On the Eighth Day of Christmas, My I-Man gave to me...

The voices swam towards her like a distant horn through a mass of fog, unclear and surrealistic in meaning.

"Alex, Alex sweetie, you need to wake up."

"Claire, I really think she's-"

"She's not dead, Rachel." The voice was definitive in its declaration. Alex's mind wanted to contest the point.

"Come off it Keepley, her whole side is covered in blood, and she's completely blue in the face, she looks dead to me. We need to keep going."

"No, not yet." Once again the voice was firm in it's decision. Alex wanted to encourage them to go, they needed to get to Fawkes, and to Hobbes...she couldn't remember what had happened to him.

Alex could feel hands prodding her, a small sprout of pain at her side, but it was all as distant as the voices.

"She is alive." A small sigh of relief followed. "There's a pulse, strong, too. Lucky for Monroe she's an extremely stubborn woman."

"You could have fooled me," the words sounded sarcastic, in a familiar kind of tone, but it wasn't the familiar voice she'd normally put to it.

"The wound it superficial, bled a lot but it's already sealing up on it's own, nothing serious." The prodding continued elsewhere and the sting at her side eased. "I'd say she's unconscious from hitting her head on this rock here, no doubt has a concussion."

"Who knows how long she's been out here." The other voice commented.

"Well, her face is quite cold from the snow, there's a bit of frostbite, but she should be- Alex, what are you wearing?!"

Alex wanted to tell them, but they were still too far off. With some effort she pushed herself towards consciousness, towards the voices.

"What?"

"Under her clothes she's wearing," The voice was quite amused, "thermal pajamas."

The other voice chuckled, then said, "Smart!"

"Probably saved her life."

At last more was coming into her awareness. Alex thought she even recognized the last voice as the Keeper. What was the Keeper doing way out here? Fighting for control, Alex managed to part her frozen lips, and breathed out, "Claire?"

"Waking up I see," the voice responded.

Alex creaked her eyes open, the bright light of the rising sun stinging them as much as the imbedded cold, but leaning over her was the Keeper, a look of relief on the woman's face. Numb thoughts traveled slowly through Alex's mind and her lips cracked into the barest hint of a smile. "Bobby would be jealous," she murmured, the words barely audible.

"What?" Claire asked frowning, thinking she'd misheard, but Alex returned her question with another.

"Where's Hobbes?"

"You're the only one we've found." Alex turned her head towards the other voice, Rachel. The woman was standing a pace away, a look of grim determination across her face. She looked anxious to go, Alex didn't blame her. She tried to accommodate but her body refused to move.

From the look of struggle on Monroe's face, Claire guessed what she was trying to do. "Alex, just lie still for right now. Let your body adjust back on it's own. We can spare an hour here, trust me, it'll make all the difference." Claire told her sternly, then turned to the impatient Rachel giving her an equally stern gaze till the woman relented. "Rachel, pass me one of the hand warmers and see if there's any of the soup left in the thermos."

Rachel sighed, but pulled off her pack, which was substantially bigger than Alex's had been and well stocked. The Keeper quickly and efficiently saw to the bullet wound that had pierced Alex's side. She may have been saying it was superficial, but it sure didn't feel like it. Alex gritted her teeth, then regretted even that motion. Her face felt stretched, sore. Claire reassured her that she'd been lucky. All the colder spots had turned gray, but not white. "Once you warm up you'll feel a lot better. And there shouldn't be any scaring, so long as you don't scratch them! The frozen epidermis layers need to peel off on their own as the fresh layers grow underneath it."

Right now, Alex was happy to be moving at all. They'd helped her sit up, the headache from 'hitting her head' causing the world to spin in reaction, but Claire gave her something for that as well, and Alex was plainly surprised at the amount of food Rachel had packed into the bag. It was a regular old picnic out in the middle of nowhere. There was even a small bag of the oatmeal cookies she'd left at the woman's house when she stopped through before.

Shrugging, Rachel replied in response to Alex's curious glance, "They're not bad you know."

"You made these?" Claire asked surprised and looking her own cookie, maybe a bit more suspiciously that she ought to. They each had two, as well as bread, meat, cheese, and there had indeed been warm soup in the thermos. Alex hadn't realized just how hungry she was, that was when it occurred to her to inquire, "What day is it?"

"The first." Rachel returned, smirking drolly. "Great way to begin the New Year isn't it?"

Alex turned suspicious eyes upon the woman, remembering the small remark Hobbes had made, what, two days ago now, that long? "How come you're here? How did you know where to go?"

Rachel's lips thinned, but it was Claire who answered. "I asked her to come. When I got to her place and found out that none of you had checked in for a few days I knew something bad had happened. Rachel's an expert tracker, knows the terrain."

"What about your kid?" Alex was once again focused on Rachel.

"He's at the house, a friend, Dan, is looking after him." She paused, then replied seeing that Alex's gaze wasn't letting up any. "Dan's CIA."

"And you're...?"

"Ex-CIA." Then Rachel gave her a sardonic look. "Robert's not the only one who's been in and out of the Company. I still have connections. I've known the FQM was up here in the mountains for some time now. They've got a hidden compound snuggled into the side of the mountain west of here. I also know they've been doing experiments of sorts there. They've got most of the surrounding area blacked out, it's why you can't get a cell phone to work here." She paused, then narrowly regarding both Alex and Claire stated, "They've got a lot of secrets, not unlike your Agency." But neither woman commented further.

Instead, Alex proceeded to tell them everything that she had learned in the past few days.

"Since we didn't find Bobby here, it's safe to assume the FQM took him," Claire mused.

"They probably haven't killed him, or they would have just left him here," Rachel added, her comment coming out detached and objective, but there was a small look of relief in her eyes that they all felt.

"Our first priority has got to be Fawkes," Alex stated.

Rachel looked ready to protest, but Claire spoke first, also agreeing with Alex. "Yes, indeed." And after a glance at the furious woman's face, added, "Bobby can take care of himself. You said yourself they wouldn't have killed him, and we need to get Darien away from Arnaud as quickly as possible."

Rachel still didn't look convinced, she could be as stubbornly protective as Hobbes could, Alex realized, once again reminded of their similarities. She calmly asked, "How well do you think we could get into the compound?"

"Alex-" Claire complained, but Alex waved her quiet, her gaze locked on Rachel's.

The woman's lips thinned, but after a minute said with the barest hint of anger, "Not well. Fine. We'll go after your friend, it'd be what Robert would want anyway." Then she told them. "But I doubt they'd be at the Ranger's anymore. You said these guys were with Chrysalis?"

Alex nodded, and was surprised to find the rueful smile curling on Rachel's lips as the woman nodded to Claire. "Before you showed up last night Keepley, I heard the FQM were starting negotiations with a group called Chrysalis. They'd be at the meet spot down at the other end. The FQM are real paranoid about letting anyone inside their bases."

"You heard?"

Rachel's smile widened and she surprised them both by replying with, "Hobbes.net."

Darien stared at the pigeons, and the pigeons stared back.

Arnaud was standing back inside the phone booth at the end of the road that led up to the quaint house beyond. He lifted the receiver and dialed the code number he had used once before. After a moment a scowl appeared and he turned to One waiting just outside. "Give me fifty cents."

One dug out the change, then turned to regard their prisoner. Two and Three were watching Darien, now, but it didn't seem necessary anymore. Only a short time ago the Agency's agent had gone from practically a vegetable to the attention span of a two year-old. It was almost more than they'd been able to handle until Arnaud gave him the rest of the drug. Now the man was once again as sedate as before.

One looked over to see what held Fawkes attention so and frowned. Seven pigeons were sitting in the tree across the clearing, and eerily seemed as interested in the agent as he was in them. One had to suppress a shiver and turned back as Arnaud stepped out of the booth.

"This shouldn't take long," the Swiss-German stated. The negotiations had ended in a trade that Arnaud wasn't so sure was to their advantage. For some reason the FQM wanted Fawkes, or more likely, his gland, and in return they'd give them the three stolen disks as well as other information that Stark had assured Arnaud was worth it. Far be it from me to dispute the great Chrysalis, Arnaud thought sarcastically to himself.

Frowning Claire gazed down at the group below through the small binoculars. Rachel had been right, they were at the 'meet spot' as predicted. And everyone was there, Arnaud, the five Chrysalis agents...and Darien.

"What is he doing?" Alex questioned exasperated. The three of them were up on the hill's ledge in the exact spot Darien and Hobbes had hid once before.

"Looks like he's just standing there," Claire replied still frowning. This didn't make any sense.

"Maybe he's not the guy you think he is," Rachel proposed, fidgeting in her spot on the other side of Alex.

Monroe turned, glaring at the woman. "What are you implying?"

Face hardening in anger, she responded, "Look, I know he's your friend and all, and he seemed like a nice guy, but they always do. I'm just saying it a possibility, it's not like it'd be even close to the first time one of Robert's partner's turned out bad."

Claire shook her head, still gazing through the lens, speaking almost absently. "No. Darien's not like that. He may go crazy from time to time, but he'd never do anything to betray us, let alone Bobby...willingly."

Alex frowned, she could see one of the Chrysalis approaching Darien, but Darien wasn't paying him any more attention that he was anything else. "What's going on, Claire?"

"I'm not sure, but from the way Darien's acting I'd say he was drugged, only...I don't know."

Rachel sighed, then bluntly said, "Alright, so what's the plan?"

Claire put the binoculars down and asked simply, "Do we have a plan?"

Shifting, and wincing, Alex thought about it for a second, then replied, "We only have the one gun and one clip, so if I go around and cause a distraction, lead the Chrysalis guys away, maybe it'd give you both enough time to grab Darien and get away. Assuming of coarse one of you knows how to hotwire a car."

"Alex, you're in no condition-"

Monroe cut the Keeper off. "They don't know either of you are even out here, I want to keep it that way."

"Well, sounds like a plan to me. I can handle the car bit," Rachel stated, curling back to stand up out of sight.

It looked like Claire was to protest some more, but instead stated definitively, "We'll pick you up around the bend."

The three woman worked quickly and quietly as they snuck around to their respective spots. Claire and Rachel were supposed to wait for the first shot before leaving the trees.

Claire took a chance and crouching low peeked out through some brush. She almost gave away their position when she suddenly realized Darien was looked straight back at her, but his face didn't change expression and he didn't move. It was eerie, he face was normally so full of emotion, like an open book, now though his gaze reminded her of something more like autism. Like he was aware of everything but he couldn't react.

Thankfully, the Chrysalis agents weren't very interested in what Darien was looking at anymore, just in keeping an eye on him so that he didn't stray. At last the first ring of the bullet flew out and they could hear the call of alarm go up.

Another bullet sang in the air and they all caught a glimpse of Alex's jacket as she appeared then disappeared back within the trees.

One of the Chrysalis cursed, then quickly ordered, "You, stay with him, the rest of you with me!" Arnaud seemed in the midst of indecision as to whether to follow as well, but soon decided to stay. Darien had turned away from gazing at the Keeper with the commotion but still stood in place, calmly gazing out at the world.

Looking over at Rachel with raised eyebrows, Claire saw her hold up a snowball and quickly packed a couple for herself. A minute later, they exchanged looks and took aim.

All at once two balls of snow came flying out of the trees followed quickly by two more and then by two storming woman in their quake. The balls of snow each hit their marks straight on, knocking both men back with the unexpected assault.

Claire was upon Arnaud within seconds, kicking and punching for all she was worth until Arnaud was laying in the snow in a daze with pieces of his mask torn off. Rachel had taken on the startled Chrysalis by expertly grabbing his gun and whipping it up to strike him in the face. He crumpled in an instant. She didn't wait for anything else and raced for the Bronco, getting in and checking the visor for keys. There wasn't any, but it didn't matter. With another minute she had the panel open and was working with the wires.

Claire raced up to Darien, grabbing on of his hands and tugging him towards the car. He didn't move, didn't even budge but continued to gaze at her as if he wasn't sure how to respond to her tugging. "Damn it Darien, come on!" Claire pleaded.

"Claire we don't have time for this!" Rachel yelled back as the engine roared to life. Both of the men were coming to their senses and trying to get to their feet.

"Darien!" Claire loudly complained, then trying a different approach went around and pushed him, determined to pick him up and carry him if she had to, but he moved, finally, walking where she pushed and naturally getting into the vehicle as she shoved him in that direction. Claire got the door closed and locked right before the Chrysalis agent could get to it. "Let's go!" She yelled up front.

"Whoa!"

Claire looked up and saw that Arnaud was also trying to get in, pounding at the window and going for what was probably his gun. Half his face was hanging like the loose skin it really was. Rachel was staring at him in shock. Thinking quickly, Claire leaned up and hit the horn, as much to distract Arnaud as to bring Rachel back to her senses and maybe the noise would even help distract Alex's pursuers.

The trick seemed to work, and in the next instant Rachel was slamming the vehicle into reverse and pulling out of there. The two men were running for the other vehicle as Rachel spun the car in a 180 to correct their position. "Shoot their tires out!"

"What?" Then Rachel motioned to the semi-automatic and Claire understood. She took the gun and rolling down her window shot back at the pursuing vehicle. Under the ruin of Claire's fire, the front tires burst sending the car swerving out of control till if finally stopped up against the trunk of a tree.

Grinning, Claire leaned back in, but her smile disappeared when she met Darien's silent watchful gaze. Picking Alex up was much easier, she was exactly where she was supposed to be and while Claire provided cover fire Alex jumped into the back of the Bronco and they once again took off.

Alex was out of breath and had a hand over her side but asked once they were back on the road, "How is he?" Nodding to Darien who hadn't yet said a word to anyone.

"Alive," The Keeper curtly answered then climbed over the seat to get to Alex, scowling as she examined under protest Alex's bullet wound from before. "It opened up. I think I'm going to have to stitch it after all."

"Excuse me," Rachel called back. "But I 'need to know' something here. Who are you people? What on earth has my brother gotten mixed up in this time and what on earth was wrong with that guy back there, that guy Arnaud?" She asked, pulling the name out of memory.

"Invisible," came the mumbled reply.

They all looked at Darien in surprise, but he didn't say anything else, his face was as still as it had been before. Alex glanced at Claire who looked worried but nodded back. "I think we're going to need a safe place for the night."

Hobbes paced his 'room' like an animal who'd been pent up for far too long, his limp now barely discernable in his agitation. He'd been there for over a day, they'd doused him with pain killers, done surgery and patched up his leg, fed him, clothed him, nice expensive clothes, too -gave him a cozy bed to sleep in and they had yet to ask his name let alone interrogate him! What was wrong with these people, he demanded to himself. Don't they know how to properly keep a prisoner?!. Scowling, he pulled out his pills and swallowed two. He was getting nowhere here, and he needed to find out what on Earth happened to Fawkes!

Hobbes knocked on his locked door, yelling, "Open up!"

The door opened and one of his two guards smiled in at him asking pleasantly, "What can we do for you Agent Hobbes?"

"I want to know why I'm here. I want to talk to whoever's in charge! Do you realize-"

The guard cut him off with a wave of his hand and yet another polite smile. "I'm truly sorry, but They're a bit busy right now. I'm sure They'll be more than willing to talk to you as soon as they can." Hobbes scowled, trying to keep his sour disposition but having trouble in the face of their insistent cheeriness. The hallway beyond was devoid of people, the interior much like a cozy office building with the occasional hung painting and potted plant to give it a semblance of life. If it weren't for the fact that despite their persistent helpfulness his guards still held their weapons at ready, a bruise on his cheek as proof, he'd once again try for a break out of this surreal world. Sighing under his breath, Hobbes met the bright eyes of the young guards.

"Is there anything else?" They offered kindly. "Some coffee? The brew's not too bad tonight."

"No. Thanks," Hobbes grumbled.

"An extra pillow. Are you tired?"

"I have a book in my locker you might like," The other guard added far too eagerly.

"No!"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!" Just then Hobbes saw Rena and Pierre turn the corner. Gratefully, they were headed right for him.

"Agent Hobbes would you follow us, please?" Pierre asked studiously.

"Do I have a choice?" Hobbes growled out. The phase just came natural to him he couldn't help it.

Pierre's eyebrows rose in surprise and he said quite simply, "You can stay in your room another night if you want to."

"No no, I'm coming," Hobbes quickly amended hopping out of his 'comfy' confines. Pierre and Rena lead him through the network of halls, -Hobbes almost stopped when they passed the tanks of brightly colored fish, the guards following at a discreet distance.

"You'll be relieved to know your partner Agent Monroe is alive." Pierre told him as they walked.

"Of coarse she is!" Bobby gruffly stated. "It takes more than a gunshot to kill one of us, my friend!" Though inside he was taking that much needed breath of relief.

Eyebrow raising once again, Pierre murmured, "Whatever."

Then Rena picked up the conversation looking a little more kindly at Hobbes. "We also know she and your friends were able to liberate Agent Fawkes from Chrysalis. They seem to be very resourceful."

Hobbes frowned, questioning suspiciously, "How do you know all this?"

"I think They'd be the best to answer that question," Pierre replied as they stepped through the doors of an extremely high tech looking lab. Hobbes wanted to whistle at the sheer extent of the place, it rose up at least four levels, and looked pretty sci-fiish to him. A mix between something out of the X-Files, and the engine room of Enterprise. Complete with the whole glowing tubes and everything!

Eight pairs of eyes turned to look brightly at him, their glasses and lab coats identifying them as scientists. Insane or mad scientists no doubt, Hobbes was sure. They all excitedly came down to meet him, some from the various levels of catwalks. "Agent Hobbes!"

Hobbes heard the lock of the door behind him and spun around, for the first time realizing he'd been left alone with these crazy science guys! He grabbed for the handle, but it was locked, and turning back around made ready to defend himself, growling out. "Alright, one step closer and the first one gets it!"

The scientists clustered around him but left a good distance between. "Agent Hobbes, we have so many questions for you!" Beady Eyes stated with a broad smile.

"I knew it!" Bobby proclaimed, loosening his stance to fight, but none of them was moving any closer.

Then Pointy Nose said, still consumed with excitement. "You don't understand. We don't want to hurt you. We just want to know how you're feeling?" All the scientists nodded eagerly.

"Excuse me?!"

"Your leg," Baldy returned. "How does it feel?" Then they all started talking, the conversation turning from one scientist to the next with barely a second's pause.

"We weren't sure it was going to work-"

"We've never had the opportunity to work on wounds caused outside the lab before-"

"Especially on something as messy as a gun shot-"

"Mind you the procedure is sound-"

"In theory." Large Ears chortled and they all joined in the laughter briefly before picking up the conversation once more.

"It's not that it's really un-kosher or anything-"

"It's a lot like growing a new ear-"

"They're so behind, tsk tsk.-"

"More like increasing the growth of the tissue already there-"

"Wait, wait!" Hobbes finally interrupted, trying to take in everything they just said. They waited patiently, smiles plaster on all of them. "Who are you people?!" Hobbes exclaimed in exasperation.

Pointy Nose just laughed, saying, "That's not important. How does you leg feel?"

"Fine," Hobbes grumbled out.

"Any sharp pains?" Another one asked.

"Some. Nothing serious." The leg wasn't hurting really, much as he knew it should, but he 'was' starting to get a headache. "I was told you'd be able to tell me how you all know so much about what's going on." He thought he might as well try and get something out of this, though he didn't really expect them to tell him. Au contraire!

"The pigeons!" Red Beard exclaimed, and their eyes all lit up with even more excitement then they had had when he entered the room. From that point on, Bobby couldn't get them to shut up once as they pulled him happily about their lab explaining all the scientific accomplishes they'd had so far. It was worse then trying to understand one of the Keepers explanations. And there were eight of them! By the end of the night he was ready to talk, except, no one asked him a question.

"Well? How is he?" Rachel asked looking on their new 'patient' with an increasing frown. She'd been promised an explanation of things once Claire had finished her examination of Darien.

"Physically, he's fine. But..." Claire made a sound of discouragement. "I need to get my gear from the car." She stood and left in a hurry.

Rachel continued frowning. Darien turned slowly to look up at her, his eyes focusing on her yet not focusing all at the same time. She was standing in her kitchen, having grudgingly taken them to her home after their escape. Darien was on one of the adjacent dining room's chairs, looking for all his part like a lost child. Rachel sighed, murmuring, "Don't worry Fawkes, your friends will set you right."

Jason came running in then, only half out of his snow suit and trailing slush all the way from the front door.

"Jason, you're supposed to be packing a bag for tonight," Rachel told him sternly.

"I am mom. I had to get sometin," Jason told her by way of excuse and ran up to Darien excitedly, but he stopped when Darien didn't say anything. They stared at each other for a good minute. "Hey Uncle Darien," Jason said a bit hesitantly. And with no further response waved one of his little hands in front of Darien's eyes, looking intently at Darien's face for a reaction. Sighing heavily, Jason turned to his mother and asked, "When's Gampa coming back?"

"If you go up and get your bag ready so Dan can take you into the city tonight, then I'm sure by the time you get back your ga- uncle will be here as well." She began to come around the counter to encourage him on his way.

Before he left, Jason threw his arms around the still Darien, hugging tightly, and whispered in his ear, "Take care of Uncle Bobby for me!" Then he was retreating from the room right as Dan and Alex came in looking for him.

Once Rachel was sure her son was heading in the right direction, she turned to Dan. "Don't bring him back until I call."

"Rach, you know this is-" Dan began hesitantly.

"The CIA wants no part of this, do they?" She asked stubbornly.

"No." It was Alex who answered. "I got a call through. We'll have some of our own men here sometime tomorrow."

Rachel nodded, and stated determined, "Just keep Jason safe, Dan. Away from all this. As a favor for me."

"Sure thing Rach." He turned to go help Jason pack as Claire came back in, a large tote bag in hand.

Setting the bag on the table, she proceeded to pull out a small microscope and countless other instruments, then turned to Darien and prepped his arm to pull some blood.

"Are you going to give him a shot?" Alex asked, avoiding any obvious key words as she and Rachel drew closer.

The Keeper shook her head, saying, "No, it's too dangerous until I know what drug this is." She carefully filled a vial with the thick red life giving substance and put a Band-Aid over the insertion point.

"So, are you guys going to tell me what's going on now?" Rachel inquired.

Darien mutely turned and looked up at her, holding up the arm that had just donated blood. Quicksilver traced its way down till the arm itself disappeared. Rachel gasped in surprise.

Claire frowned and mumbled, "Well, that's one way to begin."

Darien turned and looked at her, his eyes round and soulful as the quicksilver shed, then, stated quietly, "Keeper."

...Eight Wacky Scientists
Seven Pigeons Watching
Six Oatmeal Cookies
Five Chrysali
Four Balls of Snow
Three Missing Disks
Two Foreign Spies
And Arnaud in a Telephone Booth