With a jerk, Alex's eyes opened early in the morning as the remnants of the nightmare ravished his mind. Breathing hard, his hand arched up and cupped his forehead. After a few seconds, he lowered it to look down at Johanna still snuggled close to his chest.

'I don't deserve her," he thought wryly, slipping from the bed without waking her.

Sometime later, Johanna, sighed, a smile on her lips as she opened her eyes. Her arm encountered nothing beside her. Turning her head, she verified Alex had gotten up and left her alone.

Pouting a little, she pushed the bedding off and climbed out of the bed. Seeing nothing immediately at hand to put on her naked form, she grabbed the sheet and wound it around her torso before walking toward the window. Feeling a little downcast, she pulled the curtains open to allow in the light of a new day, hoping that would cheer her up.

Peering out, she spied Alex standing on a small boulder, his body moving fluidly as he worked out. She watched him bend over backward into a handstand and flip until he was on his feet again. "His shoulder seems to be doing better," she mused, turning away to get dressed.

Half an hour later, Alex came back inside, a light coating of sweat gleamed on his body. Johanna was cooking at the stove. He grinned and came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist, then said, "I was hoping for some breakfast."

"What was that you were doing out there?" She asked, sliding some bacon on a plate.

He was silent for a moment then released her to go and get some plates out of the cupboard. "Something they had me do to keep in shape, plus it also taught me how to fight," he answered quietly, as he set the table.

"It seemed like it would," she said casually then added, "and what do you call what happened last night? Did we suddenly move to hyper speed in the relationship department?" She eyed him pointedly as she brought the food to the table and served up.

Alex chuckled a little, murmuring, "more like warp speed." She gave him an askance look as she buttered some toast.

"Hey! I may have been raised by kidnappers but I did go see Star Trek once I escaped," he said defensively, cutting and stabbing some French toast with his fork.

"Ok, spill... who's your favorite Captain and what did you think of the show?"

Alex chewed his food as he thought. "Picard all the way and, even though the science is valid, I'm more of a Star Wars kind of guy," he finally said making her laugh.

They ate in silence for a few minutes then Johanna cast a strange look at him. "I'm kinda finding it hard to believe that last night was your first time," she said slowly, curiosity lacing her voice.

Alex froze, his last bite less than an inch from his mouth then relaxed. "As one of their many experiments they made me watch a couple doing it," he said rather tightly, putting his last bite in his mouth while she stared at him dumbstruck.

"How old were you?" she asked, an edge in her voice.

"Thirteen,"

"That's monstrous!"

"Yeah, well they weren't too big on up holding laws or human rights," Alex said caustically, standing up and taking his plate to the sink.

She was silent as he stood in front of the sink, slowly lowering the dishes into it. "Johanna they did a lot of things to me there...trained me to be something dangerous...they wanted a killer..." he said thickly, not daring to look at her.

She stood suddenly and came up behind him. "It seems to me they failed," she said softly. "I don't feel threatened by you."

He swallowed, she just didn't get it and it was his responsibility to make her understand. "Listen to me...just before I managed to escape, whenever I was removed from my secured quarters they would bound my arms to my chest to keep me from killing those around me. On the day I finally broke free, I put my watchers in the hospital with severe injuries. One nearly died. I fled far away but the first thing I did was to buy a rifle and plan an assassination of an African politician. I got as far as sighting him through my cross hairs when something happened to stay my hand," he paused, shaking slightly from the memory.

"What happened?" She asked carefully, caressing his back in soothing circles.

He closed his eyes when he spoke again, "…a memory popped into my head of a very good friend that… that died a long time ago...he was good and kind...all the things I had wanted to be. It was in that moment, I realized what I had become...what they had made me...a monster! Horrified and angry, I dismantled the rifle and disposed of it then walked away. I've worked hard ever since to deny that monster and to try and be like that old friend," he said with cold determination.

"However, that hasn't stopped them from trying to find me and I fight every day to keep the monster they created locked up inside of me...some days, Johanna, when I see so much injustice and others suffering pain, the monster fights to get out...to deal out death...to even the score...but I know, once I start, I'll never be able to stop," he said bitterly. He felt her grip on his arms tighten. He thought for certain she would turn away from him.

"Alex that monster whatever it is, that's not you!" She told him firmly.

"Isn't it? Every time I hold a gun, I feel it urging me to pull the trigger...to kill!" he nearly shouted.

"But you've succeeded! You don't kill! You help people!" She insisted.

He pulled away from her and took a few steps away, taking up a stance behind one of the chairs. "I help others because its what he would have done...I wanted to make him proud of me. But its so hard...every night I'm haunted by the people killed because of what I was made to do in The Centere as well as all the horrifying things they did to me there. In those dreams, the people keep asking me the same question over and over," he choked and stopped, hands gripping the back of the chair.

"What do they ask?"

He stared at her, his eyes haunted. "They keep asking me 'why did I have to die?'"

She stared at him silently for a long moment then said softly as she turned away to stare outside, "No wonder."

He frowned at her in puzzlement, "...no wonder what?"

"No wonder you never let anyone in," she murmured thoughtfully.

"Then why did you let me get close to you? Why did you let last night happen?" He asked in confusion, surprised she knew so much about him.

She slowly turned back to him. "Because you believed in me when I didn't," she said simply.

His lips parted in mild surprise then smiled. "I was starting to believe it was my good look."

She shook her head letting out a chuckling, "no, those were just a bonus and you're not as good looking as you think." Walking up to kiss him.

When they broke apart, she smiled. "Do you have any suspects?" She asked.

"A couple, but I prefer not to say before I'm certain or even before I know why. And for that I think I'm going to need a guide around the ranch," he said, flashing her a smile.

A short time later, the pair were riding along a forest track and had come across a meadow shadowed by the mountains on one side of it.

He shifted uncomfortably in his saddle. Every now and then, catching her glancing at him occasionally.

"What is it?" He finally decided to ask, stopping his horse.

She'd been surprised by his sudden stop and had to turn her horse and right the short distance back to him. "For a Pretender, you're not doing so well," she said archly.

"It's my shoulder the riding keeps jarring it," he snorted, shifting said shoulder a bit and wincing.

"But this morning you were able to do a hand stand back onto your feet and it didn't seem to faze you at all," she said in surprise.

"Are you kidding? That hurt like hell," he grumbled, urging his horse to a trot once more. She kicked her horse to follow.

When she was close to him once more, she asked, "How do you do it?"

"What?"

"Become a different person like you do?"

"You want a demonstration?"

She stopped and maneuvered her horse close to him. "Why not," she said.

Sighing, he wrapped his reins around the saddle horn. "Give me your hands I need physical touch for my psychic powers," he said gruffly, holding out his hands.

She gulped then held her hands out and he took them gently. He examined them closely then her face just as closely.

"Your father was mostly of Irish decent with a touch of French and English. Your mother was of the Sioux nation and you hold your native heritage in high regard. You grew up on a cattle ranch in central Montana and are the third child of five. You had a cat when you were five though you spent most of your time in the saddle. You lost someone very dear to you when you were ten to, I believe was Huntington's disease...your grandmother, I think. That is what made you decide to study medicine. You're determined and vastly independent. Though not to a fault because when someone you care for is threatened nothing short of death will stop you from helping that person out," he said. All she could do was gape at him with her mouth hanging open.

"Wow! You really are psychic." She breathed in shock.

He kept a solemn face for all of a minute before bursting into laughter. "No, I'm not psychic," he managed to say, letting go of her hand.

"Then how…?"

"I'm a Pretender, that's what I do. It's why I was kidnaped and trained to hone that skill. They used me as a guinea pig to see if they could improve my natural talent then sell me to the highest bidder as their paid assassin," he said flatly as they rode out of the meadow and into the forest once more.

She was silent as they rode through the forest then asked, carefully, "Why did they whip you?" He stared at her.

"The scars on your back, why did they do that to you?"

He sighed and debated whether to tell her or not when he caught sight of something behind her. He frowned and stared. She turned to look in the direction he was staring at.

"Where does that go?" He asked, turning the horse to face the small pathway he'd spotted and urging it to go forward.

"I don't know. I've never led guests this far out before," she said hesitantly, curious now too, turning her horse to follow him.

As they rode through the unkempt path, they were forced to keep an arm up to prevent being hit by low hanging branches. In one section of the path, the way was so bad, they were forced to dismount and lead the horses on foot. Finally, they reached the end after circumventing a large thorn bush growing in the path.

In a clearing on the other side they saw and assortment of rusted metal carts, equipment, and tools scattered around the area. Halting, they dismounted and tied the horses to the bushes beside them then they turned to walk cautiously toward a framed hole dug into the side of the mountain.

"I never even knew this was here," Johanna muttered walking over to examine one of the carts.

Alex nodded then bent down to pick up a stick and started shifting a few things on the ground.

"What is it?" She asked in his ear. He glanced over and found her squatting beside him.

"Well you're the Sioux you tell me," he snorted, returning his gaze to the ground.

She was silent for a moment then took the stick from him and began shifting things around. "Someone's been here," she muttered distractedly.

He agreed with her as he lifted a slab of wood. "And sometimes he brought things with him."

"These tracks were well hidden, I almost missed them," she continued, raising her head and looking around.

He stood up and stared toward the mine entrance. Frowning, he reached behind him and pulled out a knife from a sheath on his belt. Walking up to the frame of the opening, he scraped off some of the wood and examined it before tossing the shaving away, a frown on his face.

"What?" She asked him, coming up to his side.

He eyed her a moment before saying, "whoever was here, did some repair work then attempted to make it look old and unused. The question is, why?"

"Any ideas?"

"A few, but right now I favor the direct approach."

He headed into the mine. Frowning she followed. It was gloomy inside and he paused to make a torch of a fallen branch and a bit of stray cloth.

He held the torch high to shed as much light as the smoky thing could give him as they looked around. "Now what could be so important in here that someone would go to all this trouble to disguise it?" He wondered aloud. A bat suddenly flew by and drawing their eyes toward it and finding a generator against the mine wall.

He stepped over to it and knelt down to examine it. It was fairly new. "Well, we're about to find out," he muttered as he flipped the switch to turn it on.

With a small roar, the generator came to life and lights around them flickered on. As the light strengthened, they could see modern equipment strewn around; jackhammers, pickaxes, a moistly intact mine cart on tracks, but what caught their eye was the veins of minerals shining in the light. The two of them stood in awe as they processed what they were seeing..

"Alex do you see…" Johanna began, almost breathless with awe.

"Uh-huh...,"

"Is it?"

"Uh-huh...,"

"It's diamonds...,"

"Yep!"

Sorry about the confusion folks its just that I decided to swicth to the third person PLEASE REVIEW AND TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK