"How is she?" Rachel asked abruptly as she entered the lab.

"Go see for yourself," Lee smiled and Rachel's heart flipped. She walked over to Nina's bedside. The older woman appeared to still be sleeping but the color was back in her face and there was a peace in her expression that hadn't been there before, even when she was in the coma.

She carefully sat on the bed beside Nina and then unable to help herself, reached out to touch that beautiful face.

"Nina?" she whispered and then gasped as Nina's eyes fluttered open.

"Hey, Rach."

Rachel simply stared for a moment as she ran her eyes over Nina's features, unaware of Rosen and Tallmidge leaving the room. She still looked tired and worn out, but there was no pain in her eyes.

"You're awake." Rachel smiled and then rolled her eyes at the sheer stupidity of the comment.

"What gave it away?" Nina teased.

Nina's voice was still a little weak, but seeing the smile on her face, a smile Rachel feared she would never see again had Rachel suddenly covering her face with her hands and bursting into tears.

"Rach? Rachel?" Nina's breath caught, seeing Rachel so distraught. She winced as she shifted in the bed until she was sitting up and then placed a hand on Rachel's back.

"Please don't cry," Nina begged, fighting her own tears. She never could stand to see Rachel sad.

Rachel turned and buried her face in Nina's chest, crying harder when she felt long, slender arms wrapping around her.

Nina didn't have the faintest idea what to say to calm her, so she simply held her until the sobs turned into sniffles and then finally Rachel pulled away.

"Oh God," Rachel sniffed, wiping at her cheeks. "I'm so sorry. Did I hurt you?"

"Not at all," Nina assured her, even though she lied a little. All the movement had her head hurting a bit, but nothing like it had been. "Are you okay?"

Rachel gave a watery laugh. "Me? I should be asking you that."

"I'm fine," Nina assured her, reaching out to wipe a tear from Rachel's cheek with her thumb. Instantly, Rachel captured her hand and placed a kiss in her palm.

"I thought you were going to die," Rachel whispered, tears filling her eyes again as she remembered Nina's screams, screams that would haunt her dreams for a while.

"I wanted to," Nina admitted. "The pain was unbearable and all I wanted was for it to stop, but then you showed up at Skylar's and all I wanted was to live."

"Oh Nina, I'm so sorry for everything. I'm sorry that I drove you to do what you did and that…"

"Stop Rachel," Nina said gently. "You aren't responsible for anything. I am. I made choices that brought me to this. You…you're the one who brought me back."

Rachel saw the sincerity in her brown eyes and she fell even deeper in love with the woman who never stopped trying to make things easier for her. She wanted to argue, knowing that she was the reason Nina had hurt herself, but there would be time for that later.

"How long have you been awake?"

"I don't know," Nina answered, accepting Rachel's change of subject. "Not long. Rosen and the other guy told me a bit of what happened, but I was kind of out of it."

"Well Tallmidge is the one responsible for your condition," Rachel said, still angry. She told Nina as much she had understood of what that drug was Tallmidge had created and why he claimed to have created it.

"He was trying give alphas what they thought they wanted," she explained. "I really believe he didn't know what it was doing to them."

"Well, that makes him a piss poor doctor," Nina stated. "You don't give something to people without knowing what it does, but," she continued with a shrug, "how can I condemn him, when I was quick enough to take it without even asking about the effects."

Rachel looked down at their joined hands, barely aware of how she was playing with the longer fingers. "I really want to yell at you for that, you know," she said softly.

"I know, but this thing inside me…it's caused me nothing but grief my entire life and made people afraid of me and then when I turned it on you…"

"I forgave you for that a long time ago," Rachel told her sincerely. "I thought you knew that, but then you misheard what I had said to Gary and I realized I hadn't really told you. Like always, I was a coward. Too afraid to express even a little of what I was feeling and you suffered for it."

Nina's fingers went to lift Rachel's chin so she could look into those big eyes. "You have never been a coward, Rachel. Never. You may be quiet and adorably shy," she added with a smile, "and you may not rush headlong into things like the rest of us, but that just makes you smarter, not a coward. Okay?"

Predictably, Rachel blushed and Nina chuckled. "You are so cute," she told her, grinning as the blush deepened.

Nina may not see her as a coward, but Rachel knew she still needed to prove it. To Nina and herself.

"I love you Nina," she blurted, feeling a rare flicker of triumph at the startled expression on Nina's face.

"What?" Nina said after a long moment of trying to grasp what Rachel had said. She was still unconscious. She had to be. And then Rachel smiled, flashing those dimples that had always made Nina shiver. She reached out and touched one, shocked when Rachel captured her finger and placed a kiss on the tip.

"I love you. I don't know when it happened or how, but when I found out you were gone, I felt my world give out underneath me and when I saw how much you were suffering, what you had done because you didn't want to hurt me…God Nina," she paused, trying to regain her composure before she fell apart again.

"I knew then," she continued shakily, "without a doubt, that you are everything to me. You have been for longer than I've even been aware of."

"Do you mean it?" Nina was afraid to hope. She had vague recollections of Rachel kissing her at Skylar's but had thought she'd imagined it.

"With all my heart, Nina. I love you and I need you."

This time it was Nina's turn to cry. "Oh Rachel, I love you too. I loved you even before I…" she stopped, not wanting to remember what she'd done to the other woman.

"I'm going to kiss you now," Rachel announced, sliding closer to Nina. "Is that alright with you?"

"You really want to?"

Rachel understood why Nina asked, and it sort of broke her heart. "More than anything I've ever wanted," she said before learning forward and placing her lips against Nina's. Just like the first time, the spark was immediate and fierce and she couldn't hold back a little whimper.

Nina's breath caught in her throat at the touch of Rachel's lips. It was everything she remembered, if more restrained. She wanted more of it, but she held still, letting Rachel do as she wanted. Too quickly, Rachel pulled away and rested her forehead against Nina's.

"Are you okay?" Rachel asked, wanting to make sure she hadn't hurt her.

"I'm more than okay," Nina replied, "although I wouldn't be mad if you wanted to do that again."

Rachel's body was practically crying out for another taste, the deeper, longer taste she'd been craving since that night at the club.

"I want to, but I don't know. You're still recovering."

"I'm okay Rach. Really," Nina insisted. "Yeah, my head still hurts just a little and I'm a bit weak, but I don't care. I need you, but if you don't want…if it's too soon after what I did…"

"Nina, stop. I want to. I mean, I really want to. Your kisses do things to me that I can't even begin to explain," Rachel shivered, just thinking about what Nina's mouth did to her.

"But…"

"It's like I told you once before," Rachel interrupted quickly, before Nina talked herself into a breakdown. "That night, all you said was that I wanted to kiss you. You never said I had to like it, but I did. I liked it so much I went back for more, even after Hicks pulled me away from you. You pushed me to kiss you but you didn't push me to crave your kisses like I did and not even my heightened senses would make me want a kiss I found detestable."

"Really?"

Rachel melted and if she were honest, she could get used to having this sort of power over the formidable Nina Theroux.

"Oh yes," she smiled, "And I'm more than happy to kiss you as often as you want," Rachel told her and then her own desires took over. She leaned in and took Nina's lips again and any thought she had about restraint, evaporated. This time she poured every ounce of what she felt into the kiss.

Her need was as great, if not greater than it had been when Nina had pushed her, because this time it was all her own. She moved her mouth with a slow deliberation over Nina's, her tongue sliding between those always tempting lips, while her hands lifted to slide into her soft, dark hair.

Nina groaned as she felt a sharp tugging in her hair, the pain an incredibly delicious torment that told her more than anything how close to losing control Rachel was and that just made Nina hotter.

Rachel's senses were firing wildly; the feel of Nina's soft lips against hers, the taste of her mouth, the sound of her throaty moans, all of it blended together until Rachel was ready to explode. And when Nina's hands slid up her back, pulling her closer, Rachel nearly fell apart.

Nina's head was spinning but this time with the pleasure that Rachel's kisses were giving her. She'd tasted Rachel's passion once before, but this was so much more powerful because this time it was freely given.

"What the hell is going on?"

The two women broke apart at the angry sound of Hicks voice.

"She's awake," Rachel said lamely, licking her still tingling lips and looking at the group of Alphas staring at them from the door of the lab.

"Obviously, but what are you doing?"

"They were kissing, Bill," Gary rolled his eyes at the ridiculous question.

"Why is Rachel kissing you again, Nina?" Hicks asked suspiciously.

"I'd say it's cuz she wanted to," Kat retorted drily, apparently having been the only one to notice Rachel's enthusiasm.

Nina and Rachel both instantly understood the implication. Nina looked away and Rachel shot to her feet.

"Kat's right. I kissed her because I wanted to," she said getting in the other man's space. "I kissed her because I'm in love with her and no, she didn't push me. We're not even sure if she still can. So if you're just going to be an asshole, you can leave right now."

"Rachel, you cussed," Gary stated while the others stared at her in surprise and Kat laughed.

"Sorry," Cameron shifted uncomfortably, feeling guilty. He wasn't sure why he was being such a an ass. Maybe it was jealousy that Nina was kissing someone else, or maybe it was the realization that for Nina, it had always been Rachel, even when she had been with him.

"So, can you? Push, I mean?" Gary asked curiously.

Nina frowned. She hadn't even thought about it. She hadn't been awake that long and then Rachel came in and her abilities had been the last thing on her mind.

"I don't know. I'm still not entirely sure of what happened or how it was fixed."

"I can explain that," Richard Tallmidge said as he entered the lab, followed by Lee.

"Okay, but please keep it simple," Nina said.

Richard told her about his work trying to find a way to suppress Alpha's abilities.

"Why?" Nina asked.

"At first it was simple. During my work at Binghamton I never really saw Alphas as anything but abominations who had abilities that made it possible to take advantage of other people. I thought it was my responsibility to find a way to take away that advantage."

"You didn't have that right," Bill snapped, feeling the anger starting to build.

"I know that now," Richard said quickly. "When I was…'let go', from Binghamton and started to work with patients outside of that place, I got to know the Alphas on a more personal level. I got to see the way their abilities could help them and I learned how it was simple ignorance that made it so hard for them. I spent years talking to Alphas who hated what they were and the things they'd done because they couldn't control their abilities. I worked with Alphas that had become so dependent on them, they wound up dying. So, I decided to try and help them. Unfortunately, my ego and my desire to impress the higher ups at Binghamton had me taking a path I knew better than to take, and rushing a process without testing it and here we are. I swear though, I had no idea what this would do to you."

"Yeah, well that tells me your license needs to be revoked," Kat muttered.

"Kat," Lee chided.

"She's right," Richard admitted. "I screwed up. I knew better, but I simply didn't care. I was close to getting back everything I'd lost. Now I have a chance to fix it. I've destroyed the nanobots attacking your limbic system and am going to track down the others who bought the drug and offer to reverse it, If they want it."

"Why wouldn't they want it?" Gary asked. "Our superpowers are amazing."

Nina smiled at the young man, as always awed by his unique way of seeing the world, but then her smile faded. "It's not always that simple Gary. Sometimes a person uses their gift in a way that hurts the person they love most in the world. They feel they've lost everything and all they want is to destroy the part of them that allowed that to happen."

"You mean when you made Rachel kiss you before?"

Nina blushed. "Yes."

"Oh."

"But you know that I've forgiven you, right?" Rachel said, returning to Nina's side and taking her hand.

"I think she made that pretty clear," Kat stated with a smirk.

"Yeah, she did," Nina chuckled.

"And you know that I love you," Rachel continued. "I love everything about you Nina and that includes your abilities."

"If I still have them," Nina replied, suddenly realizing that she very well may have succeeded in removing a very big part of herself.

"You should. All these nanites did was block them. Kind of like the chip they had at Binghamton."

"You should try," Rachel told her.

"I…" Nina froze. She knew she should try, but as she looked up into Rachel's dark eyes, all she could see was the emptiness in them the night Rachel had pushed her and she was terrified.

Rachel saw the fear on Nina's face and her hear broke. Ignoring the others in the room, she reached out to brush a soft lock of hair from Nina's eyes.

"Don't be afraid, Nina. Push me. I trust you." She almost couldn't stand it, when tears sprung to Nina's eyes.

"I trust you," she repeated firmly.

"I can't do it Rach," Nina whispered, the thought of pushing Rachel and seeing that look of disgust in her face again, made her sick.

"You need to, Nina. I trust you," Rachel said it again and she would continue to say it until Nina believed her.

"You can push me," Lee broke in, seeing the panic on Nina's face and not wanting to cause her any more duress than he already had over the last year.

"I...ok," Nina reluctantly agreed. "What should I do?"

"Well, just nothing too embarrassing," Lee replied with a smile, relieved to see a matching one on Nina's face. He stepped beside the bed and stared into Nina's eyes.

Nina took a deep breath and thought of the most innocuous thing she could come up with. "You want to get me a glass of water."

Lee could feel it. He heard the words as if they were whispered through a filter and braced himself to say no, but he couldn't. He felt a heaviness in his mind and was over at the sink, getting a Styrofoam cup of water before he knew what had happened. He handed it to Nina and then almost instantly, he felt the heaviness vanish.

"It worked," he grinned.

"You weren't just going along?" Nina asked warily.

"Not at all. In fact I was telling myself not to do it, but I couldn't stop myself."

Nina wanted to cry in relief, but she put on a shaky smile instead. "Then I guess it's a good thing I didn't tell you to go pants Harken."

"Hey," Bill protested.

"So, everything's good then?" Hicks asked, realizing he was glad Nina had her abilities. Despite everything, he still cared for her and seeing her so broken before had hurt him, until she turned those abilities on him.

"Mostly," Nina replied.

"I do suggest you stay here another day, just until you've fully regained your strength and we make sure the headaches are gone," Lee said.

"But…"

"I'll stay with you," Rachel interrupted before Nina could list her reasons for leaving.

"Okay," Nina conceded almost immediately, drawing a smile from Rachel.

"Blech," Kat muttered at the display, though her lips lifted in a smile.

"Okay, everyone needs to leave now. I want to run a few final tests on Nina and then she needs to rest," Lee ordered.

"I'm glad you're better," Gary said in his simple way. "And since Rachel's forgiven you, I'm glad I don't have to arrest you."

"Thanks Gary," Nina smiled as she watched him leave. "Rachel, you don't have to…"

"I'm staying," Rachel stated before sitting in the chair near Nina's bed.

"Wow, I really like this new bossy side of yours," Nina said and then she laughed as she watched Rachel deciding if she should be offended or not.

Rachel just ignored Nina, while internally, she was almost giddy with happiness at seeing that playful side again. Suddenly, she remembered Skylar and the others still had no idea what was happening.

"I need to make a call," she told Nina, hoping the other woman would know who she was referring to.

Nina nodded "Go ahead. I'm not going anywhere."

Rachel chuckled, then kissed Nina's forehead. "I'll be back."

She pulled the special phone from her purse and went outside, hoping that the unique technology and the distance would keep Gary from tracking Skylar.

"She's really okay?"

"She's still a little weak, but yeah, she's okay," Rachel told her new friend.

"I can't believe that after all the searching and scrambling, it was that easy to fix her."

"Sometimes the most obvious way really is the best way," Rachel pointed out. "And sometimes, fear, even if it is justified, keeps us from seeing the obvious."

"I know, but…"

"It's okay, Skylar. I understand why you were so resistant and I went along with you for the same reasons. We just need to be glad Nina is okay and move forward."

"So what's next? Are you guys staying in the city?"

Rachel frowned. She hadn't even thought about that. "Well, I'll have to talk about it with Nina, but I'm guessing we'll stay here for a few days, just to make sure there aren't any lingering effects, but I, for one, am done here. So, I'd like to come back, at least for a few days."

"You're always welcome here, Rachel."

"Thank you, Skylar, for everything. And please tell Kendra and the others how grateful I am and Nina."

"I will. See you in a few days."

TBC