Summary: Jesse's sick with little to no hope. Can Mutant X save him? Or will they be forced to watch one of their own die?

Spoilers: Set after "Fool for Love" and before "Kilohertz." Nothing applies after "FFL." Lexa and Leo Pierce are going to appear later in the story. Adam's duplicity doesn't apply in this story. And Lexa had rescued her brother from the Genomex hospital. Adam and Lexa never had an affair, but they are attracted to one another. But for now, it's the Fantastic Four. And Adam of course.

Disclaimer: I don't own Mutant X. I don't even know who owns Mutant X, but I know it isn't me. However, I wouldn't mind owning Jesse Kilmartin, preferably handcuffed to my bed.

Prologue-

Emma DeLauro was watching Jesse Kilmartin closely. He looked healthy and relaxed. But she knew that he was not healthy and he was not relaxed. Though she could tell that he was trying to hide it from her, there was something very off about her friend and teammate. The little voice in her head shot out its own opinion, And the man you love, Emma, don't forget that. It taunted her, reminding her of everything she wanted from him.

Glaring up toward the ceiling, she growled to herself, Shut up! Leave me alone! Jesse is my friend. She looked back at Jesse, just in time to see him stagger and slowly fall. "Bren!" she shouted, pointing at Jesse as the young blond man started his one way trip to the floor.

Whirling away from his dance partner, Shalimar Fox, Brennan Mulwray managed to catch his best friend before he hit the floor. "Jesse! Come on, man. Talk to me here, Jess."

Jesse's head lolled and then his eyes crept open until they were thin slits. Emma was there before another word was said. Jesse's eyes were quick and alert, even though the rest of him was sluggish and lethargic. They landed on her and the tension in his muscles visibly eased. "Emma." He moaned, one hand reaching for her.

"I'm here, Jess. I'm here." She said, taking his hand and brushing his hair away from his face. "Come on, Bren, help me get him to the car. I'll take him back to Sanctuary."

Jesse's head shook back and forth slowly. "No. We're supposed to be having fun. Stay, I'm just tired. I'll sleep in the back of the car. Stay, please. I don't want you to have to cut your night short on my account."

"I'm taking you back to Sanctuary. No matter what you say."
Jesse's eyes blinked slowly and he nodded. "Kay."

Emma smiled at him and kissed his hand before nodding at Brennan. The tall, dark haired elemental nodded back, lifting the molecular off the floor and into his arms. Jesse's eyes rolled back into his head as he left the ground, suddenly making him deadweight. "Good grief. He weighs a ton. He needs to stop eating so much."

Shalimar chuckled, following the group. Though she was putting on a brave face, she was very worried. She and Jesse were close; the molecular was her little brother. She was very protective of him, that protectiveness matched only by the protectiveness that Brennan felt for Emma, the woman he viewed his little sister. Emma held Jesse's head as Brennan lowered the unconscious blond molecular onto the backseat of Jesse's Mustang convertible. "Will you be okay?" Brennan asked, looking at his sister with concern.

"I'll be fine. I just need to get him to Adam. Adam will know what's wrong."

Brennan nodded, kissing her forehead. "All right. We'll be back soon. Okay?"

"Okay." Emma said with a smile before climbing behind the wheel and driving off.

Brennan wrapped his arms around the shivering Shalimar. "Do you have your purse?"

"Yes."

"Good. Let's go home. I know you're worried about Jesse."

Shalimar looked up at him, smiling radiantly. That was part of the reason that she trusted Brennan so much. He could read her like an open book. "Thank you, Bren."

"It's okay. Come on."

Emma called Adam as she was driving. "Adam?"

Adam was in bed and rolled over, checking the clock before answering his surrogate daughter. "What's up, Emma? It's nearly 1 in the morning."
"It's Jesse. He collapsed at the club tonight and then passed out a few minutes later."

"Can you sense what's wrong?"

"No, even unconscious, he's got it pretty locked up."

"All right. When you get here, bring him to the lab."

"Okay, Adam. We'll be there soon."

"See you when you get here." And then Emma's COM ring went dead.

Emma continued to drive, looking back once at Jesse. He was still sleeping, but he looked like he was in pain. Stopping at a red light, Emma reached back and sent soothing thoughts through his head. Immediately his face eased and he slept peacefully. "Come on Jesse, hang in there with me for just a little longer. Please." She whispered, holding tightly to the steering wheel as she drove toward home. Toward Sanctuary.

When she arrived at Sanctuary, Adam came running to the car, a stretcher floating along beside him. "Is he okay?"

"He was in pain, but I did what I could to try and ease the pain tele-empathically. Like I did for Brennan once."

Adam nodded, moving to the side of the car. Leaning in, he lifted the young man effortlessly, laying him on the stretcher. "Come on, let's find out what's wrong with him."

Emma nodded, jogging alongside the stretcher as Adam directed it back to the lab. Jesse lay quiet and peaceful, the only sign of his illness his ragged breathing and chaotic mind. "Hang on, Jess. I'm here, okay? Emma's here." She soothed as his breathing became erratic and rushed. "Easy Jesse, slow down. Nothing's going to hurt you while I'm here. I promise. Nothing will hurt you when I'm at your side."

Adam watched his two children together as he transferred the molecular to the scanning chair. "Okay, Emma. Start the scan after I take a blood sample."

Emma nodded, watching as Adam began to gently pull Jesse's shirt over his head and tug his sneakers off his feet, leaving him barefoot and only in his pants. He grabbed a syringe, tying a tourniquet tightly around his arm. Easing the syringe into the vein there, causing a flinch, he extracted the blood sample and then nodded at Emma. Emma nodded back and turned on the scanner, watching as the double yellow rays scanned up and down Jesse's inert form. "All right then. Emma, I want you to go get some sleep. Jesse will be fine for the evening here. I want to run some tests and look at the scan to see what I can find out."

Emma nodded, standing next to Jesse. "May I stay with him? Just for a little while?"

"Sure. I'm sure he'd appreciate the company. Jesse hates the lab, he says it gives him the creeps."

Emma smiled, remembering Jesse's reaction to the lab was usually a barely controlled shudder. "Thanks, Adam."

"No problem, Emma. Just promise me that you'll get some sleep eventually."

Emma nodded her smile lighting up the room. "Yes Adam."

Adam smiled at her, the love he felt for her blooming in his heart. She was his daughter in all ways but by blood. And she made him so proud.

Emma took the chair next to the bed, watching Jesse sleep. For almost an hour it was completely silent. Brennan and Shalimar had both come and gone, having been assured that Jesse would be fine. At last, Jesse's eyes began to flutter. "Em?" he moaned, trying to open his eyes.

"I'm here, Jess. See, I'm right here." She said, taking his face and turning it toward her gently.

He grimaced, the pain lifting his back from the bed. "It hurts, Emma." He whimpered, his eyes squeezing closed as though to squeeze out the pain.

"I know it hurts, Jess. I know it does. But you just have to lie still and let Adam find out what's wrong."

Jesse bit his bottom lip, turning his head to the side. Emma knew what that meant. Jesse already knew what was wrong, but he wasn't telling anyone. "Jesse, do you know what's wrong with you?" she asked, placing a gentle hand to his cheek and turning him to face her.

Jesse opened his eyes, the aquamarine meeting the piercing blue fearfully. "I know what's wrong with me, Emma. I don't want you to know and pity me."

Emma looked at him, her eyes softening and a small smile curving her lips. "Oh, Jesse, I would never pity you. I would try to help you."
"Really?"

"Of course, Jesse. You're my friend."

Jesse's mouth twitched and his back arched a bit. "Just a friend?" he whispered, reaching one hand to her cheek.

"No, Jesse, not just a friend." Emma said softly, standing and placing her forehead against his.

"Could you help me convince Adam to let me sleep in my own room? I'm fine, I'm just tired right now."

Emma looked at him and nodded, turning to face Adam. "Adam?"

Adam turned from the results of the scan, looking concerned. "What's wrong?"

Emma squeezed Jesse's hand as his grip suddenly tightened, her hand the only thing helping him steady himself through the fresh bout of pain. "Jesse's awake. He wants to sleep in his own room."

Adam shook his head, coming into Jesse's line of sight. "Jesse, I can't let you sleep unsupervised tonight. I need to know someone is with you at all times."

Jesse's eyes closed in disappointment, before crawling back open at Emma's next words. "What if I stayed with him in his room tonight? He wouldn't be alone and I'd be there to call you if he needed you sometime during the night."

Adam looked down at Jesse. "Would that be okay? She'd have to sleep in the bed next to you, is that okay?"

Jesse nodded, whispering, "That's fine."

Adam looked thoughtful for a minute before nodding. "All right, I'll call Brennan to help get you to your room."

Jesse nodded, smiling gratefully. "Thanks, Adam."

Adam smiled down at the boy he considered a son and squeezed his shoulder gently. "That's all right, Jesse. We'll get you feeling better in no time."

Jesse nodded and closed his eyes. Adam spoke into his COM ring. "Brennan, could you meet me in the lab right now?"

"Adam, it's three in the morning. I want to be sleeping right now."

"Please. I need you to help Jesse to his room. He's weak and I don't want to foster him off on Emma and have her struggling with him."

"I'm on my way. How's he doing?"

Adam looked back over his shoulder to where Emma was helping Jesse pull his t-shirt back on. "He's weak and he's tired. What's worse is, I think he's in a lot more trouble than we know."

"I'll be there in a second."

A few minutes later, Brennan strolled into the room, wearing just his pajama pants. "Hey, bro, how are you feeling? You scared Shal to death with your little fainting spell back at the club. She's going to rip you a new one when you're better."

Jesse nodded, sitting up slowly. "Tell her I appreciate her concern."

Brennan nodded, coming over and helping his best friend to his feet. "Let's get you to your own room, all right?"

Jesse nodded and leaned heavily against Brennan the whole way back to the room. Emma followed, moving to open the door and let the two men in. "Could you stay with him, Bren? I just need to get something from my room and I'll be right back."

"Sure thing, Em." Brennan said, easing Jesse into a sitting position on the bed.

Emma smiled at her brother before going into her own room to get her pajamas and some candles to try to soothe Jesse into sleep. When she came back, she was alarmed to see only Brennan on the bed. "Where's Jess, Bren?" she asked, as she scattered the candles, lighting each one as it was placed.

"He's in the bathroom. It kind of sounds like he's throwing up."

Emma nodded. "All right, thanks for waiting with him, Bren. I've got him from here."

Brennan nodded and kissed his little sister's forehead. "Take care of him. Try to keep him in bed and we'll see you tomorrow morning."

"Aye aye, captain." Emma said, giving him a mock salute.

Brennan smiled at her and then left. Emma went to the door, knocking on it carefully. "Are you okay, Jesse?"

"I'm fine, Emma. I just felt sick, that's all." He murmured as he opened the door and stepped out.

"Okay, let's get you into bed." She said, sitting him on the side of the bed.

Going to the dresser, she began to rifle through, looking for a muscle tank and a pair of pajama bottoms. Her hand brushed a bottle at the bottom of the door. Checking over her shoulder, she saw that Jesse had lain back and was as still as a church mouse on a Sunday. Lifting the pill bottle from the recesses of the drawer, she had to choke back a gasp at what was inside. They were pain pills. Setting them out of the way, but where she could get them to take them to Adam, she pulled out a pair of pjs and a tank. Sitting next to him, she wasted no time in getting him undressed. She steadied him as he stepped into the pants and then wrestled his arms into the tank. "All right, Jesse. Lay back. Let me get changed and I'll be right in."

Jesse nodded, his eyes closed in exhaustion. Emma quickly peeled off her pants and halter, changing into the nightshirt. She climbed into the bed next to him and wrapped him tightly in her arms. He burrowed his head into the valley between her breasts and sighed. "Good night, Emma."

"Good night, Jesse. Let me know if you feel sick, again, okay?"

"Okay. Emma, could you stay in my head? I've been having really nasty nightmares."

Emma looked at him and nodded, kissing the crown of his head. "All right, Jesse, just go to sleep."

Jesse nodded and quietly slipped into dreams. Emma sighed, stroking her fingers through his hair as she concentrated before slipping into his mind right behind him.

Nearly four hours later, Emma started to wake up, feeling something warm and rough invade her senses. As she came closer and closer to consciousness, she arched as her legs were spread and the tongue of Jesse Kilmartin began to lave the area between her legs. Her hands reached down, holding his head loosely, crying out softly as her body convulsed. With a feral smile, Jesse crawled back up her body, kissing her sweetly. "Morning Emma."

"What time is it, Jesse?"

Jesse turned to the clock, "It is 7 o'clock. Adam is ensconced in the lab and Shalimar and Brennan are still lazing in bed."

"Why Jesse?" she asked him, trying to probe his mind subtly.

Jesse laid down, holding her body close to him. "I'm dying, Emma."

Emma gave a cry, shooting up to look at him. "What? No, you can't. I lo….no! I won't let you."

Jesse chuckled, pulling her back down to him. "I don't think that you have much say in the matter."

"What about Adam? Surely he can help."

"Adam already knows. I have cancer, Emma. I've had it since I was 14 years old. That's what the pills are for that you found last night. I wanted you to find them. And I love you too Emma."

Emma's blue eyes sought his out and she sobbed, pressing her lips to his mouth. "You can't die, Jesse. I won't let you. I love you so much."

Jesse smiled, kissing her passionately. "Don't think about it. It's getting worse, but I'm not dead yet. Okay? Just think about us, here and now."

Emma looked up at him and nodded, kissing him harshly. Together the two soared to amazing heights.

Several months passed and Jesse started to stabilize. Emma continued to spend her nights in Jesse's bed, holding him and loving him. Then one day, Jesse's world flipped upside down. Mutant X was on assignment when they were ambushed by GSA agents. Halfway through the fight, Emma went down from a bullet to the upper thigh. Jesse let out an almighty roar as Emma hit the ground hard. "Emma!"

"Go Jesse! You can't stay here! Go!" she screamed. "Brennan! Get him out! Please."

Brennan looked at his sister, her pleading eyes begging him to do as she said. He nodded and grabbed Jesse around the waist as he moved to go to her. "Come on Jess. We have to go. If we stay here, we'll all be caught and there won't be anyone to rescue Emma."

"Emma, no!" Jesse screamed, fighting Brennan's grip.

Shalimar saw Emma's pleading eyes turn to her and she nodded at the silent request she saw there. She reached up and punched Jesse, causing him to go limp in Brennan's arms. Brennan heaved him over his shoulder and ran to the Double Helix. Turning back at the ramp, Shalimar watched as the GSA agents began to close in on Emma. Emma tilted her head back, looking up at the sky. "Natalie, if you can hear me, get me out of here!"

A puff of blue smoke, an Emma clone wrapping her arms around Emma and then both disappearing into an identical puff of blue smoke. Brennan and Shalimar exchanged looks and then they took off, leaving the GSA agents with nothing.

When Jesse woke up hours later, he looked around the lab and was barely able to contain his shudder. Reaching behind him, he winced as he sat up. "Adam?" he whispered, unable to force his voice any louder than that.

A strong hand reached out, pushing him back down. "Easy Jesse. Shal gave you quite the knock on the head." Came his father's soothing voice. "Lie still."

"Where's Emma?"

"She's gone, Jess. The only good thing I can say is that she's not in GSA custody. She's just gone."

Jesse's eyes squeezed closed. Shalimar came running in. "I think we found Emma's Natalie."

"Oh really. Well do show me."

Shalimar went to the computer, pulling up Emma's file. "That's Emma's file. That's not Natalie." Jesse said, his words slurring with exhaustion and pain.

"Nuh uh, not so fast. Look at this. Siblings: Identical twin sister, Natalie DeLauro. So Brennan went to check her file and sure enough, you have a dossier on a Natalie DeLauro." Shalimar said, typing in Natalie's name. "Natalie DeLauro. Psionic: teleportation and telepathy. Also a sister bond with her twin unlike any ever been recorded. I guessed that because both are psionic, they are more in tune with each other than most twins."

"Good guess. Well at least now we know where Emma is."

"Uh, no we don't. Natalie DeLauro has no recorded home port."

"What about Emma's ring?"

"It's been deactivated."

"Damn. I guess we'll just have to wait until Emma can come to us on her own."

Shalimar nodded, looking at Jesse. He had already slipped out of consciousness again. "What's wrong with him, Adam? He's been ill since he was 14, but no one ever told me what that was."

"That's for Jesse to tell you, not for me. But Emma kept him pretty stable. I won't be surprised if he gets worse as time goes by."

Shalimar nodded, crouching beside her brother and holding his hand. "Please be okay, Jess. I need you to be okay."

tbc...