A/N: As promised, here's the explanation for the somewhat confusing events of last chapter. Also, Bree and Chase bonding (yay!) because that's so far been pretty lacking in this story. Mild trigger warning for mentions of suicide and abuse but nothing too serious.

I awake on the couch in the living room, head pounding and throat dry. I remember being scared, and then darkness. What happened? Blinking against the harsh light, I pry open my eyes.

There's a glass of water sat on the coffee table in front of me. "Drink," I hear Chase say.

I do as I'm told, sitting up and carefully lifting the glass in my shaking hands. As the cool water slips down my throat, the remaining traces of uncertainty wash away and my sleep-fogged mind clears. The water tastes subtly of lemon. I hate lemon water.

"The vitamin C in lemons is good for you," Chase tells me. I still hate it.

Regardless, I drink the whole glass and set it back on the table. I wait for Chase to say something, but he just looks back at me expectantly. We sit at an uneasy stalemate for a long while, each waiting for the other to break the silence. I watch condensation drip down the now empty glass and pool on the table in a ring. Chase puts it on a coaster.

It's him that makes the first move, finally. "What happened?"

I'm thrown off guard a little by the gentleness of his tone. The weight of the tension between us felt hostile, angry, but maybe he's just as lost as I am.

"I was hoping you'd be able to explain that to me" I reply cautiously.

"You don't remember?"

"Not in great detail, no," I explain. "Just that I was really tired, and then there were people everywhere and everything was happening so fast, and then nothing."

Chase nods. "Too many pills can have that effect."

Pills? What does he mean? I frantically search through my memory, the events finally starting to become clearer to me. I took two pills, because I was injured, another for a headache, another when the pain still hadn't faded, and another, and another…

Oh.

"I'm so, so sorry."

"Why did you do it?"

"I didn't," I begin. Chase starts to interrupt, indignant, but I continue. "Not on purpose, anyway."

He looks perplexed.

"I fell, while I was training."

"We noticed." He gestures at my wrist, which is now wrapped in a fresh bandage. "You should have said something when it happened." I look away guiltily.

"It was really hurting, so I came up to get some ice, and I remembered that Mr Davenport left some painkillers in the kitchen. So I went looking for them. I found them, but I also managed to drop nearly everything from the cupboard onto the floor.

"It made me really angry, Chase. It was a tiny little thing and I couldn't even do that right. There was a huge mess and I was so stressed and it was making my head hurt. So I took the pills and I went upstairs and I just broke down. It came completely out of nowhere, but I just couldn't take it anymore. I needed a break.

"But it wouldn't stop. Everything kept on hurting and nothing was going right, and I panicked." I take a deep breath before continuing, futilely attempting to wipe away the tears streaming down my face. "So I took more pills, and then more. I just wanted the pain to go away, to give me a moment to catch up. I lost track of how many pills I took."

Chase doesn't say anything for a while. When I finally dare to meet his eyes, he looks shell-shocked. I struggle to read him. He's not angry, or hurt, or disappointed. His face remains blank, eyes unblinking.

"Please say something," I beg.

Finally he breaks out of his trance. "We had no idea you were struggling."

"Neither did I," I admit, a hint of bitterness seeping into my voice. "I'm a really good liar."

"Do you remember what happened when we found you?"

"Not really. Just that everything was happening so fast but time was moving so slowly. I wasn't really paying a lot of attention, I was just scared. I couldn't move."

"You were mentally comprised, so your bionics glitched. Mr Davenport said that might happen"

"Pardon?"

Chase sighs. "You weren't able to store memories of what happened because your emotion – fear – caused you to glitch and have a flashback. Your mind wasn't in the present" he explains.

"How did you–?"

"Mr Davenport freaked out," He tells me before I've even finished my question. "Who's Adda?"

I freeze. Did I say that out loud? I want to tell him, but I know that'll only give him more questions. He's better off not knowing the answer to what he'll inevitably ask.

"Bree," he warns. "You can't hide everything from us. It's not good for you."

"Where's Mr Davenport?" I divert.

"In the lab. I wanted to be the first to talk to you, and he agreed. The others can be sort of tactless. Who's Adda?"

Despite everything, I find myself letting out a quiet giggle. Chase looks at me like I've gone mad. Maybe I have.

"I'm sorry, it's just weird to hear you call him that."

"Who is he?"

I sigh. Chase obviously isn't going to let up, so I have no choice but to tell him. "Adam."

He looks perplexed.

"Well, not the Adam we know now. Adda is what I called him when I was still leaning to talk. You were Tay, not that you were very interesting to talk to, being a baby and all."

"Adam hurt you?" His tone is demanding, and I look at him only to see a steely impression set across his face

"No!" I insist. "He would never do that. To either of us. We're a team, remember? Always have been, always will."

"You sounded pretty distressed. Why his name?"

I don't say anything for a while. What can I say? Finally, I meet his gaze. "Promise you won't tell anyone?"

"This seems like something Mr Davenport should know."

"He already knows."

There's a heavy pause before he finally tells me "I promise."

So I tell him. About the flashback I had, Douglas forcing Adam to hold me down while he hurt me. About how he tried so hard to pit us against each other, play our strengths against the other's weakness. About how he made us fight, hurt each other, help him do unthinkable things. But the most important thing, I told him, was how through it all we still stuck by each other. How every night we'd come together, to talk, to cry, to listen. How we'd pick each other up when we fell. And how sometimes, after a really bad day, we'd all squeeze into Adam's capsule and hold each other tight until we fell asleep.

Chase listens, and I watch him carefully in case he gets too upset and I need to stop, but his expression remains carefully neutral the entire time. When I finish, silence falls as he takes in what I've told him. I feel anxiety creeping back in. Was it a mistake, telling him so much?

Finally, he speaks. "We're still here for you, you know. If you'll let us be."

A/N: So this may be the end of the story. I know it's in no way completely resolved, but I'm not really feeling much of a response to this story and this chapter ties up some of the loose ends at least. If you do want this story continued (I also have ideas for a prequel and possible sequel), please let me know and I'll keep going, but otherwise it's going to end here. Thanks for reading and I'll see you all next time!