Shadow started to feel a creeping concern leach through her, her eyes narrowed a little towards Thorn as her mind began to turn over all sorts of possibilities... she felt a edge of the paranoia, the self same emotion that used to consume her back in the days when they first met, back when she had little control over her own destiny as it lay almost entirely within Tim's grasp.  Finally Thorn spoke, her words hammered hard against her... Shadow's mouth fell open, her lower lip trembling a little as she ran Thorn's statement over in her mind, trying to get it to sink in...<br/><br/><em>He was... dead... how could that be, she was sure the dosage was correct, she had administered it so many times before...</em>This was completely unexpected and knocked her of kilter a little.  The rim of her eyes started to well with a wetness as she looked on in silence at Thorn as she sat across the room from her<br/><br/>As Thorn stood, Shadow couldn't hold back the swell of tears from her eyes and she felt a trickle of moisture roll down the flushed skin of her cheek.  It wasn't the fact that he was dead that upset her, after all they were the very dealers of death, rather it was the the feeling that she had let Thorn down.  The woman who had saved her, who had bought her back from the brink and right now Shadow felt crushed by the weight of her own mistake.  She was shaking softly as she met the embrace of her lover, her arms wrapped about her waist and her head nestled against her shoulder, she took some solace from Thorn's gently whispered reassurances but she was far less forgiving with herself.  Shadow's eyes rose to meet hers and she gave a weak smile as she spoke of their 'date' and the potential employee and nodded softly at her instruction...<br/><br/>Shadow felt the sudden warmth of her lips as they touched against hers, her eyes closed as she gently returned the quiet passion laced within its embrace..."I am so sorry Thorn..." her voice little more than a whisper as their lips parted, Shadows eyes still closed from the soft union they had shared.