Six months later

"I want in."

Soft words, hardly worthy of what Jesse has imbued them with, they still take the strength from his body.

"Really?" Eckhart drawls and Jesse braces himself. Sam, who stands behind Eckhart in a parody of attentive soldier looks at him oddly. But the alternative is unthinkable, the not knowing. Having his daughter talk about another voice, a telepath in her head. Eve telling him how she ignores the voice and then it goes away. He's not sure how long that control will last. But it's not a risk he's willing to take. Everyone deciding what's best for his child, except him.

"Yes," he replies simply. Eckhart rises, prowls around the desk until they are close, until Jesse can see the eyes behind those thick frames. Triumphant. Jesse refuses to give a shit.

"Become a part of the GSA?" Eckhart taunts. He clasps an arm to his heart mockingly.

"We're honored."

"If that's what it takes," Jesse bites out." I want to know when a telepath is going to pay a visit to her head. I want to know what I can do."

"Very well," he says. He withdraws, too easily.

"There's a retrieval mission tomorrow. Nicole Hornsby. She has the ability to identify other New Mutants. The GSA can always use more with that particular gift."

He meets Sam's gaze. Recognizes it finally. Sadness. Sam can't save him from this.

~~~

The moment stretches between them, when the sense of just knowing becomes the reality at the other end of the hall.

Jesse. Nicole between him and another agent...and this was Jesse. The elevator sounds, and the doors slide open, and...

"I'm done with Mutant X"

Reverberates between them, in Brennan's head until he says it with more finality than before.

"Jesse."

Eyes, fathomless across this expanse of cheap carpets and peeling paint...and this chasm between them. Jesse pulls Nicole into the elevator and Brennan fall into the emptiness between them, draws the energy within him, watches it form between his hands and dimly hears Nicole's voice begging, pulling against Jesse and the other agent, but Brennan aims, fucking aims at them all in the elevator.

It happens so fast, too fast that Nicole slips and the other agent steps in front of Jesse, falls against him, into the elevator from the blast and then there's the deafening silence after until Jesse says brokenly,

"Sam?"

The doors close.

~~~

They leave Nicole ensconced in a safe house, her new identity already being prepared. The trip back to Sanctuary is quiet, silence presses down on them all seeing Jesse there, like *that*.

"Jesse was there," Emma says when Adam meets them.

"What ?" he hisses. Shal sinks down into the couch, next to Emma. Brennan, perches on the armrest next to her.

"Yeah...for Nicole. There was another GSA agent with him," Brennan says. They can't forget now, not Jesse's first message which was too easy to ignore, to push out of their heads and pretend it was a bad dream. This...is a fucking punch in the gut.

"Adam?" Emma prods gently and Adam jerks like an unwilling puppet on strings.

"I want you and Shalimar to change Sanctuary's security codes again. Every week. I'll handle the codes on the systems..."

Brennan tunes him out, he knows these instructions by heart.

"I don't want to take any chances..."

Shalimar snorts, brings Brennan back to the present.

"I have some leads I want to check out first, let Brennan do it," she says. Brennan exchanges a glance with Emma. They knew this was coming.

"What leads?" Brennan forces himself to ask. Shalimar rises, her back ramrod straight, she's bracing herself.

Christ, Brennan thinks, not now. Not now. The last thing he wants is another argument over Jesse.

"Why now?" she asks. "Why is Jesse out in the field now? What's it been? Almost two years? And then suddenly after one phone call he's out in the field. It doesn't make sense."

Shal looks at them defiantly. It's thin. And she knows it.

"Shal, look, we know you don't want to believe..."

But Shal shies away and Emma's hand falls.

"No, anything's possible," she insists, and it's Emma who answers.

"That's just it, though, Shal," she murmurs. "Anything is possible. Like Jesse is working for the GSA."

Brennan knows it needed to be said, that Shal needed to *hear* and he knows what's coming. Shalimar straightens, her lips pursed angrily.

"Fine," she says her voice cutting. Cold. "Security codes? You got it." Without waiting for an answer she stalks off to the lab.

"Shit," Emma whispers fervently. "I guess I should have kept my mouth shut."

"No," Adam says. "Jesse is the closest thing to family she's got. She needs to make up her own mind."

He sighs, runs a hand through his hair tiredly.

"Until then, the codes still have to be changed."

"Let me go," Brennan says immediately. Emma looks at him with something akin to relief. Playing the buffer between the two of them is not something Brennan willingly does, but he'll do his part.

"Are you sure?" Emma asks, a perfunctory question. Brennan nods, he's sure he can handle this.

~~~

They work together silently, concentrating on the codes that need to change, on the security systems that Jesse helped design. That Jesse hasn't even attempted to break. Emma works on the outer security systems around Sanctuary. Sensitive now, more than they have ever been, but still there has been no attack.

"You don't believe he turned on us."

He has no idea why he says that, why he would even think it considering what he's seen. But he waits for an answer.

"Do you?" Shalimar asks instead her voice neutral. She remains fixed on the screen in front of her.

"What else should we think?" he counters, follows her lead of twenty questions.

Her fingers fly over the keys, until Brennan stops, turns to her and waits. Eventually she stops too.

"I'm not having this conversation again," she mutters. "You believe what you want to, Brennan."

Brennan bites back an angry sigh at her evasions, at her belief.

"He made a choice, Shal. He said so, and Genomex was it. So please tell me what the hell I'm supposed to think?"

He doesn't mean to be angry, he doesn't mean to beg, but it doesn't matter. Shalimar remains unmoved.

"You were the one fucking him, Brennan. Why don't you tell me?"

Brennan stumbles back, feels the force of her words, the denial that springs to his lips. Shal turns to him then. Cold. Anger rolls off her in waves.

"Shal..."

"I could smell him on you Brennan."

He doesn't know what to say, doesn't know where to begin. Shal presses her advantage, steps close, her breath against his skin.

"You went to his bed, you *fucked* him," she hisses. "You're in the best position to tell any of us, do you think Jesse would leave? Go work for the GSA?"

He knows of what she speaks, of loyalty, of friends, of places like Hillview and Jesse who saved his ass on a regular basis, who came to him and trusted him, and Brennan is ashamed because he can't answer her.

"You saw him, Shal. You listened to Nicole. What else are we supposed to think?" he babbles.

A throat clears noisily behind them, jerks them back to the present. Shal spins away to Adam who watches them from the doorway.

"You two about done here?" he asks.

"Almost," Brennan replies.

Adam's glance wavers between the two of them and Brennan thinks he's going to say something more, sighs when Adam doesn't.

"Think you can finish up on your own, Shalimar? Emma needs some help in the sensors."

"Sure," Shal nods. Brennan leaves, aware that nothing is settled. Of Shalimar as she watches him leave.

~~~

Emma sighs, burrows into her pillows tiredly. Brennan follows her into her room, wants to ask her again. Emma sits up, looks at him leaning against the dresser.

"Did you know that Shalimar brought Jesse to Adam?" she asks her words soft, soothing even if her eyes weren't.

Brennan frowns, wonders if he's broadcasting again.

"Adam says they saved each other," she continues. "I just...I understand why she doesn't want to believe that he's with the GSA."

"So we let her believe what she wants to then." Brennan challenges. Emma shrugs.

"She'll make up her own mind Brennan." He knows she's right. Knows that Shal will not be pushed into anything.

"What do you think?" he asks softly. Her eyes flick away as she sits up. Stares at the floor.

"I know what I saw," she answers. " But then, I don't know what to think either. I don't want to ..."

Emma shakes her head. Looks up at him.

"I don't know."

~~~

"Ow."

Consciousness brings pain, sharp pricking behind his lids and opening his eyes isn't a battle Sam wants to win.

"Sam!"

His name pierces the blissful darkness and the idea of retreating disappears.

"Ow..." he mutters again as he struggles to rise. Which is about when it hits him that he's not in his bed and...Eve.

Lights on low, his eyes still ache.

"Sam!"

Pure delight before he hears Jesse admonish her gently.

"Shhh, Eve. Softly sweetheart."

Eve bounds into the room, her hands twisting in the sheets to hoist herself up. She's growing into her skin now. Sam can see it in the limbs that were once gangly but which now fit like they should.

"How are you feeling?" Jesse asks as he picks Eve up and settles her on the bed. Big blue eyes look at him earnestly, hanging on his every word.

"Okay, I guess," Sam smiles at Eve and she smiles, lights up her entire face.

"Are you sure?" Jesse asks concern etched on his face. "I can ask Harrison to come check on you..."

Sam shakes his head but then the room spins.

"Er, no," he says. The last thing he needs is more drugs. Here you never knew where you would end up, or if you would indeed wake up at all.

Case in point.

"Why am I here?" he asks. Interesting to see Jesse blush, small confirmation of the understanding at the back of Sam's mind. The thing he tends not to look too closely at.

"You were hurt," Eve says, rolls her eyes at the stupidity of concussed adults. Sam knows the feeling. Like he knows these two, no matter how hard he's tried not to. Dangerous for them all. Not to mention stupid.

"You've been out of it for the past day and a half," Jesse informs him. Christ, Sam thinks. Tries to clear the cobwebs but all he knows is the explosion of pain at his back and darkness. The elemental, Brennan.

"Oh," Sam manages intelligently. "Eckhart let you..."

His voice trails off as he nods towards the rest of the spartan room. Jesse ducks his head, shakes it shyly. There's the hint of the person he was before Genomex, that Sam sometimes wishes he knew.

"He's in Washing'on," Eve informs him brightly.

"That's right," Jesse nods. "Harrison wanted to keep you in the infirmary overnight. I convinced him to let me bring you here. He's currently busy thanks to the Strand..." he shrugs. Glances pointedly at Eve. Ah. Sam keeps quiet.

"Evie, honey, why don't you go watch a video?"

"Beauty and the Beast?" she asks, her voice just wavering on the edge of delight.

"Yeah, it's already in there, so you know what to do right?"

"Daddd," she whines and disappears off into the other room. Of course she knows.

"It's been a busy couple of days. Nicole? She was a plant for Gabriel. The Strand attacked a safe-house. The GSA sent a cleaning crew that got caught in the middle. But Eckhart has a few Strand members that for now Harrison is dealing with."

"So...it's been busy huh?" Sam jokes weakly. Jesse shakes his head ruefully, jerks a thumb at the door.

"She's hungry. I was going to get her some dinner. We'll let you rest for a while."

"Here, here...lets eat here!" Eve darts into the room, trying her best to look guilty for eavesdropping. The grin however gives it away.

"Eve," Jesse manages a scolding tone in the one word. Sam figures it's a parent thing.

"It's okay," Sam says quickly. "I mean, I'd like that."

Jesse grins, it almost matches Eves.

By the end of dinner Eve is asleep, her head resting against Sam's shoulder. Most of the soup lies spattered against the sheets. Then there's the drool Sam can feel against his arm. Jesse doesn't eat much, his focus is Eve, getting her to take one last sip of the soup.

"Let me take her," Jesse says finally. He scoops her up easily, balances the bowls in his other hand.

"I'll be right back."

Sam watches them disappear into the next room, to Eve's room. He knows there are brightly colored paintings on the wall. Sam remembers the one that is him - a stick figure in a garden of flowers. He only figures that out when Jesse tells him that he told Eve about Italy, about the gardens there. Sam remembers walking in on them, Eve in bed, Jesse guiding her hand. Jesse had been helping her write his name. They had both looked up when he walked in and Eve had smiled brightly and waved her drawing at him. He had forgotten about the IV stand next to the bed.

Sam rouses himself from the memory. He rises awkwardly, teeters on too unsteady legs before the room stops spinning. He's dressed in sweats and a T-shirt - his own, thank God. The thought of the wearing Jesse's Genomex issue sweats makes his skin crawl.

Sheets, he could do the sheets.

The closet holds a neat row of black t-shirts and sweats. The clothes Jesse wore to Nicole's retrieval are slung over a chair. He fingers the t-shirts. A small touch, they're just clothes, but he wonders how deep it's sunk into Jesse. It does to everyone else.

"You don't have to do that." Jesse pushes him aside. "Let me.."

Jesse strips the bed quickly and efficiently. Sam goes to the other side, helps tuck in the edges. Housekeeping issues aside, he stares at Jesse, disconcerted because he can't read him. Most of all, he cannot fathom why he is here.

"Why don't you hate me?"

Sam winces at the question. He half hopes Jesse'll ask him to leave.

Instead, Jesse stops, surprise Sam realizes, colors his features.

"I don't hate you."

"Why?" Sam presses ruthlessly. There's a sigh, deeper than Sam can imagine. Jesse's face twists as the answer spills forth.

"You're nice to me. You're nice to Eve."

Hardly as simple as all that - Sam can see it in Jesse. In the way his eyes flick away to the stark whiteness of the sheet, anywhere but him.

"Rest," Jesse offers. A beat, too long, and it's the admission Sam's been looking for, woven in his apology.

"I'm sorry. This won't happen again. I'll be with Eve if you need anything."

Then he's gone, edging past Sam carefully.

Harrison checks on Sam the next day. It's a cursory once over, in between a report on the members of the Strand awaiting Eckhart's arrival. Sam convinces him he doesn't feel at all better while he ignores that part of his mind that's quietly having hysterics at his plan. He isn't at all sure if he'll survive if Eckhart finds out. But then, he thinks Jesse's been nice to him too.

Eve's check-up is next, a long arduous hour for her. By the end she succumbs to sleep, her blonde hair just visible over the top of her blanket. Harrison rolls off more instructions to Jesse before he leaves and it's just them suddenly across the expanse of Eve's room.

"You're still here," Jesse observes. Eve stirs and Sam gestures to the door. In the outer room Jesse waits for an answer, so Sam answers him.

Jesse tastes of sweet desperation and Genomex, but Sam doesn't mind because he's sure that he does too.

~~~

Touch.

Brief in an awkward dance as they try to get around each other in his office. Jesse turns from the window when Eckhart enters and maybe he's forgotten or maybe it's just his imagination but his fingers brush Eckhart's elbow as they move around one another.

It burns through the protection of his clothes and the shell that protects his body. Pause that screams between them because it turns out that Jesse knows what he's done. He looks at Eckhart curiously until Eckhart belatedly jerks away.

It burns.

"Have you considered Mutant GSA squads before?" Jesse asks his eyes never leaving Eckhart's. Unflinching.

"From time to time when the occasion calls for it," Eckhart hedges. They both know he has, but this is Jesse's game and Eckhart is willing to play. He can almost taste what this is.

Betrayal.

"Shalimar is afraid of fire," Jesse begins. "And Brennan...of himself. Of his powers being used against him."

"Elementals then?" Eckhart offers. Barely manages to hide his triumph.

"And a psionic. A full telepath, if possible. Strong enough to stand against Emma and someone not prone to underestimating her."

"Interesting," Eckhart allows before he settles himself behind his desk. He waits for the rest of the deal.

"Sam is good for Eve. He makes her happy."

"Indeed," Eckhart says mildly. "So is this a request?"

Jesse's face darkens. This route is well traveled. It's one of requests and threats and finally tradeoffs. It is one Eckhart has not dared and now he knows why.

"Very well," he backtracks. Jesse relaxes, but only just.

"I was going to assign Sam to you and Eve permanently anyway," Eckhart says. He doesn't tell Jesse that Sam's disappearance has been because he was interrogating the Strand members, or the retrieval of a small enclave of the Strand just this afternoon. Sam is nothing if not talented.

"Good," Jesse murmurs. He rises fluidly and disappears, the ever-present guard at his back.

Eckhart's elbow burns. He thought himself past this, past this need that itches beneath his skin. He swivels around to face his computer. Presses a key deliberately.

The figures paused on their black and white plateau begin to move. Firm, long kisses on Sam's lips whose hands trace the planes of Jesse's face caught in light and shadow. Mouth falls open and Jesse gasps at something. Eckhart imagines those lips bruised from kissing and wants to trace them. Instead his hand curls in its plastic prison.

Onscreen they are on the bed, clothes discarded along the way. Sam traces the smooth line of Jesse's back, threads his hand through his hair as Jesse kisses him again. Jesse breaks the kiss eventually, lifts his body as he tries to scramble out of his sweats. It's awkward and clumsy and maybe a little desperate too. Sam helps him then, whispers something to Jesse and makes Eckhart wonder what could make Jesse tremble like that. Sam moves, his finger traces the small of Jesse's back before it dips to the cleft of his ass and only then does Jesse go still. Sam retreats as they both undress quickly. Skin, that Eckhart knows is pale, slides against Sam until Jesse kisses him again. Onscreen Sam kisses Jesse's eyes, and Eckhart thinks he tastes salt on his lips.

~~~

"Mr. Eckhart?"

Appropriately inquiring Sam stands in the doorway, waits until Eckhart gestures for him to come inside.

"You wanted to see me?"

Eckhart slides the pamphlet across the desk.

"The Strand. More than the little adventure we've just enjoyed, I think Gabriel Ashlocke is going to try something soon."

Sam pales. Good, he's scared.

"Where did you get this?"

"A very nice woman was passing by my lawyers' offices today," Eckhart informs him. Sam doesn't disappoint.

"They need to be moved," he says. "Not the safe-houses, somewhere else."

"Very good," Eckhart approves. "You are talented after all. Before that happens though, we need to make sure that all loyalties are where they should be."

He knows of course, what Eckhart is talking about.

"Yes Sir."

~~~

Jesse feels them...

Behind him, crawling through the street, looking for him...hands over his skin, and then just the one pair and he can't do a damn thing about it...he gasps, away from the memory. The rough wall of the alley is good enough to drag him away from the memory. Cold, Jesse feels in his bones, in his mind. It was a simple extraction, another test, another mutant...but it wasn't.

Gabriel. Four days later most of it is still a blur. He thinks he remembers Eve, her presence against his, but all there was, was Gabriel. Now, he just hopes he was dreaming. That she didn't hear.

His left arm is tucked against his side, he probes the flesh, feels the bump of his chip there, spares a thought for the unconscious Nathan he left behind. Doesn't care if he broke the bastard's neck or not. So far though he's ok with the governor out.

He fingers the chip again. It's a from Eve's birth he noticed only a weeks after. She has one in the exact same spot. For the first time he prays it works.

In the distance he hears them again, draws his strength together and rises. He stumbles forward and there's a sign.

Peta's Pizzeria.

There's a safehouse two blocks away.

~~~

Four days.

Four days that stretch forever. Four days during which Eve cries and Sarah has to go into her mind and tell her that Jesse is all right. That Gabriel is a bad dream.

A shudder course through Sam at the thought of Gabriel using Jesse to get to Eve. A retrieval mission that quickly became an ambush...and four days later they still didn't have a clue where Jesse is. There is no signal from the tracking chip, they're also sure that Gabriel is shielding Jesse. Using Eve to get to him is not an option.

Four days and Sam isn't sure he has that much more time if they don't find Jesse. He isn't sure that Eve does either. He knows how the children of Genomex are molded, knows that they are taught and knows what awaits Eve.

The lab door gleams before him. He's been standing outside too long already. Beyond are the DNA samples of all GSA agents that have passed through Genomex. That have worn governors. He knows exactly where the sample will be, knows it's the only option he can live with if Jesse does not.

Sam opens the door.

"It seems great minds think alike."

Eckhart.

There's a file on the lab workbench before Eckhart. Behind, Harrison hovers.

"Thank you, Doctor," Eckhart says, his eyes never leaving Sam's. They both ignore Harrison as he scurries away.

"Would you like to know?" Eckhart asks conversationally. He places a hand flat on the file.

"I assume that you are here because you want to know where the other half of her DNA comes from? Whether it makes a difference to her health," Eckhart says. "After all, you do have her best interests at heart, isn't that correct?"

Eckhart slides the file across the bench to him.

Sam considers it for a moment, that lasts too long. Then reaches for the file.

"It doesn't make a difference, either way..."

Eckhart's voice reaches him while Sam's eyes narrow familiarly...but... he closes his eyes tightly.

Looks at Eckhart instead of the file.

"What?" he murmurs.

"Who her...other father is," Eckhart continues. "According to the doctor, he can't help her. Either way."

He knows, Sam thinks with certainty. Eckhart knows why he left Eve, why he's here.

Sam pushes the file back to Eckhart, aware that his fingers are shaking.

"Yes, Sir," he says dully.

"Mr Eckhart, Sir..."

They hear Harrison before they see him, frantic words and equally frantic footsteps before he skids to a halt in the doorway.

"They've just picked up a signal...Sir, it's him."

~~~

"What the hell..." Brennan mutters as Jesse staggers back from the kitchen counter and the fucking thing phases like Jesse does. Interminable moment until Jesse draws himself back together again, though the safe-house now has half a kitchen. There's half a slice of bread on the counter, and some cheese. A bottle of juice spills onto the floor.

Jesse looks like shit.

"Brennan?"

Shalimar and Emma appear, from the roof and the back entrance respectively. They peer around him.

"Jesse?" Shal says and Brennan hears the catch in her voice.

"Shal." There isn't one in Jesse's. But there are bruises instead. An arm he favors and blood that stains the sleeve. He backs into the corner, away from them, afraid. Shalimar moves to him and before Brennan can think he catches her arm, sees cold amusement in Jesse eyes. Defences are shored up as Jesse gathers himself.

"It's okay, Shal, I'm fine."

"Like hell," Emma snorts. Moves around to Jesse and tries to take him in her arms.

"Easy Emma," he says, gestures at half the kitchen that's left.

"You're bleeding," Shal says, jerks her arm out of Brennan's hold with ease. Glares at him. Brennan ignores that.

"It's nothing," he says, pulls away and stalks out past them to the other room.

Paces the room like a caged animal. Bare feet. He has bare feet, a pair of pants that's too big.

"Hungry huh?" Brennan asks, his voice hoarse. Jesse spares him barely a glance.

"What happened, Jess?" Emma tries this time.

"Nothing," his favorite word, but Jesse is too slow to avoid Shal as she strikes, catches his arm.

"What the hell is that?" she asks, her eyes wide. Jesse tries to jerk away. Shal squeezes.

"Jesse?"

"A tracking chip."

That little bombshell is met with silence. Every instinct in Brennan is telling him to run, that the GSA is coming. But he doesn't move.

"Who was trying to take it out?" Emma asks shrewdly. Jesse glances at her in surprise.

"Ashlocke," he relents. "They're looking for me. They're on the streets everywhere."

"Shit," Brennan mutters. Emma hurries to the back door, while Shal heads up to the street level entrance...and then staggers backward, falls as the door flies open. The walkway shudders ominously.

"Jesse."

The word wafts down relieved before a lone GSA agent descends and incensed Shalimar in his wake.

"Sam...I'm okay," Jesse says tiredly. Stands, though just barely before Sam makes it to his side and they are the intruders now. Sam bends his head to Jesse. It's a reunion. Sam sweeps him from head to toe. Jesse clutches at his coat.

"You're bleeding," the agent points out unnecessarily.

"Nathan, the chip," is Jesse's reply. Fuck if Jesse isn't paler as he staggers, no, pushes Sam away and... he phases.

"Get back," Sam snaps as Shal reaches for Jesse, Brennan too until he sees the fucking floor phasing and he pulls her back.

"Jesse, please you have to focus," the agent begs, steps right up to him and Brennan swears he sees Sam's legs phase before Jesse is solid and there's the snap of a governor being inserted.

"Did she hear me?" Jesse asks hoarsely. The question is anguished as if Jesse is afraid of the answer. A breath too long. That is Jesse's answer.

"Not all of it," Sam replies and Brennan knows now the bruises on Jesse's body, knows what *she* must have heard. Whoever she is.

"I'm calling Adam," Emma announces.

"*Dont*," Jesse hisses. "I'm fine."

"Right," Shal retorts.

"Ready?" Sam interjects. Jesse nods...and he's leaving again.

"Jess?" Brennan allows himself.

"Thanks," Jesse says, looks anywhere but at Brennan.

"Be careful when you leave," Sam says. "Ashlocke's followers might double back once they realize they're not following Jesse."

"I think we've got it covered," Shal mutters.

"Indulge me then," Sam replies coldly. Tightens his grip on Jesse before they leave.

~~~

"Tell me again," Adam says ruthlessly. Twice already and he's still asking for every detail.

"We found him at the safe house," Shal replies immediately. She paces the lab, as ruthless in her own way as Adam is in his.

"He looked pretty beat up and then this GSA...asshole shows up."

"Jesse phased," Brennan takes the story up, "and he didn't look like he could control it until the governor went in. And then they left."

"He was afraid for us," Emma says, her voice cuts across the silence in the lab. She looks up, clarifies her words quickly.

"I didn't pick up anymore than that...just fear."

"Why?" Adam asks. "Why would he be afraid for us? Ashlocke? Eckhart?"

No one answers.

~~~

Eve dreams, every night after, but her dreams are his - of Ashlocke and of the Strand. Eve dreams he left her. That he hurt.

Repairs to the rooms have stopped until her dreams do. That's why Jesse agrees to the telepath Sam suggests.

Sarah.

Who separated him from Eve for those four days. Who kept his child sane.

He watches as she settles next to Eve, uncaring that the lamp next to the bed starts to rise. Gently Sarah brushes Eve's hair away from her sweat slicked forehead. The chair in the corner rattles.

It's a bad dream.

A bad idea but Sam hold him, whispers that Eve will be safe, but this is the GSA and she got Eckhart's approval...until Eve cries out and he realizes he can't help her, that she needs him and he doesn't know what to do.

"Shhhh..." Sarah coos, caresses Eve's cheek until silence registers and the chair stops.

Eve sleeps.

"What did you do?" Jesse asks hoarsely. Bright brown eyes blink at him sadly.

"I told her you were okay, that you were safe and unhurt."

He'd tried so hard to keep Eve away from his head, had half convinced himself it was a bad dream, but she had heard, reached out for him because she was afraid.

"Her powers are growing much faster than anyone anticipated," Sarah rises from Eve's bedside and herds them outside.

"Give her some time and I will try to strengthen her defences..."

"What ?" he interrupts.

"Right now, her telepathy...it's mutating. Then probably her telekinesis. I don't know. But when Gabriel used you to get to her she reached for you. It was never you, Jesse," she says gently. "It's part of her instinct to reach for you."

"So they're linked?" Sam asks.

"They always have been," Sarah says softly. "Only now Eve knows that she can reach for him, her mind recognizes the link. But it doesn't have the defences to control everything that's happening to her body."

"Wait, wait...she can hear everything in my head?" Jesse asks.

"Only when the link is active. Right now she knows you're here, so she can't. But unchecked, she'll hear everything. And she can't handle that."

"She's a child" he whispers, begs but Sarah looks at him sadly.

"I can help, I can try and teach her..." Sarah offers and he sees hopelessness in her eyes.

He nods numbly.

~~~

Shal prowls the edges of the parking garage, slips inside easily. They're almost too late, but what matters she thinks is they saw the flag. Jeremy Anderson, a molecular that for no reason they could fathom appeared in their routine scans.

"Shal, we got GSA agents up here..." Brennan's voice rasps from her ring. Better late than never she amends silently.

"Do you see Jeremy?" she asks and his answer is a grunt of pain.

"No. They might be headed down to you, I don't know. I can't see a goddamn thing..."

"Be careful," she says absently. Senses already alive, she tracks the hurried footsteps that appear in the garage.

Three... no, four. Muffled grunts reach her. She runs....then wishes she hadn't.

Jeremy wasn't struggling, not while the governor went in, and not while Jesse holds him still, his head pressed against the hood of a standard GSA van. He is shuffled in and the door closes, the noise reverberating harshly in the garage.

"Jesse?" she says, thinks he couldn't possibly have heard until he turns to her. Fear.

Shalimar tastes bile at the back of her throat. Jesse stumbles across the front of the van and he's afraid of her. A last glance back before hands pull him into the van and Shal can't think anymore because there's fire in front of her, a great wall that licks at her skin...he's afraid of her and dimly she hears the squeal of tires as the van speeds away.

"Mutant GSA squads," Adam sighs. "It was just a matter of time."

"This one's a little more special," Emma says. Their report is finally over. Shal hasn't said a word. She can't, not around the hurt.

"An elemental, a water elemental, and a telepath who is much better at shielding than I am."

"Is that why you couldn't get him with your blasts?" Brennan asks. "I saw you blasting away, but nothing else."

"Yup," Emma says wryly. "He literally shielded himself, like we've seen Gabriel do, but I have no idea how he does it either."

Shalimar listens half-heartedly. She still feels the lick of flames against her skin.

"Shal, you're being awfully quiet," Adam prods.

"Two elementals," Shal says. "And Jesse was in the parking garage."

Silence, she faces them down unrepentant.

"Jesse, Anderson, an elemental - fire to be exact and Sam."

Sam. Such a simple name. She rises and thinks the simple things are the best place to start.

She settles at the console next to Adam, knows he watches her but doesn't care. Behind her Brennan and Emma are quiet and it's a little ominous because she knows the arguments that are coming.

She is so tired of this.

"Samuel Gray," she murmurs. The picture onscreen is a younger version of the agent. The background files come up and she notes his mutation - X-ray vision.

"Who?" Adam asks. She feels Brennan and Emma at her back.

"The agent with Jesse," Emma says. "Shal?"

"Why hasn't Eckhart come for us?" she asks. He has Jesse, he has the location of Sanctuary within his grasp and after all this time he still hasn't come."

It's bothered her, bothered them all for a long time, but no one has any answers.

"And if Jesse hasn't told him anything, why isn't he in a stasis pod somewhere?"

She sees interest in Adam and prays desperately that finally he will listen.

"So what do we do then, Shal?" he asks. Shal stares back at the screen, but has no answer. Realizes that she never has thought much further than this.

"How long are you going to go on with this?" Adam asks gently and Shal's eyes close because she didn't see this coming.

"You saw him take Jeremy, seen him try with Nicole..."

"She was a Strand..."

"Member," Adam finishes. "But he didn't know that."

"I want to hear him say it," she whispers. "I want Jesse to stand in front of me and tell me that he believes in what Genomex is doing."

"Shal..." Emma's voice is soothing, her words anything but. "What about Jeremy?"

"I don't know."

~~~

Pod 592.

Level 2.

Section 3.

Medium security level.

Jeremy Anderson, single, teacher at the high-school he went to.

Jesse hears the door open behind him but doesn't move. He knows it's Sam. He looks up when Sam stops next to him. A jacket gets slung over the couch. Pity on Sam's face earns a disgusted snort from him.

"Come on," he says, takes Jesse's hand in his. Jesse doesn't resist, can't. Follows Sam into the bedroom and then the bathroom. Jesse remains still while Sam strips him. Hands skim over his chest and he craves more. Needs something so that the litany of numbers in his head stops, so he doesn't see Jeremy being carted off. Hands at his waist, a question that he answers with a slight nod. The sweats fall, pool at his feet. Sam turns the water on and after a few moment says,

"Get in."

He gets in when Sam starts unbuttoning his shirt.

Water thunders around him, Jesse focuses on it against his skin, on the heat that suffuses his being because it's something else. He feels Sam behind him, feels the arm snake around his waist and draw him back.

"I'm sorry."

The words are almost drowned out but he hears, holds on to it until he manages to ask.

"Does it ever come off?" Jesse asks softly. Feels his skin crawl again.

"No," Sam says.

Jesse holds on to him then.

Later, Sam leads him out.

How do you this? Jesse wants to ask, but he doesn't. Can't bear the answer just yet.

"Don'tdon'tdon't..." Sam mumbles desperately, Jesse falls into the word ashamed, relieved. It makes him a coward, a Genomex agent ...and... big dark eyes blink at him, bring him back to the present.

Sam.

So he asks then.

"How do you do this?"

It comes out small and more childlike than he cares, but the relief in Sam is something he didn't even contemplate.

"Because it's all I know," he replies. "I was born here, Genomex is all I know."

The answer makes Jesse think of Adam, except Adam never taught him what to do when there are no choices, just Genomex and Pod 592, section...

"Mph..." he manages a strangled breath before Sam kisses him hard and the faint taste of blood traces a path across his tongue. Fucking lights him up as he thrusts against Sam, feels his length against his own. The back of his knees hit the bed, so he falls, takes Sam with him. Kisses that burn and are cool against skin simultaneously, eventually Jesse moves, rolls Sam onto his back. Glides, skin slick from the shower, each other and he's ashamed, a coward, afraid. Human even and a Genomex agent though he's wondered from time to time if those two terms are mutually exclusive, but.

Sam gasps when a hand closes around his cock, with each stroke, with each kiss that he rears up for, blood or no blood.

He's a coward in this too.

The thought stops him and Sam looks at him quizzically, his tongue swipes at his lower lip briefly. He hurt Sam.

Adam, he knows would have a suitable explanation for this, in fact he almost hears the words. But then Adam shuts up and Jesse kisses Sam slowly.

Languid strokes against his tongue like they had all the time in the world, and the last time was Brennan. Just like this.

He kisses Sam deeply, tastes the difference between Sam and Brennan and banishes Brennan as well.

So Jesse tries to forget, except Sam isn't forgetting, he could see it in the way Sam made their kisses harsher, because he wants him and he knows this and still Sam lets Jesse use him and there's blood that blooms across his tongue again. Big, dark eyes flutter close and Jesse splinters apart because he understands now what he wants. His hand closes over Sam's cock again and strokes.

Sam comes, shudders wracking his frame and Jesse does too. His hands buckle and he's briefly aware that Sam holds him. He gives up his strength to Sam just as everything fades.

Wakes to find himself being watched, a hand gently stroking his hair. A moment where Sam is an open book and Jesse cringes because he's known this, it feels like forever.

"Good morning," Sam says. Sadly. The gentle stroking stops, Jesse reaches out for Sam before he gets up. It's a tentative grip, but it's all he has and he holds on until Sam gets it. His eyes soften, dark like the colour of the earth. They meet halfway, it's gentle now, a kiss that tastes of sleep and a little surprise because he...he can't remember feeling like this. Not for a long time. He moves, makes place for Sam next to him again. Hands rove along Jesse's flank, all over, gently merciless as if for the first time. Maybe, it is. He moans when Sam tugs at his nipples, traces the scar across his torso and kisses the others. Delicate kisses that make Jesse ache for him, his hands threading through his hair desperate for Sam's mouth everywhere and where it was now.

Thought ceases, there's wet, heat as Sam goes down on him. Tendrils that thread through his body, slowly as Sam's tongue glides along his shaft, and then his balls, Jesse hooks his leg over Sam's shoulder and Christ, there's the faintest flicker against his ass.

"Samsam..."

It's him Jesse realizes, desperate mantra, and that's all he understands. Just Sam.Everything else is lost in a haze. Then Sam stops, his face buried in the curve of Jesse hip, words against his skin.

"You should have hated me."

The words pierce the haze around him and he wants to cry because he sounds so lost, they both are. He reaches for Sam, kisses him hard. Searches the depths of his eyes and wishes he could wipe away the pain etched in them.

"Will you...?" he asks gently. Sam nods jerkily.

"Condoms?" Jesse prods, watches the word sink in and the sharp nod it earns. Sam slides away, searches for his pants. Jesse pads into the bathroom, snags the lotion there. Looks in the mirror at the face there. Harsh fluorescent light highlights the planes of this face, the years that have passed. It should have been a stranger looking back at him, but Jesse can't remember when the face stopped being a stranger that might have been him once.

"Jesse?"

His name floats out from the darkness beyond and he turns away from the mirror, goes out again to find Sam hard and a little scared. Holds up a condom and a wallet in his other hand.

"Secret stash, huh?" he says lightly.

"Yeah," and Sam blushes. "This is the part where I ask whether you're sure or not."

He grins, can't help it really not when Sam looks so eager and scared at the same time. He strides across the room, invades Sam's space like he does his mouth.

~~~

They stumble back to the bed in a tangle of limbs that Eckhart thinks he can feel. Kisses that make Sam arch against Jesse while Jesse is everywhere. Brief respite to open the lotion, slick fingers as Sam shifts, Jesse laughs as the switch positions and Eckhart knows his life is a carefully constructed prison of plastic and lies.

He sees the moment Sam's fingers enter Jesse, sees it in the clean lines as it's Jesse's turn to arch against Sam, where laughter becomes gasps until Sam rolls the condom on himself . More talk until Jesse ends the conversation, hooks a leg around Sam's hip, his heel digging into Sam's back. And answer Sam is looking for because he moves, slides into Jesse and in his office Eckhart's hands curl, like Sam's over Jesse's hips, leather stretches tight over knuckles, over hands that have forgotten touch and this onscreen. Pleasure in another and pain too as Jesse's face twists. Sam begins to move, and pain becomes pleasure once again. Jesse moves with Sam and this truth Eckhart cannot spin, cannot avoid.

~~~

The memory overwhelms him, the memory of before when Gabriel looked at his parents and saw his world. Before Adam and Eckhart, he remembers the smell of oil on his father's hands and the sound of his mother's voice on the phone as she dealt with customers out front. The memory almost wiped out from the tide, the awareness of his brethren. No one remembers the garage. This was before they had to moved closer to Genomex. He'd destroyed most of it when his elemental powers developed. There was a store after that, but it's the smell of oil on his father's hands that he remembers, his mom's voice cocooning him. Now it's abandoned, falling apart and it's fucking perfect.

It was time. The child would be his salvation.

~~~

It was a good plan. A simple plan. Track the agent, Samuel Gray. Track him, find him and Emma was looking forward to extracting anything she could from him. But there are plans and then there's Summer. A petite redheaded fence that Shal knows from her days with Zach.

Best of all, with contacts that extend through out the city. Though truth be told, dinner with Shal is enough of an incentive.

Hence their situation.

Gabriel was spotted leaving the offices of a law firm, Mcullogh and Associates. The name had left Adam reeling. They were the lawyers Ashlocke's parents had left everything with for their son. As far as he knew, the firm had long since given up hope of Gabriel reappearing. There were papers and photographs, the only proof that Gabriel existed outside Genomex.

Across the courtyard Shalimar back-flips away from an elemental. Plays with fire literally, while Brennan faces himself as he just manages to jump clear from a bolt of energy that gets too close. Her own demon, a telepath, hammers away at her defences, power that leaves her reeling. Fears are laid bare and Emma hates Jesse just then.

She gathers her strength, ignores the telepath as she focuses on the elemental fighting Brennan. He staggers back, clutching at his throat. Brennan takes the hint, energy lashes across the square to the telepath and just like that the storm in her head is gone.

The fire elemental is next, Brennan makes short work of him too.

"Are you okay?" he asks, his eyes crinkling in concern. Emma nods quickly.

"Shal?" he asks.

"Fine," she says curtly. "Just a little singed."

"Good, 'cause they've been up there too long," Brennan says. Jesse. And Samuel. Shalimar leads the way upstairs.

There's a front reception desk, cubicles and a few closed office doors. There's a faint light and the whisper of voices that reach them. And then the crystal clear note of glass shattering.

Brennan's face twists, she knows this look. He bursts into the office.

"Jesse!"

Huge sprawling office, a window behind the desk, now a gaping maw through which Sam scrambles. Calls for Jesse.

Files strewn everywhere, the computer blinks in the corner. Jesse in the middle of it all.

Energy streaks across the room, enough to scare though not much more. The agent ignores it while Emma wonders if Brennan is aware he's holding back.

"Jesse?" Shal says, moves to him out of habit but he moves away, backs away, afraid. The agent, Samuel remains still at the window while energy still plays at Brennan's fingertips.

"What are you doing here?" Brennan asks. His voice soft, belied by the power that reverberates in the room, at his fingertips. Jesse answers, flatly.

"It doesn't matter," he says, head cocked to one side as if they were nothing but an interesting problem on a computer screen.

He turns away from them deliberately, to Sam and there's an infinite sadness in the agent's eyes.

Jesse phases.

Through the floor, by the time he disappears, so does the agent. Brennan growls in frustration as the energy bolt misses the agent. Two floors up and too far away.

They make it in time only to see Jesse being carried away unconscious.

~~~

Faces, voices, colors... they leech into one another, the world from the moment he phased. Jesse remembers Sam, remembers being pulled to his feet and the ride back to Genomex empty handed.

Not to mention the pounding headache.

"Jesse? Come on..."

Sam, face tight with concern as Jesse tries to remember he's not supposed to phase. Body out of control like he's fourteen again and he's just phased through his bedroom door for the first time. Sincere lack of control that makes him want to scream.

Genomex. Fluorescent lights leave him blinded, new hands now that hold him tight. Something soft, but everything hurts while his body tries to split itself apart... and Harrison looms before him.

Eckhart too, and Sam, strident voices that soak through to him. Faces flush, afraid.

"Sedate him," Eckhart snaps. "We're going to move Eve tonight. As soon as he's ready..."

"What? No..."

Jesse knows he's speaking, but no one hears him, no one stops Harrison when he slides the needle home in his arm. Anger, fear, he surges off the bed, scrambles for Eckhart, but Sam betrays him, holds him tight, keeps him away from Eckhart like they're taking Eve away from him...

"Jess...no don't..."

A sharp grimace as their hands lock and he phases again, part of Sam with him.

"Focus..."

The word is hissed in his mind or by Sam he's not sure anymore.

"Eve is fine. She's going to be sedated and then moved."

So fucking reasonable while they take her away from him, Jesse struggles even though he knows Sam is keeping him upright.

"We don't know where Gabriel is. All we know is that he's coming, Jess. That's why we're moving Eve tonight..."

Eckhart looks at him oddly, blue eyes unblinking behind the thick frames.

"...As soon as you're ready, you'll join her ..."

Earnest words he wants to believe, doesn't have a choice anymore, not when darkness closes in on him.

~~~

Consciousness...weighs down on him until the darkness begins to appeal to him.

But. Eve.

Jesse rolls from the bed, staggers to his feet. Senses catalogue his body. Better. Stronger.

He stumbles across the room, hand slapping against the light switch. Bathroom too fucking bright, but Jesse ignores it. Concentrates on stripping sweat soaked clothes from his body, the shower as hot as he can stand. Underneath needles of water slice through him.

Eve.

Gabriel was coming.

He steps from the bathroom, a towel around his waist. Ignores the apparition in white that seems to be Eckhart in the doorway of his bedroom. Sweats and a t-shirt, he dresses as if he's alone. Knows that the leather is stretched tight over Eckhart's knuckles and relishes the pleasure in that.

"It's almost time to go," Eckhart says.

But Gabriel comes for him.

~~~

Genomex crumbles around them.

Gabriel's path a scar through the building, his new mutants in his wake. Level by level until only Gabriel is left while the GSA agents attack his new mutants. Jesse is passed from one level to another, different agents, different faces until he and Eckhart separate. His shoulders ache with the weight of Eckhart's gaze, of his words.

"There's a car at the west entrance. I'll meet you there."

Jesse nods. There is no other choice.

Another level and then another until a blast of cold air hits him as they emerge into the night.

"Move," someone hisses from behind, when he hears it.

Glass shatters, metal screeches, destruction coming towards them, he runs.

Not enough.

Mutants, Gabriel's mutants descend on them. He sees Sam, the other faces he knows as they join in. Eventually the Strand mutants aren't a match for the GSA agents, but they've done something more, they've slowed them down. Blindingly obedient even in their defeat, even as Gabriel appears from the ruins of Genomex.

With Eckhart.

"Jess?" Sam, his voice low, appears at Jesse's side.

"You know what I want," Gabriel says, his voice ringing across the distance between them. He pays no attention to his people, his mutants as he cuts a path through everything, everyone between him and Jesse.

Pauses before he drags Eckhart in front of him. Broad hands settle on either side of Eckhart's head. A parody of love. Affection.

"You know what I want."

Jesse doesn't answer, just stares at them, Eckhart whose face is impassive.

"The girl died."

Absolution, penance, blue eyes bare without his black frames, Eckhart screams as Gabriel tears his mind apart.

Jesse doesn't move.

No one else does either.

Eckhart's body slumps to the ground.

"Lets try this again, shall we?" Gabriel says.

"Where is she?"

"Now," Sam whispers, Jesse hears it in his head, hears it ripple through the night and only then sees Sarah behind Sam...and the first bolt carves a path through the night to Gabriel.

Another and then another, not all energy. Elementals and psionics he reels from the power he can feel around him.

Gabriel screams.

Staggers back under the assault, while his mutants try, launch an attack of their own but the GSA agents, moleculars and ferals are there.

Power lights up the night sky until Gabriel stops screaming.

He dies as he was born.

A child of Genomex.

~~~

Emma stumbles back, clutches her head.

"Emma?" Shal asks concerned, but then the popcorn bowl falls from her hands and she does the same.

"What the hell..." Brennan mutters from the sofa. He manages to call Adam before the pounding starts in his head.

"What's going on?" he hears Adam, he wants to answer but there's a fucking hammer in his head...until it's gone.

"What the hell was that?" Shal gasps. Slides to the ground next to Emma. Emma shakes her head.

"It felt like an attack," Brennan says. Rubs at his temples absently.

"It's gone?" Adam asks concerned.

"Yeah," Emma sighs. "Like a hundred minds all at once...."

"I want you three in the lab, now," Adam orders.

It's there that they catch the report on Proxy Blue.

"So, breaking news folks. The city was entertained with a light show tonight over at that mysterious marvel of modern architecture we like to call Genomex Research. You know, the big, gray ugly building outside the city? Conflicting reports suggest there were dozens of casualties while my sources at the police department tell me that there were only two official casualties. The head of Genomex Research, Mason Eckhart and one of the lab technicians, Gabriel Ashlocke. Both supposedly perished in a lab accident, never mind the light show. Never a dull moment in research these days. We'll keep you posted."

~~~

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