Italics signal thoughts,and bold italics signal telepathic conversations.

Chapter six: Jealousy

Kay opened her eyes slowly to find Jesse smiling down at her and holding her hand. She looked around and silently thanked Marius for his help. "Hi, Jess" she said softly.

"Hi. You're a strong one, you know. I was worried about you."

"Aw, thanks! But if Marius hadn't been there, I shudder to think where I would be today."

He smiled. "I guess it was pretty lucky… but I'm wondering why he helped you."

She chuckled. "Join the club. How long have I been here?"

He checked his watch. "About 27 hours or so. Why?"

Her eyes widened and she groaned. "I have got to get back to work."

Jesse scoffed, pushing her back into the bed gently. "No, miss Collins. You're not going anywhere."

"But what about Shal?"

Jesse thought about it for a few moments. "You can help from here."

She rolled her eyes before giving in. "Fine. I'm just glad Adam can fix me up so fast. Normal recoveries totally mess up my schedule." They both burst out laughing, shaking their heads when they heard the door open. Their laughter ceased as they turned their heads to look at the arrival. Emma smiled tensely at the pair as Kay raised and eyebrow and signaled Jesse with a flicker of her beautiful eyes, to what Emma lifted her head challengingly.

Jesse looked back and forth at the pair, noticing the exchange between the two, and decided to intervene. "Emma, why don't you lead Miss. Collins to the guestroom and settle her in?"

Kay turned to him. "Kay, please." Jesse nodded in acknowledgement as Emma seethed. Kay turned to Emma and rolled of the bed. "Shall we, Ms. DeLauro?" Emma nodded and they moved slowly through the hallway.The tension between the two of them was so thick that even the usually clueless Adam had to notice when he ran into them.

As soon as they entered the room, Kay spotted her gym bag on the bed. She rummaged through it and pulled out her cell phone, and hit speed dial one. "Antares? It's Andromeda. Yeah, I'm fine. Adam did a great job. My arm still hurts a bit, but I'll survive. I'm just checking in. Could you please check on the status of Case 313 and call me back? Ok, sure, I'll meet you there. Thanks. See you later." She hung up and turned back to her bag, pulling out Converse sneakers, hip-hugging indigo rinse jeans and a black three-quarters sleeve tee with a crisscross design from under the chest to the hem.

She untied her blonde hair, wiped on some styling wax, and ran her hands through it to make soft waves. Long silver earrings, black mascara to accent her ocean blue eyes and tinted lip gloss on her full lips completed the look, along with a little shimmering blush. Noticing that Emma was staring, she turned to explain. "My friend Evan and I met six years ago, and he used to call me Duchess because I was always well-dressed and wearing a little bit of makeup, and I guess I don't want to shatter the image."

She then pulled a round medallion embossed with ancient symbols and turned it over to show Emma the inscription: "To theDuchess,Andromeda, the greatest friend I've ever had. Love forever, Antares," Emma turned it over again and caressed it with her fingers.

"It's beautiful" she whispered. Kay took it from her and clasped it on, smiling fondly at it before shaking herself back to reality and putting all her stuff back into her bag. She took another look in the mirror and decided to be satisfied. She and Emma left the room and walked over to the lab quietly. As they entered, Jesse lifted his head and smiled at Kay, who smiled back and walked over to him.

"You look beautiful" Jesse complimented her.

Kay smiled, blushing slightly. "Why thank you Lord Kilmartin" Brennan smiled amusedly, he hadn't noticed Kay'ssoft Englishaccent before. Kay walked over to Brennan and asked to speak with him privately, to what Adam nodded, assuring he would call them if anything happened. Kay flirted with Jesse for a couple more minutesand exited.

Emma muttered under her breath and left to her room. She dialed Brennan's cell phone number and asked to speak to Kay. "What do you want with Jesse?"

Kay chuckled. "Jealous, are we? I like him, Emma, more than I'd care to admit. He's noble and strong... rather great."

Emma growled threateningly at Kay. "I thought you were interested in Ben."

"I am. But I tell things like I see them. We're all single, Emma." She chuckled mischievously. "He's mine for the taking." She felt Brennan wince beside her and immediately regretted her choice of words. However, she couldn't take them back now.

Emma remained silent for a few moments, then uttered her last words on the subject in a menacing tone: "If it's war you want, it's war you'll get." She hung up the phone and fumed, more at herself than at Kay. Why was she lettingthis affect her this way?

A/N: Maybe I went a little far with my look on Emma but I would fight for my man… wouldn't you?