Disclaimer: still the same ain't never gonna change *frown*
Two hours later
Shalimar and Emily were still in the woods outside Sanctuary. Their lunch was already eaten, and they were just running around, playing tag. Emily climbed up a tree, but then she realized how high she was and became too frightened to climb back down. "Aunt Shalimar, can you come up and get me?"
Shalimar looked up at Emily, "I'm coming." Climbing up the tree, she managed to reach Emily. "Can you climb onto my back?"
Emily nodded and she carefully climbed onto Shalimar's back. Slowly Shalimar made her way down the tall tree.
Safely back on the ground, Emily scrambled off of Shalimar's back. "Thank you. I shouldn't have climbed up there. I just got a little carried away." Emily looked at the ground; she was embarrassed that she had to be saved.
Shalimar gave her a hug, "Don't worry about it. That tree was big for someone your size." All of the sudden the sky turned dark, and rain began to fall. "We'd better get back. Your mom won't be too happy with me if you end up getting soaked to the bone."
Together they ran through the forest, Emily matched Shalimar's pace with ease; which surprised Shalimar because her legs were much longer than the girl's. Giving Shalimar a big smile Emily said, "This is fun. Too bad I can't do it again sometime. I'm going to miss you Aunt Shalimar."
Emily's words sliced right through Shalimar's heart. Emily was so innocent, sweet and young. Yet she was already saying goodbye and prepared to die in order to save them from Gabriel. Not quite knowing what else to say, Shalimar just said, "I'm going to miss you too Emily."
They didn't say anything else on the way back. Emily gladly let the rain chill her; she desperately wanted to numb her feelings. She didn't mean to upset Aunt Shalimar, but she knew there was not much time left. She was getting sleepy, and when she would wake up again, she would be twelve years old.
Back in Sanctuary
Emma cried herself to sleep in Jesse's arms, while he continued to hold her. *I'd better take her to her room. Maybe I'd better write Shalimar a note, asking if Emily could stay in her room tonight. Emma needs to rest.* Quickly scribbling a note for Shalimar, he then picked up Emma and took her to her room. Carefully he laid her on her bed. After covering her up, and kissing her goodnight, he wandered down the hall to his own room. Soon he too fell into a deep sleep.
Elsewhere in Sanctuary
Brennan was reading some poetry on the couch, when he heard the front door of Sanctuary open. Looking into that direction, he saw two very wet figures.
"We're back! Uh, is mom around?" Emily quietly tiptoed towards Brennan.
"I think she's sleeping. Jesse wrote this mote," he handed the note over to Shalimar. Turning to Emily he said, "you'd better change out of those wet clothes. You don't want to get sick, it's not fun."
"I'm going to take a shower first."
"Hey Emily, let's do a sleepover in my room. We can watch movies and eat junkfood."
"Okay Aunt Shalimar, but I want to say hi to mom first."
"That might not be a good idea for now. She's sleeping and needs her rest. You can see her in the morning okay?"
Emily thought for a minute. She could feel her mom's mind, it was full of sadness and grief. "Okay, I'll see her in the morning." She ran up the stairs to the room that she and her mom shared. Quietly she grabbed some clothes and then went to the bathroom.
While she was taking her shower, Shalimar and Brennan were still talking in the rec room.
"Aren't you cold Shal?" Brennan looked her over; she was drenched and trying not to shiver.
"Yeah, but Emma and I share a bathroom remember? Emily's using it right now."
Brennan walked up to Shalimar and pulled her into his arms, "Well, maybe we can figure another way for you to warm up." Their lips acted like magnets, drawing them to each other. As they kissed, Shalimar began to feel warm. His tongue caressed hers, and his hands started to go up her shirt.
Shalimar quickly pulled back, "Brennan, we can't do that out here. Emily could walk in the room at any moment, not to mention Adam's just down the hall."
"Okay Shal, I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry. It's just that we can't do stuff like that out here. Especially with Emily around. Can I take a rain check?"
Brennan sighed, "Sure. If you want to you could use my shower."
"Thanks. Tomorrow I'll make it up to you. I promise." She gave him one last kiss, before she headed towards his bathroom.
Brennan headed up to his room. He figured that some sleep was in order. Shalimar and Emily were going to hang out, and Adam was busy working on something in his lab. After striping down to his black satin boxers, he slipped under the covers. Thinking about Shalimar's promise, he fell asleep dreaming about what the next day had in store for them.
Thirty minutes later in Shalimar's room
"Do you think we have everything?" Shalimar was holding a movie, popcorn, and two steaks. Emily had candy and sodas.
"Yup."
Shalimar popped the movie in the VCR and they relaxed on her bed, munching away on their snacks. Before the movie was even over, both of them fell asleep.
The next day
Shalimar rolled over and heard a small crunch. She sat up and looked down. Tiny crumbs of popcorn were all over the place, soda cans were on the floor, along with the candy. Their plates that the steaks had been on were lying on her dresser. Glancing at her alarm clock, she noticed that they had slept in late; it was one thirty in the afternoon.
Next to her Emily was still sound asleep. Popcorn was stuck in her long brown hair. "Hey Emily, time to get up," Shalimar gently shook the young girl.
Emily opened her eyes, "Good morning Aunt Shalimar." She climbed out of bed and stood up to stretch. "I'm going to shower and change into some clothes that will fit."
Shalimar nodded and watched Emily walk out of the room. Emily was about twelve years old, her hair was two inches past her shoulder now, and she was only one inch shorter than Shalimar.
Quickly she shook some popcorn out of her own hair and headed for Brennan's bathroom. *I used it last night, so I'm sure he won't mind if I borrow it again.* Locking the bathroom door behind her, she climbed into his shower.
In the lab
Emma walked into the lab, looking for Emily. Instead she found Adam asleep on his papers. Walking over to him, she gently placed a hand on his shoulder, "Adam."
Adam's head jerked up, "Emma? Is something wrong?"
"No. Go sleep in your room. Whatever you're working on can wait."
"Unfortunately it can't. I must keep working. Thank you for waking me up." With that he turned back towards his research.
Emma left the lab, so that Adam could be alone. She plumped down on the couch, worrying about where on earth Emily was, when Jesse's voice broke the silence.
"Hey Emma, is something wrong?"
Emma looked up at him, he could feel her concern, "I don't know where Emily is. I've looked everywhere. What if she already fought Gabriel and died?"
Jesse approached the couch and sat down. "Last night you were so upset, that I thought you could use some extra sleep. I asked Shalimar to watch her last night. They woke up a little while ago. I saw Emily go into your bathroom."
"How old is she now?"
"Twelve I think."
Emma didn't say anything, she couldn't. Her heart felt like it was being slowly ripped out of her chest. Her daughter was going to die, and there was nothing she could do to save her.
"Why don't You, Emily and I spend today together? We'll take her to wherever she wants to go."
"In that case, I want to go shopping, and eat at a nice restaurant for dinner," Emily's bright voice seemed to float across the room.
"Okay, I'll let Adam know." Jesse stood up and ran off to the lab.
Emily wandered over to the couch and sat down next to her mom. "Adam's trying to figure out a way for me not to die tomorrow. Don't worry about it anymore, I trust Adam. He'll figure out a way to save me."
"I hope so."
Emily decided to change the subject, "Is Jesse coming too?"
That got a smile out of Emma, "Yes. He thought the three of us should do something today."
"Good. He's fun to be around."
Jesse walked into the room with a pair of car keys, "Ladies, lets go shopping."
Both Emma and Emily squealed with joy and ran over to hug him. "When we come back, Adam wants to talk to you," he said to Emily.
She smiled, "Okay. Let's go." Together the three of them headed towards the garage.
The lab
Adam looked at the three devices he'd prepared. They were small round disks, hopefully they would work. Two devices were blue and the other one was black. The blue ones would drain energy and transmit the energy to the black one. Adam hoped the disks would work, they were the only things that would keep Emily alive; but only if they worked.
A/N: I'm sorry if this chapter isn't as good as the others, but I'm still deciding on if I should kill her off or not. Read review and enjoy!