Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from Mutant X.

Author's Note: As requested, there's a bit more Brennan in this chapter. See? You ask, I write!

Chapter 4

Emma walked into the lab, with the puppy at her heels, to find Adam hard at work there.

"Adam?" she called out. "Don't tell me you've been up all night working on this?"

He swung round, eyes bleary with lack of sleep. "Just finishing," he responded defensively. He knew they all cared about him, but having Emma expressing such concern over his welfare melted his heart.

"Did you find out anything?" she asked, laying a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm nearly there," he replied, trying to slow his heart down a little. "I'm just letting this test run, and we should have the results soon."

"Then go to bed whilst you're waiting," she suggested. "At least get a little sleep."

He shook his head shortly. "No, I want to be here for when the results come through." He turned to look into her concerned eyes, and another little part of his heart was lost to her. "It shouldn't take very long," he mumbled turning away quickly lest she read his face as easily as she could read his mind if she so chose.

She sighed in disappointment, knowing that no one would change Adam's mind once it was set. "You win. Have you spoken to Bren yet?"

"Haven't had the time," he replied briskly, trying to fob her off.

"Well, you go off now and have a word, and I can keep watch over the tests." When he remained silent for a second too long, she continued. "There are times when a girl can tell what people are thinking, even without being a telempath, you know."

His heart seemed to stop completely, and he froze in terror. Not this way. She shouldn't find out this way. Was it too late to lie through his teeth and say it was a passing crush?

"I know you're not comfortable with talking to Bren, but you're a better role model than you realise. He'll listen to you, we all do."

He mentally let out a huge sigh of relief. "Do you really think so?" he asked, covering up his discomfort.

Emma put her arms round his neck and gave him a peck on the cheek. "Course, we all do," she smiled. His heart sank as he made his way to go find Brennan. He had been right all along. They all perceived him as a father figure. Even Emma.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

He found Brennan in the kitchen. "Is that breakfast or lunch?" he asked the elemental, seeing it was late in the morning.

Brennan turned to see Adam come into the room. "Breakfast," he replied through a mouthful of toast. He raised a half eaten square, "want some?"

Adam shook his head in a silent refusal. He sat next to him and searched his face for any signs of the focus of his problems. He saw dark circles under his eyes, and pale cheeks.

"Anything up, Brennan?"

Brennan shook his head. "Who told you to speak to me?" he asked, a shade defensively.

"We're all worried about you, son. Problems always look worse from the inside," he replied gently. "You'll feel better if you talk about it."

"There's nothing to talk about, Adam."

Silence enveloped the kitchen as Adam tried to pluck up the courage to ask the question he was dreading the answer to. "You have feelings for Emma?"

Brennan whipped round to face him. "Emma? Where did you get that idea?"

"Shalimar then?" Adam continued, feeling rather small and stupid.

Brennan laughed. "Shal? Adam, they've both like sisters to me. I could never feel more than brotherly towards them."

Adam smiled like the cat that got the cream. "I'm glad I've made you laugh at least," he grinned.

"Is that what everyone thinks?" he asked. "That I'm jealous of Jesse cos he's with Shal?"

"Well," Adam began, not knowing how to respond.

"I know there was something between us a while ago, but that's all over. We spoke about it and we both realised that it just wasn't going to work. She was obviously in love with Jesse, and I..." His sentence trailed away into the silence.

Adam wasn't sure what to say any more as both his theories had been disproved. Brennan looked at Adam. "Do you ever feel lonely, Adam?" he asked him.

"Of course not" he replied, getting flustered. "I've got you four." He hoped against hope that Brennan wasn't going to start talking about Adam's romantic interests.

"That's not what I mean," he said shaking his head. "I mean, do you ever wish you had found someone to love who would love you back?"

"Well, obviously, I, err,... well, I see what you,... Of course I,..."

"Ignore me," Brennan interrupted. "I suppose I'm just cranky cos I haven't had a date in ages."

Adam started into the face he's come to love as a son. "It's more than that, thought isn't it?" he guessed.

"I don't exactly get to meet many single women who aren't either running away or trying to kill me," he replied.

"I know this isn't going to help you much in your current frame of mind, but there's a saying someone once told me. 'If fate's got you in her eye, she won't let you pass by.'"

Brennan sighed deeply. "I suppose I know that," he mumbled.

"And when she does cross your path, she's hardly going to be attracted to a long-faced, dull-eyed misery guts," he smiled.

Brennan grinned, and Adam saw a spark of the old Brennan. "Can't have any eligible young women thinking those things about me, can I?"

"Adam, the tests have been completed. Do you want to come take a look at the results?" came Emma's voice.

"I'll be there in a second. Shalimar, Jesse, meet us there." he replied as he got up to leave. "You coming, Brennan?" He stopped as Brennan put a hand on his arm.

"Thanks Adam."

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Adam could hardly contain his relief and excitement as he strode back to the lab. Brennan wasn't going to be competition for Emma's feelings! He was elated. This meant that there was only one problem now, and that was revealing to Emma the way he felt about her.

As he came to the lab door, he saw Emma inside playing with the puppy she had found the night before. He stood in the shadow of the doorway for a few seconds, enjoying the feeling of watching her uninhibited, thinking she was alone.

Finally, aware that the others were only a short way behind him, he snapped himself out of it and strode in, determined to catch whatever it was that was so violently killing indiscriminately. "What are the results?" he asked her as she hurried to get up off the floor.

"I haven't looked. I thought you might want to do that," she replied.

He moved over to the computer and began matching the DNA strand found at the scene with the information on the database. A single photo flashed up on the screen, and he heard Emma gasp behind him.

"It's a woman!" she exclaimed.

"I told you," Jesse said to Shalimar as they entered. "Only a woman would kill the couple and leave the cute puppy."

Shalimar took a swipe at him. "You just learn from this what a female feral is capable of, smarty pants."

"Rhian James. Twenty five years old, canine feral." Shal exchanged a meaningful glance with Jesse. "This is strange," Adam continued. "She lives in England."

"So what's she doing here?" asked Emma.

"She heard there was a cat around here who needed her ass kicked," joked Jesse.

"Jesse, this is serious," Brennan snapped as Jesse sheepishly apologised.

"I don't know Emma," Adam replied. A few clicks of the keypad later, Adam found what he needed.

"She's been travelling from city to city all over the United Kingdom. Never stayed more than a couple of months in one place."

"And now she's over here," Brennan finished for him.

Adam nodded as he typed some more. "Yes, just as I thought. In every city she's been, there are records of unsolved murders, all of them violent. Looks like every time she was close to being found out, she moved on again."

"Any idea where she's staying?" asked Emma.

"No, so it's going to have to be a case of searching the areas around the recent killings. She's killed every night so far. Tonight should be no different."

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

The sun was setting as the Double Helix flew towards the area they were going to search. Emma looked on as Adam made decisions about pairings, patterns of search, and precautions. Much as she had tried to protest, Adam had insisted on coming along too. She feared that something would happen to him, and being the only one of them without powers, he wouldn't be able to protect himself.

She watched as his hands flew through the air, explaining another vital point about their mission. Sometimes she wished she hadn't fallen for him. She had vowed never to let her guard down and let a man in, but he had somehow wormed his way past every barrier she had put up.

He turned to look at her half way through his sentence, almost as if he knew she was thinking about him, before continuing with his plans. As they touched down, Emma slipped her hand into his. She turned away a second too early to see his face turn pink, missing the implication.

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Again, if there are any requests, suggestions, or flaws you want to see rectified, you know what to do!