A/N: First of all thanks to all my readers but especially to those who review. To MerryLittleMess, PatriciaS, Treva Rea and Kindred Spirit you guys are so great to let me know what you think, please do keep it up it is so encouraging :D Okay a little forewarning there is a slight mention of romance in this chapter but don't let it put you off I don't intend to make it anything serious it's just another area where I can explore the facets of Jonas's personality.

Chapter 11: Things that go bump in the night
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They ran for almost an hour stopping only briefly to catch their breath or surmount and unexpected obstacle. Soleil's eyes had finally acclimated to the darkness and she was finding it much easier to see. However she was also finding much easier to turn shadowed bushes into evil agents looming in the dark. So she did her best to only look at Jonas who seemed undaunted by the creepiness of the forest at night.

She noticed that he started to slow his gait indicating they were about to stop and she silently gave a prayer of thanks, grateful for the reprieve. They were in a heavily wooded area, with amazingly huge pines and Soleil found the closest one to lean her fatigued body against. At this moment she really wished she'd taken her friend Susanna up on her offer to start doing Cross-fit two months ago. Hindsight was such a bitch.

"We'll . . . stop here . . . for the night," Jonas announced breathing raggedly between words his small puffs of air looking like little clouds in the moonlight. He circled the densely treed area and was satisfied that it would provide them protection for a few hours.

"Won't . . . they see us?" Soleil questioned. Doing her best to regain a normal sinus rhythm she examined the surrounding area.

"Were on a hill . . ." he breathed, "it's got good cover . . ." he took a second to swallow, "we'll see them before . . . they see . . .us."

She looked at Jonas as he struggled to catch his breath. She could see the muscles beneath his shirt moving with effort, and was somewhat entranced by the motion. Then all at once, her scrutiny was interrupted as Jonas, without warning, collapsed clumsily to his knees in front of her.

Forgetting her own pains Soleil immediately ran to his side in alarm. As she approached, Jonas involuntarily hunched his frame and began to dry-heave pitifully into the pine needles on the ground below.

Soleil, now at his side, grimaced as he retched. She realized that something was very wrong with the man and was overcome with sympathy for him. She didn't know what she could do to help and so she did what she used to do for her sister after a hard night of partying, and gently stroked his back. It was a little awkward but she hoped it would give him some comfort.

After a few minutes, his need to vomit receded and Jonas rolled back on his heels and slowly positioned his body against a near tree. Soleil kneeled in front of him and as if the vomiting wasn't enough she was alarmed to see a trickle of blood running from his nose in the moonlight.

"Sorry" He coughed out. Finally able to breath somewhat normally.

"What's wrong with you?" Soleil asked softly, now very concerned.

"Broken ribs . . ." He said, leaving out, oh, only about twenty other painful injuries and the agonizing pounding of his head.

"Oh man." Soleil said, biting her lower lip as she imagined the pain he had to be in. "Can I do anything?" She asked hesitantly.

"It'd help if we could bind them." He replied raspily.

She didn't question his directive as he seemed to have apparent knowledge on the subject, instead she readjusted her position and shifted closer to him. "Okay, um, how do I do that?" she asked trying to seem strong despite feeling uncertain.

"um, we need bandages, we'll have to use my shirt . . . tear it, tear into strips." He explained. Remembering what he'd been taught by Doctor Fraiser.

"Okay can you sit up?" she asked, with more confidence than she felt. The closest she'd ever come to executing any type of first aid was treating a few minor scrapes and burns. But she was determined to do whatever she had to do to alleviate the man's suffering.

He lightly nodded and then carefully adjusted himself into a sitting position away from the tree trunk.

Soleil and Jonas worked together to unbutton the shirt. Her earlier worry was somewhat forgotten as she worked. Soleil flushed with embarrassment recalling how she'd once fantasized about doing this very thing but she definitely never imagined she'd be doing it in this kind of situation or context.

Pushing the errant thought aside she focused on the task at hand and brushed Jonas's trembling hands away from a stuck closure and finished unbuttoning the shirt on her own.

As she delicately pulled the article of clothing off, Jonas's chest was exposed in the dim moonlight and Soleil wasn't quite prepared for what it revealed. A multitude of angry welts and bruises covered his muscular torso. Soleil sucked in a breath of horror. She couldn't believe he'd run with all of this. How could anyone go on after being beaten like this?

"What did they do to you?" She asked her voice cracking with empathy and disbelief.

"It's not as bad as it looks." Jonas said trying to reassure her as much as he was himself.

Soleil still concerned, knitted her brow, surprised by his minimization. "Have you seen it?" she asked non-rhetorically.

"I meant it doesn't feel as bad as it probably looks." He re-stated, feeling embarrassed by her examination.

"Why do I get the feeling that you're lying?" she questioned, not expecting an answer.

"Um, can we get on with it?" He asked a bit tersely not particularly wanting to talk about what a mess his body was. He wasn't really lying anyway, his body did hurt but it was almost ignorable compared to the raging pain in his head. In the two hours that had past Jonas had seen six visions, and each one had given him an upper hand in their escape endeavor. But that mental advantage was now taking its toll and Jonas wondered how long he'd be able hide away his agony before it truly overcame him.

Soleil, meanwhile had started tearing up the shirt and already had two strips done. As she bit at the edge of the cotton shirt working on getting another tear started Jonas watched her trying to distract himself. He found her natural beauty remarkable, even in her disheveled state she was entrancing. Her chocolate skin marred here and there with dirt, reflected blue in the moonlight and still managed to look remarkably soft. And though her short natural afro sat at slightly askew on one side, and her small frame was swamped by suit jacket he'd made her wear it did nothing to reduce her appeal.

As he watched her work he couldn't help but feel badly that she had been dragged into this, but he also had to admit he was glad he wasn't alone. He put off a confident air but in reality he was enormously afraid. His body was changing; he felt it in every cell of his being.

A year ago, he would have jumped at the chance to regain his precognitive ability. But with the pain he was currently experiencing, he was almost certain he'd give anything to get back to normal.

Not only did each new vision create a fresh onslaught of physical misery, with every foresight there was an inner struggle on whether or not to act. He worried about the probable futures, he had no way of knowing if acting on a vision would prevent or cause that specified future and it frightened him. His past experience made him believe that he could control the visions but this felt different. The glimpses varied a lot more than he'd previously experienced. Some of his recent visions had been further out; like seeing himself and Soleil run across the parking lot, 20 minutes before he encountered Soleil in the hall. Some had been more immediate like seeing the men walk past them in the hallways minutes before it happened. Most had come true but some hadn't, like Soleil being here instead lying in that building bullet her head. He shuddered as he remembered the horrible scene.

And then of course there was the new ability. He didn't even know what to call it. Whatever it was, he hated it most. The memories and experiences of those men still lingered in his head and the worst thing was they were almost indistinguishable from his own memories, like he had been the perpetrator of those atrocities. It filled him with guilt, and he knew he never wanted to experience anything like it again. Thankfully, since escaping from the chair, he hadn't had another incident like it and he hoped it stayed that way.

"All right," Soleil spoke up as she finished the last tie that turned the tattered shirt into a long bandage. "Are you ready?"

Jonas broke from his reverie and nodded. "You need to start here, above the break . . ." he began to direct her.

"Where?" She asked making sure she got it right.

"Right here" He said and delicately touching the position above the darkening bruise on his left rib cage. "When you wrap it, wrap it tight, but not too tight, too much constriction might make me puncture a lung when I breathe." He instructed.

She listened intently to his direction and then set to work. At her first touch he flinched and hissed. She jumped and swiftly pulled the cloth away, "I'm sorry" she said genuinely upset at causing him pain.

"No it didn't hurt, its your hands, they're freezing." He explained lamely.

"Oh, sorry." She said making a nervous face and then went back to the task and began to stretch the fabric about his midsection careful not to touch his bare skin too much.

Jonas could tell she wasn't wrapping it tight enough. "You're gonna have to make it tighter than that." He coached.

Soleil bit her bottom lip nervously. "Like this?" she said pulling the strip tighter. Jonas hissed, in pain this time, feeling his ribs shift inside his chest. "Tighter." He urged her on regardless of the pain, gritting his teeth. She carried out his request and tugged at the strip, tense with the knowledge that she was hurting him.

"Okay, good!" He gurgled out between clenched teeth.

After a few moments she tied the bandage off, and blew out a breath of relief. Both of them sagged slightly glad it was over.

Jonas took a moment to adjust to the constriction the bandage caused. Inhaling and exhaling gently he tested the new limitations to his breathing. It was just as painful as before but at least there was less chance of him puncturing a lung.

Soleil came up to him with a piece of what was left of his shirt and reached out to touch his face. Jonas instinctively recoiled his mind still set in survival mode

"Your nose is bleeding" she explained, seeing his hesitation. Jonas reached up to feel the wetness above his lip. Pulling his hand away he stared at the wet blood on his fingertips.'Crap' he thought inwardly, that wasn't a good sign.

"Here let me." Soleil said, coming closer. This time Jonas didn't stop her as she gently wiped at the flow. "Looks like it stopped." she said after a minute, pulling away. "Now that's done we can fix your arm."

Jonas watched as she took what was left of his shirt a partial sleeve, and deftly began to wrap around his grazed bicep.

"Thanks," He said as she finished.

"Sure," Soleil acknowledged. Absent mindedly pick the remaining scraps from the ground and putting them in the pocket of the oversize suit jacket she was wearing. Jonas watched her worry in his eyes, suddenly he realized he hadn't even checked to see if she was alright. "Hey," He said looking her in the eyes, "Are you okay? Did they hurt you?"

She saw the real concern in his gaze and was touched. "No, i'm fine." she answered, leaving out the fact that she didn't feel fine. This whole situation was really anything but okay. Yet as she looked at Jonas bruised, broken and exposed to the cold night air she knew that if he could stay strong so could she.

Jonas sighed in relief, and using his left hand he pushed against the nearby tree trunk using it as leverage to hoist his aching frame upright once more. Soleil was instantly at his side acting as a secondary aid.

"What are you doing?" She asked in surprise. "I thought we were staying here?"

"We need to gather some of these pine boughs to keep us warm."

"Can't we just start a fire?" she asked.

"With what?" he asked pointing out their lack of supplies, "and even if we could start one I wouldn't recommend it, it'd be like sending up a flare for those agents to find us."

"Oh yeah." She said feeling dumb.

"Wanna help me with these trees?" he asked working at breaking a dry lower limb from one of the near pines being very care not to aggravate his injuries.

Soleil went to a limb near his and attempted to break it off. While Jonas worked on his third branch Soleil continued to struggle with her first. She wrestled with the limb, bending it up and down, left and right, pulling on it with all her weight but still it would not budge. Jonas heard her grunt in frustration and glanced over at her and smiled the sight despite himself. In her concentrated effort she'd almost knocked the all the pine needles off the bough and into her curly hair.

"Um, Soleil?" She stopped her struggle with a harumph and looked at him. He motioned with his eyes for her to look up, Following his gaze she saw that recently full branch was now fairly bare. "Crap." she said annoyed brushing the needles out of her hair.

"You wanna take those," he asked nodding to the broken boughs on the ground, "Over between those two tall trees?" He asked redirecting her.

Soleil realized he didn't think she was being much help and normally she might have let it bother her, but right now she was frustrated and tired and didn't really care. Letting go of the stupid branch she grabbed Jonas's finished pile and took them over to the spot he'd directed.

"What do I do now?" she called back in loud whisper.

"Lay them out like a mattress." he said moving to another tree with low branches.

As he worked to get another pile, Soleil watched his tedious ministrations, concerned and impressed. When she compared this Jonas, stoic, kind, confident and incredibly brave, to the Jonas she knew, the tea drinking, flirtatious intellectual, It was hard to believe it was the same man. If someone had told her that she'd witness her favorite customer take down three armed men with the efficiency and confidence he'd displayed a few hours earlier she would have laughed at the idea. But now that it had happened she was filled with curiosity about who this man she'd admired from afar really was.

Throwing the last branch on his new pile Jonas made an attempt to bend over and pick it up. It was a bad move however as he felt his rib bones stab against his lung. He sucked in an audible breath at the pain that shot through him.

"What do you think you're doing?" Soleil exclaimed admonishing his foolishness scrambling over to him in dismay. Quickly she grabbed the bundle by his feet and brought it over with others. Jonas, meanwhile re-straightened his frame glad to feel that nothing seemed to be punctured or torn.

Recovering he approached the small space between the trees where she had dropped the bundle. Seeing that she was about to add it to the bedding she had already laid out he spoke up. "those will go on top."

Jonas began to tentatively lower himself to the pine bough bed, taking a lot more caution to protect his injured side than he had a moment ago, Soleil also helped him as he descended.

When they were both finally settled on the makeshift bedding on the ground, Soleil began to strategically place the remaining boughs across their legs working her way up. As she got to Jonas's bare and bandaged chest she hesitated. He had to be cold, she was, and she was wearing a long sleeve shirt plus the jacket he'd given her. Not to mention that fact that the pine needles weren't going to very comfortable. Making a decision Soleil shrugged the extra article of clothing off, laying it across him.

"No . . ." Jonas immediately started to protest.

But Soleil interrupted him. "It's okay, we can share it." she said.

She finished placing the boughs across them as well as she could and laid down next to the bigger man under the jacket. It barely fit over top both of them and Jonas slid his arm under her and grabbed her by the waist bring their bodies as close as possible. Soleil felt a thrill run through her body as he did it and her surprise shone in her eyes.

"Sorry," he apologized his warm breath tickling her face in their close proximity.

"It's okay, it will keep us warmer." She justified, her heart thundering in her chest. "how are you feeling?" she asked hesitantly.

Jonas pursed his lips, "To tell the truth, not very well." He acquiesced finally. His body ached all over and his arm was just starting to twinge, it hurt to breathe and his head was a constant source of misery. On the positive side however there had been no surge in mental acuity recently a fact of which he was very grateful.

"I'm sorry." She said knowing there was nothing she could do to change his physical condition however as she laid next to him she decided she would try and distract him. "What happened to you why are those guys after you?" She asked.

"So they didn't tell you anything?" He asked.

"Well, they implied you were a terrorist, kind of." She replied with some trepidation..

"A terrorist?" He repeated, surprised.

Soleil felt relief at his response, he truly did not seem to take that seriously.

"I can promise you I am definitely not a terrorist." he assured her. It hurt his chest and head to talk but Jonas didn't care. Conversation was a welcome distraction from their current scenario and unknown to him Soleil felt the same.

"Who were those guys?" she asked again.

Jonas decided to give her a partial truth. "They are rogue government agents." Realizing that would probably just cause more questions he decided to be a little more informative. "Listen you know I work for the government right?" He asked.

"Yeah." She said her interest piqued as she sensed he was about to disclose new information to her.

"Well, what I do is top secret so I can't tell you everything. But what I can tell you is that those men are after an advanced technology, one that could be very destructive if it were to fall into the wrong hands." he said gravely.

Somewhat disappointed at his vague explanation Soleil was silent for a moment. After thinking about what he had revealed however, she felt it was at least a plausible scenario. "So they tortured you for information?" She quizzed him.

"More for the fun of it, really" he replied honestly, remembering the glee on Astors face as he attacked him with the metal rod.

Soleil felt the man beside her tense up as he responded. "How badly are you injured, really?"

"I am not really sure, actually." He answered truthfully, thinking about his time spent in Nirttis machine.

"Where does it hurt?" She probed thinking she might be able to help diagnose his injuries.

"My head mainly, but my chest isn't very happy either." He responded. Soleil remembered how he'd literally used his head to incapacitate the guard in the hall. Looking at his face lit by the moonlight she reached up her hand and very lightly touched the dark bruise developing above his eye.

"If you have a concussion you shouldn't sleep." she said, she only knew this bit of wisdom from watching television but figured it had to have some merit. Everyone seemed to say it.

"I don't think I have a concussion." He replied knowledgably. "and we should take turns sleeping so one of us can keep watch," he suggested, "you can sleep first and i'll wake you up when its your turn." fully intending to let her sleep uninterrupted.

They fell silent for a moment and Soleil closed her eyes attempting to doze but her mind spun disquietly. Trying to refocus her brain her thoughts drifted again to her family. They had to be crazy with worry about her absence by now.

"Jonas?" She asked breaking the silence, now trying to distract herself from imagining the emotional scene she supposed was playing out with her family.

"Yeah?" he responded quietly looking at her closed eyes.

"Do you have any family back home in Kelowna?"

"No I was an orphan." he responded simply.

"Oh i'm sorry, I didn't know." Soleil apologized her brows creasing subconsciously at the blunder.

"It's okay, it was actually pretty common with the war and all." Jonas reassured her.

Soleil opened her eyes, brows knitting. "What, war?" she asked confused. Jonas inwardly cursed forgetting that when she said Kelowna she meant Canada. "Did I say war?" he asked putting on a faux perplexed face.

"Yeah, you said being an orphan was common because of the war."

"Huh, weird must be my headache." he lied nonchalantly. Then in an attempt to keep the subject off of him as he couldn't seem to keep his story straight he asked, "What about you, do you have family?"

Forgetting his odd comment, Soleil smiled slightly under the moonlight and shut her eyes again, "Yeah. There's my mom and dad my sister and my adopted brother." She listed.

"What are their names?" he asked glad to see her smile finally.

Imagining her families faces as she spoke, she began to recite, "My dad's name is Kenneth, and my moms name is Sandra and then there's my sister Luna and . . ."

"Sun and moon," Jonas interrupted translating her and her sisters names, "Your parents must like astronomy."

Soleil was impressed he knew what her name meant, most people couldn't pronounce it let alone decipher its meaning. "Yeah, actually, my dad's an astronomer. He named us, and trust me his names were much better than what my mom had planned for us."

Both parties went silent for a moment. It was odd to carry on such a normal conversation considering their current situation, but the innocuous topic was remarkably therapeutic to the two escapees. For Soleil the subject calmed her nerves and slowed her racing heart. She found she was able to ignore the fear that shadowed her and unwilling to let go of the unexpected respite she refused to let the exchange fade into the dark. "

What does Jonas mean?" She asked.

Jonas took the bait eagerly as he too was enjoying the relief of the idle chatter. "Well I was always told it meant 'gifted one'. But I recently read that in Hebrew it means 'destroyer' or 'he who oppresses'" Jonas returned, and then frowned at his own admission, "I guess that's not exactly what you'd want to hear after being told I was a terrorist."

"Yeah well, name meanings don't determine who you are" she responded, "I mean if that were true, you'd be lying next to giant ball of plasma, approximately hundreds of thousands of miles in diameter." She finished joking lamely, remembering the stars features frequently repeated by her father.

"That would be hot" he replied in jest not realizing the awkward double entendre.

Soleil blushed, thinking he'd said it on purpose and was thankful her bashfulness was obscured by the darkness. "Are you sure you're feeling okay?" She asked trying to brush off the comment.

Jonas lost in thought didn't register her question. And in the ensuing quiet, Soleil wondered if their period of normality was coming to an end. She began to feel her earlier anxiety eek back into her mind and the dark forest that surrounded them began to develop an eerie quality.

"865,374." Jonas said out of the blue. His sudden odd interjection broke the brief intermission and caused Soleil who was already on edge to jump.

Jonas felt the small quake from her body, and regretted his sudden exclamation. He was reminded that while this situation was somewhat normal for him it must be very frightening for the woman next to him. "Sorry," he apologized.

Soleil heard the sympathy in his voice and was embarrassed by her very apparent display of weakness. She decided to ignore it and grasped onto his fragmentary comment like a life-line.

"865,374, what?" Soleil asked confused. As she asked, understanding dawned her and she looked up at him in amazement, "Did you just give me the actual circumference of the sun?"

"Sorry, it's habit." He explained feabily, feeling stupid, all too aware that he sounded like a show-off.

Soleil sensed his discomfort, and found it endearing. Her attraction to the man increased and she couldn't stop herself from falling into the feeling. "So, you're super smart, strong, brave and extraordinarily kind. Whats the catch?" She inquired flirtatiously.

Jonas blushed at her compliments, but saw an opportunity to alleviate some of his embarrassment, "uh . . . . oh yeah, I'm ugly." he winked looking down at her.

"Oh yeah, real ugly." Soleil facetiously replied in silly voice. Both of them smiled stupidly at one another. The pleasant moment warmed them and time seemed to stretch as the gazed into one anothers eyes. All at once both parties became very aware of their close proximity and Soliel allowed herself to drift slightly closer as a peculiar yet welcome tension began to fill the space between them.

Jonas badly wanted to fall into the stirring emotion, but his guilt and anxiety over their current situation made him hesitant. Pulling out of the strong attraction he felt for the woman in front of him, he spoke, breaking the spell. "You should get some rest."

Soleil stopped her imperceptible drift at his declaration, somewhat crestfallen. Silently she acknowledged his logical request and closed her eyes yet again, feeling her apprehension return and losing some of the peace she'd felt few moments before. Unwilling to let the her disappointment stop her from finding rest she pushed her sensitivity aside and after a few moments of silence she could feel the warm embrace of sleep start to claim her. Not wanting to fall asleep until she thanked the man who laid next her she spoke sleepily, "Hey Jonas?"

"Yeah?" He replied, his breath warming her cold face.

"Thanks for taking care of me." Soleil continued quietly as she began to drift.

Jonas said nothing at first watching the smaller woman fall fast asleep. "I'm the one who should be thanking you." Jonas whispered back finally, but his sentiment fell on deaf ears as Soleil succumbed to sleep.