Author's Note: ~ "text" ~ indicates telepathy; Italicized text indicates thoughts

xxx TTP xxx

~ "John? Where are you?" ~ Charlotte sent again.

She had been looking for him in the Lair and couldn't find him. There was so much commotion going on with Stephen and his Dad's sudden return. John just got lost in the shuffle. Nobody else seemed to be wondering where he was or even realized he was gone.

~ "John? Please! ... Answer me!" ~

Before she completely panicked, Charlotte finally looked for Cara.

"She should know something."

xxx TTP xxx

Cara was sitting in one of the chairs, wringing her hands. Charlotte thought their leader looked lost in thought.

"Cara!" Charlotte ran up and asked her, "have you heard from John? Cara?"

Startled from her pensiveness, Cara replied, "Oh, Charlotte ... what?"

"Do you know where John is?"

"I'm sorry, honey," Cara replied and quickly wiped her eyes, a weak attempt to conceal the tears forming there. "No, I don't know where he is."

"He's not answering me ... he always answers me," Charlotte stated, "I'm scared."

"There's no reason to be scared," Cara replied and put a hand on Charlotte's arm. "You're safe here."

"No, not for me," Charlotte asserted," ... for John."

"Oh," Cara said. "I'm sure he's fine ... he can take care of himself."

Cara wasn't sure who she was trying to convince ... Charlotte or herself.

"I'll let you know as soon as I find out anything, okay?"

"Okay."

"Go play or practice some of what John has taught you," Cara suggested. "We should know something soon."

xxx TTP xxx

Again there was a lot of commotion in the Lair. Apparently something happened at Ultra and everybody was buzzing about it.

Charlotte had been in the training room when she heard something about an explosion. She ran out and directly into Stephen, who was still slightly dazed.

"Stephen, are you okay?" The girl inquired.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he replied. "Or I will be as soon as I can clean up."

"What happened?"

"Hil ... there was an explosion at Ultra," Stephen said, not wanting to give the young girl too many details. "I went to st ... find Hillary. Passed John in the hall right before ..."

"You saw John?" Charlotte interrupted him. "Where is he? Is he okay?"

"He's fine ... he left the building before it blew up," Stephen stated. "I don't know where he is."

"Why didn't he come back? Why won't he respond to me?"

At this moment, Cara came charging out of TIM's room. She called to a few others, they talked about something then headed out.

Charlotte ran over and grabbed Cara. "What's going on? Have you heard from John?"

"Oh, Charlotte, sweetie, John is back," Cara replied. "He's been through a lot, so please wait until I get back before you go see him, okay? I need to talk to you, but have to take care of something first. "

"Huh, what? ... Okay ... I guess," Charlotte reluctantly agreed.

With that, Cara re-joined the group and they teleported out.

xxx TTP xxx

Charlotte really wanted to just run in and see John, but she had agreed to wait until Cara returned. Even so, Charlotte found herself wandering closer and closer to TIM's room. Finally, she forced herself to walk away from it. As she did, she noticed Roger approaching the doorway. She watched him hesitate then enter the room.

Making an effort to distract herself, Charlotte went to get her doll then took it to the training room. She usually had fun playing on the spiral staircase. She would pretend it was a grand staircase that took her to the most beautiful places.

xxx TTP xxx

Wanting to get away from Roger, John left TIM's room and headed directly to the heavy bag. As soon as he was near it, he hit it as hard as he could and let out a grunt. As it recoiled, he caught it and then laid his head on it, closing his eyes, wishing he could just disappear.

After a few moments, he let go of the bag and walked over to the wall. He leaned against it and slowly slid down. He rested his arms on top of his knees and laid his head down. He was exhausted.

Charlotte, having witnessed his outburst, had grabbed her doll and tried to hide as best she could behind the staircase. She knelt down and hugged her doll.

~ "John? What's wrong?" ~ Charlotte sent.

She waited for a response. He was right there, he should have heard her. She tried again.

~ "John?" ~

This time she peeked over at him. He still made no indication of having heard her. While watching him, she tried one more time.

~ "John." ~

This time she knew for sure, he did not hear her. Now she was really concerned and walked over to him.

"John? Are you okay?"

He half smiled at her, then said, "No ... but I will be."

"What happened? I tried contacting you, but you didn't hear me," the girl said as she sat down next to him, clutching her doll.

"Charlie, you're right, I didn't hear you," John stated. "I … can't any more."

"What do you mean?"

John sighed, looked away then told her, "the Founder took my powers." He looked at her. "I'm human."

"What? How? Why? ... It can't be," she stuttered, her eyes wide in shock, tears threatening to fall.

"It is," John replied.

"But why?" Charlotte wanted to understand how this could happen to someone so strong, to someone who was so close to her, that meant so much to her.

"He wanted to know where Roger was and I wouldn't tell him."

"Oh, John," she said as she wrapped him in a hug. She didn't totally understand it, but somehow knew what it meant. John had made a sacrifice to protect Roger.

John returned the hug and said, "It's okay ... I'll be okay. It will take some getting used to, but I'll adjust."

He was glad that she didn't keep asking about how it was done. He didn't want it to bring back any more nightmares of her time at the Citadel.

When Charlotte finally let go, she just snuggled up next to him and he put his arm around her. She was just glad to have him back. He found some comfort in her acceptance of the situation.

Author's Note: If you want to know what happened with John and Roger, read my story "Empty".