Terminal City was home to many of Manticore's little projects. Some blocks housed what they would call anomalies and then there was a group that looked just like her. Rachel Guevara rode her motorcycle through the quiet early morning streets cursing her mother who had passed along her inability to get any sleep. Most of the inhabitants of this freak town were snuggled in their beds enjoying a night of blissful oblivion while she had to fight back the anger that was bubbling just under the surface.

She was okay with the fact that her parents weren't in love with each other. It wasn't exactly something they had hid from her. When she was fifteen they had sat her down and told her the messy situation; which had caused her birth and she had been fine with it. But this took the cake. One thing she wasn't even a little okay with was the fact that her mother was in love with Wyatt Cale's dad.

The anger inside her eased some when she thought of Wyatt. He was the love of her life and she would give anything to be with him but a transgenic dating an ordinary wasn't something she was going to do in this time of turmoil. After eighteen years the transgenics were still stuck behind a high gate that was bombarded by a crowd of protestors. Ames White was long gone. He had been put to rest by none other than her mother and even though they weren't gone the breeding cult had disappeared off the radar since then.

The only problems they had been having was getting along with the ordinaries that were parked outside the gate but she wasn't going to put Wyatt's life in danger. Her mom had always told her that when one bad guy was taken care of the next one wasn't far behind. What could she say; her mother wasn't very good at bedtime stories. It didn't help that Wyatt had been shot trying to save her once. Rachel had been helping Logan with one of his Eye's Only projects and was shoved aside right before the bad guy of the day shot at her. Wyatt had been fine but after that she had decided to keep her distance from him. That was not as easy as it sounds.

After a year of near silence between Wyatt and her she had decided that she couldn't take it anymore. If nothing else she was going to spend the night in his arms. That was when she had found her mother fawning all over Logan Cale. Why couldn't her mother have just told her about this? Why all the secrecy? It now made sense why her mother had tried to keep Wyatt and her apart.

Rachel hadn't stayed very long to watch her mother make a fool out of herself but climbed right back on her bike and headed home to her empty apartment. She felt alone. More alone then she had ever felt before. There wasn't going to be any grand change of heart from her parent's. Alec McDowell was going to be the ultimate bachelor until the day he died.

Climbing off her bike she took the three flights of stairs up to her apartment. As she drew nearer she noticed a light beaming from under the door. Had she left a light on when she left? She couldn't remember doing so but with the state she was in anything was possible. Rachel opened the door unafraid who was behind it knowing she could take anyone. Her mom and dad had equipped her well in the art of fighting. She had started training at the age of seven.

"I hope you don't mind that I let myself in," Wyatt stood in the center of the room running a hand across his neck.

"What are you doing here?"

"My dad needs your help with one of his Eye's Only cases so I told him I would come down here and ask you myself."

"You told me that you don't want me doing anymore jobs for him," Rachel crossed the room and made herself comfortable on the couch.

"That's why I'm here and not my dad. I will tell him I asked but you said no."

"I can take care of myself Eye's Junior," she smirked at him knowing he hated when she called him that.

"It's not the only reason I'm here. I miss you, Rach. I know you're scared about us but don't run away from this."

Rachel looked away from him to wipe away the tear that was forming in her eye. "I'm different. I'll never be able to give you the normal life you deserve."

"Have you met my dad? I don't live a normal life as it is."

"I think you should go now."

Wyatt knelt in front of her and took her hand. His thumb brushed back and forth causing goosebumps to appear on her skin. "I love you Rachel, and you can try and push me away all you want but I'm not going anywhere. I'm tired of trying to hide my feelings for you and worrying that your mom doesn't approve of me. I'm just tired of it all."

"I can't do this," she stood up trying to hide in her room but he caught her arm and pulled her into his embrace. His lips sought hers and she melted against him knowing it had been too long since the last time they had been together. This was the man she was hoping to spend the rest of her life with but in the back on her mind she knew it could never happen. Her dad had warned her about what happens when you got involved with ordinaries. You could love them but eventually you would have to leave them.

Wyatt picked her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist aware of the direction he was heading. Wasn't this why she had gone to see him in the first place? She shouldn't let what she saw come between her and having a good night. Tomorrow she could interrogate her mother about her relationship with Logan. Tonight she wanted to spend the night forgetting that she was a killing machine.

Hours later Rachel laid on her bed appreciating the view Wyatt made. The covers that she had pulled up off the floor were draped over his legs and waist revealing his chest and muscular arms. His auburn hair was cut short but had been tousled by her hands running through it. She wondered what it would be like to wake up like this every morning. Some day a lucky lady would find out but odds were against it being she.

Rachel flipped over onto her stomach and saw his eyes flutter open. "How long was I asleep?"

"An hour."

"I guess I should be getting up and heading home."

"You don't have to rush."

Wyatt sat up against the backboard rubbing his eyes to wake himself up. He started rubbing her back till his hands found the sensitive spot on her neck. She knew what he was playing with. On the back of her neck was the only link between her and Manticore, her silver barcode. "Why do you have a barcode when all the rest of the new generations don't have one?"

She had wondered that herself, many times in fact. If it weren't for the barcode marking her as one of the transgenics she would have been gone years ago. This war wasn't hers, it was her mother's and she had already lost enough because of it. Rachel moved her hair to cover the offensive thing.

"Don't do that. I think it's sexy." Wyatt leaned down and kissed it sending a chill down her back.

"Stop," she sat up throwing her legs over the side of the bed. Her pants were on the floor and her other articles of clothing were scattered near by. She collected them all, getting dressed. "What do you want from me Wyatt? I've got nothing to give you."

"Tell me the truth for once. I want you to tell me that you love me and that I didn't give you my heart for nothing."

Rachel took a shuddering breath trying to stop the tears she felt coming on. "I feel nothing for you."

Wyatt walked up to her and cupped her face in his hands. "You're a liar." He kissed her pulling her body closer to his.

She couldn't let this happen. He deserved more from her. Rachel pushed against his chest till he let her go. "Lock the door before you leave." Without another glance she left him standing there wishing she could take it all back.

Head quarters was hopping like usual when Rachel strolled in. Her mother was never far from her post with her father right by her side. They never got along with each other but somehow they worked it out. "I can't believe you ruined my date last night," Alec complained to Max.

"I'm really sorry," she said sarcastically. "I think I did you a favor. This way you have no chance of making another woman pregnant."

"Yeah, cause we all know what happened the last time he did," Rachel interjected.

Her mother looked embarrassed for her outburst. She knew it wasn't personal and that her mother loved her but it had caused her parents to fight many times over the years. "I'm sorry sweetie," Max apologized.

"Now is not the time to apologize. You should save it for when you tell me the truth about Logan and you."

Her mother looked to Alec for help. "I guess it's time you told her the whole truth."

"You're a big help," Max smacked him in the arm.

"How about you take this in the office. It seems we have an audience," Alec motioned for them to look at the others who were openly gawking at their family.

Max took her arm and led her into her office. "I never lied to you Rachel. I just left out the part that involved Logan."

"Tell me," Rachel ordered.

"I've been in love with Logan since I met him. At first I was just helping him with his Eye's Only projects in exchange for information on my brothers and sisters who had escaped Manticore with me."

"So what happened?"

Max walked around her desk and sank into her seat. For once she looked all of her forty years. "I fell in love but was taken back to Manticore. Your father helped me escape but was just helping me so that I would go back to Logan and pass a virus they had injected into me to him. It was structured to just kill Logan and I could pass it to him by a touch."

"I've seen you touch him before.'

"I took the antidote years ago."

"Then why didn't you go back to Logan?"

"I was pregnant with you. Rachel, I was so lonely at the time. When your dad showed up that night I was in heat and drunk. I didn't know what I was doing."

Rachel turned and looked through the window towards her dad. She had always been closer to him than to her mother. Alec was watching them too. Obviously he was making sure that things didn't get heated between them. "Logan wouldn't take you back after he found out you were pregnant?"

"He would have but Asha was already expecting Wyatt."

Rachel felt defeated. Deep down she had wanted her parents to fall in love but now that she had heard the whole story she could kiss that dream goodbye. "Is that why you discouraged me from being with Wyatt?"

"No. It's because I know what it is like to be in love with someone who isn't like us. If we had to leave it would break your heart."

"That doesn't matter because I'm leaving anyways."

"What do you mean you're leaving? Where are you going?"

"I want out of Terminal City."

"You can't leave," her mother slammed her fist on the desk.

"I'm going somewhere that I'm just another face in the crowd. Not a transgenic but just me."

'Don't do this."

"It's already done," Rachel walked out of the office leaving her mother behind. She wasn't sure why it bothered her but knowing that her mother had feelings for Wyatt's dad was driving her crazy. It was time she left Seattle behind. She wasn't a small kid anymore and she knew there were no happy endings for transgenics. Wyatt could be her bedmate forever but there would be no marriage or kids.

Max was just one in a thousand of tragic stories. Her love affair with Logan proved that things wouldn't work out between Wyatt and her. Why should she stay behind and wait for the heartache when she could run from it?

"Running, you get from your mom," Alec grabbed her arm stopping her progress.

"I want out of this cage."

"You think you're in a cage? Look around you Rachel." Two of the so-called anomalies walked past them. "They are in a cage. You and me get to walk out of here anytime we want and can blend in with no problem. If you want to leave then go but know why you are really leaving."

"And why is that?"

"Because you are afraid of how you feel about Wyatt."

Rachel rolled her eyes and pulled her arm out of her father's grasp. "I'm afraid of him getting hurt because of who I am. It's dangerous for him to be here or to love me."

"Is he here?"

Rachel blushed," Of course not."

"That's my girl," he gave her a hug.

Ten minutes later she was back at her apartment, overwhelmed by the silence. Wyatt had left a note for her to call him but she knew she wasn't going to. It would take her only a few minutes to pack and head out on the open road. She didn't have a plan but was thinking she would drive until she ran out of one tank of gas.

It was time that she got to live a real life. With most people thinking that all the transgenics were safely behind the gates in Terminal City she wasn't worried of being discovered. It also helped that her barcode wasn't the normal black which made most people assume that it was just a tattoo.

Her life was about to change and she could be normal for a while but all she could think about was how Wyatt was going to feel when he realized she had left him without saying goodbye.