her mouth with her hand. "I'm sorry! I completely forgot about it!"

"So I take it you're not here to visit her grave, then?"

"No. I'm actually here to visit my grandfather and aunt."

"Your grandfather and aunt? Something's happened to Rosa and Antonio?" he asked, referring to the father and sister of Marissa's mother, Carmen.

She hastened to set him straight. "Well, grandfather-in-law and aunt-in-law, actually. My husband's grandfather and aunt."

"I'd heard that you got married. Your husband isn't from Collinsport, is he?"

"Well, he was raised in Rockport, but he came to Collinsport to find his biological mother -- Liz Collins Jennings."

"Oh-ho! So, you're a Collins now, huh?" He tried to sound casual, but inwardly he was fuming. He was kept away from her for so many years, and when he finally made his way back to her she was married -- to a Collins.

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Barnabas knocked on the door of Quentin's room. "Come in," the younger man sighed.

Barnabas put the tray on the floor, opened the door, and walked into the room, kicking the door shut behind him. He placed the tray on the desk in front of Quentin, who was gazing out the window at the sea.

"Quentin, I --"

"Spare me the platitudes, all right, Barnabas?"

Barnabas didn't let his cousin's bad temper hinder him, however. "I was going to say that I wish you'd tell Marissa that you're here."

Quentin sighed. "This is the part where you tell me how much support Angelique was, and how you'd still be under your curse if it wasn't for her, right? That you wouldn't have your wife or baby if it wasn't for her. There's one tiny difference, hough, Barnabas. Angelique is *dead*! She's a *ghost*, for God's sake!

"You were no danger to her," he forcibly calmed himself down. "Do you think that I'd be so lucky? If I told Marissa that I'm still on the estate, nothing would keep her from joining me here, and sooner or later, I'd touch her." Quentin's voice cracked as he said the last part.

"I'm truly sorry, Quentin. I only thought that telling her would help you bear this better."

Quentin's anger evaporated. "I know, Barnabas. I just feel so helpless -- waiting here." He considered telling Barnabas that he had seen Vicki that day, but was interrupted by knocking at the door.

"Quentin? Barnabas?" There was no mistaking that soft, feminine voice.

"Come on in, Sabrina!" Quentin called.

Sabrina, ungainly from her advanced state of pregnancy, came into the room. "I brought you the pictures from my ultrasound, like you asked." She smiled at their visitor, holding out an envelope.

Looking at the pictures, Quentin felt himself becoming all misty, remembering Marissa's ultrasound and his first glimpse of Kate and Toby. "She's beautiful," he choked. "Have you decided on a name?" he looked from Barnabas to Sabrina and back again.

Patting her distended abdomen, Sabrina shared a smile with her husband. "Angelique Christine."

Quentin smiled at this. "And you'll call her Chris, I guess?"

Barnabas shook his head, "No. That would be too painful. She'll be Angie."

Quentin marveled at his Barnabas' ability to be married to a woman who still loved another man, even one who was six months in his grave. Sabrina had only found out she was pregnant the day that Chris had been killed. He also was amazed by the depth of Angelique's love for Barnabas, to not only allow, but encourage, him to marry Sabrina so that he might be a father to her baby.

Angelique's vindictive elder sister, Josette, recently widowed and wanting Barnabas for herself, had taken steps to ensure that Barnabas had never had the chance to be a father to his own children with Angelique. Although her husband's death had been a mere technicality, Angelique had dutifully put on her widow's weeds and raised their children, Daniel and Sarah, alone.

It had never occurred to Quentin how similar his life was to Barnabas'. He only hoped that it took them fewer than 150 years to find a cure for his *own* curse.