THE HUMAN FACTOR Written by Phil Bedard and Larry Lalonde Forever Knight episode 16, season 3. Directed by Geraint Wyn Davies Transcribed by Aurelia D'Arce (Aurelia583@aol.com) FADE IN. A middle-aged man is lying on a motel bed, watching television in the dark. MAN: (to unseen person in bathroom) Hey, Nancy, hurry up in there. A knock at the door. He looks through the window at the visitor. MAN: What the hell. . . He opens the door and an unseen female greets him in French. VISITOR: Hello, Mario. MAN: What do you want? VISITOR: You. She shoots him, twice, with a silenced handgun. He falls back and she enters the room, face still unshown by the camera. She searches his briefcase and effects, finds and takes a key. The VISITOR leaves and the dead MAN's companion enters the room in a towel. NANCY: You say somethin', Mario? Mario. . . Mario? NANCY looks up to the window and JEANETTE, the intruder, is watching her from outside. She flees. ------------- CREDITS/COMMERCIAL ------------- INT. THE PRECINCT. NANCY EVEREST is seated, giving her story to everyone's two favorite homicide detectives. TRACY inspects the deceased MARIO's worker ID card. Apparently he belonged to a Montreal arson squad. NICHOLAS fidgets, appearing slightly uneasy but trying to appear nonchalant. NANCY: He was lonely, so was I, OK? I came here after my shift, took a chance. And this happened. TRACY: You'd never seen him in the bar before? NANCY: Like I said, it was a one-nighter. He's from Montreal. NICHOLAS: The woman you saw in the window--was she in the bar? NANCY: If she was there, I didn't see her. TRACY: We'd like to set you down with a sketch artist back at the station, Miss Everest. We need you to give a description. NANCY: Can I get dressed first? NICK and TRACY glance sheepishly at each other as NANCY is led away. TRACY winces. TRACY: Memo to Tracy--it's a jungle out there in Date Land. NICK smiles apprehensively as TRACY heads out. NATALIE is, as usual, making notes on a clipboard from within the confines of her brown coat. NAT: Small caliber, silenced weapon. . .either he knew the killer or he didn't have time to duck. Whoever she is, she meant business. NICK turns away. LACROIX: (V/O) Cold. . .barren. INT. THE RAVEN. CERK. Giving his monologue. LACROIX: (cont'd) Bleak. Winter is the kindest season. A heart will not melt in winter. Chilled by the cold, we are spared the grief, the sorrow, the messy emotion of life. EXT. THE RAVEN A car stops just outside and JEANETTE gazes through the window at the club. She sits, listening. LX: (V/O) Winter is solace for the lonely. Its cool touch soothes the tepid heart. **JEANETTE'S FLASHBACK** LACROIX approaches JEANETTE at the bar in the Raven. J: Lucien. She pours a glass for him. J: Here a glass of my very best. I have been saving it for a special occasion. LX: Indeed? Very nice. LX: So. as to why you have asked me to meet you here. . . She sighs. J: I've had a wonderful few years here. It has sheltered me and allowed me to shelter others who need it. To be a mother to the strays, as it were. LX: Ah, yes, the joys of parenting strays--we really must compare notes one day. She gives him a look, then passes him some papers. LX: What is this? J: The deed. LX: And why? J: Because I'm leaving. LX: Really. . . .why? **END JEANETTE'S FLASHBACK** INT. JEANETTE'S CAR. LACROIX continues to mourn on the radio. A mortal boy, PATRICK, crawls up from the backseat. PATRICK: Jeanette, are you okay? JEANETTE switches off the radio and faces him with a warm smile and a sisterly tone. J: I'm fine, Patrick. PAT: When are we going home? J: Soon. How would you like to spend a few days at Aunt Peggy's? PAT: Sure. It's better than sitting in this car all day. JEANETTE laughs and agrees. She is unusually animated--her enthusiasm seems almost human. She playfully pulls his cap over his eyes and drives on. INT. PRECINCT. NANCY EVEREST is seated next to a COP who is making a composite of the intruder who killed MARIO. NICHOLAS and TRACY observe through the blinds. NICHOLAS is observing the composite keenly. NANCY: No, a little shorter. Yeah, that's better. But you know the eyes still aren't right. REESE walks up to NICK and TRACY. REESE: Montreal Arson says Mario Larouche was booked off. NICK: What, so he takes a vacation at a cheap motel in Toronto? REESE: Midlife crisis, who knows. NANCY: (to COP at computer) That's closer. Yeah, that's it. The image on the screen bears strong resemblence to JEANETTE. NICK is stunned and switches to his past. **NICK'S FLASHBACK** NICHOLAS recalls his being brought across. He is taking blood from LACROIX but it is JEANETTE'S face he sees above him. **END NICK'S FLASHBACK** REESE: Okay, let's get this out right away and fax it to Montreal arson. He and TRACY leave a quietly stupefied NICK. INT. THE RAVEN. It is night at the bar, and LACROIX refers to the printed composite in his hand; NICK is beside him. LACROIX: Not very flattering, is it, whoever she may be. NICK: You don't think that's Jeanette. LX: Little boys and girls run away by hiding in their parents' closet. Nicholas, when one of decides to move on, we _disappear._ Are you asking me to accept that Jeanette has been in this city without my knowledge? I would have sensed her. So would you. And to shoot an arson investigator; really, Nicholas, how much sense does that make to you? NICK: There's something more than 'it was just her time,' isn't there? LX: Is there? She did what she had to do. It was that simple. NICK: Nothing is that simple. **LACROIX'S FLASHBACK** He and JEANETTE are still at the bar, on the eve of her leave-taking. J: You always told me that I would know when the time came. LX: And how do you _know_ that your time _has_ come? J: Because, the thing that you fear the most has happened to me. Doubt. In what I am. LX: What you are is a vampire. It's quite simple, really. J: No, it's not so simple anymore. LX: _Nicholas._ J: I like what I am, and I don't want to change. I don't want to end up like him. Drawn to mortals, their humanity. I must get away from here. To reaffirm what I am. LX: I agree. You go. J: Nicholas must not know. He already has enough doubt in his life. Lacroix. . .make sure there is always a place where strays like us are welcome. She kisses his hand and leaves. **END LACROIX'S FLASHBACK** NICK: She never told you why? LX: I never asked. NICHOLAS departs and LACROIX stares after him vindictively. INT. JEANETTE'S CAR. LACROIX: (V/O) Where has she gone. . . INT. THE RAVEN. CERK. A golden light shed over his face, he is staring into the camera in a most unsettling way. LX: Slipped away like a child in the fairground, lost in the crowd. Does she wander through the noise, searching for the hand that guides? Does she embrace the heavenly alchemy, breathing fresh liberty like the spring flower that brings summer? INT. JEANETTE'S CAR. JEANETTE is gripping the wheel and watching the streets nervously. LACROIX: (V/O) But summer soon fades into forever, and she is left, forsaken, to face the chill of winter alone. Suddenly a car passes JEANETTE, spraying bullets at her as she ducks. INT. NICK'S LOFT. NICK tosses his coat on a couch and plays with his window-blind remote. He wanders aimlessly. **NICK'S FLASHBACK** NICHOLAS, newly brought-across, takes JEANETTE to him and kisses her. LACROIX scowls. **END NICK'S FLASHBACK** NICK turns and sees a figure in the doorway. JEANETTE: Nicholas. ----------- COMMERCIAL ----------- INT. NICK'S LOFT. NICHOLAS and JEANETTE approach each other slowly, then stop inches away, not touching. The slow whirling effect as the camera cirles them from the outside suggests the confusion in both of them. NICK: It's good to see you. J: I'm glad you think so. NICK: A man was murdered tonight--it's my case. We have a description, a composite of the killer. Tell me the resemblance is just a coincidence. J: I killed Larouche. Nicholas, I'm aware of the position that I put you in by being here. But I need your help. NICK: Why?! You could have just gone away. J: No. . .no, there is evidence that I must find before whoever shot at me tonight finds it. NICK: Shot at you? J: Nicholas, please. Arrest me, or help me. You don't have to decide now. I need a rest. FADE OUT. EXT. TORONTO SKYLINE. The sun sets. INT. THE PRECINCT. TRACY is at the computer at her desk. REESE: Where is your partner? TRACY: Not in yet. REESE: You tryin' to to meet your TRACY: 23rd posted this earlier today. An abandoned vehicle near the civic center. It was shot up pretty good; they gave me a call on it. REESE: what? TRACY: The car had Montreal plates. It was registered to a Robert McDonaugh, a Montreal arson investigator who was shot and killed there two weeks ago. REESE: Hm. . .do we think our Jane Doe was linked? TRACY: Well, Montreal has no leads so far but maybe. REESE: Well, find out for sure. INT. NICK'S LOFT. NICHOLAS is opening the blinds when JEANETTE comes down. J: How did you sleep? NICK: I didn't. J: So. Will you help? NICK: Yeah, I'll book off work. I said I'd help. Jeanette, tell me: did you really intend never to see me again? No explanations? J: I thought it was best. NICK: You were wrong. J: Oh, Nicholas. I left because of you. Because of your quest for humanity. He is crushed and she moves away, not looking at him. J: A vampire's heart must be cold. Immortality makes this so. Death is always around us but we must never allow it to touch us. So we cannot allow the emotion of loss to infect us. Lacroix knew this. NICK: But? J: But _you_, after eight hundred years, could no longer live without your humanity. And I began to wonder if you might be right. Eight hundred years is a long time to live with a cold heart, only for yourself. NICK: You should have come to me. I could have helped you. J: Ah, but I didn't want to be helped. I was accostomed to my immortality. And I was afraid. NICk: Of what? J: Look what suffering your search has caused you! So, I went to Montreal: a taste of Paris, but not too far from the Family. I thought I would reaffirm the vampire in me. But it seems I got caught in the very dilemma which I left to avoid. NICK: Meaning? J: Nicholas, we have to go. She gives him a look that says 'there's no time for this now.' He nods. INT. NICK'S CAR. J: This is a key to a locker in the Civic Center. And inside there locker there's fifty thousand dollars and the location of the next fire that Mario Larouche was to have set. NICK: Where did the money come from? J: From a Toronto real estate developer who was paying Larouce to set and then cover up a series of Montreal arson fires. NICK: You left to reaffirm the vampire in you and you got involved in this? She shrugs. INT. THE PRECINCT. REESE: (to TRACY) Well, mystery solved on Knight. He just called in sick. You get anything on Robert MacDonaugh? TRACY: Yeah, I have a call in to a friend working on the police beat at the Montreal Gazette. She's asking around. One thing, though. She says McDonaugh has a sister living in Oxbridge. REESE: You may want to pay her a visit. TRACY: I'm on my way. INT. NICK'S CAR. NICK: So should I just go where you tell me to and guess everything else? JEANETTE: Larouche framed a friend of mine for the arson coverup. NICK: A friend of yours? J: Whom he then murdered. NICK: So you killed Larouche in revenge and the evidence in the locker clears your dead friend? Such a humanitarian gesture. J: Nicholas, I don't need your sarcasm, I need your help. You are not unaccustomed to taking injustices into your own hands. NICK: Alright, alright. Meanwhile, someone's trying to kill you. INT. ROBERT MCDONAUGH'S SISTER'S HOME IN OXBRIDGE. THAT NIGHT. PEGGY: How can I help you? TRACY: Mrs. Bolger, we found your brother's car abandoned. Do you have any idea who drove it to Charleton? PEG: Well, Bobby's girlfriend and his son Patrick are here for a few days. She was driving it. TRACY: Is she still in town? PEG: Patrick is still here. Jeanette said something about visiting her brother in the city. TRACY: Jeanette? PEG: Jeanette de Brabant. TRACY hands her the composite. PEG: Has something happened to her? TRACY: We're not sure. But we'd like to talk to her about something else we're working on. Do you know how I might contact her or her brother? PEG: No idea. But Patrick might. I could wake him if you want. TRACY: Actually that would be helpful. Thank you. INT. NICK'S CAR. NICK: You know I have to ask. JEANETTE hesitates. J: His name was Robert McDonaugh, and I was more in love with him than you can ever imagine. Nicholas, he has a son, Patrick. And he is an innocent. He doesn't understand why Robert was killed. When he grows up he will be told that his father was a criminal. And I cannot allow that. NICK: Where is his mother now? J: She died five years ago. I'm his mother, his official guardian. INT. PEGGY BOLGER'S HOUSE. THAT NIGHT. PATRICK: Is Jeanette okay? PEG: Of course. Just answer the detective's questions and then you can go back to sleep. PATRICK: Okay. TRACY: Did Jeanette tell you why you were coming to Toronto? PATRICK: To visit Uncle Nicholas. TRACY: Is his name De Brabant? PATRICK shrugs. TRACY: Have you ever met him? PEG: Frankly, none of us have. I didn't even know she had a brother until she mentioned it when she dropped Patrick off last night. PATRICK: Got a picture of him she gave me. TRACY: Really? Do you think it would be okay if you showed it to me? PATRICK ascends the stairs to his room and TRACY and PEGGY fidget. PEG: What exactly is the problem here? TRACY: Jeanette may be a material witness in a murder. PEG: Does that mean you think she was the killer? PATRICK returns with a framed studio photograph, which he hands to TRACY. PATRICK: That's them. There's her brother, right there. TRACY frowns. It looks like a recent photograph, albeit a bit suitably shadowy, of. . .NICK? ----------- COMMERCIAL ----------- INT. THE CIVIC CENTER. NICHOLAS and JEANETTE pull into the covered parking complex. They leave the car and continue the conversation. NICK: How did you meet him? JEANETTE: Well, I was living in a loft in and Robert just, ah, well, he barged in and swept me off my feet. ***JEANETTE'S FLASHBACK*** EXT. A burning high-rise. Flames are shooting from the windows, dangerously close to the firetruck ladders. It is night. INT. JEANETTE'S LOFT A fireman, ROBERT MACDONAUGH, staggers through billowing white curtains into a burning room where JEANETTE is curled against a wall, terrified and cornered by the fire. He picks her up and carries her out. ***END JEANETTE'S FLASHBACK*** INT. THE CIVIC CENTER. NICHOLAS and JEANETTE are walking down a long flight of stairs in a high-ceilinged, very modern but late-night-abandoned facility. JEANETTE: By the time he got to me he had already saved five others. His heroism was beyond my comprehension; a mortal risking his one short life so save others. I envied his courage. His mortality. He reminded me of you. NICHOLAS stops and looks at her, gratified. JEANETTE: It was through him I realized. . .that your quest to become mortal is right. NICK: It's strange, hearing that coming from you. JEANETTE: Strange that I was to find the truth that I saw in you and to find it again in Robert. He and I were together from the night of the fire. He had been injured that night and so he was transferred to the arson squad and that's when it all started with Larouche. NICK: But, how could the two of you be together--did you tell him what you were? JEANETTE stares and blinks. ***JEANETTE'S FLASHBACK*** INT. ROBERT MCDONAUGH'S HOME. It is night in a richly dressed house. ROBERT, PATRICK, and JEANETTE are relaxing in the midst of candles, warm spotlighting, and hearthfire. ROBERT is pacing slowly and it's obvious that he is waiting for PATRICK to go to bed. JEANETTE has PATRICK curled in her arms and is telling him a 'story.' JEANETTE: But Napoleon would not listen to General Mirac because he was married to Napoleon's sister Garanine, whom Napoleon. . .just. . ._hated._ PATRICK: Hated her? Why? JEANETTE: Well, she was very mean to him. In fact she used to beat him up. . .yes. Oh, and she smelled. Too much herring. PATRICK: His own sister used to beat him up? No way. JEANETTE: Yes! Patrick, don't make the mistake that a lot of men make. _Never_ underestimate a woman's strength. Anyway, because he didn't listen to his brother-in-law, Napoleon lost at Waterloo. And then of course. . .Wellington's army had caterers and Napoleon's men had to eat rats and _bugs._ PATRICK: Yuck. JEANETTTE: Yuck. Alright. It's rime for you to go to bed, hm? PATRICK: Yeah. Okay. Goodnight. JEANETTE: Goodnight. PATRICK hugs his dad and leaves. ROBERT: Night, buddy. Napoleon's sister smelled? JEANETTE: It's true! ROBERT: I don't know what it is but when you tell these stories it's like you were there. JEANETTE brushes off the remark, then considers it with a hint of doubt. J: What if I were to tell you that I was? ROBERT laughs and then is sobered by her expression. J: Robert. . .if we are to be together we can't have secrets, right? R: Oh, the 'I have a deep dark past' thing. Forget it, Jeanette, everybody has a past. J: Yes, but, there's a past and. . .there is a _past._ R: What are you getting at? J: In the time that we've been together, you've never seen me in the daylight. You've never seen me eating or drinking. R: Well, no, actually. J: And we haven't made love. R: That I've noticed. I figured you'd let me know when you were ready. Look, where is this going? J: Come here. Alright. Put your hand on my heart. He does, then tries again to find it. He brushes her neck for a pulse, then jerks his hand away in amazement, staring at her tensely. J: It's all right. It's all right. R: What the hell are you talking about--your heart's not beating! J: Robert, I would never hurt you. But you have to listen to me, please. If you love me-- R: This is some kind of joke, right? J: No. No. I'm older and have seen more things than you can ever imagine. ***END JEANETTE'S FLASHBACK*** JEANETTE glances at NICHOLAS with a hint of chagrin. NICK: How'd he take it? JEANETTE: Well, um. . .it was a long night. But love, as they say, conquers all. NICK: How was Robert involved in the arson coverup? J: He told Mario that he knew what was going on and he wanted to be part of it. ***JEANETTE'S FLASHBACK*** INT. ROBERT MCDONAUGH'S HOUSE. MARIO: These Toronto real estate guys make fifty grand a job. I torch the building and then I do the arson report. And it's perfect. JEANETTE is listening to them behind a glass brick wall. ROBERT: They'll pay that much? MARIO: You're kidding? I saved them twelve _million_ last year. I speed up business for them. And nobody gets hurt. Abandoned buildings, warehouses. ROBERT: You make sure no one's living in them? MARIO: So there's a few squatters now and then. But you guys always get them out. JEANETTE is enraged. She remembers ROBERT plunging through the flames to save her. MARIO: You think I wanna kill people? Look, Robert, you could retire. In a few years, tops! Spend the rest of your days with your lovely Jeanette, lying in the Florence sun. . . You know, she could use some sun, that one. ROBERT: Let me think about it. ***END JEANETTE'S FLASHBACK*** JEANETTE: Of course, he never intended to got through with it. He just wanted to confirm the coverup. His mistake was to underestimate how ruthless Larouche was. NICK: It's a common mistake. They leave the stairs and cross through a lobby to a large complex of lockers. As they reach the right one, two men emerge from behind a pillar ten yards away. JEANETTE whispers as NICHOLAS stands over her, blocking sight. SHORT THUG: Let them open it first. NICK spots them. N: We're being watched. Let's come back another time. They ditch the locker and break into a stiff, hurried walk. The THUGS follow as they jog, then run through the lobby and into a dark escalator corridor. JEANETTE and NICHOLAS reach the bottom and the THUGS fire several shots, one of which hits JEANETTE in the shoulder. She cries and sinks to the floor, bleeding. The THUGS vanish as other people come running. JEANETTE: I forgot to tell you. I'm. . .I'm mortal. A POLICEWOMAN yells from the top of the escalator and they stumble through the exit. NICHOLAS gathers JEANETTE and flies them away. ------------ COMMERCIAL ------------ EXT. TORONTO SKYLINE. A MIDAIR VIEW. INT. THE MORGUE. NATALIE'S OFFICE. NICHOLAS bursts in alone. NATALIE is in a light mood. NATALIE: Hey, you just missed some of my best work--that is, if you're into postmortem cranial examinations. NICHOLAS: Nat, I need a favor. JILL, NAT's assistant, wheels in another 'patient.' NAT: Thanks, Jill. JILL: No problem. NAT: Makes me nervous! Favors for you usually include a little more than 'can I borrow your car.' NICK: I'll need that, too. JEANETTE: Hello, Natalie. NICK: She's been shot. NAT: What. NICK: Nat, she needs something for the pain. Can you clean the wound and stitch it up? NATALIE touches JEANETTE'S shoulder and she winces. She feels her pulse, her forehead. NAT: Heart rate normal. . . . You _can't be._ NICK: She is. EXT. OUTSIDE THE CIVIC CENTER. POLICEWOMAN: What can I tell you, cap? A lady who looks like that, you remember her. And those two guys were definately trying to kill her. REESE looks at JEANETTE'S composite. REESE: Okay, thanks, Griffin. POLICEWOMAN: Sure. REESE: (to Tracy) Anything on her friend? TRACY: (stammers) Tall, blond, black coat. Hustled her out after she was shot. I've got the hospitals covered. REESE: Okay. . .so we got a wounded murder suspect and an accomplice, both of them being shot at by persons unknown for reasons unknown. Kinda gives you the feeling this thing's a little more complicated than you thought. TRACY: Oh yeah. Cap'? REESE: What? TRACY: (stammers again) Oh, uh, nothing. Forget it. INT. THE MORGUE. NATALIE'S OFFICE. NAT is finishing up JEANETTE'S BANDAGE and looks as though she will start crying any time now. NATALIE: Now I don't want anyone getting me wrong here, I think we all know that I'm not exactly _against_ vampires regaining their mortality, but _how the hell are we going to explain this?!_ You're protecting a murder suspect--correction--confessed killer. And here I am sewing her up and what? Forgetting to file a report? NICHOLAS: Nat, take it easy. NAT: Oh, I would love to take it easy. JEANETTE: I'm _sorry_ I got you both involved. NAT: How comforting. . . . . So. How. NICK: I don't know. NAT: Don't you want to know? NICK: Of course I do. J: I fell in love with a mortal. NATALIE looks at her in surprise. J: I think I knew the change was possible the first time we made love. NICK looks at NATALIE. NATALIE looks at the floor. ***JEANETTE'S FLASHBACK*** JEANETTE and ROBERT are making love in his living room. She begins to hear his heartbeat. She bites him and he loses consciousness. She eventually stops, but his heart is still beating. ***END JEANETTE'S FLASHBACK*** NICHOLAS: What made you stop? JEANETTE: His blood was inside me--you know that feeling, Nicholas. It's unlike anything a mortal can experience. But there was something more. Blood calms our hunger, yes. But his blood calmed my heart. I felt warmth. And each time we made love he let me feed and each time, I needed less and less. I don't know, I don't. . .maybe we were simply meant to be. NATALIE: Wait a minute, wait a minute. That _can't_ account for what happened, can it? _Fate?_ You're telling me that all it took for you to become mortal was love and a little restraint? JEANETTE: No, no. No. For that to happen, there was a price to be paid. ***JEANETTE'S FLASHBACK*** She and ROBERT are walking close together on the street when a RIFLEMAN on the roof of a building takes a shot and he falls. A nearby car is hit and bursts into flame. JEANETTE is thrown to the ground beside ROBERT. ROBERT: Patrick. Take care of my son. J: No, Robert, no! I can save you, bring you across! Robert! She tries to vamp and cannot. He dies. ***END JEANETTE'S FLASHBACK*** J: I tried to bring him back. I tried. I don't know if it was our lovemaking, or if somehow taking in his blood had changed me, but. . .it didn't work. It was as though eight centuries of repressed emotion were being released. I thought I was going to die. I hoped I would die. NICK: Instead, you became mortal. J: (nods) The vampire in me lingered. Or should I say, the killer in me. But after I killed Larouche, I felt it finished. Completely. I'm willing to confess and I'll accept whatever punishment I'm given. NICK: What about Patrick? J: He still has his aunt and uncle and they love him deeply. As I do. NAT's phone rings. NAT: Lambert. Yeah, sure, I can have that ready for pickup in a few minutes. Okay. Well, the real world intrudes. I'm afraid that we won't have the place to ourselves for very much longer. That local anesthetic will wear off in about an hour. Here, take one of these every four hours after that. J: Natalie, thank you. NAT: (bad additude) You're welcome. J: I'd like to call Patrick's Aunt Peggy to make sure that he's all right. INT. THE PRECINCT. TRACY is frowning at the picture of JEANETTE and NICHOLAS, trying to make sense of it. INT. PEGGY'S HOUSE. A telephone rings. We see a gun set on a table. The SHORT THUG answers the phone. THUG: Hello? JEANETTE: Who is this? THUG: We decided that maybe there was something you valued more than your own life. THUG: We propose an exchange. Auntie and Nephew for the key. INT. THE MORGUE. JEANETTE is horrorstricken. NICHOLAS takes the phone and listens. INT. PEGGY'S HOUSE THUG: All we want is the key. ---------- COMMERCIAL ---------- INT. NATALIE'S CAR. NICK: I'll do it their way, don't worry. No surprises. JEANETTE: Those people will kill anyone if it suits them. The way we used to. INT. PEGGY'S HOUSE. The SHORT THUG paces, and PEGGY and PATRICK look at each other in apprehension. The other thug, the RIFLEMAN who shot ROBERT, places a small bomb at the foot of a bookcase. INT. THE MORGUE. NATALIE and TRACY, walking through one of the few not-depressing parts of the morgue. TRACY: Nat. NAT: Hey Trace, what can I do for you? TRACY: Actually, I need your advice. NAT: Well, a pathologist's advice is freely given. Most of my patients don't pay up anyway. TRACY: It's about Nick. I think he's involved with a woman who's a murder suspect. NAT: What makes you think that? TRACY: I talked to her ward, a boy named Patrick. Here's a photocopy of a picture he showed me. Recognise him? NAT: No, but then it isn't the best picture, is it? I mean, the guy, I admit, looks a little like Nick, but it's hard to tell from here. TRACY: But they boy said he's her brother. NAT: (hastily) Ah, well, there you go, Nick has no family. TRACY: But if it is him, and he's protecting a fugitive. . .you know something, don't you. NAT: Yeah. I know Nick. And I know that he always tries to do the right thing. TRACY ducks her head and rolls her eyes as NAT walks off. EXT. PEGGY'S HOUSE. NICHOLAS and JEANETTE approach, cloaked in the darkness. NICK: Just try to stay calm. I won't let anything happen. The SHORT THUG, brandishing a long-barreled handgun, opens the door. THUG: Come in. INT. PEGGY'S HOUSE. THUG: (to NICHOLAS) Now, whoever you are, you shouldn't have gotton involved in this. Over there. NICK: We have a deal. Their lives for the key. THUG: That's the deal. NICK: Untie them first. THUG: First the key. PATRICK whimpers for his 'mother.' JEANETTE: Honey, it's okay. It'll be over soon. NICHOLAS and the THUG stare stonily at each other. NICK: I'm just reaching into my pocket. NICK: Jeanette! Jeanette, I can bring you across! JEANETTE!! J: No. No. Don't. . . NICHOLAS roars, revealing his fangs. ----------- COMMERCIAL ----------- INT. THE MORGUE. NICHOLAS enters the morgue and is greeted by a smiling NATALIE in a room awash with a golden glow. NAT: I just got the test results. What caused Jeanette to become mortal was the massive dose of beta blockers and noraepynephrine caused by her emotional trauma. It means that we've been doing the right thing all along. And I've got proof positive. Nick. . .we're going to have a baby! She is positively beatific as NICK embraces her with exultation. (But how long does 'beatific' ever last in this show??) REESE: (V/O) Knight, where the hell are you? We've got a double homicide on our hands, semi- seven. INT. NICK'S LOFT. NICHOLAS falls out of his dream sharply. REESE: (On the answering machine) I want you there ASAP, Knight. NICK gets out of bed with a nasty 'wouldn't-you-know-dammit' sneer. INT. THE CIVIC CENTER. Cops all over the place. A couple of bodies on stretchers. TRACY: (greeting NICK) Hey. You okay? You look a little wierd. NICK: Yeah, I'm fine. I want to thank you for covering for me earlier. TRACY: Look. I don't know what you were doing with this 'Jeanette' person, or why--just please tell me it was the right thing, and it's not going to come back and haunt us. NICK: No, it's not gonna come back to haunt us. But, as to whether or not it was the right thing--I don't know. TRACY: So we found this in the locker. Looks like Mario Larouche was up to some pretty dirty business with a Toronto real estate developer. NICK moves to NATALIE, who smiles gently. NICK: Hi. NAT: So, everything smoothed over? NICK: As well as can be expected. Patrick will be fine with his uncle and his aunt. NAT: Okay, well, let's hope so, he's been through a lot. NICK: Nat. What Jeanette said about how much she loved Robert. About what happened between them. I can't take that kind of chance with your life. NAT: (sadly) I know. I keep repeating to myself, 'extraordinary circumstances,' and I think I'm okay with that. How about you? Are you okay? NICK: So far. NAT: (femme fatale) Good. Because your night just got off to one hell of a lousy start. She unzips a body bag, and pulls back the collar of the deceased SHORT THUG. Vampire bite wounds. NICHOLAS stares at them guiltily. NATALIE, ice-princess, leaves the bag open and stalks away. NICHOLAS zips it closed hastily. INT. THE RAVEN. THE CERK STUDIO. LACROIX: Even Leonardo could not capture all of her beauty. Strange how things turn out, isn't it? Through hellish circumstance, she obtains what is so elusive to you, only to have that one-in-a-billion happenstance taken from her by you. He and NICHOLAS converse, with JEANETTE, in portrait form, in their midst as always. LX: I don't know whether to laugh or to cry for you, Nicholas. NICK: She must have left it here today. You haven't told me everything. LX: No. But then neither have you. It seems that I have lost a daughter, and _regained_ a son. Plus ca change, Nicholas, plus ca change. FADE OUT.