Disclaimer: I don't shucking own a shucking thing. And saying shucking is very shucking therapeutic. You should shucking try it. Shuck-faces.

Teresa knew that Thomas was awake when an earsplitting scream sliced through her mind like razor wire. She flinched and pressed her hands to her forehead. Tom, calm down!

NO!

The furious shriek made her heart stutter mid-beat, and she leaped to her feet. Ignoring the confused shout of the therapist behind her, she ran down the hall. Where are you?

Her brow furrowed as she entered a lift and slammed the button for the simulation floor. Tom, can you hear me? Hang on, I'm coming to find you –

GET OUT OF MY HEAD!

The force of the mental shove she received in reply sent her reeling against the wall. She grappled for a hold, trying to process what Thomas had just done. What the hell are you doing? Tom?

The words seemed to double back on themselves, bouncing off the curves of her mind, unable to pass through the door between her and Thomas that was now sealed shut by some act of anger and fear.

Teresa knew it was possible to shut off the link they shared; she'd done it herself in the simulation. But this time it was Thomas who had done it, and with a cold rage that made her tremble inside. Why? What had gone so horribly wrong that he would cut her off without question?

She hesitated a moment, then threw a thought out to Aris. Aris, how's your day been?

The thought slid swiftly through the door, and after a moment: Not bad, group therapy's a bit slow though. Yourself?

So Thomas had shut off their link – it wasn't a malfunction. Obviously, the sim chamber exit hadn't gone as planned. Had his memories returned?

She regretted leaving Aris hanging, but she didn't have time to chat. Finding Thomas was the priority. As soon as the lift stopped and the doors chimed open, she took off running, ignoring the instinct that told her to stop and think.

She turned a corner and halted in her tracks just in time to avoid running into a stormy-faced Minho.

"The shuck are you doing here?" He nearly bit her head off, grabbing her arm and pulling her back around the corner.

She wrestled her arm away. "Thomas is awake, and he's... something's wrong."

Minho's expression grew darker, and he opened his mouth to reply, but she cut him off, "I have to find him."

"That's the-"

"No, I'm going to find him. If you want to help, fine, but you aren't going to make me-"

"Can you shut your shucking mouth for one second?" Minho snapped at her. "I got a message from security. They said Thomas didn't take it well, he's running."

Teresa rolled her eyes darkly. "That much was obvious from the moment he started screaming in my head. Which is why we need to go find him now before he does something stupid!"

"Shut up." Minho tensed as faint footsteps echoed through the hallways around them. He carefully glanced back and forth before leaning towards her and hissing, "We aren't going anywhere. If Thomas sees you, do you realize what that'll do to his head? He's already gone off the deep end after seeing Newt. You're supposed to be dead too, remember?" Minho shook his head, his expression disgusted. "And you want to go in there and show him another ghost? Good shucking thinking."

He took her arm again and began to lead her back to the lift. She didn't try to stop him.

"Here's what you're gonna do. You're gonna wait right here for Newt; if he's following procedure, he should be heading back here right now. When he gets here, I want you both to head back up and get yourselves out of sight. Stay in your rooms. I don't want to see either of your klunk faces when I get up there, got it?"

Teresa nodded, wanting to protest, but biting her tongue. "Fine. You're going to find Thomas?"

He nodded, squeezing his hands into fists and then releasing them. "I'm gonna find him." He turned on his heel, leaving Teresa to watch him leave. "Stupidest shucking idea ever, letting Newt do this by himself," he muttered, as he walked away.

Teresa stood by the lift door, trying to keep herself under control. Anyone who saw her would say she looked calm, relaxed even. But inside, she was struggling to keep the cracks from tearing her apart. She had hoped that everything would go well with Thomas' awakening. Of course, she'd known it was possible that there could be complications, and that even if there weren't Thomas might not want to see her anyway. But she couldn't help hoping that her friend, her closest friend before the Trials, would retain enough good memories of her to be able to repair their strained relationship.

No, she didn't need Thomas. Not to live. But he was such an integral part of her, and she didn't know how she would be able to function correctly without him. They were two of a pair, like twins in a sense, brought to WICKED around the same time and chosen to be leaders, partners, before they even knew how important that role would be.

When Teresa had exited the simulation, she'd regained her memories almost immediately. She was later told that it normally took several days, sometimes weeks, for the memory block to wear away. Her case was unusual, they'd said, but not dangerous. According to the doctors, nothing had gone wrong, but it had still almost driven her mad – she could barely remember waking up. It had seemed like she was waking from one dream only to enter another. Though her wake-assistant, Rachel, had reported that Teresa was the smoothest awakening yet, it had taken her days to feel anything again. She'd failed the psych evaluation so badly that they'd scheduled her a private therapy session. And it had helped, especially when she began to remember her past with Thomas, when the immensity of what she had given up due to her role in the simulation became all too clear to her.

She still didn't regret it, betraying him. She would give Thomas up a thousand times over to ensure his survival.

She just wished she didn't have to.