Force of Nature

Hope this adds some clarity and doesn't bore anyone to tears :P Thanks for the wondermousful comments and I hope you enjoy :) - I know I said one or two more to go but it still maybe one or two more after this one :P

Continuous Dream State

"How's everyone doing?" Sam heard Jason's question through a haze of foggy consciousness as she shifted on her side, easing her eyes open quietly seeing Jason, arms folded over his chest, talking to Robin in a small hatchway that led to a ship corridor.

"They're making progress. In and out of consciousness, we're working on the muscle atrophy and motor skills, rehydrating." She paused with a soft reassuring smile, realizing he wanted more than the list of medical progress. "They're confused, but we've got a great support team for everyone."

Sam narrowed her eyes as Patrick Drake hurried past the hatch, then stopped and backed up to catch Robin. "Dagny got shot in the thigh and didn't tell anyone." He explained his rush as he kissed her cheek.

"I'll be in the secondary infirmary when you get done patching up bullet wounds." Robin smiled as she kissed him back.

Sam wasn't sure what the hell was going on, but she was trying to piece it together without questioning too much as far as sanity went, rolling with the punches had been her only way to stay sane thus far. So far she had – that they were on a boat. A cargo freighter with a hell of a lot of people, some familiar, some not so much.

"How soon before we transfer to Sonny's yacht?" Robin asked Jason after Patrick disappeared down the narrow metallic corridor.

"We'll make the trade in international waters once we're through customs in Buenos Aires." Jason replied quickly.

Sam blinked. She was right, they were in South America, Argentina. Alright she wanted answers and she wanted them now. She was about to ask for them but she couldn't quite get the idea to translate to actual words issued forth. She felt the demanding lull of sleep pulling her back down and try as she might to fight she couldn't seem to stave it off.

When next her eyes afforded her the luxury of sight she found herself in a much nicer room with the weight of an arm snuggled warm nestled between her breasts and belly. Sam blinked lethargically and a soft groan escaped her lips as she turned her head to find Jason sound asleep beside her. Despite the ever present nagging confusion she couldn't help but smile.

Her smile broadened when the baby's gentle nudges prodded against Jason's arm, it was enough to wake him from the light slumber. He lovingly and gently rubbed his hand over her belly where the baby was kicking and then realized she was awake. "Hey," he whispered as he moved to stroke a stray loch of hair from her cheek.

"Hey." She replied just as gently.

"How are you feeling?" Jason asked as he sat up, reaching for his discarded shirt on the nightstand. He quickly pulled it on.

"W..." Sam could only wish that the words came out as easy as 'Hey' had. Dammit why was it so hard to talk? "Weird." She finally got it out and that felt like a struggle. She watched as sympathetic eyes met hers.

"Weird – bad? Or Weird – confused?" Jason asked for clarification checking to see if he needed to bring Robin or Patrick in.

"Con...confu..." Sam let out a groan and slapped the bed in frustration.

"It's okay, I got it." Jason nodded as he enveloped her hand with his own in comfort. "This is going to pass. I know it's hard and it's frustrating and I am going to try and explain it as best as I can." he promised her. "Sam, you've been asleep for the last four and a half months." Jason struggled to get it out especially when he saw her eyes widen in horror.

Sam shook her head, there was no freaking way, no way. She couldn't have been asleep that long, what the hell. She was nearly six months pregnant four months ago and she looked the same, not to mention the whole Kansas and tornado and needing to take down the Delphi institute and rescue Luke. How in the hell was that four months ago? And why were they in Argentina and how was Talia alive? "N...no." Sam shook her head head fervently not believing it. This was some trick of the mind, some weird side effect she hadn't encountered before.

Jason was nodding though. "You went to the club with Sonny, the guy drugged you and took you, the recruiter. He sedated you and put you in a cargo container bound for Argentina. You were never awake to help your sister." Jason told her softly.

"No...no. Th...tr...train." Sam clearly remembered the train, getting out of their cages and jumping, making it to the cabin. Jason and Dante and Lucky came for them there. "C..ca," God almighty let the damn word come out. "Cabin." She growled out in frustration.

"You were never in a train or a cabin, Sam. They brought you in like freight, to the Delphi Hospital in Parana, Argentina where they did experiments on Continued Dream States with advanced interfacing. It was an illegal human trial." Jason couldn't hide the anger playing across his face as he tried to keep himself in check despite the inhumane deeds enacted on his girlfriend and so many of their friends and loved ones. "Feel your neck." Jason motioned to the back of his neck just at the base of the skull as a point of reference as to where he wanted her to feel.

This was crazy, insane, there was no way any of this was...Sam's mind addled as her fingers played over the area where Jason was indicating and she felt a hard metal spot about the size of a dime with a small hole there. Holy mother of...Sam pulled her hand away as if she'd been bit and looked to Jason in absolute shock. What the hell?

"Calm down, you're alright." Jason soothed instantly as he saw the terror winning her over. "It's over. They can't hurt you now. It's going to be okay."

Sam looked at him disbelief. Calm down? She had a metal disk in her neck like some freak sci-fi movie gone wrong and it was anything but alright. Sam didn't even try to talk as she pointed to the damn disc as if to tell Jason like hell it was.

"I know, but it's harmless now. Robin and Patrick sealed off the port."

Port? She had a port in her neck, someone had something hooked into her neck, like a computer? What the hell was this the Matrix? Inception? Why would anyone want to research something like that? She didn't know which one was crazier, being able to see the future or this shit!. Maybe it was just her, she was crazy all the way around.

"Think about it – strange stuff was happening. Spinelli hacked the program, but you were the only one who would respond because they had you on a lower dose of drugs because of the baby, you were more lucid. He added little details to help you find your way to a fail safe in the system. You were the only one that could get everyone else there, no one else could see the clues, Sam." Jason explained as he saw her panic, trying to help her see what she was having trouble processing. "I'm not exactly sure how it translated to you, we never saw what you guys were living in there."

"Fu...future." Sam rambled out. "I..." Sam was getting sick and tired of her words not making out of her mouth.

"You saw the future?" Jason asked in wonder. She nodded and then pointed to her mouth for an explanation as to why she couldn't talk.

"It's a side effect from the dream state. Patrick explains it better but it's like your brain remapped a whole lot of stuff because you were constantly dreaming, talking and getting around are going to take some time to get used to again." Jason wanted to kill these bastards all over again.

Great. Sam threw her hand up in frustration and then swallowed tightly trying to get used to playing guess what I'm asking as she pointed at her belly.

"The baby's perfectly healthy." Jason smiled reassuringly. "And a miracle at that." Jason couldn't hide the joy at finding that he was soon going to be a father, a new bit of news for him. Sam let out a breath in relief.

She had to wonder about a few things in the dream though...Talia died, and then if Jason and the others weren't there then how were they seeing them? "Ta...Talia?"

"They had you guys grouped in groups of five, in a shared experience. They removed Talia as part of the experiment. She was just incorporated into another group." Sam couldn't believe this, Talia never died? It was just some experiment. God she felt sick. How could anyone toy with people like this?

Jason watched worriedly as Sam pulled back the covers and slipped her legs over the side of the bed. "Sam, you're not going to be steady...What do you need? I'll get it." Sam made a scoffing sound and pointed to the adjoining bathroom.

"I'll..." She nodded to let him know that she had this as she pushed off the bed and felt her feet hit the floor and that was about it as her legs turned to jello. Jason caught her, lending a supportive arm as he held her up so they could make it there together.

"It'll get easier." Jason promised her.

Sam felt like crying. She didn't want it to GET easier. It shouldn't have to GET easier, it never should have happened. She wanted to know everything – so much more, but she was out again as soon as Jason helped her back to the bed as if their conversation was the equivalent to a whole days worth of labor.

Sam woke a few hours later to feel a tight shiver down her back. She had rolled onto her left side in her sleep and she had that hair standing on the back your neck sort of feeling. She started to sit up but she felt a hesitant nudge against her neck and she fearfully looked behind her to find Spinelli lying on the bed at her back, looking 1 part nervous, 1 part scared, and 1 part dear in the headlights. "Wh..." As the rest of the word refused to pass her lips Sam growled in frustration.

Spinelli took that as his moment to scramble off the bed and sputtered. "So sorry, Stonecold asked me to keep on eye on you while he questioned The Sinister One with Mr. Sir." Spinelli was putting distance between her and him as he rambled out. "I was looking at the..." Spinelli motioned to his neck as way of explanation and realization dawned in Sam's eyes as she rolled them with a shake of head.

She then took into account the first part of his explanation. The Sinister One she knew that nickname, whose name was that. She hadn't heard it in a while. Sam's eyes widened as she finally remembered. "Cas...Cas...Castillo?" She asked in horror. He was alive too? So nothing that she remembered from the moment at that club when she was trying to infiltrate the trafficking ring had happened?

Sam threw the covers back and got to her feet in a rush, surprised but so freaking happy that she didn't fall over. She was wobbly and weaving but she stayed on her feet. More than once she had to grab for the wall or a door frame as Spinelli hurried after her in a tizzy. "Fair Samantha I fear that you shouldn't be up and about." He reached for her to help her but Sam pushed his hand away, determined to do this on her own. Dammit she wanted to see the bastard that was responsible for all of this.

The nightgown she'd been changed into clung to as she moved, though it wasn't long til she realized that she didn't know where. "Where?" She turned on Spinelli glad the word came out as she looked to him expectantly. Spinelli knew better then to stonewall her.

"The flybridge." Spinelli swallowed tightly as Sam turned away and headed up the stairs to the upper deck. He moved right behind her, trying to stay with her to catch her, should she fall. Sam made it with much difficulty, but she made it all the way to the flybridge. She had to lean on Spinelli the last few climbs but she made it.

Jason and Sonny didn't immediately notice that they had company, they were far too busy questioning Castillo. Fernando Castillo was tied to a chair, obviously worked over for days, looking cocky and obstinate despite it all. Sonny was sitting on the side lines sipping on a glass of water as Jason worked in interrogation mode.

"All I need is a name." Jason told him as he moved around him, his hand grasping the back of Castillo's neck until the man cringed. "The last founder of Delphi."

She supposed sometimes the mind did get it right. She'd imagined Sonny questioning Delphi board members just as Jason was now searching for them. She supposed it was just how well she knew them, but then she didn't profess to truly understand what had happened in there.

Sam looked Castillo over, a sad old man trying to hold his bravado in check in the face of impending death as if it would some how spare him some punishment to his pride. Was that all these powerful men thought was important, their pride? Their status? It was like conceit on steroids. And all for what?

Sam felt sick, her face fallen in disgust as Castillo looked up to meet her eyes while trying to pull his head away from Jason's touch. "I already told you everyone I know about." He said without breaking eye contact with her as if he was somehow going to shake her. She had been as shaken as a person could be for months awake or in dreams. She didn't have enough left for another shake.

She was tired, wrung out of fear and shock. "Then why are they keeping you around?" Sam spaced each word out, speaking slowly thrilled to now end that she didn't stumble over any. It was amazing what served as a blessing in her mind now. "You're shark bait."

She saw what hint of a smile Castillo had left dwindle into fear, not getting near the response he wanted out of her. He was struggling to regain his facade of cool and collected as Jason looked up at her voice, finally realizing that she was here. She saw fear in Jason's eyes as well, but it was for another reason all together.

"Sam why don't we..." Sonny started in her and Spinelli's direction but Sam shook her head, cutting him off.

"No. I want to stay for this." She was still having to draw out her sentences, but the words were still coming.

"I don't think this is the best place for..." Sonny started again, but she shook her head once more.

"I'm staying."

Sonny looked to Jason as if asking him to do something, but he already knew that she meant what she said. "She makes a good point." Jason brought up to Castillo. "If you've told us everything you know then what good are you? I should throw you overboard and be done with it." To that end Jason hurriedly unwound the rope that bound Castillo's bound wrists to the seat and jerked him to his feet.

Jason pulled him bodily to the edge and pushed him over, letting the rope catch against his hands as he bought some leverage clinging to the other end of the life line connected to Castillo's wrists with both hands. "Are you sure you don't know that name?"

"I know it! I know it!" Castillo screamed floundering to get some hand hold on the railing that was just out of his reach.

"What is it?" Jason arched an eyebrow expectantly.

"It's Deacon, Deacon Grant!" Castillo yelled out. Sam narrowed her eyes. How had she dreamed about a man she'd never heard of? At best she was believing that she'd made him up with the limited information she had to go on, but he was real? What about Evelyn?

Sam watched Jason, teetering on the edge of agony, his own rage eating away as he looked for an outlet. He peered over the railing at the last vestige of usefulness that Castillo had to offer and let go, the man's screams breaking the calm as Sam looked away, closing her eyes with a tight swallow.

They were all still missing something. Maybe it was just that she and the others hadn't been able to share their experiences, maybe it was because this was the first human trial of this type and there was no telling what crossed the barrier from machine to mind – hell the way Jason talked Spinelli had practically hacked her brain. Whatever was going on, she wanted to know it. There was something else nagging at her though.

She'd seen everyone that had been in their collective dream when they were escaping from Argentina when she first woke, she saw absolutely everyone, except Luke. So where was Luke? Sam had expended far too much energy to expect to have much of a powwow with Jason as she was already fading on Spinelli, who barely managed to catch her on her way to the deep black world of dreams.