This story begins a few days after the end of Possibilities…

(Hey, some of you said you wanted more…and sometimes you get what you want…)

The Experiment

Chloe King watched as Kassandra examined the x-rays. The Healer kept pointing at them, saying things about what was there, but the Uniter couldn't see anything she was talking about.

Chloe was glad that her mom was in the room. Meredith seemed to be saying all the right things in response to Kassandra's words and pointing, so Chloe just watched.

She had agreed to have Kassandra x-ray the area where the bullets had entered her body. She had made the agreement after the first time she was shot, the second time she had died. Since she had agreed to do so, she had been shot and died again, and the Healer had insisted on examining, and x-raying, both areas.

Chloe felt nothing in either of the places she had been shot, and as Kassandra continued speaking, the Uniter understood that the examinations and x-rays showed nothing out of the ordinary. Really, Chloe was done with talking about it and just wanted this visit to end.

She was so distracted that when she finally heard the "Chloe?" from her mother, she realized she had been lost in thought. Both women were looking at her, obviously wondering what was going on in her head.

"Sorry, I was…um…sorry."

"Kassandra was just telling me," Meredith said, "that there is no visible sign of the bull..um…no sign of any damage where you were shot."

Chloe nodded her head. "Yeah." She had heard that much.

"You feel nothing unusual in either place?" Kassandra asked - again.

As Chloe shook head, she tried to remember the number of times she had been asked the same question. "Nothing now. A lot of pain when it happened," she said, hoping that mentioning the pain involved would keep the others from bringing it up again. "Sore for a couple of days after it happened, then nothing. I just feel normal."

"Amazing," Kassandra said. It was what she said every time. The Healer had always been nice to Chloe, always done everything she could to help Chloe, and she had always been fascinated by the differences between Chloe and the other Mai. It was Kassandra that Valentina had wanted to first examine Chloe, saying there was no better Healer among the Mai. Chloe appreciated Kassandra, but sometimes she felt like an experiment.

"I'm just glad they finally caught the woman who shot you," Meredith said to Chloe. Then she turned to Kassandra and asked, "Do you know what they did with her?"

The Healer shook her head. She had turned her back to the others and was writing something down as she said, sounding a little distracted, "I know she's still alive, but I don't know where, or what is going on with her."

"Well," Meredith continued, "I'm sure she'll get what she deserves." She looked at Chloe, adding "I'm just glad you're alright."

Chloe nodded, though her mind was somewhere else. Simone was alive? She hadn't thought about what happened to the Order assassin, but she was a little surprised that the Mai hadn't just killed her.

"I don't know everything that happened," Meredith was saying, "But I'm glad you and your friends are all OK."

Chloe had barely heard her mother, but found herself shaking her head. "Jasmine's not OK," she whispered.

Chloe saw the recognition on Meredith's face at Jasmine's name, and then a look of sadness as her mother nodded. "I forgot. I was so worried about you and the other things happening. I'm sorry."

Meredith turned to Kassandra and asked, "Will she be OK?"

The Healer had turned to face the others by now and shook her head. "It's not looking good. We've been able to keep her alive, but nothing else."

Meredith turned back to Chloe as her phone vibrated. "I need to take this," she said after looking at the screen. She left the room leaving Chloe alone with the Healer.

"I wish I could do something for Jasmine," Chloe whispered as her eyes moved to Kassandra after Meredith left.

The dark-eyed Healer's expression was concerned, but she did not speak.

"You can't just give her some of my blood and see if it does the same thing for her that it does for me?" Chloe asked.

Kassandra did speak this time. "Chloe, I'm sure Valentina explained your value to the Mai. Risking you, even just to draw some of your blood, is something she would not allow."

Chloe grimaced. She had never thought much about what Valentina would 'not allow', and she wasn't going to worry about it now. "I've got two bloody shirts at home. I could give up a little more." When Kassandra just stared blankly, she added, "Just think about it, OK? It can be a last resort."

"It would be," Kassandra said. Chloe hadn't figured out if the Healer was agreeing with her or not, when Kassandra spoke again, "Now, about the human boy who didn't die when you kissed him…"

She let her voice trail off and looked expectantly at Chloe.

The Uniter shrugged. "He kissed me."

"And you let him?"

Chloe found herself shaking her head. "I was waking up after dying. I was in a lot pain, and that was all I was aware of, until I felt the kiss. I pushed him away as soon as I realized what he was doing."

When Kassandra just looked at her, Chloe added, "I stopped him every time he had tried to kiss me before then. You know about Xavier…I would never let something like that happen again."

Kassandra nodded. "I believe you. So, there was enough contact that death should have resulted?"

Chloe closed her eyes and nodded. "Full liplock. By the time I pushed him away, I was sure he was dead."

"You have no idea why he lived?"

The Uniter shrugged and shook her head. "You're the doctor…or healer or whatever. You tell me."

Kassandra nodded thoughtfully. "Perhaps you could bring the boy to me…"

"Sorry," Meredith interrupted, suddenly entering the room. "We need to go."

Chloe wasn't sure what kind of look she was giving the Healer as she wordlessly followed her mother out of the room. She was, however, grateful that she did not have to respond to Kassandra's question just then.

The Visit

Whitley Rezza was not generally one to accept drop-in visitors at his office. Everyone knew that – employees, clients, even Brian.

But he found himself accepting this one. "Send her in," he told his assistant. Then he put his pen down and waited for her.

"This is a surprise," he told Chloe as she entered. "I haven't seen you since…that night, and Brian tells me you've been ignoring him."

"Please don't tell him about this," Chloe implored as he motioned to a chair across from his desk. "I'd like to keep him out of this."

"As would I," Whitley responded, "but he will probably hear about this from someone else in the company."

Chloe nodded. She had not seen Whitley or Brian since the night of her third death. Brian had tried calling and texting, but she been able to avoid responding. Still, Alek knew Brian was trying to contact her, and was pressuring Chloe to either deal with it, or let him deal with it.

"Why are you here, Chloe?" Whitley asked when neither spoke for a few seconds.

She knew he wasn't being rude. He was just a 'get to the point' kind of person, and what little agreement there was between them had not anticipated her visiting him.

"Simone's alive," Chloe said, carefully watching his reaction. His expression didn't change at all.

"And?" Whitley asked, suspiciously. He had see Simone only briefly the night he and Brian had gone to Chloe after Simone had shot the Uniter for the second time. He had not known at the time if Simone was dead or alive, though he had seen the Mai take her away.

"And I want to talk to her," Chloe said.

His expression hardened slightly. "She's not here. The Mai have her. You have her."

"I don't know where she is," Chloe said quickly. "I thought you might…"

"How would I know?" he interrupted. "You're their Uniter. Doesn't that make you their leader? You should be able to find out."

Chloe bit her lip, wondering if this was such a good idea. "I don't want the Mai to know about it right away. They would try to stop me."

'And, I don't know how long she'll be alive' Chloe thought, but did not say.

Whitley just stared. He was constantly surprised by what he heard about Chole, and by what he heard her say.

Chloe was speaking again. "Surely the Order knows enough about the Mai to know where they would take someone like her."

"You know that I don't have much to do with the Order right now," Whitley said, still staring.

"But you could find out where they would take her, couldn't you? You still have connections."

She could see from his expression that she was right, though he didn't seem happy about her request.

"Why do you want to talk to her?" Whitley asked.

Chloe wasn't really sure of the answer. Her last conversation with Simone had not gone well, but Simone would not have a gun this time.

"She's the Order, the only Order person I've dealt with other than you. I don't know, I just think that if I can just talk to her for a bit, I can find out what she really wanted from me."

"She really wanted you dead," Whitley said flatly.

"So did you," Chloe noted. "She'll know that my death's off the table now. I'd like to see what she says when she knows that."

"Do you really think they'll keep her alive long enough for you to sneak in and talk to her?"

"I think we need to hurry." Chloe answered. "Will you try to find out where she is for me?"

Whitley scowled, but gave a slight nod.

As Chloe said "Thank you," and stood, turning to leave, Whitley asked "You came alone this time? There were a lot of Mai with you when I last saw you."

Chloe had turned and started walking to the door, but she stopped and faced him. "They're giving me a little more space now that they have Simone." She knew she should refer to the Mai as 'we' rather than 'they', but it just didn't feel right yet. "Though I didn't see anyone, I'm sure someone came with me here, and is just waiting to yell at me when I go back outside."

Though the expression Chloe saw on Whitley's face couldn't really be described as a smile, as she turned to resume her walk to his door, she knew that it was as close to one as she had ever seen on him.

The Trust

As soon as Chloe emerged from Rezza Capital, Alek was beside her. She knew he had mostly recovered from the events of the night of her third death, knew that he was out of bed and moving around, though she was a little surprised to see him with her. She didn't think he would be on Uniter Duty so soon - was he just watching her on his own?

She resisted the urge to turn and hug him, a little annoyed with herself that she was so often trying to hide things from him or explain her actions to him. She tried not to acknowledge him as she walked away from the building, though she was totally aware of him as he walked beside her. She felt her throat tightening, her heart rate increasing, but she just kept walking.

"So, I assume you came here to cut it off with Brian," Alek said from beside her after a few steps.

"There's nothing between Brian and me to cut off," Chloe said, not looking at him.

Alek stepped in front of her to force her to stop and face him. "Does Brian know that?"

"If he doesn't he's pretty dense," Chloe said softly.

Alek's tone matched Chloe's as he asked, "Then why were we here?"

She couldn't tell him – not yet. She would, once she knew where Simone was being held, if she decided to go through with it. She would want him to go with her. But he couldn't know yet.

She allowed her eyes to find his, and hoping they conveyed the message she intended, said, "Trust me. Please?" The she walked around him, moving towards her next destination.