"I was the one that burned my dad's lab down." The words came from his mouth awkwardly as if he didn't quite believe what he was saying as the memories hit him. Jackson's breathing laboured and the sweat glistening his skiing felt sticky, the stale air of the room claustrophobic. "All his research. His whole life's work."

His obsession.

Mitch would never admit that pinch of guilt in his chest as he saw the sorrow and guilt run across Jackson's face, pushing him to do this all in one hit.

"I thought that I was saving him." Mitch's eyes fell to the floor, unable to face the grief on his friend's face. "Keeping him from crossing the line but all I did was ruin his chance at saving the world."

He was quiet for a few moments, chest rising and falling quickly. A mirthless laugh escaped him almost uncontrollably. Mitch looked up, confusion painted across his face but still he laughed.

"This stuff ain't laughing gas Jackson, what's so funny."

He lifted his right arm from the table to wave Mitch off as greasy black tears fell from his eyes but still he laughed.

"He was so angry. He knew it was me and he was so angry."

By the state of his eyes, how they didn't match the words that fell from his mouth Mitch knew this wasn't information he offered voluntarily. He rushed to remove the intravenous needle but knew it was going to do nothing to reverse the effects.

"Jackson just relax, try to suppress it."

Another painful laugh echoed around the lab, "you wanted me to face the daddy issues Mitch to get the information. You get both, not one. He pretended to mope for a few days, making my mother trust him alone in the house with me. And the moment she left, oh boy."

Jackson clamped his mouth shut, chest spamming as he tried to suppress the laughter. "Why am I laughing, why am I laughing?"

Mitch wanted to have an answer. He also wanted to leave Jackson, let the drugs work through Jackson but the awful, awful part of him wouldn't let him walk out that door.

"I don't know, uh...making light of it because your psychological state is in such disarray if you express how you feel externally it makes the memories more painf-"

Jackson cut him off, the words spewing from his mouth.

"He grabbed me from my room, dragged me down stairs to look at the lab ruins. Explained how he knew it was me because the animals were let out of their cages. He shoved my face into the dirt- Mitch please make it stop- pressed his boot into my cheek-Mitch please." Black streaked Jackson's face and Mitch leapt up to find something, something to stop the flash back now gripping Jackson.

"He drove my face into the charcoal until I was breathing it in. He picked me up by the scruff of my neck and rubbed the animal remains in my face. He didn't hit me, couldn't, my mother would know. She's a Doctor, I should call her. I haven't spoken to her in weeks. Hopefully she's safe, we're not safe Mitch. We had to get away, we had to escape him. He had us on lockdown, barely let us leave, Mitch he was crazy, he was insane but he was right."

Jackson rolled off the bed to his feet, knees almost buckling as he tried to walk and stop the madness within.

"He was right! He was right! I stopped the cure, I made this happen. Chloe is dead because of me, people are dead because of me. I caused this."

"Jackson stop!" Mitch yelled, hand landing heavily on Jackson's shoulder. The other clamped over Jackson's mouth. Up close he could feel the full body tremors running through the Zoologist. It made Mitch realise how little control Jackson had in that moment, how the drug had stripped him of his autonomy. The repeated dosage in one, whilst physically safe, was doing severe harm to his psychological well being.

"I'm sorry Jackson, I'm sorry. You were a kid trying to keep your family together, keep your family safe. Same way kids with divorcing parents run away because they think they are the problem." He glanced down and reached into his pocket. "And sorry for this."

In one fluid motion, he shot Jackson in the neck with a sedative.

"You did what to him?!" Jamie wore such a comical look of surprise it almost reminded Mitch of who she used to be when they first met. Meanwhile Abe bore a quiet anger across his features.

"To figure out the rest of the animals on the triple helix, I need to know what Robert Oz had in his office. It was a safe procedure."

"Then why is Jackson sedated?"

A flash of guilt glinted across Mitch's face.

"Things got sticky, we started to get to some areas that weren't that nice and Jackson couldn't stop...He couldn't stop saying things he didn't want me to hear. He also got extremely distressed about Chloe. So I sedated him so he could sleep off the drug."

Calmly, Abe turned to Jamie. "If you would not mind, might I have a private word with Mitch?

The young woman nodded fervently and stepped outside of the lab.

Mitch stepped back from Abe, "I get it. You're angry, I know you are but this was our only chance because that information, it doesn't exist in a tangible form."

Abe softly shook his head, "that is not what concerns me. I understand your reasons. But I need to know what Jackson told you against his will."

Mitch nodded and dragged a hand across his jaw, "I realised he started to lose control when he started to laugh uncontrollably. Then he began to say how, how angry his father was with him, how his mother didn't trust them alone. And one day, after the fire when she went to work he grabbed Jackson and took him to the scene of the fire and told him that he knew Jackson caused the fire. Shoved him around a bit, I," he sighed.

"I imagine there was a lot more but he branched off, got real hysterical about blaming himself for all of this and for Chloe. That's when I jabbed him. I know I should have left but it was like I was frozen in place. It was my fault, I made this stupid comment about how Chloe died and he couldn't even face his daddy issues. He wanted to take a break and I was too scared we would lose the loophole. I think that's what triggered it."

Abe smiled gently and walked over to where Jackson lay, placing a hand on his head. He flicked his gaze up to stare Mitch in the eye.

"I need to know that you understand the trust Jackson has in you. When we were caught up in that God awful business with Ray, Jackson suffered great, great pain. He has the will within himself to keep his mouth shut. He trusted you enough to not endure fighting the drug and simply let it run, and for that I ask on his behalf not to betray that trust."

"No, no, never."

Mitch would remember that day until the day he died and he kept his swear to secrecy too. Because these people had become family, and recent times have proven that allies or family have come very short in supply.