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Aja watched apathetically as Monica gave Frank a briefing on Alex and Jake's activities. She didn't want to be here, she didn't need to be here. Donovan should just let her go back to Quantico and be done with it. Absently she snapped the gum she had been chewing.
"Are we bothering you, Agent Cage?"
Aja looked up at the disdainful voice to see Monica watching her expectantly. For a moment she didn't know what to say. "N-no." she said quietly.
"Then pay attention. You're on this case too."
Aja grumbled and sat forward, taking one of the reports out of the file jacket in front of her. As she read over it briefly, Alex and Jake came back in. She gave them a cursory glance as she kept reading the file. All of this was familiar for some reason… like she should know it personally. Surely it had to be her mind playing games on her.
"We got some problems."
"What kind of problems Alex?"
"The second in command of the outfit. He's a nasty S.O.B." Jake put in. "He's mean, very touchy and extremely hesitant to even talk to the both of us. It's like he's been burned before."
"Yeah," Alex agreed. "Pale, pastey, very evil feeling when I get close to him. And he watches me a little too closely when I'm talking."
Aja sighed heavily and got up, the file jacket in her hand. Frank watched her get up and begin to pace the small room, absorbed in the report. He watched her closely, half-listening to Alex and Jake. He had to be careful, treading this fine line - part of him watched her just to watch the way she walked… the other part of him watched her to see her reaction, to gauge an assessment, to see what her mind was drawing in conclusion.
Aja's eyes narrowed slightly as she paused in mid-pace and flipped the pages. This guy's behavior seemed so damned familiar… Who was he? She slid the report back into the jacket and shuffled pages until she came up with a photo. "oh… fuck…" she whispered…
Frank held up a hand for them to be silent as he slowly stood up. He hadn't missed Aja's nearly silent swearing, or the fact that she was frozen on the spot. Very slowly and cautiously he walked up behind her. She was shaking, bad enough to make the photo in her hand rattle softly. He peered over her shoulder at the file. It was the man that Alex was talking about. He paused a moment and reasoned things out. Aja Cage knew this man somehow, knew him well enough to be terrified it seemed. "Aja," he whispered.
Aja felt herself shaking, her eyes glued to Vadim's image in her hand. Vadim… His vile touch came back to her, the acid in his voice, the screams…. Screams echoed in her head, his eyes floating evilly before her…
Frank backed up as she started to shake even harder, almost twitching. Her breath was coming in gasps. He moved around in front of her, leaning down slightly to look into her face. Her eyes were distant and wide, pupils dilated. Her mouth was slightly open, and he could hear her shaky breaths. Every now and then there was a soft, very soft gasp. Tentatively he reached out towards her, his fingers reaching towards the pulse in her throat. It looked like she was experiencing a repressed memory. She HAD to know this man.
All of a sudden Aja's vision cleared and she saw a hand reaching towards her. She shrieked, the file dropping out of her hands and scattering across the floor. One hand came up and knocked Frank's to the side as she skittered back away from him. "NO!!" she screamed as he stepped closer and reached for her wrist again.
"Frank, stop it," Monica ordered as she bolted up out of her seat and ran over to where Aja was. "She's in the middle of reliving a psychological trauma. Leave her alone until she can recognize you."
"I know that!" he snapped back. Slowly he bent down and picked up the file, keeping the photo on top. It bothered him that he couldn't help Aja, but it scared him also that she didn't recognize him. All he wanted to do was help her. Slowly he stood up, watching her intently.
Monica stood back, motioning for Alex and Jake to sit down too. Cody walked through the doors with his arms full of a box of equipment only to see Aja supposedly squaring off against Frank.
"What now?" he asked quietly. Alex and Jake just shook their heads and helped him unload the box from his arms.
"Aja… listen to me." Frank said quietly. He kept advancing on her slowly, non-threateningly as she backed up. Finally she stopped, her back up against the wall. He kept a foot away from her, but moved so he blocked out everyone else. "Aja, do you recognize this man?"
Aja's head twitched slightly, her hands plucking nervously at the hem of her shirt. She saw the photo that Donovan held up. It was Vadim. "No." she said quietly. So quietly that Frank wasn't sure if he'd heard her.
"I think you do. Tell me again - Do you know this man?" He pushed the photo closer to her. Frank intentionally kept his voice calm and cool, soothing at least. He couldn't afford to be aggressive of confrontational. He'd lose her that way.
Aja recoiled, turning her head to the side. "I SAID NO DAMN IT! I don't know him." 'Please, stop!! Don't make me look at his face again, I can't bear to look at his face again…' She wanted someone to put their arms around her, not push her against a wall and force her to remember.
"Damn it Aja!" Frank slammed the file down on the table next to them both. The noise echoed in the Nest, causing everyone to jump and Aja to clamp her hands over her ears. He watched as her eyes squeezed shut against tears that had come. "You're not helping us any." He grasped her wrists and held them tightly, pulling her hands down from her ears. "If you know this man, then you can help Alex and Jake! Tell me!" The pain on her face was ripping at him, but he had to get it out of her, had to get her to admit to knowing this man. Good God all he wanted was to hold her tightly and shush her tears… but she didn't need coddling, she needed to fight back, to fight for herself.
"No," she shook her head. "No, I don't know him. Let it go Donovan." Her voice broke in several places and she had to fight to keep from shaking.
Frank stood back, letting go of her hands to watch them twitch and flick like a meth addict coming down off of a good high. She kept her head turned away, unable or unwilling to look at the photograph again. "Bull. Aja-" he shoved the photo in front of her face. "Look again. I know that you know him. You're lying to me. Aja," he moved and got into her face again. "Don't… DON'T turn away from me Aja! AJA!"
"I… stop… stop it…Stop it Frank, stop it… I'm not lying, I don't know him!"
"God damn it Aja STOP LYING! Don't lie to me about this Aja!" Frank snarled and shoved her up against the wall. "Your pulse is racing, your pupils are dilated, your breath is shallow and rapid. You're lying to me, I don't like liars."
Aja yelped, then slid slowly down the wall. 'I trusted you and you lied to me!! NEVER FUCKING LIE TO ME!' "Stop… no more…" she whispered softly. "Please… stop…"
Alex and Jake both grabbed hold of Frank and pulled him back. He'd been about to reach down and haul her up, but Aja wasn't Aja anymore. She was somewhere else, talking to someone else. "Give it up Frank. She's regressing further back. Leave her alone. Come on…" Jake pulled Frank back while Alex and Monica gathered up Aja and led her to the crib.
"Jesus Frank, what the hell happened to her?"
"That's something only she knows Jake." Frank shook his head and threw the file across the room. His own actions disgusted him. All he'd wanted, tried, to do was help her. Instead he wound up hurting her, possibly even pushing her further away. Shoving her against the wall disgusted him the most. How could he have done that to her? "Jesus Christ…" He ran everything back in his head. She was fine until she saw the picture of the man known only as Vadim within the organization. She knew him, he could read it in her eyes. She was terrified of him. "He did it to her, whatever it was." He held up the photograph. Never before had such a seething hatred for a suspect ever taken root in his mind. This one was different. "He's responsible for what happened to her."
yeah, you have created a rift with me
there've been several complications
and i'm left with feeling nothing
i might say you were wrong to take it from me
left me feeling nothing
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Excerpt from the lyrics to "Numb" by Disturbed. CD titled "The Sickness" all rights reserved.
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