Chapter 7 A not so brief reminder

Hey my beautiful readers!

Thank you again for making me the happiest author in the freaking world! Your guy's support, and interest in my stories never fails to make my heart skip a beat! However, you may HATE me after this but I promise you it's not the end yet!

So until next time, and with all the love in the world,

-Fallen

P.S. As always I thank my amazing beta reader Marablackwolf, she is literally a god sent! She keeps the material fresh and helps dig deeper & darker thoughts right out of my head! She's the one to thank for some of the amazing plot twists happening in this story!

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The car ride passed uneventfully, and after twenty minutes Jane pulled up in front of a small gas station. She parked her car in a shadowy corner and settled down to wait. She didn't have to wait long, however- Roman materialized at her side barely fifteen minutes after she arrived, and she was inexplicably proud of his ability to sneak up on her.

"Come with me," he told her as he reached forward to grab her hand, pulling her into the shadows to a car parked just a few spaces from her own. When they reached it, he wrapped her in a small hug before he gestured for her to get in the passenger side. That tiny embrace held more honest love than she'd felt in months- simultaneously exotic and familiar- and the weakest part of her never wanted to let go.

She paused for a second, "What, no bag over my head today?"

Roman actually smiled at her as he got in, and the expression made his fierce countenance suddenly sweet and boyish, and that small, needy part of Jane (that she'd secretly started thinking of as 'Remi', perhaps in some misguided attempt to heal and humanize that forgotten part of herself) wanted to hug him and kiss his cheeks. "No, Shepherd has decided it's a precaution that we no longer need to utilize. You've more than proven yourself in the last few months, and now we're almost to the end."

"What do you mean?" Jane asked as she slid into her seat, buckling herself in and turning on the heated seats. The weather had begun to get cold again, and she just couldn't stand it. She'd never been able to get warm since her time with the CIA, and she hated the reminder of another thing he had taken from her. She remembered the first time she saw snow, and the delight she felt at the first cold touch of winter before. But now it only made her bones ache, and her scars tighten. Creating an ungodly amount of pain and frustration with the first movements she made everything she exposed herself to the cold.

Roman just smiled at her. "You'll see. Shepherd has one last mission for us, and it's important. We cannot fail."

"Have we ever?" She tried to sound playful, but in truth dread filled her to the brim. With Sandstorm, she had to be their Remi, not the one she was building in her head. They expected her to give in to each awful impulse that snuck beneath her skin. She had to kill- not just for the mission, but to save her little brother.

Besides her baby and despite her missing memories, Roman meant more to her than anything in her life. Even with the mental and emotional distance, despite whatever hells they'd gone through, (or perhaps because of them) the desire to protect him burned in her veins. Jane truly did believe herself beyond repair or salvation, but while his hands may have been unclean, Roman's soul was pure and beautiful, and Jane was ferociously determined to keep it that way. She'd made progress; he hadn't killed in three missions, not even when doing so would have made things easier.

She wished she could say her own hands were that clean. She tried to ignore the way the words seemed to conjour blood beneath her fingertips. She found it hard to look away as her hands were coated in it, covered in the thick, red liquid. Sometimes it bothered her that no one else could see it, the way the blood so often smothered her pale white skin. But she'd begun to understand that it was some godly punishment.

Penance for the wrongs she committed.

His laugh brought her back, and a smile pulled at her lips at the sound. "You're right Jane, let's hope you're right about tonight."

She smiled at him, and they spend the rest of the journey in comfortable, contented peace. At least with Roman she didn't have to fake her smiles as hard; she genuinely loved him, more than she could ever express or even understand. Even if he only loved the shadow of who she used to be.

She couldn't exactly be choosey with it.

Anyway, she needed him in a good mood, needed him to trust her more than ever... because sitting in the stitching of her jacket was a tracker that Rich had delivered to her just a few days prior.

The start of her plan was coming together. Being trusted with the location of their base was only a bonus. Now she would have concrete proof, a map to exactly where it lay and she would use it to bring the walls down around them.

Her own family. She would destroy her own family.

She had to, because it was the right thing to do. Because she couldn't raise a child in the world Shepherd wanted to create.

Monsters defeating monsters. A bitter sort of humor lay in those words. But there was nobody better suited to the job. Normal people, the good people that she saw every day- they didn't have the ability to beat an adversary they weren't even able to understand. They couldn't predict Shepherd because they were too good. Too good to understand the inner workings of evil.

Jane used to think she could be one of them. One of the good people. But now she understood.

She didn't have that problem because she, at her core, was no different from Shepard.. As much as she tried to be a good person, she was still a creature of the dark, as the team so often reminded her- a monster bred and brainwashed by other monsters. She was utterly ideal for this job. No one else had been shaped and created by evil incarnate. The team often believe it had started with Sheperd for her, but she'd seen her memories. Shepard had only taken the fledgling monster and grown her to be real. Then he had taken and polluted the good that had grown inside her away from Sheperd's influence. One last murder of the innocence to torment her already broken soul.

She let her mind wrestle with those thoughts, and the quiet music lulled her into a trance as mile after mile blurred together. They were easily two hours outside of the city. She would have to time everything down to the second to ensure that her plan worked.

As they neared their destination, her heart started to beat just a little harder, adrenaline sparking in her veins. The compound came into sight, the sentries sending her smiles. How funny that months ago they wouldn't even look at her. Now Remi had reappeared amongst their ranks. Trusted and loved as she had been years ago. Funnier still that she would use that very sentiment to crush them beneath her boot. All of Shepherd's loyal soldiers would be dead or in prison before the end of the month.

That very thought made her answering smiles sincerer than she thought they'd ever been.

"Don't encourage them Jane, half of them are already half way in love with you," Roman told her sternly, though laughter lit up his eyes.

She just smirked, "Who's to say I don't like the attention?"

"You just like feeling powerful, it has nothing to do with liking their attention," Roman replied, his eyes just a hair more serious than they were before.

Jane didn't doubt Roman for a second; she knew that power was exactly what drove Remi to encourage the attention. Remi had been a woman who'd grown to love power. Jane knew that some part of that woman had been good too- but it had been so corrupted. She wondered what the old Remi would think of who she'd become. Yet Roman loved Remi, and Jane felt in every cell of her body that she had loved Roman with an intensity that bordered on obsession.

No, Remi couldn't have been all bad, not when Roman looked at her with such love- even after she'd allowed herself to forget him. She had been an abused child once, powerless to protect herself or her parents, and she'd seen her own weakness result in pain and anguish for Ian, the only person she'd loved in the world. With depth of the love Jane felt for Roman even after the ZIP, she could see how and why Remi had embraced her path so fully.

There was nothing Jane wouldn't do to protect her baby, and Roman had been every bit as vital to Remi. For the first time, Jane fully realized that Remi was more than some boogeyman from her past- she'd been a victim. She had done terrible things, certainly, but she wasn't a robot, she was a person with fears, dreams and emotions. How many of the atrocities Remi committed had happened because she was terrified and simply trying to protect her brother in the only way she could be sure would work?

Distantly she thought of the coin, the first memory that had brought htem back together. Remi had killed for that coin, unflinchly, because someone had hurt her brother. Not just marking his beautiful face, but wounding his soul.

That memory had given her the first glimpse into what Remi had been before the orphanage, before Sheperd, before the military, and the secrets and most importantly the lies had begun. She wondered if Ian would have survived without her. She often doubted it, it hadn't been until she left him that he truly hardened. He'd always had a goodness, a weakness as Sheperd often called it, inside him. Soemthing that stopped him from doing the dark deeds that Sheperd reserved for her favorite wolf. But Jane understood now, in some part of her Remi did them so Roman didn't have to.

So no, Remi wasn't a bad memory or a bridge to be burned, she was still part of Jane. She had to stop being ashamed of that if she wanted to heal.

They parked and got out, Roman leading his sister into the now familiar building. They were headed straight for Shepherd's private office, and Jane felt her spine straightening even further, muscles tensing in preparation for what she would find there.

The door opened and they stepped in, Jane's eyes finding Shepherd's immediately. Her mother sat behind her desk, focused on paperwork, but the second they entered she set her pen down.

A smile stretched her lips, but her eyes remained as cold as ever. "My beautiful children, come home to me again."

As the woman stood and walked over to hug her, Jane forced herself to return the embrace with equal enthusiasm, though it made her stomach ache. She forced herself to look Shepherd in the eyes as the woman cooed over her "beloved daughter's" bruises. "Now tell me, daughter, what do you want done with Marconi? The little snake absolutely cannot be allowed to get away with touching you without my permission."

Jane didn't bother to hide her surprise, ignoring Roman's look- he clearly hadn't been informed of the circumstances surrounding Jane's injuries. Shepherd raised an eyebrow, her tone almost amused as she chided Jane. "Come now, Remi, did you think my contacts wouldn't inform me that someone was selling my only daughter like some prized cattle?"

"I didn't think it would concern you, I escaped and Marconi will get his due," Jane replied nonchalantly. Remi would never have expected her mother to get involved with a problem she or Roman had already handled. That thought, the absolute truth in it, made Jane's heart ache, and again she thought of that small, frightened, lonely part of herself. There was no doubt that Remi had done terrible things, but Remi wasn't created in a vacuum. She was what her family and the people around her had made her. For a moment, instead of wanting even the memory of Remi to be buried, Jane wanted to protect her. Remi had just been a child, as innocent as the baby resting in Jane's belly.

Shepherd smiled, and this time it touched her eyes; another test passed. "Always so smart, my Remi, and normally I'd agree. However, we are about to become the Kings and Queens of this world, which changes things. How could I let such an insult go when we are this close to the finish line? Attacking you, trying to steal and sell my daughter… that is unacceptable and could damage your credibility- as well as Roman's and my own. So, tell me, what should we do with him?"

Jane had to hide her frown, there lay the truth of the matter, Sheperd still didn't care about her or Roman. She cared about her credibility, her image, she didn't know why she felt surprised. Maybe now that she lay so close to motherhood herself she couldn't imagine how a parent could be so distant so removed. But she forced herself to visually ponder the question.

What would Remi want done to him? She looked briefly at her brother and saw the rage simmering in his eyes. She knew he would bloody her hands for her if she asked, but she didn't want to ask- certainly not Roman. She had to protect him. But still, she forced a smile to spread across her cheeks. "He's nothing but a dog, neuter him and show him what we do to animals who bite their masters."

She should feel happy at the thought of a person like Marconi getting a fitting punishment for the crimes she had no doubt he'd committed, but she didn't. She just wanted this show to end. To stop playing this game with her mother and the FBI. She was so very tired. Everyone wanted to use Jane- as a soldier, as a spy, as a weapon, as an assassin. Or, in the case of the FBI, as disposable bait and a scapegoat for all their woes.

Shepherd nodded, another smile snaking its way across her lips before she returned to her desk. "Well, now that's taken care of, let's get to the more critical issues at hand. We are merely two weeks away from the beginning of our ascension, and there is just one obstacle in our way."

Jane forced herself to move closer, Roman lingering behind her shoulder, forcing her expression to convey trust and eagerness as she waited to hear what her mother had in store for them.

"A once loyal soldier has turned his back on us, and in doing so he stole a piece of technology that we need to finish this. He's apparently been working for another smaller group, who thinks that they can overthrow us. He's going to be meeting with the leaders of that group tonight to give them my technology. You will retrieve my property and eliminate the entire group. I want scorched earth policy. We cannot allow our enemies the opportunity to harm us or make us appear weak. Let them be a warning to any others who might interfere. Are we understood?" Shepherd watched them as she gave orders, her green eyes alight with the kind of fervor that reminded Jane of every villain she'd ever watched on screen.

But still she nodded, "Of course, any traitor to our cause deserves to die."

Behind her Roman voiced his own agreement, and then Shepherd gave them a packet with the necessary details. The siblings were sent to the armory to gear up, and then they stopped by the mess to grab some fuel. They'd be staking out the meeting location for the rest of the night, waiting for the meeting to begin.

Waiting to start the massacre.

Jane tried not to think of the fact that she and her brother were being sent like assassins into the night. She'd kept Roman's hands so clean- at the expense of her own- and now all her progress would be lost.

But she couldn't afford to dwell on it.

Just one more piece of her soul to give away to stop Sandstorm. To stop her mother (though that term felt obscene) from turning the whole world- her baby's world- into a blood bath of chaos and despair.

A small price to pay, or so Naz would say.

With everything gathered they moved to leave, and Jane stopped to go to the bathroom, shooting a short text to Naz to apprise her of the situation. Then she returned to Roman's side- one of the few places she felt like she belonged- and together they left the compound.

They had about four hours to kill before the meeting was supposed to begin.

The meeting ended up being about an hour drive from the compound, and Jane found herself unable to stay awake for the drive. It had been a long day, and growing a baby tended to take it out of you.

In her dream, she found herself back in the cabin, tied to the chair with Marconi standing before her, but this time it was only the two of them. The doctor had vanished, and Marconi's thugs were nowhere to be found.

"Well, well, well Janie, it looks like we're going to get some time together after all," Marconi gloated with a smile that never touched his eyes. His gaze raked over her body like hot coals- invasive and degrading, promising her pain and despair.

She struggled against the rope binding her wrists but there was no give to be found. "Stay away from me, you sick bastard," she growled as he drew closer. That only made him laugh as he crouched down in front of her.

He waited for her to stop struggling and look him in the eyes before he spoke again. "What are you going to do if I don't, hm? Because from where I'm standing it looks like you have nowhere to go Janie."

She spat in his face, a small smirk on her face. "Get. The. Fuck. Away. From. ME." She screamed in his face.

"Now, Janie, why did you have to do that? Things were going so well," he reprimanded, any pleasure on his face gone as he brought a hand up to wipe her spit off his face. "Here I thought we were going to be able to have a nice conversation, maybe spend some time together but now we must skip all that. Get straight to the painful part."

Jane refused to be afraid, she looked him dead in the eyes even as a flash of silver appeared in the bottom of her vision. "You don't scare me," she scoffed, "you're nothing but a cheap knock off."

Her words made a mad smile stretch across his face. "Well Janie, I'm sorry to hear that. However, I think by the end of this you might change your mind about me."

Before she could respond pain erupted in her abdomen; she looked down and just started to scream. He'd buried the knife in the far side of her abdomen, and started to yank it across her stomach. He got all the way across and turned the knife around, this time cutting even deeper.

"Please, no," she begged, trying to hold in the scream as he sliced through her one inch at a time. It felt like it went on for hours, maybe days, until her throat felt raw from screaming and she felt light headed from the blood loss. But she could do nothing but watch.

At some point, he threw the blade away, pushing his hands into her abdomen. "No, stop, please, you can't do this," she whispered. But her whisper didn't stop him and he pulled out a baby, her baby. He gave her a smile as the infant began to wail.

Jane- or was it Remi now? The tears made it difficult to tell- started to scream in earnest, her body weakening as she watched him stand and begin to leave the room. Just before the door he turned and smiled at her. "Don't worry Janie, I'm going to keep her safe, I promise. Daddy is here."

All she could do was scream and scream as he walked out the door, leaving her alone to bleed and bleed and bleed.

She could hear her baby's cries growing fainter and fainter. Jane tried to struggle against her bonds, she tried so hard to find a way to get to her baby. But she just kept bleeding, and her feeble attempts got her no closer.

She'd do anything, give anything- but she didn't want to die with her baby in the arms of a monster.

"Please," she whimpered, unable to muster another shout, "Please."

"Jane!"

Her baby, she just wanted her baby.

"Jane, wake up!"

"Jane!" She jolted awake; sweat had plastered her hair to her face and terror had her firmly in its grasp. It took many vital seconds to realize where she was, to recognize Roman sitting beside her, his eyes full of terror and confusion as he watched her, seemingly waiting for some sort of violent outburst.

"Jane, are you okay?" He sounded so concerned, so sincere but all she could hear were those cries growing fainter and fainter. Her hand found her abdomen and her fingers searched for the cuts, searched for the gaping hole. But they found nothing.

Still she could not seem to get a grip. She couldn't calm her mind, couldn't talk herself down from the ledge she found herself teetering on. Instead she merely stared at Roman, tears slipping from her eyes, as she tried so desperately to rid herself of those images. Of those sounds.

Roman reached out for her, choreographing his movements so she could see it coming, and pulled her into his arms. "Breathe Jane, please, just breathe. Whatever it is, it wasn't real, I won't let it happen."

Though he was projecting the most soothing presence he could, Roman was out of his depth; confused and, if he had to admit it, frightened. Remi was the strong one, she never, never broke down or hid or cried- certainly not these harrowing, gut-wrenching sobs. In fact, Roman was fairly certain he hadn't seen Remi ever really cry, not since she sent Alice away. What had happened to his sister? What had hurt her so badly?

Just as bad, maybe worse- as much as he wanted to dig those answers out, to hold her, protect her and make it all better, he couldn't. They had a mission, and if she went in scattered not only could they fail, she could die. For that matter, if they failed the mission even Roman knew there was a chance that Shepherd would be so furious that death was still a distinct possibility.

Roman wanted to protect his sister. He wanted her to get these unknown traumas out so that they wouldn't poison her from the inside, but there was no time- the most immediate threat was the mission, and to protect her, Roman had to make sure she got through this alive. Once she did, he'd find out what was hurting her, and when he did? Jane, Remi- it didn't matter what name she wore or what she had forgotten, Roman would make the person who hurt her bleed.

He stroked her back, while she pressed her ear to his chest and listened to his heart beat, hands fisted tightly in his shirt. Jane focused on forcing her heart to match his, and slowly she came back to herself.

"I'm sorry," she whispered into his shirt, relishing the feel of kindness. If it weren't for Roman she might have forgotten what that felt like. Safe, protective Roman who had never stopped loving her, no matter how many mistakes she made or how many names she wore. No matter how angry or hurt he felt he would always love her, always cherish her.

She had no one else who would. Wasn't that a sad thought?

His arms tightened around her, "Don't be, but I need you to pull it together. I can't do this without you Jane," he told her as he slowly pulled away. "Failure isn't an option. I-I don't know what Shepherd would do if we came back empty handed."

She could tell it cost him a lot to admit that, and she could see how much it hurt him to ask her to push whatever had happened aside. Roman wanted to love her freely; even Jane could feel that, though she'd been despised for so long it was a miracle she could recognize the emotion at all. Calling on her determination to protect her baby brother and her years of intense training, she summoned some extra bravado she didn't truly feel, her voice clipped, loud and clear; a military cadence to the words. "I'm clear, Roman. The mission is the directive, and the directive is more than one life. Right now, there is nothing but the mission and no option but success." After a moment, she continued more quietly. "I just had a bad dream. Too many missions, not enough sleep." She pitched it as a joke, but she knew it fell flat by the worry that swirled in his eyes.

"Jane-" he started, but she turned away; she just couldn't do this right now, couldn't let her judgement be clouded any more than it already was. She took a deep breath and glanced at the time- three hours had passed while she slept. Any time now their prey- their victims- would be arriving, and so she had to get it together.

Breath by breath, she forced herself to relax. She pushed away the terror, the helplessness and the horror, the image of her child -so new and still covered in blood- being taken from her, taken by a monster every bit as bad as the one who had sired her.

No. Later. Later, she could let herself bleed, later she could lick her wounds.

Today she had to survive.

Roman cleared his throat like he wanted to say more, but before he could, Jane spotted movement. "Roman," she got his attention as she pointed to the cars pulling up in front of the building. They'd parked some distance from the location, but she could make out the headlights well from their perch.

He nodded, though his eyes barely left her face for a moment to confirm her warning before she felt his gaze return. "Just promise me you're okay," he begged, his voice soft-almost as if afraid that someone might hear him.

"I promise," she told him as she began to pass him weaponry. "Now let's suit up, Shepherd said to expect at least eight people, and three vehicles. Shouldn't be long now until they've amassed, and we need to be ready."

Sometimes it amazed Jane how calm she could make herself sound, even when she felt seconds away from falling apart. Apparently, Shepherd had trained her well- yet even now, without her memories, Jane's stomach clenched in dread when she even tried to remember her training. It wasn't like the ZIP; this felt more organic, and Jane felt certain that the memories had been hidden long before her situation had even been a possibility, though that alone disturbed her on a thousand new levels. Most terrifying- considering the state of her life, how bad could things have been if the trauma had caused her to block them out instead of any of the horrors she did remember?

Roman nodded again, and they slowly assembled all their weapons, both carrying enough steel between them for a small army. Soldiers ready for to fight their own mini war.

She wondered if the dream was her first punishment for the blood she would shed tonight.

Funny, even in rebellion, Shepherd had managed to make her into a killer… and she was using Roman to do it.

Guess people really couldn't change.

Jane would always be a Monster; her first instinct would always be to reach for a weapon. Battle would always calm her and remind her of home. Killing would feel more natural than breathing until the day she died. That's the mark her mother had left on her. The mark that he had left on her. In the end, she would never really be anything but what they made her.

Wasn't that a fun thought?

Still, she'd sold her soul to the devil to avoid going back, and she'd do it again to protect her child. If nothing else she would make sure they never turned out like she did. They would know paint brushes and kisses, hugs and love, the soft press of warm blankets and the warmth of a real home. They would never assemble a machine gun or set off grenades. Never feel the sting of a fist or the cut of a blade. They would never know violence outside of video games and movies. They would never wake up afraid for their life, afraid of what they might find when they opened their eyes. Never.

Jane would make sure of it. They had made her a weapon, they made her this deadly super soldier, and now she would use all of that training to protect her child.

"Ready?" she asked Roman, as she checked her gun one last time before she opened the car door, slinking across the grass to a better position. She counted the times the door opened, and tried to count the shadows of the people as they entered the room.

After eight, maybe nine people entered the building they waited, Roman having come to lay beside her in the grass as they watched for any stragglers. They couldn't afford to be caught unaware by anyone coming in behind them. The odds were already against them.

When fifteen minutes had passed without another car approaching the building they made their move. Shepherd had given them the blueprints of the small building, and they knew that there were two entrances; a back door and a front door. Only two rooms, joined by a single door were inside, and no windows.

They expected there would be at least one guard at each door. They had to kill them quietly, because they would seal one of the doors to prevent escape. Anyone who went that way would trip a wire and set off a small explosive device. The other door they would have to watch themselves.

About 200 yards from the building they separated, Roman going to the front and Jane to the back. She had the explosives in her bag, and a dagger, her garrote and a pistol with silencer. All were ready to take out whoever lay waiting for her, but she hoped to take care of it as quietly as possible.

She crept up to the back of the building, keeping a firm grip on her surroundings as she inched around the building. Finally, she found a sight line, noting a single man standing at the post. He looked bored, occasionally glancing at his phone as if he didn't expect any trouble.

She almost felt sorry for him. It made her job easier but in the end, he would still be dead.

She tried not to wonder if he had people at home.

People who would be waiting up for him to return home from a job he never should have taken.

Stop. She couldn't afford to think that way. She couldn't afford to have compassion or mercy. So, she crept closer and closer, watching him carefully for any sign that he noticed her approach. But he never did. She stopped fifteen feet from him, crouching in the shadows, and waited for him to turn his back to her.

He never saw it coming, only let out the smallest gasp of surprise as her hands gripped his head and twisted with all her might. With a crack, he went limp in her arms, and she slowly dragged him into the shadows and began to assemble the explosives and the trip wire.

She doubted anyone would make it this far, but if they did they wouldn't make it any further.

Based on Shepherd's intel, the meeting would occur in the front room, so the occupants would have to get away from Roman and her to reach this point. Between them she doubted anyone would make it further than a few feet.

But she lived to be wrong.

As she moved to meet Roman in front of the house, she stopped to slash the tires of all the vehicles parked in front of the building- just another precaution in case things went south. Just like the cell phone jammer they would activate right before they slipped into the room. No use in them being able to call reinforcements or alert anyone to what happened here.

Shepherd thought of everything.

"You ready?" Roman asked, his voice barely audible as they moved to position themselves. She nodded, tightening her grip on her handgun and as soon as he gave the signal they burst into the room.

Eight faces turned to look at them, people already moving to jump out of their seats, but the first three barely had time to move. Jane didn't miss, and her bullets found their marks in two foreheads, as did Roman's. But they'd lost the element of surprise, and there were still five more men in the room.

They moved closer, more shots were fired, and two more men slumped to the floor. But they were uncomfortably close for gunfire by that point; the chaotic movement made it impossible to assure clean shots and she quickly engaged the closest man in hand to hand combat. He overcompensated, assuming she'd be weak, and earned a dagger to the throat for his efforts.

She swallowed back the wave of nausea as his blood spattered all over her. Roman was engaging the other two men across the room, so she forced herself to pull the dagger out of the stranger's throat.

Moving quickly, she entered the fray. The last two men were at least decently skilled, and they didn't go down easily. Jane spent too much energy deflecting blows aimed at her abdomen, instead taking two punches straight to the face.

Her face, already bruised from earlier that day throbbed, and black spots danced across her vision.

Still she kept fighting, deflecting two more blows to her midsection, and delivering two punishing blows to her opponent. Suddenly she felt fiery hot pain erupt on her side, and her enemy, sensing her weakness, delivered a punishing blow to her chest.

She couldn't breathe and the pain in her side seemed to grow and grow. She raised her hand to try to fend off the next blow… but it never came. Instead two arms wrapped around her and lowered her to the floor.

"Jane, Jane, please, look at me." She tried, forcing herself to focus on the face above hers, trying to identify the person above her through the blackspots. Even obscured though, that sweet face was unmistakable to her.

"Roman?" Her voice was a whisper; she was still unsure where the pain was coming from, but she could hardly think beyond it, which confused her even more- Jane knew pain and had an abnormally high tolerance level.

"Yes, Jane, its me. I'm going to have to put pressure on this, it's going to hurt, but one of them shot you. I'm sorry okay?" She was being laid on the floor, and then he was pushing on her side. Pain shot through her like a lightning bolt and she couldn't contain her choked scream.

"I'm so sorry, Jane, I'm so sorry," Roman muttered it like a prayer, "It's going to be okay Jane, it's going to be okay. I'll make it better."

"Please Roman," she whispered, "Please, my baby, is my baby alright?"

She felt the pressure ease for a moment, and she heard the catch in Roman's voice as he spoke, "Jane, what are you talking about?"

She could barely think, the pain was somehow more than she thought it should be, and her baby had already endured so much. "Please, Roman, you have to save her. You're the only one I trust, please, Ian."

She didn't know when the child had become a girl to her. But saying it, suddenly, it felt right. Even in this moment it felt right.

"Please," she mumbled again, coughing as the taste of iron invaded her mouth, "you have to save her."

Distantly Jane felt him lifting her, and something wrapping tightly around her body. She swore she felt the moment when his hand found her tiny bump as he fastened whatever cloth he'd found around her. Then she was floating.

"It's going to be okay Jane, I swear, I swear," he whispered to her as he walked. "We got the chip, we killed them, and you're going to be okay. Everything will be okay."

She focused on his words, trying to ignore the stab of pain that came with each step he took.

"Call Rich," she whispered to him as she tried to cling to consciousness, "Don't-don't tell Shepherd…please."

She didn't even recognize her own voice, it sounded so faint.

"Jane, just hold on, please," Roman begged, and she felt him picking up his pace, but she couldn't hold in the whimper at the movement.

"Call Rich." Somehow, she managed to grip his shirt, and say the words loudly, "Call Rich, help me-he'll-he'll help us…"

They must have reached the car because she was being placed on a seat. Her door slammed, and seconds later another opened. She heard him rummaging around, and then the telltale sounds of a phone call being made.

She thought she heard Rich's voice, and her brother's. But things had started to grow black. She felt someone shake her, thought she heard her name but then she heard nothing.

It all just faded to black.