A/N: Last chapter for a couple of days. Enjoy xo

Chapter 21: People Are Full of Surprises

Jack's Compound (2039)

It felt as though they'd been waiting for hours. Bo didn't know how long it had actually been, but she was starting to get restless. She and Ethan had to hide while Warren welcomed a visit from his dealer, he had to get the rest of the ingredients for the cure.

After he'd left, Warren stuffed everything into a bag and handed it to Ethan. "Is this everything?" He asked him, watching the little weasel nod. But he didn't trust him enough to take that as the truth. So he grabbed his throat, looking into his eyes. "Is this, everything?" He repeated, compelling him.

"Yes" Warren answered honestly.

Bo stepped forward, "So is that it? Can we go now?" She asked him.

"I would say so, although we'll have to get past the guards without being seen…" Ethan was still wondering about that. "… What's with the extra posse anyway? You know Jack's dead, we killed him" he was expecting Warren to look shocked, but he didn't.

And that wasn't good.

Warren let out a throaty chuckle, "The King isn't dead, he's here. He beefed up his guards to protect him while he performed a big ritual. That's all"

"No, he's dead. I stabbed him myself!" Bo shouted, but Warren just shook his head with a smirk. "I don't understand. You saw me stab him right?" She looked to Ethan. "I hit him in the heart, and then he disappeared" she didn't get it.

Ethan didn't like the sound of this. "You said he performed a ritual…" He turned to Warren again. "… What kind of ritual are we talking about here?" When Warren didn't answer, Ethan put the bag down and kicked his wound, making him cry out. "Answer the question!" He demanded.

"An inhabiting ritual!" Warren answered, "He didn't know if you had a way to kill him, so before he travelled back to the past, he switched bodies with a shapeshifter. Took his own form, and created his very own decoy" he explained.

Bo was shocked, they thought they'd actually won. But her Father was smarter than they thought, "So you're telling me, that the person I killed wasn't even the real Jack?" She watched him nod, "I don't believe this" she sighed.

There wasn't a thing on this Earth that could calm Ethan down right now, "Where is he now?" He asked him, hearing him say that he was in the throne room. "Remember when I said that I'd heal you if you got the stuff we needed quickly? I lied" he snapped his neck with one hand, watching him fall to the floor.

"Was that really necessary?" Bo looked down to the dead body, she didn't expect that.

Ethan grabbed the bag and strapped it over his Mother's shoulders. "Never mind that, you need to go. Shay needs the cure, she doesn't have a lot of time left. Here, take this…" He handed her a portal opener. "… Hit the button on the top and throw it in the air, once the portal opens jump through"

"You think I'm gonna leave you here?" Bo frowned. "No way! I know what you're gonna do and the answer is No! I forbid you!" She didn't know if that was an actual thing, but she wasn't going to let him do this.

"I'm not leaving here until he's dead, I've come this far. I can't turn back now" Ethan took the blessed dagger out of the inside of his jacket. He brought it just in case, and it was a good thing that he did.

Bo pulled his arm back, "HEY! Listen to me, we will get him. But for right now, we need to walk away. Because if we don't go back, Shay will die. She needs this cure, and I'm not going back without you. Are you willing to let her die?" She asked.

Ethan sighed, he couldn't do that. "No…" He said. "… Once she gets that cure, I'm coming back here to end this. And you won't be able to stop me" he made that clear.

"Wouldn't dream of it…" Bo held up her hands, "… Now, can we please leave?" She got ready to press the button, when suddenly the door was knocked down and a group of guards swarmed the place.

"By order of King Hades, you are under arrest" They held state of the art guns, the laser pointers falling directly of Ethan's heart. And Bo's head.

Ethan held his hands up, "Do as they say…" He told her, dropping the knife. "… Looks like we're staying a little longer than expected. Don't worry, I'll get us out of this…" he waited for them to approach him, "… When I tell you to; duck"

Bo frowned at him, "What?"

"DUCK!" He yelled, lifting the table in front of them and using it as a shield. The guards shot off a bunch of rounds. He covered his Mother as best he could, taking the brunt of their bullets. When he heard them reloading, he knew to make his move

He grabbed the knife from the floor, leaping over the table and slitting the first Guard's throat. He went for the others, two at a time. He wasn't giving them a chance to recover.

All Bo heard from her cover, was screams. And they were loud, she poked her head over the edge of the table, seeing Ethan ripping them apart. As much as she'd like to think she was, she wasn't that strong. When it was over, she stood from the floor. Watching her son frozen in place.

"Ethan?" She called to him, when he turned around he had blood splattered over his face. This was clearly something he didn't like doing. She saw a clean rag on the table beside her, she grabbed it and handed it to him so he could clean up. "You did what you had to do"

He wiped his face, "Don't excuse my behaviour…" He didn't like killing for a reason, because when he did do it, he was violent. Sometimes, more violent than Shay who actually liked killing. "… Let's just get out of here"

Bo smiled sheepishly, "Yeah, about that?" She pointed to the floor, where the portal opener was and it had a bullet hole through it. "They wrecked it with their hailstorm of bullets. What'd we do now?" She asked.

"We'll have to get one from his stash. He keeps his tech near his bedroom…" Ethan tried to think of a way to get there that they wouldn't be seen, and then it came to him. "… Shay and I found secret tunnels when we were younger. There's one that goes directly to the tech room" he ran to the wall, looking for an entry.

"Uh, what're you looking for?" Bo frowned.

Ethan touched the wall with his hands, "An opening, I know that Warren's workshop had one too. Shay would always come in here without him knowing, to steal some of his weed stash. I didn't approve, but it was the only thing that calmed her down"

Bo certainly didn't approve either, no daughter of hers was going to do drugs. "Okay, we're gonna have to give your sister a little intervention when we get back…" She watched him press something, then the wall opened up to reveal a passageway. "… Wow, you weren't kidding"

"Why would I be kidding? Come on, hurry. Before more guards show up and see the mess I made" he waved her over, waiting for her to enter first. He followed behind her, closing the door after them.

Shay's Room (2014)

This poison was kicking her ass, one second she was fine and talking with Lauren, and the next she was coughing up blood again. Lauren laid with her to calm her down, sitting behind her playing with her hair to slow her heart rate. "Just hold on a little longer, they'll be back soon"

Shay was so tired, "Hate to break it to you, but I don't think that's happening…" she coughed. "… This has gotta be the worst way to die. I always thought I would go out fighting, or at least taking somebody down with me. Not by coughing"

"Stop saying that, you're not dying…" Lauren didn't want to hear her talking like that anymore. "… I'm not gonna let you" she made it clear.

"I want you to promise me something" Shay said.

Lauren closed her eyes, taking a breath. "What did I just say? No talking like you're gonna die, because I won't let that happen! And that means, no death bed promises either" she wasn't going to listen to this.

Shay found it funny that she didn't want to humour her, she clearly wasn't giving up hope. But Shay could feel her body letting go, she didn't have long left. "Just listen…" she sighed. "… Promise me, that when you guys fix the future; you won't let me turn out like this. I don't wanna be a killer"

"Shay" Lauren sighed, a tear rolling down her cheek.

Looking up at her, Shay squeezed her hand. "Promise me!" she repeated. "And, tell Ethan I'm sorry. For all the crap I've put him through over the years. I'd never say it to his face…" she chuckled. "… But he should know" she always thought she was too proud to apologise for something she'd done.

But now was the time for a change of heart.

All Lauren could do was oblige, even though she wasn't going to let her die. "I'll tell him; I promise" she kissed the back of her head. This had to be the worst day of her life. Her daughter was literally dying in her arms, and she was powerless.

Suddenly, Shay sensed someone in the distance. Her powers were weak, just like her body. But she knew there was someone in the clinic with them. "Someone's here…" she whispered, trying to sit up but it was hard. Then she recognised the energy. "… It's Scarlet"

"The crazy chick that kidnapped me and almost cut my throat?" Lauren couldn't believe this. "I thought she was dead" she remembered Shay stabbing her. She moved from where she sat, standing and going to the door. She couldn't see anyone through the small window.

Shay gathered up what strength she had left, which wasn't much; and sat up on the bed. She knew that Scarlet was probably here to kill Lauren. But it didn't make sense, if Jack was dead then who would order her to do that? Or maybe she was just that crazy.

When she heard her groaning, Lauren turned around seeing her daughter on the floor. She had gotten out of bed. "Shay, what're you doing?!" she ran to her, helping her up. "Get back into bed" she tried to move her but Shay wasn't having it.

"No! She'll kill you!" Shay focused her eyes, her vision was blurry and she felt like she was standing in an oven she was so hot. "I lost you once, I won't lose you again" she told her, that wasn't happening this time.

"You're not gonna lose me Shay, but you're too weak to fight…" Lauren glances at the wounds on her shoulder and stomach, the thread veins had spread. She wasn't looking so good. "… Dyson and Sasha will be back soon; we just have to wait"

Shay had to laugh, "Have you noticed that's your theme song for today?" she'd heard that too many times now, first it was Bo and Ethan would be back soon. Now it was Dyson and Sasha. "We don't have time to wait for them" she limped over to the door, turning her head she saw her sword on a chair with her jacket.

Sasha must've brought it for her.

She grabbed it, holding onto it tight. She didn't have a lot of energy, but she had to beat Scarlet. At least until Sasha and Dyson returned. She could do that. Shay turned to Lauren one last time, "Stay here, I mean it" she was serious

Before Lauren could even protest, Shay was out the door and locked it after her. Now all Lauren could do was watch from the window.

"I know you're there Scar, come out!" Shay yelled, walking into the middle of the lab. She couldn't sense where her ex was, she just knew that it was somewhere around here. "I'm too tired to play these dumb games!" she felt like she was going to collapse.

"You sure do look tired…" Scarlet walked out from behind the wall, coming into Shay's view. She knew that her ex had been poisoned, but after seeing the wounds she could tell they were bad. "… Those look nasty"

Shay activated her sword, "So will your face when I'm done with it"

Scarlet just laughed, "Who're you kidding Shay? You can't fight me; you can barely stand!" she noticed how wobbly she was. "Why don't you just do the honourable thing and give up?" she asked.

"Nah…" Shay shook her head. "… The day I give up; is the day I die" she got ready for a fight.

"What a coincidence, because that's today…" Scarlet growled, letting her claws burrow out of her fingers. She ran for her, slashing her right arm. Normally Shay was fast and would've dodged it, but this illness was obviously throwing her. "… How's your pain threshold these days babe?"

Shay was on the verge of tears, but she wasn't going to let her see that. And since her powers were all wonky, she wasn't healing. "It's all good baby…" she was feeling a little delirious, so she slapped herself across the face. "… Let's do this" she was ready.

Some minutes later, and Shay had gotten a few shots in. But not nearly as much as Scarlet had, now to add to her poisoned bullet wounds, she had slashes all over her. With one punch, she was on her back, her sword falling to her side.

She was done.

Scarlet stood over her, "I didn't want this…" she sighed. "… I just wanted you back. I wanted you to love me again, like you used to. Before everything happened…" she bent down, making her ex look at her. "… You've gotta admit, for that one short year; you loved me"

"I did…" Shay coughed up more blood, she didn't know if it was from the poison or because she got hit in the mouth. Without Scarlet noticing, Shay reached for her sword but the handle was a little out of her reach. "… But then I realised that you're a crazy bitch, and I could do better" she laughed at her.

"Really?" Scarlet got angry after hearing that. So angry, that she stuck her claws into Shay's stomach wound, making her scream in pain. "Oh I'm sorry, did that hurt?" she asked. "This isn't even close to what I felt, when you broke my heart" she hissed at her.

The will to keep fighting, was all that Shay had right now. And it was the only reason why she was able to reach her sword. "Oh shut up!" she drove it through her heart, after a few seconds her body vanished. Shay dropped her sword, passing out where she laid.

Lauren had watched everything from the room, and now she had to get out there. She picked up a fire extinguisher from the emergency box on the wall, breaking the door handle and the lock. When she got the door open, she ran over to Shay.

She placed her hands over her stomach wound, "Shay! Stay with me kiddo!"

Shay opened her eyes when she felt someone touch her wound, she gargled on her blood. But she was glad that the last thing she saw was her Mother's face. "It's okay Mom…" She managed to smile. "... I'm not scared" she closed her eyes, passing out again.

"Don't you dare die on me!" this wasn't how it was supposed to go. As Lauren was applying pressure, she noticed a light flash beside her.

"What happened?!" It was Bo's voice; she was at Lauren's side in a flash.

"We were attacked, it was Scarlet. She fought her, but it wasn't pretty. She's bleeding out, I don't know what to do!" Lauren was panicking now; she didn't want to lose her. This was a disaster.

Ethan bent down, taking her hands where they were on Shay's wound. "Breathe…" He told her, "… Leave this to us, everything you need to make the cure is in the bag. The last ingredient is Shay's blood. Once we cure her, she'll heal. Everything's gonna be fine" he hoped that was true.

Lauren breathed deeply, letting go of her daughter and getting on with what he said. She grabbed the bag, it was a bunch of various chemicals. She'd never heard of some of them, but she trusted Ethan so she had to move on.

Bo grabbed some gauze and followed Ethan into Shay's room, he laid her down on the bed. Making sure to elevate her head. He had to take a moment to look at her face, "I know you can beat this…" He whispered in her ear, "… You were always the strong one. Please, don't leave me"

"Ethan?" Bo got his attention. "Give me a hand with this…" she pressed the gauze to her stomach wound, she let him take over. "… Don't stop applying pressure!" She moved to her arm, seeing the other slash wounds. "Scarlet really went to town on her" she pressed down on it, it wasn't bleeding as much as her stomach.

That was one good thing.

"Looks like it, I should've killed her years ago when I had the chance. I knew she was bad news when I met her. But Shay was so happy, so I let them be…" He remembered the way she would smile. "… Being happy wasn't something she usually was back then"

Bo understood that, "So, what made Shay break up with her?" She couldn't help but wonder.

"I don't really know, she never told me. But as you've seen, Scarlet was insane. She believed that anyone else that love Shay was competition. So she took them all out, thankfully we didn't have a lot of friends when we lived with Jack. But she did try to kill me"

"What did you do?" Bo asked.

Ethan smiled, looking at his sister. "I didn't have to do anything. When I told Shay what Sasha tried to do to me, she sent her packing. It didn't matter that Shay didn't witness it, she trusted my word. And she knew that I would never lie to her" he always loved that part of their bond.

"Clearly, Scarlet wasn't happy with the outcome…" Bo paused when she saw Shay open her eyes, she honestly thought she was going to stay unconscious. "… Welcome back. That was some fine fighting out there" she smiled at her.

Shay blinked her eyes, "What happened?" She honestly didn't remember much. She was at the point where the poison had now infected her mind, and she was seeing so many images from her past. Including when her Mother died, "You!" Her eyes turned blue, "You killed her!" She grabbed Bo's throat.

Ethan stopped her, "Shay! Not her!" He pulled her arm back, pinning her down. "What's wrong with her?" He was having trouble restraining her.

Bo rubbed her sore neck, "I dunno. It must be the poison. But for my safety I think it's best I don't stay in here, I'm gonna check on Lauren and the cure. The sooner we get it in her the better" she ran out of the room.

Lauren was doing okay with making the cure, and it was almost done. "What's going on in there? I heard yelling" she turned on the centrifuge, the cure needed to spin a couple of times for it to be ready.

"I think Shay has finally lost it, she tried to choke me to death. I'm betting the only one she'd listen to right now is you. He can't hold her down for long" Bo looked back to the room when she heard Shay screaming.

At that point, Lauren knew she had to go in. "Once it's finished spinning, you'll hear a beep. Take the vial out and load it into that injector…" She pointed at the small metal gun. "… I hope to god this'll work" she walked away.

When she got in the room, Ethan wasn't holding Shay down, he was patting her back as she coughed up more blood. This kept happening faster now, which wasn't a good sign.

"She won't stop, please help her" he begged her.

Lauren moved to Shay's side, relieving him of his position. "Shay, you need to calm down…" She waited until she was done coughing, then sat behind her like she did earlier. "… Shhh, that's it. Just breathe. I'm right here" she played with her hair again, calming her.

Ethan was amazed, it was actually working. "Are you back with us?" He asked her, seeing her calm down enough to look at him.

"I'm back…" Shay nodded, "… Tell Bo I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt her. My head is so fuzzy; I don't know what I'm doing. I can't think clearly…" She stopped, putting a hand to her head. "… It hurts!" She cried.

"It won't for much longer, we've got the cure…" He held her hand. "… You're gonna be fine" he smiled at her.

That was when Bo entered the room, "Someone call for a cure?" She held up the injector with a smile, she'd waited like Lauren told her too. The vial was a horrible shade of green, it looked a little like slime. But if it was going to save her daughter's life then it was the best slime she'd ever seen.

Lauren took it from Bo's hands, "Ready?" She asked Shay, seeing her nod. "Here we go…" She injected her in the neck, waiting until the vial was empty. She placed it to the side and let it settle in for a second, "… It should start working soon"

Shay felt it move through her body, but she also felt her eyes go heavy. And within a couple of minutes, she passed out again.

"Is that supposed to happen?" Ethan asked, seeing his sister fall asleep. "Shay?" He tapped her hand, "Wake up…" He couldn't get her to come to. But he did see something else. "… It's working!" He laughed with tears in his eyes.

Bo followed his gaze, seeing the slashes on Shay's arms start to close up. The thread veins were fading from the bullet wounds too. She didn't expect what happened next, Ethan lifted her up to hug her. Wow! He was strong. "Whoa there big guy, I'm happy too" she chuckled.

Ethan put her down, "Sorry…" He turned to Lauren, "… So, it worked right? She's cured?" He wanted to make sure.

Lauren slipped out of the bed, laying Shay's head down gently. "Looks like it, but I won't know for sure without testing her blood…" She looked to her daughter's wounds, "… She's not healing completely. Could be because she's so weak. But anything is improvement for now"

"That's our fault. We wanted to get back sooner, but we hit a few snags" Bo folded her arms, looking glancing at Ethan. If they'd gotten back when they were supposed to, Shay wouldn't have been this weak and she wouldn't have had to fight Scarlet at all.

"Snags?" Lauren frowned, "Do you wanna share with me?" She knew that look, and Bo was keeping something from her.

They didn't know how to tell her this, but they didn't really have time to keep secrets. "Jack's alive…" She saw her Girlfriend's face turn shocked. "… Turns out he switched bodies with a shapeshifter, took his own form. He wanted to have a back up plan in case we killed him" she explained.

Lauren didn't know what to say, this was something she didn't see coming. "So, what's to stop him from doing that again? Looks like the only option we have is to go for his younger self, the one that's here, in this time"

"You'd be right. But that also doesn't stop him from sending more assassins back here, or himself. Unless we stop him from traveling here, period" Ethan thought it over.

"And how're you gonna do that?" Bo asked.

Ethan knew of one way, but it was drastic. "I get in touch with someone in my time, and tell them to destroy the time tower. Without it no one can travel back in time. It'll take them decades to build a new one" it was the only option.

"But if you do that then you, Sasha and Shay won't be able to get home" Even Bo knew that, and she was still having trouble wrapping her mind around the whole concept of time travel. She'd gone to the future twice and it still didn't make sense to her.

"It's not like it matters…" He said, "… If we kill the Jack in this time, we'll disappeared anyway. All we have to do is change one thing, then the timeline gets reset. The old one goes, and we go with it. We can't fend him off and look for his past self at the same time. This is the only way" he didn't see another.

Lauren sighed, she didn't want them to be trapped here. And there was one thing that Ethan was forgetting, either that or he was purposely not thinking about it. "And what about Kayla, and your child?" She asked.

Ethan thought about them everyday, the one thing he wanted to do when they went to get the cure was check in on her. But things got in the way, like they always did. "I'll see them again. At least, I'm hoping Trick will make sure of it"

"Trick? What does Trick have to do with it?" Lauren didn't understand.

"Kayla is the daughter of one of his old friends, that's how I met her. When we first lived with Trick she was the first person that I ever considered a friend. So, can I trust that you guys will introduce us?" He asked.

Bo tapped him on the shoulder, "You can count on it" she smiled at him.

After a few minutes, Bo and Ethan went home to get cleaned up. They had blood all over them from Shay's injuries. Lauren only had it on her hands, so she was okay. Shay's wounds had healed, but not completely. So Lauren wrapped them up neatly, she didn't need another infection.

It was time to check Shay's blood now that she'd had the cure, so Lauren began drawing a vial. As she was doing it, Shay began to wake up. "You just couldn't wait to poke me with another needle could you?" She was back to her old self.

"Last needle, I promise…" Lauren retracted the syringe, seeing the small puncture wound heal. That was a good sign. "… How're you feeling?" She turned back to her.

"Better than earlier, that's for sure…" Shay breathed, she could feel her body regenerating. "… So, when can I get out of this place. Because no offence, I loathe hospitals" she really did, it was all doom and gloom.

Lauren chuckled, "Until I know you're actually cured, so sit tight and I'll check this over" she waved about the vial of blood. Then left the room.

Shay understood that, but now that she was feeling better she was super hungry. "Hey! How about a cheese burger?! Or like, two of them! Being on your death bed really takes it out of you!" She called after her.

"We'll see!" Lauren shouted back.

Clubhouse

Bo used the shower first, then let Ethan have it. She was downstairs, charging her phone and seeing the hundreds of messages from Kenzi. Apparently, she and Tamsin had gone for a city break in New York, after being held hostage she needed a rest.

That was nice for them, Bo didn't have the luxury of taking time off.

When she heard the stairs creek from behind her, she turned around and saw Ethan with no shirt and he was very very toned. He didn't know where he got those genes from, maybe from Lauren. Her Girlfriend had some abs too.

"You don't happen to have a spare shirt, do you?" He asked.

"Uh, I think Dyson may've left some stuff here from years ago. You're a lot bigger than him, but let me check" she had to stop looking at that eight pack, he was her son for god's sake! So she just ran upstairs, checking for the clothes.

After she'd found a shirt and given it to him, they decided on what to do next. "Maybe we should stop by Shay's apartment, she's definitely in need of new clothes too" he remembered all the blood over her clothes.

Bo nodded, "Good idea, let's go" she grabbed her phone and her jacket, waiting for him to follow her before she locked the door to the house.

Things were finally getting back to normal.

A/N: Aww, isn't that nice. But for a second there it was touch and go, but yay! Shay's cured, go Team! My over time starts tonight, so I wanted to post this. The next one will be in a couple of days, leave me tons of reviews. Xoxo