Part 5
The sounds of a distant door slamming open and running feet on the wood flooring would have given Emma plenty of warning of Brennan and Shalimar's return to Sanctuary, had she needed it. But the feral had been emoting on such a high level that she'd known exactly where she was every inch of the journey back from the car park. With an inward sigh she looked round, checking her mental shields were firmly in place as she braced herself against the full onslaught of the approaching woman's alarm and concern.
"Where is he? How is he? What happened? What...?" The words gushed out in a flood as Shalimar skidded to a halt beside her at the window to the med-section, dark eyes drilling fiercely into hers before following her nodding gesture towards the scene within. In an instant Emma knew she'd been completely forgotten as the blonde shifted to rest her hands on the glass, practically pressing her nose up against it as she took in the image of Jesse lying pale and unmoving on the bio-bed while Adam moved purposefully about, checking leads and readouts from the equipment surrounding him.
Almost unnoticed, Brennan dropped a briefcase onto the table and came up behind them, frowning when he caught sight over their heads of what was holding their interest. "What's going on, Emma?" he asked quietly, catching hold of her arm and trying to turn her away so he could get her attention. "What's the matter with him?" But Shalimar's low growl, part anger, part anguish, as she broke the spell holding her and pushed her way into the room distracted him enough for Emma to pull free and step back.
"I don't know," she responded, rubbing absently at her arm. She glanced at him sideways, an enigmatic look that in other circumstances he might have queried, but which right now he was too pre-occupied with everything that was going on to really register. "He just kind of... freaked! He was working on getting the exits closed, then the next thing we know he's up and running like all the demons in hell are after him. We followed him to his room, but he'd locked the door. I tried to reach him, tried to help him, but he was in such pain... such..." She broke off, shuddering at the memory and Brennan reached to wrap a long arm round her shoulders and pull her into a brotherly hug.
"It's OK," he murmured. "You did your best. He'll pull through it, whatever it is – he's too damn stubborn not to."
Head pressed against his broad chest, drawing strength from his simple honest faith, Emma found herself hoping fervently that he was right. Because if he wasn't, and if the fear that was beginning to take root in her heart turned out to be anything more than a self-induced fantasy, she knew she'd never be able to forgive herself.
**
"He looks so young, doesn't he?" Shalimar's quiet words told Adam that she was aware of his presence as he stood silently in the doorway, watching her standing by the bed with one warm hand resting on Jesse's cold one, the other gently brushing back unruly strands of hair from his forehead. "It's just like when he was a kid and misjudged that wall he was trying to phase through - remember?" She laughed softly. "You tried to warn him, but oh no, he wasn't gonna be told by anyone. Ended up knocking himself out cold falling down the stairs on the other side when he had to re-form in a hurry."
Adam smiled, walking over to join her. "He certainly took his share of knocks learning to handle his powers. Just like you. But you both survived and came out the other side stronger. That will help him now."
"But you don't even know what's wrong with him!" she protested, voice rising in volume and intensity as she turned to face him. "Or why he's still unconscious. It's been hours now!"
"That's what I came to tell you. I've..."
It could have been the noise, or maybe the strength of her emotions finally broke through the cocoon separating Jesse from reality, but before Adam could finish there came a murmur of sound from the direction of the bed that had them both whipping round to stare hopefully at his recumbent figure.
A flicker of movement under shadowed eyelids came as prologue to his first real attempt at regaining consciousness, but the two of them could only wait and watch as he fought against whatever forces were trying to drag him back down into the darkness again. Finally, though, the pale blue eyes fluttered reluctantly open, blinking even in the dim lights, and Shalimar leant forward to smile encouragingly at him.
"Hey, welcome back," she said, grasping his arm gently. "You had us worried there."
But instead of the answering grin and the smartass response she was half expecting, she saw his gaze shoot away from hers to dart anxiously round the room, his body tensing as if ready to take flight. She looked up at Adam, not knowing what to do, and he stepped closer, waiting until Jesse focused on his movement and then him.
"How are you feeling, Jesse?" he asked carefully, reaching to adjust one of the sensors monitoring his vital signs. But a firm hand clamped down on his and he looked down in surprise to find Jesse staring up at him with a mixture of confusion and, more alarmingly, distrust.
"What are you doing to me?" The words were little more than a whisper, but they made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.
"Just trying to find out what's wrong with you," he said soothingly, "what made you pass out like that." Jesse's forehead crinkled into a frown, as if he was having difficulty understanding the words. Adam could feel Shalimar bursting to leap in with reassurance and explanation, but he gestured her to stay quiet, trying to quell his own feelings of apprehension as he continued. "We're just trying to help you, Jesse. You know that, don't you?"
There was a moment's silence as the world seemed to hold its breath, then...
"But... why should I believe you when I don't know who you are!!"
Jesse heard the sharp intake of breath from the blonde woman standing next to him, felt her nails dig sharply into his arm before she realized what she was doing and let him go. If he hadn't been so wrapped up in fighting the panic that was threatening to overwhelm him, he'd probably have pursued the soul-warming emotions he'd felt emanating from her touch in the seconds before she did. But instinct was telling him he needed to get out of here - wherever here was, this familiar-unfamiliar place he didn't remember ever having been before - and away from these people he didn't recognise but who seemed to know him, whatever their intentions.
The dark haired man was speaking to him again, he realized, and he dragged part of his attention back his way while the rest continued to seek a way out.
"You don't remember us?" the calm voice asked. He shook his head, wincing at the soon-past flash of pain it engendered. 'Liar,' something tried to tell him but he ignored it, squashing it ruthlessly back into the hole it had come from.
"Do you know who you are?"
The $64,000 question. He dug down inside himself, emerging triumphant with the prize, the nugget of self-awareness still burning bright in that secret place where the madness couldn't reach it. "Yes! Of course I do," said with more confidence than he was really feeling. For while he knew his name, his age, where he came from, he could feel that there was so much more missing. There had to be, didn't there? This couldn't be all there was...
"Do you know *what* you are?
The final question, asked even more softly than the others, evoked a reaction in him he couldn't explain, a great ball of dread forming in his chest, forcing his lungs to contract until he was struggling for breath, the sweat of fear breaking out on his body. He pushed himself up on his elbows, with every intention of using the movement as a springboard to bring him to his feet, but another flash of excruciating though again thankfully fleeting agony sent the room spinning dizzily round. His stomach roiled queasily, and he squeezed his eyes shut, lowering his head back to the pillow as what little strength he'd had seemed to drain from his muscles. Dimly he heard a soothing and oddly reassuring voice telling him to rest, that everything would be OK though he knew somehow that it would be anything but...
Adam ushered the clearly dismayed Shalimar from the room, firmly overcoming her protests that she needed to stay with Jesse, keep an eye on him, by calling out to Emma to come and sit with him.
"What's happened to him, Adam?" The feral rounded on him as soon as they reached the lab. "Why doesn't he know us?" Without waiting for an answer she turned away again to prowl across the room and back, unable to keep still when one of her own was in peril.
"I don't know why – well, not exactly. But I was coming to tell you, I have found something." Adam had moved over to one of the computer terminals, and was hitting keys as he spoke. "I've been comparing Jesse's recent brain scans with the ones I took right after you got back from Kovakhstan," he continued, punching up a side-by-side view of them.
Shalimar's restless pacing ceased and she moved to stand beside him, frowning as she tried to make sense of what she was seeing. "Well, they're different, that's for sure," she ventured after a few moments.
Adam nodded with a grim smile. "They are that. It looks like something has been progressively disrupting his memory centres, kind of slowly eating away at them."
She looked up at him, shock-filled eyes seeking his. "But what? What's doing it? Can't you stop it?"
"I don't know." She didn't even bother asking for clarification as to which question that answered, only too aware that it was probably all three. But the older man turned to face her, expression serious. "Shalimar, could anything have happened while you were out there, maybe while Jesse and Emma were working on the Helix? Something that neither of them have mentioned?"
Her eyes narrowed as she tried to work out where he was going with this. "It's possible – I was off looking for the PVG with Brennan, and then getting his ass out of trouble. The two of them were alone back there most of the time." She paused, realising with a start what he might be suggesting. "You're not thinking that Emma..." she began with growing horror.
But she was interrupted by the door to the lab slamming open to admit a clearly outraged Brennan, one hand rubbing at a jaw already reddening with latent bruising.
"I don't know what the hell's going on, but Jess just slugged me and took off in the Beamer!"
****
The sounds of a distant door slamming open and running feet on the wood flooring would have given Emma plenty of warning of Brennan and Shalimar's return to Sanctuary, had she needed it. But the feral had been emoting on such a high level that she'd known exactly where she was every inch of the journey back from the car park. With an inward sigh she looked round, checking her mental shields were firmly in place as she braced herself against the full onslaught of the approaching woman's alarm and concern.
"Where is he? How is he? What happened? What...?" The words gushed out in a flood as Shalimar skidded to a halt beside her at the window to the med-section, dark eyes drilling fiercely into hers before following her nodding gesture towards the scene within. In an instant Emma knew she'd been completely forgotten as the blonde shifted to rest her hands on the glass, practically pressing her nose up against it as she took in the image of Jesse lying pale and unmoving on the bio-bed while Adam moved purposefully about, checking leads and readouts from the equipment surrounding him.
Almost unnoticed, Brennan dropped a briefcase onto the table and came up behind them, frowning when he caught sight over their heads of what was holding their interest. "What's going on, Emma?" he asked quietly, catching hold of her arm and trying to turn her away so he could get her attention. "What's the matter with him?" But Shalimar's low growl, part anger, part anguish, as she broke the spell holding her and pushed her way into the room distracted him enough for Emma to pull free and step back.
"I don't know," she responded, rubbing absently at her arm. She glanced at him sideways, an enigmatic look that in other circumstances he might have queried, but which right now he was too pre-occupied with everything that was going on to really register. "He just kind of... freaked! He was working on getting the exits closed, then the next thing we know he's up and running like all the demons in hell are after him. We followed him to his room, but he'd locked the door. I tried to reach him, tried to help him, but he was in such pain... such..." She broke off, shuddering at the memory and Brennan reached to wrap a long arm round her shoulders and pull her into a brotherly hug.
"It's OK," he murmured. "You did your best. He'll pull through it, whatever it is – he's too damn stubborn not to."
Head pressed against his broad chest, drawing strength from his simple honest faith, Emma found herself hoping fervently that he was right. Because if he wasn't, and if the fear that was beginning to take root in her heart turned out to be anything more than a self-induced fantasy, she knew she'd never be able to forgive herself.
**
"He looks so young, doesn't he?" Shalimar's quiet words told Adam that she was aware of his presence as he stood silently in the doorway, watching her standing by the bed with one warm hand resting on Jesse's cold one, the other gently brushing back unruly strands of hair from his forehead. "It's just like when he was a kid and misjudged that wall he was trying to phase through - remember?" She laughed softly. "You tried to warn him, but oh no, he wasn't gonna be told by anyone. Ended up knocking himself out cold falling down the stairs on the other side when he had to re-form in a hurry."
Adam smiled, walking over to join her. "He certainly took his share of knocks learning to handle his powers. Just like you. But you both survived and came out the other side stronger. That will help him now."
"But you don't even know what's wrong with him!" she protested, voice rising in volume and intensity as she turned to face him. "Or why he's still unconscious. It's been hours now!"
"That's what I came to tell you. I've..."
It could have been the noise, or maybe the strength of her emotions finally broke through the cocoon separating Jesse from reality, but before Adam could finish there came a murmur of sound from the direction of the bed that had them both whipping round to stare hopefully at his recumbent figure.
A flicker of movement under shadowed eyelids came as prologue to his first real attempt at regaining consciousness, but the two of them could only wait and watch as he fought against whatever forces were trying to drag him back down into the darkness again. Finally, though, the pale blue eyes fluttered reluctantly open, blinking even in the dim lights, and Shalimar leant forward to smile encouragingly at him.
"Hey, welcome back," she said, grasping his arm gently. "You had us worried there."
But instead of the answering grin and the smartass response she was half expecting, she saw his gaze shoot away from hers to dart anxiously round the room, his body tensing as if ready to take flight. She looked up at Adam, not knowing what to do, and he stepped closer, waiting until Jesse focused on his movement and then him.
"How are you feeling, Jesse?" he asked carefully, reaching to adjust one of the sensors monitoring his vital signs. But a firm hand clamped down on his and he looked down in surprise to find Jesse staring up at him with a mixture of confusion and, more alarmingly, distrust.
"What are you doing to me?" The words were little more than a whisper, but they made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.
"Just trying to find out what's wrong with you," he said soothingly, "what made you pass out like that." Jesse's forehead crinkled into a frown, as if he was having difficulty understanding the words. Adam could feel Shalimar bursting to leap in with reassurance and explanation, but he gestured her to stay quiet, trying to quell his own feelings of apprehension as he continued. "We're just trying to help you, Jesse. You know that, don't you?"
There was a moment's silence as the world seemed to hold its breath, then...
"But... why should I believe you when I don't know who you are!!"
Jesse heard the sharp intake of breath from the blonde woman standing next to him, felt her nails dig sharply into his arm before she realized what she was doing and let him go. If he hadn't been so wrapped up in fighting the panic that was threatening to overwhelm him, he'd probably have pursued the soul-warming emotions he'd felt emanating from her touch in the seconds before she did. But instinct was telling him he needed to get out of here - wherever here was, this familiar-unfamiliar place he didn't remember ever having been before - and away from these people he didn't recognise but who seemed to know him, whatever their intentions.
The dark haired man was speaking to him again, he realized, and he dragged part of his attention back his way while the rest continued to seek a way out.
"You don't remember us?" the calm voice asked. He shook his head, wincing at the soon-past flash of pain it engendered. 'Liar,' something tried to tell him but he ignored it, squashing it ruthlessly back into the hole it had come from.
"Do you know who you are?"
The $64,000 question. He dug down inside himself, emerging triumphant with the prize, the nugget of self-awareness still burning bright in that secret place where the madness couldn't reach it. "Yes! Of course I do," said with more confidence than he was really feeling. For while he knew his name, his age, where he came from, he could feel that there was so much more missing. There had to be, didn't there? This couldn't be all there was...
"Do you know *what* you are?
The final question, asked even more softly than the others, evoked a reaction in him he couldn't explain, a great ball of dread forming in his chest, forcing his lungs to contract until he was struggling for breath, the sweat of fear breaking out on his body. He pushed himself up on his elbows, with every intention of using the movement as a springboard to bring him to his feet, but another flash of excruciating though again thankfully fleeting agony sent the room spinning dizzily round. His stomach roiled queasily, and he squeezed his eyes shut, lowering his head back to the pillow as what little strength he'd had seemed to drain from his muscles. Dimly he heard a soothing and oddly reassuring voice telling him to rest, that everything would be OK though he knew somehow that it would be anything but...
Adam ushered the clearly dismayed Shalimar from the room, firmly overcoming her protests that she needed to stay with Jesse, keep an eye on him, by calling out to Emma to come and sit with him.
"What's happened to him, Adam?" The feral rounded on him as soon as they reached the lab. "Why doesn't he know us?" Without waiting for an answer she turned away again to prowl across the room and back, unable to keep still when one of her own was in peril.
"I don't know why – well, not exactly. But I was coming to tell you, I have found something." Adam had moved over to one of the computer terminals, and was hitting keys as he spoke. "I've been comparing Jesse's recent brain scans with the ones I took right after you got back from Kovakhstan," he continued, punching up a side-by-side view of them.
Shalimar's restless pacing ceased and she moved to stand beside him, frowning as she tried to make sense of what she was seeing. "Well, they're different, that's for sure," she ventured after a few moments.
Adam nodded with a grim smile. "They are that. It looks like something has been progressively disrupting his memory centres, kind of slowly eating away at them."
She looked up at him, shock-filled eyes seeking his. "But what? What's doing it? Can't you stop it?"
"I don't know." She didn't even bother asking for clarification as to which question that answered, only too aware that it was probably all three. But the older man turned to face her, expression serious. "Shalimar, could anything have happened while you were out there, maybe while Jesse and Emma were working on the Helix? Something that neither of them have mentioned?"
Her eyes narrowed as she tried to work out where he was going with this. "It's possible – I was off looking for the PVG with Brennan, and then getting his ass out of trouble. The two of them were alone back there most of the time." She paused, realising with a start what he might be suggesting. "You're not thinking that Emma..." she began with growing horror.
But she was interrupted by the door to the lab slamming open to admit a clearly outraged Brennan, one hand rubbing at a jaw already reddening with latent bruising.
"I don't know what the hell's going on, but Jess just slugged me and took off in the Beamer!"
****