Chap 8

2 days later

"Shalimar, Brennan, we're going to be ready for the procedure in a few minutes." Shyla said as she stepped into the rec room.

"I take it I'm not pregnant then." Shalimar said quietly.

"No, I'm afraid not, but don't worry. My parents spent five years trying for my brother and then three more years for me." Shyla said. She sat down on the sofa next to the young couple ready to talk with or comfort them for a few moments.

"That's a long time." Shalimar said. "You're supposed to go to a specialist if you don't conceive with in a few months, but we can't really do that."

"They couldn't either. My mother was a natural mutant like me."

"Your parents must have really wanted children." Brennan said as he put his arm around his wife.

"It was all my mother ever wanted. She was so good to us. She always told me and Atticus that she loved us more because she had to wait so long to get us."

"Your brother's name was Atticus?" Brennan asked.

"Mom's favorite book was 'To Kill a Mocking Bird'. I narrowly escaped getting named Scout after the girl."

"How did your mother come up with your name?" Shalimar asked

"She didn't name me until after I was born. Originally she was trying to choose between Sheila and Claudia, but after she went through a twenty hour labor she decided that I must have been shy and changed Sheila to Shyla."

"That is sweet. I hope I get the chance to name a baby one day. A little boy with his daddy's brown eyes." Shalimar said.

"I was looking forward to a having a little blonde princess."

"You will, I know that right now it may seem like you will never get the chance to have children, but one day you will wake up to hear those words that you want to hear, and all of this will be a memory."

"But maybe I can't get pregnant. They could have done something to me at the institution when I was young. All those beatings. It wouldn't be too far fetched to consider it with the way they treated me." Shalimar said as tears began to stream down her face.

Brennan wrapped his arms tightly around her and let her tears fall on his shoulder. "Shal, I don't think you have anything to worry about. You're fine, alright. I made some bad choices of my own, as a teen and some of them are probably keeping us from having kids."

"I know that I don't really have a close relationship with either of you, but I think that you should let Adam run some basic tests." Shyla said. "He should be able to rule out the most basic problems of having low to no sperm or no motility, or ovulation problems or fallopian tube blockage. If those get ruled out it could just be you need to relax."

"You're right, Shyla." Shalimar agreed. "I don't know why we didn't think of that, and please feel free to talk to us about anything. Hearing your story gives me hope."

"We need someone to talk to who wasn't around us from the beginning. Shyla, if Adam trusts you, we trust you." Brennan added.

"Thank you. I'm glad that you feel like you can trust me."

Shalimar gently hugged the other woman and then wiped away her tears.

"We'd better get you two to the lab now. Adam and I want to finish everything up as early as possible today."

"Let's go then." Shalimar said.

Shyla and the young couple got up and went to the lab area. When they got there they found the others already waiting on them.

Adam, Emma, Jesse, and Galena were waiting outside the lab when the three approached.

"Everyone ready to begin?" Adam asked as he opened the lab door.

"I think so. Now why don't we have Brennan go first." Shyla answered.

"It's fine with me." Brennan agreed. He followed the two doctors into the lab while the other four sat in the chairs.

"You alright, Shal?" Jesse asked as he noted the expression of sadness Shalimar wore.

"Yeah, I'm fine. A little disappointed that I'm not pregnant yet, but I'm ok."

"Maybe it's not your time yet, Shal. I'm sure you and Bren will have a mess of kids one day." Jesse volunteered to help cheer her up.

"You're probably right, Jess. Thanks for helping me feel better."

"Did you expect me to ignore the fact that my big sister was upset about something?"

"No, of course not, but you don't have to worry, little brother, I'll be fine." Shalimar said as she messed up his hair.

"Hey, that wasn't nice!" Jesse protested, half laughing as he tried to straighten up his hair.

"I think you look good with your hair like that." Emma teased as she further messed up his blonde locks.

Galena sat quietly and watched the three as they toyed with each other and their hair was knocked out of place. Since she had stormed out of the rec room two days earlier, the brunette had spent most of her time in her bedroom trying to avoid the others, especially Jesse.

Shyla stepped out of the lab to find the three adults playing and laughed at them.

"What is going on?" she asked as she brushed back a stray strand of her raven colored hair.

"Shal and I were talking and she messed up my hair, and then I don't know. We just went crazy." Jesse said as he quickly straightened up his hair.

"Well, Brennan made it through the procedure, and after he's in the rec room Shal can go through." Shyla said as she gave into the urge to further mess up the hair of the three adults. Galena smiled when she saw her friends' expressions at the normally composed woman's action.

"Now, let's go get Brennan out of the lab and into the rec room." Shyla said. They walked into the lab and Shalimar immediately took her place beside Brennan.

"How you feeling?" she whispered as she gently brushed his hair away from his face. She kissed him gently on the lips.

"I'm fine, Shal. I'm not allowed to use my powers, of course, but I'm fine."

"Good, cause you've got to help me work on the Helix." Jesse said.

"Before you put him to work let's take Bren to the rec room." Adam broke in.

Shyla and Jesse helped Brennan off the med bed and into the rec room. Soon Shalimar and Emma had both gone through the process and the trio was sitting on the sofa with strict orders to stay there and to call Jesse, Galena, or Adam on their com links if they needed anything. Shyla and Adam were in the lab analyzing the data from the scans they had taken So Shyla could work on publishing her work. Jesse and Galena had been stuck with kitchen duty and were trying to fix lunch for their three patients.

"Jesse, can you fill three glasses with ice?" Galena asked. Her tone revealed no emotions, but Jesse knew that she was still upset and angry. For the past two days meals had been tense even though the seven of them tried to remain cheerful.

"Yeah." Jesse replied as he ran his fingers through his blonde hair. He quickly picked up three glasses and put ice in them. Galena added tea to the glasses and set them on a tray. She put plates of chicken and rice on another tray while Jesse put a platter of brownies on the tray with the drinks.

"Shyla is going to spoil us with all these cakes and stuff." he said as he ate one of the rich sweets.

"She likes to cook." Galena responded indifferently.

Jesse felt the tension of the last two days increasing. Knowing that he'd once loved the girl enough to purpose scared him more than a dozen GSA agents ever could have. 'She's so beautiful, and she doesn't even realize it. I can't imagine anyone not loving her. After the way she acted the other day I can't imagine her ever not telling us exactly how she feels. She's a tough girl even if she doesn't have much self-confidence.'

"Jesse, I would prefer it if you didn't stare at me." Galena said.

"Sorry," Jesse apologized, and then decided to go out on a limb. "it's just that you are so beautiful." Jesse apologized.

"Save it, Kilmartin. Flattery won't get me to forgive you for the other day or to do anything else you want."

"Galena, I mean it. Even if you were a complete stranger I would still think that you were a very beautiful woman."

"Pick up the tray and let's go feed our patients." Galena instructed as she picked up the tray with the plates and walked out.

"Damn!" Jesse swore as he picked up the other tray and followed her.

They quickly dropped off their food, made the group more comfortable, and headed their separate ways.

Several hours later

That night Adam and Shyla went out for dinner and a late movie at the insistence of the five younger members of the team. Brennan, Shalimar, and Emma ate an early supper and immediately went to bed leaving Jesse and Galena to eat the meal alone.

Jesse saw Galena on the computer and decided to cook the meal as a peace offering to her. Since he was short on time he opted to fix a box of ready made beef stroganoff and chilled a bottle of wine. He set the table with the good dishes and added candles. On the way to his room he glanced in the computer room to be sure that Galena was still there. When he saw that she was, Jesse hurried to his room and changed into a silver silk shirt and black dress pants. Once he was dress he headed to the computer room to get Galena.

"Hey, time for supper." he said as he quietly approached the girl.

"I'm not hungry." She answered without turning around.

"Come on, Galena. Don't make me eat alone. Besides you've been working for hours. Just come take a break for a few minutes."

"Alright, I'll come." She got up and turned around to face him. "Well, don't you look nice, Mr. Kilmartin."

"Thank you Miss Varren. You look beautiful tonight."

Galena looked down at the spaghetti strap sundress she was wearing and blushed. "I can go change."

"You look fine." Jesse said as he gently took her hand and led her to the table.

"It's beautiful, Jess. You really didn't have to do this."

"You deserve it. The last couple of months have been hard on you, and a woman as special as you are deserves this kind of treatment."

For a minute she thought that he must be playing her, but decided to give him a chance. "You used to do this kind of thing for me back when I first moved in. It always made me feel like the most important woman in the world when you would take time out of your life to cook for me even if all you did was heat up some soup."

"Tonight you are the most important woman in the world." he smiled gently as he looked at her. "I want to make up for every time I've hurt you and we're starting with this dinner. Then we can watch whatever movie you want, and if you don't want to watch a movie I'm willing to do whatever you want to."

"I don't deserve this, I've been bitchy with you for the last two days. Why would you do something like this for me?"

"Because everyone deserves to feel important."

"Thank you, Jesse."

"You're welcome, now let's eat." He pulled out Galena's chair and helped her sit down. Once she was seated he took his place across from her and poured them each a glass of the white wine he had chosen for the meal.

"This is delicious." Galena said as she took a bite of the stroganoff

"I'm glad you like it. I tried to choose something that would come out of your dress if it got spilled."

Galena laughed at his remark as she thought about the dress that had been ruined by wine and spaghetti.

The meal was spent in light hearted conversation and afterwards they ate some of Shyla's extra chocolate brownies. When they were done with desert and ready to move on with the evening Galena requested to watch Miss Congeniality and Jesse quickly agreed they went to their rooms to change into more comfortable clothes before they settled in to watch the movie.

Galena emerged clad in a baby blue pajama set while Jess wore a pair of flannel pants and a snug fitting white tank and was carrying several blankets and his pillow.

"You planning on sleeping in the rec room tonight?" Galena asked.

"No, but I thought I'd make myself comfortable while we watched the movie."

"Good plan. I'm going to get my pillow and some blankets."

"Alright, I'll wait on you."

"Make some popcorn. I like mine with extra butter."

"Anything else I can get for you, ma'm?"

"How about some more of that wine," she smiled, knowing that she was going to take advantage of his good nature, "it tastes so good."

"Only a little more, you'll get drunk if you have too much."

"It's my night and I want to get drunk. Please, Jesse."

"Alright, now hurry up."

Galena went back to her room to get her pillow and some blankets while Jesse went to the kitchen for the popcorn and wine. When Galena got back to the rec room she laid out the blankets in the floor and propped the pillows up against the sofa. Jesse walked in with the popcorn and wine as Galena finished straightening the blankets.

"That looks nice and comfortable." Jesse said as he set the popcorn down and handed Galena her wine.

"I hope we're comfortable tonight. I'm so glad you want to spend time with me."

"Any guy would want to spend time with you."

Jesse sat down on the blanket and Galena took her place next to him. He threw a blanket over them as she turned on the movie. They spent the rest of the evening laughing at Sandra Bullock as she tried to become a beauty queen. While they watched the movie Jesse allowed Galena to lean her head against his shoulder, but was careful to keep from allowing things to escalate as they had two days before. After the movie was over Galena
turned off the DVD player and television, but made no move to get up.

"It's getting late, Galena. We'd better get to bed." Jesse whispered.

"I'm not sleepy, can we stay up and talk?"

"If you want to talk we can talk."

"Jesse, is this a date?"

"No. Galena," he shook his head "I just wanted to do something special for you. You took care of me for six weeks and when I woke up I couldn't even remember you."

"That's what I always loved about you. If you ever said something that hurt me you would

try to make up for it."

"I wouldn't ever want you to be angry with me, Galena. I already lost a friend before I got a chance to apologize for something I'd done and I don't want to go through that pain again."

"Juliet?"

"Yeah, it was a hard time for me. I still feel the pain of her death."

"Jesse, you would never tell me a lot about her, but I want to know the truth. Were you in love with her?"

"I loved her as a sister and my best friend, but nothing more than that."

"I don't want to sound nosy, but what did you fight about?"

"I'd rather not say, Galena. It was an uncomfortable situation and there were some misunderstandings."

"You slept with her, didn't you?" she took a deep breath as she waited to see if he would answer the question she had been so scared to ask.

"Do you really know me that well?"

"Afraid so." She gave him a weak smile as she felt a stab of hurt go through her.

"Juliet and I were both drunk and she told me that she was in love with me." he explained slowly. "I knew she wasn't, but I wasn't thinking straight and neither was she."

"And the next morning you both realized what happened."

"After that I decided I'd never drink before I had sex, and then I'd only do it with someone I was sure I loved."

"Was there anyone between Juliet and me?" For a moment she felt guilty about pressing the issue, but she also know that it might be her only chance to get all of her questions answered.

"No, I didn't even date after Juliet died. You helped me a lot that year, I do know that much even if I can't remember it."

"You helped me a lot too, Jesse. Years of living with an abusive father had taken their toll on me, but you helped me to learn how to be strong."

"I'm sorry your father was so bad to you. I don't understand how he could ever treat a woman as wonderful as you in that way."

"Jesse, I'm sorry about the other day. I shouldn't have acted like that." Galena said as she turned to face him.

"It's ok. You've had to go through a lot these past weeks, and you definitely need to release some emotions."

"You are too understanding." she yawned slightly. "I probably should go on to bed, will you walk me to my room?"

"If you want me to."

They got up and Jesse gathered the blankets and pillows while Galena took the popcorn bowl and wine glasses to the kitchen.

"Alright the dishes are in the sink." Galena said as she stepped back into the rec room.

Jesse put the pillows and blankets in one arm and put his other arm around Galena's shoulders. They walked to her room in silence. When they reached Galena's room Jesse put her pillow and blankets in her bed and turned to leave.

"Jesse, wait a second." Galena said.

He stopped walking and turned around.

"Since it's my night I wanted to do this." she whispered as she lightly kissed him.

He was surprised by her action, but smiled at her when she stepped back and searched his face for a reaction.

"Goodnight, Galena." He whispered.

"Goodnight, Jesse." She answered as she closed her door and listened to him walk away. "I love you." She added when she was sure that he couldn't hear her.

She walked over to her bed and climbed in under the sheets. Galena picked up a picture from her bed side table and smiled at the frozen image of her and Jesse wrapped up in each other's arms. 'I love him so much, but I can't do this. He doesn't want me for any of the reasons he used to, and I need a guy who is interested in me as something more than a friend. I'm sorry, Jesse, but maybe one day we'll be back together.' She slowly put the picture in her dresser drawer and closed it firmly. She then quickly got dressed in her pajamas and climbed into bed.

In his room down the hall Jesse held a small picture of him and Galena at the banquet they'd gone to on his birthday. He thought about how good it had felt to dance with her that night. Even the obnoxious Lexa Pierce that Noah had introduced hadn't been able to ruin the evening that had later turned into a wonderful night. 'She had such a good time at the banquet. I wish Dad hadn't tried to set me up with Miss Pierce though. Brennan wouldn't have forgiven me if I'd broken up with Galena after that night. I don't know she chose me though, she could have any man she wants. I just wish I could still feel the way I used to about her." He turned out the lights and drifted to sleep with the picture still in his hands.