Disclaimer: I don't own mutant x so please don't sue me…all you'll end up with is paper and a pencil!!!

Summary: Takes place right where "At Destiny's End" left off.  Emma is dealing with Tyler's death…and the team tries to help her.  J/E of course!!! With a little bit of B/S splashed around in there…somewhere…

Chapter 1

They all watched Emma walk out of the room; it tore them apart to see her in such pain.  Brennan rose out of the chair and started to follow Emma, but Shalimar grabbed his arm, "She wants to be alone Brennan.  I think we need to give her some space."

"But Shal, she…"

"Brennan, Emma will be fine.  If we keep bothering her about it, she might feel worse," Jesse said.

"Fine.  Shal, do you want to train?"

"Always.  Although I don't think you'll last too long," Shalimar flashed him one of her flirtatious smiles.

Smiling back, he said, "We'll just see about that."  Together, they ran off towards the dojo, ready for a long session.  Jesse walked towards his room; he was tired and planned on sleeping the rest of the night away.  Even if he wasn't tired, everybody else was busy anyway.  As he passed Emma's door, he could hear soft sobs coming from inside.  Knocking quietly on the door he said, "Emma, can I come in?"

"Yes," her voice was muffled and soft but Jesse still heard her.

Opening the door, he stepped inside and shut the door behind him.  Emma was laying face down on her bed, she was crying into her pillow.  His heart broke to see her in such pain and heartache.  In truth, his heart broke when he overheard her talking to Shalimar.  All he wanted for her was to be happy, even if it wasn't with him.  So he handed her the car keys.

Jesse sat down on the bed, beside her.  *Why'd I come in here?  She said she didn't' want to talk about it, and I can't say anything to make her feel better.*

Emma sat up, wiping the tears from her eyes.  "Did you want to talk about something?"  She could feel sadness coming from him, but she didn't know why.

"I just wanted to know if you wanted a shoulder to cry on.  Or if you wanted some company.  But if you don't, I'll leave you alone," Jesse started to get up, but she grabbed his arm.

"Stay.  Please?  I do want to talk, but not to Brennan or Shalimar.  You're easier to talk to," her blue eyes pleaded with him and his heart melted.

Once again Jesse sat on her bed, but this time he was leaning against the headrest with his legs stretched out in front of him.  Emma moved next to him, stretching her legs out as well.

"I can't help but to think that Tyler's death was my fault," Emma's voice wavered and the tears threatened to return.

Putting an arm around her to comfort her, he was surprised when she rested her head on his shoulder.  She continued, "If I stayed away like he told me, he would be alive right now."

Jesse's voice was soft and reassuring, "Emma it wasn't your fault.  Even if you stayed away something could have gone wrong…Skye was crazy and careless.  Don't blame yourself; Tyler just wanted you to be safe.  It's not your fault."

They sat in silence for a long time, until Emma spoke up again, "Every time I fall for someone, I get hurt.  First Caleb sucked the life right out of me.  Then there was Kyle, who wasn't even human.  And now with Tyler.  All he wanted to do was keep me alive, but why couldn't we both be alive together?"  The tears she held back came flowing down her cheeks again.

Jesse didn't say anything else, instead he let her cry.  Emma was right; love was always taken away from her, one way or another.  He didn't know how long it was since he first came into Emma's room, but he had no intention of leaving.  Jesse's arm pulled her a bit closer to him, and his eyelids became heavy.  Within minutes Emma cried herself to sleep, and Jesse followed her.

The next morning

Shalimar was in the kitchen making herself breakfast; which was really her taking the raw steak out of the fridge and putting it on a plate.  "Who says steak isn't breakfast food?"  She was just about to take a bite, when Adam strolled in the room.

"Is Emma up yet?"

"Nope, why," Shalimar asked.

"I was just wondering how she was holding up.  I'm going to go meet a new mutant and check out the safehouses.  I want you all to behave while I'm gone."

"Okay Daddy, we'll be good," Shalimar smiled innocently.

Adam kissed the top of her head and headed towards the hanger.

Quickly devouring the rest of her steak, she set the dishes in the sink.  *Maybe Emma will want to go shopping with me.*  Shalimar made her way to her best friend's room, in hopes of cheering her up.

Knowing that Emma was a light sleeper, she knocked on the door.  "Emma?"  Hearing no answer, Shalimar decided to go in.  Opening the door, she stepped inside.  Her eyes fell upon the bed; Jesse and Emma were both asleep.  Shalimar couldn't help but raise an eyebrow when she saw them lying together.  Emma's head was on Jesse's chest and their arms were wrapped around each other. 

Shalimar smiled, and decided to ask Emma later instead of waking her up now.  Turning towards the door, she ran into Brennan who entered the room too.

As soon as Brennan saw Jesse and Emma together, he lost it, "What the hell!"

His loud outburst woke up Jesse and Emma, who looked around the room in confusion.  Emma sat up and said sleepily, "Did you guys want something?"

"Does Adam want to see us or something," Jesse asked as he sat up too.

Brennan glared at Jesse; Emma was like a sister to him, and Jesse was trying to take advantage of her.  "What the hell are you thinking Jess?  She's hurt and vulnerable and you come in here to take advantage of that?  I can't believe you would do something like that!"

Emma became furious; it was none of Brennan's business why Jesse was in her room.  "Shut up Brennan!  I can take care of myself.  Jesse's here because I wanted him to be.  He would NEVER take advantage of me.  And no Brennan, Jesse and I didn't have sex, but if we did, that's none of your business!  God I can't believe you!"

Jesse looked at Emma, her face was red with anger.  "Uh…maybe I should go," he started to get up, but Emma grabbed his arm.

"Stay," she pleaded with him again.  Once he sat down again, she glared at Brennan, "You however need to get the hell out of my room right now!"

"Fine, but Jesse if you hurt her I swear I'll kill you!  He took off out of the room, with Shalimar hot on his heels.

Suddenly Emma grabbed her head and cried out, "Please make it stop!"  Her head was throbbing with emotions; anger, worry and sadness.  The strongest one was anger and it was coming from Brennan with such force behind it that she thought her head was going to explode.  "Jesse, please make it stop!"  Tears streamed down her face as her headache got worse.

Jesse pulled her into a hug, and gently stroked her hair.  Closing his eyes, he thought about the ocean with the waves gently lapping on the shore and how calm it was.  Concentrating as hard as he could, he pushed his calming emotions towards the surface.  Jesse hoped that she would feel them and her mind would calm down as well.

After a few moments, the pain had vanished.  Emma pulled back from his embrace, and looked into his eyes, "How did you know what to do?  How did you even know it would work?"

Giving her a warm smile, he wiped away her tears, "I though that if I focused my emotions you'd pick them up.  I didn't actually know it would work, but I'm glad it did.  Do you feel better?"

"Yeah, thanks Jess.  You're so good to me.  You're the only one who's never put me down," she gave him a hug, and they continued to sit and hold each other.

The dojo

Shalimar let Brennan take his anger out on her; she had conditions…he couldn't use his powers.  Wanting to hit something he readily agreed and they began to spar.  If Shalimar wasn't a feral, he would've beaten her to death; but she was and easily blocked the blows.

"Brennan, she's right.  She's a big girl and can take care of herself.  And if there's something going on between those two, we need to be happy for her.  It's hard to move on after someone you love dies, but once you do well that's when you start to heal.  Consider yourself lucky Brennan, you don't know what that's like.  It hurts so much, and when you yelled at her that didn't help at all."

"I know I messed up Shal.  Do you think she'll forgive me?"

"If I were you, I'd give her some space today and then apologize tomorrow.  You done?"

Brennan stopped his punch, "Yeah thanks."

"I'm going to take a shower.  Then I'm going to the mall, do you want to come?"

Brennan sighed, if he didn't go, he'd have nothing to do all day since Emma wasn't talking to him and Jesse was with her.  "I guess."

Squealing with joy, she gave him a big bear hug.  "We're going to have so much fun!  Maybe later tonight we'll all go to a club.  But only if Emma feels up to it."  Letting go of him she headed out of the room towards the bathroom.  After grabbing his towel, he headed for his shower as well.

Emma's room

Letting go of Emma once more, Jesse asked, "Do you want to go somewhere?"

"Not really.  I just want to stay here and do nothing.  If you wanted to do something else you can go," Emma bit her lip.  She told him he could go, but the last thing she wanted was for him to leave.

"Nothing's better than hanging out with you Em.  I'm just glad you're not sick of me yet," Jesse grinned.

"Want to watch a movie?  I just bought a t.v. the other day," Emma pointed to her t.v.

"Okay," Jesse propped up some pillows and sat against the headrest, like he did the night before. 

Emma popped in "XXX" (A/N: Triple X if you haven't seen it yet you should! It rocks!), and pulled out a small box from her closet.  Opening it, she grabbed some candy bars, and a bag of chips and shoved the box back into her closet.  Walking over to the bed with the junk in hand, she sat down next to Jesse.

As the movie was going, they munched on the food, and were entranced by the movie.  When they were done snacking, Emma pushed the trash onto the floor, and scooted closer to Jesse, leaning her head on his shoulder.  Finally comfortable, she continued to watch the rest of the movie.

A pang of guilt stabbed through her heart, as she remembered Tyler.  Right before he was trapped in the room, he told her he loved her.  Emma repeated the words back to him just before he died, and she meant them with all her heart.  Emma knew that he died because it was the only way she could live.  But something else he said stuck in her mind, "Everything's already decided, we're just waiting for it to happen." 

A thought raced through her mind turning so fast that it sent shivers down her spine.  *What if there was a reason Tyler died instead of me?  What if that's what was supposed to happen?  He could've easily grabbed me and ran out of the room, pushing the button locking Skye in there by himself.  But that's not what Tyler did, he pushed me out and locked himself in there with him.  Maybe I wasn't supposed to end up with Tyler.  Maybe I'm supposed to be with someone else.*  Her thoughts lingered in her mind as she unconsciously grabbed Jesse's hand, intertwining their fingers together.

Jesse's heart skipped a beat as he felt her fingers intertwine with his.  Telling himself that she did that in need for more comfort, he tried to fight the urge to tell her how he felt about her.

A/N: Next time… I can only promise more emma/jesse, although I'm not quite sure yet what will happen between them.  Also Brennan and Shalimar at the mall!  Please give me the feedback…you can even tell me if it reeks…I don't care just leave a review!! :)