Chapter 1

Shalimar was bouncing off the walls – literally. The Mutant X team had been hiding out and on the run for weeks now and she couldn't take it anymore. She had been training like crazy everyday on only a couple of hours sleep but still, her energy was limitless. Brennan watched from the corner of the room as she flipped and threw punches all over their temporary sanctuary. He was just out of her line of vision but he should have guessed that that wouldn't have prevented her from knowing he was there. Her senses seemed even more heightened than usual lately.

"Do you want to come join me or are you just going to watch from the corner all day?" Shalimar asked with a smirk.

Brennan laughed and stepped forward so that she could see him.

"Hey – I'm really not so eager to get my ass kicked again today! My ribs are still bruised from yesterday's workout !"

Shalimar laughed and stopped working out for a moment. Her body tingled as though it were protesting all her extra activity but the feral in her itched to push the limits even more. She was going crazy in this place and Brennan could see it. Maybe it reminded her of being locked up in the psychiatric hospital when she was a kid but he could tell that if she could, she'd knock down the walls and break her way out of this place in a second. The only thing that was keeping her indoors was the fear of putting the rest of them in danger. She moved over to the punching bag she'd hung in the middle of the main room and started to wrap the gloves around her hands. Sweat was pouring off her but she showed no signs of slowing down. Brennan moved towards her and lowered his voice to a soft but serious tone as he spoke again.

"Shal . . . you're gonna burn yourself out if you carry on like this."

Shalimar turned to face him. The concern in his chocolate coloured eyes was clear and it touched her that he was so worried. She took a step towards him and tried to reassure him.

"I'm fine Brennan – really. It's just . . . you know how I get – I need to be outside – I need the fresh air, the thrill of a hunt . . . but we've been stuck in here for so long now and I'm just frustrated you know ? Because - there's nothing that I can do. We should be doing more to help Adam – we're never going to find him if we keep hiding like this."

"I know, but Shal – we're doing everything we can right now. You know that. I just want you to try and take it easy a little bit so that when we're ready to go find Adam – you don't pass out from exhaustion."

Brennan finished his sentence with a smirk and Shalimar couldn't help but giggle before winking and saying,

"Not a chance!"

Suddenly, she heard laughter from the adjoining room. It was Jesse and Lexa. They seemed to have no problem at all with being cooped up in the same place for so long. In fact, they were definitely enjoying their time together. Shalimar had noticed a change in Lexa lately. It was as though she had let go of all the walls she'd built around herself and she was finally letting them all in. Lexa and Jesse walked into the room, still laughing. Jesse noticed Shalimar's workout clothes immediately and said,

"Whoa Shal – aren't you ever going to give yourself a break from all that."

Jesse looked from Brennan to Lexa. They were all worried about Shalimar but none of them knew what they could do to better the situation. Then Lexa stepped towards Shalimar and said,

"Ok Shal – here's the deal. I'll spar with you for one hour if you stop after that for the rest of the day."

Shalimar narrowed her eyes for a moment then grinned at Lexa, "You're on," she said, her eyes flashing in anticipation.

Brennan and Jesse were relieved that she had accepted the deal and also relieved that it wasn't one of them she would be sparring with. She'd go easier on Lexa. They started sparing, slowly at first so that Lexa could get warmed up and then the pace quickened. Lexa was getting more and more fierce in her technique and Shalimar was enjoying every minute of it. Before she knew it Lexa stopped moving and breathing heavily said,

"Ok Rocky, time's up."

Shalimar looked slightly betrayed.

"Wait, that couldn't have been an hour."

"Actually, it was an hour 10 minutes Shal," Jesse replied with a wry smile.

"Ok so I held up my end of the deal – now it's your turn."

Shalimar frowned and then, defeated, she started to remove her gloves. Her team mates smiled at her. She turned and walked into her room. Brennan looked at the other two,

"I've got this. Thanks for trying to help her Lexa."

"Hey I was helping myself here – she keeps waking me up at unearthly hours of the morning with that damn punching bag of hers !"

Brennan smiled to himself as he walked up to Shalimar's room and lightly knocked on the door.

"It's me," he said softly.

At first there was no reply. He worried for a moment that she wouldn't want to see him. Then he heard the tell-tale sounds of her voice inviting him in.

"So how bad was I out there?"

"Well Lexa's still alive so . . . you did well !"

Shalimar laughed. Brennan grinned at her. He'd always loved that laugh of hers, it chimed in his ears like musical bells and when her smile reached her eyes it was true magic.

"What ?" Shalimar asked coyly since Brennan was still staring at her.

"What ? Can't a guy . . . just stare at a beautiful girl. . . without having a reason," he said slyly as he moved closer to her.

Shalimar smiled and then she sighed and took a step back from Brennan.

"I'm going to go hit the shower," she said picking up her towel and some clean clothes and leaving Brennan staring after her. He immediately wondered if he'd said something wrong. If he had, he certainly hadn't meant to. He took a seat on her bed and was immediately poked by something hard. As he removed the covers he discovered that it was a photo album. Shalimar had painted the word "Home" on the cover in large, bright letters. He opened the album and the first picture showed a slightly younger Shalimar with one arm around Jesse's shoulders and the other around Adam's. It looked as though it was someone's birthday and Shalimar's contagious smile showed that she couldn't have been happier. Brennan smiled to himself. He would love to see her like that again but being locked up underground for so long was starting to kill her spirit. He could see it in her eyes. He continued to flick through the photos until he reached one of him with her. He remembered when it had been taken. Emma had still been with them at the time – in fact she was the one that had taken the picture. The three of them and Jesse had been playing cards, only Shalimar had abandoned her hand and proceeded to try to distract Brennan since he'd won the last three sets in a row. He chuckled out loud as he remembered how she'd tried to tickle him into submission and that's when Emma had snapped the picture. Suddenly, he felt a soft hand on the back of his neck.

"That's one of my favourites," Shalimar said softly. Brennan could smell the shampoo in her hair and the sweet and honey-like smell of her body wash.

"I can see why." He paused before adding, "Shal - did I say something wrong before ? Because I didn't mean-"

"No Brennan you didn't say anything wrong at all – in fact I'm the one who should be apologising."

She came round to sit on the bed next to him and Brennan grinned, wrapped a strong arm around her waist and held her close. He kissed the back of her neck and laughed as droplets of water from her hair fell all over him. Shalimar laughed with him and placed her towel on the pillow behind her.

"Scooch over," she said and Brennan stretched out his long frame on the bed, making room for her next to him. He enveloped her in his arms and kissed her forehead. For the first time in a long time, she felt calm and at peace. She sighed contentedly with her head on his chest as she listened to the steady, rhythmic beat of his heart. There was something very soothing about it. She looked up into his eyes and said,

"I'm sorry I've been a pain these last few weeks."

"What – are you kidding me – we all love waking up at 3am to the sound of you kicking the crap out of that punching bag!"

Shalimar laughed and playfully hit Brennan on the chest. He grinned and softly moved a lock of hair that had been covering her eye and tucked it behind her ear. Then he said,

"Alright come on, let's check out some more of these pictures, huh ?"

Shalimar smiled and nodded, thinking to herself, once again, how lucky she was to have Brennan in her life.

Brennan continued flicking through pictures until he felt Shalimar's even breathing on his chest. He smiled to himself, relieved at the fact that she was finally getting some sleep. He smoothed her golden hair back from her face and tenderly kissed the top of her head. He had to admit he'd spent so much time worrying about Shalimar lately that he was exhausted himself. He closed his eyes for what felt like just a moment. Suddenly, Shalimar sat bolt upright in the bed. Her eyes flashed and she tilted her head to the side. Brennan woke with a start.

"Shal, what's wrong ?"

"Someone's coming."

"What?"

Shalimar jumped off the bed and ran down the stairs to warn Jesse and Lexa. Brennan was right behind her. They found the other two in the kitchen drinking large glasses of orange juice.

"Whoa where's the fire guys ?" Lexa asked.

"Someone's coming." Shalimar managed to get out just as they all heard a large bang on the door.

"But we're underground, how the hell did they find us ?" Brennan blurted out.

"They must have got to one of our suppliers." Jesse replied.

"However, they did it, they're here. I can hear at least 6 of them out there." Shalimar pointed out.

"Ok," Jesse said moving quickly, "We have to get out of here. The door's not going to hold for much longer. Everyone pack some stuff quickly and we'll go out the back way."

"I'll wait here for them, in case they get in before you're done." Shalimar said, her eyes flashing once again. The adrenaline was beginning to course through her veins and Brennan knew better than to argue with her at that point.

"Ok I'll pack some stuff for you." He said.

"Don't forget the photo album," Shalimar said with a smile. She then moved to position herself just in front of the door. It was starting to crack around the edges and in the middle and any minute now it would give out. Shalimar was ready. She'd been ready for weeks now. She rolled her palms into fists and waited. She didn't have to wait long. Before she knew it the door fell with a crash and revealed the cluster of dominion agents that were waiting behind it.

"Hi boys, welcome to the party – May I see your invitations ?" Shalimar said, her eyes flashing dangerously at the 6 guards in front of her. They were all wearing power resistant suits but that would do them very little good against her. They growled and charged towards her. Their orders were to capture alive if possible but they would use any amount of force necessary.

Shalimar didn't even give them a chance to get their footing before she started beating them down. She kicked the one in front in the stomach and pushed off his back into a flip that took out two of the others as each one of her legs connected with the face of an unsuspecting agent. The other three took the opportunity to fire up their weapons and they started to shoot.

Shalimar bounded from wall to wall as though she were in some sort of circus show. She was almost tempted to close her eyes and fight these guys but the guns made the situation too unpredictable to allow for that. Before the agents even knew what had happened she had taken out another one of them by coming up behind him and turning into a spinning round house kick that knocked him unconscious. Another shot rang out and Brennan was suddenly at the top of the stairs firing electric beams at the two remaining guards. They didn't even flinch and turned to shoot at him instead. Brennan ducked out of the way and Lexa appeared and fired some golden energy blasts at them. They were temporarily blinded and started shooting in every direction just to protect themselves. One bullet was making its way straight towards Lexa's heart but Jesse was there in a pinch and he massed out right in front of her. The bullet ricocheted off him and fell to the floor with a tell-tale ping. Shalimar chose that moment to leap from behind the unconscious guard she'd been using as a shield and she engaged both guards in another fight. They both came at her simultaneously but she was on top form – she blocked every punch and every kick all the while getting in hits of her own. From the corners of her eyes she could see that they were both aiming powerful punches at her head and at just the right moment she leapt into the air and flipped out of the way. They ended up knocking each other out and Shalimar watched them do it from her cat-like, predatory stance on the floor with a definite smirk on her face.

"Whoa – feeling any better there Shal ?" Lexa asked. Shalimar smiled at her and replied,

"You bet! Ok come on, let's get out of here before their back-up arrives."

"I'm all for that. I managed to pack all the electronic stuff we've managed to get our hands on so far so we should be able to set up somewhere else with no problems." Jesse said.

"Alright come on, let's go." Brennan said as he ushered all the others out in front of him. He looked back at all the guards passed out on the floor and smiled slightly to himself. Shalimar was definitely back to her old self again.

The building they had been staying in was concealed underground and they had to make their way back up to ground level though a maze of pipes and tunnels. When they finally made it to the surface Shalimar smiled and took a deep breath of fresh air. It was good to be out again. The happiness at being outside once again was written all over her face and her mood was infectious. They were all glad to see her so happy again. Lexa walked up to her, nudged her with her shoulder and said,

"You know . . . you went back on our deal back there…"

Shalimar laughed, nudged Lexa back and said,

"What can I say Lex ? I guess fate decided to intervene!"

They all laughed. Brennan walked over and put his arm around Shalimar and the whole group walked off into the night leaving yet another fallen sanctuary behind.