EPISODE 4: DAWN AND WATER

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Dark Angel, I just own my story.

A/N: This Chapter is dedicated to all those people who bite their nails and try and try to stop the habit but can't. Let's stay true and kick the habit!

A/N: Panadol, for anyone who doesn't know is a pain killer that is bought over the shelf at Chemists.

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Taylah sat in Mitch's Car and began the gruelling process of chipping her nail polish so she wouldn't become tempted to bite her nails. As long as she could remember, Taylah had always bitten her nails. She always had a tendency to do it when she was stressed, when she was anxious, or bored and any other time her fingers had nothing better to do and now she wanted to grow them and break the habit.

However this task was quite gruelling when you are under the amount of stress that Taylah is under.

"Okay we're here!" Mitch announced their arrival as they pulled up to the curb and parked, pulling Taylah out of her pondering train of thought.

"Hang on, weren't you supposed to be taking me home!" It was 5am and Taylah was tired from being at the party she had just attended. One of her best friends, Christine had just celebrated her 18th tonight and Mitch and Taylah had attended at a Melbourne Nightspot. Christine, who is of Italian decent, had booked a Hall above a popular restaurant on Melbourne's Trendy Lygon Street to celebrate her party. Christine Hired a DJ and there was even a bar which people could get alcohol and soft drinks when they were tired of dancing. Taylah, being 17 couldn't get alcohol herself, so Mitch had got her whatever she wanted and Taylah had ended up having 3 Southern Comfort and Coke's and 2 Vodka Cruiser's which meant Taylah was feeling a little sick as she really didn't have the highest tolerance for Alcohol. Not only was Taylah feeling sick, she was tired and all she wanted to do was drown herself in a nice warm shower and go to sleep.

"I want to talk to you about something!" Mitch opened his door so Taylah did the same.

"And we need to be at the beach why, I mean we could have just talked in the car or at my place where there's a nice warm bed and Panadol!" Taylah replied while following Mitch to the beach before she collapsed onto the sand and steadied by Mitch.

"I think you need to talk to someone about what your feeling right now cause it is obvious that you're not coping with your sister being missing. I mean you've never been someone who talks about what you're feeling, your like a guy that way and I've always respected that, I mean that's why we've been such great mate's. We know when and where we gotta stick our noes into each other's headspace and that's great, but nothing as big as this has ever happened to either of us and the rule's kind of change cause of that." Mitch moved so he was facing Taylah and continued.

"I'm risking sounding like the biggest female here but, right here is a spot where you are far enough away from 'civilisation' and you can let everything go, cause I think you really need to let what's inside of you out. Plus, you're kinda wasted and I don't think you want your olds seeing you like that. "

"Well, you brought me the drink mate so don't go trying to protect me now... I'm not really sure where I should start!" Taylah spoke silently, making circles in the sand.

"How about you start with whatever your trying to hide something, cause I know you better then anyone and I can tell when you are trying to hide something!" Mitch revealed and then he put his hands in his pockets, leaving Taylah to support herself and focused himself completely on Taylah.

"I don't really know if I can tell you because I'm not even supposed to know what I know!" Taylah figured out that Mitch had caught onto the fact that she was hiding something big, but she wasn't completely sure that she could tell Mitch about Jade, or if he could understand what she had discovered when she had looked in Jade's box and found her Journal. So Taylah had to decide if she could trust Mitch with the information and if he could handle it.

"Do you trust me?" Mitch asked the question that Taylah herself was asking.

"You know I do, but it's not really a question that... what I know is really big and you may not even believe me when I tell you. It has to do with Jade!"

Mitch gave Taylah a warm smile and tried to assure her with his glance. "Just try!"

"Okay, I'll try... When I went into Jade's room after she was kidnapped, I went into her box. You know that box she has kept all her private stuff in. Anyway, I found a journal she had written in from before she with us until she came here. It had some stuff in it, which I didn't believe at first cause it was the kind of stuff you would hear about on TV or see in a movie, extreme. It spoke of her family, but it wasn't the story she had told us about her father being an idiot and whatever. In America, she used to be part of this secret agency called Manticore, which was creating superior human. Soldiers trained to fight and do astronomical things that normal humans couldn't do because they were genetically enhanced to be able to do this. So Jade is supposed to be one of these transgenic's." Taylah explained to Mitch.

"So what else did you find?"

"Jade, who didn't even have a name from childbirth, had lived all her life until she was 9 in this institution. Her only identity was her number, X5 210 and the name, which her brother's and sister in her unit called her, Jondy. So one night, the only people who could represent her family, her unit escaped and separated in order to keep safe. And she has been in hiding ever since, just like the rest of them. Jade eventually got put in foster care until she got the opportunity to come to live with us." Taylah stopped as Mitch had moved in order to speak.

"And you're sure this is correct!"

"Not completely, however just before she went missing, one of her sister's came to see her after tracking her down to here. In the box, Jade had left a number in there so I called and Max, her unit sister thinks she might be able to find her and practically, not completely confirmed what Jade had written. She thinks Jade's in America." Taylah stood up and started walking towards the water and looked at the sky where the sky was beginning to lighten up as it was early in the mourning now.

"Have you called to find out if she has found Jade!" Mitch took his phone out of his pocket and followed Taylah to the edge of the water. "I think it would be the afternoon in America right now!"

"I called about three days ago...maybe it's time I call to find out what's happening!"