Disclaimer: I don't own Mutant X…

A/N:  thanks for the reviews I'm glad you like it so far…I hope you enjoy…

Chapter 2

Walking through the mall, Brennan and Shalimar went into almost every store and came out with at least one bag; even though Brennan continued to protest.  Both of their arms were weighed down by the amount of stuff that she had bought.  "Shal, I think we should go."  Brennan's arm felt like it was going to fall off.

Looking at her watch, Shalimar agreed, "Okay.   The mall's going to close soon anyway."

Together they walked back to the car, deciding on which club they were going to go later.

Back at Sanctuary

With a lot of coaxing from Jesse, Emma finally agreed to leave her room and eat something.  At first she protested that she wasn't hungry, but then Jesse insisted that he didn't want to eat alone.  Emma smiled; she knew that Jesse always ate whenever he wanted, and more often then naught, he was by himself.  Still she decided to go with him anyway; it'd be real stupid to starve herself just because Tyler was gone.

Emma sat at the table and looked over at Jesse, "So what's for dinner?"

"Pizza," he said grinning as he drew the box from the fridge.

"Grab me a soda too."

Reaching back into the fridge, he grabbed two sodas and then sat down next to Emma.  After handing her a soda, Jesse opened the box and took a slice.  Taking a bite, he looked over at Emma.  She looked like she was lost in a deep thought.  "Em, are you going to eat, or do I have to force feed you?"  When she didn't answer, he put a hand on her arm, "What's wrong?  I know something's bothering you."

As soon as he touched her, Emma could've sworn that she felt a spark of electricity; but Jesse wasn't an elemental.  "Huh?  Oh nothing's wrong Jess.  I was just thinking about something."  Grabbing a slice herself, she began to eat.

Shalimar and Brennan wandered into the kitchen, their arms laden with bags.  Dropping all her stuff on the floor, Shalimar knelt down in front of Emma, "Please go with us to a club.  I promise you will have fun.  I even bought you something new to wear if you go.  But you can only have the new outfit if you go with us."

"Okay, I'll go with you guys," Emma gave them all a small smile.

"Let's go get changed," Shalimar dragged Emma up the stairs along with her bags.  Once inside Emma's room, Shalimar tossed her a bag.  "Put that on."

Emma pulled the clothes out of the bag and tried it on.  It was a short, black silk spaghetti strap dress.  The back had a criss-cross pattern and the front was low; showing a noticeable amount (but not too much) of cleavage.  Emma's eyes almost fell out of her head, "There's no way I can wear this Shal."

"Why not?  It looks good on you.  And doesn't it feel nice?  It's silk.  They only had one dress; otherwise I would have gotten one too."  Shalimar finished changing; she was wearing a new pair of black leather pants, and a shimmering pink halter top.  "Try on these sandals," she said handing Emma the pair of shoes.

Emma sighed and grabbed the shoes.  Once they were on, she noticed how comfortable the shoes really were.  "I still don't know Shal…"

"Let's go get some more opinions," Shalimar dragged a protesting Emma out of the room, and into the main room where the guys were waiting.  Pushing Emma in front of the guys, Shalimar asked, "Don't you think she looks good?"

"You look good Emma," Brennan said sincerely.

Jesse stood there speechless.  The dress hugged her curves and fit her nicely, showing off her long, slender legs.  His stomach did a flip and his heart began to beat faster.  *She's so beautiful.  I just wish she would smile.  When she smiles, the room lights up.*

"Jess, say something.  What do you think," Emma asked hoping she didn't sound nervous about his answer.

Snapping out of his stare he said, "Wow.  That dress is um…amazing.  It uh…it looks good on you," he finished quickly.

Turning to Emma, Shalimar said, "See they think you look nice.  Now can we go?"

Emma sighed, "Yeah…"

A club

Lights were flashing and loud music was blasting around the room.  It only took a little effort from Shalimar to get Emma on the dance floor.  Concentrating on the music, Emma pushed Tyler to the back of her mind, and began dancing to the music.  *Shalimar was right.  I am having fun…maybe this is what I needed.*

The guys were watching the girls dance from their table.  Brennan saw Jesse staring at Emma and said, "Why don't you ask her to dance with you?"

"I think I will," Jesse got up and headed towards Emma on the dance floor.  Tapping her on the shoulder he said, "Will you dance with me?"

Emma spun around and was about to tell the guy to buzz off; when she saw it was Jesse her face softened.  "Yeah.  Looks like Shal has a dance partner too," Emma nodded her head over at Brennan and Shalimar.  There were so many people on the dance floor that Emma kept bumping into Jesse.  Even though it was crowded, they continued to dance and enjoy themselves.

The song ended and a slow one started.  Brennan pulled Shalimar close and they began to sway to the soft song.  Jesse looked at Emma; he wanted to dance with her and hold her close to his body.  But he didn't know if she wanted to.  Turning to head back to the table, he was stopped when somebody grabbed his arm.

It was Emma.  "Can I have another dance?"

*Always,* Jesse thought.  He wrapped his arms around her waist as she draped her arms around his neck.  Slowly they swayed to the music.

"Jesse?"

""Yeah?"

"Thanks," was all Emma said.

But that one word was all Jesse needed; he knew what she meant.  She was thanking him for being there for her when she needed him the most and for understanding what she was going through.  "You're welcome."

As they swayed back and forth to the music, they each got lost in each other's eyes.  Slowly Jesse leaned in to kiss her.  Their lips were centimeters away, when all of the sudden they heard Shalimar calling for them.

Pulling back form each other, they looked around.  Brennan and Shalimar made it back to their table, and it looked like they were ready to leave.

Emma sighed, "I guess we'd better go."

"Yeah," Jesse grabbed her hand and they pushed their way back to the table.  A few steps before they reached the table, Jesse released her hand.

"Shalimar and I wanted to know if you guys wanted to head back."

Emma was surprised; usually Jesse or herself would be asking when they wanted to go.  "You mean you guys are tired?"

Shalimar smiled, "We didn't say that.  If you guys want to stay you can, we'll call Adam to pick us up or something.  Besides you two looked like you two were getting pretty cozy out there."

Both of them started to blush.  Jesse tried not to think about what he almost did…what if Emma didn't want him to kiss her?  *Maybe we were lucky that Shalimar called for us.  What am I thinking, she just lost Tyler.  She's not going to want to date anyone else just yet…at least I didn't think she did.*  "We can go now.  It's late anyway," Jesse said.

When they got to the car, Jesse and Emma climbed in the back, and Shalimar and Brennan sat in the front.

Completely exhausted, Emma closed her eyes and rested her head on Jesse's shoulder.  Jesse, Shalimar, and Brennan all whispered as Emma slept the rest of the way to Sanctuary.

The garage of Sanctuary

Brennan slowly pulled into the garage and turned the car off.  "Wake her up.  We're here."

"I'll just carry her to her room.  If I wake her up, she might have trouble going back to sleep," Jesse said.  After getting out of the car, he went around to the other side and carefully picked up his sleeping teammate.  "Goodnight you guys.  Don't stay up too late," Jesse grinned and headed towards Emma's room.

Kicking her door open, he walked inside.  Gently laying Emma on her bed he took off her shoes and covered her up.  "Goodnight Emma."  After brushing a stray hair out of her face, he kissed her forehead and walked out of her room.

Sleepily he walked off to his room.  After stripping down to his boxers, Jesse climbed into his bed.  In a matter of minutes he drifted off to sleep thinking about Emma.

In the middle of the night

Emma woke up in a cold sweat.  Her breath was sharp and rapid, and she began to cry.  What started out like a nice dream of Tyler, turned into a nightmare as she relived the night he died.  But when he died in her dream, she saw his body disintegrate as the oils were eaten from his body; when it actually happened, the green smoke covered Tyler up as he dropped out of sight.

Feeling a hand on her shoulder, she looked up.  Tyler stood right beside her, he looked furious.  "I told you to stay away!  If you listened to me I'd still be alive!  It's your fault I died!"  His body disintegrated in front of her, just like in her dream.

She knew it was all in her head, but she wanted the visions and dreams to go away and not come back.  Tears streamed down her pale face as Emma made her way down the hall towards Jesse's room.  Opening the door, she walked over to his bed.  Gently she shook him and cried, "Jesse.  Jesse, wake up."

Jesse opened his eyes and saw Emma crying, he quickly sat up in bed and gave her a hug.  "What's the matter Emma?  What's wrong?"  Still hugging her against his bear chest, he stroked her hair to try and calm her down.

"I saw Tyler…die…" was all she said before she broke out into loud sobs.  "I dreamt that…*sob*…he disintegrated in…*sob*…front of me.  And then I…*sob*…woke up and he was right next to me.  He said it was all my fault that he died.  Jess, it was horrible…to see him…to see his body…" no matter how she tried, Emma couldn't finish her sentence.

Holding her tighter, Jesse said softly, "I can't tell you that it'll be okay, but I can tell you that it's not your fault.  He died for a reason, and that reason was not your fault, okay?"

Pulling back from his comforting embrace she looked into his eyes, "Can I stay in here?"

Without even giving it a second thought, he slid over to make room for her.  Emma climbed under the covers next to him, tears still flowing down her cheeks.  Bringing a hand to her face, Jesse wiped away the tears.  Then, without saying a word, he pulled her close to him, hugging her body.  He laid there; his face inches from hers and he watched her close her eyes.  After planting a quick kiss on her forehead, he said, "Sweet dreams Em," and drifted back into sleep.

A/N:  I would love to have more reviews *hint* *hint*  but even if I get none, this fic will continue just cuz I like it so much :) (I'm a pig headed writer aren't I hehehe)  anyway…next time…Emma talks to Shalimar about how she's feeling.  And Brennan gives Jesse the third degree (you all had to see that coming right…Brennan's not to happy with Jesse…)  All of this happens of course after the two are found together again!! (if it sucks I don't care…I'll keep on writing so there! :)