My eyes shot open as the memories returned, my head throbbing and my shoulder screaming for relief. Delta moved away from me and it took all of my strength not to fall to the floor. I looked up at him before looking to Eleanor who was charging Sinclair with her needle poised to pierce his chest. "STOP!" I screamed, my hand shooting out releasing a pulse of telekinetic power.

Eleanor yelled as her body lifted off the ground preventing her from dealing the death blow, her legs kicking frantically for the ground.

With a flick of my wrist, I threw her clear across the room, into a cell so that she landed on the cushioned bed. Camille brought a wrench down roughly on his back forcing Sinclair to fall to his knees lacking the strength to keep standing. "Kill… me, Cam," He pleaded his arm struggling to raise the grenade launcher even an inch as his body lost most function. She pressed her foot on the top of the launcher and forced it to the ground, then kicked it off to the side so he'd be unable to use it.

"No. You won't die," I growled, staggering my way down the stairs. "I promised, dammit." I stumbled up to Sinclair. I was unable to see his face, but I could tell he was silently begging me to stay away. "I will not let Lamb take you from me." I gripped his helmet, pulling on the latches. "Camille… Help me."

She reached over and undid the latches around his back, helping me pull the helmet off his head. He fell forward into my chest, my arms wrapping around him to steady him falling to my knees. "Augustus?" I questioned, wanting him to say something. Camille knelt beside us, her hand ghosting over the back of his bald head.

He still refused to look up at us, not wanting to attack us on impulse like Lamb had brainwashed him to do. "Augustus," I repeated, cupping his chin with the hand not armed with a needle.

"Lamb…" He muttered.

"You do not belong to her," I said, poising my needle over his stomach. "Lamb will not have you. You're mine." With that, I plunged my needle into his stomach, making Camille scream in shock. "Trust me," I said to her as the bottle at the end of the needle started to fill with ADAM.

He gripped my shoulders painfully tight, pushing away the feeling of pain and he finally looked up at me. The glowing yellow of his eyes was fading returning to their normal whites, the emerald color of his irises glittering once again. I pulled the needle out, extracting a pained groan from him and pressed my hand against the bleeding wound.

Camille pulled a med-kit from her pack and pressed a few gauze pads to the wound, another being pressed painfully against my shoulder eliciting a hiss from the both of us. "You both are the most stubborn people I have ever met," She said, removing her hand from the bandage to rest on the back of my head in a small gesture of affection. She looked to Sinclair, "How are you feeling?"

He answered, "Like a million bucks… I can't hear Lamb's voice anymore."

She smiled and I allowed her to pull him into a hug. "I thought we'd have to kill you," She cried petting the skin of his head.

I stood and tossed the key to Delta. "Time to get the hell out of 'ere," I said.

Camille and I got Sinclair to his feet and helped him to the security office, waiting patiently for Delta to finish collecting what supplies he'd need from the office and shutting off the security lockdown. A few minutes, my injuries healed. Sinclair's were taking longer to heal.

We could hear the screams of the Alpha Series as the lockdown ended; metal behemoths of rage and plasmids slamming against their cage doors.

"Curfew lifted. All cell blocks open. All bulkhead seals released."

"Cam, take the lead," I ordered, pulling Sinclair's arm over my shoulders and assisting him to his feet. He groaned in pain and leaned heavily on me for support.

Camille nodded and followed with her shotgun reloaded and set to kill anything that got in our way. Delta and Eleanor already took off, gunning down everything in their path. There was barely anything in our way aside from the stray splicer that Delta and Eleanor missed which was easily taken out with a few shells or fireballs.

"Every moment tears Eleanor further from me, Delta. Soon, this father obsession will end her. You have left me without want… before you die, I will take all that you hold dear." Lamb was truly desperate.

The docking bay was empty when we arrived, but Camille cursed seeing smoke coming from the main floor. "Lamb's bombed out the ballast compressors," She said.

"English."

"It means the lifeboat will be too heavy to launch," Camille clarified.

"Okay, so the only way we could get that thing to rise is if we boil away the water."

Camille looked at me surprised at the knowledge. "There's not much to do around Rapture when you're 'ere for 8 years longer than you should be. Readin' distracted you from hunger too," I explained, assisting Sinclair in leaning against the viewing glass. "Eleanor and Delta must be rounding up the Little Sisters. Together, they can all boil away the water."

We felt the tremor of an explosive going off.

"That did not sound good," Sinclair comment, glancing around trying to locate where the tremors came from.

"They're starting to detonate the charges," Camille gasped, wringing her hands around the barrel of her shotgun.

"Lamb's backed into a corner. Then let's hope Eleanor and Delta hurry up. Or else getting the lifeboat to launch will be the least of our concerns," I said standing close to Sinclair.

He tried to stand up while saying, "I can help."

Camille and I pushed him back down. "Oh no you don't. You need to rest."

Another charge went off a little later while we waited; only seeing Delta and Eleanor when they crossed to the Infirmary from the Pediatric Wing. Camille bounced in place as I paced the platform, keeping a sharp eye on each entrance for anyone coming through them - hoping that it would be Delta and Eleanor instead of anyone else.

There was a burst of purple behind us and we nearly jumped out of our skins seeing Eleanor standing inside of the ballast tank. "Eleanor!" Camille called, putting her hand on the glass.

Delta came into the area shortly after and Eleanor addressed him with a nod. "Come up to the glass once you're ready for me to begin. There's no going back once we start."

About 6 Little Sisters popped up in the same Houdini manner as Eleanor and all stepped into the water to begin boiling it away with the powers ADAM had given them. "Jamie, could you help us as well?"

I looked down at Sinclair and then back at Eleanor. "Fine."

With a bit of concentration, every molecule in my body burst apart in a red mist then reformed inside the ballast tank. Camille and Sinclair jumped and I gave them a small apologetic look. "Keep him safe."

She nodded and stood close to Sinclair just as I had.

I heard Sinclair say, "Don't you worry about me. Worry about yourself, darlin'. Be careful."

"No promises!" I called back.

I repeated the same process of heating up the outer layer of my body and stepped further into the water with Eleanor and the Little Sisters. Everything was quiet at first until we heard Lamb come over the radio once again. "You would rip my only daughter from her home and family and feed her to a world without hope. Though Utopia may die with her, I would sooner see us fall! Goodbye, Eleanor. Mother will be waiting for you."

"Here they come, father!" Eleanor warned. "Hold them off until I can bring it to a boil!"

I heard gunshots sound off and I was tempted to look back at Camille and Sinclair, but held off so I wouldn't lose concentration on the task at hand. I tore my mind away from those thoughts and concentrated on raising the heat to bring it to a boil as fast as we could. "Nearly boiling…" Eleanor reported, looking around at the bubbles that were forming. "It's boiling! I can help you fight back, now! Use the Plasmid!"

I ignored her and dispersed again, appearing in front of Camille in time to stab my needle through the gut of a brute splicer. "You will not touch her!" I growled pushing him back and lighting him aflame.

"I've done it, Father! The ballast water is gone! Release the docking mechanism!"

Delta ran up the stairs to the controls and flipped the switch causing the pipes above us to burst. "The elevator to the lifeboat is flooded, father! We have to equalize the pressure in here or the door won't open!" Eleanor shouted launching fireball after fireball at another brute. "Destroy those glass tubes to flood the room!"

I grabbed a hold of Camille and jerked Sinclair to his feet. He held tight to my diving suit, glancing at the water pouring into the room. "When I tell you to, hold your breath," I advised, watching Delta take aim at the pipes.

The bullets pierced through the glass and each shattered, the water flooding in. When he shot the second one, I shouted, "NOW!" Sinclair, Camille and I each took a deep breath and held it as the second glass tube exploded, the room flooding instantly with water.

The pressure almost blacked me out and I looked to Camille and Sinclair to make sure they were still conscious. They were, holding tightly to my diving suit. I pulled them through the water, kicking with all my might to the elevator.

Delta grabbed a hold of my suit and pulled me faster than I could through the water and the elevator where Eleanor was waiting. Camille let out an air bubble, indicating she was losing air, I held her to me silently begging her to hang on for a few seconds longer.

The elevator rose up until we were out of the water; we all breathed in welcomed air.

The last explosive charge went off and Eleanor shouted, "The bombs! We're falling! Run!"

I pulled Sinclair with me and took off after Camille and Eleanor, Delta taking up the rear in a mad dash to the lifeboat, except… Instead of the open door to the lifeboat waiting for us, it was the open door to the lifeboat blocked by a massive amount of explosives that was mere seconds away from going off. Eleanor glanced back and disappeared in a purple mist while I grabbed a hold of Camille, yanking her to me and mimicking the same. Delta was too far away to grab, meaning we had to leave him behind.

The explosives went off and the lifeboat started to flood with water as it launched; rocketing toward the surface. Lamb was inside as well, paddling for any pocket of air.

Camille swam away from me to a cabinet, yanking it open. There were air masks inside and she handed one to me which I pressed to my mouth, breathing in sweet air.

I held tight to Sinclair as the lifeboat ascended. I removed my air mask only to press it to Sinclair's, having the share it with him due to a lack of them. Camille held to his diving suit to prevent herself from floating away as we watched Lamb drown at the hand of her daughter. I hugged Sinclair's neck and he reached up to grip my forearm comfortingly.

We had both made it. We were both finally out of Rapture.

The craft broke the surface, nearly blinding us with the UV rays of the rising sun. Sinclair grasped my hand and I squeezed back as we exited the craft together, Camille right behind us with a big smile plastered on her face. She let out a sort of cheer and pulled us both into a bone crushing hug as best as she could since our suits obstructed in true attempt of pulling us closer.

Sinclair chuckled and put an arm around her back returning her embrace. I only shook my head and returned the gesture as well.

I didn't realize she was crying until I heard water drop on to my suit. "Oh Miss Camille," Sinclair chided softly, pushing her back only enough to wipe away her tears. "There's no need for tears now."

She shook her head and admitted, "I dreamed of this for years: For the two of you to finally be out of that Hell. And now here you are. These aren't sad tears, they're happy. My only fear is that I'm still dreaming."

We watched Eleanor approach Delta who laid on the walkway too weak to even move his arms, much less sit up. She knelt next to him and positioned his hands over his chest reverently. She understood he was going to die and was giving him his final respects. What shocked us was that she positioned her needle over his chest and pierced it, draining the ADAM from him.

Then it was obvious: She was absorbing his mind, taking advantage of Lamb's conditioning of her. She detached the needle from her arm and walked to the edge of the lifeboat, sitting down. "Eleanor?" I asked, holding Sinclair's hand.

She smiled. "The Rapture dream is over," She said with a widening smile.

The former Little Sisters came out of the lifeboat as well, standing behind Eleanor to gaze at the vast ocean as well. One of them handed her a doll that the young woman had made which she dropped in the water. "The world is going to change," She said as she stood up. "And in our story: Rapture is just the beginning."

Camille scooped up one of the Little Sisters that came running for her and it took only a moment to realize that it was Cindy. "Cammy!" She cried out happily when the woman's arms engulfed her.

"Thank god you made it," She whispered into the girl's blonde hair, kissing the locks reverently. She couldn't save Mark, but she saved his daughter – her goddaughter – in his stead.

Sinclair wrapped his arms around me, twirling me around to face him. "We made it," He whispered with a smile, cupping my cheek tenderly.

I smiled as well and nodded, receiving a kiss for no reason in particular. When we parted, he held my hands and said, "Now I'm goin' to do this right. Jamie Donovan, will you marry me?"

I threw my arms around his neck and kissed him passionately, only pulling away for a brief moment to answered, "Of course."

Camille's smile never wavered at the proposal, only giving me a tight hug and said, "It's good to have my best friend back."

Cindy jumped up and down claiming the role of flower girl for our wedding, though I doubted it would be that big as she was rambling off using words that I didn't think a young girl should know but Camille assured me later that it was because she was a brilliant little girl who was fascinated with code books and Mark's detective work. Explained everything about Cindy Meltzer and her father.

Things were starting to look up now that we were free of Rapture, free of the death and destruction laid waste to the desolate city and I could only pray that the city fell to ruins before someone discovered the wretched place.

My hand laced with Sinclair's and for just a moment, I could forget Rapture even happened – that it was all a dark nightmare, but that kind of dreaming was for children and I was no child.

Sinclair and I stripped ourselves of most of our diving suit, leaving only enough to cover us and disposing the rest of the items into the ocean to sink back down into the depths and rejoin Rapture from where it came. We spent most of our time basking in the sunlight until a deep-sea fisherman arrived and picked us up, a little overwhelmed with the young girls he had to fit on to his boat. He didn't ask about the lifeboat though which was a blessing all in itself. That would have fun to try and explain without seeming like complete lunatics.

The hospital in Iceland was filled with choppy English speaking doctors and nurses that I swear were trying to stab the needle clear through your arm. Camille laid in the bed next to mine after a short argument with the nurses and doctors. We didn't say much except after I had awoken from a deep sleep to Camille saying I was asleep for 2 days: 'sleeping like the dead' she described. I never felt more rested after that sleep though.

I smiled wide when three people entered the room, a man making his way over to Camille as she smiled as well. "Grandmum. Grandfather," I greeted happily.

Alice darted over to the bed fast for someone of her age, taking both of my hands and kissing them repeated before pressing her lips to my forehead. She stroked my face, crying hysterically whispering my name a few times to reassure herself that I indeed was laying in the bed in front of her. Garrett took a seat on the opposite side from Alice and wrapped his large arms around me, still the same as I remember as a child, even the scars on his arms were the same, especially the crescent shaped one caused from a fishhook when he thought it was a good idea to teach a 5-year-old Jamie how to fish. His beard pressed against my face, something I still had a childlike fascination with having not dealt with many men with beards.

We stayed like this most of the day, watching crap telly or at least I thought it was since I couldn't understand most of the references, but the woman seemed funny going on various adventures with her friend and neighbor and her Cuban husband. Alice seemed to love the show and watched it religiously, telling me all about the woman, who I learned was named Lucille Ball.

Camille even chuckled a few times at the show, holding the hand of her husband who thumbed her knuckles comfortingly. I could hear him whispering things to her, but I didn't bother to figure out what was being said. I just enjoyed the company of the two people who I missed terribly and thought of constantly in that godforsaken city.

The doctor came in a few hours later, Alice falling asleep using my leg as a pillow and Garrett snoring soundly to my left. James Bannock, husband of Camille, had left some time ago to locate a restaurant with the promise of smuggling in some food for Camille and me when he got back so we wouldn't have to eat crap hospital food. "Miss Donovan, glad to see you're awake this time," He said with a heavy accent. He gave a small smile and stood next to Alice with his clipboard tucked in the crook of his arm.

"Yes. I was exhausted," I admitted. I folded my hands over my lap and waited for him to tell me whatever it was he was going to say.

"We've done some blood work, as you know," He gestured to the shunt in my hand that had popped up when I was asleep. "I'm here with your results. Most of it involves the malnourishment we've discussed, but there is one more thing we've discovered in your blood work. Congratulations, Miss Donovan, you're pregnant."

My eyes widened at the revelation and Camille let out a shocked gasp. My hands instinctively went to my abdomen, like I was going to feel something. "Oh my god…" I whispered looking up at the doctor. "Pregnant? I didn't think I could…"

"We figure you're about 2 months along," He explained. "We'll start you on some vitamins to help with the baby's development. Again, I say congratulations, Miss Donovan."

"Sinclair. Jamie Sinclair," I corrected with a smirk. The doctor nodded and departed the room.

Camille crawled out of her bed, pulling her IV stand along with her as she gushed over the fact that I was pregnant. I returned her hug, grinning a mile wide. "You deserve this," She said letting her hand rest above where there was a baby growing. "Augustus is going to freak."

"If 'e doesn't know already."

"He's probably already arguing with nurses to let him come see the woman pregnant with his child if that's the case."

I bit my lip and gazed down at my abdomen. "I must say…" I looked back up at Camille as she spoke. "…you're handling this better than I did."

"'andling what?"

"Being on the surface again. My mental state completely fell apart. I was strapped to the hospital bed to keep me from tossing and turning with night terrors. I didn't eat most of the time. I fought when they needed to poke me with needles. I was a wreck. I spent two years in a psych clinic and yet, here you are: able to sleep like the dead for two days straight, smiling and laughing with your grandparents and just found out you're going to be a mom. I'm not ridiculing you: I'm just saying that you're made of tougher stuff than I thought."

"I'm not that tough," I said closing my eyes. "There were times I was ready to shatter. To lay down and just die. When I lost my first child, I really did break. It took Augustus a full year to get me to smile again. I was numb. But I realized that I wasn't going to let that city win. I had lost so much in Rapture… and yet I kept goin'. I didn't do it on my own though. You're tougher than I am."

"How so?"

"You made a life for yourself. You put yourself back together. You did that."

Camille smiled and nudged my arm. "Flatterer."

"Not when it's truth. You're my best friend, Cam. You're all I can ask for."

She placed her hand on my good shoulder and squeezed it in a way that said 'everything is going to be okay'.

She returned to her bed just as we started to hear numerous shouts in a different language from down the hallway, a few times in English, "Sir, you must stay in your room!"

"I do believe Augustus is coming," Camille commented, pulling the sheets up to her chest.

Sure enough, Sinclair came bursting through the door, making a b-line for my bed and reaching over Alice to grab my hands. The commotion woke my grandparents up resulting in Garrett getting defensive and nearly punching poor Augustus but I had stopped him quickly. Nurses came into the room in an attempt to move Sinclair back to his room, but he was having none of it. "I jus' find out that my fiancée is pregnant and you keep me from her? As she would often say: Piss off."

"Baby? Fiancée?" Garrett questioned, sizing up the man who I was to marry. I groaned and let my face fall into my hands. This was going to be interesting.

"You must be Mr. Donovan. Pleasure to meet you. I'm Augustus Sinclair, esquire." He held out his hand for Garrett to shake, but no friendly handshake came.

Alice sighed and said, "Here we go again."

Garrett interrogated poor Augustus for an hour straight, only stopping when the nurses came by to say visiting hours are over and Augustus must return to his room (which he fought and eventually won the right to sleep in the room tonight sharing my ample spaced bed – being small had its perks). Alice and Garrett both kissed my forehead goodbye vowing to return the next day through hell and high water if need be.

Sinclair settled into the space besides me, taking me comfortably into his arms. Camille had already fallen asleep, full with the greasy, surprisingly American, fast food that James had left her before departing for a motel nearby. Sinclair traced his fingers over my abdomen, making unknown patterns over the skin exposed to him. I buried my face in his neck, inhaling the slight scent of aftershave they had granted him, though it wasn't his spicy cologne.

Camille took in Eleanor, claiming to be the girl's mother so that they wouldn't ask questions of the teen's origins. James was confused at first, but eventually warmed up to the chance of finally being a father to someone, even if that someone came in the form of a teenager.

It wasn't until two months later when we were released from the hospital did Garrett finally accept Augustus with open arms and I finally met Augustus' mother.

That was a joy…

Being called a whore after a man's fortune, but Sinclair defending me made me love him all the more. He warned me to keep my smart comments to myself which was the equivalent to pulling teeth. I never wanted to deal with Josephine Sinclair any further than I had to. She scrutinized, insulted and told me everything I was doing wrong with 'being a proper woman'. My clothes, which consisted of a simple blouse and a pair of loose trousers for the swelling belly of mine, were deemed 'unacceptable in proper society' nor 'good wife material'. I finally had enough when she started going off about my large number of scars and growled to Sinclair that we needed to leave.

He obliged, saying goodbye to his mother and taking me back to our hotel.

And like every night, he would curl around me, his hand splayed on my stomach, stroking the swollen flesh to remind himself that this was real and there was his child growing beneath the skin he stroked. The baby kicked under his touch and he grinned excitedly. I merely rolled my eyes at his antics and settled in for a restless night filled with dreams of an underwater city of nightmares.

The dreams had plagued my sleep once I had left the hospital, not enough to wake me though and disturb Sinclair thankfully. It often left me exhausted the next morning, but I would muscle through it and continue on with my day. Constantly, I had to remind myself that there was nothing that was going to harm me as the splicers would. Sure, the Surface world was just as dangerous as Rapture in its own way, but the chances of me getting gutted with a fish hook seemed highly unlikely or hearing a Big Sister screech for as long as I lived.

After that encounter with her: she came to the wedding anyways, Augustus paying for her plane ticket to the UK. She was silent during the wedding which I expected her to speak up and left swiftly once we were pronounced husband and wife. Eleanor, Camille and James stood up in our wedding, Cindy remaining true to her words as our flower girl. The rings were simple, a gold band that symbolized our marriage, giving us these titles, but to is it meant very little. To us, our bond was made in Rapture. The marriage only made it official.

Grace Alice Sinclair was born a few months later. I had broken Augustus' middle and index finger during the whole thing, Camille saying words of encouragement that had me screaming right back at her to stuff her hole with syringes. The name Grace was decided after the adamant decision on my part that I was not going to name my daughter after his scrutinizing mother who didn't even come to see Grace's birth and instead named after a woman who had given me the chance to live by giving me a place to sleep and some food to eat when she could afford it. I knew not if Grace Holloway had escaped Rapture having heard no news of the Jazz singer.

My grandparents gushed over the small babe, Garrett swearing to spoil his great-granddaughter rotten. Eleanor held out her finger and for once the genius and clever woman she had become was rendered speechless when Grace took her finger in a tight grip, amazed at the strength of her. She finally muttered a congrats and left to find a doctor to ask them a million questions as she had a habit of doing.

Augustus held Grace, smiling warmly as she slept. I smiled up at him, still drowsy from the pain meds they had given me. Alice and Garrett had taken Camille, James and Eleanor to get something to eat leaving me and my loving husband alone.

He balanced Grace in the cradle of his left arm, the other reaching out and stroking my sweaty hair. "I love you," He whispered, leaning over and kissing my forehead.

"I love you, too," I said right back, my hand reaching up to stroke the nearly fully grown head of gray hair.

Grace started to cry and Augustus panicked, allowing me to take the crying child from him to feed her. He smiled as she feed contently, her cries instantly silenced.

For just a moment, I could see myself as Hawkeye: cold, paranoid, distrustful of everyone until Augustus and Camille came into Hawkeye's life teaching her how to trust… love…

Eleanor was right: Rapture was just the beginning. I had survived Rapture, made it to the surface and now I had a family to call my own; a true family. I definitely looked healthier despite having just given birth, but pale skin tanned from constant UV exposure. At first I had tried to cover my scars, but Augustus would take my hands from my face and try to kiss each scar that peppered my face. I still had people who started at me, but they could piss off since they didn't know my story or who I am.

I had a second chance at life. I wasn't going to waste it.