A/N: I decided to go on a hiatus today. However, the hiatus only lasted a couple hours. So here is the lovely chapter. Oh, one more thing: Jesse's not showing up for a few chapters, but when he does, y'all will hate me for a little while. Just so you know. But I am going to make up to for it!

Chapter 5

The next day found me going through more tests than I could stand. I didn't see Derek until after dinner. He was waiting for me outside my room, leaning casually against the door.

"Hey," he greeted when he saw me. He smiled and for the first time I realized he had a dimple-just one, on his left cheek. Why I hadn't noticed it before, I don't know. "Are you ready?"

"Ready for what?" I asked.

"I want to show you something." Without waiting for me to respond, he grabbed my arm and pulled me down along the hallway, then led me through a doorway at the other end of the hall that led to the labs. He cut a sharp right at the end of another hallway and then we found ourselves in front of a large, solid metal door.

"Where are we?" I demanded.

"You'll see," Derek said, grinning at me. He swiped his keycard through the slot, then pushed the door open. He stepped back for me to enter first.

I walked inside the room, looking around. It only took me a second to recognize the man sitting on the cot in the center of the room.

"Detective Arnold?"

***

A/N: Okay, this is going to kind of split off into two different directions. So, if it gets confusing, don't worry. It'll clear up in a little while.

***

Emily Harris was used to being at the Agency's beck and call by now. After dying the year before, she'd been stuck haunting the place, and being used for whatever the Agency wanted to get done.

"Talk to him," they'd said. "Get him to talk to you."

Apparently this new ghost that the Agency had locked away wasn't a big talker. Emily sighed as she passed through the door to the room where the ghost was being kept. She didn't like the idea of talking to another "prisoner" of the Agency. Having spent the past four years living-and dying- as one herself, she didn't really have any sympathy left.

Or so she thought.

When she saw him, she froze. This guy wasn't up and pacing around the room, the way most of them did. No, this one was sitting on a metal bench, staring straight ahead, not moving. What surprised Emily the most was that he looked so very much like someone she had known-another prisoner of the Agency, who they'd used to hurt the one guy she'd ever loved.

Emily's hands curled into fists at her sides as she remembered. She shook her head. She had work to do.

"Hi," she greeted moving next to the guy. "I'm Emily." She gave him a reassuring smile, but he just turned his head and stared down at her. She swallowed, recognizing the empty look in his dark eyes. Emily had certainly seen it enough times before. "What's your name?"

"Jesse," he said. "Jesse de Silva."

***

"What are doing here?" I demanded, staring at Detective Arnold.

Detective Arnold glanced at Derek who had come in behind me and closed the door. "I believe I have some explaining to do," he said.

I nodded, not sure what to say.

"Well, I will be truthful with you, Miss Simon," he said, sounding like we were back in his office at the Carmel Police Station. "I'm not merely a homicide detective." I raised my eyebrows, glancing at Derek. He shrugged. Detective Arnold continued, "I was one of the scientists working with the Agency when the two of you and other mediators were taken.

"When the Agency finished its tests, many of the scientists were laid off. I didn't want anything to do with the Agency and its experiments afterwards, so I went back to college and became a detective."

I stared at him. "You've got to be kidding."

"No, I'm not. Shortly before we met, Miss Simon, I had threatened to go public with the truth about the Agency. They appeared on my doorstep only a few days later. The only way I managed to escape getting killed was if I caught Paul Slater, who by that time was on the run from the Agency himself because of the murders he committed.'

"It's true, Suze," Derek said, coming to stand next to me.

I spent the being convinced that what Detective Arnold had to say was the truth. The only problem was, something about the whole thing made me feel very uneasy.

***

"Well, that was interesting," I said as Derek and I left Detective Arnold's room.

"It's about to get better," Derek informed me, grabbing my arm and pulling me down the hall once more. We finally came to another door, and Derek swiped his card through the slot, then led me inside.

It was a small room, filled with computers and gadgets galore. One of the screens showed a picture of the building outlined in white across a black background. There were red lights lit up across the screen.

"What is this?" I asked turning to Derek.

"The Agency's always been worried about getting caught." He glanced at me. "It's not exactly entirely legal, you know. A couple of years ago, they made it so that if an emergency arises, the building will self-destruct."

"Self-destruct?" The very idea was crazy. Not to mention dangerous.

Derek nodded. "With just a few pushing of the buttons, this place would literally explode." As he said this, the sound of footsteps came from outside the door. Derek pushed me behind him in a way that could have almost been called protective. He hit the light switch, and the room went dark, save for the lights coming from the computers.

We stood there breathlessly until the footsteps passed. Derek sighed, turning around to face me. His face looked green and blue in the light from the computer screens. He was also only inches away from me. And, despite the fact that I was engaged, my heart started pounding.

"Suze?"

I swallowed, looking up at Derek. "Yes?"

He took a step forward, and, without a word, leaned down and kissed me.

Oh, don't start with me. I know I shouldn't have been kissing Derek. But for some reason it had just happened, and I didn't know what else to do. Finally I broke away. "What are we doing?"

Derek ran his hair through his hair. "I don't know, I'm sorry." There was a long pause as we stood there staring at each other. "I-I should go."

I nodded. We left the room, and then went our separate ways. I didn't know what that was all about, but what I did know was that I couldn't hang around Derek anymore. He'd just have to prepare for this thing by himself.

***

A/N: I know I'm evil, and I said I wouldn't put Jesse in here either, but oh well. I wasn't planning on it, okay? But yeah, the kiss was evil, I'll admit. But I had to put a little tension in there. By the way: does anyone want to know who Emily is? Does anyone want to know who she was in love with? Does anyone want to know what's up with Jesse? You'll just have to wait, I'm afraid.