If You Wanna Stay

Summary: What if the comlink rings ceremony didn't go as it did? (I guess that makes it A/U, right?)

Couple: Emma / Brennan, Emma / Adam (not romantic)

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: MUTANT X is copyright 2001, Tribune Entertainment Co. So the characters do not belong to me. Also, I am not making any money out of this story, I'm just giving the Emma / Brennan fans out there a little more to feed on.   The title of this fan fiction and of this chapter are  from the song 'If You Wanna Stay' by Keith Urban on his 1999 US debut CD 'keith urban' so copyrights apply to whoever owns them for that song as well.

* * * * *

Chapter 2

'I never wanna be the one who kept you from being free…'

A few minutes passed in an awkward silence after Adam went into the lab. Jesse looked at Shalimar who was slowly calming down, her feral side retreating. Jesse knew better than to talk to her or touch her when she was in this state of mind, so he turned to Brennan.

"Well… huh Brennan, I didn't have the chance to thank you for the warning look the other day."

Still looking in the direction where Emma had disappeared, Brennan barely heard his new teammate's words.

"Uh?.. oh..don't mention it", he said. Turning his gaze to Jesse, he saw the extended hand and gave it a solid shake. "You would have done the same if it had been the other way around."

Jesse grinned. "Not sure about that."

"Yeah, right", replied Brennan.

Both men stared at each other for a second then laughed.

"Come on, let's get you settled in", said Jesse. "Shal, you're coming?"

"You guys go ahead, I need to talk to Adam", Shalimar answered as she started walking toward the lab. "I'll see you two later. And oh Jesse?"

"Yeah?"

"Try not to burn our dinner this time", she added in a warning tone.

"What? It's your turn to.."

But Shalimar was already gone. Rolling his eyes, Jesse motioned for Brennan to follow him. "Ferals! Always finding a way to sneak around chores.." he mumbled under his breath.

If Brennan hadn't been wrapped up in his thoughts, he probably would have laughed him. No matter how he turned the whole scene around, he just couldn't understand Emma's decision.  'Emma.. why? What made you change your mind, why are you running away?' he thought.

"..away from me.."  he whispered sadly.

"What did you say?" asked Jesse, looking at him with a puzzled look on his face.

"Nothing ", quickly replied Brennan. "Man this place is huge!" he added as they turned a corner.

* * * * *

As she entered the lab, Shalimar noticed how dark it was in there. There were no lights at all except for the soft glow coming from the laptop on the desk. But darkness didn't bother Shalimar. In fact, she liked the night better as it allowed her feral DNA to roam more freely.  Seeing everything as clear as she would have during daylight, Shalimar quietly walked to man sitting at the desk with his head in his hands.

"Adam", she said in a soft voice, touching his shoulder lightly." Adam, I'm sorry I snapped out."

Lifting his head, Adam looked at his protégé and smiled weakly. "It's okay, don't worry about it."

Half sitting herself on the desk in front of him, Shalimar looked straight into his eyes. "No, that's your department and right now you are worried about Emma and what will happen to her in the undergrounds."

Looking quickly at the laptop screen, Adam nodded. "I just thought she'd be safer here. At least I would have been able to.." He stopped and sighed heavily.

"You would have been able to what, Adam?", asked Shalimar. "Keep an eye on her? Make up for the past? Protect her from herself?  You know you can't erase what happened nearly 20 years ago, you can't change her past and you can't change yours. But you can change both your futures by telling her the truth."

Adam shook his head. "I can't do that, she has to make the decision on her own free will. And she has. I have no choice but to respect it, as much as it hurts me to see her leave, to send her away…. again."

"She deserves the truth, Adam", insisted Shalimar.

"I can't, Shalimar, I simply can't", he whispered, staring at the two DNA models on the screen.

* * * * *

Jesse didn't like it at all. All the tension he could feel in the dining area was making him want to get up and go somewhere he would be alone. Like at his computer. Dinner used to be a special time for the three of them. Adam would come out of his lab, thinking over some problems or formulas. Shal would drive him nuts, trying to ruin his recipe if it was his turn to cook or if it was her turn she'd hide the dishware and would pretend to be mad at him for not getting things ready in time. Adam would tell them to quit acting like children and they'd all burst out laughing. Yes, dinner was always a special time for them, it was the time they really felt like a family.

That was before the whole Emma and Brennan thing happened. Tonight was the first time in days that they all could sit down to have a normal meal together, but nothing was normal.  For a start it wasn't just the three of them now at the low table.  Sitting beside him was Brennan who had barely touched his meal, lost in his thoughts.   In front of him was Shalimar, eating in silence, which definitely wasn't like her at all. Sitting next to her, Emma kept her head bowed. She had not looked at them once since she and Adam had joined them moments ago. Jesse had noticed she had been crying and he couldn't understand the young telempath.

'Why has she been crying, it was her decision to leave, nobody asked her to', he wondered.

Finally, presiding the table was the man Jesse looked up to the most in life. Adam's eyes would look at each of the young people around the table then go back to Emma, as if he had something to tell them all but couldn't because of her. No, things were defiantly not like they used to be. 'They were so much simpler with just the three of us', thought Jesse.

As if she had heard his last thought, Emma suddenly stood up and left the room.  Jesse cursed himself. 'Shit, I forgot about her powers!' He didn't know where to look and wished once again he'd be somewhere else right now, anywhere but at this table.

* * * *

Almost running back to her room, Emma couldn't help but agree with Jesse's thought. Things were so much simpler before, especially for her.

"Well they won't need to worry about me messing their perfect life any more than I already have", she said angrily as she practically slammed the door. "Tomorrow I'll be out of here and.."

Her eyes weld up with tears.

"… and I'll never see him again", she finished in a whisper.

* * * *

The sound of the door slamming echoed throughout the Sanctuary. Rubbing his eyes as if they burnt, Adam rose abruptly from the table.

"If anyone needs me I'll be in the lab."

Three pairs of eyes followed him in silence then looked at each other.

"Geez, he sure is taking Emma's decision hard", commented Jesse.

Pushing her plate aside, Shal leaned back and looked at the young man with narrowing eyes.

"If you were in his place you'd react the same way, Jess", she said, carefully choosing her words.

"Well it's not as if she was the only telempath out there you know."

"Exactly."

"What do you mean?", asked Jesse as he felt there was something his friend wasn't telling him.

"Well, remember Sheila?", Shalimar asked.

"Yeah, and?"

Brennan cleared his throat. "If you two want me to leave, just say it."

After a quick glance in direction of the lab as if to be certain Adam had left the room, Shalimar wondered if she had better not mention this in front of Brennan. 'Oh whatever', she thought, 'he'll soon find out anyways if he's to be part of this team.'

"No it's okay, Bren. You see, about a year ago Adam located a new mutant, a telempath just like Emma. Her name was Sheila Jackson and he asked us to bring her here. Things went smoothly and all was fine until we found out she wasn't who Adam thought she was."

As she explained all this, Jesse's eyes widened with realization.

"Shal, you don't mean that Emma.."

Shalimar nodded.

"What? Emma what?", asked Brennan who was beginning to worry. "Look, I may be the new guy here but if Emma is in trouble… "

"Brennan, calm down. Emma is fine", said Shalimar. Taking a deep breath, she prayed that  she wasn't making a mistake.