Queen of Pain

"What was in there is lost now. The fire consumed everything we were working on."

"Is it true there was a body inside?"

A man in a dark suit pulled the woman away from the reporter and guided her to his car.

"I'm sorry about all of this, Alex. The fire inspector will be here soon to try and establish the cause of the blaze."

He opened the door for her and waited until she stepped inside. As he went around the car to get into the driver's side, the woman watched the flames grow high, engulfing the entire laboratory. A small smile tugged at her lips.

"Jesus, Alex, I can't believe everything is gone. All the work and the body . . . it's all gone."

She turned and smiled at the man.

"It's okay, André, I still have my notes and some of the photos from the expedition. I'll write up a summary and turn it in to the board."

He started the car and pulled away from the crowd that had gathered to watch the fire burning. He felt awkward around her. They had worked together for many years, but have never been close. There had always been a respectful distance between them. He looked over to her and stared for a moment.

"Is there something wrong, André?"

"I never noticed that you had blue eyes. I always thought they were dark brown."

~ ~ ~

The fireman lay gasping for breath in the back of the ambulance. He had suffered burns over a large part of his body. The EMT placed a needle in his arm and started an IV. He looked over at her, knowing that his injuries were bad and started to cry.

The woman looked into his eyes with her dark brown eyes. Leaning to whisper in his ear over the sound of the sirens, she smiled and held his hand.

"I can take it all away."