********************
"How's your trip going?"
This question turned Emma's head towards the doorway where she saw Brennan standing. "What trip?"
"Memory lane?"
"Oh yeah… a little unusual but it's alright."
Brennan nodded. "Good," he said and approached his wife. "Adam thinks that the Devin's gem may have something to do with your condition."
"The so-called 'loss of memory'?"
"Yep."
"How?"
"He said that there may be some unusual energy waves coming from the stone that have been affecting you lately, especially your behavior."
"My behavior…?"
"Well Adam seems to be the only who said that you were becoming more nervous when you and him would study the stone."
"Really…"
"Aha."
"So then, how could this…gem, have affected my…" she shrugged, "memory?"
"He doesn't know yet." A silent sigh left his lips as the Elemental placed his hand on her cheek and kept it there. "Funny, if something has happened to you, I certainly haven't noticed it. And me who knows you more than anyone… or so you keep telling me." A smile wanting to be transformed into a chuckle was produced but it quickly faded by her confused gaze. "You don't seem to believe me?"
"No, I do… but even if Adam's right… I still do not think my memory could've been erased just like that. I'm a damn Psionic for god's sake! It can't be the gem; it can't be some silly bump on the head…"
"Then what do you think it is?"
Emma looked down and then somewhere on the side. "I don't know…" she shrugged. The Psionic then noticed that the light outside had faded and it had been replaced by calm darkness. "How did it get dark so quickly?" she wondered. Emma was certain that not more than eight hours had passed and it couldn't get like this with such speed. "Why is it so dark?" she then asked, still looking outside.
Brennan joined her in the glance of the outside. "Perhaps you just lost track of time?" he suggested.
"No, no. It was morning… early morning when I woke up. It didn't even reach the evening."
"Why? Does the day time you last remember remain longer?"
"Well, yeah… it's usually twelve hours."
"Twelve?" Brennan was surprised by this.
Emma looked back at him. "Yeah, twelve."
"Oh, Em… you really don't remember much," he started brushing her cheek whilst his eyes observed her almost forlornly. "It's eight hours…" he corrected her.
"No, it's not. It's twelve!"
Brennan slowly shook his head.
Emma pulled away, giving the Elemental a hesitant gaze. The hairs on her skin were beginning to rise up as she was retrieving her defensive stand. "How long is the night then?" she asked.
"Around eleven."
"Nineteen hours? An entire day and night cycle is eighteen hours?"
"Yeah."
"Since when?"
"Um, since forever."
"As I know, Brennan, it's twenty four, not nineteen."
Brennan crossed his arms. "Perhaps you're just tired? You had a long day."
"Long day? Eight hours is a long day??"
"Yes."
Emma shook her head, not wanting to think that even the days and nights here were different. "Damn it!" she threw her arms down and formed fists as the Psionic looked around. "Where did I go? What the fuck is this place??" she felt slightly irritated despite the absence of justification of it.
"Emma." Brennan came closer to her, grabbing her arms. "Calm down. What happened to you?"
"Don't touch me! Don't you dare!" Emma struggled her way out and once she was on a decent distance from her 'husband' she was beginning to doubt even in him. The changes in her friends? Sanctuary? The days?? Everything? This was not her home. "I gotta get out of here," she muttered and rushed towards the exit before Brennan managed to grab her waist and pull her back. "Let go of me! Brennan! I told you! Let… go!" she struggled and almost succeeded with escaping once again but the Elemental was not letting her go this time. Instead, he pinned her down on the floor.
"Emma!" he spoke calmly and harshly. "You are home. This is Sanctuary. The only thing which I think has happened to you is that you might have lost a memory or two, nothing more!"
Emma would have almost felt threatened if she didn't read the strange cloud of faith in this man's eyes. "No," she continued to struggle. "It's not home!" She was about to send a blast towards him when she unexpectedly felt weakened to even attempt that. This was strange; she had always managed to achieve this blast but right now she felt as if she didn't even have that power. Another attempt followed, due to the failure of this one, this time to try and alter his thoughts… but she only felt a slight headache. "Ah, shit…" she blinked several times. That hadn't worked either.
"Are you alright?" he asked when seeing her reaction.
"No, I'm not. This isn't my place! I need to get out of here!"
"Emma, honey! Stop it!" This time the Elemental made sure she couldn't move an inch with her upper body as his hands took firm grips on her arms, gluing them next the sides of her body and his entire weight was concentrated on her as Brennan sat there. He waited until she couldn't do anything else but listen to him. "It's been nearly four years… I know it was difficult for you to accept what happened but…"
"What the hell are you talking about?" she hissed.
Brennan brought his head back. A sigh left him with a mix of sadness and relief that the Psionic had no remembrance of that day. "Never mind…" he said, "forget I mentioned it," and brought his face closer to hers. "I love you, ok? I love you more than my own life… Em, this is your home, as much as you can't remember anything about it, THIS IS YOUR HOME."
"I'm sorry, Brennan, but I haven't seen any proof of that yet," she replied.
Brennan observed her. The lightness of his eyes from the beginning slowly transferred into something more intense and darker as Emma's blues nearly drowned into that gaze.
The Elemental then lowered his face completely as his lips touched hers.
Emma moved her legs franticly, trying to remove him from her and escape but he was too heavy and his grip was overwhelmingly rigid. Air! She needed air!
Then for two brief seconds after, she received that air before Brennan closed the space between their lips again.
The exploration of the lips lasted several minutes before he finally broke it. What he noticed was astonishment in the Psionic's eyes. "Was that good proof?" he asked.
Emma shook her head. She couldn't believe how warm and soft those lips felt and she was close to having a liking to that if only the desire of finding the truth and possibly the escape from this place wasn't stronger.
Brennan brought his lips closer to her and for a few brief moments Emma didn't let him in; she kept her lips tightly pressed together.
Brennan's determination however overpowered her as she finally opened her mouth and welcomed him.
********************
Almost like a little monkey, Mona jumped in Jesse's lap and somehow managed to run around and wrap her arms around his neck as she hung at his back.
"Ga… ok… Mon… you're…" Jesse grabbed her small arms gently and loosened them, freeing his neck. She would have nearly choked the Molecular. Bringing her in front of him, Jesse sat the small girl again on his lap. "That's better." He smiled while rubbing his neck with his right hand at the same time as he contributed a support for Mona to lean her back on with his left arm. "Do you know that Emma once told me that Mona looked more like me than John?"
"She did?"
"Yep! Nice to know, eh?"
"Yeah," Shalimar giggled, "very." She then looked over to them. "Well you have been practically like a father to her ever since John died…" a sudden drop of sentiment could be sensed in her voice. "And I'm happy…"
Jesse looked over at Shalimar. Taking Mona, he stood up and approached his friend. "Shal, it's ok…" he knew how upset the Feral could get when the mentioning of Mona's father continued more than once.
"Yeah," Shalimar showed a tamed smile as her eyes traveled slowly over to the little girl and then Jesse. "She still has a father figure to look up to," the gratitude was clear as daylight in her eyes, "and I'm happy that it's you."
Jesse placed his right hand on her arm and nodded. He then gave her a quick kiss on her lips. "Would it be weird if I said I loved you both to bits?"
"Hmm, I think so…" she joked and sent the two mutants into giggles.
When they stopped, Jesse glanced over at the little girl in his arms. "She's gonna be one hell of a woman when she grows up," and then took in Shalimar's image with his gaze, "just like her mother."
"Alright, stop that!" Shalimar slapped his arm and giggled as this lightened her up. "I need to get something from downstairs before I put her to bed."
"I'll do it tonight."
"What, put her to sleep?"
"Yeah."
"You're not gonna sing again, are you?" She raised an eyebrow.
"What's wrong with my signing??" he protested.
"Nothing, it's just that as Emma said to Brennan once: "I think I heard a crow 'singing' like that once," and started laughing.
Jesse wanted to give a sour smile but he had a hard time achieving that, so instead he only shook his head and headed towards Mona's small bed.
Shalimar gave one last glance at the two people most important to her, and afterwards rushed with fast steps downstairs.
********************
Bringing in air after what had appeared to be more than simply few minutes of lip tasting, Brennan gazed down at the girl beneath him. "How about…" turning his voice into a whisper, "now?"
"I…" Emma licked her lips, "Bren, I'm sorry…" she sighed.
Releasing her arms, the Elemental slowly traveled with his hands up to her head, brushing her hair with his fingers. "You'll get it back, Em… you will."
Emma had now the chance to get away but she didn't use it. She would have been hideously lying to herself if she did not admit that this last kiss had penetrated to her approval zone. She could sense that he wanted to make love to her now but the hesitancy which he would receive from her stopped him. The respect towards her was on the highest in his mind. Ah, if she could only sense the feelings of hearts as well….
Brennan removed himself from the Psionic and stood up. Offering his arm, he then grabbed Emma's and pulled her up.
"I'm gonna talk with Adam," she said.
"Why?"
"I want to see what he found out."
"Alright," he agreed.
Without looking at the Elemental further, Emma then left the room and once she was in the corridor stopped for a moment to try and remember where the laboratory was. "Is he still there?" she wondered. When finally remembering, she rushed towards the glass-walled room.
********************
When Emma arrived at the entrance she felt somewhat pleased to see the older man still there; stretching his arms and giving a big yawn, noting that he had intended to give himself a well deserved rest. "Adam." This made the scientist to turn around and face Emma. "What is it?" he asked her.
Emma stepped inside the laboratory. "Brennan told me about your… discovery with the… the…" she glanced over at the stone.
"Devin's gem?"
"Yes, the Devin's gem." Emma approached him. "What exactly did you find?"
"Well, I'm still not quite certain of that but the gem seems to be transmitting some sorts of…"
As she was listening, the clear sounds of his words were transforming into some blabbering which she couldn't make out. "Wait," Emma stopped him. "Sorry, I couldn't hear what you just said, could you please start again?"
"Sure," Adam agreed and began once more.
Emma had heard the word 'sure' loud and clear but everything else that left the scientist's mouth was converted into some smudgy sounds but this time they were accompanied by quiet sounds or ringing. "Damn it," she thought. She could see Adam but she could not hear him well and for some strange reason that had affected her power to try and sense anything more than the sign of tiredness which was present in his mind. She shook her head, hoping for the sound to change… it did not work. The noise started getting louder.
"Wait!" she shouted having the fear that Adam wouldn't have heard her if she had said the word more quietly.
Adam stopped immediately. "Emma, what's wrong?" his sudden concern caused him to approach Emma.
The redhead looked at him. She heard that question clearly. "Nothing…I … um… sorry, could you…?"
"Try again?"
"Yeah," Emma questioned herself whether her mind had been messing with her to that extend that she wasn't fully focused on Adam's explanation, a reason to why she decided to ask him again.
"Why did you scream like that?" he asked.
"I had trouble understanding what you were saying."
"I see… Emma, could you lie down on the chair? I think another check up is in order."
"No," Emma shook her head. "I'm alright, could you just explain to me about the gem… again?"
"I will, but firstly I want to see if something else has happened to you in the mean time."
"I feel fine."
"I'm sure, but please…" and pointed towards the chair.
Emma took a glimpse of the object. "Orange?" The entire chair had been orange. "When did the color change?" she asked while keeping her eyes on the object.
Adam sent her a disturbing look. "It was orange before, Emma. It had been orange ever since it was built."
Emma now glared back at Adam. "When I came here before it was lime, not orange!"
"No, it was orange; perhaps you were just overtaken by your earlier confusion to notice it."
"Hmm… I'm heaving serious doubts about that." She crossed her arms, looking now at the chair. But it was true; she didn't pay particular attention to the color of the chair when she first arrived here. But orange… it isn't exactly an unnoticeable color.
"Now, please lie down."
Emma glanced over at Adam. "Tell me about the gem again," she insisted; the trust towards this place and even her friends was beginning to fade.
Adam was looking strangely back at her with nothing but silence.
"Tell me about it," she asked once more.
"Alright, but after that I'm giving you a scan," he said.
"Fine," her voice was reaching the level of coldness.
"For the third time, as I said, I think that the gem is…"
But once more his words became unclear. Even though Adam was talking normally, it did not register the same with Emma. Sending a confused gaze to the blue stone, she wondered if it really had an effect on her. "Stop, stop…" she shook her head and returning her eyes to Adam. "What's going on??" she wondered inside.
"You had trouble understanding me again?" he asked.
Emma nodded. The clarity of his words returned.
Adam sighed. "Can I give you a scan now?"
"Yeah," Emma agreed and gradually walked over to the orange chair and lied down. Closing her eyes, she let the scanning begin.
Several minutes later, Emma turned her head to her right and awaited an answer. "Well…?"
Adam was feeling puzzled. "I don't understand… it doesn't show anything unusual."
Emma sat up. "Are you certain?"
"Have a look," he offered.
Emma touched the floor and walked over to the monitor. Observing the contents on the screen, she too could not detect anything abnormal. Sending a look to the blue stone, Emma then walked over to it. She searched with her eyes for a pair of gloves until she finally found two green ones on the next table. Taking them, Emma put the gloves on and opened the cube. But the moment that she uncovered the gem, the Psionic felt a sharp sting in her head. "Ouch!" shutting her eyes, Emma touched her head. Two seconds later the pain had fortunately disappeared. Opening her eyes, feeling better, she took a deep breath and brought her hands towards the gem. Taking it finally, she observed it from each angle while spinning it slowly in her hands. The only thing that she could detect about it was that this Devin's gem was nothing more than a dead stone. If it did affect her, she certainly couldn't feel anything strange while it was in her hands. Wearing the gloves this time, her hands were safe. So it burned when bare skin would touch it… some strange earth element perhaps. Anything else? She looked. Nothing….
She returned the stone. Closing the cube, Emma took off her gloves. Turning around, she faced Adam again. "There doesn't seem to be anything strange about it," she told him.
"Are you certain of it?"
"Yes, I didn't feel anything from it. I don't know, except for its scorching characteristic, it doesn't show any other unusual signs."
"Perhaps it does but you can not feel it at this moment."
"No… I don't think so; I think I'm able of detecting those changes."
"Strange… well, go to bed, I'm going to stay a while… maybe I can find something…"
"Ok, but…"
"I'm not wrong about my conclusion. There has to be something…"
Emma looked at him and then turned around. "Alright, in that case…" and walked out of the laboratory.
Climbing the stairs Emma felt confused at why she couldn't hear what Adam was telling her about the gem and why when she held it in her hands she couldn't feel anything that the stone might have sent to her… if it could do such a thing. "Damn it…" she felt slightly afraid by this. "What's happening?"
********************
When she reached the third floor, the Psionic ran into Shalimar who had been returning to her own room.
"Going to bed?" the Feral asked her.
"I don't know… how about you?"
"Soon, I think. How do you feel?"
"Not much different from before. Sure would be good to somehow… err, zap my way out of here."
"You don't like it here?"
"Um… Shal, I already told you…"
"Yes, I know… this isn't Sanctuary and so on."
Emma didn't say anything.
"But Emma…" Shalimar came closer to her. "I know I shouldn't mention this… until you do get all of your memory back, I know that's hard for you but my advice is not to shut Brennan out."
Emma tilted her head. "What makes you say that? I mean why do you think that I would?"
"Well I don't but… ah it's probably me thinking about John too much lately," the Feral glanced at her hands. When she looked up at Emma, the Psionic could see the melancholy in Shalimar's eyes, something she hadn't been accustomed to seeing in this woman.
"I wanted to …" Emma had thoughts of mentioning about her intention to ask the Feral about her man, but she switched to something else. "I'm sorry I don't remember him."
Shalimar shrugged. "He was my life-line, Emma…" the melancholy had now reached her voice.
"Yes, I can imagine."
"Even if you don't remember it now, I'm sure you can feel it. Just… be with him, ok? Be with Brennan. I know how much you two love each other…" Shalimar shook her head as she felt slightly 'dorky' about starting this, perhaps, depressing conversation but it came naturally to her ever since John had died. "And when I remember about that incident nearly four years ago…" she shrugged, "don't take him for granted, ok? Please, don't shut him out. I sometimes did that and… never got the change to… fix it."
"I-I wont… I would never do that…" she understood that Shalimar and John had something special after all. "What incident though?" Emma asked.
"When he gave up most of his power… for you?"
Emma's eyes narrowed as her eye brows rose. "What happened?"
Shalimar hesitated. "Serum…"
"Who's he?"
"Some fucked up lunatic… he… he took you hostage and threatened to kill you unless… well he wanted to inject some drug or whatever into Brennan's blood that would alter his mutation… removing him of his ability to produce electricity… well, high voltages at least."
"But why? I mean couldn't you save me… someone?"
Shalimar shook her head.
"W-what happened afterwards?"
"Serum had his way, you were after that rescued and he disappeared until a year ago when one of the Genomex employees killed him… I think."
This revelation sent an electrifying river through her organism. "Bren…" she looked around.
"It's a great sacrifice… so…"
"Yes, I know…" Emma embraced Shalimar tightly, "thank you for telling me," she said.
"Mm."
Emma then released her friend. "How is Mona?"
"She should be sleeping by now. I should go check... I hope Jesse's singing didn't cry her to sleep." The Feral managed to let out a weak giggle as she returned to her room.
Emma watched her leave. She truly was beginning to lose trust in these people but that story touched her; Brennan was that kind of a person… and particularly if love was in play. "God…" she sighed and walked over to the room where Brennan was.
********************
The Elemental turned his face towards the room entrance. "Hey, how did it go?" he asked when noticing the Psionic standing there; the artificial light had beautifully separated his tall figure from the rest of the darkened room.
Emma slowly approached him until she stood in front of him. "Did you really do that?" she asked him.
"What's that?"
"Give up so much of your powers… for me?"
Brennan swallowed once. "Did that come back to you?" his voice nearly a fragile whisper was heard.
"No, Shalimar told me. You really did that…"
"I couldn't let you die," he said.
The sensitivity and concern were so intense in this man that Emma let herself be engrossed by these feelings. "You love me that much?"
"Well, we are married, aren't we…"
Emma watched his deep brown eyes. If this was a dream she ought to at least get the most of it. Lifting herself up Emma touched his lips with hers. Feeling the sweet taste of them, she then wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, not letting him go; her body sensing the movement of his arms until they were safely wrapped around her small waist.
Pressing her firmly to him, the Elemental felt happy that this young woman was accepting him again; he missed her warmth.
********************
Finally separating their lips, Emma looked at him. "Can you still make some electricity?
"Well I think I have enough to start a car… nothing more than that." A smile crept on his face.
Emma brushed her hand on his cheek. "Forgive me," she said.
"Why? It wasn't your fault."
"Well, if I didn't let my self get captured like that, you wouldn't…" Despite not possessing the knowledge that she had been there, Emma couldn't be completely cold towards this.
"Em," placing his thumb on her lips, Brennan stooped her from any further talking. "It's over; it happened… if I hadn't done that, I wouldn't be holding you like this now."
Emma hugged him tightly. This was like Brennan; even though he never demonstrated it, she knew that he would go this far for that someone he cared for far greatly than himself. She wanted to say that she loved him… she did care about him, but the Psionic wasn't in love with him. It didn't feel right and it didn't seem like her place.
Placing her head back so she would look at him again, Emma then felt another tiny headache. "Ah…" she closed her eyes.
"What's wrong?" Brennan loosened his embrace.
"Just a small…" she opened her eyes, "headache…" but the pain kicked in again, causing her to close the eyes once more.
While the darkness surrounded her, Emma suddenly heard, what appeared to be a waterfall, some birds and the darkness was beginning to slowly get brighter; her arms were no longer resting on someone's shoulders, instead her left arm felt free and loose while her left one was in someone else's hand. Frantically opening her eyes, Emma found herself standing on a stony edge with what she could tell were trees on the other side of a huge hole in front of her; adjusting her blues to the sudden sunshine she then finally saw the waterfall just a few meters away from her, pouring down into the hole where she saw deep blue water. It appeared relatively calm except for the area at where the waterfall flowed into.
Turning her head to her left, Emma saw Jesse's face, his eyes twinkling as a huge grin decorated his face. "Ready?" he asked her, as the hot sun was splashing over them… that's where the light was coming from earlier.
"What?" Emma felt baffled but she did not get an answer when the young man pulled her forward with him and down into the hole where the sea water was.
"Waaaaaaaaaaaiiit!!!" Emma screamed but splash! ... too late. Both landed into the salty water.
********************