marye: Thanks so much for being my first reviewer! Anyway, when I first started righting this I thought the same thing, but after a lot of thinking (and a lot of procrastinating), I decided it might be fun to make Hamish a bit rebellious, since all the other 'John has a kid' scenarios seem to have him as being so polite. However, I did not throw out the idea of Hamish being brave, as you`ll see in the coming chapters. Hope you enjoy the rest of the story!

A/N: This was mainly just a filler chapter, but I`m hoping it`ll give a little of Soni`s background, too. I hope you like it!

Disclaimer: I don`t own anything.

Hamish stormed off to his dormitory, angry with himself, with Soni, with everything. He didn`t notice the knowing smirk the Monitor by the NE Corridor gave him. Nor did he notice Leroy watching him from the Hall with glittering malice in his eyes.

It was past twelve, sometime around one, maybe. Hamish didn`t know. He didn`t really care either. All he could think about was the look of betrayal in Soni`s eyes when she pulled back. He`d been an idiot. He`d been an absolute idiot and he wished he could go crawl into a deep dark pit and die. Hamish pulled his phone from his night stand and went to Soni`s name in his contacts. He`d have to apologize, he knew, no matter how badly it would hurt his pride. He took a deep breath.

Soni, I`m really really sorry I was...

No. He wasn`t a baby. He was sorry, but he wasn`t going to grovel.

I didn`t know what I...

No.

It wasn`t my fault! I didn`t...

No.

I wish I`d...

No, no, no. He wouldn`t explain or whine or shove the blame on anyone else. He couldn`t. So maybe she`d overreacted, and maybe the bright lights and loud music had thrown him off, but, as much as he loathed to admit it, it was his fault. And he`d take the blame.

I`m sorry.
Send.

Hamish waited, staring at his phone for another half hour before throwing it onto his pillow with a groan. Okay, he`d have to do it the old fashioned way, then. He pulled on his shoes (which he had kicked to opposite sides of the room upon entering) and left his dorm with a grimace on his face. The Monitors were tired and half asleep already, and Hamish passed them easily. Now he stood in front of Soni`s door, half regretting his decision to apologize in person.

Surely if he waited long enough she`d reply, and he`d see her at breakfast the next day, probably, though he wouldn`t put it past her to just skip it. What if she was just sleeping? John would have been appalled to see how many excuses he`d made just for the sake of not apologizing and, with this in mind, he knocked softly on the door and waited. Soni didn`t answer, nor did anyone else, so he tried again. So she actually was sleeping. Crap.

Well, Hamish refused to go back through the line of Monitors without trying, and, really, trying the handle didn`t take all that much effort. To his surprise, she`d left it unlocked. Light flooded the corridor and immediatly he knew she was awake. "Soni?" he said, opening the door enough to fit his head through. What he saw was not what he expected. Anderson leaned in towards Soni, their faces only inches apart, eyes eager. For lack of a better action, he forced down his anger at seeing them and attempted to squeeze back through the door unnoticed. He failed miserably.

"Ow!" he muttered as he hit his head on the door frame in his haste. The two looked over at the noise and their eyes widened, Anderson`s in anger, Soni`s in sheer embarrassment.

"Watson!"

"Hamish, what the heck are you doing here!"

"Um... I-"

"Were you spying on us, Watson? How long were you standing there you creep?!" Leroy demanded.

Soni stood from the bed and Leroy followed. "I can`t believe you!" she said, almost sadly, pointing at Hamish.

"I could just-"

"You knew I wanted to be alone, you`re smart, so quit smothering me!"

Hamish could understand Soni`s anger at being witnessed almost - ugh, he didn`t want to think about it! Witnessed being so... 'close' to Leroy, his mind improvised. But he most certainly was not smothering her!

"I was just coming to apologize!" he protested angrily. He looked at Leroy. He wasn`t fidgeting awkwardly. No, he was just waiting for Hamish to leave so he could start where he`d left off. Hamish felt another flash of anger at this. "Besides, even you could see that Leroy`s using you!" he pointed out.

"He`s not using me, I`m using him," she hissed. Hamish gave her a strange look and she scoffed. "You wouldn`t understand."

Her eyes shifted coldly between Hamish and Leroy. "Get out," she said finally.

"What?" Leroy said. "But we were-"

"Out." It was nothing more than a whisper but it shook both boys deeply and they raced from the room. The doors closed behind them, and both stood in the darkness of the hallway, breathing shakily, each certain that whatever had sent them away from the room was not Soni.

The voices raged.

She had gone too far. She had forgotten where her priorities lay. Of course, Soni had gotten herself back on track quickly, she was back in her place, but she had strayed for a moment, and even that could be enough to bring on Gabe`s wrath. Face down on her pillow, she sobbed quietly, surprised and slightly angered when she heard the knock on her door. It couldn`t be Lena. No, she`d`ve gone with that Mortimor boy that took her to the dance or someone else she`d picked up along the way. Maybe both. That left only one person.

"Go away, Hamish!" she shouted.

"It`s not Hamish!" the voice replied. Oh, right. It was the boy that had seen Hamish kiss her.

She stood up and wiped off her eyes, then opened the door. "What do you want?" she snapped. She actually knew what he wanted - she`d seen the look in his eyes when he watched her and Hamish - but it was the only thing that came to her mind to say.

"Well, I saw you and that other boy and... I guess, are you okay?" he said kindly. Egotistical, she noted. He`d have to be to not realize that the whole academy knew he was a manipulative jerk, too wrapped up in his own world to figure out that other people actually thought. She was about to kick him out entirely when a memory snuck up on her, one that had been lurking in the back of her mind since she`d reached her dormitory. She`d been too caught up in her fear to realize that, when she`d kissed Hamish... the murmurs in her head had gone silent. Completely silent. Would it work if she...

"Yeah, I`m fine," Soni sniffled. The memory had come and gone in just moments, and already she had begun plotting. She was tired and worried and was it so bad if all she wanted was a little silence? No, she decided, it wasn`t. And she already had a willing participant right in front of her. "Would you like to come in?"

"If you want me to, sure. Your name`s Sonia, right?"

"Soni," she snapped, breaking character suddenly. Oops. "You`re Leroy, right?" she said quickly, hoping he hadn`t noticed.

"Yeah, I share a dorm with Hamish, so I know he can be kind of a jerk. I thought you might need someone to talk to," Leroy offered.

"Oh." Soni smiled, sitting down on her bed. Leroy joined her. "Yeah, I guess I would."

Soni talked her way through it easily, agreeing with every one of the boy`s lies, allowing him to talk himself up to her. As he leaned in closer to her, Soni couldn`t help but congratulate herself. She had manipulated Anderson like Sebastian manipulated his clients, and it had been relatively easy. She just had to keep it up for a few more seconds until...

"Ow!" She froze. Anderson`s eyes widened and he pulled back, staring at the door.

"Watson!"

Soni looked to the door where Hamish had slipped into her dormitory. "Hamish, what the heck are you doing here?!"

"Um... I-"

"Were you spying on us, Watson? How long have you been standing there you creep?" Leroy demanded.

"I can`t believe you!" Soni whimpered.

"I could just-"

"You knew I wanted to be alone, you`re smart, so quit smothering me!" she accused. She knew he`d come to apologize, but at this point Soni didn`t care. For someone who usually hid her emotions, she had always found anger a useful one and didn`t even attempt to hold it back.

"I was just coming to apologize! Besides, even you could see that Leroy`s using you!" he pointed out.

Soni rolled her eyes. "He`s not using me, I`m using him," she hissed. She could almost feel Leroy`s confusion. Hamish gave her a strange look and Soni scoffed. "You wouldn`t understand."

She had been so close, so close to silence, and now there was no chance. The moment was gone. She`d already blown it. Scornful laughter rang in her head. She could feel liquid anger flowing through her, fogging her mind. The silvery threads of a memory creeped into the haze, calming her down before she did something she`d regret. In the back of her mind the memory took form: a tall man, with a soft, lilting voice that could order death in a single word if he wished it... most would be terrified by the thought, but Soni could feel her heart rate slow. The anger wasn`t gone, not yet, but she was back in control, at least. She took a deep breath. "Get out," she said softly, cutting into the bickering of the two boys.

"What?" Leroy began to protest. "But we were-"

"Out," she cut him off. Fear in their eyes, the two boys raced from the dormitory and she slammed the door. Soni stood there for a moment, fighting off the sudden urge to cry and clearing the emotion from her face, before rushing to her nightstand and pawing through it until she found the folding knife that he`d left her. She lay down on her bed, folding the knife open then clicking it shut over and over again to calm herself. Thinking of the 'I love you', and the 'good bye' that she hadn`t known would be the last he ever said to her, or anyone...

Soni was nearly asleep when she heard the three slow knocks on the door. "Come in," she muttered, still fingering the knife.

"Good evening, Sonia," said Gabe softly. "It`s time."