AUTHOR'S NOTES:

Here's No. 25! I've been beavering away at the next chapter/s too.

I'd like to take a moment to acknowledge the wonderful comments I've received. I've also received a few lovely emails from people. One of the most common questions I'm asked is whether I have planned out the story. The answer is, yes! Mostly it is already written in skeleton form…which brings me onto the next point. I intend to carry on with this story to its conclusion even though it will coincide with the new episodes of the show on TV. So please note that should there be any similarities between my plot and the one in the show, it's purely coincidental and not a case of me trying to incorporate it. My events are already in place in my skeleton draft! (I'm in the UK, which means I won't know what's going on in the show until after everyone else anyway!) In a way, I don't want it to be too close to the show, because that'll defeat the purpose of writing it in the first place (it's a foray into what might have happened after 'Leap of Faith' remember!!).

Thank you all again for being so supportive – it really makes it a worthwhile project. Please continue to let me know what you think and feel about Breaking Through. (15Jan08)

(Previous chapter: Misunderstandings)

Chapter 25:
Needs

Nicole closed the door to her office firmly and turned.

"I thought it was time for privacy," she said seriously, though not unkindly.

Carol Bloom had taken a seat in the corner of the room and nervously clenched the fabric of her dress. She nodded in resignation.

"Now Carol, you and I both know that was an Oscar-winning performance," Nicole stated.

"There were children present," Carol said quietly and Nicole's eyes widened.

"What really happened with Kyle?" she asked. "It's really important that I know everything."

oooOooo

Across the hall, in Kyle's room, Kyle sat on the edge of his tub in a daze. Amanda stood in front of him and was closely examining his mouth where the wound had been.

"The skin isn't even broken," she marvelled, running her finger over the faint scar. "I don't understand. I saw you bleeding!" Kyle remained silent, looking up into her face. "Oh, Kyle!" Amanda sobbed, tears suddenly appearing. "I was so scared. I thought she'd hurt you really badly! I wanted to come straight here to see if you were ok, but she wouldn't let me."

Kyle's eyes moved then and his lips parted. "Why do people want to hurt me, Amanda?"

She wiped her tears with her fingers and searched Kyle's genuinely confused eyes, hoping he didn't really expect her to answer that question. She could see that he did; in so many ways he was just like a little child. She sat beside him on the edge of the tub and thought for a moment before she said, "I guess it's because they're scared of you. Of what you can do. Or what you make them see in themselves."

"Is your mom scared of me?" he asked.

Amanda thought for a moment. "Yes, Kyle. I think my mom is especially scared of you."

oooOooo

Carol Bloom lowered her voice. "I didn't want to say in front of everyone, but he had an…he was…aroused…when I walked into Amanda's room. He had hold of her by the arms and she was telling him that he was hurting her. He wasn't listening! I saw it, Nicole. I didn't make it up."

Nicole thought a moment, reading Carol's body language as she spoke. The woman was terrified. Nicole was rather surprised by Carol's overreaction. She may have been reserved, but she wasn't stupid. "Come on, Carol, you know as well as I do that it happens to boys when they're making out with their girlfriends! Just because Kyle had an erection doesn't mean that he was forcing himself on Amanda!"

"You saw her arms! Nicole, that boy was hurting her!" Carol protested.

Nicole had to agree that Kyle had obviously held Amanda's arms too tightly, and it worried her that he hadn't noticed; Kyle was usually so sensitive in that way. She brought her chair a bit closer to Carol's and said, "I need you to understand something about Kyle." Carol looked wary and shifted in her seat as Nicole continued. "He has never made an aggressive move towards anyone. Never. He is the least aggressive person I've ever observed, and I've seen hundreds in the course of my work. He is not crazy, or violent, or any of the things you seem to imagine. He came to me as a victim of amnesia, Carol. Not mental illness. It's true that he's had some emotional problems, but he's experienced some awful things…and we've been working through them. Other than that he is an exceptionally sensitive and gifted boy, and we are proud that he is part of this family. If he was handling Amanda roughly, there has to be another explanation. Kyle cares deeply for Amanda, and looks up to her. He would never hurt her intentionally."

Carol's already dark eyes darkened further as she leaned towards Nicole. "What I saw was not gentle. That boy was so full of…whatever it was…that he was making the…I don't even know how to say it…it sounds so…insane…"

Nicole could see the fear in the woman's face and suddenly wondered which of Kyle's extraordinary abilities she had witnessed. "What, Carol?" she coaxed, dreading the answer.

Carol Bloom's eyes stared intensely into Nicole's as she said, "Kyle was somehow making everything in the room shake." She burst into unexpected tears.

oooOooo

"I think my mom's scared of a lot of things," Amanda said thoughtfully. "But when my dad died, I think most of all she was scared of being alone." Kyle was watching her intently as she spoke, hanging onto every word. She continued, "When someone you love leaves you, it hurts."

Kyle swallowed, feeling her words touch a part of him he hadn't wanted to acknowledge: the part that was desperately going to miss her when she went to New York. He had tried so hard not to think about it. "You're leaving," he said quietly and looked away.

She put her hand on his cheek and gently pulled his face back towards her. "It's not the same thing at all, Kyle. I'm only going for a couple of months. And I'll come home for visits."

"I'm talking about your mom. She's scared about you leaving," Kyle did his best to avoid his own feelings.

Amanda gave a little half-smile and lowered her hand to his shoulder. "You don't have to be so brave, Kyle. It's okay to tell me how you feel."

Kyle was silent. She looked at him and noticed how his eyes had taken on that otherworldly glow that had entranced her a few hours before. She pulled her gaze away before she got sucked into the ocean that swirled in Kyle's eyes. How had she ever been naïve enough before not to notice how he felt about her? It was so clear to her now. She knew he wanted to kiss her, but for some reason he was holding back. She thought about taking the initiative and felt herself leaning in ever so slightly.

"You're all she has left," Kyle stated, snapping Amanda out of it. "When you leave, she'll be alone."

oooOooo

"I was alone, Nicole," Carol wept quietly. "I didn't know what was happening."

Nicole passed the distraught woman a tissue. "Do you believe that Kyle was making things shake, Carol?"

Carol blew her nose gently and said, "I don't know what to believe. I just know what I saw and I was frightened. And I was angry because my husband wasn't there when I needed him."

Nicole patted Carol on the hand ever so lightly. "What do you think he would he have done if he had been?"

Carol thought a moment and her face crumpled. "I was only trying to protect Amanda. I thought Kyle was hurting her. He was swaying and…" her eyes showed real sorrow. "He was very unsteady on his feet."

Nicole nodded. "He's very traumatised by Jessi's…accident."

"He makes me nervous," Carol admitted.

"Has he ever given you any reason to be?" Nicole asked.

Carol swallowed. "He gets too close."

Nicole knew exactly what she meant; and she wasn't referring to physical proximity.

"To Amanda, you understand," Carol hurriedly added. "And after all that with Charlie…well, I can't bear the thought of another betrayal."

oooOooo

"I guess she saw my dad's death as a kind of betrayal," Amanda murmured. "It hurts when you think you can count on someone and then they do something bad that you really didn't want or expect."

Kyle acknowledged what she was saying. "Like when Charlie betrayed your trust."

"Yeah, and when Jessi betrayed yours," Amanda stated. She noticed a shadow pass behind Kyle's eyes. "It makes you feel really scared and vulnerable," she said. "Like everything you believed in has gone."

There was a moment of silence. Kyle studied Amanda's face and chewed the inside of his lip in thought. He needed to share something with her, but wasn't sure how she would take it. He wanted there to be no secrets between them, but equally, he didn't want to upset her or put her in more danger than she was already in. He needed to tell someone. He toyed with the bottom of his T-shirt and took a deep breath.

"Amanda, even though Charlie hurt you very badly, would you help him if he asked you to?" he asked tentatively.

Amanda frowned and studied Kyle's eyes looking for where this line of questioning was leading, but she couldn't read him. She began to feel uneasy, wondering what impact her answer might have on Kyle's trust in her. She sighed and said, finally, "Honestly? I probably would, but only if he didn't have anyone else."

Kyle's gaze intensified, throwing Amanda into a definite state of anxiety. "Even remembering how much he hurt you? And knowing that he might hurt you again?"

Amanda frowned more deeply and turned her body towards Kyle on the edge of the tub so that their knees were touching. She took the hand that was toying with the T-shirt and cupped her own hands around it. "Kyle, what's this about?"

"Jessi," he stated succinctly. "She's alive, and she asked me to help her."

oooOooo

"He left the house," Carol Bloom explained to Nicole tearfully. "And Amanda followed him. She left me there, alone. She chose to follow Kyle. That made me angry."

Nicole was starting to get a psychological picture of a woman tortured by her own loneliness. She saw Kyle as a threat to her security. It explained a lot. For Carol Bloom, Kyle represented something that was potentially taking Amanda away from her.

"So you hit him?" Nicole asked, concerned.

"Oh no, not at that point!" the tearful woman cried in her own defence. "I followed them outside. Kyle was staggering around. He seemed to be looking for something. Muttering to himself. I don't know what was wrong with him. To be honest, Nicole, he looked like he was on drugs or something." She stopped to wipe her nose before continuing. "When he grabbed Amanda I thought he was going to hurt her again, so I ran up and pulled her away. He fell against me and that's when I turned and–"

"Slapped him." Nicole felt herself tensing.

Carol nodded quickly, her weeping starting anew. "Yes." Her throat tightened up. "I just wanted him to get away from us. Oh, Nicole, I'll never forget the look in his eyes. And the blood. God forgive me."

Nicole instantly visualised the scene and hated the thought of Kyle being hit. She fought down her own need to lash out at this woman, knowing that pain and fear had motivated Carol's actions, not spite. "I think you need to forgive yourself," she said quietly, believing Carol was genuinely remorseful.

oooOooo

"Kyle, you need to forgive yourself! Jessi's gone!" Amanda cried, pushing herself to her feet and staring down at him with pleading eyes. "What happened to her wasn't your fault!" She had moved so fast that Kyle almost fell backwards into the tub.

"Amanda, please," he begged. "I know I've been all over the place, but I'm not imagining this. I told you before how she was in my head during the night…Well, just a little while ago I heard her calling me in my mind. Somehow she is connecting with me. I don't understand it myself, and you're the only person I've told."

Amanda sighed and had to admit to herself that it made as much sense as any of this strange situation. She couldn't condemn Kyle as hopelessly losing it when something at the back of her own mind was telling her he wouldn't lie about it…and also that he wouldn't even mention it if it weren't bothering him. She cupped his face in her hands and absently ran her thumb over the small bruise on his chin. It reminded her how special he really was.

"I believe in you, Kyle. But I don't understand why you would help her after what she did to you, to Lori, to everyone," she said softly, looking deeply into his eyes.

Kyle searched for a way to express what he was feeling, hoping his Swiss cheese mind would offer up something that made sense. It was too important to get wrong. "Jessi is the only other person like me. If I stop believing in her, it's like I stop believing in myself. And you were right when you talked about whether you would help Charlie. You said you would if he had nobody else. Well, Jessi has nobody in the world except me."

Amanda couldn't argue with him. He was right, of course, but it didn't make her feel any more comfortable about it. She trusted Kyle, but she didn't trust Jessi. Jessi had hurt Kyle terribly, and that made her someone to be wary of. Just like she herself would always be wary of Charlie.

"Do you know where she is?" Amanda asked cautiously, trying her hardest to hide her disappointment.

Kyle shook his head. "But I know she's in danger. I think Madacorp has found her."

Amanda suddenly felt frightened. "Promise me you won't do anything stupid like going off by yourself again. I won't be here to help you, and I don't want to spend every day in New York worrying about you. I'm going to miss you terribly as it is. You are very precious to me, Kyle, and while you're out there protecting Jessi, who's going to protect you?"

oooOooo

"Kyle isn't someone to be feared, Carol, he is someone to be protected. His unique way of seeing the world should be preserved," Nicole said as she returned to her office with a glass of water for Carol. The woman took it gratefully and sipped it as Nicole continued. "It would never occur to Kyle to hurt anyone. His sense of right and wrong is so amazingly strong, it puts the rest of us to shame."

"I know. That's why Amanda's so fond of him," Carol Bloom said poignantly as she set the glass down. "And why I'm so afraid to like him."

oooOooo

Kyle held Amanda close to him. "I will do everything in my power to make sure everything is put right. But I need to know you're safe. New York is the best place for you to be right now. That way Jessi can't hurt you."

"Why would Jessi hurt me?" Amanda asked.

Kyle squeezed her a bit closer. "Because she knows how much I lov–"

Amanda pulled away and looked into his eyes. "What?"

"How much I…care…about you," he corrected. He was too afraid to say it out loud.

(Next chapter: Opportunism)