Part Sixteen
 

A look of horror was all that Nat's expression reflected when she entered the
lab and rushed to Mark who had slid to the floor, and was sitting in the midst
of all the pandemonium.  Falling to the floor along side him, she held him
tightly.  Her heart feeling as if it would pound out of her throat as she
fearfully cried to him.

"What happened Mark?  Are you all right?"

He tried a reassuring hug, but he hardly had the strength to sit up.  He only
remained upright because she held him up.  Unable to take in a deep breath, he
pushed out a few words with shallow wisps of air.  "There is no time Natalie
to explain."  His wicked cough caught him off guard, and he spit up blood onto
her, but he continued to speak.  "Natalie, help me one last time.  I need you
to take the injection that is in my hand.  This will make you well again.  You
will be able to go back into the light.  Please Natalie, let me see you take
this before I die."

She held him to her closer and pleaded with him.  "No Mark, you're not going
to die!  I won't let that happen!  We'll get a doctor."

"Natalie, I have been sick for a long time.  My cough has been more than
allergies.  I have cancer, and I don't have much time.  Please do this before
there is nothing left of me.  Please Natalie, take the injection now.  I love
you Natalie.  This is all I have ever wanted, to see you happy and healthy."

As his breathing turned into harsh gasps, Nat grabbed the syringe and injected
it into herself as tears streamed down her face.  With tremendous effort, Mark
reached over to her and ran his fingers down her face then handed her an
envelope.  "This is for you to read after I'm gone."

"No Mark, please!"

"Natalie."  He smiled.  "Could you walk over to the window?  It's daybreak,
and I want to see your face in the sun."

Crying hard, she moved to the window.  The sun lit up her features, and there
was no reaction.  Mark's face lit up.  "It worked.  It worked.  Don't cry
Natalie...we did it."  Suddenly Mark's body began to shudder, and he fell
weightless to the floor.  Rushing back to him, Nat screamed out.

"MARK!"

Clutching the letter from him in her hand, she dropped to her knees along side
him.  Her haunting sobs filled the ransacked lab as she leaned over his
lifeless body.  Wiping the endless tears from her eyes, she ripped open the
envelope and tried to read through tear blurred eyes.

    Dear Natalie,

    How do I begin this final letter to you?  As I write this, I know that I
    have precious little time.  I also know that you think that since our
    wedding day that I have forsaken you, that I have devoted myself to my
    work instead of to us.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Every
    second of my time has been spent searching for a cure to the virus you
    contracted the night you were found outside of Nick Knight's building.

    I hope that you have used the injection that I have developed.  This is a
    cure for you my love, but it did not come without a very high cost.  The
    methods that I used to eliminate this virus, from you, were highly
    unorthodox and perilous.  They have directly led to my death.  I have
    destroyed all evidence of my work, for it is too dangerous to repeat what
    I have done.  I took risks that I should not have, just as you had done
    for Nick Knight.  Somehow you survived, but I certainly will not.

    I'm not afraid to die, especially for such a good cause.  It only saddens
    me that I will not be here to walk with you in the sunlight.  I will miss
    your smile, your laugh, and your beauty.  I love you more than life
    itself; you are everything to me.  I know now that although you cared for
    me, that you never truly loved me in return.  I knew this before we
    married, but I tried to make myself believe that I could change fate.  I
    learned a very bitter lesson.  I now know that mere memory loss cannot
    change a person's feelings.  You never loved me, you always loved another.
    I wanted you to love me, but it was not meant to be.

    Although this hurts to write, you must return to your destiny.  Nick
    Knight awaits you, and you must go to him.  He can explain your illness to
    you.  He loves you too, and it was decided long before any of us were born
    that the two of you couldn't separate.  I will no longer be an obstacle to
    your love for each other.  My death will give you your freedom.  I love
    you Natalie.  Thank you for being my wife.

    All my love, Mark

Dropping the letter by her side, she screamed out her anguished cries.

"Mark!  Mark!  Why did you do this?  I'm so sorry Mark!"

Nick arrived to see Nat on her knees by Mark's body, and he slowly moved
towards where she mourned, and picked up the tear soaked letter to read.
Tears flowed non-stop as she sat next to Mark's body and stroked his back.  "I
did love you Mark.  I really did love you, but my love poisoned you."  Her
sobs became too heavy to continue to speak, and she began to just cry into her
hands.

After reading the note, Nick watched and waited as Nat cried on the floor next
to her dead husband.  He knew that she hurt, and that she needed to cry.  Mark
had known about what he was and about what Nat was becoming.  He had even
known about their love for one another.  Mark gave up his life so that Nat
could be happy.  If ever there existed a true hero, it was him.  Leaning over
Nat, he helped her to her feet.  Her body shook as she grabbed onto him and
cried with all the deepness of her soul.  After several minutes, she looked
out of red puffy eyes to him.

"He knew about us."

"I know."

"He died because of me."  Her choked sobs continued.

"No Nat, that is not true.  He knew what he was doing.  He made his own
choices."

"I didn't want him to die.  I didn't want him to risk his life.  Why did he do
this?"

"He needed to do this.  He needed to prove to himself his love for you.  He
never told you because he knew that you would have stopped him."

"He loved me, and I couldn't love him back.  I should have..."

"Should have what?  Forced yourself to love him?  Pretended to love him?  Do
you think that is what he wanted?  Love isn't like that.  You know that, and
Mark knew that too."

"Then why does it hurt so much?"

"Because Mark was a good man, because you are a good woman, and most of all
because life is not fair."

"How will I live with this pain?"

"I have seen you suffer losses before Nat, you will survive.  Mark did not
expect for this to be an ending.  He died so that you could begin to love and
live.  This is his gift to you.  Do not throw it away.  Do not throw his life
away.  Come."  Putting his arm over her shoulders, he walked with her out of
the lab, and for the first time in almost four years, she walked into the
morning sunshine.
 

End Part Sixteen

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