*multiple personalities*

Caspian's face drained of all colour when he turned to look at Adam. He watched him intently for a moment or two before shaking his head and blinking rapidly. "I saw him too, just for a split second." Everyone in room looked at him. Adam appeared to have frozen in time, he wasn't even blinking.

"Adam?" Rachey broke the silence that had engulfed the room, "Adam? Are you ok?"

Now everyone had turned to look at Rachey, mostly because she spoke, though Jack was watching her closely in fear of another fainting spell.

Adam finally looked towards her, his eyes full of fear. He stood up and began to walk towards her.

He wasn't even halfway before Marieke leapt up from her seat. "Don't come any closer Adam!"

"He's not a threat to her Marieke," spoke Tony. Marieke turned to face her friend; there was no need for words. Marieke knew what Rachey wanted and she was just gonna have to let it happen. Tony nodded at Adam as he carried on walking, Marieke locked her gaze on him; ready to intervene at any point.

Adam knelt down in front of Rachey's chair and took her hand in his. "I'm me. Adam. It's just me. No one else but me. You know that don't you?" Rachey nodded in reply, tears beginning to form in her eyes. Adam wiped them away with his sleeve, "hey, don't cry. It's all going to be ok. I promise."

"Don't make promises you can't keep," Marieke warned, "we have no idea how this is going to turn out."

"I was just trying to reassure her. And whilst you've brought the subject up; what is this?"

At this point Jack joined Marieke, Rachey and Adam. "Rachey really needs to rest right now so we'll go up to my office and I'll explain it. Michelle and Tony, I'd like you both to come as well." Then he turned to his daughter, "Kim, take Rachey down to medical. She'll be able to rest down there."

Rachey opened her mouth to protest but Adam spoke before she could, "go. Please, do as they say. I'll speak to you later." He smiled softly, turned on his heals to walk to the door but changed his mind. "Errm, Rach?" he began nervously as he turned back round, "it will be ok. I don't care what they say about false promises and stuff; I will make sure it's ok." Before walking away again he rested his head against hers and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

Rachey looked stricken, but Kim took her arm and gently guided her to the door.

Before they left the room, Marieke stopped them. "I'm so sorry Rach, but someone has to be sensible." She looked at her friend, "will you be ok?"

Rachey didn't really respond, and after a moment she and Kim walked away.

Marieke turned around and looked at Jack, "right, what do we do?"

They left the conference room and walked side by side towards the stairs that led up to Jack's office.

"We really should concentrate on finding out where the next breach is and figuring out what we need to do to close it. But this new complication, this connection, between Rachey and Adam needs to be sorted. Are you ok with coming to help explain it to the others?"

Marieke looked thoughtful as she spoke, "I'm not sure how much help I can be as I don't really understand it. All I know is Rachey has these 'feelings' for him and to me it looks as though that is clouding everything that has happened here."

"I thought as much," Jack sighed, "she doesn't make it easy does she?"

"She doesn't do it on purpose!" cried Marieke, jumping to her friend's defence.

Jack smiled, "oh no, I didn't mean it like that."

"I know you didn't. It's just... well the whole thing is just getting on my nerves now."

"Tell me about it, I'd prefer to deal with conspiracies myself," Tony commented after catching Marieke's last words. "But we don't have much choice."

Adam looked up when he heard the door open, "is she ok?"

Marieke opened her mouth to speak but Jack cut her off, "Adam, you need to be careful when it comes to Rachey."

A look of puzzlement spread across his face, "what do you mean?"

Marieke sighed and sat down opposite him. She looked to Jack for approval; he nodded, so she began to speak. "You have to listen to me carefully Adam. Rachey's fragile, young and dare I say it, infatuated with you."

He looked at her blankly, clearly at a loss. "So? Are you suggesting...?"

"I'm not suggesting anything!" Marieke snapped, losing her temper. She turned away from him and walked to the other side of the room, where Michelle and Tony were stood.

Adam stared at her, a million and one things running through his mind. His eyes flickered over to Jack who was still stood by the door, speaking into a crystal he held in the palm of his hand. He could hear the low whisper of Tony and Michelle talking to Marieke, calming her down, and the hum of the fluorescent lights above him. Yet it all seemed to be in slow motion. He looked back over at Marieke, her expression plain and sighed. An already complicated situation had turned out to be even more complicated than he'd thought. He sighed and stood up; looking around the room again he saw that everyone was staring at him. He began to make his way towards the door but Jack stood in his way.

"Jack." Adam heard how annoyed he sounded, but he didn't care. He was annoyed. He wanted to help, to do something. He couldn't bear this.

"You'll have to stay here Adam."

"But..."

Tony moved a little towards them, but Jack indicated it was ok. "We can't let you leave this room."

"I need to see her," his voice cracked slightly. "I want to hear her thoughts on what Marieke has said. Until I hear it from her, I'll think you're lying."

Marieke glowered at him, "why would I lie to you?"

"Why wouldn't you? "he shot back, "it's been clear that you haven't trusted me one bit since laying eyes on me. You just want to keep me away from Rach!"

"If I don't trust you, then that's because I know you better than you know yourself. I know just who you can be."

"But I'm not! I'm not..." he struggled, and then simply said, "I'm not him."

"No you're not," she amended. "But you can be, and that's enough for me."

Jack had put the crystal away and nodded, "Adam, you know how it works. You're a potential risk."

Adam glowered, but didn't reply.

Before anyone could say anything else, Kim's voice spoke over the intercom. "Dad, are you there?"

Michelle leaned forward and pressed a button on the telephone, "Kim, it's Michelle. You're Dad's here too. What do you need?"

"Rachey wants," she paused for longer than was necessary," she wants to see Adam."

Adam immediately turned to the door again, but Marieke sprang to her feet too.

"You can't!"

Tony came to stand next to her, and cast a reassuring glance, while Jack was still blocking the door. "You're not leaving this room yet, Adam."

"Dad?" Kim's voice again sounded through the room.

"What is it?"

"It's Rachey...she's restless," Kim struggled to find the right words, "she can't stay still." Some muffled sounds in the background were audible and when Kim spoke again she sounded panicked, "Dad, she's having a seizure!"

This time it was Marieke who crossed the room before the others even had the chance to reply. It was like time slowed down. It didn't completely register that when she had reached the door the others in the room still hadn't moved.

Confused, Marieke walked around Jack and tried to push open the door, only to find it wasn't there. Suddenly around her everything was disappearing, swallowed by blackness. Even the floor disappeared from under her feet and she was falling. But before she could panic, she hit the ground. Unlike CTU however it was soft, and mossy. Looking around, she found herself lying in a forest clearing. Her head hurt, and it looked like the trees were dancing around her, but other than that she was fine.

Slowly getting up, she called for her friend, "Rach? Are you there?"