"Kurt and Roman…just left?" Tasha looked at Patterson in disbelief.
"Yes," Patterson admitted.
"And Roman was armed…" Reed clarified.
"I gave him my weapon," Patterson admitted.
"Where are they going?" Nas did not look reassured.
"I don't know," Patterson admitted, "Roman remembered Cade. Said he might know where he'd take Jane. I'm going to track Kurt's phone."
"So Roman is armed and he remembers Cade?" Reed looked at Patterson in disbelief.
"What if he turns on Kurt?" Nas worried.
"They both want to get Jane back," Patterson denied, "He's not going to hurt Kurt."
"You can't know that," Tasha argued.
Remembering the look the two men had shared, Patterson didn't argue. They both loved Jane. They might not always be on the same side, but in this they were united.
"I do know," She denied without arguing.
As the team left to following Patterson's directions she prayed that they weren't too late.
Jane regained consciousness slowly. Her head was fuzzy and her neck sore from her awkward positon. She was tied to a chair. She didn't understand what was happening. The last thing she remembered was…Oliver and the carnival.
"So you're finally awake." Cade said as he came into the room.
Just that quickly Jane's mind cleared.
"Cade." She looked at the other man silently.
"I have to admit," Cade came to stand in front of Jane, "I'm a little bit confused right now."
"How's that?' Jane asked without expression.
"A little bird told me that you…killed Oscar." Cade admitted.
"I did," Jane admitted with a pang.
"See…" Cade circled the chair, "I don't understand that. You loved Oscar."
"They wiped my memory," Jane reminded Cade.
"They did?" He taunted.
"I did," Jane admitted.
"So you're what…now good?" He looked skeptical
"No," Jane denied, "I'm just different."
"I'm supposed to believe," Cade stopped in front of her, "That taking your memories from you changed your entire personality?"
"I don't know," Jane forced herself to admit, "I don't remember Remi…"
"You say that like she's a different person…like she isn't you."
"I know I'm Remi…just what little I do remember, seems off." She finally admitted.
"Off…how?" Cade encouraged.
"I was horrible," Jane admitted, "selfish and manipulative, but that's not at all what I feel now."
"Markos knew you pretty well," Cade admitted, "You both shared a bond that I didn't understand."
"I know Markos was like a brother to you," Jane told him, "I'm sorry."
"Well that doesn't help much," Cade told her with a shake of his head.
"So you hated Remi…but Markos didn't?" Jane asked him.
"Markos…" Cade hesitated, "He knew you before, when you were still with Orion. When you joined Sheppard, he was surprised, like he expected something different."
"You turned on Sheppard, because you thought she was turning into the very thing you hated." Jane looked at him in understanding.
"You know that Roman and Sheppard exposed Orion. They were the reason that you're entire team was wiped out. You were spared on purpose."
"What?" Jane looked at Cade in shock.
"It wasn't an intel leak. Sheppard wanted you back. She hated that you were working with the very people she was trying to bring down. She orchestrated the entire destruction of your team. She knew she had to do something to bring you back to her. So she did. The government didn't turn on you, your family did."
"So everything that happened…." Jane trailed off weakly.
"Markos told you," Cade admitted.
"Then why did I stay with them…why did I agree to come to the FBI?" Jane's confusion was obvious.
"You and Markos were feeding information to someone in the NSA. Working to bring down Sheppard, but Roman refused to leave her. She'd brainwashed him so effectively when you were gone, you couldn't turn him back. You refused to leave him. Markos died so that you could try to save Roman." Cade accused her harshly.
"Roman…" Jane trailed off. You need to learn to hide what you care about if we are ever going to get out of here. It all made sense now. She'd treated Roman horribly in front of the others, because if she'd shown him just how much he meant to her, they would have used that against them. Roman hadn't ever been able to hide his feelings. He always felt too much. That was how Sheppard had been able to control him… she'd used his feeling for her to manipulate him. The promise of getting her back made him do awful things. It was her fault. She understood now why she'd gone against everything she believed in to come to the FBI. She'd done it to protect Roman and Markos had come to her to explain before Oscar killed him. He had been her lifeline and when she lost him she'd become the very terrorist everyone thought she had been.
Her memory whip hadn't changed the person that she was at all. It had just left her true self exposed for the first time. She hadn't known she needed to hide what was important to her so for the first time in her life she'd been free to be her true self. If she hadn't changed…then that meant the Roman wouldn't change either. She felt the first pang of fear when she realized that losing her had been Roman's trigger and if Cade killed her, Roman would revert right back to what Sheppard had created.
"What are you going to do?" Jane looked Cade in the eye.
"I'm going to kill Roman." Cade explained with a smile.
"Why Roman, why not just kill me?" Jane asked.
"You killed Oscar. Markos cared about you. You're trying to bring down Sheppard." Cade explained.
"You know Roman was just Sheppard's pawn." Jane looked at him seriously, "Bring down Sheppard if you want revenge. She orchestrated all of this. She's the one that should pay."
"Oh," Cade agreed, "She'll pay, but by killing Roman, I'll feel better. You'll suffer like I had to. Roman will lose his life, like Markos. I will then turn my attention to Sheppard."
"Roman is in FBI custody," Jane explained, "He won't be coming after me."
"No I imaging your team will be looking for you," Cade agreed.
"That won't get you what you want," Jane reminded him.
"I'm going to contact them and offer a trade."
"They won't negotiate with terrorists," Jane warned him.
Cade actually laughed. "I think you're wrong."
"You don't know what you're talking about," Jane looked at him in contempt.
Walking over Cade backhanded her across the face.
"I saw the extent that they went through before, they'll negotiate."
"That's when they believed I was Taylor Shaw. Now they believe that I am a terrorist. Trust me they don't have the same regard for Jane as they did for Taylor."
In the dark rafters Kurt and Roman hid unobserved.
She wrong, Kurt thought, she means every bit as much to me…maybe even more than when I thought she was Taylor.
Roman and Kurt listened as Cade exposed Jane as the NSA informant.
Kurt looked at Roman and he could see the devastation in his expression as he listened to all that Jane had gone through to try to save him.
Looking down at the gun he still held, he looked over at Kurt and passed it back.
Kurt accepted it with a racing heart. Jane hadn't betrayed the team. She'd always been on their side. Oscar had been able to manipulate her because of the memory wipe and the fact that Markos had died before he could tell Jane the truth.
When Cade hit Jane, Roman looked back up and trembled. It was then that Kurt realized that in a world where two children had only each other to lean on, the bond that had formed was ironclad tight. Roman could love, that much was obvious, but his love was anchored in the woman that held his heart as well. Jane was necessary to both of them differently, but necessary all the same.
Moving silently they crept closer to the pair. Jane kept Cade distracted and when they were directly overhead, Jane seemed to become aware of their presence.
Her eyes caught their movement and before she shuttered her expression, Kurt could read the absolute fear she was unable to hide.
The door to the warehouse burst inward and Cade looked over in shock. Kurt fell from the rafters and tackled Cade before he could turn back to Jane. Roman landed close enough to hit Cade and render him unconscious.
Jane looked up at Kurt and Roman in confusion.
"How did you find us?" She asked.
"I remembered Cade," Roman told her moving to her side to begin untying her.
"You remembered?" Jane looked even more concerned.
Kurt loosed the last rope and pulled Jane from the chair and into his tight embrace.
"Are you okay?" He demanded and she could feel him tremble.
Holding him just had hard she assured him, "I'm fine."
Roman stood to the side and looked down at Jane with an expression she couldn't decipher.
"Roman?" She worried.
Kurt let her go and turned to Roman.
"Jane," Roman looked devastated, "I'm sorry…"
"Roman," Jane soothed pulling her to him, "I love you."
He wrapped his arms around her tightly.
Kurt watched the siblings and felt tightness in his chest. These two knew so much pain. They'd been forced to struggle their entire life with only each other to lean on. Sheppard had used that bond to bend them to her will. Someone had to look out for them. He needed to look out for them. He wasn't going to let anyone else ever use their love for each other against them.
As the team rushed in, he looked down at the unconscious Cade in satisfaction. They had finally captured someone that knew the interworking of Sandstorm. He could not only provide Intel on the organization, he could clear Jane of the terrorism allegations against her. Reaching over he pulled Jane back against his side snuggly. He wouldn't want to go through another morning like this ever again, but couldn't help but feel satisfaction at the outcome.
Roman looked at them seriously. He had misjudged Weller. It was evident to him now that Jane wasn't being manipulated by the FBI; she was a part of it in a way that he couldn't fully understand. Weller on the other hand was a clear as glass to him now. His feelings for Jane were more than evident and Roman felt some of the tensions in him unwind. Jane wasn't being used and she wouldn't be hurt. She found a place that accepted her…that loved her and she had gone to great sacrifice to bring him with her.
Looking at the agents that poured into the room, Roman suddenly realized that love could be unselfish. It wasn't a tool to use it was an emotion that was undeniable. A gift that could only be given and not taken. Looking at the way that Jane and Weller stood so closely together. The way that he inspected her cheek he realized that it took great strength to show that much vulnerability.
A commotion at the doorway had him looking over in surprise.
Patterson had arrived. She scanned the room and identified Reed and Zapata, before honing in on where Kurt and Jane were lost in their own world. The smile that transformed her face was breathtaking. When her gaze fell on him, she practically flew across the room. He felt her envelope him in enthusiasm and his arms closed around her without even a hesitation.
"I knew you could do it!" She told him happily, "I told you we'd find her."
Looking up at where his sister watched on in astonishment Roman felt a genuine smile break out.
"Yes," He agreed, "You did."
"We make a pretty good team," She told him, nudging him playfully.
Looking down into her face, he gave her the smile that he normally saved for just his sister, "Yes, we do."
Looking over at Kurt, Jane felt a trembling smile fill her face. Roman had remembered Cade and it hadn't turned him into a homicidal maniac. Looking back at Patterson and Roman, Jane felt renewed hope. Maybe it was all going to be okay after all…
Looking up at Kurt she found him looking down at her with a funny expression.
"What?" She asked.
"You are not getting that shark," He told her seriously.
When she realized what he was talking about, she felt her face flush with color.
Smiling down at her he squeezed her more tightly against him as he watched Reed and Zapata taking a now conscious Cade away.