For a few long, agonizing seconds, Jake didn't say anything. Just stared at the glass of water, now also holding Liliss, that was just out of his reach.

"H-how long has she...?" Jake finally croaked out, his eyes turning between me and my Yeerk. "Been in your head?"

"A little over eight months," I answered, gently.

"Right." Jake nodded, now turning his attention entirely to me. "I-yeah. Okay."

It was my turn to nod. "Yeah."

"Um, I'm going to put the glass down, okay? You won't...?" I trailed off.

Not sure if I could trust Jake, whatever he said.

Hating that feeling. Even if, were I in Jake's position, I would probably want to crush the Yeerk inside my big brother's head. Even if he insisted that the Yeerk was one of the "good ones".

Still, looking at him, watching him pause, made me think that Jake would probably hear me out before attempting Yeerkicide.

If not...well, I hoped that I'd have a second or so to grab the glass out of his hands. To save my Yeerk.

"No...I mean," he added, quickly, "I won't...do anything."

"Promise?" I pressed.

Granted, if Jake was determined, it wouldn't matter.

Still, he hadn't morphed, yet.

So.

That was something.

Another nod, more vigorous this time. "Yeah. I promise, Tom. I won't hurt her."

With that, I placed the glass back on the desk. Then, I turned back to my kid brother, who looked even paler than he'd been over the last several months. Poor kid. Really, I just wanted to hug the daylights out of him, but that he might still be scared of me. I'd been the enemy all this time, and...yeah. I should avoid any sudden moves.

We just stared at his other, studying each other.

Really, I hadn't expected it to feel this awkward.

Then again, I shouldn't have been surprised. Jake had seen me as the enemy for what? Almost a year? I had been the enemy for a good six months.

It wasn't his fault that he didn't know that Liliss was good.

That she wouldn't hurt me, or him.

Finally, I spoke up, trying to smile reassuringly. "I know it's a lot to take in, Jake."

Jake nodded, again. "Yeah." After a pause, he added, "She...does she treat you okay, Tom?"

"More than okay, Midget," I promised. "I know, it's weird. But we're friends, now. She's definitely on our side. I promise."

More nodding, and I wondered if Jake was having trouble processing the fact that I was...what, exactly? A voluntary Controller? Only to Liliss. Only because she was in the Peace Movement, and had helped me. Was still helping me.

"Okay." Jake swallowed. "Yeah. Okay."

"Hey, Midget?" I murmured.

Not sure what else to add, I tentatively held out my arms towards him. I wanted to make it clear that, as much as I wanted to give my kid brother a bear hug, I wasn't going to force anything on him. Almost immediately, Jake wrapped his around me, tightly, holding me like he was afraid to let go. The solid warmth of his smaller frame against mine, his arms around my back, was very reassuring. Comforting.

Honestly, I couldn't even remember the last time I had hugged my kid brother. In all likelihood, Temrash probably had never given him one, or I would have remembered. I hoped. But me? The real me? I drew a complete blank.

Of course, after I squeezed him back, we stayed like that for several minutes. I thought that I could even hear Jake's heart, which, instead of slowing down, began to beat faster. It wasn't until Jake began shaking and hiccuping that I, reluctantly, let go.

Jake looked pained, and mumbled, "Sorry."

I put an arm around his shoulder, figuring this would be a little easier for him. Still supportive, but maybe not as confining as a hug.

"Hey, no problem," I reassured him. "Like I said, I know that it's a lot to take in. Um, you want to sit down for a little? Maybe, talk things over?"

Jake nodded, relief showing on his face, in spite of the fact that he was still hiccuping. Looked around the room. "My bed? Or downstairs, on the couch?"

"Your bed's good," I assured him. "It's right here, you know."

Jake nodded, choking out a small laugh.

We climbed into his bed, the covers still unmade from Jake's nap, and sat up side by side against the headboard. Well, I was, anyway. Jake leaned himself against me, so I wrapped both arms around him again, except, this time, it was more like a backwards hug. Or, like I was holding one of those giant stuffed toys that you saw in the shopping mall. The ones that were big enough to be a bed for a small kid.

I gave Jake another squeeze. "This okay?" I asked.

He turned towards me, nodding, but still looking uncertain. "I...I just need a minute to..."

"To process? Sure." I smiled, hopefully reassuringly. "No hurry. Take all the time you need, Jake."

Jake smiled back, almost shyly, then leaned himself against me for several minutes. Letting himself finally relax around me.

Which was how it should be. I was his big brother, after all. His protector.

Even if he was the one kicking Visser Three's butt.

Anyway, at least I could do this for him, now. Hold my kid brother, let him feel safe for awhile. Let him process the fact that Liliss, while still a Yeerk living in my head, was one of the good ones, who wouldn't hurt either of us.

It had to be a lot to take in. Especially since the concept of the Peace Movement was a new one. Aftran hadn't even been a part of it when she'd met Cassie, and all that.

After awhile, Jake spoke again. "I figure we've got a lot to talk about, Tom."

I gave Jake another gentle squeeze. "You're telling me! I had no idea you were kicking alien butt for what? The past year and a half?"

"No, a little over a year," Jake corrected. "It does feels longer."

I moved a hand to the top of his shoulders, running over it in small circles. Jake let out a deep breath, which I took to be a good sign.

"Yeah," I agreed. "Honestly, I can't even imagine what you guys have been through."

They were, after all, just kids. Early teenagers, now. They were what? Twelve or maybe thirteen when they'd begun fighting?

Way too young.

"You were a Controller for longer than we've been fighting, right? That's a lot worse than just having to fight the Yeerks," Jake pointed out, almost angrily.

Which was, I admit, somewhat of a surprise. He knew all about the Yeerks and what they did, but he'd never experienced it firsthand.

Thank God.

"It was. Fortunately, things turned around when I got Liliss," I promised, keeping my voice soft, still running a hand along his shoulders. "She's been really, really good to me. She's as anti-empire, as pro human, as you can get."

Jake turned to me. "You're sure? How long has she been in the Peace Movement? Has she ever...I mean...?" Jake trailed off.

I hid a sigh. I really didn't want Jake to know the extent of what Temrash had put me through. At the same time, he had to know that Liliss had earned my trust over time, and I knew she wasn't an evil Yeerk from...well, from being infested with one.

"I didn't trust her at first," I began. "The first slug I got...he-" I stopped, took a deep breath, then started again. "It wasn't fun, Midget. He was a jerk. But, it wasn't forever. He got promoted, though, I think he ended up dying in the pool before he could get his new host. That was when the Yeerk pool at the hospital got parboiled?"

I turned to Jake as I spoke this, giving him a grin, which he didn't quite return. If anything, his face darkened.

"Yeah, we killed at least a hundred Yeerks, and prevented the clinic from opening," Jake recalled.

"Plus, you prevented the infestation of our governor. A major win, Midget." I grinned. "Anyway. Right after the slug left my head for his big promotion, Liliss got assigned to me. Pretty much the first thing she told me was that she was part of the Peace Movement and was going to help me get better and get my life back." I watched Jake, who seemed more alert than relaxed, but this must be big news for him. "Anyway, at first, I was sure that she was lying, you know? I was sure she was faking it. That she'd just find a way to hurt me later. Make sense?"

Jake nodded. "Yeah. But, she didn't, did she? Hurt you, I mean?"

Okay, so he knew that Yeerks could hurt their hosts. Beyond the whole taking total control of their bodies without their consent.

I'd hoped to shield him from this. Just because Jake was fighting the Yeerks didn't mean he had to know just how cruel they could be to their hosts.

On the other hand, maybe he didn't know that much. I mean, Cassie'd been infested by Aftran, sure, but the two ended up friends. Or, some sort of grudging respect had formed between the two. Not exactly the typical Yeerk infests human and tortures them for "misbehaving" story.

I spoke carefully. "Nope. Never even raised her voice at me, or snapped at me or anything. Believe me, I gave her plenty of reason to, in the beginning. I was bitter."

"You had a right to be, Tom," Jake insisted. "He took everything from you. To be honest, I'm kind of glad to hear that you didn't trust her at first. It makes it easier to...believe you now."

Wow. He'd grown up a lot, my kid brother.

Well, he'd had to, after all.

"Yeah. And she knew that, too. Which helped, you see? Anyway, slowly, I came to trust her. Now..." I let go of one of my arms around Jake, just long enough to gesture at the glass containing my Yeerk. "Here we are."

Jake sort of nodded, first looking at me, then at Liliss. I saw his face change, become almost fearful, when he looked at Liliss. Like he was afraid she'd jump out of the glass and infest him.

Not the best sign, even though Jake's reaction was pretty understandable. It would probably take some time to trust Liliss.

Ran in the family, I guessed.

"Midget? I know it's going to take some time. With everything," I added, very helpfully.

Jake nodded. "Tom? How long did you two know about us?" he asked, studying me.

I laughed, a real genuine laugh. "Oh, less than a week. It was, uh, kind of a surprise, Midget," I told him, playfully. "My brother, the midget, kicking Yeerk butt all this time. Never thought you had it in you. Not at thirteen, anyway. Now, at sixteen...maybe."

He managed a laugh.

That had to be a good sign.

"How...when...?" Jake stopped, then cleared his throat, like he was the one who'd been infested by Temrash for months, and was figuring out how to talk again. "How, exactly, did you find everything out? About who we were?"

Right. I'd been so focused on Liliss, I'd forgotten that detail.

"You know about Aftran, right? That she freed her child host and joined the Peace Movement?" I began. At Jake's nod, I continued, "She went around meeting the others there. There aren't a ton, but it's getting bigger. When Liliss joined, there were twenty, and now, there's only fifty. Forty-nine, excluding Liliss. Anyway, Aftran introduced herself to all the Yeerks in the Peace Movement. Not all at once, since a feeding is only a couple of hours, and not all of the Yeerks in the Peace Movement feed at the same time. It's probably pretty intense if you're a new member. Lots of questions, on both ends. Like if they still had hosts, how long they'd been involved, that kind of thing. And since she'd been in Cassie's head, she knew that you had a brother. Me. When Liliss—my Yeerk—mentioned my name and that I had a brother, she was really interested. Asked a lot of people, like how many Yeerks I had had, if my brother or any family were also part of The Sharing. Stuff like that." I couldn't hide a laugh as I added, "So, it wasn't long before they figured out that Jake the Animorph had a brother whose Yeerk was in the Peace Movement."

Jake managed a laugh. Then, he slowly shook his head. "It's kind of crazy. I mean, all this time. I thought your Yeerk was our enemy. That she was hurting you."

"Nope. Helping me get better, instead." I made a face. "I'm glad you didn't see me when she first infested me, Jake. I really wasn't myself. It had been so long with Temrash, being his host and not having control, that it was really hard to use my body for more than a few minutes at once. With practice, though, I'm almost back to where I was before I was infested."

Jake nodded, slowly. There was this look in his eyes, too. Like this wasn't anything he didn't know.

"And...not your body?" he asked.

"Huh?"

Jake stared at me. "I know he hurt you, Tom."

I couldn't exactly deny it, but I wasn't sure I wanted to know how Jake knew.

Perhaps Aftran had known Temrash when she'd had a Hork-Bajir host? Not that I was sure that she'd had one before Karen, but one of the few interesting pieces of information Temrash had told me was that Yeerks who were assigned humans had been promoted from Hork-Bajir. Anyway, if they'd known each other, he might have joked or boasted or whatever about whatever he'd put his hosts through.

It wasn't exactly a secret that some Yeerks treated their hosts like crap.

Granted, it also wasn't really encouraged, because the empire still preferred voluntary hosts over involuntary ones. Liliss had told me all this. A Yeerk who mistreated a voluntary host, especially a voluntary human, could get banished to the Yeerk Pool for months or even years.

I realized I was probably staring off into space.

"Oh, I'm okay now," I assured him. "I mean, I still get nightmares and stuff, but it's way less often. Besides, Liliss is there...and she really helps me."

"That's great," Jake murmured.

Suddenly, he hugged me so tightly I thought I might break a rib.

Not that this kept me from hugging him back at least as hard.

We stayed like that for at least a full minute. Jake let go first, taking in several deep breaths. I realized I was doing the same.

"Okay, maybe not so tight the next time," I wheezed, laughing. "Still worth it."

Jake managed a grin. A real grin.

"Definitely."

"Um. Ready for next time?" I asked, after a few seconds.

Jake nodded, still grinning his face off. Carefully, I wrapped both arms around him in a sort of backwards/side hug. Jake leaned in against me, letting out a small sigh, the grin turning into a smaller, but contented, smile.

"Tom? How much do you know? About us?" he asked.

I sort of shrugged. "Elfangor broke Seerow's Kindness to give you guys the morphing power. It's you, Marco, Tobias, Cassie, Rachel, and Elfangor's little brother, who you nicknamed Ax. You have been kicking Visser Three's butt for the last year." I shrugged. "Hey, how did Cassie end up becoming human again? Aftran told me that she'd made her turn caterpillar in exchange for Karen's freedom."

"Caterpillars become butterflies, and natural morphing resets the morphing clock," Jake explained. "Ax clued us in on the resetting the clock part as soon as we saw Cassie become a butterfly."

Ah. That made about as much sense as the morphing technology, which was, not at all.

"I'm glad she's human again. Especially since she's your girlfriend, and all that," I teased. "Hard enough with Rachel and Tobias. He can morph human for a couple of hours. But dating a caterpillar who can't morph? Good luck with that, Midget."

Jake groaned. "She's not really my girlfriend."

Sure.

I ran a hand around Jake's shoulders again. "Whatever you say."

"Wait." Jake turned to me, a half glare, half grin on his face. "Are you telling me that Aftran's gossiping to the other Yeerks about me and Cassie? And Rachel and Tobias?"

I held up my hands. "Liliss is the one you need to ask about that. Anyway, I've seen you with Cassie."

Jake rolled his eyes and rested against me. I took this as him accepting defeat.

We were both quiet for several minutes. I wouldn't have been surprised if Jake started to drift off again, or zone out, when he spoke up.

"Tom?"

"Yeah, Midget?"

"I guess you have the summary of how we're fighting the empire, but do you want to know...everything?" he asked.

"I want to hear what you want to tell me," I answered, truthfully. "And whenever you are ready. Doesn't have to be all at once if you don't want to. I just...want this to be as easy as possible for you, Jake."

Jake took a deep breath. "Okay." After a minute, he gave me a shaky smile. "Man, Tom. I missed...hanging out with you."

"Me too, Midget," I murmured, giving him another squeeze.

"Okay," Jake repeated. "So, it kinda started when we decided to take a shortcut across a construction site..."

Two hours later, Jake stopped talking.

"Wow. You've been through enough for ten lifetimes," I sighed.

I was still hugging my kid brother, or cradling him, or whatever it was called. My arms were getting a little tired, but that was a small price to pay.

Minuscule, really.

"It sure feels like it," Jake sighed, his voice a little sore.

"Maybe you should give your voice a break," I suggested, gently. "There's plenty of time to tell me everything. I'm not going anywhere, and Liliss isn't going to be reassigned to anyone else. She'll make sure of that." At his nod, I added, "Speaking of which...mind if I put Liliss back in my head? I think she's gonna want to talk to you directly."

Jake sort of flinched at this. "I don't...you won't be able to have control if she does that."

"I will still be able to talk," I assured him. "She can do this thing called gentle control. Basically, she's operating my body, but I can intervene at any time. And it doesn't hurt, and I don't have to fight her. We share control, this way."

"Always?" Jake asked.

I shook my head. "Usually, when she doesn't have to be in control for Yeerk stuff, or when I want to zone out during class or something, I'm the one in control."

Jake nodded, clearly trying to imagine this. Or, at least, understand it.

"Tom? How long has she been in your head?" Jake wanted to know.

I frowned. "Uh, Midget? You already asked me this."

Jake shook his head. "No, sorry, I mean...do you remember what day she first infested you?"

"Ohhh. It was the Wednesday before you guys destroyed the clinic," I answered, automatically.

"Really? We didn't attack the hospital until that Saturday," Jake recalled.

I shrugged. "Guess they needed time to transport Temrash and all of the other jerk Yeerks to the hospital. I don't think they bothered with any that would go to potential voluntary hosts, because Visser Three assumed the clinic would get all involuntary humans."

Jake exhaled against me. "Oh. Right. You know, Tom, knowing that they were probably all jerks...it wasn't exactly easy, killing Yeerks. Without hosts. We had to, I mean. Because, they wouldn't stay like that. But, now especially, I mean..."

I tightened my hug. "You did what you had to. Sure, they were helpless at the time, but they weren't going to stay that way. And I would bet my hand that at least 90% of them were like Temrash. Maybe worse." I paused, just for a second. "I was so relieved when you decided not to join The Sharing, Midget. I couldn't stand the thought of you getting infested."

"I might have joined, if I hadn't heard your slug hadn't talked about killing me," Jake murmured. "Besides, your face changed, when Temrash was going on about how great The Sharing was. I figured you were trying to send me a message."

"I was." I remembered it vividly. "I fought like crazy, then. I only managed to get control for, like, a millisecond. I wasn't even sure I'd managed anything..." I trailed off.

"No, Tom, I noticed. I saw," Jake reassured me. "I kept hoping that you weren't infested, but I guessed, when you made that face, that you were warning me, and then later, when your slug was going on about killing me if I didn't join...well, yeah, I knew for sure then. So, no way were we going to join an alien invasion." Jake paused for a second. "Tom, we really tried to get you out, that first time. And I wanted to go back again. But we weren't sure when he fed, and when we blew up the Kandrona and people without Yeerks were killed...looking back, there had to be a way, but I couldn't figure it out. I'm really sorry, Tom."

"Hey." I lowered my face to look at my kid brother's, who had tears in his eyes. Poor kid. He was still just a kid, after all. I made my voice as gentle as I knew how. "Look, it's okay. I get it. Anyway, Liliss is nothing like Temrash. She's been helping me, Midget. She's really good to me. We're friends."

"You mean it?" Jake choked out, a tear falling down his face.

I wrapped my arms around him even tighter. "Definitely. And, if you ask me again, at least today, I'll give you a massive noogie. Got it?" I teased him, giving him a light nudge in the ribs so he knew I was teasing him.

Jake hiccuped a little, then managed a laugh. "Okay."

I was about to tell Jake that I was going to put Liliss back in my head when he spoke up again.

"Tom?" he asked, voice a little shaky.

I gave him what I hoped was a reassuring look. "Yeah, Midget?"

"About when we boiled up the Yeerks in the hospital..." he began, hesitating. "They didn't all die then."

I frowned. "Like, some bounced out of the pool and you had to step on them?"

Jake shook his head. "Um, see, what happened was...some Controllers came in as soon as they saw us. Or heard us. They started shooting at us. Don't worry," he added, hastily, "they missed me, twice. But when they took the third shot, I knew they wouldn't miss, and I had to get out of the way. I dodged the bullet, but I fell in the pool."

I squeezed Jake tighter, as though I could prevent where this was going.

"One of the Yeerks crawled into my head. Um, it was your first Yeerk," Jake added.

I closed my eyes. "Oh, shit."

He knew, then.

He had to.

I could only hope that he hadn't tortured Jake, just gloated, but this had been Temrash.

Besides, if Temrash went through the fugue, if he hadn't left Jake's head before the memory transfer started, Jake would have gotten a lot of my memories.

He would have seen how Temrash had treated me as a host.

"It was only for three days," Jake reassured me. "Everyone figured it out pretty quickly. I mean, Ax was the first, and at first the others thought he'd gone crazy, but...anyway, they managed to starve him after three days. That was when I seemed to be acting crazy. Because they had Ax morph me and play me, for two hours at a time."

"He definitely made you look insane," I ribbed.

Jake laughed. "I believe you. When I heard that 'I' had been talking weirdly and eating everything in sight..."

"We all thought you'd gone off the deep end," I informed him, grinning. "I was glad when you were back to normal. Well, normal for you, anyway."

"Ha ha," Jake deadpanned.

After another silence, I added, "Midget, I am so sorry you had to go through that kind of hell. And with Temrash! I mean, obviously you know, but he was a total jerk," I added, although I figured that calling him a jerk was a major understatement.

"Yeah. He was," Jake murmured, nestling close to me.

I pulled my kid brother even tighter to me.

"Yeah. I don't have to tell you it was bad," Jake agreed, darkly. "He told me you had been his host before me, and when I thought you were free..." Jake made a face, and for a moment, I thought he would start crying. Not that I would have blamed him in the slightest. "Um, he showed me one of your memories."

"Which one?" I asked, before I could stop myself.

Jake didn't quite look at me. "The Saturday before we attacked. He, pretending to be you, was talking to be in the morning. Just stuff about a Sharing meeting. I saw it how the Yeerk, and how you, saw it." Jake met my eyes. "You begged him to leave me alone. Said you'd never bug him again, if he'd just leave me alone."

I closed my eyes. "Yeah. I remember."

"He did it to show me my future. Said that they all fight, but they give up in the end." Jake squeezed my arm. "I knew that if they didn't get him out of my head, I wouldn't last. I wasn't as strong as you, Tom."

I smiled, a little weakly. "Yeah, well. It's almost impossible not to give up, especially with a jerk like him."

"I'm sorry." Jake brushed away some tears. "I should have gotten you out. I should have gone back to the Yeerk Pool, every day, if I had to..."

"Jake." I grabbed his shoulders, firmly, but not hard enough to hurt him. "You did everything you could. You still are. I'm okay, I promise."

He took a deep breath. "It might not have been a Peace Movement Yeerk, the second time. It could have been another Temrash."

"Yeah, believe me, I know." I winced. "Point is, it wasn't. I don't blame you, okay? You did the right thing."

Jake wrapped his arms around me, and of course, I squeezed him back.

"Tom?" Jake asked, once he'd let go, and I had a protective arm around his shoulder. "When he died, he went through the fugue. I, uh, got a lot more of his memories. When he was dying. Some of them were yours."

I gave Jake another squeeze. That was what I was hoping to avoid for Jake. At least it was only three days, but three days with Temrash...

"OKay. Anything you want to talk about?" I pressed, but gently.

Jake shook his head. "Not...not now." He took a deep breath. "I'm sorry."

"Hey, you've got nothing to be sorry about," I agreed, keeping my voice soft. "You know, though, that my door is always open, though. Okay?"

Jake looked up at me. "Okay. Yeah."

It was then remembered that Liliss had probably been waiting for me for the better part of three hours.

"Um, Midget? Mind if I put Liliss back in my head? She's probably getting worried."

Jake nodded. Before I could reach for my Yeerk, Jake spoke up. "Tom? Can she leave your head sometimes? So it's just us?"

"You bet. At least for an hour every couple of days. Or more, if we want. We can figure something out as we go," I promised.

Looking relieved, Jake nodded again and watched as I let go of him and walked the few steps to retrieve my Yeerk. He made a pained face as she started to enter my ear, but I squeezed his arm in reassurance.

I felt a slight sting, then my ear go numb as Liliss made her way inside. No loss of control as she climbed in. That was a little surprising. Liliss had told me that Yeerks are only "forced" to take control when they infest a new host for the first time. But, since she always infested me at the Yeerk Pool, with pool guards and other Controllers around, she had to take control. However briefly. This was the first time she had infested me without needing to take control.

A minute or so later, I felt her familiar presence in my mind.

(Hi, honey,) she greeted. (How did everything go? I was getting a little worried.)

(Pretty good, all things considered,) I told her. (You can check my memories.)

As she did just that, I joined Jake on the bed, giving him a reassuring smile, and putting an arm around his back for only the ten thousandth time that day.

"It's okay, Midget. It's still me."

Granted, short of Liliss leaving my head again, there was no way for me to prove this. Jake looked reassured, though, and leaned against me.

Again, only for the ten thousandth time that day.

"What's she doing? Or saying?" Jake asked me.

I put my other arm around his shoulders, and he leaned against me.

"Just seeing what we talked about," I answered, lightly.

The truth was that I was used to Liliss going through any recent memories, but older ones were still off limits. I wasn't comfortable with her replaying any of my memories from before her, even the good ones. Probably, I was still recovering from what Temrash had done to me with them.

Jake nodded, then asked, "You don't mind?"

I shrugged. "Not when it's just for recent stuff. What she missed when she fed at the pool. Not that it's very interesting. Anything from my time with Temrash and earlier is off limits. I mean, she had to search my memory at the beginning, but she did that when I was sleeping, so I wasn't aware of it. I'm not comfortable with her replaying any memories, even good ones, and Liliss respects that."

"That's good. Um, like I said, I got a lot of yours when he died..."

"You couldn't help that," I reassured Jake. "Anyway, I hope some were good."

Jake nodded. "They weren't all bad."

"Okay. That's good. I mean, you've been through hell..."

I trailed off as Jake's face started to crumple.

I wrapped my kid brother into a big hug, and we stayed like that until both of our stomachs started to growl.

"Well, I guess that's a sign we need to find something to eat," I suggested, standing up slowly. "Pretty sure there's leftover pizza."

Jake blinked, then made a face.

"You'd rather have something else? Or, we can order more," I offered.

"No, it's just...we're going to need to have a meeting. Probably should have had one earlier," Jake explained.

I frowned to myself, thinking this over. It was possible that our parents would be back tonight. If we were gone when they got back, not only would Jake's weekend grounding get extended to at least a week, I would get in trouble as well. If we waited until tomorrow, I thought I stood at least a 50-50 shot at getting Jake a lowered sentence for good behavior.

(Better to wait,) Liliss advised. (We can't risk being grounded.)

True. Jake could morph, but I couldn't.

I ran my suggestion by Jake, who seemed reassured.

"Yeah, and if they say no, there's Monday, right?" He asked.

"Sure. If the meeting works out, we can feed Monday before school. If not, tomorrow afternoon," I promised, and felt Liliss give me a mental nod.

"Right. Okay," Jake agreed. "So. Pizza?"

"Let's check the supply," I laughed, tousling his hair.

Jake didn't object.

Pizza never lasted long in our house, with three guys. Even though Mom or Dad always got two pies whenever we ordered out, the leftovers were never around for more than a day. All the same, if there was anything there after two days, Mom would freeze it in a plastic bag. No one really wanted to eat frozen pizza unless we were desperate.

I'd been pretty sure there was some in the fridge, but that was gone, so I checked the freezer. Nothing. Or, nothing that resembled pizza.

"Guess we'll have to order out," I informed Jake, who had come downstairs with a book for his English class in hand.

I was relieved that Liliss and I had finished our homework last night. Not that I would tell Jake this. It would seem like I was rubbing his nose in the fact.

"Do you have any money?" he asked, as he opened the book to the page he'd dog eared.

"Yeah, in my room. Hang on..."

I found a handful of 20's and some 10's in my room. I should probably take it to the bank soon. The Sharing paid some of its members-like me-because they were concerned that parents would complain if a volunteer organization took away too much time for after school and summer jobs. Not a problem with my parents, but Temrash had let this slide, and Liliss hadn't told them, either.

Not that it would have mattered. Jake and I still got allowances for chores.

I grabbed two of the 20's and headed back downstairs.

"We're good."

Jake looked up from his book. "Great, I'm starving."

I grinned at him. "There is stuff in the fridge if you're that hungry."

"I can hold out for pizza."

"Okay, your choice, Midget," I laughed. "The usual?"

"Yeah." Jake returned to his book. "Sorry, I remembered I have to read three chapters of this by Monday, and they're long."

"I'm not going anywhere," I promised.

Using the menus my parents kept in the kitchen, I picked the one from our favorite pizzeria and put in an order for two with Jake and my favorite toppings. They promised to be there in no more than thirty minutes.

While we waited, Jake read his book at the table. I realized just how much more relaxed he looked, now. What I-and probably Liliss and Temrash-had taken to be distraction or teenage angst had been something a lot more serious. He and his friends were fighting in a war. Worse, he and his friends were leading the only resistance on Earth against the Yeerk Empire.

I felt Liliss nudge at my head at this. Okay, true, the Peace Movement was a resistance in its own right, and at least a few members had found a way to free their hosts and remain alive. How, I wasn't sure. If their adults had been human adults, maybe they could had fled the state. Even the country. Harder if you're a kid or a teenager. Still, they weren't exactly doing the heavy lifting.

(How can we, at this point?) Liliss chided me, gently. (Only two of us have Hork-Bajir. A few humans, like yourself, were issued a Dracon Beam, but that's laughable in the face of Visser Three's army. All we can do is spread the message, and hope more of our kind and their hosts want to join. With larger numbers, we can create a larger resistance.)

When the pizza came, I was glad we'd ordered fresh. Even reheated pizza from the fridge isn't the same as right from the oven. I tipped the delivery guy with some of the change, and Jake and I dove into the first one.

"Mmm," he murmured, inhaling the scent.

"Don't forget to chew," I teased, taking a couple of slices for myself and putting them on a plate. "You don't want to choke or, worse, eat so fast you won't taste it."

"Yes, Mom," Jake retorted, taking two slices (to start).

Neither of us ate particularly slowly, or, not the first two pieces. We slowed down around our third, and savored our fourth. I put the second box in the fridge, figuring it would be consumed by the four of us (five if you counted Liliss) before the next day was over.

"You got any more homework I can help you with?" I asked, after the small amount of cleanup was finished.

"Paper due Wednesday for History. I'm about half finished."

That didn't sound too bad.

"With all of the physical labor we've done and the fact that you've studied pretty hard, I think we can both take a break tonight from schoolwork. Want to see what's on TV?" I wondered.

At Jake's nod, we headed into the living room. Homer followed us and plopped himself down on one side of Jake. I, of course, claimed the other, and wrapped an arm around his shoulder. A second too late, I wondered if I was babying my kid brother-or, more to the point, if he would think I was babying him-but he just leaned in against me like he used to do when we were kids.

It wasn't that we hadn't been close before I was stupid enough to get involved in The Sharing. More that cuddling was something we'd both...outgrew, maybe. We'd done stuff together, sure, but unless one of us was really upset about something, physical affection wasn't really our thing.

I could easily see this changing, and I didn't mind it at all.

Anyway, as soon as I'd impulsively wrapped an arm around Jake, he relaxed against me, lifting his legs onto the couch like he was a cat. Then again, his battle morph was a Siberian tiger, and everyone knows that house cats think they're tigers, and tigers are just oversized cats. Except they couldn't purr.

"Good kitty," I teased, giving him a scratch on the head with my free hand.

"Kitty?" Jake echoed, clearly appalled. "I'm not a cat, Tom."

I rolled my eyes. "Your battle morph is a tiger. So, yeah, Midget, you're a cat."

Jake took a few seconds to process this, then laughed. "Okay, fine. But if you call me 'kitty' in front of anyone..."

"I'll face the wrath of the claws," I finished.

Jake snickered, again. "Maybe not that. I'll think of something."

"Okay, you do that," I laughed, wrapping my other arm around him, much like I'd done before.

Jake relaxed against me, and we didn't talk for the next hour or so.

When I was Temrash's slave, watching TV with my family was nothing short of awful. Okay, my whole life had been awful, but TV, especially had been bad. With homework or meetings, he had to direct some of his attention elsewhere. When it came down to "down time", he needed entertainment, and I was his focus. Sometimes, it was just belittling my favorite shows. After he made me quit the team, if it was me and my dad watching basketball (because, of course, he'd told my dad that I didn't mind), he would make particularly awful remarks, like how it was such a shame that I would never be that good. Or, how he'd done me a favor by quitting, because being able to score in high school was nothing like the major leagues. Occasionally, he'd reflect on how humans wasted our time on recreation, and once the Yeerks conquered the world, this would all be obsolete.

Liliss had seen all of this. She hadn't replayed any of the memories, but she knew how I felt. In her own ways, she'd make it easier for me.

Sometimes, the biggest way she could help was by not hurting me.

I wasn't past flashbacks, even after eight months of her. Maybe, I would never be. I still had nightmares at least once a week.

Once I'd started letting her give me mental hugs, I felt calmer faster. She never gave me one without me giving the okay. That helped. To know that I had full control over that.

After an hour of mindless TV, I was starting to feel tired, and Jake tried to hide a yawn at least twice in the span of one minute. Once it became clear that neither of us were going to make it much longer, and it was during a commercial break, I turned my head to Jake.

"Ready to call it a night?" I asked, softly.

Jake blinked a couple of times, then nodded his head.

"Come on," I told him, starting to stand up and carefully pulling my brother up off the couch.

He didn't object, just followed me upstairs.

Jake's bedroom was closer to the stairs than mine, by a couple of feet. Once we'd made the huge climb, we simultaneously hugged the other. Jake had a tired grin on his face, and I was sure that mine looked the same.

"Sleep well, Midget," I murmured, once we'd separated.

Of course, we met again a few minutes later in the bathroom. I'd arrived first, and was finishing with my teeth when I heard Jake knock.

"Just a second!" I called, or tried to call, given that I still had toothpaste in my mouth.

(I don't think he quite got that,) Liliss teased.

I sent her an image of a Yeerk sticking out an imaginary tongue, which made her giggle.

I spat out the toothpaste, did a final rinse, and repeated myself.

"Just a second!"

Then, I opened the door.

Jake grinned. "Heard you the first time."

"Oh. Cool." I laughed. "Anyway, it's all yours. See you tomorrow, okay? Maybe, we can shoot hoops if there's any time."

Jake nodded. "Yeah, that sounds great."

I wrapped my arms around him. "Sleep well, Midget."

He hugged me back for several seconds before letting go.

"You too, Tom."

Smiling, I stepped into my room, not bothering to close the door. Then, I made my way into bed, pulling the covers around myself, and turning over onto my right side.

(Night, Liliss,) I told my Yeerk, closing my eyes.

Feeling truly happy.

(Sweet dreams, Tom,) she answered, with a mental smile.

I must have fallen asleep quickly. How do you know, really, how fast you fall asleep? It's really only when you can't sleep for awhile that you notice that kind of thing. Anyway, I was having a good dream-although I couldn't remember it later-when I abruptly awoke to hear screaming.

Author's note:

Even though in "The Capture" Jake only tells the reader the extended memory of Tom getting involved with The Sharing and then being infested, I flat out refuse to believe that's the only one he receives. In fact, in the last chapter of that book, Jake says whether he knew if Tom would have the strength to keep fighting, and that he carried some of his brother in him. While I don't think that Jake received an upload of Tom's entire life, I am certain that he received a LOT of his memories-pre infestation and during his time with Temrash. My writing in general, and this story in particular, reflects this interpretation of what happened in Temrash's fugue.