----------------- Chapter 2 -----------------------
Emma found Shalimar several minutes later, sitting in the middle of the huge main hall of Sanctuary. With nothing around her, she sat perfectly still, crouched as if about to leap up the high walls that surrounded her, though it would do her little good as the roof topped them.
"Shalimar?" She approached carefully, not sure of her reception.
"I'm sorry, the door was closed, I couldn't I couldn't help it."
"Hey." Emma rested her hand on Shalimar's shoulder, hoping to feed some calm into the agitated woman. Her hand was quickly retracted as Shalimar span to face her with feral eyes. Emma took in the sight. Her face was flushed, her breathing laboured. Her eyes never seemed to focus on one point, flickering from door to door to tightly locked-down door.
"Shal. Look at me." Eyes, deep brown again, held hers for a moment before flickering on to their circuit.
"SHALIMAR!" Emma lined the word with a soft hint of her power and suddenly she had Shalimar's full attention. She took both of her hands in her own and pulled her into a tight embrace. She could feel the body wrapped within her own shuddering violently, a wracking movement that shook her whole lean frame. "Hush." She murmured in her ear. "Hush now, it's okay."
"I hate this." The voice was weak, shaking as the body was. "I hate this." She repeated, stronger this time. "I HATE THIS!" She was screaming, her voice echoing the walls as she sank sobbing into Emma's arms, dragging them both to the floor. "God I hate this." She sobbed into her shoulder.
"I know, baby, I know. But hush now, you're safe here." Movement caught her eye and she saw Brennan and Jesse appear at a doorway, both looking tousled, obviously straight out of bed. Seeing their questioning gaze Emma waved them away mouthing 'nightmare'. Nodding, Brennan headed out of the room, hesitating when Jesse didn't follow him. Noticing that his concerned gaze was still on the pair in the hall Brennan pulled him away.
Emma watched them go, listening as they encountered Adam in the hallway, soft words forming an explanation. Then soft footsteps echoed back into their rooms, followed by quiet.
Shalimar's breathing calmed slowly, her heart rate settled, the shaking reduced to nothing more than an occasional shudder.
"Sorry." The apology was hardly more than a croak in the empty space.
"You've not done anything wrong, Shal. This isn't your fault. But you know we can't get outside until Adam's rebooted the system. All of the doors are locked down while we're off-line."
"Yeah, I know that." She cleared her throat, using Emma's shoulder for leverage as she stood and pulling Emma up after her. "Go to bed Em, I'll be fine until tomorrow."
"What are you going to do until then?"
"I don't know. I might set up a simulation. I feel like I need to burn off some steam." Emma frowned at the suggestion.
"You sure that's a good idea? If you're not well you could get yourself hurt."
"I'm not planning on hurting myself Emma. I'll be careful."
"Try and get some sleep later?" She pushed.
"Okay, okay, now go to bed. I'll see you tomorrow." Emma nodded and turned to go, stopping and turning back before she'd taken a step.
"You're going to be okay right? This will all go away when you get outside?" Her voice was filled with concern.
"I'll be fine." Shalimar smiled softly as she saw Emma hesitate again. Pulling her into another embrace she kissed her chastely, sharing a soft smile. "I'll see you tomorrow." She prompted, releasing her.
"Yeah." And she headed out of the hall, towards the rooms. The smile stayed firmly affixed on Shalimar's face until Emma was well out of sight, when it faltered. Finding a wall, she slid down it to meet the floor, struggling valiantly to restrain her raging emotions, knowing Emma would be back in a second if she let them spill out onto her cheeks.
She laughed as the first tears spilled. Emma no doubt already knew about the pain she was feeling; she would read people so easily when she was worried. She let the half-smile slip as a sob escaped her, joining the water on her cheeks.
In her room Emma felt as Shalimar's emotions broke, wave after wave of emotion reaching her. She rolled over, trying desperately to block the pounding emotions, knowing that Shalimar needed the release they provided. Letting her own tears fall for her love she prayed for the new day to come.
