Chapter 13

September 1; 7:15 a.m.

Liz climbed in through the window of her bedroom, Alex lounged on her bed, drumming his fingers on his stomach. "And where have you been young lady."

"Hotel." She tossed her jacket and backpack on her desk chair. "Shoes." Liz glanced at Alex resting on her bed with his dirty shoes on her clean sheets.

He rolled his eyes but took off the shoes before moving back into his previous position. "And why were you at a hotel?" He had shown up in her room at 6:30 needing to talk to her but she wasn't home. He recalled her telling him she had a business transaction she had to take care of but would be back probably no later than midnight.

She didn't say anything and continued to move around the room. Liz grabbed some clean clothes and went into the bathroom to change. Once she was in there she set the clothes down on the toilet lid and sat down on the edge of her tub.

Normally she didn't feel this bad leaving a guy. It could be because she usually left while the guys were still asleep, she didn't look into their eyes then, didn't see pain or anger lingering in their eyes. Swallowing she stood up and undressed.

She contemplated taking a shower but decided against it, she didn't want to wash off his scent yet. She didn't want to forget their time together yet. Instead she dressed in clean clothes, brushed her hair and teeth and made sure the marks Alec left last night were visible.

When she left the bathroom Alex was still on her bed only now he was sitting up staring at her. "What?"

"Don't want details but where were you last night?" The teasing tone had disappeared and in its place was concern.

"Hotel, I told you that." She shrugged and threw her clothes in the bin next to her dresser.

Alex pursed his lips, "Obviously not alone." She didn't answer so he continued. "Are you alright?"

"Fine." She grabbed a hair-tie and gathered her hair up securing it with the tie.

As she swept her hair into the ponytail he caught sight of a red and purple hickey on the side of her neck, it stood out sharply against her skin. Something was definitely up—she never showed the marks a one-nighter left on her. Even if it was a scratch that could be explained away she covered it with a Band-Aid or make-up.

"What's going on with you?" He hoped that if he asked her straight out she'd give him a straight answer.

Finally she stopped moving about the room and looked at him, "What are you talking about?" Why was Alex acting suspicious? "What's going on with you?"

"I'm worried about you Liz. You're gone all night, no call to me to let me know. Then you come sneaking in through the window, your scent is different, and not your normal I've had sex scent…"

"Alex…"

He continued like she hadn't said his name. "And you're proudly displaying the marks of whoever you were with left. All adds up to something is not right."

"There's nothing wrong." Although what her brother pointed out did make her stop and think. She never displayed marks…most of the time she didn't allow them to mar her skin in any way.

Angry Alex stood up, grabbed his shoes and started for the door. "Fine, when you're ready to tell me you know where to find me."

He barely got to the bedroom door when Liz called to him. She touched his arm lightly and silently begged him to turn around. When he did she spoke, "Last night was the first time I've ever—I've been with someone and it wasn't a 'heat' problem."

Breathing a sigh of relief he hugged her. "I thought it was something far worse than that like Deck had found us. Or you had been hurt." He chuckled. "Don't scare me like that ok."

Liz smiled up at him. "Sorry." She pulled him back to the bed and let him sit. "So what did you want that made you seek me out at 6 in the morning?"

"Worry and I wanted to make sure you were alright. Plus someone's birthday is today." Alex kissed her forehead. "Tonight, you and me in the desert, I have a present for you." He smiled and left the room. He left the apartment quickly, got into his parent's car and drove off. He had gone there to tell her what he found. When Liz hadn't been in her room he'd been a little relieved, the information he now had could open the door to a memory that Liz didn't want opened.

Alex pulled into a store parking lot, Mom asked him to pick up some ingredients for a dish she's testing out tonight. Of course Dad and him were her guinea pigs. He had been prepared to tell Liz what he came across, until she climbed through the window and he saw her. At that moment he knew he couldn't open that emotional wound she kept walled up to the point that she didn't even remember what happened. And it was her birthday, what kind of person would he be to cause her pain on her birthday? Everyone should have one day when nothing caused hurt.

The hustle and bustle of the store didn't jar him from his thoughts; Alex maneuvered and dodged through shopping carts, squalling children, and the mothers who did their best to quiet them with ease. Liz might not remember what was done to her but he remembered her crying every night. He'd crawl from his bunk and go into hers, holding her while she relived the humiliation and pain over and over in her mind.

Last night he did what he normally did when he was at home alone, he searched for anything dealing with Manticore and the people involved with them. And last night he managed to hack into a Manticore scientist's computer, it took him a good long while to get passed firewalls and traps but once he did what he found shocked him.

The special program that Jondy, Tinga, Zack, and Zane were assigned to was on there; at least fifty videos with detailed reports of their progress and mental charts. A note on Zack's chart mentioned that Lydecker ordered brain scans after every session and to make sure the children had a therapist to talk with. The shrink was denied but the scans were approved.

He could only bring himself to watch one and he couldn't even watch it the whole way through. If he had told her what he found and saved it to an encrypted disk she'd be devastated. She never told him specifically what happened during that special program, she didn't want him to have nightmares too.

There was one video file separated from the others and labeled CO Sparks incident, it was dated 12-3-08. He didn't want to open that one ever. After that date Tinga hadn't been seen for two weeks. No one would tell their unit anything except she was on a mission. When she came back there were slight bruising on her legs and face, almost gone but still visible, she wouldn't talk about it but after that night she stopped crying. She was more irritable, quick to anger, and even quicker to kill.

Alex pushed the cart up to the check out stand and unloaded the grocery's Mom wanted him to get. He didn't know if he'd ever be able to tell Liz what he had found. No matter when it'd be brought up it would cause pain and he couldn't do that to his big sister.

TBC